Get the point !

Carrying on with my theme of athletes here is a piece about one of my favourite track and field stars. Roman Sebrle is Czech decathlete who currently holds the world record at a staggering 9026 points. This may not mean much too many but 9000 points was considered the ceiling in the decathlon world and many great names (Daley Thompson, Dan O’Brian) never achieved this.

Roman’s body has been through the mill as a decathlete and he has had his fair share of injuries. However, one injury sustained recently was quite amazing. Whilst training in South Africa he forgot to pay attention to the other athletes on the track. As a result he was hit in the shoulder by a javelin. “Hit in the shoulder” is a bit of an understatement as it actually went in one side of his shoulder and came out the other ! He is a resilient chap though and seems none the worse for it and hopes to be in the mix for a gold medal at the World Athletic Championships later this year in Japan.

Athletics - the fun of the sport.

People ask me what I love about the sport of athletics. Is it the power, the speed the strength ? Yes, yes and yes I answer - but it is also something much more powerful. Its the rivalry, being the best in the world, the olympics, lycra, blond Finns with thight bums and a big dick !!! There is so much more to it than running !!!

This Little Piggy

It is now the Chinese year of the pig. The pig is honest, tolerant and makes a good friend. However, they can often become disappointed by their friends due to their own high standards. Well known pigs include Dudley Moore, David Bowie, Elton John and Reluctant Nomad.

Passport Thoughts

I recently had to apply for a new passport as my old one was somewhat out of date and I am planning to go away just after I qualify. I finally got together all the relevant documents and the fee and sent it off hoping that it would be back in time for me to travel when planned. To my surprise my new passport returned within 10 days despite a warning on the forms saying it could take up to 3 weeks.

Although the speedy return did surprise me it was what was posted with my passport that gave me a greater shock. Among the usual bunk of helpful reminders of what to take on holiday with you was a donor card registration form. Do the passport office know something that I don’t about the safety of air travel ? I was always under the impression it was one of the safest ways to travel but the inclusion of this application form got me thinking.

Another thought that entered my head at the time of receiving this form was do you manage to get a successful organ harvest from the site of a plane crash ? When I have ever seen them on TV they always look like – well a plane crash ! Carnage everywhere and a tangled mass of steel and bodies. Just how do they expect to retrieve a suitable set of corneas or a kidney from such a melee ? And just say that among the carnage they do find an organ still in a fit enough for transplant how do they know if the donor card that has come to rest on the body after the crash belongs to that specific person ? Getting a positive ID could take much longer than the window of opportunity they have to transplant the organ.

When all is said and done though I feel that I allowed my mind to long to wonder over the subject and it should be put to better use like booking the holiday in the first place.

Incidentally, I did fill in the donor registration form and return it saying that they could have what they liked but it is hard to tell which organs if any will be fit for another after the abuse I have put them through !!!