Posts Tagged ‘River Deben’
Physiotherapy
You know you’re old when you fall over and everyone rushes round full of concern?
I know what people are saying behind my back:
“How’s John?” they’re saying.”Well he had a fall you know…”
It’s what you say about your 90-year-old Granny.
OK, so I fell over. I tripped over a tangle of dinghy trolleys on a muddy hard down by the River Deben and in that instant between standing and and going “splat”, I thought: “Oh no, I’m about to get seriously muddy.”
And so instead of rolling onto my shoulder, continuing in a controlled martial arts move and leaping to my feet in a fraction of a second (which I promise you is what I normally do), I put my hands out to save myself – the worst possible thing to do.
Well that was to months ago and my wrist is still reminding me about it so I ended up at the Physio. He keeps my wife fit for her marathons and tends to our athletics-mad 13-year-old. But he had never seen me before.
Name, address? he wanted to know.
Then: Occupation?
“Well, um… I suppose the best way to describe it is to say that I help people make money.”
“Really?” he said, looking up from his screen with an alarming display of interest. “Could you help me make money?”
“Sure. It takes me about 15 minutes to show you – although I suppose you’ve got another appointment after me.”
“No, no,” he assured me – indeed I think he would have been quite happy to abandon my wrist to its own devices and concentrate on the money. But I hadn’t booked an appointment for that.
So instead he manipulated the joint, he plied his little ultra-sound machine. He will see me in three weeks if it doesn’t improve.
And then he said: “So how can I make money?”
“Well that depends,” I answered judiciously. “How much do you want to make?”
We discussed his options which amounted to the following: a: charge more or b: work longer.
… or, as I explained, c: spend two hours a week building up an income that will grow month by month until it pays him far more than he could ever earn no matter how many hours he put in or what astronomical fees he charged.
Judging by the fact that I was still there an hour after my initial appointment time and there was no other patient hammering on the door, I think “c” is going to be his best option.