Tendonitis or Arthritis - it's bloody painful

With hindsight I think I might well have struggled to complete this year’s 30x30 direct watercolour challenge even if I hadn’t been struck by a little bit of misfortune. I was already behind schedule when over a week ago the day after I had fulfilled 3 commissions, I woke up to find my right shoulder, elbow and wrist in agony. I’ve had tendonitis before and it felt just like this. However I was diagnosed with arthritis some fifteen odd years ago. I’ve not suffered too badly with it before, but I have to face he facts that one day it might make things really difficult for me.

I tried everything I could think of to make it go away – well, short of actually seeing the doctor, anyway. Bandages, wrist supports, deep heat, deep freezing cream, ibuprofen, paracetomol and cocodemol (not at the same time, you understand.) Nothing has made a significant difference. In the last couple of days I have started to feel better in the afternoon and evening, but when I go to bed I’ve been waking up after an hour’s sleep in absolute agony with it.

Well, the pain passed after I got up this morning. Not saying I won’t have another awful night again, but I felt comfortable enough to pick up my pens for the first time in over a week. The last 8 or 9 days have been so frustrating. The weather has improved and having reached the grand old age of 60 I have received my free bus pass. I can go anywhere I like on the bus in Wales, but I haven’t been able to draw anything when I get there. And I’ve been given so much wonderful, lovely, gorgeous sketching equipment for my birthday! It’s torture.

So this morning, feeling that bit better, I cracked. I started a project to sketch all of London’s bridges over the River Thames a couple of weeks ago, and so this morning I sketched the next bridge downstream, Kingston Railway Bridge.

The present bridge was built in 1907, replacing a cast iron bridge designed built in 1863. It has five arches: three over the Thames and two others across dry land, which on the Kingston bank includes a road.

The bridge carries national railway lines mostly in and out of London’s Waterloo.

Well, I was so pleased with myself for being able to sketch again – for today at least – that I went straight on and sketched the next - Teddington Lock Footbridges

These are two footbridges, situated just upstream of Teddington Lock. There is a small island between the bridges. Possibly the most interesting thing about these bridges is that they are completely different in style and structure.

The two footbridges were built between 1887 and 1889, funded by donations from local residents and businesses. They replaced a ferry which gave its name to Ferry Road at Teddington. The southern bridge consists of a suspension bridge  crossing the weir stream which is the main feature of the sketch and it links the island to Teddington itself. The northern bridge is an iron girder bridge, which you can see part of on the extreme left of the drawing. It crosses the lock cut and links the island to Ham on the Surrey side.

The footbridges are both Grade II listed.

So, all that’s left to be seen is – will I suffer for it tonight?