Month: September 2026

Sunday, 20th September, 2026

Another lovely day which started rather grey but soon blossomed. The sky is now bright and the sun is out. I am going to be spending a good proportion of it outside in shorts and tee shirt absorbing the Vitamin D. Just 6 weeks to go before I fly to Tenerife and I’m hoping to remain in these clothes (or clean replacements) until I return in December. The challenges will be maintaining that over a trip to central London where we are having comprehensive Health Checks and a trip to the North where it can be cold.

Cooking is going on outside today as well. Chicken stock is being made where the smells can dissipate in the breeze. Bolognese Sauce is being made for portioning up and freezing – not to be eaten with pasta but in stuffed peppers and stuffed tomatoes over the weeks. Final crops and storage of herbs is taking place over the next few days.

The kitchen is full of machinery but one area attracted my interest particularly. A Kenwood Chef has featured in food production since I got married in 1978. It mixes cakes, kneeds bread dough, whisks cream, chops herbs, minces meat and stuffs sausages.

Today, steak is being minced to make the sauce. Non of this supermarket minced beef rubbish according to chef. She likes to start from first priciples and with assured quality ingredients. I don’t take part in that. The meals are always wonderful. The Kenwood machine featured here was bought in 1978 and has now been replaced with a new one but one that still uses all the original tools.

What caught my eye this morning was a bag – a simple bag made of light mushroom coloured corduroy. It was made in 1978 out of some spare material to contain all the Kenwood’s tools and parts. But it wasn’t just the bag that took me back. The cloth was bought from Huddersfield Market to make curtains for two, poor teachers. It also made cushion covers on settees in the Lounge and a draught excluder at the front door. And here it is almost 50 years later. The rabbit hole of time and memory remains open.

Monday, 21st September, 2026

The Summer continues. Clear blue sky and gorgeous sunshine. Walking by the waves will be a joy today. I am gradually trying to increase my efforts without letting it dominate my day. When I was doing 10 miles a day, it was taking up too much of my time. I actually got complaints from my wife. It’s alright when you can slip into Size 10 jeans all your life without them touching the sides but I am not one those. I have to work at it.

This guy featured in the newspapers this morning. I will never be him. I could live to 100 and not enjoy or be good at running. Walking is enough for me these days which is just as well. I can’t afford joint problems caused by pounding the pavements now. I am currently walking just over 6 miles per day / 45 miles per week which works out at around 180 miles a month. I think I am easily doing the NHS guidelines.

I am managing 7 times the guidelines of walking a marathon a month. I am trying to build up to 8 miles per day and to maintain that every day. I will never now go back to the two year spell when I walked 7,300 miles because I just couldn’t let go. I find letting go very difficult.

I was amused to see William Shatner/Captain Startrek feature in the newspapers this morning. At the age of 90, he has started a rock band. We all hate to give up the things we love and why should we? Some people love the limelight.

This is what I see on my walk although most of the older people looked dressed for Winter. They’ve probably never known Northern temperatures. I try to be always in Summer clothes. Yesterday, it was 24C/75F and today 25C/77F. These ‘Indian Summers’ are delightful.

Tuesday, 22nd September, 2026

Wall to wall sunshine again today. Looking forward it, sad, old man that I am. Looks like I’ll be outside for most of the day which will do me good.

Tomorrow is a the Birthday of a litle girl from my past. She was always known by me as Little Viv and she is Italian. I’ve always loved little people. They bring out the tender in me. She was the Head of Reprographics in my school for 30 years. I refer to her as a girl because of her size rather than her age. Tomorrow is her 72nd birthday.

Who sends actual cards these days? Little Viv is in the digital age and uses Whatsapp and email. I decided to make a digital birthday card for her to put on Whatsapp. To make it personal, I wanted to include a picture of her. The only recent one I have is from last Christmas and it is terrible quality.

The world is full of Artificial Intelligence, isn’t it Dear Reader. Fears of AI are the big news of the month. Of course, there are real justifications to that fear but we can’t uninvent it now just like the internet or the car. We have to use it to our benefit. I use it all the time in relatively minor ways to do jobs that would take me hours and days but it completes in minutes. How to extract Little Viv from this photo to use her elsewhere. Normally, it takes a lot of work. My AI platform, MS CoPilot, took just 90 secs not only to clear the complicated clutter of her background but to also enhance the quality of her image.

So now to put her into a graphic to celebrate her birthday. She loves the countryside, red wine and her cats. I asked MS CoPilot to create a card with those guidelines. I could have done this myself although I’m not sure how well and certainly not in the three minutes AI took.

This is just a card front and I wanted it to look like an actual 3D card so I asked AI to produce this with a message from me.

Ok, it is a bit too saccharine and idealised but memories tend to be that way, don’t they Dear Reader. Every new invention / development has both dangers and benefits for us. This is good fun and amazingly helpful. I use AI to do my research which would normally take me days. If only it had been like this when I was working. I could have run rings round Ofsted.

Now, I use AI to research data from multiple sources which it would take me ages to do using Google. I then ask it to present that data in a variety of forms such as graphs to illustrate a point I am making. I use AI to structure the case for and against a position I am arguing which is extremely helpful because it doesn’t get emotionally involved but just argues from the facts that it can find. AI can grab from complex Office for National Statistics data and present it alongside other sources so that I can make a decision myself without all the slog of research which one might give to a secretary.

The thing to do is keep your mind open and receptive to change. I warned a couple of years ago those stuck in the analogue age that digital telephony was on its way. All landlines by the end of this year will have been converted to internet-based or VOIP – Voice Over Internet Protocol. The downside is that, if your broadband goes down, you have no phone connection. I accepted a digital landline years ago and I ditched our landline completely 18 months ago. I haven’t once missed it.

I read this yesterday and thought: Who are those 5% and how have they managed to hold on to the past for so long. Of course, it is possible that they don’t have broadband installed. Well, they will now or they’ll need to get two tin cans with a long piece of string tp communicate but I wouldn’t advise it. You definitely wouldn’t be able to share pictures.

Wednesday, 23rd September, 2026

After a starry, moonlit night, we wake to a glororious day of clear blue sky and brilliant sunshine. Today is the Autumn Equinox when day and night are of equal length with only 12 hours of sunlight. The year is all downhill from here. To celebrate the end of the pier show we went down to the pier.

On a day like today, however tawdry a pier can be at the end of its season, the bright, mediterranean light lifts the mood and the view.

In Worthing, Wednesday is Market Day when market stalls are set up down the centre of a popular, pedestrianised walk way.

There all sorts of cheap and cheerful rubbish sold from cleaning products to hats to second hand books but there are also some useful stalls like a specialist in Greek Produce and others that sell Artisan Bread (if I was eating any), Specialist Cheeses (if I was eating any), Quality Meat (if I was eating any), Locally Caught Fish and Fruit & Vegetables. I went in to look for one, specific thing – fresh, Greek Figs. I love them.

Daren’t tell you how much these cost but I would have paid any price. They are Greek Sun sealed in a magnificently sweet fruit. And they are quite moving.

At mid day, the temperature has reached 25C/77F (Athens is 22C/70F) which is lovely as we anticipate the end of Summer. People in town are in beachwear, sitting on benches soaking up the rays. These bonus days are a time to really enjoy because they are unexpected. Soon, I am going to be living with a 75 year old so I am making the most of her youth while it remains.

