I think I may have started something.

Nephew Ben, delighted at seeing his last work displayed on the blog, has been hard at work on a new canvas of his limbless uncle:



Not only that but he's taken to mimicing my every move. I hop across the lounge between wheelchair and sofa -- he hitches up his right foot and copies me. I slide up and down the stairs on my backside -- he follows suit. Far from being scared by my predicament, he now seems to find it rather cool.

Not to be outdone, Ben's 12 year old brother Alessandro has also been depicting my amputation through the medium of art. I was particularly taken by the scar on my face. When I asked him why I was saying that my ears were ringing he explained that: "it's because you stepped on a landmine and the explosion has made you deaf." At least I think that's what he said. I couldn't quite hear him because I stepped on a landmine and the explosion has made me deaf.



Discuss Northern Iraq -- and Beyond