And just like that, it is all over...

[Labbie]

Hi Wendy, So very sorry to hear about you leg, plus cast. Do hope all goes well for you. We will try to keep you entertained, great to have you sitting on the side line, so to speak. Take care.

[The Search Engine]

Hi Everyone and welcome back!
Sorry about the leg Wendy - hope you enjoy some time off. I know what you mean about perhaps getting a good chance to check the forums and reply. I always feel a bit sneaky when I'm on Chemtalk - possibly because it is so entertaining learning all the important stuff.

I like your "Welcome home" Liz! Looks I am back to being able to post. Good stuff.
I was thinking about Richard too as I am spending a month (give or take) helping out in admin because a staff member is on extended leave. So I'll be having brief visits to Science amidst the chaos of the Student Office. Wish me luck!
Cheers,
Search

[sunray18]

Hi Wendy,
I commiserate with you - 10 years ago i was in the same boat as you - smached my ankle and was in a wheelchair for 3 months... because i worked in an industrial lab I lost my job over it ..
Take time to enjoy the peace and smell the roses...
I found it quite an education being in a wheelchair.. I would be sitting in my chair and people I knew [at Chruch etc] would speak to whoever was 'pushing' my chair as if I wasn't there! I suddenly became faceless and brainless..AND I learnt about how badly shops are set up for wheelchairs [some have steps at doors and doors not wide enough to get in], how the disabled parking spaces are generally the furthest ones away from the place you need to go,ditto to disabled toilets, how 'pram' ramps in some places are so steep that going up them facing forward means that the wheelchair tips over backwards...
My kids had such fun with me.. they once parked me in the shopping trolley collection bay and left me there; they found a long ramp in a shopping centre and pushed me off at high speed at the top and laughed at my screams as I flew all the way down.. there is more, much more.. being left in the middle of a bushfire by this same son who was a volunteer fire-fighter, in a car I couldnt drive because of a full leg cast, while he and his mates jumped out and ran after the fire truck to fight the huge blaze .... the only reason this child still breathes is that he runs faster than me!! ha ha ha
so - in the midst of feeling out of control of your life - there can be fun..
Enjoy this time..
P

[lada]

Welcome back Lorraine,
no, I dont think the eggs should be mouldy !! They should dry up between "watering". I think you will need a new supply, dont you?
Lada

[lizzieb]

Good to see you're logged on, Fibreweb. After these next 4 wks of being able to read and enjoy Chemtalk at a more leisurely pace, it'll be hard to go back to the Prep Room!
Keep your chin up, and spend lots of time doing things you love. I'm certain you'll make the best of it, and that some beautiful artworks are produced during this time off work.
Mushroom - best not to give Wendy's kids any ideas!!!!!! Scary

Glad your posting problems are resolved, Search - good to have you back. I know you love your Admin time, too, so enjoy - though it'll be busy if you're expected to cover both meanwhile.

No doubt Richard'll jump on with some hilarious comment, and probably when we least expect it. I sure hope so, he's the best medicine for keeping our spirits up.

Well guys, I guess we're all back now, and we DET have made it through the first week - only 10 to go!

[J]

I found it quite an education being in a wheelchair.. I would be sitting in my chair and people I knew [at Chruch etc] would speak to whoever was 'pushing' my chair as if I wasn't there! I suddenly became faceless and brainless..AND I learnt about how badly shops are set up for wheelchairs [some have steps at doors and doors not wide enough to get in],


Sorry guys, I tried and failed to use this quote and add a comment, so here I am trying again.

I had a similar experience a few years ago. Not in wheelchair for very long, but I found when I was in the shops waiting to be served, I became invisible. I would struggle up out of the chair and stand, asking if I was invisible, and they would be very embarrassed and finally serve me. Glad that didn't go on for too long.

Julie

[fibreweb]

My experiences in the wheel chair so far haven't been too bad. Yesterday I was slowly working my way up the ramp in on of the malls and an elderly man with one arm full of groceries offered to help and with him pushing one handed and me using the wheels we made it up easily.

I've had acquantances who would normally just walk by stop nad have a chat. I went for the Staff development day on tuesday (I missed it several years ago and felt out of the loop missing some of the information that was given that day) and several of the staff who never even acknowledge me usually as I "am only SASS and science to boot" came over and spoke.

It was an advantage in Tamworth during the Country Music Festival. People would make way for the chair and I always had somewhere to sit and listen to the buskers

I do have a bit of fun when the kids are pushing. I like to slump down in the chair, drop the head to the side and start drooling. They get severly embarassed and tell me to "sit up and behave or they will go real fast!!" The compression garment on my arm adds to the effect.

