THE FORCE WAS WITH US (Patreon)

Hello all.

So, I'm flying back home this evening. It has been an eventful trip to say the least. 

Some of you are probably aware that two days into the trip, we were involved in a major car accident, which left Sanya with a broken collarbone, and me with a serious avulsion (basically, a cut where all the skin has been ripped away, down to the tendons/muscles/bones) on my right hand. 

We're healing well, but both covered in bruises, and still - more than a week on - very sore. But... it could've been, and very nearly was, so much worse. Thankfully, nobody else was hurt - though both vehicles were completely written off. Much as when I got lamped in the face by a random a couple of years ago, the biggest take away from it all is how kind people have been. So much kindness and compassion from complete strangers, from the paramedics, to family, friends, and the Digi fandom. It's humbling.

We were determined to not let it ruin the trip, and we've managed to do almost everything we had planned, though with a lot of limitations and at a much slower pace.

Something really magical did happen as a result, though. We'd planned the trip around visiting Star Wars Galaxy's Edge at Disneyland... and a group of fans heard about what had happened, and arranged for us to have a group lightsaber photoshoot in front of the Millennium Falcon. What they, and we, didn't know, was that Disney had been keeping an eye on the fans' arrangements, and making their own plans. 

In short, we got VIP treatment - we had Chewbacca and Rey show up, we had a private tour of the land, including the Millennium Falcon (which Sanya was unable to ride otherwise), our own private photographers... it was incredibly special, and would never have happened otherwise. Again... people can be so kind.

Since then, the trip has been a mixed bag. If I'm honest, we're both emotionally shaken by what happened. I think Sanya's bearing up a little better than me - I just keep reliving seeing the truck coming towards us and not having time to react. Driving in LA isn't helping, because the drivers are INSANE, and scare the life out of me. I can't wait to get back to the relative safety of London's public transport.

But as I say... it was a very close call, and we got lucky.

I want to do a proper update when I'm home - I've much I want to say about Galaxy's Edge alone - but for now, here are some pics from the trip, including the accident. Sorry about the posey Star Wars ones. We were under photographer's orders!

Paul