What a way to meet Borepatch!

As most of you will know by now, fellow blogger Borepatch took a tumble on his motorcycle yesterday.  He has half a dozen broken ribs and a fractured clavicle, as well as a bruised lung and some interesting-looking patches of road rash.

Miss D. and I had been planning on meeting him for lunch today, but we got the news early this morning that he was in durance vile in hospital.  We decided to beard the lion in his den go to see him there instead, and made our way to Pensacola.  It was the first time we'd met him, but we've seen pictures of him, so it was no problem to recognize him in his pink frilly nightgown with lace trimmings in his bed in ICU.

We spent almost an hour talking with him, interrupted by a doctor dropping by to check on him and other bits and pieces.  Miss D. and I enjoyed his company, and we hope he enjoyed ours - the pain meds probably made us more tolerable to him!  Seriously, though, he was very fortunate.  It could have been a lot worse.  He'll be going home shortly, and then it's just a matter of giving his body time to recover.  Broken ribs are painful and slow to heal, and there's no alternative but to wait for them to get it done on their own.  I suspect he's going to have to insist on very, VERY gentle hugs for several weeks!

Several of you had recommended that we eat at McGuire's Irish Pub.  We decided to visit there after seeing Borepatch.  All I can say is, O.M.G.!!!  In spades!!!  I've never in my life seen portions of food so large, or such good value for money.  It's not gourmet food, but pub-style in very large quantities and very well prepared.  Between the two of us, Miss D. and myself brought home enough leftovers for at least two good-size meals here at home, plus what we ate at the restaurant.  It's an amazing place, and I think we're going to have to try to fit in another meal there before we leave.  (We still haven't paid a return visit to the Naval Aviation Museum, so one day next week we'll head back to Pensacola to kill two birds with one visit - to mangle a metaphor.)  One of my readers has also asked to meet up in P'cola, so we'll see about including that in our itinerary.

We think we've recovered from lunch by now.  We're going to buy a couple of belly boards, and see how we manage them in the surf.  Between Miss D.'s graunched knee and my fused spine, both of us find walking across soft sand both difficult and painful, but once in the water it's much easier.  We'll see how things go.

I'll put up more blog posts later tonight.  Until then, say a prayer for Borepatch, who'll be traveling home tomorrow or the next day as a passenger in a rented car.  With all those broken ribs, I can't think it's going to be a very comfortable journey!

Peter