My sore neck

My neck has been sore since our walk on Saturday; I don't know whether it was caused by a the breeze or by coughing. It is so stiff that I can't turn my head to the left without pain so I have to turn my shoulders if I want to look at something or someone to the side of me. I have been hoping it would ease off but this morning it was worse than ever, with the pain going down my shoulder and arm. This suddenly reminded me of my Mum; I remember that she was prone to stiff necks and what she called "frozen shoulders" and I remember her discussing painkillers and cures when I was a child. I guess you can't escape your heritage! Luckily it doesn't happen to me very often, the last time was several years ago. My Mum always had plenty of remedies in her medicine cabinet; I loved the taste of Disprin and Benylin. We were watching an episode of Mad Men recently where a little girl is given a sleeping tablet by an adult. James was really shocked when I told him that this happened to me in the 1970s several times when I couldn't sleep! James has a few remedies of his own and gave me an Ibuprofen tablet before I left for work. One of my colleagues very kindly gave me a neck massage, and advised me to treat it with "hot and cold" treatments. It was too inconvenient to use the ice pack from the first aid box because I never get the chance to sit still in my job, however there was a life skills outing just about to go to the town centre, so I gave them money to buy me some "Deep Heat" cream AND some "Deep Freeze" gel. I applied these alternately throughout the day and it has been quite effective, although people kept asking what the smell was! Ally is quite interested in my method, and he has applied the cream to one of his legs and the gel to the other while he watches the Chelsea v Barcelona game on television. He thinks that the heat cream is more tingly than hot, but he does think that the cold gel feels cool on his skin.