Author: cavaleros

Sunday, 23rd March, 2025

Can you imagine being married for 68 years, Dear Reader? Today, P&C have been married for exactly that long and we congratulate them.

Originating in the dark, satanic mills of Oldham, we hope they have a lovely day up there in sunny Surrey. Of course, a lot of it depends upon individual longevity. At ages 86 & 87, they’ve achieved that already.

Of course, old people are constantly asked on what the secret of their long life is founded and they resort to quite ridiculous things like brown bread and a boiled egg every morning and a glass of sweet sherry before bed. We know it’s nonsense but it is perpetuated. Most of us use the information selectively. I particularly like this one above reported in the Manchester Evening News yesterday.

When you’re old, by definition you have more time behind than in front. For me, finding, observing, reminding myself of the context of that time continuum I/we are on is important. Not in some sentimental way but to keep a hold on the movement of time. It has been a subject for poets throughout the ages.

These days, the world of social media and mobile phones means the process of reviewing the past and remembering it is more graphic. Yesterday, I received some photos from my old friend who I was in Digs with for 2 years 1969 – 71. He and I talk regularly about what we are doing in the present and aiming to do in the future. We will meet again this year for a proper catch up but remembering through pictures is good.

Just 10 years later in 1981, I was travelling across Europe to the Greek island of Sifnos. What should pop up yesterday but two photos from exactly that time. The first ferry I ever took from Piraeus to Kamares was the F/B Ionion. It doesn’t exist anymore other than in the memory and these photographs.

Monday, 24th March, 2025

Started the day with a lovely walk around the local area, through the gorgeous daffodil displays. It is invigorating and sets up the day to come. I have a series of fairly mundane housekeeping jobs to get through. I’ve got some seed sowing to do out in the garden and then some preparatory Finance work to do prior to the start of the new tax year on April 6th. It will be completed in the light of the Financial Statement on Wednesday.

Particularly, it will be important to see if the ISA rules are tightened. There has been speculation of the £20,000.00 per person per year tax-free savings allowance being drastically cut to just £4,000.00. There has always been talk of how long it would take one to become an ISA millionaire. Apparently, if you save the maximum allowance every year for 25 years is the answer. I have been too busy living life to manage that amount but, on reflection, perhaps I should have forced myself.

If you’re asking why I would even be considering this, an article in The Times this morning emphasises it’s significance. The full article is here. We have what are spuriously called gold-plated pensions and they are defined benefit and inflation-proofed. They should keep pace with prices over a retirement of 30 years far better than this lady’s Annuity Pension. We also have a modest State Pension and the huge advantage of the proceeds from the sale of our Greek home plus lifetime savings and investments. The longer we live, the more significant these will become.

The Labour Government are doing good things in a very difficult environment. Taxing private education or buying privilege for your children as we call it has been long overdue. I would ban all private education on principle. Taxing farmers as we tax everyone else is long overdue and will stop the rich landowners avoiding paying their due taxes. Making second home owners pay increased taxes makes sense in redistribution to the poorer end of society. If I am unable to shelter my savings from tax, I will understand and accept it although I will be disappointed. Hopefully, I can get the £40,000.00 for this year salted away before the change.

The problem is age. I have more or less accepted that I am too old to buy another property abroad although I still flirt with the idea at times. I do not have enough time to invest in the stock market in a full blooded way and wait to recover from a market downturn or crash. I have to invest more short term.

I have always believed that I am likely to die before my wife so I have sheets of instructions locked away about how to access all the funds. It is likely that Probate will be required for part of it so directions about how to deal with that are included. We have had very comprehensive wills since the early 1980s and our executors are still alive so that is in order.

Even so, it is good to review these conditions regularly. Certainly we will never be either rich or poor. We will always be reasonably comfortable. After 16 years of Retirement, we are still able to save/invest which I wouldn’t have predicted back then. Let’s hope we live to test the 30 year barrier. I will only be 88 years old, Dear Reader. I intend to be still walking 8 miles a day and doing a Gym routine.

Tuesday, 25th March, 2025

Last week of March. I’m hurtling towards the age of 74. I find it hard to say out loud. It hurts! We are also hurtling towards the new Tax Year, Dear Reader. Yes, I know, you can think of nothing else. This morning, I have an appointment at an investment bank where I hope to make a new, tax-sheltered investment for 2025.

Then, on to the Garden Centre to see where they are up to in terms of bedding plants, on to Wickes to order a delivery of fresh topsoil/compost to refresh the raised beds and pots. Suddenly, the Financial Year and the Horticultural Year restart with a jump and it’s good to be ready.

It’s turned into a lovely day of warm sunshine. Going out for a walk because fitness is the state most important to longevity followed by affluence and happiness. It is not surprising to find that the affluent are much more likely to be happy with their state than those struggling to survive.

There is a distinct difference between longevity and a healthy life. For many, the final decade or more is marked by ill health and disability. The aim is to marry health and longevity together.

Another 8 miles in the bank. I’ve now completed 8 miles a day, every day for 7.5 months apart from one day which haunts me even now. In over 1700 miles, there was a day that I just couldn’t complete because I had a long, tiring drive and got home exhausted. I tried to raise myself but just couldn’t do it. It makes me angry with myself and ashamed every time I look at the stats. – which is every day and sometimes two or three times a day.

Wednesday, 26th March, 2025

Glorious morning. Strong Spring sunshine. Buds on trees and bushes bursting fresh green everywhere. Amazingly confident birds calling from every branch, establishing their territory, confirming their mates, preparing for the perpetuation of Life.

It is a time of optimism and hope. New, confident beginnings. A promise of better times ahead. The Summer is coming. The only downside of this movement forward is that we will all be older.

We have got a summer of travel to come but I am trying so hard to keep everything buttoned down until then. Self denial, self discipline, self impulsion, self flagellation, self responsibility are the watchwords until May. The common denominator is self. It falls to me and my determination in all these things. I hold myself responsible and it must be me who fixes it.

I was surprised by an interview I read yesterday with the opera singer from Manchester – Russell Watson. He suffered a glandular tumour which was treated with radiotherapy. The radiotherapy left him suffering, constantly tired for two years afterwards. If that is a common result, it explains why I have been strugling so much with my physical condition. I am almost back. I am on course for walking 3,000 miles this year. I will have done at least 8 months on a restricted calorie intake and no alcohol. It is all a continual battle but I am winning it.

The lovely weather promises that it will all be worth it. Let’s hope we have a good May with nice weather both here and when I am away. More seed sowing in the sunshine today after a 90 minute walk and then an hour in the Gym.

Just been following the Chancellor’s Spring Statement and it was good to hear that The Office for Budget Responsibility have upgraded forecasts for growth over the life of the Parliament based on Labour’s building plans. I was just as pleased to hear no plans for tightening ISA limits. It may be something on the cards for the future so I will attempt to shelter as much as possible over the next few years.

We have a swanky, new care home near us. At least one of us may need it at some stage. It has specialisms which include Dementia but it allows one to buy/rent whole apartments and includes lots of facilities to make the last years of life enjoyable. The cost of services is about £50,000.00 per year in addition to property prices/acommodation charges. It will not be cheap and it will not be provided under Social Care support. With no children, we will have to find it all ourselves. We need to prepare but hope we don’t need it for another 20 years or so.

Thursday, 27th March, 2025

Glorious morning after quite a cold night. We went down to 4C/39F for the first time for a while. The sky was sparkling and clear last night but is blue and cloudless this morning. It is going to be a growing day for nature.

Nature is a wonderful thing. I sowed these seeds just 36 hours ago and stored them under cloche lids to keep warmth and humidity up. The result is above. I think it is incredible. If I had had the time and patience to sit and watch, I’m sure I could have seen this germination and growth process with the naked eye. These little, flat and dry whispers of seed are so programmed in nature to feel a warm, wet environment and immediately reached down to the floor for nutrition and up to the sunlight for further nutrition.

And from litle acorns … Well, this is the story of life. Generation. Making, nurturing and growing babies. Hoping for the future, their future. It is a selfless act of respect for life. Look how these scrawny, little sticks of green energy will develop and mature in the next couple of months. I wonder if they will go to university, get married and have children. It is all in the lap of fate.

My Housekeeper has multiple jobs/skills. She is a chef, laundry woman, electrician, builder, painter & decorator, hairdresser and, each morning she is my chiropodist. (Sexy or what?) All this walking demands lots of footcare. Every morning I have my feet checked and creamed. Consequently, they are beautiful and soft. In fact, according to her they are one of my best (only) features.

I’m going to have to work on BALANCE. I’ve noticed that mine is becoming suspect. It is something which happens in age and has to be fought against. Can you stand on one leg …. with your eyes closed? I know I have always struggled with things like that but I’ve noticed that I am even less capable of it now.

The project for today, and we all need one, is to treat the car with a new product I’ve bought. It is a silicon and polyeurethane resin spray coating. A black car is always difficult to keep clean and this sparkling, black, metallic paint quickly shows even the dust spots out of rain. I have to clean it and then coat it in the resin which shines up to showroom level and then (allegedly) shrugs off water and dirt for up to 8 months. We will see. I’ll let you know.

Friday, 28th March, 2025

The morning started off damp but has soon brightened up to blue sky and sunshine. Must wish my sister, Jane, happy 71st birthday. She is spending it on Gran Canaria.

Been talking to my old friend, JohnR, and sharing with him this photo from yesterday’s The Times.

When I left home to go to College, JohnR was the second new person I met on arrival at my Digs. To say I was green and innocent would be an understatement. My first Digs mate was Nigel from the South of England. He was sitting under a table, morosely playing Leonard Cohen – Bird on the Wire. Who the hell was Leonard Cohen? It sounded like nightmare noise.

