Knee Misery! • 30/07/2010

So, whilst you may be expecting a full on rant about Big Brother, I’m afraid this blog is going to start off a little differently – I ‘Kneed’ to discuss my knee....see what I did there!?

Anyway, I basically heard that a newspaper had a printed story saying that I’d fallen over whilst filming Big Brother – not so – I’m somewhat ashamed to say I fell of my bike. This in itself is nothing to be ashamed of, however what is just a tad embarrassing is the fact that the bike was stationary when the fall occurred.

Whilst on our holiday in France, Matthew and I got on our bikes in St.Tropez (ooh glamour glamour!) and embarked on a rather spectacularly steep, 28 mile journey. Feeling a little tired halfway through, we decided to take a rest at a roundabout, have a drink and stretch our legs. Now, just as I noted last week how the French have a predisposed attraction to a good old strike – the French also LOVE a cycle. I even think they’re protected by law – you’re not allowed to drive within 6 feet of any peddlers on the road...or something -  anyway, I’m trying to say that along with making love, cycling is the national past time for our neighbours across the Channel – it’s taken EXTREMELY seriously.

So you can imagine the scene as I re-mounted my bike after a short rest at what had actually turned out to be a very busy roundabout full of cyclers wearing oh-so-bright lycra and all, like me, rested and raring to go. As it was time to start peddling, I was suddenly hit with a brief moment of hesitation and nervousness which lead to me suddenly toppling sideways, unable to unclip my foot from the peddle, and crashing into the concrete.

Matthew came back whilst I was lying on the floor, and along with a couple of other cyclists helped get me back on my feet. I popped up exclaiming that I was fine in that slightly embarrassed ‘don’t make a fuss way’ that people do when they’ve actually quite hurt themselves. Mathew somewhat wisely asked ‘are you sure you’re okay?’ at which point I looked down at my knee to see a graze not so wide, but very, very deep and full of gravel. 

After picking the stones and the muck out, I instinctively ran to the nearest shop and, in French, asked the shop assistant for some tissue paper and water to clean my wound which was at this point absolutely gushing blood. I was met with a fairly frustrating ‘Non’.

Great.

So, on to the next shop – the same question – and the same answer: ‘Non’.

Now, I’m not one for exaggeration, but I felt like Mary and Joseph on Christmas Eve trying to find a place to give birth. It was bad, I was bleeding and I needed some help!

Thank goodness then for the geniality of the local baker (bakers are always nice people – I think it’s a rule of the baker trade) who took pity on me and fetched the first aid kit whilst I washed my wound in her outdoor tap. I’m a rather squeamish person, so take a moment to imagine the scene as I ran my knee under the tap and continued to pull what I can only describe as boulders out from within my flesh, wretching the entire time and scraping the excess gravel from my cut with my finger nails.

SO unhygienic!

Because the tap water wasn’t exactly clean, the lady came out and began insisting that we pour alcohol over my knee to sanitise the wound. Bracing myself against the wall I took the pain, wretched within an inch of my life and limped back to Mathew. Believe it or not I didn’t cry! By this point I was rather impressed with my wound – but less impressed with the 14 mile journey back home, my shoes and socks COVERED in blood.

The kids were very excited, as most kids are by things that look disgusting, and were suitably amazed and proud that I’d managed to hold back the tears. At this point it became clear that a trip to the French doctors was in order – cue lots more cleaning and lots more wretching.

Annoyingly since all this happened it’s become infected a couple of times – I’m supposed to keep it covered up due to the depth of the cut, but I left it exposed last Friday and it became a little gammy...ewww.

So, the important news is that I’m on the road to recovery and if you watch the show tonight I may give you a little glimpse as I won’t be wearing a plaster...keep your eyes peeled!

The SECOND thing I wanted to talk to you about was the sad passing of the lovely @IvyBean104 on Twitter. I’m very sad to hear she’s no longer with us – we tweeted occasionally and she was always so lovely and upbeat, incredibly chipper and so down with the kids at the ripe old age of 104!

I’ve already tweeted this, but I just want to send all my love to her friends and family, and especially her carers who were tweeting on her behalf towards the end. Bless you Ivy!

Finally, I honestly think that Big Brother is just getting better and better this year, there isn’t a single housemate who I want to leave! This week’s ‘ignore the obvious’ task is potentially the best ever, and dare I say it even out does the legendary task where the housemates were electrocuted in skin tight rubber outfits! This task comprises of the housemate’s space being invaded by weird and wacky things as well as some of their family. The housemates are not allowed to react and they must act as though nothing is going on, which of course is close to impossible! I’m completely clueless as to who will get booted out in tonight’s eviction because all of them have reasons to stay and reasons to go...but whoever goes will undoubtedly leave a massive hole in the house!

So, that’s it from me this week. I’m back in Blighty now, and I’ll see you tonight on the telly!

Lots of love,

Davina

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