I’d been doing so well. I’d bought a Smith machine (which is a piece of kit you’ll find down at your local gym that allows you to lift weights without the risk of dropping them and killing yourself) and had managed to stay injury free for quite some time. I was strong, fast, playing football pretty well and my running was coming along nicely too. Something had to give. And of all the things that could have caused it, walking to the train station must be about the most unlikely of all.

I woke up with a bit of stiffness at the back of my knee above my calf muscle. I just assumed it would pass and carried on. I played football one night and the knee hurt a bit more afterwards but as I had a game the next day I promised myself I’d give it a rest afterwards. Big mistake. I was having a good game and then I twisted as I was changing direction quickly and then felt some rather nasty cracking sensations in my knee and was hit by rather a lot of pain. I had been wearing a knee support and even with that on I couldn’t run any more (so I just played in goal and passed the ball around). I limped home and put some ice on it to try and stop any swelling and hoped it wasn’t too bad.

Luckily it only looks like my collateral ligaments so I’ll live to fight another day. In the meantime I’ve had to do something I find rather difficult – sitting around with my feet up doing nothing. It’s going to be a few weeks before I can start running / biking / footballing / walking without a limp again and a lot of that good work I’ve been doing lately will have to be done all over again. Still, on the bright side I probably need the rest, and I usually get an injury like this every 18-24 months so I know what to expect.

On the negative side, I’m supposed to be going to Center Parcs again with my girlfriend and her family over Easter weekend. Unfortunately the only mode of transport over there is on foot or by push-bike, neither of which are really options at the moment. And I’ll be damned if I’m getting a wheelchair! Anyway, I’ll just have to keep my fingers crossed that my legendary (or is that mythical?) powers of recovery do their usual magic. But I am getting older so I’m not going to be able to rely on them forever!

Oh, the job’s going really well so far, and the iPod’s fantastic (with so much music to choose from it’s often tough just deciding what to listen to while I’m going to work).  I’d definitely recommend that anybody out of work gets a job, it’s well worth it.  I’d definitely recommend that anybody thinking of getting an iPod goes out and gets it – they won’t regret it!

Must go, I’ve got some ibuprofen cream to apply to my knee. Lovely…