March 2008 Archives

Confused physiotherapy staff, that's what!

 Last Sunday in the SPKA races, I had a minor incident with the sea wall and ended up being air lifted off the beach, enjoying myself entirely on the gas and air they were force feeding me and had a trip to Crosshouse Hospital, Ayrshire.

I bruised my left heel badly (they were concerned I'd broken my heelbone, but x-rays revealed I've inherited my dad's wonderous ability to bounce and hadn't) and have done some "minor muscle damage" to my right shoulder, and an asortment of bruises all over my body, ranging from just above the elbow on my right arm to all the way down my left leg. And knocking myself out, but I'm still not sure how long for - I don't remember coming to a stop though or someone releasing my quick release and taking the kite off me!

My heel's earned me a shiny set of crutches (now with Tribal Scuba Squirrel stickers on them!) - I think I've possibly done some nerve damage to it as well unfortunately - it feels like I'm treading on something to the left hand side of it when I put any weight on it and it's got permanent pins and needles the rest of the time.

Needless to say, when we went for Kev's physio appointment and the crutchless Kevin handed over his appointment card over and led his crutch using girlfriend to a chair, we got some very puzzled looks!

Last week I caught the train up to Kev's - I checked the night before and discovered I'd be on a coach from Carlisle to Glasgow Central because of works on the lines, hey ho, I thought, on with the trip, may be a little later than usual but never mind!

On the way from Bangor to Crewe and my first change, the people working on the train announced that there were major southbound delays because a freight train had shed its load near Milton Keynes - haha! I thought, for I am northward bound!

At Crewe, I searched high and low for the platform on which to catch my next train to Carlisle, its final destination Lockerbie. The furthest north I could see was for Preston. Hmm, thought I, strange things are afoot. I found a desk and asked what was happening, and was politely told the train I was catching was only going so far as Preston, and nobody knew why. So I caught it, my logic being I was at Crewe, I might as well carry on! Bit of an adventure and all.

Upon asking the crew of the train what was going off, and this time they seemed to think we were going all the way to Lockerbie as planned. Things were getting stranger.

At Preston we were all told to get off. Another freight train had shed its load, this time over Shap, and we were all to catch the bus to either Carlisle or Lockerbie. So we did, and I ended up sat next to a nice enough old lady who ran an animal sanctuary, which wasn't so bad because we had an awful lot to talk about with complaining about the way Universities are run these days to keeping small animals.

Carlisle came and I had just enough time to run to the toilet before catching the next bus to Glasgow. On the M74 on the way into Glasgow we overtook a very familiar looking white Astra estate (and waved to the driver, this was myself and a new old lady I'd found). Eventually Kev found me outside Glasgow Central - I finally got to my destination!

 On the way back, my train left Glasgow 20 minutes late. Some overhead lines had gone down between Carlisle and Oxenholme, so the trains were having to take it in turns to get through! This meant I arrived at Warrington Bank Quay an hour late and had to wait a further hour for a train to Llandudno....and then another one to Holyhead! I got back 3 hours later than I should have done.

I think I'm going to give up getting the train. Until Thursday, when I go to Hoylake again. Hmm.