Month: January 2025

Sunday, 19th January, 2025

A cold, grey morning in which one has to grind out the intentions for the day. Political thinking and interview shows, newspaper reading, music, Blog writing, exercise – walking outside and Gym work, football to watch …. and rest.

• Blog starts 839th week – 5,867 days
• Alcohol abstinence for 21st week – 145 days
• Walked 7.5 miles every day for 141 days – 1057 miles

The news is all centred around the Gaza deal which looks like it will start in the next few hours. The political interview shows are hijacked by this news and the Trump slant on it. It is still very disturbing that the media is so dominated by right wing ownership and thinking and that the print media feeds the Radio/TV media to generate a blanket right wing noise.

Music today is centred on one of my favourite instruments – the cello – and one of my favourite exponents of the cello – Jacqueline du Pré who died so tragically young. It is a very sad sound and a very sad piece in the gloomy light of this morning – Gabriel Fauré’s Élégie in C minor Op. 24. The irony is that the context of my introduction to this piece was the shabby poverty of Acre Lane in 1973 across which this rich but plaintive sound played.

An interesting piece in the Sunday Times today illustrated the passage of time across the generations. My age are known as The Boomers because we were the product of the post-war baby boom that attempted to replace the war dead and celebrate a brave new world.

My generation are all now in our 70s. We are early Boomers because our early life was still influenced by rationing and demob talk. All the talk recently has been about Gen Z (pronounced as an American Gen Zee) who are so disillusioned with the world and with politics and so far away from Hitler and World War, from Stalin and the Cold War that they espouse no democracy prefering the leadership of a strong autocrat.

The Millenials or Generation Y are so called because the oldest members of this generation became adults at the turn of the millennium. They, on the other hand, value convenience, individuality, ethics, and sustainability. When I look down the list, I find little I disagree with. I must be young at heart. For those readers who accuse me of obsession with the Past, they are clearly wrong. Like Millenials, I welcome the new, technological innovations of the age but it is only possible to fully appreciate them in light of what they replace, supersede, improve on.

I’ve done an hour’s walk in quite cold (4C/39F) temperatures. Now I can allow myself to watch the football …. while exercising in the Gym.

Monday, 20th January, 2025

A bright, sharp start to the morning as I discovered when I put the bins out. My next door neighbour remarked that I seemed to be getting slimmer by the week which raised my spirits and set me up for today’s effort. I am catching up on correspondence with friends and reading my digital copies of The Times, The Telegraph and The Guardian while listening to the music of the day – Brahms | Violin Sonata No. 1 in G major op. 78 in the background. Delicious!

Meanwhile, Chef is portioning up 8 pints of stock which were produced in the pressure cooker outside in the garden yesterday. Outside because the smell is all-pervasive and it drives the neighbours’ cats wild rather than permeating the house. The stock is then stored in the outside freezer for future use. Chef is amused that a Turkey bought after Christmas for just £8.00 instead of £60.00 has provided 4 meals and all this stock – the true meaning of home economy.

Window cleaner’s here today and the glass is sparkling in the sunshine. He only comes once a month and still charges £21.00 as he has done for almost 8 years. He seems happy and does a good job so all is well in window land.

If you have a smartphone and are a Boomer or younger, you probably use the phone for digital payments. Android phone users tend to have Google Pay and Apple phone users have Apple Pay. They use digital wallets into which one can slot digital copies of all types of cards.

Mine contains Credit/Debit cards, Shopping Cards like Nectar, Waitrose, Tesco Clubcard, etc.. It also contains, at times, my Boarding Passes for flights, Airport Lounge cards, Hotel membership cards and more. It will be used for the new, European Visa card and was used for my Covid injection credentials in the past.

All these cards saved digitally report information about me and my activities to their sponsoring organisations. They are a part of my digital footprint. Of course, any over-sharer like me is not really troubled by that process. Shops see my purchases and target me with offers based on that information. Hotels offer me incentives to book again, etc..

Now, we are going to have a new, government digital wallet for our Driving Licence, Health Records, Pensions and more. Not sure why it can’t be integrated into existing ones but it will certainly put the skids under the phogeys who haven’t got round to smartphones yet. They will become essential to modern life and not a moment too soon.

Quite cool down at the beach this morning although it looks as if Antony Gormley got there before me.

Tuesday, 21st January, 2025

A lovely bright start to the morning which featured my music of the day from Claude Debussy – Deux Arabesques. I didn’t find this until relatively recently but I think it’s going to feature more over the next couple of decades of my life. I hope you’re sampling them, Dear Reader. It’s never too late to try new things …. or old, for that matter.

Today, I’m looking at diet. I have always struggled with my weight. I blame my Mother. I am an early Boomer and was brought up on hearty, calorie-filled meals which included plenty of carbohydrate. Homemade Suet Dumplings with Beef Stew, Shepherd’s Pie, Chicken & Mushroom Pie, Steamed Puddings, Treacle Tart, home made cakes and biscuits, etc.. I’m sure they conditioned my body for life. Of course, childhood was a time of constant moving. I was playing and training Rugby 6 times a week during the Winter and similary Athletics in the Summer. I always remember a girlfriend saying, You never stop moving even waiting for a bus.

When I stopped playing competitively, I tended to put on weight. And so my mature life has been a constant battle. It has taken me a long time to learn to eat low calorie things like green vegetables, salads and fruit. Although starchy foods like pasta, potatoes, bread and rice are generally good for people, they are a nightmare for me. My blood sugar goes sky high and then plummets leaving me feeling the need to eat again. It challenges my self-discipline.

As a result, my wife has devised ingenious ways of replacing carbohydrates. I know science differentiates Simple and Complex Carbs but I just try to control my glucose levels and things like this Spiraliser which makes spaghetti out of Courgettes help me. Not drinking alcohol also helps me because alcohol fuels hunger and encourages me to eat more than I need. Fortunately, my addictive nature has got me hooked on alcohol-free wine which doesn’t have that effect. Went down to M&S for just that this morning.

One of the funny/interesting things about alcohol-free drinks is that one has to be age-checked to buy it. Why? The supermarkets can’t be bothered adjusting their databases to distinguish between the two. The M&S lady said she wanted 4 examples of identification before she could let me buy it. It’s not cheap at £4.00 a bottle and she was joking. I offered to show her my wrinkles but she suddenly seemed less keen.

Coming out of M&S, the day had lost its light and low, grey cloud arrived. The lights on Worthing Pier were coming on. That will teach me to go to M&S. We are forecast for a week of rain to come. Looks like I’ll be living in the Gym where I’m watching Homeland, an espionage thriller which will keep me going a long time with its 8 Series of 12 episodes each.

Wednesday, 22nd January, 2025

A relatively mild night in which we didn’t fall below 8C/47F but it has brought a grey, misty morning. Fresh fish has been ordered from the coast shop – sides of salmon and locally caught cod – so we will go down for a walk and to collect it. Still finalising travel plans so that is near the top of the list this morning. I’m struggling with a malaise that is dogging me and dulling my incentive to act. I’m working to shrug it off.

