Month: November 2024

Sunday, 17th November, 2024

Beautiful blue sky and strong sunshine to start the new week. Just 3 weeks until the Blog has be going for 16 years. Many have died both literally and metaphorically in that time. For some, it was a welcome release. The Assisted dying Bill may be as a direct response to Blog readers.

To celebrate the day, I had my haircut and then went for a lovely walk in the park for a change.

The equipment in the Gym is all computer driven. Computers are sensitive to temperature and low temperatures particularly. Of course, the garage was not connected to the house heating system so I had to have a separate system installed.

I bought an oil-filled, electric vertical radiator which seemed to work well but I soon realised it had a function missing – remote control. While we were away in the winter months, I couldn’t turn it on. This morning, 3 years after installing it, I’ve found it isn’t working. It gives me a chance to readdress the issue.

Things have moved on and improved. There are always benefits for the righteous, Dear Reader. There are so many radiators available that provide an app to control from my phone. That is what I will order tomorrow.

Monday, 18th November, 2024

Lovely morning – mild and comparatively bright. My first job on a Monday is to take the bins out. Was rather shocked to read that some areas in England are so cash strapped that they are proposing to collect Black Bins only once a month. Ours are collected weekly and there is no current suggestion of changing.

Did an early walk by the beach. The tide was on its way out. The sky was watery bright and the air was comparatively warm. The news from the North of England is less comfortable. Quite a bit of snow is forecast for them this afternoon. If I had been at work this morning, I would have been wondering if there would be a problem driving home over the Pennines to night and then getting to work tomorrow. I know we always felt it was our responsibility to be there early, before other staff arrived to make sure things went smoothly, the school was safe and had enough staff to work it.

Sometimes, I get up and suddenly realise I no longer have any responsibilities. A weight is lifted almost like a revelation of freedom. I wonder if I’ll ever throw that off. I don’t know if this happens to you, Dear Reader, but I experience a regular and frequent discomfort in retirement. I cannot sit still and indulge myself for long without getting an uncomfortable feeling of disquiet that I should be doing something and I am ignoring my responsibilites. It’s rather like an inverse imposter syndrome. It is hard to reconcile the fact that I am no longer needed.

While the sea promenade is being redeveloped the old buildings, including the toilets, have been demolished. I’m not sure they have successfully resolved the issue however temporary.

My tutor at College 55 years ago died yesterday. He was 95 and he had relinquished his responsibilities long ago.

Talking to friends/ex-students this morning, we reviewed our pioneering group of 24 boys who went through the 69/72 courses and only 20 are still alive with at least one living is sheltered accomodation. It does make you wonder who is next and under what circumstances.

Tuesday, 19th November, 2024

Humankind has been obsessed with time since, well …. Time immemorial. As Philip Larkin wrote, Days are where we live. What has always fascinated me is our differing reactions to it. What I’ve never been able to understand are the ones who say they have no interest but staying in the moment. The Now.

You, Dear Reader, may be more familiar with Morrisey and The Smiths than I and you will know his song, How Soon Is Now?

When you say it’s gonna happen now
When exactly do you mean?
See I’ve already waited too long
And all my hope is gone

Sometimes the slowness of time can bring real angst. When we long for something else, a watched pot never boils. When we are enjoying an experience, we want time to stand still. We want that moment to go on for ever. Stop the World. I want to get off.

Of course, neither position can be realised in reality but both are responses to our being trapped in the space-time continuum concept of Stephen Hawkins book. I’m not interested in History, people say. Why live in the past? It is not a thoughtful, intelligent or reflective view of our lives. I remember a film in which a family were all in a car driving to the seaside and singing:

We’re here because we’re here because
We’re here because we’re here because
We’re here ….

ad infinitum. The circularity, the very insularity, is almost an attempt to blot out the past and block thoughts of the future. We are here only because we are here is a denial of humanity. It is the ultimate vacuity. I can tell you that getting cancer really concentrates the mind on time left and puts things into perspective.

A people without history
Is not redeemed from time, for history is a pattern
Of timeless moments.

Little Gidding (1942) – T. S. Eliot

There is no present or future, only the past, happening over and over again – now, as Eugene O’Neill wrote. And when we examine those who deny interest in the past, they are the first to recognise and celebrate birthdays, wedding anniversaries, lay flowers at the graves of those who have been and are gone.

Time present and time past
Are both perhaps present in time future,
And time future contained in time past.

