#metaphor life is like a slow puncture - it always needs pumping up!

Am I really going to write this. I have no idea where it is going. My avid readers - ha! will know of my early morning bike ride.

A couple of weeks ago I noticed the back tyre on my trusty steed was losing air. It was going soft. Bummer - I have a slow puncture. I quickly pump the tyre up. It stayed hard - but I know with punctures they only normally go one way. They get worse - but maybe it won't. I will give it a go. 2 weeks later I still haven't fixed it. It is marginally worse but I can eek it out a bit longer - I want to avoid the grotty job of fixing the puncture for as long as I can. Can I fix it anyway - maybe wiser to start from new? Maybe there is STILL a chance it will go away - fix itself - come good after all! But you fool of course it will not fix itself. You will have to deal with it eventually. Sort it out now before it really causes you a bigger problem!

This is the metaphor determined on the outward leg of my bike ride this morning. "Life is like a slow puncture" - it needs regular pumping up and/or ultimately fixing - ha! Maybe not the most positive thought for the day - but actually it is not all bad news. I am not sure why but it is making me chuckle - I had a fantastic bike ride this morning on a partially inflated back tyre - so not everything in life has to be perfect!

The bike ride. Early morning - amazingly bright and clear. It is Saturday - no vehicles around at all. The tide is out a long way. I am looking down the Solent. Portsmouth is clear as a bell. I am standing up in the pedals. There is a strong north westerly. It is so cold. Gloves needed. I have to pedal hard - the slow puncture is making me work harder - but I love the effort it takes - a battle to make progress - but it is good - it is so fresh - and I am on the Island on a bike - not caught up on the inner Pompy motorway in a car - this gives me satisfaction too. Eventually I get to Ryde Harbour and turn around. It is like entering another world. Suddenly the wind is behind - no cold anymore - gloves off - and wow the early morning sun - still low in the east but now as spring is underway - warm. I am literally bathed in this wonderfully warm yellow light. The pedals turn easily - the wind is my friend. Stop - I the think about a metaphor - to do with life and head winds and tail winds and helping and hindering and reward for effort - but one metaphor is enough for today! I really enjoyed my bike ride with a half inflated tyre - but it will need to be fixed I guess !

#JuniorDoctorsStrike why they are right

I am rather pushed for time this morning but I am so furious with the Gov't and so much in support of Junior Doctors that I will spend 10 minutes writing this to maintain my sanity - ha! Here are some points in no particular order:

• First of all while Junior Doctors have withdrawn emergency care - I believe they have only done so in the full knowledge that their consultant colleagues (the most experienced doctors - who incidentally fully support the Junior Doctors action) will be providing emergency care in their place. There is no risk to patients. This has been fully planned and agreed. Junior Doctors are not self serving or irresponsible.
• Doctors & the NHS differentiate between emergency service and elective service. Most of the public do not understand what elective means.
• Elective means - non emergency - when you make an appointment to visit the hospital.
• The Gov't says it has a manifesto right/obligation to organise a 7 day NHS. They do.
• But what does a 7 day NHS service mean? Don't we already have one?
• Yes we do - a fantastic 7 day emergency service with junior doctors working hard 7 days a week to staff it.
• Do we have a fully 7 day elective service. No not fully but many elective operations etc are carried out at weekends.
• Why do we not have a fully elective 7 day service? Because it takes huge resources. Not just doctors and nurses, but administrators, porters, pharmacists, radiographers - blood testing etc etc.

The Junior Doctors position is while the Government have a manifesto commitment to bring in a 7 day elective service it has neither been properly planned and is dangerously under resourced.

The Government is trying to create a cost neutral 7 day elective service using resources currently barely funding a 5 day one.

Junior Doctors rightly are arguing this is madness. They are arguing until there is a proper plan and adequately resourced, stretching existing resources already at breaking point will be dangerous for patients, terrible for NHS morale and detrimental to the well being and sustainability of vocational care by doctors and nurses.

Their position has been totally misrepresented and characterised by Jeremy Hunt. He says it is just about Saturday pay. He says the BMA are misrepresenting and duping Junior Doctors. This is a total insult and totally disrespectful to some of our brightest, most hardworking and most caring young people.

