A relaxing sort of weekend is drawing to a close and the usual hand wringing due to the reality of starting a new working week begins again in earnest.
It’s been a bit different for me. Slept in late on Saturday morning, something I don’t like doing normally because it seems like half the day is wasted by the time I get up and when you don’t like going to work as much as I do any lost time on the weekend is a big deal! But the accumulated tiredness from sitting up to all hours watching the Tour de France was definitely making a dent in me and the extra time in bed was something I surely needed.
Found myself in Woden Plaza later in the day having breakfast cum lunch with friends and then visited my parents. We were only there a short time when Linda’s boss phoned and offered us tickets to the Brumbies game due to the fact her partner was sick and thus they wouldn’t be chugging out to the stadium. I surprised Linda by agreeing to go and although it was an awful game and an awful day weather wise I am glad I went.
After getting home and drying off from the drenching we received walking through the car park in the rain, I helped Linda make dinner as we entertained another friend and I was soon after bedded down for another stage of the Tour.
I had a relatively late morning departure from bed today but a fairly quiet day for the most part as Linda and the girls were playing soccer and were away for some hours.
I spent the rest of the afternoon watching Russell Crowe in “Robin Hood” which was much more enjoyable than I remember it being when I saw it at the movies two years ago.
Then it was around to my parent’s place for a roast dinner which is always something to look forward to.
I found my father looking very glum and after asking him if he had been watching the Tour de France highlights package I found that he hadn’t as he has been disappointed in the efforts of Cadel Evans and had lost interest in the race. Funny that a 75 year old man would invest himself in one rider so much that he would lose interest when he felt the defending champion wasn’t going as well as he had hoped. It got me thinking about how sport really gets us worked up and how involved we can get with our sporting heroes.
When I was a boy I was mad about cricket and invested myself totally in the sport. The name players were the biggest celebrities in my narrow vision of the world and sauntered through the sporting landscape of my mind like prehistoric giants of old.
Of course cycling has been my other great love and I still follow it passionately and surprise myself about how emotionally involved I can get in the latest happenings in the sport.
As an example, it was reported yesterday that Australian riders Richie Porte and Michael Rogers were being abused by Australian spectators on the race due to their work for the British Sky Team and their dilligence in battling Cadel Evans in the service of British Tour leader Bradley Wiggins.
Of course it is a terrible and unacceptable consequence of these two riders simply doing their job and those supporters should pull their heads in but I found, much to my ensuing horror, that my first thought was “serves them right for taking the blood money from Sky!”
I have berated myself for thinking such a thing but it is an example of taking sport too seriously and illustrates the passion that such an interest can generate.
The other thing of note which crossed my mind today is the fact of when I was growing up all of my sporting heroes were much older than me. Thinking about it now and watching sport it is sobering to realise that the major players in the sports I watch are all of course much younger than I am. Of course one can’t stop the clock and it is the natural consequence of growing older.
So that is a run down of how I have spent my weekend and as the hourglass of the weekend empties I am preparing to hop into bed yet again and watch those lycra clad fools strut their stuff in France. Despite the disappointments which may befall our homegrown heroes trying their luck in the great race and my own protestations that I will no longer continue watching when things don’t occur the way I want them to, I find myself drawn yet again to the television and will no doubt be awake when the winner crosses the line early tomorrow morning.
After that I will sleep and prepare myself yet again for another week of grind at the MC and begin the usual ritual of counting down the days, hours, minutes and seconds until I can see the oasis in the distance, another weekend, slowly creeping into my line of sight.
So, to all who take the time to read this, I hope you have had a great weekend and the days to come will not be too stressful. Goodnight.
It’s been a bit different for me. Slept in late on Saturday morning, something I don’t like doing normally because it seems like half the day is wasted by the time I get up and when you don’t like going to work as much as I do any lost time on the weekend is a big deal! But the accumulated tiredness from sitting up to all hours watching the Tour de France was definitely making a dent in me and the extra time in bed was something I surely needed.
Found myself in Woden Plaza later in the day having breakfast cum lunch with friends and then visited my parents. We were only there a short time when Linda’s boss phoned and offered us tickets to the Brumbies game due to the fact her partner was sick and thus they wouldn’t be chugging out to the stadium. I surprised Linda by agreeing to go and although it was an awful game and an awful day weather wise I am glad I went.
After getting home and drying off from the drenching we received walking through the car park in the rain, I helped Linda make dinner as we entertained another friend and I was soon after bedded down for another stage of the Tour.
I had a relatively late morning departure from bed today but a fairly quiet day for the most part as Linda and the girls were playing soccer and were away for some hours.
I spent the rest of the afternoon watching Russell Crowe in “Robin Hood” which was much more enjoyable than I remember it being when I saw it at the movies two years ago.
Then it was around to my parent’s place for a roast dinner which is always something to look forward to.
I found my father looking very glum and after asking him if he had been watching the Tour de France highlights package I found that he hadn’t as he has been disappointed in the efforts of Cadel Evans and had lost interest in the race. Funny that a 75 year old man would invest himself in one rider so much that he would lose interest when he felt the defending champion wasn’t going as well as he had hoped. It got me thinking about how sport really gets us worked up and how involved we can get with our sporting heroes.
When I was a boy I was mad about cricket and invested myself totally in the sport. The name players were the biggest celebrities in my narrow vision of the world and sauntered through the sporting landscape of my mind like prehistoric giants of old.
Of course cycling has been my other great love and I still follow it passionately and surprise myself about how emotionally involved I can get in the latest happenings in the sport.
As an example, it was reported yesterday that Australian riders Richie Porte and Michael Rogers were being abused by Australian spectators on the race due to their work for the British Sky Team and their dilligence in battling Cadel Evans in the service of British Tour leader Bradley Wiggins.
Of course it is a terrible and unacceptable consequence of these two riders simply doing their job and those supporters should pull their heads in but I found, much to my ensuing horror, that my first thought was “serves them right for taking the blood money from Sky!”
I have berated myself for thinking such a thing but it is an example of taking sport too seriously and illustrates the passion that such an interest can generate.
The other thing of note which crossed my mind today is the fact of when I was growing up all of my sporting heroes were much older than me. Thinking about it now and watching sport it is sobering to realise that the major players in the sports I watch are all of course much younger than I am. Of course one can’t stop the clock and it is the natural consequence of growing older.
So that is a run down of how I have spent my weekend and as the hourglass of the weekend empties I am preparing to hop into bed yet again and watch those lycra clad fools strut their stuff in France. Despite the disappointments which may befall our homegrown heroes trying their luck in the great race and my own protestations that I will no longer continue watching when things don’t occur the way I want them to, I find myself drawn yet again to the television and will no doubt be awake when the winner crosses the line early tomorrow morning.
After that I will sleep and prepare myself yet again for another week of grind at the MC and begin the usual ritual of counting down the days, hours, minutes and seconds until I can see the oasis in the distance, another weekend, slowly creeping into my line of sight.
So, to all who take the time to read this, I hope you have had a great weekend and the days to come will not be too stressful. Goodnight.
Strange Notations From a Laborious Life 