The new dates, as he's coming back, are 20 September to 6 October 2019. But that'll be a new thread in due time. Places to go to, back to Wales and then down south to Devon, Cornwall.

And this morning my first HOT shower in a week! What a pleasure!

The mystery of the shower may have been solved!

This morning, for the first time in four visits, Uli couldn't get any hot water out of it either - even though the bathroom was still covered in steam from the shower I'd had five minutes earlier. Turns out you have to be bold with it - turn the tap on full, 180° turn. That wakes the boiler up.

Ha, vindicated!
"You don't have to touch anything, it's all set to go, just turn on the left tap"... right... huh?! :-)

Thanks Uli! I owe you one!

Do you remember that I dragged Jord down to the cafe by the locks on the first day?

Well, I did that exact same walk yesterday, as I've probably done a thousand times in the last ten years. Except that yesterday I stepped on a bit of path that wasn't there, and fell flat on my face. Result - a day spent shuttling between doctor and hospital, and a diagnosis of a cracked...



Triquetral bone (that's the bright green one). Tonight I've got an old-fashioned A&E plaster from elbow to hand. Tomorrow I see the consultant, and I'm hoping to get it swapped for something lightweight and adjustable - otherwise three weeks in American heat is going to be unbearable. It's already starting to itch...

Ouch. You should have asked for them to put coolant lines in it like a spacesuit :-)

Ah, that's better. Consultant cut the plaster off, pushed and prodded for a couple of minutes, and decided that I hadn't said 'ouch' loudly enough. So he prescribed a short soft fabric splint, with velcro fastenings, so I can peel it off to take a shower. And scratch that itch.

Let's make sure we go there the next time and we'll take some time to contemplate the situation and see if we can build a shrine there in memory of the happening. 😂🤣

Might have to be quick. The most tedious part of the whole job is the travelling: I didn't think it was wise to drive, and the doctor / hospital are on opposite sides of the principal town, where all buses terminate in the bus station. But they never connect...

Had 50 minutes to wait for the hourly service back up to the village. So I popped into the Town Hall to put the accident on the record, and I've already had an email exchange with the Area Rights of Way Officer: last time I reported a problem on that path (collapsed stile), he had the whole thing replaced with a much better one - so I'm claiming that stile as my memorial shrine!

Still some daylight left - piccies may follow, or I may just go to the pub instead. Nerves need a little more stabilisation.

If you're on some pain medication, best drink water, not those pints. Before you really dent your car, and this time not by hitting mine.

Not on any meds, except beer. And not driving for the time being. Good things, free bus passes. Been down to the pharma to collect a reusable ice-pack for the swelling, and some gel rub to go with it.

I have to say that I'm incredibly impressed and reassured by how well the system has responded to my little medical incident last week. There's hope for this austere little country yet.

I fell in the late afternoon (Wednesday), but didn't damage my ability to walk - so I just completed the errand and went home as normal. On Thursday morning it was clear that my wrist was swollen and difficult to use, so I rang the doctor - really just for advice on how to manage it. But the system kicked in: within an hour I was called back by a triage doctor: two hours later I was seeing a doctor face-to-face (appointment delayed because I didn't want to drive). Three hours later I'd transferred to the hospital (8 miles, two buses): been X-rayed, diagnosed with a Carpal Avulsion, plastered, and booked in for a consultant's appointment the following morning. The consultant cut me free, checked me over, and gave me the splint to support and protect my wrist while it completed healing.

And today, when I went to collect my lunch and newspaper as usual, I found all the overgrown weeds which had obscured the path surface had been trimmed back to the fences.

The total cost (to me) of the whole episode was £1.20 - two bottles of water for the bus transfers. I hadn't expected to be out and about on the hottest day of the year, and one thing that we've lost during the last century are the public drinking fountains - replaced by safe piped water into our houses. Mind you, they're slowly coming back, as we cut down on single-use plastic.

All the medical facilities and treatment were free on the NHS, of course, and all the multiple bus trips were free because I'm over pension age. Long may it continue.

hi Richard,
good to here that you got great professional care soo quickly,
get well soon,
Best Wishes,
… Byron.

Hi Richard

That's rather a lot of bureaucracy working the way that it should.
I hope that you get better fast.

Absolutely. There was a lot of calm, professional, efficiency by people who knew exactly what they were doing.

And no little technological efficiency, too. The X-ray was deceptively simple: an overhead radiation source in a steerable gantry, my wrist resting on a photographic plate casually placed on an examination couch beside an ordinary chair. Yet it took barely 10 minutes to develop the plate and diagnose what is described as a fracture which can easily be missed. And by the time I'd walked back to A & E for the initial treatment assessment, there was my wrist, up on screen for the paramedic to see.

Absolutely. There was a lot of calm, professional, efficiency by people who knew exactly what they were doing.

And no little technological efficiency, too. The X-ray was deceptively simple: an overhead radiation source in a steerable gantry, my wrist resting on a photographic plate casually placed on an examination couch beside an ordinary chair. Yet it took barely 10 minutes to develop the plate and diagnose what is described as a fracture which can easily be missed. And by the time I'd walked back to A & E for the initial treatment assessment, there was my wrist, up on screen for the paramedic to see.

Film? These days it is more likely to be a digital image.

Film? These days it is more likely to be a digital image.

I can only assume. Above my wrist was some very complicated engineering with an embedded light source, so the radiographer could exactly line up the (presumed) radiation source with the contours of my arm. And they took care - two separate shots, with my arm at different angles under the light.

Under my wrist, a flat plastic box, maybe 5mm thick, with the brand name 'Agfa' embossed. And no wires.