Wednesday and I wake early to my partner going to see her mother with her bother. I drink hot water and take my vitals, which are all good. I take my time getting up as it is warm but by 7:45 I am in text conversation with the publishers as there is a minor problem with the book. Apparently there is an issue over the text size on the spine of the book. There is some toing and froing and in the end we seem to get to a resolution. Once up I get into my training gear, take my morning meds and head for the garage and the rowing machine. Its five days since I last rowed so it has to be a meaningful session, I set the rower for an hour and set off. As I get into the session I begin to think about a poem that is forming and press on to the end of the session. By the end I am drenched in sweat and know I have worked hard. I retreat to the recliner and record the session in my journal and it is then that I realise that I have rowed a personal best. Bit of a surprise but a most welcome lift.

I take time to process the information and then return to the book text conversation which seems to be going well. I am still resting when my partner returns, so I make myself a late breakfast and join her in the sunshine on the patio. My back is aching and I am not sure what it is, rowing or something else? As I sit under the sunshade I write what came to me whilst I was rowing.

449

Pull; pull; pull;
pull; pull; pull;
this is a man at war, 
trying to save himself. 
Pull; pull; pull.
This is the effort required 
to fend off chemo effects.
Every muscle, every joint
stretched and contracted
to keep the rhythm going.
Pull; pull; pull;
the metronome needs to tick 
there can be no stopping
until the clock runs down,
till the figures on he monitor
tell the story of kilometres,
of calories and strokes. 
Then and only then can it stop.
This is how the relentless malady 
is faced and challenged.
In every pull, defiance,
In every pull, conatus.
Pull; pull; pull.

                                                      449  17-06-2025

My partner and I spend time potting up seedlings from the cold frame. Some are a bit leggy others more robust. We take a time out for a lolly break and as we do so the garden guy turns up. I am tired and hot so retreat to the recliner where I take paracetamol and begin to draft the days blog and prepare for the Webinar I am attending this evening for the publication of two poetry pamphlets by people I know.