Our sons came back on the 23rd and the Christmas Eve meal with my wife’s brothers and their families was excellent. We don’t all get together very often so the effort was well worthwhile.
Christmas Day featured a huge lunch (turkey, stuffing, roast potatoes, sausages, bacon, carrots, parsnips, sprouts, bread sauce, cranberry sauce, cumberland sauce) washed down by a good wine. All lovely, but there may be some truth in the old “my stomach has shrunk as a result of eating less in recent months” as I didn’t want to eat for the rest of the day.
I have to get a bit more disciplined over big meals – I am quite good at eating sensibly when it’s not there in front of me, but if someone has been kind enough to prepare it and put it on the table, my discipline disappears. I think I’m getting more minimalist as I get older. I had a great Christmas but I’m wondering if we could do it with less food, drink and fewer presents.
On Boxing Day I took our sons to watch our local team, Swindon. Although I infected them with my own affiliations from an early age, I admire my sons’ determination to support our local side. We’ve been through a lot with Swindon over the years (including three defeats of increasing severity – 1-0, 2-0 and 4-0 – in three visits to Wembley) but they are currently top of their league. Admittedly it’s the lowest of the football league structure but they played pretty well in an emphatic and thoroughly enjoyable 4-0 win.
Our older son had to go back to London on Boxing Day evening. A really good few days.
Happily, the knee is a good deal better, and has needed no medical intervention. I took the new knee brace for a long walk through the fields on Saturday. It performed well and the walk was great, apart from a moment of carelessness when I kicked a thick and unyielding clump of grass and got a sharp reminder that the knee does not like twisting or lateral movement just now.
Drinks party on Sunday (the hosts are both doctors and there were, unsurprisingly, lots of other doctors in attendance) it’s amazing how many of them had ACL issues, but mine is happily pretty trivial. Our younger son went back to London on Tuesday and we hosted a New Year’s supper for some friends.
No running or cycling for over two weeks now, throughout an outbreak of good sense. I miss them and what with Christmas too, my waistline shows the price to be paid.
… and so ends 2019. Not a bad year, I loved the Rotterdam Marathon (and our younger son breaking the 4 hour mark), I had a great time cycling out in the alps (twice) and walking in the Lake District was terrific, as always. All overshadowed by my father’s death in December, but even that came with great gratitude for a (very) long life, well lived, and a real appreciation that he did not have to suffer any long drawn-out illness or slow but inexorable decline.
2020 is the year of the ultra marathon and getting back on the bike. I can’t wait (but in a rare outbreak of good sense, I’ll take it easy while the knee heals).
Wishing everyone a great year – as my mother-in-law used to say ‘I wish you everything you would wish yourself’.
(an Old Man in Lycra) 