0

23 October 2011

Posted by DMC on 24 October 2011 in Diary |

A great start to the day with an early morning television broadcast of the final of the World Rugby Championship in New Zealand. The All Blacks were meant to annihilate the opposition, France but the French for the final battle and New Zealand only one by 1.1 with a closing score of 8-7. Surprisingly, this was New Zealand’s first win as world champions for 24 years despite their dominating rugby for the best part of that period.

Immediately after the rugby. I switched the radio onto the cricket, the One-Day International between England and India. England received another real drubbing at the hands of India making it four ODI’s lost in a row. One more to go in the series which will pretty much mark the end of the cricket season in this country. I can already hear the excited noise coming from the spectators from the village football pitch, which is 200/300 yards away as the crow flies So what used to be quite distinct seasons now blend seamlessly one from the other.

Smiler and Kimberly drove down for lunch today. It was lovely seeinthem both even if it was for just a few hours.The weather wasn’t all that bad. In fact it was quite warm in the sunshine, but there was rather a strong wind blowing. We stuck it out side long enough to have a drink and smoke before adjourning for lunch to the breakfast room. We keep thinking that we’ve have had the last of the summer days when we can sit out in the garden but then we get another sunny day, which, although not really hot, is certainly bearable to sit out. After all, it is a very long winter.

Even a short break from sitting in the same chair for 14 hours do seem to make a difference to me and the sunshine tops up my vitamin D. I recall, just after the war, a young friend of mine, who had contracted tuberculosis, which was not uncommon in those days, being sent off to Switzerland, where they spend a great deal of time outside in the fresh air, sometimes with their beds on the verandah, which ran round the hospital buildings, even in the winter. Of course, they were well wrapped up .Apparently it was something to do with the fine clear healthy air. I’m not aware that this is currently practised as I believe that tuberculosis has all but been eradicated.

I also recall as a young man seeing notices in the butchers shop, flagging a piece of meat, which said, For Human Consumption Only and thinking, at the time, how strange that this particular meat should be beneficial to people who suffered from tuberculosis (which was also known as consumption) .It was soon pointed out to me that it meant that the meat should only be consumed by humans ,as it was horse meat and presumably should not given to other animals as the idea of one animal feeding off the flesh of another, seemed abhorrent.

.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Copyright © 2008-2024 D. Mark Cato's Blog All rights reserved.