IT IS a little after midday and Hull City's Cottingham training ground is deserted. So often a hive of activity over the last 10 months, only the quiet work of groundsmen and window cleaners now animates the landscape.
Summer is here. But not quite yet for Joe Dudgeon.
Six months after the knee surgery which ended his season, the 22-year-old has been left behind working towards another.
Dudgeon has just finished another session designed to build up his fitness ahead of the Tigers' return to the Premier League in August. Corry Evans, coaxed into joining his team-mate and friend for an impromptu work-out, and Sone Aluko, battling back from his own long-term injury, are the only other players to be seen.
Another fortnight of this awaits Dudgeon before he can enjoy his holidays, but you will not find him complaining. After a season lost to injury, he has grown adept in the art of accentuating the positives.
"It's been tough, very tough, but I've got to be grateful that I've got through it and managed to get fit again," he said.
"I'm not the first and I won't be the last to have a long-term injury like this so there's no point feeling sorry for myself."
Not one jot. Since playing his final game of the season in a 3-2 loss to Blackpool on October 2 and undergoing surgery on his right knee four weeks later, Dudgeon has refused all the pity he was due along the comeback trail.
"The minute you start feeling sorry for yourself is the time you'll start struggling," he said.
"I've told myself every day that my knee is fine. There's no point being down.
"I'd hate people fussing around me because they thought I needed picking up.
"I'd much rather put on a face and suffer on my own away from everyone. That's just how I am and that's the way I've dealt with all of this."
Last season posed a stiff examination of Dudgeon's character.
Despite starting the first 11 games of the Tigers' promotion-winning campaign and, in the words of manager Steve Bruce, looking "a million dollars" as a marauding left wing-back, a historic knee complaint finally caught up with him in late September.
It was a problem first felt in the 3-1 loss at Leicester City and within a fortnight had become unbearable. Scans revealed that a rare chondral defect was to blame, news that pushed Dudgeon reluctantly under the surgeon's knife.
The operation was a gruesome one, with a series of holes drilled into the bone to encourage bleeding, but the first stages of rehab were the true challenge.
For the final two months of 2012 no weight was permitted on the leg and, instead, Dudgeon was required to spend eight hours a day strapped into a contraption to slowly bend the knee joint back and forth. It was then he learned who his friends were.
"I couldn't put my injured leg down for the first two months and I was pretty much house-bound," he said.
"Even after that there was another month when I still couldn't drive. My girlfriend, Daniella, ended up coming over to Hull and spending a lot of time helping me, and the lads would pick me up for training.
"I hate having to depend on people doing things for me but there was no other way around it.
"It wasn't just that someone had to pick me up either, it was all my luggage too.
"I couldn't leave the house without about three bags and the machine that used to bend my knee all day.
"But once I got through that first two-month period of not being able to do anything, I knew I'd be okay."
The last six months have given Dudgeon a new natural reflex. As if by magnetic attraction, his left hand always drifts back to hold the right knee, marked only by the tiny scars of keyhole surgery. He laughs when this is pointed out.
"I wrap it in cotton wool at night," he jokes.
Dudgeon's is a similar injury to the one twice suffered by former City captain Ian Ashbee and though surgery could have been postponed until later in his career, it is hoped an early intervention will grant long-term wellbeing.
"Technically, you can play on with this sort of injury but you can cause yourself a lot of damage," he said.
"If it had happened to me later in my career I would have probably played on and let nature take over. Then if it became any worse, that would be the end.
"But because I was still young, the earlier you catch it, the better chance you've got to recover.
"I had to be mature and make a big decision. It's tough to miss out on a year of football but hopefully in the long run it's for the best."
That best will be a playing return in the Premier League.
While Dudgeon helped set the season in motion with starring roles in the memorable wins over Bolton, Millwall and Leeds in September, he was eventually indebted to his team-mates for ensuring he is a Premier League footballer.
City's promotion, secured with a dramatic 2-2 draw with Cardiff on the final day of the season, had Dudgeon celebrating with silverware around his neck at the KC four days later.
"At times it was tough watching the lads knowing there was nothing you could do to help them," he said.
"But most of the season it's been a joy to watch and a privilege to be part of this group."
Was there ever any envy? "No, not at all. It's still my team and I'm still part of it.
"In my head I've just been an unused player. I've got the privilege of being in a team of my closest friends. Seeing them do well is just unbelievable.
"Watching them win has made each week of my rehab so much easier.
"The football they've played and what they've achieved has been fantastic. They're a great bunch and deserve everything they've got."
