So I decided to go visit a friend for beer, BBQ, guitars and talking bollox. It was a lovely sunny day, my bike had just been fully serviced so I rode it...straight into the back of stationary traffic on the M25.
Whilst lying on the ground looking up at the glorious cloud-free azure sky, it occurred to me that things were suddenly not going so well.
Broken pelvis, snapped-off coccyx, compression fractures in my lumbar vertebrae, fractures in both knees, left humerus broken right through at the top and my right thumb was fractured and dislocated.
Apparently, both my Eventide H9 and iPad mini were better suited for rapid deceleration than I. The H9 went with said friend when he visited me in hospital, and the iPad was my lifeline to the outside world and my entertainment whilst I was being treated (I spent about 5 weeks in hospital getting welded back together). I used Nanostudio on the iPad to create some simple tunes as a welcome distraction from the discomfort and stress of the situation; there are 4x .ogg files in .zip file which I uploaded to my Box account here:
https://app.box.com/s/c171evxbgew9tx8z3yn3b9lshdwwxr1z
Alas and alack, this signalled the end of my biking life; after 30 years of relatively safe riding it was a shame for it to end like this, but I decided that quitting was the best option and whilst in hospital I decided that I would use the insurance money on some physiotherapy equipment which is often called a 'Roland TD30 KSE drumkit'. That this was without doubt the most disappointing purchase of my entire life is another story...
I'm not sure if I picked up the 'Burning GAS' infection whilst in hospital, or if this was something that happened afterwards due to my weakened state. This incurable and highly contagious disease causes deep scarring of the wallet tissues and an obsession with browsing music equipment websites. Soon thereafter one becomes a mindless drone, enforced to encourage others to buy new guitars and other music technology marvels in order that the disease may proliferate itself.
So as well as a whole bunch of cool music software and hardware, I now also own 15 guitars (or guitar-shaped objects). The most recent of which is by some margin the most amazing instrument I've ever played; a Les Paul Studio. I'm not that much of a fan of the LP Standards (too bottom-heavy and waaay too expensive), but for £649 (something like a quarter of the price) I've got a guitar which plays and sounds just as good and also feels better (lighter, chambered body). It's the only guitar I own that I'd describe as 'singing', both in terms of how it plays and how it sounds.
I also turned 50 earlier this year, a half century 'not out' isn't a bad innings, hopefully I can extend it a bit further.
...and That Was The Year That Was
