Alarmist Talk

Some of our friends are a bit concerned about us flying, after me publishing alarmist comments about the approaching tropical cyclone Ului, which was, and still is, heading towards the Queensland coast of Australia.

In fact we are now in the Northern hemisphere - just, because Singapore is marginally north of the Equator.

The latest news of the cyclone is here:

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/cyclone-ului-weakens-still-bound-for-coast-20100318-qg5v.html

It has weakened to Category 2, although according to the report it is still producing winds of 165 kms per hour. And it seems to have veered north and on that course will miss major population centres (as I understand the geography).

There are 57 days to go to the start of VBW. Interestingly, it was '57 when I first visited Singapore.

Thin Week

We are just limbering up to head to Brisbane's airport. The flight is to Singapore, where we have one overnight before catching a 14-hr flight to Singapore. That flight starts at midnight.

Cyclone Ului is still heading this way but is scheduled to arrive Friday or Saturday. I don't know if that will affect the airport but if so we should be long gone.

So far we have managed two 19 kms walks this week and will probably not be able to fit in much more, so it will be a bit of a thin week, distance-wise. The training begins again in earnest when we get home, which will be before the end of the month.

Stormy Weather ....

We managed to get 19 kms walking in today, 13 kms in the 6 am walk along the seafront of Moreton Bay (Queensland, Australia) and another 6 kms around the city centre. That is a good start to the week, but I am not sure how much more walking we will manage to get in this week - a week which will see us shift our position by approaching 20,000 kms.

Tomorrow we go away with John and Gail overnight - Tuesday to Wednesday. We then spend another night with them at their home before flying off to Singapore on Thursday. Friday night we have a 14-hour overnight flight to Manchester before finishing the week with a two night stay in Ambleside. I suspect that schedule does not leave much room for walking.

I mention the Thursday flight from Brisbane to Singapore with a certain amount of finger-crossing. There are a couple of cyclones lurking in the Pacific, one of which shows an inclination to possibly hit the Queensland coast "approaching the weekend". Thursday feels ominously near the weekend if Cyclone Ului decides to speed things up a bit. Already the seas are demonstrating, and the cyclone is currently 1500 kms away. Watch this space.

Soft Drinks Almost Double Your Chances Of Getting Pancreatic Cancer

We stopped at a cafe while out for our walk this morning. I had a quick look at the newspapers.

Only yesterday we were discussing with Gail and John about what a dreadful illness pancreatic cancer is. I had previously read that eating fatty meat is one of the principal causes, but in today's paper I discovered another cause.

A study of 60,000 people over 14 years has revealed that those who regularly consume soft drinks have almost twice the incidence of pancreatic cancer as those people who do not use soft drinks.

There is lots on the Internet about this, but there is a report at this address:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/02/09/2814559.htm

The Kindness Of Strangers, Part The Umpteenth

We are at Woody Point, near Brisbane, staying with John and Gail Brady. It has been a very rainy and windy night. We have just had an extremely bracing 13kms walk with John along the sea front here. The sandblasting of our faces, arms and legs on the way back was most therapeutic. Gay says people pay to have that done to their bodies.

On the way back I stopped off for a haircut. Carolyn and I talked of this and that, including VBW, as she chopped at my locks. When it came time to pay, she said, "No charge. Please put the money in the fund for Pancreatic Cancer. I think it is marvellous what you are doing". Only a few weeks ago my podiatrist in Christchurch, Nick Haley, did the same thing.

I had to go onto the JustGiving website to put the donation, and the message, in on her behalf. I noticed while on there that our friend Kerri had recently made a donation of which I was not aware. The two donations together have now taken the fund to 40% of the 7,000 pound target I have set.

Once again, thank you to so many people, many of them completely unknown to me, who have helped me to get the fund to this point. This is a very deserving cause. All cancers are horrible, but there have been great strides in the treatment of most cancers. With pancreatic cancer there has been no progress in the past 50 years and, in my experience, the life expectancy after diagnosis is a very few weeks.

Thank You New Zealand

Tomorrow we fly out of New Zealand, having walked many hundreds of kilometres here. This is something which would have been difficult if we had stayed at home. Europe has a very difficult winter this time. This very morning there are TV reports of the French Riviera being deep in snow! While writing this, I have discovered that there is deep snow at home as well.

New Zealand, its weather and its people have been as kind to us as usual. I mentioned a short while ago that we have been showered with gifts and support. When we left Hokitika, Adele and Brian of 252 Beachside Motel gave us a good discount, then presented a gift package as we left. The package contained two pairs of Merinotech walking socks and a box of chocolates for Gay.

Here in Oxford, Robin and Denise have been their usual kind, helpful and supportive selves. We had a good night out with them and some of their friends on Sunday. Denise’s Ribblesdale Gardens are magnificent and a tourist attraction.

This morning we drive into Christchurch and book into the Annabelle Court Motel. This puts us into position for a couple of walks across Hagley Park to the city centre, which will help us to bag more than 10 kms for the day. Jo and Tracy always make us feel welcome.

We have so many friends here. And most of them have contributed through this blog to Pancreatic Cancer research. Excellently so, and I feel there is more to come. If the same proportion of my friends and acquaintances in UK and other countries can achieve the same levels, I will easily achieve my target of £7000. At the moment, the fund is at 39% of that.

Thank you, New Zealand. See you next year.

A Lull In Training

We have finished the heavy training in Hanmer and have moved to Oxford. We are here for three days. On Wednesday we go into Christchurch to spend our last night in New Zealand at the Annabelle Court Motel before heading to the airport early on Thursday for the flight to Brisbane.

So there will be a bit of a lull in the training until we reach Brisbane. Our normal pattern there is a sea-front walk with John and Gail Brady at six in the morning, to avoid the heat and humidity certain to arrive later in the day. However, John warns us that "monsoon" conditions have been prevailing lately, with torrential rain keeping them confined to quarters, where they are suffering from "cabin fever". We shall see.

The picture was taken a few days ago and is just an example of the pleasurable sights which catch they eye while out walking.

Referring to the above lull in training, there may also be lulls in bloggery until the end of the month, when we arrive home to prepare for the start of VBW. I am not sure how much Internet access we shall have at the various points of our travels.