DARREN HAMILTON - ROAD TRIPS WITH A CLUSTERY VIEW

NORTH TO DERBY

Hi all, a very special cluster bus road trip indeedy, this is the first time a cher has come along for a day out, so heading north to derby to meet up with Gearardine and her family, a wonderful young lady with sadly so meny painful medical complications as well as cch, o2, suma and plenty of munchies packed with the useual kit as well, im cruseing up the m1 to a place I found on google maps out the way near a river under some trees to shade me in the morning, all peace full, apart from my 1.30 attack and a screechy owl that had a lot to say, sun up beans an coffee , with bemused early morning joggers and dog walkers, yes i had sleeping bag hair,, i caught up with gearadine around 11.30 ish, so coffee and catch up, it was good to have healty conversation, and her insight like her wisdom shone through her smiles, meds o2, ice packs ect we jump in the cluster bus and head for the country park,, trying my best to smooth out the bends avoid pot holes (not the first lady with fybro ive given lifts to but the first cher) we arrived , the park was lovley, path ways amongst the trees, victorian rock follys around the pond, we wandered chatted, pondred each others points of view, the day was warm, humid by the pond where fish swam lazly at the surface, we followed the path in dappled pools of sun light , dust motes hung in the air, the heady smell of roadadmderons in bloom, the pair of us enjoying the sun but sticking to the shade, smiles and sunglasses, at the castle we missed the tea room, so looked for the ornimental gardens, wandered through mixed woods planted 200years ago,, monkey puzzel here and there, mullbury trees, and a healthy oak standing proud in a paddock its companion of the centurys now cut down , on we strolled past the pond where we were bedeviled by candaian geese gathered on the lawns hisst as we pasted, i remined them of the food chain,and all was well, we eventulay found the walled garden, it was shut , being a gentalman i offered to help with a shin up over the wall, but the lady declined,, we occasinaly sat and rested and chatted in a languidge that only chers realy under stood, speeking of shadows numbers and triggers at benches around the park, I was deeply hounered and heart broken to hear gearadines pain full story, but learned so much from her uneek point of view putting my own life in real perspective for the first time regards cluster and my journey with cluster, I now count myself very lucky im only cch get attacks most every nite, but I do have good days, im not permantly bed bound or wired to a machine, so I try to make the most of those pain free moments and live them to the full, now odd clouds drifting slowly passed so with shadows on the ground and shadows in our heads we head home ward,, it was heart warming to see gearadine out and enjoying, and heart breaking to know the pain she gos through so much every day, always good conversation and company, im always left feelin humble in a way, putting my own experiences in to perspective, with the setting sun and so much more to chat about, we say fair wells, miles to do time to think, alot of the things we talked about will be lost in time to my clustery brain, but if all i remember is gerardines smile, it will still be a good trip, dx

What a lovely destination Darren, a smile shared...it's a pleasure to post your stories, they're beautifully written.

Dorothy

DARREN'S OCTOBER ROAD TRIP WITH MISS KITTY (hello Miss Kitty!)

Hi all, just a short road trip from oct,, this is a frend and cher, miss kitty b, from nottingham, shes done her bit for raising awareness for ch couple years ago, we both lost our jobs about the same time due to ch and unreasonable bosses, also no suma or o2 at that time,, befor we found ouch and all thje ch info we needed to make life better, as well as frends and good support of course, i had called in a month befor as she had her pip assesment and wanted it recording for more evedence of the dwp wrong diongs to submitt at later date, as she had 2attacks during the assesment the assesor sead she has to cancil hte assesment as she couldent answer questions during an attack useing o2 and screaming, so i sead do you think she can cook wash and prepare a simple meal during an attack??? because this is the condition your asessing!! she still carryied on askling questions, we had to fight for another assesment and prove the first assesment took place, the dwp denied this even with our tapeing it, we won, new assesment, this time i went in the cluster bus as miss k wanted to see it, so off to nottingham,, i love the way autum changes the land scape, trees turning all coulors, brows ,reds, orange hues,, syicamor trees looking as if on fire when the suns behind them, and a slight chill in the air, the assesment went well, (we think it went well still waiting for the report and pack of lies that come with it), sat in her garden is so nice, as she keen gardener and animal lover, there was a few birds that visited,, i should have taken some picks, both felling peckish we went to find a pastery shop, and a little run out in the cluster bus,, she always loved landys so we took the long route, as she knew i do love a bit of celtic knot work we went to a local church to see this bit of knot work stunning, we sat chatted and munched, catching up on life in genral, she the salt of the earth type always a smile and garenteed to life the spirits,, so when fair wells were sead the road was calling, a day well spent a smile on my clustery face all the way home,,

