It's Come to This: Old Man's Sandals with Velcro. (Gout and a Lord Chancellor of England)

 Yes, I am an old man despite what my mind deceives me into believing.

I can reckon with the age bit (I have no choice).

But old man's sandals - that's another story. 

Velcro fasteners?  They're  for really old men.

There is a story.  The point where the joint of my left big toe meets my foot  i.e. "bunion territory" is highly inflamed and painful.

So painful that on last Thursday night I woke myself up many times by yelling "ouch".  I bought the sandals today to relieve the pressure on my toe as I walk out with Zion. It helps.

Tylenol is helping with the pain.

I suspect that the toe is afflicted with gout.  Those who have or have had gout will testify as to the intensity of the pain.

I will see my Podiatrist and/or my P.C.P. as soon as possible next week.

Yesterday morning at Bayfront Park I chatted with an English couple I see most mornings.

The wife asked after my welfare, and I spoke about my probable gout. They expressed suitable sympathy.

I responded "on a world scale of suffering this is nothing.  But it's my left foot!" 

Here is the silly bit.  When I was a wee shaver of about six years of age, my mother kitted out my twin sister and I with sandals; worn with white ankle socks. 

Oh my goodness.  I hated sandals, thinking them to be footwear for girls alone.  

I have not worn sandals since then.

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HISTORICAL QUOTATION

Quote Investigator: Robert Henley, Earl of Northington served as the Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain in the 1760s. In 1831 his grandson published a book about his prominent ancestor. Henley who died in 1772 sometimes experienced severe fits of gout, a form of inflammatory arthritis. His grandson reported the Earl’s remark about his legs. 1

When suffering from its effects, he was once overheard in the House of Lords to mutter after some painful walks between the Woolsack and the Bar, “If I had known that these legs were one day to carry a Chancellor, I’d have taken better care of them when I was a lad.”

Poor Lord Henley.   He couldn't buy old man's sandals; but he did have a fancy wig.