Apologies for an unexpected absence!

Firstly, I'm fully fit, healthy and back at work now, but you might be wondering why I've been out of touch for the last 3 or 4 weeks....

Well a few sunday mornings ago, at an unearthly early far in advance of my 1st cup of tea of the day, my eldest son was calling for me to turn on the home pc. Due to my caffeine depleted state and the earliness of the hour that would make even the earliest of bird think twice about catching a worm, i did not realise that immediately after asking for help he shut the door....the heavily double glazed sliding door. I did however realise this impressively quickly upon striking it with my forehead at a reasonable pace before rebounding backwards and floorwards.

A few seconds later, groggy and coming too my son was over me shouting "Dad, dad are you okay?!!" I murmered "yes" to which he replied without hesitation "great! can you sort my game out then!" [ his Autism means empathy is not his strong suite! ].

Much like an egg yolk in a cup the rapid halt of my skull was not matched by my brain which continued forward, impacting said stationary skull, before rebounding the other way into the rear of my skull. In that movement something rather gruesome happens to the brain. Much like a viscous fluid, there are different levels of shear the tissue encounters which can tear the connections between the cells which kills off those brain cells. As those cells die they release Toxins which go on to kill other nearby brain cells. This is why an initial dazed / confused state can progress to loss of memory, speech problems, fine motor skill issues, lack of balance, eyesight and concentration issues. Things I was to experience first hand over the next few weeks which have thankfully eased now due to an amazing ability of the brain to re-route that traffic and re-learn and re-grow - sadly not always possible, but thankfully my internal brain maintenance team seem to know their onions (or brains!).

A Cat scan at the hospital revealed I do indeed have a brain for anyone doubting the existence of aforementioned brain cells and that thankfully there were no bleeds - the NHS truly are incredible (as were the contactless credit card coffee and food machines! Masterstroke!)

Rest was prescribed and truly is so important in this phase so the brain can do it's magic and also because additional knocks (even to the chest) can cause a greater injury and potential fatality due to the swelling and the way in which the brain repairs itself, so if you ever have the same, take time to get better before risking further injury and seek proper advise from a doctor / hospital firstly and also from https://www.headway.org.uk/ which have great advise for employers and employees.

So, essentially, that's why I have been away for a few weeks. Glad to say all back and on fine form and recovered and back at work and out seeing customers and that recovery is in no short part thanks to my wife Sue who did an incredible job helping that recovery stay on track.

Ps....ever the one to learn from accidents, I have added decorative opaque leaves to the door to make it nice and obvious - my plan of not cleaning it was not approved by Sue!

PPS - March is TBI / Brain Injury awareness month. If you, like I, thought concussion was a ring of tweety birds flying around your head for a few seconds and not something which can be catastrophic, why not have a read up. https://www.headway.org.uk/ Headway charity have great advise for employers and employees.