After years of getting frustrated by not being able to pick something up or dropping something without warning,I now have a new and unexpected addition. I had been using my E cig and was ready to go to bed so I went to place it back in the grove that runs round our coffee table, it can’t roll around or get lost there. When my hand was over the correct spot I went to put it down, again and again, I simply couldn’t let go of it, I think I tried about 6 times before I thumped my hand off the table and it was freed, then all I had to do was catch hold of the cig as it was off on it’s own rolling away. I don’t remember ever finding that happen before, it was just as thought the muscles had locked and weren’t getting the message to release, I guess it make sense that such a thing can happen, as if your muscles can just let go suddenly, why can’t they just refuse to let go, it wasn’t as thought they were in a spasm, there was no pain, just no action. Things never happen once and never again when it comes to things like this, they always return at some point, I can just hope it doesn’t happen when I do something silly like grab a hot tray or something. It has to be one of the few things that makes every day different, as you never really know what your body is going to do next, some are straight out funny, others are embarrassing, a few dangerous, but most just annoying.

I am still finding sitting rather painful, three days of sitting on the blow up cushion and making sure every time I sit down I have my chair at just the right height and so on, all small things but when you sit all the time, they become important. Going through this process has actually thrown up a reason why I might have triggered the whole thing. I haven’t now for several weeks had any peace from my diaphragm and left side of my ribcage, constantly trying to twist and shift in an attempt to release, or at least ease the discomfort means I am also now leaning heavily on my left thigh and buttock. The most comfortable position for my ribs is to have my left arm pushing up off the desk and along with the tilt on my thigh, I manage to stretch my body on that side, lifting my ribs and reducing any pressure they are causing on the muscles that are in spasm. It isn’t so noticeable when I am sitting or standing, but when I lie down it’s easy to feel and see just how much my ribs are being pushed out from their normal position when the spasms are there. I think that is where the whole problem has come from, I am trying to compensate for the unusual position and discomfort, but the result is I am causing problems else where. The stupid thing is that even knowing what the problem is, doesn’t help in the slightest, like so many things that happen, our bodies aren’t designed to deal long term with this sort of thing, so you are left just trying to work out what is more acceptable, discomfort in one area or another, as you can’t have comfort everywhere at once. I suppose that that is true for most things in life, there always seems to be some sort of pay off for having what you want, when you want it.

I have fallen out with Twitter, not the people on it, or what I do on it, no I have fallen out with the designers, who seem to think that they have to change the way it looks every few weeks for no reason what so ever! At 5 pm last night it suddenly changed, I am sure many will think it is better as they have made some font size changes that mean some are bolder and easier to see, but they have also changed colours and positions of different buttons and so on. For me, they have made it harder to use not easier, everything is suddenly on a bright white back ground that is really painful on my eyes, especially the header. I have even been in to their programming to see if I can find the colour settings so I can change them but with little luck. Most, not all I admit, but most sites allow you to customise your own version with ease, but not Twitter! With the population shifting to being one where their are more older people than youngsters designers are really going to have to take into account the problems that both the disabled and elderly population have with eyesight and dexterity. I have found far to many who seem to over write the settings on your own personal PC, I have mine set to allow for the fact that I often find my finger clicking the mouse when I don’t mean to, so most things are set for double click action, Twitter for one has that over written, single clicks mean you find yourself doing things you just don’t mean to, like following or unfollowing people just to name one. Designers need to not only know how to program it is long past a time when they should also be thinking about how to make things user friendly, for more than just agile and healthy. I am picking on Twitter because they are the most recent to force yet more changes, for change sake. I am sure there are a large number of people who have recently been sent from their banks a little pad that looks at bit like a credit card sized calculate, it’s not, it’s a new layer in security for on line banking. Should you want to pay a bill, it produces a unique code to ensure it is you moving the money, good idea, not! The buttons that you have to use, are too small and the screen really hard to see, getting that all important code isn’t as easy as they think. Once more designers not thinking ahead of their own age, but it is a world wide issue and one I don’t think most companies can afford really to not put thought into, but I won’t hold my breath waiting for them to notice.

I am sure there are a large number of people who have recently been sent from their banks a little pad that looks at little like a credit card sized calculate, it’s not, it’s a new layer in security for on line banking. Should you want to pay a bill, it produces a unique code to ensure it is you moving the money, good idea, not! The buttons are too small and the screen really hard to see, once more designers not thinking ahead of their own age!