My New House Welcomed Me With A Knee Injury

A month on from my big move, how am I getting on?

If you want a bad omen, here’s one for you.

First night in my new house. I’ve brought some things with me, mostly clothes, but the furniture and the many, many boxes I’ve been packing aren’t arriving for a few days.

That’s fine, though, I’m prepared for it, I’ve brought up an air mattress to sleep on and a temporary wardrobe to serve as a set of shelves for stuff. Cheap and flimsy, sure, but good enough for a few days while I get sorted out, and I sleep fine on the air mattress right up until I have to get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom.

It takes a moment to remember where I am and that I can’t just get out of bed the normal way and — still half-asleep — I decide to just roll off onto the floor and push myself up from there. Knees and joints creak as I shift upwards in the half-light and my hand reaches out for something to steady myself on, not thinking as it grips the edge of one of the shelves on the temporary wardrobe. I push up, it inevitably gives way under a lot more weight than it was ever designed to take, I go down hard on my knee.

Less than 24 hours living in it and my new house has managed to injure me. I’m planning on going to my new local Parkrun for the first time the next day, but by the time I wake up my knee’s so sore and stiff I couldn’t manage the walk there, let alone any sort of run.