Sunday, 19th July, 2026
July 2026 is rushing down the hill towards Winter. I noticed last night that the evenings are beginning to getting darker earlier. I tried to watch the England match but didn’t get beyond Half Time. I’d had a really long day working outside on Saturday and I was very tired. It must be an age thing. I could hear all the old ladies in their rocking chairs shouting for England as I fell asleep.
Mind you, I bet they hadn’t spent 6 hours in hot sunshine, mowing, watering, sweeping, weeding. I lost 4lbs in weight after my efforts yesterday and was too tired to eat and drink. We’ve been home for just 4 days and the streetside is beginning to look cared for again although the grass is brown and everything needs rain. Today, we turn our attention to the back garden.
Today, Chef will collect more armfuls of basil from the back garden and fill the kitchen with that wonderful aroma as she produces a second batch of Pesto which will be portioned up and put into the outside freezer to get us through the Winter.
My job is the enjoyable one. I am chief taster and I have to give the thubs up. You can’t beat freshly made pesto with basil cut 15 mins ago from the garden, high quality, Greek extra virgin olive oil, lots of rough cut garlic, freshly grated hunks of Italian Parmigiano Reggiano and loosened with the juice of very ripe Italian lemons. It is an attempt to preserve the Summer.
It is great to be able to open a jar of home made strawberry jam made properly and taste the essence of the previous summer on the spoon. It is an absolute delight and helps soften the sadness as the Summer fades, the time passes and 76 beckons. And I mean sadness. It really does get to me.
I know I go on about it but I find it hurts me more as time passes. Yesterday, a neighbour across the road was holding a garden party for his daughter who was 15. He remarked that she was only 4 when we all moved in to our new houses.
He went on to talk about the heatwave here which has gone on for 5 weeks now and how he had never experienced anything like it. He is an intelligent man, a Cambridge Graduate and Mathematician working in industry. I asked him if he could compare it with the famous Summer of of 1976. He pointed out that he wasn’t born until 1977 and I felt the dagger to my heart. That’s why this morning I am listening to the haunting Rachmaninov Adagio that I first met and fell in love with in 1973. All those years ago ….
Monday, 20th July, 2026
Beautiful Day. It’s going to be one of hedge trimming and cutting back the bushes along the drive so I can get the car down without scratching it. First tasks include contacting Financial Institutions which can be a bit scratchy and obtuse themselves but it has to be done.
First, we must wish Richard, a regular Blog reader, a Happy Birthday. You will all know that I am obsessed with aging. Don’t know why. Richard has reached 80. Hard to know whether to congratulate him or commiserate with him. He probably feels the same. It will not be the same for him since he lost his wife.
Celebrations are for sharing and 80 has real significance. Richard is an intelligent and thoughtful man who will already know both sides of the coin. We hope he can be happy and enjoy his day. Paper cards are very last century and Richard is on Whatsapp. I’m rubbish on cards at the best of times and have to be told to put kisses on them. Fortunately, AI is good at everything and designed me this card withing 15 seconds. Staying alive can be exciting.
Transferring largish sums of money online can be more than exciting. People we know ‘misplaced’ £250,000.00 once because of a bank error. Can you imagine the panic before that was sorted out? Today, I’ve got to move less than that but a considerable amount between institutions.
Two years ago, when I was looking for a good rate for fixed rate ISAs and Bonds, I chose Kent Reliance Investment Bank because it had a High Street position. I went in and talked to humans. A few months before they matured – the funds not the humans – the bank closed its branches and said it was going online. The web-based platform would be ready in time.
Of course it isn’t. I was met this morning by a message to say it wouldn’t be ready until September. I could and should have predicted it. So I’ve had to spend an hour on the phone this morning explaining what I wanted to do and giving my instructions. I’m having to download forms, fill them in and upload them again. These are quite technically proficient activities for many. They are time consuming for me. At least I am going to achieve 4.5% for the next couple of years. Once again, I could get a smidge more at 4.7% but I am happier with the institution I’m moving to and the UK inflation rate is 2.8% so I am at least making a real gain.
