Bill Mason - Waterwalker

Here's a beautiful, sleepy little film of one man, his canoe, nature and his art. I doubt many of you will watch the full hour and a half, but i did and i felt better for it. Here's a link to the full film Waterwalker and here's a link to more about Bill Mason and his other films with the National Film Board of Canada. He was mentioned by Ray Mears on one of his shows i was watching. Ray was building a birch bark canoe (beautiful things). It was late but i stayed up to see the full process. I figured it didn't matter how late i stayed up, i would still wake up exhausted regardless. I've always woke up feeling shattered ( i think)... but about 4 years ago it all seemed much worse, so i went to the doctors, then a specialist who diagnosed (figured, guessed...whatever) that i was suffering from Fibromyalgia, part of the Chronic Fatigue/ME thing. Anyway, I've no plans to turn this blog into a Fibromyalgia forum! but i will say this, it's a pain in the ass!... well, mostly my legs. Basically I'm knackered most of the time. My brain feels foggy, like I'm not quite connected to the World. On 3 separate occasions i have been talking to someone and asked their name, only to be told i know them already!! Along with this my legs and feet 'fizz', tingle and feel like pins and needles. It's like having aching muscles that feel totally fatigued, but with nerves that are alive and buzzing. my legs also have severely tender areas, not good when your 5 and 6 year olds are climbing over them, digging their knees in. I also feel too drained to do the whole chasing them thing, being the monster, so you feel like a crappy Dad too. Great. I've not mentioned this all before, so thought I'd actually touch on it. If anyone has any experience of it, or is suffering with it, do leave a comment. I think of trying other things, but where to start?... and who to give your cash to first in the alternative medicine world? In the meantime I just pop the pill, which doesn't really help, but does seem to keep my lowest point a little bit higher than it used to be. Too many pills out there though and it's all going out into the systems, water supply etc, not a good thing. I know that. Anyway, back to canoes... i really want to get in one! I don't know why canoes have popped up on my radar, but I'm going with it. I always wanted to go in a canoe, or little boats when i was a kid, but never actually did. Now i live by the sea and i see folk out there canoeing (or kayaking) along, seems like a nice thing to do. I want to connect with the sea, i live right near it, but i don't swim in it... so i may as well paddle on it! There is a canoe club in town that i might look into, but if anyone knows of someone in Hastings that might like to help me out, just let me know! I'll see where it leads over the year ahead. This post has gone on too long now, so i'll leave it there. I hope you find time to watch some of Bill Mason. Oh, and i hope that your legs are alright : )