Tuesday, June 28, 2016

Odds and ends

I've forgotten now how many bottom lock gates have failed to fully open on this trip. Four I think. Yesterday we were held up for quite a while when a boat with it's fenders down got stuck in the gate at Somerton deep lock. Each to his own I suppose but I'd rather pick up a few scratches than go around swaddled in fenders.

My feet hurt cos I didn't sit down for six and a half hours today while we travelled non stop to make progress before the forecast rain. The old policeman's heel aka plantar fasciitis is giving me gyp.

Does anybody else find the northern approaches to Enslow depressingly gloomy? I was glad to get past and on down to the river section which I really enjoy. Despite the fact that it started to pee with rain as soon as we got down on to it, I still. love the exhilaration of all those lovely twists and turns which you can take at quite a lick cos the river has the width.

By the time we got here at Thrupp, or Frupp as the cockneys call it, or Trupp as the Irish call it, or Srupp as the Germans call it, we were well soaked.

Tomorrow we strike out for Oxford. Having watched all episodes of Inspector Morse and also Lewis, I fully expect to find at least one corpse floating in the canal.

3 comments:

Marilyn, nb Waka Huia said...

Neil, plantar fasciitis struck David last year and two things helped get it gone: rolling his bare or socked foot (not just the sore bit) on a golf ball whenever he was sitting down, and tumeric anti inflammtory capsules. Check them out on amazon, or better yet, email Jaq Biggs and ask her which ones: she recommended them to David and they were excellent.
The golf ball trick was passed on by a professional tennis coach who came to visit us on Waka Huia at Teddington with some mutual friends.
Am missing being on the boat, although the weather doesn't sound like it's being very kind to boaters at the moment!

Herbie Neil said...

Thanks for the tip Marilyn. Next time I see a golf ball I'll get one and give it a try. The other tip I read about is rolling the foot on a cold can of coke (diet of course!). I'm a bit of a fan of turmeric, but didn't know it can in pills. It's really good stirred into a kedgeree or boiled with rice for a curry!

Marilyn, nb Waka Huia said...

The only problem with taking your tumeric in kedgeree and curries is that you don't eat them every day - David would, if I would oblige in the kitchen (it's why we used to** fly between NZ and UK on asian airlines - curry available for every meal, even brekkie!)

I am not sure if this is the brand David took, but you get the idea:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Turmeric-Anti-Inflammatory-Supplement-milligrams-Anti-oxidant/dp/B00RHZFQL4

It's the curcuman (sp??) that is the key ingredient, according to the lovely Jaq B.

You are in Oxford - even in that seat of learning (my birthplace, by the way, but town not gown) there are sports shops - get a golf ball. I think the ball may give a deeper massage than a can. And if you are going to use a can, forget diet coke - full fat please, no artificial sweeteners should get near your foot, let alone your gut, Neil!


**until AirMalaysia planes started dropping out of the sky