Week 915

Sunday, 5th July, 2026

When this old world starts getting me down
And people are just too much for me to face
I climb way up to the top of the stairs
And all my cares just drift right into space
On the roof, it’s peaceful as can be
And there, the world below can’t bother me

Very warm evening. Went up to the Sunroof aka Moonroof where it was a little cooler with some movement of air. After Supper and in the airconditioned comfort of the Lounge, we watched a really well written, well constructed and excellently acted drama on ITV-X. I brought an Amazon Firestick with me to plug into the back of the TV to access all my accounts.

I don’t know if this happens to you or if it’s an old age thing but I had a feeling that I’d watched it before. I couldn’t remember the full plot but recognised isolated vignettes. It still affected me emotionally and I felt quite sad when I walked up the stairs to the roof. Coming down to watch the final episode of 4, it concluded with a really satisfactory resolution of optimism. The trip to the roof had obviously worked its magic.

As the heat rises, walking becomes more demanding. Going to try to get out earlier this week before peak temperatures hit. Of course, on a Sunday religion comes first so I have to watch the political analysis programmes. You will remember Marx said that Religion is the Opiate of the People which is why those in power embrace it. He might well have said that Politics is the wakeup call of the population. The population are finally seeing Farage and the Deform Party squirm in media scrutiny.

After a couple of hours walking, a long swim and meal, I may try to catch a few hours sleep and then get up to watch a bit of the England game. Unfortunately, it starts at 2.00 pm here and some would say England football is the opiate of the people so I may well struggle to stay awake.

Monday, 6th July, 2026

Well, what a night. I went to bed at 11.00 pm with an alarm on my phone set for 1.55 am. Got up to be faced with this screen.

Couldn’t decide if it was worth staying up for a 3.00 am start but thought I might regret missing an historic event. Sat through an hour of mindless, time-filling chat and watched the first half.

Decided I just couldn’t take much more and on the judgement that the South American antics on the pitch would win through, I decided to go to bed. Didn’t get up until 8.00 am – almost mid morning – to find England had won. I must admit I was amazed.

Because I had my Amazon Firestick with me, I could access BBC iPlayer which allowed me to watch the whole of the second half. Even knowing the result, it was tense.

I was shattered by 9.00 am over my muesli. It’s 32C/90F outside. It’s going to be a slow day. The lads Whatsapp group that I belong to are all my age or older and I was encouraged to find they did a very similar thing. Went to bed at Half Time and watch the rest this morning.

Four years ago England lost to France in the Quarter Finals and they’ve got to get through an extra stage this time but, more importantly, four years ago, my garden looked like this. Hard to believe. It has made such a difference.

Tuesday, 7th July, 2026

Just starting our 4^th and final week of this trip to sunny Spain. Feel very lucky. Wrote last week of the feeling of disconnect between 4 pension payments arriving in our bank account as we relaxed on the Costa Blanca.

There is no question that I am part of the fortunate Generation. Baby Boomers are the wealthiest generation to have ever lived, a new report from Allianz has found, courtesy of affordable housing and strong equity markets providing huge returns on savings. We Boomers were not expected to serve in the armed forces. We worked through a period when there was a relatively high number of employment opportunities. Strong economic growth, burgeoning property values and booming equity markets—allowed Boomers to build up a handsome fortune and pensions were at their strongest and available at their earliest in history.

I am also one of the Defined Benefits Pensioners which guarantees an ever increasing income for life based on my Final Salary. It is inflation-protected and includes part of one’s spouse’s pension on death. It provides a secure, reliable and predictable retirement income. Not only that, we took it at the relatively young age of 57 with a generous lump sum to soften the blow of not working. In comparison, Generation X, who followed us, found employers unable or unwilling to fund these pensions and moved workers on to Defined Contribution Pensions where workers build up a pot of money, not a guaranteed income. That relies on investment performance and the worker not the employer carries the investment and longevity risk

Risk is not what someone who is retired wants but Defined Contribution Pensions rely on building up a big enough pot of savings to get you through an unpredictable old age. I know it’s meaningless but actuarially, we would need just about £1 million in a pension pot to fund our current monthly pensions and we would be almost certainly short of that in reality. The poor workers following us into retirement will have poorer and diminishing work pensions and a means tested State Pension without the Triple Lock benefit.