Music this morning is a relatively modern piece – less than 100 years old – Aaron Copland’s Appalacian Spring. I first heard it in 1968 in the Prefects’ Room of my Grammar School and found it intriguing but ‘difficult’. I think I still do. It was written at the end of WW2 in 1945 and was seen as clean sweep in the world of music. You hear the cadences of ‘popular music’ woven into it. What I know as The Lord of the Dance is there but that is a hymn written in 1963 so post dating it. What I’ve subsequently discovered is that the melody was taken from the American Shaker song Simple Gifts composed in 1848. I tell myself that I have to listen to ‘difficult’ pieces and that all of this is a learning timeline but, at the age of 73, perhaps it is time to settle for those I really enjoy.

My wife would happily be 20 again. She longs to be younger. She bemoans every sign of aging. In the past, people routinely lied about their age in order to deny the aging process. I think I am out of step because, at every stage, I have always tried to be content with who and what I am. However, I am becoming increasingly concerned about the physical changes of aging. I know I am challenging myself more in retirement but I ache in the mornings, find getting up out of a chair takes longer to straighten up and go forward. When I get out of the car after driving for an hour or so, I walk like an old man bent double with age.

While changes will occur every year, past research shows that, at the protein level, the most notable changes take place around ages 34, 60, and 78. Most people begin to notice a shift in the appearance of their face around their 40’s and 50’s. Other than this, the transition is so incremental as not to be noticeable. It is photographs like this that really hit me hard and go back to my own records.

It is in bones, muscles and joints that deterioration is most noticeable and that’s why I am trying hard to exercise and eat healthily. Unfortunately, my sisters, who must be made of inferior stuff, have had to have a number of their body parts replaced as they fall into the pit of old age. But mental deterioration often gets ignored even though it can be even more devastating to the quality of life. That’s why I read, analyse and write every day. It is why I continue to challenge myself intellectually in the hope that it will stave off or delay dementia and why challenging travel and relationships must be continually pursued into old age. A long walk and a Gym session is where I’m going now and later I will book the next piece of travel abroad.

As Trumpism returns with a vengeance, we must never let this sort of thing back into the body politic:

While the world recoils from the rule of oligarchs, it’s good to see Murdoch and his ilk humbled by Tom Watson and Prince Harry.

Thursday, 23rd January, 2025

Up early. Big day. Today is Dishwasher Day. It is now a month since we had a working dishwasher. If we don’t have a working dishwasher by this evening, I am literally going to kill myself. It has been intolerable! I have had to dry up after each evening meal. It has been like the 1950s. Four weeks ago, we went to Currys to order a new one to replace ours which had broken down after 8 years of good service. We were told we would have to wait a fortnight for it to be delivered and fitted. When it was, they told us immediately it wouldn’t work. There are two sorts of fully integrated, fit under dishwashers – Fixed and Sliding. Who knew?

They delivered a Fixed Door machine and guess what we required. Our kitchen was an upgrade of the standard David Wilson supply which came with an AEG dishwasher and Blackpool illuminations below. The plinth studded with lights means the door has to slide up and down as it opens and closes. Today, they are supposed to be delivering a sliding door dishwasher to bring joy and celebrations to our household.

While I wait in anticipation, I am listening to the music of the day – Mozart – Piano Sonata No. 16 in C Major – in my Office. Can’t decide whether I am enjoying it or not. I wanted to play the Requiem but wondered if it just looked too depressing for a Thursday morning and that you would judge me badly, Dear Reader.

No, to hell with it. I’m going to be daring. I am going to throw caution to the wind and play Mozart’s Requiem in D minor – Lacrimosa. Written, as he was dying, in 1791. Death featured strongly in the lives of the people of the 18th century. Mozart himself died at the age of just 35.

It’s a wonderful word, Lachrymose. We don’t use it enough nowadays. If you don’t know what it means, look it up. You should do that every time you come across a strange word and do it immediately. That’s what Google is for. I was hearing about a lad who shunned all the privileges of a private school education that his parents bought, achieved little or nothing in his school work but suddenly, in his early 20s, realises he is in deficit. He thinks he ought to read some books. Those around him are using words he doesn’t understand.

I was lucky to be brought up with words. My Mother used words all the time. My Grammar School education was big on words. My English teacher had a policy of introducing and getting us to learn a new word every day. He was my Rugby teacher who I idolised and I can still go back to 1963 as he led us to the upper floor window of our classroom overlooking the pitches. We waved his hand across the view and said, Panorama. We then had to use the word each time we saw him around school … until the next word, Aesthetic.

Of course, many years later and as I was learning Greek, I found that the origin of both words was in the Greek. Panorama came from Πανόραμα Pan horama / All view and is pronounced Pan-or-ama. The stress is on the or not the a. Aesthetic came from Αισθητικός and is pronounced Ais-thet-ikos with the stress on the thet.

I am gripped by language. I have carried the lesson around with me for the last 60 years. I can’t not know the meaning of a word. I have to look it up instantly. Of course, I no longer need a dictionary or a thesaurus. Google everywhere is my go-to source. With smartphones, I don’t even have to wait until I get home. I can often be found on a walk looking something up on my phone.

The strangest thing nowadays is that I know so many more words than I realise. While I am writing, I use a word which I think I should check and it invariably turns out to be exactly the right one for that situation. How many words do we all know in our collective subconscious but don’t use enough to make ourselves understood? You ought to try the principle out, Dear Reader. It doesn’t matter what age you are. Learn a new word each day and use it all the time until you get comfortable with it. It is so empowering.

Can you believe it? The dishwasher has arrived. Another Romanian – with pefect English – has arrived to fit it. Turns out the previous plug had overheated and fused to the back of the machine. A new socket is required. An electrician is required. Can you believe it? The Romanian is an electrician in his spare time. He just happens to have a spare socket replacement with him. He does the job in 5 minutes and I pay him £20.00. Dishwasher slots in and the only difficulty is fitting the door. A few nervous moments and … I don’t have to kill myself. We have a working dishwasher.

Friday, 24th January, 2025

Storm? What storm? It isn’t pleasant outside. Dark clouds over head and rain still falling lightly but no storm here. The rain will disappear in the next hour and then we have a good day in prospect. Very mild over night – 11C/52F – but dark under brooding clouds.

To match the weather, I have chosen a piece inspired by rain this morning. Chopin – Raindrop Prelude (Op. 28 No. 15) is just delightful and draws down inside me as it insists with the left hand just as the dark skies do. The prelude is noted for its repeating A♭, which appears throughout and sounds like raindrops.

From the sublime to the ridiculous this morning. Never have I been so happy to have to unstack the dishwasher. It was a joy! We’ve had a dishwasher since we moved to Slade House in 1984. To be without for a month was a nightmare. Sanity is restored once more. Life can begin again.

Mandy was a very young 13 when I first met her in 1978, into animals and particularly horses. She had her own horse in the paddock in front of the house. She was/is clever and has particular emotional intelligence with great interpersonal skills all of which I lack. She was attending Hulme Grammar for Girls. One of the first things she invited me to do was join her and her friend in a game of hopscotch which was chalked out on the patio.

She was known as Titch. Now, 47 years on (What am I saying?) and living in America, Mandy is celebrating her 60th Birthday. We wish her a very happy day and hope she sees it as the milestone it is. She is officially a senior citizen.

