Still more backache

I had a rough night last night, of the "ow ow ow it hurts ow ow make it stop ow I think there's something seriously wrong with me ow ow ow ow" variety. I called my doctor this morning and described the pain; he said that the symptoms are consistent with an acute back problem rather than an internal problem. This is something of a relief in itself, but doesn't alter the fact that my back is very painful. The doctor advised me to take paracetamol and ibuprofen in combination.

Because I needed to buy food, I took a cautious walk to the shops. (My appetite is unaffected, which is further evidence that there's no internal problem). I've found that staying as vertical as possible minimizes the pain. If I turn or bend, unpleasant things happen.

I called my boss and asked for remote access to the company network to be enabled for me so I can work from home. So far, he hasn't got back to me, though I hope he does. Mentally, I'm absolutely fine; there's no reason why I can't work.

I have a hot water bottle between my back and the chair. It's nice :-)

Lay all your pain on me

Reading's defunct Woolworths shop is now a Clas Ohlson. It seems so much bigger inside than when it was a Woolworths. They've made much better use of the space, and the interior actually seems to have been designed rather than just thrown together.

They're really playing up the "we're from Sweden and we're a bit different" thing. Their promotional flyer describes the store as a "usefulshöpp". They'd even hired an Abba tribute band to play outside.

I've hurt my back somehow. I first noticed some stiffness in my lower back yesterday. and it's got worse since then. As long as I stay vertical and facing forward, it's just a boring ache; if I turn or bend over, I get an acute pain. Lying on my back, putting pressure in just the wrong place, causes a spasm. Sleeping on my back last night was impossible; lying on my side was okay as long as I didn't move.

I went to the pharmacist and was sold some slow-release Nurofen that's supposed to last for eight hours. A little over an hour in, it doesn't seem to be doing much.

Orange fishies

I had a dental checkup today. My teeth are fine. Another cavity-free year.

There's an aquarium in the dentist's waiting room. I passed the time while waiting for my appointment by looking at the fishies. There were lots of them, in different sizes. Most of them were a glorious, deep goldfishy orange. There were tiny ones, less than an inch long; big ones, about the size of the palm of my hand; and lots in between. The big ones barely moved; there were two of them, pale creamy orange, just bobbing around in the corner of the tank. The smaller ones were darting all over the place. I think my favourites were a couple of narrow, streamlined ones, deep orange in colour, with black stripe at the bases of their long tails.

When I was a child, I won a goldfish at a fair. We gave it to my friend who had a fishpond.

Mandelbulb

3D fractal images generated using equations related to those which generate the 2D Mandelbrot fractal.

Maths is pretty.

The Waters of Mars

( Just a little comment on the episode... )

Silence

No sound came out of thalassa when I tried to play an MP3. I checked the speakers and cables; everything was fine. There was just nothing coming out of thalassa, either from the speaker socket on the back or the headphone socket on the front. No errors had been logged to syslog, and there was no evidence that the onboard audio was no longer being detected. Just silence.

In time-honoured tradition, I turned it off and on again. It started working.

Better keep an eye on this.

(Or perhaps thalassa just wants me to get some better music. Heh).

System failure

All the ATMs at the bank were out of order when I went in today. An assistant told me that the network was down across the country, and I wouldn't even be able to withdraw from my account using a machine at a different bank.

My bank's really been losing the plot lately. They recently changed my current account's terms and conditions to favour themselves (lowering the interest rate and charging a fee on arranged overdrafts). My mortgage will be up for renegotiation soon; if they try to charge me an extortionate rate, it'll be time to change banks.

I made it back from town before the weather closed in. It's pretty nasty out there.

I am an anachronism

I bought a new tea-strainer. They're getting difficult to find. I sometimes think I'm the only person left in the world who still uses loose tea.

Spend! Prove your devotion to the god of capitalism!

We're only just past Guy Fawkes' Night, but the shops have been carrying Christmas goods for a while already. Retailers are using their TV advertising spots to push their Christmas ranges. Today, I heard Christmas music being played in a shop for the first time this year.

We should just rename it "Mammonmas" and have done with it.

</cynic>

This guy are (still) sick

I'd feel a lot better after a quiet day at home followed by a good night's sleep, I thought. 'Twas not to be. The good night's sleep didn't happen and I woke up feeling arguably worse than yesterday.

My colleagues who have had this virus had to take two days to recover, so at least I'm not being a total lightweight.