Sunday, 15th February, 2026

Well, it’s really going to be Gym work today. It is pouring down outside and has been for most of the night. And it’s dark and depressing but remarkably warm. Central heating is definitely becoming redundant.

We have a Dual Fuel contract with British Gas paid monthly and we are massively in credit. I checked this morning and we are £148.65 in credit on our Gas Account and £597.22 in credit on our Electricity Account so British Gas hold £745.87 in our account and it won’t be reviewed for another 6 months. I can, of course, demand that they refund it but it is quite nice to know that cushion is there if we experience a sudden very cold snap.

Not that it is looking very likely. Only two weeks until the start of Meteorological Spring. We are told that snow will hit the North of England this week. Here, it may be wet but not cold. I will take that. Actually, we have a quiet week according to our on-line calendar. We are driving up to sunny Surrey on Tuesday for a short visit and that is our commitment for the week ahead.

Just to cheer you up, I thought I would show you an article from today’s Sunday Times. You may remember the old fear which was propagated by Horror Movies of the 1950s & 60s that a person was buried in a coffin while still alive and the clawing away of the victim’s attempts to get out could be heard and seen on exhumation. Well, it appears that scientific research is suggesting that the brain goes on living some time after the body is declared officially dead.

Just when you thought it was safe to die quietly ….. Don’t have nightmares, Dear Reader. It will soon be Monday if you live through the night.

Monday, 16th February, 2026

Beautiful morning with clear blue sky and sunshine but not too warm today. I should be feeling good but I slept badly and have woken feeling rather empty and sad. In these circumstances, I turn to music and, as so often, to Bocelli with Il Mare Calmo Della Sera:

Even the setting of this recording is emotive – the open air amphitheatre of Teatro Del Silenzio in Tuscany in the warmth of a Summer’s evening, the darkness and the lights, the Italian language. What more could you want to hang your emotions on?

Well I drove down to our own Mare this morning but it wasn’t very Calmo. In fact the waves were crashing in huge, white plumes of spray on to the pebble beach as it roared back and forth. And then the children punctured the moment as children so often do. It is Half Term down here and the children come to play on the beach with no concept of the feelings of an adult. Lucky them.

I drove back to the calm of my Office and some more Bocelli. This time, A Te. Enough, enough. Must get on with life. Got to have my hair cut this morning and then the Gym.

Back to Amazon again today. I’m looking for a phone mount for the car. I’ve got used to using a Speed Camera app on longer journeys. It’s called RadarBot and it sounds an audible alarm when I get within half a mile of a fixed speed camera, reminds me of the speed limit and becomes increasingly insistent the closer I get to the camera. Its reliability rests on other users confirming the existence of cameras and reporting the location of any new ones. Having the phone mounted in front of me makes that easier.

Been out walking in the Park for an hour and come home glowing with warmth of exertion. Amazing how much better it makes one feel.

Tuesday, 17th February, 2026

Forcing ghosts back below the surface for a few hours, the day has started sharply. A wonderful morning of clear blue sky and strong sunshine. Perfect for a trip. I’m driving up to Surrey. I’m going to a Dementia Unit of a wonderfully luxurious Care Home to visit C. When I do things like this, it raises memories of happier times and inevitably invites comparisons that can be painful.

I received news from the North of England over Breakfast of my brother-in-law, Kevan, who has cancer and is now to be treated in Christie’s in Manchester with weekly chemotherapy for 3 months along with targeted drugs. He was just 83 a week ago. He is strongly supported by his family as his birthday dinner illustrates. Quite typically, he hides at the back on his own day. He is in a massive but essentially lonely fight which is really not the way to spend your 83rd year. Let’s hope he holds back the years.

The day is about other people and their own battles along the time line of life but it is a way to understand oneself through them. I have had a cancer which knocked my life of course albeit temporarily. You don’t know that at the time. You don’t know that as you drive to the hospital every morning, take off your clothes and lie on a table being irradiated for weeks on end. It feels like there is no tomorrow. And even when you have come through it, you feel as if it is constantly hanging over you.

We’ve driven up to Silvermere Care Home in Surrey. The fees are eye watering and £100,000.00 per year but the service is fantastic.

Silvemere was celebrating Chinese New Year today and they were singing songs of the 1960s and 70s. We knew them all so much that we thought they wouldn’t let us out.
The entertainer who sang and batted balloons around, engaging the residents and encouraging them to take part was lovely. He knew C and that he liked singing. He is from Mauritius and had that sunny, gentle, infectious temperament to perfectly fit in to the place.

And what about Dementia? Will I be one of the sufferers. I have to say that from this side of the line, losing my grip on real-time reality terrifies me. So you see, it is all about me, ultimately. Just as it is all about you, Dear Reader, lurking below the mists of time and memory.

Wednesday, 18th February, 2026

Back to Black. The sky outside is dark and wet. Actually, although the days are noticeably lengthening, it felt dark in the Kitchen this morning as well. I observed to myself only the other day when I was looking for something in my store and came across the box of spare light bulbs that I had forgotten was there.

I can’t remember the last time I had to replace a light bulb. In the 1980s, it could be every other month. Now, it could be 5 years. It is so long ago that not only could I not remember what bulb it was but I couldn’t even remember how to take the old one out to check it. I can tell you now it is pull not twist. Wish I’d made a note of that. Well, I have done in time for the next replacement around 2031. I’ll be 80!

Just been out to buy fish and goodness it is cold. Just 6C/43F but seems to pierce the bone. I’m sure I feel the cold more now. I don’t know if it is my age or the cancer treatment I received but I don’t like it. It makes me feel more vulnerable. That discussion this morning reminded us of an early morning drive over the Pennines in a blizzard. We had to be the first at school for opening arrangements which actually turned out to be closing for the next few days.

The car got stuck in a huge snow drift on Stanage Moor and, thinking I was fit and tough in my mid-30s, I got out of the car in my shirt sleeves to save my suit jacket from the snow storm, I proceeded to dig the car tyres clear to the point when I couldn’t feel my face never mind hands and feet. I was on the edge of hypothermia and hadn’t thawed out for hours afterwards.

On a day when the inflation rate has come down to 3% and is predicted to reach the Bank of England target of 2% by April thanks to the Labour government, the price of fish is still rising. This morning I bought 2Kg of Cod Loin at a cost of £84.00. I’m feeling quite good, though, that I have tax free investments paying 4.4% for the next 18 months so earning genuine advantage.

Thursday, 19th February, 2026

Another warm but grey morning. Must wish little Bob happy 74th birthday. It is that time of year when he catches up with me temporarily.

As I observe every time, it is hard to come to terms with someone else gettting older. It makes you reassess yourself.