Saturday, 25th January, 2025

The day started well at 7.00 am as I got on the bathroom scales. It got much better as we went to the beach for a walk in warm sun. Whatever the warnings were about storms recently, they just passed us by completely.

The world was out this morning – walking, dog walking, cycling. scootering, sailboarding, kyaking, paddling – it was all going on this Saturday morning.

Back for coffee and some Office work. New edition of one of our central credit cards means a major job for updating with so many organisations from media purchases to hotels and holiday bookings to purchasing organisations, iPad and phone apps, etc. Every one has to be Bank cross-checked which adds to the time.

While I work, I am listening to the optimism of the day and the sun and blue sky outside through Vaughan Williams – The Lark Ascending which, ironically, was probably written to signal quite the opposite. Composed in 1914, it rather signalled the end of an era, the final symbol of purity and beauty in Nature that men at war would leave behind in old England – reflecting nostalgia for a partly mythological lost age of innocence.

Anyway, all done now and time to read the press. Like 1914, nothing stays the same. Everything is in a permanent state of flux. And so it is for the government. Growing the Economy is on the front of every Labour politician’s mind and the most effective way to do it is to deal with housing. Young people need places to live. If they can become home owners, they have a stake in society that will change their lives completely.

People who buy houses do so by working, earning money, paying taxes and then spending their money on furniture, furnishings, home services, cars on the drive, etc.. They go on to have children and spend money on them. All of this contributes to the Economy. It drives Demand which commands Supply which drives Consumption and more Demand, etc.

The problem is that many people find it difficult to deal with change. They find it threatening. New houses built in their neighbourhood threaten to change it. The view is changed. The density of people and transport is changed. The collective noise is changed. There is fear of the other – the stranger. Cultures are broadened and challenged. And so a groundswell of dissent based on fear of change arises and threatens inevitable development. And it is inevitable. This is what a Labour Government is bravely siezing.

The village we moved to 9 years ago has had an enormous amount of new housing since we got here. It has changed the feeling of the area, the congestion on the roads and the density of customer demand. This morning, in a trawl of local media of locations from my past – Derby, Greater Manchester, Huddersfield and Sussex, there was no shortage of dissatisfaction with a changing world. Labour are the first government to show a willingness to override them.

Sunday, 12th January, 2025

Another glorious morning with lots of possibilities and tasks to get through. Strangely, I’m feeling a little sadness, emptiness this morning. Something is missing. Got to force myself through it. Music for this morning is another composer I discovered for the first time in the mid-1970s – Rachmaninov, a Russian émigré after the Revolution and a Romanticist.

Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini formed a backdrop to my Degree studies late into the night. It never fails to move me. Probably a bit self-indulgent and not the best choice for today, I am ineluctably drawn to it. I can see myself bashing away on a blue, manual typewriter at the latest essay only sleeping in the early hours of the morning. Strangely, it was an exciting time. Everything was possible.

Exercise, cleaning the car, confirming the next element of the year’s travel all have to be completed today, writing, newspaper reading, etc.. And so life goes on. Particularly today, I want to make final decisions about the Spanish trip in July. I’ve tied up accomodation and travel for May in France, June in Greece, August in Greece and Yorkshire/Lancashire at least once this year. I’ve just got Spain in July and Tenerife in November to tie down.

Might have found a reasonable property for July. It’s only available for 3 weeks and will cost £4,300 but that’s alright. It has a private pool and is near a beach. It has an outdoor kitchen and one indoors with dishwasher and washing machine. It has a good shower and WiFi – two prerequisites. There are a couple of bedrooms and bathrooms. It is in easy walking distance of the beach and a good supmurcado. It is on the edge of the city so offers plenty of restaurants if we want them.

The property is on the outskirts of Torrevieja and means flying to Alicante. Never been there before so that would be interesting. Incredibly cheap to fly in July. Quite a shock after Greek flight prices. My housekeeper remains to be persuaded. I thinks she considers it is not good enough. I may be back to the seach but I’m determined to get this done very shortly. Got to find the month of November in Tenerife before properties there are snapped up.

Monday, 13th January, 2025

A grey, warmer and dry morning. It’s forecast to be a dry week of above average temperatures so all good. Driving up to Surrey later in the morning so time for an hour or so walking.

Music for this morning is an old favourite. I listened to it so often in my garret that I thought I knew every note. It is Beethoven’s 5th Piano Concerto – Emperor. I dare you to listen to it and not be moved, Dear Reader.

To counter balance, I am reading the Group Chat on Whatsapp of a collection of lads (old men) from my student days. They talk a lot of frivolous, inconsequential rubbish – the sort of thing I imagine people talk in pubs to while away the time. I contribute to the Group Chat occasionally but usually I just sit and chuckle. Yesterday, most of the chat went on in the morning and then everyone was off doing their own thing – actually in the pub, watching the football, meeting family, etc. Yesterday at 4.30 pm, a lad called Chris posted:

We will have it in a orange sauce tonight 😏

Nobody picked that up until 5.00 am this morning when Peter asked:

What, Chris? Duck?

Chris got back almost immediately with:

No, loin of pork. Sorry Pete that was meant for my kids.

And there is retired life for you in a simple exchange. We shuffle along in the mundanities of life. There has to be more to it than that.

As predicted my choice of holiday rental was rejected so the search goes on. As always, it is the balance between price and quality that has to be faced. This property is lovely but cost £6,000 for 3 weeks in July. I think it’s worth it but I wait to be instructed.

After an hour of walking, drove up to Surrey avoiding the motorway. Good journey. An enjoyable drive. M is flying back to Florida next week so we went up to say goodbye and to take her birthday present. The girl who I played Hopscotch with almost 50 years ago will be 60 next week as well. Absolutely incredible and scary. She had been to a funeral of a former colleague who had died aged 75. Now that really is scary and absolutely rivets me to achieving all my ambitions quickly.

Stayed a couple of hours and then drove home the motorway route. It was quiet and easy. Home by 4.00 pm and had a banana to get me through. Then, out for another hour’s walk in falling temeperatures. Dark is still coming so quickly. It always feels later than it is. So by 5.30 pm, I have done my target and there is just time for a shower before Supper. Tonight it is Roast Salmon with Pesto Crust accompanied by Green French Beans and Asparagus Spears – and I’m hungry!

Tuesday, 14th January, 2025

Really enjoyed yesterday. Loved the drive through the Surrey Hills, through Horsham & Dorking – a drive of beautiful fields and trees, of skies and hedgerows and remarkably little traffic. Nice to give the car a run and to spend an hour listening to a political podcast against that backdrop. Half way through its 4th month, the new car has covered just 1500 miles. It can’t wait to stretch its legs with a drive to Yorkshire and to France.

Just as I was thinking back over the trip this morning, this article appeared in The Guardian and I think it is right. Ironically, I walked on Box Hill with my Grandfather in 1956. Scary to think that was nearly 60 yeaars ago. Now I drive past it regularly. M is going back to Florida so we had to see her before she flew.

Set out for a walk on the beach in 5C this morning. The waves were crashing foam on to the shingle and roaring back into the sea as the tide turned. I had my musical choice of the day playing in my head: Mendelssohn – Hebrides Overture (Fingal’s Cave). There is something special about being here. Every day is interesting, exciting, mournful, reflective, thought-provoking.

