Like meeting up with an old friend,

reading the blog of someone (like me) who inconsistently blogs, the conversation just picks up like we'd never stopped.....<ahem>.

This blog comes live from the lounge at East Cheshire Hospice where I am booked in for a blood transfusion. My haemoglobin is a bit low, and this ought to perk me up a touch.

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So I had a Saturday afternoon free the other weekend and decided I'd try and get a wee bit of exercise not only of me legs, but of me shutter finger.

I decided to hit Styal Mill, which is fairly close by, and should offer an off photo opp.

I've walked out of the house before forgetting a memory card, or a lens, or a battery, but I arrived at Styal only to realise I left my whole camera behind. I had a spare lens in my bag, but no camera. What a dunce.

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On Sunday nights BBC R5Live Extra broadcast an NFL game live from the States, and I put it on as I go to sleep. I used to be a regular listener to the radio as I went to sleep but have simply dropped out of the habit. However, there are occasions when a bit of live sport is nice. Not all live sport, mind.

I find boxing far too loud and jumpy. Cricket is not bad, but by far the best for sending me off is golf. The hushed tones of the commentators wary of distracting the players. Fab.

Back in the saddle again

No, not on my bike. Nor have I taken up equestrianism. Not a literal saddle, but today I went with Gel and Jen for a day in Buxton, and I not only took my camera, but took a few pics as well. Not very good ones, I grant you, but for the first time in yonks I felt good enough to scamper around and take a few. It felt very good to have my camera on my shoulder again, and to be looking for photo opps.

Hopefully as I get a bit stronger and my eye gets over the ring rustyness that a few months off must cause, then hopefully the quality might improve too.

Trees

Sofa

Stairwell

Here are a couple from May which must have predated all that pain malarky.

Peek-a-boo

Stockport Rothko

As you can see, none of these are exactly going to set the world alight, but they are quite precious to me as I hope it signals the start of an avalanche of (slightly better) tat for me to foist on you.

Hot, hot, hot

The other day we visited East Cheshire Hospice. Or, to be more precise, the Sunflower Centre, which is attached to the hospice. This was to tap into resources that are available to us like physiotherapy and complimentary therapy.

I've been given some gentle exercises to do to strengthen my back and arse muscles, and an exercise diary so keep track of what I do. All positive stuff.

I looking forward to going back in a couple of weeks for some Reiki or Reflexology.

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What's with the weather? I'm sitting here roasting, after a few days where it's been relatively cool. Just a normal autumn I guess. Saw this little fella as I walked up to get my paper today, perhaps another indicator that autumn is on the way.

Back again - lots of news

When I started this blog, it was to let people know how I was faring during my chemo during last winter. At the time I tolerated the chemo pretty well and so was still able to get out and about and do stuff, and then report back.

As you probably know the last few months the blogs have tailed off and that's been primarily due to the constant pain I've been having. It's had two effects, one to limit what I can do (and so report on), and secondly has made me feel pretty miserable and disinclined to sit and write the blog. 

Four weeks ago last Friday, I had a short shot of radiotherapy on the top end of my spine between my shoulder blades as a scan revealed that some cancer was impinging on the nerves coming out of my spine and thus causing all the pain.

Since then the transformation has been nothing short of miraculous. I'm sitting here having reflected on how my movement has improved beyond my wildest dreams, and how the pain has nearly all gone. I still have a few twinges here and there - my left shoulder has been giving me a bit of gyp - but I can even sense that these may be on the way out. 

Physically there has been a change, but also this release from the pain has lifted my spirits. There have been a few other events that have done this too......

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Wildlife corner

"Swift, I've just kicked a hedgehog"

Not a phrase I can say I've heard ever before. Gel was putting the bins out and in doing so her foot bumped against something. Now I've reported in the past that we've had hedgehogs in the back garden, but it's never occurred to me that they might scuttle around the front too. But there it was, rolled in a ball protecting itself from the booting it felt was coming next. The cats were super excited, but very confused. Gel took the little fella round the back and put him in the long grass away from feline eyes. We checked the following day and he'd safely made it away.

Not long after that we were driving up the avenue in the middle of the day and a similar (the same?) hedgehog was parked in the middle of the road. Sean, Gel's brother leaped to its rescue and put it back in the grass from whence it had come. 

