Passing Shorts August 30: Ross, blindness, Syria, Cliff Morgan and writing books...

BOY, did I need some sleep last night! I've got Ross staying with me in Eastbourne this week when the weather has been amazing and the pleasure of being able to spend quality time with my youngest son is a pure delight.

The trouble is, living in a third floor flat he can be noisy. Ross has a tendency to express his joy and occasional frustration by thumping his feet on the floor and making excitable sounds from his mouth, while shaking his head in frenzied fashion.

I am hoping that the occupants in the flat below are on holiday!

Ross's outbursts are containable during the daytime, but are more difficult at night when he wakes up. How do you explain to someone who can't understand that you have to be quiet and need to go back to sleep. Ross will mimic the "shush" sounds I make using my finger, not understanding its relevance.

This week he has not been a well bunny and up in the night a fair bit. Sleep has been brief and it leaves you so out of kilter.

I took Ross swimming yesterday as a means of tiring him out so he would sleep well tonight. He loves the water because it gives him the freedom of expression and movement, it is also a wonderful sensory experience. There were several special needs children and adults swimming too, and the joy on their faces was something to behold.

I HAD a blind visitor at the flat this week. It was fascinating but also hard to hear his experience of losing his sight as an adult.

As he was losing his sight, so he also lost his job because his bosses deemed it was no longer safe to keep him on. With the departure came a nice pay-out, only for his wife to take the money and run along with his children. He has heard from neither of them since.
 

He is not bitter, just phlegmatic about life. It is amazing to have just grace.

I walked the gentleman back to the bus stop so he could catch the bus home. I had him holding onto my shoulder as he prodded his white stick, and I was keeping hold of Ross at the same time as we walked to the Pelican crossing opposite the pier.
 
"Here," he said. "Put your hand here by the crossing sign."
I had no idea that there is a secret button for blind people which has been fitted beneath push-button signs at pedestrian crossings. When the green man is displayed on the traffic light, the knobs starts turning, which is a signal to the visually impaired or blind person that it is safe to cross the road. Amazing!



WELL done to MPs for having the courage of their convictions over Syria, refusing to be bullied by the Prime Minister or America.

We can barely afford to sustain our own economy, so why should we join America as the world's policeman by embarking on another costly and foolish venture in the Middle East to protect a people who only think ill of the West.

I supported the invasion of Iraq, but I was wrong. History has shown the folly of these ventures; Palestine, Suez, Vietnam, Afghanistan and so on....

Let the cash-rich Arab League sort out the problems of their brothers and bring those who are judged to have committed human rights breaches to the international courts.

Why should the usual suspects always be left to do the world's dirty work?

WOKE up this morning to learn of the death of Cliff Morgan, the wonderful Welsh rugby player and eminent broadcaster.

I was too young to remember Cliff's playing days when he won 29 caps for Wales and captained the British Lions at fly-half. But it was as a commentator for the BBC and as a wonderful journalist that I will always remember him.

The famous Barbarians commentary in 1973 when he described Gareth Edwards' fantastic try against the All Blacks is full of passion and poise. He is feeling exactly the same emotions as the viewer, mesmorised by this amazing piece of handling rugby. He was a fan's commentator.
 
When I was cutting my teeth as a journalist, I used to religiously listen to Cliff's weekly magazine show, "Sport on Four". If ever there was an art of interviewing, the Welshman delivered a master class. I would like to think that when I interview, I take a lot of Cliff Morgan's example with me.
 
You could tell how Cliff was genuinely interested in his guests, who he wanted to get the best out of. He had empathy. There was no modern-day grandstanding with the interviewer cruising for a bruising with his subject. Cliff gently asked the important questions, he listened and followed up by filling in the pieces. He always got the best out of those he interviewed.

It was brilliant, absolutely brilliant!


And finally....I've now split my blog into two.

Passing Shots retains a weekly look at what's making the news or what I'm interested in and I've thrown my running shoes and anything to do with my passion for running to a new blog, Passing Shorts. http://80races.blogspot.co.uk/

I am currently uploading my book "Around the British Isles in 80 Races" to the Passing Shorts blog to share with everyone.

It's amazing this was six years ago, but the experience of that tremendous year remains as fresh as ever. Maybe there is another book around the corner.