My back is backLast week I finally had my back fusion surgery, having injured it 18 months ago! The surgery went well and whilst I am still in a lot of pain and dopey from the medications, I know that the pain I am now feeling is the pain of recovery. That's really positive because I know it will get better every day.The surgeon said that the operation was pretty straight forward but that I will be in a lot of pain for the first 6 weeks and will be wondering at times why I bothered. It was good

That is the end of the frustration and waiting. For the last almost 18 months I have been off work because of a back injury. Back in November my surgeon said that we had tried every treatment we could that didn't involve surgery and went to ACC, our national accident insurance company and requested funding approval for the operation. They turned me down many months later. That is under review.At the beginning of April I was referred to the hospital as an urgent case, and I waited, and waited...

Looking forward to a big week this week. Start today with my eldest granddaughter's 11th birthday. It's Sunday morning in New Zealand, waking up after the awesome Bledisloe Cup rugby series between New Zealand and Australia, which New Zealand has won, despite a thrashing from the Wallabies last week in Perth, to the All Blacks giving them a drubbing last night, just weeks from the Rugby World Cup. I'm sure at least some of you will appreciate that.I started getting back into my website last wee

In this picture taken in Tokyo in the 1990's I got to enjoy a traditional tea ceremony with one of the last of the real geisha's.In my last blog I undertook to write about some of the experiences I've had to date as a result of being a linguist. It's a bit of a romp through my life. My last article was about neuroplasticity and dementia, and how you may be able to stave them off by learning new skills.One of the great things about learning a language, is that you aren't just learning to transla