Firstly, the football. It was a good return from the festive season interlude, with us now starting to put a bit of breathing space between us and the relegation zone. It isn't much yet, and there is still a risk of us slipping back down, but the team are playing well now and confidence is growing.
December saw the visit of this season's "Big Team", Leicester City. Now, many CUFC fans still see Leeds United as the Big Team in Tier 3, but this is the second term here now. It is the first term for Leicester City and they are currently romping the league, so that makes them the Big Team for me. As it was, the match was a very physical one from the Leicester players and they ran out 2-1 winners after initially going 1-0 down. On balance, this was a good performance for Carlisle and underlined how far the team has come in a short time since Ward's departure. I remain a little concerned that some of this may still be "new manager bounce", but only time will tell.
One thing that has been reinforced by our roller coaster ride during this season is that you should never gloat or fret about your team's position until everything is done and dusted. We started the season at the top, nearly hit the bottom, and now we're on the rise again. Only a fool makes predictions, and I predict that there will be plenty of people making predictions before the end of the season ;-)
OK, a bit tongue in cheek this one, I now like to mark the Winter Solstice with a little thought that at least now the daylight hours are going to be getting longer again. I don't really mark the day as such, but I do like to be a bit more imaginative with my work colleagues than just giving them Christmas cards, so instead I now cook up a Winter Solstice Food Festival and feed them on the working days between the Solstice and Christmas. They seem to enjoy it :-)
For the second year in a row, my eldest brother and I saw in the Gregorian New Year with a curry night at The Spice Enterprise in Belah, Carlisle. As always, Urvesh and his team put on a superb meal, with a great atmosphere and everyone had a great time, so let me once more thank them for making the night a good one
Well, I'm not normally one for these, but I've sort of made one this year as it coincides with my plans anyway. As some of you already know, I was widowed in November 2004 shortly after my wedding. I took it very hard at the time and I was off work for two months with depression. I'd put a little weight on over the couple of years prior to this, but I had always been a big stocky man. However, over the next year my weight shot up to a very unhealthy peak of 23 stone (for those lovers of Imperial measurements).
I've had my weight stabilised for the last couple of years and even managed to lose two stone. However, I've now decided it is time to make the concerted effort to lose the next four stone and get back down to my "base camp" of 17 stone. This still sounds a lot, I know, but because of my body frame size and general build, my best weight is 15 stone, which I refer to as my "Rugby weight" as it is what I weighed when playing amateur competitive Rugby Union in the 1980s.
So how will I accomplish this dietary miracle? Well I did once before go on the Glycaemic Index (GI) Diet, and lost a stone over a summer. I am starting back on the GI diet, but allowing myself three treat meals per week (a breakfast, lunch and tea, but not on the same day!) and also starting the Army Fit regime. I'm not kidding myself, as it will be hard to lose this weight again, especially as I am now nearing my 42nd birthday, but with everything else in my life starting to sort itself out, I think I need to get my fitness back again.
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