Month: May 2025

Sunday, 18th May, 2025

Lovely morning and the immediate world around looks fine …. as long as you don’t raise your eyes to the wider real world. Chaos is all around and we have to fight to make sense of it, to bring order to it. There is such self inflicted suffering at our doors that it hurts to be enjoying myself.

We haunt the people that we love, And we become ruins by doing so. Chasing them down every line, no matter if spoken or lived by it. Running in circles, remembering them, While watching ourselves turn into others’ ghosts. We haunt and live and we will outlive…..

Must just wish my very little sister, Caroline – known to everyone as Cal – a very happy birthday. She is the ancient age of 63. Can you imagine it? It shouldn’t be allowed. I suppose she suffered a lot of the time as the youngest and most put upon. Now, she is having the last laugh. Happily living out her retirement in her pastoral Irish home with someone she loves and enjoyment in Newcastle football success. We have all reached reasonably contented conclusions which is something to be celebrated.

I have been working hard for months and now is a time to relax and enjoy … well enjoy. I will still have to do my exercise programme. If I give up, I will be dead. This week will be made enjoyable – mooching around French villages, markets, countryside and it will be lovely, sunny weather.

I’ve been doing a last minute check on local markets which are always a source of interest. There are so many to choose from but walking on Plage de Wissant promenade in the sunshine after wandering round the local market is an absolute delight. You should come, Dear Reader. One of my fondest memories going back 40 years is eating locally caught, grilled Sea Bass in the sunshine of Le Touquet. Maybe I could visit my old school friend who has lived in Arras since 1970 or revisit Wimerex and Audresselles. Car, Country, Sunshine, Freedom – what more could we want? I will even drink some wine. My cup runneth over!

This morning I fully valeted the car while my Housekeeper/Dresser has been ironing clothes for travel. You really don’t need to do that with shorts and tee shirts but she insists.

Monday, 19th May, 2025

A strangely cool and overcast morning. Seems so wrong after all this lovely weather but it rather matches my mood. Last night I was watching an earily prescient Drama on Netflix called Years and Years which predicts a depressingly dystopian future for us all.

It features the rise of a populist politician – a female Farage – played by Emma Thompson and is set in the years between 2019 and 2034. Written in 2018, it frighteningly features things that are happening before our very eyes right now. The rise of anti-immigrant racism. The growing tide of uneducated, unthinking, unsophisticated people who are easily swayed by simple answers to complex problems. I found my anger, frustration and, yes, fear rising over the evening.

And then there was news about poor, old-ish Joe Biden which hit me particularly hard. I have been a fan of Biden and his style of politics for years. He represented victory over populism for years. He represented an inclusive State caring for its own people while open to the excitement and riches of the wider world in oppostion to the narrow and stupid America-first movement which we have seen in Little Englanders here since Brexit.

It hit me particularly hard because there but for the twist of Fate go I. I had a particularly aggressive form of Prostate Cancer but it was diagnosed early enough to be eradicated. My 8 months of Hormone Treatment was horrible and worse than a month of Radiotherapy. But it worked. My cancer had not metastasised into the bone which is almost inevitably fatal. My Consultant said before I went through the Nuclear Medicine investigation which eventually cleared me that bone cancer could still be treated but was much more serious.

Ironically, because I contracted Legionnaires Disease in America, I was tested and found to have Prostate Cancer. It is quite possible that a few more months and it would have escaped my prostate into my bones and that would have been a case of Goodnight Gladiator. I went to bed sad and feeling a bit abandoned in spite of my good fortune.

In contrast, today has become hot and sunny. We reached 24C/75F. It is a day when I walked 8 miles and put in 6 hours of gardening. Planting, mowing, watering, feeding, tidying. Everything is in order for leaving while we are away. France and relaxation calls.

Tuesday, 20th May, 2025

Gorgeously sunny and warm morning. Up at 6.00 am and out on the road at 7.00 am. I’ll be at the Tunnel at around 9.00 am although it will be through rush hour traffic. Au voir. À bientôt.

Well, the journey was excellent with lovely sunshine and gorgeous countryside. We were offered an earlier Shuttle but decided to enjoy the sunshine and have a walk around the developing Facility. E-Gates are coming to European travel thanks to the wonderful Labour Government. Huge new terminals are being constructed to facilitate that.

Anyway, we were off early and under the sea before we could finish a political podcast. It’s weird but I always think of those I am leaving behind when I go somewhere. I hope they are OK when I’m not there to help them. I always have this massive sense of responsibility. I am always responsible for the little people, for those less able to fight their corner. Going abroad always feels like a dereliction of duty.

I will always be there for them and return at the first sign of trouble. I Whatsapp‘d my gorgeous neighbours threatening them with Death & Destruction if they didn’t look after my flowers. They went into an immediate panic because they know I mean it and did their duty.

At Duty Free, my Housekeeper bought industrial quantities of Clarins perfume. Why on earth she needs it, I don’t know but I do know better than to question it. I have no need of anything that can be bought.

To be honest, I was allowed a trip to the wine aisle and the Fish Bar. I do get what I want without shouting, Dear Reader.

A long walk in hot sunshine finished the day before a hot shower and relaxation. Self indulgence and enjoyment is important at my age. There are so few nights left for this.

Wednesday, 21st May, 2025

Coming away is so good for me. It is so easy and comfortable to fall in to regular patterns of behaviour and get stuck – stuck in a comfortable rut. There is no better way to hurry your life away than through unthinking, unchallenging routine. Just a short hop over / tunnel under the Channel is all it takes to break out and look in anew. Last night, I drank wine for the first time since August last year. It tasted good but it felt strong. A couple of glasses and I was anybody’s.

