Football can be like dancing.
Debutant Aaron Connolly with the ball yesterday afternoon
I drove over to Hull yesterday. I was there to watch The Tigers lose to Fulham in the third round of The F.A. Cup. Of course when I set out, I was hoping that the result would be the other way round and it really could have been if our lads had taken their gilt-edged chances in the first ten minutes of the match.
Ah well, that's it for another year. We will have to concentrate on staying in The Championship now - the second tier of English men's professional football.
Before the game, I met up with my friend Tony for lunch in "The Old Tram Station Cafe" run by a young Polish couple. When I say "young", I mean younger than us.
We shared Christmas and family news before ambling over to The MKM stadium. I have seen many games with Tony and together we have ridden the highs and lows of our beloved football team over decades. We saw them when they were bottom of the fourth division, witnessed their rise to The Premier League and we supported them when they played at Wembley in the F.A. Cup final of 2014. We have seen it all.
Sadly, it seems that Tony has developed a couple of health issues. A recent blood test revealed that he is on the verge of becoming a Type 2 diabetic so he has been urgently advised to make a few lifestyle changes including losing weight even though he is quite lithe and fit - by no means fat. Tony is also beginning to suffer from unrelated hand tremors. Not too noticeable at present but there all the same.
Incidentally, another of my best friends - Mike - from my pub quiz team - has been enduring some different health issues. Mostly, his anxieties surround a worrying long-term condition known as myasthenia gravis which "causes muscle weakness. It most commonly affects the muscles that control the eyes and eyelids, facial expressions, chewing, swallowing and speaking. But it can affect most parts of the body."
Mike has been in and out of hospital since the summer battling with this unwelcome companion. It has greatly affected his life causing weight loss, inability to read, drive or use a computer. He has been on different drug regimes and it has been hard for him to think positive about his prognosis. Thank heavens he has a kind, practical and supportive wife without whom he would have been lost.
I guess I should count my blessings more than I tend to do regarding health. With my seventieth birthday approaching in the autumn, I still do not need glasses and I continue to enjoy robust good health. I am not on any regular medication - like statins or blood pressure tablets or anti-depressants . My walking is not hindered by joint or muscle pain. I'm not bragging about this, just saying for I am very aware that something could happen even to me and my good run could screech to a halt all of a sudden. Undoubtedly, no one should take good health for granted.
You are indeed lucky for such an old man as yourself.
ReplyDeleteI am so old that I can remember when the world was black and white.
DeleteAmen to that, Neil - good health is not to be taken for granted. Your regular walking, home-cooked wholesome food and the fact that you do not smoke are all contributing, and in your own hands. But even with all that, as you say, things can happen; a bad fall, Long Covid or anything else.
ReplyDeleteLike you, I am very grateful for enjoying a reasonably healthy body and hope to be able to walk for many years to come. I am on no medication other than drops for my eyes which have always been the weakest part of my body.
Mike and his wife - I am sorry to hear of his illness and am glad his wife is there for him, it must be hard for both of them.
You know how to make an old guy feel good Meike!
DeleteIt must be hard for Mike though he doesn't complain.
One never knows the hand that gets dealt to them health wise. I just finished writing up a post that publish in a couple weeks about our neighbor who is got lost in the world of dementia and whose caretaker and daughter was just found deceased. I guess it is a lesson about having friends in the world, in my case, we as neighbors and in your case, you as the reassuring friend.
ReplyDeleteEverybody needs somebody - just like the ants in the ant-heap. We are interconnected. Sorry to hear about your neighbour's daughter.
DeleteExercise like walking is very important YP.
ReplyDeleteYou are right Dave. It's not just the pleasure of the walk. Every mile you cover is good for your health - muscles, bones, blood pressure and cardio as well as mental health.
DeleteAs I was reading your post I was interrupted by my husband heading out the front door with his hockey bag over his shoulder. He plays hockey at least twice a week. I've been worrying about my own lack of exercise lately and his hockey bag seemed to be taunting me. I'm going to use your post and his hockey bag as the smack in the head I need to get out the door for a brisk walk.
ReplyDeleteI applaud your husband Melinda. He is not as young as he once was and still he gets out there playing hockey. This is almost certainly lengthening his life. How about zumba classes each week? Or swimming?
DeleteYes. You are lucky. Your friends' situations are far more normal than yours, at our ages. Lifestyle does play a huge part in our health but so do genetics.
ReplyDeleteI also think attitude and spirit have parts to play. Another friend of mine - Cath - nearly died last summer from a serious heart problem. She told me that she was absolutely determined to live and thinks that this played a big part in pulling her through the operations, dodging God's finger of fate for a few years more.
DeleteI am glad you are in good health and hope it remains that way, Neil.
ReplyDeleteOf course it cannot last forever Ellen. I know my time will come.
DeleteSorry to hear a bout your football team, but I am more sorry to hear about your friends and their health. You are fortunate to have excellent health. I hope it stays that way for a long time as you are still a young guy!
ReplyDeleteYou rarely refer to personal health issues in your own blog Red. I guess that like me you have been pretty lucky too - even though you are a couple of years older.
DeletePositive thinking! I hope that you remain in good health for many years to come.
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear about your friends' health problems - and the football result on Saturday.
I wish you had a blog Carol then I could find out more about your life, health and of course Coppa!
DeleteFrom the lone shieling of the misty isle
ReplyDeleteMountains divide us and the waste of seas
Yet still the blood is strong, the heart is Highland
And we in dreams behold the Hebrides.
With a cold chisel and shaking hands, I inscribed these words on the tombstone of Hameldaeme who passed away in late November at his summer hame in Pitlochry.
In his last hour I read him his favourite passage from Leviticus and the Witches' Sabbath scene from Tam o'Shanter.
But he had gone to the bourn from which no traveller returns halfway through my reading of The Tempest ...
We are the stuff that dreams are made of and our little life is ended with a
With a "Reply Delete" or an empty space?
DeleteAch, Hameldaeme was both a canny & uncanny wee man.
DeleteA 33rd degree Mason, he was a master carpenter, making exquisite ebony tables for Scottish baronial homes, tables on which lassies in kilts danced during Burns' Suppers.
Strangely he was never invited to one.
That's the Scottish aristocracy for you. Scunners.
The rest is silence.
And a wee dram on these cauld nights.
I have difficulty believing that a teacher of English actually wrote the following sentence:
ReplyDelete"Undoubtedly, no one should not take good health for granted."
Obviously you meant either (a) no one should take good health for granted or (b) one should not take good health for granted, but that is not what you said . Bt ysubg a double negative.(no one should not) you said exactly the opposite of what you meant (everyone should take good health for granted). At least that is what I was taught back in the Dark Ages.
This occurred on the same day ,the title of Keith (Red) Kline's published a post about grammar.
Thank you for the eagle-eyed observation Bob. My error has now been amended.
DeleteHmm, I know I've looked up the Old Tram Station Cafe before and then briefly looked at the old tram system. My life with such knowledge did not improve, so my brain sensibly dropped the knowledge and it is pointless to look again.
ReplyDeleteThe person who first came up with the phrase, 'Getting old is not for the weak', was so very correct.
Have you forgotten who said 'Getting old is not for the weak'? This could be a sign of what is round the corner.
DeleteI'm certainly going to pay more attention to my health this year. More weight loss for sure and more walking.
ReplyDelete