Dismissing that shock for a while, I was next presented with JohnR, a fresh faced, penny whistle playing, Methodist, Geordie who spoke in an accent and a language I had never heard before. He called me Bonnie Lad which had certainly not happened before. He told me he came from Whitley Bay. I’d never heard of it. Was it on Mars? He told me how beautiful it was and he spoke with a pride about his origins which I had never felt myself. We speak quite often now but I have never been been to his home town. If it looks like this. I’ve definitely missed out. I’m looking forward to seeing him again soon.

Revisiting old memories is really on my mind at the moment. This is the time we would be preparing to set off for Greece and our garden and the surrounding hillsides would be carpeted in greenery after Winter rains. The flowers would be everywhere and the barren, dry earth of mid-Summer hardly imaginable. A friend sent these yesterday. It brings it all back immediately.

Age tarnishes everything, Dear Reader, and not necessarily for the better. Just the passage of time is enough to bring about a need for renewal. I rather like to see old buildings re-purposed and renewed. But today, after 8 short years, I have to buy new Office Chairs. Just day to day scraping and twisting have made ours look too lived-in to be acceptable. They’ve gone up in price a bit since then but not too badly. A pair of smart, Office chairs = £520.00. Sold!

Although the day has just got better and better, wrapping its warm arms around us – 16C/61F (palindromic heat) – I have got more and more tired and jittery as I pushed myself in the Gym. In there, I am watching the 7th series of Homeland. It is just pure brilliance. If you watch nothing else for the rest of your life, I would urge you to watch this, Dear Reader. With Trump in power and Russia/China on the rise, this Drama is so on point.

Saturday, 29th March, 2025

March is almost over and we lose another hour tonight as the clocks go forward. Got to make the most of this life. It is the most glorious, warm and sunny day. I’ve been chatting to Kevin in Leeds, Peter in Harrogate, David in Bolton, Andy in central London, Julie in North Yorkshire and Sue in Gozo, Malta. The latter is a girl from Oldham who was Pauline’s best friend throughout her years at Hathershaw school. She has been living on Gozo for the past 5 years and looks very happy there. She is the same age. We are all aging.

I love the internet. All of these things are only possible because of it. We share words, photos, videos across the ether at the switch of a keyboard. This morning I received news of the death of a Sifnos resident. Testament to the simple life and the mediterranean diet, Angelos Loumidis was born in 1928 – just short of his century.

A simple farmer still using the old methods of donkey transport and the old, stone threshing circle for harvest. This video shows Loumidis directing activity in the threshing circle which looks out across the sea to the islands of Paros and Antiparos.

A simple farmer on a Greek island will never get rich. His will have been a subsistence level of life. Rich in experience and friendship but without the commercial trappings of modernity. Living on the fruits of his own labour – olive oil, tomatoes, chickpeas, freshly baked bread and home made wine. I want to live to 100 but I’m not sure that simplicity would be worth it now.

Sunday, 16th March, 2025

Cold night under a full moon. Gorgeous morning of clear skies and strong sunshine. After orange juice and coffee, Chef is at it again. This morning bread is being started. Yeast is warming in the kitchen with that lovely, yeasty perfume before the process really begins. By the time I get back from my walk, a bowl of dough will have trebled or more and be escaping over the rim. When you think about it bread making and the effect of yeast are incredible processes. How did anyone ever discover it?

Life is quite parochial at the moment. Largely that is my own fault. I deliberately focussed on a weight and fitness program and didn’t make travel arrangements until May but there are times when it feels very confining. It is working but the discipline required can be frustrating at times.

Sixteen years ago, I was still 57 – just – and less than three weeks away from Retirement. A dash away to Greek Springtime was in prospect and long time of playing out ahead. For years we had spent Easter in Greece. It is a delightful, relaxing time of unpredictable weather and of the most beautiful wild flowers carpeting the land.

To make the most of school holidays, it meant a Friday night flight from Manchester arriving in Athens in the early hours of the morning. Down to Piraeus harbour and then a tired wait for a ferry to Sifnos at 8.00 am Saturday morning. Docking about 1.00 pm the port was bathed in rain, hail, strong sunshine, take your pick. I remember we took clothes for all seasons just in case. Whatever, the first view was of a carpet of flowers up the hillsides. It was instant joy and relaxation.

Of course, for the final ten years we had reopening, reawakening, refreshing house duties. A house shut up for 6 months needs airing with windows open to the Spring warmth. All the services had to be reconnected – satelllite tv, broadband, etc. A restarted fridge/freezer needed restocking and all those other jobs home owners do all year round. With only two weeks there for Easter, it was demanding but had to be done ready for the drive there in July and six weeks of Summer time to follow.

Music today is S’ Agapo (Σε Αγαπώ – I Love You.) from across the years. Played in buses and tavernas mingling with strong tobacco, heady wine and hot nights, the song brings back so many memories. Good memories. Memories with no regrets. S’ Agapo.

Monday, 17th March, 2025

Happy Monday! Lovely, sunny day. It’s a cleaning day. Clean Monday. The Window Cleaner is here. I’m valeting the car and tidying up the patio. My Housekeeper is steam-cleaning the floors. What an exciting day.

Friends in the North were ecstatic last night as Newcastle won the League Cup Final at Wembley. The League Cup used to be a second class achievement but Geordies went mad. It was a good game and I was pleased for them but it didn’t mean much to me.

Peter Holgate, an old College friend is a season ticket holder and was there early in his black & white shirt although he said the escalators were not working and he struggled to climb hundreds of steps. He sent me before and after photos which gave a flavour of his day.

The last time Newcastle won a trophy was in 1969. The trouble is that I remember it well. This is getting serious. I am 74 in less than 3 weeks and I don’t like it. Caroline was only 7 years old. She and her husband are keen Newcastle supporters and sent me a photo of there joy yesterday evening. I must admit, I enjoy sport but can’t get that excited.

Anyway, on with the day. I have to go out and replenish my ‘Liquids’ stock. One of the main constituents of my dieting day is drinking. It has to be low calorie and a palate-refreshing flavour. I tried Shloer 0% but can’t get used to its horribly sweet taste.

I drink Tea, Coffee (with skimmed milk), and unsweetened Oat Milk. I also have found that Fever~Tree flavoured Tonics are excellent, low calorie supports so this is my day of exercise and diet.

I’ve written before that I never dream and, if I do, I never remember it. The radio comes on every morning at 5.45 am. Usually, I am awake waiting for it. This morning, it woke me with a jolt from … a dream. I was dreaming of being in a large room of long tables covered in starched, white cloths. They were Buffet Tables piled high with food. As I went to get some, it disappeared. This was a continuing process. Each time I went to a table the food – Great legs of roast ham just disappeared into the mists … I must be hungry.

St Patrick’s Day today. Three years ago, I was on Fifth Avenue, off Times Square, New York. I didn’t even know it was Paddy’s Day when I booked. The area went madly Green. It was disappointingly damp but it didn’t dampen Irish spirits. It was an enjoyable experience although not one I would rush to repeat. New York didn’t do it for me at all.

My friend, Kevin, is in Spain. He goes for the sunshine because he suffers from SAD syndrome. Well, he’s picked the wrong week this week. It’s raining. Here he is looking a bit forlorn with his latest girlfriend. Apparently the Spanish coast has had a month’s rain in a day. It’s enough to make anyone SAD. At least he’s got a girlfriend to console him.

It’s no longer warm and sunny here. The lovely start to the day has given way to a grey afternoon with a cold and sharp breeze that cut through me on my walk. I’m going into a centrally heated Gym to watch Series 6 of the brilliant Homeland and complete my exercise routine. My Housekeeper is ironing to keep her out of trouble.

I’m sticking with Greek for my music today. It is making me feel quite sad and empty for a time gone, a time to be revisited and regained. It’s got to happen. I will make it happen. My music today is Απόψε σε θέλω (Apópse se thélo – Tonight I want you.) – Haris Alexiou. It is the sound of plaintive Greece, of dark, late nights punctuated by pinpoints of bright, electric light far off in the black landscape. Life is far away across the landscape, out of reach. It is a feeling of disconnection and loneliness.

Απόψε θέλω να πιω / Tonight I want to drink
Τίποτα μετά να μη θυμάμαι / I don’t remember anything after that …

You see what dieting is doing to me, Dear Reader?

Tuesday, 18th March, 2025

Didn’t sleep well last night. Had felt sad all evening. Woke early before the radio came on. Light outside at 4.30 am. Glorious day by 6.00 am with strong sunshine. My Carer is in need of care herself. I am a total sceptic about Alternative Medicine but she has been having some headaches which the doctor suggests may be caused by nerve endings in the brain. She can take a strong, interventionist drug which is only palliative itself. She has chosen to try acupuncture instead. Rather her than me.

The Littlehampton Natural Health Centre is a hotchpotch of alternative therapies, I could even have my pelvic floor attended to. Anyway, if it helps, a initial session of Acupuncture for £55.00 has been booked but they are so busy it won’t be until the middle of April.

Walking by the sea is my alternative therapy. The colours, smells and sounds really lift the spirits. Today, after visiting the acupuncturist, I drove to the beach just a couple of minutes away. The warmth of the sun, the mediterranean blue of the sky and the gentle lapping of the distant waves make one feel better immediately. I wanted to dash into the water. I resisted the impulse. That reverie was unfortunately broken by the arrival of a classful of Primary kids in High-vis jackets and screeching teachers. Retreat was the best policy.

