Ajala goes Canoeing

Come and help me sing hallelujah!!

This is proper thanksgiving mate and add praise and worship to that. Yours truly (which is me in this case) was involved in a canoe capsize.

Canoe-cap-kini I hear you say. Well, you heard it right. A canoe capsize.

A few of my workmates and I (scratch that, one babe like that for work) organized a canoe trip on the River Wye (one very dirty river like that in Gloucestershire). This was supposed to be an adventure with two persons in each canoe paddling down a 6 mile stretch of the River Wye. I was all for it. I am usually a very adventurous person and I do know how to swim reasonably. So, this was gonna be a piece of cake

The whole trip was marked for misadventure the minute I was paired. I just knew that my paddling partner was going to get me into trouble. Throughout the whole trip, our canoe kept zigzagging down the river. The tour guide said I was paddling too hard while my partner was not paddling strong enough (dilemma!) How the heck is that my fault. All the eba I ate in Nigeria buffed me up

The trip went generally well and it was a lovely day to be out on the River. But just as we were rounding a bend in the river, our canoe was bumped by another canoe from behind onto a massive bush right in the middle of the river and we pushed onto the bushes and stuck right on top (imagine a boat running aground). At this point with the strong currents pushing us against the river, we could not free our boat. That was when the tour guide (aka Voltron Defender of the Universe) decided to come and free us.  As we were being rescued, the canoe overturned.

 My life did flash before my eyes as the brown, dirty, cold water of the River Wye slapped me squarely in the face.

My first thought was “OMG! I’m drowning!” I heard the tour guide yelling at me to put my feet on the ground and that was when I realized that the river was quite shallow, so I did as instructed. By this time, our Voltron had taken hold of the canoe and brought it back and gave me a firm instruction to jump in. I could tell he was pissed off. He had lost some of his kit in the river and I guess for the 19 pounds per person for the trip, we were not worth the trouble.

It wasn’t until I tried to start padding back (all drenched in murky waters) did I realize I could not make use of my left hand. As I lifted the paddle, I experienced such intense pain that I started to shiver. So here we were, sitting in the middle of this bloody river and I could not paddle. Lucky for us, other members of our group who could not find us returned to the scene of the incident and towed our boat to the end point.

By this time, I was shivering, in intense pain and had tears streaming down my face (and I wasn’t even crying!) I could not move my left shoulder and at this point, I could tell everyone was worried. I guess I was in shock by now

At this point someone called an ambulance. What we got were two ambulances, two fire engines and a police car. Boy did I fell very special!

 Ehhh.. I was well impressed. I was so thankful that I didn’t fall into Ogunpa River in Nigeria. Not even nearby fishermen will come for me!

After a few blasts of what we call “Air and Gas” – some really good gaseous pain killer which makes you feel no pain.. I was as high as a kite (laughing and giggling).  The medics determined that I hadn’t broken anything but had dislocated my shoulder. This was popped back in and I was put in a sling and off to the A&E for X-Rays. No broken bones. But I tell you, the pain was incomprehensible

In the midst of all the humor, pain and disorientation, I was still able to appreciate that this could have been worse. People have been known to drown in waters that people consider Mundane and so for walking away with a dislocated shoulder and a sling I am extremely grateful

The shoulder still hurts a bit but with gentle Physio excersies, I am getting berra.

Lots of love

PS: Sorry I had to "purple" out peoples faces here

Tolantino.