tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33606474934998634422024-03-12T16:37:57.685-07:00Active retirementMichael McSorleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06352593190581090069noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3360647493499863442.post-16965887756808393392018-10-30T06:13:00.000-07:002018-10-30T06:13:48.127-07:00Fake news?<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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and As from the American Association of Retired People Forum</span></u></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">A few months ago, a
friend sent me a list of frequently asked questions that relate to people of
a certain age.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">After reading them
and responding to their humour, the Trumpian “post-truth” concept of “fake
news” came to mind.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Two issues in
particular arose.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>Firstly, how genuine
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">A quick on-line
check revealed that there is indeed a body which operates under that very
name, it has its own website,<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3360647493499863442#_edn1" name="_ednref1" style="mso-endnote-id: edn1;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">[i]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>it has a membership scheme and it offers what
appears like expert advice on myriad topics for elderly people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-element-anchor-horizontal: column; mso-element-anchor-vertical: paragraph; mso-element-frame-hspace: 2.25pt; mso-element-wrap: around; mso-element: frame; mso-height-rule: exactly; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-element-anchor-horizontal: column; mso-element-anchor-vertical: paragraph; mso-element-frame-hspace: 2.25pt; mso-element-wrap: around; mso-element: frame; mso-height-rule: exactly; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Whether this
list of FAQs is genuine or a satirical spoof is quite another matter.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-element-anchor-horizontal: column; mso-element-anchor-vertical: paragraph; mso-element-frame-hspace: 2.25pt; mso-element-wrap: around; mso-element: frame; mso-height-rule: exactly; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-element-anchor-horizontal: column; mso-element-anchor-vertical: paragraph; mso-element-frame-hspace: 2.25pt; mso-element-wrap: around; mso-element: frame; mso-height-rule: exactly; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br /></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 1;">
<td style="border-left: none; border: solid windowtext 3.0pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm; width: 194.25pt;" valign="top" width="259">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-element-anchor-horizontal: column; mso-element-anchor-vertical: paragraph; mso-element-frame-hspace: 2.25pt; mso-element-wrap: around; mso-element: frame; mso-height-rule: exactly; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<i><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Q:</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> <span style="color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Where can single men over the
age of 70 find younger women who are interested in them?</span></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-left: none; border: solid windowtext 3.0pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm; width: 236.25pt;" valign="top" width="315">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-element-anchor-horizontal: column; mso-element-anchor-vertical: paragraph; mso-element-frame-hspace: 2.25pt; mso-element-wrap: around; mso-element: frame; mso-height-rule: exactly; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<i><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">A:</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> <span style="color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Try a bookstore, under
Fiction.</span></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 2;">
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 3.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 3.0pt; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm; width: 194.25pt;" valign="top" width="259">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-element-anchor-horizontal: column; mso-element-anchor-vertical: paragraph; mso-element-frame-hspace: 2.25pt; mso-element-wrap: around; mso-element: frame; mso-height-rule: exactly; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<i><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Q:</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> <span style="color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">What can a man do while his
wife is going through menopause?</span></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 3.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 3.0pt; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm; width: 236.25pt;" valign="top" width="315">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-element-anchor-horizontal: column; mso-element-anchor-vertical: paragraph; mso-element-frame-hspace: 2.25pt; mso-element-wrap: around; mso-element: frame; mso-height-rule: exactly; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<i><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">A:</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> <span style="color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Keep busy. If you're handy
with tools, you can finish the basement. When you're done, you will have a
place to live.</span></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 3;">
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 3.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 3.0pt; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm; width: 194.25pt;" valign="top" width="259">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-element-anchor-horizontal: column; mso-element-anchor-vertical: paragraph; mso-element-frame-hspace: 2.25pt; mso-element-wrap: around; mso-element: frame; mso-height-rule: exactly; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<i><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Q:</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> I’m
a member of a Retired Christians’ motor cycle club, Heavens’ Angels. <span style="color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Someone told me that motor
bikes are mentioned in the bible. Is that true? </span></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 3.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 3.0pt; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm; width: 236.25pt;" valign="top" width="315">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-element-anchor-horizontal: column; mso-element-anchor-vertical: paragraph; mso-element-frame-hspace: 2.25pt; mso-element-wrap: around; mso-element: frame; mso-height-rule: exactly; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<i><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">A:</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> <span style="color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Yes. Old Testament 14:92: <br />
"And the roar of Moses’s Triumph was heard all over the Holy Land..."</span></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 4;">
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 3.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 3.0pt; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm; width: 194.25pt;" valign="top" width="259">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-element-anchor-horizontal: column; mso-element-anchor-vertical: paragraph; mso-element-frame-hspace: 2.25pt; mso-element-wrap: around; mso-element: frame; mso-height-rule: exactly; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<i><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Q:</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> <span style="color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">How can you increase the
heart rate of your over-70 year-old husband?</span></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 3.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 3.0pt; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm; width: 236.25pt;" valign="top" width="315">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-element-anchor-horizontal: column; mso-element-anchor-vertical: paragraph; mso-element-frame-hspace: 2.25pt; mso-element-wrap: around; mso-element: frame; mso-height-rule: exactly; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<i><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">A:</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> <span style="color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Tell him you're pregnant.</span></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 5;">
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 3.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 3.0pt; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm; width: 194.25pt;" valign="top" width="259">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-element-anchor-horizontal: column; mso-element-anchor-vertical: paragraph; mso-element-frame-hspace: 2.25pt; mso-element-wrap: around; mso-element: frame; mso-height-rule: exactly; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<i><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Q:</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> <span style="color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">How can you avoid that
terrible curse of the elderly wrinkles?</span></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 3.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 3.0pt; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm; width: 236.25pt;" valign="top" width="315">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-element-anchor-horizontal: column; mso-element-anchor-vertical: paragraph; mso-element-frame-hspace: 2.25pt; mso-element-wrap: around; mso-element: frame; mso-height-rule: exactly; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<i><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">A:</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> <span style="color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Take off your glasses.</span></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 6;">
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 3.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 3.0pt; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm; width: 194.25pt;" valign="top" width="259">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-element-anchor-horizontal: column; mso-element-anchor-vertical: paragraph; mso-element-frame-hspace: 2.25pt; mso-element-wrap: around; mso-element: frame; mso-height-rule: exactly; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<i><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Q:</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> <span style="color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Seriously! What can I do for
these crow's feet and all those wrinkles on my face?</span></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 3.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 3.0pt; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm; width: 236.25pt;" valign="top" width="315">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-element-anchor-horizontal: column; mso-element-anchor-vertical: paragraph; mso-element-frame-hspace: 2.25pt; mso-element-wrap: around; mso-element: frame; mso-height-rule: exactly; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<i><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">A:</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> <span style="color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Go braless. It will usually
pull them out.</span></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 7;">
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 3.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 3.0pt; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm; width: 194.25pt;" valign="top" width="259">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-element-anchor-horizontal: column; mso-element-anchor-vertical: paragraph; mso-element-frame-hspace: 2.25pt; mso-element-wrap: around; mso-element: frame; mso-height-rule: exactly; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<i><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Q:</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> <span style="color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Why should 70 plus year old
people use valet parking?</span></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 3.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 3.0pt; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm; width: 236.25pt;" valign="top" width="315">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-element-anchor-horizontal: column; mso-element-anchor-vertical: paragraph; mso-element-frame-hspace: 2.25pt; mso-element-wrap: around; mso-element: frame; mso-height-rule: exactly; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<i><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">A:</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> <span style="color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Valets don't forget where
they park your car.</span></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 8;">
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 3.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 3.0pt; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm; width: 194.25pt;" valign="top" width="259">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-element-anchor-horizontal: column; mso-element-anchor-vertical: paragraph; mso-element-frame-hspace: 2.25pt; mso-element-wrap: around; mso-element: frame; mso-height-rule: exactly; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<i><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Q:</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> <span style="color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Is it common for 70-plus year
olds to have problems with short term memory storage?</span></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: inset 3.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 3.0pt; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm; width: 236.25pt;" valign="top" width="315">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-element-anchor-horizontal: column; mso-element-anchor-vertical: paragraph; mso-element-frame-hspace: 2.25pt; mso-element-wrap: around; mso-element: frame; mso-height-rule: exactly; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<i><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">A:</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> <span style="color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Storing memory is not a
problem; retrieving it is the problem.</span></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 9;">
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 3.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 3.0pt; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm; width: 194.25pt;" valign="top" width="259">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-element-anchor-horizontal: column; mso-element-anchor-vertical: paragraph; mso-element-frame-hspace: 2.25pt; mso-element-wrap: around; mso-element: frame; mso-height-rule: exactly; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<i><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Q:</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> <span style="color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">As people age, do they sleep
more soundly?</span></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 3.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 3.0pt; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm; width: 236.25pt;" valign="top" width="315">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-element-anchor-horizontal: column; mso-element-anchor-vertical: paragraph; mso-element-frame-hspace: 2.25pt; mso-element-wrap: around; mso-element: frame; mso-height-rule: exactly; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<i><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">A:</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> <span style="color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Yes, but usually in the
afternoon.</span></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 10;">
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 3.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 3.0pt; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm; width: 194.25pt;" valign="top" width="259">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-element-anchor-horizontal: column; mso-element-anchor-vertical: paragraph; mso-element-frame-hspace: 2.25pt; mso-element-wrap: around; mso-element: frame; mso-height-rule: exactly; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<i><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Q:</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> <span style="color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Where should 70-plus year
olds look for eye glasses?</span></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 3.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 3.0pt; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm; width: 236.25pt;" valign="top" width="315">
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<i><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">A:</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">On their foreheads.</span></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: #000099; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Q:</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> <span style="color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">What is the most common
remark made by 70-plus year olds when they enter antique stores?</span></span></div>
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these!"</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">©Michael McSorley 2018</span></div>
<div style="mso-element: endnote-list;">
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3360647493499863442#_ednref1" name="_edn1" style="mso-endnote-id: edn1;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[i]</span></span></span></span></a> https://www.aarp.org/</div>
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</div>
Michael McSorleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06352593190581090069noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3360647493499863442.post-38721095959914920062016-09-28T13:59:00.000-07:002016-09-28T13:59:15.820-07:00One day in retirement, a snapshot<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<![endif]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><i>Subtitle</i>: - <u><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><i></i></span>One day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (Not)</u><span style="mso-tab-count: 6;"> </span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">(with
apologies to Alexander Solzhenitsyn)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">So, this morning, a pleasant sunny day plonked slap bang
in the middle of September, felt like a good one to do things, to celebrate the
privilege of being retired.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Perhaps the weather contributed, perhaps it was the
feeling of returning to normal existence after a busy summer and installing a
new kitchen, and hopefully the prospect of a quieter day than yesterday when reading
unpleasant news stories and enduring a dental appointment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">That passing thought provides a salutary
reminder that these comfortable inconveniences are miniscule compared to Ivan
Denisovich’s day in the Stalinist gulag (or to current conditions in Aleppo).</span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Musical
anniversary</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Aware that tomorrow sees the first board meeting of the
Ulster Orchestra a week before the start of the new season, I have a number of substantial
papers to read within the next twenty-four hours.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Thirty to sixty minutes of intensive study
while my brain is relatively fresh will suffice before the eyes pop out of my
head. The reading might even sharpen the breakfast appetite.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Having joined the board two and a half years ago, I had
not realised just how precarious its financial situation was at that time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In retrospect it was a good time to join, if
only because the process of observing crisis management in action and trying to
assist is a rapid way to learn about an organisation.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It also brings out the best in the staff and management
who are battling for the survival of a cherished institution.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The current position, while imperfect, is
more stable than it was then.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
programme for the new season, our fiftieth anniversary, is the best I have ever
seen<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3360647493499863442#_edn1" name="_ednref1" style="mso-endnote-id: edn1;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">[i]</span></span></span></span></a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Prospects are exciting, there is positive
momentum, and we have a beautiful abundance of events, a veritable cornucopia.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">On the actual anniversary date of the first concert, which
took place on 28 September 1966, the orchestra <span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">is</span> staging “50 concerts in 1
day” in a wide variety of venues across Belfast<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3360647493499863442#_edn2" name="_ednref2" style="mso-endnote-id: edn2;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">[ii]</span></span></span></span></a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-F-7F56eY9RM/V-q7167XHKI/AAAAAAAAA3s/AzzIUWtiO-IEsgc3xLozBSHmm1WucpF4QCLcB/s1600/UO50Concerts1Day.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-F-7F56eY9RM/V-q7167XHKI/AAAAAAAAA3s/AzzIUWtiO-IEsgc3xLozBSHmm1WucpF4QCLcB/s320/UO50Concerts1Day.jpg" width="298" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Two days before that massive undertaking, the
orchestra will perform live on 26 September in a BBC radio concert of music
from the 1930’s; and three days after the birthday, a blockbuster 50<sup>th</sup>
anniversary platform concert on 30 September will feature the 1976 Moscow prize-winner
Barry Douglas performing Tchaikovsky’s first piano concerto.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">P<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">hotographic u</span>pdate and postscript:- </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">two weeks after th<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">e day feat<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">ured in this snapshot, the Ulster Orchestra achieved its <span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">crazy targ<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">et</span> of performing at 50 venues in one day. Great credit goes to the musicians and the staff for a sup<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">e</span>rb achievement.</span></span></span></span><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PO4UCHG36J4/V-wtc-qSwgI/AAAAAAAAA38/RLVtkQr3IjIeDV_bCI52UVdyOjxV0Av1wCLcB/s1600/IMAG0442.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="222" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PO4UCHG36J4/V-wtc-qSwgI/AAAAAAAAA38/RLVtkQr3IjIeDV_bCI52UVdyOjxV0Av1wCLcB/s400/IMAG0442.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rafael Payere conducts the Ulster Orchestra in Victoria Square shopping centre</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-uM9VrdZdCCQ/V-wtmkpM1-I/AAAAAAAAA4A/YeLSg7NQKboSd5mAA-ythLw5KrYjJ6XowCLcB/s1600/IMAG0388.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="178" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-uM9VrdZdCCQ/V-wtmkpM1-I/AAAAAAAAA4A/YeLSg7NQKboSd5mAA-ythLw5KrYjJ6XowCLcB/s320/IMAG0388.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Trumpet duo Patrick McCarthy & Paul Young welcome early morning commuters at Central Station</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"> </span></span></span> </span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Crystal
anniversary</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">On a more mundane note, after a tasty breakfast of sliced
chilled giant orange followed by toasted veda (we have the best bakeries in the
UK) with cheese on two slices followed by a third slice coated with factor 15
manuka honey, it’s time to check for text messages.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">One of my favourite apps is Whats App, where texts are
free and sending photographic attachments is also free – anywhere in the
world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I am pleasantly surprised to see
a photo from my eldest daughter of a crystal vase displaying beautiful sunflowers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Two days ago I ordered this bouquet to be
delivered to her and Bob in Scotland to mark their fifteenth wedding
anniversary (crystal – I checked the nomenclature on Google, as you do).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The gift was to arrive before 6 pm, but was
delivered just after 9 a.m today.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m
impressed and happy with good service.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Make my day.</span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Classic
car landmark</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">On Saturday, I had successfully put my 42 year old car,
an MGBGT, through its statutory MoT test, it having failed its original test a
couple of weeks previously.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>A problem
with ageing cars is that bits are always falling off.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Replacement parts can be difficult to find –
and expensive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In the interim and to
pass the retest, I had to have the engine’s cylinder head and gasket replaced, as
well as a number of other parts.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The total cost was, unsurprisingly, a fairly hefty
sum.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But with this classic car in overdrive
approaching its first time round the clock and the milometer today sitting at
99987, I can justify the investment as a present to mark a significant landmark,
like another anniversary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That will be
reached sometime over the next week.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>For
the first time since the successful retest four days ago, I take the car out
for a five mile spin round the block.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She
performs beautifully, which is a relief, sounding and feeling like a purring new
engine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Like <span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">her</span> owner, the MG prefers
good weather.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">Photographic <span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">u</span>pdate and p<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">ostscript:-</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"> </span></span></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fR7cfWdVPqM/V-p_xsREVuI/AAAAAAAAA3A/at5XhspB7VcV2IoWEnowSeZhD4nZ0pJaACLcB/s1600/IMAG0356.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="177" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fR7cfWdVPqM/V-p_xsREVuI/AAAAAAAAA3A/at5XhspB7VcV2IoWEnowSeZhD4nZ0pJaACLcB/s320/IMAG0356.jpg" width="320" /></a></i></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ADRcGLnvODE/V-qZNC6WuOI/AAAAAAAAA3c/s7BmSpNNtgI5zD39hSafQMZTGLibOmH9QCLcB/s1600/IMG-20160920-WA0001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="177" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ADRcGLnvODE/V-qZNC6WuOI/AAAAAAAAA3c/s7BmSpNNtgI5zD39hSafQMZTGLibOmH9QCLcB/s320/IMG-20160920-WA0001.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">42 years 4 months and 19 days after registration, the MG breaks through 99,999 miles and return to zero.</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Blooming
