My Dad was always very keen on the idea of the essential connectedness of various aspects of the person, and today that idea was brought home to me rather sharply.
For some mysterious reason I have strained my back. I might have done the groundwork for this earlier yesterday, but I was woken in the middle of the night by an excruciating pain in my lower back. I had to ask for my wife’s help in order to move myself into a position that was remotely tolerable, with the aid of a couple of spare pillows. Sleep was possible after that, but when I awoke this morning clearly there was a persisting problem. Fortunately I had to hand a tube of some mysterious unguent that I picked up from a physiotherapist during our holiday a couple of years ago. Frankly, at one level I was glad to find a use for it again because it had been hideously expensive. Now I’m blessing it, because it is actually effective.
Despite the relief my back has been uncomfortable throughout the day. The effect has been, shall we say, “multidimensional”. Art has ground to a standstill, and the most engaging thing I have been able to discover has been a jigsaw puzzle. My normal enthusiasm for the intellectual challenge of crossword puzzles has plummeted. I tell myself that in comparison with the suffering of all those who are seriously ill with this wretched virus my predicament is not really serious. There is an intellectual level at which I can endorse this, but that doesn’t stop me feeling sorry for myself.