Monday, January 14, 2008
BUSY BEE MONTH.....
The last few weeks have been rather busy.
There was Christmas, New Year’s, two weddings and a camping trip.
Somewhere along the line I’ve been also managing to fit recovery into my busy schedule, returning to work and planning my holiday which starts in two weeks time.
Wedding No. 1 was that of my mate David and Joyce.
They’d been seeing each other for less than a year when David was hit by an oncoming car as he was travelling home on his motorbike.
According to the car driver, it was raining very hard and he was behind a semitrailer.
Because of the spray off the semi he decided to overtake as he couldn’t see where he was going, straight into the David’s path.
Work that out, you can’t see the road so you overtake, hmmmm…..
Combined speed of the two vehicles was 200km/h.
I think it says a lot about Joyce and their relationship that she chose to stick with him after he lost his arm.
His medical recovery is still going on with more surgery planned in the near future.
When he asked me to be his best man I was naturally honoured and wasn’t going to miss that because of some surgery!
I drove up to Lake Boga with Mick Dabbs riding shotgun.
It was he who originally asked me if I would go and speak to David when he was in intensive care.
The trip was not uneventful with the biggest downpour I can remember making driving nigh on impossible at one point, and turning overhead passes into waterfalls.
It was coming down so hard that even with my wipers on full speed all I could do to stay on the road was to fight my way through aquaplaning and follow the vague blur of grey of the highway in front of me, which was challenging enough as the sky itself was as dark as dog’s guts.
Having made it through the deluge I attracted the attention of a copper in Kerang, who booked me for travelling at 82km/h in a 60 zone.
The entrance into the town was marked with firstly an 80 sign, then 60, then a road works sign, then end of road works, then 80 and finally a 60 sign, all within a few hundred metres.
It was the last 60 sign which I failed to register.
Why I don’t know, but it was dark by then and we were nearing the end of a 3 hour trip and I thought I was doing pretty well considering I’d just had surgery two weeks prior, so maybe my concentration was lapsing by that stage.
The plod reckoned I was sitting on 82 all the way according to his radar.
Of course I was as that is what I thought the speed limit!!!!
I tried to explain to him that this was the first time I’d ever been to his little town in the middle of butt fuck nowhere and that the signage was pretty confusing and that I was actually on my way to a wedding of a mate I met in road trauma rehab, but this scrooge was determined to throw the book at me.
In the end I thanked him for the $220 / 3 demerit points fine and wished him a Merry Christmas.
Arsehole…..
Anyway, the wedding was fantastic.
Very informal with Joyce wearing a band new pink and white set of motorbike leathers.
Joyce, her father and the bridesmaids all turned up on motorbikes and David on a trike.
The bits of the vows to do with ‘in sickness and in health, till death, etc, were especially poignant and the two of them couldn’t help but giggle their way through it as they’d already done all that.
Another chap present was Damien, one of my old cellmates from rehab.
He had a head on with a semitrailer and like David and myself, is still recovering.
Good to see him and his wife Angela as they live in the country and I haven’t seen him since he was in town last to have some surgery.
It was also really great to meet some of David and Joyce’s relatives and friends, the people who have supported them in the last year.
David, Joyce and the kids are hoping to buy a new property in Bendigo, with horse agistments to rent out and to buy a taxi licence as a source of income.
I’m sure their new life together will be less trying than it has been lately.
Photos coming soon....
There was Christmas, New Year’s, two weddings and a camping trip.
Somewhere along the line I’ve been also managing to fit recovery into my busy schedule, returning to work and planning my holiday which starts in two weeks time.
Wedding No. 1 was that of my mate David and Joyce.
They’d been seeing each other for less than a year when David was hit by an oncoming car as he was travelling home on his motorbike.
According to the car driver, it was raining very hard and he was behind a semitrailer.
Because of the spray off the semi he decided to overtake as he couldn’t see where he was going, straight into the David’s path.
Work that out, you can’t see the road so you overtake, hmmmm…..
Combined speed of the two vehicles was 200km/h.
I think it says a lot about Joyce and their relationship that she chose to stick with him after he lost his arm.
His medical recovery is still going on with more surgery planned in the near future.
When he asked me to be his best man I was naturally honoured and wasn’t going to miss that because of some surgery!
I drove up to Lake Boga with Mick Dabbs riding shotgun.
It was he who originally asked me if I would go and speak to David when he was in intensive care.
The trip was not uneventful with the biggest downpour I can remember making driving nigh on impossible at one point, and turning overhead passes into waterfalls.
It was coming down so hard that even with my wipers on full speed all I could do to stay on the road was to fight my way through aquaplaning and follow the vague blur of grey of the highway in front of me, which was challenging enough as the sky itself was as dark as dog’s guts.
Having made it through the deluge I attracted the attention of a copper in Kerang, who booked me for travelling at 82km/h in a 60 zone.
The entrance into the town was marked with firstly an 80 sign, then 60, then a road works sign, then end of road works, then 80 and finally a 60 sign, all within a few hundred metres.
It was the last 60 sign which I failed to register.
Why I don’t know, but it was dark by then and we were nearing the end of a 3 hour trip and I thought I was doing pretty well considering I’d just had surgery two weeks prior, so maybe my concentration was lapsing by that stage.
The plod reckoned I was sitting on 82 all the way according to his radar.
Of course I was as that is what I thought the speed limit!!!!
I tried to explain to him that this was the first time I’d ever been to his little town in the middle of butt fuck nowhere and that the signage was pretty confusing and that I was actually on my way to a wedding of a mate I met in road trauma rehab, but this scrooge was determined to throw the book at me.
In the end I thanked him for the $220 / 3 demerit points fine and wished him a Merry Christmas.
Arsehole…..
Anyway, the wedding was fantastic.
Very informal with Joyce wearing a band new pink and white set of motorbike leathers.
Joyce, her father and the bridesmaids all turned up on motorbikes and David on a trike.
The bits of the vows to do with ‘in sickness and in health, till death, etc, were especially poignant and the two of them couldn’t help but giggle their way through it as they’d already done all that.
Another chap present was Damien, one of my old cellmates from rehab.
He had a head on with a semitrailer and like David and myself, is still recovering.
Good to see him and his wife Angela as they live in the country and I haven’t seen him since he was in town last to have some surgery.
It was also really great to meet some of David and Joyce’s relatives and friends, the people who have supported them in the last year.
David, Joyce and the kids are hoping to buy a new property in Bendigo, with horse agistments to rent out and to buy a taxi licence as a source of income.
I’m sure their new life together will be less trying than it has been lately.
Photos coming soon....
