[John Whitworth]

I fell down the stairs last week, the way old people do, and since then I have had my leg strapped and cannot move more than twenty feet, walking like a zombie..That's the bad news. The good news is I am getting better and can actually wash my hair and stuff. And walk twenty five feet. Like a zombie.

Of course I have had plenty of time to work on entries to competitions and watch cricket. But then there's more bad news...

[Michael Cantor]

Ouch! Being a certifiable Old People, I commiserate. I guess that explains why you haven't been around. It's good to know you can wash your hair while there's still some left, and hopefully this means you can do all the basic stuff - particularly the eating and drinking. Take care, get well, enjoy your cricket, and do try the NFL on Sunday afternoons (I think I got that right) your time. Take care.

[Jayne Osborn]

John,
Poor you. I commiserate too. I missed my footing and fell down a flight of stairs back in January; next day I felt as if I'd been hit by a train. It was truly awful.
Added to your unfortunate tumble, we got thrashed at cricket by Bangladesh -- you are really suffering, my friend!!!!

Bob re post #87,
Over here we always used to refer to them as ''Body warmers'' which is a bit daft, I suppose, because any item of clothing could be called a body warmer --- but then it became fashionable to call that particular type of apparel a ''gilet''. That makes more sense . . . and it is a nice word, as Annie said (though a vest in the US is what we call a waistcoat, which is a different garment altogether).

A bit more (albeit trivial) good news, but no one said the good news had to be something earth-shattering! :

I've finally finished knitting a jacket in very chunky wool, using needles the thickness of broom handles, after . . . Oh, it has to be seven years since I started it . . . and all I have to do now is sew it together.

(So I might be wearing it in five years' time!! )

Jayne

[John Whitworth]

Thank you, fellow oldsters for your kind words. You should see the purple bruises. I shall be pushing a Dyson about on Wednesday nonwithstanding.

Re Bangladesh. It's our gift to the poor world much better than Aid.. Losing 10 wickets for 58 is bad, but Australia bowked us out for 52, in 1948 and the West Indies for 43 not so long ago. On the other hand we have done it to them, and not so long ago. A bad day at the office, no more.

A rugby team recently lost by more than 100 points.I wish I could remember who that was.

[Claudia Gary]

John, Jayne, and any others with bruises or worse,

My sympathies! Something like that happened to me this past March, breaking a foot, so I kind of know what you've been through. And then after graduating from the boot, I had the Summer of Lace-Up Shoes.

The good news is that after six months of following doctor's orders, taking extra Vitamin D, and doing special exercises, everything seemed to be back to normal. Let's hear it for Vitamin D!

Claudia

[Jayne Osborn]

We take longer to heal as we get older, but at least we're all still in one piece!

That's Good News, for sure

Tomorrow I'm going to the funeral of a lovely man; he died on his 80th birthday a week last Saturday, but he went out on a high - after a big party in a London hotel, with all his family there. From what he said to me just two days before, I know that's what he wanted, . . . so even that is Good News in a way, I suppose. (I'll still shed a tear for him though.)

Jayne