The light, the breeze, the sky, the clouds, the waves, the colours, the sounds all evoke ever changing experiences. They make a walk always interesting and demand – maybe over demand – to be photographed.

I never fail to feel lifted and invigorated by that walk. Never seem to have time to go in the Beach Cafe & Restaurant although it is an incredibly good place to look out over the sea.

By the time I drove home the temperature had doubled to 10C/50F. Might get my shorts back out this afternoon. Very cosy pockets!

My friend, Kevin, had his car stolen from his drive over night about two weeks ago. He has heard nothing since. I was thinking about the problem that electronic, keyless entry is for security.

As long as I have my key in my pocket, a touch on the door handle and it opens. a press on the petrol flap and it opens, a hand on the bonnet and it lifts, a foot swung under the boot and it opens. For that reason, all is easily available to the teenage cloner.

One solution is to have the car report continuously to your smartphone/iPad. A car tracker will do just that. This one costs £150.00 for a 5-year service which includes 2G wireless communication showing exactly where the vehicle is down to the street and the house on a map. With that, Kevin would have been reunited with his car by now.

Wednesday, 15th January, 2025

A warm night has given way to a warm, grey morning. Sounds like the North will have more sunshine than us today and I thought that had been outlawed by the new Labour government. They are doing so many good things that I’m sure they’ll get round to it eventually. Whether it will be before abolition of the unelected House of Lords and return to EU membership or not I’m unsure. Nice to see, this morning, the bonkers Right Wind media having the wind taken out of their sails by lower inflation figures being reported.

We have been without a dishwasher for 3 WEEKS now. I can’t take much more of it. We ordered a new one immediately the old one failed but the wrong replacement was delivered so we have been waiting. There is still another week to go. I’m not sure my marriage will survive it. I’m resorting to music and humour along with plans for the future to blot out reality. Today’s music is Dvořák Violin Concerto in A minor, Op. 53.

At least I have made my neighbours chuckle as they went to work this morning. I don’t know if you use the Professional Networking site, Linkedin. I joined it as an Educational Professional years ago. I constantly got offers of jobs in schools and other educational institutions. When I retired, I wanted to continue my conversations with people but not be not restrict it to education. You have to list an area of expertise or competence so I described myself as Entertainments Manager. I haven’t been on the platform for quite a while and almost forgotten about it.

Near midnight last night, my lovely neighbour, Michelle – a copywriter – sent me this. She was obviously working late.

On Monday, I reported wanting to spend £6,000.00 on three weeks in a villa on the outskirts of Torrevieja. That was vetoed on price alone not least because I want another month in Tenerife in November. Ultimately. I moved my search to Alicante and an apartment. I think I’ve found one. It is decidedly more modest but has all the facilities

It will cost less than £3,000.00 for a three week stay! It has a shared Pool and a groundfloor shared Gym. It has a washing machine, dishwasher, fully equipped kitchen, two bedrooms and two bathrooms, smart TV with satellite channels including Netflix plus wifi. There a nunber of restaurants and shops within walking distance and a beach. I seriously think it will do. I’ve checked the flight prices to Alicante from Gatwick and they are ridiculously cheap. We will sleep on it tonight and a decision will be made tomorrow morning.

Thursday, 16th January, 2025

A mild night and another mild, grey start. The news over the past couple of days has been about inflation down and growth marginally up in the UK but one thing hit me yesterday from the Manchester Evening News and it is something that has always concerned me.

In the days of Tory government, Universal Benefit was introduced some 15 years ago. It rolled up benefits like income support and working tax credit to support low incomes. What it was intended to do was to encourage increased employment opportunities by not taking profits from commercial companies. It was made to look as if it was helping workers while it was really subsidising employers. As a result, employers could pay less than cost of living wages in the full knowledge that government (You and Me) would subsidise them.

In Rochdale and Oldham, one in 11 adults – about 9 per cent – requires the extra support of the low-income benefit despite being in paid employment.

This was clearly not sustainable nor equitable in the long term but sucessive governments have failed to grasp the nettle and force employers to pay a decent wage. This Labour government has increased the minimum wage and lots of businesses are shrieking but still Universal Credit is paid out. Of course, the North of England is where low pay is most prevalent and where wages have to be subsidised by government support most. The real point here is that 9% of all those requiring income support are in actually in paid work.

That conundrum has to be solved and the solution will be inflationary in the short term which is why no one can face doing it. It is almost as difficult as living without a dishwasher three weeks already. The new one should be delivered and installed a week today. It can’t come a minute too soon. To soothe the savage breast, the music I have chosen today is Brahms Violin Sonata No.1 which is a favourite over the years. I just can’t decide whether it fuels or reflects sadness.

Out for an hour’s walk in the countryside and then I have to take my Housekeeper to the Surgery for a Checkup. We are so lucky with our medical practice. The more people move here, the better it seems to step up to the challenge. Even so, I was looking at Private Health procedures in hospitals near us for future reference:

Procedure	Local Cost
Colonoscopy	£2,500.00
Cataract	£3,500.00
Hip Replacement	£5,000.00 – £10,000.00
Knee Replacement	£5,000.00 – £10,000.00

I must admit, I would be reluctant and ashamed to go down that route but the thought of putting life on hold while waiting a year or two for the operation is not really an option I could contemplate unlike those poor people on Universal Credit. I know one or two of my siblings have had to resort to Knee & Hip replacements privately and I understand why.

Friday, 17th January, 2025

A grey, cool morning. Life feels a bit mundane today. I need some sun and I need a dishwasher! I need some sense of purpose. I’ve even put the central heating on. It is 7C/45F outside. According to the World Health Organization, a temperature of 18°C is suitable for healthy people. Our house is currently 21.3C without any heating and it is beginning to feel cold. Am I unhealthy? Don’t answer that, Dear Reader.

Dishwasher will come in 6 days. Thank goodness! Sun will come as soon as I can complete a booking. The Spanish property was thrown into doubt by my fellow traveller so it has been back to the drawing board. In fact, I’m getting a bit fed up of searching. There are so many moving parts to consider. I do so much research and am so cautious before choosing that I can’t decide whether it is experience or aging that is holding me back.

How far is it from the airport now we’ve decided not to drive? How far from the beach? How far from the shops? Has it got all the facilities we require? Does it look fresh and modern or old and tired? Is it value for money. Currently, the property above seems to fit all these concerns. It is just 22 miles from Murcia International Airport and costs £4,200.00 for three weeks. It has all the facilities and looks modern and fresh. Watch this space.

Looks like it might get approval from the negotiator. I have found flights for Murcia International which will be a first. They are so cheap, they are almost being given away.

Saturday, 18th January, 2025

Another grey, cold, winter day. It was relatively warm all night not falling below 6C/43F but suddenly dropped at 7.00 this morning. I am going out to the beach in 2C/36F. I’ve got a new, quilted coat to try out.

People, places and music do it for me. They are the most evocative of memory and emotion. I was reading a Yorkshire newspaper online this morning and it listed so many places from my past that everything flooded across my memory in a rush. Not least, I pictured Castle Hill which is visible from so many places around the area just as was intended.

