Month: December 2025

Sunday, 21st December, 2025

Today is the shortest day of the year and tonight is the longest night. Everything gets better from here, Dear Reader. Dust off your bikini. The Summer is coming!

Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse ….

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow,
Gave a lustre of midday to objects below.

What a lot of nonsense. Outside it is blue sky with strong sun. The grass is growing and the birds are signalling signs of Spring. There are daffodils forcing their heads up to the sky and trees budding with sweet, new green tips.

We are well past the middle of December and 2025 is dying fast. Our neighbours are setting off on the 27th for an 11 week cruise of the Caribbean. Four other neighbour households are arranging a joint holiday on Skiathos. I have booked up 4 different trips abroad amounting to 10 weeks abroad so far. In the new year, I will be looking to organise a few days away in France – the first of at least three of those trips – and, currently, we are considering some city breaks of perhaps 4 days each in Prague and Seville.

I know very little about modern Prague but it has long been a place of significance in my head. The Prague Spring of 1968 when Alexander Dubček was elected leader of Communist Party of Czechoslovakia and began a process of cultural and economic liberalisation which encouraged mass protest against Soviet domination. It was short lived and was crushed by Soviet tanks in August 1968 but it was a start of what Putin is fighting to regain now in Ukraine – an Empire. It was the time that I was beginning to take an interest in politics and world affairs with real thought for the first time. It would be interesting to visit in Spring 2026.

I know virtually nothing about Seville other than their oranges form the basis of our marmalade. Actually, I’m not even keen on that. It feels like the stuff of our parents rather than a ‘hip’ young person like me. My housekeeper’s choice of romatic destination, I had to look it up on the web. It is the capital and largest city of Andalusia, you know. It wasn’t until 1979 that Spain held its first democratic municipal elections after the end of Franco’s dictatorship. Incredible.

The most amazing thing I have found is the difference in prices between the two destinations. Easyjet flights to Seville are at least double the price for Prague. A Suite for 4 nights in a 4*/5* hotel is at least three times more expensive in Seville than in Prague although the Czech hotels look better quality. It’s going to be a fun year topped off by a week in Oldham, Dear Reader. What more could you want?

Monday, 22nd December, 2025

Wonderfully warm and sunny morning. Have to do some shopping. Thought early this morning would be the best option. If it was, I wouldn’t like to repeat it tomorrow. The roads were really busy. The carparks were horribly busy. The supermarkets were intolerably busy. Even under that pressure, people were polite and relaxed which is typical down here. It would be different in Surrey or Manchester.

I don’t do God and I don’t do Christmas. I know. I am boring. I do giving but don’t like/cope with receiving. I bought a tin of the sickliest, most appalling chocolates for my neighbour, Filippo’s kids to make them thoroughly sick on Christmas day which I consider obligatory and that is as far as I’ve gone.

I’m not keen on Marks & Spencer and we rarely shop there but we’ve been 4 times in the past month. The one redeeming feature of it is that it is opposite the beach and pier. It gives me a chance to walk, look and photograph.

“But the sun brightened—
It brightened, and Crow returned charred black ….”

Today, I made a new friend on the promenade. She didn’t say a lot but I knew what she was thinking. I thought the same.

A few years ago I heard Bob Mortimer tell a story on Would I Lie to You about being a guest of someone called Chris Rea who cracked an egg into his bath. I can’t remember why but nor had I heard of Chris Rea. I had to look him up and found he was a musician who was associated with the song, ‘Driving Home for Christmas’ which I thought I’d heard somewhere.
Anyway, I was shocked to read today that Chris Rea died this morning at the tender age of 74. There’s too much of this dying!

Certainly this Christmas we will remember people we have lost. We will remember Phyllis who died this year but we will also remember my Mother-in-Law, Jane who is so much missed. Here she is in all her cheekiness at Christmas time in Yorkshire in 2008.

Tuesday, 23rd December, 2025

Warm but grey this morning. Since returning from Tenerife three weeks ago, we really haven’t felt traditional December weather at all. The newspapers have been full of confident predictions of snow across the country. They haven’t happened and are not predicted by the Met. Office to happpen in the near future.

Having been a Climate Change denier for a long time, in recent years I have had to face the facts and accept its central tenets. Even so, it doesn’t really bother me. Warmer times will suit me fine although I know some, old ladies will struggle with it.

It certainly is quite a remarkable trend over my lifetime which I have amplified by moving to the South Coast. Having left the land of ice and snow for the coast of sea and sunshine I appreciate it even more in older age.

Sixteen years ago, I had been retired for almost a year but was still living in Yorkshire. The winter of 2009 was a harsh one yet, even then, not as bad as the 1950s & 60s.

In this week 16 years ago, I was driving through scenes like this on the A62 from Yorkshire to Lancashire. They are beautiful but once you’ve observed that, what else is there to admire about freezing cold and icey roads, putting your life at risk and salt attacking your car. Why would you volunteer for it when you could live in the sunshine?

In those days, it was either to wait for the digger to clear the A62 Moors Road or take your life in your hands in a white-out on M62 highest stretch of motorway in England.

It was our last Christmas in Quarry Court and our last Christmas with my lovely Mother-in-Law. We struggled over the Pennines to get her and struggled to take her back. The garden was out of bounds.

In our garden down here today, Geraniums are still flowering as is the Fuscia Janey named after Mum-in-Law and we are picking fresh Rosemary and Parsley for our meal. In the end, one has to acknowledge the evidence.

Filippo, our lovely neighbour from Parma, came over this morning with a bottle of wine from his homeland. He and his wife are both medical scientists who mainly work from home. They are a delightful couple who have two, young children we hardly ever see never mind hear. Within an hour, we were tasting it as an accompaniment to the most wonderful smoked salmon I have ever eaten. We bought a side of smoked salmon from our fresh fish suppliers and we are so pleased with it.

Wednesday, 24th December, 2025

Up early this morning. Driving up to Surrey. Hoping to beat the mania that is the M25 on Christmas Eve. It is madness and I wouldn’t be doing it out of choice but I know my duty. By midday, I will be trying to park in Woking multi storey carpark. Can you imagine it? Wish me well, Dear reader. See you on the other side.

Well, the drive up was wonderful, very quiet and easy. We arrived by 10.30 am. Cup of coffee and off to the Dementia Facility. Picked up C and on to Woking Crematorium where we had a short ceremony to place Phyllis’ ashes urn in a memorial stone. It was a nice but cold memorial.

On to the Theatre. That was the start of eating too much. Tables booked at the restaurant where we shared pizzas. Then in to the auditorium where we watched a clever version of Snow White with Rob Rinder and Leslie Joseph as leads. It was cleverly presented and even I enjoyed it although it lasted two hours.

On to Supper at the Maybury Inn just a few hundred yards from where we used to live a decade ago. We had a fairly average two course meal with wine which cost £375.00. It was the sort of poor quality meal that confirms me in not eating out very often.

I had a Fritto Misto starter followed by Surf & Turf – Roast Pork with Scallops – main course. I’m afraid it was only just passable ‘Pub Food’ and I wouldn’t recommend it.