Today I am going to book a Whole Body Health Check in the Covent Garden facility of Neko Health. It is a new organisation set up jointly by two Swedes – a former member of the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm and the founder of Spotify whose £Billions is providing the finance.

They offer a quick and relatively cheap way to undergo an annual health check which involves whole body scan including skin for cancer alerts plus many peripheral tests around bloods and circulation. There is immediate feedback plus a detailed report follow up and the findings are compared over time for changes.

As they say, early detection is half the battle. It allows for early intervention and far better chance of prevention of serious conditions developing. I see it as dovetailing in with my NHS checks and, of course, my Doctor will receive a detailed report of the findings. It is only £300.00 for the first check and £250.00 for each subsequent year’s follow up. I will go to the Covent Garden Centre or the Marylebone Centre so it will take up a day or we may book a hotel over night and do some shopping.

If any Readers are interested, they also have Centres in London Spitalfields, Birmingham and Manchester with one coming in New York soon if you fancy a sight seeing trip as well.

Our high flying next door neighbours are having a break from many Business Trips and going to a pub in Hackney to celebrate a friend’s birthday. Could we feed the cats while they are out?

Friday, 20th February, 2026

Lovely, sunny morning. I didn’t sleep well so it was 7.00 am when I got up and I struggled. My body certainly doesn’t spring into life as easily and quickly these days. Still, the morning greeted me with optimism.

The Economy under Rachel Reeves is showing real signs of positive growth. Sweep away the Far Right attempts to attack her, the headlines this morning show real green shoots of recovery after the Tory debacle.

And then, of course, we had the most wonderfully iconic symbol of the demise of the monarchy which I’ve been waiting for all my life. As a republican I have longed for this moment. We are going to see President Starmer alongside Prime Minister Burnham before I die.

Walking through the village this morning, this tree just drew me to it. I hadn’t got a clue what it was although, perhaps I should have. It is Mimosa or Acacia dealbata. Native to Australia, it isn’t fully hardy in the UK other than in southern and coastal regions where winters are milder.

Saturday, 21st February, 2026

A grey, warm morning. A morning for thinking, talking, reminiscing, dreaming of what might have been. The mists of the past are swirling through my memory.

Man hands on misery to man.
It deepens like a coastal shelf.
Get out as early as you can,
and don’t have any kids yourself.

Philip Larkin – This Be the Verse from High Windows

It was 17 years ago this coming week that I received a letter containing a cheque. I recorded that I didn’t remember ever crying at receiving a cheque before. It was from my Mother’s Last Will & Testament and was entitled: The Estate of Catherine Lily Bennett – DECEASED. That word struck home instantly and events were still raw in my mind.

Everything is constantly in flux and changes were coming thick and fast. A month later, we had retired and were preparing to set off for our Greek home. We were leaving our responsibilities behind and, although it freed us it also troubled us.

A year later, in 2010 I recorded that we were within six weeks of leaving Pauline’s Mum for six months. It was always assumed that, when she became unable to look after herself, she would move from the Anchor Housing ‘Residential’ home to the  Anchor Housing ‘Care’ home just further up the hill in Waterhead.

When we visited to look the place over, one of the first people we came across was Ellen Brierley who I knew well from Education circles in the town. She had been Oldham’s first ever Mayor and Education Chair Woman. She had been on the Governing Board of my school and always fought for teachers. At the age of 96, she had developed dementia and moved into the care home. She died shortly after that. The mists of time enveloped her for the last time but see, I raise her up temporarily here. We all continue to exist in other’s memories.

Sunday, 8th February, 2026

My records show that this week in 2009 – 17 years ago when I was just 57 years old and living in Yorkshire while working in Lancashire – we were suffering with incredibly heavy snow which shut the school for a week and even the M62 for a while. During this week I was diagnosed with a heart murmur (Atrial Fibrillation) which I had never heard of and, unbeknown to us, we were just 2 months away from Retirement.

Even so, we were preparing to spend Easter in our Greek island home and I was about to buy a revolutionary new digital Book Reader for my wife. It was her first of many Kindles and they are central to her reading all these years on. So many things have changed but that is one that hasn’t.

It was a time of turmoil in our lives. We had just gone through what turned out to be our last Ofsted. We had contracted a firm to replace every single window and external door in our 3-storey house over the coming month. Suddenly, my lovely Mother-in-Law was taken into hospital again after a fall.

All that going on in a few weeks of one’s life is a test and one that we came through strongly but I clearly recall the inner strength it demanded. Last week I was writing of the Past, Present, Future approach to the understanding of Life. I found this record of my times in 1968. I was still at school and playing Rugby in the Staffordshire Championships. This newspaper report above was in my Mother’s records. It was a time when I was aware I was suffering from a flutter in my heart beat but thought it was just over exertion. It could have killed me any time over the ensuing 40 years.

To think that, over the past 17 years, of the people who have died, of the houses I have sold and bought and of the total transformation in my life moving from North to South.You know, there are still people working in the latest iteration of my school who were there when we left. Yesterday, I was wishing a lad happy birthday who I appointed as an IT technician 20 years ago. Now, he is Leader of the Digital Curriculum Team with a group of teachers under him. He’s still only 44. If I can manage 17 more years, I will be 91. That’s not too much to ask. Is it?

Monday, 9th February, 2026

Lovely warm and sunny morning. Makes a change. Haven’t got to swim for our lives today, anyway. I’m expecting a phone consultation from the Urological Cancer Department who will outline the ongoing monitoring of my post-prostate cancer situation. I’m hoping that the NHS will take it up for a few more years. Otherwise, I will be turning to the Private Sector for biennial scans which I will feel uncomfortable about not least because the same NHS Consultant will charge me money. I am preparing my arguments in advance. There is no question we have to advocate for ourselves because no one else will.

I’ve been on statins for 20 years. I have suffered absolutely no side effects or none that I haven’t been able to attribute to other reasons. I get quite bad cramp occasionally. It is a statin symptom but it could easily be because of my Gym work. I feel the cold a bit more theses days – another symptom – but it could easily be because of my age or as a result of radiotherapy. I like to think they have kept me alive and that I didn’t fall in to the Right Wing trope of the anti-vaxxers and anti-medication nerds.

You know that 10 years ago this week, we had arrived back from two months in Tenerife and our new house was 4 weeks away to completion. We were charging round arranging for beds and sofas to be delivered. We were driving up to Housing Units in Failsworth to check out the dining furniture and Hilary was coming round to fit the new blinds. I was anticipating receiving my first State Pension in a couple of weeks. We were about to join David Lloyd Health Club.

