A NIGHT IN THE COUNTRY LANES

By Angela Profit on Feb 7, 09 04:33 PM

John and I had a long standing dinner date with our friends Kay and Brian. Problem was John had double booked with a Rotary Burns Night and so I found myself having to go solo to their dinner party.That didn't trouble me too much as I love meeting new people, but when I discovered the M42 was closed and John had programmed a completely unknown route for me on his TomTom, that did bother me. I found myself travelling down dark country lanes not knowing where or when I was going to come onto a lit road. When I finally arrived at Kay's warm welcoming house, the other ladies there said that they would never consider doing a journey like that, but at least I could go home via the M42 I thought.

After a really great evening at 12.30am I headed for the M42 only to find that it was closed going South. My only way home was back down those horrible dark country lanes. I hadn't used a TomTom before and none of us at the dinner table could turn the thing off so when I finally got back on the route home as soon as I hit the blackness my TomTom stopped working and now I was on my own trying to remember where to turn down those dark unfamiliar lanes to reach home. An hour later I arrived completely wrecked from the experience only for John to say lovingly from his warm bed "It's good experience for you" Grrr, do any of you ladies out there agree with him?

Kay & I at my 65th Birthday Party

I got my stress and anger out of my system in my Tai Chi session and a yoga class restored my inner calm. I am amazed how they can really help both your physical and emotional well being.

John and I went to catch "The Reader" at the Stratford upon Avon Cinema.It was an old,small, intimate cinema and it was like going back in time as we queued up the stairs waiting for the cashier to sell us our tickets and our sweeties.I enjoyed it so much more than these large impersonal multi screened complexes and the film was excellent.

The next day I was heading for the centre of Coventry with Mike, my co tutor on The Living with Cancer Course we are teaching at the Coventry Central Hall starting the 24th February for 6 weeks. We had gone to do a recce and an interview for the Coventry Telegraph. The venue is great, right in the centre of Coventry and I am sure the course will help those who have signed up to be able to live better lives with cancer and also to take control of their lives again. Your life is shattered when you are first told you have cancer and. I wish there had been a course like this when I was first diagnosed and struggled to find ways of coping with the disease.We become like a close knit family over the weeks and I gain so much reward from seeing people change and blossom and have hope again.I almost forget when I am helping people on the course that I too am a cancer patient.