Darn it!

I'm glad no one was watching, with a video camera or mobile phone at the ready. They missed a spectacular trip and fall by yours truly today. A prize winner on "Australia's Funniest Home Videos" is ever there was one.

Just after lunch, to celebrate the first weekday of my present school vacation, I was going to take a long stroll to Nepean Square (mainly to check out the big K-Mart toy sale that's getting so much radio airplay, but I also needed milk for my first coffee of the day), but I stubbed my toe on the traffic roundabout at the end of my street and did a leap worthy of "Hancock", and ended up all palms-and-knees on the concrete. Ouch!

Once I'd recovered my bearings, I had no option but to trudge back home to apply some Dettol on the extremities, and later headed off in the opposite direction to get just the milk this time. I really needed that coffee now. My big toe (luckily, not the one I injured last April) is still throbbing, but is hopefully not broken, and I sense a rectangular bruise forming on my right thigh in the shape of my mobile phone. Thank goodness I wasn't walking Jack at the time...

I realised, as I arrived home, that the force of my toe-stubbing actually poked a hole through my sock. It's been many years since I've darned a sock and I'm not sure I want to spend these holidays doing so. I did get back to Nepean Square later this afternoon. There were no toys of interest, so I bought chocolate instead. Oh dear...

Toe-tal healing

As you may recall, I injured my left big toe two Saturdays ago, by dropping an eight-VHS boxed set on it. I've been hobbling ever since.

Happily, the injury seems to be healing very nicely. Twice-daily bathing in Dettol, lots of Savlon cream, etc, seems to have kept all trace of infection away. I was able to wear slip-on, covered shoes to work on the Thursday and Friday, and the area around the cuticle seems to be repairing itself, and no trace that the nail will drop off. Whew! (I was determined not to see a doctor unless infection sprung up, either under the nail itself or deep under the damaged cuticle; I simply couldn't see what else a doctor might do for it - would it be worth the several hours of waiting for my name to be called down at the medical centre?)

I am fascinated with the human body's amazing ability to repair itself, and to remember where everything needs to go; if you'd seen my toe last week you wouldn't have been able to imagine what was needed to get it looking normal again, at least not without antibiotics, or maybe some medical glue. Certainly, although the skin near the nail had split in two places, there was nowhere to even consider putting in stitches, so I figured waiting it out was all I could do.

Today, the toe's looking almost normal again. Luckily I've been able to spend most of the week shoeless and sockless. Despite the lower Canberra temperatures at night, the days have featured glorious thong-wearing weather (that's flip flop-wearing weather for all you suddenly-horrified US readers). Getting some fresh air to my toe has definitely helped.




Rainbows are possible, even on sunny days, in Canberra!

Seeing stars? Call a toe truck!

Ouch. I just dropped a boxed set of the first eight "Star Trek" movies on VHS on my foot. Strangely, there was no immediate pain... until I retrieved the heavy giftbox had a closer look at my injury - and saw that the corner of the box had landed right on the edge of the big toe nail on my left foot.

Now there is pain! And blood. I've applied a makeshift tight bandage with an Elastiplast and a piece of material, but I'm really not game to have another look yet.

Guess what was on the shopping list I made this morning, that I will now not be able to complete (until my housemate arrives home from a week's vacation tonight)? Yes, I needed to restock Dettol antiseptic, since the old bottle I tossed a few weeks ago was almost empty, and the last dregs had turned to jelly in the bottom of the bottle. Ick. (Mind you, at this point I'd apply 1998 vintage Dettol jelly if I could guarantee my toe will be infection free as it recovers.

I needed to shop badly. The only food in the house at the moment is a punnet of strawberries I put into a bowl of Boronia marsala this morning. I think I might just drain them now and drink the marinade.

Ouch, ouch, ouch.

I just know I'm gonna lose the nail...

(And stop looking at me that way, Jack. It might be Saturday afternoon, and beautiful weather outside, but no walkies today! For reasons that should be obvious.)

Bloodstains in the dark

The fourth season of JJ Abrams' "Lost" returned to Australian television this week, and I watched back the first episode on my DVD recorder this morning. I'd quite forgotten some of the ongoing threads over the show's hiatus but, in the opening moments, the director, editor and writers quickly got me up to speed.

Knowing that JJ Abrams is currently working on the new Star Trek film, it was exciting to see, anew, how well "Lost" is put together. I had a thoroughly enjoyable time catching up - and I still have no idea what's going to happen next.

My only eyebrow-raising moments: the camp of survivors split up into two search parties, both groups following what they believed to be a legitimate path of bloodstains.

At night time? By the light of flaming torches?

Mmmm. Okay.

Speaking of mysterious bloodstains in the dark: I managed to create my own wayward trail of blood spots last night, after cutting my finger with the newish kitchen scissors. I was harvesting what might turn out to be my last two gardenia blooms for the season. What a time to discover that the last dregs of Dettol antiseptic was used for whatever was the last local medical emergency...

And speaking of mysteries in the dark: last night, my house security system was insisting I had a window open. The main wooden doors were fine; the code was claiming it was a window. Or a glass door. I ran around the house, checking every window and glass door. The control panel was still insisting a window was open.

Then, Jack started barking at the front wooden door. I opened it, but he was still barking. Not out into the street, but at the door! I closed the door again and I realised the infamous ghostly fishy smell was back! Now, Jack was freaking out, and ran off to bed.

As the smell slowly dissipated, I glanced at the security control panel again. The ghost was gone, and lo! - the control panel had reset itself! No windows were open.

Next stop, "The Twilight Zone".