Well I said I'd actually have time to write replies, I would never have felt comfortable taking that much time for a reply at work, some one would have come in and I would have felt guilty for "not working"

Thank you every one for your best wishes.

Wendy

[smiley]

WELL!!! We started last week, and all the little cherubs commenced on Tuesday. Had fun with approximately ZERO supplies arriving. Rang all my suppliers - "Where's my stuff?" "Oh well, we're putting it together & should send it out sometime next week" Aaargh! Despite telling people repeatedly that we start earlier than you guys,only one supplier had absorbed that piece of information.

By the way, everybody needs to buy a "Fun Flying Stick" from ProfBunsen. They are the bomb! They're a mini Van de Graaf in a stick. Too cool.

My baby started at this school on Tuesday. I was under strict instructions not to say Hi, or in any way acknowledge her in public, and with luck no-one would know she belonged to me. This is easier for her than most kids, since she's Torres Strait and I'm not. Anyway, first Science lesson ever, I sneak into the lab to grab a piece of equipment, and the teacher announces "And here's Alex's mother!!" Oh Yay. Naturally, I thought that was funnier than my daughter thought it was.

[labman]

Hi All,
I actually started back at work on the 12th, but I've been head-down, bum-up in my compactus until today. I got heaps done, but the "little darlings" came back on Tuesday, and ruined all that peace and quiet!!

Wendy, sorry to hear about your leg. I hope the cast doesn't get itchy in the heat, that's assuming it's hot where you are, because it seems to be hot everywhere.
I can't believe what you other guys went through while wheelchair-bound. Isn't it funny, when you get a taste of what some people must have to put up with all their lives.
And Mushroom,the image of you parked in a shopping trolley bay made me chuckle, although it probably wasn't funny at the time!!

Smiley, I'm intrigued, what do you do with a Fun Flying Stick? And, how much are they?

Gee, you don't realise, until you start reading everyones' posts, how much you miss this site while on holidays. It really adds some life and laughs to the day. I do hope Richard "drops in" soon with a joke or two!!
Cheers,
Lisa

[Slartibartfast]

A blonde joke to start the year? I'll get lynched!!!

I can take the cake with a bad start to the year (and new surroundings!) On Australia day I was wiped our by a man in a 4WD while I was on my way home from Woy Woy on my push bike. Spent the night in agony. Turned up to school day 1 concussed, and with bits of glass in my head, arms and legs and cuts and bruised EVERYWHERE!

I'm good now but!

[Labbie]

Good now BUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. So very sorry to hear about your accident, at least your not in a wheelchair. How are thing coming along, miss Science yet????

Good to hear from you.

[Sassi]

Slarti are you OK???

Do you want me to hunt the man down and take him out for you, I am sure all of labbieland would join me in the hunt! How dare they do that to Slarti barti , what if we would have to live without your jokes and clever smart-ass comments Bad enough that you left science...

Sassi

[lizzieb]

Good to see you back Richard, even if not quite so hale & hearty - me thinks perhaps we all need to pitch in to get you a 'flag' for your bike! Maybe one of our wheelchair gang has one to spare - you know what I'm talking about - the sort of bright flag that flies high over those 'gophers'. Going to get myself one of those to hoon around in when I'm older....

BTW - did you mean 'moral' or 'morale' officer?? Hmmm.... just what sort of selective school are you at now......

[Slartibartfast]

Now then liz, it wouldn't be moral officer would it? I have none!

Typo!

My bike is a lot worse than I am, no need to kill the bloke Sassi, I put the fear of God into him and almost bled all over him.

This wouldn't have happened if I was still a Labbie!!!!

[labman]

Richard,
Glad to see you miss us all already!! So sorry to hear about your accident. I can't believe your ok now,(only a week later) especially after a fight with a 4WD. Couldn't you have picked a Mini or something!!! I hope your new job is going well, I bet it's not half as interesting as labbie work, but that's why we're here, to brighten your dull days!!
Other than glass fragments and bruises, did you recieve any bad injuries?? And if not, did you buy a lottery ticket??
Hope your feeling a whole lot better, and I'm waiting for that blonde joke!!
Cheers,
Lisa

[Mother]

Hey Richard
Sorry to read about your accident.Pleased you're alive though.Could have been much worse!!!Count your lucky stars.
Do you have any dumb teacher incidents in the photocopy room yet??? I'm waiting,waiting!!!!!!!
Take care
Mother