DEPARTURE POSTPONED

I am finding it hard to express just how frustrated I am. You build and build for the big day. You have it in your mind, have imagined it a hundred times, planned for it for months and months. Wheeling the bikes out of the front door turning right and turning your back your old life for a year. And then the weather and a sickly wife (as I had deep down always feared) bring it all crashing down. It is just one day, one moment in a year of moments. Yet it would have been one of the most significant. It shouldn't matter and in a few weeks, maybe a few days it probably won't matter, but right now it feels like a crushing blow.

We will still catch our ferry on Saturday night but we will now have to catch a couple of trains to get to Portsmouth rather than cycle there. It shouldn't matter but right now it really does. I am trying desperately not to be angry with Bridget - it's not her fault and keeping her healthy will always be a priority - but I want to be angry at someone. The weather is also to blame but English weather is always to blame and to be angry with the weather doesn't make me feel any better. I know we have made the right decision postponing and it was a good test of my willingness to go with the flow rather than insisting on sticking to the plan. I am sure there will be more trying issues to face over the next year and maybe passing this early test - all be it with less equanimity than I would have liked - is a good sign.