Medal Winner

Left the house at 9am. Bus to Newcastle. Train to Sheffield. Train to Loughborough. Arrived at 1.50pm. Becky and Mike were there to meet me. They had travelled up to Loughborough last night after work. We drove to Mike's parents house. Later on it was BBQ time. Mike's sister, her husband and their 3 children joined us too. The weather was hot and sunny. There was plenty of food and drink and we all had a lovely time.

In the evening we all played a board game called "Smart Ass". And watched Match Of The Day.

My blip shot is of Peirre who was sitting beside me on the train from Newcastle to Sheffield. We got talking and it turned out that he had been in the area to take part in The World Transplant Games which has just taken place in Gateshead. He is Canadian..... from Montreal. He is a policeman there. He received his new heart as a teenager 35 years ago. He told me his events were the 100 and 200 metre sprints. At one time he was World record holder for the 100 metres in the Transplant Games. This year he had won a bronze and silver medal. I asked to see his medals and as you see he was proud to show them off. He was such a lovely man. His English wasn't too good and my accent was a bit difficult for him to follow but we managed and enjoyed a long conversation as we travelled southwards. He was going to change trains in Sheffield and make his way to St Pancras to get The Eurostar to Paris where his French wife and their 2 year old daughter were staying with his wife's father. He was going to stay there with them and have a holiday. Then they would return as a family to Montreal. He was looking forward to eating and drinking what he liked after following a strict training regime before the games. I was so thrilled to meet him. Such an inspiration.

Musical link Keep on Running by The Spencer Davis Group. https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=YrxHcSZBU38&feature=shareby

Steps today 6,226