Thursday, 24th September, 2026

A bit more cloudy this morning but still very warm. It’s a quiet day today with just exercise and a blood test. My Dad died when I was 14 of a heart attack whilst in hospital being treated for Angina. It wouldn’t happen now. He died 61 years ago today. I can see the day like it was now. If he had lived, he would be 111 this year. Not likely but not impossible. I just think of the 25+ years that I’ve had and that he missed.

Should be good quality blood this morning. I am dieting and that includes no alcohol. I have just completed 4 weeks without alcohol. My blood sugar is excellent after no carbohydrate for a month. My exercise is burning around 1000 cals per day and my intake is reduced by around 1500 cals per day. So, I am down net 2,500 cals per day which is significant. I have gone through the stage when the process makes me tired and I now have a new release of energy.

You know, I have drunk a bottle of red wine with my evening meal every night since 1973. I love red wine and I have moved over the years from French to Italian and I’m currently favouring Spanish and particularly Rioja. I do get into habits and I’ve often asked myself if I am alcoholic because of this habit. I have never been drunk in my life. Funnily enough, when I adopt a soft drink as an alternative, I get addicted to that habit instead. Currently, I am drinking a glass of non-alcoholic red wine with Supper and I have no longings for the alcohol at all.

The grass is growing so quickly at the moment that I will have to do the street again tomorrow. We have used all the Basil we can cope with this year so I am taking bagsful of it to neighbours today as well. It was a warm moonlit night last night but soon the temperatures at night will fall and the Basil won’t survive for long.

I’ve been using the Gym for less than an hour a day over the Summer. That will increase as less comfortable weather arrives. I’m looking forward to walking and swimming in Tenerife. Some call it a holiday. I call it warm weather training. The test will be if I can maintain my discipline when I am away from Home environment. Travelling does challenge my resolve but I will just have to be tougher with myself.

Actually, it’s interesting that our Bank Account, which is not free, provides benefits that it insists are worth more than it costs. They are right in that we get ‘free’ Worldwide Annual Travel Insurance for the two of us. We get ‘free’ Mobile Phone Insurance for both our mobiles. We get ‘free’ unlimited Airport Executive Lounge entry. We use all of these a lot. We could have ‘free’ AA European Breakdown cover but we have that with our car already. We could have ‘free’ Home Emergency support but we have that with our House Insurance. We could have a ‘free’ Concierge Service for travel booking or Event Booking but I would never leave that to someone else so I’ve never used it.

However, we are now being offered this ‘free’ Health Benefits Package which may well be useful. I don’t know what you think, Dear Reader. If only my Dad had had this at the touch of a button.

Friday, 25th September, 2026

Beautiful day of blue sky and sunshine. Please let them continue. We’ve got 5 weeks before we reach Canarian sunshine. You know you’re old when your kids are old. I don’t have any kids but I taught plenty.

One of the lovely ones I have stayed in contact with is Fiza who is Mum to two kids of her own and runs her own business as a Counsellor in Oldham. She is 40 today and my spirit shrinks one little bit more in acknowledging it. That feisty girl that I knew achieved her Degree a couple of years ago and is now a busy and committed woman of the world. It makes me feel old and lazy.

Of course the really important element of aging involves the distinction between Lifespan vs. Healthspan.

The Gap: People spend roughly around 18 years—or about 22% of their lives—managing sickness, functional decline, or disability.

Lifespan: The total number of years you live from birth to death. Globally, average life expectancy is about 79 years for men and 83 years for women.

Healthspan: The number of years you live in good health, free from chronic illness, pain, or disability. The disease-free healthspan averages about 61 years.

This is Office for National Statistics data for British men and women. Even the Life Expectancy average is a scarily early age but the Healthy Span is terribly low. Makes a mockery of changing working/pension ages.

I had a routine blood test yesterday at 11,30 am. By 2.30 pm, I had a text to say the results were available on Patients Know Best. It’s a great service and I’m sure you’ll be delighted to hear, Dear Reader, that my results are excellent.

It was a full test of 20 different items and I am in the ‘healthy’ range for every one which gives me confidence. Particularly pleased with my cholesterol readings which are all within healthy range. The overall cholesterol has come down again which is pleasing.

Having said that, the ONS data captures me in the sense that since my 60s, I have been diagnosed with Atrial Fibrillation and then with Prostate Cancer which would count towards my unhealthy final years. At least I’ve got 4 more actual years to live. I find that emboldens me to do whatever I like and not worry too much about the consequences.

What a dream of a day it’s been. Out for our walk by the beach. The temperature has reached 25C/77F and sun is burning us. Lots of people sunbathing on the beach and lots more swimming in the sea. Coach parties have arrived from central London and the ice cream cabin is doing a roaring trade. It feels like it might be the last Hurrah of Summer but you never know.

Saturday, 26th September, 2026

Clear blue sky, sunshine and no breeze for yet another day. Garden Centre followed by the beach to start off the day. Not long until we travel so appointments at the Beauticians, Hairdressers, Clothes Shops/websites are all being hungrily pursued although not by me.

I love travelling. It makes me feel alive and challenges my organisation. We have comprehensive travel insurance as I wrote the other day. It comes ‘free’ from our bank and I read the small print very carefully. You hear of so many people who bought cheap policies without checking ‘exclusions’ and then finding they are ‘covered’ in name only.

It is just four weeks since we left the Plaka area of Athens and news came yesterday of a building being demolished by a gas explosion near our hotel. Rescuers combing the ruins of the building found passports for an American couple who haven’t been seen since.

About this time of year in days gone past, we were setting out on our journey from our Greek home to Yorkshire or, later, Surrey in a journey which involved driving through Athens and across the Corinth Canal to Patras where we would join a ferry up the Adriatic to Ancona on the Italian coast. There are three ferry companies which do that route – Superfast, Minoan and Bluestar.

We actually took the first ever Blue Star ferry on that route almost 30 years ago. This week we learnt of a potential tragedy unfolding in the Aegean as a Blue Star ferry with many cars on board caught fire off the coast of Mykonos island in the Cyclades. Fortunately, everyone was rescued but not their cars and I only have to project that forward to the insurance claims for lost cars, forward transport, accomodation, etc..

Aside from Explosions, Ferry Fires and the like, the big news of this week has been …. a new kettle. Yet another new kettle. We are always needing a new kettle. I don’t know if it is because we drink more at home in retirement and we have different requirements or if kettles are just less reliable these days but this will be our 4th kettle in as many years. Variable temperature kettles was a thing for the last two but now we are reverting to a simple (if stylish) standard kettle. Let’s hope that does at least 5 years this time. Don’t forget, you get all the big news here!

Sunday, 13th September, 2026

A grey but warm day. It’s 9.00 am and 21C/70F in mid-September. Nice. While the weather is so pleasant, I am walking by the sea to kick start my renewed exercise regime. I’ve still got a head cold and a raking cough but sea air ceratinly makes me feel clearer. Walking in the reliable warmth of the Canaries is only 7 weeks away as the temperatures down here will almost certainly have fallen. Then the Gym will come back into its own and the equipment will need servicing and the remotely controlled heating rehearsing and re-checking.

What also needs rechecking – and I woke up thinking about it this morning – is the time we are in Europe. We are travelling so much at the moment that it feels like we are in danger of overstaying. As you know, non-EU citizens have to comply with the official Schengen 90/180 day rule. Schengen is initially the uniting of the EU countries by allowing their citizens free travel within the whole community. As a consequence, they have to officially control entry from outside just as the Americans do.

