PLAYERS BLOG
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Jason (CHOPS) Kelly |
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Hi Everyone,
I’ve now been over in Scotland for about 3 months now so I thought it was about time I got myself sorted and sent one of those big generalised emails to everyone.
Rugby
Rugby has been going ok, we have now finished our first round and are fourth on the table out of 12 teams. Although our last two games have been losses. For the last couple of months I’ve been struggling with a bit of a foot injury. On our flat warming night I stood on a piece of glass, I got it all cleaned up the day after. However as it had been more than 6 hours they would not stitch up the wound. The week after that I didn’t train on Tuesday, but I trained on the Thursday and strapped it all up and played on the Saturday ok. After the Saturday game the team medics took off straight after the game so I didn’t have a chance to put any anti-septic cream on it. That Saturday night after having a few beers at the club for a guys stag-do my foot started throbbing and swelling up (I was not in a good space). I decided to administer two forms of pain relief – increased alcohol consumption and anti-inflammatory’s! That got me through the night ok, but the next morning I will still in just as much pain and the infection had taken over the majority of my foot. At 8am one of the rugby boys took me to a local hospital (40mins away). Whilst there they x-rayed the foot, gave me IV anti-biotics and fluid to help me with dehydration. They then sent me on my way in intense pain and with a red foot and told me to report back the next day and they would decide whether or not they would operate. The next day I arrived back at the hospital and the surgeon said that he would knock me out and open up the wound a little bit more and give it a good clean out and make sure nothing was floating around in there. I woke up after surgery in a lot of pain and needed 10mg of morphine until I started feeling slightly better (maybe just a low tolerance to pain – probably not though)!! After the operation I was then kept in hospital overnight and given IV antibiotics every eight hours. I was then released back out in to the wild at about 4pm the next day with crutches and a whole lot of different types of anti-biotics/pain killers! I remained on oral anti-biotics for 4 weeks and had regular trips back to the hospital for check-ups.
Unfortunately this little accident left me unable to walk on my foot let alone run, so it was two weeks until I was able play again amid a vicious cocktail of pain relief and padding. The first game I played was with one boot that was two sizes too big for me to accommodate all the padding. Since then the infection has been flaring up sometimes, but nowhere near as bad as what it initially was. It’s now been about three weeks since the last flare up, so touch wood it doesn’t happen again. Initially I wouldn’t have played, but I needed the money as the club hadn’t found me a job. Luckily the coach hasn’t made me trained and I’ve just been able to play games. Tonight is the first night I’m going to train as its starting to feel a bit better. Last night the paid players had a meeting and were basically told we need to lift our performances as the team has had two losses in the last two games. Easy scape-goats! Locals players don’t seem to take the rugby as serious as back home. Occasional Friday night drinking by some of them and a lack of attendance at training doesn’t really do much for a team. Hopefully though we can turn around the performances and start winning again. The conditions are now starting to deteriorate with all this rain the UK has been having. The pitches are going to be bog holes pretty soon (our training field already is)!
Work
As you’ve probably worked out by now I’ve got a job. I started last week and I’m still trying to work out exactly what the role is, but I’m getting there. The role is called a ‘Planning Analyst’ and involves working for the Portfolio Management Group (PMG) in the Business improvement business unit for Diageo. Diageo is a very large company that owns such brands as Guinness, Baileys, Smirnoff, Johnny Walker, Captain Morgan, J &B, Cuervo and a whole host of other.... I work a 35 hour week which is pretty cool, however I have to travel to Glasgow each day which kind of negates this at the moment. I report to a guy that lives in Norwalk, USA. I’ll let you know more about the role when I know more. My first day of work was a trip down to London to meet a few people and to pick up my new laptop. That night we went out for dinner and ended up having a few drinks with the team. Back down again next week for more meetings and to meet my boss properly. Staying in a five star hotel which will be pretty nice. We have also got a good night planned visiting a few pubs/clubs and a site-seeing day for me on the Friday.
https://www.marriott.co.uk/hotels/travel/lonlm-london-marriott-hotel-kensington/
Most offices have their own bar, gym, staff shop (discounted items) and cafeteria. The cafeteria has quickly become my favourite thing about working here. I’ve become accustom to having roast meals for lunch for basically the equivalent of NZ$5. Hopefully work should give me the opportunity to travel all around Europe and possibly a trip to the States early next year. Fingers crossed. The coach isn’t that happy about me missing trainings for work so it will be interesting to hear his response!!
http://www.diageo.com/en-row/homepage.htm
Biggar and Nightlife
If you look up ‘one horse town’ in the dictionary you will probably see a picture of Biggar as the definition. The place is small, but in all fairness to the people as long as you are winning rugby they like you and are friendly! The nightlife in Biggar gets pretty repetitive. It was fun at first, but now it’s a bit of a drag. Edinburgh and Glasgow are good nights out, but always a bit of a hassle because we need to sort out accommodation – usually a backpackers or a hotel. The best night out I’ve had over here was over in Newcastle. The people there definitely know how to party and its only a two hour drive away.
I live right in the middle of Biggar about 20metres away from the local pub. At the moment I live with a couple of 21 year old twins from NZ who grew up on the gold coast. They are pretty feral and enjoy a good night out drinking. The house is a nice house, however some of the hygiene from the flatty’s reminds me of uni flats in Dunedin. They are good guys though and are just over here to have a good time (not getting paid to play).
Right I think that is enough to keep everyone silent for awhile. Sorry I haven’t read through it and corrected all my mistakes (hopefully it’s not too bad) I’ve gota fly to beat traffic!!
Hope everyone is well!
Cheers,
Jason