Sunday Evening Potpourri: Let’s Twist Again Like We Did Last Summer

Or not. In fact, that’s something of an issue right now. I’ve mentioned in the past that I’m what various folks call slew-footed, splay-footed (my family’s usual term), or duck-footed (probably my least favorite of the lot.) That is to say, if I’m facing North, my left foot points NW and my right foot points NE. I’m easy to track in the snow, because I leave prints like a herringboning skier. Think of it as the opposite of pigeon-toed.

I’ve been like this for close to 59 years now. Similarly, I tend to walk on the outer soles of my feet. Despite the best efforts of my parents, pediatricians, and the Red Goose Shoe Company, that just seems to be how I’m built. (Similarly, my knees have always had a significant amount of hyperextension — when they’re locked, they bend a bit backward. That’s just how it is.)

However, the physical therapists guiding my recovery are less than thrilled with this. Apparently, they’re concerned that as my surgery heals, my splay-footedness may lead to a suboptimal result. So I get a lot of reminders to keep the toes of my right foot pointed at the ceiling, rather than their customary tendency to point toward the room’s corner. But because I have spent nearly 59 years like this (or less, I guess — I didn’t start walking until I was 14 months old), holding the leg in “proper” position is itself both tiring and tiresome.

Similarly, I’ve found I have some trouble finding a comfortable position of any sort. I’m supposed to keep the leg elevated and extended in front of me. This position, however, puts significant pressure on my coccyx, which I cracked during my Ball State days when I came off the curb the wrong way while riding my bike home from campus. After a certain period, my tailbone begins to complain, so I get up and maneuver my walker around the house for a bit before returning to my seat, but there’s a definite pattern of diminishing returns here. Each return to my chair becomes shorter in duration, with more hip- and weight-shifting, all the while trying to keep my foot properly oriented. Mrs. M and I have been experimenting with different seat and cushion arrangements, but we have not yet hit the jackpot.

So where I’m going with all this is that despite Mrs. M’s yeoman efforts, I frequently find myself in discomfort — not major pain, mind you, but enough to make relaxation a challenge, and to make me grouchier than I prefer to be. (Mrs. M really has been terrific through this, trying hard to keep me comfortable, hydrated, and doing what I need to doin order to get better. She’s even been okay with my takeover of the living room, which has hitherto been her favorite relaxation and TV-watching spot.

Still, I’m keeping up with my exercises and my incision looks significantly better than it did when the dressing came off earlier in the week. So, progress, and the PT folks assure me that I should be more than capable of driving myself to my old stomping grounds for B’con at the end of August. So, progress.

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I’ve (barely) begun reading Dominion, an alternate-history novel by the recently departed C.J. Sansom. The premise is that Halifax, rather than Churchill, succeeds Chamberlain in 1940. The UK and Nazi Germany achieve a separate peace, with Britain as the decidedly junior partner. By 1952, where the main story opens, Beaverbrook is the P.M., the cabinet includes Oswald Mosley, Enoch Powell, and Marie Stopes (described as a minister for eugenics.) Churchill has gone underground, leading a resistance to the UK’s collaborationist regime. I’m looking forward to continuing the novel.

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I have a FroshComp class beginning a week from tomorrow — operating online, as you might suspect. I’m hoping that I can find a comfortable physical situation in the coming days, with an eye toward getting back to writing. I can feel some ideas and images bouncing around — here’s hoping something can come of them.

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I’ll wrap things up with a nifty little slice of garage rock, from the anuus mirabilis that was 1966. From Halifax, NS, The Free-For-All was a spinoff from a band I’ve featured here in the past, The Great Scots. They cranked out a couple of singles under the new handle, and this is the B-side of one of those (which currently runs about $100). It’s a cover of a tune written by Keith and Linda Colley, associated with the Knickerbockers (Bergenfield, NJ’s answer to the Beatles) and Jerry Raye & Fenwyck. Not to be confused with the Frampton tune, this is “Show Me the Way..”

See you soon!