# WILD STORIES of ADVENTURE # ... FRANCE Part 2 ... the BIG BANG!!

The view from our apartment in Dinan

    

     After getting to know the village of Dinan and the guys who I went to school with a lot better,  plus the other the guys who I was working with,  there was always plenty of action going on.  There were about 10 of us living in our magnificent apartment over looking the main square of Dinan. 

     Summer in idyllic Dinan was a buzz every night. 

     We were all working from early morning until the early evening.  There wasn't a night that went by that didn't have some kind of frivolous adventure :))  Mainly drinking!! 

     Darren and I were landscape gardeners for a while.  The house we were scaping was for the 10th richest man in England.  He had just bought the house, estate,  or some might say ... extremely large place!!  He was a friend of Jason's dad in England.  Jason is one of the guys I went to school with and who I met in the car park in Renne.  ( those details are in WILD STORIES of ADVENTURE ... 7th of September 2010 ).  The main project of gutting a warehouse and then refurbishing it as a supermarket would start in a month or so.  The supermarket was to open on the outskirts of Renne,  a small city about an hour by car away from Dinan.  A few more guys would be joining us on this project.  One of them was Axel from Sweden.  A dude who would become a wicked friend while I stayed in France. 

Darren's Grim-Reapa stance

     Another guy from England had recently bought a house close by and was also acquainted with Jason.  This house would also become part of the scene ... the party scene!!   :))   All in all there ended up being a very large group of us that would party regularly.  Usually at our cool,  large pad in Dinan or now and then at the English guy's house a few kilometers away ... large apologies but I have forgotten his name! 

Another Dazza stance  :)) ... you know what I mean hey mate  ;)

     Dinan is situated in an area of rolling hills and sprawls down the valley to a river.  It's possible to board a boat at the port and head down the river to the famous place of Mt. Saint-Michel.  It's the valley down to the river where my mis-adventure begins!!  :))  We could keep it simple and call it an accident!!

                ... it was I guess!!  ;)

     As usual we had finished work.  Some of us wanted to freshen up before going drinking,  some of us wanted to go drinking first and then freshen up.  I needed a beer first,  so did a few others!  We went to a bar which we know had a pool table and serves ice cold beer.  There ain't nothing better than an ice cold beer at the end of a hard day's work!! 

Darre chillin' with the view

     A couple of guys who had freshened up came back.  As the night looked like it would continue for ever,  and the cold beer was going down fast,  it seemed worth while for me to take a shower and smell fresh for a change  :))

     Back with the crew and feeling clean,  well since the early morning anyway,  the ice cold beer needed to be in my hand again!

     Good mates,  lots of 8 ball and the weekend was just beginning!!

Another night or weekend party

     The evening shifted to the next bar down the street.  This one was much smaller but it had a good atmosphere and a good ratio of local French chicks.  By now we are quite loaded and seeing how the night was beginning to wind down for the locals at that bar we decided to head over to our British mates house.  A few of the locals came with us from the bar  :)).  We were off to enjoy more revelry until the early hours of the morning!!

     In the house there must have been close to 20 people.  The place was rockin'!!  :))

Party party party ... again  :))

     From here on the events of the night become a bit cloudy for me!!

     Later on,  I,  for some reason had made the decision to embark on a drunken journey back to my apartment.

     I don't know why,  the night was still pumping and the mood in the house was party party party!!  :))

                       ... but go I did.

     I remember asking where the British guy was because I wanted to borrow his mountain bike to ride home rather than walk all the way.  It would have been one hell of a trek if I had walked.

     I remember saying goodbye to a couple of the guys at the front door ... I have no idea who ... and cycled away.

     I remember the state I was in.

                          ... extremely drunk!!

                                   
                                     !!WARNING!!

               The next part of this story is quite gory,  it's your choice now if you want to read more!! 

    
     My next memory is fragmented.

     I remember standing next to a fence or large gate.

     I've got my hands wrapped around the bars.  I remember saying or shouting "Help me ... Help me".  I could have been whispering.  Maybe, I thought I was saying it.

     I remember touching my mouth and feeling a tooth missing.  I remember feeling with my tongue the other tooth that was half missing and was almost touching the roof of my mouth. 

     I remember pulling the half tooth back into position.

     I don't remember any pain.  But I do remember the scrunching feeling as it moved back to it's original position.

     I have no idea how long I had been out for.  Had I been unconscious!?

     The next memory is picking up the bike and starting to walk back to the house.  I don't remember arriving back at the house.

    
                  ... I woke up in hospital.

My great friend,  Darren,  was sitting beside the hospital bed.  He thought I was a goner,  finished,  dead!  Darren told me the injuries I had sustained.

     I had broken my right cheek bone.  One and a half teeth were missing.  3 stitches next to my right eye.  3 stitches in my knee.  3 stitches to the right of my chin. The area around my right eye was so swollen that you couldn't even see my eye.  And cuts and bruises to my arms and body. 

     I was in hospital for 1 week.  I was lucky,  so the doctor said,  to have such a speedy recovery.  I took the next week off work too.

     Mum and dad came over from England to see me.  Darren had called them straight away.  Mum had just come out of hospital herself,  she had chemo therepy for cancer.  She had no hair.  That day we all had lunch at a cafe down by the river.  Me with my face all cut up and mum with no hair must have looked like we'd just come off a movie set or something!  It was great to have them over.

     A couple of days later,  Jason holds out his hand.  Inside was my lighter that I thought I had lost in the accident.  It was still in the stream.  It's a cool lighter.

     Let me explain where I had the accident. 

     From the British guy's house,  the road meanders past and down through the valley to the river.  On the right hand side of the road,  set down from the road about 1 meter or just a bit more,  is a stream.  Very large rocks or boulders are on either side of the stream.  I presume they are there for erosion prevention.  Obviously I had gone straight instead of turning with the winding road and flown straight into a rock.  Head first!!

     Later when I visited the crash sight I was surprised at the height I climbed out of in a semi unconscious state.  It sent shivers through me!

     To this very day I still have no recollection as to what had happened.  Only what is written above. 

                   Ending note ...  There are a couple of little things that I have left out of this mis-adventure so that it doesn't get too long.  My apologies if it's a bit shocking,  b ut you had the warning,  ha ha  :)),  it's just one of the stories of my adventures!!

                   A big thanks goes to you Darren and to the guys in Dinan for getting me to the hospital.  Where ever you all are now ... take it easy:)) ... Daz,  I know where you are, lol!

                                           cheers  :))