Back Problems

Ever since I was quite young I have always been aware that being tall will inevitably lead to problems with the back, be it in the form of muscle spasms, trapped nerves or just plain old backache. Growing up with a father who suffered with slipped disks even before I was born has made me realise that it could happen to me. My dad was having back problems from his mid twenties which eventually led to him being in traction at the army barracks cum orthopeadic hospital at Gobowen just after my birth and of course he eventually became paralysed at the age of 48, which of course he never recovered from.
Today I went to Llandudno casualty department to see what could be done for me. Since the late 90's I have had recurring back problems which have eventually gone away and life goes on. Until the next incident, usually overdoing it, lifting and carrying heavy boxes of reams of paper, dragging and folding tables for meetings, storing heavy items up the attic etc. I never used to think about it. I was never one to say no when help was needed, unlike a certain person I have previously mentioned in this blog, you know the knobhead. Well, it appears that I have a prolapsed disk in my lower back, which by all accounts is something physiotherapy can help, but if it doesn't then surgery may have to be the option. I will be going for an MRI scan at Ysbyty Gwynedd in Bangor soon to confirm the prognosis, and then we will know the next course of action. I went directly to the hospital because a) it was near Ben's school therefore convenient, and b) I'm sick and tired of living in pain for half the year, and just putting up with it. A bit of background for you. I had a particularly bad bad back episode in 2002 when I was off work for I think at least 2 weeks. I was folding a table, clearing the room after a meeting when I could feel a tear in my back. In many cases with me in the past, a backache would come out of nowhere, no idea how I got it, it just appeared, and I would just slap on the heat pack (or cold pack, as some believe is best), pop the pain killers, and wait a few days. This was different. I remember very clearly that I could not straighten up (which is very embarassing when I had to go out in public), and most worryingly, a really bad pain in my lower back whenever I tried to walk. I'm rooted to the spot, afraid to take another step. Not a pleasant experience. It's only happened once since this time, but I guess I know what it is now. I'm a little peeved that my GP didn't take the steps that were taken today. I'm probably guessing that my present problem started then, in 2002, and all I got from my GP were pain killing tablets. They worked, and there is a tendency to accept that all is well, until the next time I decide to do something heavy. As an example of how delicate my back is, I was in ASDA yesterday and some thoughless person had left a box of quiche in a basket under the till, too lazy to put it back in the fridge. So, I bent down to get it and felt that something, not major, went. Today I have been in agony and enough is enough. This is no way to live, and despite my fears of hospitals, and what happens in them, I decided to go there and face the inevitable. I'm glad I've gone in and faced up to it, because the prospect of ending up like my poor dad could have been my future as well. I'm not afraid to admit it, but in the waiting room I became emotional, the combination of not knowing what was going to be said to me, and it was the first time back in the hospital my dad had died in 5 months ago. Every now and again he still gets to me. I suppose it's still early, the grieving period. It's hard to believe, actually, that only 5 months have gone since that awful time, and yet it feels a longer time. I suppose a lot has happened in between stretching time to last longer. Anyway, what a difference a week makes! I get a degree one week and a slipping disk the next! The highs and the lows of life. In fact, I look on today as a lucky break and am gaining strength from the positiveness of my action. I've probably been walking around with a slipping disk resting on my sciatic nerve for the last 7 years for God's sakes! I'm lucky I'm still walking, albeit a stooping one and a great impersonation of an extra from the 'Planet of the Apes' film! Wait, I think I've used that gag before!
So, I have now a great excuse to get out of the washing up, and I can feel not guilty watching DVD's!

What a win at Old Trafford!

As bad as the old year was the new one has started pretty good so far. Leeds beat Manchester United at Old Trafford last week-end and I feel a bit of payback is well deserved for certain Manc fans. I've been a Leeds United fan since 1975 and throughout the years the times I have been ridiculed by fans of Man.Utd, Liverpool and others have been numerous. When on the odd occasion that Leeds have beaten these top teams, I haven't really gloated, not as much as I should have at least. Well, this particular win against Man.Utd in the FA Cup and at Old Trafford has a special feeling to it. Maybe it's because of the recent spectacular fall from grace of Leeds United, which saw them not only relegated to the championship (the old Division 2), but also relegated to League One (the old Third Division) 3 seasons ago, which has prompted much derision from rival fans, and media pundits as well.

