Pay it forward

A few days ago I was contacted via Youtube by a lady who had seen one of my Youtube videos. She wrote asking for advice on how to set up and use the Bartlett Tendon in order to be able to pedal foot over foot out of the saddle.

Now I know those of you reading who have not had an above-knee amputation will think it's no big deal, it's easy right? You just hop on your bike and when you feel like it just get up off your saddle and let your legs do the work, pumping away and gaining speed.



Well for an above knee amputee without the correct prosthetic knee, which to be honest are few and far between it is pretty difficult if not impossible. When you lose a leg your whole body dynamics are changed, you no longer have a long lever as in bones, you lack muscles, ligaments and tendons. So in order to be able to ride as close to as "normal" as possible a specifically designed sporting prosthetic is required. This is where the Bartlett Tendon Knee (BTK) comes into its own.

Brian Bartlett the designer of the BTK has continued in his development and as time has gone on the knee has become more and more advanced and user friendly. Lots of research and development has gone into getting the prosthetic to the stage it is at now and Brian has worked tirelessly and I have to say not for profit but to offer people something that actually works.

Brian knows only to well the frustrations of being told "you can no longer do that" and for him, that was just not an option. So he set about on his mission all those years ago to design and have manufactured something that would enable both himself and end-users a product that would replicate as much as possible the natural physical movement of a human leg when used in various sports, cycling being one of those.

Going back to the lady who reached out to me. It was very difficult to write to someone and try to explain just what to do in order to be able to set about riding out of the saddle. I have over the years tried helping many people with technique and setup, however, unless you can actually do a one to one session and demonstrate like I say it's difficult to put down in words.

The basic setup of the knee, things like air pressure in the shock, rebound damping and compression can be explained. What settings to have cam's on etc, but as mentioned actually riding is something that has to be practised, felt and learnt.

Whilst chatting with the lady in question I learnt that she was using an older version of the Bartlett Tendon Knee. This was the version with the receivers placed onto the socket and the pinned Cam's. She explained that she could pedal comfortably and stand with flat pedals but couldn't stand and pedal, foot over foot.

Her setup was 2 soft tendons in the 2nd cam position, and about 70 or 80 psi in Rockshox RT3 shocker. She also mentioned she weighed about 130 pounds and that she had the Rebound all the way up.

After reading her message I knew I had to familiarise myself with the older version of the Bartlett Tendon, you see I have been using the newer BTK Crossover which is a completely different animal.

Anyhoo in order to get to grips with the older knee involved quite the adventure, you see Ern, my pops had decided to not only put my old knee up in our loft but also dismantle the whole thing. I had a very scary job of retrieving all the bits by climbing our skinny, wobbly loft ladder, harder than you think when wearing a prosthetic leg and not being able to feel where your foot is, plus making sure my knee was locked upon each step. Wor Kyle waited at the bottom of the steps to gather all the components. Once passed down another scary venture down the ladders.

I had to then assemble the BTK, and attach it to an old socket which I reckon I hadn't worn in like 2 years. Overall the job didn't take too long and I was really surprised that I pretty much got the alignment sorted on my first go.

I put all the settings of the knee to there basics, no air pressure in, no pins in the cams, soft tendons and I had a little tinker with the rebound deciding to try the knee on 5 clicks which is halfway. I then jumped on my road bike set up in my turbo Trainer and went for a little blast.

Wow, the older BTK felt so different to my Crossover, so much so at first, I thought I had set it up incorrectly. However, after a little spinning then selecting the correct gears on my bike I was soon up and standing out of my saddle and pedalling foot over foot. It didn't look pretty, this being down to not adjusting the whole prosthetic correctly. I had not measured my pylon for height, or adjusted toe in or out and aligned the socket to the knee perfectly, however, I was pretty happy that I could do a little demo of the technique used.

I used my GoPro set up on the end of my bed and shot a short video in 2 clips which I then edited together, added some music and hey presto something that hopefully was a lot more informative than writing a long message.

For anyone reading this you will see I titled it "Pay it forward". This is an important message as it relates to all those people and more that have helped support me over the years. Far too many to mention, however, you know who you are. To name but a few Brian Bartlett, Pace Rehabilitation, Arctic ONE and my dear old dad who has always supported me in my challenges, even though I can be quite challenging at times LoL...

Thank You

Almost...Drowning in Sicily!

Hey Guys

This is a true story written by a good friend of mine, about a very nearly fateful day whilst on holiday in Sicily, for both herself and her husband Lee (also a top lad and good friend) Michelle asked me a few days ago would it be ok for her to write a story and "Hijack my blog" as she put it. Of course, I said "Yes". 

Michelle went on to say " The blog I'm writing isn't about bikes or anything but I wanted to write, for my own therapy, and share an example of how humour can be found at some of the most testing times of our lives and the story will be about how I nearly drowned on a holiday to Sicily about 18 months ago".

Hi Glenn, I've finally finished this story and its below. X

I recently watched a video of two men doing the North Coast 500 in Scotland on bikes as well as some people driving around it. Both videos talked of the hairpin bends and it reminded me of a holiday in Sicily in 2018 and I had intended to write a bit of a blog about it for therapeutic reasons, but never got round to it. Well nearly 2 years later, I've just written in. Perhaps not recommended for those who have bad memories out at sea, but I hope gives a bit of insight and at least, to always listen to your instincts. 

Back in the Summer of 2018, we were fortunate to be given the opportunity to visit Sicily by a friend, Riccardo or Ricci as we've always referred to him. Ricci is very close to two of my nieces and nephew and knows my son too. He is so kind and easy to get along with and from a family get together the previous New Year's Day at our house, we got on talking about his home in Sicily and before we knew it, he had offered us free use of his family home if we fancied visiting Sicily. Wow-what a lovely offer, demonstrating just what kind of guy Ricci is and who, in their right mind, is going to turn that down! He was brought up in Sicily until a certain age then moved to the UK. However, the family home remained in Sicily where his whole family still use it as a base when visiting. So 6 months later we were at Manchester Airport, ready for the off. 

