Month: April 2026

Sunday, 12th April, 2026

A gorgeous start to the new week with strong, warm sunshine and everywhere is thrusting forward with bright green shoots. Wonderful early walk through the park where people were out drinking in the vitamin D and girding their loins for going back to work and school tomorrow.

Our work is never finished. Yesterday the kitchen was infused with freshly baked bread. This morning there is the sweet air of warm, strawberry jam being poured into jars. It’s a regular process of which starts off with bags of frozen strawberries which always smell like Summer arriving as they defrost.

Just 6 bags of frozen fruit become 10 jars of wonderfully flavoursome jam in just a couple of hours. It amuses me that the jars were all original Hartley’s jam jars from another age. Anyway, it keeps Chef happy for a while.

I was observing the other day that graphics were becoming more important to the Blog these days and it is true that a picture paints a thousand words but what is more evocative is photos of one’s past.

One of my great friends from my teaching days was Sam Shepherd. He and I worked together a lot and he was a really true friend. He retired in July 1984 – 42 years ago – and this photo of his return to be greeted on his 70th birthday shocks and invokes those forgotten times. What really strikes me is the old buildings and old, poor quality furniture we spent so much of our working lives with and compare it to the new Academy that replaced it as £millions were thrown at the problem.

And then there was this snap shot posted from a time even further away – 55 years. This group of students were my contemporaries so they are in their mid-70s now. How happy, carefree and young they all look as well as monochrome like the world of the early 1970s they inhabited.

The wonderful grounds have moved on like the rest of us and are now home to owners of chic, new apartments crafted out of the elegant, old building. Busy, noisy, pressured it is not.

Monday, 13th April, 2026

Lovely morning. The window cleaner arrived at 7.00 am. He’s hobbling and in a pot cast on his leg where he has broken bones in three places. He was playing football! He announced his prices were rising from £21.00 to £23.00 because of the War in Iran. Very international our window cleaner. After he had picked me up from the pavement and helped me recover from the shock, I tried to discuss payment terms with him but he wasn’t offering ‘interst free’. I have to say, he is still cheaper than the service we were paying for a decade ago in Surrey.

Great news over night as Orban was overwhelmingly booted out of Hungary. Orban, a far right, anti-EU, pro-Putin politician who was blocking Europe’s attempts to contribute to the Ukraine war because of his support for Russia had been in power for 16 years and had become an increasing thorn in the side of Europe.

Orban and Farage are politicians who wouldn’t have been tolerated 30 years ago when Liberal Socialism held sway. In fact, 20 years ago even 15 years ago, they were out on the socially unacceptable end of ‘extreme’. Throughout my lifetime, the pendulum has swung Left – Centre – Right and back but now it is swinging further out to the extremes. We nearly had a Corbyn government and we may nearly get a Farage government to come. We didn’t quite get the first and we probably won’t get the second but it is an example of the Overton Window.

The Overton Window describes the pendulum of acceptable beliefs/policies that are current at any one time. We had a Deform Party politician say the other day that, on a trip to Birmingham, they hadn’t seen a single white face. Similar things are said about London. In the past, they wouldn’t just have been criticised but not said at all by people hoping to be elected. The Overton Window has swung Right towards the Unthinkable extreme.

It will change despite anything that happens in May here with a local elections kicking for the government. Trump, friend of Orban and Farage, is very unpopular in Europe and UK and will almost certainly lose the US mid-term elections because he is seen as increasingly erratic and out of touch. France was expected to go Right but actually went Left in their elections recently. The pendulum will eventually swing back and the unthinkable right wing racism will become unsayable again.

Walking in the sun now and then gardening. Fresh air and activity is the best prescription for staying alive. Got to live long enough for the Overton Window to slide back my way. I also want to live long enough to enjoy more Easter celebrations in the Greek sunshine. Orthodox Easter was yesterday and Greeks were out in the warmth spit roasting whole lambs by the sea. Iconic, happy and emotional.

Tuesday, 14th April, 2026

Pure blue sky and strong sunshine has greeted the morning. At 8.00 am, the temperature is 14C/57F and rising rapidly. I’ve only been 75 for 8 days but I’ve become increasingly doddery. Yesterday while out in the garden I was confidently carrying a large plant pot across the patio when I cracked my leg hard on the corner of the conservatory. I think I did it in sympathy with the window cleaner.

I had taken a huge chunk out of my ankle which spouted with blood immediately. I do find that age has made my skin thinner and less resilient. Nurse washed and dressed it and I was relieved to still be able to do my walk. However, this morning it has swollen badly and leaked blood through the dressing. It will take a while to walk myself back into full mobility. Got quite a lot to do today

I’ve also got a tender left arm. Yesterday, I had my Covid vaccination at the local Kamsons Pharmacy. The two girls administering it really inspired confidence by telling me I was their first of the new season. Anyway, they were lovely and the jab was fine. I had Moderna this time and don’t seem to have had any reaction over night.

