Feet Sucked & Desk Identified

The little fish, the literature tells me, do not have teeth; rather they pull the dead skin from your feet by sucking. It is said that this is a treatment naturally occurring in Turkey and Syria where the little fish originate. There is some controversy surrounding the outcropping of beauty parlours in Western countries that use the little fish. Some of the controversy results from health concerns: a lack of a proper filtration system in tanks where the little fish suck one person and another's feet could pose the threat of the spread of bacteria. (NB: the beauty parlour I attended claimed to have a state of the art filtration system installed.) Another source of controversy, which I read about with a smirk on my face, is a concern for the little fish themselves. Seems the animal rights activists haven't overlooked the little fish, and their welfare has been questioned. I think of myself as an animal lover, but I eat animals - cows and pigs and birds and fish. I find it hard to muster up too much worry about the welfare of little fish eating human flesh in the swoosh spas in London.

 In regards to my specific experience. Well, I wanted to kick myself (and a fellow blogger will want to kick me too!) a few minutes into the treatment. I left my camera (phone) at home! As I whiled away the time before my treatment, I thought about this post and of course thought about taking a foto to include with my words. In my distracted state of anxiety about the procedure, I left home without my phone and only realised it after I had dipped my feet into the tank and a swarm of little fish gravitated to my left foot.

There was no pain whatsoever. There was a slight tickling. But the sight of so many fish (a SCHOOL of fish) latching on to my foot was mentally unappealing and this squeamishness manifested itself as a turning in my stomach. I almost jerked my fish-infested-foot out of the water, but with a demonstration of discipline, I kept my feet in the tank for 20 minutes.

Did it work?

Well, after the fish treatment, a lovely Eastern European woman filed away at my feet with sandpaper and cut off much more dead skin.

Any concern about her welfare?

This left me kicking myself a 2nd time. After the full treatment it was virtually impossible for me to determine if the fish had indeed done anything beautifying to my feet - or if the resultant smoothness was all down to the Eastern European. I should have thought to have done a before and middle and after test to assign credit where credit should be due.

I sense a lot of gimmick in the fish pedicure, but it's something I've done; an experience I can check of the list.

For a sense of what it looks like, all you have to do is google 'fish pedicure' and virtually every newspaper article or fish pedicure locale website contains a picture which is indeed true to form: a cluster of small fish gravitating around your feet. My stomach churns at the thought.

On another note, the movers arrived, packed, and departed. My flat is empty. Now I would like to buy a new desk to occupy a new space and provide me with new inspiration.