This morning I ate Breakfast for the first time since I was last in a hotel. I really shouldn’t do it but I’ve got to keep my strength up, Dear Reader. The change of routine is difficult to adjust to, my mind and body is challenged by this change. That is good.

This morning, we will drive to Wissant to walk in the sunshine by the sea. It is beautiful and blue, fresh and sweet. I know my friend, Chris Tolley, loves it here. He’s an artist and Wissant is known for its artists community who congregate there for this lovely light.

Just 8 miles to walk this morning and where could you find much better than this. The promenade is quite busy but the beaches are quiet.

Well the beaches were quiet until a wagon parked up and disgorged dozens of migrants ready for the next inflatable to set off for UK shores. They walked along the roadside, down towards the wide sandy beach. They walked with hope. We heard later 800 got across safely. Farage was on holiday …. in Europe and missed the whole event. Amusingly, he was in the South of France.

Being Farage, he brought mindless destruction in his wake as heavy rain and hail brought flooding to the region.

Thursday, 22nd May, 2025

Lovely, sunny and warm morning. Morning will be spent walking and afternoon will be shopping. Pauline is going to put in a bid for this entire shop as a present for Kieron who has absolutely no sense of taste and loves Haribo.

She is so skinny but she is addicted to chocolate. Yesterday she spent €150.00 on about 4kg of chocolates. Lindt Truffles are her absolute favourite and there is a shop connected to a fashion outlet near Cité Europe that sells a huge range she can’t get in UK.

When we are here, she stocks up for the year. What gets me is not the financial cost but the calorific cost. My body couldn’t cope with it. Hers just shrugs them off. Anyway, she has such strong self control that all this chocolate will be eked out over a long period. Coffee chocolate is her favourite and she has chosen at least 5 different flavours incorporating coffee including Irish Coffee, Cappuccino and Tiramisu fillings.

Walking on the Côte d’Opale in the sunshine this morning was lovely. Fresh, sea air, wide blue skies and the sound of the sea returning to UK beaches was wonderful as a backdrop.

Unfortunately, I am paying for that enjoyment by having to go shopping this afternoon. A husband’s work is never done!

Friday, 23rd May, 2025

The last week of May 2025, Can you believe it? Have to wish my old sister, Ruth, a happy Birthday. 78 is an incredible age to reach and a bit scary. But, that’s where she is. We wish her a happy day in sunny Bolton.

Back to UK this morning. Up at 7.oo am for Breakfast. Out at 9.00 am for the Tunnel. Off just after 100.am and home by just after 12.00 pm.

Unpacking the car and settling down to relax over a final bottle of wine before the rest of the diet. Greece in under three weeks. Life is hard! The Tunnel was quiet on our way back but busier the other way for Bank Holiday.

First reactions are to check all the plants in the garden but, fortunately, it had rained a bit and everything was fine.

Saturday, 24th May, 2025

Many people probably wouldn’t even know this before they set off for France but there is a temporary probition on the importation of quite a lot of stuff one would often go to Europe for. Usually, our car is piled high with Meats – raw and cooked, Cheeses and Butters, Quiche Lorraine, Garlic Saucisson, etc..

Because I listen to the Farming Today programme every morning at 5.45 am, I knew there was a temporary ban on importing these things back to UK but had not been told formally by anyone. There were no warnings up at the Tunnel and I was surprised. Then, about an hour before leaving from France, I received a Text from Uk Gov. telling me about the prohibition. Good job I hadn’t invested hundreds of pounds in these items that day.

Even so, nobody checked anything at Customs. I was asked if I had anybody else in the car and they were immediately satisfied with my reply inspite of darkened windows on the car which prevented them looking in. If they had, they might have found that I was carrying 50% more wine than I was entitled to but who cares?

New/old people keep popping up on my newsfeed. John Ridley met up with a girl/woman from our 1969-72 intake who was resident of Cottages in 71-72. Sandra Bates is now Sandra Morkunas. Sounds like she married a Lithuanian although she hasn’t travelled far. She lives in Bedale.

Many of the men from my cohort have been on the edge of their seats today. They are from Sunderland and the Play-Off Final at Wembley to get promotion to the Premier League was being played between Sheffield United (the red hot favourites) and Sunderland (the underdogs). Sunderland were outplayed for most of the match but snatched a winner in the 5th minute of injury time. That win gives them promotion and a £220 million windfall as well. Derek Coulson, a life long Sunderland fan posted the above photo of how he felt.

Sunday, 11th May, 2025

I’ve got to stop saying it is another glorious day … but it is. The sun is up. The sky is blue. The sea is still and it is a day custom made for small boat immigration.

Immigration seems to be high on the agenda at the moment although, I must state from the outset that I welcome immigrants and lots of them. The UK desperately needs immigrants to fill the huge gaps in economic activity of native population. A rapidly aging population desperately needs workers to perform the tasks, pay the tax to fund the services and to support the pensions of the senior sector of which I am a member. As Joseph Stiglitz, the American, Nobel prize Economist has just said, without immigration, the whole US economy would cease to be. It is that important.

Of course, this is not a new phenomenon. It has been central for the past 30+ years. In fact, it goes back centuries to the slave trade and Colonialism, to inviting the Windrush generation of post-war labour shortage and to Asian immigrants in the Northern Textile Trade. Economies desperately need immigration. Contrary to popular belief, immigrants come here to work and contribute to the host country. It is on their backs that the relatively wealthier, indigenous population thrive.

As the graph shows, Blair-Brown were the last government to openly acknowledge the importance of immigration to the economy. Those following have done one thing and said another because they recognised the bind between economic development and electoral popularity. The Starmer government will be no different. It’s whole raison d’être is growth. Growth requires skilled labour. One of the central planks (no pun intended) of its growth plan is housing. Where does all the skilled labour come from? It needs skilled immigrants.

