Tag Archives: blisters

Is The UK Winter About To Get Better Or Worse?

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As usual the weather forecasters in the UK have got it wrong again in the last week, with the many inches of snow that we were forecast on the South Coast for the weekend not appearing.  Well maybe a dozen small flakes, but that was all. 

Instead of heavy snow, all we saw was sunny blue skies at the end of the week and most of the weekend.  Unfortunately the sun is so low in the sky that the warmth was not enough to melt the now compacted snow and ice on the roads and pavements.  It just helped turn the snow and ice into a smoother slicker version that is now very dangerous to walk on in places.

On Saturday morning, since it was bright and sunny, I decided to go outside with a shovel and try to break up some of the snow and ice from our road, since it’s on a steep hill and has been difficult to drive on.  Where some grit and salt had been put down, or where the sun had warmed the road, I was able to chip chunks of ice away to uncover the road, but for the most part attempts to chip at the ice did little, the ice being practically welded to the road surface.

After about an hour of doing this, intermixed with meeting various neighbours who were walking to the shops instead of driving, I realised that I had a sore on my thumb.  I know this is the price you pay for not wearing gloves, but I really find it hard to work with gloves on.  Well looking at my right hand, I found another three sores, each of them larger than on my left, and the skin hanging off!  Ouch!   

So I headed back indoors where Debbie said “why didn’t you wear your gloves”,  and tried to not feel the pain as I washed my hands in icy cold water and then she helped to put some band aids on them.   Of course when you get blisters from working, it’s always on the pressure points that you use to do practically anything, from opening a jar to getting dressed and tying your shoes, so I have been struggling ever since with trying to not have anything touch them. 

We were supposed to have more snow last night, and the whole day yesterday was so dark and gloomy that you would think we lived in the Arctic!   But, no more snow, just temperatures that were marginally above freezing, and perfect for making the pathways even slicker than they were.

The back path that slopes down to where I park the car in the alley at the back of the house was rather slippy yesterday morning, and this morning it was even worse, looking really glassy and shiny and very hard to walk on.  As I navigated my way downhill to the car this morning, Debbie poked her head through the bedroom curtains to see my literally clinging onto the garage walls to try and stop myself from slipping on the last few feet, where I could not walk on anything but ice to get to the back gate.

Today has also been several degrees above freezing, and still no more snow, and I wonder when I get home if anything will have melted, or if it will be worse than this morning.   If it does snow overnight I am sure things will be chaotic tomorrow, since nothing has been salted or gritted for days.

My plan for tonight is therefore to try and use the shovel on the back path to see if the ice has come lose enough to chip it away, otherwise tomorrow morning is going to be fun!   Of course it might just snow…

Just heard from Debbie, who went shopping and of course the supermarkets have no salt either.  She brought two small packets and they went nowhere.  Oh well…  It you don’t hear from me for a while, I might be lying on my back recovering from a fall…

In A Word – Blisters

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Well it had to come I suppose, I have been pushing myself all week to exercise more, and have been doing a good 2 1/4 mile walk at a fast pace every morning, with the result that I now have blisters forming on the balls of my feet.

I decided to slow things down a bit yesterday morning, which helped, my feet weren’t too bad during the day, but then I went on another 4 mile hike yesterday evening which left them sore again.  I was determined not to miss my walk this morning, but knew it had to be done at an even slower pace.  I also wanted to try and take a swim after, to make the most of my workout routine.

I lost track of how long the walk took this morning, but it was a while longer than the 36 minutes of the previous days, helped along with some more good music from my trusty MP3 player, today being a fresh batch of random songs from the same selection.

The walk starts and ends with going down and back up 6 flights of steps from my 7th floor condo, and within 10 minutes of having got back from the walk, I was changed and back down for a dip in the pool.  I managed 20 lengths, then back upstairs again, by this time just after 10am.  It really is nice to be living in Florida where you can do this sort of thing most of the year.  If anything the summer time is hte worst, since it’s just too hot and humid, even in the early morning.

I was feeling nicely energised after the walk and swim, and not very hungry surprisingly, so I made do with an orange and a banana.  I then set to on the internet, catching up with messages and postings on various sites.

Before I knew it, 1:30pm had come around, so I legged it downstairs for a 3rd time to put the sauna on, then grabbed a light lunch of cheese and tomato sandwich, my favorite since I was knee high to a grasshopper.  I topped this off with a yoghurt.

An hour later I headed down to the sauna, then did 20 lengths in the pool, took a steam, and another 30 lengths, before heading up those steps for a 4th time.   That made a total of 70 lengths in the pool, my daily record, plus I think a record for going up and down stairs.

I was going to have some homemade chicken soup for dinner, but didn’t feel like something that heavy, so I made do with some sliced carrots and ranch dip, followed by an apple and orange.

My day of working out wasn’t over yet though, as I went out for another walk to check out the opening times for the local Farmers Market and for a couple of items to Target.  I hadn’t been to this Farmers Market before, but Tim, who I rent from went today and got some real bargains, all important if you are on a tight budget.  We also discovered a nice park around the corner from the market, with several walks and lots of ornamental shrubs and trees.  I guess we covered about 2 miles in total.

So here I am at almost midnight trying to get my daily post completed before the day ends.  I have spent the evening trying to catch up with comments on my Squidoo Lenses and also on Tagfoot.   And so it’s almost time for bed, catch you tomorrow.