I’m pleased that the soreness in my ribs has
subsided a little. Before I was punched on my thoracotomy scar, my ribs had
been sore; probably due to nerve damage from the operation, an outcome that I
had been warned about by the surgeon. This pain was certainly a lot worse after
the attack. But the mental scar has been harder to deal with. The fact that a
stranger chose to attack you doesn’t resolve so easily. You get flashbacks, and
musings about the experience come into your head unbidden at the oddest moments.
Understandably, my sleep has been disturbed.
Yesterday I decided to get back into the saddle and
go for a bike ride along the canal towpath. As usual I first headed north from
Scarva towards Portadown. All went well for the first fifteen minutes, then I
got a puncture. I sighed, it is an occupational hazard for cyclists. I removed
tyre levers and spare tube from my saddlepack, turned the bike over and took out the rear wheel.
I could see nothing stuck in the tyre that could
have caused the flat. After taking out the holed tube I felt around the inside
of the tyre to find the cause. Again I found nothing. I then inflated the holed
tube. It went down but I couldn’t see the hole. I knew I had to find it. At
home I would have put the inflated tube in a bowl of water and found where the
air bubbles were coming from. I looked around for a trusty puddle, but none to
be seen. The canal would have to do. I chose a place where the bank wasn’t so
steep and descended, tube and pump in hand. I squatted at the water’s edge, dipped
the tube in and found the hole; it was about a foot from the valve.
As I stood up to leave, the bank gave way. I was in
the canal, cold water up to my thighs and I wasn’t touching the bottom. I
grasped the nettled bank and hauled myself out. Wet and very muddy, I returned
to the bike. Nothing for it but to find what had caused the puncture. I checked
the inside of the tyre a foot from the valve on either side. But no thorn or
anything like it could be seen. A passing cyclist stopped to help. He checked
the tyre too and found nothing amiss. We decided that the flat must have been
caused by a thorn or suchlike that went into the tyre and then came straight
out again. I put in the new tube, replaced the tyre and went on my way. Thankfully
the tube stayed inflated.
I was by far the wettest and muddiest cyclist on the
towpath that day. I stopped for soup at Petty Sessions in Poyntzpass. Helena
and her staff were delighted to see me. I cleaned myself up a little and spoke
to the only other customers, a pair of police officers. They knew nothing about
the assault and were just having a break. I cycled on down the towpath and then
headed back up towards Scarva at dusk. As I reached Poyntzpass I became hyper
vigilant. I scanned the towpath for a lone figure heading towards me. I saw
no-one until I got back to my car at Scarva. I was glad. It felt like a small
victory. I headed home and got out of my damp and dirty clothes. After a Burn’s
night feast of haggis, neeps and tatties, I slept more soundly than I had done
for a week.
Punched by stranger while cycling on the towpath
A CANCER patient has told of the shocking
moment he was punched in a sickening assault on the Newry canal towpath last
Saturday afternoon. Paul
Jeffcutt, who lives near Katesbridge, was cycling close to Poyntzpass when the
attack took place at around 4.45pm.
Recalling the alarming incident, Paul, who was diagnosed with kidney
cancer in 2011, revealed: “I was cycling along the canal path heading to Scarva
when a stranger, who was walking towards me, jumped sideways across the path to
block me. I slowed
right down. Then, he grabbed at my handlebars and I tried to push him away. He punched me in the ribs, exactly where I’d had a
major operation 15 months ago. I cycled on, shouting at him. He waved his fists
at me.” Paul, who is in his late 60s, immediately called the police and
reported the incident.
“I’m still in shock that a complete stranger would do something like
that,” he told the Chronicle. “And I’m in pain because he punched me on a scar. I had a big operation where my ribs were split open,
and they are definitely a lot sorer. I would go to the canal towpath regularly
to cycle - it’s part of my recovery. I’m a cancer patient and I’ve had three
big operations in the last three years. Because the weather has been so mild,
I’ve continued on cycling through the winter months.”
Paul recalled that the towpath - which is popular with walkers and
cyclists - was “pretty empty” when the assault occurred, late on Saturday
afternoon. “It
happened a couple of hundred yards from the main road at Poyntzpass,” Paul
explained. “He was coming from the direction of Scarva towards Poyntzpass. There
was plenty of room for him to pass by, but he deliberately jumped across the
path in front of me.”
He
continued: “It’s shocking what has happened, but it’s not going to stop me
going out on the towpath. I posted an appeal on Facebook, and a lot of people
said they didn’t know if they would go back to the towpath again. This person
has to be found before they do something to someone else.”
Paul
describes the male as being about six feet tall, of medium build, with grey,
curly hair.
He was
clean-shaven, aged 50 to 60, and was wearing a dark blue thigh-length padded
coat and grey trousers. “Anyone with information which might help to identify
him, please report it to police on 101 and quote reference 981 on 19th January,”
appealed Paul.
The
Banbridge Chronicle
23 January 2019
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