School Gate Orthotics

​​I dropped Danny off at school like I always did on a Monday morning, watching him walk up the short path and past the gate. His teacher was stationed there today, in the bright-yellow vest that they made them all wear when they were on gate-duty for some reason. She saw Danny and looked up, waving at me as well. I smiled and waved back. She was good for him, this year – much better than the old toad they’d lumped him in with in Grade 3.

         I turned the key, firing the engine back up, and closed my eyes as the radio drifted on again. I love this song, I thought to myself, as an objectively bad pop tune drifted towards me, a strange mix of electronic bass and acoustic guitar.

         I nearly jumped out of my compression stockings when someone tapped on my window.

         It was Danny’s teacher, waving at me apologetically from the other side of the glass. Fixing a smile on to avoid showing my annoyance, I rolled the window down.

         ‘Sorry, Jan,’ the young woman smiled at me. ‘I didn’t mean to frighten you!’

         ‘Not at all,’ I said through gritted teeth. ‘What’s wrong? Is Danny okay?’

         ‘Oh, yes, he got in safe and sound,’ she said. ‘But I did notice that he looked like he was walking uncomfortably?’

         I frowned. Had he been? Was I a terrible mother for not noticing?

         ‘Those are new shoes,’ I half-lied – they were on their third month. ‘He might be breaking them in.’

         ‘Oh, okay,’ she nodded, biting her lip. ‘It’s just…’

         ‘What?’

         ‘I know a great podiatrist, where I take my own little one actually. They have a great range of children’s orthotics options. Near Cheltenham, just off the freeway.’

         ‘Right,’ I frowned. ‘We have a different podiatrist, but thank you.’

         ‘Oh, okay,’ she smiled weakly. ‘Just wanted to—’

         ‘I appreciate it,’ I cut her off. ‘Now, if you don’t mind, I have to get to work.’        

‘Of course,’ she nodded. ‘Have a great day!’

Weird foot skin

I’m an absolute TV fanatic and I remember hearing this hilarious, but also stupid, joke in one episode about athlete’s foot. Basically, Jerry was trying to work multiple comedy clubs in one night before making it to a movie with his friends. He was in a rush to catch the movie in time but the comedy clubs kept screwing his time slots around. There’s this one-off character who appears in this episode and he is an aspiring comedian who has this joke about his dad having athlete’s foot and then he comes out with the line ‘and believe me, he’s no athlete’. Jerry then shrugs the character off and makes his way to his next set. I don’t know why I find this line so funny. Maybe because it’s so true? You hear the term athlete’s foot but then you see the people who get it and they’re not always athletes. It’s always your mum, your dad, your grandparent, or that kid at school who has it. Now, I’m not sure if I’m just a massive hypochondriac but since watching that episode I keep thinking I’ve got signs of athlete’s foot. I’ve since noticed that my foot feels unbearably itchy and in some sections has very red flaking skin. Throughout the day I’ll be scratching it senselessly and then from scratching it there will be an extremely painful burning sensation.

I’ve done some research online about this and many sites suggest that I purchase an antifungal cream as these symptoms are caused by a fungal infection. I ended up finding a tube of antifungal cream in my bathroom cabinet but I think I will also book an appointment with the podiatrist. Cheltenham has a few beaches nearby so I’m curious if it was the beach water I touched while walking my dogs the other day that could have caused this. I guess I’ll have to wait and see what the podiatrist says. Hopefully the cream can help ease the desire to itch. It’s been distracting me at work and anytime I have to do something.