We are the Champions….

They did it!!

The six #Shoulder2Shoulder runners (One was unable to start) completed the Half Marathon last weekend and raised a massive £2,100 between them, the JustGiving page is still open if you wanted to “Congratulate” them further, - https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Paul-Clark43

I positioned myself near Prospect Park with the intention of taking photo’s as they came through, I managed to get shots of all the runners, bar young Ms Poole and Mrs Poole, which considering the amount of runners coming through I was quite pleased about. Stevie “Scuba” Bryant was the first #S2S runner home in a very respectable time of 1hr 42m.

It was quite emotional spotting all the different charity shirts coming through and quite warming to see the bright orange shirt wearers running for the RBH Official Charity. Next time I do anything like this I’ll make sure I don’t choose white running vests, far too difficult to spot in the crowds.

It would be impossible to personally thank everyone who contributed to our cause, so if you’re reading this now, then thank you so much.

Steve P. has come up with the bright idea that next year it would be good if he was in charge of the camera, and I was one of the runners and had kindly (?) offered to train / mentor / pick me up off the floor, in preparation. We’ll see, I’d love to do it, but I fear my knees may be just too far shot to manage it.

This week has been pretty “Full on” as far as work is concerned, probably the busiest since I went back in May of last year, to be honest I’m totally knackered this evening, so recovery would appear to be still ongoing, oh great! On Thursday I had to go to my old stomping ground of Harrow, I’d forgotten what a crap place it is to drive to and what a dump it is when you arrive. A quick Facebook update describing Harrow as a dump didn’t seem to go down too well with the Harrow Town Centre Facebook page –

Paul Clark checked in to Harrow Town Centre.

Yesterday at 11:43 · Harrow · 

Long time since I've been here, it's still a dump.

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Harrow Town Centre

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Harrow Town Centre We're really sorry to hear you feel this way.

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Carol advised me as she was leaving for work this morning that she’d be going for a “Quick Pint” after work and Errant Son is working until 8pm tonight I thought I’d make a simple and delicious Lasagne for their enjoyment when they eventually stoat back home, then it clicked that I hadn’t done a Clark recipe for a while, so here goes.

My Version of a Classic Lasagne –

Ingredients

Ragu

750g Lean beef mince.

Tin of chopped tomatoes

Stick of celery (chopped into small pieces)

One carrot (chopped into small pieces)

One onion (chopped into small pieces)

Two cloves of garlic (roughly chopped)

Mushrooms (roughly chopped)

Thumb sized piece of Chorizo (chopped into small pieces)

Very large glass of red wine

Mozzarella ball

Sprigs of thyme

Massive amount of grated parmesan

Cheese Sauce

30g flour

30g butter

80g cheddar cheese

500ml milk

Start by heating a large pan on a high heat with a slug of olive oil and chuck in the chorizo, fry until the oils from the chorizo are released into the pan. Log in the mince and stir with a whisk (this helps to break down the meat) until the meat is browned all over. Next add the red wine and let it cook down until all the liquid has gone. Add the onions, garlic, celery and carrot and cook for about 5 minutes. Add in the tomatoes plus a tin of water and the mushrooms turn the heat down low and bubble for 20 minutes or so, then add another tin of water – repeat for 1hr 20min. Whilst waiting for the ragu to cook sit down at the computer and write a blog to take up the time, whilst slugging the remainder of the opened wine bottle. When it’s finally ready, run out to the garden and rescue the stupid cat who’s decided to attack the massive Bengal cat from next door. Placate the cat with “Dreamies” and allow the ragu to cool after stirring in the thyme.

To make the cheese sauce chuck the butter into a saucepan on a medium heat to melt, then add the flour and cook for about 5 minutes, take off the heat and slowly add in the milk stirring all the time, put back on the heat and cook gently for 10 minutes, stirring often. Finally add the grated cheddar, salt, pepper and a touch of nutmeg. Continue stirring until the cheese is all melted.

To assemble (Ha, ha, how pretentious!) the dish line a large dish with a layer of ragu, cover with a layer of lasagne sheets, add another layer of ragu with some of the cheese sauce, parmesan and mozzarella. Repeat until the dish is crammed to the top. Finally add a few dots of ragu to the top of the dish and cover with the remaining parmesan.

To cook, cover the dish with baking foil and whack into the middle shelf of a preheated oven (180 degrees) for about 30 minutes. After 30 mins remove the baking foil and cook for another 10 minutes to brown the top.

When your family eventually return, serve with garlic bread and a decent bottle of red. Never, never, ever serve it with salad, otherwise Nino will visit you in the wee small hours with a spiky stick!

