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Day 63 is a combination of Thursday and Friday and has seen 12 miles walked and 3 pots of tea shared.

Thursday saw 6 miles walked and Siobhan and Laura back over determined to raise my pots of tea shared statistic, say hello and get a selfie with me! We had a great chat over a pot of tea with two of us drinking the tea and one sipping on her drink made fae girders!! There were many funny moments with the banter between the two but all too soon it was time for them to go and not a selfie between us. It turns out that they hadn’t done their hair again!! Next time.

Thursday evening saw my cousin Harry arrive from the South for a conference in Kilmarnock tomorrow. He was coming to stay which was great news as it had been many years since we had had the opportunity to have a proper catch up. He was even very polite about my first attempt at a Beef Stroganoff with Basmati rice, fresh spinach and a mushroom, onion and gherkin salad. Sounded revolting but good old Jamie Oliver – it was great.

Friday saw a further 6 miles walked. 2 in the morning, 3 at lunch time and then 1 this evening but more importantly I had the morning to talk more with Harry and share a pot of coffee. I had such a lot to tell him. I finished with a story about one of my last jobs in which I worked for a General with the United States Marine Corps who achieved such a huge amount on his mission by doing one thing – listening. He moved mountains by listening and it was only after I had hugged Harry and waved him goodbye that I realised how good I felt. Tired but uplifted. Why? We were talking for ages. Then it struck me. ‘I’ was talking for ages. Harry listened. I don’t know if he felt that I just needed to offload or just needed company but he stayed longer than he perhaps should have to get to his conference in time. He stayed, walked with me and as we searched for some Salmon in the River Teith – he just listened. Thank you Harry that was hugely rewarding for me – I just wish that I had asked you more questions. Next time.

Then Pat called and asked me to pop over to her house. I thought she was going to tell me off for my escapade in the river but no. Instead she gave me a whole bag of brilliant goodies for the raffle at the fundraising tea for the challenge at the Buttercup Café on Sunday. I was stunned by her generosity and so we had a cup of tea each and a good chat with Pat and her son Matthew while I listened and picked up some good advice and ideas on how to manage the epilepsy. Thank you for your generosity today Pat for both the Raffle for the challenge but also with your time for me.

So it has been a quiet couple of days physically but a brilliant couple of days for friendship. Even better is that the weather forecast looks good for tomorrow so there is a very good chance that I can actually complete a particular challenge I have attempted and failed to complete so far twice before. God Willing.

Have a great weekend.