May Day! May Day ...

Oscar, Yani and Felix, May 25th '08

OK well not really an emergency - arguably! - on this weekend's May bank holiday ... baby-sitting the tear-aways for sunday lunch then a trip to the BodyWorlds exhibition in Manchester.

Despite all the worries that we thought would be heading our way around finding 'fisher-price' answers to some of the tough philosophical questions of death and the after-life (never mind the possibility of nightmares), there was in the end never any danger that the kids would make the link that these exhibits were actually real dead bodies ... and I can't say I'm surprised really - Gunther Von Hagen's art of plastination human tissue is quite mind-boggling.

I saw this exhibition back in 2003 before I started my physiotherapy degree and was really blown away. I expected it to have even more meaning and application this time round, now I am qualified, but (I suppose not unexpectedly) found that the exhibits were not specific enough. Incredible detail but I was hoping more for ideas and possible explanations to some of the more challenging patient problems I have in my caseload (mostly shoulder and hip problems) but couldn't get enough insight on these particular areas (the rotator cuff) from the exhibits the way they were presented. I guess for it to work for the public at large, it needs to be more 'spectacle' than biology class - think the guy and the lady carrying/ stepping out of their own skin, or the acrobatic poise of the 'jumper' and the exploded view of the badminton player.

Yani, Oscar and Felix coped really well actually, but seemed to come away with more of an impression of the 'plastic goo that made fart sounds' and the chinese tank that they'd been "dreaming about for ages" in the gift shop after ...!

An education in more ways than one, yesterday afternoon ...!

Ooops! ...


... there it is! An inevitable outcome .. (a-hem ...!) or, in short form as tony put it "a battle with only one outcome - our victory, not theirs"! What a slip up JT. No mind, the right result on the right night. Manchester United win the Champions League 6-5 on penalties. After the world's greatest player fluffs his pen, JT 'Capt. Fantastic' blows the upper hand-that-held-the-trophy ..bless.



So, here's the room I pay £525/ mth for ($1050/mth) after leaving my home of the last 10 yrs to the (ex) wife. Not much but its mine, for the time being. Bottom pic (corner of the bed) on the mid lower right picks up where the top nearest corner of the bed leaves off. Hope it makes sense. a front to back image of my 'home' since Feb '08. Miss fango a bit but what can you do. United winning the champions league makes me very happy though. top night.


We want 4. The 'pool' better watch out. Shipping that mirror to Belfast asap, mattie! ... and Norwich for promotion in '08/'09 please.

Nightmare is over/ Is Nightmare over

Touch wood .. it appears I have weathered the 'perfect storm'. The (un)holy trinity of relationship, health and work disasters. It's been a while .. probably about 18months if I am honest - and a particularly 'traumatic' last 6 months, involving all three. But with the confirmation yesterday from my employers that I have passed my probation period, I can now look tentatively, and with a little more certainty, to the future.

I will never know how I came to be within a pen stroke of dismissal .. for being sick; or how I managed to piss off the wrong person and become subject of a whispering campaign and bad blood against me; or even how I managed to suck it all up - seemingly without the right to ask reasonable questions - and hold my tongue against the injustice of it all. Living at the arbitrary 'mercy' of others for the last 4 months in the workplace is not an experience I would wish on anyone. No, not even you - if you're reading this. But I guess it doesn't matter now. A valuable learning experience banked. It helps shed some clarity on what, who, where and how I want to be going forward that's for sure. And what to avoid like the plague. And my dreams of travel, like the settlement cheque, will have to wait a little longer.

A timely reminder ..

.. in this article that's just gone up on the guardian, that perhaps I am, after all, just an innocent victim, caught up in the path of a behemoth of an issue that is much much bigger than me:

"The gap between sick days taken by workers in the public and private sectors has widened to a record level, a survey says today."

This little red fishie finds out in two days time whether I managed to paddle my way to safety, this time or get chewed up and spat out!

Hmmm ...

Time to rethink the marketing?!

Anyone else up for it??!

"Nearly 10 years ago .. opening up the [Buckingham Palace] gardens was proposed .. linking them to St James's Park and Hyde Park to make an extraordinary belt of green space across the capital .. for the millions who pour through Victoria station, there would be some relief close to hand; the gardens would be a welcome for new arrivals. "

What a novel idea - I've walked and cycled through this heavily congested part of London countless times over the years, and I can't believe this idea has not only never occurred to me, but that I've never heard it suggested by anyone else before either. What loyal subjects we must all be. Would transform a very drab part of the city for pedestrians (well, outside of Her Majesty's walls anyway). A Green revolution, literally, right in our (her) own backyard.

I'm in. Where do I sign?

Hot off the Press!

Just heard straight from the horse's mouth that a few moments ago the final whistle blew and my old club, the Capital Canaries F.C. ('Norwich City London Area Supporters F.C.') have successfully defended their (our) Cup Winner's title for the 2nd year, by beating 'Middlesbrough London Area Supporters F.C.' 4-3!

Just as well I wasn't there as it all sounded a little too nerve-wracking for my currently fragile mental state .. We were 1-0 down, 2-1 down, 4-2 up, Boro get a pen 5 minutes from time, 4-3. We get a man sent off. 3 Boro corners, one cleared off the line in the last 5 minutes. Bravo win or die!

Of course, I'd love to still be a part of the whole set-up, dislodging some of the younger, fitter and generally more talented (but) non-Norwich fans who now dominate the squad, but I am not bitter. Having yellow and green blood coursing through the veins as I do, I can't begrudge an opportunity to enjoy the Yella's lifting silverware!

Besides, with the 'boss' stepping down after 14 years in charge - there is a vacuum at the top, meaning I could step back in, evict all the non-norwich and 'establish' myself once again at left back, for another 13 games taking me pass the magic 100 - joining the privilged few CC Legends in the '100 club'. Bravo win or die! A man can dream.

Unfortunately I am having to work all weekend and overnight tonight too, as I am the hospital's 'on-call' Physio tonight. Shame. But fantastic news to take me into the evening as I sit waiting for the emergency call. And you said my posts were only ever negative, Toby. This is great news, Nyet? Svoloch! X