A Gentle Game of Real Tennis
Today, I had my first game of real tennis since I had my stroke two months ago. So it was only a gentle workout with Andrew, the professional at Newmarket and Suffolk Real Tennis Club, but it made me feel a bit better.
Real tennis is a full body and mind workout, if ever there was one!
- Your eyes have to track a moving ball, as it bounces and spins of both the walls and floor of the court. It can be frustrating to someone starting the game and I found it a bit so, as I struggled sometimes to get my racket to the ball.
- You also have to move properly to the ball and I did find this difficult at times, as I wasn’t too sure where it would bounce. But I did think, I was getting better as we played on.
- As I am right-handed and that had been unaffected by the stroke, I was hitting quite a few balls successfully and in some cases I was actually hitting the ball, so they got the optimum length.
- My backhand wasn’t good, but then it never was.
- The big thing about real tennis is that it is a game for the mind as well. As we progressed, I was remembering the strategy and was able to play better to my strengths and my oponent’s weaknesses.
So all in all, I found it valuable.
It will be interesting to see if I get better in the coming weeks.
On a serious pointoif there is anybody out there who would like to learn and enjoy the game, why don’t they contact me? I could teachthem the basics at either Newmarket OR Cambridge. The only snag would be that they would have to give me a lift to the court!
The Power of the Internet
Wikileaks disclosure of what is really happening in Afghanistan and Iraq, may be embarrassing for those in politics, that think they know better, but it just shows the real power of the Internet.
So now if you have something important, that others might see as news, you can broadcast it with impunity and others can’t really stop you.
I am all for freedom of speech, so that if I want to say something like a certain footballer is complete rubbish, then I should have the right to say that. I have certain important topics that I want to speak out on like capital punishment, justice and injustice in certain countries, including the UK, religion, the environment etc. I feel I have the right to post on anything given that I don’t say something that is wrong, scientically incorrect, commercially sensitive or vindictive.
We will be seeing more leaks like these on the war and governments and companies, will have to get used to the fact, that some of their controversial documents will be posted by those who disagree with their policies. They will not be able to stop it!
The solution though is in their own hands.
Not by applying some draconian rules for their staff, but by performing sensible policies and actions in the first place.
As an example, let’s take the BP oil spill in the Gulf. Internal documents might show that engineers warned of the problem and suggested various actions, that were ignored by the company, their sub-contractors and government agencies. I’ve worked in factories, where such documents have existed and been ignored with fatal consequences.
A leaked document might have saved those lives.
The Anonymous Widower 