Down the pub - the thread about nothing and everything

[Captain Haddock]

In Star TrekL

WARP drive is used by the starships.

WEFT drive is used by the shuttles.

Weave not heard that one, any more dodgy jokes looming?

[robbo]

In Star TrekL

WARP drive is used by the starships.

WEFT drive is used by the shuttles.

Weave not heard that one, any more dodgy jokes looming?

Hopefully……not

[Grahamm]

 

[Grahamm]

For those of you with kids...

[Grahamm]

 

[darrsi]

Got made to take my crash helmet and balaclava off this evening before the twunt in the petrol garage I use all the time would turn the fuel on, like I wasn't already cold enough.
He then asks me inside what pump I was at, so I politely asked "Are you taking the piss?"
But the final nail was the bloke standing behind me.....with his crash helmet on, albeit a half face one. 

[Grahamm]

(Also sorry if this is a bit corny...  )

[Grahamm]

 

[Grahamm]

 

[darrsi]

Found this really decent video that gets more fascinating the more you watch it, which shows and explains the inner workings of a transparent carburettor.

Dunno why, but i can't show the link?

Just do a search on YouTube for "How Does A Carburetor Work? | Transparent Carburetor at 28,546 fps Slow Mo - Smarter Every Day 259"

[Grahamm]

Odd, I'm sure you used to be able to include YouTube links.

[darrsi]

Odd, I'm sure you used to be able to include YouTube links.

Tried a few times, it wasn't shrunken or anything, just not there at all?

[Grahamm]

I tried posting the link myself, however although the post would appear, it was completely blank.

It's probably something to do with SMF, but I don't know what.

Let's try something...

hxxps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toVfvRhWbj8

... ok, that worked, just replace the xx with tt and you can see the video

[darrsi]

Not sure if I mentioned this before on here because I told loads of people?
But I got in the passenger side of my mums car a while back and asked her how/why her phone number was on the cars clock?
And by pure chance it was her mileage! 


The exact digits, or most of the first part anyway.

[darrsi]

I had a non bike related accident last October, that was a bit savage, involving being temporarily paralysed down one side of my body, and a fractured skull with added brain trauma due to a still unexplained fall, and then led to 6 weeks in hospital in a Major Trauma Unit, but also an immediate 6 month riding ban by the DVLA due to a head injury. 
According to everyone who sees me i'm doing incredibly well, but i'll be honest and admit that the last 5 months have not been very easy.
I have already reapplied for my licence, as you're allowed to 8 weeks before the 6 months finishes, but i still have a slight issue with pain in my fingers in my left hand, so there's no way i would ever try and ride unless i feel fit enough, which i'm obviously not right now, but the DVLA does tend to take their time processing things, presumably why you're allowed an 8 week head start, and i probably won't get it back until the full 6 months is over anyway.
After daily physio and exercise for my hand i reckon another month or so and the hand will be more than ready, especially if i compare it to the condition it was in 1+ months ago. I've made great progress just at home using gadgets that i bought personally to help speed up the healing process.


I don't recall personally knowing anyone with the injuries i've suffered, but i must say, you really don't realise how many "simple" things you take for granted in every day life, like tying shoe laces, buttons, zips, holding cutlery, pulling something out of a pocket, shaving, etc. I'm right handed primarily, and it's my left hand that took the brunt of the injuries on that side, and i can't even begin to think how much more difficult things would be if my right hand was injured instead, or as well.
I'm on so many meds that i must rattle when i walk, but full respect to the ambulance teams, NHS medical staff, and my GP's because i've been told a few times that i wasn't expected to survive that night, and even if i did was going to be "in a bad way" from there on, to put it politely.


I suddenly fell when walking home in what looks like a sudden bout of dizziness, i certainly wasn't drunk at all, and after repeatedly viewing every possibility of why i felt dizzy it came down to either having my drink tampered with, which is more rife than i expected if you speak to people in the know, or i was on a mild medication for a skin rash that in "very rare" cases can give you all the symptoms i had due to a side effect that can act like an anaphylactic shock.


