the overwhelming importance of functioning feet..

monday...
jump out of bed... huh... ouch! or rather as we would say back home eina!!
warning...
pain, in the foot, left foot.
sheit!

ah well, probably just a bit stiff, walk it out. nah... don't think so, not today.
i limp through monday, i rest a lot, i limp through tuesday, i rest even more.
wednesday .. shona and i are off to ayr for an eye test for me, a bit of shopping and... an ultrasound of her heart.
so wednesday, i resort to drugs.
do they help... not so as you would notice!
i drive, shona's vehicle has a water hose problem. i hate driving in ayr, the place has a one way system i have yet to figure out. shona navigates, she was born in these parts, she actually lived in ayr for a while. smooth riding, we find central parking ... no problem. great to visit with a native.

shona walks...
i limp after her feeling my age.

the dear girl delivers me to the optician, right on time. a young man puffs air in my eyes and takes a photograph of the back of my eye.
the (blond and rather gorgeous) optician, makes me feel right at home and then takes my glasses away from me...
leaving me feeling like a mole, uncovered and exposed to the light of day. all goes swimmingly, we decide i might perhaps benefit from varifocal lenses... of course we do, damn things are a sight more expensive than good old bifocals but...
i currently have these blind spots...
can't see clearly...
items through shop windows.
some items on some supermarket shelves.
happiness would be, not having to peer in order to see, not having to get a crick in my neck whilst attempting to find the dill gherkins.

we shop...
i don't shop... well, not unless i have to. shona is a serial shopper! maybe it's catching, i mean... the shopping thing. the girl walks and i limp through innumerable weird and wonderful shops, i start to enjoy myself, the drugs start to kick in.
cosy, old fashioned scottish tearoom. coffee and strawberry tarts with cream.

hospital time, ultra sound time. we sit and wait and i try to look cool and unconcerned. we crack jokes about my upcoming brain scan. they call her name, evidently it does not take long to inspect ones heart and arteries, my friend is back sooner than i expected. she will have to wait for the official results but, so far, so good.

we pick up shaun and i drive back to ballantrae, guess the drugs are wearing off as i am now having a hard time working the clutch. eina!

thursday morning...
well that will larn me! my left foot is now painful and swollen and red... yikes. fear strikes my stoic heart. i drag myself off to the medical centre and dr k, my brain consumed with thoughts of crutches and disability badges. damn doctors! how come they are always so calm, miss k takes my foot in hand and appears seriously unimpressed.

dr k
" the small bones of the foot... you might have injured them without knowing, or it could be arthritis, nothing much to be done. keep moving, when you sit, keep the leg raised. take these tablets."

ahah! well... nothing for it i guess but to limp on home and try and pursuade myself that i am not yet quite at death's door.