Michael 'Mike the Matchlock Man' is back !!!
 

My first thing to do is to say a heartfelt 'thanks a lot' to my dear friends here, and especially to those who kept calling me while I was at the University hospital of Regensburg, Bavaria and had to undergo some 20 surgeries, each of which took 10 to 12 hours. Very special thanks go out to my close friends 'Nando and Jim. Especially 'Nando never gave up phoning and assuring me how dearly I was needed on the forum.
God bless you!

I am also very grateful to all who posted their good wishes and prayers in 'Nando's thread on my being silent. 'Nando told me about that in many phone conversations. As always, your caring has proved to be a stimulus for me to carry on, so here I am trying to work my way back to active (forum) life.

There is another person I have often thought of, not only because of his unusual brilliance, and it felt so good seeing him post in that thread: Richard, my friend, thanks a million; man, I do wish you would jump in on my threads more often! Your comments and thoughts are much missed.

And thank you so much, Alexender, for calling me your teacher! This makes me as proud as a peacock, especially as you are such a splendid student that you will surpass your old teacher very soon!


After spending one year in bed almost all of the time, I am still very weak and all those little everyday things still absorb a tremendous lot of strength which I feel there is way too little left of. At prresent, I cannot even properly walk ...

Well, what had happened?
On September 29, 2012 I experienced a complete physical breakdown at my home, without the slightest warning. I tumbled to the floor, with a stream of blood literally gushing out of my guts. The emergency doctor estimated the amount of blood to be about one to one and a half liters. So they immediately took me from my home (and collection!) to the hospital where the first emergency surgery was done right away.
To follow was one year without even accessing a computer or the forum - imagine! I guess I missed you at least as much as you missed me ...

Much later I learned that a wellknown bacterium, helicobacter pylori, had caused severe and bleeding ulcers in my intestines.

Btw, in January, I turned 60 at the hospital, so cheers! As Johnny Cash said, 'I'm a wiser man but older - and sadder!' (see attachment)

So please allow an old man to take his time and resume posting again. Hopefully it will meet my former standards.

I will also work my way thru all the private requests that I noticed waiting patiently in my in-box; all of you will be considered, don't worry.


Best wishes as ever,
Michael

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...michael+silent

Oh man ... i was in despair, :o
In my last phone call, all i understood from your words was the last part in what you said 'don't contact me any more, thank you'. I didn't know what to make of this, as ignoring what you have first said. Only now i see what you were about flying out of the hospital ... thank all Gods. :o
So glad you are back with us; several questions posted here, well within your 'section', were already growing spider webs, waiting for a reply .
Take your time ... but answer them all ;) :D :cool: :shrug:

Yours humbly
'Nando

It' s a really great new. I am very happy that your current condition allows to have a contact with all of us. Thank You for being with us.

My good and dear friend 'Nando,

Don't worry and do not humiliate yourself - there is no need for such a nonsense!
I admit getting fed up with everything and everybody during the last weeks of my hospitalization; it was getting so hard I cannot tell, too hard for me to bear anyway; I was on opiates (!) for most of the time, just trying to control the various pains. So please do not take my words seriously, they were uttered out of sheer despair ...

I feel I went thru all the seven hells (actually there was a whole lot more) and back again. I was part of John's Apocalypse, Dante's Inferno and all those cruel feelings described in unparalleled impressions in Nick Cave's Mercy Seat (the electric chair)

http://songmeanings.com/songs/view/66400/

and perfectly interpreted by the late Johnny Cash:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGGSTiDOjKU


I got tortured and tormented by a thousand sadistic devils, got burnt with hellfire and grilled on a fiendish barbecue - scenes perfectly depicted by Hieronymus Bosch!
https://www.google.com/search?q=hier...:de%3Aofficial

I really cannot imagine where I would be today without your continuing care!!!

Now I will have to go to rehab for about 6 weeks soon, in order to do some exercise to fill the weakened muscles of my spine and the rest of my body with at least some of the strength that has all got lost during one year in bed ...