While I am doing all this, my phone flashes up a notification from Patients Know Best. Good or Bad news? Well, you can tell from the graph that it is good news. My Prostate Specific Antigen plummeted after radiotherapy and has flatlined ever since. It would seem that I am cancer-free …. for now.
Life is wonderful, isn’t it Dear Reader. Yesterday in glorious sunshine, Pesto was being made and first cut herbs were being prepared for freezing. As I cut the Oregano, a cloud of miniature butterflies the size of a small thumbnail flew up and fluttered by. I managed to snap a photo with my phone of one and then asked AI what it was.
I was told that these weren’t butterflies at all but ‘Mint Moths’ which like to feast on Oregano, Mint and Thyme plants all of which I have masses of in my garden. They live for 3 weeks if they are lucky. I’m a sucker for little things and I’m already in love with these even if they do eat my herbs.
Tuesday, 21st July, 2026
I haven’t had an NHS dentist since we left Yorkshire 15 years ago. Our private dentist is paid for by an annual contract which provides for two Hygenist and two Dentist appointments a year. It only costs £22.00 per month but some people will decide it is an expense they have to forgo in favour of heating or eating. I believe it should be free at the point of access like the Health Service and like Social Care should be so that those with the greatest ability to pay do so through their taxes.
I hate the Hygenist – not personally but as a process – and need my hand holding by a beautiful girl just to get through although I’m not sure she’s worth £22.00 per month. My Housekeeper makes the appointments hence I’ve had Hygenist at 8.30 am today and I have Dentist at 8.30 am tomorrow. Brilliant! What am I doing?
To soften the blow, I’ve been allowed to go down to the beach for coffee. A couple of years ago, a ‘shed’ was constructed and we looked quizzically at it – The Cafe on the Beach – but it has been a roaring success. It is regularly packed out.
We were there just as it opened this morning and chose to sit outside in the sun overlooking the sea. There were people strolling on the beach and going in the sea. No children because they don’t break up from school here until this afternoon. What’s that out on the horizon? Fantastic zoom on my phone camera showed me.
THe most exciting moment of the week so far is the arrival of Andy Burnham. We are kindred spirits. We were both brought up as Roman Catholics but have both largely eschewed religion in adulthood. We both did English Lit. Degrees and we both love the poetry of Philip Larkin.
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 (1951)
This poem is about the inevitability of death. He argues that people spend too long fixated on the future, forgetting to live in the present. In ‘Next, Please,’ he looks at people who have wasted their present, waiting for a future that never comes. Larkin implores the reader to sieze the moment before it’s too late. It is something I find very difficult to do.
Yesterday the Black-Sailed Ship arrived for two newsworthy men, Ed Stourton and Kevin Kegan. Both died of cancer. Stourton at just 68 was a notable journalist and BBC political analyst who died of Prostate Cancer. Kegan needs little introduction, although my neighbour across the road didn’t know anything about him, died of Stomach Cancer. As I stepped out into the sunshine of the Cafe on the Beach, you can be sure that both would have given everything to just enjoy that moment.
Wednesday, 22nd July, 2026
It’s been a stressful morning. Awake at 5.00 am and listening to a political podcast analysing Burnham’s new cabinet and the night of the long knives sackings of the old Starmerites. Up at 6.00 am and out to the dentist for the second morning for 8.30 am appointment. My manager loves making these appointments to keep me on my toes. Yesterday it was the hated hygenist. This morning it was the Persian Princess, Fariba, my beautiful dentist. No problems. No follow up. Next bookings made for January on consecutive days at …. 8.30 am. My Cancer Review has been brought forward to tomorrow morning. Hope they don’t know something I don’t.
Drove back via the beach which was very quiet. I was wrong about schools down here. They don’t break up until this afternoon. The beachside funfare will be delighted. The beach hut pensioners less so. Their peace is about to be broken.
