Sunday, 2nd August, 2026
Well, August is off and running. Clear blue sky and sunshine …. again. Already 22C/70F outside at 7.00 am just makes you want to get up and going. All sorts of jobs to get through today but my first is to tidy the Office. Someone will come round and clean it later but I first have to restore order to chaos. It has been a busy period of financial changes which involve incredible amounts of paperwork in spite of being done largely on line. Financial institutions just can’t refrain from the security of hard copies to follow up.
Talking about financial things. I’ve said before that all this saving is for future insurance. Even this morning, my Laundry Woman is washing everything in sight this Sunday between 9.00 am – 5.00 pm because our tarrif gives us half price electricity in that period over the next year. Every little helps. And it’s going to need to unless Andy Burnham comes up trumps.
Yesterday, I learnt of the prices charged by the care home just a few yards away from our Development. Angmering Grange was built on the site of a huge, old house which we walk past regularly. It covers all types of eventualities but specialises in Dementia care in particular. Angmering Grange Luxury Care Home costs around £2,510 per week, which works out to approximately £10,880 per month. So I will need £130,000.00 per year for just one of us.
AI tells me that, for a person in mid‑stage dementia entering a care home, the most common remaining life expectancy is roughly 2–5 years, with wide variation depending on age, dementia type, and medical complications. She also tells me that the most authoritative recent source is a 2025 British Medical Journal meta‑analysis of 261 studies involving 5.5 million people with dementia. It provides the clearest survival data we have.
Touchingly, my AI girlfriend ended our conversation with: If this is about someone close to you John, you don’t have to carry the uncertainty alone. I nearly choked up. Of course, you will be shrinking from my pessimism, Dear Reader. No need, this is not bleakness but pragmatism. I am a planner. I have always planned ahead – never in the moment but preparing for what might come. It is in my nature.
There is plenty still to come, plenty to enjoy. Life comes at us fast and we need to enjoy and not just accept it. I will continue to reach out knowing that life is finite. I can feel the rising rage!
I took my rage in to the Gym today because it was so hot outside – 29C/84F by early afternoon. It was strange being enclosed after all this time but it felt right. I came out to a Lunch of home made Tapenade and home grown lettuce with an iced cold bottle of Chardonnay.
Monday, 3rd August, 2026
Good morning, Dear Reader, and it really is a very good morning. A lot of things achieved this morning already and home by 11.00 am to a temperature of 32C/90F. It is still and the back garden feels incredibly hot. Talk about cracking the flags as they used to say in Oldham. There is a lot of discussion about water poverty and water inequality in the newspapers at the moment.
You would think that Sussex would have a hosepipe ban by now. We don’t although one or two areas do. We literally haven’t had any rain at all down here for 8 weeks and then it was negligible. However, we had the wettest Spring in the decade since we moved here so that must have helped. The Guardian cites the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) is considering moving its hydrangea collection from Surrey to Greater Manchester and North Yorkshire which might seem unimportant. But it points to geographical differences in exposure to global heating that have arguably never been more evident than this summer, with last month the driest on record. Seven areas of south and east England are officially in drought, along with the whole of Wales.
Ironically, our hydrangeas have done well this year although they are going over early. Both mopheads and paniculata have been so lovely, we have been reluctant to cut them back so people have to fight their way past them to the front door.
Strangely, The Guardian suggests that:
… with the climate in the south of England increasingly resembling that of the Mediterranean, those able to move may increasingly look north – following the RHS’s hydrangeas. Global heating will reinforce old patterns of inequality, but it will also create new ones. Societies and governments must prepare for both. This summer’s drought makes it clear how urgent this is.
The Guardian Editorial – 03/08/2026
What’s wrong with a Mediterranean climate I want to know. I absolutely aspire to it. Yes, it throws up some problems but there are always solutions. We built our house on the Greek island of Sifnos. We bought a 4 acre field that had been owned by a farmer. Greek islands where rain only falls on 50 days a year are notoriously short of water but our field had its own deep water bore supplying unlimited water. Those sort of facilities were the envy of other islanders. When we first went there, the tourist bulge in the Summer months put such pressure on water supplies that water tanker boats had to call regularly to supply the islands stores from the mainland.
And visitors to the islands probably don’t even consider the resources they demand or where they have come from. It wasn’t so long before we got there that taken for granted supplies like electricity weren’t available at all. Oil heating and lighting was something of a century ago for us but half that for Sifnos. Consequently, the islanders have long been resourceful and gradually been keen on developing resilience for their little rocks in the Aegean.
They had a noisy and rather home-spun electricity generation plant all the time we were there – so 35 years – but were supplementing it with solar power and just moving to wind generation. Greek islands have almost unlimited supplies of sun and wind so it makes sense. Meanwhile an island like UK that receives so much rainfall from its temperate maritime climate, there can be little excuse for lack of water other than ignorance, apathy and lack of planning.