Caitlin and Andy have been finishing off bits and bobs around the house, including painting the cellar to smarten it up. Most exciting news when they came across this handsome fella...

We reckon it's a toad, but if anyone with greater expertise can put us right...

The final part of wildlife corner is a report from Pheebs that she looked out of her window one night to see a badger scuttling around on the avenue. 

We could run our own Springwatch at this rate, having also had fox, heron and sparrowhawk in the garden in recent times.

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Secret squirrel

About ten days ago, I was contacted by Andy asking to keep Sept 3rd free but to keep the fact I was keeping it free a secret. So I did. He told me where the 'secret event' was to take place, and what special requirements there were (none). I kept it all hush-hush until the Friday night when I had to explain to Gel that we had an early start the following morning and she, and I, needed to be ready.

I couldn't tell her what the event was, nor who was attending (because I didn't know), but I asked her not to mention it to anyone else. She used her best interrogation techniques to extract information about what was going on, but I resisted, and so it was that we found ourselves sitting at a table in Tilly's in Castleton on Saturday morning waiting for something to happen.

Then Caitlin and Andy appeared, and Andy explained that he had woken Caitlin earlier that morning on the pretext of watching dawn rise on the top of Mam Tor. He had explained that we wanted to do the same. They took a picnic blanket and a flask of coffee. When the sunrise started, Andy seized the moment and asked Caitlin to marry him, ring at the ready. So when they arrived at Tilly's neither Caitlin or Gel knew who would be there. The start of a weekend of (happy) tears.

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18th

This weekend (Sunday) also saw Pheebs turn 18. We bought her a ticket to the Leeds Festival for her main present, but wanted to give her something personal to keep, and so did a little scrapbook of photos from "Early Days" through to now. Cue more tears.

Latest table

I went for my morning constitutional, picked up a paper and was reading it while waiting for visit from the MacMillan nurse I've had assigned to me, when I became aware of an odd sound.

At first I was convinced it was a cat snoring. So I ignored it, but it was persistent and a little bit too loud for that, so went to investigate, which is why I can show the latest table:


Cat                      Mouses      Birds

Poussey                    0               1
Boo                          2              0

Boo, the little bugger had caught a mouse (or found one that had died peacefully of natural causes after a long and fruitful life) and wouldn't let it go, hence the low growling.

He then spent a few minutes tossing it about while I forlornly tried to separate the the hunter from its prey.

Realising he wasn't going to give this one up as easily as he had the first, I shooed him out of the house and left him to it in the garden.

This is the mouth he's going to kiss me with later.........

OH

A nice visit from Occupational Health today to see if there were any aids they could provide to help me around the house.

At the time we were originally referred, it's fair to say I was in a bit of a state. All due to this pain around my ribs. While I'm not completely pain free, I think it's fair to say that there has been and improvement.

So we got to meet Freya today and discussed a number of possibilities for helping me around the house, from steps to get into the shower, to raising chair legs to make them a better height.

I think we've opted for a device that will raise me up in bed - or simply allow me to sleep at an angle - which is a bit more sophisticated that than the pile of pillows and duvet covers I'm currently using, a bottle to wee into if I find it hard to get out of bed (a bit of an emergency device this one as getting up isn't causing me too much bother just now), and a non-slip mat for the shower.

--

All this thought about kit is starting to feel a little redundant as each day my rib pain gets better and better. It has a long way to go mind, to fully go, but there's a definite improvement.

This means I can start to think about doing things. No hang-gliding or ultra marathons just yet, but I am starting to feel I can plan to do things a little more. Like going to see the new Star Trek film, for example.

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We are enjoying the Olympics - watched a great doc about Danny Boyle's opening ceremony for 2012 too - but some of these "first week sports" are a hard watch. We enjoyed the synchro diving, but found the canoeing and horse stuff, and skeet shooting, a touch dull.

But, of course, the return of the footie after such a long break is very welcome.

Thanks to all for your kind words and messages. They've been a real tonic over the last few months where we've been suffering.

Long time

So it's been a while, dear reader. How to catch up nearly a month without boring either you or I.

Well, after we returned from our lovely stay in the south of France, I suffered with a very strong pain in the hip/pelvis area. So strong I could barely walk more than a few metres. This came on exactly a week before we were due to fly out to Italy to stay with my dad and his partner Jenny in Italy.

