Some people think they know better...

Why is it so very often close friends or family who do this?

I will apologise, this is an unreserved rant. If you wanted to read something positive, inspirational, up-beat or happy, this is not it, move along please!

For the last week or so, my sister has been raving on about some place she took her foster kids for a swim, a man-made lake in the Forest of Dean, Mallards Pike. Very nice, easy access, not a long walk from the car-park, quiet, yadda yadda..

Now, the Forest is a good 40 minutes drive from here, and I find being passenger in a car quite stressful, makes me really tense and this affects my muscle pain not to mention tests the efficacy of my beta-blockers no end!  No avoiding it really so if the trip is worth it, I go!

I have to point out, for the last couple of weeks during this heatwave, I have been swimming pretty much every other day, in the Severn or more frequently in the Avon - I don't really like indoor pools (plus the flooring in them is so damn slippery!).

I have found a nice spot to get into the Avon that is really easy access - concrete slipway - theres a couple of concrete blocks in the water too that provide firm footing and I don't have to step down very far. It is also a very short hobble from the car, so its perfect.

But Sister swears blind, oh this place in the Forest is perfect its soooooo nice... so I give in and we go off for a day out with her, her foster kids (16 and 18 years old, not kiddy kids!) and my Dad.

We arrive and the first thing that is obvious, is that this 'short walk' is not a bloody short walk at all - bearing in mind I can't walk more than 20 yards without serious pain/more than 2 minutes without serious pain, this bloody walk is a good 10 minutes painful struggle... which she leaves me to do on my own, because shes sidetracked by the bloody burger bar!

Now I could have stood and waited with her at the burger bar, but they were queuing for ten minutes and I'd still have the ten minute walk on top of that.. no way, just not do-able.

So I finally make it round the lake - my Dad has zoomed off in front, thinking I wouldn't attempt it (I wouldn't have had I know just HOW far).. this gives you an idea of how slowly and how hard I find walking - Dad is 72 and slowly falling to bits and he hadn't just arrived at the chosen spot, but found a tree to change behind and was down to his Budgie Smugglers (ugh!) by the time I arrived.

This beautiful, peaceful lake by the way.... is CRAMMED full of tourists, the lake is packed with kids shrieking 'HAHAHAH I DID A WEE IN THE LAKE HAHAHA I WEED' etc, canoes, raft building.. you name it, its going on in there. Nice.

Eventually my sister saunters up and says we are in the wrong place (we'd found a smaller linked lake that was clear and had no people in it) and insists we move to her chosen spot, so I struggle further on round the other side of the lake to the place she claims has lovely easy access into the water...

  Only it turns out, her idea of easy access and mine are somewhat different!

Her idea of easy access is a steep slope, onto a sharply undercut overhang of pine needles and tree roots (nice and slippery) and then a good 18 inch drop to the bottom of the lake, with absolutely nothing to hold onto either.

She rants on that I can sit on the edge to get in - well, I can - but getting into a sitting position on a steep, slippery slope, made of tree roots, on ground that very much might object to holding up 20+ stone of wobbly cripple, thats not that easy!

The point she is ENTIRELY missing of course, is that there is no way in hell, with ropes and tackle, am I getting OUT at that point. I cannot step up 18 inches onto wobbly insecure steep slope, I couldn't fecking do that if I belly flopped onto it and crawled up it, and IF I could do that, I would end up covered in mud and dog piss - nice!

I did get in, mainly because I was hot and pissed off and thought a nice float about might help my joints settle enough to manage the walk BACK to the chuffing car (which it did) - of course at this point sister and kids all declare that they are Not Swimming At All which leaves me and Dad feeling like we are just holding them up and why have we even bothered coming!

My swim was cut fairly short by the need to swim to the slipway and get out before the next lot of raft building canoe scuppering kids got in, and of course then I had to walk all around the end of the lake to get back to my clothes - which I had to get dried and dressed into with an audience of kids and dog walkers because of course, this location offers NO privacy at all!

I had thought my sister realised the physical limitations I have - I really did. I am disappointed to realise she doesn't and just thinks its all a big laugh and perhaps I am just not trying hard enough or something.

What she hasn't seen of course, is that following this 'lovely day out' I have got even worse joint pain, muscle cramps and its taken me the better part of three days to recover - three days when I actually had other things that needed doing of course!

I think the moral of the story is, do not trust other people to know what you need, what you can do, and what you can't. And be absolutely fucking explicit with people if you do need to trust them - but I shan't be trusting HER any time soon!