Day 81 Yet another milestone passed

We went for a 2 hour walk on Saturday around the "Island van Brienenoord"

This is an island under the big Brienenoord Bridge that spans the River Maas

It's a natuur reserve with lots of wildlife and vegetation

My knee was fine, even on the rougher paths and even climbing the hillock went OK

It looks as if it's relly getting usable now :~))

more photo's here

The island is a short ride from us across the Brienenoord bridge

The island was created by sludge piling up since the beginning of the 19th century in the bend of the river the Maas. It’s about 17 hectares in size (sorry I don’t do acres !)

It was covered in forest until second world war, when the Germans used the trunks, by placing them upright in the ground, to keep planes from landing. What was left of the trees ended in the fires during the winter of starvation.

Nowadays it’s a natural green island again. There are some allotments/holiday gardens here, some ateliers, the remains of a old dock, a large pond which attracts many frogs in Spring and Highland Cattle graze here.

At the East side of the island the ground has been washed away. Instead of rebuilding it, there is a bridge to enable people to enjoy looking down onto the miniature swamp.

Info in Dutch

Day 80 *** Y E S ***

Week 12 after my op

*!*!*!*  All my practise has finally paid off  *!*!*!*

Jacqueline came round and massaged my knee, then she and Leo
helped me to adjust my saddle and get back into action

CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE PICTURES

Typical really, I can now cycle and therefore get to work easier,

but have three weeks holiday as of today :~))))))

Not sure what we'll be doing, but at least I can do it on my bike now !!

Day 79 Me = A Gates Groupie ??

Friday amusment.....I must admit to being a fan of Bill Gates and Windows etc. If only for the fact that he made internet easily accessible for the unwashed masses... Even my M-i-L of 81 has now been online for several years. But I know lots of people hate him and there are lots of jokes about Windows:

We get this one a lot at work

And just so the MAC users don't feel left out

Day 78 Tiny feet

After thinking about high heels and feet yesterday, I suddenly thought of the bound feet in Chinese cultuur:

Legend has it that lotus or lily foot slippers first appeared in China in the 11th century when Empress Taki was born with deformed feet. To save her future embarrassment, her father announced that only women with very small feet could be truly feminine and desirable. As a result women began to bind their feet. The tiny, virtually unusable feet were a mark of status, beauty, gentility and sexual attractiveness.

The binding process began at age 5 to 7 years old. Bandages were wrapped around the foot to bend the four smaller toes inward under the foot towards the heel until it resembled a half moon.The majority of young girls had their feet bound by their mothers. Binding a daughters feet would ensure she would be married and hopefully to a wealthy man.

The intial process of binding the feet took just one night but the feet took years of pain to conform into the beautiful crescent shape. During a painful 2-3 year period, the size of the shoe was gradually reduced. The most highly desired goal being a size only three inches in length.

These silk shoes only measure 140mm (5½ inches) in length and 24mm (1 inch) in width...  

2010 version?

And taken from this website :

Well, since foot bound girls couldn’t go very far without assistance, (no roller blades in those days) pre-marital virginity was guaranteed. And after getting hitched, chastity and eternal loyalty were virtually assured. A woman’s life consisted of stumbling around at home, hand embroidering bits of material, and pretending her brain was made of sardine flavored jelly; i.e., total subservience to her partner and his whims. And that’s not all: the small and unsure steps of a foot bound woman were considered feminine and dainty, and it was widely believed that all that tottering around on the heels acted to tighten the buttocks and vagina – all the better to grip a husband’s jade spear, my dear. Apparently, men were so infatuated with small
feet that it bordered on a kind of perversion.

There is a rather good short film about the subject on YouTube

Day 77 By special request for Jacqeline.........

I've had a couple of complaints the the blog is either boring or that there is not a lot happening... this was bound to happen as progress has slowed down to snail pace.

My physio suggested I look at the subject of high heels, why we wear them and what they do to our feet.

Women of all ages seem to instinctively know that men find high heels attractive.
This baby is getting of on the right foot >>>>>>>>>>>

And as we get older we progress to wearing Mum's


Then it's time to move on to the real thing........

Lots of AMAZING high heeled shoes
And some Funny ones

Much as we are vain and want to look sexy, driving can be a problem

But they've cracked it for swimming

I was born with square feet, so never managed to get them into tight high heeled shoes....

This could be a blessing in disguise as they can cause all sorts of problems for your feet....

Downside

Dangers

I bet men would'nt walk about poised on their toes or us !

But they will still be worn by the greater majority of women, because...

Day 76 Thai Knee Boxing

Ordinary boxing is bad enough, but this looks absolutely Horrendous !

And just in case you are tempted to take it up,
you might want to look at this website first !

Day 75 Airport Metal Detectors

Before 9-11 airport scanners did not start to bleep when I went through with my first artificial knee.

But since 2001 they seem to be more finely tuned and, in America especially, can cause a lot of hassle.

You'd have to stand in a spreadeagled position and be physically patted down.

Nowadays they have full body scans, which show up ones wobbly bits, but are perhaps less invasive than the old method.

And they could even have an advantage..

Nowadays one is issued with a special Medical ID pass to save being thought of as a terrorist !!