It encapsulates the power of place and dates back to the Hunters and Gatherers of the Mesolithic age. There appears to have been widespread travel or trade along the river valleys connecting the Yorkshire Wolds, the Peak District and the Mersey & Ribble estuaries. This high place was one of safety. We saw that on Sifnos with its Kastro – a fortified castle on a hill for fighting off invaders.

The current tower is know as the Victoria for obvious reasons having been completed towards the end of Queen Victoria’s reign in 1899 as a memorial but nothing stays the same. Permission was granted in 2022, to build a single-storey above ground restaurant/café/bar including six en-suite bedrooms, public toilets and an exhibition centre. Civilisation evolves even if humans retain their memories of days past.

In keeping with the theme, music today is an old favourite, Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons. Composed 302 years ago, it had been nearly ruined for me by Musak – that awful telephone on-hold filler that pollutes the world. At one time, The Four Seasons was everywhere to the point of death by saturation. Coming back to it this morning was lovely like rediscovering the past afresh.

I read newspapers to keep up with old links. This morning, not only did Castle Hill come up but this article about the small, conservation hamlet of Helme where we lived for almost 20 years came up. It featured an interview with our old friends and neighbours, Tim & Mary. They are about 5 years older than us and have very different interests to us. Tim is into horse racing and ‘pub culture’. He was a solicitor for Kirklees Council. Mary was a mad keen horse rider and very into dogs. Unlike us, they are still in Helme after 45 years.

As they say, you go go travelling to see the world or stand still and let the world come to you. I’m not sure it completely holds but there is a kernel of truth in it. I prefer movement and new horizons as long as I can always come back and revisit. I believe we lose out by staying in once place too long but … each to his own.

Sunday, 5th January, 2025

Heavy rain over night. I woke at 5.00 am and my phone said the temperature outside was 11C/52F and that Greater Manchester and Leeds were both 1C/34F and snowing. My friends up there were sending me photos and the news was of the closures of Manchester, Leeds Bradford and Liverpool Airports. I’m just hoping the football match isn’t cancelled this afternoon.

I must admit my heart sinks at the memories of these mornings but it would be tomorrow when the real problems would start. Rain outside means hours in the Gym instead.

Music today is an old favourite which I’ve always found so moving. I first heard Elgar’s Enigma Variations as late as 1974 when I was teaching a Summer School in Ripon. I thought nothing of it until almost a decade later I picked it up again. Music and Time and Events all roll into one ball of emotion that is hard to quell.

Playing it in my Office this morning brings back those times with such clarity. I’ve just finished watching the most moving Romantic Drama set in the tragedy that was the First World War and Elgar’s music is so intertwined with that time. Sorry, old man syndrome. Getting maudlin. It’s one of my least attractive qualities although others run it close.

I have done just over 2hrs straight in the Gym and I am absolutely shattered. It’s a good shattered but I don’t want to lift another finger. My Housekeeper has completed the cleaning of the upstairs carpets. Her routine will be almost complete after she has valeted the sofas and touched up the tiny scratches that day to day living leaves on paintwork. I don’t like to interfere so stay out of the way on these occasions. At least the big match is on this afternoon so I can relax in comfort.

Just had a Direct Message from Sue Wilson in the Charente. Although she is living in France and UK, she is thinking of selling her Midlands property and buying near us on the South Coast. I think she’s rather been taken by my photographs. If you know the Charente, you would wonder why but I’ve told her that we welcome all immigrants.

Monday, 6th January, 2025

I’m weather obsessed at the best of times. This weekend the world caught up with me. It is not so often that the North of England makes all the headlines in newspapersbut this morning Ripon, Leeds, Oldham are all featured on the frontpages.

These were the days when we got up so much earlier than others and set off specifically to get to work and assess the conditions. It looks like we may have had an impossible task this morning and the school closure may have been preordained. The next iteration of my old school had already put up this screen.

It was put up from home by my IT Technician from more than 15 years ago. I trained him in Teach First and he is now Head of IT – a very satisfying conclusion. How a callow youth can become serious adult.

Talking about callow youths – here are some more. For those who care about these things, it is Epiphany and in Greece people greet each other with Χριστός ἀνέστη! or Christ is risen. Yes, I realise how bonkers it is but we all have our lunacies. This morning, on Sifnos Island, in Kamares Harbour where we used to live, the callow youths dive into the icy waters for a gilded cross (electro-plated) tossed by the local witch doctor (sorry, priest).

While my health is back to excellent and my weight is well on its way down again, Pauline, who is never ill … is not well. This morning she has had to see her GP about a recent problem and this afternoon I am taking her to Southlands Hospital in Shoreham-by-Sea prior to an operation on Wednesday. It is an uncomfortable and nervous week.

Music for today was composed in 1936 by Samuel Barber and is the ultimate in pathos. Rarely does it leave a dry eye in the house. it arrived at just the right moment, when America was still hurting from the Great Depression and Europe was sliding into war. I challenge anyone not to be moved by it.

Tuesday, 7th January, 2025

Weighing things up today. Booking multiple travel arrangements and filling the 2025 calendar to provide all the work a real purpose. But first, we welcome this gorgeous day with a walk by the beach.

Looks wonderful but actually was very cold with a biting off-shore breeze. An hour was enough and then home for coffee.

Our Annual Travel Insurance Policy is provided ‘free’ with our Black Account at our Bank. I say free but the Account costs us £35.00 per month or £420.00 per year. Banking is never really ‘free’. We just pay openly or invisibly. We have used an openly payed for Premier Banking service partly because of the services that come with it. It allowed us a huge, free, instant overdraft facility which was useful when we were building abroad.

Of these existing services, Travel Insurance, Airport Lounge Access and Mobile Phone Insurance are the most valuable to us. Everything else is doubling up things we have elsewhere or things I don’t know about. Why would I want a Concierge Service or a Ticket Booking Service? What is Cinema & Film Rental?

Travel Insurance has always been valuable and made the account virtually pay for itself. Each year we have an unlimited, worldwide travel policy fully covered. Now, of course, we are in our 70s. That brings a surcharge of £75.00 per person. We also have existing medical conditions which bring an extra surcharge. Having just sorted out the 2025 renewal, that ‘free’ policy will cost an extra £426.00. Having had cancer is costing me about £250.00 per year although I am fitter than I have been for a long time.

I’ve just done a comparative quote travel insurance search and this £1,286.13 is the cheapest equivalent offer I could find. Makes me feel a bit better about my ‘free’ policy. Suffice it to say, I won’t be buying All Clear now.

Wednesday, 8th January, 2025

A crystal clear sky full of stars gave us quite a cold night and there was a hint of frost on the roofs this morning first thing. Ignoring that I’ve been out for an early walk because my job is Ambulance driver this morning. I am taking Pauline to Southlands Hospital in Shoreham-by-Sea. She is nil by mouth because she is being operated on in the early afternoon. She doesn’t react particularly well to a General Anaesthetic so she’s not looking forward to it and it will be an uncomfortable operation for anyone.

My friend, Kevin, is 75 today. That makes me feel a lot better. Turns out all that group were older me. I even went out with an older woman. Kevin had his car stolen a fortnight ago and has heard nothing about it yet. Must be a nightmare situation. To add to that, he has Flu’ and is 75. Makes you wonder if life is worth living any more.

Just 5 years ago, Kevin and I were reunited after almost 50 years apart. It was an emotional but life-affirming experience and we have remained in contact almost daily since. We live at opposite ends of the country but the web has allowed us to bridge that gap.

Of course, I hope my wife comes through her operation and lives another day or two but the most important event happens tomorrow. The new dishwasher is being delivered, plumbed in and fitted with its kitchen door and I no longer have to do the drying up. For two weeks now, it has felt like the 1950s in our house. It’s been like losing an arm … no, worse. It’s been like losing the internet. There, I’ve said it.

We have ordered a good quality Bosch built-in machine which automatically comes with a full, 5-year warranty. I hope it will be a lot longer before I have to go through this again.

Thursday, 9th January, 2025

Well, the operation went better than well. The patient was first on the list and in the theatre early. She was relieved to find she was being operated on by the surgeon she had built a good relationship with and the whole thing went so well, I was able to collect her in the evening.

The hospital is lovely. The people are fantastic. It is about 25 mins drive from the house but that isn’t a problem. Our nearest hospital is in Worthing which is not much nearer but where I would go in an emergency although we have an ambulance centre just round the park so it should be quite efficient.

Soon after we got home, the official results of the procedure were input by the medical staff and uploaded on the NHS app. We were able to read about the success of the day. Pauline was much more proud of one line in her notes that said:

Clinical Frailty Score: 1 – very fit.

Where 1 is best and 10 is most frail, this was pointed out to me a few times last night until she fell asleep after the stress of the day.

But, enough of that. Today is DISHWASHER DAY. Wonder of wonders. It will be delivered and fitted mid-morning so I’m going out for an early walk. My weight is coming down quite rapidly at the moment and my fitness levels really are back now. It feels so good after a lengthy fight. Now been alcohol-free for 130 days. In fact, I’m getting addicted to alcohol-free Cabernet Sauvignon – a whole glass each evening.

Sky News has been running an article about the boom in use of weight-loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy is beginning to turn the tide in UK. I am proud that I haven’t had to resort to anything like that but have done it through personal discipline and effort. It makes me feel better about myself.

The worst has happened and I am depressed. Currys have turned up with the wrong dishwasher. Our order has been cancelled and will have to start again. I will be drying up by hand again tonight! Actually, we may even reassess our order. We have since found a better one and are going out to look at it ….. New dishwasher ordered and I have to wait 13 days for installation. Life just isn’t worth living!

Although, of course, it is. There may be unfriendly people in the world but they will get their just deserts. There may be unhelpful situations in one’s life but they will fade in the great scheme of things. There will always be beauty. Gorgeous walk in the Marina this afternoon.

Friday, 10th January, 2025

A cool night. We went down to 0C/32F and the car had some frost on it this morning. Thank goodness for auto-defrost facilities on modern cars. Greater Manchester and North Yorkshire saw -7C/19F which always makes me think of those sleeping rough. It is a situation likely to bring death to the undernourished. Tonight will be even colder according the forecast. There will be no shorts wearing for a while.

It is ironic just as the news is dominated by wildfires in Los Angeles and the Copernicus climate change service report that last year was the warmest on record, the first to breach a symbolic threshold, and brought with it deadly impacts like flooding and drought, scientists have said.Two new datasets found 2024 was the first calendar year when average global temperatures exceeded 1.5C above pre-industrial levels – before humans started burning fossil fuels at scale. The past decade has seen every year in the top 10 hottest on record. Beginning to look a lot like global warming …

Just as the idiot, Trump, is selling Drill, Baby, Drill (for oil) to his equally idiot supporters, so the world is on fire as The Times cartoon makes brilliantly clear this morning. They are all really in LaLa Land all ready to be exploited by the far right Trump/Musl axis.

Talking to my friend, Kevin, who lives in North Yorkshire. He got up the day after Boxing day to find his car – a white Ford Puma – had been stolen from his drive in a relatively quiet, marginally rural area above Leeds. My first thought was someone struggling to get home from Christmas celebrations late at night had seen an opportunity. However, Kevin says both sets of keys were in his house and the ignition is electronic so needing sophisticated technology to start. Hardly an impulse reveller’s ability. And so it has proved. Nothing abandoned at the roadside. No sightings or police action at all. It is now 15 days since he reported it and nothing. Can you imagine it?

A grey and chilly day down at the beach – just 5C/41F – and the breeze made it feel much colder. An hour’s walking was plenty outside. Have to do the rest in the Gym today.

Saturday, 11th January, 2025

Bit of frost again this morning after a cold night. A wonderful day in prospect. Sunshine all the way. My weight had dropped again this morning which explains why I felt so hungry all day yesterday. Keep having to tell myself it is all in a good cause.

I don’t know if you read the Daily Telegraph. I do although I am not a natural fit. It is mainly for those who want to return to 1955 and for the politically insane. I read it to counterbalance more sensible, main stream political philosophy. However, I think this professor is absolutely correct as he strips back the hype about weight loss.

For some time now, new ‘experts’ have advertised the efficacy of all sorts of weird and wonderful methods. Professor Frayn debunks them all and insists that calories in v calories out ultimately is the only thing that works. As he says in this article, you only have to look at pictures of workers leaving an Oxford car factory in the 1950s. They weren’t driving home. They were all on bikes or they walked. They ate smaller meals and burned far more calories.

I began my fight back from the effects the cancer treatment had had on my body when I flew back fom Athens on August 27^th last year – 137 days ago. I had realised how unfit and overweight I had become. It had come as something of a revelation. I was shocked how it had crept up on me and I made a resolution as soon as I landed.

I have not drunk any alcohol since that day. I have restricted myself to 1500 calories per day and not missed a single day of walking 7.5 miles. I am walking at least 53 miles every week and around 213 miles every month. I have already walked 1000 miles since I started the campaign.

As a result, since the end of August, I have lost 1/6^th or 17% of my bodyweight and massively improved my fitness particularly my cardiovascular endurance. Just weigh yourself, Dear Reader, and then divide it by 6. If you lost that, how would you feel? My blood pressure has improved enormously as has my INR.

My wife has had to put up with this regime both activity and diet. As a result, she weighs less than she has done for 40 years and, as the surgeon noted this week, she is very fit. The downside of this is she constantly needs new clothes. Our door is repeatedly battered by brochures from clothing companies. We are regularly receiving and sometimes returning things. Today, will be a trip to Worthing Pier. Opposite is M&S where she has seen the style of jeans/trousers that she likes. I prefer baggy clothes on little people but there it is.

Fortunately, the jeans were rubbish so it cost me nothing although I did buy a couple of bottles of alcohol-free red wine. I am 137 alcohol-free days and counting. I’m thinking of converting to become a Methodist Temperance Society Blue Ribboner – what do you think? Yes, there’s going to be a hell of a party when this is over.

