Pen Hanley's Blog

The Knee Bores and the Cake Addict: A tale of comeuppance

In the 1990s I was a Research Assistant at the Australian National University. It was a time when some of my older male friends and ex-boyfriends began hitting their forties and whenever I ran into one of them he would start talking about his knee problems from old Rugby injuries. This happened several times within about a month. It was weird. And boring.

I’d be on my way to Chifley Library or The Gods café when suddenly I’d be waylaid by the long, tedious tale of the knee injury, the different methods of diminishing the pain, and the impending surgery. They would be wearing some kind of knee bandage in blue or red. They would go on and on and on about their knees. With youthful callousness I called them (to my girlfriends later) The Knee Bores.

You will be happy to hear, Dear Reader, that Fate delivered me the comeuppance I deserved for being so callous and superior. In due course, albeit in my fifties not forties, I too developed a knee problem, even though I had never played Rugby.

Luckily for me, the Physiotherapist to the Royal Family, Sarah Key, rescued me. I heard her on the radio talking about walking barefoot along Prince Charles’ back. That got my attention. I went straight to the Uni. Coop Bookshop (at the University of Canberra where I was by then) and bought her book, The Body in Action (Allen & Unwin, 2006). Continue Reading The Knee Bores and the Cake Addict: A tale of comeuppance…