“Here I am again after an unconscionably long time away. Some of that can be put down to recovering from my last accident, but laziness too has a part to play! That is one reason, I am back here, posting on Blogger and neglecting my other WordPress blogs. The frequent updates of the WordPress code, and the plugins I used were frankly depressing me because I couldn’t work up the enthusiasm to keep up with them all. I have now decided to embrace old age rather than fight it which makes dealing with my expanding waistline, toleration for my own crustiness and a host of other ailments a whole lot more palatable!”

Apparently OK on both counts!

So – After just about 9 months, my busted scapula and the associated nerve damage were obviously a lot worse than I ever imagined after my first few hospital trips. I fairly soon gave up on the NHS – it’s never done (been able to do) anything much beyond simple first aid for me in the last 15 years I have had occasion to visit. Fortunately, I am in a position to take myself private when the occasion warrants and my shoulder was certainly one of those occasions! I paid to see one of the most highly rated folk in the country and after lots of CT scans (I think I glow in the dark!) and several consultations, I learnt that basically, surgery was out (too fucked up to risk it!) so time and physiotherapy were the options.

Time of course has been the great healer (plus an attractive South African physiotherapist – who has been well trained in massage which albeit painful, worked wonders). So here I am 9 months later, able to ride a bike on the road, with perhaps 90% movement in my shoulder and strength that varies from 10% to 90% depending on what I ask it to do. Naturally that calls for a celebration, so I am off to the USA for a 4000 mile trip through the USA and Canada with my buddy Jed whom I met on the trip to Tierra del Fuego.