In the two weeks since my last update I've done another couple of practice walks and have, post-Fringe, started to get back into more advocacy work again. Only just a bit more than two weeks until the walk itself, and the emails from the Kiltwalk organisers are getting more frequent. Today's confirmed this will be the biggest event they've held in Edinburgh to date, with well over five thousand walkers taking part (that's a lot of tartan). And the entertainment at the finish line will be provided by The Red Hot Chilli Pipers. Another incentive, for me at least, to get over the line as soon as I can.
The first of those two walks was also the furthest distance i've attempted. Starting at the Fountainbridge Basin I walked along the Union Canal (I mean along the pathway alongside, I'm not the messiah) to Winchburgh, a little short of sixteen miles or around twenty five and half kilometres. Four hours and eleven minutes. Easy because it's all flat of course, and I felt fine afterwards. Nice route to walk with ever changing scenery, human and bird activity on the canal, and a sense (for a city boy) of being in the middle of nowhere.
This week I sought out the start point for the walk proper out in Musselburgh, down on a windy and cloudy seafront, and followed much of the route I'll be doing then, stopping at Silverknowes. About ten and a half miles, seventeen kilometres, in two and threequarter hours. Which bodes well for being able to do the full distance in under four hours. Walking into a high wind towards Gypsy Brae did threaten to expose more of me than the public might be ready for - yes, I was kilted, and will be for the remaining practice walks and, of course, the real thing on the fifteenth. Not sure if anyone on a Kiltwalk has been charged with indecent exposure yet?
The number of advocacy appointments I've managed to do recently has been hindered by no shows. An appointment is made, you turn up at the office and wait. And wait. And someone calls the person and gets no response or finds out they have forgotten and that leaves me to have a chat with whoever is around and then head back home. Occupational hazard. We often work with people who live very chaotic lives, who aren't able to remember things easily, who sometimes get confused. It's nobody's fault, but can be very frustrating. Less so for myself, who only lives a ten minute walk away from the office, but much more so for volunteers who've travelled half way across the city for that one appointment. C'est la vie.
Of those I did see the most interesting was another PIP assessment, another unnecessarily stressful experience for someone whose life is already a bit shit. The man I was with has suffered chronic depression for over twenty years. It's manageable with drugs, but he has very little quality of life. So it's not much help when the nurse doing the assessment is clearly well versed in physical health matters, and far less so when it comes to mental health. He got his point across eventually, but it was far harder than it should have been. The welfare system remains very poor at recognising just how debilitating mental illness can be.
It must be even worse for people who have to go through that experience without having anyone along to back them up, give them support. Which is why, once again, I'm asking, if you managed to read this far, to donate something to my fundraising efforts please. Advocard makes a difference.
You can click on this link to find my donations page.
No comments:
Post a Comment