Month: August 2024

Sunday, 18th August, 2024

Warm but overcast start to the day. Didn’t sleep too well last night – a rather humid night which obviously spooked the seagulls. The day is at peak packing. I try to keep out of it as much as possible.

In the garden, the more you pick things, the more they are encouraged to produce. Last picking of green beans has so far brought this season’s production to around 8 kgs and the quality is excellent. Good job I like them so much but can’t eat all these before we go away. Another job for Chef – blanching and freezing beans. There will be plenty more when we return.

Tomorrow will be a long one. Time can be stretched both backward and forward. It is called Time Dilation. Einstein posited in his Theory of General Relativity that the gravity of a large mass, like Earth, warps the space and time around it. In the real world, while the standard measure of time remains consistent and precise, our perception of it is highly personal and subject to distortion. This elasticity can be attributed to a variety of factors including attention, memory, emotions, biological rhythms,and, particularly, age.

A fascinating book by Carlo Rovelli called The Order of Time starts with an interesting fact: Time passes faster in the mountains than it does at sea level. You’ll have to read to find out why although there is an article here that might speed up the process. (See what I did there?)

Monday, 19th August, 2024

Time goes on. The morning is bright and warm. M&K are flying back to Florida this morning and we wish them a safe journey. We are flying to Athens and glorious sunshine, Greek Language and People. There are just two weeks left of Summer and of UK school holidays.

Officially, tonight is full moon – a rare, Super Moon – but it was virtually there last night. If you can gaze on it tonight, do. You won’t see another one for 14 years. I hope I can still see it at the age of 87.

Back to our favourite hotel in the hubub of Athens Plaka district. Looking forward to our first real Greek Salad for a week or two. You can make it at home but it’s never the same.

Tuesday, 20th August, 2024

Athens is Athens is Athens. We get into it instantly. We have been using this 5* Hotel for 40 years. They have upgraded us to the top Suite this Summer. Our Lounge has a bottle of iced champagne and a tray of chocolates. We have been offered a ‘free’ Dinner in the new restaurant and virtually anything else that we want.

I take this in my stride while Pauline feels distinctly uncomfortable. We have girls running round after us which embarrasses Pauline but is quite normal for me, as you would expect, Dear Reader.

Kevin contacted me to ask how our trip was going. For a man of god, I rewarded him with a photo of the Metropolis Cathedral. It is an iconic symbol of the evil combination of church & state.

At 7.00 pm, the temperature is 33C/92F. We are going out for Supper in our shorts but still sweating. The contrast between the Hotel – 5* Luxury – and the roadside Taverna – rough & ready utility – couldn’t be more stark and yet that is delightful. While I am eating a lovely Supper of Sea Bream, Greek Salad, Oven Potatoes and a carafe of wine, I am watching the little children with their parents exploring the art of restaurant eating. It’s delightful and an experience I missed.

Wednesday, 21st August, 2024

Very hot night which didn’t fall below 27C/81F although the air-conditioning denied it. A super moon is all very well over Worthing Pier but it looks so much better above the Acropolis.

Went to bed early last night and slept for ever. Woke up to a beautiful morning offering hope of a lovely day.

Tea outside on the veranda with BBC Radio4 Today on my iPad and then up to the Roof Restaurant for Breakfast.

It is an International Buffet Breakfast which is biased towards Greek cuisine. A huge spread of scrambled eggs, fried eggs, boiled eggs, bacon, mushrooms, smoked salmon, cheeses, salad, 15 types of bread, croissants, pastries, cakes, crème caramel, fresh orange juice, any type of coffee you can think of …. and much more. I’ve noticed that we increasingly favour savoury things over sweet as we’ve got older. Strangely, although I love salad, I can’t imagine it for breakfast but some nationalities eat it every morning.

Newspapers and coffee back in our Suite and then I’m told I am going shopping for leather belts. The Plaka is well know for its leather work. I want a red one, a blue one and any other one that takes my eye my fellow shopper tells me. Great!

We’ve been going to this particular Leather Shop in the ancient Plaka Market area of central Athens for so long we are on first name terms with the owner, Georgios Keramidas. Our house is full of bags, sandals and, particularly, belts. And today, we have three more to take home. Pauline always has to have new holes punched in them because her waist is too small for the Greek-American market.

Thursday, 22nd August, 2024

A weird event last evening while sitting out in the totally crushing heat of the darkness on our veranda drinking coffee after returning from a restaurant Supper that included Κολοκυθοκεφτέδες. I know, you eat them every day, Dear Reader, but I have to mention them because they became the central topic of conversation.

Alright, Κολοκυθοκεφτέδες (Kolokithiakeftedes) or Courgette Balls are delicious and we have been making and eating them for years. Last night, I was contacted by members of the former students Whatsapp group asking what I was up to. I made the mistake of actually telling them.

Peter Holgate, who was on holiday in Northumberland, immediately said his garden had a glut of courgettes and would like to try making them. Chris Tolley in Leeds said they sounded good. Dave Wetherley in Bolton joined in and Kevin on holiday in Spain couldn’t avoid joining in. It suddenly struck me that five old men spread around Europe were actively discussing …. courgettes.

Life is a strange thing. At 11.00 pm last night, Pauline was being asked to dig out a recipe for Courgette Balls to supply a bunch of old men. I’ll be moving them on to Revithiakeftedes or Chickpea Balls next.

The temperature didn’t fall below 26C/79F over night and is already reaching 32C/90F just after breakfast this morning. In the Breakfast Room, people are offered a table outside overlooking the Acropolis and, of course, first time tourists leap at that experience. Very soon they learn that the air conditioned restaurant is where they need to be just to survive the meal.

Out walking today, the temperature will reach 37C/99F and everything has to be done in short bursts. Talking about short bursts, Greater Manchester had a cloud burst this morning. I was sent this view of flooding on Rochdale Road at 8.00 am just as I was retreating into the cool of our Suite.

While I was writing my Blog, I was contacting all my brothers and sisters to remind them that today is Mum’s birthday. She would have been 101. She died at 86. Those 15 years cover the whole of my retirement so far. I am having to read and write in between short bursts of walking. It is not only incredibly hot out there but, today, we reached 37C/99F which is really energy sapping. I’m having to change shirts constantly.