Four Quartets – T. S. Eliot

This morning, my wife is off to the Beautician’s for a couple of hours. Quite a lot of restoration is required – reclaiming the past. I’m home alone waiting for a delivery and booking people to install my new radiator in the Gym. And that’s where I will be this morning because it’s raining. Getting fitter by the day and trying to stay alive as long as possible into time future. Have a lovely day, Dear Reader.

Wednesday, 20th November, 2024

What is happening? We have distict signs of frost on the lawn. The sun is out but the temperature is only 2C/36F. Might need a fleece when I walk outside this morning even though we have gorgeous sunshine.

Got some workmen calling first to inspect a small job. The new radiator for the Gym was delivered last night. Some exhausted young man hurriedly arrived in a white van, ran to my house at 6.30 pm with a 50lb package and ran back to his van. He had disappeared almost before I’d closed the door. What a life! Who would be a white van man?

When I was a young teacher, full of vigour and ambition, I was always tired. Mind you, I was surviving about 4 hours sleep a night and studying for an Arts Degree while teaching full time. Later in Education Management, mental tiredness left me driving home with a head feeling like concrete and almost incapable of thought. Now, tiredness is physical and utter bliss.

There is something really wonderful and self-congratulatory about the fatigue of exercise and that is what I feel in retirement. I am an all-or-nothing personality and pushing myself to the limit is genuinely rewarding. An old friend was declaring his achievement of Dry October. Three months without alcohol and counting for me at the moment. All or nothing. I love red wine but I also love my power over it rather than adiction to it.

My new varifocal glasses have proved so successful that I ordered a second pair this morning and my wife who already has 4 pairs of reading glasses ordered a fifth pair combined with sunglasses so she can read her Kindle out in the garden – unless, of course, she’s thinking of wearing them in bed. We went on to buy some Christmas cards – with robins on, of course. This year will be a crossover year. Anyone who can be reached by Whatsapp or Email can expect an e-card. Those who I can only reach by text or snail-mail will get a robin.

On to the fish shop for 2 dozen locally caught sea bass and 2kg of Tuna and then on for a walk. The beach and sea were looking gorgeous today at a time when our old stomping ground of the Pennines was looking as illustrated above.

Thursday, 21st November, 2024

Up before 6.00 am and out before 7.00 am on a cool, dark morning. Driving to Gatwick Airport South Terminal to meet a B.A. flight from Tampa, Florida. Collecting P&C and driving back to Byfleet, Surrey. Just hoping we don’t get caught up in rush hour to the city.

I love driving in the dark and that was the first half of our journey. Long queues at roundabouts as people headed for work. Couldn’t do that every day. We arrived just after 8.00 am but parking was difficult. South Terminal Short Stay was packed. We drove around for some time before finding a spot.

Out across the concourse to Arrivals and the Flight Board which confirmed for us that the Landing would be 20 mins early. We found the Passenger Exit point and waited. And waited. And waited. One full hour after landing, the 5 strong party came into view. The apparatus around flying seems to have got more onerous and time consuming since we first flew 45 years ago. It really makes me prefer to drive if it is a viable alternative.

David, James & Jade went off to their car. P&C came with us. A 40 mins drive to Surrey, drop off P&C and then an hour’s drive home.

This last leg is always lovely but today it was absolutely beautiful with trees in strong Autumn colour in lovely sunshine from a gentle sky. The round trip took us 5 hours and then I had my exercise routine to complete. An hour in the Gym and an hour out walking will do today.

A sign of the times: on this day in 1971, the band, Lindisfarne performed at my College as part of their Lady Eleanor Tour. Look at them now.

Do you remember this, Dear Reader, from 1971? Don’t think I’ve heard it since then. I remember Whispering Bob Harris on The Old Grey Whistle Test though.

Friday, 22nd November, 2024

Gorgeous morning opens with just a hint of frost on the roofs. It had been a night of huge, sparkling stars. Were you gazing, Dear Reader? I was before I went to sleep, perchance to dream.

Busy morning. Lots of shopping and then I am contacting a new security company to discuss taking over our CCTV system. I haven’t been happy with our initial company so I’m going to invite our Burglarm Alarm servicers to take over management. I want them to install a video-doorbell which will alert our smartphones as well.

Can’t believe how lucky we were yesterday. We did the Gatwick Airport run successfully and all went well. Today would have been a nightmare. There has been a bomb scare which has closed all the access roads to the airport.

Those in the airport or arriving back to the airport have been forced to evacuate and stand outside in the cold. There is a suspected bomb in luggage on an arriving plane. Very exciting!

