The holiday, cancer and me

Hi guys.........I kept a diary last year whilst on my holiday that I didn't think I would make because of my cancer, so here goes! Has soon as my feet touched the stern of Elvind, it was like coming home to an old friend. how a 48 foot narrowboat could make the last seven months of hell vanish into oblivion and leave you with a strong sense of peace and satisfaction, looking only forward into the future is unreal. It is October 2008, autumn is late arriving on the Llagollen canal, but when autumn does appear, mother nature flaunts her palate of golds, yellows, bronzes and oranges to their very finest, which supplies a wellcomnig feast to the eye and makes you glad to be alive. In October of last year, my long term partner, Kevin and I were on the same boat,on the same canal, just totally relaxing from the stress of our jobs and day to day living. Two glorious weeks to chillout, eat and drink to much before returning back to the normal, hum drum, bulls**t way of life. We didn't have a clue that five months later, nothing would or could ever be the same again. I was diagnosed early March of this year, 2008, with ovarian cancer and started my first chemo on the 19th of that month. Everything changed on the day I was told,not just for me, but for my family, my friends, infact everyone who knew me. So here we are, Kev and I on our much needed holiday, not knowing if this will be our last one together, but if it does turn out that way, Kev will have some good memories of this trip, and I will know that I reached my first goal and had the best time ever with him, because of him and for him. There is an amazing sense of peace just sitting here watching the world go by and looking along the banks of the canal that haven't been cleared for walkers, which is a mass entanglement of brambles, bindweed, with it's large white bell shaped flowers and small acorn seedlings,nettles and grasses amongst many other speies of plants, the names of which escape me. The sounds of small birds protesting the presence of yet another boat passing,while they camouflage themselves in the hawthorn trees bearing masses of red berries, a feast for over wintering birds. The boat engine happily chugging at a steady pace, no rush to go anywhere, occasionally passing red-bricked large detached houses, sitting in the middle of no where. How lucky these home owners appear to be. So oppisite to our normal lives, just peace and quiet, escapism in the extreme, being left alone, no one intruding in your life,seeing others if and when you choose to. Going along the canal and seeing a pub and decideing to stop because you can and because you really want to and enjoying every minute of it, enjoying the company, the conversation and the laughter. So far from normality,it should not have to end............but it does. (next part to follow soon)