Next door to me lives a lovely German/Australian lady who lectures in a local college. Across the road lives an Italian man who works in IT and Pharmaceuticals. Just down the road lives a Cypriot who is an Accountant. They are lovely people who work hard, earn lots of money and pay lots of tax which funds my pension. Thank you. Thank you. That’s one of the reasons I am giving back by cutting their lawns, planting up their flower beds, etc..

Planting out this afternoon under a baking sun. It’s hot work but I’m not complaining. I’m getting my immediate home in order so I can go on my travels without worry. I’ve got 8 flights and 4 long drives booked/planned already and who knows what extra is to come. It is important to expand one’s horizons, Dear Reader, not narrow them.

Monday, 12th May, 2025

Expand horizons not narrow them, Dear Reader. Today, our world is so expansive because of the internet and mobile technology. I’ve just walked through one of our local parks where a huge 5G mobile phone tower stands in one corner. It serves a massive area. Our house is probably 2 miles away but the signal is still good.

You might say it is an eyesore but no more than an electricity pylon and just as useful. In the early 1990s, I was living in Huddersfield and desperate for all the latest technology. I took out a mobile contract but had to drive a mile away from home to use it. There was no signal at home in the countryside. That was more than 30 years ago and we have gone through 2G, 3G, 4G and some of us are now enjoying 5G speeds of signal delivery.

I was reminded of this by a story from the Manchester Evening News this morning. There are still completely dead areas up there.

Thirty years ago, we were living on the Pennines and might have been excused a poor signal but this report is of Middleton in Manchester. How can that be a dead area? If the Labour Government are to achieve growth, they cannot afford dead areas.

Last night – joy of joys – we had rain. The land everywhere could be heard cheering and drinking in equal measures. It is a drop in the ocean but it is welcome nonetheless.

We think we’ve been dry and we are reputationally drier and sunnier than most in UK but the distribution map featured in The Times this morning illustrates the spine if England is really suffering. For so many decades under a privatised water distribution system, supplies have been drying up while leaks have not been fixed.

This is in a temperate climate with wet winters providing lots of water on a usual basis. Few new reservoirs have been created. Little action has been undertaken to divert and transport water from wetter areas to dryer ones. We could be using Welsh water down here if the work had been done. I’m sure it wouldn’t be so much inferior as to be undrinkable.

Ironically, I will soon be flying off to a much drier, hotter and sunnier place – Thessaloniki in Northern Greece. In contrast to the early days of Greek flying and although I am still taking Easyjet, I booked, paid for and have just checked-in all on my mobile phone. Isn’t progress wonderful, Dear Reader, just as long as you don’t live in the North.

Tuesday, 13th May, 2025

Gorgeous morning. Quite a contrast with yesterday which started off grey and damp as I took my Housekeeper to the station. She went up to London to meet up with an old friend and have Lunch in the Darwin Brasserie in the Sky Garden building.

Alright for some while ate my Cannellini Bean & Prawn salad with sparkling water. Of course, my Housekeeper has infinite powers. She not only jinxed the weather for one day, she also caused a major shutdown of the London transport system.

Just for one day – the day she was there – a major power outage on the National Grid closed the Underground and led to the cancellation of many mainline trains as well.

Now, I don’t do this very often, Dear Reader, but a self-portrait has been demanded this morning. A passport to knocking on doors. I always aim to please.

Wednesday, 14th May, 2025

A Reunion of men in their mid 70s from more than 50 years ago. It is sobering to see the effects of time but surprising to see the spirit of survival.

Today in the most beautiful sunlight, the band of 20 men – the first in the women’s College – met again in the beautiful grounds of The Ripon Inn.

Nature renews itself in the sunlight. Not so old men’s bodies. A dwindling band met today and dined on Burger & Chips with Yorkshire Bitter. Friendships renewed and old bonds reinforced.

Unfortunately, I was not there. I was more concerned with bodies and health. A comprehensive medical review took me away to the City and a meeting with a whole-body scanner which will provide me with 2,000 images of my body from all angles, recording every mole, freckle and vein.

Hooked up to ECGs, vials of my blood were taken to be analysed and my grip strength was tested. This was followed by an eye health check and an assessment of my heart and lungs. Futuristic and technological, the testing Centre is the antithesis of Beer, Burger & Chips but, hopefully, it will be helpful and I will be up in Ripon soon anyway.

The South of England saw 28C/83F today and it felt hot. These are days to savour and enjoy.

Thursday, 15th May, 2025

As an immediate contrast to yesterday’s High Tech experience, 16 years ago today, I had reason to seek medical advice. The difference was that I was living on a relatively remote, Greek island which brings its own challenges. They are things tourists rarely think about. Certainly young people rarely consider and 16 years ago, I was still only 58.

I found out that the island’s Medical Centre was hardly medical and definitely not really a centre. It had two, Junior Doctors neither of who could speak much English. The conditions and services were akin to Third World.

Most specialist services have to either be sought in Athens which involved long ferry journeys or waited for with specialists visiting the island occasionally. What about emergencies? You might well ask. At the age of 58, and after more than 30 years on the island, I really confronted that question for the first time. Greek island travel is a genuine risk in the case of medical emergency. Just routine treatment is problematic in a relatively poor country where top professionals would rather live in big city centres not find themselves marooned on remote islands.

There is no question that we made the right decision to not spend 6 months a year there anymore. Increasingly, age made it problematic. But, we are now marooned on our own island of Brexit isolation. The populations of Greek islands no longer want tourists buying up their scarce land and building on them. The residents of our island regularly make it clear that they would not want us to do what we did just over 25 years ago – buy a farmers field and build a large home that we would only live in for part of the year. That movement is being echoed on Canarian islands and in central Spain. The world is turning in upon itself. Even little Wales is getting sick of second homers.