Had to spend an hour at Honda this morning where the central locking unit was replaced. Lovely people. I am pleased with my loyalty to the brand. It has paid off hugely over the years. In over 40 years of buying Hondas, I think this is only second time we have had an issue with a car. The last one was in 1985 when we developed an airconditioning problem. I think that’s quite impressive.

I am naturally a loyal person – like a pet dog, I suppose. I often think I am too loyal. I was amused to see this article in The Times this morning. My wife always says that I don’t cope very well with her being ill. I do try but she’s probably right. I was OK at playing Doctors & Nurses but not Nurses & Patients. Well, you don’t get the same services do you, Dear Reader?

I prescribe music. It is a profound medicine. Music today is Chopin – Etude Op. 10 No. 3 (Tristesse) It is a study in melancholic sadness. Sometimes a piece is wholly appropriate. Whatever, it is beautiful enough to move one.

Wednesday, 19th March, 2025

A busy day. Out all day. Started off dull but soon went into full sun mode. Gorgeous. I’m Tesla spotting. It has become the symbol of right wing extremism, populism at its worst. It’s owner, Elon Musk has been up front in Trumpian politics and is renowned for leading the Nazi salute brigade. He is encouraging and normalising government by untruth and furthering the American MAGA movement which feeds on lies and conspiracies.

Social Media and, particularly Musk-owned Twitter-X, is alive with anti-Tesla ridicule. Across Europe and Democratic America there are numerous incidences of burnt out Tesla cars, protest movements against Tesla sales and anti-MAGA demonstrations. Just ask the Canadians who are running a national boycott of American goods on the shelves.

Right back in 2012, I was starting out on an ISA investment journey. Putting the maximum I had disciplined myself to save for two full Santander ISAs. My campaign has continued unabated throughout Retirement. It looks as if I’ve found a home for the next investment pot which will open on my birthday, April 6th. In 2012, I was getting a 2yr fix at 4.0%. A year later, I was getting just 2.8%.

Currently, I can get 4.21%. If inflation can be pegged back to Bank of England 2% base, there is still a gain to be made and tax-free. A sign of the times, Santander has announced this morning that it is closing 25% of all its High Street outlets to provide essentially on-line services. About time.

Winter, spring, summer or fall
All you have to do is call
And I’ll be there, yes, I will
You’ve got a friend

Listening to driving music this morning. James Taylor You’ve Got a Friend, a Carole King song from the Mud Slide Slim album. It’s difficult ideas but easy singing. I have so many mixed associations with this song not least a long, long drive to Greece, through the depth of the French countryside, the heights of the Swiss Alps, the motorway frenzy of the Italian Autostrada and the intense heat of the Greek Pelopponese.

Home by mid-afternoon and it is a beautifully sunny 17C/63F. I have walked 7 miles so far but I feel tired and shaky. My sugar level is low and my muscles feel depleted. This is the second day running it has occurred and I’m not sure why. Still, I’ve got a Gym session to do this afternoon before Supper so I’d better get on with it.

Thursday, 20th March, 2025

Today is the Spring Equinox or equal day and night. It is going to be a warm day here in 2025 but the warmest Spring Equinox on record in UK was March 2oth, 1972. I was still aged 20 (just) and writing my college thesis. In fact I was particularly creative at that time.

My thesis was on the works of a Cumbrian poet, Norman Nicholson, who I did a poetry reading with at Leeds University along with local Ripon poet and my English Lecturer, David MacAndrew. David was a lovely man and kind friend. He has been dead for 6 years now. How time flies. How those years since Spring 1972 have flown. For my own records as much as any of my College readers, I record these photos of David.

It’s going to be an outdoor day enjoying the sunshine. First a walk and then a couple of hours giving the street lawns their first cut of the season. Got to make the most of the life we have.

This morning it was announced that Eddie Jordan, the former Formula 1 team owner had died aged 76. He had been diagnosed with aggressive prostate cancer. Two years ago, I was diagnosed with early stage but aggressive prostate cancer. So far, I have survived to fulfil further ambitions. I am going to do exactly that.

When I see this rich man with all the access to medical testing and treatment at his command looking so fit, tanned and healthy and know he is now dead at an age just two years after mine, I know I can’t hold back. Taking risks and doing what I have long dreamed of doing just has to happen.

Of course, what could the music be today other than Vivaldi’s Four Seasons: Spring. If you can get the Musak editions out of your mind from 1990s telephone answering machines, it is glorious. It reminds me of the moorlands on the Pennines.

I’ve done three hours of mowing, edging and sweeping. It started off warm but at 3.00 pm it is hot. We have just reached the magic 22C/70F and it is beautiful. I am absolutely shattered but I’ve still got 40 minutes to do in the Gym. Everything about my body is screaming, NO! but, as usual, my head is insistently replying, YES!!!

Friday, 22nd March, 2025

A different day – less sunny and cooler although improving. Down at the beach en route to the Fish Shop, things were quiet and calm.

Good day for making a crossing in a small boat. The sea is flat and calm. There is no breeze and it is relatively warm. Good alternative to flying in to Heathrow this morning.

I have written before of my unerring need to go back, to revisit, to reconnect with people and places. I usually set a plan and eventually tick off elements of that plan over time. Having spent 25 years on Sifnos, it is on my list for revisit.

This morning some memories of people and places on the island were posted and took me right back to the late 1970s – early 1980s. There are people I know from then in these photographs. Some are dead but some are still alive. The places may have changed but they still exist in new form. That is the challenge. These photographs feature the first man I met on arrival, our architect of our house and one of our favourite tavernas for Lunch. Happy Days to revisit.

Music today involves two lovely voices – Andrea Bocelli and Celine Dion -recorded at an open air concert in Central Park: La Preghiera (The Prayer) Fortunately, I don’t rely on prayers.

Going out for a walk followed by some more grass mowing and finishing off with a Gym session. Activity is central to life at the moment. It is working although I am strangely starting to suffer energy depletion at the moment.

With all this effort, I am starting to look at new suits to fit a new me. I can’t decide how formal/informal to go. These are my current favourites and they are cheap at just over £200.00. I might have to order one of each if someone doesn’t help me. Reader views always welcome.

Saturday, 23rd March, 2025

Had a terribly fitful night. Woke desperately tired and then fell back to sleep. Up half an hour late this morning. A pleasant, mild and bright morning. It’s going to be a gardening day. I’ve got artificial lawns to sweep, cold frames to clean out and seeds to sow. We were given Christmas presents of bulb packs which have been developing away in their containers. The Grape Hyacinths are the first to put on a Spring display.

Out in our street, the cut out flower beds in the lawns have to be planted up in a few qweeks time. It costs me quite a bit of cash. I don’t ask neighbours to contribute. It is my offering to the community like the lawn mowing service. Being one of the few retirees around here, I have the time and they don’t. I try to plant out colourful but hardy and long lasting plants which survive throughout the Summer. Particularly this year, they will have to cope because I will be away for most of it.

They have to be bright and stand-out as people drive in. They have to have a ‘corporate’, unified feel of a community. They can’t look dull, grubby, unkempt or uncared for. They will flower from June to October. I will buy young plants from the Garden Centres but sow all these seeds as well because I will need about 200 plants in all. Seed sowing will start today.

I’m also sowing my one of my favourite vegetables which I eat about three times a week – French (Green) Beans. They are easy to grow from seed and prolific in fruiting over a long season.

Out walking, there are lovely signs of Spring. Daffodils and Hyacinths in full bloom, Robins in trees screaming at us to get out of there patch and these, gorgeous magnolia blooms which really symbolise the season.

Just finished my Gym routine at 4.30 pm after a morning of gardening. I am out on my feet. I don’t understand it. For the third day running, I feel shaky and my muscles are cracking. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I don’t really think I am pushing myself too hard but I am definitely in deficit somewhere. Today, I’ve eaten a bowl of home made museli and a banana. I don’t feel hungry but my body is saying it needs something. You’ve definitely got problems when your body needs something.

A propos of absolutely nothing, this afternoon I’m listening to Elton John & Kiki Dee singing Don’t Go Breaking My Heart. I suppose I have a broken body.

Sunday, 9thMarch, 2025

Gorgeous, warm and sunny morning. How lovely for little Catherine to celebrate her 70th birthday. It astonishes me to even say that. Catherine is 70!

Still, it comes to us all. I’ve made her a home-made card. As I was always told, they are so much more meaningful. As she lives just down the road from me, I know she is enjoying the same, lovely weather and will be able to enjoy a glass of wine in the garden today to celebrate her achievements.

Catherine was born in 1955. It was a different world as some of these photos suggest. Actually, she has just sent me a photo of her own Memory Board with many photos I haven’t seen before.

Funnily enough, I was looking through the 1911 and 1921 Census records yesterday. I love that sort of thing. Found out some fascinating stuff that I didn’t know.

Mum was born a Coghlan. Her Dad, my Grandad was James Jeremiah Coghlan (Irish extract Roman Catholic) who was born in 1894 in Brighton. I even have a photo of the house and street where he was born although it was redeveloped long ago.

When I first knew my Grandad in any cognisant state, he was living in Croydon and managed the furniture department of a store in central London. When he retired, he moved up to the Midlands near us, opened an Antiques Shop and did his own re-upholstering of old furniture. He was proud of his skills.

I didn’t know and never met any of his siblings – my Aunts and Uncles. I certainly didn’t know of his father, Daniel (Born 1851) – my Great Grandfather – or his Mother, Mary Coghlan (Born 1856) or his Grandmother, Mary Fielding (Born 1828) – my Great Great Grandmother – at all.

