Fuzz and Face

Its been a while!  Face and I have been so busy with our film we have had hardly any time to do anything else.  Last weekend we headed to Meave Baxters house and shot her riding at Yellow Water, Rosstrevor.  Was a good shoot, got some amazing scenery shots at the top and finished the day off with some interviews back at hers. 

Friday we headed to Rosco’s to do some shooting and interviews at his house.  We got him riding the smallest motorbike I have ever seen and I couldn’t believe the speed of it, was hilarious.

For video clips on the above check out www.breakthecyclefilm.com

Yesterday afternoon I was a wedding photographer for the day for a couple that go to Rosco and Fionas church.  I think it went well.  Couldn’t have done it without Face being there and helping me out with the camera settings and lenses etc, my head went blank a few times and there wasn’t any time to play about with as I only had one chance to capture some of the moments.  After I got a few shots of the first dance I could relax and had some fun on the dance floor.  The music was pure cheese, was funny.  Didn’t stay too long after that, we were both wrecked.

No shooting this weekend, looking forward to being able to do something else though not sure what yet!

I just had physiotherapy on my ankle this monring.  This was my second session and it seems to be helping out.  I still have problems walking down stairs and I can not put any heavy pressure on it, so I can’t really run or go downhill biking yet.  

The physio has given me load of exercises to do to strenghthen and stretch my ankle.  At the gym in the hospital they have lados of cool things to help with the recovery.  The is one machine that you have to stand on with one leg and it changes the angle of the surface you stand on.  It seems to really help loosen things up.  

I also got a copy of my xrays for the first time today.  You can see the plates and screws that are holding me together.  I have since had one of the screws removed from my ankle.

Fuzz and I both went to see hellboy last night.  We were both totally wrecked and i think we were both sleeping at some point during the film.  Because of this Its hard to tell whether the film was good or not, but i do remember some random parts where thay have to go to “Antrim, Northern Ireland” to save the world or something.  I just remember the whole cinema laughing out at that point.

The film is a 12a and it shows.  The direction of the film seems to be aimed towards that audiance.  They also try to inject some humor in the story with mixxed success.  The whole vibe is quite star warsy which I’m not really into myself.  Loads of random creatures, troll markets, and sidekicks with english accents etc.  Even though i was half asleep i don’t think I would rate it highly.

Wasn’t feeling the best today and ended up leaving work early.  Was such a nice day I decided to take Face’s camera and head up to Lough Neagh for a walk and to take some shots.  There was lots of cute little baby swans (and big scary ones who just want to chase you).  Was a bit lost with the camera but gonna try stick at it.  Here’s the best of a bad bunch!

Check out my ride for next year!!

I’m just back from the hospital a few days ago.  I got my leg checked out and everything seems to be ok so far.  It was a bit scary when they took the old cast off.  The bandages covering the wounds had turned green with mold, but it all looked good once they took them off.   

I had my staples took out which wasn’t too comfortable, and they are leaving the stitches in for another four weeks.  I then have to go back to the hospital, get my leg checked out and maybe get it opened up again to get a few screws out.

What sucks is that they told me i have twelve weeks from the operation until i can put any weight on my leg.  Looks like this years race season is out.

Just when i thought things could not get much worse this year, with the shingles, getting my office broken into etc, I managed to  nealry snap my foot off. This happened so easily it was scary.  

I was calling up to the leisure centre to get some pics of fuzz to help advertise her trampoline classes.  I forgot my camera so decided to have a few bounces.  I was starting to nail some front flips, then on one I landed and heard a crunch.  It was quite sore and I thought i had dislocated my ankle.  My first thoughts were to try and pop it back in but i am glad i didn’t. Turns out I snapped two bones in my ankle and one in my leg.  I had to get a three hour operation to screw my leg back together.   

It’s now been eight days since my operation and i am still in pretty bad pain, but hopefully it will start to subside soon. I have a wound three quarters the length of my lower leg on the outside and a quarter length on the inside form the operation. So far i can only stand up for around five minutes at a time. It has been handy having Fuzz. She has been helping me out with things and getting me out in the fresh air. Hopefully it won’t be too long before i get back on my feet again

                           

Poor Andy is still sick with the shingles and a chest infection he has not been able to shift for weeks.  He is itching to get better and get stuck into things again, like his new surfboard he got for Christmas he has not been able to ride yet, how awful is that!  I feel so sorry for him, im so not used to seeing him like this, its hard having to just watch someone who is in pain and not be able to do anything to make it any better.  Me on the other hand, well I have also been down with the sickness a good bit recently, but am feeling pretty good this morning.  I am fighting with myself to get out of bed and go out on my bike.  But it’s a nice morning and I know I will feel good when im back.  Ok im going!  Keep smiling Face, you’ll be better soon.

I’m fed up wit it all.  It’s now nearly the end of January and I have been sick for almost a month.  I think it first started of with a weird fever, then chest infection and flu.  I started taking antibiotics as a last resort. After four days i broke out in a rash so stopped them because i thought it was an alergic reaction.   

Turns out the rash is Shingles.  A nasty virus that lives in your body forever after you have had chicken pox.  It has decided to pop its ugly head out again. It lives in the nervous system and is really painful.  I’ve had broken bones with less pain.   

It feels like a continuous muscle cramp while someone is stabbing in you in the chest while you are having a heart attack… nice stuff, and if that isn’t enough you skin starts blistering and feeling like you have just been set on fire with a blowtorch.