Mixing or cutting and pasting

Again, first an update on the foot. It seems to be settling down now. Most of the swelling has gone, but I am travelling into London daily on a consultancy assignment and in the evening it is quite swollen on top of the ankle bone. I tried without crutches on Monday, but reverted to them for the rest of this week. Today they have discovered a gas-cylinder and nail bomb in Haymarket, about a mile from where my assignment is. This is on the day after Mr Brown has taken over as Prime Minister, so I expected something. I also expect there to be further discoveries / attempts today - that has been the pattern over recent years with these attacks. Getting home tonight will be interesting!

The bruising has virtually all disappeared now, except for on the side of my leg where it is still pretty purple (though not very pretty), very nearly three weeks after the fateful football fiasco and I am looking forward to increasing my mobility and perhaps getting back to some longer walks without sticks.

In terms of music I composed a piece for my wife for Christmas called "Unceremoniously carolled" for several players and too man instruments where most people had multiple parts. We played it at Easter, with my good friend John Brown conducting our make-shift orchestra and I recorded it using my new Neumann microphones (good ones for those who won't know). Unfortunately the playing wasn't up to the standard I had hoped(!) so there will be a great deal of cutting and pasting of different takes, and mixing to try to get a decent sound. We took some great photos on the day and I aim to produce a CD for all participants over the next few weeks, though I think it will be quite a taxing editing job.

I’m not quite sure how to approach it either, so it should be an interesting and rewarding experience. Again I will post clips somewhere (should really re-activate my myspace account) so that you can hear previews and final versions.

Love and peace.

Another work opportunity?

But first the foot. It feels like it has slowed down its recovery. It is a little more swollen around the ankle than a few days ago, the bruising is really on its way out now. Here area a couple more pictures. You can see a little more the bruising on my leg and toes. The problem is, because the pain has mostly gone, I try to do more and then it swells and hurts. Take yesterday, I spent from 9.00 until 5.00 clearing things up n the house and garage (there is so much to do!). By 5.00 it was quite painful. I had been in and out of the garage, twisting and turning like a twisty turney thing, in tight spaces. I had to go back to the frozen peas for quite a while.

Anyway, back to the music. My wife came home from reflexology (foot-feeley) with the news that a friend of ours would like us to record him playing some Bach. He plays in one of London's top orchestras and is considering an exchange to Australia, needing to put together a CD to send.

Secondly, as I was busy putting up shelves late on Friday night, the office phone rang. On the other end, and quite flustered that she had not just got the answer machine, was a lady whom I had recorded as part of a 40-strong group on a ship in Gosport harbour. Her daughter and a friend would like to record a CD of c. 6 classical / jazz standards and would I be interested in producing it. Of course I would. We have to agree date and venue, but what a thrill to have been remembered and asked to do this, especially for someone's 14 year old daughter and friend - I think that shows a lot of trust in me and what I do, as it would take a lot to allow some (almost) stranger in to my daughters' lives.

I'll keep you updated with progress.

Continued incapacity

I'm still struggling to walk properly, though I have ditched the crutches. I've seen the physio 4 times now and today we had acupuncture, as well as ultrasound, "manipulation" (a euphemistic terms for "seeing if we can pull the ankle joint apart") and deep tissue massage of the calf. It was also once more at 7.00 am. Mad things these New Zealanders, though I admit it gets me into the day well. Here's another couple of pictures of the injured foot, taken the day before yesterday. Yuk. Still all fat and swollen. The bruising has come out a bit more since I took these, and now middle toe is purple all over. Really purple, with slight jaundicey-yellow edges. Lovely.

On the music front, I completed a dance track at the weekend called Hard Day. It's not great, but it's the first I've done for many a year (and it sounds a bit 90s to me at this stage). It needs mastering yet, which I may get the chance to do at the weekend. Once done I'll post it somewhere. Let me know what you think.
Love

Swelling

I went into London today for work. I was dropped off at Sandy station by my family and trekked in. I managed to get back at lunch time, but my foot was really quite swollen again by that stage. Not as badly as it had been originally, but it has shown me that I need to keep it elevated.

I finished reading Mitch Albom’s Tuesdays with Morrie today. That puts things into perspective. Yes, my foot is sore; yes, my calf muscles ache; yes, my thighs are losing their hardness; and yes, my tummy is coming back again. But I think I want to spend my time being happier with things, so I will concentrate on the facts that we had some tremendous rain today, some warm sunshine and there are two loved-up rabbits outside my office window.
Back to the physio tomorrow morning. I’ll take a new picture of my foot to see how it is compared to yesterday.

Frustration in the rain

Today it is raining heavily. Lots of good thunder and lightening, and a heavy atmosphere. It rather reflects my mood I'm afraid.

I went to casualty last night to get my ankle x-rayed, as per the telephone advice of the physio. They were pretty speedy actually at the hospital. Having been warned of a 2 hour wait, I actually got seen after about an hour and a half. The doctor said that it wasn't broken. He prodded and pushed various tendons and bones (which hurt a lot) and told me it could take from 2 - 10 weeks to mend. He offered to write me a sick note for my employer - but that's me, so there did not seem too much point in that.

This morning I went to see a physio. I've not seen her before - she is the new partner or employee of my usual physio who I could not get an appointment with. A kiwi, with a passion for English literature, she has just moved to near Cambridge to be in Europe and near such a literary hub. She seems to spend a lot of her time at the Orchard.

She prodded and poked and agreed that there was no fracture. Lots of ultrasound and another appointment for 7:30 on Saturday morning and a stiff strapping of the leg. I am left feeling bruised and sore from her work.

Today the muscle ache started. I have no idea about biology / physiology, but if I don't run regularly, after about a week my calf muscles start hurting. It feels like they are shrinking or stretching - I don't know which, but it is quite painful in a non-acute way and indicates that they are starting to lose some of their strength / elasticity. I guess someone will know what they are actually doing, as I assume this is normal. This is the start of the really frustrating period when I really want to get out there and really want to run far, and at the moment I really can't. Still, at least it is pouring with rain, so I would probably not go out today anyway!

Running injury

I run regularly. Usually 2 to 3 times per week and cover around 10-20 miles per week, sometimes more sometime less.

On Saturday I was playing in a football match. In our village one of my daughters plays in the local under 10s football team. They were having a "lads v dads" end of season game. My daughter and I had been ribbing each other all week about how the other was too afraid to play. One evening I went into her room to say goodnight and she started making chicken noises. Her elder sister bounced into the room and joined in. Very funny.

Anyway, we arrived late, due to a ballet class, and got on to play the second half. Most of the dads were much rounder than me(!) and I did a lot of running. However on chasing a ball from a throw in I twisted my ankle badly. I carried on playing, in quite a lot of pain (and nearly scored twice!), but after the game it was clear that my ankle was quite swollen.

I have now been at rest and on crutches for four days, and am trying to make an appointment to see my physio. I rang a doctor on Saturday, who confirmed that it was unlikely to be broken.
I thought I'd use this blog to track my frustrations and progress in rehab (no. no, no).

The images above show my foot on day four (top), and also yesterday, day three (bottom). Nice and purple and still swollen.

Wish me luck in my recovery