Whatever caused me to lose my balance made me bump into a wall then finish the job by headbutting a parked car, knocking me out completely.


Unfortunately it gets worse.....my neighbour who i've known since i was a kid was on the way to church with his wife, and had just missed a bus, but as the sun was out decided to stay on that side of the road and take a stroll instead.
They both spotted "what looked like a person on the floor" 9 HOURS after i'd fallen, and i hadn't moved all night in what was a minimum Minus 3 temperature.
After being dealt with by two ambulance teams for another 2 hours, before blue lighting me to hospital, it had been a total of 11 hours, as i had hypothermia that they had to deal with first, then try and find out where else i was injured.
Several fractures of the skull, several internal bleeds of the brain, and a paralysed hand, arm and leg down my left side.
I was in my local hospital for one night but transferred immediately to Paddington Hospital in London due to the mess my head was in.


On the NHS website it clearly said i could have alcohol with the mild medication i was on, but i'd only had 4 pints, after counting the cash i had left in my pocket from that evening, and i don't recall leaving where i was at or anything to do with the fall. In fact i don't even remember the next 4 weeks in the Paddington hospital, before being moved back to my local one.
Doctors at hospital said no signs of a stroke, or anything nasty like that, and because it was 11 to 12hrs later before i got to hospital there was no evidence whatsoever of anything untoward in my blood system. So if my drink was tampered with, the stuff they use these days would've left my system in 3 or 4hrs.


Only reason this is all rather detailed is because on the way home i fell outside an old friend of mine's house, which is where i was laid out all night, and he got the lot on his CCTV.
So to this day i am none the wiser what really happened, and will probably never know. What i do know is that it would take a damn site more than 4 pints to put me down. A friend said he saw me just before i would've left the venue and he said i was absolutely fine after he'd had a chat with me.
I asked for the CCTV from the venue i was at and it gets wiped over every 4 weeks, but i never enquired until 7 or 8 weeks later due to me not being the full ticket mentally, which is shit because i was sat right in front of a camera that night. 
Due to the meds i'm on i've not touched a cigarette or booze in the 5 months that it happened, and even though Saturdays were my only night out due to always being mega busy at work i've strangely had no desire whatsoever for either of them or even missed them?
And you know when your GP always says "Give up drinking and smoking, it'll be better for your health."
Well i did that and i feel like shit, so maybe they should mention headbutting cars is bad for you too. 

[fazersharp]

Holy shit - that's all I think of to say right now 

[fazersharp]

Something though, could it of been the cold that saved you. I guess that you already know about all of this though.
Hypothermia has been used for many years to treat people who have had a severe brain injury. This involves cooling the head or the whole body to a temperature below normal body temperature.21 Sept 2017
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6483736/

[agricola]

Wow, what a thing to happen to you. Top marks for working at the physio and sticking at it. The NHS comes in for some stick, sometimes justified, but when you read tales like yours its clear that it still does great work. Heres hoping for full recovery.

I'd be interested to know what your treatments and exercises were for the hand, cos Im struggling with mine currently, struggle to wipe my arse, get dressed, cant undo anything etc.

[BBROWN1664]

Holy shite - glad you are on the mend

[Gnasher]

Very sorry to here this, best wishes and a speedy recovery. 

[darrsi]

Thanks lads, much appreciated.
Like I said it's been a tough time, and recovery and healing is going on for much longer than i expected, although I honestly had no real idea what to expect?
I'm totally baffled as to why I fell in the first place, and I have done as much research as I can to find the truth but not really got anywhere.
A fella I'd never seen before entered the pub I was in which was busy due to some big cricket match earlier, and at the bar he pointed to a stool at the table I was at and asked if he could sit there, which was no big deal to me.
But I stupidly asked if he'd watch my drink and chair while I used the toilet.
That was the very last thing I recall.
Don't remember leaving, walking just over a mile home, then suddenly swerving a bit then hit a wall, lost my balance completely and headbutted the nearby car.
And there I stayed all night.
I even zoomed in on the CCTV footage and once I hit the car I was properly out for the count. You can see my knees in the video and they didn't move an inch once I was down.
This was about 200m from my home.
Had CT scans and an MRI, which make horrific reading, plus asked to be checked for illegal drugs in my system but was told nothing showed up. Whether they really did check or not I will never know.
My cousin, who is an ex A&E nurse warned my mum I was unlikely to survive the night, but if I did would probably be handicapped in one way or another.
Thankfully it would seem I'm a very good healer and surprising a lot of people every time they see me and tell me what a state I was in when they last saw me.
My voice and memory, which is normally sharp due to my job, are still not 100%, but I'm nearly there. I  can forget the simplest words sometimes when speaking which can be very frustrating.


