How do we handle it Fabio?

It's been the football story that just ran and ran. No not the one about John Terry, his apparent extra-maritals, and whether Fabio Capello should strip him of the England captaincy?  I mean the one about my grandson Max and his friend Clifford. (Names withheld pending deal with publicist.) Who play for a team of 8/9 year olds that compete in the local Saturday morning league.

It's great fun to go and watch them play, and even greater fun to watch the competitive dads getting into the game. Of course there are many occasions when they really do get into the game! In fact such has been the level of passion, that last year the local officiating body had to get the dads and mums together and appeal for better behaviour.

 And of course it is the mums as well as the dads that get so deeply involved in supporting the kids. Which brings me back to Max and Clifford and an alleged "off the ball incident!"  To be precise it was an alleged on the way to school incident with one of their team mates.  You know? One of of those something and nothing exchanges that kids have all the time? Except that this one got mentioned to the other lad's mum. Who with what seemed to be an overwhelming attack of misplaced  maternalism decided to "caution" Max and Clifford the following day.  

Now this is where the plot thickens! Because the husband of said mum only happens to be the team coach and responsible for player selection! And according to spectators at the next match he did seem to be giving Max and Clifford unwarranted amounts of  "verbals" from the touchline. So when Max and Clifford are dropped from the team for the following game what are the fans to think?

Anyway, this morning...yours truly prompted by entirely appropriate feelings of Grandpaternalism thought it's time to show a bit of touchline support, and perhaps take the opportunity to offer some wisdom to the coach!  Then a waterlogged pitch and a match cancellation intervened. I reckon it was divine intervention.  As it very likely saved me and the kids from one of the Silverback's embarrasing "losing it" demonstrations.  Because we all do it don't we?  We hear about a situation second-hand...we form a pre-conceived and biased view of it...and then we react in an over the top way!
And of course that was the case here. It turned out to be a "something and nothing" situation... and all is good both on the pitch and in the dressing room.
As a Chelsea and England fan I can only hope for the same outcome....and in the process reaffirm my support and admiration for John's inspiring captaincy ...whether he is playing at home or away!

How to live a longer life

Well! Quite a bit of news this week about how to live a longer life and none more surprising than the results from a decade-long research project led by Winthrop Professor Leon Flicker at The University of Western Australia. Professor Flicker and his team assessed 9,200 men and women for their health and lifestyle as part of a study into healthy ageing. They found that adults aged over 70 years who are classified as overweight are less likely to die than adults in the normal weight range. Published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, the study sheds light on the situation in Australia, ranked the third most obese country after the United States and the United Kingdom.

This of course is going to be great news for many of us who struggle to lose those spongy areas around the middle and just don't see ourselves in jogging pants and singlets at the gym.
Personally, I'll stick with the "healthy and lean" school of thought. I remember the advice of a great US tennis player from way back called Gardner Mulloy. He played at top level well into his 40's and attributed his fitness to the fact that each year he would reduce his daily food consumption. Just a bit. This  corresponds with what most of us  generally believe, that as we age our metabolism changes and we need less food. And speaking as somebody who as a 16 year old enjoyed six rolls for lunch each day...I would concur!
So despite the pain in the knees and elbows I'll be carrying on with the daily weight training, especially since hearing that it improves our cognitive functions. Yes that's the case, according to a study at the University of British Columbia  into the effects of weight resistance training amongst 65 to 70 year olds.

Then there is the research that shows that red wine is good for us. Apparently it contains an ingredient that is a proven anti-ageing agent. Again I was swayed by anecdotal evidence. Especially as it came with divine support from a dear old cleric I knew. He explained how the clergy benefited from a low incidence of cardiac problems due to their habit of finishing off the communion wine!!     Yes. I was swayed towards the red wine idea!!

Then there was the other good news that high cocoa chocolate is good for the heart. So a slab of Sainsbury's finest was duly placed amongst the red wine when shopping yesterday. And finally I read that good old leafy green veg... spinach, broccoli etc., are not only good for iron intake as we already knew, but also do wonders for our cognitive and memory systems. Apparently we get more synaptic flexibility.  So the broccoli will be coming out of the freezer today....better make a note so that I remember.

Actually that isn't the final news to share. This comes from that article about the research in Australia into the overweight. It seems that women are twice more likely than men to suffer the adverse consequences of a sedentary life style.
So chaps....next time you're asking "who's getting up to make the coffee?" ...be considerate and let your "other half" do it!!

I think I can remember when I couldn't catch a cricket ball!

Trajectory projection! That was my mistake. All these years I never knew why in sport I couldn't deal with a moving ball of any size. Seeing feats like the "The Catch" by Willie Mays in the 1954 World Series never helped.  Mays turns his back and seeming to predict the ball's flight path, he races to the fence, catching the ball over his shoulder.  Current collaborative research in virtual reality labs in universities in New Zealand and North Carolina is discovering the reasons behind May's success and my failure. It's fascinating to learn that it was to do with "optical acceleration cancellation" (OAC) and "linear optical trajectory" (LOT) and not just about me being useless at sport.

