Yep, it's true, the Marathon Man took a tumble in Spearhead Drive very early in his run on Monday. Managed to get his foot caught in the loop of his shoelace and took a slide down the gravel. Very nasty - a hand, wrist, shoulder, hip, knee combo! On the bright side, no damage to his glasses.

Mac limped home with his hand wrapped in his T-shirt - he didn't want to drip blood on the newly polished slate tiles in the foyer . When he came through the unit door I actually thought he must have a broken wrist but it was "only" gravel rash. There was blood everywhere - have to confess that Nurse Jan was struggling to hold onto her stomach. It was ghastly.

But with frequent reference to Dr Google, and a raid on Mindy and Ian's first aid kit we were able to cobble together a bit of a solution.

Mindy was at work when this happened so I was sending her a regular stream of messages with graphic photos and details. Mac was concerned that Mindy would be sooooooo worried and soooooo concerned that she would rush home from work to take care of him. Hence, the regular updates to reassure her that he was "okay". Mindy can only check her phone on a break and when she finally got the string messages and pictures her only response in her reply was "Beef patties?"....no "OMG", no "Dd-aa-dd-dd-yy", no "How are you".....nothing, nada.....just "Beef patties?"..... .....so much for rushing home! I am still laughing!

Of course, in the morning when Mac woke up, the pain in the shoulder and the swelling in the hand meant the scooter day with Mindy and Ian planned for Tuesday was definitely off the cards. I made a trip to the Drug Store and was able to buy a gravel rash cleansing pad (who even knew this existed!?!) - it was a torture kit in aluminium foil. The wound had to be anaesthetised with a soap sponge then scrubbed out with a fine bristled brush. I was feinting just thinking about doing it - the pharmacist recommended a "couple of swigs of whiskey" before starting (think she meant for the patient not the nurse!). Poor Mac had to scrub out the gravel on his own - I was too much of a coward. Locked him in the bathroom in a hot tub of water with the bristle brush and left him to his own devices.

And of course that little scrubbing, combined with increased swelling and a too-tight bandage made for a very long and painful second night. Mac was literally shaking with the pain and even resorted to taking two panadol! It must have been excruciating because Mac NEVER takes a pain killer.

The result has been an amazingly quite week. We have just pottered about. Ventured out on Wednesday and walked (limped) the course Mac was going to complete on the Monday and interspersed it with a late lunch at the amazing Portobello Deli and Bakery .

I have read two books! Mac has conquered half the world in Civilisation Revolution 2. We caught up on correspondence and banking. I had a shopping day with Mindy. And watched some really trashy TV.....including our all time favourite Canadian TV.

Actually, on reflection, if I had known that life at this pace would be so relaxing I may have been tempted to sabotage his shoelaces myself!

The week has featured an excursion to Blenz to sample their award winning hot chocolate ( takes us two hours for a little outing like this up and down The Aspens hill) and had breakfast at Elements (very trendy). We rarely surface till just before noon so need to find venues that offer all day breakfasts.

The weather has been very kind and this week has been our first view of rain! Lucky we have weatherproof gear and a backpack now.

Marathon Man is making a steady recovery and is expected to be in full swing for birthday celebrations. Whistler is home of GOFest this long weekend so we no longer have the mountain to ourselves. Should be a great one for our finale.

Monday
Temperature: 17
Pedometer: 142
Bear sightings = 0

Tuesday
Temperature: 14
Pedometer: 7 095
Bear Sightings = 0

Wednesday
Temperature: 18
Pedometer: 6 485
Bear Sightings = 0

Thursday
Temperature: 18
Pedometer: 5 713
Bear Sightings = 0

Total Bear Sightings = 2