day trip to Shrewsbury

Almost on a whim my partner and I decided on a road trip to Shrewsbury as we had heard it was worth a visit, on the way there I told Elaine about Nick and Judith who had moved there some time ago and were now resident in said town, after arriving in our chosen car park we set of to explore at which time I quipped wouldn't it be funny if we saw Judith, when as we came to the end of the first street who should be walking just ahead of us was the lady herself, my sincere apologies to Judith for shouting her name rather loudly in the street but such a chance meeting was to good to miss, after our introductions and her inquiring as to why we were in Shrewsbury we asked her about Nick, he is still making progress and his once closed left eye is now open somewhat but he still has impaired vision so I hope all goes well with his recovery and great to meet Judith again what was the chances of that.Jeff. 

Hallo, everybody - Shrewsbury calling!

Thirteen weeks since my accident now, and I am getting well sooner than most people seem to have expected.

I went out on a clubrun on mainly quiet (but hilly) public roads last Sunday and coped pretty well with one eye, although I am no longer a contender in the Winding Downhill speed championships. It's going to be that way for a while, if not forever, because my left eye suffered nerve damage. While the eyeball itself is fine, it is not under proper control. The direction in which it looks and the dilation of the pupil are all wrong, so I am effectively one-eyed. My eyelid is responding now; I can open it, and it tends to open itself unless I concentrate on keeping it closed. This is good, in that it indicates that some recovery of function is going on, but inconvenient because my brain can't deal with two wildly different visual signals. I need to occlude the left eye, so most of the time I wear either a patch over it or a plaster to keep it closed. Any children I meet while wearing the patch are told that yes, I am a pirate. I have considered getting an inflatable parrot, but that seems a step too far. Incidentally, you wouldn't believe how difficult it is to get a decent eye patch in the UK now. I have one which I ordered from America, but it's too big to fit well under glasses and cycling shades, so I have ordered a made-to-measure one, from the USA again. A carbon fibre one would be nice, eventually...

In about 18 months I'll know whether the damaged nerve (no.3) on that side will ever recover. Oddly enough, on hearing of my injuries a cycling friend of 30 years standing got in touch to say that he managed fine with one eye - and we had never realised that one of his is made of glass! So I will learn to cope, if need be.

I also had multiple cranial fractures, some intracranial bleeding, and three broken ribs. I was discharged by the West Midlands neurological unit after a final clinic the Thursday before last, which is a relief. Shropshire has no such unit, so I needed to travel to Stoke or Stafford to see the nice man who looked after me. I still have minor symptoms. My memory is a bit wonky, my hearing has lost some acuity and I get dizzy if I look upwards (so I don't!). I am told that all these things should resolve themselves in about a year. My sense of smell has gone, at least for now, but my sense of taste is surprisingly intact, although everything tastes slightly different.

After years of resisting, I've bought a helmet for ordinary riding. I always found them uncomfortable - nobody made one the same shape as my long thin head, so they always pressed on my brow - but more recent ones seem to fit better, and I now have the same make as worn by that Mr Froome, don't look like a mushroom and even forget it's there some of the time.

I have returned to Rail Rambling (our normal Saturday activity since moving to Shropshire). My second outing was a fairly challenging one, pretty fast-paced to fit in with the infrequent train service - miss the train home and it's a four hour wait for the next one! (We do love the Heart of Wales line... it is like a bus on rails, with request stops, and Rail Ramblers turn up in large numbers most Saturdays to fill up its single carriage because it goes to such beautiful terrain - Judith and I walk through lovely scenery all the time these days... no more ploughed Essex fields!). Seeing the ground well enough not to stumble on the tricky bits slowed me down rather, but I managed to keep up, just. I'm using a stick now, a post-crash gift from a friend which has kept me from falling over countless times already. Judith has used two for a long time, because they somehow make her faster.

I have also returned to leading our local ukulele group, and been made to feel very valued by my fellow strummers. If any of you are not ukulele owners, I strongly recommend that you get one now (right now!) and join your nearest band!

We still don't know *why* I fell off the bike. There was no collision, nor any mechanical failure, and nothing in the road to bring me down. It is just possible that I blacked out briefly - I have heard of this causing falls in other ageing cyclists. No neurological reason for such a blackout was found; the other possibility is a heart-related origin, although that seems unlikely in my case. My blood pressure is 118/78, which I think rather surprised the nurse who took it, and my ECG is apparently normal. I've been referred at my request for a cardiological investigation, anyway - the likelihood of a repeat has a bearing on how I ride, and what kind of machine. On my Trice I would just trundle gently into a ditch, with any luck...

I have received *lots* of "get well" cards and wishes, far more than I would have anticipated. This has been very cheering, especially during the first few weeks after coming out of hospital, when I didn't seem to be making much progress at all. Not that I became depressed - my main response has been to think how much worse things might have turned out. Judith looked after me perfectly in my hour of need. She and her daughter Lucy, who came to stay for a while, made the round trip to Stoke on every one of the ten days that I was in hospital there, and it's a pretty tedious rail journey there from Shrewsbury. For the first few days I didn't respond much to them, either... not that I can remember anything of that period.

We had to cancel our two planned summer holidays, a CTC tour in the Picos de Europa and an Irish End-to-End... but we will do them next year instead. In September we will be going on a rail tour to Corsica, a first for us. I expect to fit in lots of photography and some good walks.

Enough of me... retired life in Shropshire is wonderful, and Judith and I remain blissfully happy nearly all the time. I'm even more grateful now to be here, with no pressing problems, than I was before the accident.

I hope that life is treating you all just as well.

Greetings from Somerset!

So pleased about your progress and perseverance. Whilst Geoff could help with the eye-patch I could locate a lamp post for you to lean against, whilst playing the Uke'.....

Keep fighting the Good Fight.......

Alan B.