Thursday, 25th December, 2025

A very happy Christmas to all readers of the Blog. It is starting off with stark, blue skies and bright sunshine but cold. For many, maybe most people, this is a time of happiness and celebration. It is my 74th Christmas and I woke up feeling sad. I was listening to an analysis of Edward Elgar at 5.00 am and that set the mood music and then I thought of missing people from my life. Alright, I am strange but it is who I am.

I first met Edward Elgar, the man responsible for Land of Hope & Glory, Pomp & Circumstance and The Dream of Gerontius, when I was at a low ebb in 1973 and delivering a course for Dutch teachers who were studying English Language and Culture. It was delivered at my old college in Ripon and we played them what was then considered to be quintessentially English music in the form of Elgar’s Enigma Variations.

I’ve always considered him an Edwardian gentleman with whom I had little in common but, when you get down to it, he was just a man as I am. He had his loves and fears, his likes and dislikes and he had the need to express himself, to communicate with the world as I do. He chose music, I choose words. This morning I learnt a lot more about him. Like me, he was brought up a Roman Catholic but, unlike me, that informed his life.

He wrote the Enigma Variations at the turn of the century and 15 years before the start of World War. It is split into 14 variations. Each one is based on a person in his life. The first is to his wife, Alice. Another is on a girlfriend of his and another on his best friend and fellow musician and so on. This one called Nimrod, legendary biblical figure from Genesis, known as a mighty hunter, was playing this morning, playing so sadly that the memories flooded back and made me weep silently.

Went down to the beach to forget. Walking on the Beach this morning was absolutely delightful. Saw a few birds and one said she was 74. I really find it hard to believe.

It is cold out there today – 9C/48F – and I am going to spend a couple of hours in the Gym. I’ve had my sun quota for the day. It will give me an excuse to watch my latest favourite Spy thriller –Deep State – on Disney+. Let’s get on to our 75th Christmas, Dear Reader. I’ve just been watching famous obituaries for 2025. It comes to us all. Happy Christmas!

Friday, 26th December, 2025

Boxing Day – another anachronism we should sweep away and then the world can go back to work and leave the Retired in peace. The boys are driving up to Manchester this morning for the match at Old Trafford this evening. After Newcastle go 3 up and the Theatre of Dreams becomes a nightmare, they have to drive all the way back to Surrey to be ready for work on Saturday morning.

I, on the other hand, will be watching from the comfort of my sofa. Might even put the central heating on. It was so cold last night – 0C/32F – that I put it on downstairs for an hour before getting up this morning. It isn’t going well for England in the cricket and I don’t hold out great hopes for United at the moment.

I am watching so much Drama at the moment that I can hardly keep up with the plots. Yesterday, I wrote that I was watching Deep State – on Disney+ in the Gym. Last night I watched two very contrasting items. I have no idea why I get drawn into it other than I am an incurable romantic but I watched Love Actually on Land TV for the umpteenth time. I really like Emma Thompson and Keira Knightley and I really want to be Prime Minister. That would solve everything!

At the end of the evening, we started watching a much more challenging but gripping Drama Directed by Kate Winslet who is also one of the daughters of Helen Mirren who is dying of cancer and her husband, Timothy Spall.

I managed just 30 mins last night but was spellbound by the siblings all falling out about what should happen to their Mother as the cancer spread and becomes terminal – imminently terminal. It is so realistic and yet so shocking. I have seen it and felt it and it feels so real. Escapism this is not.

In one guise or not, this happens to us all in our lifetimes. We all have Mothers and they all die usually before us. It is how you and they deal with it that counts. I’ve got another 45 mins to come tonight. That should be fun.

What I’m really looking forward to is the return of The Night Manager – an espionage Thriller based on the characters created by John le Carré. It starts on Thursday to kick off the New Year. All this sedentary activity has to be balanced out by walking and that’s where I’m going now into the crisp sunshine of the end of the year.

I would warn you, Dear Readers, to beware. There is a Cake fiend on the loose. He thrives on it and may be dangerous. The hats may be interchangeable but the cake is definitely his. My old friends from the Dementia Ward – Peter, Tash, Chris & Kevin – seem to have escaped again and sent this photo to greet me this morning.

I am well out of it. A bit of Bubbly and smoked salmon sandwiches for Lunch will get me through the day although I will have to supplement my walk with a bit of self-flagellation in the Gym later.

Saturday, 27th December, 2025

A crystal clear morning of piercing sunshine from a clear blue sky. Certainly one to clear the head and focus the mind. I’ve got the inevitable supermarket trip and then some Office work before going out to enjoy a walk. Christmas is past, thank goodness, and I produced a final, emotional memory for M & P.

Pauline’s last Christmas with her Mum was a wonderful one and then 12 years on, instead of cooking for them on the day as usual, during Covid restrictions we drove up to The Surrey Home for the Bewildered where staff had got a couple of inmates up and dressed in time to receive and look grateful for their pre-prepared Christmas feast.

One of the things I’ve had to do this morning is urgently get to grips with the new Schengen European entry exit system calculator. I have visions of us being turned away at the border. I’ve still got French trips to sort out and it’s looking tight but doable. Fortunately, Oldham doesn’t count.

The hooligans managed to guide an escapee from the Home for the Bewildered all the way up to Old Trafford. You can see here that he is struggling to keep hold of reality. He even bought me an xtra large shirt.

After United won at last, K will now have to fly back from Florida for every Home Game this season. What else has he got to do?

Sunday, 14th December, 2025

Warm night and a warm day for mid December. No heating needed and sitting in shorts and tee shirt writing my Blog. We are using so little gas and electricity that I am £400.00 in credit on my Dual Fuel plan. It’s the luck of the draw, I suppose, to have a warmer Winter. Our actions in moving South, of course, have also influenced it. We even won the Lottery again last night. Goodness knows how we will spend the £30.00 but the Beautician will probably be grateful for it.

I was thinking about Luck/Fate set against individual intervention in achieving things this morning. This photograph of Littlehampton Beach was posted of wartime defences against invasion. My generation have been lucky. Unlike our parents, we haven’t been asked to fight. It’s beginning to look like the current young crop may be called upon soon to do exactly that. My generation and subsequent ones have benefitted from the Peace Dividend and freedom to live our lives and make our own decisions.

Of course, some of us make bad decisions. I was struck by these kids who I taught and have really made something of themselves in different ways. One runs a thriving Beauty Business in the Oldham area and the other two have a successful Building Company in Oldham. They have come from working class stock and an impoversished environment and made their own fortunes through hard work and commitment.

Contrast with this chap who had a similar start in life but took a different path, became a leading light in a football thug gang, spent large chunks of his life in prison and died at the age of 62 in an act of pure lunacy. Some people never learn and that is what marks us out.

Depends whether you believe in the Determinist or Free Will philosophical position. Did the Union Jack death come from a predisposition to lunacy and criminality or did that lad choose his own fate? Did the kids I taught learn self reliance and determination or were they born with it? Admittedly, it is never quite as simple as that but you get the idea.