Ten years on and under the constant daylight glare of the conservatory windows, the leather has faded, the table-top has been sanded and restained but I think it all still looks fine. Aging is a problem for us all. We just have to do it gracefully.

I’ve just found somewhere in Brighton that stocks these chairs so we’ll nip out to have a look tomorrow. We need 8 so that will be one consideration. I don’t think we can mix and match.

Just been out for a walk in the gorgeous, Spring weather. It raises the spirits and goodness knows I need it. What is happening to the Labour Government and how could it have got to this stage? All around me the world is wonderful although we are coming up to ¾ of a century in it. Ok, it is a bit faded but what do you expect after 75 years? If you want, I’ll buy you a new one. Only 25 years before we reach our century, Dear Reader. Come on! We can do it!!

Tuesday, 10th February, 2026

The old weather is back and it is raining AGAIN. Farming Today was featuring farmers complaining again but this time with some justification. They were reporting that every year for the past 5 years they had complained that it was an unusual year for weather underlining the fact that Climate Change was a new reality. Aberdeen in Scotland is generally believed to be one of the drier parts of the country but they have seen rain at some point every day for the past 28 and had received 180% of its monthly rainfall in the first week of February.

I think there are 160 flood warnings out this week with lots in Wales, of course, but all the usual suspects in UK – York with the Ouse, Chester with the Dee, Repton with the Trent but also across Europe. Cordoba in Spain is experiencing severe flooding causing huge damage to its olive groves and all the economic pain that will bring.

At least it is still warm for February and I am chauffeuring my House Keeper to her Hairdresser this morning. She is nervous because her regular hairdresser is away on holiday and she is being looked after by one of his many sub-hairdressers but that is quite beyond me. I have offered to do it myself for free but that was rejected as too exciting.

Now I’m driving down the coast road to Hove to a furniture shop to look at some Dining Chairs. Housing Units , it isn’t but you can’t have everything. At least we have the sea and the rain.

It was wet all the way. There’s something quite depressing particularly about seaside towns in wet weather. They are abandoned, deserted and down. Still, the Spring isn’t far away and a three quarters of a century anniversary.

Wednesday, 11th February, 2026

Sunny and warm. Out early to buy fish – 2 x sides of Salmon plus a kilo of Skate Cheeks. That’s a hell of a lot of Skate with carved up faces. I’ve never eaten them before so it will be an interesting first.

When I was diagnosed with Prostate Cancer three years ago, my PSA was 7.0 which indicated a tumour. After a year of treatment, it had plummeted to 0.2 and it has remained there for the past two years.

I took a phone call last night from the lovely, young doctor who was reviewing my oncology blood tests. The results are really reassuring and she was refreshingly chatty. I am not really aware of my accent. In fact kids in school always said I talked ‘posh’. It turns out the Doctor who saw me in West Sussex had originally come from Wigan and she had immediately detected a Northern edge on my voice. We discussed the benefits of moving South. Certainly my NHS treatment has been fantastic. I will now be monitored twice a year for the rest of my life.

I am digitally literate. I use the web and apps all the time. I am happy to use chatbots online instead of live humans but sometimes …. I’m not. I have contracts with EE/BT and have had for a long time. They have been voted Best Digital Provider every year for a decade and they are not shy in advertising it. It always makes me laugh because the service they provide me – Broadband and Mobile – is absolutely excellent but their website and app is appalling.

Today, I was forced to speak to a human being in order to get what I wanted. It worked. I have ordered 2 Samsung S25 Ultra smartphones. Each one would cost £1,349.00 to buy. So I have phones to the value of £2,698.00 for free. I have traded my old ones – S24 Ultras – in for a price of £840.00 and my monthly contract has been reduced by £50.00. I managed to negotiate this with a real operator whereas I couldn’t through the web/app. Just to sweeten to the 2 year contract we will also each receive a ‘free’ Samsung Smartwatch which would cost 2 x £200.00 to buy on the open market.

Thursday, 12th February, 2026

Another warm, dry morning but without the sun. I greet every morning with a large glass of freshly squeezed orange juice and a large cup of Yorkshire Tea followed by a large Cappuccino whatever the weather. You will notice that the consistencies there are large and liquid and that is my Breakfast done. The rules of the house dictate that I then unstack the dishwasher ready for the day. This job is rather more painful this morning after my accident last night.

I stupidly broke a glass when I hit the tap with it and it smashed into shards of razor-sharp glass cutting all around the top of my thumb. Because I take blood thinners, it refused to stop bleeding and my Nurse had to take over.

Nurse is prepared for all eventualities and had a liquid bandage spray called New Skin. It is fantastic and seals all the area staunching the flow of blood within minutes. Looks like my very young thumb is varnished and very old but don’t be deceived, Dear Reader. Varnish can be removed. Amazing how many jobs need a thumb, though, when it’s damaged.

My Memory Box reminded me this morning that it was 13 years ago that I was building a website to advertise our Greek house for sale. I launched it in the April before we returned to Greece. When you do things like this without professional help, you immediately feel the weight of legal responsibility. I remember having to do the room measurements 5 times just to make sure there was no come-back after sale.

Found this collection of old Sifnos photos below and found it really moving. To think I knew some of these people and the hardship they had endured, the utterly basic conditions that they went through to get to the present. Maybe we just accept what’s before us at the time. Some of the ferries have long been retired but were a part of my past.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/TSAqkNL6fmE?feature=oembedOld Sifnos …. ah, the memories.

The man who posted this used to cook for us down in Faros (Lighthouse) harbour and the food was wonderful. Oh, I remember it well. Might be approaching three quarters of a century but I haven’t lost it yet.

Friday, 13th February, 2026

Friday the 13th. I’m determined it won’t be unlucky for me, Dear Reader. Over the past two days, delivery men have brought two, new phones plus 2 x covers and screen protectors.

This morning, I have started on the process of copying from the old to the new. It never goes as smoothly as one would like and many accounts have to be reset afterwards. Still, 4 hours later most work is done and we are ready to go forward.

Went out for a walk on the promenade in watery sunshine. I’m ashamed to say that I didn’t complete my exercise routine today. Having achieved all my technical goals, I opened a bottle of red wine and relaxed.

Saturday, 14th February, 2026

Having survived Friday 13th, we wish all our readers a Happy Valentine’s Day. It’s going to be special. England are playing Scotland in the Calcutta Cup at Twickenham this afternoon. It doesn’t get much more romantic than that.

It is a beautiful and sunny day. Quite warm in the sun. My main romantic gesture of the day is to tidy out the garden sheds. You have to hand it to me. I know how to get a girl interested.

