A tropical cyclone

.. or ET for extratropical transition has descended upon us. While they are not supposed to make it this far down south EVER - here it is. All the way down at the southern end of the south island. This has only happened one other time in the last 30 years (according to a friend you might not remember this quite right). Either way it is kind of special. It has been raining now without interruption for 72 hours. And the stormwater drain system is slightly overwhelmed:This weather puts one in the perfect mood for Luciano Pavarotti. So I brawled my way through his tribute concert yesterday afternoon. Fabulous! (Except for Sting trying to sing opera - that seemed a bit weird. And Andrea Bocelli is old all of a sudden - that is weird too.)

We also seem to be doing a lot of cooking (and eating) these days. Lucky for me I got rid of my cast and have been going to the gym (not like paddling down a river but better than nothing). Especially since it enables me to eat all of Annelies' desserts which are incredibly good.

Talking about casts: my friend Andy works at the hospital and got me a copy of my x-rays. Fascinating! Job well done on my part breaking it apart. And on the doctor's part putting it back together. The forecast predicts the rain will end sometime on Tuesday. What I really don't understand is the UV forecast. It is "8-very high" for today. I think I am going to be a rebel and go outside without sunscreen. I really don't want to make a mess in my raincoat.

Broken

Not much has been happening in the past week since I broke my arm. Went over the handlebars of my bike and landed in the ditch. On my extended arm. Ouch. At least I got a free ride in an ambulance! My elbow got dislocated and I think I broke a bone. The broken bone is not quite clear yet - the hospital staff was way more afraid of my pain than me and shot me up with so much morphine that I was unable to spell my name. And therefore can't remember what they told me I actually did to my poor limb. They were very happy that I am right-handed and broke my left arm. So I could still sign forms. Lots of them.

The first couple days were spent in bed with my roommate cooking me food.
Then she left on a camping trip, so I had to get up and cook my own food. After much training and some interesting acrobatics I am now able to slice bread with the cast pinning down the loaf (with much force, actually making a dent in the poor thing) and the bread knife in my right hand severing through the dough. Not a pretty sight but the slices I got are better than biting into the loaf. Which could have caused a jar dislocation and a second cast on my face.

My arm has nicely swollen up and taken on some color:
Hopefully I will get rid of that huge heavy cast tomorrow. So I can go for a bike ride! (I think it will take some special skill to convince the doctor that this a good idea. But I have been formulating a speech for the last 6 days - it all makes perfect sense. At least to me.)