My life has been lived resisting the Determinist view, believing that my efforts are what define me. That’s why I am constantly disappointed in myself for regularly falling short of my own expectations. As I’ve got older, I have realised increasingly that my origins and background have played a significant part in who I am. Well, that’s my excuse. Anyway, going in the Gym now to punish myself for all round failure. Have a nice day, Dear Reader.

Monday, 15th December, 2025

So dark this morning. Warm but dark. Actually next Sunday is the shortest day and longest night of the year. From then on, everything gets better – theoretically. Dry, warm but grey today.

I don’t do God, as Tony Blair once famously said before converting to Catholicism. I don’t do Christmas either. I have no wish to deprive others of their joy just don’t include me. Actually, we are going up to Surrey for a commemoration of Pauline’s sister’s life. They would always meet up at Christmas so it seemed an appropriate thing to do. We are going to the chapel where her ashes are scattered, going to the Pantomime which she liked to do with her grandsons and then a meal at a restaurant nearby. It is not about me so I can fade into the background and observe. My favourite occupation.

Christmas is a time to communicate with people from our past. I approve of that. I like to do it. It helps to keep our lives in perspective. The lad who was a boyhood friend from Repton and has lived in America since 1969; the girl I knew in the late 1960s/early 70s; the teacher who left my school in 1976 and I haven’t seen since; the friends who moved to Edinburgh 45 years ago and who we have exchanged the same two Christmas cards with ever since to the point that they are so stuffed with little annual letters and bound by tape that we have to have them weighed before posting.

These are lovely, poignant, slightly painful events which attempt to retrieve those times. Some do. Some don’t but never say never. Occasionally, people fail to send a card to us but my rule is that we don’t give up. Until death is confirmed, I fullfil my obligation. More often than not, the chain is re-established next year.

When I first moved to Oldham in 1972, I couldn’t find anywhere to live and had to settle for the most dire accomodation in a down at heel street which was blackened by the previous century of industrial pollution. Oldham was the town of mills and chimneys, of smoke and of damp and blackened stone. It was a hell of a culture shock. I felt bewildered and alone. I felt miserable. I had come from a comfortable, middle class home and felt utterly out of place.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/S97Bqlj8hfA?feature=oembedOldham in the late 1960s

The weird thing is that even that experience has mellowed into poignancy which is tender to revisit. When I moved there, a huge area of old, slum housing had just been cleared and ‘smart’ new 1960s Estate housing errected. Quite a few teachers in my school had moved into the Shaw Road Estate which was clearly an improvement on the old – they even had bathrooms and indoor toilets but they only lasted 30 years and been declining for half of those.

I was eventually taken to Huddersfield to live. Actually, it was a grander, more prosperous and cleaner Northern town which I quite enjoyed living in. Nowadays, when I go back it is in severe decline. Commerce is dying on the streets. The Local Authority doesn’t appear to have the money to raise the town’s head to the light. It feels a bit depressing. I was pleased to find this report from the early 1970s comparing Huddersfield with Halifax and the rennovation of the wonderful Piece Hall. Sometimes, you have to go back to advance.

Tuesday, 16th December, 2025

Another grey but warm and dry morning. Had the joy of spending time in M&S yesterday afternoon. I felt old just standing there. All around me seemed to be old. I’m never that comfortable walking through the bra displays but that’s what you have to do to get to the Collection Point. My wife buys clothes online like there is no tomorrow. On this occasion, she bought a coat which she could pick up in store.

The coat was meant to keep her warm when walking. She looked nice in it and we brought it home where she test-walked it in quite a chilly breeze. It failed the test. It was light and comfortable but didn’t keep the cold out.

Guess where I am going this morning. I want my £100.00 back so M&S will be the first place to visit. The next few days will see some frenzied clothes site surfing. Many coats will arrive. Maybe one will be retained. The rest will be returned. You see, Dear Reader, how exciting my life is.

At least while we were at the store, I was able to cross the road on to the beach. It is just as interesting under grey skies as it is in full sunshine out of clear blue. Yesterday, it was lovely and bleak with all the sadness and softness of collective memory. Gulls cried plaintively on the wind and the pier was deserted.

Just back from the delights of M&S opposite the Worthing Pier. Workmen are renewing the groynes on the beach. Gorgeous, huge hunks of wood being driven into the shale to form a barrier slowing down the onslaught of the waves. I spoke to the men. They told me that these massive oak logs would last around 15 years of twice daily salt water beating.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that Life is fragile and uncertain. My Brother in Law is currently in hospital recovering from serious surgery to cope with Bowel Cancer. For whatever reason, it was diagnosed too late. We wish him strength and a quick recovery. We know what cancer can do to one and we hope for the best.

It is a truth universally acknowledged you may recognise as the opening sentence of Jane Austen’s Pride & Predjudice. This phrase is extremely current because Jane Austen was born 250 years ago today. Can you imagine what the world of 1775 that she was born into was like? Have you read Pride & Predjudice, Dear Reader? I haven’t.

Wednesday, 17th December, 2025

The Ghosts of Christmas Past drifted through my mind in the early hours of the morning. It was sparked by Radio 4 unusually playing a snatch from:

Feliz Navidad
Próspero año y felicidad

I haven’t been following pop music since the early 1970s but in my teens, José Feliciano appealed to me for some strange reason. Over Christmas 1968/9 I was singing:

Come on, baby, light my fire
Try to set the night on fire

I was 17 years old. I don’t know what I was thinking. I loved the raw edge to the voice and just the foreign name of the singer. I can see myself singing in my bedroom alone.

The next ghost was one of the most exciting Christmases in my memory as I watched the pictures on television in 1989 of the toppling of Romania’s tyrannical communist dictator, Nicolae Ceaușescu and his wife Elena. I was absolutely gripped and I can see the pictures clearly in my mind now of Ceaușescu berating the crowds of protestors and of them storming the building as he ran and was eventually captured and lined up with his wife and shot.

Twenty years on, in 2009, my sister had just come back from a trip to Istanbul with her friends and sent me photos. She looked in her element. Today she is struggling with the stress of an ill husband.

On this day in 2009, I was retired but still driving across the Pennines to visit my Mother in Law. On this day back then I had the time to pause and photograph the moors which were bloody freezing. I recently talked to the Doctor who bought our house but has now moved to Norfolk and he said, as I do,that he didn’t miss the winters of the North of England. They may be all floating by on safety rafts at the moment after all the rain but it was the snow that got to me.

This morning, I received Christmas greetings from Nigel, a flatmate of mine from 1971 and a photo that I have absolutely no memory of being taken. Chilling to know that the girl smiling happily back left has been dead now for 5 years when I think of all the life I’ve lived over that time.

Thursday, 18th December, 2025

Warm but wet. Mmmm! A warm but wet day with brooding skies. Had to collect fish – fresh salmon, smoked salmon, hake loin – and then on to the beach.

I love the drama of the sea intermittently attacking the land. The shale roars as it is drawn back into the waves. Foam flies everywhere as it crashes back up the beach.