You know how we take things for granted – and I’m not still on romance here – and when something suddenly changes, we are really thrown. Our use of technology has been disrupted by the introduction of new phones. Right from the start at 6.30 am, I was hit when I started to shave. My shaver is controlled by an app called Philips Groom Tribe on my phone. It monitors the time and my shaving action each morning and reports back. It controls the cleaning pod process and tells me when I need a refill. I know, it’s over the top. It took me ages just to reconnect the shaver with my phone by bluetooth this morning.

Everything across phone, iPad and PC has to interface and synchronise otherwise things become nightmarish. When I delete an email from my phone, I need to see it delete from the others at the same time. Those relationships all have to be re-established. Quite appropriate for Valentine’s. Had to set up all over again my Biometric Security (face & finger print) which controls not only the phone itself but banking and investment apps and many more.

I have traded my old phones in for an excellent price of £840 but now I have to wipe them completely clean of all traces of me and return them to Factory Settings, put them in prepaid packs and take them to the Post Office. In the end, I begin to wonder if it was all worth it. I have also been offered two Samsung Smartwatches free of charge but I have to prove that I’ve bought their phones first and uploaded the invoices to the website. I may even give them away in the end because we’ve both got our own anyway but I’ve ordered them already.

I won’t now get called up to play so I’m going in the Gym to watch the Rugby. If you hear me roaring, you’ll know we’ve scored. And I’m still not talking about Valentine’s.

Sunday, 1st February, 2026

I would like to wish you happy new month but the rain continues in biblical quantities as it washes the debris of January away. Of course, it is important to maintain optimism. Life continues and water is essential to it. Hopefully, we will have a good supply for the Summer to come. There are just 4 weeks until Spring officially arrives.

In a rapidly challenging world, it is hard to maintain optimism at times. The old order is being shaken everywhere one looks. Humanity is being attacked in so many spheres, Europe, the Middle East, China and America. It is easy to forget that the Israelis are still killing Palestinians in Gaza and Russians are still killing Ukranians in Europe. China is still subjugating the Uyghurs. The religious state machinery in Iran is killing its own people on an industrial scale. The American government is hauling its own citizens off the streets, shooting its own citizens on the streets if they protest, trying to convince its electorate that black is actually white.

The question is, what the ordinary citizen can do about it particularly if the electoral route is increasingly being challenged by the easy answers of populist parties. There are many ways we can resist and fight back but they all speak to change in climate through persuasion. I write in my Blog but also on social media and I lobby politicians daily. It is so much easier to do nowadays through email, whatsapp, twitter, etc.

Music and satire are other forms of resistance, fightback and attempt to shift the political weather. I don’t know if you have seen this family before but I really like their attempts to address political situations in Britain and the rest of world. They are an interesting group.

The parents met at Cambridge University and have clearly created bright and interesting kids with a talent for music. What they are doing is saying the political world is not something that just happens to us. It is a world we must address and try to influence. It is an intelligent response of thoughtful, caring people which I appreciate. This song has been set to the flower power song, San Francisco of Scott Mckenzie who himself was born Philip Wallach Blondheim of Scandanavian ancestors illustrating the interrelationship of the people of the world. Ultimately, national boundaries mean nothing. We all live and die under one sky.

Talking about the sky, my sky, our sky, the rain has gone, the sky has cleared, the sun has come out and all is well with my world long enough to go for a 90 mins walk through the park. Joy of joys, Dear Reader.

Monday, 2nd February, 2026

Big week amid the gloomy skies. My test results (bloods & scans) will be available and I will attend a Review with the Oncology Department at Worthing Hospital. I am fairly confident but I don’t know why. These things don’t really have any early and obvious signs and I have always worried since ending my cancer treatment that it was likely to return. I just hope it is not yet. Birthday 75 is rapidly approaching, Dear Reader, and I just want 25 years more. After that, every additional year will be up for negotiation with the devil.

You will remember Goethe’s drama where Faust is unsatisfied with his life as a scholar and becomes depressed. After an attempt to take his own life, he calls on the Devil for further knowledge and magic powers with which to indulge all the pleasure and knowledge of the world. In response, the Devil’s representative, Mephistopheles, appears. He makes a bargain with Faust: Mephistopheles will serve Faust with his magic powers for a set number of years, but at the end of the term, the Devil will claim Faust’s soul, and Faust will be eternally enslaved. That will be me.

In 1985, I met a Professor and Head of the Department of History at Huddersfield University. He had been featured in my local newspaper, the Huddersfield Examiner, talking about a new area of study he was intending to lead and support. It was a Masters Degree in The History of Ideas. It was going to be a Research Degree and would be open to mature students who could give up three or four years of their evenings and had an interest in the politics of ideas and the idea of politics.

I had spent five years doing an Honours Degree in English Literature and majoring in Modern European Poetry through the Open University. It had consumed my spare time although I was working full time as a teacher. I had funded it myself and it lifted the despair of a difficult time. It restored a sense of self-esteem that I had lost by failing to get to University in the first place.

The Masters Degree was much more demanding of my time but rewarding in so many ways not least to test myself. I must admit, I always knew I could do it if I conquered my own laziness. I was awarded the Masters in 1989 by which time my Teaching career was massively demanding. I was offered the chance to go on to PhD but it would have taken 5 more years part time research. I had spent 4 years of all my spare time reading, researching writing in the libraries at the university and around Manchester and I couldn’t see myself doing the rest. I stopped.

I have written about all this before but I rehearse it here because I have made a joyful discovery – a new podcast led by Professor David Runciman formerly Professor of Politics at Cambridge University. It is a podcast set firmly in The History of Ideas. It is called Past Present Future which, as you will know if you are a regular reader of the Blog, is my obsession. I may have to wake up early in the morning deliberately just to listen each day.

Managed a walk outside again today. Not warm in the breeze. Not sunny in the sky but just feeling alive in the air was reward enough. I managed to bring some sunshine to my wife’s life today. I can’t say that too often. She collects things everywhere we go. She has mementoes all over the place that remind her of a previous experience. For weeks now she has been mourning the loss of an old, scatchy, leather pouch which she uses to hold tissues in her bag. She bought it in Corfu in 1982. It was our second Greek trip. We hired a motorbike and toured the island. It was incredibly hot.

This was her memento of that time. She has carried it with her every day for 44 years. Suddenly, it was gone and no amount of searching would regain it. Until today. I went out to the car with a floodlight torch and, after 10 minutes going slowly around every crevice, there it was and joy was unbounded.