We were travelling to Catania Airport as Ricci's family home was located in a beautiful little village in the Siracusa area. Manchester airport was as expected, busy but wow what a shambles the security process was. There was no 'queue' of sorts and Mary, Lee and I got separated in the throng of people who were desperate to get through. We had the usual, remove coats, shoes, anything in pockets, liquids bag removed from case etc. During the scuffle and pandemonium, Mary, unbeknown to her at the time, had clothes and hair tongs removed from her suitcase. She seemed to take ages to get through but once at the other end we found each other and organised ourselves 'back to normal'. When we arrived in Sicily Mary realised a number of items missing from her case including clothes and hair tongs. I wonder what they do with all of those items not put back in travellers cases.

Lee

The approach to Catania Airport was stunning, as in the distance we saw Mount Etna and it was billowing smoke from its crater. The view was incredible. What an amazing start to our visit. Unboarded, through security and customs, picked up a hired car, all no problems. Fantastic. The drive from Catania to the village was lovely and we found the house very easily. The house is lovely and on 3 or 4 floors with a rooftop view that let you see for miles and miles. The village was called Canicattini Bagni and we observed a funeral procession on our first afternoon there. We were having a few drinks on the street outside the bar and every single person on that street stopped what they were doing, took off their hats and bowed their heads in respect. It was very moving and felt very traditional.

Mount Etna

The village itself contained a number of shops, a beautiful small park, church and amazing pubs and restaurants. We ate pizzas from a small local place called Charleston, on several occasions whilst there and they were the best best pizzas we had ever experienced anywhere. They alone, are worth a trip back.

Mmmmmmmm!

So for the first couple of days, we visited a beach, a local town, I recall was called Noto, with beautiful old architecture and we tried out some coffee houses with cakes. Everything was exquisite.
On, what I think it was the third day of our holiday, we decided to head out to the beach and relax. I did all of the driving to keep the insurance costs down, or at least that had been the plan before we left England. Lee and I work best when I drive and he map reads. That suits him well too as it means, he is generally the one who drinks (with his Mam), whilst I remain sober.

On this day, we used the satnav, as usual, to get us to a beach. I actually have no recollection which beach we went to, but what I do recall is the satnav taking us up a huge mountain pass, I mean really big. I am a very confident driver, but I admit I was very nervous as we started to ascend up a large range of mountains, with thin winding narrow roads. The condition of the roads was poor, with loose rocks in many places especially at the edges of both sides of the road. There were a lot of hairpin bends. Lee immediately likened the drive to a scene from The Italian Job and as I nervously crept around one hairpin bend after another on the edge of huge cliff edges, Lee played that song from the beginning of The Italian Job, having a bit laugh like he does. The weather was beautiful with a blue cloudless sky. The warmth of the sun beating through the car windows was comforting balanced with the air con and the music and views made for a beautifully memorable experience. It was only the knowledge that I held the responsibility for everyone's life by having full control of the car, that gave it a nerving element. We eventually got somewhere near the top, drove on flat but windy roads for a little while, before I saw the descent in front of us. Again my nerves kicked in as I started to slowly descend, foot on the brake the whole way down to control the speed of the car. It was terrifying. Some of the downhill ratio descents felt almost vertical and there were countless hairpin bends. As we reached the bottom I remember saying, with huge relief, that had to be the biggest traumatic experience of our holiday and at least it was over and done with and we would definitely go home a different way. Oh, how wrong I was. We later learned that there was indeed a very straight forward way back, missing out the mountains entirely and it was a shorter journey. 🙄

We arrived at the coastline in no time at all and followed it along heading North I assume, as the coast was on our right-hand side. At some point, we saw a sign for a beach. The parking was to the left of us and about a 5-minute walk away from the beach itself. It was quite busy with cars but we managed to get parked and we followed the signs down to the beach. 

When we got there, the view was simply gorgeous. Blue sky, white sand, waves in a beautiful sea. We scanned left and right deciding which way to head and find a nice area to set up and lie down. Lee, I knew would want to go right. This is because there were hardly any people to the right and the beach kind of stopped not too far away to the right, whereas to the left, we could see miles of white sandy coastline and very busy with families and couples and loads of lovely coloured umbrellas flapping in the wind. Lee always prefers the quieter areas, so we turned right. We found a space to sit, as far away from other people as possible but there really weren't many people in this area anyway. 

It must have been less than 10 minutes before Lee and I headed into the water. There were a lot of waves and we jumped in them and had fun. After not too long, I had a feeling that the waves were getting stronger. In hindsight, perhaps we were going further out without realising, but whatever instinct kicked in, it told me to get out of there pretty quick. I shouted at Lee, who was further out, that the waves felt too strong and we really should get out now. My memory isn't entirely full here, but I think I may have mentioned having heard of rip tides, and it not feeling right and will he come out., or perhaps that was a memory of a dream some time afterwards. I got out of the water and turned around to ensure he was making his way out too. I instinctively felt that he was, not fully struggling, but equally not finding it easy to make his way out. I waited and watched and a tang of concern overshadowed me as I could now see he was struggling. I shouted out 'You OK ?' but I soon realised he wasn't. I could see him battling against the waves and he got dragged out to the right-hand side where an outcrop of rocks was located, reaching out into the sea. I walked across the sand at the water's edge, following towards where he was being dragged. As he reached the rocks he grabbed onto them, but their formation was quite steep and vertical where he had been dragged to I knew he couldn't pull himself up and climb up the rocks. I shouted again was he, OK but I could see he wasn't. 

