20 September 2012

When the electrical fault manifested itself, a couple of days ago, the culprit turned out to be a small strip light over a built in dressing table. This, in turn affected the circuit from which the bathroom heater ran. I was pleased to learn last evening that this had been corrected and I could resume my showers, instead of the body wash I had had yesterday.

I learned, two or three weeks ago, that my keyword worker, and Ross Nursing, Craig and a colleague, Sarah, intended to climb Ben Nevis (the highest mountain in Scotland) in aid of the MND Association. Apparently Craig organised this climb in conjunction with the MND Association, with sponsorship forms, T-shirts and the like. As soon as I heard this I asked Craig to send me a copy of the sponsorship form which I would send to my friends and colleagues from whom I have only ever asked for sponsorship once in the last five years. Even as late as last evening I was still asking for a copy of these forms (from Sarah) as I was told this climb was to take place this forthcoming weekend. Although there will be nothing to stop me asking for sponsorship after the event, is not quite the same as asking for it before with the element of uncertainty that may will achieve it.

As I understand it the intrepid pair (or it might have been trio) set off at 4.00 a.m. for the drive to the starting place for the climb. It is unfortunate that they have chosen the very weekend when the overnight temperature, around Ben Nevis, is forecast to plummet to 4% centigrade, Not that our gang will be climbing at night but such a low night temperature will obviously affect the daytime temperature and they will have enough to contend with without having to put up with exceptionally cold weather.

The mountain is the highest in the British Isles. Standing at 1344 m above sea level, it is located at the western end of the Grampian Mountains in the Lochaber area of the Scottish Highlands close to the town of Fort William. It is a popular destination, contracting an estimated 100,000 ascents, a year, mainly charity sponsored.

Over the past couple of weeks I have found that my weak voice cannot be easily heard through the hands off, loudspeaker, telephone. This means that any important calls I have to make, or receive, Alice has to be with me to repeat my request for response. Fortunately I have found that moving the Buddy Gooseneck microphone closer to my mouth it is still possible to dictate to my blog entry with a 99% accuracy has before. This is the value of this extremely sensitive microphone as I can scarcely dictate at much over a whisper. This is good news from my point of view as my readers will know that I was concerned that my very quiet voice might have spelt the end of the daily blog, It still might but for the time being we have a reprieve.