Off grid house build Orkney

@JurekB I've been really shit at this, sorry.. and thank you for checking in! Things are getting better and progressing each day. Moved into a wee ground floor flat that belongs to a friend a couple weeks ago that I can use for a few months before holiday let season starts. Got my cat Nihil moved in with me too so it's feeling pretty homely. It feeling temporary isn't ideal, but got my name on the local housing list and things and keeping my fingers crossed. I was really worried about how I'd manage at first, but have managed pretty much everything independently since moving in and have had offers from neighbours and friends on island of picking up shopping and things for me too so feeling pretty fortunate. Signal is slim to none here so my phone has to be jammed against the window in order to get enough to hotspot to get slow internet on the laptop.. if anyone calls I'm standing jammed up against the window too so it doesn't cut out. This is the view out the big living room window and back door though. Loads of seals come and stay on the rocks when the tide is low and there's a couple herons and some oystercatchers too so really can't complain!

Getting less sore and more mobile all the time, walking with just the one crutch in the house now (limped down the hallway without one after going for a pee the other day, before realising halfway that I didn't have it and should probably go back for it). Feeling like I've plateaued a little after the initial jump from no walking at all to getting down a hallway, but trying to remind myself of the progress there has been when I get down on myself about it.
Trying my best with the physio exercises, but there's a ton of pain and swelling in my knee preventing me from doing too much and that worsens when I do the exercises. Was in pedal straps when I went down so think I went down pretty much horizontally with the bike when it slid out on the ice. The femur took the main impact and the top of my inner thigh took a battering from the saddle, but think the seat tube had knocked my knee out of place as well (I have a bit of a history with dislocations and sublimations in my knees and this feels very similar..). In terms of pain around the hip there really isn't much and it's the knee that's waking me up overnight and that gets really sore with any standing or walking that's too prolonged or if it's straight or bent for too long sitting or lying. Got a referral to outpatient physio for it that I'm waiting on and the surgeon has mentioned getting me down again for an MRI on it, but around the pins needs to heal a bit better first as apparently the metal will get hot in the machine.. Ditched all the nasty painkillers too so for the last couple weeks really it's only been paracetamols I've been taking and trying to reduce those too.

I hired one of those mobility scooters for getting into Kirkwall on the boat and making sure I didn't end up feeling isolated. It's really handy, but feels pretty disempowering and I really don't like using it, while being completely aware of it's handiness for now. Days in town and seeing folk is nice, but everything takes longer and more effort and I'm finding myself napping in the evenings if I've been out that day.

Trying to eat healthier as well to aid recovery so smoothies and porridge and such like that I'd never normally have bothered with, as well more fruit/less chocolate and snacky shite. Not sure if I'm feeling better for them, or whether I'm feeling a bit better because it feels like I'm making more positive choices for myself and that kind of agency feels nice.

Had time on my hands so picking up the banjo again, going to take a while to be able to do much tuneful with it, and it sitting on my lap does get sore after a wee while, but I am enjoying it. Thought I had lost all my music years ago when my hard drive died and never bothered uploading anything else to it, but found it all again searching for how to use the camera on the laptop and coming across a song that had the word "camera" in the title! Had a lot of fun rediscovering and remembering things I had completely forgotten about over the last wee while. The soundtrack to recovery so far has been a few different podcasts (really recommend Ologies and For The Wild for nice, engaged and in depth conversation and Top Flight Time Machine for some funny shit talking), coupled with lovely 5-10 year old folk and post rock as well as some folk punk and cascadian black metal from my time in the pacific northwest years ago.

My ex is still in the house, and it sounds like hard going as the immersion was faulty in the hot water tank so she still doesn't have hot water/heating other than the stove. The renewables/heat pump is taking a while to set up between chasing parts and people trying to get their head around the system. Not entirely sure what the next step will be in terms of who lives there/does it just get sold, but think we'll be making steps on that soon..

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