nature</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Having booked a gym class at midday, I have spare time sufficient
to justify my domestic existence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Taking
advantage of the morning sunshine, it’s opportune to address something annoying
in the back garden.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">A couple of plants,
large bushes really, have been growing like mad, encouraged by the welcome late
summer sun and are crying out for judicious pruning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, under the close supervision of my wife,
out come the shears and a rake.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Chopping
begins in earnest.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>In half an hour and
assisted by a little sweat, normality is restored to the offending vegetation.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Before getting my mountain bike ready for the short trip
to the gym, I make a mug of hot chocolate and accompany it with a cereal
bar.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s been two hours since breakfast
and energy will be needed to get through the 45 minute spin class and the
two-way trip.</span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Health</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">My usual gym, which is two miles from my home, is closed
for several days to be refurbished and refitted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While that work continues, members are
allowed to use the company’s other gyms anywhere in the UK.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Thanks to satellite technology and my other
favourite app, Endomondo, I know that the nearest alternative gym is exactly 4.81
miles from where I live, not a large distance or inconvenience on a bike,
especially on a nice day.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">So, full of the joys of spring, even though autumn is
approaching (and best put off for as long as possible), I set off arriving in
time at this gym with time for a short warm up and a series of stretching
moves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">This place is enormous compared
to my nearer venue.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It has about three
of four times the floor-space, it has a bigger swimming pool and has two
powerful Jacuzzis and a cavernous modern steam room, good for relaxing aching
limbs after exercise classes.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Despite my creative writing tutor’s ban on using clichés,
I’m tempted to say that a change is as good as a rest and to add for emphasis
that variety is the spice of life – but I won’t, even though both pertain.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It’s the sort of place that you would be unsurprised to
meet smooth-talking people who sell gleaming new cars or glitzy modern
furniture.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>That is because this gym is
located in an area full of car showrooms, garden centres, household appliance
outlets and furniture shops.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>An
off-centre location which town planners refer to as an area of comparison goods
shopping.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">People these days talk a lot about networking.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Occasionally, chance encounters can be
beneficial.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After the spin class, I
began a conversation with someone I saw at the class.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It emerged that he works nearby for a company
which publishes magazines, including one that features social and sporting
events, prize-givings, dinner-dances and the like.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>It’s the kind of magazine you read when idling
nervously in doctors’ waiting rooms.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A
useful exchange ended with him providing me with the editor’s details as a
prospective PR contact for the orchestra’s business.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Inspiration</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Having spent the previous night at the cinema watching
the new film “Café Society” by Woody Allen, a quiet night at home beckons.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Before embarking on this article, I start
reading the first few chapters of a novel described on the cover as “winner of
the Los Angeles Book Prize for fiction” and one which my wife has strongly recommended,
“The Twelve” by Stuart Neville.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Catching up on TV with the latest successes of inspirational
athletes from across the globe in the Rio Paralympics gives me the spark to procrastinate
no longer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had been pondering writing
about a recent European city break, but have changed my mind.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The travel topic can wait.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Instead the subject will be one day in retirement, today,
not necessarily typical - and a lot less severe than that of Ivan
Denisovich.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">But perhaps one that will,
in retrospect, be regarded as having been reasonably productive and satisfying.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">©Michael McSorley 2016</span><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div>
<div style="mso-element: endnote-list;">
<br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<div id="edn1" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3360647493499863442#_ednref1" name="_edn1" style="mso-endnote-id: edn1;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">[i]</span></span></span></span></a> http://www.ulsterorchestra.org.uk/</div>
</div>
<div id="edn2" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3360647493499863442#_ednref2" name="_edn2" style="mso-endnote-id: edn2;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">[ii]</span></span></span></span></a> http://www.ulsterorchestra.org.uk/celebrate-with-us/</div>
</div>
</div>
Michael McSorleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06352593190581090069noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3360647493499863442.post-84950964901039551862015-10-28T13:19:00.001-07:002015-10-28T13:19:04.797-07:00Party time<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A couple of weeks before my “leaving
do” with work colleagues, my wife had organised a party to mark my 60th
birthday.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This was a fairly extravagant evening.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It included a wine reception, a two-course
meal for about 75 people, a beautiful cake, and after-dinner speeches.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It also
involved the hiring of a jazz singer whose voice sounded very like old blue
eyes, Frank Sinatra. The venue was Belfast Boat Club.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The last time I did anything like this
was when I was 21. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On that occasion, my
godfather had sent me a special birthday present - £10. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A tidy sum in 1970. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was enough to rent a ballroom in a
salubrious hotel close to the university, one of the few safe places of
entertainment in those early days of the “troubles.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">That decision turned out to be a wise
investment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Contrary to my expectations
and the impecuniosity of students, I received loads of presents such as Parker
pens and bottles of alcohol. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As far as I
can recall, it was a memorable occasion, despite the fact that I provided no
meal or music.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Thirty-nine years on, this party was an
opportunity to road-test my thoughts about being a pensioner and retirement to
a largely non-work audience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And perhaps
use a line or two at the subsequent work do.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The italicised words that follow cover
the gist of what I think I said. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some
details may have differed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s what
happens when you stand up, look your audience in the eyes, and extemporize
rehearsed ad libs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I began by attempting
mimic the then (2009) new President of the USA.</span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Fellow citizens</span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This week the world became a better
place.</span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Strangely enough, I’m not referring to
the date of my birthday earlier this week, or even to the events in Washington
DC a couple of days ago.</span></i></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It might even seem ironic for me to make
such a claim when a new recession bites and my bank makes the biggest loss in UK
corporate history.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I do, however, know
that they are really looking forward to getting their hands on my pension even
though it will not suffice to bail them out.</span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The reason the world is now better is
that at long last January 19 has now been declared a public holiday.</span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The bad news is that so far only
Americans have been able to celebrate my birthday (Martin Luther King
Day).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I too have a dream.</span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Tonight however is a unique once in a
lifetime opportunity.</span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Reaching 60 is not so much a milestone,
more of a big deal.</span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">So I am excited – delirious even – that
it coincides with my retirement.</span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The question is – why should one so
talented, so energetic, so youthful, so modest (false deleted) retire now.</span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I remember Woody Allen once describing
his brain as his second favourite organ.</span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Since my two favourite organs seem to be doing just fine, the time has come for me to hang up Her
Majesty’s Treasury Green Book.</span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I may be retiring from work, but I do not
intend to retire from anything else.</span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It’s time to live a little. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Time to delete work from the phrase work-life
balance.</span></i></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I know that there is a lot of sex,
drugs and rock’n roll out there waiting to be discovered; there are so many
places for me to visit, symphonies to hear, books to read and maybe to write.</span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It’s time to live in my creative
imagination – today I think that is the safest place to be.</span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Anyway, I am not a retiring sort of
person.</span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I’m retiring from work because I can –
before they raise the retirement age and definitely before they scrap pensions
altogether.</span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I am one of the lucky generation. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While I have vague memories of seeing ration
books and farthings, we baby boomers missed out on post-war austerity and on
national service.</span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We grew up in the golden era of modern
music – and that’s what paid our family’s bills in Omagh.</span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">My parents’ business was record sales,
not to mention bicycles, fireworks, TVs and radios, wet batteries, guns and ammunition,
guitars – you name it my grandfather & father sold it.</span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">On third level education, our
generation received grants as Government regarded education as a good investment, and there were no
fees.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Student debt was a thing of the
future.</span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">When I last had a party like this, my
godfather sent me a £10 note, which was enough for me to rent the grand ballroom of
the Wellington Park Hotel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The occasion
being my 21<sup>st</sup> birthday.</span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The only thing I envy about students’
lifestyle today is that now they take a gap year.</span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I realise that it’s
time/overdue/obligatory for me to take a nice long one.</span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">As a dress rehearsal for my new role, I
have been on holiday for a week or two. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As
a result, I am now in a strong position to reveal exclusive first impressions
of what retirement is really like.</span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">How I have managed to fit in full-time
work into my hectic schedule non-stop since 20 August 1973 escapes me
completely.</span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">My typical day - if there is such a
thing - (that is when I am not on the sun-baked snowy summits of the Sella
Ronda in the Dolomites) begins with a leisurely breakfast with time to read
the paper and to check share prices (then throw the paper away), next saunter
down to the gym using my free bus pass, later go to a music gig in the Black
Box.</span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">If there is anybody here whose parents
told them that life’s not a bed of roses, do not believe this.</span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I remember O-level French and the line from
the great poet (Pierre de Ronsard) – «Cueillez des aujourd’hui, les roses de la
vie» translated into Latin means carpe diem.</span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I wake
up and smell the roses every morning.</span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Time for the reality check, however.</span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Now that I am 60 (not an OAP more a new
Age Pensioner), it is time to stop wishing my life away.</span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">No more living for the weekend; no more
wishing that the summer holidays would come quicker.</span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I have to say that being in the present
is impossible when you’re a town planner. You are either looking back to learn
from the past or looking ahead to make the world a better place for tennis players.</span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Now for the first time I can try to
apply my yoga teacher’s mantra which is to live in the moment, now, in the
present.</span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This year 2009 is full of
important anniversaries.</span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">There are so many, that I have selected
some that are relevant to this occasion.</span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It is the 200<sup>th</sup> anniversary
of the births of Mendelssohn and of Charles Darwin; the 150<sup>th</sup> of the
publication of the Origin of the Species;</span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It is the 80<sup>th</sup> anniversary
of the very first North West 200 (the winner in 1935 being </span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="LA" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: LA; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">meus</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="LA" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="LA" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: LA; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">pater</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">);</span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It is the 60<sup>th</sup> anniversary
of Ireland becoming a Republic. </span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And by the way, Ireland won the Triple Crown
that year, having won the grand slam the year before (1948) – which means that not
once in my lifetime have we won the grand slam;</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 36.0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">2009 is the 30<sup>th</sup> anniversary
of my Presidency of Omagh Junior Chamber of Commerce;</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In addition, it is the 20<sup>th</sup>
anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall. </span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 36.0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">My connection is that along with four
friends, we ran the 1990 Berlin Marathon which took place the same weekend as the
political reunification of Germany and the race route entered the east for the
first time ever.</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 36.0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I also share my birth date (not year)
with Paul Cézanne, Edgar Allen Poe, Simon Rattle, Janis Joplin and Dolly
Parton, Richard Dunwoody and Denis Taylor – there can’t be a single person in
this room who is not insanely jealous that these famous people are in such
illustrious company. </span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 18.0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">To conclude, in 20 years time when my
grandchildren ask me what did I say at my 60<sup>th</sup> birthday party, I’ll
be able to tell them that</span></i></div>
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<br /></div>
<ul style="margin-top: 0cm;" type="disc">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I
set out a history of the world for the last 200 years;</span></i></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I
paid homage to the Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King;</span></i></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I
outlined a perspicacious analysis of the collapse of supply-side economics
and the theory of monetarism; </span></i></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I
paid tribute to the my father;</span></i></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I
spoke in many tongues; and best of all</span></i></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I
can tell them that I spelled out the philosophy for a happy life and peace
to make the world a better place.</span></i></li>
</ul>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: 18.0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Because apart from this (if anybody really does bother to ask), I didn’t
really say anything other than</span></i><br />
</div>
<ul style="margin-top: 0cm;" type="disc">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">to thank you for supporting my charity bike ride and </span></i></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">to
thank my beautiful wife for arranging this great party.</span></i></li>
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<br /></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Slainte.</span></i></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;">
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">At
this stage I presented Marie with a well-earned bunch of 24 red roses. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Happily, our guests showed their warm
appreciation for her wonderful hospitality.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lLSh9ZydngU/Vi4dqbK4L_I/AAAAAAAAApw/3qr-Hv30xPE/s1600/2009%2B01%2BMichael%2527s%2B60th%2Bbirthday%2B028.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lLSh9ZydngU/Vi4dqbK4L_I/AAAAAAAAApw/3qr-Hv30xPE/s320/2009%2B01%2BMichael%2527s%2B60th%2Bbirthday%2B028.jpg" title="" width="320" /></a></span></div>
</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The
roses do indeed smell sweeter.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">©Michael
McSorley 2015</span></div>
Michael McSorleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06352593190581090069noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3360647493499863442.post-19679886901418891902015-06-29T00:22:00.000-07:002015-06-29T00:22:21.027-07:00Time of Our Lives<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The BBC has recently added a new programme for retired
people to its radio schedule.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Entitled
“Time of Our Lives,” this weekly show includes studio interviews with retired
people as well as features from external locations about all kinds of activities and pastimes.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The broadcaster’s own description of the programme is
that it is about “life stories, experiences, and ambitions of older people in
Northern Ireland.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It occupies a prime slot on Sunday afternoons and lasts
for one hour.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>Being broadcast on Radio
Ulster, it is accessible globally live on-line.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In addition, programmes from each of the last four weeks can be listened
to again on the station’s i-player.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The programme includes a four-minute section when a
retired person is invited to chat about what retired life has to offer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">A couple of weeks ago, I was fortunate to be
asked to contribute my tuppence worth.<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"> <a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3360647493499863442#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span></span></a></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The following is a copy of my script.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<u><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The joys of retirement</span></u><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">What is there not to like about being retired?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Our pensions may never make us as well-off as modern
sports-stars or as rich as bankers with their bonuses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What we can do, however, is to celebrate the
important things that make life beautiful.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Everybody loves free stuff.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>I used my bus pass in March to go by train
from Belfast to Dublin and back for free.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This was to watch Ireland play France in the 6 Nations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I used it previously to travel from Belfast
to attend magnificent free events (the Turner Prize, the Fleadh Cheoil and the Lumière)
in the UK City of Culture.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">One of the first things I did after retiring was to buy a
shiny new road bicycle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Expensive?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Certainly. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fortunately, my bus pass compensates when I
take the scenic route down the Ards peninsula and my pass gets me across from Strangford
to Portaferry free on the car ferry.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>Bonus points are rewarded to the over 60’s for reduced carbon footprint.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">When I do have to pay, I rarely have to fork out the full
price.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Being retired, I get discounts in
cinemas and likewise to attend orchestral concerts in the Ulster Hall.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On such occasions, I tolerate (reluctantly)
the otherwise pejorative term OAP.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Pensioners can attend night-classes at discount rates in
Queens University’s school of open learning, at Stranmillis College and at the
Crescent Arts Centre.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Since retiring, I
have attended classes on a wondrous variety of entrancing topics from
languages, art, the history of jazz, creative writing, the celtic nations, yoga
– and there is a huge chunk that I haven’t even tried yet.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">A world of new interests has been opened up thanks to the
knowledge and patience of academics.</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I have been taught to appreciate the skill of
Matisse and what he could do with a pair of scissors and rolls of coloured
paper making cut-outs;</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I have learned how to make Cornish pasties;</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I was able to pick up sufficient Italian to
bluff a few sentences at my daughter’s wedding in Sicily.</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">As a spin-off, I can enjoy the TV detective
series Montelbano far more.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Key life skills for retirement.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Emboldened by renewed linguistic confidence, I studied a
Russian language book and CD set that my wife bought before our recent trip to
Moscow and St Petersburg.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">After greeting
our guide with a cheery Hello (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Zdrastvoite</i>
in Russian – a difficult tongue twister), I surprised her later when she asked
our group if we had any questions about Red Square.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Up went my hand.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Sez I: - <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“Kak oo
vas deela.”</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“Spaseba
karasho”</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> replied Olga.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(How
are you; reply - very well, thank you).</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">After which she wryly added –<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> "Impressive fluency, Michael, but if you keep speaking to me in Russian
I will lose my job."</i></span><br />
<br />
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The greatest boon of retirement is </span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">the twin blessing of independence and time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">We are free to do what we want whenever we
want – within the normal constraints of the law, of course.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">When I was a working man, my job (as a town
planner) meant that we were either looking back to conserve the best of the
built heritage; or else looking forward to devise blueprints for regeneration
and a better tomorrow.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>In retirement, that
perspective changes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is no