We very rarely eat red meat – occasionally Stuffed Peppers & very occasionally grilled Steak. Tonight I am making Beef Ragoût for Supper. It will, of course, be outstanding and a real treat. I make it from the most wonderful Skirt of Beef from our Butcher. It is so tender, I am almost tempted to turn it into Steak Tartare but wouldn’t be allowed.

Saturday, 23rd November, 2024

I am back in shorts and tee shirt. It went from 4C/39F to 14C/57F over night …. but wet. Exercise will be in the Gym today. On days like this it is a life saver. Kevin in Leeds and Julie on the North Yorkshire coast have both got snow this morning. I’m going to spend a bit of time looking for some sunshine.

First, though, my eye was caught by a story from the mean streets of Oldham. A story appeared in the Manchester Evening News that immediately flooded my memory banks. Around 46 years ago, we appointed a bright new Maths teacher called Frank to our school where he had been a pupil. A couple of years later, we appointed an attractive, young Home Economist called Diane to the staff. Within months, they were an item and subsequently married.

After a short spell, Frank decided he didn’t want to teach in Oldham and he and Diane went off to teach in Malawi. As a staff, we learned the Malawi National Song to sing to them as they left. That didn’t last long and they came back rather sheepishly. Frank went into Insurance for a while and Diane came back to us.

Suddenly, we were told that they were buying a school! It was Farrowdale School in Shaw – a private school for kids aged 3 – 16 yrs. They ran it successfully for 30 years although I think it was harder work than they imagined and not the money spinner they hoped either.

They retired and sold up, about 10 years after us and started the normal retirement travel plan – Australia, New York, Spain, etc. Suddenly and without warning, Frank was diagnosed with a Brian Tumour and was gone in weeks. Diane had been left to continue a long, lonely retirement of narrowing possibilities.

Sorry – all triggered by a news item – and rather sad but a salutory lesson to measure life by.

And so to the Gym all the way across the garden. Two full hours I’ve got to do today. Fortunately, I’m watching an engrossing and intelligently written drama spanning four tumultuous decades during The Troubles in Northern Ireland. It’s available on Disney Plus and called Say Nothing which is what IRA families were taught to do in the face of an authoritarian military occupation from the mainland.

It is our history, my history and centres on the 1972 abduction and murder of Jean McConville by the IRA who suspected her of being an informer. She was a Protestant married to a Catholic in Belfast. She was torn from her family, dragged away and never seen again until her body was discovered some 30 years later. The drama strongly indicts Gerry Adams as a central figure in the action. He has always denied his membership of the IRA in the face of strong evidence. I have always believed that a united Ireland was the only acceptable position and we do look as if that will come about maybe even in my lifetime.

That is Gym-time watching for me alone. Evening sharing is the most unlikely pick for me but I am really enjoying it. You wouldn’t put me down as someone who enjoys stories about love and relationships but that is what I am doing. I pay for Netflix, Amazon Prime, Apple TV+, Disney Plus, ITV-X but ‘free’ on iPlayer is a genuinely funny and gentle series of mini episodes called Cheaters. It is a drama, semi comic series about sex, relationships and infidelity.

Sunday, 10th November, 2024

Well, I was wrong about the shorts. Lovely, warm morning for walking by the beach. There were even people in the sea. I walked past a garden full of blooming roses this morning – in the middle of November.

As part of our year of travel, we are considering again a couple of Winter (UK) months in Australia. We would do December (2025) – January (2026) for the best weather and, we think Sydney for the best overall experiences. Flights at the beginning of December and back at the end of January with Emirates via Dubai would cost us just over £7,000.00 especially if we commit early so that will be under discussion this week.

Currently health, fitness and diet are high up the agenda. It is the reason why we are not travelling. Enjoyment, relaxation, indulgence are all part of travelling. I can’t risk that at the moment. It would encourage me to eat and drink outside my plan. It would make the exercise routine more difficult.

I’m not just thinking about calories in the diet. I am trying to think healthy holistically. There was an interesting but horrifying article in The Times yesterday about the all round problem. It sort of establishes the narrow options for a healthy diet. It almost entirely dictates non-processed foods. Processing involves sugar/salt well over safe amounts, additives and preservatives both of which are dangerous. The cooked meats in the picture above used to feature in my meals. Not anymore. The salt content and preservatives are seriously dangerous just as fried food has been dropped.