To cap it all Hunt has perpetually used a statistic which is a lie and known to be a lie. He says 11000 deaths are caused because we do not have a 7 day NHS. It is obvious that a higher proportion of people are going to die at weekends if the patients being admitted at weekends are proportionally a much higher percentage of emergency cases. Those same emergency cases taken in on weekdays would have the same outcomes. The misuse of this statistic massively upsets the medical profession.

So to sum up. Hunt and the government are playing politics. They are looking for votes by claiming to have created a fully 7 day NHS. However they do not have a coherent sustainable plan which is adequately resourced to bring it about. They have been found out about by Junior Doctors and the rest of the medical profession who support them. They know it will be dangerous for patients. They know there is not enough resources. They know the application of skills will be stretched even thinner. They vocationally care. How can they agree to an extended 7 day elective service if they know it will undermine and create danger in the existing 5+ day elective service. They are fighting for these issues to be properly understood and addressed. We must get behind them. It is in everyone's interest to do so.

#BrightonMarathon2016 James Shoulder's story

James is one of my three sons (I also have a wonderful daughter). James is the middle son in as much as he was born 20 minutes after his identical twin brother George. Without going into more detail than is necessary this is something my daughter wrote recently:

My amazing brother James Shoulder is running the Brighton marathon for Save the Children.
He has been running for about five years now but with a birth weight of less than two pounds and a very rocky start there were many years when we couldn't imagine him running at all. He has overcome so many challenges and is one of my biggest heros. A real fighter that just runs and runs until someone tells him to stop. Please sponsor him if you can. Just a pound would make all the difference to such a fantastic cause. Proud of you Jimbo.

James was tiny and premature when he was born as a result of Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome. See http://www.tttsfoundation.org/

We have always been quite a sporting family. Much of James's childhood was spent living in a squash club. He can play badminton well - but he won't mind me saying he was never been one for over exertion. We all laugh about it now. James's school sports day when he was about 11 or 12. The race was 2 laps of the sports field. It turned into a most compelling spectacle. James was running next to last - miles behind. Two girls were behind James and running and walking holding hands. When the girls did the run burst they always overtook James. They would then walk and James still running overtook them. This battle continued. In the end James was pipped at the post! He wasn't too bothered. There was little sign of the excellence to come - ha!

Anyway 5 or 6 years ago James started running. Reluctantly at first but brother George was doing it and encouraged James and James also ran with the local running group at the IOW Sports Club. (who have been brilliant - particularly Phil Bell, Cathy, Catherine, Mick and Simon). Gradually he got into it and everyone encouraged him. (again James won't mind me saying - the challenge with James has always been deciding whether he had done his best and deserved a slap on the back or he was being lazy and could do better and needed a bit of a proverbial kick up the backside - ha!.) He moaned sometimes but he loved it really. The rest is history. James has proved dogged. Of course he has exactly the same genes as George and George ran the Paris marathon in under 3 hours. James has gradually built up the distances and it has been fantastic to see. It has been great for him. He has finally found the bottom of his lungs and it has been tremendous for him physically and spiritually. His achievements have been massive and we are so proud of him.

I have written a related blog before :

http://davidshoulder60onwards.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/parismarathon-2015.html