Friday, 23rd August, 2024

Another hot day prefaced by an terribly hot night that didn’t drop below 29C/84F which is warmer than usual. The Hotel weather screen says that we will be experiencing extremely hot days for the next three at least. Of course, in England it is Bank Holiday so the weather will be dreadful in the North at least. Strong winds and heavy rain the MEN predicts.

Here in ancient Greece, I’m feeling my age. As young ones zip everywhere oblivious to the extreme heat, I have to more consciously than ever pace myself. I am embarrassed by it.

I grow old … I grow old …
I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled.

The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock – T.S. Eliot

Everywhere you go in Athens, ancient history appears integrated into modern life. Outside our hotel, ancient ruins found below the pavement aren’t dug up or covered over. They are exposed, highlighted and protected for posterity.

Around every other corner are remains of ancient buildings. Just up the road from our hotel is a large, rambling site which is slowly being cleared and restored and has been for years because Greece isn’t a rich country and doesn’t have lots of money to support this kind of action.

The site is historically so important. It holds the remains of an almost 2000 year old Library constructed for Roman Emperor Hadrian in AD 132

Tonight we are enjoying the complimentary Dinner out that our hotel have offered us for being such good customers over the past 40 years. The hotel restaurant – Zohos – is new and established in the garden. It used to be a breakfast area before the Pandemic but now the menu is gorgeous.

zohόs_menu_english-4Download

Tell you later what I chose, Dear Reader, if you haven’t been blown away in the summer gales.

Read a sad story in the MEN yesterday that was connected to a friend, a girl who used to teach Maths in my school. I have referred to her before because her Mum and her partner, who was also a teacher in my school, have had to go into permanent Alzheimer’s Care Homes. At around that time, Julie Bamber discovered that her son’s partner had terminal cancer. That is basically what this news story focusses on.

Saturday, 24th August, 2024

A lovely evening last night. We chose to have our complimentary Dinner in the air-conditioned Dining Room rather than outside in the garden. The temperature was 32C and mosquitos were biting. The experience was interesting and enjoyable although it wasn’t a restaurant we would normally choose. It was absolutely typical Greek cooking trying too hard to be posh. The food was small portions of over intricate, over arranged, over impressively sounding dishes. If we’d been paying, it was also over priced.

All dishes were for sharing in the Mezés style. We had:

• Home-made bread with herb butter
• Mini Crab rolls (The rolls not the crabs)
• Marinated, multi-coloured Tomato & Kassos Island Goats Cheese Salad
• Baked Potato with grilled Octopus, Samphire & Tartar Sauce
• Cod Fillet Rolls with Tomato Relish, Raisins & Rosemary
• Onion Tart with Lamb Prosciutto, Almond Paste & Onion Jus
• Orange Cake with Fennel Ice Cream
• Walnut Parfait Sandwich with Chocolate, Rosemary & Salted Caramel Ice Cream

If you think that was a lot for two people, Mezés style is lots of small, taster amounts so it is less worrying than at first sight. It wasn’t cheap (in Greek terms) but €200.00 is not outrageous. The wine, as usual at around €50.00 a bottle of fairly average wine is too much and I wouldn’t have paid it. But, of course, I didn’t and it was a lovely reward from the hotel. In the same way, we were delighted to be upgraded in our Hotel Room. We had paid £3, 500 for a Superior Suite for the week. On arrival and because I have been a member for decades, they had upgraded us to the top level Suite which should have cost £5,500.00 for the week. A lovely start to our stay.

Isn’t time a strange concept, Dear Reader. we have been here for just 5 days and yet I was eating Dinner at 5.30 pm (UK) last night. In Greece, it was 7.30 pm and my body/mind was already attuned. This morning, I woke at my normal time 5.30 am without an alarm but in UK its was only 3.30 am so my body clock had automatically adjusted itself. What it doesn’t adjust to so readily now is the temperature. We have reached 38C/101F and I can assure you it is rather debilitating.

I have been forced to retreat to the air-conditioning of our suite to watch the South Coast once again beat United.

Sunday, 11th August, 2024

On this gloriously warm and sunny day which eventually reached a delightful 29C, my head is still dominated by that simple-minded, uncouth man I saw abusing a bus driver.

Imagine not being able to afford a simple bus fare. Imagine what that means for the other areas of your life. It has dominated my mind all night. The poverty, the paucity of life’s essentials and much else we think of essential but probably isn’t. If you can’t afford a bus fare, you probably can’t afford a mobile phone, a broadband connection, TV subscriptions – access to the outside world of information and knowledge – enough food to feel comfortable, enough power to feel warm in Winter and cool in Summer, the chance to travel and experience other cultures of other people. No wonder you explode at the stranger who you don’t understand and whose service you cannot even afford.

I wrote yesterday that it forced a tear from me when I reflected on it and yet, when I say to my wife, How lucky are we?, she says, We’ve worked hard, saved hard, invested well and now deserve our ‘good fortune’. and that is hard to deny but there is more to it than that. Some people would never get a Degree in a lifetime of effort. Some people are born into households where education, achievement, drive, determination are not qualities that are valued and passed on. Yes they can acquire them but they are certainly disadvantaged.

Foreign Home – 2009

At the age of 21, I left College penniless (although I could have asked for family backing), starting a new job for which I had to work a month in advance so I borrowed a month’s salary from my Bank and feeling quite poor but 40 years later after hard work (and I did earn two Degrees), saving and investment, I had two properties and felt as if I would never be unable to find my bus fare. Partly through luck and inheritance and partly through effort and intelligence, my life woud be secure. It could all have been so different. There but for the grace of Fate go I … Dear Reader.

The front of the Manchester Evening News illustrates this frighteningly well …

It’s a sunny Friday morning. In years gone by, the food bank in which the teenage boy, man, and woman sit in waiting for help would be quiet, with people choosing instead to enjoy a rare day of fine weather. But those times are over, as the food bank’s volunteers say summer days are just as busy as ever – and only getting busier as the cost-of-living crisis rages on.

How could it ever get to this? The last 14 years of Tory government, of austerity and preferential treatment for the elites have brought us to this socal collapse.