I'd also been feeling increasingly tired. Fatigued. Knackered.

After trying a few home remedies, I eventually got on to the Christie hotline to ask about pain relief and they, quite sensibly, said that we should find out what was wrong before simply throwing more drugs at the problem and asked to me to go to my nearest A&E for an X-Ray to find out what's was going on.

In A&E at Wythenshawe we encountered the first of many excellent medical staff, when the triage nurse, while checking me in for an x-ray suggested I looked "a funny colour" and so also ordered some blood tests.

These tests showed I was anaemic, that my kidneys weren't doing doing as well as they could, and that I had too much calcium in my blood, so I was admitted and a selection of treatment was given. All of which took time, and all of which had to to checked to see if they were working, leaving my discharge perilously close to the holiday we were looking forward to.

As soon as I had the blood transfusion, I started to perk up no end. I also moved off Ibuprofen and onto Tramadol for the pain and that helped a load too.

I was let out on the Thursday evening.

I can't speak highly enough of the staff who looked after me during my stay. What a brilliant thing the NHS is.

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I contacted Lufthansa and suggested I needed wheelchair assistance in my journey (via Munich) and I have to say they were brilliant. Wheelchairs, golf buggies, minivan transfer to the plane all took stress and effort for us all and made the journey so much easier.

My dad picked us up from Ancona airport and we headed off into the Italian hills for a week of rest relaxation and wonderful food. Le Marche is the province next to San Marino, Abruzzo and Tuscany on the Adriatic Coast. I was weak and in pain so spent much of the time reading by the pool, but it was a really nice break.

During our stay, Gel and discussed the fact that I needed to bring forward my next appointment at the Christie because I was still having so much pain, and also I didn't want to end up back in Wythenshawe having more treatment if that could be avoided.

Ancona is quite a small airport and caters for slightly smaller aircraft than many others.

--

The week after we got back Phil came over for a cup of coffee and gave me a present that my ex-colleagues at work had bought for me after a collection. A fantastic limited edition photo book by Joel Meyerowitz. I had a good cry over that.

--

That now brings us to this week which has shot by. Monday we had a visit from a physiotherapist from our local GP surgery who game me some great tips about moving about and exercise.
Tuesday we visited the Christie and met with my consultant who was fairly calm about my blood levels, but wanted to get to the bottom of the pain I was having to ordered an MRI, which I had the following day thanks to a cancellation.
Thursday I had a phone call inviting me back for treatment on the Friday. Whoosh! They had detected some cancer on my spine which was impinging on my nerves and probably causing me this pain in my ribs, and wanted to give it a blast of radiation to see it off.

So we went back on Friday, had a good long chat with one of my consultants colleagues who explained the  procedure and then the process started, first with another scan in this:

This process also involved me being drawn on. On my chest and arms.

They then went off and spent a couple of hours planning the treatment which took about 15 minutes and delivered by this:

I felt a brief tingling on the skin on my back, I've had a slight discomfort in my throat (both of which I was warned of) and for one night the pain increased a little, which I was also warned of.

Between the scan and the treatment we wandered over to the Maggie's centre for a little peace and quiet.

A lovely peaceful place where you can sit and relax, get a cup of tea or coffee, and maybe some advice outside of the hospital environment, but still part of Christie's.

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So where am I now?

Well, I'm a lot perkier than before my stay in Wythenshawe, and my pain seems to be a little better than before my radiotherapy - they did say it might take a few weeks for me to feel the full benefit - so all in all I'm feeling very positive.

I've had lots and lots of professional and personal support from friends and family, and from the healthcare staff I've encountered, but the one who's done the most and without whom I'd be lost is Gel. She's there for me every minute of every day.

I am a lucky man.

Summer

Gel's brother (the one that lives in Brussels) has four kids, and his partner has three. All grown up. Trying to pin them all down to specific dates for a holiday is a bit difficult so they picked a couple of weeks, booked somewhere (in Provence), and declared open house. Andrew and Annike were very gracious to invite us to come down too.

Seemed like a good opportunity to get some sun and rest, and we were very happy to accept their invitation.

