Month: March 2025

Sunday, 23rd March, 2025

Can you imagine being married for 68 years, Dear Reader? Today, P&C have been married for exactly that long and we congratulate them.

Originating in the dark, satanic mills of Oldham, we hope they have a lovely day up there in sunny Surrey. Of course, a lot of it depends upon individual longevity. At ages 86 & 87, they’ve achieved that already.

Of course, old people are constantly asked on what the secret of their long life is founded and they resort to quite ridiculous things like brown bread and a boiled egg every morning and a glass of sweet sherry before bed. We know it’s nonsense but it is perpetuated. Most of us use the information selectively. I particularly like this one above reported in the Manchester Evening News yesterday.

When you’re old, by definition you have more time behind than in front. For me, finding, observing, reminding myself of the context of that time continuum I/we are on is important. Not in some sentimental way but to keep a hold on the movement of time. It has been a subject for poets throughout the ages.

These days, the world of social media and mobile phones means the process of reviewing the past and remembering it is more graphic. Yesterday, I received some photos from my old friend who I was in Digs with for 2 years 1969 – 71. He and I talk regularly about what we are doing in the present and aiming to do in the future. We will meet again this year for a proper catch up but remembering through pictures is good.

Just 10 years later in 1981, I was travelling across Europe to the Greek island of Sifnos. What should pop up yesterday but two photos from exactly that time. The first ferry I ever took from Piraeus to Kamares was the F/B Ionion. It doesn’t exist anymore other than in the memory and these photographs.

Monday, 24th March, 2025

Started the day with a lovely walk around the local area, through the gorgeous daffodil displays. It is invigorating and sets up the day to come. I have a series of fairly mundane housekeeping jobs to get through. I’ve got some seed sowing to do out in the garden and then some preparatory Finance work to do prior to the start of the new tax year on April 6th. It will be completed in the light of the Financial Statement on Wednesday.

Particularly, it will be important to see if the ISA rules are tightened. There has been speculation of the £20,000.00 per person per year tax-free savings allowance being drastically cut to just £4,000.00. There has always been talk of how long it would take one to become an ISA millionaire. Apparently, if you save the maximum allowance every year for 25 years is the answer. I have been too busy living life to manage that amount but, on reflection, perhaps I should have forced myself.

If you’re asking why I would even be considering this, an article in The Times this morning emphasises it’s significance. The full article is here. We have what are spuriously called gold-plated pensions and they are defined benefit and inflation-proofed. They should keep pace with prices over a retirement of 30 years far better than this lady’s Annuity Pension. We also have a modest State Pension and the huge advantage of the proceeds from the sale of our Greek home plus lifetime savings and investments. The longer we live, the more significant these will become.

The Labour Government are doing good things in a very difficult environment. Taxing private education or buying privilege for your children as we call it has been long overdue. I would ban all private education on principle. Taxing farmers as we tax everyone else is long overdue and will stop the rich landowners avoiding paying their due taxes. Making second home owners pay increased taxes makes sense in redistribution to the poorer end of society. If I am unable to shelter my savings from tax, I will understand and accept it although I will be disappointed. Hopefully, I can get the £40,000.00 for this year salted away before the change.

The problem is age. I have more or less accepted that I am too old to buy another property abroad although I still flirt with the idea at times. I do not have enough time to invest in the stock market in a full blooded way and wait to recover from a market downturn or crash. I have to invest more short term.

I have always believed that I am likely to die before my wife so I have sheets of instructions locked away about how to access all the funds. It is likely that Probate will be required for part of it so directions about how to deal with that are included. We have had very comprehensive wills since the early 1980s and our executors are still alive so that is in order.

Even so, it is good to review these conditions regularly. Certainly we will never be either rich or poor. We will always be reasonably comfortable. After 16 years of Retirement, we are still able to save/invest which I wouldn’t have predicted back then. Let’s hope we live to test the 30 year barrier. I will only be 88 years old, Dear Reader. I intend to be still walking 8 miles a day and doing a Gym routine.

Tuesday, 25th March, 2025

Last week of March. I’m hurtling towards the age of 74. I find it hard to say out loud. It hurts! We are also hurtling towards the new Tax Year, Dear Reader. Yes, I know, you can think of nothing else. This morning, I have an appointment at an investment bank where I hope to make a new, tax-sheltered investment for 2025.

Then, on to the Garden Centre to see where they are up to in terms of bedding plants, on to Wickes to order a delivery of fresh topsoil/compost to refresh the raised beds and pots. Suddenly, the Financial Year and the Horticultural Year restart with a jump and it’s good to be ready.

It’s turned into a lovely day of warm sunshine. Going out for a walk because fitness is the state most important to longevity followed by affluence and happiness. It is not surprising to find that the affluent are much more likely to be happy with their state than those struggling to survive.

There is a distinct difference between longevity and a healthy life. For many, the final decade or more is marked by ill health and disability. The aim is to marry health and longevity together.

Another 8 miles in the bank. I’ve now completed 8 miles a day, every day for 7.5 months apart from one day which haunts me even now. In over 1700 miles, there was a day that I just couldn’t complete because I had a long, tiring drive and got home exhausted. I tried to raise myself but just couldn’t do it. It makes me angry with myself and ashamed every time I look at the stats. – which is every day and sometimes two or three times a day.

Wednesday, 26th March, 2025

Glorious morning. Strong Spring sunshine. Buds on trees and bushes bursting fresh green everywhere. Amazingly confident birds calling from every branch, establishing their territory, confirming their mates, preparing for the perpetuation of Life.

It is a time of optimism and hope. New, confident beginnings. A promise of better times ahead. The Summer is coming. The only downside of this movement forward is that we will all be older.

We have got a summer of travel to come but I am trying so hard to keep everything buttoned down until then. Self denial, self discipline, self impulsion, self flagellation, self responsibility are the watchwords until May. The common denominator is self. It falls to me and my determination in all these things. I hold myself responsible and it must be me who fixes it.

I was surprised by an interview I read yesterday with the opera singer from Manchester – Russell Watson. He suffered a glandular tumour which was treated with radiotherapy. The radiotherapy left him suffering, constantly tired for two years afterwards. If that is a common result, it explains why I have been strugling so much with my physical condition. I am almost back. I am on course for walking 3,000 miles this year. I will have done at least 8 months on a restricted calorie intake and no alcohol. It is all a continual battle but I am winning it.

The lovely weather promises that it will all be worth it. Let’s hope we have a good May with nice weather both here and when I am away. More seed sowing in the sunshine today after a 90 minute walk and then an hour in the Gym.

Just been following the Chancellor’s Spring Statement and it was good to hear that The Office for Budget Responsibility have upgraded forecasts for growth over the life of the Parliament based on Labour’s building plans. I was just as pleased to hear no plans for tightening ISA limits. It may be something on the cards for the future so I will attempt to shelter as much as possible over the next few years.

We have a swanky, new care home near us. At least one of us may need it at some stage. It has specialisms which include Dementia but it allows one to buy/rent whole apartments and includes lots of facilities to make the last years of life enjoyable. The cost of services is about £50,000.00 per year in addition to property prices/acommodation charges. It will not be cheap and it will not be provided under Social Care support. With no children, we will have to find it all ourselves. We need to prepare but hope we don’t need it for another 20 years or so.

Thursday, 27th March, 2025

Glorious morning after quite a cold night. We went down to 4C/39F for the first time for a while. The sky was sparkling and clear last night but is blue and cloudless this morning. It is going to be a growing day for nature.

Nature is a wonderful thing. I sowed these seeds just 36 hours ago and stored them under cloche lids to keep warmth and humidity up. The result is above. I think it is incredible. If I had had the time and patience to sit and watch, I’m sure I could have seen this germination and growth process with the naked eye. These little, flat and dry whispers of seed are so programmed in nature to feel a warm, wet environment and immediately reached down to the floor for nutrition and up to the sunlight for further nutrition.

And from litle acorns … Well, this is the story of life. Generation. Making, nurturing and growing babies. Hoping for the future, their future. It is a selfless act of respect for life. Look how these scrawny, little sticks of green energy will develop and mature in the next couple of months. I wonder if they will go to university, get married and have children. It is all in the lap of fate.

My Housekeeper has multiple jobs/skills. She is a chef, laundry woman, electrician, builder, painter & decorator, hairdresser and, each morning she is my chiropodist. (Sexy or what?) All this walking demands lots of footcare. Every morning I have my feet checked and creamed. Consequently, they are beautiful and soft. In fact, according to her they are one of my best (only) features.

I’m going to have to work on BALANCE. I’ve noticed that mine is becoming suspect. It is something which happens in age and has to be fought against. Can you stand on one leg …. with your eyes closed? I know I have always struggled with things like that but I’ve noticed that I am even less capable of it now.

The project for today, and we all need one, is to treat the car with a new product I’ve bought. It is a silicon and polyeurethane resin spray coating. A black car is always difficult to keep clean and this sparkling, black, metallic paint quickly shows even the dust spots out of rain. I have to clean it and then coat it in the resin which shines up to showroom level and then (allegedly) shrugs off water and dirt for up to 8 months. We will see. I’ll let you know.

Friday, 28th March, 2025

The morning started off damp but has soon brightened up to blue sky and sunshine. Must wish my sister, Jane, happy 71st birthday. She is spending it on Gran Canaria.

Been talking to my old friend, JohnR, and sharing with him this photo from yesterday’s The Times.

When I left home to go to College, JohnR was the second new person I met on arrival at my Digs. To say I was green and innocent would be an understatement. My first Digs mate was Nigel from the South of England. He was sitting under a table, morosely playing Leonard Cohen – Bird on the Wire. Who the hell was Leonard Cohen? It sounded like nightmare noise.

Dismissing that shock for a while, I was next presented with JohnR, a fresh faced, penny whistle playing, Methodist, Geordie who spoke in an accent and a language I had never heard before. He called me Bonnie Lad which had certainly not happened before. He told me he came from Whitley Bay. I’d never heard of it. Was it on Mars? He told me how beautiful it was and he spoke with a pride about his origins which I had never felt myself. We speak quite often now but I have never been been to his home town. If it looks like this. I’ve definitely missed out. I’m looking forward to seeing him again soon.

Revisiting old memories is really on my mind at the moment. This is the time we would be preparing to set off for Greece and our garden and the surrounding hillsides would be carpeted in greenery after Winter rains. The flowers would be everywhere and the barren, dry earth of mid-Summer hardly imaginable. A friend sent these yesterday. It brings it all back immediately.

Age tarnishes everything, Dear Reader, and not necessarily for the better. Just the passage of time is enough to bring about a need for renewal. I rather like to see old buildings re-purposed and renewed. But today, after 8 short years, I have to buy new Office Chairs. Just day to day scraping and twisting have made ours look too lived-in to be acceptable. They’ve gone up in price a bit since then but not too badly. A pair of smart, Office chairs = £520.00. Sold!

Although the day has just got better and better, wrapping its warm arms around us – 16C/61F (palindromic heat) – I have got more and more tired and jittery as I pushed myself in the Gym. In there, I am watching the 7th series of Homeland. It is just pure brilliance. If you watch nothing else for the rest of your life, I would urge you to watch this, Dear Reader. With Trump in power and Russia/China on the rise, this Drama is so on point.

Saturday, 29th March, 2025

March is almost over and we lose another hour tonight as the clocks go forward. Got to make the most of this life. It is the most glorious, warm and sunny day. I’ve been chatting to Kevin in Leeds, Peter in Harrogate, David in Bolton, Andy in central London, Julie in North Yorkshire and Sue in Gozo, Malta. The latter is a girl from Oldham who was Pauline’s best friend throughout her years at Hathershaw school. She has been living on Gozo for the past 5 years and looks very happy there. She is the same age. We are all aging.

I love the internet. All of these things are only possible because of it. We share words, photos, videos across the ether at the switch of a keyboard. This morning I received news of the death of a Sifnos resident. Testament to the simple life and the mediterranean diet, Angelos Loumidis was born in 1928 – just short of his century.

A simple farmer still using the old methods of donkey transport and the old, stone threshing circle for harvest. This video shows Loumidis directing activity in the threshing circle which looks out across the sea to the islands of Paros and Antiparos.

A simple farmer on a Greek island will never get rich. His will have been a subsistence level of life. Rich in experience and friendship but without the commercial trappings of modernity. Living on the fruits of his own labour – olive oil, tomatoes, chickpeas, freshly baked bread and home made wine. I want to live to 100 but I’m not sure that simplicity would be worth it now.

Sunday, 16th March, 2025

Cold night under a full moon. Gorgeous morning of clear skies and strong sunshine. After orange juice and coffee, Chef is at it again. This morning bread is being started. Yeast is warming in the kitchen with that lovely, yeasty perfume before the process really begins. By the time I get back from my walk, a bowl of dough will have trebled or more and be escaping over the rim. When you think about it bread making and the effect of yeast are incredible processes. How did anyone ever discover it?

Life is quite parochial at the moment. Largely that is my own fault. I deliberately focussed on a weight and fitness program and didn’t make travel arrangements until May but there are times when it feels very confining. It is working but the discipline required can be frustrating at times.

Sixteen years ago, I was still 57 – just – and less than three weeks away from Retirement. A dash away to Greek Springtime was in prospect and long time of playing out ahead. For years we had spent Easter in Greece. It is a delightful, relaxing time of unpredictable weather and of the most beautiful wild flowers carpeting the land.

To make the most of school holidays, it meant a Friday night flight from Manchester arriving in Athens in the early hours of the morning. Down to Piraeus harbour and then a tired wait for a ferry to Sifnos at 8.00 am Saturday morning. Docking about 1.00 pm the port was bathed in rain, hail, strong sunshine, take your pick. I remember we took clothes for all seasons just in case. Whatever, the first view was of a carpet of flowers up the hillsides. It was instant joy and relaxation.

Of course, for the final ten years we had reopening, reawakening, refreshing house duties. A house shut up for 6 months needs airing with windows open to the Spring warmth. All the services had to be reconnected – satelllite tv, broadband, etc. A restarted fridge/freezer needed restocking and all those other jobs home owners do all year round. With only two weeks there for Easter, it was demanding but had to be done ready for the drive there in July and six weeks of Summer time to follow.

Music today is S’ Agapo (Σε Αγαπώ – I Love You.) from across the years. Played in buses and tavernas mingling with strong tobacco, heady wine and hot nights, the song brings back so many memories. Good memories. Memories with no regrets. S’ Agapo.

Monday, 17th March, 2025

Happy Monday! Lovely, sunny day. It’s a cleaning day. Clean Monday. The Window Cleaner is here. I’m valeting the car and tidying up the patio. My Housekeeper is steam-cleaning the floors. What an exciting day.

Friends in the North were ecstatic last night as Newcastle won the League Cup Final at Wembley. The League Cup used to be a second class achievement but Geordies went mad. It was a good game and I was pleased for them but it didn’t mean much to me.

Peter Holgate, an old College friend is a season ticket holder and was there early in his black & white shirt although he said the escalators were not working and he struggled to climb hundreds of steps. He sent me before and after photos which gave a flavour of his day.

The last time Newcastle won a trophy was in 1969. The trouble is that I remember it well. This is getting serious. I am 74 in less than 3 weeks and I don’t like it. Caroline was only 7 years old. She and her husband are keen Newcastle supporters and sent me a photo of there joy yesterday evening. I must admit, I enjoy sport but can’t get that excited.

Anyway, on with the day. I have to go out and replenish my ‘Liquids’ stock. One of the main constituents of my dieting day is drinking. It has to be low calorie and a palate-refreshing flavour. I tried Shloer 0% but can’t get used to its horribly sweet taste.

I drink Tea, Coffee (with skimmed milk), and unsweetened Oat Milk. I also have found that Fever~Tree flavoured Tonics are excellent, low calorie supports so this is my day of exercise and diet.

I’ve written before that I never dream and, if I do, I never remember it. The radio comes on every morning at 5.45 am. Usually, I am awake waiting for it. This morning, it woke me with a jolt from … a dream. I was dreaming of being in a large room of long tables covered in starched, white cloths. They were Buffet Tables piled high with food. As I went to get some, it disappeared. This was a continuing process. Each time I went to a table the food – Great legs of roast ham just disappeared into the mists … I must be hungry.

St Patrick’s Day today. Three years ago, I was on Fifth Avenue, off Times Square, New York. I didn’t even know it was Paddy’s Day when I booked. The area went madly Green. It was disappointingly damp but it didn’t dampen Irish spirits. It was an enjoyable experience although not one I would rush to repeat. New York didn’t do it for me at all.

My friend, Kevin, is in Spain. He goes for the sunshine because he suffers from SAD syndrome. Well, he’s picked the wrong week this week. It’s raining. Here he is looking a bit forlorn with his latest girlfriend. Apparently the Spanish coast has had a month’s rain in a day. It’s enough to make anyone SAD. At least he’s got a girlfriend to console him.

It’s no longer warm and sunny here. The lovely start to the day has given way to a grey afternoon with a cold and sharp breeze that cut through me on my walk. I’m going into a centrally heated Gym to watch Series 6 of the brilliant Homeland and complete my exercise routine. My Housekeeper is ironing to keep her out of trouble.

I’m sticking with Greek for my music today. It is making me feel quite sad and empty for a time gone, a time to be revisited and regained. It’s got to happen. I will make it happen. My music today is Απόψε σε θέλω (Apópse se thélo – Tonight I want you.) – Haris Alexiou. It is the sound of plaintive Greece, of dark, late nights punctuated by pinpoints of bright, electric light far off in the black landscape. Life is far away across the landscape, out of reach. It is a feeling of disconnection and loneliness.

Απόψε θέλω να πιω / Tonight I want to drink
Τίποτα μετά να μη θυμάμαι / I don’t remember anything after that …

You see what dieting is doing to me, Dear Reader?

Tuesday, 18th March, 2025

Didn’t sleep well last night. Had felt sad all evening. Woke early before the radio came on. Light outside at 4.30 am. Glorious day by 6.00 am with strong sunshine. My Carer is in need of care herself. I am a total sceptic about Alternative Medicine but she has been having some headaches which the doctor suggests may be caused by nerve endings in the brain. She can take a strong, interventionist drug which is only palliative itself. She has chosen to try acupuncture instead. Rather her than me.

The Littlehampton Natural Health Centre is a hotchpotch of alternative therapies, I could even have my pelvic floor attended to. Anyway, if it helps, a initial session of Acupuncture for £55.00 has been booked but they are so busy it won’t be until the middle of April.

Walking by the sea is my alternative therapy. The colours, smells and sounds really lift the spirits. Today, after visiting the acupuncturist, I drove to the beach just a couple of minutes away. The warmth of the sun, the mediterranean blue of the sky and the gentle lapping of the distant waves make one feel better immediately. I wanted to dash into the water. I resisted the impulse. That reverie was unfortunately broken by the arrival of a classful of Primary kids in High-vis jackets and screeching teachers. Retreat was the best policy.

Had to spend an hour at Honda this morning where the central locking unit was replaced. Lovely people. I am pleased with my loyalty to the brand. It has paid off hugely over the years. In over 40 years of buying Hondas, I think this is only second time we have had an issue with a car. The last one was in 1985 when we developed an airconditioning problem. I think that’s quite impressive.

I am naturally a loyal person – like a pet dog, I suppose. I often think I am too loyal. I was amused to see this article in The Times this morning. My wife always says that I don’t cope very well with her being ill. I do try but she’s probably right. I was OK at playing Doctors & Nurses but not Nurses & Patients. Well, you don’t get the same services do you, Dear Reader?

I prescribe music. It is a profound medicine. Music today is Chopin – Etude Op. 10 No. 3 (Tristesse) It is a study in melancholic sadness. Sometimes a piece is wholly appropriate. Whatever, it is beautiful enough to move one.

Wednesday, 19th March, 2025

A busy day. Out all day. Started off dull but soon went into full sun mode. Gorgeous. I’m Tesla spotting. It has become the symbol of right wing extremism, populism at its worst. It’s owner, Elon Musk has been up front in Trumpian politics and is renowned for leading the Nazi salute brigade. He is encouraging and normalising government by untruth and furthering the American MAGA movement which feeds on lies and conspiracies.

Social Media and, particularly Musk-owned Twitter-X, is alive with anti-Tesla ridicule. Across Europe and Democratic America there are numerous incidences of burnt out Tesla cars, protest movements against Tesla sales and anti-MAGA demonstrations. Just ask the Canadians who are running a national boycott of American goods on the shelves.

Right back in 2012, I was starting out on an ISA investment journey. Putting the maximum I had disciplined myself to save for two full Santander ISAs. My campaign has continued unabated throughout Retirement. It looks as if I’ve found a home for the next investment pot which will open on my birthday, April 6th. In 2012, I was getting a 2yr fix at 4.0%. A year later, I was getting just 2.8%.

Currently, I can get 4.21%. If inflation can be pegged back to Bank of England 2% base, there is still a gain to be made and tax-free. A sign of the times, Santander has announced this morning that it is closing 25% of all its High Street outlets to provide essentially on-line services. About time.

Winter, spring, summer or fall
All you have to do is call
And I’ll be there, yes, I will
You’ve got a friend

Listening to driving music this morning. James Taylor You’ve Got a Friend, a Carole King song from the Mud Slide Slim album. It’s difficult ideas but easy singing. I have so many mixed associations with this song not least a long, long drive to Greece, through the depth of the French countryside, the heights of the Swiss Alps, the motorway frenzy of the Italian Autostrada and the intense heat of the Greek Pelopponese.

Home by mid-afternoon and it is a beautifully sunny 17C/63F. I have walked 7 miles so far but I feel tired and shaky. My sugar level is low and my muscles feel depleted. This is the second day running it has occurred and I’m not sure why. Still, I’ve got a Gym session to do this afternoon before Supper so I’d better get on with it.

Thursday, 20th March, 2025

Today is the Spring Equinox or equal day and night. It is going to be a warm day here in 2025 but the warmest Spring Equinox on record in UK was March 2oth, 1972. I was still aged 20 (just) and writing my college thesis. In fact I was particularly creative at that time.

My thesis was on the works of a Cumbrian poet, Norman Nicholson, who I did a poetry reading with at Leeds University along with local Ripon poet and my English Lecturer, David MacAndrew. David was a lovely man and kind friend. He has been dead for 6 years now. How time flies. How those years since Spring 1972 have flown. For my own records as much as any of my College readers, I record these photos of David.

It’s going to be an outdoor day enjoying the sunshine. First a walk and then a couple of hours giving the street lawns their first cut of the season. Got to make the most of the life we have.

This morning it was announced that Eddie Jordan, the former Formula 1 team owner had died aged 76. He had been diagnosed with aggressive prostate cancer. Two years ago, I was diagnosed with early stage but aggressive prostate cancer. So far, I have survived to fulfil further ambitions. I am going to do exactly that.

When I see this rich man with all the access to medical testing and treatment at his command looking so fit, tanned and healthy and know he is now dead at an age just two years after mine, I know I can’t hold back. Taking risks and doing what I have long dreamed of doing just has to happen.

Of course, what could the music be today other than Vivaldi’s Four Seasons: Spring. If you can get the Musak editions out of your mind from 1990s telephone answering machines, it is glorious. It reminds me of the moorlands on the Pennines.

I’ve done three hours of mowing, edging and sweeping. It started off warm but at 3.00 pm it is hot. We have just reached the magic 22C/70F and it is beautiful. I am absolutely shattered but I’ve still got 40 minutes to do in the Gym. Everything about my body is screaming, NO! but, as usual, my head is insistently replying, YES!!!

Friday, 22nd March, 2025

A different day – less sunny and cooler although improving. Down at the beach en route to the Fish Shop, things were quiet and calm.

Good day for making a crossing in a small boat. The sea is flat and calm. There is no breeze and it is relatively warm. Good alternative to flying in to Heathrow this morning.

I have written before of my unerring need to go back, to revisit, to reconnect with people and places. I usually set a plan and eventually tick off elements of that plan over time. Having spent 25 years on Sifnos, it is on my list for revisit.

This morning some memories of people and places on the island were posted and took me right back to the late 1970s – early 1980s. There are people I know from then in these photographs. Some are dead but some are still alive. The places may have changed but they still exist in new form. That is the challenge. These photographs feature the first man I met on arrival, our architect of our house and one of our favourite tavernas for Lunch. Happy Days to revisit.

Music today involves two lovely voices – Andrea Bocelli and Celine Dion -recorded at an open air concert in Central Park: La Preghiera (The Prayer) Fortunately, I don’t rely on prayers.

Going out for a walk followed by some more grass mowing and finishing off with a Gym session. Activity is central to life at the moment. It is working although I am strangely starting to suffer energy depletion at the moment.

With all this effort, I am starting to look at new suits to fit a new me. I can’t decide how formal/informal to go. These are my current favourites and they are cheap at just over £200.00. I might have to order one of each if someone doesn’t help me. Reader views always welcome.

Saturday, 23rd March, 2025

Had a terribly fitful night. Woke desperately tired and then fell back to sleep. Up half an hour late this morning. A pleasant, mild and bright morning. It’s going to be a gardening day. I’ve got artificial lawns to sweep, cold frames to clean out and seeds to sow. We were given Christmas presents of bulb packs which have been developing away in their containers. The Grape Hyacinths are the first to put on a Spring display.

Out in our street, the cut out flower beds in the lawns have to be planted up in a few qweeks time. It costs me quite a bit of cash. I don’t ask neighbours to contribute. It is my offering to the community like the lawn mowing service. Being one of the few retirees around here, I have the time and they don’t. I try to plant out colourful but hardy and long lasting plants which survive throughout the Summer. Particularly this year, they will have to cope because I will be away for most of it.

They have to be bright and stand-out as people drive in. They have to have a ‘corporate’, unified feel of a community. They can’t look dull, grubby, unkempt or uncared for. They will flower from June to October. I will buy young plants from the Garden Centres but sow all these seeds as well because I will need about 200 plants in all. Seed sowing will start today.

I’m also sowing my one of my favourite vegetables which I eat about three times a week – French (Green) Beans. They are easy to grow from seed and prolific in fruiting over a long season.

Out walking, there are lovely signs of Spring. Daffodils and Hyacinths in full bloom, Robins in trees screaming at us to get out of there patch and these, gorgeous magnolia blooms which really symbolise the season.

Just finished my Gym routine at 4.30 pm after a morning of gardening. I am out on my feet. I don’t understand it. For the third day running, I feel shaky and my muscles are cracking. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I don’t really think I am pushing myself too hard but I am definitely in deficit somewhere. Today, I’ve eaten a bowl of home made museli and a banana. I don’t feel hungry but my body is saying it needs something. You’ve definitely got problems when your body needs something.

A propos of absolutely nothing, this afternoon I’m listening to Elton John & Kiki Dee singing Don’t Go Breaking My Heart. I suppose I have a broken body.

Sunday, 9thMarch, 2025

Gorgeous, warm and sunny morning. How lovely for little Catherine to celebrate her 70th birthday. It astonishes me to even say that. Catherine is 70!

Still, it comes to us all. I’ve made her a home-made card. As I was always told, they are so much more meaningful. As she lives just down the road from me, I know she is enjoying the same, lovely weather and will be able to enjoy a glass of wine in the garden today to celebrate her achievements.

Catherine was born in 1955. It was a different world as some of these photos suggest. Actually, she has just sent me a photo of her own Memory Board with many photos I haven’t seen before.

Funnily enough, I was looking through the 1911 and 1921 Census records yesterday. I love that sort of thing. Found out some fascinating stuff that I didn’t know.

Mum was born a Coghlan. Her Dad, my Grandad was James Jeremiah Coghlan (Irish extract Roman Catholic) who was born in 1894 in Brighton. I even have a photo of the house and street where he was born although it was redeveloped long ago.

When I first knew my Grandad in any cognisant state, he was living in Croydon and managed the furniture department of a store in central London. When he retired, he moved up to the Midlands near us, opened an Antiques Shop and did his own re-upholstering of old furniture. He was proud of his skills.

I didn’t know and never met any of his siblings – my Aunts and Uncles. I certainly didn’t know of his father, Daniel (Born 1851) – my Great Grandfather – or his Mother, Mary Coghlan (Born 1856) or his Grandmother, Mary Fielding (Born 1828) – my Great Great Grandmother – at all.

I’m going out to tidy up the garden and enjoy the sunshine before I do my Gym routine. I’m listening to Elgar today. We are seriously on the edge of World War 3. I honestly believe that these are the conditions that crept up on the world unnoticed before the Second World War and the foundations are forming again. The Elgar I’m listening to is the Nimrod Variation. Nimrod the warrior is all around us now. The Tory government scrapped a new fleet of Nimrod submarine hunters which cost almost £4bn to develop, just before they were due to enter service as part of drastic defence cuts four years ago

Monday, 10th March, 2025

A grey, warm morning. Missing yesterday’s blue sky and sunshine already. We have been experiencing lovely, warm and sunny Spring days recently. The world (locally) is turning back to life. Now we are told it will flip back momentarily to colder times. Daffodils and crocuses will survive the blip but tree blossom may not. We haven’t gone quite that far yet with just nascent buds appearing so all will be well. The shorts and tee shirt can stay in the wardrobe for a few more days.

I used to be a climate change denier. There, I’ve said it. I am no longer, although I harbour a residual suspicion that historical world climate events don’t suggest man-made change is entirely the explanation. However, not to be churlish, my sister, JaneBG has shamed me into accepting the inevitable. I thought I would preface today’s Blog post with that admission.

I used to live on the edge of the Pennines in West Yorkshire for many years and a recurring story of the moors being on fire came each year. They are ritually set on fire as a part of land management, burning off the old growth to encourage new shoots to emerge and blossom over the Summer. It would also happen as tinder dry heather was sparked into fire by careless recreation of a thrown away cigarette or barbecue. I don’t remember hearing of fires in early March … until this year.

Moor fires above Huddersfield on Holmfirth Road and Diggle in Oldham over the last few days.

I am not a Geographer or a Scientist and I do not have a proper understanding of Climate Science. I rely on others. Recently the concept of Global Warming has been qualified by the possibility of Europe actually cooling. This scenario is unlikely to affect my Generation although warming is already something I am addressing. Installing Air Conditioning in the house and preparing to use less water in the garden are both becoming necessities now. I must admit, I would rather deal with warming than have to heat for cooling but it will neither be in my gift or, probably, my lifetime.

My expected lifespan – as an average for those born in 1951 – is 87 years which means just 13 more. A woman born in 1951 can expect to live to 89 years. That is my challenge – to beat the 87 ceiling. That should be all our challenges, Dear Reader. World War 3 could put that under serious strain even if I am not called upon to fight.

I so enjoyed the Elgar yesterday that I couldn’t wait to play more this morning. Today I am focussing on Enigma Variations: Variation VI. Ysobel – Andantino. Ysobel is a Hebrew name which means to struggle with god and led to the naming of Israel. Not many people know that.

Tuesday, 11th March, 2025

A bit overcast this morning but warm and humid. I am putting myself through another test this morning. I’ve volunteered for Our Future Health a collaboration between the public, charity and private sectors to build the UK’s largest health research programme – bringing people together to develop new ways to prevent, detect and treat disease. Of course, I’m only doing it because they are going to pay me £10.00 for my services. Height, weight, waist circumference, blood pressure, blood sample are all taken and recorded. There is no hiding place.

I volunteered immediately my surgery suggested me and I am happy to offer my unique body for the country’s amusement. I assume they have only invited gods and other people of true beauty. Even the organisation can’t really believe my willingness to take part. They have emailed and texted me to confirm my appointment constantly since.

I am going for a 9.00 am appointment at a clinic opposite the beach. I’m not sure how often this will happen but it will have to fit in with my travel plans this Summer.

I weigh myself every morning first thing and I am still well on course. Down again today. I have definitely got the right balance of calories in and calories out at the moment. Over Breakfast, I tested my INR (2.9) and checked my Blood Pressure. Both were good. I think my Blood Pressure is excellent at the moment.

However, that turned out to be the high point. Out at 8.30 am and straight in to rush hour traffic. The drive took me 3 times as long as normal. Parked up by the beach (£3.40) and rushed down the promenade to the testing centre to find a small paper notice pinned to the window – CANCELLED – Testees will have been notified by Text. I hadn’t received a text at all, Dear Reader. You can only imagine how disappointed I was.

Across the road, down at the beach, the sun was just starting to break through the clouds but the area was almost deserted. I’m not sure why but a number of stone pillars have been installed covered in photographs of all the seaside opportunities available for visitors to explore.

The drive home was much quieter and, over coffee, I phoned the Future Health Head Office to receive a bland apology and request to book again. I will give them one more chance but that’s all.

After coffee and a walk, I am going to finish tidying up the back garden this afternoon while my Decorator complretes the re-painting of the groundfloor of the house. It’s a hive of industry here at the moment. I like a good handyman (woman). Very cheap!

Hey, baby, I’m your handy man
I’m not the kind that uses pencil or rule
I’m handy with the love and I’m no fool
I fix broken hearts, I know I truly can

So, you’ll understand my musical choice of the day is James Taylor: Handy Man. Always liked James Taylor and I don’t really know why. I think it is the cool thoughtfulness of the lyrics that appeals to me although I’m not sure it holds up with this song.

I don’t know if this happens to you but it is increasingly happening to me, Dear Reader. Over coffee this morning, I watched a rolling news presentation by Manchester United of proposals to spend £Billions on the building of a new stadium complex which will help regenerate the North of England. It all sounded good and was said to be aimed to open in 5 years time. Wonderful and quite quick …. until I realise by the time this stadium is opened, I will be 79 years old. It is all so unfair and explains why I am so urgent to do things I want to do before my hair falls out and/or I fall off my perch.

Wednesday, 12th March, 2025

A mild but grey morning. My Carer is out. She is moonlighting as a Cat Carer this morning. She tries to fit this in to her portfolio of careers as a Carer, Housekeeper, Chef and Painter & Decorator. It is an unpaid service that she offers to the neighbours when they are away. This morning she is next door feeding two cats Duck in Sauce at 7.30 am. Can you imagine it?

Taking the car in for work this morning. They’ll only need it for a couple of hours so I’ll walk home and then back to collect it. Meanwhile, the Cat Carer will don another cape and become Chef to make a batch of Hot Cross Buns before swapping capes and continuing the Painting & Decorating. It’s exhausting, isn’t it, Dear Reader.

I’ve booked an alternative trip to the Medical Research Clinic for early next month and I have found a scanning service which I’m interested in following up. I read about it in The Times. Neko Health offers a comprehensive body scan which really covers a full amount of data.

There is only one UK site at the moment and that is in Marylebone, Westminster so that is where I will go but it looks as if the principle could be the future for NHS processes although I may not see much of it in my lifetime.

The sun has come out in time for my walk and the world looks lovely. My friend in North Yorkshire had his car stolen just after Christmas and still has no car. I’ve been without mine for less than an hour and I feel very uncomfortable. I’m soothing myself with a song from Bocelli: Lo Ci Sarò – I’ll Be There. Kevin is sunning himself in Spain. It is certainly sunnier and warmer than here but no so distinctly as it will be in another month.

Here, tree buds have broken, daffodils and hyacinths are in full bloom and gardeners are on their starting blocks for the new season. You can feel change is in the air. I’m looking forward with optimism, Dear Reader. New beginnings.

Thursday, 13th March, 2025

Glorious morning. Blue sky and sunshine. Early walk this morning before driving up to Surrey to see smarty-M from Florida. All night the aroma of freshly-baked, hot cross buns has wafted through the house and now they are packaged up for transport in the car. I am hard into my diet. Chef is taunting me with her cooking.

I must admit that they do look good.  I hope, M, P&C enjoy them when I’m not there. Actually, I am so far into the diet that the sweet, fruit bread doesn’t really tempt me for long.

For a number of years, I have been disciplining myself to save and invest the maximum ISA amount for both of us each year. The maximum currently is £20,000 x 2. We are just about to do that again on April 6^th, my 74^th birthday and the start of the new Tax Year. Our tax -free investment allowance each year is just £1,000.00 x 2 so we are facing increasingly punishing tax bills and ISAs are the only way to shelter our cash from tax.

That is what I’ve been researching recently. I think a fixed rate for a couple of years is the best way to go. Despite the financial instability engendered by the Trump administration, I have reasonable confidence that inflation won’t soar out of hand and that a fixed rate can be relied on to make positive profits over a 24-month period if I’m not paying any tax on it.

They may be positive but they’re not very big. The maximum ISA for two people – £40,000.00 will only earn £3,605.80 over two years. Even if inflation comes back to the Bank of England norm of 2%, that would be worth just £1,879.00 in inflation adjusted value. If I move our ISAs of the last few years in as well, it is better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick but not a great deal.

Even if I invest it outside the ISA, tax-free wrapper, I can only get a marginal increase so it’s not a difficult decision …. unless the ISA route is limited by a future Budget which has been rumoured.

Te voglio bene assai
Ma tanto tanto bene, sai
È una catena ormai
Che scioglie il sangue dint’e vene, sai

One of the joys of driving up to Surrey is that I have time to listen to a political podcast from The Newsagents. It will probably be a series of discussions about Trump, Canada and Mark Carney. It is my sort of thing and it will speed the journey up. Befre that, I am listening to one of the most emotional songs I’ve ever heard. It makes my cry every time I hear it. Andrea Bocelli’s, Caruso.

What should make us all cry and then stand up and fight is scarily spelled out in this French Senator’s speech to the French Senate yesterday. It takes 8 minutes and you have translation subtitles to follow but it is well worth it. Truly spellbinding.

Friday, 14th March, 2025

Lovely, sunny morning after a crystal clear night. The garden was floodlit with moonlight and looked magical. As I drove back from Surrey yesterday, the skies opened and heavy rain hit cold air which turned it into hail. We are on that unpredictable edge of winter into warmer times.

Back home, the sun came out and I did an hour’s walk in brilliant sunshine but was faced with this ominous cloud on my way back. Just made it before the skies opened.

I have plants out in the cold frames and they need to be at the moment. Last night, we went down to 0C/32F at low point. Some bulbs we were given at Christmas are ready to be lifted out and given the open air now. We have been tidying up the garden in readiness. People all around us have been cutting lawns really short. I have held off and I won’t do anything until next week and warm weather returns. It is easy to harm grass by cutting it too soon.

Ten years ago, we were still in Surrey but preparing to drive up to West Yorkshire. I recorded the differing conditions on the that day and they were stark in contrast. I, for one, can’t wait for warmer times to be confirmed and stable.

Pauline received a thankyou of flowers from our lovely, next door neighbours for looking after their cats. They are beautiful – the flowers not the cats. I love cut flowers. All donations welcome.

Por mi que estoy ahora aqui
Y sueo cosas cosas que no s de ti
Dnde estaras?
Qu calle andaras?
En tu retorno
Sueo

Just about to go out for a walk now at 1.00 pm and the rain starts right on queue. It isn’t forecast to be around for long. I’m going to listen to a lovely Bocelli song – Sogno (Dream). Love these words. The Italian is so beautiful. I won’t do any more, I promise.

Saturday, 15th March, 2025

The garden was flooded in the most beautiful moonlight last night – magical and compelling. I woke thinking about it and all the other human beings looking at the same light in the sky. While I write this Blog today, I am listening to Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata and dreaming of the silver light now gone.

An early walk in lovely sunshine which was deceptively cold as the breeze held a raw edge. Still, it was good to get that done. Chatted to Kevin in Spain and Peter in Dubai and then got on with a task I have set myself. I love cut flowers in the house but they have to be replaced so often that we have a few Faux Flower arrangements around the place. This one in the Hall has been there for over 12 months and I am beginning to not notice it other than it is too tall and blocks the mirror when I want to admire my figure. And we can’t have that. I am looking to replace them.

There are lots of sites on the web that sell them but you have to pay for quality. I have selected a few for my Housekeeper to comment on. I’m not completely convinced by any of them yet. They average around £150.00 for an arrangement in a vase but they will be replacing fresh cu flowers for twelve months plus so that is a reasonable price to pay.

I want them to look as natural as possible while not dominating everything else. I don’t know what you think of these choices, Dear Reader. You could always let me know although your voice will be ignored just as much as mine, ultimately, as the Housekeeper decides.

I’m going in the Gym to bury myself in the absorbing fiction of Homelands. I need it right now because the post has just arrived with two more, huge tax demands. I’m thinking of emigrating!

Sunday, 2nd March, 2025

Gorgeous morning. Sunshine does make one feel better doesn’t it? We live about 36 miles from Gatwick Airport. It takes about 45 mins to drive there. By the time planes have reached us to cross the channel, they are silent specks in the sky with long, white trails behind them. How much more traffic we will have with an extra runway remains to be seen.

Already I have booked 8 flights for this year – each one with Easyjet and each one from Gatwick. It is an easy transition. For some, I drive and park in the Long Stay and for others, I get a taxi allied to a night’s stay in a hotel at the airport – usually I book Sofitel because it is a nice hotel with a convenient walk across to Departures and I am a member who gets discounts. I like discounts.

Effectively, all my trips excluding those to the North of England are ways of buying sunshine. Of course, Florida is a guarantor of sunshine but I couldn’t face it at the moment under its current regime. I would be in the assassination market myself which could prove problematic. We don’t want to let M&K down because we know they get so lonely without us but Manchester is more appealing at the moment. They’ve got Andy Burnham after all.

Music today is an old favourite that I haven’t heard for years. Last night BBC2 was devoted to Elkie Brooks and this brought back so many associations with the past. Lilac Wine, I’ve learnt today was a Song by Nina Simone from 1966. I only remember it from Elkie Brooks in 1978:

Lilac wine is sweet and heady,
Like my love
Lilac wine, I feel unsteady,
Where’s my love …?

Down at the beach this morning, I found myself singing quietly in my head with an blur of softness on my breath. Embarrassing really because the world, his wife and her dog were there drinking in the sunshine.

The coffee shop spilled out on to the beach and the sunshine. The regatta was far out on the sparkling sea and the cycles were parked up to rest in the warmth. It’s coming, Dear Reader. It’s coming.

Monday, 3rd March, 2025

Another gorgeous morning to drink in the sunshine. Went round to chat to Honda and book the car in for Friday. Spoke to a lovely, little girl on the desk who wasn’t even born when I bought my first Honda. Of course, the central locking is working flawlessly this morning. Anyway, it will all be sorted out on Friday.

Back home, I am working on a project of insurance for my data. I generate so much ‘stuff’ that I would be very upset if I lost it so Backup is essential. I use an automatic backup program so I no longer have to think about it.

Computer crashes and security infections are far less prevalent today than when I first started. In 1988, my Masters Degree Dissertation was always in danger and had to be saved on floppy disks which were easily open to corruption. By 1994, computing had moved on but hard drives were limited to 32mb and backup on floppy disks was still very vulnerable.

Just 30 years ago, hard drives were limited to 32 mb. Today, my hard drive is 1,000,000 mb or a Terabyte and houses more pictures and files than could be imagined. Of course, some are more precious than others. I received one 4 years ago today that I never want to lose. It came up in my Records Box this morning and was immediately backed up three times.

I use a cloud store – One Drive that comes with Micosoft Office-365, a local cloud store in the form of this small Terrabyte drive and I have a simple flash drive. There’s insurance and there is real insurance.

Music today is the guitar. The classical guitar of John Williams. I don’t play this too often but today I am listening to Aeolian Suite for Guitar composed and played by John Williams.

Well the day remained wall-to-wall sunshine and reached 15C/59F. Walking was warm. If I hadn’t got my Housekeeper painting, I might have set her on garden tidying instead. Still, there is time.

Tuesday, 4th March, 2025

Another glorious morning. The temperature only says 7C/45F but it feels warm in the sunshine. I’m going out for an early walk. My Housekeeper is painting and the house is invaded throughout by the smell of new paint.

The sea, on the other hand smells freshly of … sea water. It is a good and relaxing place to be. I am walking over just about 3000 miles per year. I feel fortunate not to suffer with joint problems.

A number of my fellow College friends are waiting for or recovering from Hip and knee replacements. That is not something I’m suffering from currently. I have worried that all this walking will bring those problems about but I have been reassured that walking makes them less not more likely.

The Mayo Clinic research found that the average American walks only 3,000 – 4,000 paces per day and 5000 paces should be considered a baseline to health. Although some activity is better than no activity, one should always be challenging oneself to go further. You have to constantly look for fresh ways to integrate walking.

Going to have to try this one. The Lowry Centre in Manchester has an interesting new experience inviting people to walk in to a Lowry painting. Must be worth a visit, Dear Reader. Lowry360 will be open at the beginning of May.

Walking, walking through time and memories …I’ve always loved this quote from T. S. Eliot’s Four Quartets:

Footfalls echo in the memory
Down the passage which we did not take
Towards the door we never opened
Into the rose-garden.
Time present and time past
Are both perhaps present in time future ….

Music today is from Helen Shapiro (who is only 78 now) singing Walking Back to Happiness which expresses an idea so close to that of Eliot’s it is amazing. Walking back to the present is an incredible concept. It was the first ‘Pop’ song I ever heard. It was in 1961-2 and played over the tannoy of the first ever supermarket I ever went in to. It was in the Summer before I went to Grammar School where boys were already talking about The Beatles. It took me a while to catch up. Story of my life.

Just received a letter from the Le Ministère de la Transition Écologique et de la Cohésion des Territoires with our Crit’Air vignette attached which will cover us for driving in France and assure police that our car is environmentally clean.

Every time we change the car, we need to buy a new vignette because it uses the car’s VIN number. It costs less than €5.00 and it saves a fine in France so I always do it.The biggest problem is sticking it in the windscreen correctly.

Wednesday, 5th March, 2025

Unusual start to the day. Thick fog all around. Don’t often see that down here. Went down to the beach to collect a fish order and took the chance to walk by the Marina.

Quite chilly 5C/41F under the heavy sky and so different from yesterday’s sunshine. I suppose it is good to see the differing conditions but I prefer the sunshine.

My father died of a heart condition at the ridiculously young age of 49. He actually had a heart attack while he was in a hospital bed but was unable to be saved. This morning, the news carried an innovation being urged on the Labour government by experts from University College London (UCL) who report their view that a single, daily “polypill”, which includes a statin and three drugs that lower blood pressure, could be a flagship initiative to boost the Government’s drive to prevent disease.

Because of my own heart condition of Atrial Fibrillation and my family history, I have taken a handful of pills to cover cholesterol, blood pressure and anti coagulant for the past 16 years. Most of these things may now be offered to all over 50s in a combined pill which is so cheap since they have run out of licence-time. I feel fit. I don’t really worry about heart attacks and stroke any more. This combination of drugs has freed me of those concerns.

I am much more exercised by the threat of cancer. I am adequately tested for prostate cancer now. I have been regularly tested for bowel cancer but it is not automatic and I have to fight for it each time. How often should it be? I do the NHS Bowel Cancer Screening test every 2 years. I have had a colonoscopy at the same interval for the past 4 years. This morning I was told that it should be every year at my age. It was by a private testing company but their data was compelling.I may have to break the habits of a lifetime and pay for privately enhanced treatment.

Warm sunshine has returned and most things are well with the world. The days are coming when fog will lift permanently and sunshine will flow warmly. It will be a time of clarity and blue, mediterranean skies. Music today is Torna a Surriento (Come back to Sorrento) sung by Mario Lanza. If only I could, Dear Reader.

Thursday, 6th March, 2025

A delicious morning. Up early to greet our new central heating service engineer. Really nice, salt-of-the-earth lad who turned out to be a Grecophile who wanted to buy a place in Lefkada. We have been paying British Gas about £350.00 per year for their Gold Standard service. This lad used to manage a team of BG engineers and now works for himself. His service was more thorough and cost just £70.00. He’s already been booked for next year.

These are uncertain times of world destabilisation. Since the Trump-Vance attrocity with Zalensky in the Whitehouse, so many of us have carried round a heavy heart. A friend from Yorkshire sent me this yesterday which relieves the anger momentarily. Just click to play it when you need a ‘joy’ fix.

It is such a lovely day that I’m playing Beethoven’s Symphony No.6 – Pastoral. There really is nothing else on a day like today. When I go walking in the sunshine today I think it will be shorts and tee shirt for the first time for a while. Good things are coming closer and more rapidly now. Not long until May.

My old flatmate, Chris Tolley, has just heard that I am alcohol-free for 191 days. He is away in the sunshine of Lanzarote and sent me a photo to make me jealous. There are many things I want but a glass of warm lager in Lanzarote is not one of them.

The back garden is bathed in strong and hot sunshine. Chicken Stock is being made in the pressure cooker simmering away on the induction hob outside on a table, pervading the air with its distinctive smell and sending all the cats in the area wild.

The upside of Trump’s America First policy is that it throws UK back into the European sphere. However much ambiguity surrounds our government’s attempts to bridge the transatlantic gap, it is becoming clear that there is only strength in European unity and a European defence force that the Atlanticists have been denying for so long. So many of us have thought that for so long as we opposed the Brexit idiocy. It is all coming home to roost.

The Peace Dividend idea at the end of the Cold War was a reason cooked up to allow European nations to divert spending away from Defence into other channels. It was a nice idea but just plain wrong. There will always be aggressive agencies against which we have to defend ourselves. Arguments against nuclear weapons were made on cost and value. Arguments for rested on Deterence.

Boris Johnson famously argued against rearming Military Forces on the basis that it would all be hight tech. in future. He said fighting won’t involve tanks anymore. Just a couple of years later, what has been most needed by Ukraine’s Armed Forces has been Tanks. What we don’t need are the Aircraft Carriers that we bought at extortionate prices in order to support US forces in the Atlantic Ocean.

Friday, 7th March, 2025

Another lovely, warm, Spring morning. Out early to Honda to have the central locking mechanism checked and a Recall on the Fuel Injection system which they only advised us about yesterday.

We will leave the car and walk home. It is a 40 mins walk so we will walk back a couple of hours later. The walk is through the woodland surrounding us. It is still mainly dormant although buds on trees are about to wake to the Spring. This current warm spell will probably do it.

The walk there and back will amount to enough outside today and I will go on to complete my Gym routine this afternoon while my painter & decorator continues freshening up the house. It is amazing how faded the unpainted areas now look so she has inflicted a life time of work on herself equivalent to painting the Forth Bridge which they say needs restarting as soon as they get to the end.

Of course demi-gods like me have more important focusses. Diet, Health and Fitness are the centres of some of my friends mine’s thinking. My friend in Yorkshire and another in Rochdale are obsessed with something I hadn’t heard of but will investigate now. They talk about the Withings Scale from which they quote their Fitness Age.

I thought it was a chart but it turns out to be an actual set of bathroom scales which provide detailed reports of the body scan the scales perform including fat and muscle percentage, cardiovascular risk assessment, and detection of certain early signs of diabetes-related complications and vascular age.

All of this information can be deduced from scan of feet and hands each morning which is then relayed to a smartphone app. Now they’re talking my language! I am trying hard but not hard enough. All that information is a little bit scary but I think I will have to submit to it. Kevin tells me that, although he looks 80, he has a fitness age of 60. That is my target.

My Chef cooked what is turning out to be one of my favourite, healthy and delicious Suppers last night. It consisted of roast Sea Bass with pesto dressing accompanied by Portobello Mushroom stuffed with shallot and parmesan and roast Cherry Tomatoes.

Other than Muesli, this is the only meal of the day. It is accompanied by a glass of alcohol-free wine and fits well within my calorie-intake target. When you get me 7 months into this routine, I find it quite easy. The problem will be when I start to relax it. Will I be able to pull it back whenever I want to?

This morning, I’ve been invited to book the first of a two part annual health check at my Surgery. They are absolutely fantastic down here. We get appointments when we need them. Everything has been done on-line almost since we arrived 9 years ago. Results are delivered on-line to an app on my phone. The service itself is proactive as in this case. I didn’t request a health check. I was invited. When you are in your mid-70s, these things are increasingly important

While keeping up the spinning plates of my body and the car’s, I’ve chosen Take That‘s What is Love. I’ll sing along in Greek because that’s what I associated it with. You can sing in English, Dear Reader. No pressure!

Saturday, 8th March, 2025

Gorgeously warm day for early March. We are reading 17C/63F this morning in the back garden. My walk at 9.30 am was delightful being greeted by shiny, new blackbirds, sweetly voice thrushes and aggressively determined robins all jostling for space and food building up their prowess in readiness for the big love-in.

Before I go on, I have been contacted by a clever clogs who has taken issue with my solution to one of the mathematical puzzles – see Wednesday, 12th February, 2025.

A.C. Clogs says that my solution ignores the BIDMAS rule which says one should deal with multiplication before the addition. This means that the answer to this puzzle should be (4 x 6 = 24) + 3 = 27. Much as I don’t want to acknowledge it, she is right.

Today is International Women’s Day after all as my Bavarian-Australian next door neighbour has just reminded me as I returned her Hot Tub towel which had some how fallen into our garden. My wife is celebrating by being allowed to continue painting the house. I am giving her freedom by watching football and Six Nations Rugby. We all have to make sacrifices!

I’ve also been enjoying exploring the 1911 and 1921 Census releases this morning. They are providing lots of lovely information going back to the early 1800s. Interestingly and rather disappointingly, I thought my Mother’s family had closer ties with Ireland than they did.

Neither my Grandparents nor my Great Grandparents were born in Ireland so the connections really do go a long way back. No chance of me claiming EU identity via my ancestors unfortunately. I will have to rely on Labour taking me back in and Trump making them go faster than they want.

I was supporting Ireland against France this afternoon but it didn’t go right. The French were just too good in the Spring sunshine. Haven’t had time for music today.

Sunday, 23th February, 2025

A beautiful morning. I had an empty sadness inside me yesterday. This morning renewed my optimism that all will go well and that I will achieve my ultimate goals. Blue sky, warm and bright is definitely a harbinger of things to come.

………. Blue-eyed May
Shall soon behold this border thickly set
With bright jonquils, their odours lavishing
On the soft west-wind and his frolic peers;
Nor will I then thy modest grace forget,
Chaste Snowdrop, venturous harbinger of Spring,
And pensive monitor of fleeting years!

William Wordsworth – To a Snowdrop – 1820

Obviously, the effects of Global Warming have advanced the time of Spring considerably over the past 200 years and the difference between the Lake District of Northern England and the sheltered coastal temperatures of West Sussex contribute but these harbingers of Spring are out here at least two months earlier than Wordsworth’s 19th Century Cumbria.

It is a morning of domesticity. I am having my haircut in the Kitchen after I’ve done a 90 mins walk. I have a live-in Barber who actually doubles up as a Chef and Housekeeper. Chef has produced a huge batch of Meat Sauce for one of my favourite meals – Stuffed Peppers / Πιπεριές Γεμιστές. I think this pan will do 6 meals for two people unless you drop in, Dear Reader.

If you are a regular reader of the Blog, you will know that I have been drifting from Left to Right on the Nature v Nurture debate. The Right tend to argue that bloodline and genes are predominate determinates of generation. The Left tend to deny that and argue that privilege of circumstance is what makes the main difference. Levelling up would raise the Health and Physical Wealth of the less fortunate.

I was brought up in a Right Wing family but educated in a Left Wing milieu. I grew up on the belief that amelioration of Nature particularly through compensatory education was the way to improve the world. In later life, I’ve been alarmed to find how many physical attributes are common throughout my family. Now, the Sunday Times reports research with a re-balancing of that argument. Socioeconomic status – your post code and associated affluence which is all tied into your level of education and cultural choices – is by far the most influential factor on longevity. It doesn’t mean that no poor people live to great ages just that the likelihood is less.

Music for this Sunday morning, while the devout are at prayer, is the Debussy – Cello Sonata which was written at the start of World War One and is guaranteed to make life more enjoyable if not any longer.

Monday, 24th February, 2025

A dark early morning of heavy rain has miraculously brightened up by 9.30 am. It is very warm. I’m tired. I didn’t sleep well. I never dream but I’ve been dreaming. In spite of this, I’ve got to get my exercise done. These are the most important days when I have to drive myself through the crisis.

This week marks 6 months without any alcohol. It is the longest spell I have done since 1973. I would like to say I feel good about it -feel better for it. It wouldn’t really be true. I am pleased to reassert my self-discipline. I’m sure it has allowed my liver to breathe a sigh of relief although my doctor told me last year it was in excellent condition. It has definitely helped me in my struggle to lose weight and regain fitness. Both of those goals are well on target. I have a date in May in my mind that I am aiming for. Another 12 weeks.

I am trying to keep myself occupied physically. Having completed my travel planning and bookings for the year with a few gaps to slot extra bits in, I am turning to the garden over the next few weeks. Soon the lawns will need reviving as they welcome the Spring warmth. Moss killer and weed & feed applied to boost them after quite a wet Winter. I am about to order hundreds of ‘plug’ plants to grow on for planting out.

It is a cheap way to produce hundreds of plants without needing to germinate them all myself. They will arrive at the beginning of April and be potted up into my cold frames. They will go out into the beds in late May to flower all Summer while I am away. My neighbours will get instructions on how to look after them.

Music today is from the Moody Blues – On the Threshold of a Dream: Lovely to See You. Haven’t heard it for years. Sounds dated but I suppose I am. It’s strange but part of me utterly rejects the past for its taint with aging yet part of me longs to dive back into it – to understand it with the perspective of distance. It’s probably quite natural but it fascinates me.

I’m absolutely loving my Gym workout each day at the moment. I can’t wait to get in there. I’m watching an Anglo-American Spy drama over 96 episodes which I resisted for a long time but finally re-tried and it is brilliant. I am utterly hooked.

I find myself completing my routine but forcing myself to go further just to finish an episode. It is really topical and involves Israeli prisoners of war, Al Quaeda, Afghanistan, Russia and a change of American President. What more could you want? I love the irony that I have to subscribe to Disney Channel to watch it. This alone is worth the £5.00 a month subscription.

Tuesday, 25th February, 2025

February is sliding rapidly away. March is marching closer. The Spring is on our doorstep. These are the waves of time flowing back and forth on the beach of our lives, each time getting closer before retreating to reveal our past.

If you are my age, Dear Reader, the death of Roberta Flack yesterday will not have passed you by unnoticed. I was no great fan of Soul Music, as I think it was called, but songs like The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face (1969) and Killing Me Softly (1973) are part of the fabric of my youth and so chimed with stages of my life that they will always be significant. She lived to 88 but died of a nightmare illness – Motor Neuron Disease. Nothing in life is simple or easy in the end but we have to bear it.

Energy prices are rising again and we have to bear those as well. Interesting article in The Telegraph this morning about how retirees are escaping to warmer climes to save on heating bills. Now that’s an idea, Dear Reader. What do you think?