As always, thanks for reading.

To be continued………………

#Shoulder2Shoulder

 “It’s a two bottle Wednesday”

RUN TO THE HILLS

Two days to go until the intrepid seven set off for the Reading Half Marathon, raising funds via #Shoulder2Shoulder for the Berkshire Cancer Centre. So, Steve, Kath, Olly, Zoe, Sophie, Ben and Stevie, enjoy the run and thank you so much for agreeing to support this cause, it means a huge amount to me. If you’d still like to donate the link is here >> https://www.justgiving.com/teams/Shoulder2Shoulder

I’ve no idea yet where I’m going to position myself to take shots, I doubt if I’ll be able to get into the MadStad for the finish, but I’ll be somewhere along the route snapping away in my rather smart #Shoulder2Shoulder polo shirt. (I decided I’d look a bit daft wearing a running vest!).

A couple of people have asked how the tattoo is getting on. Well it seems to have settled down in its new home, no scabbing, no bleeding and I quite like it, even if the current Mrs Clark hates it with a vengeance.

On Wednesday I received probably one of the worst messages you can get from your children. Luckily it wasn’t the “I’ve got my girlfriend pregnant” text, it was the “I’ve passed my driving test” one instead. Congratulations to Maxwell James George Clark, he’s the first in the immediate family to pass his test at the first time of asking. I made a comment on the Peter and Jane FB page  (https://www.facebook.com/peterandjaneandmummytoo/ ) about this momentous news and was amazed when the posting got over 500 “Likes”. However the comments left me divided. I suggested that the big problem with Max passing would be me paying the insurance, we did it for Anna and of course we’d be doing it for Max too. He’s still in education and the freedom his license will give him is a just reward for his hard work.

I was really surprised by the amount of comments I got that were basically “He’s old enough to drive, make him get his own insurance”. (I also got loads of great recommendations for Insurance Companies though) Now I’m not sure if we’re cosseting the kids, but my view is that either he or Anna would have struggled to fund insurance at their ages and surely part of being a parent is that you support your kids? Also, there’s now bugger all chance of me having to drive to any functions at the rugby club which involve beer and wine, no need for me to drag across town twice a week to take him to training, etc, etc, etc………

The shock of the news made it the first “Two Bottle Wednesday” for god knows how long, head was a tad sore on Thursday morning.

About three weeks ago I’d changed the car insurance on both Carol’s car and mine to Saga (Yes, we’re that old!) without thinking about Max taking his test. Well hardly surprising but Saga wouldn’t insure him. After messing about for a couple of hours I eventually settled on Admiral Multi Car, premiums without Max were only slightly higher than Saga, with him it was eye watering, but the debit card number was passed over, and from 27^th March he’ll be let free on the roads of Reading, you’ve been warned.

If you saw the Blog last week you’d have read about the sad passing of Lisa Magill. Lisa was laid to rest on Friday of this week, her family asked her worldwide friends to wear yellow in recognition of the Sarcoma charity which supported her through her long, difficult and brave fight against cancer. Tragically the only item of clothing I possess is this –

 but knowing Lisa’s sense of humour and her love for rock music I have a feeling she’d have approved. “Stay Fabulous Rock Stars”

That’s it for the week, please if you’ve any spare change then a JustGiving donation would be appreciated. Hopefully the weather will be kind to all the runners on Sunday. Saturday will be spent watching Max play for the Rams 5^th Team, suspect it might be a bit of a slower pace than I’ve been watching of late. Then back home to hopefully watch England gain the Grand Slam.

As always, thanks for reading.

To be continued………….

#Shoulder2Shoulder 

An Open Letter

Dear Cancer

I hope you don’t mind me writing to you like this, but I think after the last 15 months we’ve at least become acquaintances, even if we’ll never be friends. I’d obviously heard about you before we met, I’d heard you had a nasty reputation as a cruel dude, people said you were ruthless and said you were crude. They were correct! I’ll never forget our first meeting, after 52 years of avoiding you, you came round the corner and tried to punch me in the head, not a very pleasant thing to do, I’m sure you’ll agree.

A one to one fight with you was never going to be easy, but you made one simple mistake when you tried to take me on. You didn’t look to see who had my back. My family, old and new friends were all there fighting with me. Some of those friends are big and tough rugby players, others are “Butter wouldn’t melt” ladies, a few have been through what you throw at them and have come out the other side, but they had one thing in common, they were there for me. Ok, I’ll admit it, you got a couple of lucky low punches in during the first few rounds. Towards the end you managed to knock me down, but I still got up before the count of 10 and my family and friends never threw the towel in. That’s why you were never going to beat me this first time.

