A slight setback - but hopefully the end.

I'm sure by now that you are just as bored as I am by my health and various injuries. I've been on the way to recovery all week, the pain in my face had mostly subsided and the wounds healed really well, even my mouth was looking good. My face was really tight and had pins and needles, but slowly getting better - a few days ago I started getting more pain in my jaw which I just assumed was the return to solid food, and my teeth didn't seem to fit together very well, then on Sunday it started getting worse. By Monday afternoon I was in agony and had a sleepless night and 2 days without food, after a couple of phone calls on Tuesday morning I was talking to a very nice girl who x-rayed my face a couple of times and explained that the combination of the impact, pressure from the haematoma and the 3 weeks infection of my mouth had really taken it's toll - and I could elect to try more drugs or lose a perfectly healthy tooth that had just been pushed out of alignment when I hit the ground and so release all the built up pressure. I was in so much pain by this time and so sick of the whole thing that I just burst into tears and begged her to go ahead. It was actually very difficult to remove - and not without discomfort - but within an hour I started to feel better - my face is settled, no longer as tight, more 'even' looking and cooler to the touch. I actually feel well for the first time in weeks, almost euphorically so, like I'm a normal person. My left arm has improved and I can rotate the wrist and tie my laces again, and I actually feel good. Losing a molar was a small price to pay (despite the time, effort and money I've devoted to them over the years) - I'm seeing my own dentist and hygienist in a few weeks - and I suppose I was pretty lucky I didn't lose them all in the accident anyway.

By coincidence - as I was having my tooth removed my younger brother was just driving into Hastings. He lives near Belfast and works in Birmingham (don't ask...) and he came down for a couple of days to see if I was OK. I hardly ever see him, but we had the best two days together - I really enjoyed being with him and we spent a lot of time talking and just being brothers. He stayed in the posh B&B above my studio and loved it - went to a few pubs in Hastings and witnessed one of the crowd-pleasing Hastings events (the bike race up a very steep hill) and has something to eat ( I was so recovered I was able to eat proper food within a couple of hours).

Today we went to Bexhill to spend a bit of time on the seafront and see the Brigid Riley at the De La Warr, and then over to Eastbourne top see the William Gear at the Towner - which is fantastic, one of the best exhibitions I've ever seen - a real revelation. There is also a fantastic supporting exhibition from the permanent collection and East Sussex Open on the ground floor. I also managed to squeeze in the Lowry Seascapes at the Jerwood.

Back at work properly tomorrow - huge backlog but I finally feel I can face it. I also need to check my accounts for the first time in a month - dreading that.

In other news.

I don't have any strong feelings about Kids Company or their CE, nor do I actually understand what's happened - but I really do have a feeling of deep unease about the machinations behind this and the part that the government has paid, and the press - I suspect that this is exactly what number 10 wanted and it will not be the last time it happens. There is something very malevolent about the way the last week has played out.

If there were problems at KC, then surely it's not beyond the wit of government to resolve them - my experience of teaching taught me that when you are faced with a room full f people and things are going wrong, the first thing you do is identify and tell them what they are doing RIGHT, not wrong - that's how you get people to work together to fix things.