Tuesday, 3rd February, 2026

Another dreary, dark and damp start to the day illuminated only by my monthly check on the NS&I Premium Bond ‘prizes’/earnings. At the risk of repeating myself monthly, I had a spare pot of cash that I wanted to invest with two conditions: it had to be easy access and I wanted the earnings to be tax-free. Having used our full ISA allowance for the year, the one place both of those conditions could be met was in Government Bonds.

I have had £18,000.00 in Premium Bonds for 5 months now and have ‘won’ £375.00 or an average of £75.00 per month. It puts me on line for earnings of £900.00 over the year which is the equivalent to 5.0% tax-free earnings. I had set my baseline as 4% or £60.00 per month so I am up and I still have that tantalising prospect of winning one of the many much larger awards – from £25,000.00 – £1 million. I’ve just read that 3 people in Grt. Manchester each won £100,000.00 this month. I’m moving back!

While I worry about my Oncology Review on Friday for a cancer that is now the most common to be suffered in the country, my Brother in Law, Kevan, is suffering so much worse with both liver and bowel cancer. It is a heavy burden to carry and we wish him well. A quiet and unassuming man, he must be very scared at this time. It is a lonely place to be. Apparently almost half of us will, at some time in our lives, visit that place.

When you stop to think about it, everywhere at every time is a lonely place to be. It is the nature of existence. Some cope with it by kidding themselves there is a higher being looking over them, giving them purpose. I try to mitigate it by fuelling my head with thoughts, challenging my mind to constantly test the world through ideas and concepts, through philosophy.

I was first really introduced to Philosophy as a Discipline while at Teacher Training College. It was at a time when Education of adults was on the cusp of change and a Lecturer who I admired invited me to take a Philosophy course prior to being invited onto a new Degree course which had been around for about 5 years generally but my College was just preparing to adopt. The B.Ed Degree or PGCE became a requirement shortly afterwards and my cohort were offered voluntary but automatic conversion to the Degree status in the past 5 years rather as Oxbridge graduates can pay to have their Bachelors Degree upgraded to a Masters without the pain and suffering that I had to go through.

My History of Ideas podcast this morning centres on the philosophy of Aristotle. He was a polymath student of Plato but his central philosphical tenet was

belief in the primacy of the individual in the realm of existence is a philosophical, moral, and political doctrine that posits the individual human being as the fundamental unit of reality, value, and rights. It asserts that the individual exists independently of and takes precedence over any collective entity, such as the state, society, or community. 

I wonder who said, There is no such thing as Society. Margaret Thatcher, if you’ve forgotten. Karl Marx would beg to disagree. Of course, both stances can exist at the same time. The podcast this morning propounded the view that Philosphy attempts to understand the world from an individual’s standpoint by describing it whereas Politics takes that understanding and acts on it for social change.

Wednesday, 4th February, 2026

A much better day today – in fact, glorious sunshine from blue sky and reasonably mild at 10C/50F. Had to go out early to the surgery for an INR Blood Test as a cross check to my own which I submit to the Hospital Department every 6 weeks or so. Took the opportunity of walking on the beach before the tide came in.

Must just wish little James Happy 25th Birthday today. Made his card out of one I bought in Age UK which is where he will end up in another 75 or so years. Anyway, we wish him an enjoyable and successful day.

There is something so cleansing and rejuvenating about being on the beach, breathing in that delicious air, smelling the elemental salty ozone of the sea. Scientifically, all life began in the ocean, making the sea our ultimate birthplace. Darwin, had previously hypothesized that all life could have originated from a primordial slime as we crawled inexorably off the ocean floor and on to the land. 

A stir in the broth, a tremor in the ooze,
Where life, in its infancy, began to choose.
From chemical chaos, a membrane took hold,
A fragile beginning, courageous and bold.
No shape, no form, a quivering of gray,
Driven by forces that carved out a way.

Driving home I feel my spirits lifted and myself more optimistic which will help me face Friday’s disclosure. There was a sense of irony in the announcement of government action to identify cancers and treat them much more quickly so that in the next 5 years 75% of sufferers will be treated and potentially cured leading to a return to normal life. I consider myself incredibly lucky to have been an early recipient of that process which the Health Service down here has offered me. I am trying to be optimistic about Friday’s status report.

I wonder what it would be like to be 25 today. Would I swap my life? I can tell you that my wife would in a second. Would I? No, the answer is that I wouldn’t. I feel comfortable in my skin enjoying my wrinkles and my aches and pains. Every single day of my life I do a couple of hours of physical exercise and I really feel the effects of it when I get out of bed in the morning. My legs ache, my back takes time to straighten and my whole body says, Have I got to do this all over again? And then I commit to a new day and it just evolves around me. May it do so for many more days to come.

Thursday, 5th February, 2026

Yesterday was beautiful but turned wet in the evening and has opened dark and wet this morning. The only upside is that it is warm out there 10C/50F. No central heating needed here and only 3 weeks until the official start of Spring so, hopefully, things are looking up. You wouldn’t think that though if you listened to UK farmers.

I remember being shocked in the early 1980s hearing Thatcher say she was always awake early and listening to BBC R4′ Farming Today at 5.45 am. I was shocked because I wouldn’t have thought she and I had anything in common but I did exactly the same thing as her because I wake early and it is absolutely amazing what you can learn about life and our country through agriculture. If, like me, you have listened to a programme about Farming 6 days a week for 40 years, you would not be surprised to find that farmers are unhappy.

Farmers are always unhappy. Nothing is perfect ever for them. It is too wet or it is too dry. It is too hot or it is too cold. Their crops are rarely as abundant as the previous one so their earnings are down or it is a very abundant crop which creates a glut and the crop loses its value so their earnings are down. They were getting subsidies from the EU but many of them voted for Brexit. Their subsidies stopped but the UK government couldn’t afford to maintain them.

Tax policies have been incredibly generous to landowners and no prizes which favoured those. The Tories saw farmland prices soar as wealth people avoided paying tax by buying up huge swathes of land often claiming even more savings by planting forests. Then, of course, inheritance tax can be offset to the tune of £3 million for a couple. How many of us would like the chance to pay inheritance tax with a joint holding of over £3 million?

A cost of living crisis has seen food price inflation make life in the lower echelons of society really a struggle. The cost of fresh food is high although the farmers say they don’t benefit from it. Major supermarkets buy in bulk and squeeze the suppliers.This morning, the Head of Gousto, a supplier of meal advice and the fresh produce to produce those meals was interviewed on Farming Today. He shocked me by saying that price point at which he could entice customers in was £3.25 per person per meal. Who could survive on a meal of that cost?

