best part of the day: world of pain

12th Feb ~ 27th Feb. Following on from the last 2 blogs, the 7 Hills and S'no Buntings, I was plunged into a world of pain. Both outings were fairly full on and I spent the following 2 days of poor weather processing the photos in front of the computer. Whether it was the 2 days of exertion or the subsequent poor posture, slumped in front of the screen, (or in fact both) I felt a growing problem in the small of my back I recognised from previous excursions into the world of pain from 2 of the last 3 years, very much centred around this time of the year. I refer to it as sciatica although I haven't had a formal diagnosis. Also previously it lasted about a week to 10 days before quietly slinking off as it had arrived.

Another reason to dislike Winter. This country at this time is not only bathed in the worst light for photography and enjoying outdoors, but it actively goes out its way to bring me down. I tried to head off the sciatica before it got its claws into me by going to Mary's current massage guy, the infamous Steven McQuin. He is really good and Mary has been several times and suggested I follow suit although she did warn me his approach is VERY full on. So after a couple of days suspecting I was in for a week of sore back stuff I made an appointment and Mary drove me over to his studio. He seemed very knowledgeable and made an examination and assessment of me. Before doing a lot of what seemed like trying to pull and push all my muscles off their attachment points. I was literally screaming out loud lying on his table sweating, and shaking in pain. Enjoyable it was not. The hour in his surgery was the most painful experience I ever hope to have. The trivial sciatica discomfort was not even registering against the huge and seering pain as he forced muscles over bone edges in what felt like torture for torture's sake. It was excrutiating!

I did feel better after the intense process (which was trying to even out my crooked posture and imbalances) and walked out his door more straight up and down than I had walked in. However I could still feel a distant pain in the small of my back, the reason I had gone in. I hoped this would be gone the following day but in fact it slowly built over the next few days until it kept me up at nights and insisted I munch paracetamols and ibuprofens at the maximum allowed doseage, 24 hrs a day. A fortnight of 2~4hrs sleep a night with no running possible followed. I'd go out for a walk of a few miles, pretty much the only time I was nearly pain-free. After the first mile of nagging back-ache and leg-ache.

The observant will have noticed the non-over-the-counter Dihydrocodeine tablets in the top photo. They were a donation from Mary who had a more serious issue a while back but not so bad it required those after all. I tried one of them and not only did it not do anything marvelous but I couldn't shit for 2 days afterwards. I have so far resisted any more of those.

There was a tiny beneficial side effect, a tinfoil lining in all this cloud. I lost my appetite through the haze of pain and painkillers. Food stood in the fridge growing mould. Yoghurt and cheese grew furry green islands. And I have lost some of the excess waistline I previously sported. However I would not recommend the Paracetamol Diet as it is rather depressing and discouraging. The nights have been worst - if I don't get off to sleep I can lie tossing and turning while the pain, like a deep toothache in back and right leg gnaws into my soul. I haven't asked my doctor for stronger painkillers because if they worked I'd never get off them. Although I had anticipated a full cure in 10 days as before. And here we are a fortnight on. That said I can measure the progress made by how easily I can put on socks and shoes; a little less struggle every day, things slowly easing off. Or how long I can spend at the computer before I have to force myself out for a walk. Things are improving. But there is still some way to go, some hardship to endure. I am writing this down not to enlist sympathy but to archive the experience for reference next year or the next time I am struck down.

The best tool by far in combating this disability (other than chomping down painkillers) is the massage gun Mary bought a while back and has sat mostly unused. I use it when wakeful in the night and sometimes it gives me 10minutes blissfully painfree to hurry off to sleep after a session of vibrating all the trigger points on my back and leg. However my leg (just the right leg, the left is 100% pain free) is now a bit trashed (mildly bruised) after too many visits from the massage gun and I have to go easy not to exacerbate the situation.

