Month: October 2025

Sunday, 19th October, 2025

It is 15 years since I left a dark and damp, run-down North of England. It felt a progressive, forward step into the sunlight to be moving to Surrey. It was certainly warmer, drier and sunnier and much more expensive. It was, perhaps a bit less friendly and more impersonal but I didn’t mind that.

Each successive visit back to the North seemed to find it more and more depressed and depressing. The weather seemed to be just as awful but the economy seemed to be visibly depleted. Huddersfield, a town I once really enjoyed, was becoming more and more boarded up in between charity shops, pawn shops and betting shops which offered the unemployed and impoverished citizens a glimpse of what they could win.

And then the Tory party got elected with the promise of Levelling Up. There wasn’t a lot of evidence of it although an improved transport/communication system does take a while to install. In Greater Manchester where the superb Labour mayor, Andy Burnham is in charge, congestion charges and a smart new tram system have really got things moving. House prices are on the up and some seem to think the tide of travelling South just may be turning. Who knows, maybe it is time to reassess my position.

Of course, not everyone agrees. The old and curmudgeonly find the move to gentrification not to their taste. Some still look to the fanatsy Golden Age of yesteryear. On Oldham Road, this sign seems to sum it up although it rather went over my head until I looked it up. I soon realised why I didn’t understand. Sankeys was a well known nightclub. Who has ever been to a nightclub, for goodness sake? I, for one, prefer sourdough. However, there are definitely some things I want to revisit in the North and I will.

As the rain pours down over Manchester today, I would still need a bit of encouragement to build a life back in the area. Actually, it would take a King’s ransome.

Monday, 20th October, 2025

Well, something weird happened. A strange co-incidence and I use that word advisedly. I received an email from my cousin, David. I hadn’t heard from him since last December and here he was asking me if I shopped at Amazon. I replied a bit flippantly by asking if the Pope was Catholic. This morning, I had a second email from David’s email address asking if I could help him by email because he couldn’t talk on the phone. He said he had severe laryngitis. Alarm bells started ringing and that was made worse when my wife received two copies of that same email. This was almost certainly a scam but one which had accessed our address books. I’ve had to block David’s email address. If he’d liketo phone me, we can discuss it.

Hotel Wi-Fi is notoriously dangerous. We all take it for granted these days but it was an additional cost only a short while ago. Then it became a privilege of regular customers and now is ubiquitous. It has always been dangerous. All internet access outside the confines of our home router involves danger. It isn’t too difficult to access users’ data – their emails, banking, passwords, etc., on an open wifi feed. That’s why I use VPN.

Just as I was worrying about cousin, David, and his sore throat, the news broke of a compromise involving Amazon internet warehousing services. The internet is the most fantastic development in the past 200 years. It is also the biggest threat.

Well, I say the biggest threat. My (much) older friend, Kevin, has been sent for cataract removal. I have pointed out that Masturbation causes Blindness. He said that inspite of his eyesight, he could read that. I don’t know if it will help.

Tuesday, 21st October, 2025

It hurt but I left because I am thoughtful and kind. It won’t always be like that. I’ve promised myself this will be the last time. Having said that, driving down to the Tunnel was delightful. It was the most beautiful day for a long drive. Clear Skies, strong, low sunshine and increasingly warm temperatures the further South we went. I have promised myself it is the last time. I am too old to let it go on any longer. Next time I will break eggs.

We were hoping that we could go through the Biometric process for the EES but the frustrated staff said it was delayed again. The next chance will be a month of November in Tenerife.

The traffic down was light and we got over to France early. We checked in to our hotel and went out to shop for our meal. As I drove, I was replaying distant memories in my head while listening to the very current podcasts of The Newsagents. the time sped by.

For mid October, the Tunnel was quiet, deserted and desperate. We got on an early train and were off thirty mins early. While we sat on the train beneath the sea, I watched Boris Johnson stonewalling the Covid Enquiry because their forensic questioning went way over his head. his stock answer was, I don’t remember.

Arriving early and with light traffic, we were soon at out Coquelles hotel. Our suite was ready and we settled in before driving down to Auchan. I bought some particular wine glasses there a few years ago and have subsequently smashed two so I wanted to source replacements. Amazingly, 5 years on they were still for sale. Auchan around here is rather at the level of Aldi in UK. The customers are distinctly down market and impoverished. Even so, the supermarket had a vibrancy and a display of fresh fish and vegetables to grace any UK supermarket.

Wednesday, 22nd October, 2025

Glorious morning for a full, hotel Breakfast and a French hotel at that. Oh god, I’m full!! Had to go out for a long walk to feel better.

Wissant Beach Front is lovely on this gorgeously sunny and warm morning. Shorts and tee shirt in France in late October is great. We walked down to the Wissant School of Painters.

They have a beautiful canvas. All they need is naked ladies and there are quite few of those around here.

It is Half Term here and lots of French kids are here with their Mums to run on the sands. It is also Market Day and there is an incredibly busy crowd of shoppers thronging the stalls.

Amazing how many people are keen to buy locally produced products and to support their region. Small scale farming which cannot be cost effective is supported here in a way it is not in UK. I must admit, I am conflicted over the subject. If we saw a failing car maker go to the wall, would we jump to support them? I don’t think so.

Thursday, 23rd October, 2025

What a difference a day makes. After a beautiful day yesterday, the night brought strong winds and torrential rain. The morning has opened dry and bright but breezy.

Breakfast at 7.30 am. Oh, don’t make me eat any more. My body isn’t accustomed to it. Usually, I have orange juice, tea and fresh coffee. Now, I’m eating croissants the size of mountains.

Travelling back through the tunnel under the sea – a weather free environment – this afternoon. The most gorgeous cockerel was roaming the hotel carpark. Unfortunately, I wasn’t up to catching and plucking it but a younger, hungrier man ….

