Whitey Grandad

We've had the best French bread ever in Spa.

Thanks Markus. Shame you couldn't be here with us but you knew where we were going.

French fries are said to have been invented in Belgium, a much underrated country in my view.

Is it going to be a new strip every season from now on?

I have spent a couple of short stops there courtesy of the European Broadcasting Union. There's also the Atomium and the Comic Strip Museum: http://www.comicscenter.net/en/home Rue de Bouchers has some restaurants.

Thanks, I have actually heard of it. My younger sister (by six years) had it some time ago. My arteries (all three of them) have too many restrictions for stents, they would have to be too long and too many and with the diabetes it's a bypass for me, hopefully some time next week. You're right though, the angiogram is somehow strangely fascinating and you can't believe it's your own heart. I have the photos and I'll post them when I can.

Thanks Phil, but is the golf really compulsory? I'm not old enough yet to play that. And do I really have to wait 30 years? I was hoping to have been playing in it, not watching.

Not really, it's ****, but somehow doesn't seem important any more. :-)

Well lads and lasses, I have been totally overwhelmed by all you kind words and I can't tell you how much it means to me when I'm stuck in here. You have all stopped me from climbing up the walls. I have had time to think and if you'll excuse the ramblings of a boring old git I'd like to share some of my thoughts with you. 'He who does not find time for recreation must sooner or later make time for illness' is supposedly a Chinese proverb, although which Christmas cracker it comes from I've yet to establish. I thought I was reasonably fit, or at least that I used to be. I played football locally on Sunday mornings and later refereed but I was getting old and thought that business men like me did not need to exercise and were entitled to take things easy and drive around in luxury. The weight increased slowly, especially around the middle, and the trouser sizes crept up until Marks & Spencer no longer stocked my sizes. Then last year I found that I was seeing a lot and feeling dry in the mouth which are classic signs of diabetes. A urine glucose test had me called to the doctor urgently and now diagnosed with type 2 diabetes I started a programme of sensible eating and extra exercise, nothing too onerous but there were years of neglect needing to be reversed. I now think I know how I got there. Chronic stress is a much misunderstood term and doesn't mean that you spend all day tearing your hair out. You set yourself targets, maybe you have high ideals, perhaps you just want to get going and do everything at once. You work later in the evening, get home later, eat later, catch up on some more work. Maybe you want to get things straight before that meeting tomorrow, or it's raining this weekend so I'll pop into the office and sort out a few things, just so that it'll be easier on Monday. You can't sleep properly because your mind is still racing with all the thoughts pounding in your head. You'll eat high carbohydrate food, you'll still be on the computer at midnight, you don't sleep properly, the extra visceral fat around the belly means that you snore and suffer from sleep apnoea. All this is stress, which generates cortisol, which raises blood sugar and fat deposits around the belly. The important thing is the release from this stress so that the body can re-create. If you recognise yourself in any of this then maybe it's time for a rethink: Shouting or swearing a lot. When the phone rings is it 'I wonder who wants to speak to me?' or 'bloody hell, not again!' Loud noises make you jump You drive too fast and shout at all the other drivers. You eat too quickly. Gulp your food without chewing or even tasting it. You find yourself with a couple of spare hours and find some work to do instead of relaxing. You hardly have time to talk to your family and/or loved ones (joke). You drink 'for relaxation'. You can't sit still for a minute. I'm sure we can all think of many more. Learn that everything takes time, everything has its own natural rate, everything is for a purpose. We don't get long, let's not waste it. Enjoy the journey, just as much as the arrival. I've been very lucky. No big damage has been done and I can be fixed, but others have not been so lucky. Please excuse all the dribbling but I've been talking to the walls and I don't get a lot of sense out of them. All the best to each and very one of you, it's nice to know you care. (Guy Lombardo: Enjoy Yourself) Further reading: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cortisol http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/17/science/the-heavy-cost-of-chronic-stress.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm 'How I learned to love life and stop worrying' by Whitey Grandad available at all good bookstores (I haven't actually written this yet)

Good keeper. Premier League standard? Who knows?

Like :-)

I recognise that. Blackadder?

Indeed. Southampton to Gatwick is much cheaper on Southern, which is direct, than SWT which involves a change at Clapham Junction.

Thanks, I feel better already. Two to be taken twice a day? Sincerely chaps, I am overwhelmed by all your best wishes. I take back all I said. ;-)

You bastards, you've got me welling up in tears here. I've bought two season tickets for next season so I've got to get through it all ok, I wouldn't want the money to go to waste. I'll miss the Markus games on the 14th (my 63rd birthday) but I'll be there for the 25th August. If not, I'll expect a statue at the very least. Sleep well my friends.

Thanks. I was referring to my earlier post when I said that more than 50% were non-Brits, when it was in fact fewer than that. In my view they're not real jobs in that they are not necessarily producing anything that anybody wants long term. Maybe I'm biased because I'm not bothered about the games.

Do you miss them? ...and thanks all for the best wishes.

Found it. I was wrong, just over half. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2167471/London-2012-Foreign-workers-nearly-half-Olympic-Park-jobs.html

What???? And we're paying for it!

It was in the paper a few days ago, maybe the Daily Mail, and I think that less than half were British. I'm in hospital at the moment so it's a bit difficult to check on this slow link. If I find it I'll stick it here.

Thanks for all your best wishes. The grapes were delicious. Well, compared with hospital food they were.

A large proportion of those jobs have gone to non-Britons.

One of the biggest and most expensive drains you could ever buy.

Everywhere you go you see 'meal deal' which is a can of Coke, a bar of chocolate and a bag of crisps. How can that be a meal?

I'm lying in Southampton General waiting for a date next week for a coronary bypass operation. Had a 'small' heart attack Tuesday morning and was brought in thinking it might be indigestion but blood tests showed otherwise. Angiogram yesterday showed all three coronary arteries almost blocked in several places do a bypass is the only realistic long-term solution. I've never smoked but I had got overweight and not eaten particularly sensibly and diabetes had set in. Used to get home and have dinner too late, worked too much in the evenings so please all of you, eat sensibly, sort out your lifestyles and don't think it won't happen to you. I'll let you know how the operation goes. If anyone has been through it I'd be interested on your comments.