slemslempike | If Nadia Commenaci can perform with a sprained whatever it was, I too can soldier on.

I have skinned palms and a slight limp because the corridor back to my office was deserted so I decided to try a cartwheel, misjudged the angle and crashed into the wall. This has not remotely dented my belief that I am a gymnast manque. I was always better at round-offs anyway.

My last gymnastic injury was when I was waiting for a meeting and did a handstand against the wall, but apparently while my body is far ampler than it was when I last handstood, my arms are inexplicably no stronger in compensation, and so they gave way almost immediately and I crashed down, bearing that ampler weight on my head. It was a concrete floor. Ow.

The time beore that was when I was about 7 or 8, and watched some competition on TV. Then I decided I could very probably do a somersault in the air and dived head first off the dining chair I was standing on. At least there was a carpet involved in that one.

I am getting lots of emails about the strike action ballot and the nefarious nature of universities. It's very exciting. In a low-level, snippy email kind of way.