Third Leg (it's not cricket), and Rock 'n' Roll

Leg
In my New York posting, I opened with “Since I got my last new leg, I've not been inclined to do anything much except watch telly”, which may not have made a lot of sense. The fact is, I was not getting on very well with my latest leg, but now I think I have finally found a comfortable combination for the socks that I wear between it and my stump. It’s taken a while! I have thick and thin socks, and some that I have cut the ‘toes’ out of to form a ring, and these I place where there is an area that has shrunk more than the rest, to keep the whole thing nice and tight and comfy.

This is my third prosthetic leg, or Leg No. 3, as I like to refer to it, at the risk of sounding a bit like Kryten, the domestic robot from Red Dwarf, with his cupboard full of spare heads and hands, etc. I was wearing four or five thick socks with Leg No. 2, which fairly effectively stopped me bending my knee by more than a little, so I was really looking forward to getting my new leg back at the beginning of February. For some reason, I didn’t get on so well with the new one, it being fiddly to get the sock padding right. As soon as I took possession of it, about eight or ten days after having been measured up for it, I realised that my stump had changed shape in the intervening time: it was more than frustrating. I couldn't walk very far without getting sore and very tired (hence just vegging in front of the telly), and it was this that has got me down in the dumps. I knew I had the New York trip ahead of me, which I knew would involve a lot of walking, the prospect of which was, quite frankly, appalling. As it turned out, it was no more than a little tiring and uncomfortable, but it was worth the discomfort.

Guitar
Yesterday I had a good old ‘sesh’ on the guitar. I bought a little four channel mixer box the other day, which was a lot better than my previous one, in that it is powered so that one channel doesn’t overwhelm the others. I set this up with my guitar in one channel, and my keyboard and iPod in two of the others, all output to my Peavey amp. I started off with just using the rhythms from the keyboard, then added in some of the melodies to play along with, and moved on to hitting Shuffle on the iPod and attempting to play along with whatever turned up. It was noisy. Very noisy. Not all of it was good, but I ended up playing for about four hours, only interrupted by near starvation, and frantic knocking on the window - which was surprising, as I was up in the loft room - and a voice calling my name. ‘Mr Tracey! Mr Tracey! It’s the roofer!’, he called. No shit, I thought, a roofer, knocking at my second storey window. And here’s me thinking it was the postman. I shut everything down to go and meet the guy, chuckling to myself.

I was using the Gibson SG that Denise bought me for my 50th birthday, and, I have to say, it is a fantastic instrument to play, and it’s barely run in yet! The action is so light that even after all that playing, my fingers weren’t sore (I’ve lost the hard pads I had when I used to play all the time as a yoof), but just tingled slightly. I think the skin’s hardening again, as I have had more time to play over the last ten months.

New Nazareth Album
I’ve just ordered the new Nazareth album The Newz that’s due out at the end of this month. It’s the band’s 40th anniversary in the business, and their epic world tour is underway as I write. This is one of the hard rock bands that I keep coming back to, due to the band’s song-writing talents, and to Dan McCafferty’s unique (despite attempts – I say attempts at imitation) vocal style, which sets the band apart from the others. I’m a guitarist, so that’s the thing I normally listen for in a band, but it was always the voice which, to me, defined Nazareth – not that there was anything wrong with Manny Charlton’s guitar work.

Manny Charlton moved on a long time ago – although he has reportedly formed a band billing itself as ‘Nazareth featuring Manny Charlton’, probably also thinking about the 40th anniversary. I think I’d be disappointed if I went to a show or bought an album with that billing that didn’t have McCafferty’s voice in the line-up.

I’ve heard a few of the tracks from the new album on Leith FM. DJ Graeme Scott has connections with the band, and produced an excellent interview, including a sprinkling of tracks from the album (there’s your plug, G), which I think is still available from the forum on the band’s official website (http://www.nazarethdirect.co.uk/). From that, I can tell you that this is not a last hurrah for sentiment’s sake from a band that started out in 1968, but a real, proper Nazareth album that’ll sit alongside the best. There’s even an epic ballad for when you’re feeling romantic, in Enough Love. I should also say that Nazareth are far from being Dan McCafferty on his tod! The father-and-son rhythm section of Pete (bass) and Lee (drums) Agnew drives the sound, keeping your head bobbing and yer toes tappin’; and Jimmy Murrison’s excellent guitar work has my fingers twitching a la air guitar, and my head humming. I’m really looking forward to that Amazon parcel dropping through the door. I think I'm cheering up again. Hooray!

