Posture

I've posted variations on this image so many times before, I'm almost embarrassed to do it again. On the other hand, it's a Robin, and you can never have too many Robins. Can you?

My plans for today went awry this morning, courtesy of R's back. Yesterday afternoon he spotted on the tracking app we both use to keep a vague eye on each other's whereabouts that I was approaching home, and assuming - correctly - that I'd be cold and thirsty after a couple of hours of owl bothering up on the scarp, he very kindly made me a mug of tea - only to put his back out pretty badly as he bent down to throw the used tea bag in the kitchen compost caddy. For the rest of the day he was obviously in pain, but by this morning everything was so much worse that any tiny movement caused him to either moan, yelp, or swear. 

Having a congenital weakness in my own back, which was severely aggravated by the five years I spent training to be an osteopath, and having fractured two vertebrae in different falls during the past fifteen years, I tend to think that no-one can tell me anything about back pain, and therefore, I confess, my sympathy for other people's spinal problems leans towards the brisk. Or even brusque. As I swept out of the house this morning (late) for an appointment with the dental hygienist, I stated, forcefully, that what R needed was to see the osteopath, and said that if he could get an appointment later today I would drive him there. But I also said that I didn't expect him to take my advice, so you can imagine my surprise when he called my bluff and booked an appointment for the middle of the afternoon.

As it was now clear that I wouldn't be going owling today, I took a quick trip up to Hillers at lunchtime, seeking photos and chocolate tiffin. I was able to add two more species to my birding year list (72: Song Thrush, and 73: Nuthatch), but neither of them photographed well, whereas this Robin posed rather majestically, which was nice of it. While in the hide I also discovered that, just occasionally, fortune favours the righteous, when the woman sitting next to me volunteered detailed directions to the roost of a tawny owl, even showing me some photos on her phone to help me recognise the tree if I managed to locate it. Needless to say, I'll be trying to do that as soon as I can get to the site.

When R tottered out of the osteopath's treatment room this afternoon, I wondered briefly if I was going to have to carry him to the car, but within a couple of hours I could see that he was moving more freely, and by this evening he was walking around with hardly any yelping or swearing at all. He even said that he was glad he'd taken my advice, and suggested (not wholly unreasonably) that it might be an idea for me to take it myself, and get my own nagging spine straightened. On the basis that I doubt he expects me to do it, I'm going to send the osteopath an email right now.