Jamie's special day of fun

With Vanessa and Charlotte in County Durham for a mums and daughters adventure weekend, Jamie and I chose to have some fun of our own.  Being cavemen.

YABBA DABBA DO!  

Go-karting was our first indulgence. 

I hadn't driven a go-kart in years. And I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy destroying him and everyone else in my racing line (the oldest of which was 12, according to his grandmother). 

What a hero.

And then it was lunchtime with a heavy chicken flavour.

First at KFC (my favourite).

Before I invited Jamie to be assaulted in full public view by Billy the Bantam, the official mascot of Bradford City FC. 

And the fun was still only halfway through.

Next, it was off to the IMAX at the National Media Museum for Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them. Well worth a watch if you have 133 minutes to spare (plus ads and trailers).

Back in Guiseley, we ended our day with traditional man fayre of steak and chips (my other favourite) the sofa and rugby on the telly.  Ireland were playing Australia. And the good guys won, making my day complete.

Let's hope Jamie enjoyed his day too.

Stupid is as hard man does

Earlier this month I told the world (well, you and the other two strangers who read this rubbish) that I'd fractured my arm.  Back in July.  The brains of people more clever than me would have detected the pain much earlier than I did, but I am what I'm left with.

I wrote that I was due back with my doctor in a couple of weeks to learn my fate. But I didn't have to wait that long for news.

I was in bed, as it turned out, just a few hours after I'd written the post.  I'd decided to go for a nap before getting up to see Donald Trump get his arse kicked in the US Presidential Election. (That went well).  

And then around 9pm the phone rang - she's a very hard-working doctor.  Scottish.  Let's hope we keep her if they leave.

She'd seen my x-rays and confirmed the fracture.  She said she'd already contacted the break man (aka the consultant surgeon in the Orthopaedic Department at the Leeds General Infirmary) to ask him to sort me out.        

I saw him on Tuesday.  I said "hello."  He said "hello" back.  Nice man. He's English so definitely staying put.  

He put my x-ray on the display thingy. It clearly showed two cracks in the bone at the top of my arm.

"You did this in September?" he said, raising his voice at the end of the sentence like posh people do.

"July," I replied proudly, like hard people from Northern Ireland do.

"Wow," he said, visibly impressed.

However, he then proceeded to explain that he wasn't going to operate on me just yet.

"There's not much we can do about the fractures as they will heal," he said.  (Plus I'm hard as nails).

"But I will send you for physio as the area around the break is badly inflamed and there may be ligament damage. " (I'm even harder than I thought).

"If there's still pain in two months, we can consider keyhole surgery."

Sounds fair enough to me, but there is a problem.

Given how hard I clearly am, how will I know if there is any pain or not?

Maybe I'll worry about that when the two months are nearly up.  

A Senior moment to remember

Well, that WAS a weekend.  And more.

My dad turned 80 on Saturday, so we arranged a party for him at Mary Pat's Bar in his - and my - native Macosquin, just outside Coleraine.  To add to the surprise, it took place on Friday evening 

That's Lizzie, the lady of the manor, carrying his cake.  And what an incredible job she did. 

Friends and family came in droves. 

Here's grandson Nathan and granddaughter Katie.

And my oldest friend, Drew Hutchinson (aka DJ Steady), held the whole thing together brilliantly between tunes.  And beers.

After staying up to 4.30am to see in his birthday, my dad and I headed off to The Showgrounds on Saturday to see the in-form Bannsiders' latest footballing triumph.  

And then it was off to the Railway Arms for drinks - word spread fast and the birthday boy barely put his hand in his pocket.

We also had the chance to wish the staff well as they headed off for another Pub of the Year awards ceremony.  Needless to say, Team Clare won again.

But, as much as he sought to avoid being the centre of attention, the weekend was all about Barry White Senior.

It was very good to be part of it.

Bird brain

Jamie's developed something of a love for and expertise in birds of prey.  So, yesterday, we all traipsed off to the York Bird of Prey Centre so he could continue his education.

That's a big owl you can see him holding above.  (You can't fool me).

Here he is with a Harris Hawk.

The next bird even bowed down to him.

Unfortunately this one didn't.

Bit that didn't put Charlotte off, who had to have a go too.

Here she is with Oliver.

You can see Vanessa looking jealous behind.

So she got involved as well.

What a strange-looking bird.  And here she is holding one.

And of course I had a go.  His name's Shadow.  He's a golden eagle.  I think he was showing off.  

Sadly we weren't allowed to hold the one that looked like Cyndi Lauper.

But we'll be back.  Time after time.      

Them's the breaks

Just over three months ago, I wrote here about our mid-summer trip to CarFest North, including my ill-advised plummet into a pool of foam.

I thought it was a deep pool.  But it wasn't.  It only had a "depth" of three inches.  So I bounced on landing.  Hard.

In the picture above, taken immediately afterwards, you can see me holding my left arm a little awkwardly.  I was in a lot of pain but thought a shake and a rub would do the trick.  After a few weeks of little change, it dawned on me that these remedies might not be enough.

So I went to see the doctor.  She thought I'd probably damaged a tendon so booked me in for a scan.

I had that today and it didn't take long to confirm that there was indeed tendon damage.

What came as more of a shock was the discovery that the arm is also fractured.

Oh joy.

I was sent for a series of x-rays and am due back with my doctor in two weeks to learn my fate. Surgery seems to be the only option.      

But after trying to sleep with a broken arm for the past 14 and a bit weeks, I'm hoping to remain as hard as nails for just a little while longer..............SOB!!!!!