In my previous post, I described some events that either completely annoyed me or, in the case of Siri the kitten, were incredibly entertaining but forced me to be constantly on guard. Now, let’s dial things back a few months ago. 😁
Twice a month, we drive to Poland to buy groceries, and back in early October, I noticed I was driving along a road lined with walnut trees. Gorgeous, massive trees, and the walnuts were just perfectly ripe. We decided to pick up a few that had fallen into the grass. The ones we found were mostly small bits, but there was a massive quantity of beautiful, huge walnuts still hanging on the branches. Usually, you knock the nuts off the trees with some kind of long pole. Which, of course, I didn’t have. And there was nothing on the ground to throw at them either. Except for one piece of branch. It was perfectly dry, and therefore, super light.
As a theoretical physicist, I correctly assessed that in order to knock a few walnuts off the tree with this very light piece of wood, I’d have to give that piece of wood much more energy.
The first try was empty air—the branch reached the nuts, but it didn’t have enough energy to bring a single one down. Okay, I knew it, I needed to use maximum swing. I wound up like the Olympic javelin thrower Jan Železný and put a real effort into it…
My shoulder gave out.
I either strained something in my shoulder or tore it completely. It hurt like hell. And those few huge walnuts that actually fell were a very small consolation prize. I somehow managed to drive home, smeared the shoulder with comfrey ointment, taped it up, and figured it would be fine in a few days. And why isn’t it fine even now, in December? Because it snowed and started freezing! 😂
So, around the second half of November, I was shoveling snow several times a day. And just as I went out to shovel for the third time, my slippers slipped on the wet steps. At that moment, I recalled another Czech Olympian, Aleš Valenta, the freestyle skier who won a gold medal for a triple backflip with five twists. I don’t know how many flips and twists I managed on the stairs, but I think the judges’ score would have been high. I was lying under the stairs like Aleš Valenta after his famous jump. But without the medal… without my glasses, and without my slippers! 😂
https://youtu.be/uoBnRCeM_5o?si=CaFF1Zl88Rqk_D2c
My shoulder announced: “How about we start that treatment over again? And let’s add your back into the mix, just to make sure you remember this!“
So now, if I shoot anything, even with a light 35mm camera, I have to use a tripod. I’m just an unbelievable idiot! 😂 On the other hand, I’m not exactly young, and things could have gone much worse than just laughing over the keyboard right now.
Stay safe out there!
Your observer, Mic…. fool under the hill 😉🎞📷
P.S. Maybe the universe is just trying to send me a clear message to stick to photography and stop trying to be an Olympian. Anyway, I hope your end of the year is going smoother
