Today was my appointment at solesensation to have a try at a bit of ichtyotherapy for my psoriasis.
As I said last week, a number of places have opened up in Britain offering a fishy pedicure, courtesy of the Doctor fish (Garra rufa) but solesensation claims to have the only full body tank in the country.
After a shower I donned my swimming trunks and lowered myself into the tank. The fish clearly saw that my body was going to be a many-course banquet for them and they swarmed over me at once.
It is a rather curious sensation - ticklish with a bit of pins and needles thrown in for good measure but once you get used to it it, it becomes rather pleasant. That said it is rather odd to to look down and see dozens of minnow-sized fish tucking in to a fine fen of dead epidermis!
After a little while I began to relax and let the fish do their thing. The session was mean to last 45 minutes but I thin I must have been in the tank for a good hour, having lost all sense of time.
What I can say is that the fish had removed a quite a bit the dead skin leaving the rest of my skin feel a lot smoother than that it has for quite a while.
This is not a cure for psoriasis, merely a rather unusual but pleasant way to alleviate one of the symptoms and allow me to apply my topical cream more effectively (for a while at least).
I think I will be returning for another session soon.
22 November 2010
21 November 2010
A Christmas present for the masochist that has everything
Christmas is coming, the geese are getting fat, shops have the seasonal tat on the shelves and are poised to drill appalling seasonal muzak into our skulls for a month.
This year I have been scratching my head (but mainly due to psoriasis) about what to get my loved ones for Christmas. To the best of my knowledge none of them undergo any act to mortify their flesh but if you know someone who does then cilice.co.uk may have the ideal gift for them.
The website has a an excellent selection of of scourges to fit an pockets but perhaps the best bargain is the hair shirt, made from genuinely irritating sackcloth, which is currently being offered at half price - the low, low price of $49.99!
Get them while they hurt!
A modest proposal
The Celtic Tiger may be in the process of being stuffed and mounted on an IMF wall but it looks as if at least that humour has not been extinguished.. yet. This is a letter that was published last week in the Irish Independent. The author surely had their tongue firmly planted in their cheek
DEAR Your Majesty,
On behalf of the people of Ireland I beseech you to take our little country back into the bosom of your realm and provide us with succour in our most dire hour of need.
Please ignore our complaining ad nauseam about 800 years of colonialism, your dodgy imperial past, your overrated football, cricket and rugby teams and all our unkind utterances about your wonderful family
Let me just remind you that we remain steadfast in our obsession with all things English: your gift to the world that is the English language, most of the world's major sports, your Premiership football teams, your soap operas, your musical genres, your high-street shopping -- not to mention that system of law for which we remain eternally grateful.
Nobody loves us any more, hardly anybody will lend us money and those that will actually want it back and with interest. Our politicians have been shown to be no more than a bunch of chancers and clowns who are about to bankrupt us all while they merely take a cut in expenses.
Everybody is laughing at us and showering us all with pity, which only used to happen during Eurovision or on 'The Late Late Show'.
If you could just bring yourself to offload a few of those jewels that you hardly ever wear and throw a few billion this way, we would ensure that street parties across the land will be held in the wake of your visit, which we barely deserve.
The country is already in raptures at the announcement of your grandson's engagement to some bird from Berkshire.
Of course, no other country in the civilised world would have saddled its citizenry with decades of hardship by bailing out its wastrel banks with billions of euro that it couldn't afford.
But the difference is. . . we're Irish.
Hmm perhaps Cobh will revert to Queenstown. Dum Laoghaire will go back to being Kingstown,. Laois and Offaly will be Queen’s and King’s County again.
If this happens in time then there is a good chance of an extra bank holiday for the upcoming royal wedding!
DEAR Your Majesty,
On behalf of the people of Ireland I beseech you to take our little country back into the bosom of your realm and provide us with succour in our most dire hour of need.
Please ignore our complaining ad nauseam about 800 years of colonialism, your dodgy imperial past, your overrated football, cricket and rugby teams and all our unkind utterances about your wonderful family
Let me just remind you that we remain steadfast in our obsession with all things English: your gift to the world that is the English language, most of the world's major sports, your Premiership football teams, your soap operas, your musical genres, your high-street shopping -- not to mention that system of law for which we remain eternally grateful.
