A friendly helping hand

Firstly, many, many thanks to all the fellow blippers who've left comments expressing concern and offering good wishes. I appreciate and value every word from everyone.

I was due to meet my accountant this morning to sign off on bringing my tax affairs up to date, but I sent off an email last night re-scheduling our meeting until this afternoon instead. There's a part of me which feels bad about doing this, but I decided yesterday that I'd devote the morning to consulting a solicitor about making a personal injury claim against the courier company whose chappie did the damage on Friday. It turns out that the procedure changed a few years ago, with the formation of a new Personal Injuries Assessment Board. Things had got really out of hand here, with ridiculously compensation awards being handed down by the courts, the insurance companies lobbied for and got a procedural change which includes establishment of the PIAB, which becomes involved in cases where liability is not contested. I now need to decide if I'll deal with the Board directly or instruct the solicitor to handle things for me. My inclination is to take the easier option and hand everything over to the solicitor, but I won't decide finally until tomorrow.

My long-term friend Derek phoned while I was being brought up to speed in the solicitor's office to see how I was coping. I phoned him back afterwards and he looked after me from then until mid afternoon, taking me home, and bringing me over to the accountant's office and waiting for me while I finalised my affairs there. I happened to ask him what had happened to the water-side roadway near the Estuary I'd tried to find last week. Not only did he confirm that the spot is still there and give me directions for getting there, but he also brought me there when I'd finished with the accountant. It was beautiful afternoon, bright and sunny and crystal clear. My remembered location is on the far side of the estuary to where I was last week, and its main claim to fame is the flocks of swans which congregate there. There were loads of cars stopped beside the water, with cameras clicking away to beat the band as parents recorded their children's excitement as the swans came right up onto the road surface to claim the bits of food thrown to them.

While some swans were doing their thing in this way, others were racing along the water, half in the air and almost running along the surface. There was one guy there with a serious-looking camera, and naturally enough we stopped so that I could get a blip moment. Unfortunately, I'd forgotten that the camera had given me a low battery warning back home, and now it was having none of it when I tried turning it on. So until I manage to drive again and get back t this glorious spot, you'll just have to do with yet another medical-related image and imagine how gloriously wonderful this crowd of swans was -- and we are talking about large numbers here: sixty or seventy, I'd say, at a rough estimate. Here's hoping they'll still be there when I return.

In the mean time I have to register sincere thanks to Derek for all his kindness today. He is a true friend indeed.