First Commuting Fall

Padders

I regularly commute along the Thames cycle path between Teddington Lock and
Barnes bridge and often have to trudge my way though delightful Thames mud
after a high tide, and on the odd occasion wade through knee high water.

Which, despite the cold weather creeping upon us, I've always found
immensely enjoyable. I might get to work covered head to toe in mud, but
it's damn fun.

But it had to happen eventually, bombing it along around the back of the
Mortlake brewery after a high tide, swerved to avoid some flotsam (or is it
jetsam?) brought in by the tide, hit Thames mud covered concrete, and the
bike disappeared. Chinned the concrete, literally.

Got to work, how? No recollection of getting back on the bike, but at some
point I'm sitting at my desk covered in mud, blood, scrapes and bruises,
much to the horror of my manager who promptly drives me to Kingston
hospital.

Result: Large lump on chin - initial contact point. Large chunk of flesh
gouged from knee, and the usual assortment of scrapes and bruises. BUT,
after much examination nothing seriously wrong with the head, a sore neck
from the impact on chin, but all in all nothing too bad. Despite landing
chin first the knee seems to have come out the worst, nasty deep chunk
flesh missing, filled nicely with rat-urine infested mud.

Oh, and no helmet. Although a knee guard of some sort might have been
handy.

--
Padders

Geoff Pearson

"Padders" <spam.spam.spam.lovely.spam@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:Xns95C6D4EC1398Cahblooooh@195.188.240.200...
>I regularly commute along the Thames cycle path between Teddington Lock and
> Barnes bridge and often have to trudge my way though delightful Thames mud
> after a high tide, and on the odd occasion wade through knee high water.
>
> Which, despite the cold weather creeping upon us, I've always found
> immensely enjoyable. I might get to work covered head to toe in mud, but
> it's damn fun.
>
> But it had to happen eventually, bombing it along around the back of the
> Mortlake brewery after a high tide, swerved to avoid some flotsam (or is
> it
> jetsam?) brought in by the tide, hit Thames mud covered concrete, and the
> bike disappeared. Chinned the concrete, literally.
>
> Got to work, how? No recollection of getting back on the bike, but at some
> point I'm sitting at my desk covered in mud, blood, scrapes and bruises,
> much to the horror of my manager who promptly drives me to Kingston
> hospital.
>
> Result: Large lump on chin - initial contact point. Large chunk of flesh
> gouged from knee, and the usual assortment of scrapes and bruises. BUT,
> after much examination nothing seriously wrong with the head, a sore neck
> from the impact on chin, but all in all nothing too bad. Despite landing
> chin first the knee seems to have come out the worst, nasty deep chunk
> flesh missing, filled nicely with rat-urine infested mud.
>
> Oh, and no helmet. Although a knee guard of some sort might have been
> handy.
>
> --
> Padders
>
>
>

I took a chunk out of my knee in October - out running in the dark and fell
over a manhole cover. It healed, eventually, but is still itchy. Be
careful - mine got infected and I was on antibiotics for 2 weeks. Nice
square hole in my tan (I'm still tanned from Spain in September).

elyob

"Geoff Pearson" <gspearson1647@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:32rh4rF3p2qgiU1@individual.net...
> (I'm still tanned from Spain in September).

You're still tanned from September. You *******.

Oh, and get well soon Padders.

andrew carver

"Padders" <spam.spam.spam.lovely.spam@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:Xns95C6D4EC1398Cahblooooh@195.188.240.200...
> I regularly commute along the Thames cycle path between Teddington Lock
and
> Barnes bridge and often have to trudge my way though delightful Thames mud
> after a high tide, and on the odd occasion wade through knee high water.
>
> Which, despite the cold weather creeping upon us, I've always found
> immensely enjoyable. I might get to work covered head to toe in mud, but
> it's damn fun.
>
> But it had to happen eventually, bombing it along around the back of the
> Mortlake brewery after a high tide, swerved to avoid some flotsam (or is
it
> jetsam?) brought in by the tide, hit Thames mud covered concrete, and the
> bike disappeared. Chinned the concrete, literally.
>
> Got to work, how? No recollection of getting back on the bike, but at some
> point I'm sitting at my desk covered in mud, blood, scrapes and bruises,
> much to the horror of my manager who promptly drives me to Kingston
> hospital.
>
> Result: Large lump on chin - initial contact point. Large chunk of flesh
> gouged from knee, and the usual assortment of scrapes and bruises. BUT,
> after much examination nothing seriously wrong with the head, a sore neck
> from the impact on chin, but all in all nothing too bad. Despite landing
> chin first the knee seems to have come out the worst, nasty deep chunk
> flesh missing, filled nicely with rat-urine infested mud.
>
> Oh, and no helmet. Although a knee guard of some sort might have been
> handy.

Welcome to the club. Hope you feel better soon.



Andrew

Padders

"andrew carver" <andrew.carverNOSPAM@hotmail.com> wrote in
news:vJ0yd.1551$_i1.151@newsfe1-gui.ntli.net:

>> Oh, and no helmet. Although a knee guard of some sort might have been
>> handy.
>
> Welcome to the club. Hope you feel better soon.

Cheers.

One amusing point. The first question I was asked was whether I was
wearing a helmet, on answered no, the looks of horror were fairly extreme.
It took a while for (them to realise\me to explain) that I hadn't been on a
motorcycle.

