Plans and fears

I haven't been writing very much as there is only so much you can say about sitting on a sofa for days on end! However I can report that my new cast is 100 times more comfortable than my old one and that I am gingerly resting my leg on the ground and taking steps while taking my weight on the other leg and my hands. I really should have brought some lock working gloves with me as the palms of my hands are bruising from the contact with the crutches.

The plan for returning is as follows: I am due to attend Derby Hospital for (hopefully) cast removal on 13th November. My wonderful carers Roger and Shirleyann are planning to bring me up a couple of days earlier and then take the boat, with me in it to Kings Bromley Marina to fill with diesel and pump out the loo so I don't have to worry about doing that for a month. Then they will take the boat back down and if there is a space on visitors moorings, leave it there. There is hard standing on visitors and it means I won't have to cross the lock on crutches each time I need to get out. It will also be easier to take Bonny round the park from there. It is only 48 hour mooring on visitors but I'm sure if I have a word with BW / CaRT they will allow me some leeway considering my circumstances.

I have to admit to being quite anxious about returning. Winter is the hardest time to live on a boat in the best of circumstances and these are not the best of circumstances! I worry about how I'm going to cope with coal and water carrying. I worry that I might slip if it gets icy and I'm even worried that I will have lost all confidence in cruising and will never be brave enough to take the boat out again! I think I have had too much time on my hands with nothing to do but imagine the worst. I hope that when I actually get back it will be fine. I also have good friends on the mooring who I know will help with anything I can't manage.

Meanwhile things are slowly improving here. I had my first two public appearances! One was in a shopping centre called Atlantic Village to watch Roger sing with his choir (Torrington Male Voice) and they were excellent. The other was to attend 'Wine and Wisdom' - a village quiz with wine and cheese! Great fun - didn't get home till 11pm - very late for me! I find going out utterly exhausting at present but preferable to being a couch potato. I have also managed to crutch all the way down the driveway and into the village square with Bonny walking very quietly and carefully on her lead alongside me. It was great as, for the first time, I felt I had a measure of independence. I reached the bench, rested for a while (getting a rather damp bum) and then crutched my way back again. I felt as if I had run the marathon!

So that's it for now. Here is a picture of the aforementioned choir, and me watching them having, for some reason, been parked under a line of bras!...