Going For a Swim

Swimmer Martin Strel is an inspiration to all the middle aged pot bellied men out there, the 55 year old Slovenian who also happens to drink two bottles of wine a day has just been proclaimed the worlds greatest endurance swimmer ever, he swam an incredible 3274 miles in a non stop 66 days.

He swam the worlds most dangerous river the Amazon, Martin had to brave Piranha’s, crocodiles, and the terrifying Candiru fish, this is the particularly nasty parasite that swims into your body through your urethra, I’m sure all men reading this just cringed and shut their legs a little tighter.

He also had to contend with tropical storms, heat,  and bandits with machete’s. Add unrelenting diarrhoea to that catalogue of horrors and you get an idea of the type of man Martin is, tackling each obstacle with sheer bloody-mindedness,and a healthy dose of alcohol.

Martin only started endurance swimming 1n 1992 since then he has swum the English Channel, and became the first man to swim across the Mediterranean, 7 men had previously died attempting it.

He has also conquered the Danube the Mississippi and the Yangtze  amongst many others. A film is being released next month called Big River man about Martins exploits, its not the sort of true life stuff I usually watch, but this I think will be worth watching, he really is unbelievable.

DurdensView Tags: Mediiterranean, Yangtse, Danube, Mississippi. parasite, English

Miaow Miaow ban?

The Government’s official drug advisers will recommend later this month that the “legal high” mephedrone should be banned because of the potential serious risks to public health.

Typical knee jerk reaction from the Government, do they really believe making it illegal will stop people using it?.

Lets look at the evidence, Cocaine Heroin Crack Cannabis etc etc all illegal, yet freely available and more popular than ever, so banning this “drug” which is in fact a plant food will make no difference.

This answer if there is one lies in education, teaching kids the dangers of drugs, one way is  showing  hard hitting anti drug films in schools, there is a company the Government use for their no drinking no smoking campaigns that turn out the most brilliantly terrifying adverts against drink driving and smoking.

Showing the effects on the mind from using these so called legal highs will shock many into not going near them, the after effects can be pretty terrifying, like the footage I saw yesterday of a  14 year old boy going through various stages of terror and paranoia, followed by aggression  shown on sky news, if I had any intention of trying this drug, and I don’t,this would have been enough to deter me.

So forget about gimmicks Gordon we know there is an election coming up, you are not fooling anybody, lets get educating our youngsters to the dangers now.

DurdensView Tags: Miaow Miaow

Gazza

Poor Gazza, it’s tragic to watch Paul Gascoigne self destruct before our eyes but its proving impossible to help him,  numerous spells in rehab and even sectioning have failed to slow his downward spiral.

At this rate he will be dead within a year, at least that is the opinion of  a friend who spent a day with him this week, he started boozing at 11 am and by midnight had reportedly drunk 40 bottles of Stella Artois. Such is his state of mind that he believes he can get back into the England squad for the World cup finals in South Africa next year.

Gascoigne‘s problems seemed to have started when he retired from football he could not cope with the “civilian “ world, football has a discipline that he obviously cannot live without.

From a young age he has been guided by a code of  behaviour rising at a certain time fed a certain diet and had his day mapped out for him, combined with  the physical effort of training, culminating in the adulation of thousands at the weekend chanting his name and singing his praises as they marvelled at his skills.

Women  parties and  more money than he could cope with all these things were in abundance, but when he left the game the hangers on vanished, add to that  an unstable personal life, by now he had married and divorced acrimoniously and was fighting a bitter court battle over a settlement. A combination of all these added to the most important factor, which was no guiding influence, since his early years Paul had always had someone to map out his day and weeks suddenly he was alone.

He coped by hiding behind a false facade built on booze and drugs, he has tried to get help but each time he has slipped back, this latest episode seems to be connected to the death of his “second” father Bobby Robson who died from cancer in July this year, combined with the sad news that his mother has cancer.

I don’t see a good ending here its almost like he does not care if he lives or dies, this draws parallels with George Best who drunk himself into a premature grave, I hope Gascoigne can be saved but my expectations are not high, I would think that unless something dramatic happens this could be his Last chance.

DurdensView Tags: Gazza, Robson, Drink, Drugs, Cancer