Hard Headed Nowhere Fast

Glad to say T209 has now been completed. Can't say it was the most interesting course I have done so far but it was useful. None of the technology elements were particularly enlightening, having worked in IT for 15+ years, and done plenty of other IT courses this was to be expected from something designed to give a broad understanding. The course was getting long in the tooth, many technologies having been superseded, and this was the last presentation before its replacement.

T209 was a 60 point, course for the degree BSc (Honours) Information Technology and Computing and in its favour I can at least say I have gained the ability to write reports. Or I think I have anyway...

The end of course assessment, in place of an exam, was a sustained piece of report writing comparing WiMAX, HSDPA and other 3G technologies. The time suggested for this was five weeks, and with four full days off work after the August bank holiday I thought I had plenty of time. Bring on the gods of complacency, or is it sod's law. Anyway, I was out mountain biking on the August bank holiday, had a good day out, and at the end of the ride was heading down a steep, very rocky descent towards the Snake Pass. Of course I fell off. And of course I landed on my head. A quick wiggle of the extremities and I leaped to my feet, fortunately with no broken bones, I have no idea how I didn't break anything, the surface was just boulders.

Black eye, smashed cycling specs, blood from the side of my nose, bruise on left side of head, left shoulder, left arm, left leg, both ankles (handlebars...), bleeding from left eyebrow, etc. If I had a quid for everyone that said 'were you wearing a helmet', I would have almost 10 pounds. No I wasn't. A full face helmet might have made a difference, the sort that I wasn't wearing and everyone else was wouldn't have made a difference either.

Fortunately it was the end of the ride and we came back in the car. I should have gone to A&E straight away but my pupils were evenly sized, not dilated, I had no leakage from my ears, I felt fine, and I checked my blood pressure when I got in and that was fine too. I felt OK other than a bit of a headache, and a bit shaken up.

A day or so later I found I was unable to look at my computer monitor for more than a few minutes at a time, and I was feeling really dizzy. I couldn't do any work on the assignment that I had taken the few days off for. I eventually went to A&E, the doctor said that as I had taken a substantial blow to the head I would be unable to concentrate for a while, and I should avoid reading, watching TV or using a computer, other than that I was fine. I was hoping to be ok within a few days, but unfortunately the dizziness went on for a long time, nearly six weeks later I still have the odd moment.

It was two weeks after the event that I was back to being able to get on with the assignment, giving me two weeks to get the thing complete and handed in. I did it, just, but didn't do it justice, I could have done with one more week. My nose is still misshapen, and the few pictures I took are still not up on Google Earth. Oh well!