Friday, 16th May, 2025

A gorgeous day to embrace life. Blue sky, strong sunshine and warm air. We all have so little time on this earth and then, I can assure you, all we know is oblivion as we go back to the earth. It is important to make the most of the living.

Vitamin D – the food of the sun – is now known to help us ward off Dementia and contribute to not only a longer life but a healthy longer life. We need to embrace it as much as we can. Shorts and teeshirt for 8 months a year really helps me do that. Walking outside for a couple of hours a day helps me to do that. Trips abroad give me that. I am and have been generally suntanned for 40 years.

Isolation shortens lives. We’ve recently learnt that isolation through deafness is a predicter of later Dementia. Certainly isolation from friendship groups brings on an earlier end to life. Embracing people is important. I have not always found that easy but I am trying much harder in my Retirement and beginning to enjoy it. I am constantly reaching out to people now I have the time although a lot of it is in communication at distance.

There are lessons for us as a nation, as a body politic in that. Isolation, Little England is not conducive to a long and healthy life. We need to embrace others, integrate with others, accept and enjoy the differences and similarities of humanity across the globe. In this light, Starmer’s descent into Faragist rhetoric is worrying and distasteful. If you are old enough to remember the Enoch Powell, Rivers of Blood speech in 1968, that racist sentiment got him thrown out of the Tory Party then. Now it would make him a leader. That is how far we have travelled.

And travelling is important not just to the British pubs of Benidorm but the the cultures and languages that are outside our everyday experiences. This moving article by Yasmin Alibhai-Brown in the I-News illustrates how far some of us have travelled and others not so. That gulf has developed as politicians see the value and necessity of immigration to our economy but have not felt able to to teach their ill-educated electorates who feel fearful and challenged by the unknown.

An old friend sent me this photo today. He has definitely improved my appearance and he certainly understands me.

Saturday, 17th May, 2025

Good morning, Dear Reader, from Sparticus – your friendly Blogger. A warm morning but with only hazy sunshine. The blue sky is on its way as the day progresses. Went down to the beach for a change of scene. The sea was well out and people taking equipment out like dinghies and paddleboards were looking for assistance from the small, sand tractors.

The Saturday Beach Run was just starting at 9.00 am with lots of enthusiastic participants; the amusement park had opened its doors for hard pressed parents to entertain their young and Dads were by the Marina’s edge with little lads, buckets of water and crab lines starting out with hope.

Didn’t stay long. I’ve got another day of getting dirty, sweaty and shattered. I worked so hard yesterday that I lost 3lbs. I forgot to eat and was so tired at the end, I had no appetite at all. On today’s list we’ve got to plant out Basil plants I’ve been nurturing for about a month, thin out Lettuce seedlings and earth up potato plants which will be providing lovely, white, egg-sized new potatoes in about a month. I am beginning to look like a ghost from the past. Here are some more.

For years, we’ve done the National Lottery without any expectation of winning anything but it has helped to fund good causes. We do an NHS-funding Lottery on the same basis. We win small amounts reasonably frequently but I would guess never enough to break even. That doesn’t matter but, for once, something has come up that I will enter specifically to win.

The Omaze House Draw has a Beachfront House, worth £4,000,000 in Angmering on Sea just down the road from us. It would be a nice, spare house to have available.

Sunday, 4th May, 2025

Easy like a Sunday morning … Nice, sunny and warm start for an relaxing day. Some people go out and pray to false gods, some light candles in the hope of redemption. I just plough on regardless and enjoy my latest gadget in making my favourite drink – a caffemachiato – at the press of a menu button. Literally, it means stained milk and is steamed, frothed milk with a shot of strong coffee over the top. The coffee sinks and the milk forms a band on the top.

You drink the coffee through the milk. Usually, I have a sprinkling of chocolate powder on top of the milk but then I’ve always been self indulgent. Oh, god is good!

Politics goes with the coffee – Trump, Farage, Populism, Nationalism, International Isolation, Racism, the big boost for Labour with the rise of Farage and the impending death of the Tories. Life is never dull, Dear Reader.

You only need to glance at the populism of the Colour Comics to see the gulf in understanding that serious politicians have to cross. They say, Don’t look here at the real national problems, worry about some errant member of the Royal Family that has been built up by the right wing press and an ex-footballer’s family trouble. Who the hell cares? And what about the the disgraceful distraction of the Express, Dear Reader? Millionaire farmer threatens suicide because his millions are being taxed as much as everyone else’s. Utter pap!

Lovely, sunny walk around the local area this morning. Down past the rugby ground which is absolutely packed this weekend. They are hosting the Girls’ National Rugby Tournament finals all weekend. Hundreds of girls in sports kit, many with their parents and friends in support are putting out gallons of energy and enthusiasm on a variety of pitches in the sunshine. There is so much of this down here.

Monday, 5th May, 2025

I like Mondays but I can’t stand Bank Holidays. Conflicted this morning. Lovely blue sky and sunny morning but quite chilly in the air. Wanted to go down to the beach but the hoards will be out today so it will be better at home. The roads will be busy. Chatting to friends on Text and Whatsapp where traffic doesn’t affect us.

This morning Skype finally ceased to exist. Just over 20 years ago, our Greek home was built and we were spending lots of time there including 6 weeks at a stretch in the Summer. My lovely Mother-in-Law was in her 90s and increasingly frail. We were caught in the age old trap of wanting to / having to live our own lives but needing to support her. In those days, mobile calls from Europe to UK were difficult and expensive. Fortunately, some Estonian lads developed phone connections across the internet (VOIP) using Skype which was almost ‘free’. It literally cost a few pence for an hour’s face to face talk.

