Putting my feet up but not hanging up my boots like David Beckham

I am putting my feet up today. After the weekend of thinking about the consequences of my visit to the hospital on Friday, I have had to let a number of thoughts float freely round the majority of my brain which is, luckily, undamaged.

I am a bit like David Beckham, I guess.

The poor guy looks as if he has reached the end of the road in his football playing career after the Achilles Tendon injury that he sustained on Sunday in what might well be his last match.



I know what you feel like matey! If, as seems likely, he is not going to ever be fit enough to play international football again then he will have to fall back on his other interests.....fashion, body art, English sport and his family.



He seems to be in good spirits judging by the photograph of him on his way to what will be unpleasant surgery. Well, he may well prove to be an example to us all beyond the football pitch.

The most photographed, and thus most famous footballer of our times, has been much ridiculed for his off the pitch life-style. Now we all know what he looks like in his underpants thanks to all those giant hoardings which marked the pinnacle of his modeling career but let's not let that detract from his superlative skills with the ball. He is basically a nice guy from what we can tell even if his lovely wife Victoria has led him astray as far as hair cuts, sarongs, designer clothes and body tattoos are concerned. Victoria, or Posh Spice as she is called, is, in case you don't know, his famously skinny wife with her silly fashions, her charmed singing career as the only non-vocalist in a sensationally successful girl band and her ability to walk on very high heels and to pout even when she is happy. Whatever she may look like in the papers - a freak - she and David seem very happy together so let's not knock them today when they pick up the pieces of his career.

I suspect we will not see the end of Mr Beckham. He should use his quiet charm in the interests of sport and I am sure that he will continue to make a real impact in the future.

I am in the same situation. Well, I don't play football, I have no tattoos, I have never worn a sarong, I don't spend much time with Posh Spice, in fact I have only seen Victoria Beckham once in the flesh, as they say, and thought she was ill as she looked so pathetically thin. In fact David and I couldn't be more different but I am still empathising with him today.

I have enjoyed practising martial arts, especially the more vigorous side of Kung Fu and, like David Beckham, I have been told that my illness really does make it unwise for me to carry on with it.

Luckily, also like David, I have other things to do with my life. Not only can I concentrate on the soft style tai chi form but I have my writing, my friends, my family and my life.

So, even though my neurologist scared the hell out of me on Friday over having slightly raised blood pressure and white matter in my cerebral blood vessels, and my series of weird left-sided ailments, I am feeling calm about reclaiming my life from illness without risking another brain haemorrhage or even a stroke. I have grown up a bit about it I think.

I am not going to worry about anything today - not about that dull sensation in my head, or my double vision, or the nerve pain in my arms or even the frustration of having to wait another year for my next brain scan. As I say, I am putting my feet up and relaxing just like David Beckham.

So that's it folks! No more writing today.........

If you want more from this site today then look up the Photography chapter above, I have just published some of my photographs of my home town, Lewes.