Nobody loves us any more, hardly anybody will lend us money and those that will actually want it back and with interest. Our politicians have been shown to be no more than a bunch of chancers and clowns who are about to bankrupt us all while they merely take a cut in expenses.
Everybody is laughing at us and showering us all with pity, which only used to happen during Eurovision or on 'The Late Late Show'.
If you could just bring yourself to offload a few of those jewels that you hardly ever wear and throw a few billion this way, we would ensure that street parties across the land will be held in the wake of your visit, which we barely deserve.
The country is already in raptures at the announcement of your grandson's engagement to some bird from Berkshire.
Of course, no other country in the civilised world would have saddled its citizenry with decades of hardship by bailing out its wastrel banks with billions of euro that it couldn't afford.
But the difference is. . . we're Irish.
Hmm perhaps Cobh will revert to Queenstown. Dum Laoghaire will go back to being Kingstown,. Laois and Offaly will be Queen’s and King’s County again.
If this happens in time then there is a good chance of an extra bank holiday for the upcoming royal wedding!
20 November 2010
The Catholic Church comes kicking and screaming into the 1960s
The Church comes kicking and screaming into the 1960s
Wonders never cease but it seems that the Pope is finally softening its ridiculous stance on the use of condoms.
Acoording to the Guardian the Pop has said in a new book that their use can be justified in some cases, such as for male prostitutes seeking to prevent the spread of HIV.
The pontiff makes the comments in a book-length interview with a German journalist, "Light of the World: The Pope, the Church and the Signs of the Times," which is due to be published on Tuesday.
The church has long opposed condoms on the basis that they are a form of artificial contraception, while the Vatican has been harshly criticised for its position given the AIDS crisis. Benedict says in the book that, for male prostitutes for whom contraception isn't a central issue, condoms are not a moral solution. He also says that condoms could be justified "in the intention of reducing the risk of infection."
This is a major shift in position since last year when he told reporters while flying to Africa that condoms would not resolve the AIDS problem there but, on the contrary, increase it.
Austin Ivereigh, a British Catholic commentator "The Pope is not actually saying anything that would surprise moral theologians. What is surprising is that it is coming from the Pope… The church's teaching on contraception predates AIDS and predates new kinds of moral possibilities, which is that condoms can be used not as a means of preventing a conception but as a means of preventing transmission of a virus…Rome has been silent on this for some years. The difficulty has been how they can clarify this teaching without it looking like they are lifting the ban on contraception.
Well at long last. The Church’s attitude on contraception has been appalling.. Better late than never for this shift, I suppos
Wonders never cease but it seems that the Pope is finally softening its ridiculous stance on the use of condoms.
Acoording to the Guardian the Pop has said in a new book that their use can be justified in some cases, such as for male prostitutes seeking to prevent the spread of HIV.
The pontiff makes the comments in a book-length interview with a German journalist, "Light of the World: The Pope, the Church and the Signs of the Times," which is due to be published on Tuesday.
The church has long opposed condoms on the basis that they are a form of artificial contraception, while the Vatican has been harshly criticised for its position given the AIDS crisis. Benedict says in the book that, for male prostitutes for whom contraception isn't a central issue, condoms are not a moral solution. He also says that condoms could be justified "in the intention of reducing the risk of infection."
This is a major shift in position since last year when he told reporters while flying to Africa that condoms would not resolve the AIDS problem there but, on the contrary, increase it.
Austin Ivereigh, a British Catholic commentator "The Pope is not actually saying anything that would surprise moral theologians. What is surprising is that it is coming from the Pope… The church's teaching on contraception predates AIDS and predates new kinds of moral possibilities, which is that condoms can be used not as a means of preventing a conception but as a means of preventing transmission of a virus…Rome has been silent on this for some years. The difficulty has been how they can clarify this teaching without it looking like they are lifting the ban on contraception.
Well at long last. The Church’s attitude on contraception has been appalling.. Better late than never for this shift, I suppos
Internet down
No internet service at home since yesterday morning. Bah! Hopefully will be back later today
19 November 2010
Friday guest cat - Cutta Cutta
skight change of tack for this week's Friday cat blogging. Rather than a photo of one or more of the pulchritudinous puss-cats that rule this house here is some video footage of Cutta Cutta drinking. This relates to a post yesterday in which the mechanics of cat drinking had been studied by scientists at MIT and other establishments
18 November 2010
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