New Activities

In addition to my jaunts on Skylark, I have now joined the Suffolk Lowland Search and Rescue (SuLSar). It's exactly like Mountain Rescue but without the hills. So far, I have had basic training to be a Search Technician and have been called out a couple of times to search for missing persons (mispers - their term, not mine). 

It's ticking a number of boxes for me - it's interesting, enjoyable and, hopefully, useful. I'm also learning a lot of new stuff about navigation, communication, first aid, working with the emergency services, bike and river bank searches, etc etc. The men and women are from all walks of life and all of them have a similar sense of duty and humour to me. I hope my initial impression and enthusiasm lasts. If last weekend in Thetford Forest is anything to by, it should do...

By the way, the lady in the dark blue, sitting at the corner of the nissen hut, has a special place in my heart as I sat with her for about an hour in a crashed car, holding her head straight. She was a casualty in a multiple pile-up and my job was to protect her from further injury and keep her mind of her broken leg and possible broken back. I soon realised chatting to a complete stranger on the back seat of a crashed car, about your and her life, is a good way to get to know someone. When we said goodbye at the end of the exercise, we had a little hug - it seemed a bit daft at first but it was definitely the right thing to do. At least she survived the trauma of the accident and my droning on about life in Suffolk.

Talking of new activities, I have also joined the Air Training Cadets as a Civilian Instructor. Once my application is finally approved by the RAF, which could take months I am told, I will be a fully fledged instructor to talk to the youngsters about trekking, woodland crafts, camping, navigation, etc. Despite the slowness of the admin, I have already started to the get involved.

I have explained to the various organisers of these groups that I am fully committed to participate as needed but I also need to make time for my other activities such a boating, playing guitar and ukulele, walking, biking, holidays, AmDram, Land Rover and house maintenance, dog, chickens, etc etc. The list goes on...

Who said you can slow down when you retire?