You know it's a bad day when you have higher blood pressure than your boss who is 20 years your senior.
You know your day is even worse when a 71 year old's blood pressure is lower than yours.
All I can say right now is "what the fuck?"
(and potentially question the quality of my paternal genes)
Just to explain it's not a lack of inspiration that keeps me from blogging, it's more a lack of motivation. Currently I have a severe case of can't be arsed syndrome.
Anyways what have I learnt lately:
The resumption of my cricketing career proceeds apace (though it will be curtailed by the end of season next week) and it is now official - I am so shit at this game. The talent of my youth has slipped through my fingers and now is just a blurry memory.
Staying with exercise. If you go to the gym for the better part of a year and then take a break for 6 weeks you're going to find getting back into the routine really hard. Also you lose all your muscle mass and end up even lighter so really, when you think about it, going to the gym is kind of self defeating.
I can prevaricate and prognosticate with the best of them (anything to stay out of the gym)
Late night benders involving scotch, bourbon, and red wine are much harder to get over in your mid-30s than they were when you were in your mid-20's
And,
Sooner or later, if you work in journalism, you're likely to have a bust up with a former colleague and friend who's now in pr.
Enjoy the moment.
I'm feeling a little down tonight. Late last week I got the news that someone I've been professionally associated with for some time was quite ill and in hospital and not expected to last much longer.
I won't name him here as it's not appropriate, but suffice it to say I consider him a friend and a thoroughly decent chap.
For the past few days I've been mulling over whether I should visit him or not. Like I say we know each other, but it's a relationship based on a professional acquaintance and I was a little unsure if it would have been appropriate to intrude at a time best reserved for family and close friends.
Well tonight I visited him .... I'm glad I did but it's highlighted just how patently unfair life can be at times.
Here is a man, who's liked and respected by all that know him, left a shadow of his former self in a hospital bed. One of my colleagues gave a very apt description of him the other day.
"He's a gentleman, but more importantly he's a gentle man".
And that's the honest truth. He's one of the nicest people I've ever met in my line of work and genuinely nice people are few and far between in political circles.
For him to be in this truly awful predicament, well ...it's just not right.
He's barely had time to come to terms with his illness and now he's got just days left. He doesn't want to die, nor do any of us who know him want to lose him, but there's nothing he, or any of us, can do.
What can you say or do for someone in such a situation?
Absolutely nothing - and that's the worst thing about it all.