We could walk to the beach but I drove because it was wet and I had to collect about 5kg of fish to bring home. One of the worries of aging is mobility and driving. Almost every residential area requires it. I have spent most of my married life doing the driving even though my wife is a much better driver than me.

Society doubts one’s abilities with every older person’s accident. Actually, I am a much better driver in retirement than I was at a younger age. I am not in a hurry. I follow the speed limits. I’m not frustrated by delay. I also worry about the fact that I need to share the driving with my wife so she keeps her skills and confidence up to date.  

I can’t imagine what it would be like to lose my licence. I read about 92 year old Shiela Hancock passing the Advanced Motorist Driving Test. I believe in preparing and fighting. I am looking at enrolling my wife and I on the Advanced Driver Course. We need new challenges in retirement and this would be a useful thing to do.

This morning at 6.00 am, I managed to be in Knaresborough to talk to Peter Holgate, in Bolton to talk to David Weatherly, in Leeds to talk to Kevin and in Bridlington to talk to Nigel all in a matter of minutes. This lunchtime, I have been in Wales to talk to my old friend Dave Beaseley and, this afternoon, I am in Boston, Massachusetts talking to Jonathan. The magic carpet of the internet is wonderful!

Friday, 18th December, 2025

Glorious morning with deep, low sunshine that blinded me as I drove my Housekeeper to the Hairdresser’s. It is a journey that involves crossing a railway line and it is always a nightmare at 8.30 am. Today, it was especially busy. Unusually for well past mid-December, I will be spending the morning grass mowing and edging to smarten the street up for my neighbours for Christmas. It has been and continues to be so mild that the grass has really grown.

If you are a regular reader of the Blog or even just catch up with it occasionally, Dear Reader, you will know that I am not a secretive man. I am not reticent or worried about what people think. I don’t mediate my thoughts through political consideration. I say what I am doing, thinking and feeling in a fairly unvarnished way. Yes, I sometimes put a bit of a spin on it but mostly it is fairly stream of consciousness. I am unapologetic about its ordinariness, its mundanity. It is a catalogue of every day activities which we all do punctuated by shafts of light and shades of darkness that accompany the highs and lows of a life.

Because you could say my life is an open book, you could also characterise me as naive, emotionally unsophisticated, vulnerable, politically inept. I plead guilty to each and every one of those charges. It takes some serious stupidity to lay one’s life, hopes and fears out in a public place and not to worry about attack and ridicule. I am that seriously stupid. What it doesn’t prepare you for is where those painful humiliations arise. When I was going through a scary cancer treatment, I was shocked to find some friends ‘disappeared’ when I most needed them. Can you imagine? I could never do that although you do hear of it.

The more difficult exponents of the heartless arts follow The Prince of Darkness – no not Peter Mandelson – Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli (1469 – 1527). He is often acknowledged as the progenitor of modern political philosophy and political science. Machiavelli’s political theory argued in Il Principe / The Prince that deceit was an important tenet of maintaining control and retaining power. Current politicians refer to these Machiavellian methods in observations like: Speak softly but carry a big stick, Smile to their face while stabbing them in the back and Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. It is an ugly calling.

Of course, ultimately, they get found out. We don’t need the Freedom of Information Act. They trip themselves up when they least expect it. We all learn and move on but life is just one more bit diminished, which is sad.

On the upside, the day is really warm and sunny. The lawns are cut and manicured. Returning neighbours say it smells like Summer again and the perfume of cut grass is evocative. I have quite enjoyed the exercise and the effect on the area. It doesn’t take much to please me. Machiavelli take note! What I will do in 2026, I’m not sure. I need a new lawnmower but I personally don’t have any real grass. Am I prepared to spend £600.00 to take care of my neighbour’s lawns? We will see! Machiavelli is already calculating the political value.

Saturday, 20th December, 2025

While God Squadders were earnestly looking for a star in the East, my little astronaut was gazing lovingly to the South where we are having spectactular displays from the International Space Station. It has been over our garden (Are they spying?) for a number of nights now.

Last night I was too lazy to go outside even though it was very warm. I took photos with my phone through the window glass – not the best method – at actual size and 100x zoom and then increased twice again on my computer. You can see the square inner shape created by the solar panels which generate the power to maintain it. Apparently, even though it shone incredibly brightly in the night sky, it was high enough to still catch the sun’s rays.

I don’t know if you’ve noticed but the most recently filmed dramas include lots of overhead filming. (You’ll notice it now.) because of the popularity, ease and cheapness of drone photography. Yesterday was the most gorgeous day and our area looked wonderful. I didn’t take these but a local drone photographer took these lovely shots of the Marina, River Arun and the shoreline in Littlehampton. I wish I had taken them.

And so it is just like you said it would be
Life goes easy on me
most of the time

Another wonderfully warm and sunny day. I’ve got a bit of grass cutting to complete while my Under Gardener cleans out the flower beds then a full Gym session accompanied by a football match on TNT Sports while Chef prepares Roast Chicken & Sage & Onion Stuffing for Supper tonight. Life’s hard but it’s not that hard!

Sunday, 7th December, 2025

What a horrible morning – dark and wet – but at least it’s warm. Didn’t fall below 12C/54F over night. Still, it doesn’t make me want to go out.

Two birthdays to celebrate this morning. The Blog is 18 today. I was only 56 when I started it. It has seen some real lows and some wonderful highs. Of course, by its very nature, it contains much that is ordinary and unremarkable.

If you stick with it, Dear Reader, it will help you sleep although I do try to amuse and to be prevocative at times. If you are a regular reader and you have my sympathies, you will feel my joy and pain, my patterns of life and inconsistencies. In short, you will see an ordinary man laying out his life before you. Hope to see you this time next year and every year until 2051.

The other birthday is that of young David. He is 28 today. Do you remember when you were 28, Dear Reader? A year of weddings and new challenges. Anyway, we wish David a happy day even though it is pouring with rain in London. It sounds like we are going to have a warm but very wet week ahead. So, that’ll be something to write about, won’t it?

At the beginning of the year, I decided that I would trial doing without our landline. We both have smartphones with unlimited calls, texts and data. It seemed over kill to have a landline which just duplicated that service. First couple of weeks felt a bit strange but this morning I realised that it wasn’t even an issue today. Like the loss of High Street Banking, Landlines are yesterday’s technology which we just need a nudge to abolish.

Our contracts with EE for smartphones are up in a couple of months and they will offer us new models. We have Samsung S24 Ultras and I will almost certainly choose S25s or S26s as an upgrade. We will be able to trade our existing phones in for about £450.00 each which will contribute to the new 18 month contracts at about £180.00 per month for the two.

What I could never abolish is this piece of music that makes me cry instantly I hear it. The opening Aria from Handel’s opera Xerxes – commonly know as Largo. It throws me back to 1973 spontaneously and a grubby flat in a grubby street in a grubby town in a grubby world. I am playing it now in my comfortable Office in a comfortable street in a comfortable town in a comfortable world but I am still crying. I have lost so much.

