3rd August

I was going to put in another outstanding ornithological photo here of a skylark, but it was so blurred it was not worth it. But another great walk yesterday up on the Scar. While I was going up to the golf course, no repeat of previous encounters, I was listening to a podcast called Football Daily which happened to be on epilepsy and had an interviewer and two footballers who all had it. There was so much that they said that I could really relate to as someone with it too. One was that they rarely ever spoke about it to anyone, and dealing with the question of whether to tell employers etc. Another was that when you tell people they tend not to get it until they see you have one. Of course if you have a fit it is more shocking for those who see it than you who are having it. (The interviewer quoted a statistic that 28% of the population have no idea what to do if someone nearby has a fit- roughly, make sure there is something under their head if they are on a hard surface, loosen any tight clothing if you can, do not try to restrain them or put anything into their mouths, and call the ambulance if it goes on for over 5 minutes or is repeated. Stay with them, put them in the recovery position and reassure them when they come round as they will not know about it, and will be tired. They might be embarrassed as you can lose control of your bowels. If they have had them before they will probably be fine, but if it is their first they will be shocked and worried and they will need to go to hospital. I may have missed some bits.) The interviewer had one watching an Olympic event in Barcelona and a Canadian Mounty helped him out. He woke up to see a large man in red standing over him. My first was running round a park in London in the morning and then waking up 10 minutes walk away having broken my arm and glasses and no idea how I got there, but I must have crossed several roads. (As you don’t know what has happened in that time I have sometimes thought it would be useful in a murder mystery. Was the murderer guilty if they had no memory of it? That is another problem, it can affect your memory which is definitely true. ) Another problem is that at first it does take you a while to get accustomed to it and adjusting to what sets them off. (A factor is often alcohol which is no fun especially if you are young.) The degree of it varies a lot too, and sometimes it is hard to regulate. So that was interesting for me. Then you get up to where there are views on the Scar and even if it is the same one I have seen so often before, it never fails to strike you and be different in some way. Just how beautiful this part of the world is.