I do admit I'd lost a bit of my appetite for scientific research!  I read recently that my daily dose of Ginko Biloba was doing nothing for short memory. But I could have told them that!
But now I'm greatly encouraged and once again enthusiastic about it. And again would give credit to escience news ....especially for this week's gem. It seems that contrary to popular belief ageing does not necessarily bring on memory depletion. In fact the opposite seems to apply. "A new study has found promising evidence that the older brain's weakened ability to filter out irrelevant information may actually give aging adults a memory advantage over their younger counterparts. A long line of research has already shown that aging is associated with a decreased ability to tune out irrelevant information."
So the good news (I think)  is that we remember more. The bad news is that it tends to be irrelevant.
Oh dear! Is that when we start to take forever to get to the point and get sidetracked in prolonged reminiscing.
Never mind. It's not all bad news. The other research article they published is that us older guys can see off the young dudes when it comes to holding our drink. Way to go wrinklies!!

Required...Strategic thinker who keeps a cool head!

Here we are then...January 16th...we had our white Christmas and now the snow has finally melted.
It's been a slow start to the year for most people it seems. I've heard lots of comments like "I just hibernated between Christmas and New Year!"  or "I simply didn't want to get started again!"

The snow has probably had a lot to do with that. And if your local council performed like mine, and if your car is as useless in the snow as mine, then like me you probably got to enjoy the necessity of working from home.
Not really sure where they got it wrong with snow clearing this year?  But we sure were neglected, especially pedestrians who risked injury just walking to the shops. Local government has of course seen a tremendous change in its service and resources mix from the "good old days" when I worked there. It was different back in the 60's and 70's...like we had road sweepers!

Remember them?   Guys like Trigg in "Fools and Horses" whose pride in their barrow and broom could match a cavalryman's for his horse and lance. "Triggs" were the people that actually did sweep the roads ...and the footways ...and the channels. Parked cars didn't deter them! And of course when snow covered the roads they would come out and clear it... and then spread salt on icy footways. Then the "Time and Motion man cometh!" Bringing with him wonderous ways of improving productivity like the introduction of the mechanised sweeper. You know... that buggy with rotating brushes that drives up and down spraying water around the wheels of parked cars. Not very good on snow covered roads apparently. The Productivity Improvement years were followed by the Privatisation years and "Trigg" was outsourced, never to return.

Council Officers who had served their "apprenticeship" in the service they now delivered morphed into Managers with MBAs from the private sector. The old style Chief Officer became a Director who talked about Mission Statements and Values and Visions. Even we Ratepayers were changed... and now we are Customers within a "customer-centric business model."
And clearly it was that strategic thinking, together with the risk assessments and cost benefit analyses that benefitted us customers over the last few weeks as they concluded...no need to panic....the snow will eventually melt. And do you know....they were right! 

Curing those post-christmas blues...

Here we are then....December 27th and the annual bout of post Christmas blues has kicked in. When counselling me this morning, Lynda asked "If you had to choose between a holiday in the sun or Christmas, which would you choose?"  "Easy" I said. "I could give up my annual holiday and I often have, but I could never give up Christmas!

What is it that makes Christmas so special to us?  For the believers amongst us there is of course only one answer to that.  For the
"semi and non" believers I guess we would talk about getting together with family and friends...the christmas presents we exchange...and all the food and drink that we feast on.     Once upon a time we would also have talked about the great programmes on TV.  No likelihood of that this year with the depression rendering plots of Eastenders and the oh so lost it The Royle Family occupying prime-time viewing slots on Christmas Night.

Speaking for myself I love everything about Christmas...particularly the preparation and the anticipation. Starting on December 1st and decorating the tree and the house in a totally camp way. Buying gifts and stocking-fillers  for every one. Watching the expressions of delight on Christmas morning. I love the feasting part too...including the excesses of sweets and nuts and Christmas cake. I do wonder about the tin of Christmas biscuits though that just sits on the side...but it wouldn't be Christmas without it.

And it wouldn't be Christmas if we didn't get that inevitable attack of post-christmas melancholy!  After all the anticipation and then the emotional frenzy of Christmas Day, it seems to abruptly come to an end.  I try various self-help remedies...like arranging my opened presents back under the tree as if Santa has yet to visit???? .....it doesn't really help!
I had always put my post-christmas blues down to the fact that I simply enjoyed all the anticipation. What I better understand now is that decorating the house for the admiration of visiting loved ones, cooking them the pre-christmas pasta, giving them presents that hopefully please are ways in which I can show the extent of my feelings. Knowing that if I attempted to say it in words, that I would get totally emotional and fill up....just as I do when watching that final scene of Elf with Will Ferrell when the crowd in Central Park need to sing to get Santa's sleigh to fly!!!  (Another essential part of the pre-christmas build up!)
And I reckon it's the same for most of us. Whatever are our beliefs or reasons for celebrating Christmas, it is that unique period in the year when not only do we share expressions of goodwill....but we also find a way to tell those we love...just how much we do. Then we stop...no wonder we feel melancholy!
So come on then.....to cure those post-christmas blues....carry on wishing others "all the best!" and telling people what they really mean to you. OnWeGo!!!!!!! 