Monday, 12th August, 2024

Have you noticed how dark it is getting earlier now. The Winter is on its way. We didn’t fall below 22C/70F last night. Started off the night with air cooling to make the bedroom comfortable. Woke up at 2.30 am and I couldn’t feel my legs. Turned off the air cooler using an app on my phone and immediately started sweating. Anyway, this morning has rapidly shot up to 28C/82F as I have had to pay for a lovely weekend with a trip to the Hygienist. I hate the Hygienist with a passion. Turned out alright this morning.

Called in at Waitrose which is near the dentist and picked up their free paper on the way out. I was talking about class and good fortune yesterday. Well, you don’t get much more middle class than Waitrose. Their Holiday Heaven recipes include: Grilled Courgette & Nectarine Salad with Burrata.

I was about to scoff when I realised we cooked griddled courgette slices to eat with griddled Tuna Steaks last night for Supper. I wouldn’t particularly choose it with nectarine though and I’m not even completely sure what a burrata is. … I’ve just looked it up and I should have known it. Burrata is an Italian cow’s milk cheese made from mozzarella and cream. The outer casing is solid cheese, while the inside contains stracciatella and clotted cream, giving it an unusual, soft texture. It is a speciality of the Puglia region of southern Italy. Don’t say you don’t learn anything from the Blog, Dear Reader.

I was woken this morning as every morning at 5.45 am by my wifi/Alexa smart speaker. I turn the TV/Radio on downstairs in the kitchen by speaking to the remote handset. We go out to the dentist leaving two robot vacuum cleaners working upstairs and down. As I drive home, my phone receives confirmation of our next dental appointments and confirmation that the robots have complete their cleaning tasks. Why am I telling you all this, Dear Reader?

Well, 25 years ago, I was desperately trying to introduce IT & AI to Education in my school. It was in its infancy so the process was a struggle. It was important to automate data collection – like Pupil Registration/Attendance figures, to produce and store School -wide Attainment Data to be disseminated to LEA/Government and parents. Just this minimum required wired and wifi connections all over a huge campus along with hundreds of computers/Laptops/Handheld PDAs and dozens of printers. The cost was enormous.

The staff would need a platform on which to create, store, disseminate teaching materials to their classes and with increasing demands of the National Curriculum, the assessments they were making all the time. They would need interactive whiteboards to display their digital materials

All of this led to the demand to link home & school both for students and parents and for teachers and administrators. Initially, I created my own Intranet platform which took up huge amounts of my time to maintain. It was liked by the kids and some staff but many struggled to embrace it and it needed a more professional vehicle to really fly and we bought that in at what now seems such a cheap price of £50,000.

Because we were struggling to get good staff, I was working towards the teacherless classroom or one where large numbers of pupils could be supervised by one teacher/teaching assistant. I was doing it myself already. We were strugling to find people to staff the timetable and I volunteered to put 2 classes together – 60 x 15 year olds – who I taught IT in the Resource Centre freeing up a classroom and a teacher. I don’t like to brag but I relished the challenge and every single pupil passed all four GCSEs that comprised the IT GNVQ. It was fun but I wanted to devise online courses which could be accessed by students who would be automatically tested online, assessed online and their results reported on line to students, teachers and parents.

It was exciting, heady stuff and frustrating at times as all new things are. I didn’t get all the way there before I retired but that was 15 years ago. This morning, BBCR4 Today programme discussed the possibility of automatic learning with IT/AI in classrooms and fewer teachers. Almost 50 years ago, I did my Degree through TV and cassette with the Open University. Now, there’s a chance that the White Heat of Technology will have caught up with the School Sector.

Tuesday, 13th August, 2024

Another lovely Summer day. Driving up to sunny Surrey this morning. Should be fun. Setting off forAthens soon and, true to form, wild fires have broken out. We did more than 30 return trips to Greece in the car and I can’t remember a summer for years when wild fires didn’t break out. Greek media always makes it sound like the world is about to end and, somehow, it never does. We would drive back to Patras along the National Highway and see scorched grass on the roadside and think, What was that all about on TV? So we are a bit sceptical but we will see.

Certainly, the weather will be hot – very hot – at 36 – 38C / 97 – 101F but you should expect that in Athens in August. It’s the night time temepratures that are sticky and uncomfortable. Thank goodness for air conditioning.

When we first went to Athens in 1981 we thought it was the worst place we had ever seen. It was crowded, dirty, noisy, anarchic and rather Third World. We hated it and treated it as a necessary transition point on to an island rather than somewhere to enjoy in its own right.

Now, 43 years on and after making some 60 stays in the city, we absolutely love it. It is no longer Third World although it is noisy, crowded and a bit scruffy. We know where to go, how to access the services we need and what to say to get them. Of course, we are better off now and don’t worry that we will be ripped off. If anything, the boot is on the other foot. We are the negotiators.

Sifnos – 1984

Our island 40 years ago had no bank, no real supermarket, two external international lines to phone UK which were constantly breaking down or engaged. The hotels were basic and the food was too. But that was the challenge which kept us returning year after year until we owned a part of it ourselves. These photos of summer 1984 feature the long retired f/b Agios Georgos (St George Express) which was nowhere near an Express anything. It took around 6 hours to get us from Piraeus to Sifnos usually sitting on plastic chairs the whole way. Now you can do it in a couple of hours. On the right is the traffic chaos in Apollonia – the capital of the island which would be considered less than a village in UK and only filled up for about 6 weeks in the tourist season. It is much more organised now.

Lovely day today. We drove up to Surrey to see M&K before they return to our Florida home which we let them stay in. They are lovely, friendly, generous people and it is fascinating to see their development as they embrace Retirement. They had prepared a wonderful Lunch of grilled Salmon and Sushi. It was delightful to share it outside in the garden running down to the canal with boats going past in the sunshine.

Wednesday, 14th August, 2024

Warm but grey this morning. We’ve even had a bit of rain overnight which is wonderful. Our trip out yesterday reminded me how important adult others are in one’s life. In retirement, we can become too insular and being challenged in our views, talking to people who have other world and personal constructs in their heads is enjoyable and useful.

Blog Readers will know that I am obsessed with the past. For me, it is very important to understand the present and plan for the future but I am constantly pulled up sharp by meeing people who have little or no interest in the past at all and just believe going forward is important. My eldest sister is one who just shrugs off her past and isn’t interested when I ask for help in remembering family events. What amuses me is the fact that she wants to celebrate things like Birthdays and Anniversaries which are the essential graduations of the past but doesn’t seem to acknowlege that.

