Ask me

My claves are stiff, I’ve got a blister the size of my TV remote and my dogs are killing me. Translation – I’m a finisher of the Two Oceans Marathon, the most beautiful marathon in the world (or so they say). But before you get too excited, I only ran the half. To experience the most beautiful marathon in the world you have to run the ultra version, all 56Km of it – a feat I’m toying with for next year. In my humble 21km I was shooting for sub 2 hours, and did it in style with a time of 1:53:30. The only mistake I made was after the race. I forgot to tell anyone where or how I would meet them. With 15,000 people running and many more there to cheer, I felt very tired and well, lost. Imagine the Royal Easter show when you were a kid, spending just a few too many minutes at the wood chopping and then realising you had lost mum and dad. And then trying to find them. Well, that was me all over again. In my post race state I picked a direction and started walking until I got to the physio tent and found myself on a mat with a Red Cross lady rubbing baby oil into my claves. I didn’t fight it; I just went with the flow. To cut a long story short, half an hour later, I made first contact and found more people from there on in. I’m happy but sore and am already starting to forget the pain and thinking how much fun it will be to do it next year. But you may be asking the question, “What is this doing in my blog?”

Good question. Am I going to make some reflection about how you can do anything you put your mind to, a lesson for my son to be? No. I hate that sort of talk because there are lots of things in life I couldn’t do no matter how determined I was. Will I draw the analogy between a marathon and the race of life? No. To predictable, it’s been done. (And besides, I also ran the half, so what does that mean?!) So what’s the point?

Simply this. I am growing to love running. I love pounding the pavements and trail running in the mountains. And should Tubman Jnr ever read this, I want him to know that this is something his dad loved to do. And if, by the time you are able to read this, I’m not running any more, ask me to show you my medals and tell you some stories. And most important of all, ask me why I’m not doing it any more.

Most computer games are just glorified lego

O.K, so yesterday I'm at one of the biggest shopping centres in Cape Town and I feel drawn towards shops I would have never given a second glance before. Like 'Babies R Us', spawned off its famous bigger brother. Hayey and I are checking out the wonderous world of every thing you need for baby and twice as much stuff you don't. But as we leave I make some lame excuse about wanting to check out the real toy shop. And then it hit me. That surge of wide eyed wonder as I saw so much cool stuff . . . that I still want to play with!

But you'll be glad to know I didn't get completely carried away. I was still able to be discerning. Lego, for instance, while still the staple play stuff is getting too easy. The more they go for fancier things to build, the fancier the pieces get, so there really is no challenge. Nothing like back in the day, when you spent 50 min scraping around at the bottom of you lego box (which was big enough to bathe in) desperately trying to find the last bit of 4x2 in grey so the space ship could be complete. Now I say bugger Disney videos, that is the way to keep a kid busy - providing they don't choke on a legoman's head in the process.

But I'm posting this post because I need you to know I am not ashamed. If I were to say I'm looking forward to Tubman Jnr so I can by more toys it might seem a little selfish. But hey, I've said it. (Just for the record it needs to be said that this is really just a spin off, but all I'm saying is its a spin of to be proud about).

But the shopping trip ended with me in the computer games section (a little to big for my liking - why are there not more sets of plastic viking armour? Ahhhh, there's no school like the old school) and I picked up the CSI game to develop my problem solving lobe. And it's great fun. The first computer game that Hayley and I play together. But I came to see that the writer of Ecclesiastes was right, there is nothing new under the son. Most computer games are just glorified lego. Mind you, either way, I'm happy.

It's all about doing your bit

I was at the shops the other day and was overwhelmed by the number of naughty kids I wanted to smack. As far as I was concerned, their behaviour in Pick and Pay surely broke some United Nations law concerning the basic human right to enjoy shopping in peace. (Of course, that would never be my kid, and of course, my scale of naughtiness should obviously be adopted by all). But I did have a few suggestions to right this wrong. Why not have a system whereby for R10 you could be given a yellow bib (a bit like the one the parking guards wear) which would give you the right to move throughout the shop and discipline toddlers at will? I think there would be many good citizens who would jump at this opportunity. I'm sure I'm not the only one who has been burnt by this. The added bonus is that this revenue raiser could go towards keeping the cost of groceries down. Why don't we take it a step further? If we are talking about a valuable public service, lets get the prisoners who are out on parol and help their rehabilitation by getting them into to work parties that encourage parents and children alike to tow the line of common decency. I imagine there is nothing like a roving gang of ex cons to whip these disturbers of the peace into place. It's funny how these ideas only come to you when your realise that you will soon be contributing to the problem yourself. Being the law abiding person I am I am thankful for these moments when I feel as if I can give something back. It's all about doing your bit. scott

And the verdict is . . .

They say that when a sermon looses its sense of tension, people stop listening. Perhaps it's the same for a blog? When there is nothing more to anticipate, you'll stop reading? Well, we did go for a scan and the doctor did say he reckon's its a . . . . boy! I know, I know. We have all heard the stories of those who were told what it was going to be, and then painted the room blue only to be greeted in the delivery room with a serious lack of male-ness. With this in mind, we are not picking our curtins quite yet, but the scan was pretty convincing. Looking at a cross section from the waist down (as to not confuse the cord) there were three distinct appendages. Two legs and what could only be describes as some very manly tackle.

While some want the surprise, we are happy to share this news around. But the card we are holding close to our chest is a name. But this is no reason why we can't get some suggestions. And as this blog is really only accessed by those across the oceans - spur us on with some good Aussie options. (Or for that matter British or Afrikaans ones, although no guarentee all suggestions will be taken equally). And remember what they say- there are no bad ideas. Which was, of course, a saying coined by a complete moron. Some ideas are just inherently bad. "What do you say we try walking across the middle of Australia?" Burke and Wills. " But I digress. If you have any suggestions, let us know. But remember the rules. Let's stay away from names that rhyme with any body part or rude word, and we are staying away from anything starting with 't'. The initials 'tt' don't sound to hot either.

Scott

And it's a . . . .

We went for the 4 month scan on Friday. Good times. Some people said if you get lucky, the doc can tell the sex. I must admit, I wasn't holding out for anything, assuming I'd have to wait another month. But not so! He told us with confidence that it is a . . . .

("Teaser, Grace, it's a teaser!"Wag the Dog)

Scott

Getting Ready

No, Tubman Jnr isn't here yet. But there is nothing like being prepared right? As a dad to be I feel like I need to contribute something more than just foot rubs and encouraging words. This is what Howard Carter said on opening the tomb of Tutankhamen 1912: “As my eyes grew accustomed to the light, details of the room within emerged slowly from the mist, strange animals, statues and gold - everywhere the glint of gold ... Lord Carnavon, unable to stand the suspense any longer, inquired anxiously, ‘Can you see anything?’ It was all I could do to get out the words, ‘Yes, wonderful things.” Even just looking at the video scan I can already say with confidence that we are gazing at wonderful things. And, God willing, around the end of August we will see the true wonder, only now anticipated. So in preperation of wonderous things - the Tubman Jnr Blog has begun. Thanks to Craig for getting me into the world of blogs and althought it might be a slow start, I'm sure I'll be gathering momentum as we go. Scott