Last week, near Falmouth, I sat sketching at Maenporth Beach Cafe while Nigel, Pascoe, Perran and Carenza went for a swim.
I was touched when Pascoe came back to keep me company.
Except, that wasn’t it.
‘I’ve trodden on something and my foot’s really hurting.’
Pascoe is notorious for his high pain threshold, so this was somewhat perturbing.
However, there was no glass, only a slight dark patch beneath the skin of one of his toes.
It was a puzzle. Pascoe, however, is a biologist:
‘Jelly fish? Sea urchin? …weever fish?’
I went up to the café counter. ‘Do you by any chance have weever fish at this beach?’
‘Yes we do. I’ll fetch you some hot water at once.’
Weever fish lurk just under the sand with their spines sticking out. The pain is extreme. The treatment is to dip the foot in water as hot as one can bear to denature the toxin.
By this time, Pascoe had shivers running up his spine.
The lady in charge was kindness itself and after about twenty minutes of very hot water, the pain was subsiding.
After the urgency passed, Pascoe was a little quiet.
'Okay, Pascoe?'
'Yes. Just wondering how the weever fish is doing.'
No comments:
Post a Comment