Visit the Spirit of Christmas fair in Olympia, until Sunday. P

Get all your (tasteful) prezzies early. 

My buddy, Emma, has stall number 

Mention my name and she’ll give you % off, she said. 

Actually she just suggested:

‘How about I donate 10 % of the sale to your charity if they buy something from me? Stand A78, love it want it buy it x btw feels weird being here without u taking the piss out of me XX’ 

Ok, so that’s the deal. 🙂

Plus their brilliant company too. 

On Sunday, Alex ( Pia’s bro ) came to spend a couple of hours with me. Given he only had a few days in the UK from S Africa, I was chuffed to bits that he use a chunk of his free time to see me, as well as bringing Dan and Pia’s daughter, Holly    

Also I saw Al and Wendy, Sam and Billy and Roy and Caroline. Great of them all to visit, tho still fresh from my wheelchair crash I think I was pretty bad company!

Still managed to thrash Saskia at Blokus tho 😉

Blokus: wanna buy a great board game that makes you think? It’s the one. 

Lily and Amber are masters at it; be warned if u come round our house! 

Whilst sat on the bog today I talked to Dan, plus had a great chat with Bev earlier. 

I managed a gym session, leg bike, goal planning meeting plus 10 hill rep’s outside in the chair. I’m definitely getting faster thro being stronger. Everyone says my arms now look just like they did before… Not sure about that, but def on the way!

I noticed after the exhaustion of the hill rep’s that I felt really happy. See, that’s what I’m missing, endorphin release!

Before here, I’d start every day either on my paddle machine in the garden or on the river in my boat, or on my bike to work. That’s why I was never unhappy, I had my daily fix early nearly every day. 

There you go folks, my secret happiness formula revealed…. Yours if you want it!

Looking forward to tomorrow’s self induced pain then pleasure dose already. 

Russ

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. 

All clear. 

Having said that, they found a large metal thing attached to my arse. 

Ah, that’ll be the wheelchair …