My diet over the past decade has increasingly become fish/chicken and green vegetables. Salt & pepper don’t go on the dining table but are just a part of the cooking and herbs and lemon juice replace them for flavouring. One of the ways I control my hunger is through drinks. I love fresh coffee and I love wine. The Times article makes clear that just 4 cups a day of the former and complete prohibition of the latter is the advice. I’m not sure I can go that far but I have done 75 days without alcohol although I have also been thinking of buying a new coffee maker.

Monday, 11th November, 2024

What is happening? The world looks different. We have blue sky and sunshine this morning. It is warm outside. Not sure if I can cope.

The walk was done in shorts and tee shirt in lovely, warm sunshine. What a joy. Makes such a difference after a depressing fortnight of greyness.

Back home, I am speaking to our home security installers. I need the software controller upgrading and I want a video doorbell installing that I can back up to my own, home cloud. If I’m spending months in Europe and Australia next year, it will be important.

Talk about surveillance. As we parked up at the cook shop this afternoon, I had the distinct feeling that I was being watched. These massing starlings seem to be starting later this year.

The big event of the afternoon is a trip to Lakeland. Being married to a cook, they have featured quite a lot in our lives. Back in the 1970s, they used to be called Lakeland Plastics because they were founded to supply plastic wrappings to the Agricultural industry. Over the past 60 years, they have transmogrified into a kitchen/cooking products suppliers with about 90 outlets across the company. They figured in our lives because chef could only source some, cutting edge, things on their website. We have spent a fortune there over the years.

Now, an outlet has been opened a couple of miles away from us. Chef came home with a (drumroll) …. cake icing turntable and the big prize, a complimentary Lakeland shopping bag. What more could any girl want?

Tuesday, 12th November, 2024

Oh, what a gorgeous day ….. Thank goodness normal service is resumed in some ways. Warm and bright to raise the spirits. Mermaids in the sea.

East Beach Cafe outdoor seating is a lovely place for coffee and basking in the sunshine. Early in the morning, the promenade is quiet. I must admit even I am surprised how long into the end of the year people are still able to swim. I don’t think I will be trying it.

On this day exactly a decade ago we were in Athens not for leisure but for business. We were spending a lengthy, nervous hour in this bank securing thousands of pounds worth of Euros from the final payment tranche from the sale of our house. It was a nerve wracking situation that you had to be in the middle of to understand. Getting money out of Greece in particular was especially difficult. They had gone through the financial crisis and well-off Greeks had been smuggling most of their cash out of the reach of the tax authorities. As a result, all money being moved out of the country was closely supervised.

We were going to the National Bank of Greece where we had an account but we were using a branch in Syndagma, Athens – pictured above. The people were not known to us and we were strangers to them. They were extremely suspicious. Were we money laundering drug dealers? Were we trying to avoid paying Greek Government tax? Well … You may think that but I couldn’t possibly comment. Having established the probity of our money, the bank manager then tried to sell us some investment bonds which we declined and the money was winged electronically to our UK account. A big sigh of relief followed by an even bigger glass of wine. A decade on, that money has been working hard for us through careful investment management. It will warm-line the cold winds of our old age.

Wednesday, 13th November, 2024

At least it’s not Friday. With clearer skies come beautiful sunsets. Where were you last night, Dear Reader? The South Coast is beautiful on evenings like this.

Of course, clearer skies bring colder nights. We went down to 9C/48F last night which is quite cool. This morning has opened bright and sunny. Going out early for a long walk beside the sea and then collecting my new, varifocal glasses. I’m hoping they will improve my driving experience. I need to be able to see the road and read the car’s digital information at the same time. Everything – speed sign, actual speed, sat.nav. direction, lane-keep setting, etc. – is projected up on to the windscreen just above the steering wheel. I am peering over the top of my driving glasses to read it. It is a bit dangerous.

On to hospital to sit outside an office for an hour in an almost empty waiting room. It is hard to understand how this has been achieved after previously packed hospitals and long queues. Anyway, things are moving forward and may be sorted out later this week …. Spoke too soon. It isn’t sorted out at all. Might be 3 months wait.

After a long and tiring morning, this afternoon, Chef begins to cook for Christmas. Two huge Christmas Cakes and two Christmas Puddings none of which will be eaten by us. An hour in Sainsburys sourcing all the ingredients and then another few hours in the Kitchen with the early preparations. This is fun for her. I will be in the Gym working out and watching the new adaptation of The Day of the Jackall.

This is my sort of escapist fiction. I have absolutely no idea why. It is one of the magical things about human beings that we cannot fathom but which is so attractive to see. My secretary – long since dead of breast cancer – had an inexplicable fascination/obsession with fire engines and firemen. She could be driving to work or the shops or home and a passing fire engine with all the lights and sirens going compelled her to turn round immediatedly and follow it. My fascination with espionage is not quite so extreme but it is there none the less. Human beings are so interesting!