Many travelers misunderstand how Schengen works. The rule does not reset monthly or yearly. It works on a rolling 180-day basis, meaning every day you spend in the Schengen Area is continuously counted. Many assume their stay resets after leaving the Schengen Area, but in reality, each entry is evaluated individually. Overstaying is punishable by up to a €10,000.00 fine and a multi-year ban from returning to Europe. So, it is important to understand the process and keep on top of your data.

There is a Schengen Calculator which makes it very easy to check as I did this morning. It reassured me that I will have plenty of time to add trips to France maybe in December and certainly in Jan – March 2027. (90 days is essentially 3 months and it works on a rolling 6 monthly basis. I’ve got 53 days available and next years 6 weeks in Spain will have reset by the beginning of March next year.

In the immediate time, we have something far more serious to worry about. That is this afternoon’s Manchester Derby. I fear for them but it would be a lovely afternoon if United can lay down the gauntlet and beat City well. First, I’ve got to beat my own demons and get my exercise done. See you later, Dear Reader. Happy Sunday … if that isn’t a contradiction in terms.

Monday, 14th September, 2026

Time moves on rapidly at the change of seasons. No sooner do we move in to Autumn than the daylight range becomes noticeably shorter very quickly. Sunrise – 6.36 am and sunset 7.17 pm today. The Autumn Equinox is just 8 days away when Day and Night are equal length. It is still pleasantly warm down here and, I think across the country. 22C/70F again today and very clammy.

Just as the seasons illustrate the passing of time so do people. An old friend from College, Keith Lowery, would have been 75 today. I haven’t seen him for 54 years. He died last year of prostate cancer. I am so grateful for the year I’ve had and he has lost. It could so easily have been the other way round. I constantly have that thought in my mind.

Another friend, David Weatherley, who I also haven’t seen all that time has been chatting to me about politics and daily life. He was and still is a mad keen – I don’t really know what you call it – rock music afficionado. One of those sort of people who count spending hours in Record Shops looking for obscure recordings by unheard of people an enjoyment and then be utterly delighted when he finds a recording by Todd Rundgren. Yes, I’ve never heard of him either. David seems to idolise him and was photographed here at his performance in Manchester Opera House last weekend. I can see David in that photo just with added years and stirred.

We left our Surrey home 10 years ago and I haven’t seen this little chap since then. He was about 12. His mum, Rosina was a Social Worker/Probationer Officer and he was a gawky, little lad who came to me to have his bike fixed. Last night, Rosina proudly sent me this photo of his first year in the Army. She is proud at her achievement bringing him up singlehandedly. He is excited at an unlimited future stretching out ahead of him. I just felt very old, Dear Reader.

Prime Minister, Andy Burnham’s Dad, who had been suffering from Altzheimer’s for some time, has died today he announced. I don’t know him or his family personally but I felt a twinge of pain, of sadness when I heard because in their story we all go at some time in some way. Lives have these painful pinchpoints which we know are coming but hurt all the same. They graduate all our lives the loss of parents, children, loved ones and they mark us indelibly for the rest of our lives.

Unlike me, Burnham has stayed close to his parents, recognising the sacrifices they made which gave him the platform to go to University and into politics. In return, he has made them very proud. I don’t remember my parents ever expressing pride in me. It would have meant a lot.

Tuesday, 15th September, 2026

Lovely morning and I am driving up to Surrey to see Colin. Actually, my cold is still so bad that I may not go in to infect a bunch of old people. My wife will cut Colin’s hair for him and I will go walking round the lake. Very warm and humid this morning again, sweaty even. Sorry if that’s too much information.

The UK State Pension is subject to a Triple Lock to ensure that old pensioners like me don’t fall below the poverty line. It was introduced 2 years after I retired and well before I got the State Pension so all of my time it has applied. There has been an on-going argument that it is too generous and paid at the expense of younger Generations who will probably never get it. Already the retirement age has moved to 67 and will continue with human longevity progress. The argument looks at 2 ways of solving the affordability problem. One is to cut the triple lock down to keeping up with average earnings or inflation. Another is to make the State Pension means tested so no longer a universal entitlement.

On this graph of data, State Pensions will increase by 3.9% or £488.00 per pensioner. Teachers Pensions will increase by around 3.0% which will almost certainly be a lot more than their State Pension but, for the first time, the level at which tax kicks in will be below the maximum pension rate.

Personally, they can means test it for future generations as long as they make that clear at the outset. They can remove the 2.5% baseline now. My fear has always been that our pensions work and state would be out paced by earnings and our savings would be reduced by inflation. Fortunately so far, none of that has occured. We really have been the fortunate generation – and long may it remain.

Colin is one of the older generation. He was born in 1936 and had a hard early life. He has done mainly manual work all his life but saved and invested in his own businesses, bought and developed properties and made a good life for himself and his family. Not least, he has been able to sell up in Oldham and move to live in Surrey. He is in mid-Dementia now but nothing illustrates how far he has come from the poverty of much of Oldham’s housing stock to the sheer luxury in Surrey that his daughter has arranged for his final years.

It is an absolutely beautiful area over looking a golf course and lake, a club house and lovely restaurant. I walked round there today and the lake was full of the most wonderful wild fowel, huge lily pads and all surrounded by gorgeous trees. It was deliciously warm but quite overcast as I walked. The moment I returned to the car, all the clouds were dispelled by strong sunshine bursting through and Autumn was replaced by full Summer. Just my luck.

Anyway, I was tired and sweaty when I got back to the car having walked around the lake a couple of times. The hairdresser emerged having done her duty. Colin fell asleep half way through and then went for Lunch. The drive home of an hour or so was in beautiful sunshine and very light traffic.

Wednesday, 16th September, 2026

Blue sky, bright sunshine and a walk by the sea to come. The day is starting off well. Let’s hope it continues, Dear Reader. I’ve also got lawns to mow again. After just a little rain and plenty of warmth, things are really greening up.

The inflation figures are in for the year to August and it is up to 3.1%. The educated prediction is for 3.3% in September which is significant for those of us with Defined Benefit pensions which are uprated by September CPI. Inflationary pressure subsequently mitigated by raised interest rates and a falling CPI is the perfect condition for us to upgrade our pensions and pay good returns on investments. What fun! Having said that, did you know that petrol prices are up 27% year on year which impacts almost all human activity and it’s all down to Trump.

Lovely down at the beach this morning. So warm and perfumed by the sea. Where youth is ebbing away. I still hear you in the waves. Even though we’re not the same. Every tide that hits the shore makes me miss you even more. Out on the ocean’s rim I can hear the distant drums of the past, a past that leaves me as a hopeless bystander. An old man in a dry season.

Here I am, an old man in a dry month,
Being read to by a boy, waiting for rain.

T.S. Eliot – Gerontion.

You will think I’m mad, Dear Reader. Maybe I am but it is too late for that. A view like this must mean something. Some will say god or the after life or the absence of life. For me, it is all part of the nothingness which makes a life. I am a nihilist.

These people, hurrying down the road, making the smells and sounds of the sea the backdrop to their conversations about what to have for Supper, when to put the washing on or who will cut the lawns will almost certainly never stop and think of the view this way so, in that light, I am certainly mad.