Instinct rather than preplanned careful consideration led me to get into the water thinking I can help him get out. For those that know Lee and myself, they'll be wondering what on earth was I thinking. I'm a very overweight, 51 (at that time) year old woman with not the best health record and not exactly fit. Lee, on the other hand, is 4 years younger than me and super fit. Despite this, I am (with a smirk on my face) still a better swimmer than him, not that Lee can't swim, he can, very competently. As a child, my brother and sister and myself were joined into a swimming club, Newburn swimming club at West Denton, where we learned to be very good strong swimmers, in every stroke including the physically challenging butterfly. We swam like fish and general swimming (not intense training) was completely effortless. I'm nowhere near that level now but swimming at that level brought great confidence in water and breathing and keeping afloat in a totally relaxed way even being able to lie on the (still) water not moving arms or legs and remain afloat very easily. Even now in my 50's, I can swim 200 lengths of a 20-metre pool with relative ease and not even run out of breath. This isn't because I'm super fit, its because I know my technique of swimming and breathing without using all of my energy and having a high level of feeling confident within the water. 

I entered the water until I could no longer feel the sea bed, moving towards him, as I lost my footing on the sea bed, I could feel the strength of waves was even more powerful than I had expected, so powerful that I found I had no strength to fight where the sea wanted to take me. It swept me to the same place as Lee. I was relieved to be close to him but knew we were in trouble and the look on his face re-affirmed that. I reached out and grabbed hold of the rocks and placed my feet on the rocks beneath the water. Lee shouted over towards the beach 'Help, Help' repeatedly. We could see Mary stood up on the beach watching us, but with the wind, I doubt she'd hear us. There really were not many others on the beach - we had certainly chosen the wrong spot. The few that were there, lay completely flat, sleeping in the glorious sun. I hadn't realised until this time just how dangerous those rocks were. Firstly, they were very very slippery, obvious in hindsight, but I hadn't thought of this until I was desperately trying to keep my hands and feet gripped onto them. Secondly, they were razor sharp. So whilst we used strength to keep gripped on, they cut our hands and feet every time we re-gripped. Finally, the other danger was the lashing waves ripping up against us and the rocks moving our bodies to and fro and side to side. It was hard work to stay put. The waves got stronger and I knew it was only a matter of time before I couldn't hold on any longer. I still don't know to this day, if the last wave pulled me off the rocks entirely, or if my energy just depleted so that I couldn't hold on, but either way, a wave smashed in and as the current pulled back with huge power, it took me with it. I recall me looking at Lee direct, as the wave pulled me backwards and him looking at me with all I can describe as absolute pure fear and terror. The wave was so powerful and strong that the speed and strength at which it pulled me back was staggering. Within seconds I was pulled way out to sea. I managed to keep facing forward, knowing I was facing the beach. I was pulled so far out and the waves were now too strong and high, that I couldn't actually see the beach any more. I couldn't see anyone. I tried to remain as calm as possible. Eventually, the waves seemed to pull me back to a point where I wasn't moving anywhere, or at least not the speed it had just taken me, but the water seemed to hold me in the position and I couldn't move out of it. I kept afloat and kept looking back watching for the next wave. The waves were so high, I couldn't swim over them or keep afloat, so I just braced myself, just before each wave hit and held my breath and went with the wave relaxing as much as possible, coming out on top of the water once the wave had passed. Whilst I did this, for what seemed like ages, I was very very aware my energy was draining. I never took in big mouthfuls of water (like the kind you do accidentally and it feels like water fills your lungs) but must have been taking in some water. I found I wasn't able to swim up and reach out of the water after each wave as easily or strongly as I had been doing so and I started to struggle to take in enough air before the next wave came. The waves were relentless. My arms started to feel weak. I kept this going for, well I don't know how long but it really did feel like ages. As each wave felt stronger and I struggled more, this is when panic set in and my strength deteriorated rapidly. 

It was some point, within a minute or so, after knowing my energy was draining rapidly that a wave came and I struggled to get my head up out of the water but I did, just, and I truly felt that the next wave and attempt to gasp air, may well be my last. I was still facing the beach direction, though I still couldn't see the beach. All I could see was water, all around me and nothing else. Even my eyes weakened at this point and just as I knew I couldn't keep fighting much more, I saw a person swimming towards me in the water out to my left-hand side. This absolutely and undoubtedly gave me a kick of inner strength to keep my head above water level and as I felt an overwhelming sense of connection with whoever this was, I saw to the right-hand side of me another person swimming out to me. I managed to stay afloat and each man grabbed an arm. They spoke to me but I can't recall anything they said. Whatever it was, I know I didn't answer. I had absolutely no strength whatsoever. 

They swam out to the right-hand side of where I had seemed to be stuck and after a short time then swam straight towards the beach. I didn't know why or even wonder why at that time. But I've read about riptides and I now understand that this is the way to get out of a riptide, to swim out of it at the side rather than directly in front of where it's moving. Had I have known this before that fateful day, I may have been able to swim ashore myself. 

They dragged me and swam and I recall that as they started to head towards the beach direction they asked me to kick my legs to help swim with them. I couldn't. I really couldn't. My body was drained of everything. 

As we got to the point where the seabed was within reach of our feet and they stood up they asked me to stand up to walk the remaining distance to the beach, but again I couldn't. There was no energy, absolutely none. I couldn't even talk. They had to drag me out of the sea (I'm not exactly of feather lightweight) and therefore not easy to simply lift up in their arms to gently place on the sand. I was dragged across the sand and I can't begin to say how grateful I was, for any which way they wanted to drag or handle me. 

Once on the beach, they put me in the recovery position. I didn't have the energy to open my eyes but I could hear Lee's voice. So yes, Lee had survived and somehow got back to the beach. I later learned that he had managed to keep hold of those rocks and slowly move his way towards the beach bit by bit until the rocks started to flatten in shape where he could actually climb onto them. Two men, from the beach, had gone out to help him. He shouted at them that his wife was out at sea, pointing in the direction that I had been taken, though none of them could see me. The men headed out to sea as Lee scrambled his way over the rocks and onto the beach. 