The Istanbul run we did together and the Paris Marathon with the 3 boys was a fantastic emotional high. Brighton was different. James had spent months preparing on his own. We had supported him riding beside on a bike but for many dark evenings and cold days he was out there on his own putting the mileage in. George calculated James had run 400 hundred maybe 500 miles in preparing for Brighton - an amazing effort. On the day he was running on his own. This was James. When we walked around the expo on the Saturday it was all so real. When we walked to the start he was nervous and in a bit of a zone - he wanted to get started - to get it done. I felt very emotional when I left him. He was in a crowd of 10000 yes but James was on his own. He was doing it. The Brighton Marathon it turns out is not a flat marathon - it is quite an undulating course especially in the first half. The supporting crowds are good and the main thing is we could criss cross the course and have viewing points at various stages in the race. We saw James at 3 and then 5 miles - going great and smiling and we were able to shout encouragement that he heard and grinned. We couldn't catch up with him again until the 14 mile mark - still going well but understandably not such a big smile. These times are very emotional when you shout out his name in a big field. We see him at 24 miles. Not much fun for him now but he is going to get there. He is going to do it and his time - not the most important thing by any means is by a long way a personal best. We rush to the finish but of course it is mayhem and as with all marathons the crowd are kept away from all finishing runners as they funnel in. We have in theory agreed a meeting point in the Marathon Village on the beach but it is so busy and of course runners are disorientated. We want to get to him quickly to see he is ok. Plans do not work out but thankfully George picks out James and by the time I see him he is in the Save the Children tent wrapped in a foil blanket. Initially he seems in a bad way. He is cold and shivering and his arm for some reason is killing him. We get some clothes on him, sugar and hot drinks and an amazing transformation. He massively perks up, The huge smile returns - great to see indeed. He has a massage, photos, more food - his time is fanatastic - 4 hrs 8 mins. He has done that all on his own - no pacing - no time keeping - just dogged non stop running. Amazing and tear jerking. James now has a sense of what of he has done and it is now evident all the pain and agony and thoughts of why am I doing this dissipate and it seems to become - it was all worth it. He wears his medal proudly. He shares a bond and mutual respect with all the other tired runners in the crowd. This is a fantastic thing. Eventually we find our way to a pub - for food and a drink and to talk about the race. It is brilliant to see the interaction between runners and James has a great time recounting his thoughts and rightly so proud of his time.

Sat here a proud dad - thinking how proud his late mum Cherry and grandparents would be too. Please understand this indulgement - I have been thinking about some of the things James has done so far and I started listing them in my head. James I have written them down for you as a prompt. Here are some I remember. :

• Worked for 14 years at the Elms and as far as I can remember has hardly missed a day through illness or been late for any reason under his control.
• Walked the Wight and done the Randonee many times.
• Has done the three peaks.
• Has done 3 separate weeks on Tall Ships.
• Has been to Finland twice and slept in an ice cave inside the Arctic Circle.
• Has been to most of the countries in Western and Southern Europe.
• Has been to New York and the top of the Empire State building.
• Spent a month in India
• Been to Gambia (jumped into the River Gambia from a great height!) and Senegal
• Travelled across the Sinai Desert to Cairo.
• Been into the burial chamber deep in the middle of one of the Great Pyramids of Giza
• Been to the very top of Mt Teide, Tenerife.
• Did a parachute jump on his 30th birthday.
• Ran in the Istanbul 15k - the only race to start in one continent (Asia) and finish in another (Europe)
• Done the Paris Marathon.
• Walked the legs of his dog Alfie!

Well done champ. What will come next?

2 miles to go

beginning to feel better

A massage helps

Now feeling great. Raised over £1000!

Rightly proud and thirsty

A proud mum

Another wondeful moment. The three of them finish the Paris Marathon together.

#TheQueen

The Queen was 90 yesterday. I unreservedly wish her happy birthday, congratulate her on reaching such a milestone - and wish her well for the future. However there it stops.

Years ago I remember posing the question round the campfire - "who would you jump out of bed and rush up the road to see if they were in the vicinity." (I remember one of mine was Spike Milligan another Margaret Thatcher). In the same banter I said it would not be for the Queen or any of the Royals but I would stop at stringing them up - ha! So does that make me a Republican. It most certainly does.

Why am I a republican. Simply - I believe in democracy, I believe in social mobility through hard work and ability and therefore I rail against privilege and birth right. It actually makes me feel physically sick to think someone is born to rule - the hereditary principle. I think it is totally unhealthy - actually disgusting - perverted.

But there is a twist. This might appear completely contradictory to what I have just stated so clearly above. There is a case for keeping the UK monarchy - because in a Republic it is normal to have a "President". If the President is elected as would be in a democracy that President will have power (power by election). I do not advocate a Presidential system. I want to keep our system where we have a President (in our case the Monarch) with no executive power (as not legitimised by democratic election) deferring totally to a Prime minister nominated to lead the elected Legislature (Parliament). Parliament is sovereign. Why do I not like an elected Presidential system? Power corrupts. I feel the Parliamentary system is more healthy - has more checks and balances.

