As a few may know I was nearly wiped out by a cycling 'accident' before Christmas last year; not realising that the lorry on the side of the road that I was approaching at 35 mph was, in fact stationary and I went into the back of it! Forks snapped, me and the bike went back first into the steel rear doors and ended up with 15 fractured vertebrae and both shoulder blades smashed and much bruising! After 6 weeks in hospital and a few months 'rest' I am now back at work but not allowed to go near another bike!

In the meanwhile Thunderbox was festering in the garage and missed its MoT. The normal fix to extinguish the air bag light was not effective and so I arranged to have the car taken to Joe at FCSS.

He has had it for 6 weeks and in that time he has worked his magic over the air bag light, cracked manifold, gearbox, rear suspension, water leaks, air leaks, replace perished pipes etc. etc. Now safely back in my garage and with an MoT, driver and car are back in the fold. Thanks Joe for everything you did.

In the interim I have not been to Auto Italia, won't be at Wings and Wheels but will move heaven and earth to be at Honnington in early September. I was supposed to be organising the South East social calendar this year after Pondman sold his Vinci LE and got himself a 'proper' car like his neighbours, but have failed miserably and apologise to all of the friends in the South East. All I can say is that I will steadfastly try to do better next year.

Driver and car are reunited, Thunderbox is running as well as he did 10 years ago, I will be finding some other form of exercise to replace cycling (my passion for 55 years!) and loose 2 stone in weight and all is right with the world (well almost!).

Glad you are up and running again in all forms.

Nice one Chris see you on the 4th!

Good to know all is well with you and yours, see you at Honnington

Very heartening that you seem to have made a full recovery after such trauma - humbling experiences indeed!

Excellent news Chris and I'm glad everything all seems to be well

It's been a pleasure Chris and I'm pleased Thunderbox is back being enjoyed

Well done on the recovery of both your good self and the car All the best and take it easy

Great news Chris. Looking forward to see you and Jean at Honnington.

Wow, that sounds very painful, I wish you the very best with your recovery. Will you be able to get back to your (other) passion and be cycling again, or have you been warned off it for now?

Lovely to hear you and your coupe are both fighting fit again. Swimming really makes the weight drop off, and less dangerous than cycling. Some spas and health clubs have low-chlorine pools now so you don't even get sore eyes.

Annie,

Yes- I used to love swimming in my younger days, pounding up and down doing a mile in the local baths to work BEFORE work then cycle home 13 miles every day. The trouble, if it is a trouble, is that I have a spectacular 'shark- bite' scar around my shoulder blades where the surgeons have rebuilt the scapula,; it might just put off the other punters in the pool and get me barred! Still I may as well give it a try! If I do it in a spa with low-chlorine I might not even be a sight for sore eyes!

P.S. How do I find which clubs/spas etc. have low-chlorine?

Yikes, that sounds horrendous.
Glad you're OK, I guess at 55 years passion you're pushing on a bit so recovering from an accident like that is even harder than for a younger specimen.

Glad that the second point of call was the coupe, keep up the good work and keep loving the coupe!

You could google "low chlorine pools" and your home town. I think some use ozone now instead. Or you would just have to look up all your local clubs and see what it says on their web-site. I don't think anyone would mind your scar, but if you're worried you can get all in one suits now for extra streamlining. They're not wetsuits, more like all-over costumes. Best of luck. x