Monday, 8th December, 2025

The morning is dry and fairly bright. Incredibly warm for December. I’ve got an early appointment for a diabetic rhetinopathy eye scan – the last real medical testing of the year. It involves pupil expanding drops so I’m not allowed to drive. My chauffeur is only too pleased to get her hands on the wheel.

This is another fantastic service that I am offered. Every year they contact me and push me to be scanned and photographed to see if there is any change. I always go although I do worry about it because a fellow student who is the same age as me lost his driving licence when deterioration was found in his sight. Anyway, all is well. The feedback was immediate and positive so I get to drive for another year.

The problem is that the enlarged pupils because of the drops means seeing is painful for some hours to come. The sky suddenly feels electric and so painful. Plus, I can’t read or write which is a nightmare. Anyway, now all I have to be concerned about is the body scan report which won’t be until the beginning of February unless they spot an emergency.

After what seemed like an age, I was able to complete my 28th consecutive Christmas Newsletter ready for printing and placing in cards for posting. If you were getting anxious about your card, Dear Reader. Don’t worry. It will be with you soon.

Tuesday, 9th December, 2025

A grey morning but a frantic start. Gifts ordered for friends – mainly cases of wine – being delivered and delivery men are contacting me. I began to wonder why I’d bothered. Then the task was printing 50 newsletters, 65 address labels and putting stamps on 60 envelopes. Do you know how much 50 x 2nd class stamps cost these days – £43.50! It wasn’t helped by my knocking a glass of coffee over my keyboard but a little woman rushed to my rescue and I was up and typing again in hours.

Amazon may be delivering my Christmas presents to friends but I couldn’t resist sending myself some with the same service. I have written before of a friend of mine who had his car stolen from his drive this time last year. It took months for him to get back on his ….. wheels. I bought a Faraday Box from Amazon to shelter our car fobs. Today, we went one stage further with a Faraday Card Holder to protect our Financial Accounts particularly when travelling abroad. Might be overkill but you never know.

Went out to an active beach where birds were searching urgently for food. It was absolutely wonderful to be there and smell the change, hear the shoreline shift with every ebb and flow of the heavy tide. It is important that we accept that Life does not stay the same. It moves and changes constantly in a state of flux. We should be constantly looking for new beginnings, Dear Reader. Resistance is pointless.

Wednesday, 10th December, 2025

Lovely bright and very warm morning. Going out walking in the sunshine to make the most of it. Alexa read the jobs for the day to me. It included ordering fish for Christmas. Our meal will be a Fish Platter including King Scallops, Langoustines and Fish Goujons which will use Tusk Fish, a Lobster flavoured white fish from the Indian Ocean. At 5.30 am, I also listened to a podcast about the attacks on European Liberal Polity by the Trump-led, Far Right movement in America and about Trump’s increasingly autocratic attempts to control the media.

You may have heard or read of the battle for the Media outlets in America at the moment. It is happening because of the change in accessing news and entertainment over my lifetime. In the 1950s, Mum & Dad had a shiny, walnut cased radiogram sitting proudly on a shiny, walnut table in the Lounge. They listened to the BBC Home Service. It was piped through to a huge speaker on the wall in the Dining Room & Kitchen which was quite advanced for those days. They listened to the Today program that dominates my mornings now and which first came on air in 1957. They listened to The Archers in the evening and Sing Something Simple on Sunday afternoons.

In the 1960s, my brother Bob bought an old, valve radio in a jumble sale and we listened to Dick Barton, Special Agent drama and ‘pop’ music – Pick of the Pops with Alan Freeman on Sunday afternoons. It was on this tatty old box with a fraying speaker cover that I read the place names I dreamed of visiting – Prague, Strasbourg, Brussells, Lyon, Oslo, Warsaw … Oh, let me go … and where I first heard The Moody Blues, Go Now. It was an old radio that really spoke to me.

We didn’t even have a television until after I had left home although I watched Doctor Who and Dixon of Dock Green at my Grandparents’ house on Saturday evening. In those days, Television & Radio was totally linear. You either accessed them when they were broadcast or not at all. Time-shift suddenly became possible in the late 1970s when video recorders first came on the market. I had only been married a year and just bought our first colour television. I chose a Betamax Video Recorder. I have always been an early adopter of technology and sometimes suffered because of it. I loved the machine but it was soon dropped in favour of the VHS process.

We increasingly gathered more control over the process of accessing media. Sky came along having pushed out BSkyB. I had an early satellite installed and everything changed. Suddenly, we had extra channels and could choose when to watch programs. Time shift was almost built in to reception. Now, it felt like the consumer was in control and not subject to the tyranny of the scheduler. Increasingly, its capacity increased. Today I can record 6 channels while watching a 7th. I can save them and watch them whenever I want but then along comes streaming. I don’t even need to save them. They are always there to download and consume wherever I am in the world and what ever time of the day.

I can watch PMQs at 3.00 am or Gardener’s World at Lunchtime in Spain. I can download a podcast recording of the Today programme in Greece or Newspaper Review from Sky in Tenerife. The World is my Lobster, as they say. I no longer have to wait for Episode 2 of a drama to come round a week later on a Wednesday evening when I’ve already forgotten the plot of Episode 1. I can access the whole thing from BBCi Player, Netflix, Prime, ITV-X, etc when I want and binge.

Sky has huge power. Owned by Murdoch (Right Wing)and controlled along with Fox News in the States, The Times and The Sun in UK plus lots of other news outlets around the world this one family hold huge influence over how the news and politics is reported and accessed. The gullible think they are getting the facts. They are not. They are only getting the facts according to one ideology.

But now we have Trump who wants to bend the media narrative to his view of the world. We used to say the Chinese and Russian state control was Totalitarian. Trump is bidding for the same. You might laugh but this is really serious. His biggest backer, Ellison who is the 2nd richest person in the world, has a son who is trying to buy up the streaming services of Warner Bros and HBO. Trump’s son also has a stake in the industry. Trump sees a way to influence and control media output. If the Labour Government announced it was going to restrict news coverage to only what it considered appropriate, we would be up in arms. But that is what Trump is trying to acquire abroad and through that to influence other markets abroad. We should be very afraid.

Thursday, 11th December, 2025

These are strange days. Last night, when I went to bed at 11.30 pm, the sky was absolutely clear and full of the most beautiful stars. In mid-December a clear sky would mean cold temperatures and morning frosts. Throughout the night, we didn’t drop below 13C/56F. What is going on? I just don’t understand. Lovely orange sky at 7.00 am today and so the day begins.

Received news yesterday from my old friend, Kev, who had just returned from hospital after a cataract operation. Old age can be dire, can’t it Dear Reader. Oh, take my hand and help me down Cemetery Road. We all need support. I bought Kev some wine for Christmas, I’ve had to advise him to sit down to drink it if he’s still got the bandages on.

On a much more serious and devastating level, I had a message this morning from one of my sisters that my Brother-in-Law, Kevan, has fairly advanced bowel cancer and is being operated on next week. They have been dealing with it, I now understand, since the summer. I didn’t know. What I do know is that dealing with cancer is something that needs support of family and friends. In fact, it shows you those who actually care. We will be thinking of Ruth & Kevan over the next few days in their hour of need.

