Recovery

All went well. The surgery lasted 3 hours. It is quite impressive to see what is going on in an operating theatre. Cables hooked to you, oxygen mask on your face and the "game over" machine making noises and checking your "basic data" all the time.

As they promised me, I was able to leave the hospital the same day. I am on the road to recovery. Now, 4 days later, the pains in my left hand are slowly reducing and comfort is coming back slowly. Except that I have now (and for around 4 weeks) no use of my left hand. They put a cement (or something like that) rail and a bandage. I could now easily beat up somebody with this. But I will not do it because, I am sure, it would hurt me.

It is difficult to post and to play on the internet with one hand. That is why I stop now. But it will improve and I will be more present soon again.

Joy of Life

I am ready. Tomorrow I will be in hospital to have my surgery on my hand. But the news are great. Last Wednesday I had a meeting with the anesthesia specialist. She told me that I will not be put into sleep and that they only will anesthize my left arm. She also told me, prevailing that there are no complications, I can leave the hospital the same day. That is really good news.

Not that I was really worried. I have gone through quite some medical issues in my life and always came out of it, without any sequels. But, at my age, you start to think. And sometimes this puts me, the eternal optimist, into a thinking mood.

I have been living in this world for 66 years now. Every thing was great and I enjoyed every bit of it. The problem is that I will not live for 66 years anymore. And that scares me. I am not afraid of death. But I am afraid of not living anymore.


And for me to think that one day all this is finished is very difficult. Because life is such a joy. Even when things are not quite 100 percent. It does not matter, after rain, the sun always shines. And there are trillion of small things in this world that make life worthwhile.

So, ok, I have to get out of my thinky mood and just do one thing: Enjoy Life.

For Baron and frequent flyers (2)

Piper Cherokee 140. When I was living in South Africa, I made my private pilots licence on this lovely machine (1968).


Rockwell Aero Commander. Once I had my licence, I was walking around this aircraft. And then a guy came and asked if I liked to make a tour on it. I did and he let me fly it for a bit. But only cruising.


McDonnell Douglas DC8. In the 60ties and 70ties I flew a lot with them. Different versions, among them the sleek D8-62. Though it made a lot of smoke and noise, it was a lovely aircraft. The last time I saw one was a cargo version in 2000 when we flew Swiss cows to Kosovo.


Hawker Siddeley 748. I flew a lot internally with Ghana Airways from Kumasi to Accra (1972 to 1975).


Fokker 28. Again a lot of flights with this within Ghana.


VC10. This great aircraft helped breaking my heart. When I left Ghana and my wife behind. But then, it was a lovely flight with Ghana Airways to Rome (1975).


Sud-Aviation Caravelle. I saw it for the first time in 1962 when my father took me to an airshow at the military airport of Dübendorf. Then, for many years I was flying with it in Europe. An unforgettable flight in 1970 with Air France from Brussels to Nice. In first class. They cooked a real steak and after the meal I got a cigar.

The virtual airshow will continue.

Surgery

I am enjoying the last few days of "liberty of movement". Liberty to drive my car. Liberty of banging on my computer keyboard. Liberty of doing anything that needs the use of two hands.


On November 23rd, I will have surgery on my left hand. In particular the small finger. It is 70 percent bent. It is impossible to have it straight. It started to become like this many years ago and bit by bit it became more and more curbed.

It does not hurt but for some things and actions it became weird. After surgery, it will take around 6 weeks to rehabilitate my left hand.

I did never worry why I had this. Was it my way of life? Or is old age simply hitting me (physically). It does not matter. When the "thing" will be done, I still will be able to go on the net. It will take simply a bit more time to write and post.

Because I will use the "eagle" system. Circle around and then dive. On the keyboard with one finger. Because now, I am using two.

Jazz on the 5th, Nr. 18

Something cool today. When I was 17, doing my commercial apprenticeship, when tickets for a concert cost 5 dollars, I went to my favorite record shop. I was told that they had something new for me. A record of Art Farmer. One of the tunes on the record was "Five Spot After Dark". It became my "earworm" and was in my head for ages; I was whistling it all the time.



I tried to find a video of Art Farmer playing this tune. I did not succeed. But this version with Benny Golson and Curtis Fuller is excellent too. Unfortunately, the video just shows the record sleeve. But it does not matter, just sit back, relax and enjoy this swinging performance. And you will know why it was my "earworm".

They liked it

Lufthansa did read my post "I might bore you". When I reached home, I found a letter from them:

Dear Mr. Voegtli,

We thank you very much for your kind words in your post.

It was for us an immense pleasure to know that you were satisfied with all of your Lufthansa flights and that our crews convinced you of our service. Also the fact that you liked our meals and the comfort on the aircrafts is very encouraging for us.


We were enchanted by your way of describing your experiences with us. Your encouraging words are for us a special motivation to put all our forces together to continue to satisfy our customers.

It would be a pleasure for us to welcome you on board of our Airbus A380 and assure you that we will do everything for you to be comfortable and that you can enjoy relaxed the flight.

With our best regards

Deutsche Lufthansa AG
Customer Feedback Europe

And I might just be in for a surprise when I make my A380 flight. In my post I had mentionned that I filled in the "customer feedback" form many times. One day, when I left the aircraft, the flight attendants handed me a bag with a bottle of champagne.

Another time, when we were boarding the bus to take us to the plane, a ground staff called my name. She looked at my boarding pass, took it and gave me another one. I did not pay any attention but when I boarded the aircraft and was looking for the row I was to sit, I realised that they had upgraded me to Business Class.

I am looking forward to my A380 flight.