This was my hand before in its fetching blue thumb splint:

And this was my hands after coming out from being under, my left hand with the Peripheral cannula still in, and my right bandaged with my hand on a plaster slab:

Last night I had Nurse Hannah (who really is a Nurse) looking after me, and I spoke to Tas (@B0atG1rl) on the phone. After the call she tweeted: “Have just spoken to @SkippyUK who now has a bionic hand and is really quite amusingly off his face on anaesthetic”.

Whats in a Thumb?

The thumb has two bones. The first bone (distal phalange) extends from the tip of the thumb to the knuckle. The second bone (proximal phalange) extends from the knuckle to the base of the thumb. This is the area of webbing between the thumb and the first finger. The thumb connects with a bone in the hand (first metacarpal).

My understanding of what I did is that I suffered a Bennett and Rolando fracture, at the base of my first metacarpal. right at the base where it rubs against my wrist bone (Trapezium) on the lateral (or radial) side, knocking a small section of bone off the palm side, and dislocating the remainder of my thumb; the surgeon wired the two bits back together (internal fixation); and then relocated my thumb in the joint.

Next wednesday I get to go back to have it re-packaged in a nicer cast…

This is the damage to her (taken at the side of the road)

My helmet scraped the ground, as did my right glove; and both my knees; (left one is grazed)

My Right hand yesterday

Steph this morning after Azz and I had a look and worked out what was buggered,

The headlight took a hit; as did both the wing mirrors, and the handle bars are bent

I need new gloves (old ones are in the bottom of my panniers) and a new helmet (the old one is in the bin).

This is the result of Going to the Doctors about my hand; I got referred to X-Ray, and then pushed across to A&E, three Doctors looked at my X-Rays and came to the conclusion that my thumb looks “Different”; so tomorrow I get to go to something they call “Fracture Clinic” as they want to find out if my hand is odd, or if I have dislocated my thumb.

I went to the Doctors for more Citalopram  and he gave me Naproxen for the pain.

Now down the Glue Pot with friends

One of the things I am finding hard is the act of reading; Its still something I don’t get on with; oddly I find reading on my iPhone via the Kindle app easer than to read the pages of a Dead Tree Ware Book, I think that this is due to the line length being shorter, and the number of words per page being less; making the page easer to read for my poor addled dyslexic brain.

While I am not a huge fan of walled gardens; I think I will have to ask either bma, or Loupie if I can borrow their Amazon Kindle to see how I get on with the hardware version of the app, I also find that the Amazon Kindle app for my mac (and the kindle cloud reader) is not too bad to read; however using my mac to read tends to be too distracting, and a bit cumbersome to read quietly.

So here is hoping that I can get the remaining books read in time.

My brother, his Girlfriend Emily, and their one year Severn Month old daughter (my niece), currently live with my parents, when my Farther retired from Network Rail, where he had been working since he left school (well British Rail > Rail Track > Network Rail). he was given some cash. Dave and Emily have been offered some help with the cost of the deposit on purchasing a house; I had always assumed that my dad was not fond of the idea of me living on a boat, as it always came across that he didn’t think it was a ‘proper home’ however, on Saturday he asked if I would appreciate some help with the cost of my getting afloat, and that he was willing to offer me a smiler amount of support to that he had offered Dave and Emily.

Ergo on Sunday, Mum and I went from Swindon, down to Devizes, on the Kennet and Avon canal so I could show her the sort of craft I was looking at, first stop was Devizes Marina to see what they had on offer, not with a view to finding a boat; but more with a view to showing mum what a boat really was like from the inside.

At the marina they have a lovely 45ft Cruiser Stern called “Lizzy Dripping“, which I actually like the look of a lot, a lovely neat well laid out narrow boat; nice and light inside, with a surprisingly large amount of space, and storage space.

On Leaving the marina we went to have a quick look at the Devizes Wharf with a view to have a quiet walk along the cut to see if there were any boats for sale on the Cut.

Tonight I may have a trek up to Thrupp to see if Narrow Boat Cock Robin (photos half way down post) is still on offer, and if she is, if I can have a look round.

“Lioness Rampant” is the fourth, and final instalment of Tamora Pierce’s “Song of the Lioness” series; the four books go together to chart Alanna of Trebond’s quest to serve her Prince on his way to being King; I would have to recommend these four books to anyone who is looking for books with a strong female lead; who forges her own path in a male dominated culture. Tamora Pierce continues the Alanna tail in a series titled “The Immortals” I have also borrowed these books from Loupie, and have them on my list of books.

Today Loupie and I went to see a friend that we met at Vagabond’s; a nice London Goth lass by the name of Anki.

Anki lives on a lovely 65ft boat on a permanent mooring 5 minutes from Kings Cross in Battlebridge Basin. She has recently written a post for Prospective Boaters.

We had a good chat about things; and she advised asking other people on the canal on their opinions and viewing lots of boats on an open day.

Will have to keep looking and keep our ear to the ground over boats and availability; but the chat, and her post were both very helpful.