It was genius and liberating. We talked every day. Having bought a Skype phone for our Laptop, it was wonderful to sit in our house on a remote Greek island and be instantly beamed into a retirement flat in Waterhead in Oldham but, like everything else, the internet’s expanding bandwidth overtook Skype.

Ten years later, Apple brought out the iPad and gave us Facetime which was a huge step forward. To just have a screen to talk to anyone anywhere in the world as if you were sitting with them is life changing – literally. Mind you, you have to remember to put your clothes on before answering the call, as I once found to my cost while cooling off in Greece.

In the past 10 years or so, Whatsapp have added video calling which is easy and free if you have a smartphone. It is such a quick connection process that I prefer it and use it all the time. I often wonder how my parents generation would have benefitted from these developments

These days, more than 20 years on and fulfilling the predictions of all the sci-fi writers, we can use software with videocams and microphones to hold meetings of huge numbers of people simultaneously. It is a revolution hastened by Covid and the socio-economic shift of working-from-home.

Nearly 15 years ago, Zoom cornered the Office interface market but was quickly challenged by Google Meet and Microsoft Teams. I’m eagerly anticipating being able to do all this through my glasses in the near future.

This morning, I’ve been talking to my lovely neighbours who are actually in Germany and are flying back from Berlin having checked in on their elderly parents. I’ve told them to avoid the VE Day Spitfires ….

Tuesday, 6th May, 2025

Quite a chilly edge on the morning’s breeze. Only 11C/52F as we go out for a 5 mile walk before the tasks of the morning. We are driving up to Surrey to see little M who is back from Florida. It is a lovely, sunny morning so the drive should be nice. We will be taking another Kilo of sweets for C and a batch of home made Flap Jacks for everyone …. apart from me.

Flapjacks, particularly the British kind, have a history dating back to the early 1600s in England. The term “flapjack” initially referred to a flat cake or pancake. While Shakespeare mentions “flap-jacks” in his play Pericles. ‘Flap’ refers to a flat cake and ‘Jack’ refers to an ordinary common man.

You see, Dear Reader, you learn something new every day or you should try to. This is the way to ward off Dementia … if I remember rightly.

Had jobs to do this morning including booking an Executive Lounge at Gatwick for November. Got to get in early! I’ve also been chasing up the delivery of a pair of trainers from Sketchers which should have arrived last week with UPS but didn’t. They tell me now that they are coming from Belgium and are stuck in Customs. Bloody Brexit!

Gorgeous drive up to Surrey in lovely sunshine and through wonderfully lush, green roadsides with very little traffic. Nice to see M again. She is a lovely girl. Well, I say girl. She might be 60 but she will always be a girl to me. After a couple of hours of chat, drove home on almost empty roads and then did an hour’s walk followed by a Gym session.

Having finished the marathon of 96 episodes of the absolutely brilliant Homeland, I have moved smoothely on to another Anglo-American production of Succession which is based around the Murdoch family and their Newspaper/Magazine/Television/Film and Sky Platform company. After 5 episodes of the first of 4 Series. It’s interesting but it isn’t distracting me completely yet. These things need time to work on me.

Wednesday, 7th May, 2025

Lovely but slightly cool start to the morning. The sun rises here at 5.30 am and the temperature slowly recovers. It is 8.00am as I write and the current temperature is just 12C/54F. The most tender plants are still kept under glass over night and have to be moved out to harden off during the daytime.

Gradually, daytime light and temperatures lengthen. Today, sunset is 8.30 pm so they will have had 15hrs of growing light. Watering is the most important at the moment. With no rain for ever and none in sight for the next few weeks, I have to provide it. The potting up area of the back garden is looking a bit like an off-shoot of the Garden Centre at the moment.

Had to go down to the beach to collect a fish order. Back at work and school for the hordes, seaside free and clean and wonderful. The colours are just wonderful and my eyes really want to drink them in.

Great to hear Joe Biden talking on UK media this morning. He is a much underrated politician and President of the USA. This is mainly down to the avalanche of insane, right wing media there and here. There is a feeling engendered by this media engine that Trump is strong on Economics and Biden failed. In fact, the evidence is all the other way and increasingly so with Trump version 2. An approach to tariffs that doesn’t understand their effects for your own citizens and causes international instability which narrows your trade deal negotiating scope and reduces your soft power around the world

The Center for American Progress article published a few couple of months ago makes the argument powerfully and authoritatively. They list the areas that you don’t see acknowledged by the rabid Right:

• Economic growth surpassed expectations
• Stronger productivity growth returned despite a global slowdown
• Inflation was tamed without a recession
• Workers benefited from the strongest labour market in generations
• Households saw substantial wealth gains

Their Conclusion is:

Looking ahead, analyses from Goldman Sachs and Moody’s in 2024 predicted that retaining current policy settings would continue favorable macroeconomic performance in future years. However, increased tariffs—as proposed by the new administration—are expected to worsen economic performance, particularly over the next two years, with increased inflation and lower GDP growth.

History will judge the relative merits of the two men and Biden will surely prevail as he did before Trump tried to overthrow the American Constitution by inciting the riots of Capital Hill.

Thursday, 8th May, 2025

I am a very pampered man. I fully recognise that. I am treated very well by my Carer. Every morning, after I am provided with freshly squeezed orange juice, my body is fully serviced.

I have got up every morning since the beginning of April and put on shorts and tee shirt. I spend a great deal of my time outside in the sunshine. I walk 8 miles a day every day. I garden most days. My skin is exposed to the sunshine for many hours a day. My feet take a pounding every day. I get through trainers at a fast rate and replace them with new ones. I can’t do that with skin and feet.