The new adaptation of the Frederic Forsyth novel on Sky Atlantic is cool and gripping and filmed across 10 x 1 hour episodes. It is the perfect foil for exercise in the Gym, Dear Reader. You should try it.

Thursday, 14th November, 2024

Been feeling sad for a couple of days. This morning I have a full body scan at the hospital and, over breakfast, the BBC Today programme had major items on prostate cancer and the need for early diagnosis. It rather overwhelmed me. Pathetic, I know. I am pathetic. It has to be acknowleged but that doesn’t really help. I heard about a man who had his cancer identified early, had it treated ‘successfully’, went on with his life and then it returned just 4 years later and unbeknown to him. It killed him. When you feel sad, these things seem to attach and bolster the feeling.

Eight years ago, we were spending the month of November here. It is the Rocca Nivaria Gran Hotel on Tenerife. It was magical weather and a glorious time. It was our third month there in a short period over the time we were moving to West Sussex.

Of course, we were in a lovely hotel which was feeding us the most fantastic food & wine whenever we wanted it and however much we wanted but didn’t need. It was all totally over-indulgent inspite of the fact we spent time in the Gym and the Pool, walking on the coastal path and generally keeping active. I still put on weight.

It all seems so far away in terms of Time and Geography. We are stuck in the gloomy, self-disciplined straights of a generally dark month. Yesterday, I missed a gathering of similar old men. As T. S. Eliot said, Humankind can not bear very much reality.

I am facing my reality full on and I have turned my back on fantasy, indulgence and so I carry on my lonely path through a 2024 of work and self-denial. The prize is the promised land in 2025. Sorry about the biblical references. They are so much part of the language that I can’t be bothered excising them.

My wife is currently seriously testing my resolve. Two Christmas puddings have been steaming outside – 6 hours in all. Now they are cooling off in the kitchen with the all pervasive scent drifting tantalisingly in to my nostrils. I won’t be tempted. I am just about to embark on my 80th day without alcohol. I am walking 7 miles a day so I have done well over 500 miles in this time. The weight is coming down. I’ve been plateauing for a short while and now on the way down again. My trainer has lost as much as she dares. She is now allowed chocolates.

Friday, 15th November, 2024

Winter is coming. You can feel it, Dear Reader. There is an edge in the air, a harshness, a lack of tenderness:

“A cold coming we had of it,
Just the worst time of the year
For a journey, and such a long journey:
The ways deep and the weather sharp,
The very dead of winter.”

T.S Eliot – The Journey of the Magi (1927)

Last night we had the central heating on for an hour so it must be serious. Before the hour was up, we were sweating. That’s what I like about modernity. The house is a new-build with all the advances in insulation and comfort that owners of older properties could only dream of. I love the heating controls. It was one of the best decisions I made to install it. It makes the use of heating so easy and so infinitely controllable.

Unlike the old days, we can now control the heating in different zones of our house at the press of a button on our smartphones. It means that we don’t waste money heating areas we aren’t using or heating those we are using for longer than needed. This is what the internet-of-things can do for us. This is what life should be like.

I have an app on my computer that downloads weather satellite video projections/forecasts for the days ahead. It allows us to map the movements of clouds and winds, of rain and temperatures. When I lived in the North of England – in Greater Manchester and West Yorkshire – Winter was always an experience. The journey over the Pennines was difficult and often snowbound. School was often closed because it was unsafe. The school was a 1950s build with drafty iron-framed windows. Pupils lived in old housing stock which were often cold and damp.

We are not immune to cold down here but snow is extremely rare. Certainly the last sighting was long before we arrived 8 years ago. (Of course, now we will see avalanches this year.) But the sea is like a ground source heat pump. It holds temperature when the sky is losing it. Living on the coast, we are usually 2-3C above the countryside inland. Doesn’t sound much but it is enough to make all the difference.

Was sent a memory yesterday which really put life into context. This photo is of the College Refectory where we ate at the beginning of the 1970s. It was a grey, analogue time of plug-in 3 bar heaters, warm clothes and of calorie-busting food. So long, so far away …..

Saturday, 16th November, 2024

Wonderful full ‘Super’ moon last night. The garden was floodlit at midnight. Quite magical. The sky was full of huge and brightly shining stars. A night when people of a religious persuasion would look up and say they could see the light of heaven. They would imagine their dead loved ones leading an eternal life in a mystical, starry afterworld.