Yesterday, I was talking to K, a (fairly) intelligent, aging juvenile who also expresses little interest in the past and vows to just go forward until Dementia gets him. I am trying hard to understand it but failing completely. I use every trick in the book to maintain my links to my past. The Blog is just one small part. Our Accounts package is another historical record. Our Filing cabinet is stuffed full of records going back through Houses we have owned, Salary Slips we have been paid, Investments we have made, Taxes we have paid. I even keep emails and texts as historical records.

All of these snippets of the past are the drip, drip, drip of what has formed us over time. This morning, I heard an interview with a man whose father had been murdered. He could no longer speak to his Dad but had saved his voice mails and texts to access when he needed to feel contact.

I understand that completely. To touch, smell, feel a letter, a card from the past is keeping in touch across time. To re-read an email, text, social media message keeps that person alive. People go to an historical site and touch the ancient stones to make contact however vicariously with the history of that place. As usual, I have to take it one step further with an uncontrollable urge to return and touch once again what I have left behind if only for a minute.

Finally, to illustrate the point for former fellow students of mine, the accompanying pre-college photo of one of our clan was sent to me this morning. It is of a girl called Judy who died of cancer about 4 years ago – still in her 60s. There are little things one remembers but it was the sad irony about Judy that her best friend, Christine, shared with me, that will stick. Judy was religious about working out in the Gym and was furious that it was all for nought in her view. She left this world angry that she had wasted her time and money on Gym fees when she could have been enjoying herself.

It is through memory that those who have left us live on and are given the respect that so often we don’t always find time for in Life.

Thursday, 15th August, 2024

Only Thursday. It’s seemed a long week. Dropped Pauline off in Rustington for a little procedure. Seems to have gone well. Now travel preparations and future planning can go ahead. Recently, I’ve been feeling my age. Sensitive to ‘oldness’. The cancer diagnosis and treatment have definitely contributed to that but also the corollaries to hormone and radiotherapy have which have taken me much longer to didmiss than I thought. I have exercised less and eaten and drunk more – sort of Eat, Drink & be Merry reaction to threat to life. I let go my self-discipline.

Our trip to Athens will mark the end of that and I will set myself a target to regain where I was previously. Today, we are going to book the month of March away in Canary island sunshine as a target time for my efforts. It is what I need to motivate me. Pauline has found a pleasant apartment outside Adeje which will do just fine.

It has all the amenities needed for 4 weeks stay – wi-fi internet, kitchen, laundry, nice bathroom, bedroom, lounge with satellite TV, Dining Table and balcony to sit out, heated pool. It is in easy walking distance of most amenities around Siam Park and we can hire a car to go further. Can hardly believe the price – £3,134.00 for a month. It’s cheaper than our 7 nights in Athens. We have still got to buy flights but Easyjet from Gatwick are only about £200.00 each return. It will be cheaper than staying at home especially if its cold in UK.

Weather in Southern Tenerife in March averages 24C Day time / 15C Night time with 7 hours of sunshine per day and rain on only 2 days. Weather in Athens in August averages bloody hot. It will be 35C Day time / 25C Night time with around 13 hours of sunshine and no rain. At some stage you pray for a cool, overcast day but no one hears. I’ll definitely leave my umbrella at home if anyone wants it.

I have to use these sorts of incentives to motivate and focus on self improvement, on fitness and weight loss. I’ve always thought that aging was a linear process – we get less able as we get older. New research out today and reported in The Telegraph and on BBCR4 Today programme suggests we age in phases rather like growth spurts but in reverse.

When I was 13, I suddenly grew to 6 feet tall over a few months and then stopped growing completely. This new research suggests that people suddenly find they have reached a stage of aging and then stop for a while before suddenly realising they reached another stage without noticing intervals between. I have been blaming my feeling of decline on my recent illness. This regeneration project will possibly show whether it is recoverable, Dear Reader.

Friday, 16th August, 2024

Lovely, sunny and warm day. The world looks clean and fresh after overnight rain. Starting to prepare to put the garden to bed while we are away. Clothes are being washed and ironed by the Laundry Woman. Who irons shorts and tee shirts? Answer: she does. Who am I to argue. I keep out of the way in situations like this. I’m busy spending money on next year – a re-visit to Thessaloniki and March in Tenerife. Kevin has already asked for a villa large enough to provide a bedroom for him for a week.

The political scene is going to be interesting for a while now. So nice to have Labour politicians with sensible, grownup policies dominating the airways. The right wing lunatic fringe are either going through the court system, crying for their Mums or plotting to sieze Leadership of the moribund Tory Party. If they are out of power and out of luck, they pretend they are some great oracle of right wing thought who the country needs to listen to. Here’s the brainless Liz Truss trying to sound intellectual ….

…. and failing spectacularly. She also thinks America – where they don’t know how stupid she really is – might be a fertile ground for rehabilitation of her reputation. It won’t, Trumpism is on the wane. She’ll be riding the wrong wave again.

What is amusing on our political scene is that the Right, who have derided Statism in general and the Welfare State in particular, are up in arms that a cash-strapped government should make Winter Fuel payments means-tested so that they only go to those who really need it. You realise the righteous indignation is just that and nothing more.

M&K have been swapping films/TV series with us. We gave them Slow Horses from Apple TV – If you haven’t seen it, you really should. – They told us to watch Rebus, from the Detective novels created by Ian Rankin. I should have done years ago but didn’t have time.

It’s intelligent writing and I’m enjoying it. Last night, I watched Long Lost Family which I love to hate. It is so moving. If you’ve ever lost somebody, you will know immediately. The answer is to never give up. It always amazes me how many of these people didn’t know how to acess the process of search and discovery.

In Athens, at the end of a long, hot day, a reviving shower and an indulgently enjoyable supper out, we can access our Netflix account in our hotel room and relax over a bottle of wine. It is important to make it home-from-home as we indulge the Greek atmosphere. The process has been refined over many years so that we want for nothing.

Saturday, 17th August, 2024

Gorgeous day down here. Warm and gloriously sunny. This Blog is for those who don’t like to look back but only move forward and anticipate the future.

The new buds push the old leaves from the bough.
We drop our youth behind us like a boy
Throwing away his toffee-wrappers. We never see the flower,
But only the fruit in the flower; never the fruit,
But only the rot in the fruit. We look for the marriage bed
In the baby’s cradle; we look for the grave in the bed;
Not living
But rising dead.

