A weight off the old shoulders

Maybe it was the haircut, maybe the bright sunshine, but I felt as if a load had been lifted from my shoulders this morning, and so I decided to go for a walk.

You might recall that this was one of the principal reasons for my coming to Spain: in Ottawa, my hips seem to have turned to concrete, making painful and almost impossible anything above and beyond a casual shuffle. Coming here was supposed to be the great unleashing of the legs.

I had to admit that it wasn’t quite going to plan so far. I’d overdone it in Lyon and had been in a fair bit of pain while there. The pain was lessened here in Spain (the pain in Spain is mainly in the brain) but the referred pain in my knee was still there, meaning I had to stop every now and again until it went away. Then I realised I was wearing my new trainers (a snazzy pain of Hoka, which were like walking on air. Perhaps if I resorted to the old pair I had, the ones in which my orthotics fit, I might be better. Off I went.

Better, yes – good, no. So I wandered down to the beach, sat down on a rock at the water’s edge, and watched the waves lap in. Very peaceful, very relaxing. In fact, too relaxing, as I dropped off.

When I came too, a good 20 minutes later, I realised that this could have been the blip to end all blips. There, on a rock, in the middle of the Mediterranean, could have been the Ottawacker, waving frantically to the helicopter that had come to rescue him. I imagine my blip would have been the one taken from the winch, with the rescuer’s hand outstretched towards me, with the whirling of the helicopter blades forming a blurred background. What sort of idiot walks to the edge of a sea, sits on a rock, and falls asleep, you might ask yourself? This sort of idiot. Fortunately, I think the tide was going out, so I was able to get down and walk back home without too much trouble.

There, I gave the apartment a quick sweep, washed the dishes, popped over the road for a little emergency shopping, and then sorted through some photos. I would occasionally get up to check on my hair. The colour seems to be holding.