Category Archives: around home

around home, food, friends, UK

Lazy weekends with sun

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After a really dry & mild winter, some bright spark decided that most of the lower half of England was in drought. Naturally, it has pretty much rained since then. I haven’t been too perturbed as I’m still unable to get outside riding, or even running, & the rain makes a nice change & things are growing. Strangely, the last couple of weekend have had most of the week’s sunshine allotment so I’ve had a spot of walking in various different places.

The May Bank Holiday weekend was mostly a recovery from the Rome trip & delayed-flight consequences – but I did pop over to Poole (a couple of towns west) to visit Mum’s cousin Pamela. After a good lunch, many cups of tea & much catching up of recent travels & family gossip I popped down to Sandbanks for a stroll along the beach. There’s some pretty big homes down there, but I wasn’t surprised as I keep hearing how Harry Redknapp lives there. Apparently, by area it has the fourth highest property value in the world. But I just wanted to walk along the beach in the sun catching up on podcasts, not buy a house – so that is what I did.

Looking across towards Swanage

This must be a popular place in summer – those curious English things, beach-huts, were two-storied

This weekend just ending has mostly been spent eating & walking. Friday night I was around at (workmate) Henry’s place – I was trying to see if The Castle was funny outside of Australia & NZ circles. I didn’t hold out much hope as Henry has never seen the Holy Grail or The Princess Bride & therefore doesn’t understand a large percentage of my babbling. The film is looking really dated now (it’s been sometime since I’ve watched it), but I’m pleased to report that it was apparently funny from an Englishman’s point of view. We then set about making a pavlova while Nicole diligently wrote reports – there are many reasons I’m not a teacher, & taking work home is one of them.

A Full English (breakfast) Saturday morning necessitated a big walk along the Barton-on-Sea cliffs to Milford & then finding a route back home inland on the footpaths that dot the countryside, but don’t necessarily go in a straight line.

Across the Solent to the Isle of Wight

First barbecue of the summer at another workmate’s house back over on the side of the Forest where I live & we all work. It was just warm enough to spend most of the evening outside in a T-shirt (although I drew the line at shorts) eating much meat (the NZ lamb steaks were pretty good, it must be said). We retreated inside to devour the pavlova (the pavlova is only getting so much mention as it was the first I’ve ever had to make) & play boardgames.

Nicole destroyed the symmetry by not liking kiwifruit

around home, shoulder, UK

Shoulder update

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As it’s been just over six weeks since the anthroscopic stabilisation of my right shoulder following recurrent dislocations, I thought I would write a short post on how it has been so far. The main reason being that people stumble across these little posts of mine for the strangest reasons, so I should write about something potentially useful for a change.

It took a week or so for the swelling around my chest and shoulder to go down post-op and I’ve never had any pain really. Occasionally there would be some ache on waking in the morning, but that quickly went away. Luckily I was able to go back to work after a week (not allowed in the plant) – I would have been very bored at home for six weeks, the evenings reading and watching TV started to drag on as it was.

After a few weeks I started to get more movement with my humerus by my side and my forearm out in front of my body – that was during the short periods when I wasn’t wearing the very comfortable polysling. Over the last week of six in the sling I have often had my forearm out to type, while still keeping my elbow attached to the sling at my side.

The sling came off early this week and I’m now able to drive again, which is nice. There’s still no pain and movement of my arm is good within its range. My upper arm will only lift to about 75 – 90 degrees out from my torso, which isn’t a problem for normal life. Although it does mean I have a good reason for not climbing ladders to the top of tanks or driers at work. I’m sure the physio sessions that start in about ten minutes will work on that and the strength of the joint.

Yesterday I was fitted with a new elasticated harness that is supposed to hold the joint up, as it were. It fits under my shirt and while rather tight around the body, it allows plenty of movement. I hope this isn’t too hot come summer time.

*So I have some simple exercises from the physio now to get a bit more movement going on and improve my arm’s strength. That last part may not be necessary as I negated to tell the physio that I had no measurable upper body strength pre-op anyway. Unfortunately I can’t get out running just yet – jeans are getting tighter. But I can move my physio sessions out of London closer to home.

Now I think I will go to Rome.

around home, shoulder, UK

Shoulder operation

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So it’s a week now since I turned up at the Princess Royal Hospital in south-east London for day surgery. With recurrent dislocations of my right shoulder – four stretching back to November 2009 – and the last being particularly painful (they’re all painful, but the last was even more so) & difficult to reduce (put back in) I decided to have the elective surgery that was offered after various hospital visits (X-Rays, MRI & specialist consultations). The main reason for doing so was the unpredictability of the dislocations – while they are to some degree manageable, they are a lot less so when one is out far away from medical help. Such occasions aren’t completely out of the question with my love of mountain-biking, skiing, hiking, travelling and exploring in general. In my mind, a few months out of action while I’m settling in to life back in the UK is a price worth paying.

I’ve been back up in London staying with Trish (Mum’s cousin) for the week post-op as I needed someone to look after me, particularly for the first twenty-four hours. Trish had screws removed from her ankle six weeks ago, so we make quite the pair as I’m armless & she hobbles around. Consequently, it was Jan (Trish’s sister who kindly came up for two nights) who drove me to & from day surgery. The first couple of hours waiting were spent answering an awful lot of questions from nurses & the surgical team and having my shoulder marked up – I was pleased to confirm many times that it was my right shoulder. One of the surgeons explained the anthroscopic (keyhole surgery) shoulder stabilisation as using an anchor (that will degrade over time) to attach the capsule (tendons & so on that hold the ball in the socket) back to the bone where it had torn away. It made a bit more sense then, if you like seeing inside shoulders there are a few videos online – here is one.