We were at the Euro Tunnel early and given an earlier crossing. Things were quiet. As we queued to board, the rain began again. I have become blasé about import requirements. Nobody ever checks and I have increasing enlarged my quantities. Today, I brought almost double my wine allowance without concern. I actually feel sorry for the workers standing outside in all weathers.

THe motorways were fantastic and the journey home wonderful. I love driving and I enjoyed the trip. Boxes of wine unloaded, wine racks filled, House returned to services for daily living. Going away for a month at the end of next week so nothing is shelved. Suitcases left out ready for refilling with clean clothes. I don’t know anything about that fortunately. What I do know is that the disruption to the routines of daily life really does me good. I’ve got just 9 days until I sleep in the Sofitel Gatwick Airport for a night so can’t get too comfortable.

Friday, 24th October, 2025

Gorgeous morning. Wonderful sunshine and blue sky. I’d only been away a few days but last night I picked another 1.5kg of cherry tomatoes from outside in the back garden. I continue to marvel at this productivity outside at the end of October.

These plants were self seeded from previous years. They are seeds from seeds I bought and sowed three years ago. They are fruiting so heavily. I have had more than 10 kilos of delicious, cherry tomatoes. They are ripening more slowly now so I finish them off on a kitchen window sill but they are really sweet.

The times they are a changing. The tomatoes must slow down soon. In fact, I will grub them up and clean out the raised beds next weekend prior to going away. Clocks go back on Saturday night and the local Bonfire Jamboree on the Beach is set for tomorrow night. Incredibly fast movement of time. We will soon be 75, Dear Reader. How many Tomato Harvests? How many more Bonfire Nights to go? Makes me shiver to think about it.

Down at the beach, the bonfire wood was being piled high by JCBs and the Funfare was setting up again. The material rhythms of the year may have been marked but the weather was warm and bright. The tide gentle and quiet. The beach empty.

The beach is empty in Greece now. The island is largely bereft of tourists who generally look for sun and warmth although a few hardy walkers remain. The funny thing is that, although there a rainy days, generally the temperature is respectably mild. The Greeks, though, treat it like mid winter and dress accordingly.

Saturday, 25th October, 2025

Absolutely gorgeous morning but punctuated by a very sad and disconcerting event. Out walking, I go past the periphery of the posh, new Care Home which was built recently in the beautiful grounds of an old and now demolished historical house. It was bathed in lovely sunshine as I walked past the fence separating its grounds from the Development in which our house sits.

It is an expensive facility which incorporates a Dementia Floor rather like the one that my Brother-in-Law is based in up in Surrey. We rarely see people out in the grounds which are surrounded by a high and sturdy fence and fringed by newly planted trees. This morning, as I walked along the perimeter fence, my attention was drawn by the sounds of a persistent knocking.

I looked up to see a young, old lady with short blonde hair gesturing at an upstairs window. Her hands said obviously, Help Me! Please help me. It was as if she was a prisoner being held aginst her will. It was a heartbreaking gesture. I must admit from recent experience I knew what the problem was. I walked round to the Reception Area and spoke to them. Immediately, I could sense how uncomfortable the Management were.

They were at pains to establish that they knew exactly who the lady was. She was a new admission who was still struggling with her position. Dementia patients are housed on the upper floor so that they can’t wander off and can be monitored. My brother in law, C, refers to it as ‘prison’ and emphasises how he has to ‘follow the rules’. That is the problem with Dementia. One minute you are in the present and acutely aware of your position. Next you are completely lost in your distant past and a danger to yourself. I could see the utter relief of the Management when they realised we understood.

Oh, Dear Reader, will this be me? Will I be gesturing for help from an upstairs window? Will you save me? The thought is unbearable and deeply sad. Is this how life ends? This is the way the world ends, not with a bang but a whimper. With a gesture: Help Me!

Sunday, 12th October, 2025

The warm weather continues after a warm night. I think we were double the temperature of the North of England last night. Out early walking as the sunshine began to break through the clouds from last night.

The world is decorated with dying. Everywhere glorious colours of decay adorn the pavements. The sound is lovely as we push our feet through Autumnal debris.

Of course I am in my own Autumn as has been pointed out. I posted the projection of me at 90 yesterday. I will be only too pleased to see that day. Since a diagnosis of prostate cancer, mortality and time scales have been brought much more sharply in to focus. Even though I live in a relatively prosperous area with excellent Medical provision, my cancer was caught early and treated ‘successfully’, it is constantly nagging away at me that the cancer will return. Will it be the shedding of my leaves upon a pavement to be blown away in the next gale?

I was shocked to read last week that men who had received radio therapy and hormone treatment to eradicate prostate cancer could expect to live at least 5 years. Well, 99% of us could. Will I be the 1%? I am receiving excellent monitoring – two PSA tests per year and one full body scan per year followed by a consultation with the Oncology Team at my local hospital. My next one will be after I return from Tenerife in December. As far as I am aware, that will continue for life.

Of course, not only is that sort of treatment really reassuring but it is fairly comprehensive. As this report from The King’s Fund makes clear, poorer areas have less access to healthcare due to a whole series of factors like:

• fewer GPs per capita
• difficulty accessing appointments
• transportation costs
• financial barriers

It may be my own fault if I don’t get to see the promised land of a nonagenarian. I must try harder! But, it will come to us all. I can feel it coming in the air tonight ….

Monday, 13th October, 2025

Grey and mild and that’s how the week is forecast to be down here. We were 14C/57F over night which isn’t fantastic but felt quite warm – if you’re not sleeping out on the streets. The clocks go back in two weeks and the street lights clocks will be adjusted accordingly. I mention that because our local services are excellent here and work like clockwork.