Something of value for Christmas!

I cooked the annual pre-christmas "spag bol'" for my daughters and grand-children last night. Holly calls it my token spag bol' ...but she does mean it in the special occasion sense of the word. It's something the old silverback loves to do, and it is always greeted with great appreciation amongst the progeny who proclaim it the "best of all" bolognaise with "better than anyone else's" salad.

Inevitably the occasion becomes nostalgic, and last night was no exception when we viewed several boxes of the old 35 mm slides.  My daughter's suggestion, not mine! And of course 35 mm slides are bound to be nostalgic because we all gave up taking them 20 years ago. But they caused great amusement. For the fashions....those Kevin Keegan shorts will never come back! For the comparatively austere decor. For those furnishings some of which survive to this day (I don't think I could physically remove the three seater settees from my present home?)  And because the evidence from the slides was that it was always good old dad who played with the girls when they were small, whilst their mother seemed to spend all her time lying on a sun lounger!!
Watching these golden oldie moments I also found myself recalling situations that we encountered as a family. I probably applied a bit of rose tinted retro-viewing but it did seem that we showed good guidance as parents. We often joke about the ex's disciplined approach to bed time. I can't really believe that the girls were still being sent to bed before it got dark when they had reached their teens!!
So I was particularly interested to read today about recent research carried out at the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management. on the impact of disciplined parenting. This extract from esciencenews explains it:
Children whose parents use a firm parenting style that still allows them to test the rules and learn from it are more likely to assume leadership roles as adults according to a new study published in a recent edition of The Leadership Quarterly. Researchers used data from a long-term Minnesota study of twins. They found that children raised with an "authoritative" parenting style – where parents set clear limits and expectations while also being supportive of their children – assumed more leadership roles at work and in their communities later in life. While these children were also less likely to engage in serious rule-breaking, children who did engage in serious rule-breaking were less likely to assume leadership roles."Some of these early examples of rule-breaking behaviour, more the modest type, don't necessarily produce negative outcomes later in life – that was fairly intriguing," says Maria Rotundo, a professor "It doesn't mean all children of authoritative parents are going to become leaders, but they are more likely to."

It certainly corresponds with what I had always believed about the early-years fixing of lifelong attitudes. And that says it all really....what I had always believed.  Because it is those beliefs and values that were instilled by those closest to us when we were first learning about things that remain with us, shaping our attitudes and behaviours throughout life.  If we were fortunate they will have been good values. Either way they become deeply rooted and all of us find it difficult to alter our habits and behaviours that are based on these beliefs. Something we clearly experience when we try to change what we regard as disappointing behaviour and attitude in others.

So here's a suggestion for any of us still struggling with what to give the little 'uns this christmas. As well as that  particular toy that was on the letter to Santa....which of course will be much loved but probably played out by next christmas....
.... how about giving the gift of a guiding value for life?

"Investigate things and how they work!"

One of my favourite reads is the weekly newsletter "eureka" from esciencenews.com.  It's a round up of scientific research going on just about everywhere on anything. As I got older I used to be surprised how much there was still to learn. Yes seriously... I really did. Then I got wise and realised that clever people recognise how little they do know. Then I grew out of my intellectual self-analysing phase and just enjoyed being curious!
 "Be curious" was the lesson I learned from a lovely old guy I once knew, who although well into his 80's, was mentally as sharp as they come. "Investigate things and how they work" was his philosophy.
It was this enquiring mind, coupled with his talents as a tool-maker that lead him to design and make a spinning top. Not any old spinning top but one that would hold the Guiness Book of Records title for the world's longest spinning top!  Yes he was purposeful as well.   Each day he would be up with the lark and into the local Tesco at opening time, no sleeping in for him. Although he never made a thing about it, Bill's enquiring mind was as fit as it would have been in his youth.
I remember back in '98 driving with him and his younger sister of 78 as as we visited a long lost relative in Essex. They were arguing in the back seat over the details of a similar journey they used to make as children travelling to see an Aunt from their home in Southend-on-Sea. Younger sister thought that she remembered the journey. Older brother Bill knew that he remembered it. Maybe that was the purposeful side kicking in. Why bother to remember all that detail? Unless of course it was to prove his younger sibling was wrong. But remember it he did, as he recalled with amazing detail all the images along the way.
Sadly I lost contact with Bill a few years ago but I'm sure he is still getting up early each morning... is giving himself a purpose for the day....has a "project" on his mind that he is questioning... and is trying to improve on the answers that he is given. Thanks for that Bill.