I am a man and generally can’t be bothered looking after my body. That’s why I have a Carer. After Breakfast every day, I have sun tan lotion on my face and moisturiser on my arms and legs. The soles of my feet are filed for hard skin and creamed to avoid cracked skin. I have early signs of nail fungus on one toe so that is treated with an athlete’s foot cream. I had a sun damage spot which has been successfully treated with Actikerall – a Cutaneous Solution which worked like a dream. Finally, I grazed the top of my head in a gardening accident and that is still being treated with antiseptic Germaline.

I walk into the Office feeling like a new man each morning. I know how lucky I am. Today will follow that pattern – Walking & Gardening. My Carer is leaving me next week to go up to London. I will be left to fend for myself. My body will just have to cope. This morning we are going down to the station to sort out her travel and then on to the Garden Center to spend yet more money on plants. Actually, it’s a cool and rather overcast morning. Not very conducive to gardening but jobs have to be done.

Good to see the UK Labour Government doing such important trade deals around the world where the tired, old Tory band failed. Last week, a free trade deal was announced with India – one of the world’s great and expanding markets.

India has cut taxes on goods imported from the UK including:

• cosmetics
• scotch whisky, gin and soft drinks
• higher-value cars
• food including lamb, salmon, chocolate and biscuits
• medical devices
• aerospace
• electrical machinery
• The deal will also allow British firms to compete for more services contracts in India.

Today, we are expecting a UK – USA trade deal to be announced which will reduce trariffs and particularly on cars. In a couple of weeks, we expect the most important trade deal of all to be announced with the European Union which we hope and expect to include some return to free movement under the guise of young people’s increased freedoms to travel, explore, work and learn across UK and the whole of Europe.

The long haul back begins …

Friday, 9th May, 2025

Been a hot and sunny day of hard outside work. Had to do all my walking and Gym work but we both spent the largest part of the day doing voluntary Community Work.

We were working on the lawns and flower beds along our street outside neighbour’s houses. If there is one thing that stands out about living here it is the wonderful neighbours. People came out of their houses to say thank you. People stopped their cars to say thank you and, within an hour or two of completing this evening, our lovely neighbour, Dee, had sent this video of thanks.

I’ve been growing flowering plants for the past couple of months and they will go out next week. It will be something of a relief to get our garden space back but, as they grow and flower, our street looks good, attractive and develops the physical unity of similar colours which we have in human terms of happy people living in some harmony. Sounds a bit too good to be true, doesn’t it? But almost everybody around here says the same thing: the lovely neighbours make it somewhere they want to stay.

I am rather ashamed to admit that in many things I am rather too faithful. I’ve driven Honda cars for ever. I’ve been a Sky customer since the outset. I get my mobile phone contracts through EE and have done, they tell me, since 2011. I am so completely sold on the Samsung brand that all my TVs are Samsung and our mobiles – we have one each – are Samsung, our vacuum robots are Samsung. We are even thinking of buying new Samsung washing machine and heat pump tumble dryer.

Today, EE offered me upgrades for our smart phones. We have two S24 Ultra 5G handsets but they are keen not to lose us. We currently pay them £160.00 per month. The upgrade will tie us in for another two years and increase the monthly cost to £188.00 but the camera is so much better and the software is AI assisted so they are irresitible! The big question is which colour? The most important feature of the contract though is the unlimited calls, texts and data at 5G speeds in UK and all across Europe.

Saturday, 10th May, 2025

Don’t you just love the Summer. The weather here is set fair as far as the eye can see. It is a time for growing. My garden is a hive of industry. We even have these gorgeous Scented Stocks in the Kitchen pervading the air with their sweet perfume. Outside, we have reached 24C/75F by mid-afternoon – almost as hot as Athens.

On the Greek Cycladic islands, the temperatures are rising. The anticipation of tourists and income is rising rapidly as well. Beautification is going on apace in anticipation of the clink of cash registers – or credit cards nowadays. The Mediterranean light is enhanced by the stark, bold, primary colours of buildings and nature.

The Bourgainvillea is in full bloom and screaming out in reds, purples and apricot hues. The gardens are rapidly burgeoning with fruit and vegetables – tomatoes, peppers, aubergines and lettuces, parsley and the ever present sweet basil plants.

I grew huge patches of Basil in my Greek House garden but, when I tried to grow it in the North of England, I had little success. Just too cold. Fortunately, down here it grows for fun and I have been nurturing these seedlings under glass for a few weeks. It is virtually time to plant them out. I have 8 plants and they will roar away to give me a large and constant supply from late June to mid-Septenber to feed the Pesto Factory.

We eat so much Pesto that a whole freezer draw is given over to storing it frozen in measured proportions to suit one meal for two people. Usually, it serves as a fish crust and home made is like a different thing altogether. Basil leaves, garlic, pine nuts and olive oil combine to encapsulate the summer warmth and a form of heaven.

Sunday, 27th April, 2025

Beautiful morning of clear blue skies and warm sunshine. Should be running in the marathon today but haven’t got anyone to run with. Have to do my daily walk instead. The Seasons change but remain in an eternal pattern and the theme today is summed up in the old addage:

Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose ….

Literally, it means that the more things change, the more they stay the same … The older one gets the more true this appears. I see it in myself. I sometimes hate it in myself. It can be so difficult, impossible to shake off one’s past, one’s early life.

I hate aphorisms and I don’t want to bore you but T.S.Eliot quotes are different. I know I have quoted Eliot’s line from the Four Quartets many times before but I am increasingly reminded of their relevance. When I look at myself and my life, I have changed a lot but, at core, I have hardly changed at all.

In my youth, I was always running everywhere. My brother road his bike and I ran at the side. I captained the school athletics team in the summer and winters were dominated by rugby where I played on the wing. I loved ideas and words both of which dominated my degrees. I loved travel. Here I am at the age of 74 with my days dominated by exercise and reading & writing and travel. I hated to let things go. I always have to revisit them. Here I am now shoring up my memories by Blogging as Eliot was doing in The Wasteland.

