Hatty - I started doing it in France (ear syringing) because my doctor told me that everyone in France DIY'd their ears and sinuses. You need the wax softening stuff - I use Otex, which has hydrogen peroxide in it, and makes a satisfying noise (sort of fizzing) when it hits the wax. You do this for 4-5 days and then you get a "poire" (I think it might be called a bulb syringe in English?), fill it with warm water, and with your head on its side and over a wash basin, squeeze the "poire" hard so that the water rushes in at speed, and out again. The first go usually just dislodges a few crumbs of wax, but the second or third brings out a most satisfying lump. Once this has come out, I usually do one more squirt, which may or may not bring out some more crumbs or a lump, and that's it done. The trick is to make sure the wax is really, really soft (you will know when it is "ripe" - stick your finger and a tissue into the ear - just inside, and some fairly runny wax will go onto it - this means you are good to go). I find it much more gentle than the electric thing the nurse uses, and find it does as good a job.
Sciatica is a bitch, Auriga, you have my sympathy.
I have decided that I am not a big fan of roast pork. I didn't eat pork until I was 22 and moved to 1980s Poland, where it was a case of "eat pork or starve" - you could occasionally get beef, but meat was still rationed then, and being a veggie really wasn't an option, particularly in the winter, when you could only get cabbage and potatoes.