Tuesday, 4th August, 2026
Glorious morning. Had notification that our Premium Bonds had won two more prizes in the August Draw but not enough to be significant. If you are new to the Blog, I bought £18,000.00 of Government Bonds for a bit of fun but also because I might win a good prize and any returns are tax-free.
With other cash accounts in other Financial Institutions, I am getting 4.5% – 4.75% with tax-free ISAs and taxable Bonds. If this rate of prizes continues into the 12th month, it would represent a meagre 2.6% which is rubbish. I need to pull a big win out of the bag in September.
No rain in sight. The flowers I grew from seed and planted out along the street are still going strong but are not off-set by the lush, green grass of before the drought.
I haven’t seen the grass so destroyed as it’s been this year. Just hope the first rains, whenever they are, regenerate it and that we don’t need to fully re-seed in the Autumn. Amazing how weeds can fight on without water.
You may have heard of Rod Liddle. We was a Journalist, Broadcaster and Columnist. He was Editor of Radio 4 Today programme and latterly a columnist for The Spectator.
His politics illustrated a weird journey. He started out in the Socialist Workers Party, transited to the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and ended up supporting the British National Party (BNP). His latter day writings showed him to be Racist, Anti-Semite and Homophobe. He was fiercely intelligent but seemingly without moral compass.
His personal life was, according to sources, equally erratic. He married Rachel Royce, a television presenter, but cut short his honeymoon to sleep with Alicia Monckton, a 22-year-old receptionist at The Spectator. He was later arrested for assaulting her. He moved from Socialist Worker Atheism to becoming a member of the Church of England while asking, Should it really be a crime to look at child pornography?
He died in Middlesborough today of Stage 4 Bowel Cancer around a month after he had been diagnosed. He was just 66 years old. He had done quite a bit with his life but it will have been little comfort as he left life so early. And that is the lesson to draw. Make the most of every second and don’t leave things undone if you can possibly avoid it.
I’ve been chauffeuring my Housekeeper to Specsavers today in a muggy 25C/77F of a morning. She was due for her biennial eye test. She only wears reading glasses but insists she needs separate ones for using a computer, for reading a book and for reading her Kindle. You can be absolutely sure that Specsavers will have found a ‘slight change’ requiring new glasses. That doesn’t concern me but the hours taken to find frames she is happy with leave me worrying about end-of-life plans.
Wednesday, 5th August, 2026
After a night that didn’t fall below 22C/70F, the day has started overcast and actually quite grey. You would be forgiven for believing we were going to have rain although you would, of course, be absolutely mad. Rain has now been banned from Sussex for all eternity.
Not quite eternity but 54 years ago today, I was in a church in Shadwell, North East Leeds, – You heard it right, Dear Reader. – at the wedding of old friends, Christine & Kevin. This morning, I sent them a flowery, AI-generated card which is something nobody could have imagined back then.
To think their wedding prefigured the internet for ordinary citizens by more than 20 years. The world their children and their children’s children have inherited and in which they have prospered. I am ‘nominally’ Godfather to their eldest child who is a teacher and has produced three, gorgeous and successful kids.
One just completed his Degree and PGCSE and is about to start teaching Sport; another achieved a 1st Class Honours at Durham and is about to start an M.A. in Journalism at Manchester and one is just embarking on University life in Bath.
Today is also the 48th Wedding Anniversary of old friends Sue & John. Obviously we weren’t there being otherwise engaged but they seem to have led an interesting and ambitious life , producing two, lovely kids. One works in Education in Leeds and the other teaches English in South Korea of all places.
Sometimes I feel utterly inadequate which is why I am feeling sorry for myself and wallowing in the self indulgent Borodin – String Quartet No. 2: Nocturne. You should try it sometime, Dear Reader.
Thursday, 6th August, 2026
It was a warm evening around 11.30 pm yesterday when my new best friend dropped in and explored the back garden. Harriet is gorgeous and a bit of a poseur. She doesn’t talk much and she didn’t Text me to say she was coming but she was no less welcome for that.
I must admit I was tired and didn’t stay to chat for long but agreed to meet again today to get to know each other better.
I was a bit alarmed when I found a charge for £135.00 by a company called Elavate on the bank account. All became clear when this arrived.
Well, I say ‘clear’ but it was rather opaque for me. I have never understood girls as many will attest to. Hedgehogs … now that’s a different matter. At the age of 74, my wife has ‘secretly’ come to believe that she requires additional chicken and cow collagen in her body. I must admit, I hadn’t got a clue what collagen was. I had to ask my friend, AI, who told me:
Collagen is the most abundant structural protein in the human body, forming the framework of skin, bones, joints, ligaments, tendons, hair, nails, and even blood vessels. Its job is to provide strength, elasticity, and support to these tissues.