And yet, I have always liked new things and been a bit of a risk taker. I like to make things happen. I have a tendency to be the Aries that I am and to ram through blockages to ambition. I don’t like to take No for an answer and that can lead me into trouble which I repent at leisure. But, I never learn. I do it all over again. There is always a new opportunity or new beginning ahead …. until there isn’t.

And, of course, there is one constant in everyone’s life that changes everything. Mum died 17 years ago today. It is an event which none of us can avoid how ever hard we try.

I would give anything to go back and see her one more time and, if you’re old enough, I’m sure you would too, Dear Reader. Mind you, I wouldn’t have gone yesterday. She would be totally absorbed in the funeral of the pope and she wouldn’t have welcomed my contributions from the sidelines.

This photo was taken after Dad had died and on one of Mum’s rare nights out. She is in the black dress at a Dinner-Dance with her best friends, Herb & Nellie Deacon and some other woman I don’t recognise. So, it must have been about 1966/1967 – the years I was touring Southern Ireland and Scandinavia, exploring my freedom before I left home for the last time.

Monday, 28th April, 2025

A gorgeous morning opened unusually for me. It is just 8 weeks, by the way, to the Longest Day and the tilt becomes all downwards again. However, the morning started at 5.30 am with a Whatsaapp from my sister, Jane, about the photograph I posted yesterday and the mystery woman in it. It soon spread to a chat with Bob and Catherine as well.

Learnt something interesting about my mother this morning after all these years. Jane told me that the other woman apart from Mum’s friend, Nellie, in the photo was Agnes. Agnes & Effie were Nellie’s sisters. This is Agnes. Mum used to go on holiday with Agnes – they were really good friends. Sadly Agnes also had cancer & died. Both sisters asked Mum to ‘look after’ Effie who Mum didn’t particularly like! But because she’d promised them she would, she took Effie shopping most weeks & drove her to church etc. After both Mum & Effie were widowed & as they both got older they used to take it in turns to ring each other every day at 7pm – to check they were still alive & to ensure they each spoke to one person at least that day.

It is interesting to know of a life that went on outside my experience. I knew nothing of this but it illustrates how exposed Mum was in later life. It was largely of her own making, of course, but it was still suffered. And all this time I thought I was unusual waking, acting, reading, writing, thinking early in the morning. I’m not at all. Jane and Bob were doing the same. I probably woke Catherine up but that was good for her.

The BBC R4: Today programme comes on at 6.00 am after a really interesting Farming Today programme which was all about Pulses being grown in UK. Did you know that the majority of all Pulses – peas and fava beans – are grown for animal fodder? No, I didn’t. Seems such a waste. I love Fava Beans in a salad. It is a favourite on a Greek menu (Φάβα) and so nutritious and healthy.

Anyway, my mind soon moved on to an interview with Stephen Kinnock who is a Health minister in Social Care. He was extolling the coming digital revolution in the NHS which would bring huge savings. Using the NHS app meant all the paper missives written, printed, addressed and posted would be done away with. The problem, as so many of us who tried to pioneer the digital revolution have found, is at the margins.

Last week, I had a Medical Review postponed and rearranged for a date I couldn’t make. I phoned to change it and that was quick and easy. Five minutes later, my NHS app showed the cancelled date and the new date clearly. Three days later, I got a formal letter cancelling the first appoinment followed by a second formal letter setting the new appointment. However, within a couple of hours of having a blood test at the surgery, I can see the results tabulated on my app. This is the sort of service I appreciate.

The innovator’s great fear is that some people will fall through the net, not make appointments miss apointments or travel unnecessarily. There are still some people who don’t have smart phones, can’t afford smart phone contracts and are scared of technological change. They don’t have access to the app. I know some of my age who will miss out for that reason never mind the really old people. Even so, it has to happen and the old and younger wrinklies will just have to catch up. May be the Government could put on compulsory courses for them. How to use a smart phone. How to install an app. If you attend these courses and become proficient, you will be allowed to keep your pension. It could be the way forward.

Another way forward would be for Government encouragement of activities like these. All year round in our neighbourhood adults give up hours of their time to train and supervise kids in sporting activities. At the Rugby Club just down the road, on the playing fields attached to the school, in the local parks, both boys and girls from 5 – 25 are shrieking, laughing, puffing and panting as they stretch themselves in sporting activities. Fitness for life is definitely a way forward.

Tuesday, 29th April, 2025

Spring and Summer meet here today. Yesterday we reached 24C/75F. Today we are expecting 26C/79F and tomorrow 27C/81F. These are bonus days. Bikini days. I’ve got mine on. Planting out is going on and beans, potatoes, lettuces, parsley growing strongly. Still Spring flowers bloom in Bluebell Wood …

… but all around the neighbourhood, Chestnut trees are in full blooms as well. These beautiful flower candles light up my walk in the sunshine.

Gardening Day. My Under-Gardener is tasked with giving the hedge its first trim of the season. It is looking luxuriously green and ready to greet May sunshine. I’m doing the more demanding job of mowing but somebody has to do it.

Now the Marathons are done and my neighbour, Chris, is here proudly displaying a medal which he has earned the hard way – getting up at 5.00 am every day and going out running for an hour before breakfast, thoughts are turning towards holidays. We’ve already got trips booked for every month until the end of the year with the exception of September.

Over the last few days, we have been discussing, considering, researching a week or so in Bordeaux where Autumn weather still averages 25C/77F which would be nice. We would fly to make the most of the time and that is quick and cheap.

Wednesday, 30th April, 2025

April closes with another glorious day. True to forecast, we reached 26C/79F yesterday. I was outside walking and gardening almost the whole day and had a bit too much sun probably. Have to wish Kieron in Florida happy birthday. He’s only a spring chicken … if only he could remember it.