(Album cover image courtesy of the Nazareth official website. See links above and right)

New design and features

I've applied a different design to my blogsite. I was getting bored with brown. I've also added the ability to add comments and forward the post you're reading via email. Click on the n comments link (where n is the number of comments posted so far) to add a comment, or click on the envelope icon to forward the link via email to a friend. The n comments link is also used to just view previous comments. Have fun, but remember I get to check the comments before they are published, so don't be rude!

Last blog - phew! A biggie!

The last blog was a big one, and I have to say, the software is not exactly brilliant. Getting the text to stay with the photos was very hard, and I had to redo stuff several times. It kept adding huge spaces between the photos and paragraphs. Even using the Preview function doesn't guarantee you'll get it right: sometimes when you publish the post, it still doesn't look like the preview. It's so frustrating when things don't work as they should. Anyway, it's done now, so I hope you appreciate the work that's gone into it!

New York City!

Since I got my last new leg, I've not been inclined to do anything much except watch telly. I certainly haven't been out on any walks (except when I went to New York: see below), as I haven't been getting on with it so well. Even though I was wearing a lot of socks with the last one, which caused me some problems, it was quite comfortable, and I could walk some distance without too much trouble. The new one feels a bit loose at the top, and when I try to add enough socks to give me confidence that it's not going to fly off when I'm walking, it's too tight at the bottom end. Can't bloody win! Anyhoo, if I fiddle around I can sort of get it to work for me, but it's been really getting me down, so I've not been good company. Added to which, I have been changing my tablets over from Dihydrocodeine, which is an opiate which makes me very drowsy, to Diclofenac, which is an anti-inflammatory which works on neural pain. I seem to be getting more pain now, but I'll see how I get on - but this also is bringing me down a bit.

Some time ago I'd agreed to join Denise on one of her work trips to the States. She would be working in Newark, Delaware (not to be confused with Newark, New Jersey, a couple of hours up the road) for a couple of days towards the end of the week. The idea being that we would then head up to New York for a couple of days to take in the sights and maybe a show. I was getting stressed about this because of the problems with my leg, knowing that the weekend would involve a lot of walking.

The flight over was a daytime one, and as we passed over Canada and Newfoundland, there was spectacular scenery - all snow and Ice. I managed to get a few photos through the plane's window, and here are just a couple of them.

Our hotel was right on Times Square. Here is the view out of the window.

As you can see, we weren't too high up (14th floor) so we got a good view. Fortunately, the curtains were very thick, so we did manage to get some sleep that night. We wandered out for something to eat, and found a Planet Hollywood just around the corner. It had loads of famous movie stuff in it, mostly from Stallone's films. To prove it, here's the piccy



After food we headed off up 5th Avenue to have a look at the posh shops. It was quite a way, and I at the start I was still worried about how much I'd manage, but I didn't want to let Denise down. It wasn't too bad, and at least Denise managed to find a very nice jumper to add to her extensive collection - it really does suit her, and wasn't as exhorbitant as I expected for 5th Avenue, and now she can talk about her '5th Avenue purchase'! Tiffany's was a highlight, literally. I have never seen so many top quality diamonds in one place: the counters looked like they were on fire. And it's somewhere Denise wanted to go: she's a big fan of Breakfast at Tiffany's. There was a small queue of people waiting to take this photo :-)

I was totally knackered by the end of it, and we were a mile from the hotel, so we jumped into a pedal rickshaw to get back. It was dearer and more terrifying than a taxi, but an experience not to be missed. The guy was working harder than a cab driver, so I guess he deserved the higher tarriff! Oh, and my mate Graeme had asked me to get a toy/model New York Yellow Cab for him, which I thought was a brilliant souvenir idea, so I bought two; one for me, and one for the G Man. If you're reading this, Graeme, I'll bring it along when we visit for the gig. :-)

We had a bit of a sleep (we'd arrived around 8.30 am local time - having taken off at about 8 am our local time) and then, still full from lunch, we headed up to the rotating cocktail bar on the 48th floor of the hotel. The night-time views were stunning, and we drank one too many cocktails, just to stay and enjoy the view. We paid for it the next day, but it was worth it.