I am sometimes criticised for being a bit of a fly-by-night, constantly moving house and location, not settling into a community. Actually, I think I get to know more about each community I move into than others spending a life time in theirs. I have been on the South Coast for a decade now and I love it. Some who have lived in the village of Angmering for years complain about its continual development, expansion, gentrification. What so many of them don’t realise is that all the world is constantly in flux just differing in its pace.

Yes, you can criticise the Parish Council for not embracing this change. As in so many places, the car has not been easily accomodated and commerce has moved out of the village to the nearby towns but most of us can live with that.

These pictures are of Angmering Village in the early 1920s – just after the First World War when so many of it’s young men died. The streets of our development are named after individual men who died in that war. These people were survivors and had no idea that war would break out again within 20 years. They did not know electric lighting. Just think about that. Their lives were dominated by nature, the seasons and the hours of the day with sunlight and darkness illuminated by candles and spirit lamps.

At the time of these photographs, the residents had not got mains water. They used hand pumps to raise water from underground aquifers and wells. They had no mains sewage systems until the end of the decade. Electric lights weren’t brought to domestic homes befor the 1930s and street lighting wasn’t installed until 1964. Now, the tiny village is struggling to cope with electric cars inspite of the developing bypass.

And here I am. I don’t know for how long. Our 5 year plan has already stretched to a 10 year plan and we are tending to concentrate on travel while keeping our base constant. Who knows, Dear Reader? Who knows?

Tuesday, 14th October, 2025

Warm, grey morning. Have to visit the Calm & Gentle Dentist to deal with my broken tooth. Needed someone to hold my hand.

Rescue me
Ah, take me in your arms
Rescue me
I want your tender charms

I don’t do pain. Fortunately, things turned out well. I saw an emergency dentist who was brilliant. I have a temporary filling which will be replaced with a crown when I return from Tenerife in December. Do you know that it will cost me £1000.00? Can you believe that?

What is there about this bit of engineering that is worth all that cash? I will pay it because it means I will not lose my tooth. After all, Dear Reader, my ongoing beauty is paramount. Also, I couldn’t face living on soup for the rest of my life.

What does help is music. Today I am listening to the soothing music for violin and piano – Lili Boulanger Nocturne pour violon et piano (1911) – peace before the war.

On my walk this afternoon, I walked through the woods for the first time in perhaps a year. All had changed.

On the one side where the old Nurseries which grew salad vegetables for the County were, Houses were already being lived in. On the other side where once the rabbits had once had their playground, a full housing development reigned. Through the centre, the lane still ran under the arches of trees – a pastoral walk for the newcomers to say they are living in a village.

Wednesday, 15th October, 2025

Glorious morning for the mid point of October. The time really is flowing fast at the moment. Beware, Dear Reader! Hold tightly on to the coat tails of each day.

Today would be my Dad’s 110th Birthday. Unfortunately, he missed 60 of those years. He died just short of his 50th Birthday on the 24th September, 1965. I must admit, I don’t miss him because I hardly really knew him. He supplied me with a comfortable childhood until I was 14 years old but he was fairly remote in my memory. I do wonder how my life would have developed if he’d lived but that is just in a pensive moment.

Even so, my Mother loved him dearly and they were a great partnership. I never saw them have a cross word ever. He worked extremely hard in running the business and it took its toll on him. He died of a heart attack in Burton on Trent General Hospital where he was being treated for angina. Now, he would almost certainly have lived. I often think about the things that he missed and how he would have adapted to them. He was practical and embraced early change. He was the first person in his village to build a transistor radio receiver in the early 1950s. He had the first sports car in the village. He was quite early in installing central heating in our house.

Having said that, from what I remember of him, he was fairly traditional and East Midlands, small village centric. He was in Palestine in the army and had clearly travelled but he showed no inclination of venturing abroad subsequently as far as I was aware. I do wonder how he would have viewed the arrival of mobile phones in his 70s and the internet when he would have been around 80. I like to think he would have been an early adopter of electric cars and lorries for his business. Mind you, he did read The Daily Telegraph and vote Tory.

Thursday, 16th October, 2025

Went to bed late and feeling rather sad. Woke at 3.30 am and didn’t get back to sleep until the radio came on at 5.45 am. Those early morning hours are a nightmare for thoughts and regrets. So hard to dispel. Consequently, I didn’t get up until 7.15 am and felt late for everything all morning.

It had been a warm day yesterday and a warm night opening up on a glorious morning. The past few weeks’ wonderful weather has rather arrested the development of Autumn, revived the growth of grass, the hedges, flowers and my outdoor tomatoes. I’ve just found the bed that I thought I had cleared of potatoes months ago are suddenly sprouting …. new potatoes probably from small ones I missed first time round.

Got quite a busy day. Shopping in Sainsburys. Grass cutting before I go away. Flu jabs this afternoon. Car needs cleaning.

No so long ago, Boris Johnson got elected on the shallow promise of Levelling Up a Conservative Party manifesto policy that aimed to reduce the imbalances, primarily economic, between areas and social groups across the United Kingdom. Like so many things under the Tories in general and Johnson in particular, it was said to get elected rather as Brexit was in name only.

Consequently, Rochdale elected a proper Labour MP – a fantastic MP and respected journalist, Paul Waugh. Suddenly, Levelling Up becomes a reality. They have managed to negotiate a development pot of £20m to pour into the lowly, working class areas. I’m looking forward to seeing for myself.

In just the same way, Oldham’s Labour MPs have managed to save the historic and nationally significant theatre – Oldham Coliseum – from closure and reallocation by getting the funding for a full refurbishment. My friend, David Johnson, dead now for 7 years, would be rejoicing.

