An early autumn day in Manly. The daily routine of exercise in a wheelchair and later on crutches punished my shoulders and forearms to a surprising degree

It was Friday 13 today. That is usually a bad day.  Yesterday was one month since surgery. What a long time it seems.  Awoke this morning at 5:30AM. Boy that was tough. Had a shower and was out the front for Bob Johnson to pick me up at 6.30am. I can’t drive. Really cold morning, the first cold morning this year. I had to go to a strategy meeting for the Balmoral Beach club at 830am. That is my swimming club on the harbour in Sydney. I got down to the club about 7 AM and decided to go in and say hello to everyone in the men’s change room. This was my first visit to the inner sanctum since the middle of January before I left for Canada. New boilers have been installed in the shower room with a promise that they would never go cold, no matter how bitter the winter is. We’ll see.  Other than that it all seemed the same. It had a nostalgic sense of normalcy for me. What my life was like before I broke my leg. A lot of people seemed genuinely pleased to see me back and were very interested in what had happened in Canada. Barry Feyder drove me home after our strategy meeting at Awaba Cafe. We had a cup of tea in my apartment and talked about many of the pressing issues in our lives. Had a good hit out on the crutches today. Went about halfway to Manly and back. My shoulders are still pretty sore but not as bad as yesterday. Marg Carney came over to check up on me. She ended up cooking dinner and we watched the Friday night Rugby League and talked. I love the company. It banishes the blues.