Flathead

Flying with Lufthansa and plan to travel to Cologne by train. Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks.

Excellent time. Well done Steve. My best for 13 miles is about 2.20 so you're much quicker than me. My aim is just to complete the marathon but if I can do it in under 5 hours I'll be well chuffed. Thanks for your kind donation too. It is much appreciated.

Thanks FP. Think I'll pay it a visit. Flying from Manchester to Dussledorf btw.

Hi all, I am running in my first marathon in Cologne, Germany on the 4 Oct 09 in aid of Diabetes, UK. If any of you kind hearted souls could spare any of your hard earned cash and sponsor me I would be extremely grateful. Please click on the link below and make your donation. Steve Flaherty is fundraising for Diabetes UK - JustGiving Thanks in advance for your generosity. Flathead

Rico1304 Very best of luck for Sunday. Us long distance, endurance athletes should stick together so I'll sponsor you if you will sponsor me please. I'm doing the Cologne Marathon on the 4/10 and I've never done more than 17 miles so I'm a little nervous to say the least. I'll start a new thread rather than hijack yours with the justgiving link to my webpage. Let me know how you get on.

G. So sorry to hear of your situation but I can sympathise as I'm going through exactly the same scenario. 20 years married and soon to be out on my ear too. Interested to know how long before the pain subsides coz at this moment in time I feel like just curling up and dieing but I'm trying to stay strong for the sake of the kids. Sorry to sound so over-dramatic and I know that you have your own problems to deal with but any advice on how to deal with the situation would be much appreciated. Thanks.

Sardinia at the end of July/ beginning of August. Only 41 more sleeps to go. Can't wait.

I snapped mine in 1993. Agree totally with Brods description of the operation, the rehab and his advice when he says "you only get out what you put in" My surgeon told me that the success of the operation depends on the skills of the surgeon (25%) the advice and expertise of the physio (25%) and the remaining 50% on the commitment and mental and physical strength of the patient. My advice to you would be to listen to what the physios tell you, follow their instructions to the letter and put in the effort. Never ever skip the physio sessions. Hope you get it sorted soon. Good luck.

Hmm. Yes possibly. You are right - I'm 42 and mum was 71. Quite possibly. Anyway thanks for your thoughts & comments. Must turn in now or I'll never be up for work.

Sorry AdamS. Fraid I can't answer that and like you I had experienced nothing, prior to Tuesday, that would make encourage me to believe there was something to look forward to after death but what I can do is give you an example of what he said just to validate my point. My mum suffered from Alzheimers Disease and her mental health worsened by the day. So much so that when I visited he in the care home where she was looked after she would refer to my dad and her parents as if they were still alive and asked how they were, had I seen them etc etc. Initially I would correct her and remind her that they had all died and naturally this would upset my mum greatly. To avoid this the carers explained to me that mum was now living in her own happy, little world and that to avoid upsetting her they suggested that I should 'play along' with her ie say that they were fine and that I had seen them earlier that day etc. Naturally this I did until the day she died. On Tuesday, through the medium, my mum said to me that during the times I visited her she now knows that I played along with her just to avoid upsetting her! How? I suppose you could argue the point that the medium perhaps knew how to converse with mentally ill people but not once was her ilness or mental health even discussed.

Obviously I respect your opinion but let me put something to you that may muddy the waters a little. If I was, and I hasten to add that I'm not, desperately clinging to the fact that somehow through this medium my mum did make contact with me. That I did 'feed' him with information verbally or by any other way and I believed that he told me what I wanted to hear even though he perhaps didn't actually say it. Then why did the wife of a friend who was present who didn't know that I would be there and visa versa and with no emotional connection with me or my family and in a rational state of mind if you are perhaps suggesting that currently I am not (she was there with a friend purely out of curiosity) confirm that I gave him no verbal information whatsoever other than answering him with a simple yes or no. She also confirmed that what he said to me was what I thought he had said so I didn't hear what I wanted to hear. Surely he cannot gather all that information from my body language and facial expression alone or can he?

Spooky coincidence or what? I was going to start a new post to share a recent experience with you but after seeing this one already up and running here is my contribution to the discussion. As briefly as I can :- In August this year I lost my mother after a long illness. The night before last (Tuesday) my sister and I went to see a Spiritualist Medium ‘perform’ to an audience of about 260 people. My mother was the very first person to make ‘contact’ with the medium and through him she conveyed facts about herself, my dad and my nan (who are all together again now) that only she, my sister and I would know. To say I was astonished at the accuracy of his information would be a gross understatement but nobody can now tell me that there is nothing after death. I now know that there is and for that reason alone I have no fear of death. My only fear would be for those I leave behind. I still have so much to look forward to and to enjoy before I meet up with my parents and grandparents once again.

When I was young enough to play football the then managers of the teams I used to play for thought it funny to spell my surname a different way each time they sent the match results and the names of the goalscorers in to the local press. Among the few names I was called (I didn't score often) were Flatley, Flatter, Farty and Flathead. Anything but my real name. Flathead stuck.

Not as such. If my memory serves me right I think the ruling was that the keeper couldn't move around his penalty area with the ball in his hands. To get around this they used to bounce the ball every step or so.