Well, to take a phrase from a rather well known film I'm baaaaaaaaack! (Your former secretary, that is).

Roger Coleman has asked me to prepare this short article for the website so that at least some of you who know me can catch up on what has happened to me and what could happen to me in the future. As many of you will know, about 21/2 years ago, I was on my way to work when I was involved in a bit of an accident. The offending vehicle was a foreign articulated lorry. I was on my motorcycle. Lorry versus motorcycle.....no contest. I lost. The lorry made a sudden left turn, right over the top of me. To cut a long story short, an ambulance was called for, and after working on me at the scene for over 2 hours I was rushed to the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel in the East End of London. I should have been flown there by helicopter but it was grounded due to poor visibility. Just my luck! The surgeons that received me gave me less than 48 hours to live. That is what they told my family. I have since learned that the life support unit that dealt with me only worked on a 12 hour life expectancy period. I nearly joined the dinosaurs!

As you might correctly guess, I made it through the 48 hours. I was on life support equipment for 576 hours. After incorrectly forecasting that my right leg and left arm would have to be amputated and that I was going to suffer major brain damage, I was eventually released from hospital after nearly 7 months, intact. And I can remember virtually nothing about it. All I can safely say is, I didn't find many fossils!

For those of you who might like to know, I suffered the following injuries:- Bare in mind that I was wearing full leather motorcycle kit, had leather boots on and a full face crash helmet. I had skull injuries, a broken clavicle (collar bone), 3 fractured vertebrae, a smashed left upper arm (humerus.....but it was not very funny at the time! ......... get it?), a ruptured spleen, a fractured pelvis (hip girdle), a smashed lower right leg (tibia and fibula) and massive tissue damage. Like I say, I nearly joined the dinosaurs. These injuries have left me permanently disabled and I will be unable to work again.

So those of you who were aware of my profession, can now start behaving as usual again with no fear of interruption. For those of you that don't know what I was, I was a police officer. For a good bit of news now, I had served 22 years and just qualified for my long service/good conduct medal, which I can now display along with my father's. You don't get those for nothing.

Since I came out of hospital, I have had to go back for further surgery on my left arm. This was to remove a metal pin from the upper arm and excess bone that had been stimulated to grow in the elbow and shoulder joints. I have the latter in both arms and will have to go back for more surgery to remove it as it is causing severe restriction of movement in both arms. But .... in removing the metal pin, the head of the arm was refractured ............ good, isn't it. You go into hospital to get better and come out with a broken arm! My life has altered somewhat .... but, as you will see, it is not all bad. Well, that's the short story! Since emerging from my injured state, I have re-established contact with a very important part of my life ....... the Essex Rock and Mineral Society. I now have a lot of time on my hands and I believe that I can put it to good use by helping to run it again. In a way, its like trying to salvage a part of my life that, at one point, I thought I had lost. Its good to be back and I'll do what I can. Hopefully, now that you know the facts, I won't hear any strange stories of having suffered whilst trying to excavate fossil skeletons from dangerous or illegal locations. You know what people can be like!!!!! Good fossiling, (or should it be Good Rocking).                                                                                   Bob Williams.

Strange, taking all this into consideration, Bob wants to "Hit the Deck Running", and from my part I'm glad his back on board! We spent a great day together at the Bexley Show. Bob suffered a terrible attack of diarrhoea (verbal) and spent more cash than I do on groceries. I think that Sharon, his wife, will give him a slap for wasting the housekeeping. Kids and Sweet Shops spring to mind.

Just to balance what Bob has said above and I know he would have said it, if it hadn't been for the excitement of joining the real world again. Sharon has had to (and still does) face the brunt of nursing Bob and looking after the children. It is a joy to see a couple stick together through what is a harrowing time. Bob's disabilities are severe to the extent that he needs the help of others to live, and perhaps you, like me, understand the need to help integrate him back into the Society. As Bob continues to recover, he will no doubt want to get more adventurous and 'push the envelope'. I'm looking forward to the day when Bob will be able to join us on a field trip.

Please don't underrate the job that Sharon is doing. It is hard, not appreciated by society in general, and never ending. So any opportunity this Society has to snatch Bob away for a few hours into our world of Geology, will give Sharon a short respite and show that others do care (in a practical way). Well done Sharon!                                                                                                    RC 24/03/2002