Now that isn’t to say that the poor buggers that you do beat don’t fight and don’t have amazing support, it’s just that sometimes you can be a real playground bully and you’ll hit people with sucker punches when they least expect it, that’s what bullies do, you’re not brave, you’re a coward. One day, probably not in my lifetime, but one day, someone bigger than you will come along and give you the beating you deserve. You’ll be banished from this earth along with all the other bullies modern medicine has managed to beat. You don’t care who you pick on, the good, the bad and the ugly, they’re all the same to you……. Targets to be eaten, lives to be changed, you don’t care.

This now brings me to the main point of this letter. You’ve beaten someone I’ve come to know and respect over the last six months or so. Lisa fought against you with all her heart, soul and strength, but you just wouldn’t leave her alone, you had to keep coming back for one more bite at her didn’t you? Just like the playground bully that you are. She was one of the bravest people I’ve had the fortune to come across, her writing inspired me to continue my blogs and finish my book. I was lucky enough to have three or four private conversations with her, she was frightened, annoyed and darn right pissed off with you, but her fighting spirit kept her going far longer than you had planned. She will be missed hugely by her close family and her worldwide family. But, and here’s where you’ve made another mistake Mr C. she’ll never be forgotten, and in her memory the fight to banish you will become even stronger. You see what happens each time you have a victory? It makes us stronger and more determined to see the back of you once and for all.

This is a very sad day, but now the Magill family know that Lisa is at peace and away from pain. It’s been heart breaking the past few weeks seeing Lisa and her family in so much pain.

You will not win!

Yours faithfully.

Cancer patients and their families. 

Look into my eyes………….

This is a bit of a mixed update for the week. Up’s, down’s and a bit of pain.

On Wednesday I was reading a blog posting on the MacMillan website from a chap who’d been through a very similar process to me at roughly the same time. He’s been in remission now since May of 2016, again just like me. It was an interesting and thought provoking piece of writing. He was questioning how he was no supposed to be feeling, how he was finding it difficult to get on with “Real Life”, how every ache and pain, cough and cold, made him question whether his cancer was making a reappearance. His friends and family had all been through the wringer with him whilst he was ill and being treated. They heard the words “Remission” and breathed that big shy of relief that it was all over and that things could get back to normal. He did his best to put on the “Normal” face. He went back to work, but struggled to concentrate on even the most menial of tasks. He found himself getting fatigued every day, whether he’d done any exercise or not. He found he became irritated with who he classed as fools far too easily. He became argumentative for no apparent reason. He didn’t want to go out and interact, he didn’t want to stay in and fester. He was 14 months in and still worried, anxious, frightened and was struggling to see any light at the end of the tunnel.

Now I’m not saying that the blog post was written by me, it wasn’t. But I can recognise almost every one of his concerns as something I’ve been through and to a degree I’m still going through in one way, shape or form.

I read the responses to his post and was incredibly relieved to see that the vast majority of replies were along the lines of “You’re not alone”, “That’s how I felt”, “It does get better”, “Talk to people”, “Talk to people”, “Talk to people”……………

Have a look into someone’s eyes, the eyes don’t lie.

 - And the man in the mirror has sad eyes.........

Folk might well be through the worst of the illness, but the road to recovery is long and dotted with pot holes that sometimes are hidden with water, it’s not until you hit them that you realise just how deep some of them can be.

The drawn out saga of my tattoo was completed, well almost, this week. I sat in the chair clenching my teeth as the first inking was made, and to be honest it was nowhere near as bad as I expected. A bit “Sharp” in places but not overly painful. What had been promised to be about half an hour turned into closer to an hour and a half, due to the fact that I’m a “Bleeder”, apparently. You learn something new every day. I’ve got to go back in a couple of weeks to get it finished fully, but it’s looking pretty good from what I’ve seen so far in the mirror.

The fund raising for the Half Marathon is going pretty well, we’re up to a combined total of just over £800 as we speak.. Next week I’ll be tapping up my work contacts and I hope they’re feeling in a generous mood. There’s still two to go before the event so if you haven’t donated yet, and would like to, here’s the link >> https://www.justgiving.com/teams/Shoulder2Shoulder        remember, every penny raised is going straight to the Berkshire Cancer Centre. Hopefully next week we’ll have got over the £1k mark.

A weekend of daughter home from Uni, dinner at Nino’s and a bit of rugby thrown in to look forward to.

As always, thanks for reading.

To be continued…………….

#Shoulder2Shoulder