Friday, 17th October, 2025

Do worry about the medical profession at times. They employ some amazingly low level ability in supposedly high level positions. Still, I suddenly realised yesterday why low level can be quite appropriate for some jobs. This letter in The Times amused me.

My treatment by the NHS has been nothing short of wonderful over the past 50 years or so. Admittedly, I’ve had more call on it in recent years as bits have started to drop off but I haven’t been failed. In an area where residents are screaming about the burgeoning house development and population increase, the medical services are coping very well here.

Each month I complete an ONS NHS Survey which attempts to chart the nation’s developing views of the service. It takes a few minutes and is the least I can do. Other people in my area give up lots of their time freely to help out at the local surgery. Yesterday, when I walked down to receive my annual vaccinations, there were people organising the car park, organising the checking in, the preparation for the doctor and showing people out afterwards. Must have been 15 volunteers involved. Puts to shame some of the highly paid lunatics at the top who struggle to spell and punctuate.

One of the questions on the form each month is: Is your Doctor’s service getting better or worse? Since the pandemic, our doctors have been improving immensely. We are delighted with them. What hasn’t improved is Dentistry. The survey asks questions about that but it stops abruptly after say I have a private dentist service because there is no NHS one available. I have to have a crown on my tooth. It will cost me £1000.00. If I could have it done on the NHS, it would cost me a third of that price.

When you think of the poor, little people out there struggling to afford their food bill each month; struggling to manage their rent each month. How on earth can they afford to find £1000.00 for a tooth? The Dentistry Contract definitely needs redrawing.

À propos of absolutely nothing and only because this page should be illuminated with great beauty and smooth singing, this clip has been recovered from archives by a friend and is from 1971. Sorry about the hair but I had a savage barber!

I’m shattered. Just finished two hours of mowing and two hours of walking. Feels good but tiring. Lovely, warm day at 17C/63F for mid-October. Wonder what it’s going to be in the North tomorrow? Must call in on Mike and update him on his twin sister. When I get back, I will be looking to have my tooth fixed and the local (Brighton) implant clinic will do it for almost half my dentist’s price at £525.00 so I will be going to see them urgently.

Saturday, 18th October, 2025

It always seems to be on a day like today that I debate in my head that burning issue – Burial or Cremation? Which would I want for myself. It is sparked by the fact that my lovely Mother in Law died on this day in 2010 – unbelievably 15 years ago. We visit the crematorium in Hollinwood, Oldham to view the Book of Rememberance and to focus our minds on her for a moment.

It’s not as if we would forget her. There are memories of her around the house and we even have some flowering fuscias with her name in the garden in the garden now but this is a poignant moment every year. We still have such vivid memories of the dash home from Greece to be with her because she wasn’t well and of the hours and hours spent in Oldham Royal with her before the end. It is important to mark that time.

En route to Oldham, I call in to visit my Mum & Dad’s grave in Repton and to just focus my mind once again on the start they gave me to my life. Just as in Youth, we tend to reject our parents’ generation, so the older one gets, the more we recognise our antecedents as signicant in the developments of our lives. You will probably know Gray’s Elegy, Dear Reader.

Beneath those rugged elms, that yew-tree’s shade,
Where heaves the turf in many a mould’ring heap,
Each in his narrow cell for ever laid,
The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep.

Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard – Thomas Gray (1751)

This time of year, the atmosphere is always so appropriate. There is dampness on the ground and dead leaves laying, rotting. There is something particular about graveyards that is evocative of sadness, death, decay but also remembrance. They are a particularly graphic focal point for a visit. They are living and dying History.

And so we turn it back to the present and the living. Cremation or Burial, Dear Reader? As a Historian, I have always favoured Burial but now, as the time comes towards me, I am increasingly moving towards Cremation or not caring at all. I just don’t want people feeling an obligation to visit …. except for coffee.

Sunday, 5th October, 2025

Glorious morning – clear blue sky and strong sunshine. Still and calm. Just as well, because it has finally happened.

I have woken to find myself married to a 74 year old. How did that happen? I thought I had married a young girl.

Actually, the time has aged me a lot more than her. I wonder why. Her Mother always refered to her as My Little Pixie and she really hasn’t changed much since then.

Actually, she may have got a bit fitter in recent times although she has always been sporty. It’s not generally known outside her friendship group but she was a fully qualified Netball Referee. Unlike me, she is incapable of sitting down. She is constantly on the move. It always makes me laugh that although I have to sit down to think, to read and to write and it takes all my concentration, she does it all standing up, while walking and while stacking the dishwasher, while making bread. What normal person does that?

Today, it is my job to produce a Birthday Evening meal. I’m not a great cook so I am going to produce cold, snack food in the form of Mezze (small dishes). Obviously, I will produce these myself.

Birthday Mezze Menu

• Dips: Skordalia (Garlic) / Muhammara (Roasted Red Pepper) / Hummus (Chickpea) / Tapenade (Black Olive)
• Batons of Cucumber & Carrot
• Greek Flatbread with Oregano & Parsley (admittedly commercial)
• Octopus Salad – chunks of cold, boiled octopus dressed in lemon & dill
• Cocktail sticks of Feta Cubes with King Prawns
• Honey Glazed Salmon cubes with star anise

Champagne & Sauvignon Blanc

• Pistachio-topped Tiramisu (commercial)
• Clotted cream Ice Cream (commercial)

She’ll need to go on a very long run after all that. Fortunately, on this beautiful morning, we are going to pre-empt that by going out now.

Chosen to go out for a run before the meal. Looks like she might have lost a bit of weight … which is annoying! She was amused that I addressed her card: Mrs P Sanders. I don’t know why.