Back on the beach where I was now in the recovery position, I heard Lee's voice he kept repeating my name over and over telling me I'd be OK. They held me in the recovery position. Inside me, I could feel something big, something big wanting to come up, maybe vomit? water ?. I didn't know what it was but the feeling was overwhelming and very strong. It was painful. I knew I needed to be sat upright. I couldn't speak as I had no energy to even do that. All I could manage to say was 'Up', over and over again between trying to breathe. I could hear Lee tried telling the two men that I wanted to sit up, but they said I needed to remain in the recovery position. They were Italian, but one spoke good English. I repeated again 'Up, Up, Up'. Lee insisted that he needed to get me up. They eventually all helped me sit up, and I let out the biggest loudest burp you could imagine. They then slowly put me back into recovery and I remember feeling relieved that the big ache in my stomach had gone. As I had burped I managed to open my eyes slightly and saw Lee. He looked OK, I mean he was upright and talked and alert but he was covered in blood. 

I wasn't there for long at all before I was transported to a helicopter. I remember a lot of people being with me in the helicopter and that there was no room for Lee or Mary. The back of the helicopter was very small and compact. I think there were 3 or 4 people in there with me, but no room for anyone to move anywhere. I had a tube pushed down my throat into my stomach and something pumped into my stomach. I think they were trying to make me vomit or bring up water, and I didn't and I think they couldn't understand why. I do wonder if they thought I would have swallowed lots and lots of water, but I hadn't. Or perhaps I was wrong. I still don't know what that was. I can't remember landing or going into the hospital. I now know I was taken to Catania Hospital.

The Helicopter that I was transported in

My next memory is being in an area of the hospital with lots of people coming and going. I remember having a very strong overpowering feeling of needing to contact Lee. I was sat in a hospital with bloods being taken, I think I still had a tube in my nose. What I remember vividly is having very shallow breathing, short breaths. I couldn't breathe in deeply and slowly no matter how much I tried. I remember lying on a hospital trolley bed with nothing more than my bather on me and my wedding ring. Nothing else at all. Absolutely nothing. Nothing to identify who I was even. No shoes or slippers if I needed to get up for the toilet. Just nothing. People's English wasn't great. Now don't misunderstand me. I'm not the kind of person who 'expects' everyone living outside of the UK to speak English. I don't. I really don't. However, many people do and I was just a little surprised that nobody did. More to the point perhaps is that I knew no Italian whatsoever - other than Ciao!

It felt like ages that I lay in that bed, more bloods taken, blood pressure checked constantly and being moved from one area to another area. I was desperate to contact someone. I managed to communicate with one nurse who understood, and she asked for a number she could ring. I didn't know Lee's number and the only number I could remember was my own. I gave her that number assuming that Lee or Mary will have picked up my bag from the beach. She rang, no answer. She rang again no answer. I realised I think I had left my phone switched off. Grrrrrrr. 

I was then moved to a bigger open ward and placed in a cubicle with the curtains left open. My desperation to make contact with someone was growing stronger and stronger. I felt so alone. I hadn't cried at all, but I needed to speak to someone. It must have been visiting time in the ward as people, probably relatives, were entering and visiting people in the ward. As people passed I shouted out to them 'Excuse me, can you help'. Every one of them looked at me like I was nuts. After all, there I was with nothing but a bather on, talking in a foreign language holding my hand out to people. 

I needed a better plan. In the middle of the ward was a big circular desk rather than a reception area with staff inside the circular area. Nurses and doctors came and went checking records and asking staff to check computers. I called out to a nurse who came to my bedside. I somehow communicated that I needed a phone. Bingo she understood and brought her phone over. As I couldn't remember anyone's phone number, I needed another way to contact, and I thought of Facebook. I now needed to explain that I needed the Facebook app. I took the phone from her and saw the Facebook app - Thank God. I pointed to it saying I needed to use that. Again she understood, Hallelujah. She opened it up and passed the phone to me. She left me with the phone as she went back to her business. Thank God, as it was going to take me some time to try and make contact. 

My knowledge of the specific intricacies of Facebook was not, and still is not, great. Next hurdle, the whole thing is in Italian. FFS ! OK, think this through bit by bit. So I believed that I couldn't send anyone a message unless you were 'friends' with them. So I managed to find, eventually (even that took time) a number of my family members and sent a friend request. I was still logged into the Nurses account. I had considered logging out and relogging in as myself but I knew I couldn't remember my password and the whole app was in Italian, so I didn't even know what the buttons meant! I knew that somewhere in the phone I could change the settings to the English Language from Italian but needed to understand the buttons before I could do that! So I thought the next best option was to friend request my family members on her account. I had hoped they might make the connection with an Italian name, and me being in Italy and may press accept simply to clarify who it was and then I could connect with them. 

None of them responded. I later found out that most, like my sister, told me, saw this friend request from a foreign person, assumed it was a nutter and pressed the 'Delete' button. At the time I could have cried, but in hindsight, I now find this hilarious and still have a good laugh at that whole scenario. I am in a desperate situation and very much traumatised. Despite this, I'm looking for ways to connect with family and come up with solutions only to have them dashed by them pressing 'Delete' I have laughed so many times over the past 2 years about this. 

I'm usually a fighter and I don't give up. I have a strong life mantra, and that is 'There's always a solution' to achieve what you need and want.' and I wasn't about to give up. As I sat pondering my next move and my breathing had started to improve slightly, I thought of landline numbers. Which ones did I know? Just mine and Mary's. Mary was here in Sicily !!! I didn't even know my Mam's landline number, I'm sure it had recently changed too. Everyone else I contacted by mobile and didn't know their numbers from the top of my head. Grrrrr 

As I started to feel disheartened, I heard a familiar voice. 'I'm looking for Michelle Sheridan' and I immediately looked up and saw Lee and Mary. I shouted over to them at the reception area and they turned and came straight to the bed. From nowhere came floods of tears. I couldn't believe it. It just felt like a weight lifted. I then learned how Lee and Mary had spent the last hour in the hospital trying to find me, being passed from one place to another. Lee told me how my arm and lips were blue when I was dragged out of the water. Although he had been covered in blood from cuts all over his hand's arms, legs and feet, nobody had taken any notice of him. 

