The unending paradox is that we do learn through pain.

Some of us, anyway, Madeleine L'Engle...some of us.

Not me, evidently.

Hee hee hee. I was searching for an image to represent pain. Pain au chocolat. The sort of pain you get when you've eaten too many Cadbury's Creme Eggs?

Mariana by Millais

My pain - lower back. My hip joints were sore after a difficult lesson on Poppy De La Mare last week. Instead of learning through pain, I did my usual thing. Kept going. The pain has been migrating around my pelvis and lower back for a few days now. The pain is...painful pain.

This might be noble - to be dogged, resolute -  but it can also be idiotic.

Today, I had another lesson on Poppy De La Mare. She wouldn't go. For me. She would go for Tessa, whose body wasn't distorted and stiffened in a sub-conscious effort to protect it from further damage.

Half way through, I couldn't carry on.

Have I learned THIS TIME?

I doubt it.