I, Tiresias, though blind, throbbing between two lives,
Old man with wrinkled female breasts, can see
At the violet hour, the evening hour that strives
Homeward, and brings the sailor home from sea …

T.S. Eliot – The Wasteland

Time to go home before I really get carried away. Let us go then, you and I, when the evening is spread out against the sky like a patient etherized upon a table; let us go.

Thursday, 17th September, 2026

Lovely morning but very busy. We had rain over night but it is warm and muggy now. Pauline has some problems at the moment so I am taking her to Worthing Hospital for a chest x-ray hopefully to illiminate one possibility. We are still waiting for an appointment for Oesophageal scan and biopsy which we are getting agitated about. It’s always the not knowing isn’t it … until you do know.

We drive along the sea road next to the promenade path we usually walk down. It loks beautiful bathed in sunlight with a pea green sea. The hardest part is parking at the hospital but I managed it and paid for 2 hrs initially but expecting to have to extend it. I pay through an app on my phone so it’s quick to do. Just £3.20 for 2 hours. Walked in – and it is a walk-in service – to find about 8 people waiting. Pauline gave her name and took a seat. I had just about logged in to the hospital wifi and she was called ahead of all those waiting. She was out and we were driving home past the beach within 10 mins of arriving.

September is a month of renewal for many. For me it is a time for addressing the excesses of Summer. I am exercising religiously and dieting strictly. That means firstly no alcohol. That will last until next June so for 9 months. It also means cutting out carbohydrates. The two things – alcohol and carbohydrates – drive my need for food. When I talk about carbohydrates I mean one specific category of dense, high starch foods like bread, potatoes, rice and pasta. I do break that rule in the morning with a bowl of home made muesli which, of course, includes oats but that is all I eat from getting up until 5.00 pm. In that time, I am currently walking 6 miles each day.

Supper is very early at 5.00 pm but, by that time, I am gnawing on my own leg. When I have this main meal of the day, I have protein – usually fish although occasionally meat – and a green vegetable. Green beans are my staple but also Brocolli, Asparagus and Lettuce also feature regularly. It is followed by Greek Yoghurt and fresh Raspberries & Strawberries. That is the discipline of the day for the next nine months.

The two sizes of protein are for passive and active adults. I consider myself to be moderately active and would usually eat the larger size. I would also eat two thirds of a bag of green beans. If I work on my Muesli providing 400 Cals, my Main meal would provide about 450 cals and the yoghurt comes in at about 250 cals so I am consuming 1100 cals plus drinks of coffee and tea with fully skimmed milk and some fresh fruit if I am starving. I am reasonably easily keeping within my parameters of 1500 calories per day which is about half what a normal grown man would require.

When I do it, I feel so much better but it does take discipline and thoughts can seep in to the subconscious. Why am I punishing myself. I have limited time left. I should be enjoying myself. I have to work hard and push them away. Supper tonight is roast sea bass fillet with button mushrooms and roasted cherry tomatoes. Well within my target.

Friday, 18th September, 2026

Grey and overcast but warm morning. Gardening today although we’ve got a lovely week coming up next week. Sunny and warm forecast.

People often think I’m mad for writing a Blog. I quite often think so too but I do find that hour in the day quite cathartic. Amazing how I come to understand things by forcing my mind to focus on them and then put them into words. Often, I think about the events of my day as they are happening and find myself making a mental note to weave them into tomorrow’s Blog post.

Interesting to read in The Times today this article which highlights the catharsis involved in coming to terms with fears, anxieties, emotions, sadness, etc. by writing it all down. It is akin to the way our brain processes these things during sleep and dreams.

A process called “morning pages”, where people write three pages of continuous consciousness first thing after waking up, could help to offload worries, boosting productivity later in the day.

The process was popularised by Julia Cameron in her 1992 bestselling self-help book ‘The Artist’s Way‘, which outlined a method of unlocking creativity.

This is more or less what I do and have done for the past 17 years – all of my retirement. Words are my tools, my way of coping with happiness, sadness, and all things in between. Here, Thomas Hardy reflects on the death of his wife and how the realities, the meanings, the concepts of life are the last thing they reflected on as they looked away to the present moment and forgot past and future.

The warmth of the fire; the comfort of the chair; the music of the violinist all distracted him from the realities of human existence which are all too short and raw in loss and death. In some respects, loss and death are parallel if not equal.

I was watching Long Lost Family last night and the effect of loss is not just palpable but life limiting. People who spend their lives looking for loved ones are dominated by it and limited by it. There is a yearning: a deep longing for the deceased or separated person’s presence which often leads to Bereavement-Searching when they see that person everywhere in crowds of strangers. Sometimes each is looking for the other. It is incredibly painful and enduring.

Well we have put a shift in today. All the street lawns have been mowed. The flower beds have largely been emptied although a few have been left to fight on for a week or two. Our hedges have been trimmed and the beds weeded. The world is looking a little better. Chef is making a final cutting of herbs for the freezer. You can’t do that with Basil which we’ve got excess of but all herbs have done well this year and my favourites – Tarragon and Parsley – are abundant. I am absolutely shattered but I’m going to spend an hour in the Gym.

Saturday, 19th September, 2026

Wonderful morning – warm, sunny with high white clouds. It will be nice down at the sun for the Saturday Beach Run.

I have no real ‘pop music’ inside me other than fragments from 50 or 60 years ago which haunt the backdrop of my lifeline. I don’t even know what to call it these days. Pop makes me sound like a Grandad which I am not. My essentially old man daily soundtrack is epitomised by BBC Radio 4 and really has been since those early days.

I started listening to the Today programme at home with Jack de Manio followed Robert Robinson and then the rumbustous Brian Redhead, a former journalist on the Manchester Guardian like my old and now deceased friend, Tony Brady. Then there was the rather crabby John Humphries and so on.

The subjects were mainly National Politics and World Affairs. If music came into it, there may have been a report about the Last Night of the Proms or a newly discoved violin piece by Paganini. ‘Pop Music’ really didn’t feature. Recently, however, the programme has been trying to appeal to women and younger audiences and then, this morning, I heard this ….

Well, the sun is surely sinkin’ down
But the moon is slowly risin’
So this old world must still be spinnin’ ’round
And I still love you

I was transported back down the rabbit hole of time. It was written by James Taylor and released in 1971 just as they got together. The sound today was of an early recording discovered in the BBC Archives. It features in a new retrospective of her work.

Carly Simon had a baby, put it up for adoption and moved on with here life, separating from Taylor and married someone else from whom she is now divorced. Absolutely shocking to hear that Carly Simon is now 83 years old and living with Parkinson’s disease. There, in a nutshell, all our lives flow. Even so, I wouldn’t advise you to close your eyes in the expectation that it will be alright. Keep your eyes wide open and on the prize, Dear Reader.

Down at the beach it was wonderful and quite busy. Very warm even though there was a strong off shore breeze. It had brought out the weekend wind surfers in some numbers.

Exercise over, it was home for football which I’ve rediscovered pleasure in having been rather bored by it for a long time.

Sunday, 6th September, 2026

Another lovely, warm and sunny morning which is 19C/66F outside at 7.00 am rising rapidly to 24C/75F. Breakfast in the garden before the day’s tasks start with political discussion programmes – John Sopel from BBC and The News Agents is presenting the Sky Morning With programme. Then there is Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg

I then have to turn my attention to Global Tasks like cleaning the car and putting the bins out. I am feeling a little listless at the moment with Summer travel over, a bit bored and lacking direction. I think retirement can be like this without a focus. Of course, dieting and fitness is currently back on the agenda. It will be all my life but I need a project to fill in the 8 weeks until I fly to Tenerife.

For 30 years, I’ve been designing websites and trying to cope with programming. I have a naturally logical mind which helps but, unless you do this sort of thing day in and day out, it is difficult to retain. I am old and have been using software that was cutting edge, industry-standard 25 years ago. When I bought the software for school, it initially cost a fortune although I was eventually able to equip classrooms with it before I left.

Macromedia Web Design Dreamweaver is what is known as WYSIWIG or what you see is what you get. Until it came out, all we had was programming. Now, we could create shapes, insert graphics, design fonts to look almost as the page would on the web. It was what I needed all my adult life a tool for self publishing on the web. It allowed me to publicise my school, organise internal operations in my school, organise my life, maintain a mass of social contacts and communicate across the world particularly when I was in Greece.

As an old man with a fairly boring life, my audience is small but I am its main reader anyway. I run two copies of my Blog which is now designed in WordPress software which is a new community of geeks in itself. My main iteration of the Blog receives a regular 2-300 readers although I have recently attracted over 700 for certain posts.

My backup edition of that Blog, has 60 regular subscribers. I don’t think I’m going to attract any advertising revenue with that readership. Might have to start writing about my sex life although I wouldn’t want to scare you, Dear Reader. My focus, as you will know is Time, Loss, Aging and the struggle against terminal Decline.

In that vein, I draw your attention to the subject of smelly, old people. You may often hear it said that old people’s houses smell of aging. I never really gave it much thought. My wife has been obsessed with me smelling at every age but I always associated old people’s houses smelling with the likelihood they are still living in older, damper houses which they increasingly struggle to keep clean and may not ventilate as much because they want to keep warm.

Well now there is some scientific data to suggest that old people really do smell of their age at which dry, old skin wrinkles and flakes, goes thin and doesn’t repair. It may be flying invisibly in the atmosphere of their house and settle to decay everywhere. Admit it, this is really going to attract advertisers and sponsorship …

Monday, 7th September, 2026

Muggy, warm but grey Monday morning. I don’t have to go to work ….. again. Actually got quite a busy morning with fairly inconsequential things which I won’t bore you with, Dear Reader. First to feed the mind, I am reading The Daily Telegraph, The Times and The Guardian. I am focussing on the dangerous rise we are seeing in our ports of right wing vigilantes sponsored by dangerous outside actors.

Not many of my readers will remember the Fascist Blackshirt movement of the 1930s led by Oswald Mosley – perhaps Richard will – but we have echoes of the same appearing again in UK ports. To be honest, there has been a thread of this ultranationalist, authoritarian political ideology across time. From Mosley in UK, Mussolini in Italy and Hitler in Germany the European model has regularly flirted with it.

In UK, Mosley of the 1930s & 4os morphed into the League of Empire Loyalists in the 1950s and were then replaced by the National Front in the 1960s, The British National Party in the 1980s, the English Defence League in the 2000s and can now be seen through Farage’s UKIP, Brexit Party and now Reform Party.

They all have a common thread of Nationalism, Racism, Authoritarianism, Militarism. Like Nazism, they pursue an ideal of racial purity which they imagine once existed but is now in danger of being polluted. They are essentially eugenicists without knowing the concept at all or even being able to spell it. They are obsessed with flags. They value a Golden Age in some hazy past which didn’t actually exist. The impulse is essentially emotional and eschews facts and realities. Protesters yesterday being told that small boat crossings were down by 40% since the turn of the year just flatly refused to believe it. It doesn’t fit their narrative so must be rejected.

Full circle, we have the return of the black shirt fascists who believe that might is right. Just as with Mosley, they will find that right is wrong but it is an unpleasant sight at the moment. We cannot allow a gang of yobs to direct our policies. Just as nationalism sweeps across Europe and America, just as part of Gremany has voted to return to a Nazi past, so we must stand up and be counted.

I do my bit on a regular basis. I constantly write to influence and counter the right wing stream of bile across social media. And while I do that, I am actively engaging with the world, with ideas, concepts, philosophies, with facts and arguments. While I am doing it, I am exercising the muscle know as Brain which can fail as we get older unless we keep it fit as an interesting article in The Telegraph reported this morning.

Neuroplasticity  is the brain’s ability to reorganize, change, and adapt its structure and neural connections throughout life. We need to encourage it and train it through the stages of our lives. I don’t think I do too bad so far although I have terrible weak spots.

Since birth, my sense of Geography and Place are a total mystery to me. I can get lost in a large room or sometimes even a small one. I once got out of the Dentist’s chair, thanked the dentist and walked blithely into a stoor cupboard. I notice now they have a WAY OUT sign on the correct door. My wife can drive to some unknown place 100 miles away and then direct me back faultlessly without help but she cannot hold a number of 4 digits in her head. I can be given a 10 digit code and remember it for hours. I turn it into music and the cadences just stick. We are all different.

Tuesday, 8th September, 2026

I am dying, Dear Reader. I am dying. After all that talk of brain health yesterday, I am dying of a terrible cold. I was up half the night coughing and spluttering. My ears are painful, my nose is sore, my head is aching. I have a raking cough and I’m sneezing all over the place. In short, I am dying. I’m never ill like this. If I do something, I like to do it properly. Cancer, for example. None of these germs normally attack me like this. I don’t like it.

Outside, there is a scene to celebrate because we’ve got rain. I wonder if I’ll live long enough to experience it. From the window, the world looks wonderful but then I suppose it does to all of us who are dying. We yearn for life.

I must complete my exercise routine even if it is my last ever so I will brave the rain and walk across the garden to the Gym. As regular readers will know, I like to distract myself in the Gym by watching drama on TV. Currently, I am watching a dystopian drama series that is based on a well know American novel of the same title. There are echoes of yesterday’s Blog here. Dystopian visions key characteristics feature oppressive control, loss of freedom, constant fear and social collapse. Think of a world run by uneducated, illiberal black shirted thugs and you are on your way to that society.

Examples of dysopian visions inlude Orwell’s 1984 and Huxley’s Brave New World. The drama that I’m watching on Netflix is called The Man in the High Castle and it is based around a twist of history in which Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan rule the world after their victory in World War II. It is set in 1962 and Hitler is still alive. Films collected by the “Man in the High Castle” are newsreels depicting numerous other alternative scenarios, including some where the Allies were victorious, some featuring executed Allied leaders such as Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin and some where an American resistance is doing well. The events depicted include real history and possible alternative timelines.

As you can tell, the whole concept is incredibly challenging but enjoyable and instructive at the same time. Whether a dying, old man can cope with the physical demands of Gym work and the mental demands of dystopia at the same time will be seen.

If I am allowed to live, we are going up to Surrey later in the week to visit Colin in the Dementia Care Facility. He is extremely well fed with even wine for Dinner but he can hoover up sweets any time of the day or night. We are not supposed to give him any but, at the age of 90, he deserves a treat. So it was, I let a little munchkin free reign in the chocolate aisle at Sainsburys. Actually, I think she enjoyed it.

Wednesday, 9th September, 2026

Glorious morning. Up early and out to Honda for a 2-year Service. We’ve done the grand total of 7,200 miles. Hardly got started. It is looking like we will have to wait another year for a new model so this will be one of the longest serving cars for us.