Norman Nicholson (from Complete Verse, Jonathan Cape, 1999)

In order to set up my automatic lighting ready for going away, I was monitoring the times of daylight and dark yesterday. It is really noticeable now how much shorter the day has become. Sunrise is 5.55 am and Sunset is 8.21 pm. The Autumn is coming, Dear Reader, in more senses than one. The signs have been there for a while but we are less than two weeks from September. So, that’s something to look forward to. That and Man. Utd, winning the Premiership. We can all dream and I am a real dreamer. Currently, I’m dreaming of a week’s hot sun in Athens and a month’s warm sun in the Canaries. I’m dreaming of a Labour government for the next 15 years, a Trump loss in the next few months and …. well I won’t go any further. My dreams will come true. The Future is to come.

Sunday, 4th August, 2024

A pleasantly warm and sunny morning. In the garden, huge honey bees are urgently visiting every flower head before buzzing off to their Queen. We are going to be green beaned out soon they are so productive this year.

Last night Supper included the first of our carrots. We only grew them for fun and chose a Rainbow Carrot strain. Within a few minutes of being pulled from the bed, they were being roasted and dressed in honey and thyme. Absolutely delicious! The beetroot is ready for lifting which I’m looking forward to.

We are a long way off Harvest Festival but, as I observed the other day, there is a slight hint of early decay outside. Maybe it’s my perception influenced by a feeling of personal decline. I’ve been feeling a bit sad and listless recently and I know it can colour my judgement. I think I am a bit bored and in need of stimulation.

Boredom is bad for me because I tend to buy things to relieve it. I’ve noticed over the past weeks that I’ve been looking at new cars. Because I was ill last year, I’ve only done 7,000 miles in this one. I’ve been looking at buying a winter of sunshine in the Canaries because it is a while since we’ve been there. I caught myself looking at a new, bigger TV last week and solar panels for the roof this week. I need to go away to banish this nonsense.

When I lived inland, the sight and sound of sea gulls was a welcome hint of the coast, of the sea, of far-off places, of travel. Many will know the beautiful sight of gulls following the farmer’s plough as worms are brought to the surface just as they do with the trawler on the sea. When we first moved here on the coast, lots of seagulls were a constant reminder that we lived by the sea.

The charm has waned. Now, they are a bloody nuisance. They maraud overhead, they stain the cars, they mob people on the coastal paths and they wake me at 4.00 am as they squawk noisily near the windows. And they are a protected species which stops Local Authorities culling them. They are the Right Wing thugs of the bird world. I am going to suggest housing them on the Bibby Stockholm.

Told you I was bored. I’ve even actually cleaned the car …. at last. And now, I’ve ordered a smart alarm clock which integrates radio + data on command via wi-fi. Which intelligent man could turn such an offer down? This clock integrates the internet functions which will perform Alexa operations while I am in bed. What more could I want? …. Don’t answer that.

Monday, 5th August, 2024

Emergency dash this morning to the dentist. Yesterday, a piece of tooth enamel broke away from one of Pauline’s front teeth and she has been left with an unsightly brown stain. I’m amazed she got through the night. Anyway, Calm & Gentle will fix it for her on Wednesday just before she meets her friends in London on Thursday and before we fly to Athens.

We drove there in a very clean car and drove back with half the beach on the carpets. While we were there, we had a walk on the beach with the tide coming in. It was quiet today apart from the gently lapping waves on the breakwater.

Today is the 52nd Wedding Anniversary of my friend, Kevin. I remember it so well. I’m beginning to fall into that old person’s syndrome of acute long term memory but hazy short term recall. Is that dementia?

At least I can still remember what these are called. Always loved beetroot and ours are ready for pulling up now. Sort of thing you can leave in the ground until you want them. They look alright though and tasted lovely.

Tuesday, 6th August, 2024

Going to be a warm and sunny day after a rather grey start. I am moderately content at the moment because I have a new gadget to work out. My Amazon EchoSpot with Alexa was delivered yesterday. I have been configuring it. It is intended to replace our clock radio which is showing its age …. like so many of us … but it does many other things. It will read my calendar of events to me at 5.45 am and tell me what the weather is and will be throughout the day. It will read me my texts and emails … Who could ask for more.

I know most people will already know this but, for the youngsters out there, on this day in 1991 only 33 years ago Tim Berners-Lee launched the first ever webpage which was a clarion call to the world to join the World Wide Web. You remember it, don’t you Dear Reader? Now, nobody on the planet can manage without it. Some people still don’t realise they can’t live without it but, believe me, they can’t. Just 3 years after this event, in 1994, I was accessing the WWW for the first time on a crash, bang, wallop modem which allowed us on to it through a simple phone line. No graphics. Just text.

It feels like the web has been part of my life forever and a total shock that it is only since I was 41. Today, I cracked the installation of my new, smart speaker which draws everything I want instantly from the web when my voice commands it: radio, email, text, calendar, etc.. It has replaced my old, (25yrs old) analogue clock radio by my bedside.

I am quite sad, in a way, because it holds so many memories. It’s been in the bedroom for 25 years after all. But time marches on. We cannot resist it. Now my bedside essentials include a wireless charger for my smartphone and a wifi enabled smart speaker. Not sure what the tissues are for.

Wednesday, 7th August, 2024

Nice morning. Taking my wife for emergency cosmetic tooth surgery and then I have lawn mowing followed by Gym. And … relax.

Woke up to a new woman this morning. She announced the weather, the time and turned BBC Radio 4 on. Unfortunately, she also read today’s calendar events reminding me that it was Wednesday and my first job would be to strip the bed and give the sheets to the washerwoman … so no change there.

I have resisted using these virtual assistants like Alexa and Bixby not because I didn’t like the technology but because I thought they would make me lazy. At the age of 73, I have been forced to embrace them – Alexa in the bedroom and Bixby elsewhere. Alexa comes with Amazon products whereas Bixby is the rival, Samsung virtual assistant. We have Samsung smartphones and all our TVs are Samsung. They all incorporate Bixby command software so now I’m going to make myself use it.

Well, the Dentist went alright if you don’t count the £235.00 bill for a new, enamel coating. On the way back home, we had to call in and collect a new elctric kettle.

