Wednesday, April 06, 2005

A pain in the bum...and the knees and the hips and the back

Robbed of those endorphins which would have been really helpful about now, my body has started hurting for no good reason.

For instance, yesterday I had the day off work so I went for a walk up to the lookout behind my house. It's normally a 1 & 1/4 hour walk and it's usually a piece of cake - yesterday it was not so much a piece of cake as a truckload of cold porridge dumped on my poor joints. After my walk I had a sit-down; when I tried to get up and move around my whole body creaked and I felt like an arthritic old woman.

And today, I walked home from work like I always do when it isn't pissing down with rain with gale-force winds. Up until today, it was a 45 minute stroll which didn't feel like exercise unless it was accompanied by a daypack filled with a dozen large library books. Until today. First it was that ligament around about where my thigh meets my pelvis that felt out of whack. Then it was the knee on the same side. Then my lower back started protesting, followed by flutterings in my stomach. Now that I'm sitting down at my computer, it's only a matter of minutes before the old sore-bum complaint joins in.

The bump seems to have undergone a growth spurt, which is sort of a relief because I was worried that I was gestating a hobbit instead of a normal-sized baby. When I visited a branch office today, people seemed to know already that I was "in the family way" - they kept telling me to have a seat and looked quite uncomfortable until I quit protesting and got a myself chair.

Tomorrow, I'll be on the alert for similar signs of recognition on the bus. If nobody bothers to give up their seat for me then either my pregnancy is not as obvious as I thought it was, or else those people on the bus are a bunch of inconsiderate bastards.

10 comments:

LK said...

The bump is beginning to show huh? This made me wonder, how many months pregnant are you?

Violet said...

Actually, I'm 23 weeks - which is nearly six months.

Anonymous said...

Apparently somewhere in America a pregnant woman tried catching a taxi but each time someone or some people would get ahead of her. This kept happening so often she wailed to noone in particular "but I'm preg-nant".

Then just as luck seemed to have favoured her at last another woman dived in and started barking directions. But the driver just waited for the pregnant woman. He dropped off the other woman first. Then the pregnant lady who was very grateful and began to pay the driver but he said "I'm no taxi lady, I was just trying to help."

Anonymous said...

I'm picking inconsiderate bastards.

However,I have a similar story like eb's - one time, when I hurt my ankle soooo bad that I was on crutches, I needed to get the bus into town but no-one would stand up for me on the bus. After travelling to one stop and lurching around while trying to balance on one leg, the bus driver got up, stomped to my end of the bus and gave all the uniformed kids that were sitting down a serve, threatening to throw them off if they didn't get up (they're meant to get up for adults if they travel on a school pass).

Needless to say, I had a very pleasant ride into town, and me and that bus driver have become good buddies...8-)

Jon said...

I usually give up seats on the subway for pregnant women or old people who seem to be struggling. It's just easier to be nice, plus, it cancels out my negative karma from ranting on my blog ;)

Amanda said...

When I was really heavily pregnant and standing at the busstop (in the rain) a taxi driver stopped and asked me if I'd like a free lift into town as he was going that way anyway. I said and he took me to my destination while we had a good chat about his kids etc.

It was a nice act of random kindness, I thought. This is a true story.

glomgold said...

Are you saying the aches and pains are from the pregnancy? Because I feel like an arthritic old woman as well. Where'd I put my ben-gay?

Violet said...

EB: Cute story, though it sounds like an urban legend to me.

Desiree: bloody kids;-) In my day, we always gave up our seats for adults and the bus drivers were strict about it too.

Jon: welcome back, I missed ya. I used to try to give up my seat to old men too, but they were usually too proud to take it.

MTNW: what a nice thing to do. Jon, are you a taxi driver in your spare time?

Glomgold: or you could be feeling like an old woman because you've transformed yourself into one ;-)

Claudine said...

Reading this makes me want a little hobbit of my very own...sigh.

Violet said...

Claudblog: you mean, all my grumbling hasn't put you off yet? Just wait till the birth - I'll post all the gory details if it cures you!