Foot And Mouth

Cold weather in the early spring is always a reminder of getting old, and few places send the message to me louder than my mouth and feet.

Oral problems have plagued me for years and persist in doing so now.

And it is apparently the start of effects from my ‘Don Martin feet’–long and flat and apparently bent along the way but without an arch in a manner famously depicted by the MAD magazine artist.

‘You’ve got to adapt to being old,’ was the less-than-pleasing message the podiatrist had for me last weekend.

If I’ve gotta have aches and pains, I’m in a good place to have them.

Work is magnificent.

It’s hard to gauge if I am any value, but my colleagues are just wonderful people with a tremendously uplifting and stimulating impact on my life.

Their constructive effects are reverberating across my existence.

Pink-cloud time, perhaps, but I am highly cognizant of having been presented with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and I am going at it full throttle.

Funny how my mind tells me I am not good enough.

And one of my initial responses to realizing how blessed I am to be surrounded by such tremendous talent was to berate myself severely for having failed to notice that this has been the case for most of my career and I am useless for not having tried to raise my workmates of the time in the way my teammates are doing their best for me.

So it goes.

All I can do is deal with today.

Commuting has also opened new doors.

Lunchtimes are a chance to explore the areas around Tokyo Station.

Despite so much concrete and glass and bleak grayness, there is also lots of beauty and wonder.

Our office is on the 28th floor.

Some views are simply spectacular.

Getting in can be a bit demanding, though.

And that’s where the ‘Don Martin feet’ come in.

Being flat-footed apparently makes my feet weak.

My left foot has been excruciatingly painful at times since re-commencing commuting seven months ago.

Walking up station stairs has apparently caused a tear in a tiny muscle under my metastasis.

It is apparently a common ailment for the elderly flatfoot.

Anyway, the cold–we had a light sprinkling of snow this week and more is expected next week–doesn’t help.

But it will be over soon.