Been out to Tesco Superstore in Littlehampton for a couple of things. I wanted the car valeting and they have a good one there in the carpark and my Housekeeper wanted a chunk of fresh yeast for baking bread. Tesco Superstore still make bread in-house and are happy to give customers chunks of their yeast supply which is continually growing in the Bakery for free. Chef says it performs much better than dry yeast.

The car valeting service is so good that it is very busy and really has to work hard to satisfy demand. It is still a major source of employment for E2L immigrants who find it more difficult to get work elsewhere. They are delightful and assiduous and I like to learn of their backgrounds. We dropped off the car and were told it would be ready in an hour.

We did a bit of shopping and then went in to the coffee shop to kill the time. I haven’t been in to a Costa Coffee or any coffee shop for a year or two. A large Capuccino and a small Hot Chocolate cost £8.00. Eight Pounds!! At home I drink around 4 large Capuccinos a day. I would be bankrupt at that price.

Wednesday, 15th April, 2026

Quite an overcast but warm morning. I didn’t have a good night’s sleep. My ankle was on fire as it ballooned with swelling. The cuts were quite deep and one is still running a bit. I can walk but it is uncomfortable so I am having to push myself.

There are some things that we need to stock up on and, ironically, they are sourced in Aldi and Lidl. Yes, a morning slumming it today. Everywhere we go leads down to the sea. This morning it was very quiet but dramatic.

The sea for me, as for so many others, symbolises infinity, continuous and endless time. It can be both exciting and frightening in that way. It emphasises the brevity of our personal journey set in the context of the eternal human journey. The conveyor belt of life brings the same call for us all … Next, Please!

Only one ship is seeking us, a black-
Sailed unfamiliar, towing at her back
A huge and birdless silence. In her wake
No waters breed or break.

Philip Larkin – Next, Please

This morning, I was listening to a podcast about American politics. The talk was of Yanks and I suddenly realised I didn’t know where that term had originated. There was no one I could ask. There are few people older than me. I used to ring my Mum if there was something from my past which I couldn’t remember or didn’t know but she is long gone. In the next couple of weeks, it will be the anniversary of her death 18 years ago.

But now no fact is out of easy reach. I can ask Google or Wikipedia or AI and the answer will not only be there in seconds but the context will be provided as well. That is exactly what I want. Mum would require so much more as a price for the answers. In this case, I’m sure she would have known but Google told me early Dutch settlers to North America used the derogatory term of little Johns for all common men. The Dutch name for Little John is Janke. You see, Dear Reader, who needs a Mother?

At least we will all be saved by that leading Yankie Holy Man….

Thursday, 16th April, 2026

Nice, warm morning. I’m still hobbling painfully like a 75 year old man. What have I been reduced to? Thursday is usually Sainsburys day. This morning, the shelves of fresh produce were almost bare. Imported Fruit & Veg was particularly poor. Don’t know if it is the current crisis but I can’t see it getting better too soon.

We are preparing for foreign travel. One of us is constantly looking for Summer clothes and it isn’t me. I am always being asked which pair of shorts, which shirt, which skirt or dress I prefer. I must admit, I find it impossible to say. One pair of shorts looks much like the next to me. It’s easier to say, Just get both.

The garden will have to survive while we are away for months at a time. Watering deep beds will need to be done and I’m trying to move away from spray watering and on to drip feed. So, I’m looking at plastic pipe system driven by an automatic timer fixed to the garden tap.

I’m also thinking of using the available technology to keep contact with things that can go missing during travel. I’m thinking of buying some bluetooth tags which have a range of about 200m and are controlled by our smart phones. Just as I was weighing up their value this morning, my wife lost her car keys which virtually made up my mind.

I understand that the current crisis in Iran has turned many people to think of generating their own power through solar panels and towards electric cars with enthusiasm just as it had begun to wane a bit. Even the Americans are picking up their interest in electric cars.

We have Hive heating controls and monitoring from British Gas. They contacted me today because they know we’ve been considering it for ages. Our only question is: Will we live long enough to make it worthwhile. This estimate is based on just 8 panels. We have a perfect, south-facing roof which is constantly in the sun and the size of our house would require 16 panels. We would have a battery which we would site in the Gym so we could store power for night time use so we would be looking at a price of about £14,000. I’ve got to ask how long it would take to break even. We are going to invite them round for a survey and a chat.

Friday, 17th April, 2026

Quite a grey and relatively cool start to the day. It always surprises me that 15C/59F can feel so cold but it does this morning. Ironically, it is a gardening day. Lawn mowing, bed tidying and I am expecting the first tranche of plantlets to arrive with 240 needing potting up to grow on in the cold frames. Would have been nicer to have a warmer, sunnier day for it but I’m sure they will come.

Life is spent looking for sunnier days, isn’t it Dear Reader? We try to push the darker, monochrome days behind us. And, of course, everything changes. I read the Manchester Evening News and the Huddersfield Examiner online editions every morning. I’ve been following the renovations of Oldham’s historic Coliseum Theatre and I’ve been reading recently about Oldham’s Queen Elizabeth Hall which my school used for formal functions like Prize Giving for a while in the late 1970s & 1980s.

