Health Whinge and a Milestone
The UK trip may have been great for my mental health but it did my sciatica no good at all. Three courses of anti-inflammatory tablets did very little but keep it at bay, so it was back to the doctor again. Our regular doctor was away. His locum examined me thoroughly then decided to prescribe a course of strong anti-inflammatory injections. For the past seven days a nice nurse has been turning up twice a day to stick needles in my bum and I have lots and lots of tiny bruises to show for it. It seems to be doing the trick. The pain has diminished to the point where I only occasionally need painkillers, I can sit down without wincing, and sensation is returning to the sole of my left foot. Yesterday I went back to the physio. I’m cautiously optimistic as it made me a little stiff the next day but didn’t reduce me to agony like my first attempt.
I’ve spent a great deal of time since we got back resting, which has given me the chance to hit a milestone in my progress with the French language. At the weekend I finished reading the first novel in French I’ve tackled without the aid of a dictionary. Ok, so I cheated a bit. It was a French translation of the first of Laurie R King’s Mary Russell series, The Beekeeper’s Apprentice. I’ve been longing to read it for ages. It’s amazing what a strong motive like that will do to keep me struggling along gamely where newspapers and magazines have me giving up a the first hurdle. I thoroughly enjoyed the book. The translation was obviously a good one as a lot of the humour came through intact. I’m sure I missed some of the nuances but I don’t think I did badly for my first attempt at comprehending the French unaided.
In the middle of this my muse, typically, decided to go rampant at 4.00 am on a cold winter’s morning and presented me with the entire outline of the rest of Come the Revolution, complete with ways of solving all the plot problems and character issues I’d been agonizing over since Christmas. Now all I have to do is write the damn thing. Chapter Four is in the works.
MM