You exercise in the rain.

What’s the worst that can happen?

You get a bit wet.

If you’ve ever seen Gavin and Stacey and laughed out loud, or watched Stella and thought it was funny, it’s nothing compared to the real life humour of a Welsh family get together.

This weekend I returned to my home town for the first time since my accident.
Whilst Pontypool itself has changed an awful lot in the last 30 years, the people haven’t.

My Mum and Dad, my brothers Stu and Alwyn, my hilarious Aunty Rose and Uncle Denis, my crazy Aunty Gill and Uncle Mike, fantastic sister in law Mandy, cousin Del and the lovely Jo, my nephews Ben and Sam, my girls second cousins Ross and Lara, and my devoted Aunty Wendy, a few of their mates thrown in, and the very special Mike, Alison and Bethany, my own special girls, Lily, Amber and Dani ….. Well altogether that’s an unstoppable force and a ready made party.
Both Stu and I made speeches, though neither of us remember anything either of us said.
It’s quite clear that as a father, a husband, a son, a brother, a nephew, a brother in law, a cousin, an uncle or as a lifelong friend, I’m loved in this amazing group of people, and my injury has made no difference to how they feel, indeed now everyone is more open about their emotions, making the experience more moving.

Stu and Mandy hosted a great day and late night. It’s fair to say that none of us are strangers to the concept of a big night.

Thinking about my family, and particularly the males, I’m reminded that we have between us a pretty good sporting record.
Pontypool rugby team in days gone by was one of the best teams in the country, producing many a rugby legend.
Of those there on Saturday, 5 of us played for that club – my dad, my uncle Mike, myself, Stu and Delmie.
Stu and Del both played for Wales as schoolboys.
Alwyn skied for Wales for years, all over Europe.
Del and Mike are both black belts in judo.
Whatever sport any of us chose, we generally were fairly good at it, and the more physical the sport, the better.

The next generation have quite big boots to fill.

It has occurred to me that had we been flying on a family holiday, and the plane was hijacked in flight, God help a hijacker that had tried to subdue us 6 at the same time.

My life this week has suddenly seemed to have recovered some sort of ‘normality’ – notwithstanding  the obvious differences from before.

I’ve been going to work for 8 hours a day, exercised pretty hard for 90 minutes a day too, and spent fun time with Dani and the girls.

Despite the confines of my chair, this routine has made my existence more satisfying, the amount of improvement surprising me.

Work has involved me training graduates – great guys – and the exercise has been using my recumbent arm bike attached to a turbo trainer outside on my terrace ( rain or shine ). The days pass quicker, but have more purpose too, and satisfaction.

I think this new chapter will be the start of an upward trend for me.

Thats good news.

Tomorrow is my 20th wedding anniversary, and the day of my return to work.

Two big days in one then.

I’ve possibly looked forward to one of them more than the other.

🙂

Image from 20 years ago, tomorrow.

Today I finally managed to get into ( and out of ) my arm bike by myself.

Twice actually.

On my own, and facing a dull time, I thought I’d give it a go.

Necessity being the the mother of invention, I worked out a technique.

So my legs are scratched, and my ankle looked a funny shape, and I didn’t get my feet into the stirrups, so I couldn’t have actually gone anywhere, but hey, it’s progress.

Myself and my three amazing Godchildren..

From the left, Emily, Jack and Freddie.

Whilst I’m responsible for their moral guidance, that doesn’t include their choice of headwear or sunglasses..

Turns out I had yet another urine infection.

The he good news is that my continuous spasms have finally ceased.

Just in time for my birthday:)

My card, from Lily.