The Coliseum is being saved while the QE Hall is being demolished. It’s interesting that the theatre opened in the 1880s and has quaint features of that time whereas the QE Hall was built in the early 1970s on designs inherited from the 1960s white heat of the technological age as articulated by Harold Wilson.

The Hall is in the brutalist, poured concrete, ‘modern style that had hints of an almost soviet reference which was meant quite deliberately to pose a break with the past. The staggered slabs of grubby concrete on the outside and the authoritarian-style chandeliers on the inside make one shudder in retrospect but felt exciting at the time as we swept away the 19th century slums.

This was the legacy of Le Corbusier. In just the same way, the terraced housing of the St Mary’s area of Oldham had been demolished and replaced with high rise flats with inside toilets and bathrooms, new kitchens and insulated windows. Life was on the up.

The soft South owes it to the mean North and money is begining to move in. Oldham has a new development programme. The Shaw Road Estate has long been history. Now, the Mumps area is being developed in association with the railway station and the tram system. Change isn’t easy. The people of the 19th century slums complained bitterly about losing the dire homes. The residents of Shaw Road Estate fought loudly to keep their cold and damp flats. The next change will come but after me.

Saturday, 18th April, 2026

Gorgeous morning for gardening although my foot has blown up with an angry swelling and turned midnight blue. Gives a whole new meaning to sex on legs. I’ll have to go through the pain barrier today. I’ve got gardening to do.

Yesterday, I spent about 2 hrs mowing all the public lawns while my Under Gardener prepared all the flower beds. They won’t be planted up for at least another month but they needed weeding and the soil refreshing. While we were working, Royal Mail delivered a box of 240 Marigold plantlets. They are sown and grown in expert conditions and delivered in sealed containers to be grown on at home. These ones only grow to around 10″ but last from May – October with little maintenance apart from dead heading so they are a good choice for public spaces.

They have been spray watered and are sitting out in the sun waiting to be potted up and placed in cold frames for protection in case we have a cold night. Down here that is very unlikely but I have to be prepared.

I remember during the pandemic out constantly walking in the fresh air, I suddenly became aware of another life. There were birds in a world I had rarely considered living above me. I had spent 70 years without thinking much about the life under the sea or above my head in the sky.

I remember looking up and seeing a bird soaring high above me and asking Google what it was. A Red Kite which is common in the South of England came back the answer. I was gripped. This is a civilisation that exists out of my everyday experience.

Now, of course, I know I walk down Robin Alley which is alive with song. Every evening, a blackbird sings from a house roof behind me and fills the area with song. Birds are now my friends and I was pleased to see Adrian Edmonson and Samuel West are on the same wavelength.

Sunday, 5th April, 2026

For me, it is just the start of Week 902. To the diminishing few, today is Easter Day. I don’t begrudge them their day although I do find the shut down of the commercial world a bit annoying. My friend, John Ridley, posted this photo of his church in Middleton Tyas, North Yorkshire and I do acknowledge his quiet but confident belief and commitment to the area.

It is not for me. I am confident of very little and I just can’t bring myself to believe in fairies. I am not agnostic though. I am firmly in the atheistic camp so you could say I am confident of that. God is a social construct which I don’t need. I would rather be lonely, lost and aimless than to pretend there was some grand design around my life.

My days start and end with technology not god. This morning, my Echo-Alexa speaker woke me at 5.45 am but she had changed. She started chatting to me about my day ahead including the fact that it was Easter Day. Normally, she would just make a flat announcement on request. I had forgotten that there had been an upgrade to Alexa+. This new version uses generative AI to understand context better and carry on natural conversations, rather than relying on strict, specific voice commands. It’s going to take a bit of getting used to. Alexa+ is the new God!

One thing Alexa+ reminded me of this morning was connected with the washing machine. You know how family routines develop. Well, in our house, Wednesdays have been bed linen changing days and Thursdays have been towel replacement days. This has developed over years in different homes in UK and abroad. They have integrated into our working weeks. I am responsible for stripping the bed but I don’t get involved in the washing or drying because that is above my pay grade although it is now controlled by apps on our phones so I am responsible for maintaining that.

We buy Dual Fuel through British Gas and they are offering half price electricity on Sundays. I knew Sundays were good for something. Using the Tumble Dryer – and we have a Samsung Digital Heat Pump one – which is virtually the most power hungry machine in the house. Never one to miss a money saving opportunity, I have swept away that long established tradition and both sheets and towels are now being washed and dried on a Sunday. You see. There is a God. I am it and I’m here even if I am nearly 75.

Twenty five years ago I celebrated my 5oth birthday in our Greek home on Sifnos. It was Easter holidays and we had flown out to supervise the building of our house. The owners of the Supermarket (aka Tesco) in Kamares, Moscha & Apostelos entertained me at their house.

It was a lovely, homely and kind occasion and one where I was introduced to Halva Cake made with semolina, honey syrup, nuts, and raisins for the first time. They considered it a treat. What gets me is that even now Moscha & Apostelos are only in their late 50s. It really isn’t fair.

Anyway, it is always nice to get a Greek Birthday card from Greek friends. Actually, it’s nice to get a birthday card from anyone on occasions as momentous as this.

Monday, 6th April, 2026

Happy Birthday to me. Happy Birthday to me. Happy Birthday old wrinkly ….

I came down to Breakfast to find this card in my place. Chef had put it there. Wholly inappropriate, of course, because I’m not female, don’t purr and don’t drink. But Chef is so thrifty that she was recycling the card I gave her when she was 60. Seems appropriate, I suppose for a 75 year old man.

I heard first thing from old friends from College, Derek France and John Ridley, Kevin Sellers and John Morris and an old friend from Sifnos, Martin Reynolds. A couple of girls from school have wished me a good day and a couple of friends from the North have sent me their morning sunrise from Rhodes.

Regular readers will know that I don’t usually take things like birthdays seriously but being 75 seems a bit more momentous and I’m not sure why. I suppose, I have exceeded the three score years and ten but it has quite hit me. I must get out my funeral planning file and check it is in order.

I spoke about not being religious yesterday. It was a bit ironic, therefore, that I tucked into a supper of Roast Leg of Lamb, with mint sauce and white, onion sauce. It is the sort of meal that we would have eaten at home as a child. I was brought up in the Roman Catholic religion and was forced to go through the motions by my Mother who was fairly devout. I was forced to serve at the Sunday Mass and you can take the boy out of the liturgy but you cannot take the liturgy out of the boy.

It was completely in Latin which intrigued me and it was a challenge to learn a foreign language which attracted me. The cadences of poetry pleased me. The indoctrination caught me. In spite of life long rejection, the sounds of the liturgy have stayed with me.

Out walking this afternoon, the weather has turned really warm. We are reading 18C/65F in the sunshine. My Under Gardener is sorting out all the pots and washing them in readiness. The plantlets start to arrive next Monday and will need potting up to plant out in coldframes.. She is preparing them.

Tuesday, 7th April, 2026

Another gorgeous day in prospect. Going to be a busy one. But first I must wish my old friend, John, a happy birthday. Of course, he is so much older than me as almost everyone is.

We first met in September 1972 and lived together in student digs for two years. You only have to look at him to see what a mild mannered, pleasant individual he is. Quietly contented in his life, John is to be envied although I’m glad I’m not that old!

Wonderful day to cope with being 75. Even Wales is hot today. Been out to the Garden Centre now that Easter is over. It was looking very inviting with beautiful blossom around. Needed some replacements for herbs that haven’t survived this very wet winter. We tend to favour mediterranean herbs – rosemary, tarragon, sage, thyme, oregano, basil which like poor, dry, soil in full sun. The winter weather hasn’t been to their liking and I needed tarragon which is one of the most used herbs in our cooking and a replacement sage.

Then on to the beach which was gloriously warm and sunny. The tide was out to reveal some clean, flat sand and the temperature hit 23C/73F for the first time for a while.

It’s going to be a busy few days in the sunshine. Hedge trimming, lawns sweeping, potting up the first 240 plug plants arriving soon and being grown on in the cold frames. Annual cleaning of all the hard standing flags around the outside of the house from the grime of winter. Garden furniture uncovered and cleaned up for use. We’ll be eating in the garden soon. It will stop me getting bored for a while.

Wednesday, 8th April, 2026

The days are rushing on. I’m well in to my 76th year already. It’s such a beautiful day that it is hard to imagine not seeing them for ever. Mind you, it is only two years since I thought I could be on my way out then. Amazing how the word Cancer makes you see the world and one’s path through it very differently. For me, I wanted to do everything, have everything, indulge myself while I still could. It has largely been enjoyable and life-affirming but it has had its inevitable consequences.

Although I have continued with the exercise programme, it has been with reduced targets because the original ones were taking up so much time and dominating my days. At the same time, my diet has gradually become more relaxed and I’ve definitely been drinking too much wine. You can guess what the outcome has been. I’ve piled on the weight. I’ve already made two false starts at trying to reverse that trend but I can put it off no more. I have restarted the campaign on the day after my 75th birthday. It’s all up hill from here.

I am fully reinstating my eating programme and the first thing to go has been all alcohol for the foreseeable future. A bit tricky because I’ve got a wine buying trip to France booked for May but it will just have to be stored for the future. The diet is being stripped back to one meal per day with no carbohydrates. The sugar & starch crash is the hardest problem I experience so it is important to cut out those triggers.

My exercise has been almost entirely cardio vascular but I’ve really got to involve anti-aging exercises to counter balance problems and loss of muscle. Particularly, I’ve noticed since my cancer treatment that I feel the cold abit more and my strength is a bit less. I am going to concentrate on eating more protein and doing specific exercises to strengthen my muscles and improve my balance. I’ve been telling myself for so long that I must do more rowing in the Gym and balancing which I’ve never been good at.

I’ve got Part 1 of my Annual Health Check at the surgery to book so I’m bound to be told off there. Then I’ve got a full body scan booked in London at the end of July and I’m bound to be told off there as well. It will do me good.