rush.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">It’s time to live in the present.</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Time for travelling,
visiting family (most of ours live in Scotland and England), staying healthy,</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">doing occasional
voluntary work, and - as important as anything – </span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">having the time to read
the weekend newspapers’ supplements with their extensive features about
unmissable holidays, wine, film and book reviews.</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">These can be read
languorously over leisurely breakfasts right through the entire course of the
following week.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bliss.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">A couple of years ago, I visited the UNESCO World
Heritage city of Bath.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">One thing I learned there was that the Roman
governor was collected each morning and transported from his villa on a
hand-drawn carrier to the Roman baths for his daily pre-work exercise.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">So inspiring is this practice that I have adapted
his habit by visiting the gym most mornings and (in the absence of slaves)
transporting myself by bike - before retiring later, re-energised, to other
less strenuous activities.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">©Michael
McSorley 2015</span>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3360647493499863442#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span></span></span></a> <span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">BBC NI Radio Ulster 14
June 2015 Time of Our Lives </span><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05ysvxp#auto"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05ysvxp#auto</span></a></div>
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Michael McSorleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06352593190581090069noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3360647493499863442.post-1034746694594237762015-02-27T06:07:00.000-08:002015-02-27T06:07:36.608-08:00Last day at work<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></b></div>
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“Where does all the time go?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">This is a regular mantra of sixty-plus year olds and one
which, I strongly suspect, annoys people who are in their twenties, thirties,
forties and even fifties.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Nostalgia might well be a thing of the past, but let’s flash
back – ever so briefly - to the start of 2009.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>Last month as I launched eagerly into year seven of independent bliss I
spent a few moments reflecting on my final full day in the workplace.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Despite not having bought any houses (or hotels) in the
intervening period, metaphors fly round my head as I feel as though I’ve now passed
Go six times on the monopoly board.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Pardon me, but
where does the time go?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">My thoughts on that day of transition went something like
this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I even put a title on it.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></u></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
start of an era</span></u></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">At
my desk, as normal, waiting for my computer to boot up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s the first working day of the New
Year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is also my own very last full day
in work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The thought that I will work
just this one day in 2009 should breeze me through today.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tomorrow will be Saturday - as will every day
after that.</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Even
at 8 30 in the morning the office that houses our team of less than 20 people
is quieter than normal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Staff are in no
rush back from the festivities of yuletide and new year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The groups of desk pods arranged into little
groups of four are mostly empty.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>Almost
perversely, the only other person here at the start of the working day is the
one who travels furthest.</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Like
a reflection of these paradoxes, I have mixed emotions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How exhilarating is the feeling of having the
prospect of freedom to do as I please when I please.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>Yet behind the glee lurks the quiescent
thought of how I will manage the unknown, a new lifestyle without the routine
of a job which has occupied me in a variety of guises for over a third of a
century.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>Will I, for instance, be able
to afford to do all that I want?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Negativity, however, is not a convenient feeling at present.</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">For
now, such musings must wait, for I have work to complete.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I need to finish off a task that I have been
working on in the days between Christmas and the New Year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">There is too much to do to prevent the danger
of being distracted by any feeling of demob happiness. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Anyway, wartime metaphors do not one appeal to
the pacifist in me.</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Completing
my career in the public sector while being occupied productively right through
to the very end.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I do not intend to let
my guard drop and be subject to criticism for slacking.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>In the same way, leaving on a day when most
people are away from here and off work is an ideal way to depart. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There will be no embarrassing speeches. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Pomp can wait for another day. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I would not have wanted it any other way. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can open the door later and go home without
ceremony. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It could not have worked out
any better.</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">But
then I am a planner. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The profession of
town and country planning, which was invented legislatively just over a year
before I was born, has enabled me to live and support my family since
graduation two generations ago. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>I take
quiet pride in the quality and variety of the work I have done, and in the
experience of life that I have been fortunate enough to gain.</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">At a
time when public sector staff are criticised for above average sickness levels,
I have kept quiet about having taken no days off sick in my last three decades
at work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe due to a combination of
sex, athletics and rock’n’roll.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>More
likely just good luck.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The important
thing is that I have been fortunate to have had responsibility for many
exciting planning and regeneration projects in a range of roles and locations over
that time.</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In
retrospect, I can take a little satisfaction in being one of the first planners
to staff the newly established planning office in my home town of Omagh in
1973. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A subsequent change to running the
Enniskillen office for over five years and working on different projects
prompted by the needs of tourism in the most scenic of counties was my first
big challenge.</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Latterly
I was transferred to Belfast to help pioneer the new planning role in
regenerating deprived communities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am
very happy that this work occupied almost half of my career. Those are projects which have benefitted small towns and villages here.</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>Now today I am finishing after three years
doing the type of planning that won me the professional institute’s book prize
awarded for university planning schools – regional planning. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>In that sense, I have come full circle.</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">However
fortunate the past seems, after today it will be time to think about the future
with the goal of getting the most out of life, feeling fulfilled. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Away from the environment of the office, I
have already started thinking ahead. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I
do not retire officially until the end of the month. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> A backlog of annual leave means that I can afford to take all of January – apart from today and my later day of
farewells – as annual leave. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The rest of
the month will be a rehearsal for what’s to come from February onwards.</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Retirement
will be time to try new things. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In a few
days time I am booked to go snowshoeing for the first time. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This will be in Italy with my youngest
daughter and friends. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>Soon after that
trip, I have to go to Cambridge to meet a close friend and plan our bike trip
on the Camino de Santiago di Compostela in the late spring.</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">A
major task, and one that will consume much energy during the first year, is
that I have to work on my recently launched fund-raising project for the
charity Mencap. This is as I prepare to enter for the charity’s bike ride to
Argentina and Chile next year. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Taking
part in that event will be the ultimate goal to achieve in my first year as a
free man.</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">A
bonus of retirement is that no more will we be limited to school holidays for
trips abroad.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My wife retires in about
six month’s time. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>When I travel to
foreign places in the future, I do not want to be a package tourist. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I prefer to be more like an adventurer, an
explorer even.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Another commitment is a
holiday at Easter in Spain where a friend owns a house on the south coast, not
far from Gibraltar.</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I
also have to finalise arrangements for a visit to Scotland in February when Ireland
play against the Scots in the 6 Nations. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ireland last won the big prize, the Grand Slam, the year
before I was born.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Will that ever
change?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Visiting Scotland gives me
another opportunity to visit family - my son who is expecting to be a father in
about six months time; as well as fitting in a visit to my eldest daughter and
grandsons.</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Apart
from these journeys, there will also be an office farewell party to attend
within the next few weeks. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">To ensure
that I acquit myself properly, I want to prepare two documents as I bid my
employers and colleagues a final farewell. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">One will be a written narrative of my life as
a professional planner. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If I can record
my career accurately, that account will allow me to provide my employer with a
thorough and factual account of my time in the Northern Ireland planning
system. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Just as importantly, by doing
this, it will free me to make a valedictory speech which contains only fleeting
but subtle references to my record.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Instead, the speech should be entertaining, concentrating on bonhomie and some humour, like
stand-up if possible.</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">One
early thought to include in the farewell remarks is the need to say why I am
retiring at the age of 60. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In essence, I
have three reasons. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One is because I
can. </span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Another is that I need to go now before the retirement age is raised, as
inevitably it will after the collapse of the financial sector beginning with
Lehman Brothers in the autumn just past. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>The other reason is that I want to depart
before economic imperatives lead to pensions being reduced, or even abolished, as
surely they might will be at some stage.</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I
want to use the benefits of the new-found freedom to have a fulfilling life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Apart from travelling and keeping the body in
a healthy state, I can think about doing my bit behind the scenes for the
voluntary and charitable sectors. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps roll up the sleeves and help some
environmental organisation; perhaps get back into an activity that I put on
hold when I transferred to Belfast almost 20 years ago, namely working on the
arts.</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I
can also think about the ethos which the Junior Chamber ingrained into us – “self-improvement.”
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">One way of doing this is by enrolling
for night classes at Queens University.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>I
want to experiment and test my creative writing skills. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To do this I will delve into my imagination to
see if any inspiration flows.</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I
want to read more. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Discover new authors
and styles of writing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps set a
target – one novel per month to start with.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span> </span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">There is a vast amount of music to explore. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Photography is another interest. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have plenty of slides and negatives to scan
into my computer; and need to reorganise my more recent digital pictures.</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Am I
day-dreaming or is this the beginning of my retreat into the imagination? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not really is the answer, as in the coming
weeks I have to attend to day-to-day issues chief of which is the little matter
of organising my finances. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Gym and yoga
school memberships are due for renewal. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">There
is also the all-important social life, as we have to go to a friend’s 50<sup>th</sup>
birthday party at the end of the month. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To
think that I used to consider 50 as old.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Then the day after her party, our oldest grandchild celebrates his 8<sup>th</sup>
birthday.</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Fortunately,
about an hour early, those of us who remain in the office on this first Friday
afternoon of a new year are allowed to go home. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I shake my colleague Jim’s hand and leave,
unobtrusively – just as I would have wanted, on my own terms. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No fuss.</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It’s
the opposite application of T S Elliot’s sentiment “not with a bang but a
whimper.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The final day of work may have
been quiet, but far from being the end of the world it marks the start of
something new and unbearably exciting. I can't wait another minute.</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In
modern parlance, it’s time to live a little.</span></i></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">©Michael
McSorley 2015</span></div>
Michael McSorleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06352593190581090069noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3360647493499863442.post-50580766355615892382013-11-28T09:29:00.000-08:002015-11-05T08:42:02.910-08:00Merry Christmas<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Christmas
cake recipe</span></i></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">As the darkening days of winter are relieved by the jollity of the festive season, any suggestion that makes life a little easier
is to be welcomed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Such is the pressure to
please family and friends that people frequently turn to the experts for advice
on the important issue of food.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood make a living from
wonderful recipes for cakes and buns.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Heston Blumenthal’s plum pudding has quite rightly achieved almost
legendary status<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3360647493499863442#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span></span></span></a>.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-o0Fa-FOfwAU/UpZWtNgRAQI/AAAAAAAAALc/wvp9mTI6054/s1600/ChristmasCakeSM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="321" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-o0Fa-FOfwAU/UpZWtNgRAQI/AAAAAAAAALc/wvp9mTI6054/s320/ChristmasCakeSM.jpg" width="241" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">But for those who prefer home baking and hanker
after a real Christmas cake, look no further.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Seasonal merriment comes guaranteed.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Ingredients</span></i><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">:</span></div>
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* 2 cups of flour<br />
* 1 stick of butter<br />
* 1 cup of water<br />
* 1 teaspoon of baking soda<br />
* 1 cup of sugar<br />
* 1 teaspoon of salt<br />
* 1 cup of brown sugar<br />
* Lemon juice<br />
* 4 large eggs<br />
* Nuts<br />
* 1 bottle of Brandy<br />
* 2 cups of dried fruit<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Method</span></i></div>
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Sample the brandy to check quality.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Take a large bowl, check the brandy again.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">To be sure it is of the highest quality, pour
one level cup and drink.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Repeat.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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cat.<br />
<br />
Bingle Jells...</span></div>
<div style="mso-element: footnote-list;">
<br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<div id="ftn1" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3360647493499863442#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span></span></span></a>
Observer 17 November 2013</div>
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/nov/17/christmas-glisters-dinner-food</div>
</div>
</div>
Michael McSorleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06352593190581090069noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3360647493499863442.post-26650540660980358942013-10-31T05:42:00.000-07:002013-11-01T14:42:34.584-07:00Running events voluntarily<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<u><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Good for body and soul</span></u></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">A few years ago, the Saturday edition of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Times</i> newspaper introduced a section
entitled <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Body and Soul</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was full of articles with advice about well
known topics like healthy eating and the benefits of exercising.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">One of its most persuasive early features examined
voluntary activity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In essence, it
appears that volunteering can be a positive experience for the individual as
well as benefitting those who need the assistance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In modern parlance, this is a win-win
situation.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Just being a volunteer, on this analysis, is good for
your health.</span></div>
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<u><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></u></div>
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<u><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Retrospective</span></u><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Although I didn’t think of it as voluntary work at the
time, but when I was pursuing a professional career and raising a family I got
diverted - in a pleasant way - into what was then considered as extra-curricular
activity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>An invitation to join an
organisation called Omagh Junior Chamber introduced me to the world of
organising community events.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The Chamber took on all kinds of projects, like
organising Christmas Illuminations, Halloween Fireworks Displays, inter-schools
debating competitions, and sports events including swimming galas and a
mini-marathon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I got involved in helping
and sometimes in organising these events.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In subsequent years after I left the Chamber, I
diversified, in a manner of speaking, and transferred that experience in
community project-management to cultural events. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>I became the director of the Omagh Arts
Festival, a two-week extravaganza, featuring all of the major art forms.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A risky venture in a small town in troubled
times.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The enthusiasm of amateurs and the joy of the novelty
factor brought us unexpected success.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Year
on year the festival grew in quality and in stature.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>We did it for the experience, rising to a
challenge, and we worked for no financial reward.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Our motivation was community development and
making our town the best place it could aspire to be.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In the second half of my professional career, I was able
to witness volunteering from the official’s perspective.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>In 1990, town planners became involved in
helping community groups to develop regeneration plans for their village or
town.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>The process of guiding projects
from rough ideas via business plans and investment appraisal, never mind a
panoply of administrative procedures, through to bricks and mortar was often
difficult.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">By contrast, the end results achieved by the energetic
commitment of local people working together always managed to exceed
expectations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>It was inspiring to be a
peripheral part of the civic efforts of determined volunteers creating jobs and
improving the appearance of these places.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Real job satisfaction.</span></div>
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<u><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></u></div>
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<u><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Options</span></u><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">There are so many ways to get involved as a volunteer.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Some brave people work unpaid for charitable
organisations overseas, sometimes even in war zones or as support for emergency
services after a natural calamity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">When
I read reports of the medics who are volunteering in Syria, my history as a
volunteer becomes a much lesser achievement.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Other volunteers give their time to raise funds for good
causes at home.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Domestically, people are
attracted to working unpaid for a vast range of charities, environmental
bodies, and community groups, or for cultural, educational, sporting, and
faith-based groups.</span></div>
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<u><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Sport</span></u></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Having examined the success of the World Police and Fire
Games 2013<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3360647493499863442#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span></span></span></a> as an exercise in
volunteering, I want to look at sports volunteering a little further.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>It allows me to make a metaphorical claim.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Running events is all about diligent project
management, marketing and implementation.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Two athletics fixtures will exemplify the contrasting
levels of responsibility that are available to willing volunteers.</span></div>
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<u><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Run Her October 2013</span></u><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Since August 2007, athletics events have been held each
year in Northern Ireland under the banner of Run Her, one in spring the other
in autumn.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">They comprise a 5k and a 10k
race, as well as a children’s run.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Most
importantly, they are for ladies only.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Run Her is organised by a professional sports consultancy
with substantial backing with prestige sponsors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A slick operation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>A large field of entrants is guaranteed
because of the quantity and quality of publicity provided by the Belfast Telegraph
newspaper.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>Moreover, competitors are
rewarded with a goody bag of practical items provided by an athletics retailer,
Pure Running.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The autumn race took place in the spectacular grounds of