A WINTER'S TALE - Darren Hamilton

hi all, heres a winters tail of beuity and the beast,,, twas a dark nite in october when a frend suggested camping, to which i aggreed cch allowing of course, in december,,, well as im keen on getting out all wethers and the cold is good for my cch, weeks passed as time like the miles passed by, dec came round and time to prepare for a cold camp, a check of the wether and snow hi winds and minus 10 around Monmouth where i will be heading, now the senceble would say duck fat or sumthing like that im sure, but i half thort of taking the bike as i have done for meny years, but looking at the pile of stuff to take plus 2portables and a large o2 as well, enuff suma for a week, well the cluster bus now has a radio, ok i take the landy then, as i wanted to be there befor the snow arrived i set off thurs eve, following the m4 to wales, is like twin snakes side by side, i was part of the red snake, while the white snake came the other way with blinding lights that piereced my eyes with pain, by the time i got to the bridge my eye was streaming my not so frendly shadow was ever present and making a fuss to be noticed, so at chepstow some where on the a466 i pull over, set the trangea up to boil some water on the bonnet while i sit in the back on o2, the cloud of steam across the winscreen told me waters boiled, after the rush of m4 this back road was quiet nice and quiet, but talk about twisty, it would give llanberis pass a run for its money, i arrived gone 11ish exchanged greetings and set about putting the tent and tarp up, in no time at all i was sat under cover and making a brew and bite to eat, as it was late i headed for bed, fri morning came after a clustery nite, my 2ish and 5ish attacks were on form and vicious, as we all know, so the day started slowly for me, meeting new faces chatting and making plans for more redickuless trips as men do,, shadows were persistent as my trips to the tent for o2, a good few turned up on friday good to see, fri nite the temp realy dropped , clear sky all the stars out with the moon rising about 2am, the intence cold muffelled all sound like a deep freezer, the landy like the tent was covered in thick frost biting cold, so that nite i wrapped up in my 2duvets, (glamping) thermals and shirt, by 3 i over heated and had major ch attack, franticly grasping for the o2 in the dark covered in sweat shaking badly and not from the cold, i light the torch desparatly looking for suma and the pierceing light brought fresh waves of agony i shut my eyes and prepared the jab, dimly i hear voices but cant think, ive stipped off to cool down sucking hard on o2 the suma taking for ever to work, i sit head aganst the side of the tent shaking from the pain, slowly the suma works ,that odd feeling as it creeps from the back of my head to the front blissfully taking the pain away, moments pass,, now pain free exhusted from the fight, i wonder why im doing this, arms and legs now numb with cold i reach for my shirt and find my hair has frozen to the tent, this is when i start laffing, and laffin hard, this is exactly why im here, suggling back down the inside of the tent is like a million stars twinkleing away to the torch lite, saterday was good with flurrys of snow at last, and by the morning the land scape was stunning, sunday morning saw 8inches of snow and more falling, by 10ish i was packed away coffee and bacon sarnie in my hand, with some miles to do and all day to do it, let the adventure begin, i headed for gloster but didnt get the far as a lorry blocked the a40 and the cops the m5, ok across country i go, just to note i had 4days of food and water with me plus all the warm wether gear, prepared to say the least, the picks dosent do the journy justice the land was stunningly beutifull, trees straining with the load of fresh snow , broken branches and the odd fallen tree, the brightness played hell with my eyes making driving into the sun with snow so painfull even with my shades on, but i suffered and enjoyed at the smae time, towed few cars up hills and one out of a ditch, some of the hills i couldent get up meaning i had a 4mile reverse at one point and lost control twice going down hills at 5mph, luckly that was on empty back lanes, i slowly passed through gloster and on to swindon where the snow like me smiles faded as the miles went by, by newbry there was little snow to be seen, and none at home apert from the thick wedge on my roof of the cluster bus, it was an exhusting trip, ch painfull at times, and i had ever excuse not to go, stay warm safe at home, senceble like, but wheres the fun in that? a caution tho camping in minus tempitures can and dose kill if not experienced, but if you can all the winter beuty is there for you even if we travel with the beast,,,,

What beautiful photos Darren! You surpassed yourself with these shots. Well done on clearing that obstruction. Not bad for a clustery clusterhead...