--
Padders

Geoff Pearson

"elyob" <newsprofile@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:Id0yd.4586$Ar5.1737@text.news.blueyonder.co.uk...
>
> "Geoff Pearson" <gspearson1647@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:32rh4rF3p2qgiU1@individual.net...
>> (I'm still tanned from Spain in September).
>
> You're still tanned from September. You *******.
>
> Oh, and get well soon Padders.
>

It was just a moment of nostalgia as I admired the white square on my knee,
with long white trails - healed scratches. And then I remembered the pain
and the 3 weeks of oozing.

vernon levy

> You're still tanned from September. You *******.

I'm still tanned from my Land's End to Leeds ride in August nyah!

LSMike

Hope you feel better soon Padders!

Geoff, 3 weeks of oozing? You need some of those high-tech keep moist
plasters, they are excellent for healing scrapes. Best of all since
they keep the wound moist you don't get a scab and as a result there's
no pain. Bit like what Compeed is to blisters, but the bummer is that
like Compeed they are expensive. As an inline skater, I use them a
little more than most.

Carol Hague

Padders <spam.spam.spam.lovely.spam@gmail.com> wrote:


> But it had to happen eventually, bombing it along around the back of the
> Mortlake brewery after a high tide, swerved to avoid some flotsam (or is it
> jetsam?) brought in by the tide, hit Thames mud covered concrete, and the
> bike disappeared. Chinned the concrete, literally.

Ouch! Hope you feel better soon and it heals up cleanly.

In answer to your flotsam/jetsam question BTW, it's flotsam while it's
floating on the water and then becomes jetsam when it's washed up on the
shore. Although whichever it was, I expect you cursed it roundly.


--
Carol
"Mmmmooooowooooff!" - the Moobark, "The Treacle People"

dkahn400

Carol Hague wrote:

> In answer to your flotsam/jetsam question BTW, it's flotsam
> while it's floating on the water and then becomes jetsam when
> it's washed up on the shore.

Technically I think you'll find that flotsam is wreckage or cargo that
remains floating after a vessel has sunk, and jetsam is cargo or other
material thrown overboard (jettisoned) to lighten a vessel in danger of
sinking.

--
Dave...

Tony Raven

dkahn400 wrote:
> Carol Hague wrote:
>
>
>>In answer to your flotsam/jetsam question BTW, it's flotsam
>>while it's floating on the water and then becomes jetsam when
>>it's washed up on the shore.
>
>
> Technically I think you'll find that flotsam is wreckage or cargo that
> remains floating after a vessel has sunk, and jetsam is cargo or other
> material thrown overboard (jettisoned) to lighten a vessel in danger of
> sinking.
>

<Chambers English Dictionary>

Flotsam: goods lost by shipwreck and found floating on the sea
Jetsam: goods jettisoned from a ship and washed up on the shore
Flotsam and Jetsam: unclaimed odds and ends

</Chambers English Dictionary>

Tony

congokid

In message <cqbabu$f38$1@newsg2.svr.pol.co.uk>, vernon levy
<not@home.net> writes
>
>> You're still tanned from September. You *******.
>
>I'm still tanned from my Land's End to Leeds ride in August nyah!

I've still got a trace of my July tan.

--
congokid
Good restaurants in London? Number one on Google
http://congokid.com

Simon Brooke

in message <1gp6unb.1xzr5mp1uqr31mN%carol@wrhpv.com>, Carol Hague
('carol@wrhpv.com') wrote:

> Padders <spam.spam.spam.lovely.spam@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>> But it had to happen eventually, bombing it along around the back of
>> the Mortlake brewery after a high tide, swerved to avoid some flotsam
>> (or is it jetsam?) brought in by the tide, hit Thames mud covered
>> concrete, and the bike disappeared. Chinned the concrete, literally.
>
> In answer to your flotsam/jetsam question BTW, it's flotsam while it's
> floating on the water and then becomes jetsam when it's washed up on
> the shore. Although whichever it was, I expect you cursed it roundly.

No, it's flotsam when it washes up on the shore. It only becomes jetsam
when someone throws it (e.g. for their dog to catch). Think about what
'flot' and 'jet' mean.

--
simon@jasmine.org.uk (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/
,/| _.--''^``-...___.._.,;
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{ \ `_-'' ' /
`;;' ; ; ;
._..--'' ._,,, _..' .;.'
(,_....----''' (,..--''

Steve Peake

On Tue, 21 Dec 2004 20:55:40 GMT, Padders wrote:

> I regularly commute along the Thames cycle path between Teddington Lock and
> Barnes bridge

That would be the Thames footpath , only a few sections are actually
cycle path. The real cycle path is teddington lock across the park, which
is about 2 miles shorter than the river to where your going.

Of course you could call it towpath.

> But it had to happen eventually, bombing it along around the back of the
> Mortlake brewery after a high tide, swerved to avoid some flotsam (or is it
> jetsam?) brought in by the tide, hit Thames mud covered concrete, and the
> bike disappeared. Chinned the concrete, literally.

LOL, I hit a TV just there once. Best to avoid that section, use the road
between the old police station at barnes and the mortlake brewary. That
section is horrid 9 months of the year.

> filled nicely with rat-urine infested mud.

I would be more worried by what Thames water puts in the river.

Steve