Stormont Castle on 6 October 2013.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Approximately 1,200 women ran on what was a beautiful sunny and warm
day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Most of them were raising funds for
charities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some even took the time to
dress up, ballet tutus being prominent on this occasion.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In these circumstances it is easy to be persuaded to be a
volunteer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just submit your name, turn up
early on the day for briefing, and stand at a given spot holding your arm out
marshalling.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>More importantly, the
volunteer can help the multitude of long-suffering athletes by encouraging them
in the jargon to dig deep.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Unusually for athletics volunteers, Pure Running
generously provide the marshals with a selection of treats.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">This year my bag included a good-quality
lycra tee-shirt, sports socks, a discount voucher for Pure Running, and a free
physiotherapy session, as well as cranberry juice drinks and sugar-free
chocolate.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Elaborate coverage of the races including 150 photos and
two videos was provided in the Belfast Telegraph<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3360647493499863442#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span></span></span></a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>I don’t know if she had the volunteer marshals
in mind (not all of whom were male), but our ubiquitous grand Dame Mary Peters,
the pentathlon gold medallist from the 1972 Munich Olympics kindly said: </span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">“All the men round the course were
giving us great support and for them to give up their Sunday was great to see.”</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div>
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<u><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><br /></span></span></u></div>
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<u><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Omagh Half Marathon</span></u></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Saturday 21 March 1987.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>High noon on the Old Mountfield Road just outside Omagh’s award-winning
Leisure Centre.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Two hundred athletes
line up to start the first half marathon with 5k fun-run ever held in my home
town.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>Snow had been forecast but did not
materialise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Instead the inaugural run
took place on a cool bright day with light wind.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Perfect conditions provided an auspicious beginning for a
new event.</span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BVYVet7DvhE/Um_JT3sFukI/AAAAAAAAAK0/cG7ZfMOaYwQ/s1600/DSCF7121.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BVYVet7DvhE/Um_JT3sFukI/AAAAAAAAAK0/cG7ZfMOaYwQ/s320/DSCF7121.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Like the majority of athletics fixtures, the Omagh half
marathon was established and organised by entirely volunteers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>In the first few years that role was
undertaken by Omagh Junior Chamber, appointing me as race director.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>As a management training body with expertise
in organising projects which enhance the local community, this provided a
sizeable and enthusiastic band of voluntary help, particularly on the day with
registration and marshalling.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>Omagh
Harriers Athletics Club subsequently took over management responsibility for
the event.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In founding the event, my main objective to provide a
road race which would be good preparation for spring classics such as the
London marathon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A late March date was
also well-placed between the end of the cross-country and the start of the
track seasons.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Part of the motivation was local patriotism in that it
would, if well organised, put Omagh on the athletics map.</span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Promotion</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Marketing of any brand new event or product is crucially
important to establish it as a credible fixture.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the same way that the Run Her events have
been developed by professional people and become well-known, the Omagh Half
Marathon must also be promoted properly.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In the pre-internet era of the late 80’s, this was done
by as creatively as possible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>Posters
were organised for display in leisure centres, sports clubs and even on
lampposts; application forms had to be mailed to sports clubs and individuals
and also handed out at cross-country and other races; and articles were placed
in local newspapers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>We also relied on
the officials in Belfast’s Athletics House to add our event to their mailing
list scheduling official races.</span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Administration</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Everything was administered to accord with the rules of
the sport.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>Approval was sought from and a
permit granted by the Northern Ireland Amateur Athletic Association to stage
the race.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The police were also involved.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Medical back-up was provided by the impressive
voluntary staff of St John’s Ambulance and the Order of Malta.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>Scouts and Guides were recruited to assist
Chamber members at the water stops.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Other arrangements included seeking permission from the
Western Health and Social Services Board to include the grounds of the Tyrone
and Fermanagh Hospital as part of the route.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>We nominated the Heart Chest and Stroke Association as the race charity,
encouraging runners to obtain sponsorship.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In early January 1987, the first completed entry forms
began to trickle in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Snail mail is the
modern pejorative.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>I recall my delight
when the first form arrived in the post – it was from one of three Belfast
athletes with whom I had run the New York City Marathon a few months
previously.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>It sounds like a modest
number in retrospect, but to have received nearly 100 entries before race-day
felt like a reward for hard graft, a minor miracle almost, and even more so
when entrant numbers doubled on the day.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">All finishers received a special medal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>I had spent Christmas 1986 in Birmingham and
found a company which manufactures medals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Because these looked quite different from local products, they suited
our objectives of being new.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>Prizes were
presented to the first 3 men and first two women, and to the first male and
female veterans.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The field included quality athletes even in its inaugural
year. The female winner, Teresa Kidd and the second-placed male, Billy
Gallagher, represented Ireland the next month at the World Marathon Cup in
Seoul South Korea.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tony Hartigan from
Dundalk was the winning athlete.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We made improvements for the 1988 race. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We rented a state-of-the art electronic timing
system including a race clock for the lead vehicle and another for the gantry
on the finishing line at the running track.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>The other piece of modern technology we used was to make video cassette
recordings of the race.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The course
distance of 13.1 miles was certified by the Northern Ireland Road Runners Club.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I recall my biggest and recurring fear as race day
approached every year, and probably one shared by all race directors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>This was the possibility that runners might
go off-course.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">To me this was a genuine
prospect, so complicated was the route with its many turns.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This dread determined me to ensure that all
junctions must be well-and-truly manned.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I also had a large-scale map of the route printed on poly-board and
displayed at race reception, and another copy given to the navigator in the
race lead vehicle.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">By dint of the negative prospect of nightmares, nobody ever
got lost.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In 1988 we persuaded Sub 4, the running apparel company
to become the race sponsor and they stayed with us for a couple of years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The prize list, consequently, became more
extensive along with the marketability of the race.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TntSBCDhgPo/Um_KADf1p3I/AAAAAAAAAK8/Zt85Sk71hRI/s1600/DSCF7124.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TntSBCDhgPo/Um_KADf1p3I/AAAAAAAAAK8/Zt85Sk71hRI/s320/DSCF7124.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I directed the race for the final time in March 1990
after which I moved job and home to Belfast.</span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UBkC1gSlzss/UnJPRVARQeI/AAAAAAAAALM/YZmnSdzbrB4/s1600/DSCF7161.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UBkC1gSlzss/UnJPRVARQeI/AAAAAAAAALM/YZmnSdzbrB4/s1600/DSCF7161.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Video of Omagh1/2 marathon start 1989</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Reflections</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I competed in the Omagh half marathon on 12 occasions,
returning several times after moving home.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In my final year as director, I ran the course in 1 hour 24 minutes 51 seconds, and was the first Omagh runner over the
line.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>When I ran it as race director, it
gave me a unique learning perspective over how our plans were being
implemented.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>When I competed as a
visitor in later years, I was able to see how other directors were developing
the event.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Inflation in fees and running costs is one big
change.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In 1987, 88 and 89 the cost of
entering before race day was £3.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>The
other notable change from my years in charge is that today’s organisers avail
of the benefits of modern technology.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">From a personal standpoint, it is pleasing to see things
that haven’t changed much, apart from a new principal sponsor(SPAR), the use of IT, and inflation in entrance
fees.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Key elements of the original
event remain - most of the route apart from the removal of some hills, the
start and finishing points, and the inclusion of a 5k event.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><img class="cboxPhoto" src="http://www.omaghharriers.com/sites/omaghharriers.com/files/images/map_0.png" style="cursor: pointer; float: none;" /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The twenty-fifth staging of the event will take place on
Saturday 29 March 2014, it not having been run in two years during the 1990’s.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Depending on discussions, I would like to mark the silver anniversary next spring by
presenting a perpetual trophy for the overall winner.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><img class="cboxPhoto" height="320" src="http://www.awards-trophies-supplier.co.uk/images/900/900/6284.jpg" style="float: none;" width="197" /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The growth of Omagh half marathon over the last quarter
of a century proves that voluntary effort can deliver successfully.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>The indisputable indicator of successful
performance is the inexorable ten-fold rise in entrant numbers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Thanks to my successors, this race has become
one of the most successful athletics events anywhere in Ireland, north or
south.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The hospitality provided may be
incidental, but no other big race makes its visiting athletes feel so welcome.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><img class="cboxPhoto" height="213" src="http://www.omaghharriers.com/sites/omaghharriers.com/files/images/Cricklade%20Half%20Marathon%20Start%202_1.JPG" style="float: none;" width="320" /></div>
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The volunteer members of Omagh Harriers and all their
support organisations can be proud of their efforts.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It was not in any way the reason why I got involved – my
perspective back then was not longer term.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The experience gained in learning how to run events as a volunteer early
in my career equipped me for more leisurely voluntary activity in retirement. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It also provides an indelible appreciation of the organisational work needed to stage events and especially of the unheralded efforts of everyday people to make community life better.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">©Michael
McSorley 2013</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div>
<div style="mso-element: footnote-list;">
<br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<div id="ftn1" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3360647493499863442#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span></span></span></a> http://michaelmcsorleyretirement.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/an-exercise-in-volunteering.html</div>
</div>
<div id="ftn2" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3360647493499863442#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span></span></span></a> http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/woman/runher/runher-october-2013-dame-mary-joins-in-with-golden-girls-29638979.html</div>
</div>
</div>
Michael McSorleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06352593190581090069noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3360647493499863442.post-32343987236351715032013-09-30T05:38:00.001-07:002013-11-01T14:30:42.008-07:00Poetic licence<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<u><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Cultural therapy</span></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Nothing beats the arts and culture as a rousing way to
escape from the routine and stresses of everyday living.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The choice is infinite. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Treat yourself to a trip to the cinema or
theatre, maybe a live concert of music or dance, or pay a visit to an art
gallery or a museum.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">But stop right there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Literature deserves a special mention.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>One of the most rewarding ways to relax is to immerse the mind in a good
book.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Not only does it sweep the reader away from normal preoccupations,
but the imagination will be stimulated and caressed by creative words that can in
turn excite, soothe and revive the spirit.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Just as music has the power to remind its alert listener
of a pleasant event or to transport her and him somewhere beyond the reach of
mundane experience, well-crafted literature will grab the attention in a
process of total absorption, nonpareil.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It will also appeal to the senses and appetites - inspiring thought and
possibly making the reader feel better. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IVHlaAexFYI/Ukh9TexOmPI/AAAAAAAAAKI/gCEgyAxQXws/s1600/BookImage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IVHlaAexFYI/Ukh9TexOmPI/AAAAAAAAAKI/gCEgyAxQXws/s1600/BookImage.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<u><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<u><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Novels</span></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">For the most part the type of book that cocoons me is
fiction, involving crime, politics, lawyers, maybe even some incidental
trysting, and most importantly narrated in a real global setting.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Much as I enjoy non-fiction, such as travel writing and
journalistic reportage of actual events, nothing combats stress better than
being so enraptured by a story as to be barely able to wait to know what will happen
on the next page. Hours evaporate.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">To be suspended on tenterhooks, at the same time as
learning from the author’s intellect and knowledge about a crucial situation
somewhere in the world mixes escapism with reality.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>At first sight this proposition seems
paradoxical, but it is in fact quite a combination - in the hands of great
writers.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Exceptional playwrights and poets can achieve the same
effect.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<u><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<u><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Poet laureates</span></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In one of life’s great perversions, the appeal of one
branch of literature has received a mighty boost. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This comes as a result of the premature death
of the man who had been acknowledged as the greatest living poet writing in the English
language.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>As Britain’s poet laureate
since 2009 Carol Ann Duffy expressed it,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Seamus
Heaney <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“became the poet whom other poets
measured themselves against.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His
dazzling fame and glittering prizes did not blind him to his perception of
poetry as a vocation, a calling, and he never lost a craftsman’s sense of
humility in his relationship to his art...He is irreplaceable.”</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Praise could hardly be more emphatic.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Ted Hughes was Britain’s poet laureate from 1984 until
his death in 1998.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Heaney and Hughes had
co-edited the popular anthologies <i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The
Rattle Bag </span></i>(1982) and <i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The
School Bag </span></i>(1997), among other projects.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>Writing of the death of his great friend,
Heaney’s emotions were expressed with these visceral words: </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">“No death outside my
immediate family has left me feeling more bereft.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No death in my lifetime has hurt poets
more...His creative powers were, as Shakespeare said, still crescent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By his death, the veil of poetry is rent and
the walls of learning broken.”</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<u><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<u><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Curriculum vitae</span></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">To consider the man properly, allow me to summarise
Heaney’s literary career. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">He was the author of over 20 volumes of poetry and
criticism, and edited several widely used anthologies. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">His poetry books include
the following:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Death
of a Naturalist</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> 1966, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Door
into the Dark</i> 1969, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Wintering Out</i>
1972, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">North </i>1975, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Field Work</i> 1979, <i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Sweeney Astray: A Version from the
Irish </span></i>1984, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Station Island </i>1984,
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Haw Lantern</i> 1987, <i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Seeing Things</span></i> 1991, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Spirit Level</i> 1996, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Opened Ground: <i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Selected Poems (1966-1996) </span></i></i>1998, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Electric Light</i> 2001, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">District and Circle</i> 2006, and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Human Chain 2010.</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">As a translator,<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>Heaney’s
most famous work is the translation of the epic Anglo-Saxon poem <i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Beowulf </span></i>(2000). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-uGuLvMJEqlU/Ukh7eP7mdRI/AAAAAAAAAJ8/WPLUF9S4I_k/s1600/google_books_preview.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-uGuLvMJEqlU/Ukh7eP7mdRI/AAAAAAAAAJ8/WPLUF9S4I_k/s1600/google_books_preview.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">He also translated the fifteenth century Scottish poet Robert Henryson’s Middle
Scots classic and follow-up to Chaucer, <i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The
Testament of Cresseid and Seven Fables</span></i> in 2009.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">He translated Sophocles<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3360647493499863442#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span></span></span></a> with two major works.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One was a version of <i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">"Philoctetes,"</span></i> composing
the play <i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The Cure at Troy. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The other was </span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Burial at Thebes,</i> a version of Sophocles’ Antigone. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was later turned into an opera by the West
Indian poet and Nobel laureate (1992). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Walcott’s
opera based on Heaney’s play was performed at the Globe Theatre in London, and
attended by both Nobel literature laureates.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">November 1962 marked the date of the first Heaney poem to
appear in print when the Belfast Telegraph published <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Tractors</i>. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The only other
example of early published work (of which I am aware) is a collection entitled </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Eleven Poems</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3360647493499863442#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">[2]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: black;"></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">He also published nine works of prose including </span><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
Fire i' the Flint: Reflections on the Poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins 1975,</span></i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> </span><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Preoccupations: Selected Prose, (1968-1978)</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">
1980,</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> </span><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The Redress of Poetry </span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">1995, <i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Finders Keepers: Selected Prose, (1971-2001)</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>2002.</span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I know not how he found the time, but he also had a
peripatetic academic career. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">This was crowned by his appointment in 1984 to the
impressively entitled position of Boylston Professor of Rhetoric and Oratory at
Harvard University. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He taught there
until 2006.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">As if that was not enough, he
also served as the Oxford Professor of Poetry from 1989 to 1994.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">He even had an incidental career in broadcasting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>He appeared and sometimes even presented
programmes on British<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3360647493499863442#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span></span></span></a> and Irish TV<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3360647493499863442#_ftn4" name="_ftnref4" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn4;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[4]</span></span></span></span></a> and radio.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>They are an important part of his legacy, not
least because of the mellifluous quality of his vocal delivery.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>Moreover, these programmes continue to enrich
our lives as, for example, BBC Radio 4 features their recording of his reading
of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Beowulf</i> as their Book of the Week
during the first week of October 2013.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">His TV and radio broadcasts illustrate his commanding
power in using English conversationally.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>To pick a couple at random, these tell me a lot about the man:</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">“Poet is a large
word.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To allow yourself to be called
poet is to consecrate yourself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Before I
was a probationer or a deacon.”</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">“Insouciance is the best
