Hungary Winter Drive – Sprain, Pain & Piano

I had to re-wrap the bandage because it was falling off. It ain’t pretty but it worked!

My holiday adventure began even before I boarded the plane. Having just came back from Japan the week before and knowing that I’ll be eating lots of yummy Hungarian food in the days ahead, I felt the need to go for a long walk / jog the night before we fly, to clear off a few extra calories.

So away I went, walking for a good two hours till it was past midnight, doing my rounds at a park that was a five minute walk from my home. Just before coming back, I decided to do a quick jog for one final circuit, so that I work out a bit more of a sweat. Little did I know that this would be a fateful decision. As I was rounding the final bend, I stepped into a crack at the side of the path, which I did not see in the dark. My left foot took a huge wobble and I literally went SPLAT and fell face first on the ground. Ouch… not good… not this… not one day before I’m due for the long flight to Europe and having to drive our way around for 10 days, in a manual car where my left foot would be crucially needed to engage the clutch.

It took me 5 minutes to pick myself up slowly from the ground and a full hour to hobble back home. I wasn’t sure about the full extent of the damage done, but it felt like at best a bad sprain, or even possibly a fracture. Thankfully, I have a brother who is a doctor, and he was able to give me some useful advise, and also loan me a set of crutches to bring along for the trip. I managed to also drag myself to a Chinese physician the next afternoon before my flight. He did a bit of magic on my foot (a little press here, a little step there) and wrapped up the entire foot in a bundle of herbal medicine. Somehow the treatment worked wonders, and my condition improved dramatically within a few hours. I was also grateful for the crutches, for they were a life-saver, giving me that extra support to navigate the long walks through the airport terminals at Changi and Heathrow.

Our daughter had to be more proactive in light of my injury.

On a more positive note, it was wonderful to be back in London for the first time in 17 years, albeit only for a few hours at Heathrow Airport to transfer planes. A flood of memories came back, and I found myself reminiscing of the good times I had, four years of my youth living and studying in the UK. I made so many great friends from different nations, although I confess I am one who is very bad at keeping in touch. My apologies, old friends!

It was nice to walk past a piano at Heathrow, and I took some time to tinkle on the keys. Even managed to get a bit of applause from the people passing by! Maybe I should have put a hat on the ground to earn some spare change! 🙂