Setting Bones, Setting Out

Back here but not there

Cefalu beach yesterday

(As I begin to write this I am surrounded by ever-louder growing rolling rumbles of thunder in the Cefalu hills, where we are currently staying on holiday, in a lovely B&B villa, in sizzling Sicily. The cloud has covered the normally dazzling cobalt sky and made the sea all silver, and I am sat here typing to the sound of the pitter patter of rain.)

Storm coming into Cefalu this afternoon

It’s just about five months since I last posted. I didn’t mean to leave it this long but it’s been quite a year, with not only my beloved dad dying in January, but also the prospect of having to leave his home, which has been our home (me and my 17 year old son) since my son was born. It’s going on sale soon, so I have been very busy trying to find us a new home (my American husband now living here too) nearby so my son can stay in his school.

Back in May I broke my right wrist very badly, needing surgery and some bionic metal implants to put it right. It’s still a work in progress but so much better. At first it was such a shock, no writing, driving etc but still needing to cook dinner and get things done!

I had been out in the garden planting some containers and ‘3 minute hero’ by The Selector came on the radio, so I bounced into the kitchen to turn it up and then bounced back out of the back door, tripped, fell, thought I broke my ankle, put my hand out and heard a ‘snap’ and at that point stopped thinking about the ankle (not broken but sprained) in the knowledge that whatever had happened to my wrist / hand was significantly worse!

Luckily my hero-next-door-neighbour was in nursing for many years and she came over, bandaged it and put it in a sling, made me a drink a large slug of Green Spot whiskey and then ran me and my husband down to the hospital via collecting her granddaughter from school. A&E ( I will not call it ‘Emergency Department’) were ace, and I was seen relatively quickly as I was in a lot of pain. We were in and back out in the relatively short space of time of five hours, including x-rays and plaster etc.

The next day I went back in to see a specialist at the broken bones department who advised me it would be a good idea to go through with surgery and an implant or I might not regain my fine motor skills plus would have a much higher risk of substantial arthritis later on…he said it might take 10 days waiting for the surgery but his team would meet the next morning and I would hear more about the timescale the following day. And I did – in fact I was bumped up the list and two days later had the surgery, more plaster and then home in the evening to recover.

Since then it’s slowly healed, I gradually got back to being able to cook without help, get in the car and drive again, and more recently have started to re-build my strength as well as keep going with the physio exercises. I’ve had excellent treatment from our incredible NHS for this – I’m so grateful for the expertise and care of the surgeons, doctors, nurses and physiotherapists. I’ve got a very neat slim, two inch vertical scar – another story to tell. No more dancing out of the back door and not looking where I’m going!

(As I’ve written this the storm here in Cefalu has progressed, my son and I have been standing on the balcony videoing the storm’s journey across the bay, flickering lightning strikes gathering pace, until all of s sudden it was coming directly towards us, roiling black clouds, a wind whipping up across the balcony, we grabbed the clothes hanging to try on the airer as the storm moved in, whistling its announcement, and we are now listening to it from inside our room, rain being thrown across the windows, doors vibrating, thunder crashing above. It has been crazy hot and humid here, so this might make the weather more clement, and the very steep walk back from town slightly less exhausting – might.)

Hatches have been battened

So, after far too long, I am back here at Setting Sundays, finally having time to write whilst being here in Sicily, with time away from all the recent stress and bother of finding a new home. Have you rented a flat or house recently – it feels soooo complicated to do this now compared to back when everything was on paper. There are now confusing and seemingly never-ending online forms to register, log into and click through, unlike before when you turned up to a letting agent’s office with paper references, payslips etc. Somehow by the end of my birthday a couple of weeks ago we seemed to have been accepted for a two bedroom flat nearby, which is a relief and signals another huge change for all of us. Especially my son.

Another change is that starting from now I will have more time to spend on writing, workshops and this Substack again – more news of exciting developments in this area coming soon!

But for now – I hope you will consider this a starting point to get back to where I was intending to be a while ago… as Doris Lessing famously said:

“Whatever you're meant to do, do it now. The conditions are always impossible.”

Avanti!

Love,

Lucy xx

From stormy Cefalu

PS – I have left ‘X’ formerly Twitter but you can find me @lucyfurleaps on Bluesky