I am so grateful to be healthy enough to walk on the beach this morning with the salty sea spray rising in the warm breeze and the sad refrain in my head …

And so it is just like you said it should be
We’ll both forget the breeze
Most of the time

Life is so fragile and unpredictable that urgency is the key. Don’t hold back; Don’t take No for an answer; Don’t put off. Advocate for yourself and be up front with what you want out of life. This life is not a rehearsal. It is the only one we will get.

Of course, it may all be pointless if the Head of NATO – Marc Rutte is right in what he warned of this morning. To anyone from my Generation, talk of World War is very stark and very real. What it will mean is diverting money from Societal Services towards preparing for war by building up our Defences. It may be very different this time with Drones and Cyber tools being built, stocked and deployed, with less man power and hard machinery like tanks, etc, being used.

More than ever, the older generation who won’t be called on to fight may find themselves being left to struggle because the State will not have the funding for Social Care. We need to build up our Resilience both at State and Personal levels. Difficult times are coming. May be time to baton down the hatches.

Friday, 12th December, 2025

Another lovely, warm morning. I am chauffeuring a client to the Beautician’s for 9.00 am. Hard to believe what wonderful times these are. Who knows, we may get away without a Winter at all. Having said that, there is a Winter of Discontent in the international air.

Yesterday, I was writing about the NATO Chief warning about a new World War in the next 5 years. This morning a number of articles have followed up with the argument that it has already started but that we are wilfully trying to ignore it.

The power blocs are flexing their muscles – Russia in Europe, China all around the world economically but militarily in East Asia and Hong Kong and Taiwan specifically, America all around the world economically but militarily in South America and Venezuela specifically, Israel militarily in West Asia and Palestine and Iran specifically, India militarily in South Asia and Pakisatan and Afghanistan specifically. It feels like the tectonic plates are shifting and we are going to have to address them not later but NOW. The time of the Peace Dividend is over.

Russia is already showing its military intent in Europe with invasion of Ukraine now being pushed further out with drones across Poland and Rumania, Fighter planes entering Estonia, drones in Denmark and Norway, poisonings on British soil and multiple threatening of essential undersea pipelines and cables.

The world is ever more connected. Power, natural gas, oil, and of course the internet all rely on undersea infrastructure. Data centers and nuclear power plants could go the same way. A victim of future wars might be your internet connection when a cable is cut or your heating bill as a gas pipeline or electricity cable is blown up and these events might take place thousands of miles away, and hundreds of meters below sea level. 

The ludicrous contrast between these two positions – Chauffeuring a girl back from a Beauty Treatment and contemplating World War III is not lost on me and it was ever thus. WW2 was met with incredulity and denial right up to the point of declaration. We were still entertaining the idea of appeasement and desperate to believe nothing was going to happen. I was shocked to find that, in 1938, a facial treatment often took place in a beauty salons which were growing in popularity at the time and social life was booming until …. it suddenly wasn’t. Don’t say you haven’t been warned.

Going out for a walk to clear my head. I can’t change the situation other than by putting forward views and casting my vote. I can really only fight for myself and my life. As I wrote yesterday, strong self advocacy is our only tool. I try to rely on no one for my health and wealth. I try to take control and argue and fight for what I want and need. The thing is to be strong and never give up. Don’t hide from signs of illness. Demand help urgently. Don’t expect State Handouts. Save, Invest and Build Financial Resilience. The world is an insecure place. The world is where we live.

Saturday, 13th December, 2025

Glorious day although a little cool start. Out walking under clear, blue skies with a long, low, strong sun. Everywhere looks painted with primary colours. The starkness of the sky set against the luscious grass below.

Delivery vans are everywhere and constantly at the moment in this affluent Development. Nobody has time to go to the shops. Even at the weekend, they are out in the garden basking in steaming hot tubs, browsing Amazon for presents. Our neighbours are cash rich and time poor. Badly paid and poorly treated delivery men drive round in demented frenzy delivering orders almost before they were ordered.

I am walking and observing and being observed as I tour the Development and then leave for the huge park outside. It is all very quiet. Nobody stiring at 10.00 am. They are all exhausted after their weeks. I, of course, am not exhausted. I want to be but have to push myself through exercise to replicate a week’s work. After a 90 mins walk outside, I will finish off in the Gym where I am watching a gripping political-espionage Drama on Disney+ of all places.

This is just my sort of interest. Espionage and Politics blended into intrigue with an intelligent plot I can lose myself in and forget the workout pain. Deep State will keep me going over Christmas with 16 hours of storyline.

Meanwhile, Chef is in the kitchen icing three Christmas Cakes, steaming a second Christmas Pudding, preparing to roast a chicken with broccoli, carrots and parsnips and making sage & onion stuffing to accompany it for Supper tonight. She is watching Strictly Come Dancing at the same time. I have no idea how that is possible. Personally, I’d rather stick pins in my eyes than even turn it on but each to their own.

The disparity in our tastes may well be a guide to our enjoyment of another drama which we are jointly watching in the Lounge in the evening. The Revenge Club is lovely, light but captivating stuff which can be found on Paramount+. It features six divorcees who are harbouring a sadness but also a grudge against their exes for the way they have been treated.

They meet at a Divorce Support Group and come to the agreement that they will collectively support each individual to seek revenge upon their former partners. Seems reasonable and is great fun. I think my wife is planning already.

I am consuming media avidly all day at the moment. Apart from the two Dramas described above, I was listening to a fascinating political podcast at 5.00 am today. It was about an obscure American populist politician called Huey Long who was Govenor and Senataor for Louisiana in the 1930s. He was a strange contradiction of a man who veered between Stalinism, and McCarthyism but was a natural politician.

The first time Huey Long campaigned in rural Catholic South Louisiana, his agent reminded him that he was from North Louisiana and he was now in the south where he had to appeal to the large Catholic vote. He acknowledged it and throughout the day, he started his campaign speeches with this story:

When I was a boy, I would get up at 6.00 am on Sunday and hitch our old horse up to the buggy and I would take my Catholic Grandparents to mass. After mass, I would bring them home and at 10.00 am, I would hitch our old horse back up to the buggy and I would take my Baptist Grandparents to church.

The effect of the anecdote on the audience was electric and on the drive back home after campaigning, his manager said to Huey, I didn’t know you had any Catholic Grandparents.
Don’t be damn fool, replied Huwey. We didn’t even have a horse.

The point of the anecdote is that it doesn’t matter how good your intentions or how intellectual your approach, politics is a craft that you either learn or you fail. Keir Starmer is a good man with intellectual strength but he lacks the guile and statecraft of a politician. If he doesn’t learn it quickly, he will be replaced.

Sunday, 30th November, 2025

It is 6.00 am and I am sitting outside with a glass of fresh orange juice and a cup of tea at a table on the patio. It is warm, humid even but the difference is that the sky is dark and there are myriad bright stars looking down on me.