situation for writing lyric poetry.”</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Listening to Heaney, his propensity to quote English
poets from memory impresses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I take it as a
sign of his admiration.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">These include
Gerard Manly Hopkins, Keats, TS Elliot, WH Auden, Philip Larkin, Ted Hughes,
and William Wordsworth.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<u><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<u><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Accolades</span></u><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">If the extensive lists of books published and prestigious
posts in academia provide a quantitative impression of his career, his awards
are an emphatic indicator and proof of its quality.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Heaney’s literary career got off to a flying start when
his first collection, “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Death of a
Naturalist</i>,” was awarded the Somerset Maugham poetry prize in 1967.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It also won some other prizes.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">He won the Whitbread Book of the Year in 1996 for “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Spirit Level</i>” and again in 1999 for
his translation of the Anglo-Saxon epic poem “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Beowulf</i>.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His volume <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">District
and Circle” </span></i></i>(2006) won the T.S. Eliot Prize. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is the most prestigious poetry award in
the UK, according to the Poetry Foundation.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">His prose likewise won prizes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His book “<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Finders
Keepers: Selected Prose, 1971-2001”</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>(2002) earned the Truman Capote Award for Literary Criticism, the
largest annual prize for literary criticism in the English language.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The ultimate accolade, of course, was his receipt in 1995
of the Nobel Prize in Literature <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">'for
works of lyrical beauty and ethical depth, which exalt everyday miracles and
the living past.''</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In addition to these book prizes and the Nobel prize, he
was awarded some notable honorariums.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>For example, he was an honorary fellow of the Royal Society of
Literature,<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3360647493499863442#_ftn5" name="_ftnref5" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn5;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[5]</span></span></span></span></a>
as well as a commander of the French Order of Arts and Letters.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<u><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<u><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Tributes</span></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The unequivocal praise heaped on the great poet in the
immediate aftermath of his passing articulates the national and international
esteem which Seamus Heaney earned through the mastery of his craft. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>I present some examples.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">President Bill Clinton, who had quoted the passage from
Heaney’s Cure at Troy on a visit to Belfast:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">“More than a brilliant
artist, Seamus was a joy to be with and a warm and caring friend.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His wonderful work, like that of fellow Irish
Nobel Prize winners Shaw, Yeats and Beckett, will be a lasting gift for all the
world.”</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"></span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Roy Foster, professor of history at Oxford University:<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i></span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">“The distinctiveness of
his poetry was unmistakable: a Heaney poem carried its maker's mark on the
blade... Heaney's erudition was immense, and his lectures on literature at
Oxford, Harvard and worldwide made wonderful reading and unparalleled
listening. They illustrate his openness to world literature and classical
history as well as his deep love of unexpected English poets such as Clare and
Wordsworth<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3360647493499863442#_ftn6" name="_ftnref6" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn6;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[6]</span></b></span></span></span></a>...”</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Liam Neeson, the Hollywood actor:<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">“Ireland, and Northern
Ireland especially, has lost a part of its artistic soul.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He crafted, through his poetry, who we are
as a species and the living soil that we toiled in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He defined our place in the universe.”</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<u><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<u><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Culture</span></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It seems slightly discordant to discover that, despite
what Heaney did to promote English as the poetic language of our culture, there
seems to have been some reticence to join the international acclaim in his home
region. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">A senior columnist in the
Belfast Telegraph commented<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3360647493499863442#_ftn7" name="_ftnref7" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn7;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[7]</span></span></span></span></a>:</span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">“.... the reaction from within
unionism was muted. </span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For all the
bleat and empty twaddle talked about a shared future, this was one occasion –
now missed forever – where we could have seen a really strong and emphatic
united response from the two big parties.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We could have seen a true demonstration of shared pride in this great
poet and the luminous, humane values that he stood for.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So the
public face of Heaney's passing was a one-dimensionally green affair. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unlike the popular response, which was a
glorious rattle bag of colours, tributes from all kinds of unexpected people,
who had experienced the quiet power and honesty of Heaney's words.”</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">If this comment is accurate, I take comfort in the
opinion of Helen Vendler, Professor at Harvard University:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">“Seamus Heaney is a poet
of Ireland, but of the whole world.”</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Jenny McCartney, the Sunday Telegraph columnist, describing herself as from a "</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Protestant, unionist family outside Belfast" headlined an article in the Spectator (7 Sept 2013) that -</span><br />
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">"Seamus Heaney's poems are for Protestants too." </span></i><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">She considers his poems including </span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><i>Whatever You Say, Say Nothing</i>, <i>Docker</i>, <i>Punishment, and The Strand at Lough Beg</i>. She observes that -</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><i>"his 1995 Nobel lecture </i></span><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">dealt profoundly with the stultifying effect of political violence."</span></span></i><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The Times in London which produced a
fulsome 2-page obituary<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3360647493499863442#_ftn8" name="_ftnref8" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn8;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[8]</span></span></span></span></a> the day after his
death.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It said:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">“Post-Yeats but pre-Heaney, Ireland
was a middle-ranking poetic power. With Heaney, it dominated the
landscape...Heaney refused, to become a poster boy for the nationalist cause or
a Republican pamphleteer...”</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The same paper’s editorial added: </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">“In the great literary
tradition of the island of Ireland, Heaney was distinctive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One reason was his immunity to the
quasi-mystical claims of national identity that have caused so much destruction
in modern times...While never allowing himself to be seen as political
spokesman for any side...Heaney was ever suspicious of the ideological certainties
promoted by partisans of all sides in Ireland’s conflict.”</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Our culture is a source of pride.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Apart from Seamus Heaney and other poets such as Michael
Longley, Paul Muldoon and Sinead Morrissey, we have classical musicians of
international standing like James Galway and Barry Douglas, we have produced
great writers like Oscar Wilde and CS Lewis, and artists like William
Conor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We also have playwrights like
Brian Friel and a number of the world’s greatest actors of stage and screen.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The arts enrich our lives, they give us a cultured
reputation in the world and, coincidentally, they boost the earnings element of
our regional wealth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>Cultural tourism is
a valuable asset, as the creative arts enrich us in the other sense.</span></div>
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<u><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Personal reminiscences</span></u><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The Times authoritative obituary referred at one point to
the influence of the Scottish Professor of English at Queens University
Belfast, John Braidwood, on Seamus Heaney.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The academic introduced his student to Anglo-Saxon and
Old Norse, according to the Times, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“joining
him in a train of thought that linked the bogs of Denmark – the source for his
celebrated Tollund Man sequence of poems – and ultimately to Beowulf.”</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">This account resonated strongly with me as a result of a
chance encounter with the then Emeritus Professor in 1985.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We had never met previously.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>At breakfast on the morning after I made a
presentation about Omagh Arts Festival to the Arts Council Northern Ireland
annual conference, he noticed my name tag. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Within a few minutes he had enthralled me with
a succinct appraisal of the origins in Old Norse of my surname.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">He was also able to define its Scots Gaelic derivation,
as well as the anglicised versions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some
weeks later, he posted me a photocopy of an academic article about the clan
name.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">This confirmed beyond doubt his
earlier unrehearsed verbal account. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
also cemented the veracity of the Times’ glowing tribute to his former student.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I salute Seamus Heaney’s support for the work of the
community group, Bellaghy Development Association, to regenerate his home
village.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the course of that project,
when I was the town planner on the advisory team, I met him several times.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">On one occasion, he was presenting the Department of the
Environment with original manuscripts of his work – as well as some personal
items.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The Department’s restoration of
the village’s most historic building Bellaghy Bawn, a castle constructed during
the Plantation of Ulster and an inspirational influence on him, received a
higher priority as a result of his support for the community group’s regeneration
strategy.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">On other occasions he attended events in Bellaghy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>These included a village reception in 1996 to
celebrate his award of the Nobel prize, the launch in 1997 and the official
opening of the community group’s property project in 2000, and in April 2009
the unveiling of the Turfman sculpture adjacent to the Bawn.</span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-22j-FVRoEEY/Ukh_TeB7syI/AAAAAAAAAKk/c-HMqk3jkK8/s1600/2009+04+02+Bellaghy+015.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-22j-FVRoEEY/Ukh_TeB7syI/AAAAAAAAAKk/c-HMqk3jkK8/s1600/2009+04+02+Bellaghy+015.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> Seamus Heaney is welcomed to the unveiling of the Turfman in Bellaghy on 2 April 2009</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I am the fortunate possessor of two mementoes which bear
out anecdotes told by others about Seamus Heaney’s generosity and obliging
manner.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">One is an autographed copy of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Beowulf</i> where he inscribes and quotes
his translation with the words </span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">“To
Michael McSorley –<span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> <u>“sure of his ground in
strongroom and bawn”</u> </span>– p.18 and in Bellaghy too – Seamus Heaney May 2000.”</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The other takes pride of place in my study.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is a signed copy of his poem <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Digging</i>. At the foot, he writes</span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">“To
Michael, who dug in Bellaghy – and kept going – Seamus 17 June 1997.”</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I attended Seamus Heaney’s funeral in Bellaghy on the hot
summer evening of 2 September 2013.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
burial plot, beside his parents, sits next to an old stone wall, overlooked by
two sycamore trees and an ash tree.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Two
renowned and accomplished musicians, Liam O’Flynn on uileann pipes and Neil Martin on cello,
played appropriately haunting melodies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>As
an attentive journalist observed with prose bordering poetry, a swallow circled
and swooped overhead as the haunting tune lingered, a detail which would not
have been lost on the late poet<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3360647493499863442#_ftn9" name="_ftnref9" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn9;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[9]</span></span></span></span></a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The Parish Priest Fr Andrew Dolan (who was in my Latin
class at school) told mourners the poet who <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“never
really left Bellaghy”</i> had come home.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He added that</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“the
parish is honoured that Seamus Heaney chose to be buried here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The name Seamus Heaney and this place will
forever be entwined.”</i></span></div>
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<u><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Metaphors</span></u><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In all the column inches and broadcast tributes
eulogising the man and his work, expert critics have described Seamus Heaney variously
as a nature poet, a love poet and as a war poet – life’s big themes, really.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">To me, what impresses is his sheer word power, the subtlety
of his references, and linguistic tools he uses to describe his subjects.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To echo my earlier observation, only the
great writers can combine the imaginary and real world.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">As a contemporary poet, he proves adept when moving from
his trademark verses about the Ulster rural idyll to topics which preoccupy the
modern world, issues like sex and violence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Heaney employs metaphors to sensory effect, as in the erotic imagining <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Skunk.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></i>And in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Anything Can Happen</i>,
he adapts and ingeniously augments the Roman lyric poet Horace’s Ode 34 to
illustrate the horror of New York City’s 9/11 catastrophe.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I also detect that Seamus Heaney had a musical ear.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">His use of onomatopoeia, never mind metaphor,
resounds when I read <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Digging</i>. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>It brings the subject to life when the poem
plants a strong sense of the boggy earth in my nostrils and I can clearly hear
the sounds of the turf spade:</span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“The cold smell of potato mould, the squelch and slap</span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Of soggy peat, the curt cuts of an edge</span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Through living roots awaken in my head.</span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">But I’ve no spade to follow men like them.</span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Between my finger and my thumb</span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The squat pen rests.</span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I’ll dig with it.”</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">©Michael
McSorley 2013</span></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3360647493499863442#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span></span></span></a> <span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Encyclopaedia Britannica says:</span> <span class="srtitle"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Sophocles</span></span><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">,</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> (born <i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">c.</span></i> 496 <span class="bps-small-text">BC</span>
near Athens, died 406, Athens), with Aeschylus and Euripides, one of classical
Athens’ three great tragic playwrights.</span></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3360647493499863442#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span></span></span></a> <span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Festival Publications, Queen’s
University Belfast, Edition 1 published Nov.1965. (Edition 3,1967).</span></div>
</div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3360647493499863442#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span></span></span></a>BBC
documentary “Seamus Heaney a life in pictures”: <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/search?q=seamus%20heaney">http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/search?q=seamus%20heaney</a></div>
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<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/features/desert-island-discs/castaway/8bfd36b2" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/features/desert-island-discs/castaway/8bfd36b2</span></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3360647493499863442#_ftnref4" name="_ftn4" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn4;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[4]</span></span></span></span></a> <span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">RTE documentary “Seamus Heaney: Out of
the Marvellous”</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">
</span><a href="http://www.rte.ie/player/6c/show/10194512/" target="_blank"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">http://www.rte.ie/player/6c/show/10194512/</span></a></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3360647493499863442#_ftnref5" name="_ftn5" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn5;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[5]</span></span></span></span></a>
The Royal Society of Literature, founded by George IV in 1820.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the heart of the RSL is
its Fellowship, which encompasses the most distinguished authors working
in the English language.</div>
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<div id="ftn6" style="mso-element: footnote;">
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3360647493499863442#_ftnref6" name="_ftn6" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn6;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[6]</span></span></span></span></a>
Observer New Review 1Sept 2013 page 8.</div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3360647493499863442#_ftnref7" name="_ftn7" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn7;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[7]</span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">Belfast Telegraph 4
September 2013 page 27:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><a href="http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/opinion/columnists/fionola-meredith/no-rhyme-or-reason-to-our-cultural-divide-on-the-arts-29549387.html"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/opinion/columnists/fionola-meredith/no-rhyme-or-reason-to-our-cultural-divide-on-the-arts-29549387.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;"></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3360647493499863442#_ftnref8" name="_ftn8" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn8;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[8]</span></span></span></span></a>
The Times 31 Aug 2013 ed. page 26; obit. Pages 76-77.</div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3360647493499863442#_ftnref9" name="_ftn9" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn9;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[9]</span></span></span></span></a>
Belfast Telegraph 3 Sept 2013 page 4. Anna Maguire.</div>
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Michael McSorleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06352593190581090069noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3360647493499863442.post-43015731565121341532013-08-30T08:37:00.001-07:002013-09-04T13:47:29.235-07:00An Exercise in Volunteering<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<u><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Olympian inspiration</span></u></div>
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<u><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></u></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Exercise is a celebration of life and health.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>Sport, both professional and amateur, stirs
the emotions and has an almost miraculous ability to bring people together as
rivals compete, helping to bridge national and political differences.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">At last year’s Olympics, Londoners were said by many
commentators to have rediscovered the spirit of the blitz, a sense of community.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>People worked together in pursuit of a common
objective.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Much of the credit for the success
of the Games was attributed to the volunteers who gave up their time to help
the professionals to deliver a legacy for the capital city and for the whole of
the UK.</span></div>
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<u><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Participating is all</span></u></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">For ten days in August this year Belfast basked in a warm
summer glow as people from over 60 nations, emergency services workers for whom
exercising is a hobby, competed in a global sporting extravaganza, the World
Police and Fire Games.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>These part-time
athletes reminded us of the true spirit of amateur sport, the Corinthian ideals
of participating for the fun of it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Featuring 56 sports and using 41 different venues, all
sorts of events were on display.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some were
conventional sports like cycling, track and field, rugby 7s, ice hockey, and
beach volleyball.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Others were unheard-of
to those of us who are outside the emergency services, but they sounded too
good to miss.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Who would not be tempted to go and see the Ultimate Fire-fighter
event or the Toughest Competitor Alive competition?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How could we uninitiated not be curious to
learn more about the Stair Race, an event where fire-fighters in full gear and
wearing breathing apparatus would race up the city’s tallest building with its
550 steps and 27 flights of stairs?</span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hWkWggHMpbE/Uh9wBnkVHPI/AAAAAAAAAJM/TyInr8bbpt8/s1600/2013+08+04+WPFG+medals.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hWkWggHMpbE/Uh9wBnkVHPI/AAAAAAAAAJM/TyInr8bbpt8/s1600/2013+08+04+WPFG+medals.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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<u><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></u></div>
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<u><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Friendliness</span></u></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">This was the first time that these Games had been staged
anywhere in the UK or Ireland.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Winning
the right to stage them was a big deal for Belfast, a small regional city
rather than a metropolis.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>New York was
the most recent host city for this biennial jamboree and Belfast wanted them to
be the “friendliest games ever.”</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Substantial effort was committed to ensuring that this
would be no idle boast as public and private sectors pooled expertise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The prize would be the projection of a
positive image of Northern Ireland, somewhere that is hospitable and open for
business, a place that looks outward.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Organisers fittingly followed the success of the London
Olympics and recruited an army of volunteers to help deliver the Games, giving
local citizens the chance to welcome an anticipated 7,000 foreign athletes
together with their friends and families.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">For too long, tourists ignored Northern Ireland, deterred
