I have a pretty dodgy back which has been prone to problems for the majority of my life, so I’m really very keen on things like chiropractic and massage, whether sports or shiatsu. Indeed, one of the items on our wedding list that Kevin and I were surprised to receive was a machine you place on your chair and which then gives you a massage. It feels lovely, but compared to the one I’ve just experienced… well, that’s the difference between “stuff you can put on a wedding list someone might actually buy” and “stuff you’d need some sort of unexpected inheritance to afford”.

The woman who encouraged me to try this massage table used the time that I was lying there to give me the full sales pitch, which in all honesty wasn’t that sales-y. The company that designed and builds it are apparently a medical company, so there was a lot of information about how the machine can help relax and improve the condition of your muscles, and can even break up any blood clots that you might have skulking about.

All very impressive, but what really got my attention was the fact that just 5 – 10 minutes on the Relaxo-Comfort, by German company Biocomfort, wiped out days of backache. I’ve spent three out of the last four days walking round ExCeL with my laptop, charger, digital SLR, two mobile phones and various other bits of kit. Even with my very comfortable Crumpler backpack for the laptop, my back has been really achy and painful. Yet a short massage from the Biocomfort certainly eased the ache more than I would have expected from simply lying down.

So I’m completely sold on the idea, even if I have nowhere to put a Biocomfort, nor the money to buy one (I don’t remember how much it cost, my head can’t hold figures over £1000…). Never mind – it definitely goes into the “things we’d like in our house” category!