My hand needs fixing the most now, and is what could hold me back from riding the bike for a short while, but I'll know when I'm okay. I can't wait actually, I do miss riding the bike. 

[darrsi]

Wow, what a thing to happen to you. Top marks for working at the physio and sticking at it. The NHS comes in for some stick, sometimes justified, but when you read tales like yours its clear that it still does great work. Heres hoping for full recovery.

I'd be interested to know what your treatments and exercises were for the hand, cos Im struggling with mine currently, struggle to wipe my arse, get dressed, cant undo anything etc.

The physio at my GP surgery, who I never even knew worked there asked me what happened and the bloke really knew his stuff.
Due to my head injury, and probably laying on my hand all night, he seemed to know that I had nerve damage in my hand then immediately showed me on his computer where it would be going wrong, and he was spot on.
My 2 little fingers and my index finger give me the most grief, and if I cut down on my medication they feel like they're fractured.
To get the sync back he told me to massage  my arm and hand with the other hand, and also touch things that are,rough, smooth, hot, cold, etc to try and teach the brain again what my hand is actually doing.


So I had a look online and thought I'd cheat a bit and ordered a massage gun, that comes with an add on that is about the size of a squash ball.


Bear in mind my hand and fingers looked like they were holding something, but I wasn't,  it was properly seized up in a weird looking position.
After 5 weeks of using the massage gun 4 or 5 times a day I think I wore out the motor in it, as it wasn't working as well as it had been.
Apparently it has a 12 month warranty so contacted Temu, got an instant refund, then bought another which is working fine.
Reason I ordered from Temu was because even on a bad day they're only about £7 delivered for free. Just had another look and saw one for £4.25.
They sell the same one on Ebay for £12 and upwards


Totally recommended though. Although my nerve damage still isn't totally fixed, my hand and fingers are where they should be, and move freely, it's the sensitivity loss that's the issue.


https://share.temu.com/4IaApXRyPzA

[darrsi]

Something though, could it of been the cold that saved you. I guess that you already know about all of this though.
Hypothermia has been used for many years to treat people who have had a severe brain injury. This involves cooling the head or the whole body to a temperature below normal body temperature.21 Sept 2017
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6483736/

Think the hypothermia had already kicked in, a few people said I was already blue in colour when I was found.
In the ambulance for 2 hours I've been told they were using something on me to actually warm me up, before moving me to hospital.
I saw another cousin who's also a senior nurse recently, and she said that the cold night probably saved my brain, or done me a favour one way or another.
I have hinted a few times to different GP's that the meds I was on for a skin rash could well have been the cause of the fall, but their response if any was very tame to say the least.
There's no proof of anything due to the long timescale, so they're not going to admit to anything, which in fairness probably the correct thing to do.
GP's and hospitals tend to concentrate on fixing the problem in hand which is fine by me as nothing else was found to suggest why I fell, and in a  senior consultants words at hospital "Your injuries are the result of the fall, but not the cause of them."which is actually much better than it sounds.

[Grahamm]

@darrsi - Damn, that is a hell of a story

Best wishes for a full recovery

[agricola]

Some one close to me has twice been diagnosed as suffering from a "thunderclap event". That is the term that was used to describe them by the medical professionals. Nothing showed up on any scans, symptoms were similar to a stroke, head pain/collapse/unconscious etc, no apparent longer symptoms as uninjured during the event. Google search doesn't reveal much so far as cause but could be stress related.