kingfisher at the Botanics - 12-02-26

Well all of that is a thoroughly depressing read. I'm sorry! However I have been finding a number of jollies along the way. My enforced nature rambles have been quite fun and also a great distraction from the pain. I realised this as I left the flat the other day. As stated the first mile is always filled with gritted teeth and squats to relieve the trapped nerves. Around the mile mark it all eases off and my body relaxes as it gets used to the new position. However about 200 yards in to a walk the other day I was going down Pilrig Street when I saw a goldcrest in the gardens of a local flat. I was so absorbed by the process and difficulty of following it and trying to keep it in the frame that when it eventually left the area I realised I'd been unaware of any pain or discomfort for the full ten minutes I was chasing it through gardens and trying to get shots in the (for once) sunny morning as it went about its business. I was delighted to eventually see the footage achieved; one of my most successful short videos of late.

This male goosander was at the Willow Pond at the Botanics. Mary and I were out for a wander on the 16th but the weather forecast never really materialised. Nothing much at the Botanics so we went to Inverleith Pond (Mary knowing feeding the duckies brings me a simple pleasure!) (Mary has been looking after me really well, doing all the household chores without complaining.)

distant kingie on the willow pond

yellow brain fungus

fun with pigeons and duckies

tufted duck

black-headed gull

On the way back along Powderhall, our pal Dan (to our surprise) was still where we'd left him. Looking over the Water of Leith to where a recently arrived Water Rail was occasionally visible. He had seen it going into a bunch of straw and reeds and was waiting to get a decent photo. Water Rail are notoriously shy and secretive and you often hear them peeping without actually seeing them. Consequently photos are usually hard won and highly prized. I had never seen one at this point reckoning if they wanted to avoid cameras they'd be a lot of work for little payback. There's one at Valleyfield pond I have never bothered to visit for those reasons.

water rail; shy and secretive

Mary had even less enthusiasm than myself and headed home while I decided to wait and see if it appeared. Dan is fun company to hang out with and discuss the difficulties of aging. He is a few years younger than myself but well aware of the back conditions induced from years of computer programming in front of a screen. There were very slight glimpses of the rail a few times and I think I had to wait nearly 90minutes for a decent reveal. By this time Dan had headed home along with another couple of photographers with insufficient stamina. It was kinda overcast and the still photos I took were poor but the video worked much better. This was shot on my B camera, my Lumix bridge FZ2000, which I was carrying as my G9 is about 2~3 times as heavy and I was trying to limit the weight on my sciatica.

I was pleased to get some okay video but felt I should return with the A camera on a sunnier day and get some better quality results. Within a week I was able to do this but have not yet sat down at the dreaded screen to edit the results.

water rail pt 1

soundtrack: Like We Were Dreaming All This Time by Neighborhood Libraries

Next up the 17th Feb and that goldcrest. Never an easy bird to capture as they are constantly hopping about at hundreds of miles per hour. Also they are tiny. Challenging, but on this occasion, rewarding.

lucky mid-air shot

rare to get such a clear shot at eye level

as they often hunt high up in trees

one of my better efforts

soundtrack: Sonoran by MJ Cole

honey bee, botanics

at the rock garden

While I was at the Chinese Pond I was approached by a couple of Indian chaps. They were really friendly and polite and asked the names of some of the bird species I was photographing. They were particularly taken with a male blackbird. I'm guessing they don't have many pure black bird species in their part of India, as the moorhen also appeared very exotic to them. Fascinating to find our commonplace species so exotic! I always try to look at the usual suspects with such a fresh eye, even though I'll often fail to raise the camera in the presence of pigeons, magpies and crows because they are so familiar, so common. However the more we can appreciate the commonplace, the richer our lives will be.

lovely to see a female blackcap near the pond

this redwing was well disguised, snoozing in a tree

crow gondolier at the Willow Pond

Eristalis tenax - drone fly
on the walk along Warriston Gardens

same

chaffinch

blue tit

handsome treecreeper

blue tit

LTT

wren

great tit

LTT

pair of LTTs

turkey tail bracket fungus

I let the council know their newletter box in Warriston was being used as a poo-bag bin. I think it would have been accidental rather than malevolent as it was directly below the dog waste sign. They have since removed it, I suspect with a view to returning it with better signage.