My God, What Have I Done?

Today saw the firm that I have worked for for the last 9 years relocate their premises. Since the day I started I was led to believe that our office accomodation was temporary. Well at last on Tuesday I will move desk to a custom bulit site about 200yrds from my current desk to resume my duties.

With the mayhem and carnage that can result from an office move I elected to finish work at lunch time. Even as I was leaving the office at 1pm it was apparent that I had made the correct choice. I know you have all seen footage of the fall of the American Embassy in Saigon in the last days of the Vietnam war, well today that was my office. People in a panic, documents frantically getting shredded etc.

The benefit of leaving work early was obviously the fact the afternoon/evening were mine to do with as I please. I was therefore delighted when my oldest friend and his wife invited me out for a drink, that's oldest as in I have known him since I was seven, not oldest as in octagenarian.

Whilst in the bar a mutual friend joined us for a refreshment. This chap is a little younger than me considerably fitter and without a doubt leads a healthier lifestyle. Anyway before I knew it I had been persuaded to participate in a 10k run. I'm sure that those readers who know me personally are probably rolling about the floor pissing themselves laughing at the very thought of this right now. However, to those of you who only know me through this medium let me put things in perspective.

As of today I am 35 years old. I currently weight in the region of 200lbs, about 30lbs too much for my height and I have smoked for around half of my life. I am also no stranger to a beer or two. As I have mentioned previously I have played soccer for a great deal of my life but since I broke my ankle for the second time three years ago I have only played a token number of games. It would therefore be fair to say that there is much work to be done in the next thirteen weeks if I am not to disgrace myself.

Whilst I would love nothing more than to put this down to drunken bravado I know that when I agreed to undertake this task that I was only on my second drink and was therefore a long way from being drunk. In order to make the best of a bad job I have decided to make sure my pain is worthwhile. I have decided to raise sponsorship for a charity run by a friend of mine J. J. has a daughter a couple of months younger than mine who was diagnosed with Juvenile Arthritis at the age of 15 months. H. has since undergone extensive treatment for this condition at the local childrens hospital. To thank the hospital staff for their work J. and her husband, K., have devoted a tremendous ammont of their time and energy fundraising for the unit.

J.'s current plan is to compile cookbook by convincing the great and the good to donate their favourite recipe along with a photograph and biography. This project is still at the early stages of development but a number of celebrities have already agreed to assist including pop stars, famous chefs, captains of industry and a sportsman or two. If anyone reading this is even a little bit famous or indeed if you know someone who fits the bill and would be willing to contribute please contact me through this site and I will be happy to pass the details on.

Just to tie everything up tonight I suppose I should explain the photograph. The picture is of David Byrne who is best know as the frontman with the seminal band The Talking Heads. One to the best known songs by The Talking Heads is called Once In A Lifetime and features Mr Byrne posing the question My god what have I done? This is kind of how I feel about agreeing to do this run. The other reason the picture fits the tale is that David Byrne was born in Dumbarton in Scotland. This is also where J. and K. are from and guess what? Their surname is also Byrne. Spooky or what? That's another weird co-incidence in a week of them.