Bob in the Desert

As of today (that is assuming that you are reading this on Friday 16) it is just seven weeks until I leave for Morocco.  I can’t wait now, just want to get on with it – and see some sunshine.

I guess I’m pretty much as ready as I can be, the training has gone really well (thanks Pete) and I am now seven kilos lighter than when I started training for real in October.  That doesn’t tell the whole picture, as the extra work has meant that I have bulked up a bit too – all that extra muscle.  Maybe I should reconsider Dizzie’s calendar idea.  Or not.

We – say we, I mean me – are adding to the training routine now, this means I am in the gym most evenings and weekends.  I’m also out walking at the weekends averaging around 12 - 15 miles a day - you soon find out where your boots rub this way, but better to discover that now than on 9th March…  Additionally I have just about cut all alcohol out of my diet and am living on high protein foods.  God knows how my family puts up with it.

Today, though, I have to mention the doctors.  In the pack I received from the travel company there was a list of vaccinations that I have to have.  The usual polio and typhoid were there, also hepatitis A for good measure. When I spoke to the practice nurse to make the appointment she took great delight in telling me that I needed to add hepatitis B, malaria and – wait for it – rabies to the list too.  And the rabies one is a course of four shots.  I did ask whether I could have them as a cocktail – all in one shot – but apparently this was likely to do me some harm.  So I now feel like a practice target for Phil ‘ The Power ‘ Taylor.  180 my ar*e – literally!

And just to add insult to injury I had to pay £120 for the rabies shots…

We had a meeting of the hard souls who are going to make up the Shedweb team to take on the mighty cherrypickers in April in a fundraising match.  A valiant lot they are too, given that the ‘Pickers only know one way to play – the old school Gloucester way.  Although the scrums are uncontested the rest of the contact areas will be.  Let’s hope the St Johns Ambulance guys are in training too.

Fundraising has been fantastic!  The sale of prints of Andy’s cartoons has pushed me through the £4000 mark and there is more to come.  I revised my target up to £5k a week or so ago, perhaps I need to nudge it on a bit further.  Thank you everyone.

That’s enough for now – I have to stand up.  For some reason it is very
painful to sit down at the moment…

I’ve just looked at the calendar… only just over eight weeks until I go – that’s a bit scary.  What’s a bit more scary is the fact that Pete, my fitness guru, has promised to ‘step up the training’ once we got into the New Year.  To misquote Scotty from Star Trek ‘… I’m not sure (s)he’ll make it, Captain…”

Over the last couple of days I have been out walking the streets – no not the result of some typical Christmas domestic situation, or a cheap attempt to sell my body to pay off Christmas debts – supplementing gym work with real road work (I sound like a boxer now!).  Although it has been pretty cold here, walking the hills and lanes around Gloucester makes me realise what a fantastic part  of the world I live in. 

And having walked over Coopers Hill yesterday (walking off the previous evening’s excesses) I am now convinced that anyone who takes part in the May Day Cheese Rolling event is, without question, certifiable.  That is one steep hill to climb, and is murder to walk down let alone career down after a slab of double Gloucester.

The hardest part of walking is trying not to look like a pillock when I leave home.  Whcihever way I walk I am heading through residential areas for a while, and I guess I just feel a bit self conscious walking out with a rucksack and stuff.  Once I am out in the countryside it’s fine though and as I invariably end up in Esporta at Brockworth I don’t have to worry about coming home -  I get my other half to come and get me!

If you check in on the just giving site you will see that the total is now over £3,000, thanks everyone.  The caricatures that Andy has drawn of the rugby players are creating a lot of interest, they will add to the total in a big way, as will the sale of the originals.  Andy is working on a special picture for James Forrester at the moment, I think he intends to do something with it at his testimonial dinner in January.

So that’s it for now, Happy New Year to everyone – I hope it brings you everything you could hope for.