THERE is this bee buzzing around in my bonnet. Very annoying. It’s been there quite some while and is becoming increasingly irritating. Just won’t go away and is so difficult to ignore. It’s called Parkrun. You’ve probably heard of it; a weekly mass display of micro managed outdoor masochism willingly endured by thousands worldwide. Like…
TIME for reflection on this running life. For “reviewing the situation“, as the fiendish Fagin sang in the wonderful film version of Oliver, way back in the 1960s. A need to stop awhile and consider what lies ahead. Like a rambler who has tramped their way steadily to the top of a Dartmoor tor, resting…
THE clue is in the name: care worker. In other words, a person whose job (though they may also be an unpaid volunteer) is to provide care to those less fortunate than themselves. To people who maybe disabled, incapacitated, incontinent, immobile or suffering one or more of the wounding barbs that life has a nasty…
MAD DOGS AND ENGLISHMEN: well, Noel Coward got that right. Out comes the sun and thousands of Brits head for surgeries, pharmacies and A&Es in search of treatment for its unwelcome side-effects. NHS stats show that over three days close to 30,000 of us visited its website for information on heat-stroke and heat exhaustion. So,…
WOULD it be churlish to suggest that Naomi Osaka, the new prima donna of the tennis world, takes a vow of silence for a week or two? Is it showing lack of empathy or understanding to recommend she has a long and deep session of introspection and self-examination; to think hard before venting any more…
THERE is no denying it; the cure can be worse than the affliction. The treatment recommended, whether by professionals or fringe-dwelling lifestyle “experts”, can sometimes create more agony than the existing condition. So says one who is enjoying their first pain-free day for some while; one who has at last emerged from the inhibiting effects…
RUNNING is an uncomplicated process of placing one foot ahead of the other; similar to walking but at a faster pace. No argument with that? Good. For most people running is a simple and easy-to-manage forward movement. One that has existed since humankind emerged from our amoebic slime and stood upright. All agreed? Excellent. In…
Living, coping and observing in the age of Covid #6 Jan 2021: THE stable door is now shut tight. Bolted and barred. Triple locked and with no sign of a key or code. And unoccupied. The horse it once contained, an unruly beast at the best of time, seized its pre-lockdown moment and is…
Living, coping and observing in the age of Covid #3 04 Jan 2021: THOUGHT for the day: money does not buy brains. Nor can it buy common sense, or consideration for others or the community at large. Shell out zillions but there’s no guarantee the recipient will be transformed into a truly mature and responsible…
Living and coping: Year #2 of Covid-19 01 Jan 2021: AND so it goes; another New Year’s Day following yet one more New Year’s Eve. Ho hum. After enduring a long line of such pairings, I still have yet to gather much sense of endings and beginnings. Something more than the mere flicking over a…