Awake

It's been something of a blustery night: according to the weather station on the sailing club's website, we had 30 knots gusting to 46. I can see on the webcam that the Enterprise is still securely tied down though, so no harm done. I expect Dad will drive down to Portishead to check on Calstar, he doesn't work on Fridays.

I got to listen to most of it battering the house about through the night as I didn't really sleep much. It seems, lounging on the sofa watching the telly is a risky endeavour. It's what I did yesterday evening; I do it so rarely, but Nikk was out so I had the TV control and was enjoying re-watching Season 2 of Vikings on the big screen. So led there with one of the dogs on my lap (who's afraid of the big, bad wolf?) as the evening wore on, I felt an unexplained twinge, a tenderness building in my left elbow. By the time I gave up and went to bed, around 2300, the outside of the elbow was inflamed and very sore. Impossible to find a comfortable position to lie in, so it kept me awake most of the night.

No idea what's caused it. Some sort of localised infection, I guess. This morning it's just as inflamed and just as painful, but I've taken a couple of ibuprofen tablets, which seems to have dulled the edge of it for now. I expect, like most things, it'll pass. Hopefully in time for Sunday, as I'd like to go sailing, and the way it is at the moment would seriously handicap that ambition.

The point of mentioning it however isn't to solicit sympathy or bemoan my discomfort. About this time last year I was having significant problems with my right arm; the quack diagnosed it as tennis elbow, but wasn't much more use than that. It had been going on for a while and I'd pretty much resigned myself to accepting it as a persistent, permanent discomfort.

The unexpected, new pain in my left elbow however brought it home to me that I've had no trouble with my right for an absolute age. I don't remember it noticing it had gone, but now that I'm drawn to think about it, I can't actually remember the last time my right arm gave me any hint of trouble. Despite my current discomfort, I find that incredibly cheering.

Leaving home this morning to drive into work, I noticed the cherry blossom has bloomed on the trees that avenue our road. Been noticing snow drops all week, and this morning realised that the daffodils were starting to come out in flower. It's still dark when I get up in the morning, and I begrudge that, but very soon the world is going to be a riot of colour again.

The ground is definitely awakening. Spring is on its way. I love this time of year.