Today will be a Friday of staying in the house and keeping cool. Yesterday's visit to the masseuse was pleasant once I got there but the journey and walking made me very hot and dripping with sweat. The train was cool and on time. But on alighting from the train the air hit me like an oven. I spent an hour in a café writing but I think my choice of a hot coffee was the wrong one and I should have had iced coffee. I spent the hour trying to mop the sweat dripping off me. I saw later that hot drinks can set off sweat responses and the body reacts accordingly. I had always thought that a hot cup of tea can be refreshing in hot weather but maybe it works with tea but not with coffee. A lesson learned.
The massage was deep tissue which is what the Thais specialise in and I was not expected to have oils. I think oils would have been a bad thing on such a hot day with my body very hot. My regular lady is currently working in London helping out at another salon so I was with her new lady and I was happy with that. She is Thai too and speaks very little English and we had some misunderstanding when I said I had cooled off with water on my wrists on arrival, in the bathroom, and she thought I wanted her to pour water on my wrists. We sorted that out! The massage room was quite cool.
Every Thai massage starts off with the washing of the feet which is an old ritual about having clean feet and not taking dirt into the house.
The Thais are very particular about outdoor shoes being left in the hallway by the door as soon as you enter the property. (I have once arrived at the door when some removal men also arrived to pick up a bed and they were required to remove their shoes much to their surprise as burly men ready to haul the bed to their truck and go they weren't allowed to do anything until they had removed their shoes). My feet are always clean incidentally.
Yesterday in view of the hot weather she washed my feet in cold water. The washing also goes up to the knees.
I indicated that I wanted her massage to pay special attention to my legs, calf muscles, quads and thighs. She would have done this anyway but sometimes the emphasis can be put on upper body rather than lower body and I wanted lower body emphasis after all the walking in Azerbaijan and the lack of movement since I got home and have been ill.
When she had finished I walked slowly back to the station but definitely felt better than when I had walked from the station on arrival.
I do not seem to cope so well with heat as I did when I was younger and I put this down to hormonal changes since I got older.
In the evening I had salad for tea and watched further homicides in Philadelphia which I am watching each evening on Discovery+. I enjoy seeing the detective work that is put into the solving of each case, often years after the actual murder.
I watched the highlights of the day's Tour Stage on Channel 5 which is on for an hour but I am now timing my watching time to 45 minutes, knowing to avoid the first 15 minutes of talk and adverts. Yesterday was a fine day for Pogacar and a masterclass in cycling in the mountains. I admire him greatly.
For Meike, the second book I picked up at the Charity Shop this week is Three Apples Fell From The Sky by Narine Abgaryan. It is described as an international bestseller and a heartwarming book of love intertwined with history and ancient beliefs.