So in effect what I am saying is the UK in my view, pretty much has the perfect system - an unelected, neutered President (Monarch) and a Parliamentary system (with an unelected (but definitely not hereditary) second (revising) chamber - our House of Lords).

I can just about stomach the fawning around the Queen and the Royals. I appreciate they do good work in charity and public service events. I appreciate they are a novelty (a throw back) which other countries respond to positively. Someone has to do the glad handing and ceremonial stuff the Queen has done and continues to do with dignity so she (they) can continue to do it as far as I am concerned providing their executive head remains well below the parapet. If they stick it up I would be happy to chop it off (metaphorically speaking - ha!)

So there is not a child born in this country who could not one day work his or her way up to the highest office in the land. That is a good and healthy thing and makes me feel proud of our system.

Just to re establish my republican credentials I cannot sing the National Anthem in any circumstances with words like "long may she reign over us".

So back where I started and not to be churlish. Happy birthday Elizabeth Windsor - you are not a bad old stick!

#painting - the perils of - listen to your own good advice

My normal calm and gentle start to the day didn't quite happen this morning. An hour later I am smiling now. (sorry this is petty stuff but it might serve as a reminder to me if no one else!)

The moment. It is early Friday morning and I will do my early morning bike ride to Ryde harbour and back. (I have quite a decent wind proof cycling jacket I wear.) However this morning is a bit different. My little sailing boat Goldcrest is in the harbour and over the last week I have been tidying her. There is a small amount of painting required which has to dry before I can move on to the next stage. As I am away for the weekend and as heavy rain is forecast for later in the day, can I do my bike ride and at the same time nip into the harbour and quickly do the 10 minute paint job - it is done then and it will not hold me up on Monday. Yes I can - that makes sense!

However I think to myself - put something different on otherwise you will get paint on your cycling jacket. This has happened to me so many times before. I am one of these people that rarely throws away old clothes because I always feel I can use them for decorating or doing other messy jobs. But I am too lazy, or too optimistic or too something. Of course I don't put on any old clothes - leave my cycling jacket on - and despite being ultra careful and despite assuring myself it won't happen - of course it does - I get paint on my jacket!

When I get back - out comes the stinky turps and I do my best to get the paint off. I had to rub so hard I have probably taken the colour out of the jacket. I have washed it now - will see later what the outcome is!

Anyway for the 20th time in my life (or 50th!) I have yet again failed to listen to my own sensible advice when it comes to painting and old clothes. How ever small the job, how ever careful you are, it is impossible to open a tin of paint, paint something, put the lid back on and do something with the brush without getting paint somewhere on your hands and clothes!

Surely - surely there will not be a 21st or 51st occasion - ha! 

#Equalunderthelaw or trumped by religious belief?

Just back from my early morning bike ride along the seawall. As I have said many times this is quality thinking time - even in the rain - it was so nice to be out there.

Anyway this came into my head and I couldn't shift it. It seems at one level that it is a bit of a negative subject - so leave it -  but of course it is an important one too - so don't -ha! I will start writing about it in order to form my thoughts - although I already know what my base point of view is.

This is the scene. A week ago I was on a Qatar Airlines flight back to the UK from Doha. The flight was evidently busy - in fact full. I got to my seat and became aware of a rather heated discussion going on between cabin staff and with an oldish lady dressed in Muslim black and covered head to toe including all but her eyes and nose. She was across from me in the gangway and one row ahead. The cabin staff and at one time the woman was stood next to me in earnest discussion and with some arm waving on her part.

The issue that they were trying to resolve was she didn't want to be seated next to a man. The cabin staff were trying to keep her happy and I overheard them say they had asked someone to move and they refused. There was a fuss. I don't know how they resolved it but eventually she was left with the seat next to her empty. (very nice to be able to spread your wings on a long flight - ha!)

I was sat next to my brother. We didn't really debate it - but we both grimaced in a tolerant British way and let it go - but we did both have the same thought along the lines of "bloody cheek!" What if we said we didn't want to sit next to a woman - or next to a woman because how she was dressed  because we thought it offensive or against our religious belief. We can guess how it would have been received. Probably we would have been labelled racist or at least unacceptably intolerant.

