Back Hurts, Day Off

Well, I had a full week of work all sorted, but then my back went, which is really annoying after weeks of not having the work I wanted. It’s not the end of the world as I appear to have a full five days next week, but even so. I was trying to figure out why I suddenly had this not incapacitating but still rather uncomfortable pain in my middle back muscles given that on Wednesday and Thursday I didn’t do anything particularly hefty. It was all rather puzzling until I realised it was because I’d been stretching in many different and unusual ways. On Monday morning I was at the shitty metalworks assembly place down the road stripping large sheets of sticky back plastic off large sheets of metal, which involved a pulling my arm from an stretched out position in front of me to one behind. When I do this movement now pain jolts painfully. On Monday afternoon I was then cleaning the residue acid off these sheets of metal (we’re talking lemon-juice strength in case you’re worried) with alcohol-soaked clothes with a sideways wiping action. On Tuesday I was back there cutting large pieces of, I dunno, spongy plastic sheets with a cottony-type backing I guess, into 6 ft long strips using a stanley knife, then gluing them onto large 6ft long pieces of steel. This involved a number of moves. First the cutting motion, then the lifting of the steel onto the table, then the application of the evil glue using a roller, then the lowering of the finished product back onto the floor. On Wednesday I was at the Land Rover factory doing an inspection job on the line which involved getting in and out of about 200 cars. Nothing too hard but firstly I’m not used to getting in and out of cars and secondly there’s a fair bit of twisting involved, especially as I was never actually sitting properly, just perched there with one leg hanging out while I leaned over to tick a box on a piece of paper stuck in the window. On Thursday it was the same and I started to feel a little tired, like I was coming down with some kind of flu and my body was aching. On the bus home I couldn’t get comfortable. Okay, that’s not news, but every time I shifted the pain came. Today I was supposed to be working at an art print warehouse in Erdington, the same company I worked for in May last year only they’ve relocated. I was going to cycle down there, not out of choice really (having gotten caught in a torrential storm the other week I decided not to cycle again until the spring) but because getting the bus would take far too long, but when I woke up at 4am with the damnable pain I figured, nah. Lifting stuff just ain’t the right thing for me to be doing right now, and cycling with a fucked back is just not a good idea. So I phoned in before the agency office opened and left a nice message.

So it’s DVDs and AVIs for me today (did you know you can Torrent the Daily Show?) and a nice flat hard floor. I think it’s just bruising, nothing more serious, and should be cleared up by tomorrow. And I just heard I’m going to the art-print place after all on Monday for a full week. Which is good as it’ll be a little more civilised than I’ve been used to of late. The only thing that’s worrying me is this time last year it snowed, really badly (remember?) and I’m going to be cycling about 10 miles there and back. Ah well!