Blog of Monday 1st May - Times, teams and tiffs

A hard day today. Today was the more difficult day between day one and day two. My alarm went off, appropriately Imonster- Daydream in blue, I went into Dave’s room to rouse him but he was already awake. I went and got my kit together to set off in the van after breakfast, Mary cooked us breakfast again and we set off to the exact line that Dave stopped at last night and off we went.
It was raining when we woke up and it was spitting every now and then as we set off. Not happy bunnys…any of us. Especially not big D.

About two hours into the journey I could tell Dave was lagging a bit. We pulled up alongside Dave as he stopped to ask for a drink. He’d pulled a muscle in his foot walking up one of the many hills he conquered today. It must be all that skating then suddenly his muscles have to deal with walking again. We agreed to drive up along to the top of the hill and wait for him and I can tell you now, there wasn’t much time after we pulled up to when we saw the top of his strawberry blonde little head peep over the brow of the hill…then came the fluorescent jacket along with Elsa. It was so so quick!
Dimitri (I’ve been spelling his name wrong!! How rude) and I rushed up the top of yet another hill with the intention of making a cup of tea for him when he got to the top. FOILED AGAIN!!! It was waaay to windy for us to light the stove. Never mind, an apple, a toblerone and a sipple of water later we were on our way again. We began to drive through Golspie…single lane all the way and Dave kept telling me to pull over to let all the cars go by. That van is THE heaviest thing I’ve driven and it’s soooo difficult to pull over last minute especially when you’ve got the back sticking out onto the road.

Dave kept carving loads to see if there was any traffic coming to let the cars behind me go by. This made me freak. I was paranoid he’d come off and get flattened. That’s part of the reason I was there for anyway, traffic control!!! So I beeped him and pulled over and told him this. He wasn’t impressed and there was a bit of tension!! He skated for about 5 miles then we stopped and I said my catchphrase ‘do you hate me?’. I got an answer I wasn’t expecting that I was giving him loads of gip and he didn’t need it, he knew what he was doing and he doesn’t want to be told what to do….ouch. That stung! I apologised, we carried on for another few miles. I had time to think things through. I think this journey has already made me a better person even after 2 days! I spent that 30 minutes rationalising both my thoughts and his words. I came to the conclusion that I was right to be concerned and I was concerned for the right reasons but perhaps a little TOO concerned over a 26 year old man!! I spend my concern on the people I know and care about rather than the people I don’t and maybe I should spend more time thinking about other people too! But sometimes I worry that he’s thinking too much about other people and not enough about himself! We pulled up again and he gave me a big tight hug. I told him what I’d been mulling and everything was ok again.
After having just watched over some of the footage taken from earlier and chuckling lots, I now have rosy cheeks. It might also be due to the fact the lovely bar lady, Ruth has let us try cola cube vodka!! Lush!
The most eventful…well, events today were Dimitri sticking his head out of the window and losing his hat, the first team tiff and I was in the Doncaster Star today on page 3…no no no, it’s not what you think…I might have the goods but I’m more classy than that! I have nearly a full page spread on me and boardfree with two pictures of me with my camera and board! HOW EXCITING!


Well after Dave skating 40 miles today we’re heading off to bed. Tonight we’re camping outside a little restaurant / pub / b+b..first time we’ve slept in the van. Dimitri and Dave set up Dim’s tent and Dave and I will be in the van!

So good night, sleep tight, and see you in the morning light!

Holster