I mentioned in my post last week that my nephew Otis would be running the London Marathon that Sunday for Charity. Hence the title of this blog as his father named him after the singer Otis Redding – a singer who, sadly, passed away in his twenties.
On Friday evening, Otis set off from my Mum’s bungalow to London as he has a friend who lives in London.
Saturday was St George’s Day which means a number of fish and chips themed promotions in England. On Saturday evening, Gloria and I joined my Mum at a Fish and Chips supper with accompanying quiz night at Mum’s local Church.
We were on team nine which included a seventeen year old boy coincidentally named George along his mother. Being a typical teenager, he was a little short with his mother. Those two took over round one which was deciphering the names of phobias. George mentioned a few times that he was sure of the definition of this phobia and of that phobia although he had failed Latin. That highlighted the difference in the education that he and I had both received. It was good to have him on the team or round one would have been very embarrassing for team nine. He was useless with the songs lyrics round, however, and embarrassedly watched his older team mates right down answers even to songs that were released within the last two years. I say songs in the last two years but I really mean ‘song’ as I recognised the lyric from “Happy” by Pharrell Williams.
George was good company, as were the whole team. I’d happily go for a drink with any of my team members from that evening. But we finished fourth – we were cheated! (Joking)
Anyway, Sunday was the London Marathon. I didn’t see Otis on television as the BBC seemed interested in following the professional athletes. I was able to follow his progress online so my excitement remained high. Otis slowed down dramatically after the first fifteen kilometres which is not too surprising. From the photos on the London Marathon website, I can see that the pain started to hit him half-way through the course.
He completed the London Marathon at 3:30pm having set off at 10:09am. I had been texting updates to his mother all through the afternoon and then I telephoned my Mum at 3:45pm with the news that he had completed the course.
He stayed dans chez friend in London with his friend after the race and is due back at my Mum’s bungalow tomorrow.
You’ll notice that I wrote ‘dans chez friend’ – mixing French and English. ‘Franglais’ is the nearest most British people come to speaking a foreign language! As last weekend was St George’s Day I’m showing off my national heritage. (lol!)
Otis inspired me with his efforts on Sunday. He raised more money offline than he did on his page on the London Marathon website. Several hundred pounds for charity for five and a half hours of pushing his body through a big pain barrier. Wow!
Otis, you’re “the man” this week. For now, I’m relegated to “Harry…a man”!
Sad Music, Dark Literature and Positive Thoughts 2 
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