Difficult Situations

Katherine made a comment the other day on the blog about her love of the, “The Toa of Winne the Pooh.” I wish I could count how many of this book and its follow up, “The Te of Tigger,” I have given to people or loaned and never got back. I find them, as Katherine seems to, books you can return to again and again, each time finding something new.


He is an interesting example that I remember well.

Roo also wants to know whether Tiggers can jump as far as Kangas, and Tigger says that they can when they want to. Roo says that they should have a jumping contest right now, but Tigger says that they should keep going otherwise they will be late for whatever it is they want to be in time for.

When they reach the Six Pine Trees Roo tells Tigger about the time he fell into the stream on the Expotition and swam, and Tigger says that Tiggers can swim too, because they can do everything. Roo asks if they can climb trees better than Pooh can, and Tigger says that climbing trees is what Tiggers do best, and they do it much better than Poohs.

I am sure we all know people just like Tigger, the people who can do everything better than everybody else. More worrying, there is a little bit of Tigger in us all. Those times when we do not want to admit that there are things we cannot do as well as we would like to.

Now one of those times nearly got me into real difficulty. I have a real love of mountains. There is something very special about standing on the top of one. The world looks different somehow. I set myself the task of running up as many of the 285 Munroes we have in Scotland. These are the 285 highest mountains, including Ben Nevis.

Now running up a mountain means taking as little equipment as you can. So one day I set off to run up and down Ben Vorlich. Two young lads had been desperate to come with me.

We managed to the summit, taking a lot more breathers than I normally would, so my time calculations were all astray. The boys were loving it, sandwiches and snowball fights on the summit. Then the snow came in. They started to worry. I was full of reassurance, but deep down inside thinking all sorts of horrors.

The moral of this story is so easy to see. Know your limits, or like Tigger you may end up in some difficult spots.

I sold another painting yesterday so today I have the mountain of producing one to replace where I hang them. I can do that no bother. Now Ralph listen to yourself, and be real. You may do so but it will not be no bother.

This blog is linked to my other blog:- Aonoch Eagach Ridge