amazing that I’ve managed to get into my thirties before I’ve sustained my first ever fracture. I had a hairline fracture of my foot about 15 years ago, but I don’t count that. On Saturday, I was grading for my karate green belt. I’ve been full of a cold for a week or so, and wasn’t feeling great to start with, but the good thing about karate is once it starts, generally you focus so much you tend to forget about bumps and bruises and aches and pains.

Anyway, we got all the way through the two hours without any major incident. Right at the end, the instructor thought it would be a good idea to have some 2 on 1 full contact sparring. I have no real issue with this, but the fact remains we only had mitts on – no leg pads, no mouthguard, no abdominal guard. To cut a long story short, I whizzed a side kick out at one of my assailants and he blocked it. No big deal, except when we stopped and I sat down, the adrenalin wore off. My foot was swelled and my little toe was enormous compared to the other one.

I finally went to A&E on Sunday, and managed to time it just right in that from being checked in to being triaged to being X-rayed to being seen and then discharged must have taken no longer than 30 minutes. The bottom line is I have a double fracture and I have to stay off it for a few weeks. Went back again today to see the specialist and I’ve been signed off for three weeks.

This means many things, but mainly :-

– I’ll go mad, I can’t do sitting still

– I’m pissed off that we only wore mitts for full contact sparring – that’s just asking for trouble

– Next week was supposed to be a holiday, that’s up in smoke, I can’t go anywhere on those crutches.

The kids are still off school and can’t understand really why I can’t do anything with them. It’s difficult, I’m supposed to rest up, but can’t. I have a very low boredom threshold and want to be doing something useful with my time. Maybe I’ll grab my camera and see what I can snap in and around the house.