We arrived at Manchester Airport for our first flight to Schipol, dropped our baggage in, and then got a text saying our flight was cancelled.... :0(

This was a pain as we were only going for four nights.

After an hour or so at the KLM/Air France desk, and on the phone to Andrew, we had rearranged flights the following morning (VERY early) and, quite nicely, an extra day before returning.

We got up at three the following morning and got our flight and then realised we'd have about 25 minutes to get across Charles de Gaulle (CDG) to the boarding for our connecting flight to Marseille (MRS). This included another security check and passport check since UK is not part of the Shengen group.

We legged it and arrived in time to board, but when we arrived at MRS I got a text telling me that our bags hadn't been as nippy as us. Andrew met us at the airport, and was going there later so we asked if he could pick them up then? Of course not. That's not what the process was.....

Over the next 2-3 days we, or rather Annike, had a number of conversations with Air France telling them what a bunch of bums they were until our luggage arrived three days after we did. We all resolved to have three wardrobe changes for the rest of our stay.

Anyway, other than the cancelled flights, the unearthly start, and the lost luggage we had a great time. Mostly because we were looked after royally.

Provence lunch.

We had a couple of quick trips out. To Contignac:

Sleepy cat

Town Square

Pheebs and Lizzie

To Carces market where my camera was wrestled from my hand by a burly Frenchman to take our photo:

Literally across the road from the house, was a smallholder selling fruit and veg, so we had fresh food every day. The peppers in the middle of the pic had been picked from the plant a matter of seconds before I took the photo.

We also had a wiffwaff tourny, and here's an action shot of the Gel v Thibaud game, with Andrew refereeing.

All in all we had a great time, with love and thanks to Andrew and Annike and all the 'kids' for looking after us so well.

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Here's a question from the interweb I thought was very interesting:

                What's the first major news story you can remember living through as a child?

It's all about pain, baybee...!

So yesterday's visit to the hospital wasn't was gloomy as we'd expected. Sure the blood indicators aren't going in the direction we'd hoped, but that could be because the new drug is taking time to take effect. So another two months just to see what's occurring.

All this pain I'm getting is from the cancer that is in the bone, and I need to manage it. So I am now on a regime of 8 paracetamol a day and 3 uber-sized ibuprofen. Today is the first day of the new regime, and I have to admit there is an improvement. I'd say a good reduction in pain, with some of it becoming just discomfort, which I'll take for now thank you.

This may go down further as the drug can cause the cancer in the bone to "flare" a little before settling down. Fingers crossed eh?

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Stairwell. Benzie Building, MMU.

Today, Pheebs, Gel and I visited MMU School of Art for their Open Day. Very impressive.

I think we've all come back enthused about the University in general, and the Foundation course in particular. All three of fancy going on it.....but I suspect that might cramp Pheeb's style a bit.

The tutor-student interaction seemed great.

We then went to the MMU Art Exhibition which was stunning. It finishes today, so a bit pointless me recommending you visit, but perhaps you could bookmark it for next year. There really was some stunning work on display.

How do you feel today?

As it happens I feel almost human today. Yesterday was a bit of a struggle.

There are so many things that go into answering that question. What level of pain do I have, because the reality is over the last few weeks, there hasn't really been a day where I haven't been experiencing some degree of pain. From discomfort, up to bloody horrible. I wont use the the word unbearable because I'm pretty sure there is some sort of pain which is quite a way higher that what I've had. I suppose in some ways I'm grateful for that.

Did I sleep well, or am I, at the start of the day already tired.

Am I constipated because to get some decent sleep I popped a couple of Cocodamol, and one of the side effects is.....bunging you up. Have I got a swirly head (also a side effect of the Cocodamol)?

Do you feel hungry? Well, yes but I don't really want to eat. There is some combination of the drugs I'm using that makes me have this swirly tummy thing which on the one hand tells me I should eat, but on the other makes me feel I don't really want to.

I recent nights I do feel I've made some progress in reducing the hot flushes at night by sleeping under an empty duvet cover instead of a duvet (too hot) or under nothing (too cold), so that's good.

I seem to have come up with a strategy around pain control using paracetamol where possible, but taking them all day. Pre-empting the pain rather than waiting until it is upon me.