I like the reflections of the bar's lights from the glass, particularly the last one of the view towards the river (you can really see the grid pattern of the city): I think they add to the photos.

Like I say, we paid the price for the extra cocktail, and for staying up till gone midnight, and it was gone lunchtime before we could face going out. Once up, we went down and enquired about tickets at the box office in the hotel, but they were full price, and they added about 20% handling charge. More exhorbitant than Ticket Master! So we went down before 3 o'clock and queued at Tkts to see if we could get what we wanted there. We'd chosen Curtains, as it had been running for almost a year, and had got very good reviews and won quite a few awards. The lead (Inspector Cioffi) was played by David Hyde Pierce (Niles Crane, in Frasier), and there were quite a few major Broadway stars in the cast to bolster the TV star, so it looked promising. We managed to get the tickets in less than an hour's queuing, and at 50% off. Deal done!

Determined not to waste the whole day, we jumped into a cab and headed down to Central Park (I was NOT going to walk all that way again!) to go for a carriage ride. The park looked great in the snow, and we saw a lot of familiar spots from films, such as bridge over the bridle path which countless action heroes have jumped down, and the softball park. The driver used my phone to take a photo for us:


It was pretty c-c-cold, so we were fair bundled up.

Next stop was the Empire State Building, which is once more, sadly, the tallest building in New York. There is an option to watch one of those films with moving seats as you take a virtual helicopter ride over the city, before you go up to the observation deck, but I wouldn't bother, if I was you. It's quite old as it still features the WTC Towers (which your virtual helicopter, ironically, nearly crashes into), which they claim they left in out of 'respect', but I think is was just too expensive to re-do the movie. Cynical? Me? The signage and guidance throughout the building is very poor, and we kept getting lost, despite a large number of staff, who appear only to be there to sell you add-ons to your visit. The ticketing is very complex: do you want to just go to the observation deck on the 86th floor, or do you want to go up the tower on the top as well; do you want to skip the observation deck and just go right to the top; do you want to see the movies; do you want a souvenir map, etc., etc. There were all sorts of combinations and the price list was a huge matrix. Totally confusing. Also, there are two lifts to take you to the top, and you have to get off one, and walk to the other one down the corridor and round the corner. There are queues to go either up or down, and they kept trying to put us into the wrong queue, both on the way up, and on the way down.

Not only that, but as we were coming down, a woman pulled us out of the line as we were walking towards the Gift Shop to claim our free souvenir tee-shirts, and put us in a lift that put us at street level, bypassing the shop! I think she thought she was helping me, seeing me walking with the stick, but she didn't ask; she just told us to go with her. I thought it was a security thing at first, because she started off by talking about a photo we hadn't had taken. Trying to get back to the gift shop meant going back through security, which was just like an airport's by the way, and it took us ages to get our shirts. We were going to give up at several points, but we had invested so much time by this point, we persued it to the end. And all because the woman didn't ask if I wanted help, but forced it on me, like someone seeing a blind man standing by the road and taking him across without checking first if that's what he wanted.

Despite all that, the view of a snow-covered NYC from the 86th floor was stunning. Here are just a few photos.

Iconic Manhattan


Somebody should be able to tell me what the building with the lit-up pyramid on top is. If you do know what it is, please post a comment using the link at the bottom of this post. Ta.


Snow covered rooftops down below. Tall buildings don't look very tall from up here.


The Chrysler Building, just a few blocks away - iconic architecture (slightly zoomed). Actually, the repeated use of the word 'iconic' is intentional. Dramatic effect, etc.