I’m going out to tidy up the garden and enjoy the sunshine before I do my Gym routine. I’m listening to Elgar today. We are seriously on the edge of World War 3. I honestly believe that these are the conditions that crept up on the world unnoticed before the Second World War and the foundations are forming again. The Elgar I’m listening to is the Nimrod Variation. Nimrod the warrior is all around us now. The Tory government scrapped a new fleet of Nimrod submarine hunters which cost almost £4bn to develop, just before they were due to enter service as part of drastic defence cuts four years ago

Monday, 10th March, 2025

A grey, warm morning. Missing yesterday’s blue sky and sunshine already. We have been experiencing lovely, warm and sunny Spring days recently. The world (locally) is turning back to life. Now we are told it will flip back momentarily to colder times. Daffodils and crocuses will survive the blip but tree blossom may not. We haven’t gone quite that far yet with just nascent buds appearing so all will be well. The shorts and tee shirt can stay in the wardrobe for a few more days.

I used to be a climate change denier. There, I’ve said it. I am no longer, although I harbour a residual suspicion that historical world climate events don’t suggest man-made change is entirely the explanation. However, not to be churlish, my sister, JaneBG has shamed me into accepting the inevitable. I thought I would preface today’s Blog post with that admission.

I used to live on the edge of the Pennines in West Yorkshire for many years and a recurring story of the moors being on fire came each year. They are ritually set on fire as a part of land management, burning off the old growth to encourage new shoots to emerge and blossom over the Summer. It would also happen as tinder dry heather was sparked into fire by careless recreation of a thrown away cigarette or barbecue. I don’t remember hearing of fires in early March … until this year.

Moor fires above Huddersfield on Holmfirth Road and Diggle in Oldham over the last few days.

I am not a Geographer or a Scientist and I do not have a proper understanding of Climate Science. I rely on others. Recently the concept of Global Warming has been qualified by the possibility of Europe actually cooling. This scenario is unlikely to affect my Generation although warming is already something I am addressing. Installing Air Conditioning in the house and preparing to use less water in the garden are both becoming necessities now. I must admit, I would rather deal with warming than have to heat for cooling but it will neither be in my gift or, probably, my lifetime.

My expected lifespan – as an average for those born in 1951 – is 87 years which means just 13 more. A woman born in 1951 can expect to live to 89 years. That is my challenge – to beat the 87 ceiling. That should be all our challenges, Dear Reader. World War 3 could put that under serious strain even if I am not called upon to fight.

I so enjoyed the Elgar yesterday that I couldn’t wait to play more this morning. Today I am focussing on Enigma Variations: Variation VI. Ysobel – Andantino. Ysobel is a Hebrew name which means to struggle with god and led to the naming of Israel. Not many people know that.

Tuesday, 11th March, 2025

A bit overcast this morning but warm and humid. I am putting myself through another test this morning. I’ve volunteered for Our Future Health a collaboration between the public, charity and private sectors to build the UK’s largest health research programme – bringing people together to develop new ways to prevent, detect and treat disease. Of course, I’m only doing it because they are going to pay me £10.00 for my services. Height, weight, waist circumference, blood pressure, blood sample are all taken and recorded. There is no hiding place.

I volunteered immediately my surgery suggested me and I am happy to offer my unique body for the country’s amusement. I assume they have only invited gods and other people of true beauty. Even the organisation can’t really believe my willingness to take part. They have emailed and texted me to confirm my appointment constantly since.

I am going for a 9.00 am appointment at a clinic opposite the beach. I’m not sure how often this will happen but it will have to fit in with my travel plans this Summer.

I weigh myself every morning first thing and I am still well on course. Down again today. I have definitely got the right balance of calories in and calories out at the moment. Over Breakfast, I tested my INR (2.9) and checked my Blood Pressure. Both were good. I think my Blood Pressure is excellent at the moment.

However, that turned out to be the high point. Out at 8.30 am and straight in to rush hour traffic. The drive took me 3 times as long as normal. Parked up by the beach (£3.40) and rushed down the promenade to the testing centre to find a small paper notice pinned to the window – CANCELLED – Testees will have been notified by Text. I hadn’t received a text at all, Dear Reader. You can only imagine how disappointed I was.

Across the road, down at the beach, the sun was just starting to break through the clouds but the area was almost deserted. I’m not sure why but a number of stone pillars have been installed covered in photographs of all the seaside opportunities available for visitors to explore.

The drive home was much quieter and, over coffee, I phoned the Future Health Head Office to receive a bland apology and request to book again. I will give them one more chance but that’s all.

After coffee and a walk, I am going to finish tidying up the back garden this afternoon while my Decorator complretes the re-painting of the groundfloor of the house. It’s a hive of industry here at the moment. I like a good handyman (woman). Very cheap!

Hey, baby, I’m your handy man
I’m not the kind that uses pencil or rule
I’m handy with the love and I’m no fool
I fix broken hearts, I know I truly can

So, you’ll understand my musical choice of the day is James Taylor: Handy Man. Always liked James Taylor and I don’t really know why. I think it is the cool thoughtfulness of the lyrics that appeals to me although I’m not sure it holds up with this song.

I don’t know if this happens to you but it is increasingly happening to me, Dear Reader. Over coffee this morning, I watched a rolling news presentation by Manchester United of proposals to spend £Billions on the building of a new stadium complex which will help regenerate the North of England. It all sounded good and was said to be aimed to open in 5 years time. Wonderful and quite quick …. until I realise by the time this stadium is opened, I will be 79 years old. It is all so unfair and explains why I am so urgent to do things I want to do before my hair falls out and/or I fall off my perch.

Wednesday, 12th March, 2025

A mild but grey morning. My Carer is out. She is moonlighting as a Cat Carer this morning. She tries to fit this in to her portfolio of careers as a Carer, Housekeeper, Chef and Painter & Decorator. It is an unpaid service that she offers to the neighbours when they are away. This morning she is next door feeding two cats Duck in Sauce at 7.30 am. Can you imagine it?

Taking the car in for work this morning. They’ll only need it for a couple of hours so I’ll walk home and then back to collect it. Meanwhile, the Cat Carer will don another cape and become Chef to make a batch of Hot Cross Buns before swapping capes and continuing the Painting & Decorating. It’s exhausting, isn’t it, Dear Reader.

I’ve booked an alternative trip to the Medical Research Clinic for early next month and I have found a scanning service which I’m interested in following up. I read about it in The Times. Neko Health offers a comprehensive body scan which really covers a full amount of data.

There is only one UK site at the moment and that is in Marylebone, Westminster so that is where I will go but it looks as if the principle could be the future for NHS processes although I may not see much of it in my lifetime.

The sun has come out in time for my walk and the world looks lovely. My friend in North Yorkshire had his car stolen just after Christmas and still has no car. I’ve been without mine for less than an hour and I feel very uncomfortable. I’m soothing myself with a song from Bocelli: Lo Ci Sarò – I’ll Be There. Kevin is sunning himself in Spain. It is certainly sunnier and warmer than here but no so distinctly as it will be in another month.

Here, tree buds have broken, daffodils and hyacinths are in full bloom and gardeners are on their starting blocks for the new season. You can feel change is in the air. I’m looking forward with optimism, Dear Reader. New beginnings.

Thursday, 13th March, 2025

Glorious morning. Blue sky and sunshine. Early walk this morning before driving up to Surrey to see smarty-M from Florida. All night the aroma of freshly-baked, hot cross buns has wafted through the house and now they are packaged up for transport in the car. I am hard into my diet. Chef is taunting me with her cooking.

I must admit that they do look good.  I hope, M, P&C enjoy them when I’m not there. Actually, I am so far into the diet that the sweet, fruit bread doesn’t really tempt me for long.

For a number of years, I have been disciplining myself to save and invest the maximum ISA amount for both of us each year. The maximum currently is £20,000 x 2. We are just about to do that again on April 6^th, my 74^th birthday and the start of the new Tax Year. Our tax -free investment allowance each year is just £1,000.00 x 2 so we are facing increasingly punishing tax bills and ISAs are the only way to shelter our cash from tax.

That is what I’ve been researching recently. I think a fixed rate for a couple of years is the best way to go. Despite the financial instability engendered by the Trump administration, I have reasonable confidence that inflation won’t soar out of hand and that a fixed rate can be relied on to make positive profits over a 24-month period if I’m not paying any tax on it.

They may be positive but they’re not very big. The maximum ISA for two people – £40,000.00 will only earn £3,605.80 over two years. Even if inflation comes back to the Bank of England norm of 2%, that would be worth just £1,879.00 in inflation adjusted value. If I move our ISAs of the last few years in as well, it is better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick but not a great deal.

Even if I invest it outside the ISA, tax-free wrapper, I can only get a marginal increase so it’s not a difficult decision …. unless the ISA route is limited by a future Budget which has been rumoured.

Te voglio bene assai
Ma tanto tanto bene, sai
È una catena ormai
Che scioglie il sangue dint’e vene, sai

One of the joys of driving up to Surrey is that I have time to listen to a political podcast from The Newsagents. It will probably be a series of discussions about Trump, Canada and Mark Carney. It is my sort of thing and it will speed the journey up. Befre that, I am listening to one of the most emotional songs I’ve ever heard. It makes my cry every time I hear it. Andrea Bocelli’s, Caruso.

What should make us all cry and then stand up and fight is scarily spelled out in this French Senator’s speech to the French Senate yesterday. It takes 8 minutes and you have translation subtitles to follow but it is well worth it. Truly spellbinding.