by images of hatred.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">What a potential
boost for our self-confidence and a golden opportunity to express our civic
pride. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> To do so by welcoming visitors
who would probably not have considered coming here otherwise and showing them
that we have plenty to offer.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We want our city to be the best place it can be –
elegant, peaceful, creative and positive, rather than a place riven with
intolerance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>Here was a
chance to make a statement.</span></div>
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<u><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></u></div>
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<u><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Team 2013</span></u><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Encouraged by advance publicity and by friends who
planned to do likewise, my wife and I applied to join Team 2013 as
volunteers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">To sound compatible, I
selected six or seven venues close to my home as suitable and listed my
experience and knowledge of athletics and cycling.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Interviews were held last January, giving me
the opportunity to restate my preferences.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Buoyed up by the thoroughness of the selection process
and the volume of public interest (judging by the long queues of interviewees),
we were both delighted when our applications were accepted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We would be advised in due course about our
roles.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Five and a half weeks before the start of the Games, we
were invited to a huge event in the cavernous Kings Hall – noted for hosting
massive events like the recent Bruce Springsteen rock concert, professional
boxing (such as the Barry McGuigan fights) and, until last year, the region’s
biggest agricultural and gymkhana event.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We were told that 3,500 attended for a full day of what the organisers
described as “orientation training.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Our
first impressions were that the Games organisers are making an impressive
effort to inform and train us for the task ahead. No expense seemed to be spared as two well-known local comedians, backed up by key figures
from the organising committee emphasised the key message of friendliness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I have
to say that I felt a bit disoriented as the message was repeated, loudly, over
and over again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The entertainers in
particular tried to whip up the audience into a state of manic euphoria, as if
we were appearing on one of those American-styled reality TV shows. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Frenzy, however, is not our style. People here are naturally friendly,<span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">céad míle fáilte is engrained in our DNA, faking friendship is not who we are. </span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">We are of an inquisitive nature, nosey perhaps. But surely this curiosity in our style of welcoming large numbers of foreign visitors is an understandable trait when we have been deprived of the pleasure of their company for too long.</span></span></span></span></div>
<h1 style="line-height: 115%;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><u>Examples</u></span></span></span></span>
</h1>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">One day I was making friends with four
Milanese competitors who were planning to go sight-seeing during the remainder
of their visit when a fellow volunteer, who had overheard our conversation,
joined us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Within no time at all, my
colleague had offered our Italian visitors the use of his holiday home for the
three days after the competition as a base for their trip to Bushmills and the
Giants Causeway.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> This spontaneous offer was accepted, almost in a state of disbelief.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>My new pal Francesco
emailed me after a few days to say they were having a great time and thanks for our kindness,
grazie mille.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I overheard a conversation between an athlete and a
volunteer one day at lunch.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The visitor,
who was staggered by the unexpectedly amicable reception, was jokingly exclaiming
that he could not understand how we could be friendly, given all the shocking images
he sees of us fighting and rioting.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Another volunteer told me that he heard an American fire-fighter
phoning his wife in New York to tell her how good it is in Belfast and that she
had to take the next flight over to join him for a holiday.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">These and other examples of normal hospitable behaviour happened
despite and not as a result of aggressive commands to be friendly.</span></div>
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<u><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<u><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Turn judge</span></u><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I was assigned to the new Aurora 50 metre aquatic centre
in Bangor as a member of the field of play team, on the 8 am to 1 pm shift for
each of the three days of swimming competition.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">My first thought was that this does not, as the organisers’ insisted,
take account of my skills and preferences.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It was also a less convenient location.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">However, when I resigned myself to accepting the event
and venue, I was glad I did so.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>It
introduced me to a new and luxurious venue for sport, Northern Ireland’s first
and only Olympic-sized swimming pool.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>It
also enabled me to observe how officials (who are also unpaid volunteers and do
so all year round) in a sport unfamiliar to me go about being efficient and
meticulous.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The Games organisers discouraged volunteers from using
private transport.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Being of like mind and not wanting to drive to the events, I decided to cycle to Bangor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>The disadvantage of so doing was that it
added over two hours to my 5 hour shift.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>The advantage was that it was a means for me to combat the interruption
caused to my own training for a cycling sportive a few weeks after the end of
the Games.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">According to my mobile phone app, Endomondo, I burned
approximately 1,800 calories on the 34 mile daily cycling trip.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>An exercise in volunteering in deed.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I have to add that it felt slightly surreal
rising at 6 am on a Saturday and more especially on a Sunday morning to cycle
to work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It certainly shook me out of my
comfort zone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sure isn't that not half the joy of retirement - getting a right good shake.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Such was the camaraderie
and spectacle that it was no ordeal at all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>On the contrary, and in retrospect, being one of the team was and will
be one of my personal highlights of the year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>I would do it all again.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Allow me to illustrate the craic of the swimming
competition with some random observations.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">My award for pathos goes to an English
swimmer who after winning her event in the 70 to 75 age category was
disqualified because she was wearing tape adhesive on her right leg.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I spoke to her afterwards when she explained
that a physiotherapist had applied the tape to her stiff calf muscle as
protection.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This was because she was due
to compete in the half-marathon a couple of days later.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>An official told me that swimming is the only
sport which bans the use of this tape.</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">My prize for the swimmer with the most
appropriate surname goes to the Canadian fire chief Mathieu Poisson.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He even swam like one.</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The more elderly swimmers could teach us
younger pensioners a lesson or two.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
could not help but notice that some appeared to walk from the changing room all
the way up to their starting position with an awkward gait, suggesting that
perambulation must be painful.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was,
therefore, wonderful to see how fluently and quickly these same senior citizens
could navigate their way up and down the gigantic pool.</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I spoke to an Australian competitor after his
event and he told me he was 78.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I
asked him if that was his Games over, he retorted with a smile telling me that
he had four more races to do.</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The longest event in the pool is the 1500
metres.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As a tribute to the spirit of
the Games, the spectators reserved the most emphatic cheer for the final
finisher despite the big time gap.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A friend
told me that the same crowd reaction happened in the long distance events on
the track.</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The choice of music at the Aquatic Centre to
introduce the medal ceremonies was apt.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>A few bars of the American composer Aaron Copeland’s “Fanfare to the
Common Man” encapsulated the fact that our visitors are everyday people, paid
from the public purse and who compete as a diversion from their dangerous work
serving to rescue and protect the general public.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s humbling to do a little to return the
favours they do for us.</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">A few of the volunteers I met at the swimming
events had come from England, having been volunteers at last year’s London
Olympics.</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It is impossible to be unimpressed by the
constant effervescence of Dame Mary Peters, our gold medallist in the
pentathlon at the Munich Olympics in 1972.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>She was a key member of the team which won the bid to stage the event
and was, in many ways, the face of the Games.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Her bonhomie, both on and off camera, as she presented medals at the
swimming (and other) events shows that natural charm works.</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It was gratifying to see supporters in the
galleries displaying their identity multi-nationally.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Flags of Australia, Brazil, Catalonia,
Ireland and Japan waved in fierce but friendly rivalry alongside the Union
Jack.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No riots, no defiance, no hatred,
only the pure joy of sport. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The happy
face of a cosmopolitan Northern Ireland on public view.</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">On the issue of public viewing, I did not expect that the photographers at work during the Games were
volunteers – most of whom, as one informed me, are members of camera
clubs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To quote the Games organisers:</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">“There are loads of photos (taken by
our TEAM 2013 Photography Team) on the 2013 WPFG website of the sportsmen and
our TEAM 2013 volunteers in action. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To
view these amazing photos please go to </span></i><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/wpfgphotographers/sets/" target="_blank">http://www.flickr.com/photos/wpfgphotographers/sets/</a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">.</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;">
<u><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><br /></span></span></u></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HRQJ9OF4MvI/Uh9woEfpHkI/AAAAAAAAAJU/HiVrCSHj76E/s1600/2013+08+03+WPFG+Bangor.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HRQJ9OF4MvI/Uh9woEfpHkI/AAAAAAAAAJU/HiVrCSHj76E/s1600/2013+08+03+WPFG+Bangor.jpg" height="320" width="225" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="userContent">Spanish swimmer Motero Suare executing a
tumble turn in the 1500 metre mens freestyle final at the World Police
and Fire Games in the Aurora Centre, Bangor Co Down on Saturday 3 August
2013.
(Photo: Stephen Weatherall).</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;">
<u><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></u></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;">
<u><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Marshal</span></u><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I was on home ground when, two days after finishing my
aquatic shifts, I helped my athletics club organise the cross country running 5 and 10 kilometre races at Stormont.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">My thoughts about
this event were the same as those about ice-hockey – it seems a bit strange
having winter sports take place at the height of summer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But so what?</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The athletes turned out in large numbers, the front
runners performed to a very high standard, and it was heart-warming to see so
many countries represented in a true sporting test against the clock.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Only one discordant thought came to
mind.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That was the apparent absence of
African athletes from an event which they dominate in other circumstances.</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">A propos absences, it would be interesting to find out if
there was indeed any representation from the African continent at these Games.</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And from the hosts’ perspective, it would be interesting
to know what impact, if any, rioting may have had on representation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was told that the cricket competition was
reduced as fewer teams registered than expected.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><u>Best attendance</u></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The candidate for most successful sport at the Games is the ice hockey. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Apparently 55,000 spectators watched the games staged at the Odyssey Arena, the home of the professional team Belfast Giants. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">At a pre-season friendly (Sept 1 2013) when Bolzano Foxes (a top Italian team from the north of that country) played the Giants, the audience was told this important fact. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">By the way the Giants won 2-1, securing victory 30 seconds into extra time. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">WPFG volunteers were given free entry to the Bolzano fixture as a thank you from the sponsoring Government Department (DCAL) - something that was much appreciated by those volunteers who attended a very exciting match. </span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VjUQ7DqAGEk/UiOGxwgZErI/AAAAAAAAAJk/OOHJB7mByAY/s1600/2013+09+01+GiantsV+Bolzano+Foxes+02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VjUQ7DqAGEk/UiOGxwgZErI/AAAAAAAAAJk/OOHJB7mByAY/s1600/2013+09+01+GiantsV+Bolzano+Foxes+02.jpg" height="212" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OTeMuH45Hs0/UiOG4Sgu7xI/AAAAAAAAAJs/oLoFxIWK9Qw/s1600/2013+09+01+GiantsV+Bolzano+Foxes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OTeMuH45Hs0/UiOG4Sgu7xI/AAAAAAAAAJs/oLoFxIWK9Qw/s1600/2013+09+01+GiantsV+Bolzano+Foxes.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;">
<u><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><br /></span></span></u></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;">
<u><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Spectacle</span></u></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">On reading the Games committee’s advance publicity about
recruiting voluntary helpers, my impression was that I would have to work on
every one of the 10 days of competition.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>Being somewhat tired after four days on duty, it was a relief to have
time off.</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Such was the infectious atmosphere of goodwill at the
Games that the idea of attending as a spectator was appealing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I joined my wife and a friend who wanted to
watch the Ultimate Fire Fighter competition.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>On a lazy sunny morning, this was the perfect antidote to dazed exhaustion.</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The venue was the Titanic slipways, next to the imposing
new visitor centre.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Watching super-fit fire fighters from all corners of world sprinting with heavy hoses on
a level playing field, newly surfaced with contemporary paving, racing up and
down temporary scaffolding carrying chainsaws and incurring 5 second
time-penalties for missing a step was a spectacle to enthral.</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The best free show in town and the crowds loved its
uniqueness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“One of the most coveted
titles in the Games,” wrote the Belfast Telegraph, and no wonder.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Imagine the kudos and bragging rights the Ultimate
Fire Fighter would have on returning to work.</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">On another day, I attended the events taking place at the
extensive and modernised playing fields of Queens University.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I saw the finals of the rugby 7s and also the
Gaelic football 7s. </span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>Male teams and also
female teams were in feverish and intensive action.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The boisterous spectators only became respectfully
quiet at those matches when the New Zealand fire and rescue rugby team performed the
haka.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They beat the otherwise invincible
metropolitan police team in a thrilling final.</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I found myself sitting beside a lieutenant in the FDNY,
New York Fire Department, during the rugby 7s finals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Throughout he was jovial and extremely
knowledgeable about rugby which – to my surprise – is a popular sport in the
Big Apple.</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>As a change of subject from
the sport, I asked him as discreetly as I could if he had lost any colleagues
in the 9/11 attack on the Twin Towers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Fortunately nobody from his squad died.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>When he continued, however, recounting details about the loss of his
Irish-American best friend Terence McShane, it was moving to observe this battle-hardened
veteran fighting to restrain his tears.</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">For me the quote of the Games came from the Director General
of the Gaelic Athletic Association.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
final was between the favourites the Irish police - <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-style: normal; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">An Garda </span></i></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><span lang="GA" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: GA; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Síochána</span></i></span><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"> -</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> and
the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span> </span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">After presenting winners medals to the Garda team, the DG joked that </span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“it was the first time I heard at a GAA match someone
shouting <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Come on Northern Ireland</i>.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Even though these Games were about international
competition, the thought which motivated that quotation provides proof positive
for my opening premise about sport’s wider social benefits.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>It is also a subtle salute the success of the World Police and Fire Games 2013.</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">©Michael McSorley 2013</span></div>
Michael McSorleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06352593190581090069noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3360647493499863442.post-29804629882143893232013-08-03T11:23:00.000-07:002013-08-08T13:22:13.415-07:00A Recipe for Eating Healthily<!--[if !mso]>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><u><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Experts</span></span></u></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">People seem to be ravenous to know and hungry to read all
about healthy eating and all things dietary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">To prove the point, six of this week’s ten best selling hardback
non-fiction books are about food.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3360647493499863442#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Everybody from Mary Berry to hairy bikers are
at it – and, I suspect, making a nice living in the process.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">So, why not me?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">On
second thoughts, maybe that isn’t a good idea. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I’m not a celebrity chef, I’m not a food
critic, I’m not a dietician, I’m not any kind of health guru, I have no
qualifications in food science or oenology.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">What I do have, however, is many years of experience in
food and wine – mostly in the eating department, sometimes as a purchaser, and
occasionally preparing edible delights.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Based on this curriculum vitae, I have opinions about certain items of
food and drink which I consider to be good for my health.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">An inescapable part of modern life is the constant bombardment
of information from experts recommending what we should and shouldn’t consume.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We who occupy retirement-land can use our own
judgement on such matters.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We have an
enhanced sense of what is needed to stay healthy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Aware of our own mortality, we of all people
are not going to eat unhealthily.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">For
us, therefore, the proposition in favour of a good diet is axiomatic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Don’t argue with us.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It is, of course, entertaining and informative to read what
the experts have to recommend.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nigel
Slater, Jamie Oliver and Nigella Lawson are outstanding for their creative flair and sheer
artistry.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Their gift is to add novelty
and excitement to dining, giving us the benefit of their considerable culinary
expertise.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><u><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Experience</span></span></u></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">But what retired people know, especially when eating to
promote good health, is that we are all different.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What agrees with you might not agree with
me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Everybody has a different
physiological make-up, I’m an ectomorph others are endomorphs, and we all have
different tastes, preferences, intolerances even.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I, for instance, have a syndrome resulting in
retention of iron.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Since retiring, therefore, I have developed my own dietary
philosophy adapting to my new status in life and geared to being strong and healthy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The big theme is that I eat when I’m
hungry.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For this rocket science, I
deserve a PhD.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It sounds obvious, but
let me amplify the point anecdotally.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I remember writing and choreographing a sketch about
thirty or more years ago for the Omagh Ladies Circle (wives of Round Table
members), their competition entry to perform a one-minute advertisement for a
health-food product.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">While their rivals sang
and danced extolling the virtues of products like ginseng and Aloe Vera, my
sketch adopted the music of Handel to gush melodic and lyrical praise on what I
consider to be the ultimate health drink, revealed tantalisingly only in the
final words - aqua vitae, water, the real uisce bheatha.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">This is a slightly circuitous way of introducing what my
mother used to describe as the most important meal of the day.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><u><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Breakfast</span></span></u></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Getting up in the morning, my need for food is not an
immediate priority.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The first item I
consume is water, as much as possible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Think cleansing and flushing out the internal organs of the body,
detoxifying naturally.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">My system needs a
gentle start before I am hungry enough to eat.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">A little later I will slice up a chilled orange and after
that an indulgence, still concentrating on liquids.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Some months ago, my wife spotted a product
which she knew would appeal to my taste buds and their predilection for
yoghurt.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>An exhilarating and healthy
start to the day is provided by a small glass of pouring yoghurt, the natural variety
