Getting back to normal life

These first two photos show the scene of the accident - Alister slipped on the muddy and (at the time) waterlogged puddle and skidded on his shoulder until where the black bag is placed. It is sure that this was the spot because the remains of the cycling glasses were found at the side of the track!!


Meanwhile we have returned to our hut in the mountains and made a great discovery - the local swimming pool complex is simply spectacular. Set in a forest and surrounded by mountains - the modern pools are sure to be frequently visited in future. Alister enjoyed a dip in the water, but his arm movement is still much too limited to actually swim. Meanwhile, back at the hut we had a lovely time. Mattéo particularly was happy to jump on the tractor and disappear into the (very steep!) fields with Meinhard (the farmer/lumberjack), he also learnt about scrumping apples in the nearby orchards, and made kilos of apple puré using his M'amie's recipe and her also spent a lot of time jumping on and collecting grasshoppers in the fields. Just right for a little boy of 6!!

Juliette enjoyed following her brother about and spent a lot of time trying to find the farm kittens.

Souvenirs of the beach in France

At last Delphine, Mattéo and Juliette have returned to a very happy Alister - even more so because Alister's mother came along for the ride!!

Here are a few snaps of their 5 weeks on the Atlantic coast in France, also with the cousins, Victoire, Capucine, Sixtine and Cyprien as well as grandmère, grandpère, tantes Erika and Monique, Delphine cousins etc, etc.

On the mend and on the beach

Yes, Alister is slowly on the mend andDelphine and the children are spending a few weeks on the Atlantic Coast in France.

But Alister hasn’t been alone for the whole time; his dad came over [as he usually does in the summer] to enjoy Bavaria and the Alps, help out at home [like cooking, tying shoelaces, trimming the garden, etc], and of course provide some company.

Delphine’s mother took the train to Munich in mid July and we all spent a weekend at our little house in Austria. It was a little uncomfortable for Alister and his shoulder but we all had a lot of fun. Then Delphine and the mother shared the driving back to France just before Juliette’s birthday.

Alister and has been written off sick for quite a long time and decided to go back to Austria with dad and a large pile of documents to prepare for a complex meeting in August. With beautiful weather, they took a long day trip over a spectacular mountain passes into a lovely area of northern Italy.

It seems that Delphine and the children are having fun, reliving some fun times from New Zealand by body boarding and fishing off the coast. Hopefully some pictures will soon be available for this blog.

Alister chaired his big meeting over two full days earlier this week, it was pretty tough going especially with the painful shoulder, and is pleased to be back with a reduced workload during his convalescence.

Needless to say he is really looking forward to being reunited with Delphine Mattéo Juliette as well as his mother on 17 August!

As far as the shoulder is concerned, Alister is still not allowed to use it actively and still spends an hour a day strapped into his "physio chair" - next medical check is in a few days.

That’s all for now! For the first time, this blog has been written using my voice alone [no hands!] Speech recognition software is pretty advanced but still can be frustrating!