Friday, 14th March, 2025

Lovely, sunny morning after a crystal clear night. The garden was floodlit with moonlight and looked magical. As I drove back from Surrey yesterday, the skies opened and heavy rain hit cold air which turned it into hail. We are on that unpredictable edge of winter into warmer times.

Back home, the sun came out and I did an hour’s walk in brilliant sunshine but was faced with this ominous cloud on my way back. Just made it before the skies opened.

I have plants out in the cold frames and they need to be at the moment. Last night, we went down to 0C/32F at low point. Some bulbs we were given at Christmas are ready to be lifted out and given the open air now. We have been tidying up the garden in readiness. People all around us have been cutting lawns really short. I have held off and I won’t do anything until next week and warm weather returns. It is easy to harm grass by cutting it too soon.

Ten years ago, we were still in Surrey but preparing to drive up to West Yorkshire. I recorded the differing conditions on the that day and they were stark in contrast. I, for one, can’t wait for warmer times to be confirmed and stable.

Pauline received a thankyou of flowers from our lovely, next door neighbours for looking after their cats. They are beautiful – the flowers not the cats. I love cut flowers. All donations welcome.

Por mi que estoy ahora aqui
Y sueo cosas cosas que no s de ti
Dnde estaras?
Qu calle andaras?
En tu retorno
Sueo

Just about to go out for a walk now at 1.00 pm and the rain starts right on queue. It isn’t forecast to be around for long. I’m going to listen to a lovely Bocelli song – Sogno (Dream). Love these words. The Italian is so beautiful. I won’t do any more, I promise.

Saturday, 15th March, 2025

The garden was flooded in the most beautiful moonlight last night – magical and compelling. I woke thinking about it and all the other human beings looking at the same light in the sky. While I write this Blog today, I am listening to Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata and dreaming of the silver light now gone.

An early walk in lovely sunshine which was deceptively cold as the breeze held a raw edge. Still, it was good to get that done. Chatted to Kevin in Spain and Peter in Dubai and then got on with a task I have set myself. I love cut flowers in the house but they have to be replaced so often that we have a few Faux Flower arrangements around the place. This one in the Hall has been there for over 12 months and I am beginning to not notice it other than it is too tall and blocks the mirror when I want to admire my figure. And we can’t have that. I am looking to replace them.

There are lots of sites on the web that sell them but you have to pay for quality. I have selected a few for my Housekeeper to comment on. I’m not completely convinced by any of them yet. They average around £150.00 for an arrangement in a vase but they will be replacing fresh cu flowers for twelve months plus so that is a reasonable price to pay.

I want them to look as natural as possible while not dominating everything else. I don’t know what you think of these choices, Dear Reader. You could always let me know although your voice will be ignored just as much as mine, ultimately, as the Housekeeper decides.

I’m going in the Gym to bury myself in the absorbing fiction of Homelands. I need it right now because the post has just arrived with two more, huge tax demands. I’m thinking of emigrating!

Sunday, 2nd March, 2025

Gorgeous morning. Sunshine does make one feel better doesn’t it? We live about 36 miles from Gatwick Airport. It takes about 45 mins to drive there. By the time planes have reached us to cross the channel, they are silent specks in the sky with long, white trails behind them. How much more traffic we will have with an extra runway remains to be seen.

Already I have booked 8 flights for this year – each one with Easyjet and each one from Gatwick. It is an easy transition. For some, I drive and park in the Long Stay and for others, I get a taxi allied to a night’s stay in a hotel at the airport – usually I book Sofitel because it is a nice hotel with a convenient walk across to Departures and I am a member who gets discounts. I like discounts.

Effectively, all my trips excluding those to the North of England are ways of buying sunshine. Of course, Florida is a guarantor of sunshine but I couldn’t face it at the moment under its current regime. I would be in the assassination market myself which could prove problematic. We don’t want to let M&K down because we know they get so lonely without us but Manchester is more appealing at the moment. They’ve got Andy Burnham after all.

Music today is an old favourite that I haven’t heard for years. Last night BBC2 was devoted to Elkie Brooks and this brought back so many associations with the past. Lilac Wine, I’ve learnt today was a Song by Nina Simone from 1966. I only remember it from Elkie Brooks in 1978:

Lilac wine is sweet and heady,
Like my love
Lilac wine, I feel unsteady,
Where’s my love …?

Down at the beach this morning, I found myself singing quietly in my head with an blur of softness on my breath. Embarrassing really because the world, his wife and her dog were there drinking in the sunshine.

The coffee shop spilled out on to the beach and the sunshine. The regatta was far out on the sparkling sea and the cycles were parked up to rest in the warmth. It’s coming, Dear Reader. It’s coming.

Monday, 3rd March, 2025

Another gorgeous morning to drink in the sunshine. Went round to chat to Honda and book the car in for Friday. Spoke to a lovely, little girl on the desk who wasn’t even born when I bought my first Honda. Of course, the central locking is working flawlessly this morning. Anyway, it will all be sorted out on Friday.

Back home, I am working on a project of insurance for my data. I generate so much ‘stuff’ that I would be very upset if I lost it so Backup is essential. I use an automatic backup program so I no longer have to think about it.

Computer crashes and security infections are far less prevalent today than when I first started. In 1988, my Masters Degree Dissertation was always in danger and had to be saved on floppy disks which were easily open to corruption. By 1994, computing had moved on but hard drives were limited to 32mb and backup on floppy disks was still very vulnerable.

Just 30 years ago, hard drives were limited to 32 mb. Today, my hard drive is 1,000,000 mb or a Terabyte and houses more pictures and files than could be imagined. Of course, some are more precious than others. I received one 4 years ago today that I never want to lose. It came up in my Records Box this morning and was immediately backed up three times.

I use a cloud store – One Drive that comes with Micosoft Office-365, a local cloud store in the form of this small Terrabyte drive and I have a simple flash drive. There’s insurance and there is real insurance.

Music today is the guitar. The classical guitar of John Williams. I don’t play this too often but today I am listening to Aeolian Suite for Guitar composed and played by John Williams.

Well the day remained wall-to-wall sunshine and reached 15C/59F. Walking was warm. If I hadn’t got my Housekeeper painting, I might have set her on garden tidying instead. Still, there is time.

Tuesday, 4th March, 2025

Another glorious morning. The temperature only says 7C/45F but it feels warm in the sunshine. I’m going out for an early walk. My Housekeeper is painting and the house is invaded throughout by the smell of new paint.

The sea, on the other hand smells freshly of … sea water. It is a good and relaxing place to be. I am walking over just about 3000 miles per year. I feel fortunate not to suffer with joint problems.

A number of my fellow College friends are waiting for or recovering from Hip and knee replacements. That is not something I’m suffering from currently. I have worried that all this walking will bring those problems about but I have been reassured that walking makes them less not more likely.

The Mayo Clinic research found that the average American walks only 3,000 – 4,000 paces per day and 5000 paces should be considered a baseline to health. Although some activity is better than no activity, one should always be challenging oneself to go further. You have to constantly look for fresh ways to integrate walking.

Going to have to try this one. The Lowry Centre in Manchester has an interesting new experience inviting people to walk in to a Lowry painting. Must be worth a visit, Dear Reader. Lowry360 will be open at the beginning of May.

Walking, walking through time and memories …I’ve always loved this quote from T. S. Eliot’s Four Quartets:

Footfalls echo in the memory
Down the passage which we did not take
Towards the door we never opened
Into the rose-garden.
Time present and time past
Are both perhaps present in time future ….

Music today is from Helen Shapiro (who is only 78 now) singing Walking Back to Happiness which expresses an idea so close to that of Eliot’s it is amazing. Walking back to the present is an incredible concept. It was the first ‘Pop’ song I ever heard. It was in 1961-2 and played over the tannoy of the first ever supermarket I ever went in to. It was in the Summer before I went to Grammar School where boys were already talking about The Beatles. It took me a while to catch up. Story of my life.

Just received a letter from the Le Ministère de la Transition Écologique et de la Cohésion des Territoires with our Crit’Air vignette attached which will cover us for driving in France and assure police that our car is environmentally clean.

Every time we change the car, we need to buy a new vignette because it uses the car’s VIN number. It costs less than €5.00 and it saves a fine in France so I always do it.The biggest problem is sticking it in the windscreen correctly.

Wednesday, 5th March, 2025

Unusual start to the day. Thick fog all around. Don’t often see that down here. Went down to the beach to collect a fish order and took the chance to walk by the Marina.

Quite chilly 5C/41F under the heavy sky and so different from yesterday’s sunshine. I suppose it is good to see the differing conditions but I prefer the sunshine.

My father died of a heart condition at the ridiculously young age of 49. He actually had a heart attack while he was in a hospital bed but was unable to be saved. This morning, the news carried an innovation being urged on the Labour government by experts from University College London (UCL) who report their view that a single, daily “polypill”, which includes a statin and three drugs that lower blood pressure, could be a flagship initiative to boost the Government’s drive to prevent disease.

Because of my own heart condition of Atrial Fibrillation and my family history, I have taken a handful of pills to cover cholesterol, blood pressure and anti coagulant for the past 16 years. Most of these things may now be offered to all over 50s in a combined pill which is so cheap since they have run out of licence-time. I feel fit. I don’t really worry about heart attacks and stroke any more. This combination of drugs has freed me of those concerns.

I am much more exercised by the threat of cancer. I am adequately tested for prostate cancer now. I have been regularly tested for bowel cancer but it is not automatic and I have to fight for it each time. How often should it be? I do the NHS Bowel Cancer Screening test every 2 years. I have had a colonoscopy at the same interval for the past 4 years. This morning I was told that it should be every year at my age. It was by a private testing company but their data was compelling.I may have to break the habits of a lifetime and pay for privately enhanced treatment.

