20170413 – Thursday – Ablutions In the River
It seems as though a year has passed since last night. I got myself all tucked up in bed okay feeling very snug and comfortable, hoping for a peaceful night. I woke at midnight and found I needed to go to the loo. Of course, although I am parked near one of the portable “Gore” Toilets, they are firmly locked until camp actually starts.
Well, the moon was shining and I felt okay, so I decided I would WALK to the main toilet block on the other side of the hall. I used my stick of course, but it was a very LONG way. It took me FOREVER, but that wasn’t the problem so much as I began to sweat like a “stuck pig” as my grandfather would have said. Well, I had walked a long way, so surely that was a good enough reason to be sweating, but then I realised that what I was actually experiencing was a “hypo” coming on. All the exercise and the last meal I had being about 8 hours ago, my sugar level must have dropped. I hoped it hadn’t dropped too badly I really didn’t want to be unconscious here in the middle of the night, on the lawn in front of the hall. I struggled on and eventually got to the amenities block. The walk back to my car was VERY long. When eventually I made it back to my car I took some dates out of the car and collapsed into my camp chair and it felt so good to be sitting down at last. I always have dates on hand because they hare a very high sugar content, and are ideal when my sugar levels are too low. Generally, after a hypo I tend to feel ravenous, and eat too much and then my sugar levels spike. Life with diabetes, nothing but fun, fun, fun, fun, fun!
In the morning I changed into my bathers and walked with my stick across to the swimming hole. I used my stick to get down and into the water, and that worked well. The water felt cold at first, but not for long. They have put sand on the floor of the river for quite a stretch along the bank and so there is a very large area available for swimming and it has made for a very safe “beach” area. Very soon I warmed up and the water was sheer bliss. I found because of the sand on the bottom that I could exercise my legs as I do when I go to the Aquatic Centre at Marion. I washed my hair (no shampoo, just water) and that is the best I will be able to do for the whole of the camp, no glamorous hair dos for me. It is such a beautiful day and the water was really lovely. I thanked God for all his blessings.
The family that are camped on the left of the swimming hole site are the Hunters from WA. Merrillee Hunter and her sister-in-law Sharon. Merrillee is married to Jan Hunter’s (Jolly) son. Sharon I think was a Horwood. So hard working out the genealogies. They told me that there is a large contingent from WA over and they are all going to be camped along the bank. You have to get to Easter Camp early these days to peg out your camp sites. How I managed to get my little plot of prime real estate, I really don’t know, and of course, for me to actually park in it was the thing. In the other direction there is one family, Palmers, son of Marion and David Palmer, I think he told me. They drove into town this morning and on their way they asked if I wanted anything from the shop, so I got them to buy me some packaged cooked repast beef and ham, because I don’t have any protein with me except tins of fish and I don’t feel like too much fish.
The only negative for me is that because I can’t walk too far I will have to stay here the whole time, but I am comfortable. I am sitting on my box with my iPad on the tailgate. I have an umbrella which I have erected and so I have shade as well. I am happy that I can see that my solar panel will get enough sun during the day and so I will have no trouble charging my iPad and iPhone. They are both fully charged right now. Last night I had a number of texts coming in, from Ali, from Meg, from Verity and from Darren Gore. Dear Darren, I also found that he has transferred almost $700 into my Paypal account. Before I came up to the camp he decided to change me over from Telstra to Optus because I could get a much bigger data allowance on my iPad. I can use the iPad’s data for my iPhone by using my iPad’s hot spot to power my iPhone. With the deal went a new iPad, but Darren said for me to keep using my old iPad and he would sell my new IPad on eBay, which he has done. So now I have $700 to pay out the fees on my old Telstra account for breaking my contract early. Darren is so good to me and looks after me so well.
