How did this happen? you may ask. How does a boy that drools over School Friend by day and beats the meat over it by night suddenly drop those kinds of activities and find an interest in the classics? And the answer is that, while a head injury or some other kind of physical disability can kill or cause permanent incapacitation, it can in some cases bring about a rewiring of brain signals triggering the release of dormant potential. Sorry about waxing technical here but this is more or less what happened to me. According to stuff I've read it's a bit like people in wheelchairs developing very strong arms. A kind of compensation in other words. In my case, massive over-compensation.

There have been many documented examples of this since history was first recorded but I'm only going to tell you about three of the most recent ones (and if you don't want to know about them you can always skip the next half page or so. No offence will be taken. To tell you the God's honest, I don't give a toss what you skip seeing as the only important example is mine).

Number one

A sales trainer called Derek Amato got severe concussion from hitting his head at the bottom of a swimming pool and became a master pianist despite not having had one moment of musical training.

Number two

Ellen Boudreaux is a blind autistic savant. She was born prematurely and had what is known as the blindness of prematurity. Yet she has reproduced hundreds of tunes and styles including the Supremes to Duelling Banjos (in which she plays both the four-string plectrum banjo and the five-string bluegrass banjo). One of her many amazing feats is with Whole Lotta Love, the Led Zeppelin appassionata in which she replicates every voice, instrument and sound effect.

And number three

Jason Padgett was a furniture salesman. In 2002, two men attacked him in the street, leaving him with a severe concussion and post-traumatic stress disorder. But Padgett was transformed into a mathematical genius who can now see the whole world through the lens of geometry.

I'm just remembering that I meant to tell you earlier about Steam 4 Teens. That's the online site I started as a relief valve for my physical frustrations. And I was going to go on to say that I have no shortage of material. All I have to do is keep my eyes open and my antennae out. Write what you know, that's what they say, right?