So its been almost 9 months since I last did an update, I'm Slipping badly with keeping the blog up to date as I promised but thanks for the nudging emails :-)
Well, I'm still in Jamaica right now with the Stewarts Group as Aftersales and Bodyshop Manager, we have added Jaguar and Landrover to the mix and given BMW up to another dealer.
Not a lot has really happened in the past 9 months thats out of the ordinary, except.....
Snapped a tendon in my left knee and had to have surgery to stitch it all back together, a very painful and expensive exercise that was I can tell you.
I was at the gym doing my usual Tuesday workout routine, (Tuesday is Legs Day) and I was doing some single leg extensions. I finished my set with the right leg and then moved on to the left, halfway through the set..... HOLY CRAP!! my leg just collapsed and I was in agony. I thought I had badly pulled a muscle.
2 Days went by and I couldn't even walk on it, couldn't go to work and the pain was getting to desperation stakes. My boss ended up calling a top surgeon here in Kingston to make an appointment and I went to see him on the Friday morning. his reaction was hilarious..... not.
When he asked what I had been doing, he checked out my leg and pointed out a large sink hole just above my knee and started laughing, "You Idiot" he says, "That's not a pulled muscle, You've snapped a tendon" followed by "Don't Worry, We will operate this afternoon" well you can imagine my reaction...... I had nothing organized at home to be getting around and he told me I would be in a splint for 6 weeks and using crutches. I rescheduled the surgery for the following Monday to have time to get organized.
Monday Morning came around pretty quickly and sure enough off I drove to the operating theatre (which incidentally is in a shopping center) for what was to be minor keyhole surgery to stitch the 2 ends of the tendon back together, thats where it all went down hill.......
I woke up with my leg looking like this
Well, as you can see, keyhole surgery just got a whole lot bigger...... so apparently, they opened up the leg slightly but the tendon was so torn that it couldn't be stitched back together. They ended up opening my leg right up and then stitching the snapped tendon to the tendon next to it........ very, very painful to say the least. On a better note, after a few months its healing nicely and I'm back at the gym
On the downside, I was booked to run in the Reggae Marathon at Negril at the beginning of December which I had already booked and arranged, needless to say I couldn't run but I went anyway to support my friends that did and generally hang out for the weekend.
As it turns out, a friend of mine actually took my number and electronic tag and ran with both mine and hers, when she got to the finishing line she explained why she had 2 numbers on and they even gave her a finishers medal for me..... and because she had my tag on I even posted a time for the run....
Negril is a great place, Capital of Cool, talk about laid back. They have one of, if not the nicest beaches on the island, 7 mile Beach, draw your own conclusions.
Nothing but relaxation!!
As you can see, I took full advantage of the not being able to run thing, the sunsets here are amazing.
One place I wouldn't recommend bothering with if you ever find yourself in Negril is the much over-hyped and over expensive "Rick's Cafe". This has been billed as one of the 10 best bars in the world, in reallity, I've been in at least 20 bars round the world that make Ricks look like a total dive. but the hype is all about trapping the tourists and belive me they arrive in coach loads. Now don't get me wrong, Ricks is in a perfect location, perched on a small cliff above the sea. The bar itself is not that bad either.
It's the service, the attitude of the staff, the very limited food menu and indeed the quality of the food that let it down badly. I'm sure that back in the day it was the place to be and ay even have lived up to the top 10 bars in the world tag but these days tourists are treated like cattle and the staff attitude is one af almost not bothered because they are never going to see you again...... that doesn't work with me, being as I visit Negril regularly. In short, if you like piss poor service, being treated like you dont matter to them as a customer, you don't mind a long wait or being told to move if your not ordering food immediately then give it a go. If any of these things irk you a little bit then give it a miss. plenty other places in Negril trust me.
And here is one of them...
Kenny's Italian
Located on the main strip so its convenient for 90% of the hotels, it's a wine bar/restaurant serving great food and drinks with a speedy and friendly service at reasonable prices in a great atmosphere. I cant say enough about this place, I really enjoyed it, so much so I went back a few times and I will be going back again and again.
So, signing off for now an the next update will be soon, I promise and thanks for catching up. Also thanks for your emails, I'ts nice to know I'm missed when I'm out of touch for a while.