Monday, 6th October, 2025

Glorious morning. Not a cloud in the sky. Strong sunshine and warm. This is how life should be. This is how you said it would be …. most of the time. Last night was illuminated by an October Super Moon.

And this morning is illuminated by a super, October sun. Going out for an early walk to get the most out of the day, Dear Reader.

Fun but shocking to watch a Conservative Party Conference which is hardly able to get delegates there.

It is shocking how quickly the political scene is shifting at the moment. The 24 hr rolling media, the easy access of social media, the culpability of the main stream media all conflate to promote fringe, unsubstantiated, unfunded, populist policies of people like Farage and Reform.

Of course, the people of Manchester are a strange tribe who are unwelcoming of foreign travellers. They are inclined to adopt aggressive attempts to repel visitors, travellers from distant lands and those of different persuasions. The Labour Government is experiencing its own difficulties at the moment in the nose-bleed-capital of the North of England.

There is a movement that is taking place as a fantastic antidote to the racist, little Englander views of Faragism. It is the Green Party and their exciting new leader, Zack Polanski. He is a Gay Jew neither of which I identify with but he is speaking a full-fat Left Wing agenda that the Labour Party will have to address if it wants to win the next election which I still expect it to do.

Going out for my second walk of the day. In Athens it is 22C/70F and in Angmering it is 20C/68F with the most beautiful sunshine. I wish it on all my readers.

Tuesday, 7th October, 2025

Warm, moonlit night but this morning is rather overcast although sun is trying to break through. I’ve already done a 2 hr walk and am casting around for what else to do.

I have this problem with my left ear at the moment so I’m going to make an appointment at the Sussex Audiology Centre. I have been reluctant because it is liking admitting I am old but facility has overcome vanity at last. Looks a bit scary to me! I have always had slightly weaker hearing in my left ear and it has got worse in the last few years. That’s why I walk on the right of my wife. I have begun to hope it is just blocked with wax. Could be because I’ve stuck cotton buds in it every morning for the past 50 years.

I read of a man who had suffered with hearing loss in one ear all his life. He went to have it looked at in his 60s and they found a glass bead lodged deep inside his ear canal which he had obviously stuck there as a child. When they removed it, his hearing was instantly restored.That is my dream.

I have lots of dreams. Many are still to be realised. I suppose that’s why they are dreams. It doesn’t stop me. I will achieve them all in the end … although restoring hearing may be a bit of a stretch. I remember dreaming for years of building a house in Greece. Tick!

I was reviewing my memory box for events of this day across the years and found these photos taken as I set off to drive back from Greece in 2009 when I was just retired and aged a youthful 58. My wife likes to point out that although I have had 8 new cars in the ensuing 16 years, she is still wearing the same cardigan and shoes. Of course, that’s how it should be.

On this day two years later in 2011, I was 60 and en route back from Greece. Having sailed up the Adriatic; filled up with wine and cheeses in Italy, driven through Switzerland and Alsace and was now resting in the French city of Metz.

The next travels and dreams achieved are nearly here. It’s going to be a good few months ahead … if they can extract that glass bead from my ear. The surgery have just phoned and told me I don’t have to pay £100.00 going privately. They will see me this afternoon. Good job I could still hear their call.

Wednesday, 8th October, 2025

Well, yesterday was useful. Within 30 secs of seeing me the GP said my ear was completely blocked and needed syringing. She had an appointment for me on Friday to sort it out. I skipped out of the Surgery optimistically but slightly deafly. Before I have the procedure, I have to squirt olive oil in my ear twice a day. It’ll make a change from cooking with it.

Apparently, ear syringing can be painful and not without risk but I’ll just have to grit my teeth (those I’ve got left) and get on with it. It feels weird – as if I’m underwater but, if it helps. If this doesn’t work, the next thing will be microsuction. Got to get it sorted out and quickly. It is beginning to make me feel old. Talking about feeling old, I must wish my old friend, Julie in North Yorkshire, happy 75th birthday today. Not sure I should be associated with old people like that but still.

Exactly 10 years ago today, we sold our Surrey property after 5 years in it almost doubling the price we paid for it in 2010. We were astonished and delighted. It was the fifth house we had bought together and represented a strong move forward. That is what life is about in my view – constantly striving to improve and move forward.

I have records of them all on my Office wall and sometimes remember with pleasure the trials and tribulations associated with them all. I had this one framed on the day we left for the last time and as we said goodbye to our lovely neighbours, Nigel who has also long since left and Rosina who is still there. At least it taught us that community living was not for us. We prefer space and more privacy, self determination and autonomy.

I’ve just phoned my friend, Brian, in Shaw, Oldham to wish him Happy 78th Birthday. I love him. He is the most honest, trustworthy man I have ever met. I interviewed and appointed him in 1986 and I couldn’t have found a better man to work in my school. I haven’t seen him in 3 years but I am going back to meet up soon – the moment I get back up North. The instant I put the phone down, I wept spontaneously. I miss those people and those times. They were basic, honest and good.

Thursday, 9th October, 2025

Gorgeous morning. Did an early, 90 mins walk and then drove up to Surrey to meet little M who is over from Florida to see her Dad and keep the plates spinning. She’s lost weight and looks lovely. Even Colin looked better than we’d seen him for a while. He seems to be coping wth his new regime after the death of his wife. He is certainly in a lovely, caring and comfortable place. The property is beautifully appointed. The staff are incredibly professional and attentive. The grounds are gorgeous. In final years, Colin has everything money can buy plus loving relatives. You can’t ask for more.

When we left, Colin was being taken on an outing with other residents to a local Pub. He is lucky he has such a thoughtful, capable and loving daughter. We spent a lovely couple of hours together and then drove home through the afternoon sunshine down a quiet motorway.