Of course I already have been busy leafing thru some posts that sound very promising, and I also noted we had a new German member Andi, who seems to be interested in some areas I can cover with sufficient authority!

As I said: please let me take my time and work my way thru these things; I will respond as quickly as possible, and have done so today on Dana W's thread on blunderbusses.



Thanks again, my warm-hearted and true friend!

With all my very best wishes,
Michl

Hi Alexender,

Thank you so much too for caring and keeping me up!

Best,
Michael

That is gone, now. Bugger Mr. Dante; back to business :cool:

Oh, you told me you would have to undergo such sessions; i hope the masseuses are gentle; just tell me if they aren't ;)

I'm happy to see that you are coming back to life again Michael! :D
I have not been here at the forum that much but I miss your posts!

/Mikael Dahlström,
Stockholm LockbowSociety,
Sweden

Huzzah times three !!
So glad to have you back with us, Michael .
This place was not the same with your absence .

Thanks, Micke,

You should really post some more stuff!

Best,
Michael

Thank you so much, Rick!

Best,
Michael

Servus Matchlock!

It's a really great pleasure for me to read that your health is improving and you are back again. So far I had no chance to communicate directly with you here in the forum but due to your uncountable and highly valuable posts you seem quite a bit familiar to me. As a newbee here I noticed that your temporary absence left a great gap in this community.

I wish you all the best and hope we'll have some interesting discussions in the future.

Welcome back. All cannons can fire again ;)

Welcome back, Matchlock! Glad to see you posting again. As a hospital worker, I am aware of how devastating some crippling illnesses are, both physically and mentally. But enough of the gloom! Time to move forwards with cannons blazing! Rick got it right! Huzzah! Yea!, maybe we'll revisit the chain & barshot thread soon! :D
-Mark

Thank you so much, all of you!

And, Mark, honestly: do you think the weird mind of a devoted arms freak could possibly get devastated way beyond the point it has already reached? :cool: :eek:

Best,
Michael

Yeah, let's start firing my beautiful piece of ca. 1510-20, the bronze barrel reused from a hackbut of ca. 1460 and struck with the arms of the Counts of Giech!!! :rolleyes:

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...ighlight=giech


Best,
Michael

Oh, i have to see this one ... and the others ... in person :eek:

And you will be the first one to do so, 'Nando, my dear friend!

Given the fact that I am still extremely weak and have to rest in bed a good deal of the day, plus considering the oncoming winter, I think next spring would be an ideal season to see me and the real stuff.

What do you think? By then I wiill have returned from rehab exercise and will hopefully be much better off ...


Best wishes,
Michl

Right; let's right it down in the agenda :)

Michael
You should know that you have a mission here and you are not allowed to disappear for a so long time! After a secret vote From the members had been decided some penalties against you ,the situation is critic we should have more than 2000 threads today but today we are still under the 1500 so you must urgently increase your productivity so all of us are expecting your full collaboration in order to solve this problem.
More seriously I hope you a full and fast recovery and very happy to see you back.

all the best !

Jean-Luc

Hi Jean-Luc,

Thank you for your inspiring words! If it had not been for people like you who show that they really care I might not have had the strength to make my 'comeback'.

Still, as I said, all the tiny everyday things are very hard for me to cope with and I have to go on rehab as soon as possible.

Best,
Michael

Hello Michael,

welcome back! I hope you will recover soon to full strength!

Alles Gute und hauptsachlich viel Gesundheit!!!

Liebe Grusse aus der Slowakei,

Matus

... and gone again ...
 

Back from hell - and gone again!


While all you nice fellas keep giving me strength I definitely feel that I am way too weak to make my day at home. I live single. As I told you I cannot properly walk or eat, I presently weigh only 70 kg at 1,86 m height ...I'm going back to hospita,l trying to get to rehab from there.

Hope to be able to really come back and post again by November or December.

Thank you all so much, you are in my heart, you are the main reason for me to carry on! I mean it!


