Wednesday 29 November 2017

That will come in handy

Finally got round to handing my dvd and bluray collection over to one of the high street second hand entertainment shops and this is what they offered (which I accepted).

£95.82

Not bad at all, I scanned them all using music magpie's app but didn't get anywhere near this.  Not bad really.  Most of them went for £0.01 but few big ticket boxed sets made the difference.

I have them all recorded anyway so don't really feel i'll ever miss out.

En Garde

Poppet's finally noticed the fact that we have mice.

Wide awake

Urgh, go to sleep!

Helpers

My brother and some friends have been helping me do my night shifts.  I managed to do one on my own last night (just) so all good.

Florence is helping too




Helping with my recovery






More zombie arms




Cone of shame

Here's me trying out the cone of shame from the exploding kittens add on.

Look how pretty they are

First dress for Florence


Look away now if you're sqeamish

Although it's probably a bit late now.  3 holes in total.



Home

The operation was successful and was back home by about 9pm.

It was a long day though, check in was at 7:30.  I was last in line and only got in the theatre a little before 1pm.  The surgeon found a little extra damage whilst poking around in my arm so he fixed some of that whilst he was there.

Friday 24 November 2017

I'm going under

Live blogging from my hospital bed. 


I've been here since about 7:20 this morning but still not in, but have just seen the doctor and I will be put under in the next 20 mins.  Wish me luck!

Thursday 23 November 2017

What do you think the chances of me getting away with this are?

  No house work and looking after the baby for me after the operation.

Too honest

For some reason you get £100 cash back from BUPA when you have a child.  I used Lloyds Bank's automated cash machine and nearly got an additional £800.  I didn't chance it and put in the correct figure.


Wish me luck


My brother kindly sent me this earlier in the week.

She does like her box

Biscuit enjoying her new box next to the radiator.

Friday 17 November 2017

I'm helping


Poppet being her usual helpful self.


Operation confirmed

I'm booked in for my operation next Friday.  No time yet but he said he'll fit me in.  It'll be under general anesthetic and will be two parts.  One keyhole bit in my shoulder where he finds then reattaches my tendon, then another incision to my bicep to put it back in the right place.  Wish me luck.

Wednesday 15 November 2017

Poor chap

Last night on my way home I spotted a homeless chap on the corner of Tonbridge High Street and my street.  I was shocked, not because there was a homeless man in Tonbridge as there has been a significant increase over the 10 years i've lived here but because it was actually on my street.  It really brought it home.

I give money to homeless people fairly regularly (usually after i'm walking home from a night out),  and we donate food to food banks when doing a big shop (although not nearly enough).  But this one really got to me.

I got changed out of my work clothes and then thought about what he might need.  There was nothing in the fridge so couldn't cook for him.  In the end I filled a hot water bottle and emptied my wallet.

The poor lad was a little startled when I woke him up.  Wouldn't you be?  But he wasn't drunk, just had hit hard times.  He was very appreciative but I still feel bad.

I'm very lucky to have a roof over my head and we have more rooms in our house than we know what to do with.  Obviously we've got room to put him up but even with the added pressure of having a newborn I don't think inviting a stranger into our house would be the right solution.  And then why just him.  There are at least another 5 that live opposite the castle.

The tax that we pay as a community and what we do with it should be the solution.  Unfortunately everything's been cut back to the bare bones as part of the conservative party's austerity measures.  It's certainly not the rich that are effected, it's the poorest in society.  I think this is wrong.

What else can I do about it?  Not sure yet but am looking into it.

Tuesday 14 November 2017

Taking Florence into work was a success

She almost didn't want to leave...

Apart from a little tantrum in the main Lloyd's reception and at the end of the visit on the 10th floor Florence was as good as gold.


On the way down, a little screamy




















Aerial view of April pushing Florence along Leadenhall Street on the way home

Celebrate good times, come on!

Today is my four year anniversary at my current company.

I did four and a third years at Lloyd's, one and three quarters at Gallaghers, a little over five at Kiln, now four here.

Whoopie!

Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god!!!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/41979819/lord-of-the-rings-to-get-tv-adaptation

First trip to the big smoke

Florence is coming into city today to meet our work colleges.  April's having lunch with her team then she's bringing Florence over to the Lloyd's building to meet my team.

Monday 13 November 2017

Mice

I think a family of mice have moved into our kitchen and they have a taste for Iams.  We've still not seen one yet but after dark we can here them squeaking from the front room.  Bloody things.  Now to get a humane pest controller as our lazy cats don't seem to be doing their jobs.

Getting my steps up


There's been a massive increase to the number of steps I do each week after the birth of my baby girl.  Most of which is walking up and down my hallway trying to get her to sleep.  

It's more than doubled in fact. 

Country walk followed by a lovely pub lunch


Not having rugby at the minute means that I need to find other things to do over the course of the weekend.  That's for both Saturday and Sunday.  Saturday's playing rugby.  Sundays written off due to being too sort to do anything after playing rugby.

This Saturday we went to Penshurt with some friends for a lovely walk in the countryside with their tireless dog Bella, we then went to the Leicester Arms nearby for a very good pub lunch.


I then followed that up by watching the England international in the pub.  A very good Saturday.



Friday 10 November 2017

World Cup improvement idea 1

On the day that football manager 18 is released I thought I would share my idea.

Rather than 32 teams qualifying, have 31. The 32nd team could be a team of all stars from the rest of the world that did not qualify.

Gareth Bale would be available. Holland did not qualify. Italy may not qualify and until the last game of qualifying Argentina very nearly missed out.

Obviously one country would miss out but up to 22 would gain a steak in the competition which would generate much more income.

Fifa can have my idea for free but they must call it the Stuart Clark Barbarian All Stars.

X-ray and MRI done

I had the x-ray this afternoon, here's the photos of the machine and image.  The line across my shoulder is the needle where they injected some metal stuff so that when I had the MRI scan the injury would show up more clearly.

The MRI was odd, I was in the whirly tube thing for 15 minutes or so.  They put headphones on me and pumped Madonna from the 80s at me.  Urgh! I should get an update in the next few days.



Working from coffee shop

I've been kicked out of the house by the cleaners so trying to use the wifi in the at the Fire Station.  It doesn't seem to be working today so having to use my phone as a hot spot.  I could get used to this.


Pub steal

Pub steal!  I've been trying to get this for a while but finally saw my moment and grabbed it when the staff were distracted.


Late birthday present


One of April's birthday presents to me has finally turned up!  Now to organise a night with friends.

I'll be going under the knife


I went to see a specialist surgeon yesterday to confirm what was wrong with my arm.  He confirmed it was a rupture of my long head tendon on my bicep.  I'm booked in to get an MRI scan at 1:30 today so that he can see the exact extent of the injury.

If all goes to plan I should be in for the operation next week.  After that it'll be a month in a sling (not ideal for someone with a month old baby, sorry April), then 3-4 months recovery.

Wish me luck.

At least i'll get a week or two off work.

The top part of my bicep has basically sunk down my arm as there's nothing there to hold onto it.  It looks a bit like i'm Pop-eye.

Monday 6 November 2017

More ouch

I think I may have played my last game of rugby.  I lasted a whole 10 minutes on Saturday before having to come off injured.  I felt something rip in my left bicep when making a tackle.  Ouch.

We had a few more injuries during the game so I volunteered to come back on for the last 20.  We very nearly won (they scored in the last 5).  Shame.

I'm seeing a physio later this afternoon but in my conversation over the phone with BUPA's triage it sounds like i've ruptured a tendon.  In addition to a lot of pain, when I tense my left arm the bicep goes in completely the wrong direction.  Ouch.

If it's as bad as I think it is it will require an operation which will mean no rugby for 6 months.  That's this season gone, and in reality will probably be my last. 

It hasn't sunk in yet but sure it will hit me later.

Boo!

Nasty injury

On of my players on the new version of football manager seems to have a nasty injury.


Baby time

I took a couple of days off work last week to give April a bit of a hand.

We
-Registered Florence's birth
-Took her swimming
-Took her on her first train



It's beginning to feel a lot like

November

Bloody freezing on the way into work this morning.