I have never known a household get through kettles like we do. We threw one away just over a year ago and bought another, variable temperature one which was top of the range (We were told.) and worked fine until a couple of weeks ago and then it didn’t.

Because we had to wait a couple of weeks until that one was available last year, we bought a bog-standard one to tide us over and that is still here as a back-up. Today we collected a Ninja Variable Temperature Kettle. What could go wrong? Anyway, I’ve registered it for its 2-year warranty.

I was writing a couple of days ago about long and short term memory. As we get older, we all feel a bit vulnerable about our own. An interesting thing happened yesterday when I was speaking to an old friend of over 50 years standing. He is 74 and we were discussing the Digs we were originally allocated when we first went to College in 1969. I was with two pleasant, older lads who were very tolerant of me and we ‘got on’. My friend literally couldn’t remember who he was in Digs with for two years in one of these Edwardian properties pictured above. It is quite amazing how the memoy works and what we block out.

Thursday, 8th August, 2024

Out early this morning to take my wife to our local Train Station. It is about 10 mins drive away and, as you can see, absolutely palatial.

Angmering to London Victoria takes just over an hour because there are plenty of stops en route. She is meeting her old, College friend. They were at College in Tottenham together 1970-73. Christine’s husband died of cancer about 4 years ago so it has been nice for them to meet up again although it was quite a task for me to locate her. When I put my mind to that sort of research, I usually get there in the end.

There are hundreds of people-locator sites but I eventually found her through her sons on Linkedin which was just a lucky hit. This photograph was taken a couple of years ago before my cancer. So much changes, doesn’t it Dear Reader.

Sorry, but my obsession with ‘time’ rears its head all the ‘time’. Things/people that have gone still exist in our heads, in our memories, in our hearts. In that sense they never go. Tomorrow we will be thinking about Viv Butterworth who died on that day in 2017. It is hard to believe it was 7 years ago and yet her husband, Richard, has been living with the emptiness every day.

You know, today I am home alone. I’m alright about it because I am fairly self-contained and I live inside my head a lot anyway but the house is utterly silent. It is a deafening silence which intrudes on my thoughts. I keep listening for the clattering in the kitchen; I sometimes hear it but it is not there. Lonliness can be a terrible thing and we know it can be quite debilitating, life shortening. Anyway, I’m going to make the most of it. My wife will be back this evening with very high expectations.

I’ve been having a conversation with a woman from Rochdale today. How ironic. I ddn’t realise that she was from Rochdale until we had been corresponding for an hour. She was telling me that immigrants are unwelcome. England is ‘full’ and should be kept for the English. I looked up the origin of her maiden name and it is from America and Canada not England. When I pointed that out, she disappeared. Strange. Perhaps she’s gone back to America already.

Friday, 9th August, 2024

A very warm but breezy night has given way to a lovely day. Looks like we will have a warm week ahead. It even rained overnight which has helped.

Yesterday, I mentioned the anniversary of the death of Vivienne Butterworth – 9/8/2017 – and I found this photograph this morning. There is no annotation on the back so I don’t know hold old she was here but we think it was about 1958 which would make her 15. She died 7 years ago today at the very young age of 74 but lives on in the memory.

Seeing faces from the past slowly floating across this week is a salutory reminder not to let the living be reduced to memory by separation. Real time is precious even if we find it hard to realise until it is too late.

We trawled through old photographs for this and found a photo of Pauline’s Dad who died when she was just 10 years old. As she looked at it, I saw the sadness in her face and it hurt me. There is nothing can be done. All we can do is shore up our sadnesses with memories.

Sorry, I will cheer up …. eventually … but I am always struck by the enormity of not siezing the now and regretting in the then.

Of course, we have to live in the ‘now’ and it often feels so mundane. We inject the past with the rosy tint of sentimentality. Today we need more toilet rolls. Must alert Sainsburys to stock up as we go out to shop. Also, I have to clear a present that some cat has left on our front path. Why don’t cats use toilets? Some recent research suggests tha cats have other human traits like memory, loss and sadness.

To finish what has been an energetic and tiring day, I received this photograph which spoke to me about my College days and compared sharply with this week’s events. I haven’t seen these two characters since June 1972 – 52 years ago. They were both nice people in themselves but both were isolated in their own minority status. One was gay and the other was a Hindu person of colour. They probably both felt socially awkward at some point in the 3 years but I was unaware of any specific discrimination. It is the sort of social isolation that the Far Right are currently raging against as they take their country back.

A Hindu girl in a CofE college was a brave move in 1969 and, although I didn’t know her well, I recognised that she was a strong character and well up to the struggle. Bob made his name in Drama which gave him a platform. I didn’t really know him at all. I’m not sure at that time I understood what it meant to be gay. My one real association with him was his kindness when he drove me from Ripon to Oldham for interview for my first teaching job. He sat around for 12 hours while I secured the job, bought him Lunch and then drove me back to College. Kind thing to do.

Saturday, 10th August, 2024

Lads Lunch in Leeds today. It’s surprising how alike they are in political views. How they view the world as I do. I am surprised.

Convention has it that, as we get older, we become more right-wing, more conservative. It is thought that, as we age, we have more to conserve. We have accrued wealth, a house and a way of life in which we feel comfortable and don’t want threatened. We might have lost the thrust of the drive for success in the employment market and, although we don’t feel ill to our fellow man (or woman), we need to maintain our social position.

Convention has it that education is a strong determinant of political choices. The higher educated you are, the more socially liberal you are. Those with Degrees are more likely to be Left-oriented, socially liberal. Those with post-graduate degrees are much more likely to be Left-oriented, socially liberal and that includes welcoming of other ethnicities, of social change in their communities and so on.

Those with education level below Degree are far more likely to vote to the Right, to vote to keep foreigners out because their own position is socially vulnerable and they feel threatened by the ‘other’. It is this vulnerability that people like Farage, Tommy Robinson, et al have been able to draw into their web of deceit and are appealed to by the colour comics like the Daily Mail and the Daily Express.

When you are bombarded with this sort of front page day in day out and you don’t have much brain power or critical analysis ability, you are bound to be swayed. I have a post graduate degree. I am a left-leaning, socially liberal, middle class member of society. This morning, I saw video clip of a man abusing an Asian bus driver. My first reaction was disgust but I cried when I found out he couldn’t afford the bus fare. Here I am, buying what I want and he couldn’t even afford the bus fare. There is something wrong and I understand his frustration even if I an’t condone his behaviour.

