It Only Hurts When I Move
I wrenched my back yesterday. Technicians came to install fiber optics in my apartment. The instructions were to clear the area where the FREE box was installed. That meant moving any heavy furniture, too. The night before, I woke up at 3:30 and couldn’t get back to sleep. I think I was very worried about the installers and getting everything ready, as they were due to come early. So, I dozed for a while, then gave up, got up, got dressed and went to work moving things.
The internet box (FREE box) is attached to outlets in the wall behind my bookshelves. That wasn’t much of an issue. I didn’t move the bookshelves, just cleared the books away. However, I also have a very large and heavy mirror leaning against that corner. I stood and looked at it for a time, hands on hips, then began the slow process of trying to drag it across the floor. I managed to get it behind my sofa, then finished clearing out the books on that part of the shelves that the mirror hid.
The ironic part? It turns out I didn’t have to move the mirror after all.
The men came and realized that they couldn’t install the fiber optics cable where the FREE box was attached after all. No, they had to do it via the electronics cabinet in my bedroom, run cables through it, feed them into the cabinets on the landing outside my apartment, then run them up the stairway. It turns out that mine was the first apartment in the building to receive fiber optics. On the one side, that’s nice. Conversely, it meant that a 45-minute job became a 90-minute one. I was tired and hungry and hoped they’d soon get done.
When they finished, I began to move everything back into place—including the mirror. Now, earlier, when moving it out of place, I’d slid it across the floor. But in moving it back, I tried to lift it a bit off the floor, to keep the frame from getting scraped. When I got it into place, I was very relieved.
Relief didn’t last long. A few hours later, I bent down to pick up something and felt a sharp pain shoot up my back. I could barely straighten up. I’ve been in pain since then. And once again, barely slept. I woke up at 3:30 am, again, and finally dozed a bit a 5:30. I had an important appointment with one of the local banks — an attempt to open an account — and almost canceled it. But I decided to try to make it. I realized that once I was on my feet, upright, I could manage to walk a bit. It was bending down, sitting down and/or standing that was difficult.
The bank appointment went okay. The young manager M— and I met with immediately mentioned FATCA upon learning that all my income is U.S.-based. French banks generally do not want to do business with U.S. citizens because of FATCA. It’s just not worth the trouble. He made copies of my documents and said he’d get back to me within a week or so. We’ll see.
I bought lunch for today and tomorrow, then came home and promptly went back to sleep. I’ve spent the afternoon dozing. I didn’t read the book I’ve agreed to blurb, made next to no progress on the new Lanie Price book I’m working on (Shards of Betrayal), and missed an early evening gathering of AIX BOCAs that I’d really been looking forward to.
It mainly hurts when I move. Hope to feel better tomorrow. Will try to at least read more tonight.
