Plans

From something I just read:"We are constantly under the impression that life choices we made after careful planning should bring us expected results—happiness, security, contentment—and that with better choices, traumatic feelings that we have when dealing with loss, risk and uncertainty can be avoided."

To which I say, poppycock and balderdash.

Pith looked forward to this trip ever since the booking, focusing on details, well, except for details about the travel connections.  He is here to tell you that focusing on details, while sounding productive and being deeply, intensely involved, doesn’t always turn out positively.  Or at least that’s his rationale for not paying as much attention to them in the future.

One such detail is footwear.

The backstory.

But whither Bjork?

He has been having difficulty with his feet, in particular, his right foot, for the last three months or so. He didn't want this to negatively impact the trip which centered on St. Andrews, and of course, Bjork.
 

An ingrown toenail on the big toe combined with a sharp pain in the ball of the right foot made walking normally a challenge.

So here’s what he did.

He went to podiatry, a new experience.  There they performed the most amazing and unexpected thing.  (I wished that I had taken pictures for you, but here are the gory details.)

They prepared the toe by first applying lidocaine.  Then they forced a nerve blocking needle well into (through?) the toe.  They then stuck this huge needle down the length of the offending nail.  They bent, yes bent, the nail upwards and snapped off the ‘ingrown’ portion of the nail about the size of half a toothpick.

And then.

They took this long Q-tip dipped in some kind of acid and daubed it waaaay down in the ‘matrix’ of the nail, where the growth occurs.

After tidying up they then turned to the other foot issue, the ball of the foot.  They said this was caused by the second toe being a hammer toe.  They provided a little spongy toe ring to support the toe as well as some shoe inserts for supporting high arches.

When the nerve block wore off the pain was worse than before and no appreciable difference was discernible with the support of the second toe.

Limping around was the mode of operation for a couple of weeks before this trip and concern crept in as it was assumed correctly that the Pith's would be doing much walking.  But gradually, VERY gradually, things improved and made grand plans for footwear.

Not wanting to walk the sacred grounds of St. Andrews when it was squishy, Muck boots were in order.  These things are incredible at keeping out water.  However, they are likewise incredible when it comes to weight and lack of support.  They are like walking on steel planks.

One bit of advice was to wear all one’s heavy garments on the plane so as not to weigh down one’s luggage.  So these boots were worn on the plane.

The problem was that there was no need for keeping feet dry on the plane or in airports and we trekked at least 24 miles through Heathrow airport.  Also because walking was not foremost on my mind during the travel day, I didn’t wear the toe support.

By the time we reached Edinburgh, the 'pups' were 'barking'.

For walking I brought these wonderful highly recommended shoes called Hoka One One (on the left above).  I love these shoes!  They are not, however, made for wet weather.

If there is any place that has wet weather, it is Scotland. In November.

So despite all this forethought and detailed planning, the shoe wear selections were correct, but the application exactly backwards--waterproof boots when it is dry; walking shoes when it is wet.

The best laid plans . . .

Next: In Search of our Bearings