I don't actually have much memory after that at all. What I did later learn was that as I had left in the helicopter, Lee and Mary headed straight back to the car. Lee needed to contact the Insurance Company to get himself put on the insurance. He needed his driving licence number. He didn't have his licence on him. He managed to ring a colleague at work who was able to retrieve his licence from his locker and send him a pic of it. Great. The insurance company did not make things easy from what I understand and in the end, Lee lost his temper with them. Before he could get put on the insurance, he drove without insurance. Eventually, the insurance was sorted. He said that the drive to and from the hospital each day after that was a challenge. It was the driving in Catania City Centre that was a nightmare. 

What I do remember is then being settled into a room with two other ladies. It was a much smaller ward than before. 

During the course of the next 4 days, I was constantly monitored, my breathing improved to normal. Discussion took place with Doctors who visited me at my bedside. Lee had been in touch with Ricci who spoke to Doctors and acted as an interpreter for us especially concerning medical matters. Ricci was annoyed that no lifeguards had been on the beach or that there had been no warning flags out. Ricci assured us that this was quite unusual in his own experience. On other occasions, we used our phones with Google translate to communicate lots of information to and from Doctors. It was actually very effective. 

On the first night, I was in hospital Lee and Mary decided to stay in a local hotel. It would mean they didn't have a long way to go back home and they could go out for a meal and drink to try and chill out. However, they weren't allowed to book into any hotel without their passports, and they didn't have them with them. So they went back home, but I understood they both had more than a skinful of drink on that night when they got home. 

A female priest visited our room twice when I was there to give communion to the two ladies I shared the room with. She seemed very pleased to hear I was Roman Catholic and whilst I do not practice, I decided to take Communion anyway. I said the prayers in English whilst they said them in Italian. I think they were all strangely impressed, their nodding smiles of approval were obvious. 

Then day 4 (or maybe 5) I was discharged. Ricci, I am sure had been concerned that our holiday had been ruined by this but actually it hadn't. Certainly, it had been traumatic and Lee, still to this day, has flashbacks. Sometimes I can feel a sudden panic if watching rough sea scenes in films etc but on the whole, I'm fine. In fact, when I started to read this out to Lee for his thoughts, he had to stop me at the point when we had been on the rocks. He couldn't listen any more. He has real traumatic memories of it all. The rest of the holiday went really well and I was determined to go back into the sea which I did on a day when the sea was very calm. In fact, I think I recall it was Father's Dad. We both went in but didn't go deeper than our waist but went in fully including heads under. I wanted to be sure I had no fear of the sea, as I love being in the water and I was fine. 

Sicily is a beautiful country in every way. I would definitely go back and hope one day I will. For anyone who has read this far, then take from it what you wish but know that heroes come in many shapes and forms and sometimes from nowhere when you most need them. Rarely do they get the thanks and recognition they deserve. When you think the worst is over, sometimes it isn't. One thing that helps us through is people who choose to support and help, sometimes in obvious ways and sometimes in not so obvious ways. 

Know that the power of the sea is immense and unpredictable. Sit beside large crowds of people on beaches not in isolation away from the crowds. Note if there are lifeguards and look out for warning flags. Follow your instinct and remember the funny times. I'll never forget how my family clicked on Delete without a second thought when I needed them so badly. LOL

Written by Michelle Sheridan, one of the kindest, strongest and most thoughtful ladies I have the pleasure of knowing.

Stuff not going the way you planned is the path to the dark side.

Man, I can't sleep I've been up since 4am and I still don't feel right. I originally went off work on the 3rd February, that's like over 2 months ago. Just when I thought my immunity was back to normal, whatever normal is "Boom!" I get hit with what appeared to be mild cold symptoms, which then led to getting yet another chest infection and being completely floored.

Mind you although this sounds like me having a bit of a whinge I am so grateful and feel very fortunate that I have not contracted something much worse. As we all know this is an unprecedented time and really quite frightening, seeing and hearing all this sad news about the coronavirus and COVID-19 and all the people that are having their lives cut short. So no I am not complaining.

Although I have been out of fettle like I said, when I did feel well enough to venture outside it allowed me to tinker on with Myrtle my classic 65 Bug in our back yard. It's safe out there as we have a large fence surrounding our yard, so I am still socially isolating, and I feel being out in the fresh air is much better than being in a stuffy house all day, plus doing odd jobs on the car has been keeping my mind occupied. I hate it when I am at a loss for anything to do. When I have too much time on my hands this is when I start to overthink things and it can lead to the dark side. I much prefer to be more proactive.

Anyhoo this leads me on to Myrtle and some of the fun and games both my dad and I have had. I would like to say in recent months, however having now owned Myrtle coming up a year, from day one she has been let's say a challenge.
 

Myrtle

Where to start...

A good few months ago upon getting my car back from LVH Engine and Resto where Paul and Rob had carried out some more work that I had requested. I soon discovered that my Air Lift 3P App was not working. This meant I had to use the controller in my car to use my air ride, rather than being able to use the app on my phone. After many failed attempts I thought my Samsung Galaxy S9 was broken, "it must be the Bluetooth on my phone". I did a factory reset and then had to reinstall everything from scratch, losing a good bit of stuff from my phone as I did so. Still no joy so I contacted Samsung and some days later a courier came to collect my phone for a repair. A few days later I got my old phone back and set about reinstalling all my apps. Guess what? still no joy with the Airlift App...gutted. Upon doing a spot of research I discovered that Airlift has been having some issues with their app when using Samsung devices that have been updated to Android 10, and to this point, there is still no fix.

Stoopid Android 10

Also after getting my car back, I decided to book her in to get her alignment done down at BTG Performance. I have had my new shape Beetle GSR down there a few times getting various stuff done and the work has always been first class, so thought getting my old bug set up on a hunter alignment system would sort any issues with tracking or whatnot.
  
