There are times when my life crosses the line from silly
into the just plain ridiculous. I have
the most ridiculous injuries – breaking fingers playing petanque – and now
damaging my knee after slipping on a banana skin. Yes folks, I have finally become the
caricature that I always knew I was! I
am beginning to wonder if there is a fun loving god up there who thinks it’s
funny to see just how much craziness I can take.
I am pretty rubbish at sitting still. I like to be busy, in one of my first blogs I
theorised that this was to stop myself from feeling lonely, but I am not sure that
this is the case anymore. I can hardly
be called lonely when I am in the lucky position to have a load of friends that
I cannot keep up with as much as I would like.
I am also not sure it’s to combat boredom either, I am in the lucky
position where other people think that my life is exciting. It might look that way from the outside, but
when you find yourself doing some awkward splits on a busy train station floor,
desperately trying not to cry as you have really hurt yourself whilst strangers
pick you up and giggle about how you actually slipped on a banana skin, you
begin to crave some monotony.
Over the last few months, there has been a lot going on. I have worried a lot. I know that worrying is a useless emotion,
but how do you stop? I am very far away
from my family and two of them have had health scares recently. Thankfully both of them are fine and on the
mend. Another friend received really bad
news, and I shed a few tears whilst emailing her about it. I am working all hours that god sends, I have
a project that will be finishing in four and a half months, and it’s all going
nuts right now. Oh and if that was not
enough, I took on a part time role canvassing for the council to get some
pocket money for Christmas, seeing as my pay has not been right for the last
seven months, as I thought it might come in handy for my trip to Bruges &
Brussels. And now for some reason I am
routinely waking up an hour before my alarm – I love and cherish my sleep in’s
so not really sure what is going on.
Maybe if I did not have so much going on in my head, I would have been
paying more attention to where I put my feet and I would have been happily
sipping cocktails with work friends rather than having x-rays taken of my knee
by a student doctor!
Which is where I take a huge breath and say, maybe this is
that fun loving deity’s way of telling me to take a second and look at what is
going on around you. I kind of started
this last weekend, I took Friday afternoon off to go iceskating. It was a lovely clear and crisp day and the
perfect weather for it. Freezing, so that
we didn’t get too hot and as the sun set, we were able to see the lights on the
ice. Perfect. Oh except that I had to rush off and get my
haircut as that was the only time that I could fit in an appointment to my
crazy schedule. Saturday, I decided to
take the day off. My first in 20
days. I got up early to attend
bootcamp. In four degrees. There is nothing like doing situps in the
frost. After a really hot shower, I had
a delicious brunch with friends and then we all piled into my cosy living room
to watch the All Blacks deal to the English.
I got to cuddle a six week old whilst I watched and it was a pretty good
way to spend the afternoon. Sunday, I
knew that I would have to do the work that I had put off on Saturday. In a somewhat prophetic twist, I had a sore
knee, so decided to put it up for the morning and then head to a late girly
lunch. It was noted that it was nice to
see me sitting and relaxing for a change, we chatted for a good two hours, it
was just what I needed. But then it was
off to work. Before heading to home to
cook for another friend, whilst we planned a trip to Paris. All very exciting things, but I need to learn
to take a breath and relax.
So, now, when I am laid up with a twisted knee and a crutch,
I am being forced to take some time out.
I can’t work for too long as the weight of the laptop on my knee gets a
bit much after a while. I have taken
painkillers before beginning this epic, so I have a while. I have been spoilt with friends offering to
come and be with me in A&E. One look
at them though and I would have dissolved into tears. I was very proud of myself for holding it
together. Although some people are
really unhelpful. When I was hailing a
cab to get to A&E, the cabbie made me hobble to him. I could barely put weight on my left leg. Then he parked a good 100 metres from the entrance
to the hospital. Thanks pal. My lovely flattie made me dinner, as
predictably I had no food in and was unable to get to Sainsburys. And now my bootcamp bestie is on her way over
to bring me some lunch and to watch movies with me this afternoon. Whilst I am not looking forward to braving
public transport tomorrow, I am one very lucky chick.
I guess that the moral of the story is this – make sure that
you take some time off, before you become the cartoon character who is forced
to do so. Standby family and friends,
some long emails are heading your way today xxxx
