Friday, August 19, 2011

The Summer's Gone And All The Flowers Are Dying



I have emerged, punch-drunk, after flying to UK every week for the past four, having had 4 ESWT treatments for my heel spur/plantar fasciitis. I think I mentioned before that this treatment makes the pain a bit worse before it gets better. What should happen now is that in about 4 to 6 weeks the pain should go and everything will be back to normal.

But the really good news is that I can now go for a walk, for the first time in 3 months. But I can only walk on the flat, which is a bit of a tall order in this area. I went for a haircut in Quillan this morning - something which was a couple of weeks overdue because of the travelling - then Gay dropped me off at Nebias, just next to the gendarmerie operating their speed camera. Most of the walk from there is flattish, except for one promontory which I did my best to ignore.

I had no trouble while walking, although the heel was a bit sore afterwards - I think this is normal. But it was very noticeable that the crops on either side of the track were well past their grow-by dates. The sunflowers have lost their bloom and the maize is loaded with the seed heads. Not to mention all these rolls of hay which were clearly made months ago. All this while I was not there. I have missed the summer, or at least my feet and legs have.

And autumn is really approaching faster than usual. The grape harvest has started in the Blanquette de Limoux area, or, as it says in the local paper, the vendange is precocious. And almost all the leaves are already off the centenarian+ conker tree in our courtyard.

And yet the temperatures have soared into the mid-30s for the first time this year. We are promised 39 degrees for tomorrow! I can't believe that some people like these temperatures.



For details of where to find my book "Vic's Big Walk from SW France to NW England" double click on this.

No comments: