Tag Archive | Sports

It’s snow joke

The weather forecast has been poor all week, but I was always hopeful that somehow we would escape the snow and ice coming our way and continue with our normal Saturday ice-skating lesson routine.

Alas it was not to be and as the snow gradually turned into a frenzied blizzard early this morning I turned the radio on just in time to hear the traffic report which also told me that the motorway junction we exit to fetch Will was closed due to an accident. Going cross-country didn’t seem such a good idea when the strong advice was not to travel unless necessary, so being the sensible soul I am, I resigned myself to no Will this weekend and no ice skating either and arranged to stay at home.

This hasn’t been such a bad thing though as it has meant I have enjoyed a lazy day which is a rare occurrence for me and one which I would normally rebel against. I like to be on the move, to do things. I don’t rest until my head hits the pillow and then only for an average of 4 hours sleep so for me to go back to bed and sleep until 11.30am this morning was a rare thing indeed.

With nothing to do outside, the garden is under 6″ of snow, the wind is bitter cold and the road treacherous, I have enjoyed sorting out my blog (note the change in format and colour) adding some new links and pictures and deleting the old ones which no longer work whilst listening to old ABBA CDs and watching Inspector Morse episodes! What an admission and bang goes any street cred I had left! But it’s not so bad….

They say a restless body can hide a peaceful soul 
A voyager and a settler, they both have a distant goal 
If I explore the heavens, or if I search inside 
Well, it really doesn’t matter as long as I can tell myself 
I’ve always tried

(Abba, Move On)

“The secret of a happy life is to know when to stop – and then go that bit further.”

“When I’m thinking, I get thirsty.”

(Inspector Morse)

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Depression Awareness Week- heeding my own advice

At the beginning of Depression Awareness Week I wrote a post about finding your inner child. The overriding message was to “play” more and find those hobbies that you enjoy or make sure that you rediscover all those things that you used to love doing and spend more time chilling out. Like all advice and suggestions to help you cope with low mood and depression it’s easy to say. It’s not so easy to  put it into practice but this weekend I was determined to do just that.

I have to admit that I have been helped by my son Will, “The Willster”,  who decided that he’d like to take up golf again. This is great as it is something which we can do together at weekends when he stays with me. We have been unable to play much golf during the last couple of summers due to a combination of William having two knee cartilage operations and growing out of his golf clubs. I also used to suffer from awful hay fever which made playing any sport in the summer unbearable but after two years of de-sensitisation injections I can now enjoy the sunshine without symptoms. Fresh air, entertainment (a bundle of laughs when we play), and great company makes 9 or 18 holes of golf the perfect way to unwind and forget all the rubbish floating around my head for a  few hours. When I am standing on the first tee focusing on hitting a ball which looks the size of a pea praying that I at least hit it cleanly and not slice it onto the adjoining fairway all else fades into the background. So consumed am I with not making a fool of myself that worries, anxieties and feelings of personal inadequacy fly out of the window. My only wish is to get that ball onto the green!

So this weekend, Will bought himself a new set of clubs. I dusted off mine and off we went.

Today has been bright, sunny and a perfect day for golf. We had a great time making our way round the full 18 holes (I wanted to pack it in after 9 as I was winning!) and laughing so much at times that we couldn’t play until we controlled ourselves. I learn a lot from my 15-year old son. I always have. Today was no different. His view on performing a bad shot?

“If it makes someone laugh, then they are happy. If I have made them happy then I’m happy”.

What a philosophy at 15. I don’t know where he got it from but I’m glad he has. He didn’t mind that he lost 6 balls in the hedges during our afternoon’s play-it’s all part of the learning process. God help me when he gets used to his clubs….I’m in for a pasting!

Thank you Will for helping to put things into perspective. I’m very proud of you.