Honda dealerships are quite delightful, comfortable, well appointed with wonderful staff, great coffee and wifi. An hour there speeds by with an iPad and and e-newspapers. Outside a strong, warm sun was shining and glinting off the very expensive and highly polished metal parked inside. Amazing to see the Prelude brought back in its new iteration after so long away.

Back in the 1980s and 90s, we had 4 of the original designs. Over 30 years on, it still looks quite sleek and rakish but I wouldn’t want a driving position so low down now. The services are ‘free’ for 3 years by which time I expect to replace this car and start the procedure all over again. It may be old fashioned but I enjoy the relationships we build up with the dealership and its workers. I feel it rewards me as well when I trade in for a new car.

Drove out into the sunshine and down to the beach to collect fresh fish and smell the sea air. But it wasn’t just the ozone on the breeze.

The whole scene of of bright sunshine, warm, late summer air, the scraping of shale underfoot and the crashing of waves from the turning tide was so relaxing. Just play the video with sound on and sit back on the pebbles, smell the air, feel the sun and you will be here.

Thursday, 10th September, 2026

Sunny and fairly warm morning, Had quite a few jobs to get through before walking. First, my computer did an automatic upgrade over night and opened up with this message:

Tell me what you would have chosen, Dear Reader. I chose the safe option of No.3 and the computer opened up. Of course, closing down and reopening brought the same warning screen so I had to choose 1 or 2 but which one? These days, you don’t need to phone a friend or pay an expert. All you need to do is ask AI which examined my PC, pronounced it completely healthy and told me to choose Option 1. Problem solved and huge sigh of relief.

Next, I had a message from Premium Bonds to say my winnings for the month were upgraded. Instead of £50.00 they were £150.00. So the new table of the experiment loooks like this. It’s still not good enough but just one bigger win of say £50,000.00 would wipe all that away. Might keep them until the new tax year when we will buy new ISAs.

Of course, I immediately spent it and so much more by booking a week in Athens next August. Our suite has gone up quite a bit and the exchange rate is a little weaker at the moment but we actually had a debate on whether £4,500,00 was extravagant for a week in a hotel. Ultimately, we decided that we only live once and went for it. Amusing to hear English hoteliers arguing that a small proposed tourist tax will destroy their businesses. I’ve just booked a hotel that will me charge me €15.00 per night or £105.00 for the week.

On the subject of only living once, this morning we were invited to book our Flu jabs. We did that on the NHS site and chose Kamsons Pharmacy attached to our Doctors’ Surgery. While we were doing that, the Covid Jab was mentioned. Last year, I didn’t get Covid jab because I was too young. (Hold that thought.) This time, we’ve delayed our jabs until late October so Pauline is 75 as well. Both will be done at the same time.

I don’t remember having to ‘Do my Feet’ when I was in my 20s & 30s. Why do I have to have them ‘Done’ now? Why do old people need hard, dry skin filed from their feet. Why do my nails grow so quickly? I do a lot more ‘walks’ but I was on my feet so much in younger times that I’d be surprised if the amount was much different. I am forced to put it down to aging. Well, today the chiropodist is calling round to ‘do’ my feet – when she’s finished making Breakfast, washing up and all her other Housekeeper tasks. She’s got a new, electric foot file which she bought from Amazon and she’s looking forward to testing it out on me. Looks too much like a sex toy for my liking.

That job done, I’m going out to test my new feet. The sun is out; the air is warm. A walk by the beach should be lovely. I’ll let you know.

But I must just record the fact that it is 20 years ago today that my Brother in Law, Jack, died in a Leeds hospital. Twenty years ago. It is hard to believe. It feels so much longer that I saw him for the last time talking, panicking about the effect of the tumour in his brain and his failing abilities. He died that day. It was shocking, moving and numbing. The day before, he had begged me to search the web for potential solutions. I, of course, agreed but I think we both knew there wasn’t one. If he’d lived, he would be 92 this month.

Friday, 11th September, 2026

A warm night -17C/63F – which was obviously quite wet, opened to a blue sky with strong sunshine, The world looks lovely even though I had a terrible night and I really am still dying. At 9.30 am, I’m in the Office reading and writing and listening to Andrea Bocelli. It always moves me.

I was supposed to be driving up to Surrey this morning to see Colin but I am too infectious to be around a lot of captive old people so we’ve postponed it. Fortunately, he has received another visitor this week so that has made us feel better.

When I’m ill, I am slow, ponderous and useless. I am being chauffeured this morning. Sainsburys and then down to the beach for fish and a walk. I’m feeling weak and groggy but exercise targets have to be achieved. Did I tell you I am dying? I don’t think I’ll last long enough to see the bill going through Parliament today.

I am still quite ambivalent about it after spending years advocating Assisted Dying. This article in today’s Telegraph wouldn’t influence me. I still think people own the rights to their own life and have the right to ask for help to take it away. I’m increasingy worried about the Health Service and Doctors becoming involved in hurrying up death and that process widening to those who are not diagnosed as within the last 6 months of life or that becoming an excuse to be easily diagnosed. The older one gets, the more precious the concept of life appears. I think, on balance, I want to see it passed and have it supervised by strong controls.

The other news item that caught my eye was the tourist tax that Mayors of English regions will have the ability to levy. So many complaints from people living on an island an looking inward. Just look to Europe and you will see that it had been used for a decade in so many places without harming their tourist industry at all. Greece is an excellent example of that. In the early days, hoteliers apologised when they charged it. Now they just shrug or laugh. We take it for granted. Poor, old, little Englanders will just have to get on with it.

You know what they say: There are two certainties in Life – Death and Taxes – which rather sums up this Blog. Nobody wants to die but they know it is inevitable. Nobody likes paying tax but they know it is imperative. Having said that, I wasn’t overjoyed by my Vehicle Tax Reminder this morning at a cost of £640.00. It really is beginning to feel quite steep. The standard rate is only about £200. Most of the charge is the expensive car supplement, which was introduced in 2017 by the Tories for vehicles with a list price above £40,000. It hasn’t been uprated since.

Saturday, 12th September, 2026

A bright, warm morning for a walk by the sea. First going to the Garden Centre to buy garlic bulbs for planting out this week. Then on to the beach for an hour or so. We will just miss the crowds from the Beach Run which happens every Saturday.

Before going out, I booked Easyjet flights for August/September 2027. You can’t get them too soon you know. Interesting, I booked the same day, time, flight and exactly the same seats as this year. This year, the Return cost was £830.00 for two people. Next year it is only £722.00. Can’t explain the drop although Easyjet have been advertising and discounting heavily recently.

By the time I’d got to the beach the day had changed. Clouds had rolled in and the blue sky was largely gone. Still lovely and warm and people were actually swimming in the sea. Over the beach promenade, the Local Authority have been developing small food and drink outlets on the dunes which have been planted up with grasses and hardy plants like sedum which loves the sandy, salty wind. There are lots of Barbecue platforms and tables and benches for families to come and cook and eat their Lunches. It really is well designed.

I am exercising harder and dieting harder at the moment. In a masochistic way, I am almost quite enjoying the self discipline. Just to make it a bit more difficult, a friend of mine from North Yorkshire sent me a photo of her Lunch. I must admit, I haven’t had chips for years and they do look good although I must say that my memory of them is that they were more enjoyable in the head than the mouth. I don’t really miss that sort of thing at all.

