shaun tanner A review of 2008

Grovelly house

A bloody strange year was 2008 .... a lot of things, both good and bad happening. I spent large parts of January and February in Mid Wales working on the house which is now largely completed . At the time however it was cold , miserable and bloody uncomfortable ! I never realised just how much work was involved and also just how difficult it was to do .... Never again !!

March and April were exciting times for me as in time honoured tradition I had been neglecting my studies for my PGCE and therefore did a lot of catching up and filing . It dawned on me that "If it wasn't for the last minute I would never get anything done !"

Caroline at Tenby




Blue Pool in Pembroke.

May was the best month of 2008 for me in that I went on my little walking holiday down in west Wales . Weather was great and some of the views and walks were great . I also managed a little bit of Cricket at te beginning of the summer and was in pretty reasonable form . In June my club side, the Portland Pirates won their first "EVER" game of cricket . To be honest it was a bit of an anticlimax !!! The best thing was that it was against a Motcombe side including players such as Pete da Gangsta , Brushmeister and the Birs eye clan who are all brill people . I am saddened by the Demise of Motcombe Cricket Club !!

Batting .. Pirates vs Motcombe

I was even sadder in July when I damaged my back and ended up lying on the floor , What was worse was the method I employed to hurt myself ... I was working on a security number with my good mate the "Lightening Boy" and to ease the nighttime boredom we had taken along Industrial sized bottles of Ice cold cherry coke to have a word belching competition! Yes I know ... we are allegedly responsible and professional blokes .... still ... halfway through the night Lightening took a healthy swig and managed to belch "The day the music died!!" It was too much and my back went straight into spasm !! . I spent the next three weeks on the floor in agony unable to move and ended up being carted into hospital due to the damage my nerves were suffering . Mr Von Arx my surgeon was great and the pain went but sadly I had suffered drop foot from which I still suffer now .. It might go in the next 12 months
The Hot Water bottle pain relief method !! (Doesn't work!)

By september I was able to walk with crutches but was incredibly fed up . I therefore went back up to Mid Wales but was still not terrific on my feet . In what some friends called a radical and foolish activity I managed to fall over and dislocate my shoulder ... Never a smart move when the nearest hospital is a long way away !! By the time I got in the shoulder had been out a long time and despite the efforts of the on call doctors the bloody thing would not go back in . Had to wait til next afternoon to get a slot on the operating table ... This summer was not the best period I have ever had ... On the plus side tho ... I watched the Olympics, Paralympics, Open , Wimbledon, Test Cricket, Euro2008 and many other things . I watched the"300" 8 times in a week ...

The Highest Crutch in the Country ... Brecon Beacons

Went back to work in Oct which was a real struggle as not allowed to take my crutches in . Had a great deal of catching up to do and it was a busy time . I also went to probably the best fancy Dress Party I have ever been to !! All respect to the Roxy Fox !!

Apparently John Heaton is still getting counselling after being attacked by a stray great dane !!

All of a sudden it was Xmas and I had my best Xmas in a long time as I had a card off my daughters this year . Right signing off .. Best wishes for all in 2009

regards

Shaun