Essential bits and bobs

My 'first-aid kit' can hardly be called that, it is so basic. There are chemists in the towns and villages, so I don´t feel the need to carry a load of stuff I may (hopefully) not need. What I am taking is a small roll of plaster, some gauze squares, a tube of antiseptic, needle and thread for blisters (that also counts as my sewing kit!), a small pair of scissors, paracetamol, tablets for muscular pain, regular medication, and last but not least a pair of tweezers.

The tweezers are one of those gadgety things I normally wouldn´t carry. They come in a little case slightly larger than a lipstick, with a narrow strip of mirror inside. The tweezers themselves tweeze very well and actually have a little light you can switch on between the pincers which shines on what you are tweezing. Good for removing splinters or whatever in a dimly lit hostel.

I saw an identical pair being used when they came in very handy indeed. A few posts back I mentioned that I spent New Year with some friends on an island which is a nature reserve. I have been there several times as it is a truly wonderful place to stay. It takes several hours to get there by boat, and there are no roads, no cars, no electricity. Fishermen live there in a couple of clusters of simple houses, and you stay with them. The rest of the island is deserted, with empty beaches over 20km long, and waterfalls to visit in the hills. A corner of Paradise perfect for long relaxing walks.

Anyway, one evening during dinner a member of our group suddenly choked, and it turned out she had a fish bone stuck in the back of her throat. By sheer good luck one of our group was a doctor, not only that but she was an ENT specialist. In the dim light from the generator she was really struggling to try and remove the fish bone which was firmly embedded in the poor victim. Lo and behold, when the tweezers were produced (several of us had been given them as a Christmas gift) the problem was quickly solved, much to the poor patient´s relief. Two very fortuitous coincidences as we were a long way from anywhere, on New Years Eve.

Now, I don´t expect a similar dramatic need for my tweezers on the Camino, but I´m taking them anyway, you never know...