Best wishes, till soon,
Michael

Michael

Take your time we will wait you ,and give us some news each times it will be possible for you.
all the best

Jean-Luc

Hi Michael, I have read your post over and over again, so much wisdom :)
Being relatively new on this forum we never had the chance to meet or speak, but my admiration on your work is non the less beyond words.

I due time i will poost some pictures which might be to great interest to you (such as a breechloading chamber for a wheel lock containg the pan and pancover as well, a breechloading chamber for a swifel cannon etc).

For now, welcome back and a speady recovery my new found friend.

hi Michael,

very good to read that the line to recovery is found, if you use the same persistence for recovery as for absorbing technical knowledge of early firearm, you surely succeed sooner as you expect.

I missed your knowledge, hopefully till soon.

vbw,
Jasper

Dear Michael,

Please remember that your recovery to full health is eagerly awaited by all of us at the forum most who have never met you in person but have been benefited so much from your presence on the forum.

Best Regards,

Anan.

Michael, is good to leave all this behind, and it must feel like born again! All the best!

Hi Michael,
So very very nice to have you back with us, you were much missed. I was fearing from the time span of your absence that we may not have the pleasure of your company for some time to come but I'm absolutely delighted that although you still have some way to go to full health that a lot of the pain and worry is now but a memory.
Gott sei mit euch :) .
My Sincere and Warmest Regards,
Norman.

Michael,

You have made my day, my week and my Year by coming back to us!
I am so very pleased, and have been so very concerned about you.
Welcome back my friend.
Must say it again, I am so very pleased.

In the near future, we hope to get High-speed access, so then it will be easier to reply to your posts with all those fantastic photos!.........no more waiting for them to load!
I am happy for you and happy with you.

Richard.

This time i have lost track of Michael :o .
I have phoned the hospital he was supposed to be for recuperation (before re-hab) and they said he wasn't with them. The operator didn't speak english; i couldn't get further details, as i ignore where re-hab takes place.
Let's hope he is back with us soon or ... at least, give us some sign.

Well, 'Nando and everybody,


So I'm finally back again and here to stay for whatever it takes!!!

I arrived only this noon after 5 weeks of intensive exercise on rehab in the Bavarian Forest, and I have been busy here on the forum ever since my arrival.

Let's call it a day now and raise our mugs with a dark neer or two to our love for cats and earliest fiearms, my friend!


More soon - boom chucka boom ... :cool:


Thank you so much, my dear friend!

Best,
Michl

A glass (or two, or three) of red whine it will be on this side. My cats prefer whine to beer; who am i to contradict them ? :D :eek: :cool:

Compared to the wisdom and gentleness of cats, any human being is without the slightest of chances! ;) :D

m

Hallo Matchlock!
Schön, dass Du wieder an Bord bist ich trinke mein Zwickl auf Dein Wohl!

Danke Dir, Andi,

und Prost!

Ich wusste gar nicht, dass man das gute oberfränkisce Zwicklbier auch in Schleswig-Holstein genießt!

Es grüßt Dich
Michael

Well my Matchlock friend, I must say it is so Very nice to hear from you!
We all look forward to your continued recovery as the days go by.
So good to hear from you.

Richard.

And from you, Richard, my dear friend!!! :) ;) :eek:

It's been way too long since you came in last on one of my posts - please do so more often and do show us your latest reproduction guns!!!

I am very glad to see that you, too, are still there and going!

Best wishes, till soon,
Michael

Yes, Samuel,


I am back in the saddle and acting as the lone rider again (so to speak)! :) :cool: :eek:

Thank you so much for your nice email, and I am very glad that the high-rez Battle of Alesia images have finally reached you!


Best,
Michael

Dear Machtlock! I'll contineu in English allowing all other friends here to follow us. As a born Bavarian-Suebi I have inherited the beer predilections of my birthregion. I really like classical bavarian and frankonian beers and I'm really lucky to get some view nice Bavarian beers at our nearby supermarket
:p

I wish you all the best and really hope to meet you in good health in the near future!

I see, Andi,

And thank for all your good wishes! :)

Best,
Michael