My son has been ill for the last few days, flu and he is better now, but on Monday he was adamant that he had to go to school as otherwise he was to miss the dress rehearsal for the play that his class are preparing. Fortunately, he is better now. It did mean that on the weekend that he was not able to ride his bike. My daughter on the other hand loved being able to do so. She has got faster, which means that I am going to have to cycle harder to keep up with her, which means that I may be able to cycle to and from work later. I used to be able to cycle for longer than now when I was a lot younger, but I am so unfit now.
It is my aim to become healthier but as events close to home have shown, it does not matter how fit you are sometimes. When tragedy strikes, fitness may not be enough. I do tell my patients that behaviour to help health is to improve odds, and that things can happen to anyone, but when it happens, it is a shock to all close by. And that again reminds me, and has reminded our family, just how lucky we are.
On a different note, I have been trying to get the kids to play chess more. It has not worked as well as I would like, but they are still playing it at times. I have lost a few more tournaments, but I am still enjoying chess and am trying to learn more. The tournaments that have passed since the last post are Death to Rebel Scum iv, Roses vi and Top of the Pops 16. My rating had reached an all time personal high on March the 3rd when I hit 1533, but I think that this was a false rating as I had got this by beating a run of players who were not as good as me. This of course brought back memories from when I joined the Junior School chess club when a lot younger. I managed to get on the chess team by playing the same player over and over again and beating him. Why he kept playing me was beyond me, but it did mean that I got to play in tournaments for the school and I remember playing once match still where both I and my opponent, being too afraid to lose played a very defensive game. But that was the past, and I have to be grateful for having a future when so many do not have one.
