I went to Staines today.
I’ve worked there on and off for 20 years.
I’ve either cycled, run, canoed, even roller bladed there in the past ( plus driven, obv )
I’ve never been there on the wheels I’ve got now.
I went to see Neelam Chaddah, my lovely dentist. She’s replacing the tooth I somehow knocked half of out in my crash, or possibly in the operating theatre.
It felt so odd driving ( I mean being driven ) past the place where I’ve put my racing kayak into the river a thousand times before, knowing that I physically cannot do that by myself ever again.
When I say odd, I mean awful.
I know there will be loads of stuff that I will do in the future, but saying goodbye to an era is tough for me. A whole generation of schoolchildren have grown up watching the same solitary kayaker going up and down that stretch on their walk to school, for God’s sake…
And now for a week I’ve only got one front tooth… No more front page cover shots for me I feel 😉
Bugger.