It's mid-August and it's fair to say that things have not gone to plan.
I had been expecting to post regularly about golf heroics, BBQs on Fife beaches and Celtic's blistering start to the new season including effortless qualification for the Champions League group stages.
Instead, my golf outings have been severely limited by a combination of erratic weather and bad timing. Outdoor gastronomy amounted to a total of two picnics and one BBQ in the garden which was eventually abandoned when winter fleeces proved no protection against easterly winds. My team had a very promising pre-season and an impressive win in Moscow only to have the wind taken out of their sails by the Gooners who provided a reality check if not quite a fooball lesson. Oh - and and I've been diagnosed with coronary heart disease - a legacy of my cancer treatment five years ago. Major op number three coming up shortly.
Pear-shaped doesn't really begin to cover it.
On a positive note, I have discovered the delights of home-made fresh fruit smoothies. A few weeks ago, I parted with £14.99 for a contraption called a "Smoothie2Go" and breakfast has not quite been the same since. I have always been a healthy breakfaster. Fruit juice, cereal -usually muesli or some some low salt/ low sugar bran-based concoction, followed by a cup of tea (skimmed milk/no sugar)and maybe some wholemeal toast. Now I find myself rushing headlong to my smoothie maker to create something exotic involving melon, nectarines, pinapple, blueberries, strawberries or bananas, low fat yoghurt and fresh fruit juice. It really is quite staggeringly healthy and not without irony given the state of my arteries. And to think that within the last seven weeks. I've been cycling in the New Forest, played several rounds of golf and walked a decent chunk of the Fife coastal path. I'm sure I must be the healthiest and fittest person ever to get both lung cancer and heart disease.
They say "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger". If so, I should be like Superman when I get out of hospital in a few weeks - especially if Mrs SP can bring me plentiful supplies of fruit smoothies during my confinement.