Warm sunshine has returned and most things are well with the world. The days are coming when fog will lift permanently and sunshine will flow warmly. It will be a time of clarity and blue, mediterranean skies. Music today is Torna a Surriento (Come back to Sorrento) sung by Mario Lanza. If only I could, Dear Reader.

Thursday, 6th March, 2025

A delicious morning. Up early to greet our new central heating service engineer. Really nice, salt-of-the-earth lad who turned out to be a Grecophile who wanted to buy a place in Lefkada. We have been paying British Gas about £350.00 per year for their Gold Standard service. This lad used to manage a team of BG engineers and now works for himself. His service was more thorough and cost just £70.00. He’s already been booked for next year.

These are uncertain times of world destabilisation. Since the Trump-Vance attrocity with Zalensky in the Whitehouse, so many of us have carried round a heavy heart. A friend from Yorkshire sent me this yesterday which relieves the anger momentarily. Just click to play it when you need a ‘joy’ fix.

It is such a lovely day that I’m playing Beethoven’s Symphony No.6 – Pastoral. There really is nothing else on a day like today. When I go walking in the sunshine today I think it will be shorts and tee shirt for the first time for a while. Good things are coming closer and more rapidly now. Not long until May.

My old flatmate, Chris Tolley, has just heard that I am alcohol-free for 191 days. He is away in the sunshine of Lanzarote and sent me a photo to make me jealous. There are many things I want but a glass of warm lager in Lanzarote is not one of them.

The back garden is bathed in strong and hot sunshine. Chicken Stock is being made in the pressure cooker simmering away on the induction hob outside on a table, pervading the air with its distinctive smell and sending all the cats in the area wild.

The upside of Trump’s America First policy is that it throws UK back into the European sphere. However much ambiguity surrounds our government’s attempts to bridge the transatlantic gap, it is becoming clear that there is only strength in European unity and a European defence force that the Atlanticists have been denying for so long. So many of us have thought that for so long as we opposed the Brexit idiocy. It is all coming home to roost.

The Peace Dividend idea at the end of the Cold War was a reason cooked up to allow European nations to divert spending away from Defence into other channels. It was a nice idea but just plain wrong. There will always be aggressive agencies against which we have to defend ourselves. Arguments against nuclear weapons were made on cost and value. Arguments for rested on Deterence.

Boris Johnson famously argued against rearming Military Forces on the basis that it would all be hight tech. in future. He said fighting won’t involve tanks anymore. Just a couple of years later, what has been most needed by Ukraine’s Armed Forces has been Tanks. What we don’t need are the Aircraft Carriers that we bought at extortionate prices in order to support US forces in the Atlantic Ocean.

Friday, 7th March, 2025

Another lovely, warm, Spring morning. Out early to Honda to have the central locking mechanism checked and a Recall on the Fuel Injection system which they only advised us about yesterday.

We will leave the car and walk home. It is a 40 mins walk so we will walk back a couple of hours later. The walk is through the woodland surrounding us. It is still mainly dormant although buds on trees are about to wake to the Spring. This current warm spell will probably do it.

The walk there and back will amount to enough outside today and I will go on to complete my Gym routine this afternoon while my painter & decorator continues freshening up the house. It is amazing how faded the unpainted areas now look so she has inflicted a life time of work on herself equivalent to painting the Forth Bridge which they say needs restarting as soon as they get to the end.

Of course demi-gods like me have more important focusses. Diet, Health and Fitness are the centres of some of my friends mine’s thinking. My friend in Yorkshire and another in Rochdale are obsessed with something I hadn’t heard of but will investigate now. They talk about the Withings Scale from which they quote their Fitness Age.

I thought it was a chart but it turns out to be an actual set of bathroom scales which provide detailed reports of the body scan the scales perform including fat and muscle percentage, cardiovascular risk assessment, and detection of certain early signs of diabetes-related complications and vascular age.

All of this information can be deduced from scan of feet and hands each morning which is then relayed to a smartphone app. Now they’re talking my language! I am trying hard but not hard enough. All that information is a little bit scary but I think I will have to submit to it. Kevin tells me that, although he looks 80, he has a fitness age of 60. That is my target.

My Chef cooked what is turning out to be one of my favourite, healthy and delicious Suppers last night. It consisted of roast Sea Bass with pesto dressing accompanied by Portobello Mushroom stuffed with shallot and parmesan and roast Cherry Tomatoes.

Other than Muesli, this is the only meal of the day. It is accompanied by a glass of alcohol-free wine and fits well within my calorie-intake target. When you get me 7 months into this routine, I find it quite easy. The problem will be when I start to relax it. Will I be able to pull it back whenever I want to?

This morning, I’ve been invited to book the first of a two part annual health check at my Surgery. They are absolutely fantastic down here. We get appointments when we need them. Everything has been done on-line almost since we arrived 9 years ago. Results are delivered on-line to an app on my phone. The service itself is proactive as in this case. I didn’t request a health check. I was invited. When you are in your mid-70s, these things are increasingly important

While keeping up the spinning plates of my body and the car’s, I’ve chosen Take That‘s What is Love. I’ll sing along in Greek because that’s what I associated it with. You can sing in English, Dear Reader. No pressure!

Saturday, 8th March, 2025

Gorgeously warm day for early March. We are reading 17C/63F this morning in the back garden. My walk at 9.30 am was delightful being greeted by shiny, new blackbirds, sweetly voice thrushes and aggressively determined robins all jostling for space and food building up their prowess in readiness for the big love-in.

Before I go on, I have been contacted by a clever clogs who has taken issue with my solution to one of the mathematical puzzles – see Wednesday, 12th February, 2025.

A.C. Clogs says that my solution ignores the BIDMAS rule which says one should deal with multiplication before the addition. This means that the answer to this puzzle should be (4 x 6 = 24) + 3 = 27. Much as I don’t want to acknowledge it, she is right.

Today is International Women’s Day after all as my Bavarian-Australian next door neighbour has just reminded me as I returned her Hot Tub towel which had some how fallen into our garden. My wife is celebrating by being allowed to continue painting the house. I am giving her freedom by watching football and Six Nations Rugby. We all have to make sacrifices!

I’ve also been enjoying exploring the 1911 and 1921 Census releases this morning. They are providing lots of lovely information going back to the early 1800s. Interestingly and rather disappointingly, I thought my Mother’s family had closer ties with Ireland than they did.

Neither my Grandparents nor my Great Grandparents were born in Ireland so the connections really do go a long way back. No chance of me claiming EU identity via my ancestors unfortunately. I will have to rely on Labour taking me back in and Trump making them go faster than they want.

I was supporting Ireland against France this afternoon but it didn’t go right. The French were just too good in the Spring sunshine. Haven’t had time for music today.

Sunday, 23th February, 2025

A beautiful morning. I had an empty sadness inside me yesterday. This morning renewed my optimism that all will go well and that I will achieve my ultimate goals. Blue sky, warm and bright is definitely a harbinger of things to come.

………. Blue-eyed May
Shall soon behold this border thickly set
With bright jonquils, their odours lavishing
On the soft west-wind and his frolic peers;
Nor will I then thy modest grace forget,
Chaste Snowdrop, venturous harbinger of Spring,
And pensive monitor of fleeting years!

William Wordsworth – To a Snowdrop – 1820

Obviously, the effects of Global Warming have advanced the time of Spring considerably over the past 200 years and the difference between the Lake District of Northern England and the sheltered coastal temperatures of West Sussex contribute but these harbingers of Spring are out here at least two months earlier than Wordsworth’s 19th Century Cumbria.

It is a morning of domesticity. I am having my haircut in the Kitchen after I’ve done a 90 mins walk. I have a live-in Barber who actually doubles up as a Chef and Housekeeper. Chef has produced a huge batch of Meat Sauce for one of my favourite meals – Stuffed Peppers / Πιπεριές Γεμιστές. I think this pan will do 6 meals for two people unless you drop in, Dear Reader.

If you are a regular reader of the Blog, you will know that I have been drifting from Left to Right on the Nature v Nurture debate. The Right tend to argue that bloodline and genes are predominate determinates of generation. The Left tend to deny that and argue that privilege of circumstance is what makes the main difference. Levelling up would raise the Health and Physical Wealth of the less fortunate.

I was brought up in a Right Wing family but educated in a Left Wing milieu. I grew up on the belief that amelioration of Nature particularly through compensatory education was the way to improve the world. In later life, I’ve been alarmed to find how many physical attributes are common throughout my family. Now, the Sunday Times reports research with a re-balancing of that argument. Socioeconomic status – your post code and associated affluence which is all tied into your level of education and cultural choices – is by far the most influential factor on longevity. It doesn’t mean that no poor people live to great ages just that the likelihood is less.

Music for this Sunday morning, while the devout are at prayer, is the Debussy – Cello Sonata which was written at the start of World War One and is guaranteed to make life more enjoyable if not any longer.

Monday, 24th February, 2025

A dark early morning of heavy rain has miraculously brightened up by 9.30 am. It is very warm. I’m tired. I didn’t sleep well. I never dream but I’ve been dreaming. In spite of this, I’ve got to get my exercise done. These are the most important days when I have to drive myself through the crisis.

This week marks 6 months without any alcohol. It is the longest spell I have done since 1973. I would like to say I feel good about it -feel better for it. It wouldn’t really be true. I am pleased to reassert my self-discipline. I’m sure it has allowed my liver to breathe a sigh of relief although my doctor told me last year it was in excellent condition. It has definitely helped me in my struggle to lose weight and regain fitness. Both of those goals are well on target. I have a date in May in my mind that I am aiming for. Another 12 weeks.