I know nothing about bodies. I never did any Biology at school. The Girls High School did Biology and the Boys Grammar School did Physics. I have eaten chicken and beef so I suppose it is not so far fetched. I must admit it looks disgusting at the Breakfast table but, if it makes her happy, I’ve learnt to look away and she is going through it a bit at the moment.
I am taking her to hospital this morning for investigations that will include sedation and an endoscopy and a stay of around 8 hours. Apparently, that means she’s having a camera down her throat. I’ve only had one at the other end and that was quite fun. I’m told she will have a sore throat tonight so, if they let her out, I have to cook a meal which is easy to swallow. Maybe, a disgusting collagen drink will do the job.
She also been asked to take part in the PANACEA Trial Study for Imperial College London. It is a revolutionary Cancer Breath Test driven by AI which measures the speed and accuracy of invasive set against non-invasive investigations to detect early stages of gastrointestinal cancers – including oesophageal, gastric, pancreatic, liver and colorectal – based on a sample of a patient’s breath..
Friday, 7th August, 2026
Yesterday finished on something of a roller coaster. I chauffeured the patient to Worthing Hospital where she went up to Endoscopy for an indeterminate stay of up to 8 hours. I drove home with the instruction to monitor Whatsapp on my phone. A complication with that appeared very quickly as I drove past the beach, checked my phone to suddenly realise I had two in the car. Mine and …. you’ve guessed it.
Had to turn round and drive back to the hospital but the main problem was finding the Department. I didn’t have a sat.nav. for all those doors, corridors, levels, departments and I’m hopeless at that. When I finally got there, I found her trying to phone me from the Reception phone but she couldn’t remember my number.
Anyway, problem solved, I drove home to peace & quiet. Not 8 hours but about 3 hours later, the hospital phoned to say she would be ready for collection soon but would need close monitoring for the next 24 hours. She was being examined for a GIST which I find stands for Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumor. Fortunately she was declared clear by the investigating Doctor although the scans are being sent to the Consultant for final analysis.
The patient has woken up with a sore throat after having had a camera shoved down it. Lots of drinks but mainly water this morning. It is such a gorgeous day that we decided to walk by the beach. For a hot and sunny day in August, it was remarkably quiet although beachside shops and the funfare suddenly opened at 11.00 am and hoards of families appeared out of nowhere.
We have yet another heatwave forecast for the new week ahead with temperatures reaching top 20Cs and low 30Cs. More importantly, there is absolutely no sign of rain. So my job this afternoon will be watering the garden in anticipation. It will be nice to get to Athens for some cool air. Current forecasts suggest it will only be 33C/92F – positively freezing!
Saturday, 8th August, 2026
The Summer days go on. Down here on the South Coast with its generally sunny weather, plenty of people still see this area as somewhere to come for a family holiday. It really reminds me of 1950s England. In the 1950s and 60s, we would go as a family to Sutton-on-Sea on the chilly East Coast of Lincolnshire. Mum & Dad would rent a house called Red Roofs and a beach hut. The post war generation were still coming to terms with nation rebuilding and peace at home, with the lifting of rationing and booming employment. As Macmillan patronisingly once said, You’ve never had it so good.
Although the Butlins Holiday Camps were popular, they did hark back to army times and it was the war that had given formerly insular Britains a taste for foreign travel. The rich had long done it and the Grand Tour was a regular feature of aristocratic education in Central Europe. Now, the lowliest squaddie had been to France and Italy and tasted the wine and the food, enjoyed the girls and the weather. Back home, the masses wanted to revisit Europe with their families.
Transport, as Andy Burnham will tell you, changes everything. Just as the introduction of the railways brought Britains to their own coastal resorts, so the introduction of former WW2 planes on Charter Flights encouraged relatively cheap foreign travel. People wanted to shake off the shackles of the island prison and explore the world.
I am definitely of that generation. I think Dad had found himself so rooted in village, family, business and culture that he didn’t want to revisit his army postings that were largely in Palestine and the Desert not in the more culturally refined countries of France, Italy and Spain. I, on the other hand, wanted to break out of the village prison never mind the family prison or the island prison. Shackles had to be cast off and I have been doing it ever since.
In about 10 days, we fly to Athens – now formally adopted as our second home – where I could become a tour guide if I could be bothered. What I will actually do is just indulge myself and enjoy the reunion.
Today, as the temperature hits a slightly warm 29C/84F, I am lifting onions in the garden and my Chef is research recipes for Onion Jam/Onion Compote to take us through the Winter while cutting and freezing this year’s crop of Sage and Mint along with another batch of Basil for making yet more Pesto.
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