About 40 years ago, I went to Cyprus in the Winter to enjoy some extra warmth. I hired a car and explored the southern half of the island. It was interesting and enjoyable but not the Greek experience I had been hoping for. I haven’t been back. The article this morning was suggesting that I reconsider and I will.

Around 1985, I stayed in an almost empty area called Protaras. It is quite developed now. I drove to Larnaca and Paphos. I drove from the sunny beaches of Paralimni up the Troodos Mountains region into heavy snow. I drove to the Famagusta checkpoint to look over the fence between Greek and Turkish Cyprus.

I am already looking for a rental property for the month of February next year in Paralimni, South East Cyprus. One of the first that came up suggests I was always destined to return.

It might be a bit big but would be worth it for the name alone. I will have to invite a bunch of friends … if you are up for it, Dear Reader.

Wednesday, 26th February, 2025

Wet and warm, grey and depressing. What to do with today? I am acknowledging 16 years and 6 months today. It was 16 years ago today, at the tender age of 57, that I learned I had an irregular heart beat. Medically, it is called Atriall Fibrilation. Crudely, it means that my heart stops and starts spasmodically, allows the blood to pool in the ventricles of the heart where it can coagulate and pulse clots around the body causing strokes and heart attacks.

I must admit that, in retrospect, I probably suffered from this for years before it was diagnosed. As an athlete and a rugby player in the late 1960s, I put heart palpitations and and feeling light headed down to pushing myself too hard, being short of oxygen, being muscle fatigued. Looking back, I think it was probably irregular heart beat.

Anyway, for the past 16 years I have been dosing myself each morning with rat poison. I take Warfarin which prevents my blood coagulating and therefore clots don’t form to develop catastrophic consequences through circulation. In rat poison, the doses are so high that the rats ingest that their blood circulation is so fluid their bodies explode.

In human sufferers, dosage is closely controlled by medical experts. Hospitals have specialist Departments of Anticoagulation for just this process. I report to one in Worthing every couple of months. We communicate by email. I am fortunate enough to be able to afford my own testing machine and don’t have to physically attend a clinic which is so inconvenient for most. Even so, from the moment I was diagnosed, all my prescriptions even those unassociated were free. I used to really worry about the condition but these days, I am relaxed and on top of it. I test myself weekly and maintain a spreadsheet which is now 16 years long. I never give up!

Six months without alcohol. I think that’s worthy of at least a round of applause. Now walking a minimum of 8 miles a day but actually nearer 60 miles a week. I’m feeling so much better, so much heathier. I know there are somethings I still need to reclaim and I will but music is back in my life after all this time finding it almost unbearable. Today, I am listening to the magnificent Jacqueline du Pré playing Elgar’s Cello Concerto  in E minor composed at the end of the First World War.

Thursday, 27th February, 2025

Gorgeous morning. A little bit cooler than recently but blue sky and sunshine. Eyes drink in the light. If you haven’t got it, I wish I could share it with you, Dear Reader.

Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus is a book written by American author and relationship counsellor in the 1990s. Mars is a sign of bravery, aggression and a quality of being strong. Venus is a sign of love, beauty, kindness. Stereotypes are wonderful aren’t they? And plain wrong. It may have sold books but it doesn’t really inform the science of relationship advice. It is too reductive even if it still has some basis in reality. I can be brave, strong, aggressive but I can also be a soft mess. Over all, my experience is that women are stronger and harder headed.

Retirement can be boring after a while and we all look for distractions. We shop and we travel. I shop for technology and my wife shops for clothes. We meet over food and travel. One of the great things is that we don’t have to actually go to shops any more, the shops come to us and they do …. almost daily. This morning I am going to Saint + Sofia in Covent Garden (by proxy) to return a pair of Venus trousers and reclaim £160.00 for my bank account. All I do is print out a label and good things happen.

Ten years ago, I was shopping in Maplin Electronics for memory cards. Now there is no shop left across the country. They went into administration in 2018 and now only trade on-line … and why not. Work from home is a great idea. All teachers should do it.

My live in House Decorator has been tasked with repainting all the internal doors. After 9 years of life and being pounded with strong sunshine, retouching is no longer feasible so all 8 ground floor doors and surrounds are being totally repainted. She needs a project and there it is. As a result, we have made a trip to Wickes this morning for brushes, rollers, paint and White Spirit and Masking Tape. Over the next couple of weeks the house will be renewed.

My job is to complete my fitness regime each day and continue research for a holiday rental in Cyprus for the month of February 2026. No time like the present and someone has to do it. The one above is fantastic value at just £3,200.00 for four weeks replacing UK winter with Mediterranean warmth. What’s not to like?

To keep me company, I have Pavarotti singing Libiamo ne’ lieti calici from Verdi’s La Traviata. Even my Painter & Decorator is singing along. It is an old favourite with so many opera lovers who pretend they can sing whereas Pavarotti is effortlessly sublime … rather like me in the shower.

Friday, 28th February, 2025

Today marks the end of Winter by the meteorological calendar but we’ve got four more weeks until the clocks go forward. Still, the day is glorious with cloudless blue sky and strong sunshine. My Housekeeper doesn’t care what day it is. For her, it is another day of self-indulgence. A constant round of Beauty treatments, new clothes and, this morning, the Hairdressers. Friday seems to be popular.

Went down to the beach where the temperature was a lovely 14C/57F with the tide gently lapping on the turn and hardly a soul in sight.

You only have to bathe in the warmth, listen to the sounds and watch the mesmerising movement of the sea to know life is worth living. It is really reviving. Came away feeling better about life and more determined than ever to succeed. Not long until May.

All eyes yesterday were on America and the Starmer-Trump meeting. The lawyer prepared well and the egoist fell for the preparatory work. All the media with the exception of the ultra right wing Express had to hand it to Starmer. Even the Murdock Times (above) gave praise.

I’ve got the sounds of the sea still playing in my head throughout the morning. So the music I’ve chosen today is from Fleetwood Mac: Albatross. Delicious chords which so echo the sounds of the sea, the lapping of the waves, the dragging of the shells back into the water.

It is so lovely to live here and have this on our doorstep but it will never rival the Mediterranean for me. I will spend the rest of my life exploring shores heated and exposed by the searing heat and blinding sunshine of Mediterranean skies. I can hardly wait for my next visit.

Saturday, 1st March, 2025

Happy new month, Dear Reader. Happy March 2025 and welcome the Spring. It’s certainly bringing gorgeous, warm – 14C/57F – sunshine and blue skies with it this Saturday. Outside on an early walk, the trees and hedgerows were alive with birds looking for friends with benefits to access the gene pool and extend the species. Flowers and buds on bushes are breaking in the bright warmth preparing for the season.

Music today is the delightful Beethoven: Violin Sonata No.5, ‘Spring Sonata’. It is a time of heart raising expectation and joy to come. And there is joy to come, Dear Reader. Life is rejuvenated and reborn. Let’s hope we are too.

Met our neighbours out walking. They have two girls now aged 18 and 16. Each are doing exams this Summer and the elder one preparing to go off to university in September. When we moved in to our new house they were both at Primary School. It is a shock to reaslise how time has moved on in the light of that fact. It’s a shock for parents as well, of course. It reminds us all how old we are.

I’ve owned Honda cars since my first one in 1984. In that time, I have bought more than 20 of them from new. I have virtually never had a problem with any of them although I didn’t keep one more than two years. Yesterday, I developed a central locking problem on the front passenger door and it has to be looked at on Monday.

Actually, I first found out when my Honda App showed all doors, sunroof and windows were locked with the exception of the passenger door. When I checked that was locked as well. So there is an electrical facility problem which I can’t solve.

For that reason, I am going to give the car a full valet in the sunshine in readiness for taking it in on Monday. I am always reminded that when I took my Honda Accord in for its first service in 1984, the Honda desk mildly rebuked me for delivering such a dirty vehicle. They said they provided every customer with free cleaning kits because their vehicles were their adverisements and had to look good always.

I took that rebuke to heart even though I had given them the princely sum of about £7,400.00 and was rather shocked by their response. I have always tried hard since then.

Well, if you are a Democrat and you didn’t go to bed and get up this morning with that obscene scene palyed out in the Whitehouse last night then perhaps you were not paying attention. It has dominated my thoughts since yesterday evening and it fully justifies the opprobrium heaped on that attrocious, attention-seeking, orange man-baby as he abused the President of a European, democratic country. It was utterly appalling but it has to unite Europe in opposition.

The most astonishing thing has happened. I’ve cleaned the car from top to bottom, inside and out. It is ready for inspection on Monday morning. The only thing is that the central locking problem has disappeared completely. I am amazed. I only cleaned it.