So with a blank canvas to start from, and no equipment to tie me to a manufacturer; I am wondering if I should look at Canon equipment as well as Nikon.

In the mean time a good friend of mine has lent me a Sony α 200 to have a go with; until I can afford to replace my equipment.

Alex Muir:

• “For Whom The Bell Tolls” – Ernest Hemingway
• Chris Jones:

• “Glittering Images” – Susan Howatch

David Hancock:

• “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” – Robert M Pierzig
• “The Player of Games” OR “Consider Phlebas”
• “Feersum Endjinn” – Iain M Banks
• “Without Remorse” OR “The Hunt for Red October” – Tom Clancy
• “Pride and Predjudice” – Jane Austen (yes, really!)
• “Where the Red Fern Grows” – Wilson Rawls
• “Mere Christianity” OR “The Screwtape Letters” – C.S. Lewis
• “The 39 Steps” – John Buchan
• “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes” – Arthur Conan Doyle
• “The Count of Monte Cristo” – Alexandre Duma

Emma Woolridge:

• “Inferno” – Dante
• “Feersum Endjinn” – Ian M Bank
• “The Stars My Destination” – Alfred Bester
• “Iliad” – Homer
• “Transition” – Ian M Bank
• “Histones” – Herotus
• “Life of Pi” – Yann Martet
• “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” – Philip K Dick
• “I am Legend” – Richard
• “Catch 22” – Jospeh Hello
• “Flowers for Algernon” – Daniel Keys

• “Riding Rockets” – Mike Mullane (space shuttle pilot – really good autobiography)

• “The Periodic Table” – Primo Levi – A Holocaust survivor tells how he survived due to his chemistry knowledge and relates his survival to certain elements
• “Grapes of Wrath” – Jim Steinbeck
• “White Spider” – Henrich Harrer – Tells the story of how the north face of the eiger was climbed
• “We Can Remember it for you Wholesale” – Philip K Dick

Robin Stafford Allen:

• “Catastrophe” – David Keys: The first 100 pages are a really good romp though world history of the 6th century, and then it looks at the first eruption of Krakatoa in detail and the effect on the politics of the world.
• Roel Verhoven:
• “The code book” – Simon Singh
• “The selfish gene” – Richard Dawkins
• “Eye of the needle” – Ken Follett

“The Woman Who Rides Like a man” is the third of Tamora Pierce’s “Song of the Lioness” series; this book builds on the previous two and shows us Alanna of Trebond continuing on her adventures; gaining acceptance as both a knight; and a woman. she comes out of this book as a strong and independent driven individual.

This is one of Loupie’s Books that I have borrowed.

“In the Hand of the Goddess” is the second of Tamora Pierce’s “Song of the Lioness” series of books. Alanna has completed her time the Palace; and in the process of the book grows up; and gains the friendship and respect of her peers. I am now starting on the third book; “The Woman who Rides like a Man”.

This is one of Loupie’s Books that I have borrowed.

1. Elizabeth: Aldous Huxley’s “Brave New World”
2. LadySavage: Barbra Gowdy’s “we seldom look on love”
3. Ryan Osborn-Smith: Alfred Bester’s “The Stars My Destination”
4. Rozi Rowcroft: Voltaire’s “Candide”
5. Davina Darmanin: A Collection of the Writings of John Donne

Some of TermiSoc had suggested Vladimir Nabokov’s “Lolita”, but it is hard to know if they were being serious, although it looks like an interesting book…

Elizabeth is going to send me a few of her old books; with a letter telling me which one she really thinks I should read. I seem to have inspired her to challenge herself to the 100+ Challenge and Day Zero.

“Alanna; The First Adventure” is the first of Tamora Pierce’s “Song of the Lioness” series of books. Its about young lady who is denying her magical roots, and disguised as boy, she embarks to fulfil her ambition of becoming a knight.

This is one of Loupie’s Books that I have borrowed.

I have just started the second one today as well; so we will see how that goes. I hope to finish the series of four by the end of this week; but that may be pushing it.

Today is the first day of Day Zero; and 100+ Reading Challenge; my Day Zero List is coming together; Loupie has just given me another I can add to it; she asked me to add “Move in together”.

As for my 100+ Reading Challenge; I have two books I had started before the first; Just My Type, and The Ethical Slut, as such they are on hold for a short while, I will start re-reading them again probably in about 3 weeks time. I picked up one of the books I haven’t read in years to be my first of this challenge; “The Radioactive Boy Scout”; Tomorrow I will be going to the gym in my lunch break; so that should help with some of my Day Zero objectives.

I hope you will join us on this journey.

Skippy.

Yesterday Ben and myself were in the union, when a Guy from the Sail and Power Club at the union came up to us, and spotted that I have the same Laptop as he does,

he also mentioned problems that it had with its Motherboard, and Hard Drive, However at the time of his going cu-put he was in Greece, looking at photos he had taken on his digital camera, so i am guessing (wild guess) that he had lost more data than i have

As such i have come to the cunning conclusion that micro link really are the conveyers of crap computers, and shit service