To Sir (s) with Love

This week has been most thought provoking as I contemplate the lives of two of my favourite well known Scots.

On Thursday we caught up with part 2 of the recent Made in Scotland programmes featuring my favourite ever comedian.
Billy Connolly has been reducing me to tears since probably my late teens.
These programmes included many TV clips of his shows through the years and with celebrity comments along the way we were reminded of so much of his particular humour. Being born only a decade later , many of his observational stories really resonate with me and I consider Sir Billy as a real National treasure.
As he brought the programme to a close he reflected on his condition and admitted that due to his Parkinson's disease he felt his life was slipping away slowly.
Once more, he reduced me to tears, but sad ones, as I realised we are unlikely to see him on our screens much more, but happy for him to have been able to bow out to all his fans on his own terms.

Next morning I awoke to the news that Andy Murray had decided that enough was enough and with luck he might make Wimbledon in July but there was a very real possibility that his match in Melbourne on Monday might be his last due to the constant pain he lives with.

I first heard of Murray when he won the Junior US Open at the age of 17 and have been a fan since.
There have been dozens,maybe hundreds of tributes paid to him in todays papers, on social media and of course, TV, and I cannot better any of them but I do feel privileged to have been able to watch him rise to the very height of his game and enjoy the many matches I have been able to see, including some heart wrenching hide behind the settee moments too!
I realise how special it is to have felt such National pride in a sportsman of his calibre.

So, Sir Andy Murray, unlike Connolly, is unable to bow out on his own terms, but when the dust settles and he has his pain under control this young man will be able to look forward to a long and happy life with his lovely family and I am sure we haven't seen the last of him on our screens.

As I reflect on their lives and careers I have come to the conclusion that like our National drink, these two fine men must indeed have been "Made in Scotland from girders".

I wish them both, a' the best!