Travelling home for Christmas. Well, not exactly but we are travelling home. Easyjet have contacted me to say everything is on time which is good news. Going to the Airport. Just 15 mins to Tenerife South–Reina Sofía Airport. Off toMontaña Roja VIP Lounge and then wait to be called. It will come up on my smartphone app. Then we’ve got 4 hrs 30 mins flight home. Already prepared for that with things to watch from Netflix downloaded on our iPads to melt the time away.

Yesterday we signed off this month’s visit by revisiting the property we have rented for the whole of November 2026. It is a 2 bed/2 bath apartment in a newly developed and still developing gated community higher up from the sea.

The area looks and feels nice and will be interesting to try. Hopefully, the 2nd phase will be completed by in the next 12 months and I will still be alive. We will be 75 by then. The price for a month is € 4676.00 or currently £4,100.00. We don’t pay until next October so who knows what the exchange rate will be then.

At the airport, everything went smoothly. Straight through security although my travelling comapanion was randomly tested for explosives. I wasn’t surprised! The flight was right on time and landed early.

It was dark and just 3C/37F as we drove home. We had bought pizzas and fresh milk in the M&S at the airport for Supper. I opened a bottle of Prosecco to accompany the lump of post which had appeared behind the door. I had put the heating on as we left Tenerife and the house felt warm and welcoming as we walked in.

Monday, 1st December, 2025

New day, new week, new month, new season, new country, new house, new bed. At least I’ve got there still breathing. Hope you are well too, Dear Reader. The calendar start of Winter. The first day of December 2025.

Why is it so dark, wet and cold? I was woken at 5.45 am by two alarms. I took time to realise what was happening. Abroad, my phone alarm goes off at that time. I turn it off and then make it play BBC Radio 4. At home on the South Coast, Alexa sounds the alarm at that time, announces the time to me and then automatically turns on BBC Radio 4. This morning both processes happened at the same time.

Abroad, I check my phone for what is on my calendar for the day and what the weather is outside. At home, Alexa announces what the weather is outside when asked and goes on to read out the items for the day on my calendar.

Today, there are 5 items on my Calendar – I use an online calendar which can be read on my computer, my iPad, my smartphone, my watch and picked up by Alexa to read out to me. My Housekeeper can also pick up the same calendar on her devices so she knows what tasks I have set her to complete. Unfortunately, I have had to allow her to edit and add tasks for me to complete as well. Usually, as you would imagine, the tasks are not earth shattering althogh sometimes they are important.

Today, it contains mundane things like Black Bin Day / Window Cleaner Coming but it also includes Renew Car Insurance / Renew Free Carparking Disc / Collect Prescription and Book Airport Lounge (for the next trip). I’ve got a busy week ahead which includes a trip to Worthing Urology Department for a Cystoscopy (Really looking forward to that.), a trip to the dentist to have a crown fitted (Really looking forward to paying for that.) and a trip to the Southlands Oncology Department to have a full body scan prior to my prostate review (Really looking forward to what that might find.).

One thing I have to sort out with some urgency today is a PIR lamp that is mounted above our garage and helps light up when I enter the drive as well as serve as a deterent to thieves. Almost as soon as we went away, our neighbours alerted us that it had come on and stayed on and there was nothing they could do to turn it off. It was on for a month. I have to either sort it out myself or get an electrician to help.

Of course, after a month away from home, there is also the inevitable trip to Sainsburys to restock the fridge and freezer.

Tuesday, 2nd December, 2025

Nice, bright blue sky this morning but a little chilly at just 11C/52F. Still, I’m going out for my walk in shorts. I’m warmed up by the financial largesse that has come my way today. Our bank account has received £220.00 from the government for our heating allowances and Christmas Bonuses. Absolutely bonkers but I’m not giving it back.

The latest Premium Bond winnings are confirmed this morning and we have received this month’s winnings of £125.00 to bring a total of £250.00 for the first 3 months. This means that I am on course for a tax free return of 5.6% which is fine. Of course, I am still hoping to get lucky before I end the experiment. £50,000? £100,000?? £1,000,000????? Now that would be a good return Tax Free.

If these people can do it, I can. Now, what would I do with the winnings? Don’t call me, Dear Reader. I’ll call you … probably.

One of the benefits of going away is seeing one’s own home through fresh eyes. It is so easy to take for granted the places and people and objects around one as familiarity dulls the senses. Out walking today, the area around my house was vivid and fresh, beautiful and vibrant. The grass is absolutely gorgeous – almost good eough to eat.

My car was wonderful to drive back from the airport. I love it and all its facilities and gadgets. I love its silent, smooth comfort, the smell of the leather seats and the quality of the hi-fi. It takes a month away from it to realise. I love my bathroom. The secret of a happy marriage is individual bathrooms. I love my shower. I haven’t found a better one abroad. I especially love my Office. I can’t live without it for too long.

Just to ensure I keep appreciating what I’ve got, I’ve booked lots of time away for 2026. In fact, I’m alreading thinking I must run the future bookings through the calculator of 90 days out in any 180 days. A week in Greece in June. A month in Spain June-July. A week in Greece in August. A month in Tenerife in November. Need to slot 2 or 3 short trips to France in over the year as well. So you can see the dilemma.

I am out at the hospital tomorrow for something that sounds excruciatingly unpleasant but must be faced. Hopefully, there will be no cancer found. While medics check that end of the body, my wife is obsessed with protecting the other extremity. She has bought me some more caps because she says I spend so much time outside in the sunshine walking that scalp damage could lead to a cancer up there. She says that but she has been so surprised that I look good in a cap. I think it’s a sexual thing really!

Wednesday, 3rd December, 2025

Bright and sunny start to the day but it has a looming darkness for me. This afternoon, my first Christmas present of the week – a Cystoscopy at Worthing Urology. I am going to receive a local anaesthetic apparently but I can’t decide what will be worse – having a tube shoved up a tender area or a needle in it first. I may send my wife in instead. She’s braver than me.

I’d rather cancel Christmas altogether than receive presents like this. We’ve come home to Christmas lights everywhere – on people’s houses which I will never understand and the trees of the village green which I can almost accept. The TV adverts really do illustrate the tawdry nature of the event although I have long been in love with Kiera Knightly and her Waitrose advert certainly brings some joy to the occasion.

To take my mind off this afternoon, I walked on the beach which certainly didn’t look like December. I walked on the beach in England in December in shorts and tee shirt perfectly comfortably.

Well the Cystoscopy turned out to be a breeze. Don’t know what you were all worrying about. It might be a camera on a cable up the willy but it’s simple and quick. I had experienced a scary event where I had passed loads of blood. I was terrified of this procedure but it was great in reality. I had a local anaesthetic which was a squirt of liquid and then I lay back and watched them (three girls) explore my bladder and kidneys. The viewing on the big screen was wonderful. Everything was healthy and clear. They said my bloody wee was probably the result of radiotherapy on my prostate. They did say that I had an exceptionally large bladder. No girl has ever said that to me before. I felt quite proud, Dear Reader.

Thursday, 4th December, 2025

Out early this morning to the dentist. I was having a crown fitted. Actually, I was having a crown designed, built and fitted. It was a two hour job. In the past, it would have been a two week job where the mouth was prepared, x-rayed and that sent off to a dental technician to create a porcelain crown which would be delivered back to the dentist and the patient would return and have it fitted.