Managing money can be so stressful and time consuming. This morning, I have had to contact an investment bank and a building society to get them to talk to each other and to talk to our main bank which seems reluctant to recognise either of them. We have ISAs which have matured in one and which we want to transfer to another while opening new ones at the same time. Fixed rate bonds have just matured which will also transfer. The risk is of thousands of pounds going ‘missing’ because the institutions each have such arcane requirements that have been in place prior to digital updates.
Eventually, all is done but I am drained of nervous energy. I’m just running through my online calendar to see what I have to do over the next few months and I spot – September 25th: Fiz / Birthday / 40. Fiz (aka Fiza) is an ex-pupil of ours. A lovely girl from the Oldham’s Asian community, Fiza was feisty. You can’t beat a feisty girl. She broke all the rules, had boyfriends, was incredibly bright but truanted school to go into Manchester to meet boys. She was my kind of girl.
Of course, she turned out brilliantly, did a Degree, got married and had three kids, started a Counselling Business and is now very comfortable in her own skin. I have never forgotten her. Every two or three years, we have exchanged hearts and kisses on Whatsapp and she had enquired about the old people’s welfare and that’s it. Yesterday, no sooner had I closed my calendar with her in my head than my phone went and it was Fiz. We hadn’t spoken for two years. Love coincidences.
We fly to Athens soon and I was alerted to Checkin online this morning. It’s easy to do but you have to be really careful putting in passport numbers accurately, etc. Failure at that point could lead to you not being allowed to board. Having gone through the process, we download and print out our Boarding Passes and that involves checking our seats.
I wrote recently that all four flights we have taken this year have had empty seats. When you book, you get a layout of the plane to choose the seats you want. We book so early that they are all available. We can take our pick. This one is so close to flying and in peak season that I assumed it would be full. It is more than half empty at the moment. No wonder they are flogging off cheap seats and advertising constantly on television. I just hope they don’t cancel because of lack of passengers.
Thursday, 23rd July, 2026
Can you believe that it is sunny again. I am going to the hospital for my bi-annual oncology review. Let’s hope it is still sunny when I come out.
For me, sunshine always means Greece first and foremost. Walking and swimming in blazing hot sun. Lunch in a little taverna by the sea with the breeze tempering the incredible heat. Fresh Calamari & ice cold wine – pure heaven.
Greece is sun, food and society. Long hours at tables under canopies of vines, tasting new dishes, chatting, watching other people, listening to their conversations and learning about their lives. And, in the evening, when the sun goes down and the darkness envelopes the scene, it is the magic of the perfumed vines wafting across the hot and heavy darkness as distant lights define the island.
For those night owls like me, move on to a Kafenion like Lakis to sit talking, thinking, dreaming over a cup of thick, Greek coffee into the early hours before giving in and limping home to bed. This really is outside my remit these days. This Lakis KafeZakaroplastio (Καφές Ζαχαροπλαστείο) which means coffee and sweet things shop is the quintessential Greek Kafenion of the last century.
There is magic in Greece and particularly on Greek islands and in their homespun domesticity. It is charming and endearing but rather less comfortable than I prefer these days. I choose a 5* hotel and the quality lifestyle of a capital city. I am going to Athens in 3 weeks for Greek comfort and service.
There is so much Greek in the media at the moment but dominated by the new Blockbuster film, The Odyssey. I read it in Grammar School and wasn’t over impressed. Even now, it doesn’t really appeal to me. There is rather a daft drama called Two Weeks in August supposedly set on a remote Greek island and there is the more academic Mary Beard examination of 2nd century Athens and the rule of Herodes Atticus.
I am out of my Cancer Review and the sun is still shining. My flatlining PSA results suggest that it is beaten …. for now. Life can go on. We have visitors staying with us for the weekend. Meals are being planned, house being cleaned, garden being tidied, events being organised. It’s all go which stops me thinking and brooding so it’s good.
Friday, 24th July, 2026
Warm start to the day after a lovely afternoon yesterday. Lifted some potatoes which have been developing over the month we were away. I put in Saxon 2nd Earlies this year because I’d never tried them. They have turned out to be a lovely, white potato with great flavour.