You will know the Shakespearean quote that opens with

All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,

Well I am that man, Dear Reader and I need your indulgence and support in my dotage. Today, as I prepare for my ears to be syringed tomorrow, I bit a piece of cake while visiting a Dementia Facility and the filling in a tooth fell out.

Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion;
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.

Is this how life ends?

This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper?
The Hollow Men – T.S.Eliot – 1927

Am I really going to be allowed to die this way, Dear Reader?

Rescue me
Oh take me in your arms …

On my website today, just to twist the knife, I saw the family who are living in my Greek house. The house we designed and built. Life goes on…..

Friday, 10th October, 2025

I can hear clearly now the wax has gone ….

A warm night and a grey morning but it is a wonderful day. I had an early appointment at the Surgery to have my ear syringed. It happened like magic. Warm water piped deep into my ear and my hearing popped open instantly. Apparently, I had cotton wool stuck down there as well. Now how did that get there?

Anyway, I am reborn. Had to turn the radio down in the car on the way back. Lovely to watch the Nobel Peace Prize announcement particulary because Trump was lobbying hard for it.

The Nobel Peace Prize presentation speech has been carefully constructed by the Norwegian Committee to address Trump’s pressure. Stressing Pro-Democracy and anti Authoritarianism. Referencing not challenging Democratic Election Results and not attacking political opponents. And to think it’s gone to a mere woman. Oh dear, Trump loses to a woman. He’s not going to be happy.

Something rather poignant emerged yesterday when little M gave Pauline a belated Birthday card. Pauline’s sister and M’s mother died only a few weeks ago. Clearing her house prior to putting it on the market, M found a card which could only have been bought for Pauline ahead of time.

It is the epitome of an oxymoron – a bitter-sweet moment to receive best wishes from your dead sister in present time. It is something which she will keep with her for ever. Fancy being exactly the same age as Bob Geldof!

Saturday, 11th October, 2025

You know, Dear Reader, that I am obsessed with time. I always have been. I love, hate, fear, embrace the counterfactuals of time, the competing tides that run fast and slow at one and the same time.

The year is slowly fading out as the nights are cooler and the days shorter. It is not fast or dramatic but gentle, gradual and slow – so slow that it is almost imperceptible. There is generally less sun although it is still mild. This morning I went down to the beach where the shades were of Autumn. I was in shorts and tee shirt to enjoy the mild, sea air.

We are well into October but the garden is still producing. I picked this kilo of cherry tomatoes yesterday from plants outside in the raised beds edging the back garden. In mid-October! The flowers are still bright and profusive although thinner than mid-Summer and not so long for this world. They will probably go in the garden waste next weekend.

The window vents in the house have been closed in readiness. They will maintain the house’s warmth and keep out the spiders and ladybirds which are looking for a warm, Winter place to sleep, to dream, perhaps to die. I’m hoping to not put the central heating on until December when we come back from Tenerife and to live in shorts and tee shirts at least until then if not longer.

My digital memory box threw up this photo this morning. It was taken in Florida on this day exactly three years ago. It is of a lovely family group.

We couldn’t take that photo now for a number of reasons which is a sign of that speed at which another tide of time runs across the slowly changing seasons.

While we are on the subject of aging and the ravages of time, my friend, Kevin, has used an AI client to project me over 15 years ahead into the age of 90. I don’t think I look too bad but I’m shocked at the thinness and colour of my hair.

Sunday, 28th September, 2025

It is a grey, overcast but rather warm day after a warm night which didn’t fall below 17C/63F. Didn’t sleep well last night and have woken tired. Out early to exercise while I’ve got the energy. The lack of sunshine is a bit depressing. Got to raise my spirits by focussing on happier things. Travel is in my mind. Seeing people.

It is the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool and it is at an important time for the Government. I have been a Labour supporter all my voting life. I have followed the history and the principles of Left Wing politics all my intellectual life. I used to think it was as a reaction to my Conservative voting, Daily Telegraph reading parents but the more I have thought about it, the more I see that it is as a response to the Social-Educational-Political milieu of the 1960s/70s in which I grew up.

There have only been 7 Labour Prime Ministers since it emerged on to the political stage in 1900 led by Keir Hardie and formed out of Left Wing groups such as the Workers’ Trades Unions and the more intellectual and middle class Fabian Society and the Methodist Church. Keir Hardie attempted to unite them under the banner of the Independent Labour Party and, subsequently, the Labour Representation Committee.

Like all political parties, Labour has always been a stiched together spectrum of views. Keir Hardie was trying to integrate the more militant Trades Unionists with the more gradualist and cerebral Fabians and the more philosophical Methodists. All wanted to achieve similar aims but in different ways and at different speeds.

Keir Hardie was a Methodist preacher. The British left owes more to Methodism than Marxism, it’s true. Even Corbyn himself is a teetotaler, embodying the values of the temperance movement and he embodies the dilemma – Methodism or Marxism.

It falls to the latest Keir (Starmer) to knot and hold together these relatively disparate groups in order to achieve the common goal of encouraging the social and Liberal Left while opposing the traditional Right and the current populist movements that are emerging so strongly. What has happened, particularly, is the swing from workers to intellectuals from industry to education. You are far more likely now to vote Labour, espouse Socialism if you are a Graduate rather than an Electrician or Mechanic. Labour support has drifted inexorably from Northern Towns to the Southern, Metropolitan Elites. It is this movement that has placed such challenges on both, major parties and given the rabid Right a chink of light to dive into.

Monday, 29th September, 2025

A glorious morning of blue sky and sunshine although there is a hint of sea mist out across the beach this morning. Reminds me of my drive to work each day across the Pennines as I descended through the mist over the moors and into the town.

Preparing the house and garden for cooler times, for Autumn and going away. Signs that time cannot be held back even with hair dye are everywhere.