Sunday, 28th July, 2024

Glorious morning. I woke up at 4.00 am on the beach in Colwyn Bay. It was warm and stuffy which is unusual for the North Wales coast but I was …. dreaming.

I had gone to bed thinking about Tenby and Saundersfoot on the coast of South West Wales. I had been reading about them in a Times article which was about the attempt to tax out of existence second home ownership.

Before my Dad died in 1965, we went on holiday to Saundersfoot. Tenby is the next place down the coast. So I was about 12 or 13 when we were there. It wasn’t my ideal holiday.

After Dad died, when I was 14 or 15, we holidayed in Colwyn Bay which was also ‘difficult’. By that stage, I wanted girls and the North Coast of Wales was not the place to look.

There is something special, elemental, enticing, absorbing about that line between land and water. It can be tranquil, soothing, exciting, threatening, frightening at different times in the union of the elements. We know that the moon controls the globe’s tides. Research suggests the human menstrual cycle which is about same length as the lunar month may be influenced by the phases of the moon and, therefore, the tides. Charles Darwin thought that the 28-day human menstrual cycle was evidence that our ancestors lived on the seashore and needed to synchronise with the tides.

All that from a visit to the beach … and I’d only driven down to Lidl to buy packs of almond milk.

Monday, 29th July, 2024

L’été est arrivé. At last. We should see at least 25C/77F today and may get to around 30C in the next couple of days. Not a cloud in the sky and I’m going to spend my time outside soaking up every ray – gardening, walking, relaxing, dreaming ….

I am a politics obsessive. In retirement, I have so much more time to be obsessed. I read, listen, watch politics constantly. Because it is no longer necessary to access the media in a linear fashion – times decided by the producers – I juggle multiple sources at the times of my choosing. In the past year I have been hooked on podcasts and, particularly, the Newsagents.

During the Tory reign, the BBC was deliberately slanted to the Right through appointments and management. Nothing as horrific as stations like Fox News but slowly and insidiously to the Right. The Left-leaning presenters upped and left. The set up podcasts to showcase their talents and found they could earn more money through advertising/sponsorship. They are sponsored by big, city banks like HSBC down to advertisers like Tesco Mobile. Podcasts are money-spinners. Why didn’t I think of that. Emily Maitlis, John Sopel and Lewis Goodall – all ex-BBC journalists – have hit a rich seam being paid for doing our hobbies of researching, writing and talking about politics.

Two pieces of news came to me this morning in the true meaning of co-incidence. Radio 4 ran an item about a new piece of research which found that broad beans contain significant amounts of dopamine which is used to treat Parkinson‘s sufferers. Apparently, dopamine improves motor function.

I love broad beans hot, cold, turned into a dip and they are easy to grow. I used to grow too many and gave them away when I lived in Yorkshire. Just as I was thinking about this, I was told that my old friend, Nigel, has been diagnosed with …. Parkinson’s Disease. You couldn’t make it up really. Although it really is scary for Nigel.

Belatedly, I must wish my sister, Jane Georgiou, a very happy Birthday. She is one of the skinniest people I know, has run long distances including for her club of Harriers and her country in International events. She is still doing it in spite of being stick thin. I’ve sent her a picture of a 4,000 year old Olive Tree illustrating what should happen as she gets older and how she’s failing nature’s laws.

Tuesday, 30th July, 2024

At 9.00 pm last night the temperature was still an uncomfortable 27C and not conducive to sleeping. This morning has opened a little cooler but is expected to rise to 30C during the day.

I’m walking on sunshine, wooah
I’m walking on sunshine, wooah
I’m walking on sunshine, woooah
And don’t it feel good

You didn’t think I knew songs like that, did you Dear Reader. It always surprises me what springs to mind from the shadows of an unconscious past. Outdoor living is good preparation for Athens.

I’ve found a wine cooler to replace the broken one. I was just about to contact a repairer but a new one with a 5-year warranty is more appealing. I managed to get it for just £507.00 which will include fitting, installation and removal of the old one. Tuesday will be a good day. Must get the champagne ready.

Before that, I have a lot of outdoor work to do in the garden. I discovered that mice had been renting our garden storage sheds over Winter and only now have got round to permanently eradicating them. That’s a job for this morning along with picking more beans which are proving unstoppable this year. Carrots are now on stream as well. We are eating lettuces like there’s no tomorrow (Maybe there won’t be.). Pauline is constantly harvesting herbs, preparing and freezing them. The other jobs we have at the moment are watering and constantly dead heading. Is this all becoming too dizzyingly exciting for you, Dear Reader.

Had the utter delight of watching Rachel Reeves taking on the duplicitous and routed Tories yesterday. We will lose our Winter Fuel Allowance which we’ve never needed and the country will get a serious, Chancellor at last which we’ve all needed for so long.

At least we don’t have to cope with the mean streets of the North of England. Just as we were hearing about the poor little kids enjoying their holiday dancing in Southport being killed and injured by a mad man with a knife, the MEN was reporting otherwise un-broadcast details of gang warfare in Middleton, Greater Manchester. There is a world outside my world of which I know so little.

At 1.00 pm and as the temperature has reached 31C, I’ve just been visited by this gorgeous girl. Look at the eyes … to drown in. Mind you, don’t blame her for dropping in.

Maximum today was 32C and at 9.00 pm we are still at 25C. Once again, sleeping won’t be as easy. Who needs to sleep? Life’s too short.

Wednesday, 31st July, 2024

High humidity usually means thunder. If only. We wouldn’t have to water but there is no rain forecast for us at least until Saturday. I will have to set one of my minions on to that task because I’ve got far more important things to do.

I love griddled swordfish steaks. They were commonplace when we were in Greece and Spain but have become so hard to find here since Brexit. The Mediterranean fishermen are keeping it to satisfy a huge demand across their continent and don’t want to cope with the import difficulties we have placed on things. This morning, our fishmonger has contacted us to say they have sourced some and we are going to pick up a 2kg Loin plus Sea bass fillets which go so well with salad.