 

It soon became apparent when getting Myrtle up on the lift that something just didn't look right mechanically with her alignment. She just wasn't sitting square. The front driver's side shock appeared to be 2 1/2 inches higher and when coming to the rear driver's side bag, it was leaning over at a peculiar angle. Alex one of the mechanics was spot on saying "look I can still carry out the alignment, but I don't think it will help as something just doesn't look right, and I don't really want to take your money". I decided to take Myrtle home and my dad and I had a think over what to do next.

   

Shock relocators welded to extended arms in position 3

Shock relocators welded to extended arms in position 3

The difference in shocker heights

 

Driver's side bag very wonky

 

Myrtle Leaning

The following day we jacked Myrtle up, both front and rear and then started at the front and began to investigate what was going on. My car has had extended trailing arms fitted. I bought the arms from the US, getting them specially made up from Cage66 Fabrications. Paul then welded shock relocators which I got from Limebug, they came in my air ride package. When we first measured between the front drivers and passengers side shock locators there looked to be a 1/4 inch difference in there position. Also, Paul had fitted the shockers in position 3 on the relocators, which was fine, however, I really wanted them in position two as this meant the shockers were sitting more upright, which would help put less load on them when the car was air'd up or down. There was a problem with relocating them in position two that we discovered. When the car was air'd out the very bottom of the shockers were catching the original shock mounts on the trailing arms. It was minimal and with a little light grinding of the original shock mount, they are now sitting good in position two. Another problem we encountered was in that when the steering was turned from lock to lock, one of the tack rods would hit the driver's side shocker. My da fixed this by making a steering stop. Quite ingenious, he used a couple of exhaust clamps and a piece of 1/2 inch angle. The clamps fixing to the front beam and now the steering stops before the track rod hits the shocker.

Only had one pair of axle stands had to improvise

Track Rod end Catching

Whilst working on the car yesterday I noticed with no load on the front suspension the wheels removed, that the driver's side front suspension was sitting a lot higher than the passenger side. Now, this was the original problem we encountered whilst down at BTG Performance. On closer inspection and after removing the shock absorbers it soon became clear that the trailing arms were a lot stiffer on the driver's side than on the passenger side. So we re-greased the front beam and worked the suspension/trailing arms up and down with the shockers still removed. I am hoping that over time and with the added grease that the arms/suspension will become freer and stop the driver's side from sticking. Bonus as we also spotted that when the driver's side and passenger side wheels were pulled down whilst up on stands and the shockers fitted in position two, that there was less of a discrepancy in the shock relocators.

Now to the rear...

Investigation of the rear of Myrtle and carrying out some measuring and using a straight edge, it soon became clear that the drivers side lower bag mount was either bent or twisted. I got in touch with Leanne over at Limebug and she immediately suggested returning both mounts and that they would sort them out if indeed this was the problem. I would have had the bag mounts back within a week, however, DPD kindly lost my package. Upon contacting Limebug they kindly sent out a new pair and we have since fitted them, being careful to put in the 4 washers required between the lower shocker eye and lower mounts and not to over tighten the nuts and bolts. The driver's side rear bag now sits far better.

As this is my first car ever using Air Ride I have been slightly perplexed as to it's set up. Again Leanne sent me a link to a video that Craig from Limebug had done to explain how to set up your air ride in a Bug. This has been most useful and when applied I am hoping with the additional fixes my car will not lean to one side as much as it did.

I am not finished yet of course. This little car is a bit of a tinker. We just seem to be getting somewhere with one job which then leads into something that has a bigger issue. Whilst investigating all the other bits and pieces concerning the suspension I noticed that Myrtle wasn't sitting on any body rubbers on the rear shock towers. Chris the guy I had bought the car off had provided me with a CD- Rom of Myrtle, going from pre-resto to restoration, including body off. I went inside and popped the CD on and checked the images to see if any body pads had been put in place when she was restored. It appeared as if none had been put on to her. Now, this could create some problems as I was to learn.

  
So when a Bug body is removed and replaced upon a chassis, the body can move and as such the doors can go way out of alignment, making it very difficult to get them to line up and shut correctly. This is our next task and one I am dreading. I am awaiting a full set of body pads, both front and rear, along with bushes. Hopefully, fingers crossed the job will go smoothly and she will sit square on her new pads, plus the doors will fit. I have already had issues with her doors when going to fit new door seals so it's a job I am not looking forward to at all. At the moment the driver's door is quite good and that is with the body released somewhat on the pan and on the front and rear shock mounts and beam. However, the passenger door has always been a bit out of whack. Time will tell.

Oh and yesterday as I was coming around the back of my car, as I say she is up quite high on axle stands and her rear valance has been removed, it allowed me to glance at her rear wheels. This is when my OCD kicked in... The rear wheels appeared different, by this I mean as in their camber angles. We removed the wheels, my dad had not long ago purchased a magnetic protractor and he attached this firstly to the passenger side wheel drum and we took a measurement. Then we went to the driver's side. The passenger side with no weight on the axle measure 3 degrees of positive camber, whilst the driver's side was bang on 0 degrees. This now has me a little stressed. As far as I am aware there is no way to adjust camber between axles on a swing axle car. So does this mean my car is bent? More problems...and the return of the Dark Side.

Drivers side

Passenger side

 Whilst carrying out all this work, we had to remove the petrol tank, this allowed me to give it a bit of a freshen up and touch in some areas. My dad bought a neat trim for the edge of the tank and this will also help elevate the tank a little so as the track rod and new steering damper don't foul the underside of the tank when going up or down on the air ride. Whilst we were under the bonnet we also decided to remove the air tank, manifold and compressors, which is a very easy job as they are all attached to an alloy mount, so come out as one piece. My dad wanted to have a look at the wiring, as there appears to be a lot of extra wires and a lot of these are not specifically colour coded, they are just black. After some discussion between us, we have decided to order up a new wiring harness and tidy up her wiring. This will also benefit the guys at Bewick Mobility when I eventually go to get her semi-auto clutch fitted.

