round

 What's round at both ends and high in the middle?

Ohio?

No, you'd be wrong to think that......

A circular walk starting from my house and going up a hill, of course is the correct answer.

So that's what i did.

It's the longest walk i've managed since that fateful day on June the 8th when the dog broke my tibia ..... the swinehund!

I finally made it back to ground zero.... the very spot, in the very field, in which the impact changed the course of my career, year, probably life, to an extent....  i stood there and looked at Dawn at the other end of the field, and as she unclipped Sookie (the dog) from her lead and the dog ran toward me, i grimaced and turned around to protect myself in case she ran into me AGAIN!  (i figured if she ran into the back of my knee then at least it is meant to bend that way?)

I have to admit.... standing there and letting the dog recreate the moment was pretty terrifying, but i've done it now, and the spell is broken.....  i've faced it and can move on.....

My leg's a bit sore now.....

Took six and a half months to get back there but here i am looking my usual surly self at ground zero!

knot

 Dog toys... ever noticed them?

A popular dog toy is a twisted rope, with knots at either end..... tough, tog-o-war type toys that dogs love to use to yank your arm out the socket.

One such toy was in Sookie's mouth yesterday..... she practiced her death rattle and shook her head from side to side with abandoned ferocity......

The knot on the rope twatted me squarely on the metal plate running down the shinbone..... no muscle or fat to cushion the blow, just skin, and metal and a ropey knot travelling two parsecs an hour.

One tiny moment.....

The world went dim as my eyeballs steamed up, and for a brief moment i could smell colours that have not yet been discovered.

The end!

Or is it?  Here is a photo of a bad crimp..... these are manual crimps that are fairly unskilled in their application but this is so ugly..... we would never have prepared a pallet like this under my tutelage!

na' then....

 I did, once upon a time, suggest i might be back sporadically..... and i will try to stay true to my word.

Problem with trying to keep up a blog is just time.....

The part-time, temporary job i've taken is quite.... demanding.  Basically stand at a desk all day...... put something from one bag into another bag..... and don't you dare even look at your mobile phones!  It feels a bit Dickensian in fairness..... right down to the fact that the longer serving employees have been barracked for suggesting a heater on the desk might make their day slightly more palatable.

But, for me, it's an opportunity to do many things that needed doing....

Get out of the house, tick!

Drive the popemobile, tick!

Talk to someone who isn't a medical professional or doesn't work for the department of work and pensions, check!

Push the leg to the limits a little and see if it makes or breaks it, tick!

So, all in all, it's a useful experience..... my leg is slowly, very slowly beginning to feel more "normal" (it's a low bar), and i guess there's a silver lining in that, given the minimum wage, i'm even getting paid to do those tasks......  I've even bought a few dog treats with my staff discount.

I'm still alive..... quite busy...... neglectful of blogging, but always here in spirit if not physically pushing buttons.

Onwards and ...... onwards!

Here's a little photo from a bonfire that Dawn made for the kids, at the start of the month.....

still

 It's definitely autumn, innit?  (in Yorkshire, anyways)

We've obviously "fallen back" in chronological terms, as dictated by the anecdotal farmers of yore.

Thus, it's bloody dark all day now.

Well.... i've landed a little part time job that runs up until Christmas... so i'll be out of the house and packing stinky dog treats for a few days a week.

Am currently "on hold" with the department of work and pensions to tell them to cancel the small benefit i receive for being unfit to work..... i've been listening to the same piano riff for twenty one minutes and fifty-seven seconds until now..... this could go on for some time.....

I mean, it doesn't exactly inhibit the process of benefit fraud when i can't get through to cancel a benefit.....  just saying!

Four days a week right up until Christmas eve..... 

Now, when i add it all up, and consider the very meagre benefit i am claiming, you probably work out that i'm working for about a fiver a day but it's a step and a process i need to go through if i am ever to halt the downward spiral into full hermitship!

Thank you for waiting.... we know that you are waiting to speak to an agent and will put you through as soon as we can......

i once had delusions of writing a book about these old railway carriages that you find dotted across the countryside.... are they railway carriages?  How come there are so many of them?  Why do they all seem to be roughly the same age?  Did we hive off a load of rolling stock at some point?  I dunno..... the book would largely be a photographic thing just showing them and where they are now....

Thirty minutes and forty second.....

on

 and on... and on a bit more.

So today was a first.... I unlocked the popemobile and climbed into the driver's seat..... turned the key.... and predictably..... nothing!

One short phone call later and i've a new battery delivered and installed.

Now.... this may seem rather unremarkable.....

Given that the vehicle hasn't been driven for five months and it's simply sat there, unloved and unoccupied..... the battery being dead, is a given!

The thought of getting into a car isn't a new phenomena for me.... i've struggled to get in and out of vehicles for the entirety of my condition.... the first few times was a case of shuffling backwards, into the back seat, and sitting side-saddle with my leg stretched across the width of the car.  More recently i've been able crunch my leg up and make it into the front passenger seat.  What was strange today was that this was the first time i've entered the vehicle on the driver's side..... busted leg first, as it were......  it wasn't particularly comfortable as experiences go, but it happened, and i reckon i could drive the vehicle at least.

To celebrate the fact that i could go for a drive if i so wished, i went for a walk.  I've walked as far as the post box lately.... up the village, and back down.... today i decided to push on.... up New Hey Road, past the chapel and the post box..... turned right along Gosport Lane.... struggled  on the slightly downward sloping path to Forest Hill Road.... turned right and walked down to the bowling club where i cut back through the houses and home again.....  mebbe twenty five minutes but it was far enough for today.

Here's a photo i took to illustrate how hard i have to focus on where i am putting my feet so i don't inadvertently trip, slip, keel over...... i mean, look at me with two feet on the floor and that.....