Those who have crossed
With direct eyes, to death’s other Kingdom
Remember us ….

And voices are in the wind’s singing
More distant and more solemn
Than a fading star.

T.S. Eliot – The Hollow Men

You will know, Dear Reader, because I have said it often enough that I am an atheist. I have been all my life although there was a time when I trotted through the rituals of a Roman Catholic faith in a narrow complicity. So my views on moral/spiritual issues come from the standpoint of Humanism. The Assisted Dying Bill in UK which will be voted on in a couple of weeks has interested me for my own stance on it.

Growing up in a world where, before the Suicide Act 1961, it was a crime to take one’s own life and anyone who attempted and survived could be prosecuted and imprisoned, while the families of those who died could also potentially be prosecuted. In part, that criminalisation reflected religious and moral objections to suicide as self-murder. Because of that, I have always believed that the State could never preside over individual life and death. I am utterly opposed to Capital Punishment and I have always held the view that every person had the right to take their own life ….. until now.

Now I am having doubts – not that we should have the free-will over our own lives but the burden it will put on doctors. I have seen people with terminal illnesses have their lives hastened away in over worked hospitals with drugs that blur the lines between pain relief and death-induction.

The first rule of Medicine is to do no harm but this would be severely tested if elderly people press medics to administer or help them self-administer life-taking drugs. It is an area fraught with ethical uncertainty.

We are already in this uncertain world with DNR notices. A Do Not Resuscitate is a legal document that’s usually written by a healthcare provider after discussing the risks and benefits of CPR with the patient, their loved ones, or their legal decision-maker. People who choose to have a DNR often have a terminal illness or other serious medical condition. We are in the world of Assisted Dying already. Geriatrics could easily slip into Euthenasia. Moving towards the geriatric stage myself, I wouldn’t be comfortable with that.

More than anything else, what this has shown me is that I am capable of change. I can have my opinion altered by sound argument. I am not set in my ways …. completely. There is hope.

Sunday, 3rd November, 2024

Grey, grey, grey, grey. Warm but grey into the near future. There are a few chinks of light but they are few and far between. This from the beach last night gives a glimpse of the glory to come.

Quite chilly walking by the sea this morning but I’m still in shorts and tee shirt. Quite a few of the older walkers in coats and boots give me astonished looks and are clearly surprised. I don’t like to tell them that, when you’ve lived in Lancashire, this is like mid-Summer.

Fifteen years ago, we were still living in Yorkshire. We were driving to Greece each year and wanted to be nearer the Channel Tunnel. We were living in a perfectly nice place but it was a big house with five bedrooms which we just didn’t need for only 6 months of the year. We wanted to move South to be nearer to The Tunnel. I wanted to go down to Kent for exactly that reason. We set off for a tour to look around the Ashford, Folkestone, Dover, Sandwich, Canterbury areas followed by looking around the Rochester, Gillingham, Chatham area.

We ended up with a half way house by buying in Surrey. It was very profitable but I wasn’t happy there and it wasn’t by the sea. The Sussex coast is a real delight after that.

Of course all, serious eyes are on the USA this weekend. After Labour’s demolition of the Tories 3 months ago, what the world needs desperately is a Democrat government over the Atlantic Ocean. The Americans are absolutely bonkers. Their religiosity is bonkers. Their worship of the gun is bonkers. They scream about not allowing abortion but desperately insist on their right to carry guns to kill people. Their insularity is bonkers. So many Americans don’t even have passports and know little and care less about the world beyond their own continent. How can people live that way? It’s a nervous time.

Monday, 4th November, 2024

Went out for a local walk early this morning. The main event of the day is a trip to Worthing Hospital. Not really sure what to expect other than a fight for a car parking space ……..

…… Well, the car park turned out to be the best part of the experience. The hospital part was something of an anticlimax. Still, there will be more to come. The hospital is building a huge, new wing for emergency admissions and cannibalising the carparking for the space. Sounds trivial but it is essential to sort that out.

You will probably already be familiar with Thomas Malthus, Dear Reader. His theory – An Essay on the Principle of Population was published in 1798. It was a seminal work of political economy in which he posited the theory  that population growth is potentially exponential while the growth of the food supply and other resources is linear. According to this theory, poverty and inequality will increase as the price of assets and scarce commodities goes up due to fierce competition for these dwindling resources. This increased level of poverty eventually causes depopulation by decreasing birth rates.