Sunday, 29th December, 2024

A grey and surprisingly cold morning. We were half the temepratures in Manchester & Leeds this morning. Still, I was brave and went out for an early walk by the sea. In the dampness of very low cloud, we were met by an untidy gaggle of Mods on Scooters. It was like a time warp apart from they were all 70 yr olds tying to recreate the 1960s. They were all wearing Parkas. If you know what they are, you are old, Dear Reader.

They were the only bright but tawdry sight on this grey day at the seaside. However, the walk was chance to talk over plans for the new year and travel. Originally, we intended to spend a month driving in France but that has now changed. We are going to rethink a Spanish drive instead as we had wanted to do last year.

Portsmouth is not far away from us so we will go Portsmouth – Bilbao and then drive across Spain to Valencia region via Zaragoza. It’s quite a long sailing time. On the way out, it involves 2 nights on board but only one in return. When I was young, I might have settled for a reclining seat but not now. It has to be a comfortable cabin.

They only have 4-berth cabins even for 2 people so there is plenty of room. With a window and a TV, the cabin + car is £1140.00 return which compares quite well with the ferry we used to take down the Adriatic to Greece a decade ago.

Arriving in Bilbao at 8.00 am, I will then to a drive across Spain to Zaragoza (3hrs). Stay there one night and drive on to Valencia (3hrs). I’m looking for a property for 3 weeks by the sea before retracing our steps to Bilbao. Might be nice to spend a day there exploring before the ferry home.

I’m not bothered if the property has a pool if we are near to the beach. It has to have:

• Outdoor Space / big Balcony
• Good Wi-Fi
• Air Con.
• Washing Machine
• Equipped Kitchen
• TV
• Parking
• Access to Supermakets & Restaurants

Monday, 30th December, 2024

Exactly 46 years ago today, we got married in West Yorkshire. It was in the middle of a blizzard across the Pennines. We married in Huddersfield Registry Office but had a blessing in the local church just to satisfy my mother. Lots of lovely people came. It was an enjoyable, party day.

It hadn’t started well when we got up to find the cold water tank in the loft of our old, stone coaching house had frozen over and then defrosted quickly with the central heating and poured through the loft door on to the stairs carpet. Really kind people who ran a carpet cleaning company immediately came round, fixed the tank and cleaned and dried out the stairs carpet in the morning before we left for the ceremony. Everything, ultimately, went well.

Last night, as we reminisced about that day, the lights went out. Pauline had just put on the dishwasher. After going to the fusebox, we realised the heating element in the 8 year old dishwasher had triggered the problem and was no longer working. It had been in the new kitchen when we bought the house so it’s done well.

This morning, we are spending our wedding anniversary ordering a new dishwasher and asking for an urgent delivery and fitting. Can you imagine having to wash dishes by hand? It will be just £499.00 for a new one but when you add delivery, integrated fitting, removal of packaging and the old machine plus 5 years full replacement cover, it will cost exactly £700.00. What really sells it to me is the ability to control it over WiFi and using Alexa voice commands. That’s progress!

Went to look at the dishwasher model at Curry’s. Told them the story and they knocked £50.00 off so all good …. until they told us it wouldn’t be delivered until Jan. 9th. Who can wash up by hand for 10 days? The other downside was that my Housekeeper’s eyes spotted a new carpet cleaner which she’d been secretly admiring for a few days apparently. That did add another £180.00 to the total but …. I made it an anniversary present so that’s alright then.

After all that spending, we went for a relaxing walk by the beach. It was 10C/50F but felt colder with the breeze off the sea. Even so, there were families with picnic baskets on the beach and kids with bare legs splashing around in the lapping waves. Why don’t kids feel the cold? – no sense I suppose. I was desperate to get home for a hot cup of coffee.

Lovely celebratory meal of grilled Halibut Steaks, Stuffed Mushrooms and Roast Cherry Tomatoes accompanied by Alcohol-free Prosecco. Felt quite drunk after two glasses of that.

Tuesday, 31st December, 2024

The year is going out with a customary mild but grey day. Been out for an early hour’s walk to get the day going and because Amazon are delivering a parcel at lunchtime. Walking always seems to facilitate thought and conversation. That can be a good thing and a bad thing. Often it is the time for idle chat but there are occasions when we store up difficult conversations for the open air. Today, we talked over travel plans and reviewed whether we are making sensible decisions before it is committed.

I talk in my head constantly. It is like an inner monologue in which I discuss my thoughts and feelings with people who I have known but are only present in my head. This morning I read an article in a newspaper about exactly that. The writer also has an inner monologue and thought everyone did. I, on the other hand, always thought that I was odd. Actually, my head is the space for dialogue between me and past places, people and events I have experienced. It is a place for celebration and regret. I’m quite excited to find there are other people like me. What is scary is to think that some people have nothing going on in their head a lot of the time.

I used to have long debates/arguments with my mother for years after she had died. I talk to friends and acquaintances from the past all the time whether I still talk to them in real life or not. I visit places from my past in my head although the digital revolution has made realtime dialogue with distant people and places so much easier now.

This morning I have spent some time in: Kamares, Sifnos, Socrates Square, Thessaloniki and outside the Parliament Building, Athens in Greece, outside the Duomo Milan and on the Rialto Bridge, Venice in Italy, looking at the New York skyline from Fifth Avenue in the US and near Brighton Beach and Blackpool sea front in UK. All of these places I have visited in real time via live webcams. These photos are snatched live this morning. At the same time, I have been chatting to distant friends online.

The article reports a large study completed by a psychology professor at the University of Nevada concludes that:

Most people have an inner voice roughly 25% of the time. What that means, he says, is that some people never have words going on, and a few people have words going on all the time, and a lot of people have words going on some of the time.
However, our brains are miraculous and extremely weird things, and everyone has a different way of processing the world. Some people just process in pictures.

Can you imagine having to process complex concepts or even emotions only graphically? I can’t. Words are so important with their deftness of meaning and intricacy of history.

Wednesday, 1st January, 2025

Happy New Year to all my readers. Every year I say it …. to you and myself. Can you believe yet another year gone? This year, I’m going to say, Can you believe yet another new year of opportunity? That is how I am going to approach it. There are things I have put off or others have put off for me that I am determined to achieve this year. It will happen is the way I start the new year. People, places, reconnections are the order of 2025!

This year, we will be 74. It will happen. You see, it’s easy. Last night I wished 42 people Happy New Year by Whatsapp and Text. Almost everyone replied last night including our gorgeous, slightly drunken neighbours. A few didn’t manage it until this morning but that’s fine. The new year will be one of reconnections.

While I was at home drinking alcohol-free Prosecco (surprisingly nice … if you grit your teeth), I received a lovely photo from M&K on the piste in Chamonix as a sharp contrast to their Florida home. They have always loved skiing. Pauline & I can’t see why. We’ve seen enough snow to last us a lifetime. But, when you’re young anything is possible. Mind you, they will be 60 this year and I had already walked my 7 miles and done 90 mins in the Gym.

I heard from my sister, Jane, at 3.00 am with this picture from Horseguards Hotel where she had a good view of the firework display on the Thames. She obviously enjoyed herself which is the main thing but I think I got a better view on TV. At least it was dry and warm last night for city revellers.

