It feels like years...

...since I was last here. That's means both posting on my blog and the summit of Mauna Kea. And just picking up a camera. I haven't done that for ages and still haven't, the panorama above is from a year ago with the old camera although I thought I'd remind myself how to use my computer again and reprocess a couple of pictures. I think my conclusion tonight is my photo-processing work flow is extraordinarily complicated and need to do something about it, because I couldn't remember one step from another. It'll likely take me a few months just to remember how to operate the shutter on my camera again.

So, just to update everyone, I'm better than I was two months ago but have hit a plateau. My head still hurts, probably due to overuse of my intellectually-challenged brain, but it's nowhere near as bad as before, it's just that there's been little change during the last three or four weeks.

British beer didn't help, nor did some nice wine and the most wonderful company. Jet-lag certainly wasn't a cure either but a trip to the UK and a couple of days in LA certainly took my mind off things, so in that respect I'm really happy I decided to travel halfway round the world and back again. It was with American Airlines as well, so if their level of providing passenger discomfort didn't make things worse, I think I'm good to go anywhere! I'm just so pleased my flight back from Blighty was on British Airways, at least as far as LA. They know how to make a nice cup of tea and provide entertainment during an eleven hour flight. Whoever chooses the movies shown on AA flights needs the sack.

Well, as you can probably tell, my brain isn't quite what it used to be, but with the help of the US health care system and given a lot of time, I'm confident it'll be back to where it was a few months ago with the additional stress of paying the medical bills. If they become excessive I can always start taking the Vicodin again, that way I won't worry about a thing!

I doubt I'll be posting an awful lot in the next month or so, but, despite the STFC's best efforts, I might actually be able to spend a few nights back on Mauna Kea's summit next month. If that happens I'll be able to bore you once again with some more summit pictures. Hope you don't mind.

Thanks again to everyone who's dropped a line or two in the last few weeks and my apologies if I didn't reply to you - as you can imagine it's been a difficult time but I really appreciate all your thoughts. They have meant a lot to me.

Tom