Modern caveats to Malthusianism reference Birth Control and Abortion as mitigating factors but, even now, the basic principle survives. Yesterday, I found an interesting article in The Times which referred to Britain’s Tumbling Birthrate and centred on Brighton just down the road from us.

Of course, having gone through a cost of living crisis – some would say many are still going through it – and real terms inflationary pressure, young couples are disincentivised against having a family. With home ownership being pushed back into middle age and many 30 year olds still living with their parents, when are they going to find the time, space and freedom to create babies?

The sky high price of housing in our region is clearly proving an insurmountable barrier to many young people and the knock on effect, to coin a phrase, is a lower birthrate. We will all need to do our bit.

Tuesday, 5th November, 2024

Everything is grey. The light that informs the scenery is grey. We just have to keep making an effort and believing that things will brighten.

It looks like Winter but it is really warm. Walking, walking, walking back to full health and fitness. I am managing 7 miles a day now so only 3 short of where I was before the cancer treatment. Reasonably pleased with that. It seems to be a better balance in terms of the time it takes up.

There is always something interesting to see on the walk despite the light. Here I can introduce you to my new, best friend. Harbinger of Death, Colin the Crow seems to have a copy of my Will already.

I try to learn new things all the time. It is important to keep pushing your mind as much as your body. This morning, I received a news flash from the Manchester Evening News as I do a number of times each day, every day. It was a simple, local incident in Rochdale where police had closed a street called Oberlin Street off Manchester Road. I wanted to know what this name derived from and a casual search brought up an Oberlin Street in Oldham as well. There had be something more to this.

As a student of Labour History, I was well aware of the influence of Robert Owen – 18th/19th century textile manufacturer, philanthropist and social reformer, and a founder of Utopian Socialism and the Co-operative movement. What I didn’t know was that J. F. Oberlin, a contemporary of Owen and a pastor from Alsace, was separately espousing the tenets of Christian Socialism. There were clearly Oberlin Philosophy missions in the working class districts of the North West but there is still a huge Oberlin College in Ohio, U.S. which lists the Rochdale Co-Operative principles as informing its foundation.

Let’s hope the spirit of Rochdale social co-operation permeates out from the Oberlin College, Ohio into the nation as a whole and brings victory to Kamala Harris. What a wonderful symbol of social and intellectual mobility that would be. Utopian Socialism. One can always dream ….

Wednesday, 6th November, 2024

Well that really is depressing. I woke at 5.45 am to the news that the American madness has returned. It is a difficult thing to hear and makes me draw in upon myself, insulate myself, hunker down and wait for it to pass.

Even so, I fear for Europe in general and Ukraine in particular. I fear for the protectionism of the USA and its effects on the World economy. It’s not my job to fear for the American people who have taken that decision but an insular Presidency can only mean trouble for World security in terms of standing up to despots but also in terms of Climate action.

Out on my walk this morning, the greyness reflected the mood. It may be warm still but it is depressingly bland. It is amazing what a difference sun can bring to the world. I must get some!

We have four years of a convict dominating the Western World, sucking all the oxygen out of Liberal Democracies and pandering to the basest instincts. There is always music for the occasion and this sums it up.

Well Dear Reader, I wonder if it depresses you as much as me. Probably not. Perhaps I take it all too seriously. I know there are intelligent people out there who understand my plight and all offers of consolation will be welcome. Here, I am trying to take comfort in my dieting and fitness campaign. I have been on it for 10 weeks now. That means no alcohol for 70 days so far. I calculate that has saved me around £1000.00 over that time. We have taken out a savings plan to capitalise on and reinforce it. In fact, my weight is coming down in inverse proportion to the way my savings accounts are going up. We have to take comfort in small, localised wins.

Thursday, 7th November, 2024

It is one of those days when I am delighted to find it is grey and dull. Today, I have to go to the Eye Hospital for a diabetic eye check. I have always been particularly careful with my eyes because I only have ever had sight in my right one. Most people who know me are not really aware of that. It has never held me back having suffered it since birth.

This morning, I am going to be tested by a piece of kit sexily known as a Slit-Lamp Biomicroscope. Slit-lamp biomicroscopy involves two-photon imaging of the cornea using femtosecond laser microscopes and tomographs.

It’s a lot of words but essentially it means a slit-lamp, which is a specialised magnifying microscope, which is used to examine the structures of the eye, including the cornea, iris, vitreous, and retina, and produces a three-dimensional image of the internal structures.

