[Anonymouse]

Thanks very much, everyone. Unfortunately things didn't go quite according to plan. For me, they never do, it seems. Here's how it (and I) went down:

I set off on my merry way from Bolton to Manchester by train without a hitch. Ditto for Manchester to Rochdale - the trains were actually on time and I even got a seat. I then started out on my pushbike towards JD Sports...

...and got caught in the tram tracks, and came off the bike at some speed.

NOTE TO CYCLISTS: THE IMMEDIATE ENVIRONS AROUND ROCHDALE TRAIN STATION ARE A FRICKIN' DEATH TRAP FOR YOU. PUSHBIKES AND TRAM TRACKS ARE NOT A GOOD MIX. AVOID AT ALL COSTS.

I ended up in Bury Hospital with lots of soft tissue damage, so it hurts even to breathe, let alone move. I didn't break or crack anything this time, though it certainly feels the same as my earlier accident, but it did mean I lost the placement and I'm currently unfit for work. Work? - hell, I can't even blow my nose without it feeling as if someone's stabbed me with something sharp and heavy.

I've acquired a scar or two around my right eye; the skin was split and the steri-strips and surgical glue didn't quite hold it together. Oh well; I've never been good-looking anyway.

However, this is, happily, more of a setback than the disaster I'd thought. I got a call from JD yesterday offering me another placement; I told them what had happened, and apparently I'm still on their availability list. So I just have to heal up and recover, and I can go for it again, and meanwhile I'll be on ESA. Hopefully I'll be OK by the time they get around to assessing me, as happened last year when my retina detached - there was no sign of the assessment before I signed off ESA and back onto JSA.

I'm more annoyed at myself than anything else. I actually had about a second to recognise what was going to happen and that I should have just wheeled the bike past the curve in the tracks, but I was too slow to react...either that, or my effort to correct the error was what caused the accident, I'm not sure. But with the usual 20/20 hindsight, it would've been so easy to avoid this particular accident. At least I'll know better next time.

I'll keep y'all posted as and when I'm back on my feet and, in time, working for JD Sports (well, for Assist Recruitment, who handle placements for JD Sports).