This arvo a friend offered to massage it, and since I never say "no" to a massage I let her. It took a long time to get going. "Relax. Relax more! Does this hurt? Relax! Now does this hurt? Relax! And stop going 'Aarg!'" Eventually the massage started to do some good, and after 30 minutes the ankle actually felt better. After an hour I could actually walk without a limp.
The ankle is still there and feels quite fragile, like it's waiting for me to mis-step so it can do its impression of knives stabbing into the joint. I have a horrible feeling I might have some arthritus in there.