Outside my North Norfolk Bubble, lies the world, where the United States are basically on the road to hell in a hand cart. Economies across the world already struggling to grow and get the cost of living down, now have to brace themselves for the consequences of a trade war. I can't help but feel we are inevitably heading for wall to wall totalitarian regimes. Whilst the climate collapses through continued exploitation and neglect. You know, I find it hard to maintain much optimism of humanity surviving at all. Particularly when humanity's response to all this is to hand democracy over to oligarchs who are powerful and wealthy beyond their capabilities, with not a shared brain cell of wisdom between them. Perhaps I won't live to see the whole ship going down. But at the pace things are moving from perilous to crazy on the crisis dial, maybe it'll happen sooner than either I, or anyone else, expects.
I have a Facebook account called Awakening Signs. I began it in pre-Instagram days as a place to post my artwork on. For some reason I have never deactivated it nor attempted to delete it, til now. I thought, if I learnt how to delete the Awakening Signs Facebook page, then should I decide to delete my personal Facebook page anytime soon, this would make it easy peasy. But say not so.
First, you have to locate whereabouts in Settings the Delete The Account section is. When you do eventually get there, there is a nine stage 'click on this and then that' sub section, until you finally get to Delete The Account. And then a box pops up asking you to enter your password. I enter what I know was the password I set up the account with, and Google remembers it too. But suspiciously Facebook says this is incorrect. I have then to investigate how to request a new password, or get a temporary one use password, just in order to proceed in deleting the page. Some of the links don't appear to respond or lead anywhere. This stymies me so much I hold up my hands and give up.
I will return to give this process a third try, when I feel my resolve, or my ire, has returned to full strength. If when I do finally press the delete button, should it then ask me - Do you really wish to delete this page? I will no doubt scream Oh Fuck Off rather loudly at the computer. Having gone through this preordained complicated palaver of fences that Facebook makes you leap over, do they really think I'm about to delete my account - by accident? I will certainly keep you posted.
Once you get to my age, and have had one survivable encounter with a heart attack, you do start to note every small impediment that your body suddenly hurls precipitously in your direction. Sometimes not knowing quite what they are or even where they might eventually lead. After the early warning of a HA! you are, even as the classic reluctant male, more inclined to go to the local medical practice to have any little nigglet looked into. Such it was this week.
About twenty years ago I had a car accident, where my car ended up like a concertina sandwiched between a large articulated truck and the concrete hard shoulder. In the middle of all this was me. I was extraordinarily lucky to get out without any major injury. I had whiplash though, and one symptom of it has lingered on in my body. A muscle in both upper arms feels as though its constantly clenched. For many years it was a noticeable, but only occasionally discomforting, ailment. But since the heart attack it has been getting progressively worse, becoming extremely painful at night once, then twice a week, until it has now progressed to every night I toss and turn unable to find any sleeping position that it isn't painful in varying degrees of - Owch!
I've considered what the possible options are, rotator cuff damage, a trapped nerve, or incipient osteo-arthritis. Checking out Dr Google before seeing the medical practice physio. The physio very matter of fact, heard what I had to say, examined and pronounced a cure. Well, not quite a cure, but a way to improve things. Yes, its possible the shoulder maybe showing early signs of osteo- arthritis, but the main problem is weak rotator cuff muscles. If I exercise them daily, they will begin to take much of the burden of the shoulder, to hold and guard it against pain. So with the assistance of a resistance band, armed with my four rotator cuff strengthening exercises, I add yet another thing to my early morning routine.
At the same time as my January heavy cold was well on the wain, I started a weekly Qigong/Tai Chi class in Sheringham. Its something I've always wanted to learn but never got round to. This has been a revelation. We are starting with learning a 12 Step Daoyin Qigong For Health Preservation. I really enjoy it, coming away on a bit of a buzz every week. Devotedly practicing the moves we learn every week at home. This is where the internet really is a boon. I who need to see and do things endlessly before they sink in, can find a video to demonstrate Double Fish Hanging On A Wall for me, until the cows come home and lactate heavily in my brain cells. Some of this joy is simply from learning something new outside my current field of experience.
As the first term of Qigong/Tai Chi finished and we broke for February half term, I've come down with my second heavy cold in as many months. When this happens its pretty much always a sign of my being a bit run down. This cold was very similar in character, form and trajectory to the previous one. But this time it has progressed with greater speed. My immune system saying - I know this one, lets crack on. So after two weeks it is more or less gone, bar a chesty cough. Yesterday Jnanasalin has started with a cold. He says its mine, but who can truly say that? In the UK this is the Winter of dark grey clouds, gale force winds, and mizzly drizzly, snizzly rain for days on end. Illness - its a gift that keeps on giving.
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