Putting all of that aside for the moment, it is so hot and will be for most of this week that my walking exercise is being reduced and swimming time doubled. Just half an hour walking this morning was exhausting so I’ve done 30 lengths in the pool before lunch and I will do another 30 this afternoon. Quite nice to have a change and an empty, clean, refreshing pool is delightful in this heat.

Wednesday, 8th July, 2026

The morning started early – at 4.30 am – with political Podcasts from The News Agents and The Rest is Politics analysing the latest Farage stunt and the main parties refusal to play ball. It is straight out of the Trump playbook. If you want people not to look at your wrong doing, just get them to look elsewhere. It looks shabby and, ultimately, it won’t work. Quite astonishing to listen to his whining self-justification and to hear him describe himself as the ‘most attacked politician in recent times’ as we remember the murders of MPs Jo Cox and David Amiss was something to behold.

I predict that Farage is all but finished. Whether the Deform Party is remains to be seen but it won’t win the General Election and will fade away over time like the SDP did in the early 1980s. Who remembers them now? Farage has succeeded in shifting The Overton Window – the spectrum of views which are considered acceptable/possible to be discussed in politics and society.

The spectrum has swung sharply to the Right in recent years as it has across Europe and America. Things that no respectable politician could say without having opprobrium heaped upon themselves have suddenly become acceptable.

Enoch Powell, the far right member of the Tory Party made his infamous 1968 racist Rivers of Blood speech in which he envisaged Britons becoming “strangers in their own country” and for which he was roundly condemned. He would have been amazed to find Human Rights Lawyer, Keir Starmer, make a very similar speech almost 60 years later in which he said, UK risked becoming an island of strangers. It was disgracefully pandering to the racists and illustrative of the Overton Window effect. Hopefully, the pendulum will return soon.

As soon as I got up, I had two medical procedures to complete. Because I am away for a month, I’ve had to bring my INR testing kit. This morning, I tested and reported my results to Worthing Hospital. They will advise me by return email of my required warfarin dosage and next testing report.

I’ve been taking rat poison every day since 2009 and it has kept me alive. It makes me much less likely to have a heart attack or stroke for which I feel very lucky. Particularly on the day when a former College friend from my Year is buried having died suddenly of an aggressive cancer which he thought he had beaten but silently returned. As people from my Generation drop away, every day is important. Currently, I am looking at moving to a more modern blood thinner which doesn’t involve regular testing. Something to consider.

Sounding more like a walking cadaver than I’d like to, I’ve had to contact my Surgery this morning to book a PSA/Testosterone test which will inform my upcoming Prostate Cancer review. Sharp intake of breath ….

Thursday, 9th July, 2026

Interesting start to the morning. Hot but quite overcast. Makes a change. When you’ve experienced 23 consecutive days of clear blue sky and strong sunshine, a moment’s respite is very welcome. Actually, with the South Coast of England experiencing its third heatwave of the year, we consider ourselves lucky to be living and sleeping in chilled, airconditioned rooms.

By 11.30 am, all the cloud has been burnt off as the temperature reaches 37C/99F and my wife enters the pool wearing a tee-shirt and a hat to protect her skin. I don’t – in some show of bravado for which I will almost certainly pay if I live to reach 90.

Flying into Alicante International in the middle of June, it was noticeable how many acres of land were given over to solar panels and there is a suggestion in the sceptic Press that Spain has gone too far – as if you can in reality. Spain experiences double the sunshine of South East England and produces more electricity than it currently requires. As the climate moves, it will be the UK’s ambition to do the same.

These two love birds appeared yesterday. You’ll know what they are, Dear Reader. They are Green Parakeets – basically, small parrots – and are very common in Spain and the Canary Islands but they are becoming increasingly commonplace in London and the South East now.

We have just 6 days left of this trip. It has been absolutely wonderful. I have loved it and will certainly do it again next year may be for 6 or 8 weeks. I will liaise with the Management here. We are fantastic customers. We book an extended period, pay our cash, turn up, collect the keys, look after the property like our own home and leave it clean and tidy without any intervention from the Letting Agents. We ask for nothing and cost them nothing unlike the short term renters who mean regular work for the Management.

