Right then. I've removed the strapping attaching the broken finger to its brothers and am attempting to type this. Not easy but as I'm told that it is going to take months for the finger to heal completely I can't just avoid everything for that long.

How did it happen? My second visit to the gym without the tutor I went up to the piece of equipment where you push forward a pair of handles and by a series of levers weights are lifted. I had to adjust the seat to suit my height and it stuck. I fought with it for a bit with my full strength and suddenly the whole seat bit shot out of the socket and then came down on the wedding ring finger of my left hand. It was totally an accident and I didn't realise properly then just what I had done. After running water from the drinking fountain on the finger I carried on with the rest of the exercises, went outside and bought a bottle of drinking water. It was only when I went to the changing room to change I looked at my rapidly swelling finger and thought that I out to tell someone so it could be put in the Sports Centre's Accident Book. They took it very seriously and insisted that I went to the hospital. An X-ray showed that the finger is broken badly. The consultant in the Fractures clinic said that it is no good operating as the bits of bones are too small for metal to attach to them. So I have to wait for it to heal of its own accord with the knowledge that there is a risk that I might never gain full mobility back. Hurts a lot at times but I can do things now with the thumb and forefinger of my left hand so I am not completely helpless. And fortunately I am right handed. But - no craftwork at all, I've had to put the knitting, crocheting and sewing away. This is my first real attempt at typing and if I take the strapping off it seems I can do some. Thank goodness.

Many thanks for your kind wishes Cop Car and Buffy. Sorry I've been away. I'll try and get back more.

accident....

...this morning and have broken a finger on my left hand. painful. can't type properly with just my other hand as am a 2 fingered typist. they had to cut off my wedding ring.

will be back when i can write properly.

Tales from the Green Valley

One of the most fascinating television series shown by the BBC last year was called "Tales from the Green Valley". This was an attempt by five professional historians and archaeologists to live in a farmhouse in the way common during the reign of James I and to do all the agricultural activities and use all the equipment that would have been available in the 1620s. There were twelve episodes in the series, one covering the activities (and food eaten) each month of the year. As none of them were farmers (although one, Chloe, had been raised on a farm and could help manage the animals) they had to come to grips with the various period tools, skills, and technology from the age of the Stuarts when everything was done by hand, from ploughing with a team of oxen using a replica period plough, thatching a cowshed using only authentic materials, making their own washing liquid for laundry and harvesting the hay & wheat with scythes and sickles. This was not what is nowadays called a "reality series", these were historians trying to learn how things actually worked then and everyone was clearly revelling in the experience.

I don't know why the BBC don't have a website on the series but the director of the tv series has written something about it which can be found here. The series is absolutely fascinating and if you have any opportunity to watch it I do recommend it. So, if you are in the US try to look out for it in your TV schedules. The Husband and I are currently enjoying the series again as it has just come out on DVD.

Exercising

Today saw my second visit to the local gym for exercising. My first visit was on Tuesday morning (Monday was a Bank Holiday over here). I was more than a bit nervous of going at all but found one huge benefit - I was on my own and not part of a class or group all doing the same thing and I was working purely to improve my own health and performance not for any competitive purposes. I feel that unless you are good at physical education/exercise (or whatever else you want to call it) working as part of a group can be counter productive as there is a real risk that you will just compare yourself with the best in the group and then just give up. By doing this on my own I feel that I personally have a far better chance of continuing with it.

The exercises I do include sessions on the treadmill, one where you use your arms to "bicycle" round (as you can see I have a full grasp of all the technical terms!), ones where I am on a piece of equipment where I use either my arms or my legs to lift weights. Tuesday and today I started with a session on a stationary bike which I HATED. I kept on sliding forawrd and feeling generally uncomfortable and had difficulty in keeping going for more than a minute at a time. I am also sure that is why a personal part of my body is now bruised and painful to sit on or to get up from sitting. However the trainer there who is advising and helping me saw that I was having real difficulty in this and has changed my exercise plan so that in future visits I do two sessions on the treadmill, one walking on the straight and one going "uphill".

I do plan to continue with this. It was interesting though just how full the gym was today. I was told though that there is a significant number of people who come for the first two weeks of the year and then don't come back until the beginning of January the following year - something they do every year. I hope that I shall do better than that though.

P.S. I notice that today Nimrod the Mighty Hunter and Pickle are taking turns to peer into a crack between the washing machine and a cupboard in the kitchen. They would not, of course, do this unless there is something there to interest them. I have the suspicion that Nimrod is up to his old tricks and has brought in another "lodger". If so I hope I can find it and expel it without too much difficulty.

I'm Back

And Christmas is over for another year. Tomorrow is Twelfth Night and the Husband will be taking down all the decorations he so lovingly put up a few weeks ago.

We had a good time, all told. Quiet at times but with hectic times when the in-laws came to visit, both on Christmas Eve and New Years Eve until the next morning (unfortunately a trip we were planning to visit them was cancelled due to terrible weather).

After feeling dissassociated from life after the Christmas/New Year period (quite normal for me) I am now trying to find my routines and habits again. Give me a few days and I should be back to normal.

Still, if I am only moderate in my enthusiasm of the Season at least I did not have the terrible and tragic start to the New Year of my friend Buffy, who learnt in the early hours of New Years Day of the death of her Dear Husband's eldest son. Obviously I sent commiserations privately but would like to repeat here my deepest sympathies to her and her husband. I found it especially interesting to read her latest post on the subject (dated 3rd January) and especially how her Dear Husband discovered that his son had been doing wonderful things for charity without their knowledge. Surely that is the mark of a truly good person, to do good things without advertising the fact to one and all. He will clearly be greatly missed.

Let's hope that the New Year provides better times and experiences not just to Buffy and her Dear Husband but to us all.