Phew!
What a big day it was yesterday! Mid-winter toenail clipping day it was, yessiree! Usually it comes sometime after the solstice; there's no exact date; you have to go by the signs.

So, my toenails had started tearing holes in my thick woolly socks and they were long and splayed with striations and wavy edges. That's when you know it's time: just when they begin to look like exotic underwater coral formations.

WOO HOO! I HAD ME SOME FUN!! Though I think I've over-stressed the clippers. A couple of times the clippers actually got stuck in the middle of my big toe nails because I made the typical mistake of starting in the middle - - don't do that, people, it can take quite a while to prise them out, though it helps if you use some kind of lever. But does anyone else clip off the skin from the very end of their toes that's all dead and yellow and kind of transluscent? That's the funnest bit, cause after it's gone it leaves lovely soft, rosy pink skin and you kind of feel like a baby again!

I put all the clippings in the middle of a tissue and them wrap them up carefully since I heard that story from I guy I know about how Voodoo priests in Africa use 'em against you. Now, I know I live in Australia, but our horrible neighbour (who we affectionately call Voldemort) comes from South Africa, or Holland, or somewhere, SO I'M NOT TAKING ANY CHANCES!

I haven't always had this Mid-Winter Toenail Clipping tradition, however: I used to have my last clip around April sometime, and then (as it got colder) left my next one till, say, November or December and I used to call that tradition "The Clipping off of Last Summer's Toenail Polish Tradition" which, granted, saves on nail polish remover, but eventually costs more in new sock outlay.

Dangnabbit, I feel all beautiful and stylish now! My toes are simply curling in hedonistic delight inside my uggies! But my feet feel distinctly shorter.