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.