Supper for me tonight will be Γεμιστά / Gemista / Stuffed Peppers done the Greek way. They are hollowed out bell peppers then stuffed with medium-grain white rice usually Carolina rice cooked in water, tomato pulp, onion, garlic, parsley, mint and oregano. It can have minced lamb or beef sauce in as well although we probably won’t tonight. So if any if you vegetarians are free and hungry, don’t despair.

I always write about food when I’m dieting even though I’m not finding it difficult at all. In fact, with retrospect, I found over indulgence harder in the end.

Sunday, 30th August, 2026

A lovely warm and sunny morning. The amount of rain we have had has been quite disappointing. We are just that bit too South. There is a downpour at Lords in central London as I write but no sign of it here. I have spent the morning relaxing and watching England ensure a victory against Pakistan – weather permitting. Football this afternoon to watch in the Gym. In between, I’m being rather introspective and I apologise for that in advance.

Teachers of my vintage will know about ‘Preferred Learning Styles‘. We were encouraged to identify them in children and tailor our teaching to suit all styles. And, if you thought you could do that, you are even madder than me. I think I know myself quite well. I am mainly Abstract Sequential but with some Concrete Random in there as well.

In an idle moment, I asked AI to fill out that diagnosis by devising a Questionnaire to interrogate me further. Above is what Copilot came up with.

Copilot interpreted my results for me and they more or less confirmed what 75 years of experience has done with my inherited personality. It is reassuring to learn that I have a reasonable balance of all the styles although Abstract Random is my least likely trait. Relationships matter but I plough my own furrow first and foremost. I tend to tell rather than ask. These are my weaknesses.

My wife has always said that I am on the Autistic Spectrum, although not actually Autistic, long before I even knew what that was. Copilot concluded from my resposes that:

That profile is compatible with autistic traits, particularly in communication, sensory processing, focused interests, and predictability. It is not sufficient to diagnose autism.

Some will find this interesting. Others will find it self-indulgent. I have always been introspective and punished myself for my failures. Even so, I can’t say I have made any real attempts to change. I don’t really think that I could. I have always thought that the first step to understanding the world is to understand yourself and how you relate to it. Self analysis is my strength and my weakness.

Monday, 31st August, 2026

It is 5.30 am on a gloriously warm morning with clear, blue sky as the light comes up. Actually, First Light or Dawn down here today is around 5:36 am with Sunrise at 6:13 am. On this last day of August, Sunset will be 7:48 pm. Why am I up and telling you this? Well, I’ve just been woken by a Burglar Alarm from my neighbours across the road. Kids go back to school on Tuesday down here and they have taken their teenage girls away for the weekend. It is sod’s law.

What to do now? Having pulled clothes on and rushed outside to check the property, Whatsapp messaged my neighbours and made a cup of tea, it is too late to go back to bed where I had listened to a podcast at 4.00 am and then just got back to sleep before being so rudely woken. Might go and walk on the beach before Bank Holiday crowds arrive.

I was watching the match at Old Trafford yesterday as torrential rain soaked players on the pitch. I shouted, Send it down here. At 10.00 pm last night the skies opened and the rain bounced down for about 5 minutes but then stopped and wasn’t seen again. Our long range forecast says we will get no more rain at least up to a week on Wednesday which is how far the forecast goes.

I wondered how the spectators would feel not just of driving back to Ipswich in heavy rain but just walking outside into Stretford or Wharfside to get the tram home. Knowing the match was on TV, why would you go out at all. I always feel that about cricket. Why would you go to the trouble of driving to a ground, paying for entrance, sitting in a seat next to someone you don’t know just to watch a game that you need binoculars to see properly, buy expensive and barely acceptable drinks and then use disgusting communal toilets? Why would you when you can get up-close television pictures with commentary and analysis plus replays of important events?

I just don’t understand it. After yesterday’s Blog, you will understand when I say that it speaks to my personality. Take Pubs. Please, take pubs because I really hate them. I think you could count the number of times I’ve been in a pub on the fingers of my hands. Why would I stand in a noisy, crowded room of total strangers to relax and talk to a friend where I have to shout to make myself heard and struggle to hear them. I just don’t get it. I don’t really drink beer anyway. When I can sit at home and talk quietly with a glass of wine. I don’t like small talk. From what I see of pubs on TV, small, inconsequential talk is essential.

I know it will appear strange by many – perhaps most – readers but it fits with an autistic traits diagnosis. However, you will get the point. I have friends who will drive miles and spend a fortune on tickets to watch a football match that is on TV. People who will choose to watch the same match on TV but in a crowded pub just to be with other people and share the experience. I cannot think of anything worse. I love people but on my terms.

It pays to make good, reliable relationships. I do that with anyone who I think I can trust. This morning, the wonderful Spanish property we rented for a month this year has been secured with a Deposit and a special deal. They know I am a reliable source of funds and that we will treat their property well. We are circumventing Casas Holiday Mediterraneo SL

The six weeks we have booked will cost me just €4,900.00 which works out at just £100.00 per day at current exchange rates. That includes all services superfast broadband and non-stop air conditioning. Wonderful. All arranged by my new, best friend – Valentina – who communicates in Spanish and I translate here then reply in English and she translates there. The love is universal.

Tuesday, 1st September, 2026

Happy new month, Dear Reader. The first day of each month is the time to check my Premium Bond winnings and at least I have won again this month if only two, small prizes. At the end of my first year, I have only won £475.00 which is better than a poke in the eye but not good enough so I will have to consider whether I continue with them.

September 1st is the start of meteorological Autumn. The start of the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness, of decaying natural life … In days gone by, it was a time for harvesting and storing food for the dead, cold days of Winter, of putting on warmer clothes to insulate against the long, dark nights ahead. It was a difficult season to get through.

When You Are Old

When you are old and grey and full of sleep,
And nodding by the fire, take down this book,
And slowly read, and dream of the soft look
Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;

How many loved your moments of glad grace,
And loved your beauty with love false or true,
But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,
And loved the sorrows of your changing face;

And bending down beside the glowing bars,
Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled
And paced upon the mountains overhead
And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.

William Butler Yeats

Even now, it represents the passing of time, of months and years of our lives. It will be my 75th Autumn and it does raise the inevitable question: How many more, Dear Reader? But things are not gone yet. We live to bloom another day. And the temperatures are still kind.

The Basil, which has been cut and cut and cut, is still insisting on life. Once established, it is tough and insistent – a bit like me. The patio doors are still open at Breakfast but the wasps are beginning to look for warmer places to extend their lives and our kitchen seems favourite. There is nothing more dangerous than a sleepy wasp if you want a sting.

The flowers in pots have survived remarkably well considering the long, hot spell and our absences. They are fraying at the edges – Aren’t we all? – but illuminating corners of the garden still.

And if you want a sound of the Autumn mist rising and ghosting the landscape, what better than the Chopin Cello Sonata: Largo. It certainly moves me.

Wednesday, 2nd September, 2026

Incredibly clammy, warm day but rather overcast. Got 8 weeks until I fly to the sunshine again. There is plenty to do. And we’ve got the joys of the North of England before that. I’m buying in extra suncream in advance. Thank goodness I can afford it.I had a nervous moment over night when I thought I’d lost a lot of money – thousands of pounds disappeared into the ether. Hot on the heels of winning £50.00 on the Premium Bonds, I thought I’d lost a small fortune from my investment account.