Bugger

--

Yesterday Gel and I went to Macc to the opening day of the Barnaby Festival, which I have to admit I'd never heard of before. There was bunting, there were shop window displays, there was street art. We also went to see "Owen Jones in conversation with Nick Robinson". Nick Robinson is a Macc lad, and Owen spent much of his formative years in Stockport. It was a really interesting 90 minutes. Robinson talked about being chairman of Macc Young Conservatives, Jones talked about being a socialist activist still meant to he was to the political right of his parents.

It was fun and engaging. It was also a little frightening.

The campaigning around the EU referendum has been vicious, it has use scare tactics - particularly about immigrants - and and twisted and abused the facts. The atmosphere seems to have inspired the terrible killing of MP Jo Cox, and isn't simply going to disappear once the polls close on Thursday.

Luckily we have tickets to an all together less sobering event on Thursday to see the Barnsley Bard, Ian McMillan who seems to have an all round good rep.

Times

So, I am now a retired ex-employee of the Lloyds Banking Group. I have been retired on grounds of ill-health. This is something I am very grateful to them for. The thought of not having to worry about work is a real benefit. I have definitely slowed down, both physically and mentally.

I'm hoping that as my body gets used to the drugs I'm on those will lift a little. Certainly I seem to be seeing the back pain problems reducing, with the hope that they'll go completely.

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As Kurt Wallander said in the last episode on Sunday, parenting is a long process of letting go.

Two things happened this week that made Gel and I reminisce.

First it was Caitlin's 26th birthday. Where did that all go? I first clapped eyes on her as a visitor to Withington Hosptital when she was only a day or two old. There she was, the little bundle in Gel's arms, and just look at her now.

The second event was that Pheebs embarked on her first driving lesson. Again, where did that go? I remember that when I first held her in my arms she cried. I cried. I was scared I'd done something wrong, but we quickly got used to each other.

Shame on me/ Shame on her

Let's start with her. Her is Poussey, and as Pheebs and I were breakfasting yesterday morning, I saw Poussey scuttling across the decking with a small brown ball in her mouth. Pheebs immediately identified it as a sparrow, so we both tried to chase Poussey to retrieve it, but she was having none of it and shot back under the decking to do unpleasant things to poor little thing.

Stone-faced killer

--

Why shame on me? Because it's taken rather longer than it should to work out why I've not been sleeping well the last few nights.

I've found that I've been waking about once an hour, maybe an hour and a half, with a right hot flush, and lungs full of menthol.

A few days ago I thought I'd try Deep Heat to try and calm my back, and have had Gel and Pheebs rub it in just before bed. What does deep heat do? It heats you up. What triggers my flushes? Being hot. Duh.

It also has upset my stomach breathing in clouds of menthol vapour. I've felt quite queasy for most of the time I've been rubbed down.

I feel so stupid for not realising earlier what it was that was upsetting my sleep. Duh.

My ribs and back are still sore and stiff, but I sense that there is an improvement. I'm now treading a fine line between not doing anything, and doing something that will set the pain off again. I'm trying to be less tentative in my posture. Less stiff, more natural. I think some of the time I've been "holding" myself in a position for fear of setting it off again.

Hopefully this isn't a false dawn, and the pain really is on the wane.

Deep heat makes you hot
Dick. That's why you're not sleeping
I hope this sorts it.

Sad/ Happy

Not sure what started it, but on occasion I have a go at a haiku. I'm not sure they are particularly good, but it's a fun bit of creativity. First one marked the passing of Joe Strummer.

Joe Strummer is dead
Should I stay or should I go?
Not his decision

In the wake the death of Muhammed Ali

He stung like a bee
He moved like a butterfly
Now he rests in peace

#haiku #ali

--

Try not laughing at this.

Table

So, how's the back/ribs situation? Improved if not exactly cured. Very slowly, with a few setbacks there has been an improvement as I've tweaked the pain management. The current regime is four pairs of paracetamol spread across the day, with the addition of some deep heat on my back just before bed. So I've almost dropped the cocodamol and horse-ibuprofen and I am feeling pretty good. Hopefully this will be the start of a period of relatively pain free days and weeks. I'm moving much better and that helps keeping the muscles free and loose, and makes me feel more natural and relaxed. Stitting for too long brings on aches and pains, so I need to try and remember to get up and stretch every so often.

Fingers crossed.