Going to Athens in August and then a month in Tenerife in November. But, before that I have a number of Health Checks. Most importantly, I have my Prostate Cancer review at the Worthing Hospital but then we both have full body scans and health assessments a the private Neko Clinic in Victoria, central London.

Friday, 10th July, 2026

Another day of sunshine for most of us. Some of us welcome that while others want to lie down in a darkened room and hide from the light. In my view, there will be plenty of time for that. In fact, there will be an eternity for that. For some, that eternity has already begun.

I have always been interested in the Obituary pages of newspapers. They appeal to the Historian in me. As I get older, my interest is definitely slanted towards the ages of the deceased. I read the Huddersfield Examiner and the Manchester Evening News and I’m regularly heartened to find the majority are living well into their late 80s and early 90s.

Of course, it is in the nature of life that people die but, when you are 75, seeing people die in their 70s holds more moment. I mentioned a few days ago that one of my College colleagues had died of cancer at the age of 75 and his funeral was on Wednesday. That was certainly a shock. On Monday, a Labour politician many readers will never have heard of, George Howarth, died aged just 77.

Even though I knew nothing about her, when the death of Bonnie Tyler at the age of 75 was announced yesterday, I realised some of her songs were in the distant soundtrack of my memory. It was announced that her most significant song was Total Eclipse of the Heart. My first reaction was that I had never heard of it … until it was played and I found myself singing with it.

Every now and then, I get a little bit lonely
And you’re never coming ’round
(Turn around)
Every now and then, I get a little bit tired
Of listening to the sound of my tears
……..
And I need you now tonight
And I need you more than ever
And if you only hold me tight
We’ll be holding on forever
And we’ll only be making it right

I sang it word perfectly. Where did all that come from? Who knew I knew pop songs of a pop singer I was hardly aware of? Amazing what we absorb subconsciously in our youth. And then, as a total counterpoint we heard this morning of the death of the mad bat that was Anne Widdecombe at the age of 77. What ever you thought of her, you certainly couldn’t ignore her until now.

From these recent obituaries I might draw the conclusion that I don’t have long left but yet another death was announced this morning of Patricia Greene at the young age of 95. You’ve never heard of her, have you Dear Reader. You do have to be pretty crusty to know that she was the actress who played Jill Archer in The Archers since 1957. So, as the conveyor belt of humanity moves continually on, there is hope.

And now once more into the sunshine for a swim …..

Saturday, 11th July, 2026

Day 26 of this current trip. And the heat goes on …. Fortunately, we have missed the excessive heatwave in UK and we are just about to miss an intense heatwave on the Costa Blanca which is said to be arriving on Wednesday.

I don’t mind temperatures in the 40Cs but it does limit activities a bit. We would tend to stay in airconditioned comfort more and I would rather be outside. The regional press are warning of high temperatures – too high for old ladies. They say it’s going to be like an oven.

Well, they don’t really use that word. They say Horno which sounds like something different entirely. Mind you, it is advertised in the Supermarket.

I love the interconnection of the Romance Languages. Here, the word Horno means oven. In French it is Four; in Italian it is Forno and in Greek it is Fournos (Φούρνος). I wonder where we got the word Furnace from? What ever you call it, we are going to be flying back to UK on Tuesday for some delicious rain while those remaining here are going to be roasted.

Thank goodness for translation apps. The management girl who met us when we arrived here didn’t speak English. She used a translation app which she spoke in to in Spanish and then played it back to me in English. There are lots of textual translators but now a few voice-to-voice translation apps are appearing.

I’m going to have to get one because I am too old and lazy to really get beyond basic in other languages. I refuse to learn American entirely while Trump is still around. This is iTranslate Voice which instantly speaks over 40 languages that quite appeals to me but Google do one and there is VoicePing walkie talkie app which is cheap but on subscription.

Just as University Theses are now available with AI assistance, so Language Learning is now almost made redundant by AI assisted, mobile Language apps. Just trust in Technology, Dear Readers.

I don’t want to bore you but, as an adjunct to yesterday’s Blog which was read by quite a few Blog visitors, I was shocked and saddened to read this today. Having been a prostate cancer sufferer myself, and having been quite accidentally diagnosed early, I am full of the sense of good fortune when I read news like this and I just cannot square it with the medical profession’s refusal to instigate a national screening programme.