Well what a day yesterday was. At its end I was as happy as I have been for a long long time. The first game of the cricket season had ended in a dramatic 1 run win for Sarisbury Athletic, at the same time as the football season was ending for Portsmouth with a 6-1 and other results conspiring to give them the League Two title.
I haven’t been at my best for around a couple of weeks, firstly with a nasty bug that gave me tremendous aches in my legs and back, and a general malaise that has seen me just get through a number of days at work, though puzzlingly become quite productive in some work areas that needed addressing. The elation of Saturday turned into a poor night’s sleep, thinking and then dreaming about both sports and I woke on Sunday with a tired mind and body. I was in a quandary as to whether to go down to Southsea to be part of the Pompey celebrations and trophy presentation – after all, though I don’t go to matches that often these days, I was one of the thousands of fans who stumped up a thousand quid to save the club and am therefore currently a part-owner. Today was the culmination of a real people’s success story of fan ownership – and we must think about the next level and potential significant investment now from outside.
Despite this overdosing on happiness, I know how elation and exhilaration are so transient and that it doesn’t take much to bring me down a whole level. Social media has done my head in recently what with uninformed rubbish everywhere on just about anything you can imagine, and I have cut down time on Facebook to the bare minimum of updating cricket scores. It was with a really heavy heart that I instead took to the road for the sake of my mood. It was a chilly morning so I looked to wear a hoodie that represented any of the sporting successes – could be the blue Pompey hoodie, the (very faded) green Sarisbury hoodie or even a hoodie for my Fantasy Football team that continues to lead the way with only a few matches remaining in the Premier League. Except that I haven’t yet acquired one of those for Fantasy Football, and it would be more than sad if I did. Given I was going west-ish, the Sarisbury one was probably best, and my mood was further lightened by the news that Newcastle United clinched the Championship – which obviously would please my son Matt.
The weather fluctuated from chilly to warm before the temperature rose in the mid-afternoon to make for a sweaty 18.5 miles. It was a day when rehydration was most important and I made sure to take my time and have plenty to drink, as well as a bought cut price (in date) cheese and ham sandwich and a small chocolate flapjack. Yummy. Summer is not the easiest time for me to keep up the distances with every Saturday having cricket and the weather likely to be significantly warmer, and with still nothing in the way of confirmed challenges, motivation is key. Let’s just keep going for the moment and keep taking the tablets.
Spiceboy's Very Long Walk 