When bare fact crumbles cynicism.

Eddy and me at the door of my Winnie

From mid-January 2014 till the end of August of the same year, Eddy and I lived in Winnie, my 1996 Winnebago Bravo. I bought this 9 metre long motor home just after the New Year, following the death of my mother in early December. I'd been looking after my mum since September 2010, a difficult period living in a small town in East Devon, England, where I knew no-one and where there was little to do except walk my dog.
I wanted to get away and get away fast so I bought this vehicle, mainly because it was left-hand drive and had room for all my stuff and was well-equipped for living in full time.
I didn't know for sure where I wanted to live but I knew I wanted to travel a bit before settling down somewhere. I had a court summons for an incident where Eddy had bit some guy who was hitting him with a thick piece of wood but I couldn't wait for that and set off anyway, thus becoming a wanted man for failure to turn up at court. Who cared!

After the immediate excitement of setting off, I spent some time parked just below the village of Najac, where my youngest son lived with his family then headed to Spain to visit friends and explore the Pyrenees which was great fun. And then after a short-lived return to Najac we headed to Grenoble to visit an old friend and then up into the Alps which was lovely.

But on our return to Najac at the end of spring, I was not feeling too good. I think it shows in my face. I was having trouble walking any distance, often felt weak, was having trouble regulating my diabetes, and then, to top it all, I got a bad rash round my waist which not only itched but was painful.
I was forced to go and see a doctor in the village who told me I had shingles and prescribed several medications which he told me should do the trick but to come back and see him in a fortnight.
I was having to pay for all this as I hadn't yet got residency and therefore had no real medical cover. That's when you miss the good old NHS!!
I went to the pharmacy and gave the lady my prescription. She read it then looked at me and said that this medication was expensive and not too reliable, what I needed to do was to see a healer. Now, I knew from past experience that there were quite a few of these about. Fifteen years earlier, or even more, when my then wife had moved to Najac, she had quite severe liver problems, and got me to drive her around to several such people. So, I knew they existed but I also knew that they cost and that sometimes they wanted you to get involved in some mumbo-jumbo. And my wife still had her liver problem. And even before these experiences, I generally was very cynical about the whole range of 'alternative' medicine and these quasi-spiritual areas: they were not for me.
At the time I was parked up in a field next to the farm of friends of my son, in the shade of some big, old trees, chestnuts I think. I had frequent conversations with them both, with Thierry in English, about his herd of beef cattle or about my Winnie which he was interested in buying off me, and with his wife, Laurence, about her children, the dogs and her work making gateau a la broche, a regional cake made on a spit over an open fire, marvellous. When I got back from the doctor's, she was there, outside, making her cakes to sell on the market, so I went to see her.
We had our usual friendly chat as she ladled her cake mix onto the spit and then I explained about my rash, the doctor and the pharmacist and asked her if she knew any healers. To my surprise, she told me that she had that gift and that she could make the shingles go away and I did not know what to say. My cynicism was kicking in strong but I asked her what was involved. She simply replied,"Nothing. Tomorrow it will be gone." A little embarrassed, I thanked her, said my goodbyes and left. I walked Eddy, cooked an easy meal, ate it with a glass of red wine, had a smoke and went to bed, completely forgetting to take my new medicines.
The next morning, no more itching, no more pain and the rash had pretty much disappeared and that was the end of that. I had been healed!! In spite of my disbelief, her healing had worked!!
I thanked her profusely when I saw her but I could see that for her it was quite normal and she wouldn't accept any money (though I did buy her some flowers). But for a few weeks, my belief systems were constantly coming back to this incident and what it meant, how it could be possible.
And it has been a constant reminder to me how little we know and understand, how many mysteries there are in our lives. I am still very cynical about so many things in this arena but have had to accept that this little miracle happened, it's a fact in my life, unquestionable in spite of my beliefs.

In Devon in 2011, happy because I had some visitors.