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| The Universe is mine copyright Susan Morrison-Jones |
Trying to stay focused on The Last Great Adventure is really
difficult. Life continually throws you curves, matters to distract, confuse, deter....
but every now and again something momentous will happen to me and my focus is
back. Needle sharp and revving to go.
In recent weeks I lost a dear son in law to sudden heart
failure and a good friend to a long drawn out illness ending in his demise. My
son in law was a lovely man and far too young to have left us, but in that
single emotional trauma lay the lesson 'tomorrow isn't promised'. In my friend’s
demise came the reminder that my mortal coil cannot stay fixed at 'time yet'
because it isn't, never will be. But it is so very easy to put things off until
tomorrow and if that tomorrow has been denied you, then of course the list of
'things to do' no longer has any importance, it is defunct.
My determination to set off on one last adventure, the
greatest of them all had waned of late. I have been very tired, very challenged
over smaller issues and the idea, the difficulties and the aspects still in
need of attention just swamped my enthusiasm enough to quell it.
A series of blood tests had revealed a dangerously low level
of Vitamin D in my system which did manage to at least explain my continuous
tiredness. It also linked to other physical issues such as a massive increase
in the pain I feel from various ailments, but it was, as an experience very debilitating
and had squashed the old me into a dark and depressing corner. Now being
addressed fully, never the less that too was a lesson in self-care which I had
not employed for some time.
I need a little time, I hope that time is granted me, to
catch up on my adventure plans and sort out other things. I will endeavour to
do so in the next few weeks.
I made my choices and original decision to attempt a full
road trip around and criss crossing the whole of the British Isles for when I
am 67 at the latest. By then I had decided that my health and fitness would
just about manage to fulfil its purpose and I would be young enough to enjoy
the experiences. But I had a five-year time line to work towards gaining the
right equipment, the right vehicle and the right amount of financial support to
fund myself.
That was almost two years ago now and I am galloping towards
that 67 mark quite fast. I am now 64 nearly 65 and I am, in part, able to say I
have managed some of the criteria necessary but not the whole of it. I have
found a stable place to rent, a job to ensure I stay put for a short while and
a whole gamut of information’s, maps and ideas.
Ahead of me is the finances being made stable and enough
money to purchase a vehicle suitable for me and the dogs to live in as we tramp
across the Isles...they are, I suppose, the biggest challenges.
From designing my own wardrobe (I know the hardships of
homelessness and long camping trips) to get suitable clothing for roughing it,
being presentable and being comfortable. To equipment I will need, I am almost
there or in the middle of doing it. The fund raising for the rest is going to be
a strict way to live for a while. No sudden expenditure splurges or
destructively expensive bills can be accommodated. If the car dies, it stays
dead, I can't afford to pay loads of maintenance for this vehicle and save up
to buy a motorhome. If I have a pile of debts I can't save so I am ending a
cycle of living on my overdraft even as I write. It began to feel (at one
stage) as if I were back in the old days of being a student again, making one
penny do the work of five.... but I AM getting there. Just a tad tired
currently, but still keen to carry on.
Dora’s' Daughter the Explorer....is moving forwards.
