SPORT & A BIT ON HEALTH

To beat England on Irish soil is always a joy but with two added ingredients - a victory at Croke Park plus a very convincing one, make the moment all that sweeter. It may not be universally known that Croke Park was the venue of the original 1920 Bloody Sunday. The act was so heinous that many find it hard to believe, but - as an act of ´reprisal´ against Nationalist action- the Brits aka the Black and Tans actually set up a machine gun post in the centre of Croke Park and fired indiscriminately at the crowd. Even Amritsar was not as calculatedly brutal. From then on Croke Park became the shrine of Nationalism and the GAA banned the playing of any English games on its turf. So to entertain the mighty English for the first time on such hallowed ground was an event to send most Celtic hearts racing. As a footnote it was heartening to learn of the dignity with which the boys conducted themselves. Sad the English could only muster such a small group of supporters. English supporters are invariably loud and superior when in the watering holes of the Twickers hinterland but they go kinda quiet in the Celtic fringes.

Rugby joy somewhat negated by the depressing reports that Ronan O´Gara was badly knocked out by the Scots to the point where some papers say the action was ´tantamount to attempted murder´. Not the sort of report we want to hear from the rugby pitch especially in an Ireland/Scotland match. The full facts have not been established but the incident leaves a nasty taste. The Triple Crown, alas, is a wee bit tarnished.

I´ve been a bit critical of the Spanish NHS but it is, quite simply, only different. I have had a quite lengthy meeting with a Specialist urologist. He organised blood samples for my urea, creatinine and PSA (the prostate cancer indicator). I now receive word that I have a fixed appointment at the Don Benito/Villanueva Hospital for a TAC Scan (UK - CT Scan) - so clearly he wants his own records of my health, his own scans and his own files.
I had actually photocopied about 50 sheets of my medical records (all in English) to allow the poor bugger to familiarise himself with my case. Fortunately, he tells me his wife is a Professor of English. Still very time consuming, though.
13 Mar and 13th consecutive day of unbroken sunshine. We didn´t have 2 in a row in Feb.