unironedman

Here follows a short post. Because life is happening right now. It’s not coming to a cinema near you, per se, though that too is life. Life is what happens when you’re busy making plans. John Lennon, apparently, though I doubt anyone will ever accredit a quote anymore these days, thanks to the internet. I suppose, in a manner not dissimilar to Godwin’s Law, there is an adage to describe the mathematical probability of any quotation eventually being ascribed to Mark Twain. And like a stopped clock, you will be right at some point, as the dude did like a quotable epigram. But anyway…

So, yes. Life. It’s happening. But not as you know it. (That’s another misquote, by the way).

My last post was about a dreadful murder in the midlands of Ireland. The crime touched many a nerve, and for my own running community, it was quite troubling. The police here have a suspect in custody, so hopefully matters will be dealt with in the correct way. We don’t always get things right here in Ireland. (Just today a deeply troubling story has broken about child and adolescent mental health services in the south, and I can vouch for these services being inadequate at best). It would be fair to say there is a lot of pressure on the state to get this investigation right.

But it’s remarkable how things move on. Not for the family of the murdered young lady, of course. But the news machine rumbles on, devouring all in its path, and churning out the stories. And for the good citizens of the Emerald Isle, suddenly Covid was over. Just like that. Lifted and melted away like a morning mist in September. Is it over? Is it bollocks. But the national broadcaster had a mildly nauseating evening show with celebs on, yakking on about how they went out on the batter at the weekend, and comparing our mass lifting of most restrictions to VE Day. VE Day, for fuck sake!

If you haven’t heard of VE Day, then a little Google will help. It was 8th May, 1945, and it marked the end of the Second World War. Clearly a monumental date. My folks would have been young children at the time, and my Mum in particular would have remembered it in some fashion, growing up in the midlands of England. To compare having a few pints with that is fairly crass, but not only that, it was the general light-hearted vapidity of much of the conversation that really grated; the slightly smug, self-congratulatory babble from people who despite talking about the joys of not living in a bubble anymore seem to be blissfully unaware that they are in fact in a giant fucking bubble of their own making.

As you can see, the thing got me fierce vexed, so it did.

Perhaps having to take my Dad into hospital on Thursday set the mood. I could tell he was not well, and his BP was 160 over 80, so straight up to his GP and we both agreed it was ‘do not pass go, do not collect 200’ and he was off to James Connolly Memorial in an ambulance for his annual torment of the nursing staff. He’s still there, with a nasty chest infection. And Covid (remember Covid?) means we cannot see him, so that’s doubly-frustrating. Though I should stress that he doesn’t have Covid.

We also took on a large greyhound called Ernie for a few days, as a foster, but he was sparking off with Bonnie, so he has been found a new foster home. All the best on your travels, big guy. Sorry we couldn’t be of more service to you.

Training? Yes, that continues. As does the gym work. It takes a hit though. You know, life, and all that stuff. In the overall general scheme of things, running is just a thing I do. It’s not particularly life-defining. I mean, it is important, and I’ll keep doing it until I can’t. Or until it’s no longer fun. But you may be startled to learn that I do other stuff in my life along with the occasional run. And yes, I am being facetious. That’s the humour that’s on me right now, I guess.

I hope to get a decent long run in on Sunday morning. The distance totals have not made for positive reading, not least for a guy who is attempting a 50k run in a few week’s time. We are where we are, and other extremely shitty idioms.

Normal (you what now? ed.) service will hopefully resume shortly. Do not adjust your sets.