Across the Atlantic

In the past I have taken our strong pound for granted. Sadly as a result of Brexit my current trip to the United States will not be spent shopping, all of a sudden foreign goods are no longer the bargain they once were. We are all aware that our country is struggling to come to terms with the outcome of our vote to leave the EU, the initial stage of this transition has admittedly not begun in the smoothest manner. Those who voted remain and even those who hoped to leave, probably did not expect the confusion and uncertainty we are experiencing now. If you are one of those worrying about Britain’s future then just take a moment to compare our situation to that of the United States of America.

I am currently in Florida, one of the swing states in the US presidential election. At last the poles have started to show a shift away from Donald Trump but one of the worlds most powerful nations is still in danger of having this man (I can find no appropriate superlatives to describe such a human being) as their leader. I have tentatively asked a few Americans their view of the situation, you can imagine my shock when they compared it to the UK and Brexit - apparently Brexit is similar to building a wall between the USA and Mexico.

I do not have the time or space to share further opinions on Trump, as sadly this will be my final column for this publication. Last week I touched on the challenges of change; as human beings we naturally shy away from the unknown. It can be difficult to push oneself to conclude something that you so enjoy but it is also healthy to move on to new adventures when the time is right.

Time to celebrate

It is that time of year already, the season for celebrating, reflecting and planning for the future. Athletes have hung up their racing spikes, rowers have folded away their Lycra singlet’s and cyclists are wrapping up their carbon racing bikes; it is time to face the fact that our summer is truly over along with all of the associated sports.

As the leaves start to fall and the suntans from Brazil are fading our attention is slowly transferred from reflection to the future. After the conclusion of an Olympic Games it is natural to expect a significantly higher number of retirements, although some sports will revolve around the four year cycle more than others. For example athletics will have their World Championships in London next year as a key focus, where as a sport such as Modern Pentathlon really will be labelling Tokyo2020 as the next main event in their calender.

The announcement of Jessica Ennis-Hill’s retirement fits with the end of a cycle even if many might have hoped to see her compete in London next summer. It is never an easy decision to make, so many factors need to be considered. Ennis-Hill is fortunate to be in the position to make this choice as and when she felt appropriate, sadly this is not always true for professional sports people.