Thursday, 9th April, 2026

The glorious days go on. Please, never stop! Sun, warmth, blue skies. Living in shorts and tee shirts, cooking and eating outside. You are talking my language.

Going back to France in 4 weeks and then flying to Thessaloniki 2 weeks later followed by a month in Spain a week after that. Looking forward to a busy Summer/Autumn warding off Dementia.

I’ve found a benefit of being 75. I’ve been invited for a Covid19 vaccination. I’m having it on Monday so you know what’s happened if the Blog doesn’t appear on Tuesday. Funeral arrangements will be announced.

I am very happy with computers, software, technical solutions. I’m very happy designing websites and Blogs. Yesterday, it took me about 4 hrs to construct a wheelbarrow out of a box from Amazon. I nearly killed myself I got so frustrated. I am utterly useless when it comes to practical tasks. I had a useless paper diagram but I had a simple Youtube video which took me stage by stage through the process and still I managed to get it wrong many times.

My Under Gardener was busy cutting the hedges. I am rubbish at that as well. Don’t have the patience. She gets so shaken by the electric hedge trimmers that she can’t hold a cup without spilling for two days afterwards.

Anyway, I think you’ll agree, Dear Reader, that I conquered my demons in the end. Just £47.00 and what fun!

This utterly mad and ill thought out war of Trump and his barmy boys has terribly backfired on him and is almost certain to strengthen China and Russia. What it has certainly done is strengthen Iran as the pricipal operator of the region as it controls the Strait of Humuz which it didn’t previously. The tariff it is charging tankers to go through safely is reported to be $2million which will add considerably to oil and gas supplies. Our petrol price has now risen to £1.51 per litre and is unlikely to fall any time soon. What it is doing, looking on the positive side, is making Trump very unpopular in the US as they lead up to the mid-Term elections. There is always an upside to consider!

Friday, 10th April, 2026

Another lovely day. My neighbours, who are obviously mad as hatters, have decided that this is the weekend to drive up to Anglesey – just a 6 hrs journey of nightmare proportions. To make it worse, Dé has decided that Saturday is the day for her Birthday treat on the Zipwire Experience.

Mad at the best of times (well she is German), she should have checked the weather. For one day only, they are forecast to experience gale force winds. I have a feeling it won’t end well for a girl who is 20 years younger than us. You wouldn’t have caught me doing it even when I was younger. Can’t stand Wales.

Well, it’s all go in our household if not to the death defying level of our neighbours. This morning, the Gym has moved from Winter into Summer mode with all it’s insulation for the delicate equipment packed away. The patio flags around the house are having their biennial spray with black spot remover and pressure washed off.

I’ve been using a magic solution for the patio that needs almost no effort. I spray it on, leave it for a few hours and then wash it off with a hose. Everything went back to ‘new’ state and stayed like that for virtually 2 yrs. I hate sitting in a grimy, old-looking garden and this really pleased me so I’m committed to the effort.

While I do that, my Housekeeper is bringing the cast iron hob supports back to a pristine state by soaking them outside in a bath of something or other that she’s found. It’s important to keep on top of everything particularly as we are going away so much. It is lovely to come home to things in order. It doesn’t take much to please Housekeeper and she was delighted with this result.

However, the contrast doesn’t escape me between Spring Cleaning at home and death defying zip wire experience in North Wales (North Wales – Woooo!) and it is not in my favour. But, Dear Reader, my time will come.

Fifteen years ago we moved to Surrey and met a huge cat called Minnie. She belonged to our neighbour, Rosina, who was a Social Worker in Woking. Minnie was 7 years. She came round every day to say Hello and look for a stroke. Rosina has just contacted me to say that Minnie has decided to go to Cat Dignitas at the grand old age of 22 years. Apparently 22 cat years is the equivalent of 100 human years. Quite some feat.

Saturday, 10th April, 2026

Quite a cool morning. Not terribly inviting outside at all. The warm kitchen is rather enticing with the smell of freshly baked bread drifting across it even though bread is on my banned list. I can enjoy it vicariously via the smell just as I did when I gave up smoking. I’m enjoying a morning in my Office although I’ve got a walk to do soon as well. I might have to wear a fleece today.

I’m reading an interesting article in The Times about the jobs/professions AI will make redundant and, therefore kids should avoid taking up. I have always thought that teaching would be an obvious choice for AI. I was using it 20 years ago to develop online learning. The article suggests that the emotional and ethical elements of people facing professions limits the role of AI and I can see that.

Many well paid professional jobs are going and will go quite rapidly because the rote, logical, analytical content of those jobs is much more easily done by computers. It is the people skills and the hands on physical skills that will resist AI involvement. So plumbers and electricians will be safer than accountants and software engineers.

I’m enjoying exploring different AI / Artificial Intelligence tools. I subscribe to Microsoft 365 Family which gives me access to Copilot – the Microsoft AI client but I also use Chat GPT and Google AI – Gemini. I love the challenge it gives me to learn new skills.

