Farewell to another ....

 Morning Mugs,

How was Christmas then? Different I expect for very many. 

My team (Chelsea) have been happily ruining it's supporters Christmases since 1905 and this year was no different. A perfunctory win over West Ham, a shambolic defeat versus Arsenal and an honourable draw against Aston Villa, where of course we had many chances to bury them but failed to do so.  Football and any elite level sport is rather paradoxically both trivial and vital during these times of lockdown, tiered areas and lack of actual physical social meeting with friends and relatives. 

For the football/sports fan, it provides a release, a place to semi-replicate going to a match, to virtually meet friends and to share the joy and pain of the sporting experience. This is probably even more acutely recognised by actual match going fans. My point is that it is trivial, it's elite sport and entertainment for the masses....and it doesn't appeal to everyone, but for many it is a straw to clutch during times of loneliness and worry. The pain and joy of watching football or your preferred sport, especially if you have a 'team' is a welcome distraction for many and any distraction is a good thing for mental health.

On Christmas Eve, the last of my Mum's generation finally passed. My Auntie Nancy was 92, born in Sneem in County Kerry. She was a very...forthright person....almost typically Irish in that sometimes honesty was the least diplomatic route, but it was also the truth. I won't dwell on it here, but there is some sadness tingeing her passing...she was the 3rd eldest of the sisters and brother (singular, one boy with 6 sisters!) and the last to go. However, in amongst that lack of diplomacy was a wicked sense of humour and a pragmatism that went way beyond her upbringing and education in rural Ireland.  For now, my favourite paraphrases quotes from her are below. 

 

RIP Auntie Nancy.

'Sure haven't I got the worst headache ever....it must have been  a bad bottle of tonic' - said the day after her and my Mum demolished 2 bottles of gin but decided the tonic was 'bad'....

After not having seen me for 6 years, her greeting was this....'Sure..aren't you right fecking shape for heart attack' .....no 'Hello', no 'How are You'......just that. Magic.

Later Mugs, GJ