In this instance I am pretty sure the woman was making her point on religious grounds - tell me otherwise. She wanted special treatment (and got it) because of her religious belief.

I need to say - I fully uphold every individuals right to pursue their own religion and live their life according to it. However that right cannot be greater than "equal under the law" and it cannot be greater than "equity" - fairness. I cannot see how special privilege or special treatment can be granted or worse expected or demanded by an individual on the grounds of their personal religious belief. This is what happened in the case I described and the woman got away with it.

Scale her attitude up and it is why we have so many problems in society - in the world. It is why there is so much intolerance and suspicion. (and I am not just referring to Muslims.)

The only answer is to state emphatically that while you are free to follow your own religion when it comes in to direct conflict with common law and common equity and your religion, common law must be paramount. It is a route to misery if one section of society starts demanding special treatment.

We are making this mistake in this country already. Freedom of speech is being curtailed. It is causing a great deal of resentment and negativity - and it is the wrong road to go down - too much "tolerance" is weak and will backfire. This is my thought.

#SouthAfrica summary thoughts Three Tenners South Africa PT 18

As usual on my trips I try to make a final summary. This is a personal view of South Africa - gleaned from the (short) time there - the things I have seen,  the people I have spoken to and the things I have read. Usual disclaimer - my judgements and views maybe inaccurate or wrong - ha!

Where to start (and in no particular order) ?!

Well - first of all South Africa is a beautiful big country with masses of space. Apart from the modern centres of the few large cities of SA all building is single storey. There are vast tracks of land and wide open good quality quiet roads that makes road travel easy and practical.

SA is massively bigger than the UK in land mass but has a population of about 20 million less so it is not surprising it feels spacious to us.

Security is an issue although thankfully we experienced no problems. The coastal routes seem safe and fine for backpackers. However this is not a place to take chances - particularly at night. The white community are barriered away behind gated barbed wire - and according to white people we spoke to thefts, burglaries and assaults happen regularly.

On the road we see mile after mile after mile of open "farmland" although we were puzzled by a lack of big agriculture. On investigation - due to the aridity of the land, only 13.5 percent can be used for crop production, and only 3 percent is considered high potential land. This explains the lack of activity and is a surprise.

SA has no significant oil of its own (yet - because there is still some hope - we saw one rig in Mossel Bay) but mineral wealth such as gold and diamonds have been largely dug out and the major mining companies have moved on to Namibia and Botswana.

When Nelson Mandela and the ANC was elected in 1994 as President and government and apartheid ended SA (and the world) was full have hope for the future of SA and its people. Have those hopes been realised 20 years on? Of course it is a mixed picture. My view :

• It is a great thing and necessary that apartheid ended and everyone became equal under the law.
• The problems of depravation and division in society when the ANC took over were massive and expectations for the future in the black community so high. It would therefore be easy to criticise the ANC government for what they have achieved in the last 20 years.
• At this point I will mention BEE. It stands for Black Economic Empowerment. To save me time I have downloaded from Wiki :

Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) is a racially selective programme launched by the South African government to redress the inequalities of Apartheid by giving certain previously disadvantaged groups (Blacks, Coloureds, Indians, and Chinese who arrived before 1994)^[1] of South African citizens economic privileges previously not available to them. Although race is the overriding factor, it includes measures such as Employment Preference, skills development, ownership, management, socioeconomic development, and preferential procurement.

After the transition from Apartheid in 1994, it was decided by the government of the African National Congress that direct intervention in the redistribution of assets and opportunities was needed to resolve the economic disparities created by Apartheid policies which had favoured white business owners. BEE intended to transform the economy to be representative of the demographics, specifically race demographics of the country.

Critics argue that BEE's aim was to attempt to create equality of the workforce of South Africa as a whole by enforcing the advantaging of the previously disadvantaged and the disadvantaging the previously advantaged. This results in businesses having to consider the race and social background of any potential applicant instead of making decisions purely based on qualifications and experience, resulting in a system in which one's race is often the determining factor in finding employment.

