I'm getting a bit podgy around the middle.
Not too bad for a man of my age, but then, not too good either.
Due to the dog, I exercise... a bit and my diet is all right, with plenty of fruit and vegetables.
So, bar joining a gym or becoming a vegan, there's nothing much I can change.
My plan therefore is to alter my eating habits outside the home.
No more fast or cafe food for lunch. (Unless I'm meeting friends or family.)
A 28-inch waist by Christmas!

Last Sunday my eldest daughter was confirmed as a Roman Catholic.
My parents and my wife’s mother came to the church service as well as my wife’s brother and his family.
I hadn’t really thought much about this event and hadn’t made a big deal about it.
I should have.
It was a big day for her and I didn’t take it seriously enough.
She stayed behind afterwards, as there was a party for the children/young adults.
My wife stayed to help and I took my small children home.
Chinese take away for my parents and us with enough left for my wife and eldest.
Not bad but not as good as I should have made it.

As a child I was fascinated by the old religions. Not just the ancient Greek one, but any that had a pantheon of Gods rather than just the one.
Recently I started to wonder about the deification of more modern heroes.
Who would they be?

Elvis Presley; God of Music.
Marilyn Monroe; Goddess of Desire.
Muhammad Ali; God of Battle. (Ironically.)
Evel Kinievel; God of Daring.

Hmmn, all Americans. How about…

Albert Einstein; God of Thought.
Mahatma Gandhi; God of Equality.
Charlie Chaplin; God of Comedy.

Who else?

Sometimes I wake up and feel ironically, just a little down.
Maybe my back is hurting or one of my children is crying.
Nothing major, just minor irritations.
Today though, as I was waiting on the platform to get on my usual train, I noticed a man standing beside me.
Average build, average height. I would have guessed him to be in his mid fifties.
I noticed him because of his face, or rather for his lack of it.
I can only guess that cancer was to blame and drastic surgery the only option.
He had lost at least half his jaw, his cheekbone and the section of skull that supports the eye socket and ear on the right side of his head. He’d also had a lot of skin ‘repaired’.
I felt several emotions: Sympathy, guilt, admiration and oddly gratitude.
Sympathy and admiration I understood. Here was a man struck down through no fault of his own with a terrible disfigurement, but still willing to face the world.
Guilt and gratitude though…
Why did I feel guilty? I’m completely blameless for his situation, and gratitude…
Grateful I suppose that I’ve been so lucky all my life.

Years ago I was involved in a brawl that left me unconscious and resembling John Merrick. I woke up the next day in hospital with a concussion and my left eye swollen shut and leaking pus.
Nice.
There was concern that I would lose the sight in that eye, but they couldn’t ascertain the damage until I could open it.
I was discharged and left to rest at home in the dark. I was pretty woozy, but on the fourth day while alone, I stumbled over to a wall mirror and forced open my mangled eye.
Nothing.
I could see nothing but white. I was quite scared but tried not to panic. It was a bit late for that anyway.
Fortunately over the next few days my vision returned; at least partially. I ended up losing a chunk of my peripheral vision, which frankly I don’t even notice anymore.
The only other after effects are a slightly ‘withered’ appearance that my optician oh so politely pointed out and a dull ache when I get stressed out or over tired.
I’m not tired so I suppose I’m just feeling stressed today.

Yesterday was Father’s day.
I wasn’t expecting anything fancy. Maybe just a lie in?
Unfortunately my wife was so ill, that it was just ‘business as normal’.
Still, a day with the children is always good.

Many years ago my Brother bought me a ‘Galileo Thermometer’ for a Christmas present.
I smiled and thanked him, as I freely admit, I’m impossible to buy for.
It’s effectively, a sealed glass cylinder containing water, air and individual coloured glass baubles with copper tags expressing a possible temperature.
It sat in cupboards, still boxed up.
It travelled through two house moves, still boxed up.
Recently I rediscovered it underneath a pile of books in the cupboard under the stairs. There was no way the glass ornament could have survived, so I pulled it out and opened the box expecting a collection of broken glass…
Incredibly it was still intact.
More incredibly it worked fantastically.
It now has pride of place on the kitchen windowsill.
It enables me to judge the weather and therefore what jumper to put on before I leave the house.
But the best thing of all?
It’s beautiful, simple and brilliant.
That Galileo was a genius!

On the way home from work last night, I saw a young woman struggling to control her three small children.
The eldest was about three years old, there was a toddler in a pushchair and the young Mum was holding a baby in the crook of her arm.
She was obviously harassed but she didn’t seem like a bad person.
I was appalled however when, to stop the toddler from crying, she poured the contents of a can of ‘Coca-cola’ into a baby bottle and gave it to the bawling child.
It had the desired effect though as the child immediately stopped screaming.
Having said that, if this is her common solution, what chance does that child or any of her other children have?
Rotten teeth, fat bellies and poor health will not make them happy or popular.
Each generation seems to be less sensible than the one before.
As a nation, as a planet, we’re in trouble.

My wife bought tickets for us to see the comedian; Dara O’Briain at the Hammersmith Apollo last Friday.
I’d only ever seen him comparing on 'Mock the Week', but was very excited to see him live.
Mandy told me I had to meet her there at 6.30pm. A bit early I thought but why not.
Amazingly she was on time and I didn’t have my usual half an hour of panic.
At 6.30pm the doors opened and we filed in.
We bought some drinks and hotdogs and waited...
The show wasn’t due to start until 8pm.
Do’h!
Still, it was nice being ‘alone’ with my wife.
We laughed and joked until we were allowed to our seats at 7.30pm.
Ate sweets and giggled until Dara came on.
He just wandered on really and started chatting. No real jokes, just conversations with the audience and a few anecdotes.
Hilarious!
We laughed throughout.

My wife recently found a temporary artificial ice-skating rink that was set up in a local sports centre. The tickets were cheap so why not?
We went there early on a Saturday morning and found the rink taking up approximately a quarter of the main sports hall. It was actually quite small, but fortunately we were the only ones there.
We put on our skates (even my wife!) and my eldest daughter and I were the first ones on.
This shouldn’t have been problematic as we are both moderately OK skaters.
Unfortunately, I was completely unable to move forward and my daughter could just manage to get around by pulling herself along the rail.
My smaller children and wife had it no better.
The artificial ‘ice’ is actually a hard white plastic, coated in glycerine to allow ‘sliding’. Now while this should work, there is a problem.
Because this is an activity aimed at families and young children, ‘Health and Safety’ insist that the skates aren’t sharp.
This is to prevent any accidental finger amputations. They haven’t considered however that due to the blunted skates inability to find any purchase, that the would-be skaters are more likely to damage themselves because of the constant and unavoidable falling over.
Idiots.