It’s funny because I grew up thinking I didn’t like Science. I did ‘O Level’ Physics and Chemistry. I hated both at the time where as I loved English and History. My father was disappointed that I didn’t take to Science and my Mother was pleased that I had sided with her in the Arts. On the other hand, I loved Maths and was quite good at it but couldn’t combine it at ‘ A Level’ with English and History.

In College I found I loved Philosophy. It was just right for my mind. As I moved on to do my first Degree, I found I loved Logic and Statistics. They suited my natural method of enquiry although I didn’t find Venn Diagrams to be easy chatup openers. In my Masters Degree, data collection skills and analysis came to the fore much more in a scientific discipline than and arts. I think I.T. lends itself to those intermingled disciplines which were thought incompatible 60 years ago.

These are the thoughts buzzing round my head as I set off for my walk. Just about bearable in shorts today. The sun is out but the temperature is only 13C/55F and feels colder in the breeze. Fresh air is good. I’m dreaming of creativity through Artificial Intelligence while my walking companion is marvelling at the moonshot although I don’t think she will be volunteering to go on one. The earth is more than I can cope with.

Sunday, 29th March, 2026

The clocks all went forward automatically except the ovens and the coffee maker. The March Equinox, also known as the Vernal (or Spring) Equinox marks the official start of Spring but ushers in British Summer Time. Ours has started bright but cold. It doesn’t feel like Summer.

My friend, Kevin, is taking 18 members of his family to Portugal for a week and I don’t blame him. It will certainly be warmer than here although I don’t envy him being surrounded by 17 other members of his family. My idea of a nightmare!

It’s going to be another gardening day here. Everything has to be ready for plants to arrive through the post in the second week of April. First I watch the political interview programmes – Trevor Phillips on Sky and Laura Kuenssberg on BBC1. They are all about the effects of Trump’s mad war on the world’s economy and our supplies and prices which all affect public opinion even though we had no part in prosecuting this disaster.

People as old as me, and I will join the old wrinklies next week when I reach 75, will remember the 3-Day Week of 1973 and the fuel rationing that took place. To comment on that, David Owen was wheeled out to recall on those times.

On this day 10 years ago, we moved into our new house and spent our first night here. It was a busy, long and exhausting day which saw us eating a Take Away meal which was so unusual for us. We had the internet but the Televisions were on order and hadn’t arrived. We watched the news across the net on my laptop propped up on a plastic box. Ironically, I had spent a lot of cash on Media Distribution Panels which were sitting idly on the wall in front of me.

It took another 4 days for the Sky installer to come and put us out of our misery by erecting a satelite dish. Ten years on, it is no longer needed as superfast broadband has taken over. I took this photo on the day but what strikes me now, looking back, is the building dust covering the road and the weedy little hedge that is now 5ft tall, thick, green and lustrous. We had been staying with P&C in Surrey while we waited for our house completion and it was poignant last week to visit the house as it was closed for the last time before being handed over to its new owners. Everything changes eventually, Dear Reader.

Monday, 30th March, 2026

Glorious morning – warm and sunny. Perfect for gardening. Just been out to Wickes to buy 10 bags or 500 litres of perfectly sifted and enriched garden compost for just £40.00. A bargain! My wife was more worried about whether I would break the back axel of the car than how much it cost.

I have been gardening since I was 7 but seriously since I was 27. I really enjoy it and the effort is good for me. Most of this compost will be used in public spaces but it will also enrich my raised beds in the back garden and replenish the pots.

In a matter of days and depending on the weather, NASA’s modern moonshot, Artemis II, is set to launch, beginning a multi-mission expedition to take humans back to the moon. Some people get very excited about things like this but I’m afraid it doesn’t really raise my interest. The first moon landing happened in July, 1969.

I had just finished my A Levels and was doing a holiday job at Pirelli Tyre Factory in Burton upon Trent. I was working 12 hr shifts 6 days a week and raking in the cash. With my first week’s wage, I went out and bought a pair of incredibly tight fitting hipster trousers – grey with orange stripes very similar to the ones featured above. My Mother hated them which made them even more hip and certainly more significant than men on the moon.

I wonder what you remember about 1969, Dear Reader. Let me jog your memory. I certainly had to jog my own. In 1969 in the UK:

• The Beatles released their final album, Abbey Road, and give their last public performance on the roof of Apple Records.
• The Rolling Stones released Honky Tonk Women and Brian Jones died at 27 years of age in his swimming pool.
• Monty Python’s Flying Circus premiered.
• Charles was invested as Prince of Wales.
• Concorde flew its maiden flight.
• The Northern Ireland ‘Troubles’ began as troops were deployed.
• The House of Lords voted to abolish the death penalty.

In 1969 in the United States:

• The Woodstock Festival was held featuring Jimmi Hendrix, Joe Cocker, Joni Mitchel, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and many more.
• Charles Manson and his disciples murdered five people including Sharon Tate.
• The first moon landing happened.
• Nixon became President.
• The first citizen died of Aids and the Gay Rights Movement began.

