The bruises are a result of spending several hours at the top of the mizzen mast rethreading the topping lift. This was completely self-inflicted: Sarah tried to replace it with a thicker line, and lost the mousing line in the process. (For you non-yachties, that's the thin piece of string that you use as a guide to get a bigger piece of rope down inside the mast.)
So she discovered that the arrangement at the top of the mizzen involves a very small gap and lots of effort to deal with it. And although the Petzl harness is actually very comfortable, it doesn't half leave some marks. They don't actually hurt the way they look, honest!
Doing the job made Sarah remember Rob and Kat. He's Australian and she's from the US, and they over-wintered the same year at Port Napoleon. Kat's a fiendish Scrabble player, and Rob incredibly competent in all sorts of ways. When all our mast top mousing proved to have been shredded by the mistral, he climbed both our masts, with no safety line, to thread something through so we could deal with the job.
Sadly Rob is pretty unwell right now, and they are back in Oz. It's been a hard year for serious illness amongst our friends and family, making gall-bladders and bruises pretty minor. We send all those we know who are fighting life-threatening problems, and those people caring for them, lots of love and positive vibes for their ability to fight and recover.