On the second day of January this year I had a kidney operation which resulted in me having to wear a catheter bag until the week before last when part of my prostate gland was shaved away. That operation meant that I would be able to pass urine without any day or night artificial aid, but it didn’t go to plan.
For the last ten nights I’ve been getting up every two hours to pee. ‘Oh for the bag’ I said once to myself, silently, before thinking clearly. Last night was different, suddenly I was aware of how lucky I am. Yes, lucky!
As I say, last night was my Damascus moment. I went to bed at 23:30 only to get up an hour later, wide awake. I made a coffee, fully aware of how caffeine can affect sleep, but with or without that dreaded substance, sleep escaped me. I watched some boxing then footage from the Lions tour to Australia in 2001 when Martin Johnson captained the team, drifting in and out of sleep with the laptop balanced on my lap and me stretched out in my reclining chair.
It was just gone three o’clock in the morning when it happened.
‘What a lucky person I am’ I realised for the very first time in this equation between regulated sleep versus independence. I can go to bed or get up whenever I like. If I’m in writing mode (which I should be) I can write, or if I’m being lazy (which I am) I can watch some sport, or perhaps read. I’m retired! I’ve had retired independence for five years without appreciating the freedom it gives me.
As I write this account, my French Bulldog—Leo, is at the far end of the sofa snoring merrily away, unmindful that those walks he takes when half asleep that I watch from the dizzy heights of emancipation are taken by an unshackled canine whose liberty was secured at birth.
And I thought I was more intelligent than him. I wasn’t was I?
© 2020, Daniel Kemp All rights reserved.
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About Daniel Kemp
Daniel Kemp is a seventy-four-year-old member of The Society of Authors. He is also a bestselling writer. He writes stories that appeal to those who like challenging themselves to solve mysteries that are set out before their eyes.
His introduction to the world of espionage and mystery happened at an early age when his father was employed by the War Office in Whitehall, London, at the end of WWII. However, it wasn’t until after his father died that he showed any interest in anything other than himself!
On leaving academia he took on many roles in his working life: a London police officer, mini-cab business owner, pub tenant and licensed London taxi driver, but never did he plan to become a writer. Nevertheless, after a road traffic incident left him suffering from PTSD and effectively—out of paid work for four years, he wrote and self-published his first novel —The Desolate Garden.
Within three months of publication, that book was under a paid option to become a $30 million film. The option lasted for six years until distribution became an insurmountable problem for the production company.
All ten of his novels are now published by Next Chapter Publishing Company which has added an edition titled The Heirs And Descendants Collection, which holds all four books of that series, alongside an edition titled The Lies And Consequences Collection which contains all four volumes of that series.
He is the recipient of rave reviews from a prestigious Manhattan publication and described as—the new Graham Green—by a highly placed executive of Waterstones Books, for whom he did a countrywide tour of book signing events. He has also appeared on 'live' television in the UK publicising his first novel.
He likes to write quotes and it's on Goodreads where you can find them--- https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/list/72612151 An example of these quotes opens his novel--Once I Was A Soldier:--There is no morality to be found in evil. But to recognise that which is truly evil one must forget the rules of morality.
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Daniel Kemp 
My mother has to get up several times during the night too, Danny. This is something that happens when you get older as far as I can establish. I hope you will start writing soon. I have one of your books coming up on my Audio book TBR soon.
Maybe I should disappear… 😛 😛 I have made a decent inroad into the next novel and I’m loving it again. As I share the discomfort your mother goes through, please pass on my sympathies. I hope you like the next Audio on your list, Robbie.
Sounds like retirement is working out. And you can switch over to decaffeinated coffee, tea, and soda. I suffer from bladder issues, but I think mine is more cancer-related (too much drinking from the water buffaloes in the Army)… I have insomnia from war. And so I like to write whenever I feel like it too. I don’t think I’m going to make it to 50 though.
You should try to pass the fifty mark as it can be an eye-opener. Suddenly you realise all those things you did when young can be a real pain in the butt when you’re older. I was looking for a different end to your second line–the eyes, eyes one, but I couldn’t think of one.
You should try to pass the fifty mark as it can be an eye-opener. Suddenly you realise all those things you did when young can be a real pain in the butt when you’re older. I was looking for a different end to your second line–the eyes, eyes one, but I couldn’t think of one.
Congratulations on your awakening!
I wish I’d stayed asleep 😛 😛 😛 —- Thank you, Onisha.