Ouch!

Last Wednesday was not a fun day.

I had a meeting at work so was a little later than usual going home. I was looking forward to a quiet evening, and was not at all happy when, as I innocently waited at a junction to turn left, another car slammed into the back of mine. Which was not fun.

The bloke who hit me did the right things - stopped, apologised, gave me his details, and I was able to get home (although there is a rather alarming light on the dashboard, and if I had seen then how far the back of the car was shoved in  might not have risked getting home. I'm not planning on driving it anywhere else until it has been checked out by someone competent to make sure that there is nothing important like the engine, or the back axle, damaged)

I also got myself checked out at the local hospital, where they reassured me that while everything would hurt lots, nothing important (such as, y'know, my spinal column) was anywhere it shouldn't be. Which is good. Although they are, unfortunately, correct about the whole everything hurting part.

However, I am trying to look on the bright side. Not least that fact that the car coming along the main road swerved in time and *didn't* hit me as I was shunted into its path. And I Ain't Dead Yet.

I am, so far, not overly impressed by the insurers - it feels as though everything has to be dealt  with by a different person in a different contracted out department, none of which are talking to each other, so things are not going very fast, And I suspect that the insurer may want to write off the car, as although the damage isn't huge, it's probably quite a lot in comparison with the value of my car, given that it is 12 years old. I hope not, as I really could do without the hassle of having to argue with them over valuation (which I believe is inevitable in those circumstances) and then having to try to buy a car in a hurry. So for now, I'm hoping I'm being overly pessimistic and that they will be able and willing to fix it!

Ah well.

Nice things to come

Yesterday I got a copy of the programme booklet for the Bath Fesitival of Children's Literature through the post; reading through it, I was very happy to find that Dave McKean is going to be there, doign a panel entitled "Graphic Novels: the new revolution" with Garen Ewing and Robin Ethrington. I have to admit that I'm notfamiliar with Ewing or Ethrington's work, but the chance of seeing Dave McKean was more than enough to have me on the phone to the ticket line without delay!

I was also interested to see that Michael Rosen, Michael Morpurgo and Cornelia Funke are also all going to be there, and was disappointed to see that while David Almond is there his panel is on a Wednesday lunchtime, which means I won't be able to get to that, unless I book a day off work..

I have also received the new season's brochure for the Bath Theatre Royal - they have Sheridan's "The Rivals", Monty Python's "Spamalot", Coward's "Blithe Spirit" and Shakespeare's "The Merry Wives of Windsor"all coming up, as well as the (now traditional) performance of Handel's Messiah. Unfortunately, theatre tickets are rather more expensive than tickets for the Literature Fesitval, so I shall have to do a little more in the way of calculation before I get start booking - going to all those shows would set me back by about £150, and while I think it's worth it, I still need to actually get the money in place before I can spend it!

In other news, the bruises I gave myself on Saturday are all turning an unlovely shade of yellow, with purple highlights, and continue to be rather ouchy, and it's clear that falling so heavily also jarred my neck/shoulder (which I have a long standing problem with anyway) so that is much more painful than normal. *sigh*

On the plus side, I have a theatre ticket for this evening, to see Simon Callow in his one-man show "The Man From Stratford", which should be fun.

In Which I Experience Interesting Times

I got up bright and early this morning in order to go to London to see 'They Might Be Giants' in concert at the Royal Festival Hall.

The first part of the trip, into Bath was fine, my connecting train was on time... Little did I know that this was just fate's way of Lulling me in to a false sense of security....

As I was getting onto the train at Bath I slipped. You know that Gap? The one they tell you to mind? They are right. It's a vicious bugger.

It all happened very fast-I *think* that my foot slipped on the lower step, so I fell up the train step, dropping a leg or two down the gap between the train & platform, but fortunately with enough of me falling inside the train that I could scramble in.

I managed to get to my seat before I started shaking, and then examined the damage - skinned the top of my left foot (dammit, wearing sandals just cos it was hot..) grazed my left knee (though my jeans, mind) and whacked both shins and my right thigh (I think on the edges of the various steps, but might be wrong)

and, as I realized when I was a bit calmer and able to take stock, my copy of Neil Gaiman's "Neverwhere" was gone. I think maybe it sacrificed itself to The Gap for me...

Most of my stuff was in my backpack, which I was wearing, fortunately.

the nice guy in the buffet car gave me a bag of ice to use as a cold compress, which made things feel a bit better, and I had more or less regained my composure by the time we got to Paddington, although I do now have the problem of how one limps in both legs at once.....

Fortunately there is a direct bus between the Festival Hall & my hotel, so I don't need to walk much. (although I notice my room is as far as it is possible to get from the lift..)

BUT I am alive, and not seriously hurt, just a bit shaken up, and I'm sure the bruises will heal.

I shall be training it home tomorrow. I shall be aproaching all trains with great caution...