“When we allow ourselves to adapt to different situations, life is easier.” – Catherine Pulsifer
Hello Hello and welcome to the weekend.
I am strange, I know it and I admit it and I have been told that quite a few times over the years🤣
So the topic from 
should be right up my street! Check out the post here .
Name and explain some of your personality quirks, strange habits or oddities that other people may find strange, weird, funny or just plain unusual. Tell us about any moments in which they may have caused humour, embarrassment or just came in useful. It's about you, so simply write what you feel is right and you wish to share
So let's get right to it! This is a first for me as I have never chosen Option 1 before!
I seem to have collected quite a few nicknames over the years, Eddie Wildlife is an appropriate one as I do seem to bond well with animals and I am forever talking to them. (
This was Susie and Stevie Swan steeming in for a chat and a bite to eat with me. Perhaps it is only down to bribery, as I do buy them some awesome food pellets from Amazon.
They say animals have a sixth sense, and I do believe they do, take those swans for example. They are quite territorial and have a go at quite a few people, yet with me they are so friendly, even when they had their cygnets, they would come and interact and let me get up close with them all.
So I will tell you about one of my quirks or strange habits that is very useful although some people do find it very odd. I will demonstrate it further on in this post, as I just took a picture of it.
In the meantime can you guess what this quirk of mine is from the picture below?
Source Image by Rajesh Balouria from Pixabay
When I was 12 I developed a type of arthritis called Ankylosing Spondylitus which leaves me in pain 24/7 and it was only diagnosed when I was 18. I was at uni in Wales and got a train back up to Scotland to go home for the summer holidays. This was a fair old distance and I did the journey overnight. After a night of sitting in a chair with my head to the window, my neck was stuck at an angle. Long story short my mother was going to get to the bottom of it. I had spent the previous six years basically being told by numerous doctors and hospital specialists that I had either fallen out of a tree or was just experiencing growing pains and there was nothing wrong.
This time my mother and her father refused to take no for an answer, and six weeks later I was finally diagnosed at that same time as my father. Nowadays it is well known and people can get diagnosed quickly, then however it was not really known about.
It has however moulded my easy going character in a very good way. My mother would tell me that there is always someone who is worse off than you, so be thankful for small mercies Edward.
Going back to the picture of the monkey, have you guessed the trait yet?
My first job review as a Chemical Engineer, my departmental head Tim Chappell (yes he was an Aussie Galen although he did not play cricket) said and I quote.
Well Edward, if you were any more laid back, you would be horizontal!
I don't let things faze me, I am forever doing new things and pushing myself.
“When we allow ourselves to adapt to different situations, life is easier.” – Catherine Pulsifer
This was the quote I started the article with, and now you will find out why.
We adapt, we learn and we adapt. When you have a disability you adapt without even thinking, things that people take for granted you will do but in your own unique way.
I discovered this quirk whilst at uni, I think partly because I was hungover.
I was writing at my desk, when a sheet of paper fell and blew to the other side of the room. I walked over to it barefoot and instead of bending down and picking it up, I kicked a sock that was on the floor. For some reason, I then picked up the paper... with my toes!
So from then on, I would pick things up with my toes, pens, paper, wrappers, socks, clothes you would be amazed at what you can pick up with your toes.
I adapted the way that I picked things up, and I made my life easier and less painful as I did not have to stretch my back and pick things up!
I was looking for something to pick up to post in this article, and I saw a facemask that had fallen out of my pocket. How appropriate in these Covid times I thought.
So there you have it, a wee quirk of mine that people find odd, but it makes my life easier.
As I have quite a severe case of Ankylosing Spondylitus I take part in as much research as possible to help others. A few years ago I was at a training hospital in the physiotherapy department when they called me Monkey Toes. They were so impressed with what I was doing and keeping my joints flexible, that they now show other sufferers the monkey toes trick!
So there you have it, Monkey Toes and his love for animals.
Wishing you all a wonderful weekend, and thank you Galen, for as usual giving us a wonderful posting prompt to engage with others.
All images and ramblings are from me, the mad Scotsman @TengoLoTodo unless otherwise stated.
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Haste Ye Back!