However, far exceeding all of those events in significance is the fact that I left home and went to College in North Yorkshire. Admittedly, its significance is more for me than the world but similar.

Tuesday, 31st March, 2026

Not the greatest day to see out March 2026. Not cold but fairly grey still. I was hoping for better. Gardening is put off until tomorrow. Today, I’ve got more lucrative things to do. You will have heard about the Car Finance Scandal in which Car Salesmen managed to engineer extra commissions by selling financial products that customers didn’t really need. I’ve been buying new cars since 1975 and I can tell you that this has only really became a feature of that transaction in the last 20 years.

The claims that are possible against misselling can only go back to 2007. In that time I have bought 10 brand new cars. As such, I am the Claims Nightmare because I get my secretary to file everything. I have paperwork for every new car purchase including that one I bought in Oldham in 1975. It is a comprehensive record to rival the Blog.

These documents are making the filing cabinet bulge to the point where a new cabinet is more urgent than a new car. We were told last night that each eligible claim would receive £830.00 compensation. Of the 10 new cars I bought in that period, 7 are potentially eligible claims so I am confidently expecting a pay out of just under £6000.00 in time.

All my cars were bought from two Dealerships. Of those, 3 since 2007 were bought from Hepworth Honda in Huddersfield where I bought almost 20 new cars since the 1980s but only 3 qualify under this scheme. The salesman died last year and the dealership has changed hands and name. The rest were bought from Honda in Worthing where lots of weird and wonderfully dodgy finance schemes were offered.

This morning, a couple of hours searching through paperwork and then filling out a stock, formal email letter has allowed me to send off 7 claims to the official compensation scheme not to one of the many internet lawyers who claim 30% of the cash. I will not be giving any of it out although, of course, I will be handing it all to my wife for ‘safe keeping’ or new clothes.

At least the garden is looking clean and ready for what is to come. Already in are potatoes, onion sets and lettuce seeds. The temperature this afternoon is a pleasant 20C/68F and the sun is warm. My odd job woman is varnishing the cold frames and everything is ready for the season to begin. There are stars in my eyes!

Wednesday, 1st April, 2026

Happy New Month, Dear Reader. Happy April. A warm morning after a beautiful, moonlit night. We are looking forward to long, sunny days ahead. This month will be gardening but then the travelling begins – and I for one can’t wait. France, Greece, Spain, Tenerife, Lancashire & Yorkshire. People and Places to look forward to.

I also have to wish my friend, Christine Dagg, Happy Birthday. I have known her for 54 years and being 75 is quite scary. She is jetting off to Albufeira in Portugal with 17 members of her extended family to celebrate. I’ve spoken to her today to wish her a happy time. She seems to be very content in her family with children at university and doing well. I’m pleased for her.

I must admit I’m quite scared at the prospect of being 75 next week. I remember the 50 and 60 barriers quite well. When we moved from the North of England, I was only 60 years old. When we moved down to the South Coast, I was only 65 years old but it is scary how short those spans of time have felt. A similar one will see me reach 85 and 90 years old. Could anyone seriously imagine that?

I don’t know why but I watched a serious but meaningful film last night on Netflix called Care. It was written by Jimmy McGovern so it is fairly hard hitting and gritty. It starred Sheridan Smith and Alison Steadman as daughter and mother. Mother has two daughters one of whom also has two daughters. A lot of the positions are cliched in that they are true to reality. Older Mothers tend to outlive their husbands and so it is here.

Mother, Alison Steadman, has survived her husband and is now doing Grandma duties looking after her daughter’s two kids when they come home from school so their mother, Sheridan Smith can work. Suddenly, everything changes in a flash. Driving the kids home from school, Grandma has a stroke and crashes the car. In hospital, she is also diagnosed with dementia.

Daughter has to look after a stroke limited, dementia limited Mother. She loses her job and the father of her two children has moved on to another relationship. Her own sister is too tied up in life to share the care and they can’t afford a quality Care Home.

I won’t tell you any more because it would spoil the story but it is predictive of a situation that many of us will face from one end of the telescope or another. I already talk to my Carer about not caring too much. Aggression comes with dementia and I am too big for her to cope with. If that is my future, she has instructions to dump me outside the Local Authority Offices and to save all the money to look after herself. Of course, when dementia calls, you have to remember the good times however distant.

Now, just as Americans get ready to blast off to the moon for the first time for almost 55 years, I’m going out to mow the lawns. Bet I finish first. I was sweating when I finished in a temperature of 16C/61F. The summer is coming!

Thursday, 2nd April, 2026

Glorious morning after a beautiful night which featured an almost full moon. Apparently that is tonight – a pink moon. I will be looking up at that, Dear Reader. Will you?

The first week of April is finance time. The end of the old and the start of the new Tax Year on my birthday. In case you’ve forgotten it, that is April 6th. Chef is already planning my Birthday Supper. She is making Vegetable Pizza. I am not allowed pizza normally, in fact, I am not allowed bread but birthdays are treat days so I ask for pizza. I bought Chef a wonderful electric, Pizza Oven last year but it so rarely gets used that it lives in the outdoor kitchen. It reaches 400C and cooks a pizza perfectly in minutes. All the time is taken in the preparation of the dough but that’s what Chefs are for.