• I am not saying BEE is a bad thing. Actually I think it is and was necessary. We have spoken to some  young white SA girls who do not see it as a particular problem either. However young white men we spoke to feel there is no future for them. Many want to leave SA - because SA is against them despite their skills. Older Afrikanner types struggle with the new world order and are resentful of it. On Afrikaner types we met some lovely people but we also observed some with bad attitudes - simmering superiority and contained aggression not helped by the guttural tones of their language/accent. White Afrikaners still have much of the wealth and they are clinging on to it. Many think if they don't SA has no future because the Black community do not have the skills or endeavour to build SA going forward. Highly controversial and contentious views of course.
• I would say that while apartheid has gone integration has not really happened. Black and whites certainly live in separate areas.

On the government there is a great deal of dissatisfaction with the ANC. Yet again the core problem is corruption and the current President Jacob Zuma. Again see Wiki

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob_Zuma

Zuma is a Zulu and tribalism remains significant in SA. Mandela was Xhosa

One name that has cropped up is Julius Malema. He formed the EFF in 2014 and has had a lot of electoral success and is growing. His stance is the ANC have not delivered - been too slow  in adjusting the balance between rich minority whites and impoverished blacks. He has been to Zimbabwe to see how Mugabe's "land grab" has worked and believes in similar type policies for SA. Some whites believe SA is the next Zimbabwe. Already whites are selling land and renting it instead to avoid asset loss and criticism. The writing is on the wall - personally I think it is.

Economic Freedom Fighters

• 25 seats in the National Assembly
• Website: effighters.org.za

Contesting its first election in 2014, Economic Freedom Fighters is the third most popular party in South Africa, garnering 6.35% of the vote. Formed just eight months before the election, the party received more than 1-million votes in the national ballot, earning 25 seats in Parliament.

The EFF is also the official opposition in North West and Limpopo provinces.

The EFF was formed by Julius Malema after he was expelled by the ANC as leader of the Youth League in 2013. Malema, who declared himself leader of the party, carries the title, commander in chief.

The EFF describes itself as "a radical and militant economic emancipation movement" that is "pursuing the struggle for economic emancipation".

I could go on and on about SA. It is has fantastic potential as a tourist destination but evidently it has many problems to overcome - drought, diminished resources, political instability and poor economic performance. The future is going to be a rocky road and while I want to sound optimistic I don't really feel it. Gradually the white community will leave. Many international businesses are already doing so. Barclays is the latest. The Chinese are cashing in - but how sustainable is that?

Having said all of that it is important to acknowledge SA is only 20 years in to building its new future. Mistakes will be made and it will be a slow process if it gets there. Lets hope it does because we got a great response from many people and especially many black people we met who were nice to us.

On a touristy note - the £ and $ goes a long way against the ZAR. Things are cheap for visitors to SA but SA beer is terrible. Meat dominates there menus. Their food is not great! Also public transport is poor. The beaches/coast and mountains are spectacular and it is a fabulous place for trekking and hiking.  

#KalkBay Three Tenners South Africa PT 16

Our last day in SA. This was the morning after the night before.

The day before was Rob's 60th birthday - (see Table Mountain blog). I expected us to all be a bit jaded today - but actually we weren't. Table Mountain was a tiring day and while we got down onto the V&A Waterfront in the evening - it wasn't long before food (in Rob's case burger and chips for starter and main!) and of course some celebratory rounds made us feel dozy and ready for bed.

My plan was originally to go to Robben Island where Nelson Mandela was held in prison but we had dithered with our booking and consequently could not get a place on the trips. (should have listened to my own advice - ha!). I was disappointed initially but on the positive side we had seen Robben Island from afar as a view from Table Mountain and also as a result we found special Kalk Bay.

Kalk Bay - 30 or 40 minutes out of Cape Town - an easy drive. It was described in my guide book as an active small fishing harbour and one of the few black communities that escaped the Group Area Act on the Cape.

Kalk Bay was really lovely. I could live there - ha! The harbour was picturesque true - but not just that as so many are. It was a proper fishing community - not industrial scale fishing - but smallish wooden boats landing their catches from the bountiful seas around. There were some big seals in the harbour putting on a show - and anglers fishing off the sea walls. There were also lots of interesting small scale shops and quaint houses running down to the shore. Cape views of course were tremendous.

