An article today in the Daily Mail highlights another vulnerable group of people, young men are carrying their offices on one shoulder, and not surprisingly are developing strain patterns that [...]]]> I wrote recently "School Lightens the Load" about how schoolchildren in Kansas were relieved from having to lug heavy books around school.

An article today in the Daily Mail highlights another vulnerable group of people, young men are carrying their offices on one shoulder, and not surprisingly are developing strain patterns that used to be commonest in schoolchildren. The fashion item called a "man bag" is basically a pouch with a shoulder strap and will carry a laptop plus a lot more.

When I was a lad I had a paper round and the shop provided me with a canvas "man bag" to carry the papers in. I soon found that the casual, bagstrap on one shoulder approach was painful. I tried putting the strap across my body but that pressed painfully on my collar bone unless I supported the weight of the bag with one hand. The only solution was to minimise the carry time and deliver the papers as quickly as possible. And that I suggest is why you always used to see paper boys running.

So if you must carry several kilos around with you my suggestions are to run more, so that you cut down the carry time, or more sensibly get a wheelie bag like the ones used by airline cabin crew.

I’ve been on holiday. Even when I have time off it’s hard to stop seeing every activity from a professional angle. Each sport and every physical activity has its risks and the "alfombras de sal" weekend in Lanzarote in the Canary Islands is no exception.

Corpus Christi – Arecife 2010 – Lanzarote

Every year at the time of Corpus Christi, local groups in Arrecife decorate the roads around the church with brightly coloured pictures made from dyed salt. First they mark out the edges with bits of wood and nails, then they create the pattern with chalk, string and MDF templates.

Corpus Christi – Arecife 2010 – Salt Piles

A road digger dumps piles of salt nearby and the volunteers use shovels and wheelbarrows to gather salt and mix it with powder dyes to make the colours for the picture

Corpus Christi – Arecife 2010 – Working on picture

Filling in the pattern is done by hand using a combination of buckets, trowels and hands. The salt is then tamped down to form a layer about an inch thick. The work begins at 2pm on Saturday and continues into the late evening.

Corpus Christi – Arecife 2010 – Cesar Manrique

On the following day, after a mass in the church the priest led a procession over the "carpets of salt", called alfombras de sal in Spanish. Then soon after, the council workers came along and swept up all the salt and cleaned the streets, by Monday morning it had all gone.

Apart from pushing heavy wheelbarrows full of salt and shovelling, the activity I thought would cause most pain was the hours spent on hands and knees. I expect a few people were suffering on Monday morning.