I’m afraid I’ve had a second blank month on Premium Bonds so the experiment is going a little sour at the moment. It’s going to take a big prize to catch up at this rate. I’m still considering ISA investments at the moment. In fact, I may hold off for a while to see if interest rates, which were forecast to fall, have another rise. The current league table looks like this above. I certainly don’t want to tie money up for more than 3 years but it would be nice to get 5.00% tax free on £40,000.00 over that period. As you know, with compound interest, that would make £6,305.00 over the period.

We aim to save £20,000 per year from our income which goes into various high rate paying acccounts before being moved into tax free ISAs. I know that will seem small beer to some people but we think it is reasonable for two poorly paid teacher pensioners and it is an investment in our futures such as they are.

Friday, 3rd April, 2026

A damp start to a momentous day. It is the official start to the English Cricket Season … but that’s not the moment. On this day 17 years ago, we left work for the last time. A day later, we were on our way to Greece with Olympic Airways which also doesn’t exist anymore.

An ex-pupil provided this memory of the beginning of our school journey. I started in September 1972 and Pauline in September 1973. I always remember her arriving for interview. I was teaching a Year 11 class English as this gorgeous creature with long, blonde hair right down to her bottom walked past my open classroom door. I stopped speaking and stuck my head out to watch her walking up the corridor only to find two boys behind me doing exactly the same thing. At that point the die was cast in all sorts of ways.

Teaching gave us a reasonable living and is providing a much better retirement than expected but I would not go into it if I had my time again. We met some lovely people, some delightful kids but I became increasingly cynical about managing the process of state education. So much time was spent gaming the system, massaging/fabricating the data for essentially meaningless targets and being judged on ludicrous standards which, once again, were subject to massage.

I have a feeling it is too late to change course now. I received a Birthday card to day which rather emphasises that I am joining the old, wrinklies. Actually, in spite of what I say, I’m still finding it really hard to let go of ambition. There are things I am determined to achieve and the graduation points of time like this just temporarily dent my confidence and then I shrug them off.

We have to keep moving forward or we die. Time is the film score to that movement and it is up to us to turn the volume down a notch and not let it drown out the narrative. It may be Bad Friday today but I live in hope that the next one will be better. I am determined to make it so.

In moments like this I listen to Bocelli’s Because We Believe. It moves me every time but it proves I am alive and still hoping and, through a vale of tears, makes me more determined.

Like stars across the sky
E per avvincere
Tu dovrai vincere
We were born to shine
All of us here because we believe

Non arrenderti
Qualcuno è con te
Like stars across the sky
We were born to shine
E per avvincere
Dovrai vincere
E allora vincerai

Music and words are the morphine for the heart. The song ends with E allora vincerai – And then you’ll win. Optimism is all. And in that vein, I am going in the Gym while Chef is trying to sabotage it by making Hot Crossed Buns which she will serve dripping in butter. How will I cope?

Saturday, 4th April, 2026

End of another week already. My last full week of youth. I received another reminder that I enter the world’s Old People’s Home on Monday. It is not something to celebrate although it is something I should mark because I won’t be back. Reincarnation is an illusion to comfort the dying. Ashes to ashes is the reality.

Well, we’ll leave that there for now. There are more immedate things to deal with like … petrol prices. There are so many complaints about rising fuel prices and demands for the government to mitigate them. Pejorative comparisons are drawn with other countries in an attempt to paint ours in a bad light.

Before the Iran debacle, we were paying about £1.35 per litre for unleaded. This week, our price hit £1.51. Two weeks ago, I filled up in France and payed the equivalent of £1.71 per litre. It was quite a shock and illustrated just how isolated we Brits are.

We got back to a petrol station at home which was closed for lack of fuel due to panic buying. It quickly reopened and we have had a policy of filling up little and often since then. Yesterday, I topped up just £15.00’s worth of fuel and the car said it gave me a range of 503 miles until empty. One of the joys of driving a Hybrid. To be honest, on normal weekly driving, that would get me through a month.

In spite of the fuel prices, I love Europe. The Brexit vote was the sheer madness of the Great Unwashed doing the Global Elite’s bidding. A full decade on, it is becoming clear. The mantra of take back control of our borders rings a bit hollow as they start to complain about Europe doing exactly that themselves.

What gets me is that they talk about the EES  Entry-Exit System (EES) for non-EU citizens  as punishment for leaving the EU. They never refer to the almost identical system used by USA. I wonder what we’re being punished for there. Not being American? Losing the American War of Independence of 1783? As the mantra goes: if you leave a club, new rules apply. And so it is with Europe.

There is something so inclusive and optimistic about the nations of Europe that we can tap into and nobody says utterly superficially, Have a nice day. I leave you with the Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” expresses Schiller’s idealistic vision of the human race becoming brothers and adopted by EU leaders as the official anthem of the European Union..