A summer of disturbance is being encouraged by Farage and the extremist element who lost out so badly in the ballot box. To use the senseless deaths of three, little, innocent girls is utterly unconscionable. Of course, there will always be the ‘stupid’ people who believe the first rumour that they hear. And there were plenty of those yesterday. I did enjoy the instant karma this member of the intelligentsia received for his bravery. Play it back when you need cheering up.

Been invited to Lunch with some College friends in Yorkshire soon and we are flying off to Athens shortly as well. Be nice to be moving again. Athens is only 36C this morning and looks like this taken from a webcam this morning. You can just feel the heat oozing from the concrete. Down here on the South Coast, the humidity is almost unbearable in 29C. Every activity leaves one swimming in sweat. Sorry if that is too much information.

Thursday, 1st August, 2024

We’ve said Goodbye to July 2024 …. Forever. We will never see it again other than in photographs which are merely reflections of real life. On the first day of August, I looked outside on an incredibly humid, oppressive, rather grey start to the month and thought I saw signs of early Autumn. A few dry, brown leaves dropping from trees; my neighbours’ wisteria dying away in the heat; overblown herbs turning to flower and reseeding for the new year, a slight smell of natural decay. It is almost time to go away, Dear Reader.

The rolling news has been dominated by the awful murdering of little girls, the social media false speculation about the perpetrator being a Muslim and the thick boys of Britain First–Tommy Robinson–National Front–Faragist persuasion believing it. It is almost as if elements of the media are rejoicing in/encouraging news content. There is always a fascistic element trickling along the bottom of British politics.

If we only go back to 1930s Britain and Oswald Mosely’s British Union of Fascists which conceived of fascism as a ‘white’ fight against the global forces of ‘colour’ but was initially focussed on antisemitism while members of the Royal Family were courting the ultimate antisemite, Adolph Hitler.

After the war, we had the BNP and the National Front who fed on the utter foolishness of Enoch Powell’s Rivers of Blood speech which was widely seen to incite violence and division. In what has become known in more academic circles recently as The Great Replacement Theory has underpinned these far right beliefs since time immemorial. The belief that England was once populated by some pure-bred English people and all these foreigners are coming in replacing us and diluting our purity is the crude sum of that belief.

Gradually over this new century, this anti-foreigner theme has melded into the poverty of the dispossessed and very much into a North/South split of the haves and have-nots. There is a strong feeling in the North of England that everything goes to the South and they have been deprived and forgotten. There may well be some truth in it and this was harnessed by people like Farage and Johnson to further their own political aims by hitching to Brexit. It was never going to solve poor people’s problems, it has actually made them worse and the result is a massive Left Wing majority.

Across Europe, Macron is struggling to contain the threat and across the pond Kamala Harris is rising to the challenge of the latest right wing icon, Donald Trump. It is hard to opine from this distance but at least it looks as if she is turning it around. In France, Le Penn has tried to soften her fascist party’s face to get elected. In USA, Trump is too far gone to retreat on his lunatic opinions. Harris will find a lot of points to ridicule and attack. Who knows, she might just keep him out and become the first female President.

Friday, 2nd August, 2024

The wonderful weather continues and all around us, farmers are harvesting their crops, before it deteriorates in the Autumn rains.

This area used to be a centre of growing herbs and salad vegetables in acres of glass houses. Many have been replaced by executive 5-bedroom houses now much to the chagrin of some old timers. Quite a lot of wheat grown round here in large fields which are lovely to see.

What farmers can do in their great fields with huge machinery, we have just done in our raised beds around our back garden. Yesterday was cut-and-process-herb-day. The basil is still producing and pesto being made, portioned and frozen for use until next time. Rosemary is thrusting for the sky. Oregano, Thyme, Sage and Tarragon is being washed, chopped and frozen although Chef is also experimenting with her new dehydrator so some will be stored in packs of dried.

The focus of the morning is (drum roll) valeting the car. It is absolutely filthy and has needed it for weeks. For at least a fortnight, it has been covered in Saharan dust which is not a good look. Oh, Dear Reader, I have become a dirty, old man!

And talking about dirty, old men …. Down at the beach, The Great Unwashed were out in force this morning. school holidays, energetic little sprogs, tired parents and grandparents – the excitement of sun, sea and fresh air is just too much.

They were out in force with deck chairs, cool boxes, wind breaks, barbecues, picnics, sun cream and anything else you can imagine for a day at the beach.

Saturday, 3rd August, 2024

Warm but breezy, overcast but with sun breaking through. Chef is making strawberry jam and I am planning an escape but not until I’ve valeted the car which I didn’t get done yesterday. Oh, life is so full, Dear Reader!

Our neighbours all come home today. Their two weeks in the sun done for another year. I am turning my thoughts to UK and Mediterranean travel. While I was searching, this hauntingly beautiful photograph came up from an award winning photo journalist and Sifnos resident, Filoktitis Salaminios. He is a friend of mine and records the darker sides of Greek life.

We first travelled to Sifnos in 1984 having already stayed on Zakynthos, Milos, Naxos and Corfu in the previous 3 years. When you arrive in a new destination and particularly on a small, Greek island, you want to settle in quickly by finding places to stay, modes of transport available and places to eat. Simos Taverna was the ultimately welcoming place to eat by the ferry dock in Kamares. The cook was Nikalos Podotas and the front of house/table waiter was his wife, Vangelitsa. If we arrived in colder months and March/April can be very cold, they were the only place open and their roaring fire was so enticing.

If you are not familiar with Greek traditions, you should know that you don’t sit at a table with a menu and wait to be served. You march into the kitchen and demand to see what all the huge cooking pots on the hot range contain. You make your selection, the cook memorises it and the assistant records it later for the bill (Ο λογαριασμός). In this case, Nikolas is not only the cook but the provider of the ingredients. He runs his farm to grow vegetables but also chickens and pigs and sheep. They are the staple of his kitchen. Most traditional of all is the chickpea that he serves every Sunday in a soup called Revithia (Ρεβυθιά).

In the summer, the tables by the waterside are most popular for a cooling breeze. I liked to sit there because I could see my house part way up the mountain as I whiled away the sunny, hazy days. You see what a photograph can evoke. Sadly those days are gone now and so is Vangelitsa. She died of stomach cancer 20 years ago at the ripe old age of just 61 but I remember her. Nikolas still cooks and farms but his son and daughter have largely taken over. Life moves on ….