Birmingham

A lovely wander around Brum... after a lovely full English at the Merchant.  We did an awful lot of walking - to the point we almost lost Rob (cardiac!), but we did see an awful lot of the city.

The highlight for most of us, simply because we hadn't been there before, was the Library of Birmingham.  A magnificent building, with great work & social spaces, but most specially with a couple of gardens in the sky, offering fantastic views over the city skyline.

 

And, of course, no wander around Birmingham would be complete without a trot along the towpath to Gas Street Basin.

MHAW 2018 Walk

A beautiful May day, 8 intrepid walkers, & a slightly naughty dog named Willow meet at Cannock Leisure Centre (our badz base) to drag our ageing carcases - carcii? - up on to Cannock Chase. Actually, Rob & Linda drove up to Marquis Drive, Birches Valley, &, I believe, to Rugeley town centre to get their 5 miles in... the rest of us engaged in carcass-dragging!

Shaun was a tad grumpy - he got up late & didn't have his Ready Brek - so he tended to take point & not say a lot... to anyone... even the doggie! We gave him some water, & offered him a hat.

Neil was very happy to baby-sit Willow; especially at those times when Willow's daddy Jason, gamer & flat-cap fan, was being massively disrespectful about the behaviours & capacities of Labrador puppies. Rob S looked at the dog - quite often!  

I will think of this as our Three Towers Walk. Rhys had oddly poor mobile reception as we rested barely 50 yards from the Pye Green BT Tower.

We did our 6 miles or so, meeting Linda & Rob at the Visitor Centre; Rob was surprisingly quiet, having been run-ragged for many more miles than his comfort-zone contains. Terry had one of his minions chauffeur lunch to Marquis Drive, & we sat in the sun scarfing butties, crisps, & Club biscuits. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed having got out, active, & tired... & while I ain't too sure we did much to help counter Stress at a community level (although we did hand out a few Managing Stress booklets), when it came to managing our own, we were all effective on this day.

Take a tip from the Badly Dressed Badminton Club, & the NHS, it's hard to beat walking for health... give it a go!  

Mental Health Awareness Week 2018

Hosted by the Mental Health Foundation 2018's Mental Health Awareness Week focuses on stress. Stress underpins much of the psychological & emotional upset & distress we experience in our lives; recognising & managing stress more effectively helps us to tackle difficulties like anxiety, depression, even perhaps self-harmful behaviours & suicidal ideation.

MHF undertook an online poll of 4,619 respondents - largest UK study of stress levels. In the previous year, 74% felt so stressed as to be overwhelmed or unable to cope

AGE: 
30% of older people reported not having felt overwhelmed or unable to cope, as opposed to only 7% of young adults

BEHAVIOUR:
in response to stress... 
46% reported eating too much &/or unhealthily
29% started or increased drinking alcohol
16% started or increased smoking

PSYCHOLOGICAL: 
of adults who felt stressed in the previous year...
51% reported feeling depressed; 61% felt anxious
16% self-harmed; 32% had suicidal thoughts & feelings
37% suffered loneliness

CAUSES:
of adults who reported feeling stressed in the previous year...
36% cited own or friend/relative's long-term illness; 44% in over-55s
22% cited debt
12% cited feeling as if they had to respond to messages instantly
49% of 18-24yr olds cited comparing self to others
36% of women cited appearance & body image; 23% in men
32% 18-24yr olds cited housing; 22% in 25-34yr olds, & only 7% in over-55s
60% 18-24yr olds cited pressure to succeed; 41% in 25-34yr olds, 17% in 45-54yr olds, & only 6% over-55s

Information & guidance on stress & it's management are readily available online; well worth a look are... 

Mental Health Foundation Stress campaign page

Mind's Mental Health Awareness Week page

NHS Moodzone

Samaritans DEAL resources - especially Coping Strategies

Just for Rob

All England Badminton Championship 2018

Well, didn't we have a great day at the 2018 Yonex All England Badminton? 

It started very well indeed, with a lovely cooked brekkie at the Merchant. We had the same problem as in previous years: someone on Cannock rail station got our spare ticket to Birmingham; a nice Malaysian gentleman got our spare ticket to the Championship... however, the quality of the badz we saw was second to none. Indeed, 'twas the best I've seen, havine attended the Championship 5 or 6 times...

We settled ourselves side-on to Court 4 - you can appreciate the game best from a perpendicular perspective (says Terry, our know-all-bastard!) - & got to see a bunch of great matches from this vantage point: Fukushima/Hirota (win) v Kim/Kong; Wang v Lin Dan (win);Chen/Jia (in) v Fruergard/Thygesen; Kawakami v Marin (win); Gideon/Sukamuljo v Ong/Teo)

Carolina Marin

Lin Dan

Gideon & Sukamuljo

It is a bit of a bum-number, at 6 to 7 hours watching badminton with little legroom, but the All England is a fantastic competition, & a chance to see top-class athletes striving for their best. 

Badminton & Birthday

Just to prove we do play badminton... & we play every week!

However, there are plenty of curries as well... for this one, our excuse was a birthday. Normally we don't bother about a reason & just scoff down!

Badly Dressed Christmas Lunch

Out for a lovely Christmas carvery... filling us faces once again... Mind you, we had to endure Jim's jokes, & that was before the devastating satire that leapt from the cut-price crackers. Terry got a 3-inch ruler after his big pull - we laughed & made horrid, crude jokes.

Jace had left the protein-only diet well behind; complaining about putting on a few pounds back on as he powered down his grub 2-handed. RobS seemed to enjoy the beer better, as he chatted away wi'Neil on their plans to return in the evening for chips n'gravy! Chris had a little one, as he often does! He did however, ensure 'Chelle didn't have to stint on her portion - which was v 'christian' of the fellow....

There was a bit of a problem with balls; big, doughy, minty balls! After Eight? Gill wouldn't wait & piled into'em about 2.15pm. They didn't go down too well; pretty much no one else could face'em - Linda, unsurprisingly, went for the crush. Shaun sat a little further away from the table, & there were a lot of left balls - they simply weren't right!

For some reason, Rob kept winking & giving all-&-sundry the 'big thumbs up'... Rhys got a bit flustered, claiming football was a more enjoyable spectator sport than rugby union - how we all laughed! I'm not sure if even Gavin could agree with that!  

A wonderful way to while away an afternoon... good grub; good mates; good heavens, we still have our Christmas curry to look forward to! More gruntling for all - Hoorah!