Back to the doctor

Another week, another session with Dr. R the chiropractor.

My back eased up after the last visit but then progressively got worse, so another session was in order. I’m still not sure why this chap seems to feel the need to have his fingers in my mouth to reset my jaw, but it seems to help.

As for the ribs only time is going to sort that out. I’m still feeling like I’m being stabbed every time I sneeze or laugh, but it seems the floating rib cartilage has been damaged and the alignment is still wonky where two others meet the vertebrae. I was pushed, prodded and cracked and came away feeling a little better.

I booked in again for a session next week. Tuesday to Thursday will be a heavy conference, so I suspect I’ll need a tune up.

Birthday

No, not mine. M celebrated another click on the age clock with good grace, and I suspect appreciated the card, but the day was full. As I’ve already mentioned she’s keen on sailing so at 9am we were off to the club – her for a lesson and me to see what I could do with busted ribs. Even raising my elbow above the shoulder is painful at the moment, so hauling sheets is out of the question.

As it turned out she got not one but two lessons in, and I filled in the time doing a shore class for the newbies. This involved explaining how a boat worked, the points of sailing and some tips and tricks for getting on in the club. One bonus was that all the students were keen and eager to learn, and I raised some smiles explaining how things worked. After the lesson I dealt with some individual questions, gave a little (hopefully good) advice and then found the day leader and offered to do dogsbody work.

As it turns out the commodore (or Her Grand Fluffiness as she prefers to be called) needed a hand marking up and sorting some new foul weather gear so we spent a happy couple of hours deciding what to keep and what to chuck. A huge shout out to West Marine (the go-to place for Bay sailing supplies) for giving us a massive discount on foul weather gear. It’s thanks to policies like that which keep the sailing club going, and it’s why I buy most of my sailing gear from there.

M came back from her second sailing lesson with a huge grin on her face and a walk that suggested some serious hiking out and high speed sailing. The wind had picked up and she and her instructor had been scudding over the waves. It’s a joy to see someone when they’ve had the sailing rush and it’s really kicked in.

After the lessons we headed home for brunch (scrambled eggs and smoked salmon) and cava mimosas - although as designated driver I stopped after one. Then we headed into the city for dinner with a good friend and then home for an earlyish night in, we are getting on after all :)

Injury time

OK, the pain hasn’t gone away so it’s time for some help. M found me a good chiropractor (if there is such a thing – I have my doubts) and we went to see him. Got a back crack that seemed to help and he recommended a couple of day’s bed rest. Fat chance with the BUILD conference coming up.

While Monica was getting her shoulder seen to I popped across the street to pick up some supplies. We needed clam juice for a Portuguese fish stew I’ve been planning and Andronicos, a local supermarket chain, looked to be the place to find it. Sadly, the holding company had just signed up for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and the store was ¾ empty and full of depressing notes thanking us for our business. Andronicos is a good chain, and stays open later than most – it’s sad to see it fall beneath the Whole Foods/Berkeley Bowl/Trader Joes juggernaut.

The back work helped somewhat, and the fish stew worked very well, although a bit more chili would have given it more bite. Tomorrow I fly to LA and face conference food, so it was good to have a home cooked meal before I go.