Out early this morning to Honda. After 40 years of buying new Hondas without any problems at all, out new, electric-hybrid vehicle is on its second recall.

The first one was for a fuel pump issue which we weren’t aware of and this one is for a power steering problem …. which we aren’t aware of but has affected about 5 CRVs worldwide. They need the car for 3 hours so it must be quite involved.

Drive there and walk back through the woods. It’s an absolutely lovely way to go. The production of Honda has moved back from UK to Japan because of Brexit and that’s where the problems started. If only ..

Walk back 2 hours later to collect the car which has been fully valeted which justifies the recall and then on to the beach. The cafes were packed. The beaches were popular although mainly with the elderly. Retirement is a wonderful thing, Dear Reader. Which beach are you on?

Thursday, 1st May, 2025

Happy May, Dear Reader. April 2025 has gone for good other than in the Blog where it smoulders for ever. Welcome a great, new month. We have to make the most of it. Could be a make or break month. Let’s hope it isn’t break!

For me, May starts travelling season this year – and it doesn’t come a moment too soon. I’m going stir-crazy. Travel in Britain and Europe, movement not stasis is what will come from now.

My Housekeeper is going to the Beautician‘s for a couple of hours. Goodness knows what goes on there. It is like something of the Black Arts to me and better that I don’t know. I have to say she returns feeling very much better about herself and I have to say she looks much better although, in reality, I can see absolutely no difference at all. It is all a game, a dance we do that isn’t worth challenging.

Because it was the anniversary of Mum’s death earlier in the week, I was going through my digital store of photographs. This one came up and got me thinking. It is of my maternal Grandmother (Nanna), Mum, (Catherine) and a girl called Monica. I don’t know who she was. It was 80 years ago, at the end of WW2, in 1945, and Mum was just 22.

They lived in Croydon and were regularly buying and selling houses. In 1955, I went to their (different) house in Croydon in Laburnum Grove. This house in Mount Park Avenue will have been a fairly modest, suburban dwelling which I looked up to find it last sold for £800,000. I think they would have been shocked to hear that.

It always gets me that lives go on without me. How can that be. I’m not involved. Lives spark, light flame intensely and then die out to smoulder in other people’s memories. Here Nanna & Grandad, Lily & James Coghlan are living their daily lives in the 1930s. I think this was them in Brighton.

She was a seamstress and he was a furniture restorer just reading in the sunshine – he, the ‘Dandy’ he was and she, the quiet, unassuming one. Their lives flickered and burned out – her’s all to soon – and now they are the smouldering embers of our family memories.

Grandad and I watched wrestling on ATV television in the 1950s. Nana cooked massive Victoria Sponge Cakes for tea. And here I am, living within a few miles of their origins. I am doing what I said I would do, going back to touch my past. I want them to know that I haven’t forgotten them.

Housekeeper returns – looking radiant and beautiful (she says) – it is 1.00 pm and the temperature has just reached 28C/83F. It feels lovely although something happened to me yesterday which has never happened before. I sunburned the top of my head. My hair is growing finer and thinner and this process has been hastened by radiotherapy. I am more vulnerable now to the strong sunshine but I look ridiculous in a hat. Going to have to walk round with my hand on my head to protect it.

Friday, 2nd May, 2025

Delicious weather continues. The garden is loving it. Everybody’s garden is loving it. Walking around the area is a delight of colour and freshness. The wisteria in every form is delightful and the red, Photinia hedges are a riotous backdrop to green and luscious lawns.

Every other house has some form of wisteria, it seems, but none could compare to the Wisley Wisteria Walk from the RHS gardens in Woking where we used to live. Paired up with the lovely mauve of mophead Aliums beneath is inspired.

It immediately reminded me of Monet’s Garden at Giverny from more than a century ago. It is amazing how well plants do down here compared to our efforts in the North of England. On my walk today, I passed this glorious Ceanothus Tree on the roadside and this elegant Wisteria on a house next to me.

Definitely, Housekeeper-week this week. Yesterday Beautician’s. Today Hairdresser’s. Back home to collect a delivery of new shoes for …. well, not me.

The bad news arrived in the post. Two poor, old, failing pensioner ex-teachers are now expected to pay Higher Rate income tax. I didn’t see that coming. It is the consequence of higher investment rates I suppose even though I am trying to shelter it in tax-free savings but still they’ve got us. Thinking of moving off-shore. Well, one can dream ….

Saturday, 3rd May, 2025

Warm night. Already sleeping on top of the bed. Living in shorts and tee shirt. Behaving as if Summer was in full swing. Warm morning although a little hazy. Currently, we are forecast for little chance of rain for the next two weeks which is a little worrying. We are already hearing rumblings of hosepipe bans on the horizon.

Still, we are going to be away for quite a large part of the Summer so the garden will have to get on with it. On this day 15 years ago, we had driven down to the fishing bay of Faros (Φάρος – Lighthouse). It is a lovely, sleepy place to have Lunch out of Season.

We had been on the island for just 3 weeks and Easter was over. The crowds had disappeared and the temperatures were rapidly rising. Island life was continuing slowly around us. Boulis the shepherd walked his flock up the road past us in the morning and then down the road past us again in the evening. We were cleaning and clearing after a Winter away. Planting and picking. The Lemon Trees were heavy with fruit this year but not always.

We had a favourite restaurant down there and spent a lot of time staring into the calm waters, at the fishing boats and eating the wonderful food.

This morning, I have been out and spent another fortune on plants. Many are for the Public Areas outside at the front of the house. Hope the neighbours appreciate the sacrifice. I’m pleased that I’ve been able to source Basil plants – green and purple. They are essential for our kitchen. I will grow them into a forest of aromatic leaves.