Searching for a hobby was giving me a headache! I knew the usual pursuits – collecting beer mats and coasters. I wanted miniatures – whisky, gin and rum, preferably full.
I needed a hobby to get my teeth into. They ached quite often. I gave it more thought, and there was that pain again. I feared it might be serious! I felt a flutter, a frisson of excitement.
With hobbies – hypochondria is King. It concentrates my mind for most of the daylight hours. At night I enjoy a spot of insomnia.
Most hobbies are expensive, golf springs to mind, deep sea diving, and hang gliding. Even gentle pursuits like counted thread work cost a fortune and send you blind. Hypochondria needs only a good medical dictionary, a wild imagination and the bus fare to the clinic.
How I used to suffer, leafing through my volume of illustrated ills. When Google came along the world was my oyster. (Now there’s an allergy!) There are moments of terror, of course, as in horror novels and films, but I savour them. Some folk pay good money to be frightened out of their wits.
I’ve dallied with most of the spine chilling complaints. My breasts have had more lumps than a bowl of porridge, and, oh yes, my bowels have moved me! Once, after downing pills donated by the National Health, I got thrombosis – well nearly! Driving my new car caused the pain in my leg. It took weeks of tantalizing anguish to find that out.
This hobby out puzzles Scrabble and Sudoku, (and I’d have to buy those games.)
A professor who examined me for bladder problems hooked me up to a catheter and a large tank of water. You don’t get that playing contract bridge! My innards took in a steady trickle. ‘Tell me when you’re full,’ my tormentor said.
‘No problem yet,’ I responded to his first enquiry.
A while later: ‘I’m still comfortable,’ I said.
Still later: ‘No trouble at all.’
‘Well, we have a problem,’ the boffin informed me – we’ve run out of water. Your bladder rivals the capacity of the Aswan Dam.’
What a relief! Oh! It was worth it!
That’s the point, really. I can’t tell you the euphoria that sweeps over me when I get the all-clear. That lift of the spirits,tinged with regret, because I was rather enjoying it! That high is rarely achieved by an aerobics fanatic going for the burn.
I wondered if there were fellow enthusiasts. I found that there’s a great big world out there brimming with players. Health is always in vogue – it’s the next most popular topic after the weather.
I am sought after for my specialist knowledge, and know that my physician finds me fascinating.
I get all this excitement for free: or at most, the cost of a good medical dictionary. If I bought the right one, I might win a prize. I could get chased down the road by a man with a prize draw cheque!
It would definitely make my heart race!
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LaLa Land by Malabar Cash is an ebook for Kindle: available on Amazon. Enjoy!
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