Bugger off winter

Morning Mugs,

I'm 57 now.  After all the years of other enjoying the romantic notion of nights closing in, getting wrapped up in warm clothes for walks on wind and rain blown promenades by the sea, turning the heating up, sitting in front of the fire etc etc......I've had enough. Bollocks to all that. All it means to me now is colds, flu, aches and pains. 

And therein lies the issue......at some point in your life you move from being youthfully resistant to all the travails winter might throw at you to being vulnerable to everything and anything blowing in the wind. The bloody cold wind. Now, in part this vulnerability is also no doubt due to the presence of grandchildren, of which I now proudly have 2...one of 3 (nearly 4) and one of 4 months (aaah). I have long held the theory that children immune system is in some way supplemented by the ability to pass the ailment on, so that they recover quickly whilst the parents/grandparents walk around with sachets of Lem-Sip and bottles of Covonia to hand. Add the Ibuprofen, the Co-codamol, the Gaviscon, the Imodium, the anti-histamines and for the more extreme of us, the Diazepam and suddenly grandparents, in particular, become sort of mature walking pharmacies. Now, I rarely leave the home for any weekend break without a full toiletries bag of various medicines and things like blister plasters. 

And people ask me why I carry a mini man bag with me! 

And so we experience a run of days (5 so far) of glorious weather, not dissimilar to that we experienced in Budapest. Unbroken blue skies and sunshine. In fact the last 3 days have edged close to 20 degrees. I have walked very day and everyone is just a bit happier. More people smile, kids are out playing and there is a general feeling Spring is imminent. of course this time next weeks it'll no doubt be 6 degrees and miserable, but it does make me yearn for the warmer months more and more each year. 

Oi could in fact live in a climate whereby 21 degrees was the norm every day, where sunshine was the default mode. I would be happier, fitter and healthier. Does such a place exist?

Later Mugs

Just take me back to Budapest

Morning Mugs,

Well, back to reality then, but first Budapest. Yes I have just returned from the wonderful city of Budapest, capital of Hungary.  What can I say? It's beautiful, the people are friendly, the food is great, drinks are reasonably priced and the Danube is gorgeous.

They think we're off our rockers for wanting to leave the EU.

As does everyone else I've met from other EU countries.

Just saying.....

Later Mugs

Murphy's Law and Sods Law - the only constants

Morning Mugs,

Last year I had an ankle operation to repair what was basically a completely buggered ankle where the ligament 'weren't attached to anything'.....the consultants words , not mine. It followed a bad fall in 2016 which took an already slightly dodgy ankle past the point of no natural healing return. The operation was in June and the prognosis was '100% recovery after suitable convalescence' which means about now I can start to run or indulge in sports. 

I am not a runner but appreciate the benefits of light jogging so bought a treadmill and decided to use the Couch to 5k app from Public Health England. I am never going to be a rod runner because of the possibility of having to talk to people or more pertinently the likelihood of potholes or uneven paving slabs. I'm not risking my ankle on those shit surfaces. 

A few weeks back, our local Sports and Community Centre decided to trial 'walking football'. This pricked up my ears. I'm 57 now and the days of being able to play any football at any 'normal' pace are long gone. A few mates of mine from years ago joined up so In decided to sign up as well. 

But then.......at Christmas, as my confidence in the ankle was reaching its peak....shingles struck, and all fitness plans are put on hold. In the last few years I've had shoulder problems, ankle problems, intercostal muscle tears, gout, kidney stones, an ankle operation and then shingles. 

But yesterday, well from Monday actually, things felt OK. Out of the woods it seemed. I've done two sessions on the treadmill with the app and survived. I'm getting my walking mojo back as well with slightly lighter evenings. Yesterday was the first day at walking football. I walked to the centre a few hours after a successful treadmill session. I introduced myself to some of the guys and went through the warm up and stretches. Even then I felt a little concern that the stretches were a bit light. 20 minutes in and I stretch for the ball and turn....TWANG........pain in the back of the thigh and buttock. Quite a strong pain...the sort that would stop anyone. This meant one thing......Hamstring pulled. I played on but couldn't do much. In the second half I went in goal and did OK considering how crocked I was I did OK. 

But, today it's tight and painful...it isn't a serious one, but against all my instincts I'm being quite positive about it, viewing it a setback and not anything more sinister. It's no master pan to prevent me getting fitter...I hope. But it is an example of the one constant that plagues us all, and plagues us more as we get older. If it can go wrong, then it will go wrong! 

Sods Law. The extended version of Murphy's Law. Sods Law states that if it can go wrong, then it will go wrong...but with the worst possible outcome. Right now I am realising it might just be Murphys law in my case. Had this been a hamstring tear, then that is a lot worse as at least I can walk..albeit rather gingerly. 

The worst thing about both? The older we get the more we expect either to happen, but even knowing that, we're still never fully prepared for them. 

Later Mugs, GJ

Everything that's wrong with religion

Morning Mugs,

I'm an atheist. Out, proud and loud. There is no God. It's a fairytale perpetuated over thousands of years in order to oppress people into behaving in certain ways that meet the approval of the prudish, pompous and pious pricks and keep them in power. Yes it has some good bits, a moral compass of good and bad, but for some religions their good is another bad and vice versa. Definitions of good and bad are easily overcome we just educate children to see the obvious bad and the obvious goods. No need to use a fire and brimstone threat at all. 

My atheism followed years of catholicism, lapsed catholicism, agnosticism until reading The God Delusion made my mind up. I do think there are huge gaps in evolutionary theory, and I am unconvinced we don't have. soul or something that exists after the mechanical bits have failed. But that's another post. 

But read the link below, and then you'll see why I dislike religion. I disregard it's world viewpoint. Faith schools are hives of sectarian prejudice and belief that devalues our lives on this planet. It reduces life to a passage to something unproveable -  an airport terminal to an eternity of pleasure or torture. No middle ground as life currently gives us. Ups and downs to lift and challenge us. If we have something afterwards I hope it's rather like we have now with less extremes of privilege and right.

Muslim Faith School makes girls wait to eat until boys have finished

I say to all faith schools and religious zealots - get in the fucking sea!

Later Mugs, GJ