Numero Uno

Ever have one of those days that don't turn out quite like you imagined? Two broken bones, a date with Bill Gates over a Ukrainian feast, and I'm ready for bed...

It's the Tuesday morning after Easter Monday. I'm in the public hospital lying next to my youngest son, not exactly what I thought I'd be doing when I woke up about 20 hours ago.

On Easter Sunday night, I was up really late voicing a Microsoft training script for a New York production company which specialises in foreign translation work. I wouldn't normally be working on a Sunday night, much less Easter Sunday, but Bill was paying handsomely and the Greenback is still converting in our favour... So, I have this ridiculously late night and my wife wakes me early the next day because we have to do the Easter egg hunt with the kids, a day late because we had been away. I get crusty at Lisa for making me participate and not letting me sleep in. She genlty lets me know that I have already slept in and she's already been awake and put the eggs out. All I have to do is watch the kids run around and find stff. I got a good deal.

So, we do the hunt and I go back inside to start editing the Microsoft vo, and oh God, what a mess it was. If you can ever avoid reading one hour of technical materal really late at night, you should. I had single-handedly created the editing job from hell and there was no way out. I couldnt let Bill down, he was counting on me! Lisa gets going in the kitchen to finish preparing the huge Ukrainian feast for my sister and her family, and my mum.

We get to about midday and the visitors start to arrive, and I'm still working for Bill. Finally, at about 2, I start uploading the files to New York. I'm almost done ane the feast is about to begin when Lisa calls me. She's sounding stressed and I think something bad has happened to her Ukrainian potato bake, but no. Joel, our 8 yr old, has suffered a fall whilst wrestling his eldest cousin and has busted his arm. Poor little fella. He was the only member of our family that hadn't broken a bone, and now he had done it in style. So, Lisa and I came up to the hospital with Joel and our other two stayed behind with their Aunty, Uncle, Gran and cousins to enjoy the Ukrainian Easter feast without us.

Joel has a displaced fracture in both the radius and ulner, and is now awaiting his slot in theatre to have his arm set. He's asleep beside me as I scribe this blog entry on my mobile phone. Its all a bit surreal. So, this wasn't the Easter Monday we were planning, and hospital food isn't a sniff on my wife's cooking, but its not the end of the world as we know it just yet.