Saturday 26th June 10, Sheffield Green Fair

Up early as I needed to be out of the house at 9am, to get on the 9.28 to Sheffield so I could be in good time for the start of the Sheffield Green Fair at St Mary's, a church more or less in the middle of Sheffield. I left the house feeling low as there was grumpiness and rudeness all around, but the ride to the station and then nearly an hour of reading NewScientist cheered me up, and by the time I got to the venue, I was happy. I expect this is partly because I love what I do, and this is one of the best gigs of the year; I'm amongst friends and people who share similar political views to me.

I got changed and was ready to roll before 11, which is when it officially opened. I was pleased to see my sister Anna on the Sheffield Freegle stall (very similar to Freecycle) and Douglas, who was as usual, looking dapper and lovely with a well-trimmed beard. I did some unicycling round, but the ground is pretty uneven and I came off a couple of times. I suppose this ought to have been a bit of a warning... because at about 12.30, I had just done a unicycle round the site and I arrived back at my performance area, which is right next to the church and is flagged with gravestones and they are sloping and not very even. I hopped off but somehow I went over on my ankle, there was an audible crack and searing pain. I fell on the ground and within about 5 seconds I was experiencing the most excruciating pain I've had for a long time, if not ever. I felt myself beginning to slip out of consciousness with it... everything started going white and I went dizzy, and had to go and sit down, then lie down on some table-like gravestones where people had been sitting watching me. Some people came to my aid, including a first aid person who I think was a Doctor... she prodded my ankle a bit and decided that I probably hadn't broken it, 'just' sprained. The loud crack would have been a tendon snapping.

I've done this twice before, same ankle. The first time was in Devonshire Green in Sheffield, about 10 years ago, and I, yes, hopped off my unicycle and misjudged the landing and went over on it. I was convinced that I'd broken it. I went to Sheffield hospital where X rays showed my Navicular bone was in two pieces, so they put it in a cast, gave me the X-ray images and sent me back to York, saying to present myself to York hospital on the Monday. The surgeon there took one look at my foot and the X-rays and told me I had an 'accessory Navicular', not a fracture, and the pot was cut off. My sprained ankle slowly got better. The next time, I was in Bradford and walking along to a Permaculture place, and I slipped off the kerb and turned my ankle, and fell into the road. So I have a known weakness there.

So, I was given ice in paper towels and someone gave me paracetamol and Ibuprofen, and a few minutes later I went inside out of the sun and had some lunch with Anna my sister and Ali and her daughter. After this, I decided that I ought to continue working to the best of my ability so I got a chair and blew up some balloons, stuck them in my uni spokes and before long had kids all around clamouring for balloon models. I did this for an hour and then my friend Tannis turned up. She's from Canada and she found me through my blog, she was interested in the composting, and some of the community development that I do. So we'd chatted on facebook and I was glad to meet her. We went for a coffee, and then it was time for me to prepare for my Balloon Workshop by blowing up a whole wheel full of modelling balloons. That show was at 4pm and it went really well.

I went to get paid after this, and as I hobbled back, I turned on my ankle again.... more uneven ground and a yelp of pain. But I was determined not to let this stop me doing what I'd planned, which was to walk back to the station and have a drink with Tannis, so we did walk, very slowly, to the station, where we met Andy (Sheffield World Naked Bike Ride) and Keith, and we all four had a really nice hour and a half, pint and a half, chat and a half.... mainly suggesting places that Tannis should not miss visiting whilst in the UK.

But towards 8pm I had to peel off and go and get the train home, and I found cycling not a problem, so was home at about 9pm. Gill gave me a bag of frozen peas to put onto the affected area to help reduce the swelling, but said that I really ought to go and get it X-rayed. But Graeme off facebook reminded me that casualty on Saturday night should be avoided, and a Sunday morning trip would be more sensible.

So I sat and enjoyed Glastonbury on BBC3 and put my foot up to help the swelling go down. The bruise is beginning to show, it looks disgusting.