Now, my dentist does everything herself with a two hour span. The mouth is prepared, x-rayed and that x-ray sent to the 3-D printer which uses diamond cutters on a porcelain block with water jets spraying to keep the process cool. It is fantastic and they were obviously proud of the process. They wanted me to watch my tooth being printed to understand their pride in it. The x-ray machine cost £160,000 and the printer a mere £57,000. It is a considerable outlay. No wonder they charge so much for the crown process. It was lots of work and then the cost of the instruments. I suddenly thought £750.00 was a reasonable charge.

It is the run up to Christmas and although I really am a Bah Humbug Cumugeon, I realise contact with distant friends and relatives is important. You may have not seen me for years, Dear Reader, but at least you’ll receive a card this Christmas. If you’re not a Blog reader, you will also get a Newsletter. There is no escape. Today I am writing to my Doctor from the 1990s. I went to see him about a bad back in 2000. He wasn’t very interested in my back but he did want to buy my house which I had put on the market. I had been in it for 16 years. It was set in an acre of land and in a Conservation area. We had loved it but it was time to move on.

One of the first people to view it was a Huddersfield Town footballer but he was soon transferred to Sheffield United and dropped out from the sale. Then came the Doctor. He and his wife have lived happily there for 25 years but now have sold and moved on. Our first Christmas card this year is from the Doctor giving us his new address in Norfolk, ironically a place where Pauline’s family have lots of connections.

Last week I was writing about the Teachers’ Pension Scheme website alerting me to changes to my tax arrangements. I was also talking about trying to move as much of our savings and investments in to the tax-free shelter of ISAs. It was rumoured that the Chancellor would reduce the amount we could shelter from £40,000.00 ( 2 x £20,000.00) to £24,000.00 (2 x £12,000.00) each year. In the event, she saw reason and kept the larger allowance for over 65s as I suggested would be reasonable.

I was also writing about the much larger tax-take we were paying because investments had been paying so much more over the past 2-3 years. We were informed that we had not paid enough tax and we were charged a considerable back-tax burden. I chose not to challenge it because our unearned income had become so pleasing.

Imagine our delight this morning to be told that we had over paid tax by quite some amount. From this month and before we even receive a pay/pension rise in April, the tax office/teachers’ pensions have informed us that our joint monthly income will increase by £1,100.00 per month or £13,200.00 per year. It beats a poke in the eye with a sharp stick, Dear Reader. Might have to book another couple of foreign trips for next year.

Friday, 5th December, 2025

The moon last night was huge. This December supermoon is particularly special: astronomers say a full moon this close to Earth won’t be visible again until 2042 when we will be 91 years old. We have to be there to witness.

Apparently it is known as the Cold Moon because of the season – according to the Astronomer Royal who lives with me. She is obsessed with celestial bodies which is probably why she married me. The garden was bathed in light all night and there is a trace of frost this morning. Winter really must be here.

My Chef has made three Christmas Cakes – not because we will eat three but just because she can. Two will be given to other people while the third will sit in a cake tin in our house while we diet. Today, marzipan, icing and cake decorations will be bought and her delights will start. This year the theme will be golden and I’ve just had to order these decorations from Amazon. Bah Humbug!

Tomorrow I am having a full body CAT (CT) Scan. If I had bought that Privately it would have cost me about £800.00. This week I’ve also had a Flexible Cystoscopy. If I had bought that Privately, it would have cost abround £2,200.00. Earlier in the year, I had a Colonoscopy. If I had bought that Privately, it would have cost around £3,000.00. I will also have had two PSA Tests at a cost of about £100.00 privately. So, our wonderful NHS has provided me with about £6,100.00 worth of medical care not to mention Consultation fees and it was all free at the point of delivery. And there are mad Right Wing Racists advocating American style Health Care.

Saturday, 6th December, 2025

The end of what has felt like quite a long week which started in Tenerife and has ended in a body scanner in Brighton. Had to be there for 10.00 am but the hospital is near Brighton so set off at 9.00 am in case there was a problem parking. Also, I had to drink a litre of water before the scan and I didn’t want that sitting inside me for longer than necessary.

Hospitals and Doctors’ Surgeries are totally different places since the pandemic which forced them to invoke new controls on patient flows. This morning, I arrived at the carpark at 9.30 am to find it almost empty. Charges for parking had been cancelled and I had time to drink a litre of water and listen to a political podcast.

With my belly sloshing water, I walked down to the Diagnostic and Radiology Department. I saw no one apart from two security guards as I walked through the corridors until I found the waiting area which was completely deserted. Eventually, a Chinese man called me at the Department door. He told me his name which I didn’t really catch and led me into a treatment room. It is at that point that the first of many times in the process I am asked my date of birth and first line of my address and then the cannula is fitted in my arm.

The Chinese man is immediately embarrassed because blood spurts out all over the chair and down my arm over my hand. Are you on blood thinners, he asks. He obviously hadn’t read my notes. Anyway, he cleaned me up and staunched the flow of very, very red blood. I was led into the CT Theatre and lay on the scanner bed. Chinaman once again asked my date of birth and first line of my address and then warned me that the contrast dye was being connected to the cannula and suddenly the warm wash of fluid flowed down from head to foot.

And then just three or so minutes of being shunted back and forth with a recorded voice telling me to old my breath and breath normally again and it was all over. A little Chinese girl appeared to hold my hand and help me off the bed. She asked my date of birth and first line of my address – in case I had forgotten over the past couple of minutes. They forced me to wait 10 mins in a side room in case the dye injection affected my system and that was it – all over for another 12 months. I walked out and still didn’t see another human being until I got to the carpark and a woman was just parking. It is hard to understand.

So, this long week has gone from Tenerife – Gatwick on Sunday to Cystoscopy at Worthing on Wednesday to 2 hrs of Dental work on Thursday to CT Scan today and I have just been phoned to ask me to go for my annual Diabetic Eye check on Monday. I am either a complete basket case or I’m going to be very, very healthy.

Back home, it is my job to do the paperwork – to turn my mind to Xmas Newsletter and Card List. We still can’t allow the post to go. All year, I am texting, emailing, Whatsapping, Tweeting, Blogging, etc but Xmas cards and newsletter are a tradition that I can’t quite let go of. We used to send around 70 cards each year. I think we will be down to around 50 this year. Death is very final, Dear Reader and age has meant some people not keeping up with the digital world. If you can believe it, a few people don’t read the Blog. So, I produce a newsletter and have done since at least 1997. I have copies going back that far and I wrote informal ones to individuals before that. I get lots of newsletters back and enjoy reading them.

Yesterday, out of the blue we received this huge book. It spoke to both of our interests and looked as if it was a spcifically chosen present but without any acknowlegement or message. It is fantastic with wonderful Spanish meals we will definitely cook. Who sent it? I have no idea. I do know that it would cost me £35.00 to buy on Amazon. If you sent it, let me know because I love it and would like to say thank you.