--

We bought a new kitchen table this week. We were having a little shift about and have four raffia chairs which we are fond of, but we couldn't get two of them under the table at the same time, and there it was a bit tight on either side of the table so we needed one with slightly more leg room underneath, and slightly narrower on top.

How cute is that?

Ahead of the curve

Gel had a friend around for lunch on Friday who works in the NHS, and her words of wisdom around pain control is to keep ahead of it. Don't wait for it to get sore before taking pain control.

After a deep and dreamless codeine induced coma last night I've been keeping ahead of the curve with paracetamol and thus far - touch wood - it seems to be working. I'll try this for a few days and see how it goes from there.

--

Yesterday we went for and very nice lunch with D & S at the Frozen Mop in Mobberly. After the food, D had the wizard idea that we shufty on over to Dunham Massey for a walk, and then the reward of a coffee and cake.

Frozen Mop shadows

Dunham was pretty full, but not overwhelmingly so. We had a walk around the garden, bobbed in the orangery, and ended up on the terrace of the cafe with a huge lump of cake and coffee.

Dunham House

Batman emerging from a Batman Flower

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This morning we had a very slow start to the day which involved much sitting in the warm morning sunshine on our decking.

If you remember to a few blogs ago where I was telling you about the drudgery of decorating Caitlin and Andy's house, well this afternoon we went over for a BBQ. We had a look around the house which is looking really really nice. They've done such a nice job. The most recent addition is internal doors which look great. They've even started on getting the garden in order. It is a huge transformation from the complete wreck they took on, to a light, airy, and beautifully dressed home.

The BBQ was damn fine too. Here's a couple of pics from the back yard.

You can see I'm out of practice taking pictures. All that foreground interference.

Caitlin serving the burgers

Group shot with Andy

Group shot with me

Oh, the irony #34

When we went to Little Moreton Hall yesterday, I took my Fuji X-T1 with 16-55mm lens for a run out.

Camera? Check
Battery? Check
Spare battery? Check
Lens cap? Check

Got there and, oh sweet irony, I'd forgotten to put a memory card in the camera.....bugger.

--

Back pain is still there and I think I need to move away from being brave and just dose myself up with painkillers. Quick check with Christie tells me it might subside, but might also stay the entire time on the drug so I need to manage the pain rather expect it to drop away.

Tough on all of us that I'm carrying constant pain just at the moment.

The Hunter

We've got two cats. Boo, a black male, and Poussey and black and white female. He is big cat, not over endowed with brain matter, she is small and appears to be higher up the clever scale. Lucky for her.

We've wondered if they were to start hunting more than just flies and bees, which would be the first to succeed. Well this morning we got our answer. Pheebs was looking out at the garden and noticed that Boo was scuttling about with something in his mouth. At first we thought a frog, so we went out and tried (successfully) to rescue what turned out to be a wee mousie.

Boo gave up his treasure without much of a fight and the poor thing, while shocked, seemed unhurt when I released it on the other side of the garden. Boo then thundered around perhaps pumped up with a surge of adrenalin.

Poussey watched on, a little bemused, but joined in a little of the thundering about before retiring to the latest cat favourite sitting point outside.

I suspect they like it because they can sit outside and observe the world but keep dry and warm. At one time they've both settled down together. Awwww.

--

We then went over to Congleton and visited one of my favourite places, Little Moreton Hall.

It's a National Trust property which was built in 1504 and was pretty much finished by 1610. In it's entire life it has never been sold, passing down the Moreton family until the National Trust took it on in 1938.

This bay window was installed in 1559 and at the top of the window you can see that the "Carpender" (carpenter) Rychard Dale was allowed to put a small advert above the window. The word carved says "Carpeder" but just above the E and D is a blob which indicates a missing N.

The next line is just a bit like Twitter with a character limit, he must have run out of space so it says "BY THE GRAC OF GOD".

If you haven't been, then I'd highly recommend it.

The Monday after

Winning the FA Cup ought to be a special day, but was rather overrun by talk of the Special One. And that's disappointing.

I'm sure this information must have been available, or leaked, at a time when the fans should be basking in the glow of another FA Cup win. Before you start bleating about it not being a classic, how many actually are? I remember being at the 1985 final when Utd beat Everton. Two teams at the top of their game - although it ought to be said they were topper than what we was - and the game was dire, right up until Kevin Moran was sent off in the 78th minute. Then it was only exciting because it was 10 v 11, and because the winning goal was such a good one. The rest of the game seemed to be two tired teams trundling around after a long season.

