We apologise…

…For the break in programming. Normal service is now being resumed.

Sorry about the lack of posts over the last few days, but it’s been tricky for me to spend more than a few minutes at a time sitting at the computer thanks to my back deciding it’s time to play up again.

I’ve had a bad back for about 12 years now and over the years it and I have settled into an uneasy truce. Most of the time it’s happy to leave me alone, just giving me the occasional prod to remind me that it’s still there. The odd twinge when I’m out walking that makes me pause and gasp briefly, before carrying on, or when I get up from sitting for too long.

However this last few weeks it’s been building up to a big one. These happen maybe once or twice a year and can leave me hobbling around the house doing an impression of Richard III that would make the thespians at the RSC weep, it certainly brings tears to my eyes.

So I was off work Thursday and Friday, and fortunately I already had an appointment with my osteopath for Saturday morning. One good thing about this problem I have is that it’s never stopped me driving, as long as I can actually make it to the car. Once I’m in and settled it’s pretty pain free.

So on Saturday morning I got my spine seen to. Top to bottom he had to manipulate about 8 or 9 joints, sometimes it’s hard to count the individual pops when there are 3 or 4 going at once, especially when they’re in your neck and he’s got you in ‘that’ hold. You know, the one they use in films when the tough guy is breaking someone’s neck, yes that’s the one. Believe me, it’s unnerving when you’re the one in that position and someone’s holding onto you about to rapidly jerk your head round. Mind you, it feels great afterwards when you can actually turn your head without pain shooting down your shoulders and giving you a migraine.

So after a good seeing to on Saturday morning, I then spent the rest of the day lounging, apart from a trip to the cinema to see Madagascar (not as hysterically funny as I’d hoped, but pretty good).

Sunday I was bitten by the clean up, tidy up bug which happens once in a blue moon, and since I have about 20 stitchers and assorted hangers-on descending on my home on the 20th, 6 of whom are staying over, I decided it would be good to go with the flow. Unfortunately my still-recovering back didn’t agree with me.

On the plus side, I did get the bedroom totally tidied, including unpacking several boxes that were still lurking in corners waiting to jump out and trip you at 2am when you have to get up in the dark to go and pee. I dusted and hoovered and even put out some knick-knacks. Then I got Wookiee involved in moving some furniture about and unpacking more boxes that were infesting the guest bedroom, and tidying up the large closet at the top of the stairs in order to fit yet more junk in it, and rearranging the contents of the kitchen cupboards to fit in some of the stuff that has been accumulating on the worktops.

On the downside I overstressed my still recovering back. So come Monday morning I was hobbling again, occasioning another day off work. This time spent mooching gently about the house. Short periods of sitting and stitching interspersed with short periods of wandering about tidying up small lightweight stuff and doing little things like unloading the clean dishes from the dishwasher and putting the dirty ones in and folding laundry.

So because I was sensible yesterday, here I am today, back at work, and hard at it as you can see *grin*. I’m still sore and a little twingey, and I’ll have to get up and move about more than I usually do but one the whole I should be ok.

People think that having a job where you sit on your bum (behind, derrière, ass…) all day is great, and it is, until you have a bad back.