(when available) rather than the flavoured options, and adding an actimel drink
which comes in a range of gorgeous flavours.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It’s easily digestible, refreshing, brimming with goodness, and blissfully
tasteful.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">If I am attending a morning gym class, the chilled orange
and yoghurt usually suffice for now. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In
which case, I can postpone the main breakfast course.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">After exercise, hunger asserts itself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That main course is rolled oats porridge, but
not on its own.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I have been using my own recipe for a few years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I discovered latterly that Paula Radcliffe
(who holds the world record for the women’s marathon) does likewise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I pour manuka honey, the 15+ (the level of
its special antibacterial activity) and then add a chopped up banana to the top
of the hot </span><span lang="GA" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: GA;">brachán</span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">,
and finish by adding a generous helping of full fresh milk over the
surface.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Slow release energy, low in
cholesterol, containing enough goodness and energy to power a body for at least
26.2 miles, and in record time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Definitely worth trying.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Hotel breakfasts are another matter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Every time I stay in Scottish and Irish
hotels, I always order kippers rather than a fried breakfast.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">According to one report,<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3360647493499863442#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span></span></span></a> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“as
a sustainable fish they are on the Marine Conservation Society's list of fish
to eat”</span></i><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> and sales have increased substantially in recent years.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">To think that eating fish used to be undertaken on Fridays
as a penance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The contemporary cooking
method of modern chefs makes this humble fish a blissful delight which, unlike
the fry-up, actually makes me feel alive and alert.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Maybe it’s the omega 3 oils that make it so
agreeable.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BgJVw2JtXYI/UffCcitwoOI/AAAAAAAAAI4/PifW7VeVSqI/s1600/Hippocrates-quote.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BgJVw2JtXYI/UffCcitwoOI/AAAAAAAAAI4/PifW7VeVSqI/s1600/Hippocrates-quote.jpg" /></a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-no-proof: yes;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><u><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Supplements</span></span></u></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I notice food supplements on sale in gyms, health food
shops and in supermarkets.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I hear their
benefits advocated by fitness experts and know many people who use them to
improve their strength and to aid a quicker recovery from exercise.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">For my part, however, a balanced diet using natural foods
is enough to preclude the need for additives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> In addition to the theme of hunger to justify food, my second guiding principle is to consume natural products. I concur with the contemporary adage that we must try more to live in harmony with nature.</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I prefer to adhere to water, bananas, oily fish, manuka honey, fresh
fruit and vegetables, brown bread and pasta, fresh fish and white meat, and
avoid processed products, salt and additives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">That
still leaves plenty of leeway to avoid any necessity for a monastic existence
of self-denial.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><u><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Calorie-free
food</span></span></u></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">What I do not recommend are low fat foods, essentially
because they are tasteless and low in nutrition.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Low-fat cheese strikes me as a contradiction
in terms.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Anyway, the body needs a reasonable
modicum of natural fat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">When I add milk
to my porridge, it has to be full cream milk.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>When I make a mug of hot chocolate, it has to be made with proper full
milk, and with plenty of chocolate to taste.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">By the way, there is new empirical evidence which advocates the health benefits of drinking hot chocolate (based on a study of people with an average age of 73). http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/uk/hot-chocolate-keeps-brain-healthy-29483016.html </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Normally I will use an olive-oil-based spread on toast or
bread.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">If, however, I have tea with a
scone in mid-morning, I want proper Irish butter to complement the baker’s
artistry and enhance its wonderful flavour.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><u><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Tea</span></span></u></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I have one of my daughters to thank for introducing me to
green tea, red bush tea, and peppermint tea.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Green tea with a slice of lemon is my breakfast choice, and the other
two take their turn during the day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Having adjusted my taste buds, I now prefer these varieties with their
incidental health-giving properties.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><u><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Bananas</span></span></u></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Bananas seem to be the ultimate food. I propose two reasons as justification.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The first argument is that </span><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">because they contain</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> <span style="background: white;">three natural
sugars (sucrose, fructose and glucose) combined with fibre, they give an
instant, sustained and substantial boost of energy. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="background: white;">I ate at least 20 on the recent two days of
the 220 mile bike sportive, the Maracycle.</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">The second point is that bananas also seem to be
something of</span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> a panacea.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">They </span><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">can help overcome or prevent a substantial number of
illnesses and conditions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Here are a few
examples:-</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript>
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<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:SnapToGridInCell/>
<w:WrapTextWithPunct/>
<w:UseAsianBreakRules/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/>
<w:DontVertAlignCellWithSp/>
<w:DontBreakConstrainedForcedTables/>
<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>
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<w:CachedColBalance/>
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<m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/>
<m:brkBin m:val="before"/>
<m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/>
<m:smallFrac m:val="off"/>
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<m:lMargin m:val="0"/>
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<m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/>
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</xml><![endif]--></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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DefSemiHidden="true" DefQFormat="false" DefPriority="99"
LatentStyleCount="267">
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><img alt="*" height="13" src="file:///C:\Users\user\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtmlclip1\01\clip_image001.gif" width="13" /><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">According to a survey
undertaken by MIND, the mental health charity, many people suffering from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">depression</i> felt much better after eating
a banana.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is because bananas contain
tryptophan, a type of protein that the body converts into serotonin, known to
make you relax, improve your mood and generally make you feel happier.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><img alt="*" height="13" src="file:///C:\Users\user\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtmlclip1\01\clip_image001.gif" width="13" /><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Because the banana is high in
potassium yet low in salt, it a good way to combat <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">blood pressure</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So much so,
that the US Food and Drug Administration has allowed the banana industry to
make official claims for the fruit's ability to reduce the risk of blood
pressure and stroke.</span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><img alt="*" height="13" src="file:///C:\Users\user\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtmlclip1\01\clip_image001.gif" width="13" /><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
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milkshake, sweetened with honey. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
banana calms the stomach and, with the help of the honey, builds up depleted
blood sugar levels, while the milk soothes and re-hydrates your system.</span></div>
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</span></span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><img alt="*" height="13" src="file:///C:\Users\user\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtmlclip1\01\clip_image001.gif" width="13" /><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">The banana is used as a
dietary response to address <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">intestinal
disorders</i> because of its soft texture and smoothness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is the only raw fruit that can be eaten
without distress in over-chronicler cases.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It also neutralizes over-acidity and reduces irritation by coating the
lining of the stomach.</span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><img alt="*" height="13" src="file:///C:\Users\user\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtmlclip1\01\clip_image001.gif" width="13" /><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Potassium is a vital mineral,
which helps normalize the heartbeat, sends oxygen to the brain and regulates
the body's water balance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When we are <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">stress</i>ed, our metabolic rate rises,
thereby reducing our potassium levels.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>These can be rebalanced with the help of a high-potassium banana snack.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">
</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><u><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Food economics</span></span></u></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">No aspect of life, especially for retired people,
can escape the damage caused by the euphemistically-called economic downturn of
the last four years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">I blogged about the
big global economic issues on the eve of June’s summit of world leaders in Co
Fermanagh (“The G8 Lough down”).<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3360647493499863442#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">The economics and politics of food production
are no different.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Two issues come to mind.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">One relates to the difficulties faced by
retired people on low income – pensioner poverty – and for whom the priority is
not so much eating healthily, as being able to afford food with what meagre
income they have.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">The other issue is the political economy which has
allowed a situation to develop where the free market is failing the producers
of food.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">The example we hear quoted is that
of farmers who receive less than it costs them to produce milk.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">A new poll commissioned by the Prince’s fund<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3360647493499863442#_ftn4" name="_ftnref4" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn4;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[4]</span></span></span></span></a> reveals that a majority of
British consumers would be prepared to pay more for food if they knew that the
extra was going to farmers rather than supermarket shareholders.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><u>
</u></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><u><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Family life</span></span></u></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">People criticise Government for being
insufficiently supportive of family living.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">One aspect that is noticeable about life in the countries of southern
Europe is that extended families come together especially when they dine together in the
evening or at weekends.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Food becomes an
essential part of making it the occasion special and generations unite.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Spaniards, Italians, Croats and Greeks live
longer than us, they dine healthily and they enjoy their food convivially en famille.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Food, like exercise, should be enjoyed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">It does not necessarily mean being well-to-do
either.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Free products exist such as
water, natural products like porridge, kippers and bananas do not cost a lot,
and expensive products like manuka honey can be used sparingly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Pursuing a healthy dietary regime which
includes exercising will save the NHS a lot of time and money caring for
retired people.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">More importantly it can, in my opinion, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>help justify drinking an extra glass of
life-enhancing Chilean red wine or a bottle of premium German beer brewed
organically using 400 year old recipes, followed by a slice of home-made sponge
cake or a piece of chilli chocolate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Life tastes good.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">But can
I compete with the hairy bikers?</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> </span> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">©Michael
McSorley 2013</span></div>
<div style="mso-element: footnote-list;">
<br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<div id="ftn1" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3360647493499863442#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span></span></span></a> The Times Review 20072013</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn2" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3360647493499863442#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span></span></span></a>
The Guardian
07042012</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn3" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3360647493499863442#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span></span></span></a> http://michaelmcsorleyeconomics.blogspot.co.uk/</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn4" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3360647493499863442#_ftnref4" name="_ftn4" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn4;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[4]</span></span></span></span></a> <span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">The Observer
21072013 p6 “The era of cheap food is over, says Tesco boss.” By Jay Rayner</span></span></span></div>
</div>
</div>
Michael McSorleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06352593190581090069noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3360647493499863442.post-64133421643854929962013-06-28T06:44:00.002-07:002013-06-28T06:44:54.033-07:00The Joys of Training<!--[if !mso]>
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<![endif]--><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Terminology</span></i><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I don’t know about you, but I think that it’s debatable
whether the word training is the best way of describing the activity otherwise
known as physical exercise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>I might add
that I am even less keen on the phrase “working out,” an inaccurate Americanism
which seems to be gaining some currency here.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">What some people call training, others prefer to describe
in more easily understood language, such as keeping fit or, more simply, taking
exercise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Walking the dog is a form of
exercise, so too gardening, D.I.Y., and car washing, as also is marathon running.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The word training conjures up alternative images, such as
attending seminars to be taught something, and where “bonding” with work mates occurs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>Training is also the word used for the
preparing of horses for racing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And
training in the sense of staying in shape seems, to us silver trainers, to be
something that professional sports people do to enable them to earn their
living, in contrast to the more leisurely physical activity associated with
retired people.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">With these caveats expressed, I have to admit that (as I
write) I and some retired colleagues could be said to be engaged in training.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>Its purpose is to prepare us to ride in the
Maracycle, a 2-day bicycle event (or sportive in the jargon).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It takes place over two consecutive days between
Belfast and Dublin.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span><br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Approximately 1,000
cyclists are expected to leave Belfast early in the morning of Saturday 29 June
and cycle to Dublin, with the return trip the next day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>The peace charity Co-Operation Ireland which
organises the event, estimates that the total distance is 220 miles.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Gruelling is an appropriate adjective.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">A couple of years ago the event was re-launched.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One key change involved the moving of the
route off the busy A1 and N1 roads.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">While the new course exposes the cyclists to less hectic traffic, it
also means that the event has become more strenuous because cycling up and down
minor roads necessitates much greater effort.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Back roads have steeper gradients, more and sharper bends, and often fairly rough
surfaces.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Taken together this means that
riders need to be fitter and stronger, and have greater concentration.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">So, perhaps training is the correct word for a marathon bike ride.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Why
train?</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Allow me to suggest a number of reasons why exercising is
important for retired people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I use the
Maracycle as an example of three reasons why I exercise.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<u><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></u></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Gd0zOvQ-qCg/Ucy9ZKMpw1I/AAAAAAAAAIs/hyjfaHCtzbU/s515/2012+06+24+Finish+004.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Gd0zOvQ-qCg/Ucy9ZKMpw1I/AAAAAAAAAIs/hyjfaHCtzbU/s515/2012+06+24+Finish+004.jpg" height="313" title="" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Maracycle Finish Line Queens University Belfast</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="page-break-after: avoid;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-no-proof: yes;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Number
1 – the challenge</span></i></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I know that most people are content to keep fit and
healthy because it is a sensible thing to do for its own sake, which it
definitely is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">From my perspective,
however, I need something extra in order to provide a focus and reason to get
out and train.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>An event, especially one
which supports charitable causes, acts as a target. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>Its imminence and difficulty will provide me with
an incentive to work a bit harder in training to ensure that I get to the
finish line, hopefully without injury or mis-hap.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Some people call it a challenge which, if I
recall correctly from my working days, is what targets are supposed to be
anyway.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">An event like the Maracycle provides the impetus and
urgency to train because I know from experience that if I am fit for the task
ahead, I will be more confident in my ability to perform better.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I also know that when fit, my physical
recovery will be quicker than if I am below a certain level of fitness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Most importantly, when properly fit and the
performance is as good as possible, the end product is the satisfaction and joy
of a job well done.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>In which case, the
effort of spending hours training will have been vindicated.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Number
2 – enjoyment and sociability</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">My second reason for taking exercise is that it an
enjoyable and sociable activity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">When
I’m out in the fresh air, hill-walking in a beautiful place like the Dolomites
or the Mournes, or cycling along the river’s edge in sunny Belfast, I notice
that there is a great deal of friendly communication with other people, most of
whom are strangers. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Exchanges can range
from a spontaneous smile, a hearty wave or even a verbal greeting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I meet someone doing the same activity
as me, the greeting seems to rise to a higher level, the other person usually exuding
unbounded happiness.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">An associated benefit of exercising outdoors is the
appreciation and enjoyment of the beauty of our natural surroundings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The cliché about communing with nature is not
as daft as it sounds. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Neither is it the
sole preserve of romantic poets, artists, composers of symphonic classic music,
or Hari Krishna devotees.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>Whether you
are out for a leisurely walk or a speedy bike ride, the smell of grass and of barbecues,
the songs of robins and blackcaps make a melodious impression, inspiring in
fact.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I have found that when I am exercising, especially
involving long-distance activity like running or cycling, my subconscious mind
flits about from subject to subject, with almost no involvement from me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">When out running in my lunch breaks, I found
that my brain would of its own accord come up with the solution to a vexed
problem that I could not solve sitting behind a desk. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Now as a retired person when I’m out cycling,
the same process operates, again of its own volition.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Somehow, novel ways to
express complex ideas in blogs explode from the ether. With a bit of luck and a fair wind,
</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">readers will</span> hopefully find them helpful and amusing, in a lateral way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It’s
as if the cogs of my brain are kicked into gear by a combination of physical
exercise and clean air.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Sometimes my architectural simile comes to mind.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>When I go out on a circuit by bike, the
experience provides a perspective which is like a cross section of normal daily
life – families in their gardens, farmers working in their fields, people
rushing about in their cars to and from work, all the while as I am getting
glimpses of various kinds of sporting and leisure pursuits.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Peaceful activity.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The same rationale applies to exercising indoors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>Having been a member of the same gym for
several years, social contact is almost as important as the avowed reason for
going to the gym.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>It is always pleasing and
flattering to be greeted in first name terms by the staff; and to be able to
catch up on the latest news and gossip with fellow members, many of whom, like
me, are retired.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Unintended yet beneficial consequences of taking exercise
range from making new friends, being advised of a tradesman to repair a problem
at home, or even recommendations for holiday destinations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>More philosophical topics are discussed in
the sauna which, if it becomes too heated, can ensure an early exit.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Number
3 – make the world a better place</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I cannot fail to mention a third reason for training,
namely the benefits that exercise has for health.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Without repeating all of the
regularly-reported stuff about lowering cholesterol, blood pressure, as well as
pulse and heart rates, what I like about exercising is that it gives me a
wonderful appetite.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>After an energetic
