Our man Frank on not watching the Super Bowl; Watching the rugby; Some thoughts on ‘forest bathing’… and the Valentine’s present choices you may have overlooked!
It’s Sunday evening as I write, and the whole world (except for me) seems to be looking forward to tonight’s Super Bowl game, with the general feeling being that the biggest ever TV audience is expected to tune into the meeting of the Kansas City Chiefs and the 49ers.
Now usually I have some clue about sport and the big sporting events, but this time I am completely in the dark. I don’t know anything about the two teams, any of the rules of the game, how many players are on a team, how many referees or umpires there are, or even how much a touchdown or a goal kick is worth.
However, I do know that some lad on one of the teams is dating Taylor Swift, and as a result, interest in the game – which would be enormous anyway – is now stratospheric. The presence of the superstar singer at the final tonight has guaranteed an absolutely massive worldwide viewing audience.
It is said that Swift is such a powerful figure worldwide nowadays that whoever she endorses to become the next President of America will almost be a shoo-in!
As I said, I won’t be one of those watching the big game, but it seems Prince Harry probably will, as he went back from his (very) flying visit to see his father King Charles, to present an award at a celebration of American football stars in Las Vegas on Thursday night. He cracked joke after joke as he took to the stage to present the Man of the Year award to Cameron Heyward of the Pittsburgh Steelers, and while it is not confirmed that he was paid to be there, the cynic in me would think that he hardly flew 5,456 miles back from London solely for the good of his health.
The recipient, Heyward, was so taken aback by the presence of royalty that all he could say was “Prince freakin’ Harry. I’m in shock. That’s Prince Harry”. Over the years, there have been many sporting speeches worth remembering – including Joe Connolly’s famous one when Galway won the hurling All-Ireland in 1980 – but I don’t think Cameron Heyward’s will be up there with the great orations in almost 50 years’ time.
Over on our side of the Atlantic, we had another big Six Nations rugby weekend, and at the end of three pretty ordinary games, Ireland (as expected after our win over France) are looking pretty good for another successful championship.
And yet, despite beating Italy handsomely and keeping them scoreless in the process, the Irish team and management will know that the performance was anything but perfect; they still have a lot of stuff to work on.
They face Wales in two weeks’ time in Dublin, and I am sure that they will have ironed out their problems in the meantime. I am confident they will realise there is no such thing as an easy Six Nations fixture!
Anyway, by the time you get this paper, the Super Bowl will have come and gone, but one thing for sure is that Taylor Swift will have dominated all the headlines. Funnily enough, while I know nothing about the Super Bowl, I now realise I know none of her songs either! I don’t think I’ll miss a lot.
Have you heard of forest bathing?
It’s Monday evening and I have just come back from Galway, where everywhere I went there were people spluttering and coughing and wheezing and blowing noses, and now I see on my daily paper that we are slap bang in the middle of the cold and flu season.
I can imagine everyone’s rushing out for hot lemons and Panadol and all kinds of potions to ward off the symptoms of flus and colds. And yet it seems there are much easier ways of keeping up our immune systems, things which help us avoid spending miserable winter days in bed.
A walk through a forest – an exercise apparently called ‘forest bathing’ – does all sorts of things to reduce stress levels, and trees produce some things called phytoncides that improve your breathing and help your lungs. It is said that the low death rate from breast and prostrate cancer in heavily forested regions of Japan can be linked to the phytoncides that the forests produce.
Now I have no idea if that’s true, but things like blueberries (don’t like them), broccoli (don’t like that either), and seaweed (never ate that) are supposed to have different qualities to help ward off colds and flus. As none of them feature in my diet, I suppose I am back to hot lemons, Strepsils and the like if I am to have a cold-free winter.
Funnily enough, sleep plays a big part as well, as researchers in the Mayo Clinic (in America, not Castlebar), having dropped cold viruses into people’s noses (wonder how they do that), found that those who slept less than seven hours a night were three times more likely to come down with a cold than those who slept for eight hours or more.
Anyway, that’s my medical advice for this week! Put on your walking boots and head into the nearest forest, and whatever you do, don’t get lost – or hyperthermia might get you where the flu won’t!
Actually, talking of Galway: a few years ago, we were all told that the bottleneck that is Claregalway would be freed up as soon as the new motorway to Galway was opened – having travelled from Galway every evening for the last three weeks or so, I can tell you that nothing could be further from the truth. It’s as bad as ever, and the mystery is why do so many of us head out the old Tuam road instead of travelling down the new motorway! I really don’t know why, but that’s the way it is.
And finally…
As Valentine’s Day was this week, I decided to look up the most expensive Valentine’s Day gifts that I could buy if money was no object.
The great educator called Google told me that I could get a pair of Chopard de Rigo Vision sunglasses for €340,000! There are bits of gold and diamonds dotted round the glasses, and according to the brochure (I couldn’t even afford that), it all adds up to the perfect gift.
Then there is a €600,000 pen, a €3.1 million handbag, a €2.1 million car (a Bugatti), and finally, a watch! However, this Chopard watch is not an ordinary watch! It is decorated with 874 diamonds of special shapes and colours; it also tells the time, and – wait for it – will cost you €20 million.
Out in Spain, Columbo, my regular watch supplier on the Cabo Roig Strip, had increased his price for a ‘genuine’ Rolex to €20 last year. I complained that he had got a bit expensive, but if he can get me a ‘genuine’ Chopard, I might rise to €30 this summer!
In the meantime, SuperValu have Milk Tray at half-price this week, and we all know ‘the lady loves Milk Tray’!
