Caveman

Robert I or Robert the Bruce was the leader of the Scots nation between 1306 till his death from an "unclean ailment" in 1329. A legend has evolved around him concerning the time he was on the run from English forces in the winter of 1306/7. Allegedly, he hid in a dank cave feeling utterly defeated until he noticed the endeavours of a fellow cave dweller - a determined spider that stuck to its task until its web was spun.The story goes that this lifted Robert's spirits and made him determined to work harder to defeat the English imperialists. In 1314, he led his kilted haggis munchers to a famous victory at Bannockburn near Stirling which even today figures large in the psyche of Scotland.

I mention this because I of course have also been hiding in a cave - feeling not just dejected but terrified. Shocking visions of what happened to Thuza and Arun remain all too vivid and I can't dismiss them from my mind. From the cave entrance, just before sunset,  I could see a single bottlenosed dolphin. It came leaping into the bay, reared its head and seemed to look in my direction before heading back out to sea. This was my spider moment. I realised that I must also head out to sea - escape before they find me.

And then I remembered - the old inflatable lifeboat from Rhyl - the one we used to search for Katherine de Chevalle. It was left under the wooden jetty at the Robert Brague Memorial Wharf to the north of Blogland. Perhaps the murderous newcomers don't even know it's there. It had an old brown tarpaulin over it. It's probably my only chance. I mean the British government sent a task force to the Falklands in 1982 but they're hardly likely to do the same for a single former British citizen are they? Besides, the longer I sit here, the riskier it becomes. I've got to go and go tonight, before it's too late...