Lost

Football can be like dancing.

Debutante Aaron Connolly with the ball yesterday afternoon

I drove over to Hull yesterday. I was there to watch The Tigers lose to Fulham in the third round of The F.A. Cup. Of course when I set out, I was hoping that the result would be the other way round and it really could have been if our lads had taken their gilt-edged chances in the first ten minutes of the match.

Ah well, that's it for another year. We will have to concentrate on staying in The Championship now - the second tier of English  men's professional football.

Before the game, I met up with my friend Tony for lunch in "The Old Tram Station Cafe" run by a young Polish couple. When I say "young", I mean younger than us.

We shared Christmas and family news before ambling over to The MKM stadium. I have seen many games with Tony and together we have ridden the highs and lows of our beloved football team over decades. We saw them when they were bottom of the fourth division, witnessed their rise to The Premier League and we supported them when they played at Wembley in the  F.A. Cup final of 2014. We have seen it all.

Sadly, it seems that Tony has developed a couple of health issues. A recent blood test revealed that he is on the verge of becoming a Type 2 diabetic so he has been urgently advised to make a few lifestyle changes including losing weight even though he is quite lithe and fit - by no means fat. Tony is also beginning to suffer from unrelated hand tremors. Not too noticeable at present but there all the same. 

Incidentally, another of my best friends - Mike - from my pub quiz team - has been enduring some different health issues. Mostly, his anxieties surround a worrying  long-term condition known as myasthenia gravis  which "causes muscle weakness. It most commonly affects the muscles that control the eyes and eyelids, facial expressions, chewing, swallowing and speaking. But it can affect most parts of the body."

Mike has been in and out of hospital since the summer battling with this unwelcome companion. It has greatly affected his life causing weight loss, inability to read, drive or use a computer. He has been on different drug regimes and it has been hard for him to think positive about his prognosis. Thank heavens he has a kind, practical and supportive wife without whom he would have been lost.

I guess I should count my blessings more than I tend to do regarding health. With my seventieth birthday approaching in the autumn, I still do not need glasses and I continue to enjoy robust good health. I am not on any regular medication - like statins or blood pressure tablets or anti-depressants . My walking is not hindered by joint or muscle pain. I'm not bragging about this, just saying for I am very aware that something could happen even to me and my good run could screech to a halt all of a sudden. Undoubtedly, no one should not take good health for granted.

from Yorkshire Pudding https://ift.tt/KrUiwE8