Day 87 of the End to End was my third full day on WHW and would take me through Tyndrum where we had camped overnight.
This had allowed us to become reacquainted with the midges but not with the red squirrels which were shyer. If I have any LEJOG regrets it’s not seeing red squirrels, although I did see lots of other fabulous things.
Tyndrum is an essential stop on the WHW strung out along the main road with everything the walker requires. We’ve stopped there quite a few times, although it can be quite midgy.
I was able to have a lunchtime rest at the campsite before continuing on to a lay by a short distance up the Way towards Bridge of Orchy. I was getting further into the hills.
One year on, it’s day 3 of my unplanned stay at Tameside Hospital. As the world carries on outside, inside is a hive of continuous activity.
I was brought up by two NHS nurses, my mum and her sister, my aunt, who was a ward sister. Her ward was called Lazarus Ward, which seems a highly appropriate name. Things were always busy, but in the years since I was last in hospital I’d forgotten quite what this is like.
Things bleep, observations are carried out, medicine dispensed, care offered, we are fed and watered. It’s a huge undertaking.
Visitors stay away, hearts beat, tears flow: it’s a cosmos of co-operating energy. Now we breathe together one more time.
From the remembered gospel: Jesus stood outside and shouted ‘Lazarus, come out!’
Cosmic Christ, as you hung on for us,
May we hang on for each other.
May the coming out time come soon and safely.
As the hive Co-operates to produce sweetness,
So may the co-operation of all here,
Find fruit in the sweetness of support given and received.
May new life be shared amongst us.
JAL 11.07.2028 in Tameside Hospital, Ashton-under-Lyne.