Just after noon, I was first up of the four patients in for the afternoon’s surgery. I wandered in to the anaesthetic room beside my bed, lay on my left side on the bed, had the cannula inserted in to my hand, got a little bit of pain relief, held and oxygen mask & then nothing. Next I knew it was about two o’clock and I was being wheeled back down the corridor. Over the next two hours I drank a bit of tea, had two bouts of nausea during which I became reacquainted with my tea, ate some ridiculously dry biscuits (the dryness perhaps had more to do with a sore throat after being intubated than any fault on McVities’ part). The dressing on my shoulder oozed a bit, so the nurse just kept packing more & more gauze & tape on it – eventually I had what could have passed for a pillow strapped to my shoulder. After fun & games trying to get into trackpants and a sweater, I was released with my arm in some sort of a sling. This sling has proven to be really comfortable & I have none of the usual back & neck ache from having my arm hanging in a normal sling.

I didn’t sleep a whole heap the first night getting used to sleeping in a sling again, but since then it’s been OK and I’ve had plenty of good sleeps overnight & naps during the day. The swelling has gradually subsided & I’ve had very little pain – usually just a slight ache when I wake in the morning. It was a couple of days before my throat was back to normal. The huge dressing was changed on Friday, I was somewhat disappointed to find that, while I had stitches plural, I only had two stitches – one on the front & one on the back. I’m due to have those removed this afternoon before I go back home & hopefully back to work tomorrow to sit at my desk & type rather slowly.

It’s been a very pleasant week convalescing here with Trish looking after me superbly. We’ve been out for a couple of meals, watched a couple of series of Spooks & numerous interesting BBC documentaries & I’ve of course been reading a bit too. Saturday I popped in to London to visit (school friend) Levi & his girlfriend, catch up on their news, look for some slip-on shoes for work (no laces – it’s demeaning having people tie your laces, probably not so great for them either), & meet other Kiwis for the start of St Patrick’s Day drinks in some pub. Later, after half an hour in an extremely loud Picadilly club, I used my recent surgery as a reasonable excuse to leave & save my eardrums. Oh – I booked flights home for a two week visit over August and September. Five more weeks of being in a sling, not driving & waiting to start physio so life can get back to normal…

around home, bikes, GPS, MTB, UK

Whitchurch Off Road Trail

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Trying to beat off the general lethargy that has set in as I wait for my shoulder operation on Tuesday, I set off north an hour on Saturday for this ride around Whitchurch. I’m not sure why the recommended start point & therefore parking spot is a turnout on the side of a road – I’d be inclined to leave my car in one of the smaller villages on the ride. As I set off in the fair weather, my ride was very nearly thwarted early on as the bridge over the railway into Whitchurch is out for construction – eventually I found the temporary footbridge just to the east.

Out of the village I was soon on bridleways heading north & then over the A34 – quite a bit of this ride is too close to this busy road for my liking. There’s the odd route marker, but intelligent guessing while referring to the map has one picking the correct route around the edges of fields & through farmyards. The views started to open up a bit & early on there are a couple of cute little villages to roll through. I was becoming apparent that I was well over-dressed as the sky began to clear – but it’s a little too much hassle to remove leggings mid-ride & I only had the stifling winter gloves with me.

I shared this ride with the usual array of rabbits, squirrels, pheasants, hawks & various livestock. Shortly after I got on to Wayfarer’s Walk & found this strange building in the woods. It appears to be someone’s house now, with no clue as to why it was built. It’s on the Highclere Estate – if I had have been later in the year I could have popped down to Highclere Castle, the setting for Downton Abbey apparently. There was a nice, relatively, long downhill back down to the A34.

With a little detour to find the underpass, I was soon climbing back up on to the top of the downs over a big rabbit warren. This was hardly surprising as I made a small detour to go & look out over Watership Down – the setting of that delightful little book of the same name (Richard Adams still lives in Whitchurch).

I was lucky not to ride into a bunny living room, as I was reminded of man’s ability to generate electricity

Watership Down – it was much more exciting in the book

The short descent off Watership Down back to the loop I was supposed to be riding was the best bit of singletrack all day – which isn’t saying a lot, but it was good fun. I was soon on Caesar’s Way – which was predictable straight, before going through the last village, Litchfield, & back to the car. Litchfield disappointingly didn’t have a pub – I thought every village had a pub in this country – so it was some time before I got lunch. But that was mostly my fault as I enjoyed a pleasant drive home down little country lanes avoiding highways & motorways.  A nice day out exploring in the sun bringing temperatures in the mid to high teens.

Today my bike was cleaned & put into hibernation, before I headed out in more sun to the New Forest Wildlife Park.  This was mostly so I could get some some idea of what my housemate, Gary, is talking about when he comes home from work – he’s a keeper there.  And partly because they have a lot of otters there & after Yellowstone, I quite like otters (although Giant Otters, it turns out, make quite the obnoxious sound).  Amongst other things they have some Scottish Wildcat (slightly bigger than a domestic cat, which seems to think it’s a tiger), lynx (very hard to spot), a lot of owls (including a Morepork), some big wild boar (with rather cute boarlets) & five wolves.

Boarlets – like striped furry piglets, reminded me somewhat of baby warthogs (warthoglets?)