Even before the match, the official Manchester United TV channel, MUTV, were saying some really disrespectful things about my team, for instance, stressing on the fact that Leeds are in League 1 and so forth. And boy did I enjoy the post mortem they performed on the match after the final whistle! As Alex Ferguson said in his rather sombre interview in the tunnel afterwards, they really didn't expect that. He knows he can't publicly praise Leeds for fear of losing his grip with Man.Utd fans. If he admitted Leeds played better than his team, he would lose the repect and hasten his exit. Well, expect a bit more matey if you play as crap as that again! Honestly, the performance was truly awful, an embarassment in fact. The game went better than I could ever hoped for, and I can say this with as much unbiasness as I can muster, we played them off the park for much of the game and could have scored a couple more if it wasn't for the width of the woodwork.

This seismic event does bring to mind of a certain person who idolised Man.Utd whom I used to work with. This win is the perfect opportunity to write about what he was like as I saw him. And all the following accounts are true. I'd love to be a fly on his wall, in fact any of his walls because this particular defeat will knarl at his gut for quite some time. I've been looking for an excuse to mention him on my blog for some time, because he was literally the ultimate knobhead! You have all met him, in your own lives that is. There's one in every workplace, whether it be male or female. You know the type, he likes to be your friend to your face but when your back's turned he will say the most awful things about you to other collegues. I know, because the dumb fuck used to say to ME what he thought of others he worked with! So, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to work out that he was sayings things behind MY back as well. I remember him coming to my office clutching a sick note and complaining about an office assistant who had badly strained her ankle, actually accusing her of pretending to get a week off work. No benefit of the doubt, she was lying and that was it. At a christmas party he made a derogatory comment about the condition of a work collegues breasts after she had cancer and a masectomy. You get the general idea how much of a low life this guy is.

Well, fuck you, Mr. Nasty!

I hope he gets the stick that he deserves from his collegues this week. Gosh, where did that come from?! Must have been some buried repressed rage I've been feeling towards him.

Feel a lot better now that I have got that off my chest! Writing is good therapy!

I can remember that he used to take a sickie whenever Man. Utd lost at the week-end to a team like, say, Liverpool, a team well supported by a lot of his colleagues there, and he couldn't face them. As if they would forget after one day!

Be a man and stand up to them!

These things used to bother us when we were kids not now that we are grown adults. Or maybe I've hit the nail on the head there. I'm particularly picking on him because of the hurtful things he used to say about Leeds right in front of me. "Oh, I hate Leeds. I do hope they go down" was one of them, and his vile comments didn't stop with football either. Quite often he would just come out with some personal stuff as well. I could go on with other things he said and did, but I have a life to live. He was just a thoroughly nasty piece of work full stop. Oh, here's another one!
He even said to me that if he had known that I was a Leeds United supporter he would not have hired me! Skills and experience don't matter obviously but who you support is a top priority! Give me a break!

Looking back I should never have helped him out and got that spider out of the toilet so it would be safe for him to go in! Yep, that really happened.

So, I'm basking in the glow of a fabulous and well deserved win at Old Trafford in front of 65,000 Man.Utd fans. I hope Mr. Nasty was there to witness it. I'm sure he was thinking of me as the minutes were ticking away as his team were heading for defeat, cursing my name. I've been cursing the day I ever met this football bigot, but such occurances happen in life and are meant for a reason. Sometimes it's not apparant at the time but on reflection it was a learning curve for me about how shitty some people can be, though of course I have met other shitty types before, but this one would be the last one I would tolerate.

It is safe to say that I have never been nor will ever be such a person.

No-one should ever judge a person by the team they support, it is a laughable criteria! I can be a Leeds United fan AND a nice person to know!