A new awakening

A few weeks before the accident, I had been planning to attend a yoga retreat in Portugal in late June 2011. It sounded perfect! I could take my kitesurfing gear and do yoga in the morning, kitesurfing in the afternoon, and yoga again before the evening meal. Fantastic.

I emailed Paul, the organiser, a few days after the accident, and let him know that my plans had to be put on hold. I also cancelled the planned Italy snowkiting holiday intended for Christmas, and the kiteboarding trip to Kenya in February. :-(

By late April I was convinced that I would be able to manage the yoga retreat, and given that I'd cancelled two holidays, and not taken a break since last August, I felt justified in going the whole hog and booking both weeks of the retreat. And what a good decision that was!

So on 25 June I found myself standing in a very long check-in queue at Gatwick. My leg hurt like hell. Someone kindly volunteered to move my bag each time the queue moved. The check-in guy arranged "assistance" which came in the form of a sort of golf buggy to drive me to the boarding gate.

The crutches were x-ray'd, the fixator frame was sniffed and swabbed, and I was searched more thoroughly than a wide-eyed fast-talking Columbian with diamonds on the soles of his shoes.

At Faro the chief trolly lady kindly arranged for a hydraulic lift to lower me out of the aircraft... There was a very surreal moment as a face appears at the aircraft window 10 meters up in the air and someone knocks to say "open the door". I was then treated to a fast track route through passports and customs, only to have to wait long-long-time for my bag. Notably, it was the first time in 6 months that I have been in a real wheelchair.
What fun!  Weeeeee....!  Hand-brake turns are wicked.


What can I say about the next two weeks? Excellent food, great company, hot dry weather, a selection of 3 swimming pools, and 2 sessions of yoga every day. The accommodation was nice and comfortable, and the orchards supplied fresh fruit daily. But look, a picture says more than words, so pause for a moment, sit back and watch my holiday pics slideshow:-

Slideshow... 

Amongst other events, two strange things happened. Well, strange for me anyway. I have arrived home with a bit of a flutter, and I miss the people very much.
Maybe I'll add some more details later. Suffice to say that prior to the holiday I'd pretty much given up on dating. Just wasn't interested. I don't know if it was the stress of The Leg, the side effects of the painkillers, previous girlfriend, or just that I'm not as young as I was. Whatever... By the time I got back home I found myself absolutely gagging to find a girlfriend again. It's deep down with a nearly painful aching need. I feel like a teenager again.