Just been out for my walk in really hot sunshine. My phone says it is opnly 18C/65F but it feels so much warmer in direct sunshine.

Momentous occasion this week. The car is one year old and will go in for its first Service. It won’t have quite done 5000 miles although a trip to the North of England and another to France will soon put that total up. It’s been a really good car so far. I’m pleased I bought it. Be at least another twelve months before I consider trading it in. Really must move on to a Plug-in Hybrid next time. With so many of my journeys being short ones these days, I would be able to do most of my driving in full electric mode.

In this week in 2013, I was driving home from Greece stopping in Patras on the Peloponnese at the Poseidon Palace, in Parma, Italy at the Hotel Villa Ducale, in Mulhouse, Alsace and Reims near the Cathederal before driving to Coquelles and the Tunnel home to Surrey.

It is experiences like this that I need to get back to. We will be completely static much too soon. Now is the time to move while we still can.

Tuesday, 30th September, 2025

These are lovely times of warmth and sunshine before the Winter comes. We have to enjoy the seasons as they turn through the year. Yesterday, walking down at the beach, you could be forgiven for thinking Summer had returned. Warm and windless with sun shining on the sea and high cloud graduating the sky, the temperature reached 22C/70F

Today, I had to take the car in for its first service. Honda showrooms were gleaming in the sunlight with metal shone to perfection. The service takes about 2 hrs including a complimentary full valet.

Normally I would sit, drink coffee and read the newspapers on my iPad but the day was so beautiful that I went for a walk instead.

All around signs of Autum are showing. The lower sun across the fields that the community is resisting house building on, the Chestnut Trees being one of the first to shed their leaves and this year with a heavy crop of nuts.

I love Autumn in France. I have wonderful memories of kicking through the dead leaves on the streets of Lille in October sunshine. We are going back very soon to renew our experiences.

Really looking forward to going through the Tunnel and registering for the new EES – European entry/exit system as we do. Fingerprint scan and facial scan just as we do going into USA, proof accomodation and financial probity established once will allow us to cross borders quickly and easily on subsequent occasions – for example, going to Tenerife in November. It will allow us to digitise our passports at an early stage. Only 13% of UK citizens do not hold a passport so this process will make digital ID cards the norm as Labour bring them in.

Wednesday, 1st October, 2025

October has opened soft and warm with gentle colours of decay. I’m mowing grass through clouds of dying leaves. Feels a bit like an allegory for my life. Still tidying and reordering the world to suit my view of it.

Got to get the gardening done before Friday when we are said to be hit by gales and rain. At least it will blow the leaves away. It’s good exercise and keeps me in contact with the neighbours. It will be one of the last times this Autumn as I will be away a fair bit of the rest of the year.

Do you remember the observation: Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus. Did you read the book, Dear Reader? I didn’t but perhaps I should have. It could have saved a lot of trouble. It was published just over 30 years ago and was based on years of counselling of couples and individuals, helping men and women realise how different they can be in their communication styles, their emotional needs, and their modes of behaviour.

I have to admit I have never understood girls even though they have almost always understood me far too easily – to the point of embarrassment. An article I was reading in The Telegraph this morning addresses just this topic and says: in recent years, rigorous science has proven the stark differences in how men’s and women’s brains are wired. And it now seems that women are twice as likely as men to develop one of the most concerning of brain disorders: Alzheimer’s. Two in three people living with it are female, and after turning 60, women are twice as likely to develop Alzheimer’s than they are to get breast cancer, according to the Alzheimer’s Association.

I knew men were the superior species although I’ve always worried that I have quite a lot of feminine traits. But help is at hand, Dear Reader. Women can at least reduce their risk by doing a number of things

1. You should continue to challenge you brain by exercising your intellect – study challenging ideas, follow politics, learn a language, read and write, argue and debate.
2. Make sure you exercise – women are less likely than men to do so.
3. Get enough omega-3s in your diet, through foods such as eggs and oily fish like salmon or mackerel.
4. Look after your mental health.
5. Consider HRT.

If only life was that easy, Dear Reader. I’ve been tasked with sorting out the Tenerife details. Car parking, Flight times, Arrival, Taxi, Apartment Address, etc. Do you know, it turns out to be cheaper to drive and park Long Stay for a month than to take a taxi. Amazing. Going to stay the night at the Sofitel because we fly early.

The only problem is the restaurant is rubbish. Pub meal quality at inflated prices. Anyway, we have a month to get over it. Looking forward to Oldham/Huddersfield + France in October and a month of sunshine in November. People to see and places to go.

Thursday, 2nd October, 2025

Another nice, warm day – bright but not sunny. At 6.30 am, I got a message from Michelle across the road thanking me for all the work I did on the street yesterday – mowing the grass and blowing off the dead leaves, taking up the dying flowers, strimming and cleaning the curbs. That’s why I do it. Not for the thanks but because I remember how stretched I was in a very busy, working week and how grateful I was to come home to find my neighbour had mowed the lawns for me. Now it’s my turn.

Of course, with age, other my turns will come. They’re all dying, you know, Dear Reader. A week ago, an old boyhood hero of mine, Ming Campbell died at the scarily young age of 84. I was a sprinter and my Grammar School’s Athletics Captain when Ming was running in the Tokyo Olympics and was being described as fastest white man in the world. I wanted to be that. Once, 84 would have seemed a good age but not now for a fit man who went on to become Leader of the Liberal Democrats, it feels cruelly short.

Another of those who I looked up to in the late 1960s/early 1970s was the poet, Brian Patten who died yesterday. He was one of the vaguely ‘hip’ Mersey Sound poets who came in on the tide of the Beatles success. I must admit that I haven’t returned to his work for many years but I was shocked to learn that he was only 79 – just 5 years older than me when he died. He hadn’t exactly lived a hard life of manual labour in his more gentle pursuit of writing poetry.

