Anyone know a good vet?

Anybody know a good vet? All day yesterday I had a gradual build up of pain in my shoulder that radiated down my arm and up my neck. By the time I got to bed I could barely move my head. Any position I could arrange myself in that was comfortable for my foot ...yes, you guessed it, was uncomfortable for my neck/ shoulder.

So here’s me today with my foot in an ice bath and a heat compress across my shoulder. S’not funny you at the back.

By the way, these heat compresses are amazing. It’s like a giant sanitary towel, shaped like the wingspan of a pigeon (without the head, tail... and the guano). You pull it from the packet and as it comes into contact with your skin these wee pads positioned inside it heat up. Clever, eh? And you can wear it for 12 hours.

An interesting side issue to this situation is that I’m also suffering from “walk-envy”. This is a very real phenomena, kinda in the same ball park as penis-envy or boob-envy, without the strange glances and padded underwear. How it works is this – people walk past my window all healthy and pain free and stride-y and I get pissed off. Oh, give it a rest, dude. It’s only been a fortnight.

So while I’m consumed with envy at people who can walk without pain I’ve got four books on the go. Does anyone else out there read like this? This is quite normal for me until one book in particular asserts itself on my mind and demands that I finish it first.

My foursome include Chris Ewan’s A Good Thief’s Guide to Paris, which I received courtesy of Scott Pack at Me And My Big Mouth (a must-read blog for book lovers). This book has a wonderfully intriguing premise where you have a novel where the main character is a novelist writing a book about stealing stuff, while he is actually stealing stuff. I don’t normally read caper novels as I prefer my books to be life or death, but I’m really enjoying what I’ve read so far.

Her Fearful Symmetry is Audrey Niffenegger’s next book following the HUGELY successful The Time Traveler’s Wife, which I loved. Early signs are good, however when I bought it at my local Waterstones the bookseller commented that they were having trouble selling it. It seems a good proportion of the locals who bought the first book didn’t really enjoy it. What, you mean they were swayed by all the attention it received. Noooo. I was disappointed. I want people to enjoy books that I love. Philistines.

Also adding to the clutter in my Being Read Pile is Robyn Young’s Brethren. This is a tale of knights going on a crusade and putting those pesky locals to the sword. Initial impressions are mixed. I’m struggling to identify with the characters, but I can see that all the elements are there and it should be worthwhile carrying on.

I’ve also started a review copy of James Ellroy’s soon to be released Blood’s A Rover. This is another book where I’m conflicted. It’s the third in a series and I’m probably hampered by the fact that I’ve not read the other two, although the blurb does say it can be read as a standalone. For those of you who are unaware of Ellroy, he’s the writer of L.A. Confidential and feted as one of crime writing’s modern greats. This is a doorstop of a book, with a large, bewildering cast and a style all of its own. James Ellroy can write a sentence of seven words and impart a degree of information that another lesser writer might manage in a seven line paragraph. Sometimes the staccato sentence style he adopts is a delight, sometimes it’s an irritation. However, this is definitely one that’s worth persevering with.

Sometimes you do have to work at your pleasures, no?