And, poignantly, a view south, where the twin towers would have dominated the far end of this island of Manhattan



Later that night we went to see the show, Curtains in which David Hyde Pierce plays a detective investigating a murder at a Boston theatre, where the leading lady in a western musical adaptation of Robin Hood (yes, really) is killed - fortunately, for she was sure to die on stage every night had the show gone on with her. The detective is star-struck, and an amateur dramatical himself, so is thrilled to be investigating a case in the theatre. I won't say any more in case it comes here, as there are more twists and turns in the plot than any who-dunnit fan could wish for. It's laugh-out-loud funny; the musical numbers are great (and I hate musicals, as a rule - I've never been confused!); the dancing is superb, and very demanding. It's not suitable for young youngsters, though, as there are a few swear words, quite a bit of sexual innuendo (of the comic sort), and the dancing does get quite raunchy from time to time. If you get the chance to see it, do.



Here is a blurry view of Times Square from ground level, snatched between the vehicles and people, as we made our way back to the hotel from the theatre


Sunday was a quiet day, spent wandering around the Lower East Side and SoHo. We found Katz's deli, where Meg Ryan had the best sandwich ever, apparently, in When Harry Met Sally. There is even a commemorative sign over the table where the scene was shot, saying 'Hope you get what Sally got', or something like that. It's a nice, quiet area of the city, with broad streets, and plenty of places to eat and drink, and just chill out. We were told that the pastrami sandwich was the thing to have in Katz's, so we had one of those ... each. Honestly, one would have been enough between us; about a pound of hot, thickly sliced, tender pastrami between two slices of rye bread. The complimentary pickles helped to cut the richness a little, as did the English style chips, but one half was more than enough for either of us. Maybe I should have asked for it thin sliced. I wonder if that would have made any difference ...



We wandered on to SoHo and found small craft fair going on where I bought Denise a pendant made from copper painted onto a leaf, which I've seen done before, and is very effective. Then we found a sports bar and watched the Six Nations Ireland vs Scotland match while we drank a couple of pints of Sierra Nevada beer: very nice they were too.

Then it was back to hotel to pick up our luggage, and head out in the cab for Newark airport. We got a couple of good views of the city as we left. Here's the Empire State from the back of the cab.


I have never eaten so much rich food in my life. I'd already spent a couple of days down in Newark, Delaware, while D was working, and we'd had huge meals with her colleagues in the evenings. You really couldn't face dinner after having eaten lunch, even if it was just a turkey salad sandwich. Again, about a pound of meat.

Our mealtimes were all over the shop all the time we were there, but it was quite an experience, and the only thing I regret is that I hadn't done it before I had lost my leg: it would have been so much more enjoyable if I'd been able to walk around all day without having to find places to stop and sit down all the time. I hope this didn't spoil it too much for Denise. She was very patient with me, I have to say. Bless her, eh?

4th February walk

Conditions: bright and dry, cold and breezy.

This is starting to become once every other day or once every three days. I have been out between the last post and this one but you wonldn't want me to be posting every time, would you? That'd be even more boring.

I decided to go at it a bit harder today, and was much quicker round. I didn't time it, but I was walking a heck of a lot faster. By the time I got home, I was puffing and blowing a bit, and my good leg was getting achey from the exertion.

I took this video the other day. Quite a contrast in conditions to today. A good reason not to be out walking!

30th January

So much for my pledge to go out for a walk every day. Today was the first time I've been out since Sunday, unless you count shopping, which I do. I didn't walk to the shop, but walking around must add up to something, 'specially with all that stopping and turning, and going back again. Just goes to show you, you shouldn't publicly state these things: just get on with it, or not, as the case may be.

I had a few things to do the last couple of days: that's my excuse.

It didn't look like the weather was going to improve at all, so I managed to get out a little while ago. It's windy and wet, and very cold. It was frosty last night, and I think it may snow a little later today. The rain certainly felt very cold, and the wind's roaring round the house as I write.

So I managed my little loop in just over 32 minutes. I stopped for a couple of minutes, because I met nearby neighbours Malcolm and Fiona, who were out walking their dog, Hyper. Yes, really! A golden lab called Hyper. All I can say is she must have quietened down a bit since she was named. It's horrible out there,and the only people out were dog walkers and me. .

So half-an-hour is the benchmark now. And I managed all the slopes and uneven surfaces a lot more easily. I only have a little hip pain, as as result of my exertions, and my stump is fine. So trying to get out more often is working.

I've had no Internet access for a while: I was having problems getting connected, but I had recently upgraded from a 2Mb link to an 8Mb one - it is the same price now - and apparently interruptions in service are normal during this period.

Anyhoo, like a twit, while I was trying to figure out if there was a problem with my kit, I pressed the 'reset' button on my router, thinking it would just do a power off / power on thing. What I found out later is that it had reset all the settings to the factory defaults, so I had to phone Tiscali to find out the correct settings. They got it right on the second attempt: the first guy gave me the wrong info, and I could tell it wasn't anything wrong with the equipment, so I phoned back to get the correct gen. Voila! It is done! All is good, and I'm back in touch.

That was quite a panicky time, I can tell you. It's amazing how much you rely on t'Internet these days, and how much you miss it when it isn't there.

Walking

I've decided that instead of trying to increase my walking range, which puts me off because it just gets too painful as soon as I get towards a mile or so, I'll just try to walk more often. A mile at a time.

I did it yesterday, but by the time I got within 200 metres of home, I was already in quite a lot of pain. I was, however, walking without my stick for much of the time, which is an improvement. I went out again today, and made it all the way round wihout stopping, and with only a little pain by the time I got home. I think maybe the much better weather might have had something to do with it.

If I can get out daily, maybe I'll get the better of this infuriating pain. We're going to New York for a weekend soon, and I'd like to be able to enjoy the time there without having to keep stopping. A mile at a time would do it, with a rest at each interval in a coffee shop or a bar. I wonder if we'll be able to find a coffee shop when I need one? :-D

Of course, we are still planning to go to China in September, so I really need to build up my stamina for that!

Miniature roses, wine and choccies from Si and Deb.

They sent these after they stayed with us at New Year.

Update - It's nearly February already!

I haven't been taking any pictures lately, as I've been in the house most of the time, so there's not been anything very much to take pictures of. So, anyway, I thought I'd just do a text update.

I went to the hospital for a checkup yesterday, and everyone was there except the physiotherapist. We had a good chat, and the doctor decided to change my medication to help me with some of the hip pain I've been getting when walking, and to help me to stay awake. If I want to get back to work ever, I'm going to have to make it through the day without having to take several 'old man naps': might not go down well if there's a ton of work to do. I'll see the physio later, and see if there's some more exercises I can do at home, or at the BUPA place.

I've been told not to walk through the pain cos I might do some damage, but I should walk more often within my range. I'm put off going out for a walk because I know it's going to hurt. What a wimp! What happened to the guy that was in the gym at every opportunity when he was in hospital? He got his life back, is what. I now have other distractions like telly and computer so the gym and exercise don't have the same draw. It was really the only thing to do during the day when I was in hospital, so now I've put weight back on and I've turned into a couch potato a bit. Comfort eating doesn't help, either. I've put away so many jelly babies, I'm turning into one. Maybe if the weather improves I'll feel more like going out. My range has sort of stuck at a mile, but I could do a mile out, and then a mile back if there was a bit of a rest in the middle; at a pub, say ...

Anyhoo, the other thing they did at the hospital was to re-cast me for another leg socket: that'll be my third, I think. I'm back to having to wear 4 socks to keep the thing on, so they need to give me smaller socket. That'll make the whole assembly slimmer, and then maybe I'll be able to get my jeans and suit trousers on again. Whoo-hooo! I tried putting my jeans on, and I could do it, but they were still rather tight around the knee, and felt funny when I bent it. Maybe, oh maybe the new one will feel more natural.

There is one piccy I could post, actually. Simon (brother) and Debbie (his wife) sent us some nice miniature roses (I think that's what they are), some wine, and some chocolates (I do know what they are!) after they'd stayed here over New Year. that was really nice of them, and they looked really nice, so I took a picture; so I'll post that in a little while.

The weather has been awful lately (moan moan moan) so I've had the excuse to watch telly (new flat screen one - fabulous) and play on my computer. I've got some music mixing software now, so I've got to get organised and see if I can lay down some tracks. That's a sort of daunting prospect: where do you start? I'll need a few weeks to figure it out, and then I'll see what I can do, eh.

The hardships of Xmas shopping

Denise with a hot chocolate in Thornton's (she says it was made with skimmed milk - and I believe her, I really do, cos women go on about indulgence, only to deny themselves!)