I am trying to keep myself occupied physically. Having completed my travel planning and bookings for the year with a few gaps to slot extra bits in, I am turning to the garden over the next few weeks. Soon the lawns will need reviving as they welcome the Spring warmth. Moss killer and weed & feed applied to boost them after quite a wet Winter. I am about to order hundreds of ‘plug’ plants to grow on for planting out.

It is a cheap way to produce hundreds of plants without needing to germinate them all myself. They will arrive at the beginning of April and be potted up into my cold frames. They will go out into the beds in late May to flower all Summer while I am away. My neighbours will get instructions on how to look after them.

Music today is from the Moody Blues – On the Threshold of a Dream: Lovely to See You. Haven’t heard it for years. Sounds dated but I suppose I am. It’s strange but part of me utterly rejects the past for its taint with aging yet part of me longs to dive back into it – to understand it with the perspective of distance. It’s probably quite natural but it fascinates me.

I’m absolutely loving my Gym workout each day at the moment. I can’t wait to get in there. I’m watching an Anglo-American Spy drama over 96 episodes which I resisted for a long time but finally re-tried and it is brilliant. I am utterly hooked.

I find myself completing my routine but forcing myself to go further just to finish an episode. It is really topical and involves Israeli prisoners of war, Al Quaeda, Afghanistan, Russia and a change of American President. What more could you want? I love the irony that I have to subscribe to Disney Channel to watch it. This alone is worth the £5.00 a month subscription.

Tuesday, 25th February, 2025

February is sliding rapidly away. March is marching closer. The Spring is on our doorstep. These are the waves of time flowing back and forth on the beach of our lives, each time getting closer before retreating to reveal our past.

If you are my age, Dear Reader, the death of Roberta Flack yesterday will not have passed you by unnoticed. I was no great fan of Soul Music, as I think it was called, but songs like The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face (1969) and Killing Me Softly (1973) are part of the fabric of my youth and so chimed with stages of my life that they will always be significant. She lived to 88 but died of a nightmare illness – Motor Neuron Disease. Nothing in life is simple or easy in the end but we have to bear it.

Energy prices are rising again and we have to bear those as well. Interesting article in The Telegraph this morning about how retirees are escaping to warmer climes to save on heating bills. Now that’s an idea, Dear Reader. What do you think?

About 40 years ago, I went to Cyprus in the Winter to enjoy some extra warmth. I hired a car and explored the southern half of the island. It was interesting and enjoyable but not the Greek experience I had been hoping for. I haven’t been back. The article this morning was suggesting that I reconsider and I will.

Around 1985, I stayed in an almost empty area called Protaras. It is quite developed now. I drove to Larnaca and Paphos. I drove from the sunny beaches of Paralimni up the Troodos Mountains region into heavy snow. I drove to the Famagusta checkpoint to look over the fence between Greek and Turkish Cyprus.

I am already looking for a rental property for the month of February next year in Paralimni, South East Cyprus. One of the first that came up suggests I was always destined to return.

It might be a bit big but would be worth it for the name alone. I will have to invite a bunch of friends … if you are up for it, Dear Reader.

Wednesday, 26th February, 2025

Wet and warm, grey and depressing. What to do with today? I am acknowledging 16 years and 6 months today. It was 16 years ago today, at the tender age of 57, that I learned I had an irregular heart beat. Medically, it is called Atriall Fibrilation. Crudely, it means that my heart stops and starts spasmodically, allows the blood to pool in the ventricles of the heart where it can coagulate and pulse clots around the body causing strokes and heart attacks.

I must admit that, in retrospect, I probably suffered from this for years before it was diagnosed. As an athlete and a rugby player in the late 1960s, I put heart palpitations and and feeling light headed down to pushing myself too hard, being short of oxygen, being muscle fatigued. Looking back, I think it was probably irregular heart beat.

Anyway, for the past 16 years I have been dosing myself each morning with rat poison. I take Warfarin which prevents my blood coagulating and therefore clots don’t form to develop catastrophic consequences through circulation. In rat poison, the doses are so high that the rats ingest that their blood circulation is so fluid their bodies explode.

In human sufferers, dosage is closely controlled by medical experts. Hospitals have specialist Departments of Anticoagulation for just this process. I report to one in Worthing every couple of months. We communicate by email. I am fortunate enough to be able to afford my own testing machine and don’t have to physically attend a clinic which is so inconvenient for most. Even so, from the moment I was diagnosed, all my prescriptions even those unassociated were free. I used to really worry about the condition but these days, I am relaxed and on top of it. I test myself weekly and maintain a spreadsheet which is now 16 years long. I never give up!

Six months without alcohol. I think that’s worthy of at least a round of applause. Now walking a minimum of 8 miles a day but actually nearer 60 miles a week. I’m feeling so much better, so much heathier. I know there are somethings I still need to reclaim and I will but music is back in my life after all this time finding it almost unbearable. Today, I am listening to the magnificent Jacqueline du Pré playing Elgar’s Cello Concerto  in E minor composed at the end of the First World War.

Thursday, 27th February, 2025

Gorgeous morning. A little bit cooler than recently but blue sky and sunshine. Eyes drink in the light. If you haven’t got it, I wish I could share it with you, Dear Reader.

Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus is a book written by American author and relationship counsellor in the 1990s. Mars is a sign of bravery, aggression and a quality of being strong. Venus is a sign of love, beauty, kindness. Stereotypes are wonderful aren’t they? And plain wrong. It may have sold books but it doesn’t really inform the science of relationship advice. It is too reductive even if it still has some basis in reality. I can be brave, strong, aggressive but I can also be a soft mess. Over all, my experience is that women are stronger and harder headed.

Retirement can be boring after a while and we all look for distractions. We shop and we travel. I shop for technology and my wife shops for clothes. We meet over food and travel. One of the great things is that we don’t have to actually go to shops any more, the shops come to us and they do …. almost daily. This morning I am going to Saint + Sofia in Covent Garden (by proxy) to return a pair of Venus trousers and reclaim £160.00 for my bank account. All I do is print out a label and good things happen.

Ten years ago, I was shopping in Maplin Electronics for memory cards. Now there is no shop left across the country. They went into administration in 2018 and now only trade on-line … and why not. Work from home is a great idea. All teachers should do it.

My live in House Decorator has been tasked with repainting all the internal doors. After 9 years of life and being pounded with strong sunshine, retouching is no longer feasible so all 8 ground floor doors and surrounds are being totally repainted. She needs a project and there it is. As a result, we have made a trip to Wickes this morning for brushes, rollers, paint and White Spirit and Masking Tape. Over the next couple of weeks the house will be renewed.

My job is to complete my fitness regime each day and continue research for a holiday rental in Cyprus for the month of February 2026. No time like the present and someone has to do it. The one above is fantastic value at just £3,200.00 for four weeks replacing UK winter with Mediterranean warmth. What’s not to like?

To keep me company, I have Pavarotti singing Libiamo ne’ lieti calici from Verdi’s La Traviata. Even my Painter & Decorator is singing along. It is an old favourite with so many opera lovers who pretend they can sing whereas Pavarotti is effortlessly sublime … rather like me in the shower.

Friday, 28th February, 2025

Today marks the end of Winter by the meteorological calendar but we’ve got four more weeks until the clocks go forward. Still, the day is glorious with cloudless blue sky and strong sunshine. My Housekeeper doesn’t care what day it is. For her, it is another day of self-indulgence. A constant round of Beauty treatments, new clothes and, this morning, the Hairdressers. Friday seems to be popular.

Went down to the beach where the temperature was a lovely 14C/57F with the tide gently lapping on the turn and hardly a soul in sight.

You only have to bathe in the warmth, listen to the sounds and watch the mesmerising movement of the sea to know life is worth living. It is really reviving. Came away feeling better about life and more determined than ever to succeed. Not long until May.

All eyes yesterday were on America and the Starmer-Trump meeting. The lawyer prepared well and the egoist fell for the preparatory work. All the media with the exception of the ultra right wing Express had to hand it to Starmer. Even the Murdock Times (above) gave praise.

I’ve got the sounds of the sea still playing in my head throughout the morning. So the music I’ve chosen today is from Fleetwood Mac: Albatross. Delicious chords which so echo the sounds of the sea, the lapping of the waves, the dragging of the shells back into the water.

It is so lovely to live here and have this on our doorstep but it will never rival the Mediterranean for me. I will spend the rest of my life exploring shores heated and exposed by the searing heat and blinding sunshine of Mediterranean skies. I can hardly wait for my next visit.

Saturday, 1st March, 2025

Happy new month, Dear Reader. Happy March 2025 and welcome the Spring. It’s certainly bringing gorgeous, warm – 14C/57F – sunshine and blue skies with it this Saturday. Outside on an early walk, the trees and hedgerows were alive with birds looking for friends with benefits to access the gene pool and extend the species. Flowers and buds on bushes are breaking in the bright warmth preparing for the season.

Music today is the delightful Beethoven: Violin Sonata No.5, ‘Spring Sonata’. It is a time of heart raising expectation and joy to come. And there is joy to come, Dear Reader. Life is rejuvenated and reborn. Let’s hope we are too.

Met our neighbours out walking. They have two girls now aged 18 and 16. Each are doing exams this Summer and the elder one preparing to go off to university in September. When we moved in to our new house they were both at Primary School. It is a shock to reaslise how time has moved on in the light of that fact. It’s a shock for parents as well, of course. It reminds us all how old we are.

