I did some trade plate driving too, delivering cars and vans all around the UK. This I really enjoyed, except for the company being the pits, Earlybird, trying to get money out of them was like the blood and stone thing. I wouldn't mind going back to this in the future, with some normal company, not some bloodsuckers. Bitter??? Me??? Never.
Any way the bottom line is that my scope of jobs is less now as my physical strength has diminished, also doing 5 days a week will be a strain, unless it is the data entry type, I would be working all week and trying to overcome the tiredness at the weekends and that is no way to live.
I will be looking for something part time or if full time, then not physically demanding,. If the not physically demanding option is taken, I will definitely have to have some exercise regime in place.
Lots of "Don't do too much" advice is given to us FSHers, but I don't completely agree with that. The muscles affected are different for each FSHer and unless you are educated in the body's muscles, it is difficult to know which ones are fading and which not, so I tend to blast them all. From this you get a feel for what to do and what not to do. Mind you it is sometimes difficult to seperate what you think you shouldn't do from what you don't want to do. It's all a game of finding out, sometimes a tiresome game. My approach, perhaps wrongly, is to do a lot if you can and take the consequences and I believe along this route, I get it more right than wrong, the downside being the wrong bits are not repairable, but I enjoy doing it and if I don't I feel less positive and lazy, generally not so pleased with life, sort of sitting back and letting it happen, rather than getting out there and making an arse of yourself, which is possibly not for the best, but certainly more f un.
I have come to believe that the cardio vascular exercises can really knacker you out, if you over do them. I like to push myself on these machines in the gym, but have come to realise, VERY SLOWLY, that these detract from strength permanently, if over done. I do the macho thing of going at it too much and often tell myself not to, but there must be some stupidity in me, as I still do over do it on occasion. I think some of it is to see if I still can do it, but the more often I do that, the fewer times I will be able to.
I was not looking forward to the winter. I was slipping and sliding and going very gingerly last year and I have lost some stability and balance since then, so when I couldn't get a good job and Dung, my wife, was getting less than minimum wage, I asked if she fancied going to Vietnam. She said yes to going for Tet, Vietnamese New Year, February 14th 2011 this time around, but I persuaded her, very easily, to go for longer and so here we are and I hear it is snowing big time in the UK, so I am happy, mostly. I like the winter, but not the short days and I love the snow, but they partially confine me to the house, or going door to door in the car and it is overall a depressing experience.
Since we have been here, the aches in the morning haven't disappeared, that may be due to the very thin mattress on very hard beds, but they disappear just as quickly as in the UK once I shift myself. The stiffness in the bones is not so often noticable. I seem to be moving easier here and feel generally more flexible, but I have noticed getting off the floor is more of an ordeal. It is something I don't do a lot in the UK, but here eating and visiting peoples houses involves a lot of sitting on the floor. The heat hasn't kicked in yet too, that knackers me, but again, if I use my head and keep out of it I won't be so knackered. Life is so easy, if you aren't so stupid, so why am I so stupid!!
On the whole, I believe I am physically happier in Vietnam, but I do love the UK. If we have the cash, then winter here and spring, summer in the UK has to be the best option, but so far we don't have that cash, but we will see, life rolls along wherever it wants to go and I am along for the ride, the more twists and turns the better, so long as they are not all for the worse.
My overall strength, compared to 2 years ago is definitely very reduced, although the percentage loss is probably decreasing at the same rate, nowadays a 1 percent loss is much more noticable than 2 years ago. Then, I wrote about my competetive golf days being over, well I was very wrong, but now I am not. I have played upto October this year, 2010, but without a buggy, I can't do a full round on a course with hills, even 18 holes on a flat course with my battery trolley is too much. I will still be able to go and play for fun, plodding around and waving people through as they catch me up, it may become a bit less enjoyable having to let people through, but if I research the clubs, I may be able to find one that has slack times that I can exploit. We will see. The diving is definitely out of the window. If I had a good buddy, who knows all about my condition and we were mates out of the water too, then we could go down, but with the best will in the world, people don't really understand the limitations FSHD imposes on me and so it would be dangerous for me to go diving, as much as I love it. I wish wish wish wish wish I had discovered it earlier, but I am happy for the times I have had since I was introduced to it and I have been very lucky with the places I have been able to dive in since that discovery.
The heat has kicked in here, so I will go for a nap and read this later and post again soon. I PROMISE.
