Dear Russ I so respect you for telling us how you feel. I guess you will have some dark days but hopefully more days that will be full of optimism. I am sure you will never be regarded as a burden. The fact that you are alive has brought great joy to Danielle, and all the family and friends. When your accident happened, Danielle rang me and asked if I could meet her in Toulon the next day and also could I ring the hospital for information on your condition. I rang Sainte Annes but you were having an operation at the time so I wasn’t able to glean much information. Thanks to a wonderful friend, Liza, who picked me up at 5am and drove me to City Airport,London, I was able to fly to Toulon with Dani. We talked a lot on the flight and she told me that she had had misgivings about you going on the cycle trip and I told her that for quite a while I had had a nagging concern about you as a family. Very strange but I do believe in premonitions although one rarely acts on them. We neither of us envisaged the extent of your injuries and had fully expected you to be awake. Of course the reality was quite shocking. I am telling you this as when the Doctor told us you may not live, Dani turned to me and said she didn’t want the girls growing up without their father. There were also times when Dani was advised that you might have suffered brain damage. That is quite clearly not the case! So, what I am trying to say is that Dani and the girls and all of us are rejoicing that you are with us. Each day will be a day closer to you returning home and, knowing you, you will be speeding up your prescribed recovery! I never put this on the blog but when Helen came to visit in Toulon, she said ” If that bugger thinks he can bloody well wriggle out of eye testing, he has another think coming” . It was just so human and funny at the time when everything felt so fragile. Well, dear Russ,hoping today brings with it lots of friends and precious family. We are, as ever, thinking of you with love. Jenni and Paul xxxx PS Did Dan give you the Montrachet? X Paul,s reclaimed iPad