I haven’t eaten a ‘ready meal’ almost since I got married although we did go through a period when we had a fantastic Chinese takeaway in our village of Helme in West Yorkshire and Friday night became Chinese night. Funnily enough, I would be sent out to collect it and I would regularly meet our Director of Education for Oldham doing exactly the same thing. We considered it our dirty, little secret which we paid for the next morning when we woke with very dry mouths as a result of all the monosodium glutamate which they used as a flavour enhancer. Now fresh fish and fresh vegetables are our staples and are not cheap. It would be hard to assemble a main evening meal under £30.00 for 2 people and that is without wine.

Friday, 6th February, 2026

A grey, grey, day compensated for by being mild and dry. At 12C/54F, it feels quite pleasant. Still, I’ve spent the first hour of the morning in my Office, sorting out my investments as I do at the beginning of every month. My tax payments have been quite erratic recently. One month I was advised they’d been increasing. The next month I got a huge repayment because of overpayment in the past. This month I hope will see stability at least until April when Pay/Pensions increase and Annual Interest is incorporated.

I’ve also been completing the monthly ONS Health Insight Survey which I’ve been doing for years. It asks me about Doctor Surgery services, Pharmacy services, Hospital services and Dental services. I have to say that all are excellent here in spite of the boom in house building and the consequently expanding demands on all of these services. I do feel very lucky to have such a wonderful medical support as I get older and inevitably have more call on them.

Today, it is my second, annual Oncology Review. It will be based on a blood test for Prostate Specific Antigen and for Hormone levels plus a full body MRI scan. I am preparing my personal shield for the bad news while leaving a bottle of champage in the wine cooler to chill for celebrations of the good news. Should I open the box or take the money. You decide. Wish me luck, Dear Reader.

Pleased to say that all has gone well. I’m sitting in my Office and toasting the Spring to come with a glass of Champagne. Just had my Oncology Review after blood tests and MRI scan. All is clear and well. Life can continue …. for now.

Saturday, 7th February, 2026

Life never stands still, Dear Reader, although looking outside this morning you would be forgiven for believing otherwise. It’s raining AGAIN. However, when I got up this morning, I immediately had a problem to fix. None of the TVs would receive anything. Had to rapidly search for an alternative source of Radio 4 over Breakfast. Alexa, Play BBC Radio4.

The Sky Q Box network that I’ve been using since I came down here is coming towards the end of its life. Before that, it was satellite dishes, then internet-fed Q Boxes with large hard drives. Now it is moving on to a purely Streaming Service without facility to record and save programmes in the old fashioned way. It is only possible to make an online list to download in the future.

My Q-Boxes had temporarily stopped communicating with my BT Hub and although I knew how to fix it, I didn’t want to be charging round room to room while enjoying my orange juice. It’s not a great start to the day.

When I examined the current position with my Q-Box service which costs me around £120.00 per month to view all channels across 5 TVs, I found that they had stopped selling it a few months ago and will stop supporting it in 3 years time. I will be forced to move on to steaming only. The Satellite Dish can be removed and the Q-Boxes junked but like so much progress, we will take a bit of time adjusting.

I was told that ‘young people’ don’t view like we do. They mainly access content through apps and don’t need hard drives to reserve their entertainment. I have to grow ‘young’ and just face it. At least the new, streaming delivery is mediated through small ‘Pucks’ as they call them and I can have 6 of them to serve an extra bedroom so I will only need Freeview in one room.

I often think younger generations bleat on about their hard life as if it isn’t hard for every preceding one. I am beginning to realise, that the Boomers have definitely had the best of things. I was listening to a Newsagents Podcast this morning and the more I listened, the angrier I became. Young person after young person who had taken out a student loan at the age of 17 – before they could legally go in a pub and could definitely not have fully understood the implications of their loan – left University with a debt of just under £50,000.00 and ten years on after paying 9% of their salaries found themselves owing around £75,000.00. This caused by an unacceptable annual increase of RPI +3%.

All this comes at a time when they should be buying a house, settling down and having children. I went on later to listen to BBC MoneyBox in which a girl talked about her joy at obtaining a £250.000 mortgage having first saved £38,000.00 as a deposit. You just have to imagine what salary she needed to be in that position. I must try to be more understanding in future.

Sunday, 25th January, 2026

On this bright and sunny Sunday, I missed church and worshipped at the altar of political discussion. I was watching Trevor Philips show on Sky as he quoted some of my favourite lines from the Irish poet, William Butler Yates writing during the First World War:

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world

The Second Coming – William Butler Yeats

You don’t need too interrogate those lines too closely to understand their relevance to our current world. It feels as if everything one has taken for granted in life is ceasing to hold true.

There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen.”

― Vladimir Lenin

This morning, we have Trump (A Draft Dodger himself) rowing back on his ill informed comments on Allied troops contribution in Afghanistan. We have America going full-Fascist with ICE militias intimidating the citizens of Democrat towns, hauling them off the streets and, with impunity, shooting dead those who resist. We’ve had a Nato member threatening to invade another Nato country and take possession of it. We’ve had an American president threaten to impose tarrifs on his ‘allies’ who refuse to bend to his will.

Netanyahu in Israel is continuing to kill Palestinians in spite of a supposed ‘peace’. Putin in Russia is continuing to kill Ukranians in spite of current ‘peace talks’. And Trump is proposing to Head a Board of Peace which includes all these right wing warmongers as an alternative challenge to the United Nations.

At home, we have had Andy Burnham bidding to re-enter Parliament and to challenge the Labour Leader. We are witnessing the rise of an extreme Right Wing, Racist Party in the minds of the dispossed who see it as some way to kick the established order. Scottish Nationalism and Welsh Nationalism are on the rise. There is a groundswell in the country to reassess the Brexit debacle which has left us poorer and more isolated as we predicted. It is either the best time to be in politics or the worst time to be in politics as Keir Starmer is finding.

If you want a bit of tranquility, you couldn’t find a better place than the South Coast. I know they are quite common but I just loved the sight of this scallop shell swept up on to the sea wall and now basking in the sunshine. That’s what we should all be doing, Dear Reader, basking in the sunshine away from the world of turmoil.

There is no respite. We are just hearing at Lunchtime today, that the Mayor of Greater Manchester has been denied the chance to re-enter Parliament and challenge the Prime Minister. They think it is a way to keep the show on the road. It may be the match that lights the blue touch paper. This week should tell us.

Monday, 26th January, 2026

Dull Monday. At least it is warm and dry. I am cleaning up my databases of photographs on my computer. They are all saved in the Cloud so available on Desktop, Laptop, iPad and smartphone from anywhere I am. They are invaluable records but they can take over if you’re not careful.

