www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

I think the end of the world is fixed for next Wednesday, Jack.

As you would expect of a physics teacher living in Switzerland, I've been down the LHC in construction and visited the old LEP when it was up and running. The very nicest and most intelligent people work there - most unlikely agents of the Apocalypse - and I think next week's turning on is set to be one of the most exciting things EVER to happen, at least since the first few micro-seconds of the universe.

Can't wait to hear the squawkings of the doomsayers when the cosmos fails to be engulfed by an inflationary micro-black hole!

Guy

Oh - and yes, it is an offence to do anything which can be heard beyond the confines of your own premises after 10.00pm. I think the flushing the toilet bit is an exaggeration...

Guy said:

Oh - and yes, it is an offence to do anything which can be heard beyond the confines of your own premises after 10.00pm. I think the flushing the toilet bit is an exaggeration...

Crickey. My mother-in-law's snoring would certainly fall foul of that law.

Jack

Are you sure that it wasn't the "grape-juice" that made you bad Guy

Martin wrote:Are you sure that it wasn't the "grape-juice" that made you bad Guy

Ahh - so you've had Swiss wine too!

Funny thing - Switzerland is covered in grapevines but you won't find a bottle of Plonka Helvetica in any off-licence anywhere else in the world!

Guy

Just found a snippet from the White-letter Hairstreak survey site http://www.hertsmiddx-butterflies.org.u ... m_news.php which I think belongs here. It reads elm found...but difficult to survey due to young pigs nearby

I was shot at whilst undertaking a wider countryside butterfly survey earlier this year. The transect route passed along a lane on the other side of which a clay pigeon shoot was taking place. Perhaps I walked the route a little bit faster than I would usually have done...

I started this thread in the summer but I never had in mind this sort of experience. Some of you will know about he start of this saga but here goes up to the present unfortunate stage.

On holiday in Malta at the end of October, while chasing a Geranium Bronze, I fell down some steps and banged my right shin against a wall. It seemed pretty trivial at the time apart from a few lacerations and a huge swelling. To cut a long story short, after many visits to my doctor, as the leg is not healing properly, today he sent to Accident & Emergency Addenbrooke's (Cambridge). I was seen promptly (no complaints on that score) and I return tomorrow for surgery under General Anesthetic with possible skin graft later.

So yes, a real Hazard of Butterflying. No doubt next season I will have to add a walking stick to my kit when out butterflying. But that is maybe allowable as I reach the ripe old age of 70 in just over a week's time.

Jack

Sorry to hear that,hope everything goes ok and your up and running again soon (or preferably walking )
Regards Shaun.

Sorry to hear your bad news Jack but at least when you go to hospital they will sort it out. I know we'll all be thinking of you and try and keep in touch to let us know how your doing. Get well soon. Best wishes Shilrey

I wish you a swift recovery, Jack. You need to be in top form for next year's butterfly season!

jackharr wrote: So yes, a real Hazard of Butterflying. No doubt next season I will have to add a walking stick to my kit when out butterflying. But that is maybe allowable as I reach the ripe old age of 70 in just over a week's time.

I'm 16 and I take a walking stick Jack! You won't be the only one
Hope you get better soon, and happy birthday for a weeks time also!
Em

Coincidence or suggestion? I just edited my butterflies crossword (http://www.ukbutterflies.co.uk/phpBB2/v ... 243#p18243) to add the clue 'Broken shinpad results in a blue (7)'.

Hope it heals well, Jack.

Guy

I hope all goes well Jack, and you know we will all be thinking of you.

Denise

Not lepidoptera (wounds and illnesses).

How about a new thread with all the gory pictures of our problems?

Just joking.

Jack

Guy,

Are you suggesting that Jack is "Meleagering"?

Roger Gibbons wrote:Guy,

Are you suggesting that Jack is "Meleagering"?

Well done, Roger! Perhaps the rest of the crossword will give Jack something to do while he recuperates in hospital today, after the GA. Best wishes, Jack.

Guy

Good luck with your surgery today, Jack.

Hi Jack,
Hope you've got through the operation OK, and that you're not too disappointed that nurses don't actually dress as in the 'Carry On' films.
Best Wishes, Neil

Apparently poor old Jack can't even access the UKB web-site from hospital...something about being blocked as "unsuitable content"!

(Must be all the sex on the photography pages!)

Anyway - he only has a couple of days to go, hopefully, and then Addenbrookes will no doubt to be as glad as Jack is to be gone
N

Home but still got some out patient appointments to confirm that the skin graft continues to go OK. No one in Addenbrooke's had realised that butterfly chasing could be so dangerous.

Still, I made one good contact. The guy in the bed opposite was a local funeral director so I sorted things out for the future
I suggested that he should drum up trade by distributing his business cards to people in the hospital together with self measuring kit
He had some hilarious stories to tell, (including one who didn't want music at his funeral but an extract from the Goon Show). So they aren't all pinstripe suits and top hats and serious expressions - they are just good actors.

Jack

Glad to know you are home, Jack.