I’ve owned Honda cars since my first one in 1984. In that time, I have bought more than 20 of them from new. I have virtually never had a problem with any of them although I didn’t keep one more than two years. Yesterday, I developed a central locking problem on the front passenger door and it has to be looked at on Monday.

Actually, I first found out when my Honda App showed all doors, sunroof and windows were locked with the exception of the passenger door. When I checked that was locked as well. So there is an electrical facility problem which I can’t solve.

For that reason, I am going to give the car a full valet in the sunshine in readiness for taking it in on Monday. I am always reminded that when I took my Honda Accord in for its first service in 1984, the Honda desk mildly rebuked me for delivering such a dirty vehicle. They said they provided every customer with free cleaning kits because their vehicles were their adverisements and had to look good always.

I took that rebuke to heart even though I had given them the princely sum of about £7,400.00 and was rather shocked by their response. I have always tried hard since then.

Well, if you are a Democrat and you didn’t go to bed and get up this morning with that obscene scene palyed out in the Whitehouse last night then perhaps you were not paying attention. It has dominated my thoughts since yesterday evening and it fully justifies the opprobrium heaped on that attrocious, attention-seeking, orange man-baby as he abused the President of a European, democratic country. It was utterly appalling but it has to unite Europe in opposition.

The most astonishing thing has happened. I’ve cleaned the car from top to bottom, inside and out. It is ready for inspection on Monday morning. The only thing is that the central locking problem has disappeared completely. I am amazed. I only cleaned it.

Sunday, 16th February, 2025

It’s all downhill from here for February and for life. For me, the morning routines started badly. My shaver refused to pair with my smartphone. Disaster. How can you shave without a phone? I have a Philips Shaver with which I use an app called Groom Tribe. So that set me back. It records all my shaving stats going back to 2023. I’ve got it all back now but it was a hairy moment. (See what I did there?)

Downstairs for orange juice, tea and coffee while I catch up with the goals from Match of the Day yesterday. The Sky Q Box in the Kitchen had disconnected itself over night. That had to be reconnected.

Out early for a 90 mins walk in quite cold temperatures. It is only 4C/39F which is hardly exotic. It is dry and forecast to be dry all week. Driving up to Surrey at mid day taking some new phones and a huge bag of sweets along with a massive batch of freshly baked scones plus a huge pile of freshly baked Oven Bottom Muffins which the ex-Oldhamers miss.

Hopefully, the roads will not be too busy on a Sunday. Who goes anywhere on a Sunday? I’ve had to teach myself the installation of the new phones which are VOIP or voice-over-internet-protocol which everybody with a landline is being moved to. Basicaslly, the line connection can no longer be called ‘Land’ because it isn’t. Everything comes across the internet so the handset has to be plugged into the BT Hub or connected via WiFi. This is one of the reasons that I’ve given up our landline. It just duplicates our mobiles which themselves come through WiFi when we are in the house because the connection to the 5G signal is so weak inside.

Music today is playing in my head as I walk. It is from the fantastic Verdi opera, Nabucco. The title comes from a short version of Nabucodonosor (English: “Nebuchadnezzar) The opera follows the plight of the Jews as they are assaulted, conquered and subsequently exiled from their homeland by the Babylonian king Nabucco. The piece I replay in my head is the Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves: Va, pensiero, sull’ali dorate. / Fly, thought, on golden wings.

Had a wonderful political podcast about the infighting in the Labour Party/Government as I drove this morning. The time and the miles melted away. I was in it. I wanted to be in the middle of it. If I come back in another life, there are a number of things I will do better and differently. Involvement in politics is one of those areas I would think about earlier.

When we’ve done our good deed for the day, it will be an hour or so home hopefully in time for the Man. Utd clash with Spurs. I’ll watch it while doing my workout in the Gym. Well, I did my work out but United didn’t perform their side of the bargain. They are a long way off achieving anything.

I was part of a tiny, select group of lads at my College who developed an identity because we were the first. Gradually, each member of the subsequently disparate group have been relocated and I got home today to find the final missing member has been gathered in. Charles was rather an outsider who sat in the Common Room and played impromptu classical guitar to all who would stay to watch. His girlfriend was named Winsome which quckly led to the quip, You Winsome and you lose some.

Monday, 17th February, 2025

Lovely day with blue sky and sunshine. Almost made me think about the garden although, on second thoughts, I’ll give it a couple more weeks. Bins out this morning. I am the bin man this week. I have 5 sets of bins to put out and back later. So many of my neighbours are away on Half Term holidays even though most do not have kids. Any excuse and it seems like Dubai is the popular destination this year. I suspect they’ll all meet up for a street party when they get there. Anyway, I am still here – just waiting – but my time will come. The window cleaner has arrived and then we go out for a walk.

Later, my Housekeeper will be painting touch-up areas and I will be in the Gym. I’m going to restart my rowing regime today and build it up over the next couple of months. Our walk takes us out of our Development and through a park which borders an older Development from some 20 years ago. The tree planting is quite mature now and the trees are pollarded every couple of years. The Parks & Gardens were on it today. The results are stark but grow back so quickly that the results will be majestic by September.

One of the stipulations on our development in 2016 was that there should be lots of open, green space and that mature trees should be left wherever possible. This beautifully mature tree survived the build as it should have done. Even in its skeleton structure, it looks impressive this morning.

As a post-war Boomer who never had kids, I am fascinated by following generations and their attitudes to the world. We are all partially shaped by the environment of our childhood. Twenty years ago, The Times published a study of the social attitudes of Millenials. This morning, they feature an interesting comparative study into the social attitudes of GenZ. These are its key findings:

I have to say that I echo quite a lot of them. I think UK is racist. I would be disinclined to fight for such a country. I do think UK is largely stuck in the past. I would happily have chosen working from home in my career. I don’t really have a view on casual sex or on transgender. I have always drunk alcohol and virtually never touched drugs but I don’t really object to others doing it.

Being in debt in my youth was something I saw as a good thing. When I owed more than £250,000 to a bank, I always saw it as an investment that would pay back double and it did. They do seem rather less inclined to take a risk than I was. Maybe that comes down to education more than anything else.

Music today is deliberately going with a composer I’ve always found ‘difficult’. I know I am supposed to like/admire/enjoy Mozart but I have never found him easy. Today, I am forcing myself to listen to Mozart: Andante in C Major and it is starting to win me back. You should try it, Dear Reader. You might understand it quicker than me.

Tuesday, 18th February, 2025

What a gorgeous morning. We are reading 9C/48F but the sunshine makes it feel warmer. Going down to the fish shop on the harbour to buy locally caught cod and swordfish. The morning started weirdly with a call to BT. Change is always difficult and sometimes fraught. The other day, I had a phone call from BT who I buy Broadband and Landline from and have done for 25 years. BT have joined forces with EE who I have two mobile contracts with. They have been having service integration problems.

I was moved from BT to EE for their Broadband provision a few months ago. They sent me all the new equipment. I have it up and running well. Last week, a nervous BT office called me and tried to get me to re-sign another 2 year contact 6 months early. I thought it was strange at the time but I agreed. I told them I wanted my Landline taking off it because it was no longer useful. I was told it would disappear yesterday. When it didn’t, I phoned them this morning to be told that they had no knowledge of it.

New research published this morning commissioned by Recycle Your Electricals found that nearly 40% of UK homes keep their small electrical connectors and chargers in a ‘drawer of doom’ just in case they are ever needed. I am one of that 40%. This morning I scrapped a full set of 6 landline phones. Even having read the research, I hesitated over whether to store them in my Drawer of Doom in the filing cabinet or just bin them. I fought hard with my instincts and binned them but it was touch and go.

Music today is … (Hold your breath in astonishment!) … Take That: The Garden. I like the song but, particularly, I like it for the words – the quality of lyrics like this:

Everyone, everyone, can you hear the soldiers coming?
And everyone, everyone, every man and every woman
We all fall in the end, we’re just miracles of matter
So come on let me love you ….

I like it because it’s sung by a lad from Oldham in identifiably Oldham cadences. It takes me back. I especially like it because it plays on the theme of a poem from the mid 17th Century written by Andrew Marvell: To His Coy Mistress.

Had we but world enough and time
This coyness, lady, were no crime

Basically, Marvell is trying to get his love into bed but she is playing hard to get. He is saying that they don’t have time to mess around. Time is short. The Garden is doing exactly that. The soldiers of time are constantly marching nearer. Before they arrive, let me make love to you. It is an eternal theme.

Wednesday, 19th February, 2025

Some respite from the cold has arrived. It is noticeably warmer and will get warmer still over night. That’s a positive sign which will encourage the daffodils and the birds. I am dreaming, dreaming of real warmth in the future. I know I will make those dreams come true. I’m preparing for it right now.

There is always one good moment in the calendar for February each year. That is when my little brother, Bob, catches me up. Just 10 months apart (That’s fecund Catholics for you!), Bob is 73 today and we wish him Happy Birthday.

I’m finding it hard to listen to the News since Trump took power. The World is going to hell as he thinks he can trample on the dreams of the Ukranians and the Palestinians. Their dreams of freedom are just that and nothing more as the unprincipled autocrat surveys the world stage. To hear his view this morning that Ukraine invaded Russia not the reverse and that the only settlement will mean ceding their territory to their enemy is obscene and insane. If the West don’t stand up now, they never will.

What it will do, is push the UK back towards European integration again. It may start in Defence but already people are begining to see that back in Europe will be our ultimate destination. I’m all for it and still can’t understand the thoughtless, