My Cartharsis

Heading back to Scunthorpe after an all too brief visit home. One night and a morning spent pottering around the new house, an hour in a carpark and on the road again.

I remember relishing these trips. The drive my chance to think, a moment to meditate on the world. Now I can find no center in the mess and noise that is my mind.

Silent Bob got it all so right.

Trying out a beta of wpToGo. I wonder if it will cope with £1,000,000 question. Can it now deal with £ symbols?

Well, today was a great day. The end of my treatment has been reached and I have officially been discharged.

No physio has been suggested, as apparently there wouldn’t be anything to gain from it that I couldn’t do for myself. Guess I had better start putting the effort in to rebuilding my leg and ankle.

Now I’m free to run, skip, jump and hop. Perhaps time to finally replace my bike.

Penguin have achieved a tour de force. Works of absolute desire.

To celebrate their birthday, Penguin released the designer series; the most amazing soft backed books you will ever hold. Designed by Bill Amberg, this series of six top classics are bound in naturally sourced Indian calf leather (and an rrp of 50).

I am in love. I am in love with the way they feel, the way they smell, and most importantly I am in love with the way they make me want to read. Not that it is a challenge to get me excited about books.

What this series manages to reinforce is how truly wonderful books are. I am at peace when in the midst of books. My favorite memories usually involve being sat quietly reading.

So thank you Penguin for all the years of great paperbacks, and managing to so wonderfully sum up the joy of books in this series.

I think I need to be alone now.

Looking back, it seems I haven’t actually posted anything on here since the end of February. Not sure the loss has been noted, but as I now have all these funky new ways of blogging on the go it seems a shame to leave things hanging.

The leg is healing well, apparently.

I returned to work on the 21st of April, whilst still in plaster. I have progressively regained my mobility, and am currently plaster free and hobbling unaided. Hopefully the limp will abate soon.

In terms of the white van man, he pleaded guilty to Driving Without Due and Attention. This got him a 100 quid fine, and 4 points on his licence. So he is all square with the law, and that is what running someone down is actually worth.

I can’t be bitter, just need to think about the pay out, and how it will help with the big move to Wales. Probably a whole load more blog posts in that.

Now to bed. I’m loving this mobile posting, and I hope it tempts me to make the effort more often. Nothing motivates a geek like the promise of gadgets.

To further cement the fact that this blog is my folly, and exists more to allow me to play with tech, we are now fully mobile.

So this is being posted via the Android app directly from my phone. Plus, if you navigate here with your mobile device, you will get the lovely mobile interface.

Now if only the content would match up with the tech, the world would be grand. As if a geek could ever allow that to happen.

Finally, I have had my shoulder given the once over.  Typically, it has actually started to feel bettter – but I have always though hospital appointments are actually designed to make you better before you arrive.

That’s why they take three weeks to get you into Ultrasound.  Can’t risk me actually feeling unwell in hospital.

None the less, on Friday moring off I went to hospital again.  It is starting to seem familure now, which I assume is a bad thing.  Thankfully, the medical imaging department is probably the one place that geeks rule the hospital, and I feel comfortable.

Still, it is strange how vunerable you feel sat, lubed up with your shirt off.

The result, I have a swollen tendon.  No evidence of further damag.  No tearing, bleeding or anything that might indicate some longer term probles.  So yay!

The thing that most impressed me were the quality of the images they get from the ultrasound.  In my time, I seem to have spent far too much time in the real of fourier and his friends, so this really REALLY impressed me.  You can see muscle move over ligament.  Absolutly amazing.

Well, it has been quite busy in here today.  First I had my mortgage broker call to discuss a new deal, and then a Police officer came over to take a fuller statement from the accident.

He had just come back on light duties after dislocating his ankle, and seemed to know the hassles that I am facing.

So, we have spent an hour and a half writing a witness statement.  The detail he went into was quite interesting, and he managed to get the whole incident and thoughts reflected very well.  I didn’t think we would get 6 sides of A4 out of it all, but that was where it stood. 

