Saturday dawned hot and still. I woke with a dull pain in my neck extending down into my left shoulder blade. It wasn’t the hot, burning pain that has plagued me over the last fortnight just a constant ache. It’s nevertheless debilitating. On a brighter note I have no pain from my broken leg. It’s gone! In the mornings when I wake up, the first thing I feel is a sore neck. Another big positive -I can now hyper-extend my right leg, the damaged one, as much as I can hyper extend, the left, unbroken leg. This has been a big achievement and it’s only occurred in the last week. No leg pain. Thank you God, at least for that. However, You are giving me the shits by moving the aggravation from one place to another inside my body. No complaints. Really! But please stop doing it. OK.

At 630am arrived at Balmoral for the Saturday swim. Just the typical 1 km race which I didn’t feel much like and undertook in a state of extreme apathy. I had promised Barry that I would do some extra kilometres with him after the race but felt even less like doing that. Half way through the race decided I’d let him do the extra training on his own. When I arrived on the beach he was waiting and suggested we swim down to the baths at the southern end of Balmoral. That’s about a 1,500m round trip. I didn’t have the heart to tell him I didn’t feel like it. Turned around and dived back into the water. We set off on a beautiful calm day with a low tide exposing the reef at the end of Edwards Beach. I tried to give it a wide berth. Clean, warm water – it must be about 19°C. Because of my stiff neck had trouble breathing properly and swallowed a lot of water. When we arrived at the other end I noticed Barry was rubbing his elbow and left arm. He has been having trouble now for the last couple of weeks. Diagnosed with an inflamed Ulnar nerve in his arm. Might be a nerve root problem.  Pain shoots into his fingertips. It has been keeping him out of the water most days and he is very concerned about it. He thought it was getting better. This is obviously a set back for him and he couldn’t hide the disappointment. I realised standing there in the water, that our proposed swim from Palm Beach to Manly in December must now be in some doubt as neither of us has been able to train properly. The following conversation ensued as we caught our breath.

“How the is your neck feeling?” Barry asked.

“Not too bad. I’ts more a dull ache than a sharp pain. What about you?”

“It’s not good,” he said, rubbing his arm and stretching it. “I can feel the tingling all the way down into my fingers.”

“No problem. If we can’t do the swim in December, we’ll simply postpone it until the Autumn. It’s better to do the swim when we are fully fit than attempt it when we are not and fail,” I said.

“I agree,” Barry replied,  continuing to rub his arm.

“We’re getting old, mate. We just can’t do the things that we did when we were 20. Bodies just won’t stand up to it. There’s no way we could do a 30 km swim if either of us are in a lot of pain. It’s better to get fixed up and then try again.”

Barry agreed and we stood there chatting on a beautiful spring morning in Sydney harbour, the sun beating down on us, the water crystal glowing.

We headed back to the club. Strangely enough, by the time we got back there, I didn’t feel too bad. The hot water from the shower running on my left shoulder is incredibly soothing and I think the massage I had during the week really helped.

The rest of Saturday was quiet. I came home, looked at some houses for sale, had breakfast, read the Saturday papers and fell asleep for a couple of hours. In the afternoon I went for my normal long walk out to Shelly Beach and as I walked along I was playing Apple Music and a song came on called, I want to Sing that Rock ‘and Roll by Gillian Welch. Hadn’t heard the song before but it went out of my phone into my ear and lodged in my brain.  Thank you Steve Jobs. Apparently the song is from an album called Time (The Revelator). Like Nancy Griffiths,  Gillian Welch’s voice immediately captivated me. I’m not sure if it’s US folk or West Texas blues. I don’t think it’s bluegrass. I couldn’t stop listening to this song. Played it all the way out to Fairy Bower and back to Manly Wine bar where I stopped for a late afternoon cold beer. Watched the late afternoon crowd stroll past on a busy, warm Saturday afternoon in Manly. Maybe this broken leg is at least worthwhile as I have discovered the music of Nancy Griffiths and now Gillian Welch. Thank you God, at least for that. And thank you for sending us Steve Jobs. I know you have called him back but at least I know there will be good music in Heaven when I get there.

I want to sing that rock and roll.
I want to ‘lectrify my soul,
‘Cause everybody been making a shout
So big and loud, been drowning me out.
I want to sing that rock and roll.

I want to reach that glory land.
I want to shake my savior’s hand,
And I want to sing that rock and roll.
I want to ‘lectrify my soul,
‘Cause everybody been making a shout
So big and loud, been drowning me out.
I want to sing that rock and roll.

I been a-traveling near and far,
But I want to lay down my old guitar,
And I want to sing that rock and roll.
I want to ‘lectrify my soul,
‘Cause everybody been making a shout
So big and loud, been drowning me out.
I want to sing that rock and roll.

I been a-traveling near and far,
But I want to lay down my old guitar,
And I want to sing that rock and roll.
I want to ‘lectrify my soul,
‘Cause everybody been making a shout
So big and loud, been drowning me out.
I want to sing that rock and roll.
I want to sing that rock and roll.

Beautiful ear candy kiddies. Check this out ……….. I want to sing that rock and roll 

Music as therapy for a broken tibial plateau. Yes.

I just realised that Gillian Welch sings Hickory Wind on Return of the Grievous Angel,  a tribute to the late Gram Parsons by fellow musicians. I bought the CD in 1999 and have been listening to it ever since. One of my favourites and only just realised she is on it. Been listening to her for 16 years.