Schoolboy rugby in the rain

What a day today was. Got very wet, but ended the day happy.
Picked up Rob, who invited me to a match between his son's team Whitgift, and the local catholic opposition, John Fisher. They were playing in a grudge match for the Daily Mail U18 cup, and there was a very good turn out. I haven't seen schoolboy rugby being played for over 29 years, and it has changed I can tell you. I wanted to stay and watch the netball match at Reigate College last week, but Gabriella and her friend Bryony pulled me away a bit too forcefully I thought at the time. It doesn't count if they aren't your daughters, I told them, but they didn't listen to me. It is amazing how the youth of today have all grown, they must all be on steroids, especially the girls in the netball teams. Tall, long legged athletes gliding around a court. None of them looked out of breath. Not natural. Then today there were young lads who looked in their mid 20's playing. They were out there warming up an hour before the match started, and that would never have happened in my day. We would have been worn out come kick off if we had done that. And they had all the gear the professionals seem to have, tackle pads and other expensive equipment. They don't spare the horses at Whitgift School. One or two of them could run about a bit too, and it wasn't a surprise that there were a sprinkling of internationals on both teams. It started to rain but it was ok as I was booked to attend a council meeting, and I managed to get out of it to watch the game. Lets hope the citadel of Croydon doesn't collapse as a result of my not being at the council meeting.

On arriving home I quickly learnt all the days gossip. A woman had phoned twice asking for me, and refusing to speak to Mel. Sounds intriguing I thought, perhaps they want me to coach the girls netball team. So, after a bit of argument between my wife, and a woman I don't know, refusing to divulge what the matter was other than it was a personal matter, they agreed to a truce, and the woman was to call back at 4pm. This would give Mel enough time to question me as to what it was all about. " I know nothing about this whatsoever " just doesn't cut the mustard with my wife. I have had instances in the past of women I hadn't married declaring amorous intent towards me, and have passed them all on to Mel to deal with. I can't really be bothered to let them down gently, particularly as I don't feel that I have encouraged them and they have misread my signals. If I was being nice to them, it was probably because they had a donut left on their plate that they weren't going to eat, and I was still hungry from being on the latest diet Mel had put me on. That was how they usually misread my look of longing. It's always been very simple for me. I married my wife because I love her and want to spend the rest of my life with her. I haven't changed my mind. I am the result of an all boys boarding school, which means I don't always send out the right signals to girls. For goodness sake boys don't misread my signals, so is it to much to ask for girls to pay attention. I think that for some girls just smiling at them is enough, and being nice is tantamount to declaring undying love. So, having learnt my lesson over the years I hardly ever talked to women at work. And guess what. I was seen as a male chauvinist, not to my face you understand, more when I wasn't there. How do I know? I had a camcorder in the girls locker room.
So here is this woman insisting on talking personally to me. Here we go again, thinks I. More trouble. And guess what, she wants my blood tomorrow morning at 9am. A surprise attack with a needle. I hate cannula's being done to me. They are great big long needles put up into your veins to enable them to pump loads of chemicals into you over a few hours. Being a big strong man, I usually faint. It's the thought of the needle going in that gets me going. On one occasion the apprentice nurse just over from Ireland couldn't do it properly. Apparently I had hidden all my veins in my arms, which is a ridiculous thing to say. Where would I hide them? Of course I hadn't but she made such a fuss trying to find them that on the fifth try I fell forward in my seat. That was fun then. Some great doctor decided I must be having a heart attack and quick as you like had me wired up ready for my heart to be jumped. If my nurse hadn't come in to the room and explained my pulse is always slow I might not be here now. It did frighten me and now I always have a quiet word to make sure they know not to keep on putting long needles in my arm. If I get an experienced nurse, who is used to cannula's rather than Bridget from Sligo, then I am usually confident it will go well. Nothing against Bridget, but she was probably trained in Galway and is misguidedly trying to pay me back for the potato famine. Me, a genetically superior man from Cork. Not that superior then, as I'm probably related to Bridget.

Blood and scans in the morning, what a way to start the day eh!
Sometimes when you are waiting for a CT scan you are joined by much younger, and for some reason almost always, women, who are often upset and crying about having to go through with a CT scan and probably because they have to go through with dealing with cancer ( note small case-don't ever give it any prominence as a word) at a comparatively young age. It's not a nice place for anyone, but sometimes you meet people who are very positive and it makes the time go by a little more pleasantly. I always aim to be first in the queue of a Thursday morning, and then I can set the stage for those coming after me by being chirpy and positive. I did meet an eleven year old boy one time and he was brilliantly positive. We compared length of scars and lengths of operations as his Mum and Mel chatted nearby. I wasn't going to show him my shark bite at first, but he showed me the chest scar so I thought it ok to. Do you have to have a CRB check to display your scar to a minor? He was there for a last check up as his cancer was in remission, and I couldn't have been more pleased. There are a lot of people who deal with it very well.
Then if a young girl comes in with her mum, which is something that Mel and I have had a lot, it might not be so bad for them.
You know who I mean.