I received a letter yesterday, it was a copy of a letter sent by one of the top medics at University Hospital Oxford to my GP. Within its three pages discussing my health were the words - In view of his young age.................... Hang on, I am sixty-six years old. This letter is from one of the top doctors in the country - what is going on ?
For the past few months I have been going through a series of medical tests as I want to be a live kidney donor - long story which I will not bore you with but tests show all of my vital organs are those of a man younger than myself. Lovely, problem is this body in which they live !
You know how when you visit a hospital they check who you are by asking your date of birth, post code and first line of your address ? On a visit to my local hospital, not to Oxford on this occasion, I was asked to confirm who I was. Somebody, somewhere had miss written a 5 and put an 8 so when I was asked for my date of birth and I said three-eleven-fifty the lads to whom I was speaking said that was wrong, I was born in 1980 not 1950. When I corrected her she said - Are you sure ? I could have kissed her !
My family does have a history of longevity so I probably have another thirty years of life left in me. The outside of my body may be falling apart like that of a rusting old car but the engine inside is that of a Ferrari. Well may be a Jaguar, not a Ferrari. It is losing my mind I fear the most. If old age rots the brain cells then what is left ? My maternal grandmother lived to be a few weeks short of her one hundredth birthday and was as sharp as a razor to the end. I am determined to copy her example.
All my life I have loved writing, it is a hobby and, yes, I am a published author but those three books are long out of print. These days you would be lucky to find a copy even on e-bay !
With the Internet anyone can be an Amazon published author, there is nothing special about the ten e-books I have there. My Amazon stats for the past month have some good days among others of inactivity.
If I was in this for making money I would be working to raise every day to the level of the spikes but that is not what it is all about for me. Writing is one way of keeping my mind sharp.
I am about ten thousand words away from finishing my teenage autobiography. I am loving writing it and will add it, when finished, to my Amazon portfolio. It is on my Max Robinson Website if you wanted to read it. I shared the link with my facebook friends in the Lewis's Group and one kind person posted saying it was a good read. THANKS.
I have written my schoolboy autobiography - if any of my former students want to see what a thoroughly bad pupil Sir was they may care to check it out. HAVE NO FEAR I will NOT be writing my teaching autobiography.
My plan was, when the current project is finished, to go back to fiction writing and work on
It is now 2.15am, I have been out of bed for an hour. My mind is alive and I can not sleep. I just had to get up and come to the laptop.
Have you read the Alan Bennet Diaries ? I am a fan of Alan Bennet, I have both his History Boys and Lady In A Van on DVD. I like the style of his diary, it is close to my own writing comfort zone. NO, no in no way do I have the talent and abilities of Alan but I have an idea.
I publish a weekly Diary Page and write this blog every day. These are a bit of fun for me and, hopefully, find readers for my stories. The reason why I am not in my bed but writing this blog page is because I have had an idea for a new writing project - THE DIARY OF A SILLY OLD MAN.
A bit like a geriatric Adrian Mole but 100% true.
Yesterday I told those of you who checked this page - there were 43 of you, all about my writing den - the summer house at the bottom of my garden. It is now all sorted, tidied and refreshed after the winter and waiting to become my hideaway as I scribble away.
So should I write this diary ? Will it help to keep my brain alive and functioning ?
The logo I use for all my writing is myself aged seventeen. I wonder if the medical profession which can confuse my date of birth from 1950 to 1980 and an eminent professor writing In view of his young age..... I may actually - one day - look like that again.
OK, I am going to shut up, publish this blog and go back to bed. The coming days will see if The Diary Of A Silly Old Man happens or not !
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