When asked how they were going to pursue the case, he seemed definite that there would be some fallout for the driver, and the level of statements that they were collecting suggests it may be heading for court.  A due care charge my be coming this guys way.

He also went through what the driving skills course would involve, and I now fairly happy that isn’t a soft option.  Apparently it is two days off work, and they attendees need to pay also 200 quid to attend.  At the end there is a practical test, which has to be passed.  If he fails to attend, or fails the course then it automatically goes to court.

All in all, it is nice to know that something will happen to this guy.  I was lucky, it was only my leg.  It could easily have been so much worse.  If it results in him, and hopefully his colleges, gaining a better understanding of driving risk perception then some good will come of it.

Although, part of me still wants him to have his leg broken – so he can enjoy the time too.

Yesterday was my second trip to the clinic.  Or, my big day out  – and potential highlight of the week.

It was the standard time spent sat waiting in waiting rooms.  First the x-ray, then the trauma clinic.  Enjoying the constant hum of day time TV whilst waiting to look at the spcial photos of my leg. Only real surprise was the person before me in the queue.  Jan Mendrick from work, seeing to his skiing injury, very exotic.

I had a good enough conversation with the doctor.  Apparently the fracture seems stable, and they are quite happy.  It is almost touching, and seems to actually be in contact at points.  Overall it is “almost straight”.  They will seemingly allow for a 5 or 6 degree deviation before pinning.  I am around 1 degree.

I did ask if it would be worth just pinning it, and the doctor would rather avoid it.  If it was his leg, he wouldn’t want it pinned if he could avoid it.  Seems like a good endorsement of the not pinning route.

However, because there was some movement between the first and second x-rays, they want to keep me off the leg longer.  Now I am looking at another 4 weeks of “no pressure on leg”, and the light at the end of the tunnel seems to have shifted a bit further away.  Just being able to use the leg a bit would make all manner of things easier.  Like washing, cooking, carrying food through.  Just getting around in general.

Also brought up the issues with my right shoulder.  To me, this is currently my biggest problem.  The leg is an inconvience, but doesn’t really hurt.  The shoulder just aches all the time, and really hurts if I try to lift the arm.  Even to wash, it hurts.  I am still having to take pain killers to get to sleep with it.

But, I have been refered for an ultrasound scan.  Sometime in the next two weeks.  Probably just enough time for it to heal itself lol.  Mind you, I haven’t seen a significant improvement in the last two weeks.  There was a step change on about day three, and there doesn’t seem to have been any change since.

Ah well, at least there is half a ton of hockey waiting to be watched, if Clare doesn’t kill me for it.

On Tuesday I suffered the most worrying episode so far in my forced incarceration.  I saw the Alan Titchmarsh show.

Sat, waiting for my appointment at the trauma clinic, I was trapped.  It is hard to run when stuck in the wheel chair.  There was nothing for it except trying to tough it out.

About ten minutes in, I realised the worth of the programming.  I could no longer feel any pain.  In fact, I was struggling to remember that there was a body connected to my brain which was drifting further and further into catatonia.  Who needs anaesthetics when you can wheel out this show.  Could save a fortune on drugs.

But, then they did something to bring me back from the edge of welcoming the rapture.  They decided to debate the issues around the current crisis facing the house of Lords.  It was an Ali-G moment, but done totally straight.

Now, this raises a few questions.

• Should we be trusting people to be getting their news and political debate from the Alan Titchmarsh show?  Suppose it is no worse than the Sun, Star or (worst of all) the Daily Hate Mail.
• Does it trivialise important constitutional affairs to have them debated in an off hand manner on a day time TV talk show?
• Should I now venerate Alan for bringing this important debate to the masses?
• Is Alan Titchmarsh now a leading commentator on constitutional affairs?

Normality was resumed shortly after with an article on Britain’s fittest grandparent.  Suppose there is a subtle link there.