Whatever we do to mitigate our fates, some are just unfathomable. If we exercise and keep fit, we think that must help. If we work with our minds, testing to the limits words, phrases and ideas, we think that will ward off Dementia. If we keep a strong check on our physical health, we think we can can identify and erradicate things early.

I was struck by one more death this week of Professor Graham MacGregor at the age of 84. He was a renowned Specialist in Cardiovascular Medicine and a leading figure in the fight for healthy eating and reducing salt in foods to cut down on heart attacks and strokes. He died of cancer.

We can only do our best. Many of us can’t even do that but we can tell ourselves we are trying. It’s very worrying that intolerance and racism is on the rise across the country. This morning a stabbing/shooting incident has taken place on Middleton Road at a synagogue. Of course, not much good comes out of Middleton.

What is taking place in Gaza under the aegis of a Far Right Jewish government and the direction of a criminal prime minister trying to avoid his day of justice is appalling but Jews living in Machester can hardly be held to account. Unfortunately, the pronouncements of Farage and Trump have emboldened – even legitimised these sorts of crimes – and brought the rabble out of the dark to have their day in the sun. We must subdue them again with decency and tolerance.

Friday, 3rd October, 2025

Today was supposed to be awful – heavy rain and blowing a gale. What is the point in weather forecasting if it is so totally wrong. Warm and dry, I was out walking at 9.00 am and did a 90 mins session without problem. Got home with a number of planning jobs to complete in readiness for our month in Tenerife.

Check-in with our airline opens on-line this morning. I do it early and download Boarding passes from both flights to our digital wallets on our phones. Because I’m old, I also print out hardcopies as backup. I virtually never use them but it makes me feel better. I inform the property managers in Tenerife of our flights and arrival times so they can meet us. The taxi from the airport only takes about 20 mins. I have to make sure I have enough Warfarin with me to cover a month plus a month extra in case of emergencies so I’ve ordered that. What fun it is to be old, Dear old Reader! My annual travel insurance which comes ‘free’ with my Bank Account has been renewed.

Of course some people adopt a Faith as an insurance policy in Old Age. In God We Trust is their faith. My Mother did exactly that but I am shocked how many of my Generation do the same. I have no faith in anything other than myself. I believe in what I can see, touch, prove. I will never believe in fantasy, social construct, desire to imagine an alternative reality, fiction.

I am painfully aware of people who have treated me abominably while professing to be people of Faith, believers in a God who preached Love Thy Neighbour. I am aware of the sensitive and brittle egos under the majesty of their heaven. I am aware of the hypocrisy of a Faith which allows the Catholic Church to persecute the unmarried mothers, of the Jewish Faith which allows the extermination of the people of Gaza, of the Muslim Faith which allows the erradication of Jewish neighbours. Faith is blind and terrible. Only Science, Rationality, Empiricism can form a secure platform for advancement.

I’m going to have to go up and save the people of Manchester who are struggling with the multiplicities of Faith – all believing different Gods which, in itself points up the farce of Faith. My Mum, a staunch Catholic, would not allow me anywhere near a Church of England service. Everyone was struggling to establish the supremacy of their Gods.

The whole process points up the nonsense of the construct. People create Gods to construct an image outside themselves, above themselves to appeal to, to defer to, to rely on. Rather than looking out, they should be looking in on themselves for strength and sustenance. Humanitarianism is the only way. Forget candles to false gods and love thy neighbour like thyself.

Saturday, 4th October, 2025

Gloriously warm and sunny morning after a blustery night. I’m on duty this morning. Pauline has a birthday tomorrow so I am out early sourcing ingredients for a Birthday Meal. It will be Mezze which she enjoys. Lots of small, taster, sharing dishes emblematic of Greece. If you go into a Taverna, Kafenion, Ouzerie and order a glass of Ouzo – the clear, aniseed distilled alcohol drink which turns cloudy white with added water, the waiter will bring you an accompanying plate of Mezze. In that situation, it is usually bits of Feta Cheese, some Kalamata Olives and cubes of Cucumber and maybe some peanuts.

Of course, for a Birthday Supper, mine will be far more extensive but I can’t reveal that too soon. Expectation is all important, Dear Reader.

Its always nice when someone younger than me has a birthday. Gives one a slight feeling of retribution. I’ve been talking to friends across the North of England over the past few days. One in Rochdale who I’m going up to see soon is 85 which makes me feel absolutely great but all the others from my College are one or two years older and, suddenly, they all have Covid. Not a good thing to get at that age.

There are these new strains emerging rapidly and they are particularly virulent in the North of England. Gives me pause for thought about visiting. Hospital admissions and deaths are rising as they tend to do in the Winter months and we are not even there yet.

The football this afternoon is Chelsea v Liverpool. On this day 16 years ago, our car was packed, the ferry was booked and we were preparing to drive back to UK. The temperature was 85F and we swam in the sea. In the evening, I watched Chelsea v Liverpool before going to bed. Life is circular, Dear Reader. What goes around, comes around. It’s happening again today. I will always return.

Tragedy has struck on the edge of a 74th birthday celebration. The steam cleaner has packed up. I’ve had to order a replacement urgently. It will arrive tomorrow. Phew …

The Daily Telegraph featured an excellent Rioja at Aldi this morning. I nipped down to buy a dozen bottles. Only £5.99 a bottle. I’ve tried it already and it’s delicious.

Going out for my second long walk of the day. It’s stayed sunny and warm. The breeze is down. Can’t sit around all day. Man.Utd. are already winning 2.0 against Sunderland and Chelsea play Liverpool later. I have time on my hands. Must keep moving!!