Air Ride set up on mount

It's funny how things come about as when we were talking about the wiring and looking on the CD-Rom and work carried out by one of Myrtle's previous owners I received a rather unexpected email. It started

"Hi Glenn

Darryl in Macclesfield, Cheshire here, I decided to search for mol old 65 Beetle again after selling it to a chap from Scotland, around 2102 and low and behold your Myrtle appeared!".

It was great to hear from Darryl who went on to tell me Myrtle was actually called "Duchess" when he owned her. Darryl went on to give me a little history about the car, which was absolutely fantastic. A lot can happen in 55 years and it's magical hearing about other peoples memories involving their cars, where it took them, adventures they were involved in.

Darryl let me know he actually did the wiring on Myrtle, so I hope he isn't too offended that we have decided to give the old girl a revamp.

There are a lot more jobs to be done, Myrtle is definitely a work in progress and a real labour of love. It has to be love because as an investment I have way past that point. My dad and I spent a whole afternoon the other week documenting how much I or I should say We have spent on Myrtle, as to be fair my dad has been buying bits and bobs to help with jobs. Not including the price of her I am at the £15K mark.

A huge thank you to everyone who has helped so far.

Small Vintage Positivity Suitcase

After rather enjoying our first attempt at making a Vintage Suitcase Boombox we decided to have another go, however, this time going on to design and make a case a lot lighter than our previous attempt. Lessons learnt you see although the first suitcase turned out canny, it was pretty heavy...well to be fair there is nothing pretty about the weight, it's dammed heavy.

Smaller, Lighter and improved sound

First Vinatge Suitcase, a bit heavy

This is the second Vintage suitcase, it is a lot smaller and also a lot lighter, however still gives off a really good sound.

 Here is a little demonstration of the case working and how it sounds.
 


Using the Dayton Audio equipment really helped as everything is pretty much plug and play. We used a Dayton Audio KAB-250v3 2x50W Class D Audio Amplifier Board with Bluetooth 4.0 alongside a Dayton Audio KAB- Battery Extension board.  I got my hands on some DS18 50Watt speakers.

Learnt a little bit about matching speakers to the Amp, a mistake I made with my last case. I think the smaller case actually sounds a little better than my big one.

Wee Vintage Case

I decided to decorate my case in some things I enjoy learning and reading about, plus some people I really admire. You will be able to spot Nikola Tesla, William Blake, Einstein and Edgar Allan Poe to name a few.

Bluetooth connectivity as well as an Aux jack and a seperate power connector so you can plug in a nd charge the 18650  batteries.

A small retro toggle switch to power on and off

I stuck in a few pics, then coated them in a PVA solution to protect them.

Love this little case

Just a few minor jobs to do. Tidy up the wiring and mount the volume switch

A huge thankyou to my dad, as usual as he did the majority of the work. I was more like the supervisor/designer and chief decorator Lol.

Road Trip "What are you grateful for?"

For those that know me, well you will know I am a bit of a dreamer. I have always been like this for as long as I can remember. Of late it has become something a little more. In fact, although I still enjoy a good dream I have been focusing more on using my visualisation and thoughts to try and help my wellbeing. Now I know many people will scoff, however, I am the type of person that if someone tells me they are doing something and it is not hurting themselves or anyone else, and it makes them feel good then where is the harm. I would say "Fair play" to them and that they should keep on doing it.

Me and my little buddy, Baxter

It's amazing how the Universe can send you little impromptu messages...

My first post of 2020, it's not that I haven't been doing anything in fact, quite the opposite, today is actually day 81 of riding my bike or should I say bikes. The majority of my riding being indoors upon my road bike, set up on a turbo trainer, and then a little more out on my mountain bike.

Oh and today is day 34 of me being Vegan. Now when I say Vegan I am trying my best and can pretty much maintain it whilst at home, however, there are bound to be some people who point their finger and say "you are not a proper Vegan", generally as they tuck into there BigMac with Cheese or their extra greasy KFC family bucket for one. So let's just say I have most definitely been a Vegetarian and a practising Vegan. It's a personal choice after watching a documentary on Netflix, called The Game Changers.

Netflix actually gets me in some way onto why I am writing this blog. Usually exercise and Netflix you wouldn't associate with working out and trying to get in shape. Well, when I am on the turbo as I don't get to see, smell and hear the beautiful outdoors I have taken to popping something on and watching it as I spin away.

So let us start from a bit earlier this morning. I have been on annual leave, and as such really enjoying my lie inns. At about 11:00am Ern and I headed out into wor back yard and uncovered Myrtle my 65 Bug. She has been under a cover for some time now awaiting heading back to LVH Engine and Resto for some follow-up fettling. Ern got into Myrtle and I have to say I was very impressed when she practically started 1st time. Once she had ticked over for a little bit, Ern reversed her out, drove her a little way down the street and then reversed her back into our yard, now ready to just drive out tomorrow when she goes to LVH. Whilst we were on with Myrtle I had a little fiddle with the settings on her Air Ride, just to get her sitting even. Part of the job required is to fit new extended control arms, as at the moment poor Myrtle is listing to one side. Ok enough about Myrtle.

Whilst I was out in the cold I could see poor Tango my Smart car was feeling a bit left out. She was filthy so I decided to give her a wash. Not exactly the best day to wash a car as it was Baltic. Nevermind I grabbed Tango's keys and proceeded to jump in her. After getting her started as I put her into gear and went to pull away, she just wouldn't move. I then tried her in reverse and exactly the same thing. She was in gear with the engine running and just no drive. Just the other week I had experienced the same problem and had had the car down to Darlington. I was informed it could be a number of things, all of which are very expensive...well of course they are. I turned her off waited for a little while then tried her again. This time she popped into gear and I drove her off the grass and over to the opposite kerb outside our house, where both Ern and I gave her a lovely wash. Anyhoo after her wash, I went to move Tango and again she just would not drive whilst in gear. This is one of those "Fuck, Fuck, Fuck moments. I have waited for ages to get Myrtle sorted and been saving like mad, then the very day before she is due to go in, Tango decides to pack in. The bill is going to be close to £1000 to get her sorted. That is for labour, a new clutch and an actuator, oh plus I now have to rent a trailer to get her moved to the garage Lol, so that is another £50.
 