We are also able to lift onions now. I put in Corrado onion sets which have done well in terms of size although I haven’t tasted them yet. Looking forward to that this weekend when we test them on M&K. These are always enjoyable times when we eat our own produce and kid ourselves that they taste so much better than bought from Waitrose.
My Housekeeper loves the challenge of catering for visitors and has been consulting her records for an interesting Supper to cook. She has spent her life compiling recipes and meal plans and recording them in books at first and digitally later. I wanted her to put out a Blog of her research and records. I was all ready for publicising it and attracting advertisers to sponsor it but it turned out not to be her thing. Shame, I could have been rich.
Anyway, shopping is a nightmare because every ingredient has to be selected with great care, compared with alternatives and maybe duplicated in case one turns out unsatisfactory. Today, the freshest Monkfish and Pancetta had to be sourced. It will be served with a side dish of Lyonnaise potatoes created using potatoes and onions from the garden. Just reviewed this week’s Blog posts and they are rather dominated by food. I must be going on a diet.
I talked about being contacted by an ex-pupil earlier in the week. I haven’t seen her in person for 24 years. This morning, we were contacted by a lad – ex-pupil who we haven’t seen for over 20 years. He knows I am political. He is trying to get to grips with political ideas. He is a hard working, non-intellectual, Oldham lad. Not bright but very honest. He has flirted with Reform but is interested in Andy Burnham coming to power. His Boss is encouraging him to think but he is struggling to find his way through the changes. He has asked us for help. How could we refuse.
Saturday, 25th July, 2026
Already sunny and warm at 7.00 am. Already 24C after a peak of 25C yesterday. While I was in the sunny garden, Greeks were enjoying a deluge. They are not unheard of in July but they are not so usual either. Imagine being an American on your one chance to visit Europe and view the essential tourist Athens site by going up the Acropolis …. and this happens.
It happened to us all the way back in 1981 on our first trip to Athens. We checked into a hotel for one night. The heavens open and drowned the street. Electricity boxes are on the outside of buildings where little rain ever falls. Heavy rain blue the fuses and we were in an unknown hotel in pitch darkness. Welcome to Greece – 45 years ago.
Ultimately, you have to go with the weather and enjoy it as anyone visiting Wales will tell you. I used to love storms in Greece. A break from the sunshine and a free Sound & Light Show. You just have to relax and enjoy it. Unlike in Wales, it doesn’t come every day.
A Brief Look at Immigration to UKDownload
After gardening yesterday, I spent an hour preparing teaching material for the ex-pupil who asked for help. Once a teacher always a teacher. A quick and potted history of immigration to the UK and how perceptions of peoples changed over time will suffice for now. If he copes with that, we will move on to Burnham’s attempts to roll back Thatcher’s Neo Liberalism and to re-establish a social contract with the British people by pushing power and decision-making out to the regions.
Ironically for Greece, a report this morning informs us that almost two million Britains live in Water Poverty which is officially defined as a household where the cost of essential water and sewerage services is unaffordable relative to its income.
It is quite scandalous. I have long been an advocate of what was originally know as Gas & Water Socialism. It is a concept that goes much wider now but basically views the essentials of life must be guarranteed by the polity. I would widen it to housing, heating/cooling, sustenance, communication (phone & internet) and radio/television, medical services including dentistry and social care, basic transport. In other words all the things that allow one to live a basic life.
From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs” (Jeder nach seinen Fähigkeiten, jedem nach seinen Bedürfnissen)
Karl Marx – 1875
We are not talking about a luxurious and refined life of milk & honey like ours, Dear Reader. We should be guaranteeing the basic existence of our citizens and equipping them to contribute to society by receiving and transmitting information. Few will be satisfied with such a bare minimum and will strive to improve themselves and their lot. But there will be some who decide that the minimum is enough and may well ultimately be required to contribute through state-led schemes.
Guests arriving this afternoon. May take them down to the beach for a stroll before Supper. May just chill in the garden if that suits them better. What ever, nice weekend to look forward to. Hope yours is good, Dear Reader.
Sanders Blog 