Ministry of silly walks

Stairs are indeed a minefield, and I can no longer walk up them carrying two cups of coffee for a weekend lie-in. The stains on our new stair carpet bore testament to that. The whole wall had to be washed too. Yet as I started up them I felt fine.

Bits of you start to let you down at the most awkward moment - I have just had my mother on the phone, laughing her head off because she knelt down on the floor in Sainsbury's yesterday to be able to look at pet foods more closely - and her leg went to sleep. Luckily my S-F came around the corner and hauled her up, but then he got very funny looks as he rubbed her leg vigorously trying to get some feeling back into it. My mother asked them to delete the day's CTV recordings, as she left the shop!

Here in Fife (and maybe further afield) it's described as 'walking like a half-shut knife'! And, isn't it? Getting out of the car after being out for a long walk is a palaver in itself, as I try to stride off towards the front gate, pretending to be searching for my housekeys in the bottom of my bag, when really, I'm so sore, and walking in a crab-like, off-balance way, I must look as if I've just come back from a session in the pub!
petallus, that happens to me, too! I bang into things all the time - my mind seems to be ahead of my body sometimes. !

Yes stairs are a minefield too Petallus. If when I walk up (when no one else is about) I put my one hand on the stair and the other on the bannister I get up quite easily.

Are you any good P at balancing the cereal on your head, then you could try this too ?

I just started upstairs, holding a bowl of cereal which I intended to eat whilst looking on GN, when for no reason I can think of I lurched to the right and bumped into the banister.

DBH would agree with you there, he has gone in today and will be in all day every day until term starts, just sorting out paperwork.

Yes, another one for the dead legs and feet that suddenly feel as if they can't possibly be mine. DBH is still only in his late 40s, but this weekend after being stuck in a traffic jam for a couple of hours, I noticed for the first time that he did the same thing. I felt quite guilty for being pleased that at last he knows how it feels, as of course he always charges on ahead of me, looking irritated when he sees that I am still some way behind.

Having resigned myself to it, I now start to wiggle my toes, stretch out my legs and circle my ankles just before we arrive somewhere. It helps.

I did totter a bit OGM but soon got into my stride.

I taught adults, which I think would be a lot less stressful than children. I loved it too but in the end the paperwork was just too much.

Good for you NanKate I hope you succeeded..... I'm blaming teaching too!
Years of bending over low desks, reaching up to display boards and, of course, playground duty in all weathers........ but I wouldn't have changed it for the world (not sure I would feel the same today!)

Nankate it was Dick Emery. Very funny. He used to say 'You are awful'.

I'm the same when I first get up out of a chair. I'm almost 70but my feet and ankles think they're 99!

Oldgreymare I was at a motorway service station today and thought I would try especially hard to walk properly.

I looked like the comedian who used to dress up as a woman and walk along and then trip. I can' remember his bl*****y name now ! He used to say 'you are awful but I like you'.

I see we are the same age and ex-teachers, maybe that explains why we have lost it.

DICK EMERY - got it.

This might have saved us a bit of money! I'd just persuaded DH that we need new sofa cushions as the current ones are not offering sufficient support. Unless, of course, we all just need new upholstery!

Highly relieved by all the above... I honestly thought it was just me descending into old age very rapidly.

NanKate That and the first foray downstairs in the morning, first few steps very slowly, gathering pace as I reach the bottom!
Stopping at Service Stations to go to the loo, I'm sure the other punters think.... poor old dear she hasn't made it!

Oh yes shysal me too. I do the same when getting up from the sofa. My DS commented the other day that I looked like I was walking without any joints.

I also thought it was just me. Getting out of the car after driving home from a hike leaves me doing what I call the Douglas Bader walk!

I find it helpful to pause for a few seconds after standing before attempting to walk. I remember seeing elderly folk doing this when I was younger and wondering why, not realising they were waiting for their legs to get their act together.

Phoenix it is your post of 20.22 yesterday I was laughing at. Do you mean there are more thong stories I have missed ?

Nfk you are not alone, in fact from theses posts we are all wandering about like drunken crabs.

Any car journey of more than half an hour and I can get out of the car ok - but am then frozen to the spot for 30 seconds. I can't even step sideways to shut the door. Then, it's the silly walk for 50 yards. I thought it was just me.

I do find I tend to do the 'crab-walk' when I get out of bed in the middle of the night to go to the loo, these days...

Nankate

I have osteoporosis and I call it 'Getting me click in me clack'.

As my thong is a tea towel and a yard of string I don't think it could even go sideways.

Nankate glad to have amused you!

Are you just referring to the post above, or did you delve back into the mists of time and find the thong on sideways post?

Phoenix you have given me the best laugh of the day with your description. I've had to find a tissue to wipe away the tears.

I have the bad habit of tucking one leg up underneath me when sitting at the kitchen table for any other purpose other than eating, and also sit cross legged on the sofa with my feet tucked up and my knees touching the cushions. (The nurse who does my smear test has always commented on how well I manage the "ankles together, knees apart" thing, as my knees touch the couch on each side )

However I do these days sort of "lurch" a bit when getting up from the aforementioned positions.

Nowhere near as bad though as my silly walk down the office corridor when I had inadvertently put my thong on sideways

Sometimes, I find myself staggering off sideways - like a crab!

I am older than you though! Just.