I’ve always enjoyed photograhy both for itself and as an historical record. I’ve had a string of cameras from a Box Brownie in the 1950s/60s, a Polaroid Instant and a Ricoh SLR camera in the 1980s to a Digital SLR Canon in the 1990s/2000. The cameras chart the History and record the History similtaneously. I am particularly suited to it because I only have sight in my right eye although I do have a struggle with myself between recording or just enjoying the moment.

Incidentally, I wrote recently of having to visit a Consultant at theSussex Eye Hospital. I had been referred by the Diabetic Eye Screening Service where my eyes are checked twice a year. They thought I had a detached retina. I have always worried that my sight would deteriorate and stop me driving and that eye sight tests for older drivers is current in Government at the moment. The letter I received this morning from my Consultant put all those fears to bed. He reported that I had no detached retina and that I had 6/6 vision in my healthy eye which is the equivalent of the American 20/20 vision. I can read the whole chart at the opticians although I struggle a bit with the bottom line.

Anyway, this morning I found these old Polaroid shots from 1980 but they are so much more than photographs. They remind me of the early days of my marriage when we were decorating our first house. My wife wanted wallpaper everywhere and not just any old wallpaper. She had seen this Osborne & Little William Morris Willow pattern in a magazine and was desperate to have it at £50.00 a roll (in 1980!!). It was in a design magazine and also featured the ‘latest’ colour television from Philips. So, the deal was that she got her wallpaper and I got the TV. Goodness knows how I watched it at that size.

On the right, the polaroid featured the one and only Nissan (Datsun Cherry) car I have ever bought. It was brand new and only lasted about a year. It was bought to replace the mini which had been destroyed in our big accident. We picked it up and immediately drove back to Old Nathans farmhouse parking it proudly on the drive. We were both still recovering from time in hospital and recuperating at Old Nathans. The car was badly built and the wing mirror fell off as we drove it to a Honda showroom to buy something better.

You see (and I can.), there is life in cameras and photographic records. They revive the past and on a grey, empty day there aint no sunshine when your gone.

Tuesday, 27th January, 2026

Here comes the rain again
Falling on my head like a memory
Falling on my head like a new emotion 

Unless you’re down with the kids like me, you won’t get this reference but don’t worry. We can’t all be eternally young. It rained torrentially all night and continued until mid morning. It is raining all over the country and all over Europe.

On the Greek island where we lived, it has been positively biblical in its quantity. They will be rejoicing because it will refill the aquifers and supply the island with much needed resources for the coming summer.

Of course, in the Mediterranean it changes as quickly as it arrives. The residents may be still bailing out but the world has moved on and beauty has returned.

I’ve been continuing to trawl through my Polaroid memories. I’d forgotten that I used to be James Bond. It has all come as a bit of a shock. These photos come from 1980 when I was only 29 yrs old. What were you doing in 1978, Dear Reader? What ever it was, I hope you’ve stopped. It’s not good for you.

A sign of the times, I’ve just received a couple of new, Office Chairs. I spend so much time in there that the current ones are fraying a bit at the edges. As you will know, Dear Reader, we can’t afford frayed edges at our age. This will be our third set over the past decade. I should be nearly 80 yrs old by the time I need some more. Anyway, they need to be constructed this afternoon with the gas struts inserted and the leather seats and backs built around the mechanism. I have done it so many times now it is almost instictive.

Wednesday, 28th January, 2026

Lovely, sunny day although I will not really get out in it. In fact, it is a bit of concern that I am not getting enough sunshine on my skin at the moment. Exercise has been largely in the Gym. Yesterday, I was so tired after 3 hours workout in the Gym, I couldn’t face the chairs. This morning, I’ve unpacked one and laid out all the parts.

This is the plan and I’ve got two of them to construct. It is not my favourite activity, I must admit although I am better at it and more methodical now. In my youth, I always went at it like so many things as a bull in a china shop. Typical Aries. It often ended up broken rather than built. Unfortunately, I’ve got two of these to complete this morning. Then I have to book a slot at the tip to get rid of the old ones and the packaging.

I’m a writer and researcher not a builder, mechanic or scientist. I was listening to an interesting article on Radio 4 this morning about a group of UK scientists who had found signs of Dementia Onset were much earlier than formerly thought. They believe that the conventional signs of memory loss are preceded up to a decade earlier through language and writing. Dementia is often described as a condition of memory loss, but this is only part of the story. In its earliest stages, dementia can affect attention, perception and language before memory problems become obvious.

They focussed on Terry Pratchett’s writing because the author famously suffered and died of Dementia and because they believe Language offers a unique window into cognitive change. The words we choose, the variety of our vocabulary and the way we structure description are tightly linked to brain function. Even small shifts in language use may reflect underlying neurological change. Across Pratchett’s later novels, there was a clear and statistically significant decline in the diversity of adjectives he used.  It was a subtle, progressive change detectable only through detailed linguistic analysis.

My relationship with language has been a joy to me throughout my life. Having a wide vocabulary has given me a real sense of power and understanding. The further I went with my own education, the more developed my vocabulary became. I realised that understanding and concepualisation is intimately tied up with language and vocabulary. You know, it is impossible to understand a concept without the vocabulary to describe it.

My word power appears to have strengthened with age. Partly it is confidence that counts. As I get older, I am less worried about making and admitting mistakes. Who cares. I have nothing to prove. Also, I have Google at my fingertips. Something fascinating to me has happened in recent years. I do some writing and pluck a word out of the air because it seems appropriate. I look at the word having used it and think, I’m not even sure what that word means. I look it up on Google and find it means exactly what I needed it to mean. I think we all have a much bigger store of words than we realise but you have to use them to avoid losing them.

Perhaps you should keep a Blog, Dear Reader? They are all the rage. I’d read it. Maybe a podcast. Now, I’d definitely listen to that.

Chairs installed and they feel younger and firmer. That’s what we need, younger and firmer! They look good too so that is a bonus.The old ones are in the back of the car with the packaging from today and the tip is booked for 9.30 am.. And I’ve actually exposed my body to the sunshine. Been outside for a long walk this afternoon down through the park and the skeleton Silver Birches reflected in the lake. Felt good. Walking encourages conversation.

Thursday, 29th January, 2026

It is 7.00 am on a dull, lowering morning. It feels cold out there and only measures 7C/45F. I have an appointment at Phlebotomy at 8.20 am. It is prior to a Review with Oncology next week. I had my full body scan almost two months ago and have not had my review brought forward so I’m hoping that bodes well. The blood tests this morning check PSA (Prostate Specific Antigen) and Hormone levels.

I can tell you at least one of them is back to normal and I’m fairly confident that the other will be alright as well. I will report next Friday. Everything for the rest of the year depends on a good result. Twelve weeks in Europe, and a week in the North of England are what we are working towards. I can’t find room for medical emergencies at this stage.