In order to scan the eyes, I will have to have them enlarged temporarily and about 15 mins before the scan I have drops put in to dilate the pupils and stop them becoming smaller when lights are shone into them. As a result, walking out into daylight afterwards, sunlight is agony for a couple of hours. So, welcome to a grey, dull morning.

It’s over and I am pleased to say that the verdict is good. It appears that I have a cataract developing ….. in my blind eye but not in my good one. It would be pointless to operate. Apparently, half of all 80 year olds have cataracts. I’ve always been terrified of a cataract operation on my one good eye because of the risks. Not much I can do about it but it is a concern. However, for now, all is well.

Going out to start the exercise for the day. Weight is falling quite fast at the moment. Pauline is worried that hers is going too far. She will continue to exercise but stop dieting so hard. I will continue with both for the next 6 months.

À propos of absolutely nothing, thought you might like this. It was sent to me this morning – a picture of serenity. Littlehampton Marina at night time.

Friday, 8th November, 2024

The warm and grey goes on. This morning my entire life will be thrown into confusion as my broadband feed is switched from BT to EE. Internet will be disrupted – hopefully for no more than a couple of hours – and I am painfully aware how many taken-for-granted services will be suspended. The new internet feed will provide additional bandwith or extra channels and our household definitely needs it.

The demands are comparatively huge. We have 7 TVs & Sky Q-Boxes going out to the Gym where we also have wifi heating controls. Our main central heating is wifi controlled. The car outside is also as are our our landline phones and our home security cameras. The radios in bedrooms are wifi fed and our mobiles use wifi for best signals inside the house. Laptops, iPads, smart_watches all will stop for a while. It is hard to imagine all these services going down even for two hours but …. they will.

Talking about things going down: in coming to terms with the relative brevity of life, I have had this image in my head for a long time that seems to sum the inevitability of it up. My wife refuses to admit it will ever happen to either of us but …. people from our experience and age bracket are disappearing.

Today I read of an old, Greek friend who had died within weeks of his wife dying on the island. Of course, in typically sentimental and flowery language it is reported in the Greek newspaper – Apostolos Diaremes “left” for the long journey. The island is getting poorer and poorer. Certainly, Apostolos was a lovely man. He was our taxi driver and our friend. He would appear at our gate with a box of tomatoes, peppers & courgettes from his garden for two mad English people – immigrants to his island. I’m not sure how old he was – a little bit older than us – but inevitability is mixed with sadness and regret.

Saturday, 9th November, 2024

Grey and a little colder this morning. I have a feeling that I may well be coming to the end of shorts and tee shirt on the beach for the season. I’ve done it this morning but I was definitely one of the few. This treasure hunter definitely didn’t need sun cream this morning.

Well, the broadband installation went well. The next project is to get the Home Security team in to look at our current CCTV camera provision and to install a video doorbell. This is preparation work in readiness for a big, travelling year in 2025. This weekend, I’m going to be looking again at an Australia trip for a couple of months next Winter. We really have to do that.

I’ve been researching it myself, of course and the whole thing seems fraught with difficulties. It isn’t just a matter of which doorbell but whether I want it to physically chime in the house as well as alert our smart phones. Then there is the problem of saving video and the ongoing cost of storage in the cloud. I’m looking at installing my own, Home Cloud storage to avoid ongoing charges.

I’ve written before about the effect music has on me. I really don’t know why but I absolutely dissolve as it washes over me. I was searching for this piece last night. It is commonly known as Handel’s Largo. Actually, it is the opening Aria from Handel’s opera, Xerxes. I only know all that because my Grandfather gave us an old, wind-up 78 speed gramaphone and some discs that he had treasured. A lot of it was ‘popular’ 1930s trivia but this piece immediately grabbed me and twisted my heart strings. It has stayed with me for the past 60 years.

As I wiped my eyes, the YouTube site I was on listed this which I found a few years ago and I find it hard to believe anyone could feel unmoved by listening to it. I have no religion. I think the idea of a god is absolutely bonkers. This 16th Century piece composed by Italian Catholic priest, Allegri – Miserere mei, Deus translates as Have mercy on me, O God.

If there were a god, it couldn’t failed to be moved by such a beautifully plaintif cry. I find it cuts through me to my core. My Mother would be amazed and immediately hopeful of her project being successful after all these years. Don’t get your hopes up. There is no chance!

And after that, Dear Reader, you may be surprised by this contribution by that well known atheist – Amy Wadge. Keeping Faith accompanied a BBC TV Drama by that name. Irrespective of the drama, this speaks to me with devastating resonance and leaves me a jibbering wreck.