Something else I have been doing since 26/11/2019 is writing a scripting journal. I have discovered by doing this it has calmed my mind and it allows me to be much more reflective and see things for what they really are. When looking at a car, for instance, it is a piece of mechanical technology, that can have parts replaced and therefore fixed...So no big deal...
 
Now then moving along to this afternoon and going back to Netflix. For some reason as I searched for something to watch I recognised an actor who used to be in Spartacus, his name, Andy Whitfield. The title of the documentary was called "Be Here Now... The Andy Whitfield Story". It was on like an hour and 49 minutes so I began watching it downstairs on the TV, then decided it would be something worthwhile to watch as I worked out.

The first thing that made me go "Omg" was when I discovered that the documentary was actually about Andy fighting against cancer. I mean I had just put this show on and didn't have a clue what it was about. I just liked the guy in his role as Spartacus. I then discovered Andy was fighting Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma. This is the same cancer I had or have I mean I am in remission, however as far as I am aware the kind I have is incurable. Obviously, there are different forms High grade and low grade and various stages from 1 to 4.

Man it is a heartfelt documentary, very sad. I could really relate to some of the things Andy and his wife spoke about. In hindsight probably not the best thing to watch when you are trying to lift weights and you are crying.

You are probably wondering where my title comes from "It's amazing how the Universe can send you little impromptu messages". Well, I give thanks to the Universe each day. For me coming across this film, whether by chance or design. It just made me think of all the things I have to be grateful for. I have been one of the lucky people to receive treatment and get to spend more time each day with family, friends and in doing my job trying to fix people. So the whole car thing now just pales. No matter the odds, having a positive mindset sure beats a "why does this always happen to me" one

Sometimes we get so caught up in the everyday, mundane, take it for granted shit, looking way off to how things used to be, or imaging how things might be, that we just lose all sense of the here and now.

I suggest if you have taken the time to read this and it has made you think a little, go and find someone you are close to and tell them how much you love them, give them a cuddle. I'm off to tell my dad how much I love him right now, he is 80 years old this year, and there he was on a freezing cold day, whilst it was starting to rain lying under my car trying to sort it out for me.

Thank you Dad xXx

Clarty or what?

Hey it's me I am still around.


So what has been happening? well not a lot really, though that depends on how you look at things I guess. Let's just say I haven't written much on here as there hasn't been anything all that exciting going on.

A canny bit of clarts about today like

I have started a new health kick, after feeling decidedly unfit and a little podgy around the middle. Today is actually Day 47 on me continuously riding. By that, what I mean is I have been going on my De Rosa Road bike each day which is hooked up to my turbo trainer. I have not been following any set plan, or specific challenge, nope just been riding for me, doing between 20 to 70 minutes at a go and ranging my cadence, mileage and time upon the bike.

Today, Day 47 was actually a bit of a change as I decided to head out on my Specialised Turbo Levo. Yeah, go on say it "Oh that's cheating, coz it's an electric bike". And my retort "Go get your leg lopped off then come back and tell me how easy it is to ride every day". Plus I am getting on you know.

As soon as I went to set off on the bike today I noticed the huge difference in the new G3 Tendons I had got from Brian Bartlett. The new tendons are a tad longer, however heavier and you can really tell this at the top of the flexion upon the knee. After a few pedal strokes just down the front lane, I had to stop and release some of the air out of the Rockshox shocker. If I hadn't I would have been beasting myself the whole way around as the more pressure in the shock the more work you have to do in order to bend the knee.

Anyhoo getting back to this health kick. I watched a documentary the other day and it blew me away so much so that I have decided to try and eat healthier and in fact practice eating a plant-based diet. Oh the documentary for anyone interested was on Netflix and it is called The Game Changers, it is well worth a watch, even if you don't want to change your diet ... What do they say "Knowledge is power". I am a big believer in that you cannot criticise something until you have actually experienced it.

Ern has been a complete star too, as he has gone out and done some shopping especially for me, buying lots of vegan ingredients and some ready-made meals, plus he also got me some special treats for afters, including some cookies, trail mix crackers and my particular favourite some Belgian Chocolate.

As I started my indoor riding and exercise regime 47 days ago I have pretty much-eaten salad every day in some form or another, this at the time had chicken or bacon with pasta. I have only been on the veggie stuff properly for 2 days. Yesterday I experimented with vegan fish fingers and 5 beans which were actually really tasty. Oh, and I have swapped over to Soya milk, this kind of takes some getting used to as it tastes weird in a cup of tea, but not so bad in my porridge Lol.

Very clarty

No cameraman to help me

I have to say today's ride was such an enjoyable one I think I only saw 4 people all day whilst on the trail. As I rode around Chapman's Well deciding to complete the Bath Tub Loop 6 times which is roughly 1.9 miles each loop, the sun was starting to go down and as I rode back up the hill towards the farmer's house the sky and surrounding landscape just looked so beautiful. Mind you by the time I had decided to venture home I was absolutely filthy, the trails are just so clarty.

The glow of the sun as it went down was soooo pretty

Bike was a bit caked like

I am almost sure I was on Eco mode the whole way around

Duck seemed to enjoy his ride out too

I should also mention I have been completing a scripting journal. Now, this is not like an everyday journal or like some sort of a diary. No, it is more like writing a screenplay for your future. You create your journal with intentions. It’s like a magical manifesto that supports your wishes. It is intended to help your ideas and desires to come to fruition. You practice writing, reading and manifesting the life of your dreams. It helps to assert positivity into your life and take responsibility for your life and your actions, your emotionality, your wellbeing and your stories. I think it is helping me to reflect and maintain a much more positive attitude. The most powerful words in the world are "I AM".

New Tendons

Bit mucky

Getting old

Ok I AM off to try some asparagus along with some vegan cottage pie.