Stating the obvious

Blood sugar: normal

White cells: normal

Red cells: normal

Hemoglobin: normal

Doctor's verdict:
"You're just over-tired - you need to rest for a few days, not do any work, and take lots of sleep."

Why do i have to pay £25 to hear what my colleagues, friends and family have been telling me for 2 weeks? Or maybe i should ask, why didn't i listen to them...?

Friends reunited

I've been thinking a lot lately about what it takes to maintain relationships over long distances.

It's interesting, at first i was viewing it like it's something new to me. Now i realise it's something i've been doing for the past 7 years. I haven't always got it right, and sometimes i have let important people drift away. But this week i had some nice reminders of how it can work really well.

• In June i'm flying to the UK to attend the wedding of one of my best friends from my home town. We've seen eachother only twice in the last 3 years. But still it was important for me to be able to go, and still she was thrilled to know i'll be able to make it
• I had an exciting phone call from this guy, whom i should see a bit more of next year
• I chatted with this girl, who again showed that she's not afraid of taking on a new challenge
• I caught up with this girl, whom i'll be seeing again in Turkey
• This girl told me about her exciting opportunities for the future
• Wetalked about the summer, about making decisions, and about random stuff :)
• And it always feels good to celebrate victory with the girl in the picture :)

I've heard people say the world is getting smaller.

Or maybe my arms are getting longer :)

Finding my oasis

12:10pm
All dressed up and ready to leave for a meeting. Shirt, trousers, shoes (tie in bag).

12:15pm
Downstairs, out into the rain. The heat hits me like a wall. It's not so intense these days, low 30s, but still uncomfortable. And the sweat gathers on my forehead in no time at all.

12:20pm
The rain is now lashing down. I'm happy to have an umbrella, unlike many of the people around me (lucky i decided to borrow it today...) The first bus comes into view. My heart sinks, no air-con. Do i take it to make sure i'm on-time? Or wait and hope that the next will provide a cooler journey? Better to wait - after all if nothing comes, i can always take a taxi

12:30pm
Second bus appears, with air-con. Relief. At last i'll be out of the rain. Last week i couldn't cope with the rain. When the sun disappeared, so did my energy and my spirit. But today is different. I have the uplifting salsa track that you gave to me. It reminds me of you, of your smile, your eyes. It takes me away to my dance studio, where i'm practicing my turns and thinking only about the music. Then I think again of the day when we'll dance together. A day that i know with increasing certainty will come. Today I also have 'The Alchemist' in my bag. I already read it when i was 19. Why does it mean so much more now? Then i would smile because it created nice images and it resonated with optimism. Now i smile because i understand what it's saying.

12:40pm
The salsa track has finished twice. I look up from my book.
"Oh, is it raining outside...?"

What a difference a week makes.

Heading back up North

Arsenal 1 - 1 Chelsea

After 3 years on-loan in London, the English Premier League trophy will soon be heading back up the M6 to Manchester. To a place where it has already lived for 8 out of the 14 years of its dramatic life. To the Theatre of Dreams.

Is this the finest triumph to date? Statistically it could be - we need 4 points (from 2 games) to equal our best, set in 93-94, of 92 points during a season.

But it's the context and the style in which it has been achieved that makes this title so special. We were written off by so many 'experts'. We were allegedly past our best. We would not win anything without Beckham & Keane. A new era had dawned, the Abramovich-Mourinho axis was here to conquer all. Of course, 3 years with nothing but an FA Cup and even an optimist like me begins to wonder...

And then there was the much-hyped 'bust-up' between our two most talented young stars - Ronaldo & Rooney - who would apparently never again play together in the same team. Their response? 46 goals between them in all competitions.

I could go on for the whole night, talking about excitement, drama, courage, and above all, exhilerating attacking football. But i won't - i'll let the statistics speak for themselves.

P36; W28; D4; L4; F83; A26; GD57 Pts88

On the brink...

Courage, determination, patience - and a flash of genius from the undisputed footballer of the year.

It was scrappy, it was tense, but in the end the job was done.

So now all eyes turn to the Emirates Stadium. Hard to believe that for once i'll be cheering for Messieurs Wenger, Henry et al...

It's a funny ol' game :)

Cynicism & choice

For as long as i've been interested in politics (about 10yrs i think, since that May 1st landslide...) these are 2 themes that surround the particular brand of democracy served up in the UK.

And now that counting is finished in elections for 600 local council seats in England, 129 Parliamentary seats in Scotland and 60 Assembly seats in Wales, both themes are there again for all to see.

The cynics have found plenty to moan about, here's just a selection:

• Problems with new voting systems in Scotland must be part of a government conspiracy to rob some people of their vote (I'm saying nothing about people who are too stupid to follow instructions and their right to vote...)
• The usual (& tired) 'all parties are offering the same, so i'm not voting' argument
• The BBC is biased in its reporting (it was used accused of bias against each of the 2 main parties, in separate comments to the same post on its 'Election 07 blog' - now surely that's proof of neutrality!)
• And my personal favourite, again a comment on the same blog posting: "I personally have never been represented by anyone I have voted for in 24 years of participating in 'democracy'"
  This poor guy. Despite being one of only 60 million people in the country, noone has ever given him exactly what he wants. Next time they should give him a specially marked ballot paper, so his choice will be guaranteed to win...

I prefer not to focus on the cynicism, i prefer to celebrate the choice and the way it was exercised. For example, that voter turnout increased across the whole country.

But to me, the best statistic of them all is one that i haven't seen reported anywhere (actually i had to count it myself to be able to write about it...) It's the gross number of seats that changed hands in the elections. In England alone it stands at 74 out of 309 for which results are in - or 24%. I recently read that the true sign of democracy is not how you vote people in, but how easy it is to vote them out when you're not happy. In England this week, this right was exercised in 1 in every 4 seats that was up for election.

Whatever the cynics may say, and whatever the small details that still need to be worked out with new voting systems in Scotland & Wales, i think this shows democracy is still in full swing on those strange islands in the North of Europe...