Le weekend

Well I am back. At least I think I am.
I'll begin by saying that the weekend was a qualified success and that a good time was had by most. The plan was to celebrate my son's birthday, and as he is a sports fan we chose to go to a sports and leisure facility for a weekend as a family. I should have known better really but aas everyone else was up for it, who was i to argue. On my track record of recent months, it was always going to be a risky venture. Anyway we picked him up on route and made it through central London and even enjoyed missing the congestion charge area. We arrived at our destination, collected bicycles and all was fine. The weather was good and i thought I'd turned a corner. An hour or so later, my daughter and her husband arrived and the weekend got started.

Now at these centres, the only thing that is free is the pool. The pool area is lovely, and described as a tropical paradise. It includes water slides, flumes, hot tubs, cold tubs and even an area to swim, so what better way to begin the holiday? We'd been in the pool for five minutes before we were asked to evacuate. The reason - a liquid spillage! Someone had thrown up in the landing pool for the rapids - Nice! Being in there felt a bit like being in a sort of human soup anyway and now they had the carrots! Oh well, undeterred we changed and hit the bar. By the time we left the bar it was raining - and it didn't stop again while we were there. So much for outdoor stuff - or so I thought. Anyway the rest of that day passed uneventfully and I lost at poker in the evening.

Saturday dawned wet and windy but we were due for badminton, short tennis and squash, all indoors, so that was ok. By ten we were ready for the off and hit the courts. Now i am not a good racquet sport player and I have never really been any good with a shuttlecock. I should never have set foot on that court, but I did and I now have every reason to regret it.

It started ok with me being humiliated as is ususally the case, but for some unimaginable reason I went for a very high and impossible shot leaning backwards as I did. I recall the outcome, it is said that my backwards fall was akin to a felled tree, my hands were in front of me as i went down and the first thing to hit the floor was my head. The sound echoed around the complex and I was horizontal. I remember thinking - "Oh dear" as i fell, and the impact on the back of my head and then my whole body tingling like pins and needles. I couldn't move a muscle. My face was fixed, eyes open, ashen grey, lilac lips. Everyone, including me, thought I was dead. Not being able to move, I was the only one who hoped so. I became aware of people looking down on me and slowly I became aware of my body again and movement came back. Getting up was not an option and medics were called. Meanwhile, a doctor on holiday arrived as did an off duty paramedic and I was checked over, for broken neck broken back, senility and political persuasion. As I lay there, I wondered as to what damage i had done to myself and remember all sorts of speculations from the on site professionals. They tried to turn me over and the effect was awful. Huge waves of dizziness and nausea forced me onto my back again.

An ambulance arrived and they whisked me away to the A and E at the nearest hospital and I was thrust into the last empty booth where I was left to sleep for what seemed hours.
Eventually though, I was seen by a lovely young female doctor who gave me a thorough check and decided that there was no obvious real damage and that I could go back, with the caveat that I was to be supervised, not allowed to drink, cycle or drive and not allowed to participate in any contact sports - well there was a relief.

I still have a slight headache and feel that I am in a different world to most people - not much difference there I know. The rest of the weekend was wet and generally people enjoyed themselves, largely by taking the mickey out of me, but it was fun.

Clearly I am back home, if not back to normal. I don't feel at all like drinking. I feel odd enough as it is. I am told that it could take a while for a full recovery. Meanwhile my liver is getting a well earned rest.

Enough of that anyway, I'll get back to the blog theme later on.