body-pump or spin class or a long bike ride, I cannot eat enough food to
satisfy the hunger pangs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The pleasure
of gorging and with no guilt.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Everything is better after exercise. As well as sharpened
taste-buds, sleeping, concentration, sex-life, physical and mental well-being improve
immensely. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The world becomes a better place. Try it and see.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Another pleasing by-product is what is sometimes called
the runners high, the process of feeling good after exercise as the body
releases endorphins.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Who needs EPO?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">There is also an intangible but real benefit
for the emotions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is the sense of
freedom and control gained over one’s own life. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>The feeling is generated by the ability to
escape, to embark on a pleasing activity at a pace which suits the individual
and is enjoyable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Pace judgement is
everything.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">When I was training to run marathons, I used the lunch
hour to exercise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the afternoon back
at work, I would feel re-energised, alert, sharper in thought.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">By way of contrast, when we attended (using the other sense of
the operative word) training courses, away-days, or seminars and had scrumptious
working lunches, the impact of a meal was to make me feel soporific in the
afternoon – aka the graveyard session.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>Rest and recuperation is good for a body, even if not always career-wise.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">As a final point on health, I have to say that for
anybody who has had the misfortune to be injured, the joy of returning to
training after a lay-off is inestimable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>Getting back on the treadmill, literally and metaphorically, is like
celebrating the body’s ability to be able to recover and to engage in a
pleasing activity again, whatever your age, celebrating health and life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>La Vie e’Bella.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-no-proof: yes;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Injury
prevention</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">People can be easily deterred from exercising because of
the prospect of picking up injuries or aggravating old sores.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>While I am not a medic or a personal trainer,
I would highlight a couple of ways to reduce the risks.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Some people refer to it as cross-training, but I have to
say that I am convinced that the use of different forms of training brings its
own benefits.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>When I was running marathons
and other long distances, I found that occasional bike rides strengthened leg
muscles in such a way that I seemed rarely to incur injuries.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Nowadays I balance my main activity of cycling with body-pump and most importantly yoga.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
former methodically exercises all the main muscle groups building overall
strength; the latter is excellent for flexibility and, with practice, develops
discipline to think one’s way through distraction and pain.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And I haven't even mentioned the professional skills of sports masseurs, physiotherapists, or acupuncturists. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In addition, variety of exercise techniques prevents any
possibility of monotony getting in the way of productiveness.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Conclusion</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Those who are averse to keeping fit may think that
training is all about graft, pain, injury and sweat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">While there is merit in this stance, I am
convinced that an invaluable benefit of exercise is that it trains the body to
learn to cope with pain, helping us to explore the body’s limits of endurance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is an important life skill.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">There is some truth in the maxim, “no pain, no
gain.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Regular exercise is the best way
of getting to know your own physiology and to find out your own limits and
capacity, body and mind.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">An equally important part of training, however, is the
communal side.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>Many forms of exercise
involve team work. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Likewise, many solo
activities are more enjoyable when performed in a group.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I know people who can practice yoga on their
own.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For me, however, I prefer to do it
as part of a class where, somehow, the dynamics of being in a group makes the
activity more satisfying, spiritually uplifting.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The Government wants to encourage us to leave our cars at
home and get healthy by using our feet or bicycles to get about.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>The important thing is to enjoy training,
exercising, keeping fit, staying in shape.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Let me close by presenting a recent example of how this can be done.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Friday last (June 21) was Bike to Work Day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I joined this year’s intrepid group cycling
to work into central Belfast. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>Admitting
my fraudulent claim to partake (being a retired person), I found that the
temptation of a free and hearty breakfast in Bobbin’s Cafe inside the opulent surroundings
of Belfast City Hall was too good to ignore.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">There was an expert on hand advising about bike
maintenance and an anti-theft scheme to help trace stolen bikes. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Here’s a
video about the event: </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://vimeo.com/user15442618/review/69194402/68d4cc61ce</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">There was absolutely no pain and little effort was needed; but
what there was in profusion was great craic, good food and highly convivial company.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And what better way to demonstrate one’s
green credentials.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">©Michael
McSorley 2013<span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"></span></span></div>
Michael McSorleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06352593190581090069noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3360647493499863442.post-47705374907427309332013-05-27T07:52:00.000-07:002013-06-16T14:45:44.208-07:00Putting Zest into Retirement<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<u><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Zest for life</span></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<u><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">As part of the valedictory (and jocose) remarks in my
retirement speech four years ago, I mentioned two key themes.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">To illustrate the pre-requisites for a contented and active
retirement and reasons why I was happy to retire, my first was a quotation from
the Roman poet Juvenal:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“<i>mens sana in corpore sano” (a sound mind in a healthy
body).</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">My second theme was the
opportunity that retirement offers for a change of philosophy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Like many other professions, town and country
planning requires its practitioners to look back, learning from the past, and
also to look forward trying to make places better.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Living in the moment can, therefore, be
difficult when you are working (and rearing a family).</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Now, happily, all of that can
be filed away under yesterday’s agenda.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>No longer is it necessary to wish my life away, waiting patiently for
the weekend, or longing for the arrival of hard-earned summer holidays.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">New phrases and attitudes apply in retirement
such as - it’s time to live a little, spend precious time with our children and
our grand-children, now I can really explore hobbies and part-time interests
and enjoy them more, time to get a life.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">The great luxury to be
savoured in retirement and what makes retired people so fortunate is the twin
blessing of independence and time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This,
in essence, means that we are free to do what we want whenever we want – within
the normal constraints.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Travelling, exploring,
visiting family and friends, staying healthy, learning new skills, doing some
voluntary work, having the time to read the weekend newspapers’ supplements
about holidays film and book reviews over leisurely breakfasts in the course of
the following week,– all of these are among the broad categories of activity that
are available to us all as retired people.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><u><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Travel</span></u></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">In recent years my wife and I have made conscious
efforts to visit parts of Ireland, England Wales and Scotland that we haven’t
been to before.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">I recall, for instance,
learning on a trip to the UNESCO World Heritage city of Bath that the Roman
governor was collected each morning and transported on a hand-drawn carrier to
the Roman baths for his daily pre-work exercise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">So inspiring is this practice that I have
adapted his habit by visiting the gym most mornings, transporting myself (by
bike if the weather suits) before switching later on, energised, to other less strenuous
activities.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Last weekend we travelled to rural Suffolk in East
Anglia, staying with a friend from our student days in Bury St Edmunds.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This town is known for its gigantic Abbey ruins
and renovated Cathedral together with links to the Magna Carta.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Our visit coincided, deliberately, with the
town’s annual Arts Festival.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After two
evenings of music events, the next day we went to see the best preserved
medieval villages in England (such as the sixteenth century wool town of Lavenham).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">It was a particular pleasure to meet one or
two Bury locals in the smallest pub in Britain, the Nutshell.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Just after Easter, we went to Berlin for a week to
watch my daughter and her husband running in the city’s half-marathon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">To return to the place where I ran my best
time in the full marathon distance twenty-two and a half years previously (and
three days before the reunification of Germany) was a veritable return trip to
a proverbial and historic memory lane.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><u><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Concessions</span></u></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Not all of retired life, fortunately, necessitates
spending sprees.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Living on a pension, I
appreciate free stuff and discounts more than ever.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I suspect that all of us cherish our bus
passes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">It is distressing to listen to
the almost manic argument of people like the historian David Starkey arguing
that bus passes should be scrapped at a time of growing national debt.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Advocates of cost-cutting too often forget to
acknowledge the serendipitous benefits and the unintended savings gained for
other support organisations such as, in this case, the National Health Service,
as active pensioners travel, enjoying life to the full, and supporting local endeavours
and businesses.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">I intend to use my bus pass to avail of the
impressive programme of events being staged in the UK City of Culture.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even the journey there (lauded by people
including Michael Palin) can be eagerly anticipated, now that the train-line
and service between Belfast and Derry-Londonderry (as everybody seems to be
calling the maiden city now) have been transformed.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Other free activities which I like include the
occasional concerts and interviews which BBC Northern Ireland records.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">These include musical recitals and concerts
by the Ulster Orchestra for Radio 3, as well as interviews with leading
journalists conducted by Malachi O’Doherty.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Many other events are offered to retired people at concession rates,
such as the concerts of the Ulster Orchestra.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><u><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Day and evening classes</span></u></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Pensioners can also avail of discounts on many other
activities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Since retirement, for
example, I have begun attending classes at Queen’s University’s School of Open
Learning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The variety of classes is
almost endless.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">So far I have been to
classes on subjects ranging from <i>Travel Writing</i> to <i>Holiday Italian</i>,
from <i>Jazz through the Ages</i> to <i>The Gaelic Heritage of Ulster
Protestants</i>, from</span><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> </span></b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Exploring Trees Woods
and L</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">andscapes
around Belfast</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"> to <i>Ulster
Place-names and Surnames</i>.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">And those are only a sample of what’s on offer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The special price for retired people is a real
boon, a stimulus to take advantage of academia’s unrivalled expertise.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Stranmillis College and the Crescent Arts Centre,
among others, also offer a great range of classes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have been to yoga classes in one and my
wife and I have been to learn how to dance the lindy hop in another.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">It may sound like a cliché, but it is hard to
contest the case that we are spoiled for choice.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><u><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Volunteering</span></u></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">The luxury of time provides opportunities to take
part as a volunteer in all kinds of activities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">My wife and I are eagerly looking forward to the World Police and Fire
Games taking place in August this year in various venues across Northern
Ireland.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Following the example of the 2012
London Olympics, the organisers have recruited hundreds of volunteers to help
in the organisation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">My wife and I have
both been selected, she as a Games maker and my duties involving logistics.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">We both volunteered with the recent Belfast City
Marathon which, incidentally, has the accolade of being the only UK marathon
outside London to have taken place every year since its inception without a
break since the start of the marathon boom in the early 1980’s.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">We have also marshalled at other athletics events
in recent years including the Irish National Indoor Athletics Championships in
the Odyssey Arena.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">My wife volunteers once a week working in a primary
school with children with special needs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her job prior to retirement was as a special
needs teacher.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">I have a weekly appointment also as a
volunteer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I meet a friend and we carry
out a wildlife survey for Lagan Valley Regional Park.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is something rewarding about being involved
in environmental volunteering, particularly at a time when there are concerns
about the impacts of climate on our wildlife (see the RSPB's State of Nature
report published on </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">22 May 2013</span></span>).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">More recently I have become a
director of the Regional Park’s management company.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Retirement has also provided me with the
uninterrupted time to read novels and, in the process, to be transported away
from the sometimes unpleasant realities of daily life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">There is one activity which combines this
pastime with the spirit of volunteerism, and that is World Book Night.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">I am lucky to have been selected to
participate as a volunteer handing out free books each year since the project
began about four years ago.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">In April this year, for example, 20,000 volunteers
across the UK were picked with each one selecting one of 20 titles of
well-known books (selected by an expert panel) to give away gratis to members
of the public.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The main purpose is to
promote reading and to encourage people to pass on the book to friends after
they read it.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">On this occasion I handed out my books to commuters
at a park and ride facility in south Belfast.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In a previous year my location was the foyer of my gym in the city
centre.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">The book I distributed in April
this year was Sebastian Barry’s magnificent and moving “The Secret Scripture.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Lest I present a picture of retirement that might
seem divorced from the real world, let me refer to another voluntary activity that
I have engaged in on a couple of occasions since retiring.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When Government issues important reports, it
invites interested bodies to comment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This includes you and me, the general public.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">I recall about three years ago reading an article
in the Belfast Telegraph berating the Office of the First and Deputy First
Ministers for their draft policy on community relations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thinking that a Government strategy could not
be this poor, I requested a copy and, to my horror, found that it was at least
as woeful as the journalist had described.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I submitted a detailed response, analysing the consultation report’s
flaws, making suggestions for improvement and emphasising why community
relations is a policy imperative which needs to be treated much more
seriously.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">I have also published a blog
about the issue.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Retired people have a voice which needs to be
heard.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">There is absolutely nothing
compulsory in responding to Government, it is entirely voluntary.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Given the crucial importance of community
relations, however, I regarded it as my civic duty to speak up, an opportunity
to partake in the democratic process in a constitutional manner, an example of
peaceful and active citizenship.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><u><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Sociability</span></u></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">There is one feature which is common to all of
these activities, and that is social contact.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Taking exercise in and outside the gym is good for the body, but it’s
also great fun involving banter and happy exchanges with other friends as well
as friendly gym staff.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">The same applies to the further education classes
and to volunteering.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When my friend and
I meet at dawn for our 90 minute survey, we rationalise and eventually solve Northern
Ireland’s interminable problems.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For
light relief, we also resolve many of the issues of the global economy that
escape the attention of the regional administration.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Apart from the intrinsic value of the further
education classes, the aspect of sociability is invaluable. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They also provide the chance to pursue new
interests and to brush up on dormant skill-sets.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Occasionally a course can open a new horizon
leading pleasantly forward to another subject that one might not have
considered.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><u><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Conclusions</span></u></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">And so, now that work is an activity from the past and
with the children having left home, the question is what to do next.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Because my first retirement project was to take
part in a charity bike ride in the Middle East, one of the first things I did
was to buy two bikes, a mountain bike for shorter distances and a road bike for
longer training and non-competitive events known as sportives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">The 2-day Maracycle (Belfast-Dublin-Belfast)
and the Lap the Lough (circuit of Lough Neagh) are examples.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">One of the next things I did was to make an
impulsive trip, my first ever to Cardiff.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I had always wanted to visit the Millennium Stadium.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I didn't even have a ticket for the big game.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Ireland had last won the Grand Slam the year
before I was born.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">How long do you have
to wait?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
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<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">About 60 seconds before kick-off a generous Welsh lady gave me her ticket and would not accept any money for it. That's another story. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">In 2009, I was able to retire, do my patriotic duty,
and celebrate the occasion in style.</span></span></div>
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<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">I do not ever want to lose my curiosity for
discovering new cities, people and countries, nor the joy at discovering places
which I have only read about in books and travel supplements.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That includes British and Irish as well as exotic
locations abroad.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">That same purpose applies
to time spent at home.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is because
there are so many things to savour living in Belfast.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Our city has wonderful assets like the Lagan Valley
Regional Park and the Giants Ring; fantastic arts provision including the
Ulster Museum, The Queens Film Theatre, the Ulster Orchestra, venues like the
MAC (metropolitan arts centre), the Grand Opera House, the Waterfront Hall, the Lyric Theatre, the
cosy Black Box, and fantastic libraries.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Belfast showcases all kinds of artists and entertainers at
well-organised events such as the Arts Festivals at Queens University and the
Cathedral Quarter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">We have international
sport, as represented by the Ulster Rugby team and it’s a pleasant train ride
to Dublin (free for 65+ year olds) to watch Ireland in the 6 Nations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">And Belfast has easy accessibility to ports
and airports and to beautiful countryside.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">We can have a great time at home as well exploring
places further away.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">This is a way of
not just enjoying the facilities on our doorstep, but of supporting those
courageous enough to have provided venues and promoted events - and a small gesture
of local patriotism.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Finally, while I am slightly hesitant to mention
the unthinkable and ultimate motivator for making the most of retirement, this
quotation from the great American film-maker and humorist, Woody Allen,
expresses the point discreetly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The line
is:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“I’m
not afraid of death; I just don’t want to be there when it happens.”</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Putting this unmentionable thought another way,
staying active in mind and body seems to me to offer a good route to putting
off the inevitable for as long as possible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">You should now dismiss the ultimate motivator to a place deep within your
subconscious.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">I began this essay with a quotation from the Roman
poet, Juvenal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">I’ll finish with one from another poetic Roman, Horace.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is:</span></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“Carpe
diem.”</span></i></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">©Michael
McSorley 2013<span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"></span></span></div>
Michael McSorleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06352593190581090069noreply@blogger.com2Western Europe52.908902047770255 -7.382812531.507461047770256 -48.6914065 74.31034304777026 33.9257815