Back to footy next week?

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I’m getting older. Looking back, this has been going on for just about my entire life.
Have a think: it might be happening to you, too.

My body is not as resilient as it used to be, and there are regularly a couple of aches or strains that wouldn’t have been a problem 20, 10 or even 5 years ago. The irritating thing about with these minor injuries is that they happen more often, they take longer to heal, and they are more likely to reoccur if you’re not careful.

But I’m also getting more sensible about getting older, and so I am being more careful.

I spotted this Unspiration-style image online, this morning.

Brilliant.

And it resonated. My hamstring isn’t exactly killing me (that was last week, lol!), but it isn’t quite 100% either. Still, I want to play some football and it’s annoying that I can’t. A few years ago, not playing wouldn’t have even been a consideration. And indeed, I could go back this evening and give it a go, and it might go well. But then also, it might go twang, and then I’d be out for n weeks or even longer.

The temptation to play is strong though, and so that sensible bit of me was looking out for a way to convince myself not to. And then the call came through that the MBCC dinner was likely to be moved forward by a day, and the decision – which was 95% made anyway – was rubber-stamped, popped into a brown envelope, and ceremoniously sealed.

A couple more days looking after the leg with kid gloves (arguably the best goat-based products I’ve ever bought) will undoubtedly do it a lot of good, especially when compared to 40 minutes of 5-a-side. Add in some helpful protein molecules this evening, and hopefully (because you can never be completely sure), it’ll be absolutely ready to go for next week, and won’t choose to break when I give it a run out.

Let’s hold thumbs.
But not too tightly: you’ve got to take care of those ulnar collateral ligaments at this sort of age.

The second most interesting fact I learned today

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I’m still reeling from the one that beat it.
But more on that when I’ve gathered enough data to make it into a blog post.

Still, this probably would have made first place on just about any other day. Because I’m a nerd.

Traveling South-Southwest from Hawaii toward Antarctica, there’s a perfectly straight path which crosses the International Date Line seven times, going today-tomorrow-today-tomorrow-today-tomorrow-today-tomorrow.

And here’s that path:

I always get a little confused around things with the International Date Line, but technically, wouldn’t it actually be:

today – tomorrow (which is now today) – yesterday (which is also now today) – tomorrow (today) – today (also called yesterday, since you’re crossing from tomorrow, which is today) – today (which is tomorrow) – yesterday (today) – today – tomorrow?

I think it would. And even if it wouldn’t, can we not just agree on it being something like this, and move on before it becomes even more baffling?

Of course, if you are doing this trip, you wouldn’t really notice all of this crisscrossing and time difference stuff. Nothing actually happens when you go over this man-made, invisible line in the ocean, and really – much like taking an international flight -all you really need to know is the date at your destination.

Which is tomorrow.
And also today.

Unexplored

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Bit knackered today. Late night – my own fault: I foolishly got involved with a documentary about trains – which was made even later by the beagle inexplicably going Walkabout when she popped out for her evening ablutions.

In fact, I’ve been doing some rudimentary calculations, and this spot slightly left of centre:

Which looks like this:

…seems likely to be the only place on the planet that she didn’t explore before finally coming inside last night.

I’m not quite sure what happened. Our garden really isn’t that big, and both the gates were firmly closed and locked (this is South Africa, after all). Maybe we have some Star Trek-esque teleportation thing behind the bushes at the back. Clearly everything needed snorfing.

All I know is that someone else can be responsible for managing the evening beagle process tonight.

It’s not gone well

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Watched a little bit of The Open yesterday, with the golfists battling against the (ahem) “summer” weather at Royal Troon in Scotland. This was a highlight (of the viewing, not for Shane Lowry).

Sound on.

Yeah. He didn’t have a good back nine. And he was clearly not too happy with this shot on the 18th.

Beagle-eyed readers will remember another golfist wasn’t happy with one of his shots and reacted in a similar manner a couple of years back.

Bit weird

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A little rain overnight, sure, but suddenly… SUNSHINE!
And lo, literally all of the Cape Town people went out for breakfast because it was ACTUALLY NICE!

We are also Cape Town people, but we went for a wander in the Green Belt first, meaning that our breakfast was a bit more brunchie. But it was still very good.

Home, and with the weather still being weirdly pleasant, I got a couple of jobs done in the garden, including the very satisfying pressure washing the slimy paving stones by the gym. No more ice skating while trying to avoid the rain on my way over there now.
Which made for half my workout most days, but still…

The rest of the afternoon is set up for some Chesterfield v Sheffield United friendly action. 4 key players left out. Just resting them, or are we going to sell them just before the start of the season?

Again.
Again again.

This time last year, we were actually at the game. No such luck this time around, but R141 buys a link for 90 minutes in front of the TV.

And since it’s clouded over, why not?