I logged in to update it to find all six investments read £00,000.00. Trouble was it was after Business Hours for the Investment Bank and I couldn’t contact anyone until this morning. I had been looking at the pressures on the UK Bank Rate and expecting a rise which would impact inflation and mean reconsidering savings & investments.

I had to wait until 9.00 am today to get through to them and be told that they had migrated all investment accounts to a new, more secure platform and I had to go there for information. Good of them to tell me it had happened even if I did know it was going to be done at some stage.

It is a constant fight to stay ahead of interest rates and inflationary pressures in retirement. Historically, as you can see from the chart above, UK Inflation is low and has been declining since I bought my first house although we did have a terrible spike in the 1980s. The government currently is under pressure from the international bond markets which are strangling its spending plans. I notice that pressure on Government finances has meant pensioners are coming under scrutiny again. Should the State Pension be a universal thing or a means tested benefit? Should the triple lock protection remain in place? It will be a brave/foolhardy government who take that up.

You really do have to keep up on a daily basis. We are living in an expensive part of the country illustrated by this article in The Times today. My aim, is to provide us with a good standard of living on pension income and suplement that with investment earnings while saving for the future which, eventually, will make very costly demands of Care upon us. We have been retired for 17 years and remain in the comfortable, top quartile of lifestyles. It is my job to keep us there as long as possible.

Thursday, 3rd September, 2026

A warm and sunny morning. It is a week since we returned from Greece and the wing mirror that got smashed as I drove from Gatwick is finally being replaced this morning. Honda told me it was a minor job that would literally take a minute. The Wing mirror ‘furniture’ is untouched. The electrics controlling it are intact. It folds in and out automatically and adjusts on the controls in the car. The little, orange, blind-spot warning light still works so it is a matter of ‘popping out’ the smashed glass and ‘popping in’ the new one. We’ll see.

Well we have seen. Replacing the glass mirror which literally took 3 minutes to take out and replace was £130.00 and they didn’t charge for labour. If the whole unit had needed replacing, it would have been £350.00 + labour. Grateful for small mercies.

In the week back, we’ve got through quite a lot of jobs that have been playing on my mind. I’ve still got to book an electrician to upgrade the lights around the fence boundary of the back garden but that is a small matter. I’ve also got to secure our suite in Athens for next year in the next couple of days but not many will be thinking that far ahead.

For me, the weeks immediately ahead are Conference weeks. They allow me to geek-out and enjoy the the fun that is politics. Today, the Deform Party is holding its conference of bile and spite in Birmingham for 3 days. What more could you want?

Well, I could want things that don’t hark back to the Fascists of Moseley Blackshirts in 1930s London or the paleoconservative politics of Pat Buchanan in 1990s America where he not only tried to take on the Republican Party and challenge sitting President George H W Bush, but the entire post-war order, the vision of America that has persisted for the past half century – America at the head of a free world. Buchanan ran on a policy of America First, America First. Ever heard that before? He told the electorate he would help them take back their country. Ring a bell? Nothing is new in politics as Machiavelli taught us.

Buchanan ran for the Republican nomination on:

• National sovereignty over global engagement
• Cultural cohesion and traditional social values
• Economic protectionism rather than free‑market globalisation
• Scepticism of immigration
• Non‑interventionist foreign policy

Of course, he lost but it has only taken 40 years for it to come round again. What we can’t afford to do is let that take seed and grow in the UK. We have to be expansionist, outward looking, open to the world.

Great to see a natural politician in PMQs yesterday where Andy Burnham made Kemi Badenoch look more like a 6th Form Debater than an adult leader of a formerly major party.

Friday, 4th September, 2026

Well, I take it all back. There is a god …. and he directed Channel 4 News last night. Few can be surprised that the Deform Party is susceptible to corruption, to looking for every way to bend and break the rules. Last night god delivered a saluatory lesson to the shysters.

I love Party Conferences but I suspect Deform will have their bubble popped if it wasn’t already by their slip in the polls. At least life is looking up … except for Nigel.

Of course Friday is Hairdressers’ Day as everybody knows. I am a taxi driver on those days. It is only 10 mins away and I can come home for an hour before collecting my fare. Outside the sky is gloomy with lowering clouds which suggest rain although no rain comes. Still very warm with high humidity.

Just read the Welsh poet’s lines by a Welsh beach reviewing his life through the experience of an old woman:

As the road climbs,
You will pause for breath and the far sea’s
Signal will flash, till you turn again
To the steep track, buttressed with cloud.

And there at the top that old woman,
Born almost a century back
In that stone farm, awaits your coming;

R. S. Thomas

Actually, a walk on the beach was wonderful today. Kids are back at school and the beach is mine. No old women but I can conjure up my own out on the distant rim of the world so far away.

If you ever wanted to get away from life, this would be an ideal place to come. It is not glitzy, not sophisticated. It is not tropical or refined but it is simple and beautiful, quiet and reflective. This is a scene to lose yourself in and dream of the world out on the horizon. I just love it.

Saturday, 5th September, 2026

September arrived and the switch was flicked. Sudenly earlier nights and later mornings are obvious. This morning, sunrise was at 6.20 am and when I walked in the garden at 7.00 am, the lawn/carpet felt chilly. Air temperature was the lowest we have experienced for 5 months at just 13C/55F. It is not death for plants but it is a signal to stop growing, slow down flowering, prepare for death.

Last night, the dark was so obvious as I looked out through the Lounge window. The sun set at 7.40 pm and outside began to look like the mean street of Winter. It might be all about the Earth’s 23.5° axial tilt away from the sun but, for mere mortals like me, it is an emotional experience. Rage, rage against the dying of the light ….

You know, wherever I have been, I have not slept in a bed since April. I sleep on top of the sheets. The test will be how long the house holds its heat for me to continue doing that. Will I still be doing it until I go to Tenerife for the month of November?

As the gardening runs down for the year, there are things to do.Because I am going to be away so much next year and particularly June/July/August, the gardening will be minimum and self regulating. I’ve decided to grow garlic next year.

September is such a good time to plant garlic: the shortening days and cooling temperatures encourage root development before winter while limiting top growth. This bulb needs virtually no attention other than keeping weed-free.

We eat so much garlic that it will be good to have varieties to try. They go on growing through colder times because their roots go down into the warmer soil below. You get an average of 10 good cloves per bulb so 6 bulbs will produce more garlic than we can eat but the neighbours will be happy.

It is a gorgeous, sunny morning and the day reached 23C/74F. I was sitting in the garden reading political articles and bathing in the warm sunshine. I am going out to the Garden Centre. Herbs will go on over the next year so need trimming up today. We’ve got a fresh bed of Parsley actually growing strongly at the moment alongside a huge bed of Basil. We expect days to be warm enough and long enough to keep them growing until we go away. Amazing how gardening helps one reconcile with one’s own life.

The garden follows largely predictable patterns and so does the sea. The ebb and flow of light and dark as the seasons progress alongside the tidal range. Tides are one of the most reliable phenomena in the world. As the sun rises in the east and the stars come out at night, we are confident that the ocean waters will regularly rise and fall along our shores. 

We have lingered in the chambers of the sea
By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown
Till human voices wake us, and we drown.

T.S. Eliot: The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock

The sea was fully out when we got to the beach today. Warm and smelling salty and delicious, sea birds were gourging on the garden left by the water. Sea garlic, perhaps.