I heard from another sister, Cathy, who told me she hasn’t been well for the past three weeks, unable to eat and lost a lot of weight. Feeling better now, they have gone off to a Spa Hotel in Hastings to see in the new year. I hope she’s restoring her health by eating lots of Breakfasts. Hastings is an interersting place that we considered buying a house in originally.

Heard about the death of the DJ, Johnnie Walker at the age of 79. It does seem such a young age now. Just 5 years away for us. He was one of those I lobbied the Wilson government about in the late 1960s as they tried to abollish Pirate radio stations in favour of Statist ones like the BBC as I saw it then. Radio Caroline and Radio London blared out of an old sterogram that Bob bought in a Jumble Sale. I wasn’t having a government controlling me!!!

And so it goes on – rebellion and anarchy in our 70s. That is what life is about. Taking risks, Dear Reader. We must do it! My Housekeeper is using her new ‘gift’ to spring clean the carpets. Life doesn’t get much riskier than that. I’m off to the Gym for another day of pain.

Thursday, 2nd January, 2025

What day is it? It’s felt like Monday all week. Something should be happening. Should I be going back to work? Outside it says is just 4C/39F but it feels really warm in the sunshine. Keep hearing that Greater Manchester is drowning but here looks rather like the Med. in winter. Strong, low sunshine out of an azure blue sky.

Just had an epiphany walking through Rustington High Street. I walked straight past the famous Pie Shop smelling of freshly baked pies and on to spend £50.00 in the Health Food Shop. What is going on?

Staying alive, staying alive … it’s just an attempt at staying alive. These are constituents of my Housekeeper’s home made Muesli. I have to say that, 4 months down the line, I am enjoying them. I have to say that.

Chatted to my old friend, John-R this morning. He was born in a place called Whitley Bay. I must admit I had never heard of it in 1969 when we first met. Actually, I wasn’t aware of anywhere North of Derby before I started applying to Universities. Anyway, John came from Whitley Bay and immediately told me how beautiful it was there. Great beaches and lovely scenery. I took his word for it but I’ve never been there. This morning, over Breakfast, Whitley Bay stared out at me. I contacted him to tell him that he and the girls from Whitley Bay were famous. I don’t think he knows any girls.

Out walking this afternoon, the beachside path was quite busy as people soaked up the sunshine. It may have been a little cold for ‘normal people’ swimming. But it was a lovely day to just stand and stare, dream dreams and drink in the sunshine through tired eyes.

You really should try it, Dear Reader. It is rejuvenating. Just an hour or so to do in the Gym and then I can relax.

Friday, 3rd January, 2025

Must have been cold over night. Bit of frost on the lawns this morning. Glorious sunrise. The beachside was magical and largely deserted. Many workers had gone back and the rest must have been lazing in bed.

An hour of sun and exercise and everything feels better. Tasks to get through today as well as a Gym session. Trying to get Housekeeper to complete cleaning all the carpets before she goes in for her operation next week. Ordered her some extra cleaning fluid for her Wedding Anniversary present to that end. My generosity knows no bounds!

In her spare time, she’s roasting a turkey for supper tonight and to make stock/soup for the next few weeks. Amazing buy in Sainsburys. A 4.6kg Taste the Difference Norfolk Black turkey which had sold for £60.00 before Xmas cost just £8.00 today.

Still trying to pin down accomodation and travel arrangements for two months – June in Valencia and November in Adeje so that we can have things sorted out and they give us targets to work towards.

Had a knee trembling experience yesterday as I did my Gym workout. I was watching a beautiful, sensitive, delightful, heartbreaking film called Birdsong on Netflix. It is a vivid depiction of the horror of war in 1914 but soft presentation of love and sexual attraction between two, youngish people. The contrast is deliberately accentuated as the film cuts from one to the other and back constantly.

After the war, many survivors reported that the abiding memory was not of the screams of men or the sound of gunfire, but of something seemingly hugely out of context:

It was the birdsong, the birdsong in that short gap when the artillery barrage stopped and before the whistles blew for us to get out of the trench and start running – it was beautiful.

The stark contrast between the mindlessness of men set against the eternal beauty of the natural world is symbolised in the contrast between men blowing each other up in muddy squalor set against the movements of a man and a woman making love in comparative comfort.

At that very point, I thought of my Father. He was someone who was present in my life but who I never really knew. I was 14 years old when he died at the age of 49. He had been a Captain and then a Major in the Royal Engineers and he fought / built bridges in the Sinai Peninsula & Palestine during the Second World War. I was young but I wasn’t stupid and I suddenly realised how little I had understood of the experiences that had made him the man he was and why he seemed so remote and so serious.

Saturday, 4th January, 2025

We have frost this morning. You can even see it on the roofs. We are just 3C/37F and it looks cold. At one point last night we were colder than Manchester. Very cold place Manchester! I am insulated in my Office with my renewed interest and enjoyment of music. I have taken out a subscription to Amazon Music. This morning, I am reliving the 1980s with Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony – Symphony No. 6 in F major, Op. 68.

In the 1980s, I used to drive back across the Pennines in my silver Honda Prelude sports car with the Pastoral Symphony at full volume and only the sheep to be disturbed. It was glorious. A triumph of Romanticism over Reality. I really am a romantic at heart but with a core of realism grinding along in the background.

The 1980s. I wouldn’t go back there for anything. I am happy in 2025 with all the improvements of life not least the fact that my CD player sits idly on the desk unplayed for months, years. Everything is downloaded now at the call of a voice and playable around the house on TVs and Amazon Alexa speakers. The whole process points up the distance we have travelled in my lifetime. In 1965, my grandfather gave me (and I admit a bit anachronistically) a wind up gramaphone and a collection of 78s. Large, already discontinued gramaphone records of opera, popular 1930s music hall songs and some classical pieces like Handel’s Largo which I fell in love with.

For a brief spell between 1966 and 1973, I listened to what would be called ‘pop’ music and Handel met the Moody Blues inside my head at least although only by chance because I never had a record player of my own. I remember buying a cassette player in 1974 and playing it until it just ate tapes, shredded them and spat them out again. Chopin was loved and destroyed in that. My first car with a CD player was in the late 1980s and that was revolutionary. Today, although I still have a CD player in the car (I think), it has never been used. Everything is downloaded from my phone and played through Android Auto app. So Amazon Music will go anywhere seamlessly.

Out for a walk and to the fish shop. In the time it took to write the first half of the Blog entry, the temperature outside had risen from 1C – 6C and things were brightening up. That’s the power of Beethoven. Actually, as so often, temperatures completely fooled me again. A strong beeze off the sea made 6C feel like -6C so I decided to not put myself through that discomfort. The Gym will be nice this morning.

We’ve learnt that when we see good fish to buy it immediately. It is often in short supply and disappears quickly. The UK catch is bought up by European markets or was before Brexit. When we see Locally Caught Sea Bass advertised, we buy it in bulk. It isn’t cheap but the difference between farmed sea bass – usually from Greek waters – and wild fish caught around here has to be tasted to be believed. It is much more expensive, rarely on show but well worth the wait. Today 10kgs of fresh fish including 2 sides of Salmon, 6 large Sea Bass and 2 kgs of quality Tuna cost £320.00. Healthy eating isn’t cheap.