boring feet

i don't have time to post about my magnificent weekend all at once, so i'm going to do this in bits.

on thursday night, i mentioned to my kibbutz cousin the difficulty i've been having with my feet cramping up at night. to my surprise, she told me of her memories of my great-grandmother, who she'd often find pushing her toes against a wall in the middle of the night.

as it happens, she's friends with a couple on the kibbutz who both suffer the same thing and who have apparently found a solution. for the long run, they make sure to drink a glass of either bitter lemon or tonic water (both amongst my favourite drinks) every day. for immediate relief, a glass of salt water does the trick.

i've now been doing that for a few days. and it works! the only explanation i can think of is that our bodies are sweating out too much unreplenished salt during the summer (it doesn't happen in winter), but i don't think that explains why those drinks in particular help.