I also think that making the information public at that time was very disrespectful to Louis van Gaal. Instead of being able to sit back and demonstrate something from the last two years, it was straight into damage control around him leaving to be replaced by someone who is splitting the fans opinion. The whole weekend has felt rather less celebratory than it ought.

Mourihno clearly has what it takes to win something, but doesn't hang about for long. I think United fans have been rather spoiled by having Fergie for 26 year and it would be foolish to expect that sort of tenure (in the same way Philadelphia Athletics fans were spoiled by having Connie Mack as their manager for 50 years - he retired at the end of the 1950 season at the age of 87), but it would be nice to see him stay and build something of value.

I think many people worry that he wins things entirely by buying in players and not developing them, which isn't our way. There hasn't always been a Neville/Neville/Butt/Giggs/Scholes/Beckham quantity of players coming through, but there has been a fairly constant trickle. Not all of the made the grade with us, but there's something nice about cheering for a lad who's been with us since he was 13. It's interesting to see how those youngsters who don't quite make it with us are able to make living elsewhere. Premier League medal winner, and England squad member Danny Drinkwater being the most obvious at the moment.

Anyway, it looks like a done deal. Once he's announced as our manager then it's my job to get behind him and support him. Hopefully his time away will have made him reassess his approach, and things will as successful but without the circus. Fingers crossed.

Fall from grace

There was a really good discussion on R4 this afternoon between a couple of people who'd had bad falls. One out of a fast moving boat, the other down the side of a cliff.

This started my subconscious going - I was driving at the time so my conscious was occupied - thinking about vehicle accidents I'd been in. Not that many luckily.

The first one was when I had a motorbike. Never again. When I first started working I had no mode of transport and in those long off days you could ride a motorbike - not more than 125cc - on a provisional licence for two years. Which I did.

I'd never ridden a motorbike until I picked my new Honda 125cc from the shop. How I didn't kill myself in the first few weeks is a complete mystery. In fact I did pretty well only coming a cropper once in the two years I owned it. I went over a nail, the back tyre went flat, and the back end started bouncing in a somewhat ungainly manner.

Iinstead of stopping and then looking at what had happened, I looked down over my shoulder. At that point turning the handlebars, and I went flying over them as the bike lurched to a halt and I fell on my hands in the other lane. I didn't realise I was being followed by a police car, but they were kind and helped me get the bike to the motorbike shop in Wilmslow which is now an Indian restaurant. My wrists hurt for a while after, but no lasting damage to either me or the bike.

The next one was coming home as a passenger in a Ford Granada estate from having a curry in Rusholme. As we headed along the dual carriageway a small car appeared at the side junction ahead on the left. We both clocked it. It started to come out of the junction, had a change of mind and stopped and then, too late tried to make bolt for it.

It was a flimsy little french estate and he hit it towards the rear spinning it around a couple of times and throwing the contents of the car across the road. The Granada, being a big heavy thing, while damaged, protected us fine. I do remember the whole event happening in slow motion. It meant we were late getting to the pub.

The most recent was in North Wales early one morning with fresh snow on the ground and the car going straight on when I tried to negotiate a bend, and hitting a lamppost and a stone wall. Slowly, I thought, but knackered the front of the car.

I also pulled out from a junction not having seen a car coming from the right, and sending it into the wall of a local pub. No casualties, but the woman I hit was, not unreasonably, shaken up.

The most spectacular was when I was overtaken on the motorway by a Sliver Lexus going backwards. It it the central reservation, and bounced back into the carriageway, hitting me on the side and sending me spinning off into a field. I was SO lucky as I hit a fence post going backwards so the impact just forced me into the seat. Had I gone forward there could have been all sorts of nasty consequences. The car was completely written off but I escaped with sore biceps. I'd been gripping the steering wheel so tightly. Such an adrenaline rush. I remember standing on the hard shoulder calculating if I'd missed my train to London and whether I could make the next one. I have some pictures somewhere, I'll look them out and scan them for a later blog.

Hope that's the last. They aren't fun.