Met a lovely girl this morning in the Plebotomy Office. She told me she was Brazilian and had come to UK by mistake. Her sister won a competition when they were living in the Amazon Rain Forest. The prize was a trip for two to London. She came over with her sister. It was in their University holidays. They visited Brighton while they were here and found the University was somewhere they could complete their studies. She did exactly that and meanwhile fell in love with an English boy. She never went home. She has two kids and her 85 year old parents visited last year all the way from the Amazon Rain Forest where they still live. Oh, and she took two phials of blood from my left arm. I was in there for less than 5 minutes.

I went on to the Fish Outlet down at the beach. I bought 2 kilos of Cod Loin – quite expensive at the moment at £35.00 per kilo. That does 4 meals for two people. Still it is wonderful quality and will be served wrapped in Pancetta and roasted with asparagus.

Exercise will definitely be in the Gym today. I have been gradually ratchetting up each week over the past month the amount I do by 10 mins per day. So, from today, I have to achieve 2 hrs 20 mins each day. I will increase again for the next 2 weeks until I have achieved 2 hrs 30 mins per day. That will be enough. The job then will be to maintain it at that level through the rest of the Winter. I am watching a compulsive espionage drama involving the Whitehouse going through a cross between a Kennedy, Clinton and Trump Presidency.

Scandal is an American political thriller broadcast over 124 episodes in 7 Series on Disney+. It is centred around Washington DC and the Whitehouse and involves a ‘political fixer’ who used to work for the President and had an affair with him. There are times when I think it is a little bit light weight and then I am suddenly brought up short when I hear echoes of Trump’s first Presidency. Even the heroes are corrupt and the philosophy underlines that it is almost essential to break the rules to gain and maintain one’s grasp on the levers of power. In that sense, it could be considered quite depressing. I find the relationships compelling.

Friday, 30th January, 2026

A nice, bright sunny morning of 10C/50F. Yesterday, I took the old computer chairs to the local Recycling Tip. There is something about that process that appeals to me. Out with the old and in with the new and I feel the house breathing more comfortably. Today, having established that the new set of cooking pans are right, a number of the perfectly serviceable but superfluous to purpose older pans and roasting trays are going to Age UK along with a bag of the constant flux of my wife’s clothes.

Someone will find use for high quality cookware being sold off very cheaply. I understand these things are no longer secondhand but pre-loved and it is ‘a thing’. It is part of the reaction to my throw away culture. As we move towards 75, it is a charity worth supporting, Dear Reader. They’ll be leaving US there for sale soon. They appeared delighted with the pans.

I read a very sad post on our village’s Facebook page yesterday. It was a working couple who had been renting a house for quite a number of years but were being made homeless because their Landlord was wanting to sell the property. They were struggling to find a one bedroom flat at a rent they could afford. There is something wrong when two, working adults cannot afford a home in the area that they work. It made me sad as they pleaded they were good, reliable people. It made me feel how lucky I am to never feel that insecurity.

If you are a regular reader, you may know that I have an undimished antogonism towards organised religion – well, religion in all its forms but I am comfortable in seeing others delude themselves if that is what they need to get by. What I am not prepared to accept is the influence of organised religion – Church of England, Roman Catholicism, etc – on the state and on society. The Church of England is still formally part of the apparatus of the British state through the monarchy and the House of Lords. The claim throughout my life has always been that we are a Christian country. In reality, we haven’t been for a long time but now it is factually demonstrable and disestablishment of the church would recognise that.

Since 2018 the United Kingdom has been classified as a secularised, post-Christian society that is predominantly irreligious. Surveys since 2018 have indicated that a large majority of Britons do not believe in God, an afterlife, or regularly attend religious service. A 2020 YouGov poll found that just 27% of Britions believed in a “a god”. Churches are empty and falling down. The Catholic and Protestant organisations have been rocked with scandals which their hierarchies have sort to cover up to maintain some semblance of reputation.

Politics is a powerful influencer. Last year we were told by the Bible Society that there was a new, revival in faith and church attendance led by Gen.Z – those born between 1997 -20012 so now aged 14-29. This was hailed as the future proofing of organised religion and maintaining church buildings and clergy stipends along with political integrity. Media outlets including the BBC just parroted this belief as if it was fact. I must admit I was shocked and doubted it from the outset. It felt like wishful thinking then and now we know it was.

The National Centre for Social Research – an independent research organisation of 50 years experience – produced its annual British Social Attitudes Survey results which categorically refuted the Bible Society assertions. The long term trend of the decline in religious belief and affiliation continues at pace.

I have rarely been able to understand the need to create salvation through myth. If our intelligence tells us that it is not testable, verifiable or believable without suspending all, human scrutiny then it is not worth what is claimed for it. This is the only eternity that I recognise and need – the world in which I live and die.

Saturday, 31st January, 2026

Seeing January out with a beautifully sunny day and blue sky. It’s 10C/50F which apparently is about average for the time of year down here. Actually going outside for a walk again today to soak up the sunshine and the Vitamin D crucial for bone, teeth, and muscle health.

I was chatting over the net to my dear old friend, John, yesterday. We shared digs for a couple of years in the early 70s. I have to say that we didn’t have too much in common back then. He was/is Northern, religious, quiet and thoughtful – gentle even. Back in 1969 I got drunk for the one and only time of my life under the influence of my other digs mate, Nigel, and John was there to hold my head over the toilet while I was sick. It was my first bottle of red wine but not my last. I blame Nigel for many things.

John is an all round good person who puts me to shame. He pushed himself to achieve the Doctorate that I should have but wasn’t prepared to commit my time to. He spends a restless Retirement – speaking and raising money for good causes like this One World Welfare Mission in Pakistan. He plays in a Folk Group called The Dales Folk and has done for years.

He takes parties of tourists around his beloved Fountains Abbey & Studley Royal near his home in North Yorkshire. And just to prove he is not entirely paraochial, he travels regularly to South Korea, of all places, to visit his son who teaches out there. After 50 years, we met again for coffee in Ripon and it was a lovely reunion where I saw him in a different light through my more mature eyes. I’m looking forward to catching up with him again this year.

I must admit Folk Music was never for me. People tried to get me down to the Folk Music sessions in a local pub. Unfortunately neither the environment or the music was my sort of thing. I really don’t do pubs. I probably haven’t been in more pubs than I can count on the fingers of two hands over the past 50 years. I find them uncomfortable and not very friendly places. This music is what does it for me with a glass of red wine and some olives but then it would be a boring world if we all liked the same.