We had fish and chips on the quay and also tried salted sun dried fish. Great stuff. Just my cup of tea so to speak. Mike loved it too and Rob's camera never stopped clicking.

It was a great way to wind down before our flight home next day. Don't miss Kalk Bay if you like fish and the simple life.

Dried fish ready to eat. Salty but real!

Drying fish

#Table Mountain Three Tenners South Africa PT 15

TABLE MOUNTAIN

We are three brothers. Our darling late parents passed away too early quite a few years ago now. We are each blessed with fantastic children – young adults and in my case I have two beautiful granddaughters. I am the eldest brother – Mike the youngest and that makes Rob of course in the middle.

Almost six years ago to the day Rob was diagnosed with a rare form of leukaemia. The doctors told Rob his odds were poor – 20% chance of survival. Terrible. He went through a frightening, horrible time but fought a quiet, dogged battle - positive but realistic. He had maximum chemotherapy and suffered all the misery of that. Eventually he had a bone marrow transplant and I was privileged to be Rob’s bone marrow donor. He spent several months in isolation recovering.

Today we three brothers stood on top of Table Mountain together on 2^nd April – Rob’s 60^th birthday – a birthday he might never have seen. A proud and emotional moment for all of us and for our families who we knew would be sharing it. Thoughts of our always loving and giving mum and dad and how proud they would be were massive in my mind. Fantastic and amazing achievement for Rob. We are so very proud of him. He has done it in his own way with the support of his 2 daughters (who he is so proud of) and wife Kay and of course everyone else - family, friends and colleagues. A brilliant fight and he deserves everything he has. Here it is to you bruv. Mike and I in (near) tears - ha!

We hiked up from near the bottom cable car station to take the Platteklip Gorge route. This was a good test both in terms of stamina and willpower. Just under 2 hours of ascent to over 1000 metres. A steady “poly poly” plod got us there to be faced with cloud, poor visibility and no discernible top point. (it is a table top after all).

For some reason and despite the fact thousands have climbed Table Mountain the guide books lack clarity. We arrived somewhere towards the middle of the table. It made sense to go down by cable car because the descent would otherwise be a pain on the knees and time consuming given the plan was to have a birthday celebration with Rob on the V&A Waterfront later. So we turned to the right, Visibility was poor and we had a sense of “is this it?” – in some ways a bit of an anti-climax. It was made worse by an increasing number of sightseers who had come all the way up by cable car.

Thankfully Mike pointed out there was a top – nominal true – but called Maclears Beacon and at 1083m the highest point. It was a 45 minute hike to it at the far end of the Table (the other end). Mike made a compelling case to go to it despite reservations about the weather. One thing that can throw hikers plans is the regular closing of the cable car because of adverse winds.

Anyway what a positive decision it turned out to be. A brilliant outcome. We were the only ones there when we arrived. Few people made the effort. A superb cairn top and Maclear's Beacon and most luckily of all the weather started to clear and the views opened up. We took lots of silly photos of ourselves – the mountain conquerors – but seriously there were some very emotional moments included a heartfelt group hug between us daft brothers. It was very meaningful – great stuff.

Thereafter the day was wonderful. We strode back elated and totally fulfilled. Table Mountain had turned out to be everything we hoped it would be.

Eventually a beer in the excellent café by the cable car station and then rapidly down for a hedonistic rest of the day.

Again we were so lucky. Fantastic. Thank you. 

The Gorge Route start

Up the windy and windey track through the gorge to a gap in the cliff wall.  

Rob metres from the top plateau

Poor visibility

Mike looking for a "summit"

Is this the summit?

Fantastic - Rob on the very top.

Is this the summit?

Mike leading us to MacClear's

At times like Dartmoor. Some beautiful plants.

3 tired bruvs on the top. Rob's 60th birthday. Total age 176 years!!!! A proud moment.

Yes - elated!

The clouds lift. Robben Island in the background.

A great view of Table Mountain which dominates Cape Town. We walked to the top. That feels great we have to admit.