Countdown to decrepitude

It happened last week.

The prelude was a few days earlier. We were doing our usual 30 minute walk: to the River Trent and over the footbridge, along the bank, back over Trent Bridge, then home. Not once but 3 TIMES I had a little stutter because the hip, with a spasm of sharp pain, just stopped working momentarily. I could carry on walking after a few seconds but it was a bit of a wake-up. This has happened a few times in the past, but not repeatedly in the space of a few minutes.

And it was the more surprising as I actually won a game of singles (albeit by a double fault on a tie-break game) just a week before.

So last week I nip into the library before catching the bus into town. You can see the buses coming along our high street so I had plenty of warning of one coming. All I had to do was run about 20m to the bus stop.There were plenty of passengers waiting so I'd get there easily.

But no - I took a couple of steps and had to stop. The hip had stopped working again! I walked several steps and then tried again. No - running was a no-no. Not even a brisk walk would et me to the bus stop in time and I had to watch in frustration as it pulled away just as I was reaching the stop.

Sod it I've always relied on being able to run. There was the Robin Hood Half Marathon (2 hours but I beat someone on a sprint finish!), countless games of 5-a-side football, the time the Tube was closed at Euston and I had about 10 minutes to get to St Pancras for my train, the short returns when you're at the back of the court etc, let alone hypothetical emergencies when you have to get somewhere else fast.

Dammit! Now I'll be the guy that gets left behind with the remaining ammunition to buy the fleeing heroes a few extra minutes, never to be heard of again. AND the hip replacement op probably just got a little closer.