The Exploding Tower

The wedding was a success in the end. Waking up with a sore throat on the day, the two of us dosed ourselves up on cold-relief and slipped into our new suits for the afternoon ceremony. It was held in a palace by the river, and afterwards, we got lifts in separate cars to the reception - a golf club in the countryside, some twenty minutes away. It was nice to catch up with old friends from work and reminisce. I used to work as a carer for people with special needs back then.

The last few days have not been filled with anything particularly special, but have prevented me from getting to the blog. I printed the Order of Service for my friend's grandfather's funeral on Tuesday, met a friend for breakfast yesterday, and spent last night at my boyfriend's house. When I awoke there this morning, my head was foggy and I felt disorientated. As I made the two-train journey home, I realised that it was just one of the bad days of chronic fatigue. I can often gage how bad it is by whether I can make it up the hill from the station, and today, it was a trial. By the time I had reached the top, I had slowed right down and my toes were literally grabbing at the ground to help pull me along. I was supposed to go for a run at 9am, but sent a message to my friend, saying that I didn't think I could handle it. My stomach has been playing me up (something I have learned to live with for years), so I wonder if that provokes the fatigue. They so often arrive at the same time. After sleeping an hour or two off, I went to see my running partner for a coffee and we talked away a couple of cups.

I see the unexpected fatigue as the exploding tower, since the lightning strikes when it likes without warning, and I am left beneath it's rubble for as long as it takes for the dust to settle. The Knight of Swords represents movement and speed. He might concern himself with the rate at which my energy left my body today or he could suggest that rushing around and doing too much is what brought it on in the first place. When he sits in my present like this, I'd say that he has brought the explosion to me and there is little I can do about it.

I am teaching tomorrow, so amongst rest, I have tried to plan as much as I can today, printing out t-shirt samples, packing up my own garments to show the students, and trying my best to print out prompt cards for an opening discussion to my T-Shirt Printing workshop. After last week, I am a little nervous about how it will go, but I think that I am that bit more prepared than I was a week ago. Fingers crossed, eh?


Illustrations from The Radiant Rider Waite by Pamela Coleman Smith, recoloured by Virginijus Poshkus