So the other day ma heid wus nippin and a wusnae too sure why that wus so, and then I thought to masel maybe it’s gonny rain, ’cause ma Ma used to always say that her corn wus gein her jip and sure enough no lang efter it would rain and so I wus reminded of this the other day.

I had a lesson with Amy, one of my regular students and she said that she had been feeling unwell for a few days, she had been having really bad headaches. I told her that I too had been having a headache and wasn’t feeling 100%. My forehead was really sore and I felt that my sinuses were about to explode, which would not really be a good look.

I was then reminded about what my mother would say to us, she used to say that if the Corn on her big toe started to give her a bit of grief then it was going to rain. Even on the rare occasion that the sun did shine in Scotland for a few days then sure as the sun comes up in the morn it would rain and this is even if there was no rain predicted in the coming days. My Mum’s success rate for predicting rain was way better than Michael Fish.

Anyway back to Amy, later that night the rains came to Suzhou with a vengeance, the rain came pissing down and I should know because I got caught in it on the way home and got drookit. But Amy sent me a message to tell me that her headache had gone, when the rain started the pain went away. Spooky she said and she said that she did not want this “kind of magic” which I thought was great. I never thought of it as being magic before, but then this is the joy of the English language when someone with limited English can express themselves in such a simple but succinct way. And so I guess me Ma really did possess some supernatural powers.

Corns and calluses are hard, thickened areas of skin that form as a consequence of rubbing, friction, or pressure on the skin. Corns and calluses form on the feet and can make walking painful. … Corns generally occur on the tops and sides of the toes.