We all know that we need to drink plenty of water; dehydration is a bad thing right? We also know that if you do a lot of exercise, you will have to take on even more water as you sweat it out, right? Well, let me post a warning to you all......if you decide to sit down and watch an episode of DIY SOS (particularly this weeks), treat it as a run and have a bottle of water at your side; as unless you have as much sensitivity as a lump of coal you are going to need it. I confess that I can be a bit of a crier. Whether at the end of a good movie, a good book, or of course a good TV show; I get so caught up in it that the empathetic joy and grief becomes pathetic sobbing. But I defy you to watch last nights episode and not be moved by it..........
For those uninitiated, DIY SOS is a BBC programme where the home and garden of some lucky fella or fellesse and family has a complete makeover. The principle behind it is that - in addition to a half dozen 'regulars' - the local community and local businesses give their time and product free of charge in order to make the family home - and as a result, their lives - better. The building occupants vacate the premises for about a week, and then all hell breaks loose in the house as they try and squeeze six months worth of work into a little over six days. The unveiling of the finished project is invariably an emotional scene. Understandably, the people who are selected have a story to tell. Most of them are kind, good, positive people who have had some really (and in the case of last night, REALLY really) bad luck befall them.
The story of Eric Rivers is both heart-rending, and heart-warming (is it any wonder I ended up a mess of tears by the end of it?!). He is a fella with a beautiful wife, and three girls who are bright as buttons and extremely intelligent. I'm not sure how long ago it struck, but he suffers from Motor Neurone Disease. Don't know much about it, but suffice it to say it gradually debilitates a person, and drastically reduces their lifespan. As the condition advanced, the house which they once loved as their home, became fraught with dangers of falling; be it down the stairs, negotiating narrow corridors pr in the bathroom. The prognosis - besides the inevitable - would be that if this situation was allowed to continue, he would soon have to choose the ground floor or first floor, and be confined on that level for the rest of his days; what a horrible thought.
I found it extraordinary that in a world where people either are too guarded to open up about themselves, or too apathetic to listen; in the space of just one hour we got to know the man so well. He was so open and honest about his illness, his family, his frustration that a man who wants to protect his wife and children has ended up being protected by them, and most importantly his determination that the illness was not going to ruin what years he had left with his family. A more positive and inspirational man you will never meet. The show - and I - went kind of like this.......
As he was leaving the house, before the work had begun; he told the builders 'this is a wonderful gift you are giving me, such a wonderful gift; and the best reward I can think of to give you is for me to use that gift, and live a little bit longer with my family'
(me......tears; and that was only about ten minutes into it, stuff the football on Sky, I am so hooked....and so screwed!)
Sitting with the presenter, Nick Knowles, having a 'heart to heart' and speaking of his frustrations at - in his opinion - being a burden. Nick told him 'these people who wrote to us to come and do this, and all the people who have come to give their time and services free of charge; they are not coming because of your illness, they are here because of the person you are'. Talk about saying the right thing at the right time Nick!!
(me.....on a positive note it raised the share price in Kleenex by another few pence)
After viewing the truly stunning transformation, touring all the wheelchair-friendly rooms, including the access-all-floors lift (big smiles from their kids and big tears from the parents) they walked out the front door where all the people who had worked on the place were gathered, spilling out into the road so great was their number. Then came the line that finished me off and left me in a quivering mess of goo on the sofa.......'You have saved the lives of five people here. I was falling, but you have all joined hands.......and caught me'.
(me......a quivering mess of goo on the sofa)
I know I know; it's all very 'Surprise Surprise, we've flown in the son you haven't seen in almost sixty years all the way from Australia' but I don't give a monkeys. The fact that I am still talking about it days after it was on speaks for it's power. It shows that good things can happen, even when bad things happen to good people (if you can understand that!)
If you feel brave, I believe it is on BBC Iplayer, but you have been warned!!!
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