IT ALL WENT HORRIBLY WRONG

Normal Friday night a beer in a local pub and a good find too, The Red Fish. Back to Soraya and a traditional Friday night pizza. I then thought I should fill up Soraya with water before the off tomorrow. Turned the water on at the bourne (water point) went to push the hose into the freshwater filler and managed to get 'both' feet under a very short rope. Over I fell hard onto the concrete quayside. Instantly I knew it was bad, I could not move. Margaret came rushing out and fortunately a young couple who were walking passed stopped to see if they could help. We all came to the same diagnosis. I had dislocated my shoulder and badly bruised a knee. Fortunately the guy walking passed was a pompier (fireman) and knew what to do. More importantly he knew who to telephone and within a few minutes the ambulance arrived and it was off to Centre Hospitalier Chalons-en-Champagne.

Getting into the ambulance.

All good fun blaring through the streets of Chalon at 10 at night. Blood tests, pain killers, drips, morphine, more morphine, reflex tests, X-rays. Then it was time for the real fun. I must add that I was in so much pain even full of morphine. Despite state of the art facilities, equipment and expertise the cure was very traditional. Sit sideways on a chair with arm over the back. While I breathed gas, more painkiller, one medic almost sat on my knee to hold me down. Two other medics pulled with great force my arm down towards the floor. There was a small crunch then a pop. Pain over and shoulder back in position. Taxi back to Soraya at 02.15. Good news all seems OK but I have to keep my arm in a sling 24/7 for a couple of weeks, so no navigation. Fortunately we have an excellent quality mooring next to the big and little Jard (parks), good walks, so it will be time to get to know Chalon-en-Champagne very well as we may be here for a few weeks??

We've both tested out the French Health service recently and both times they have been excellent. Let's hope we see a little less of the inside of hospitals.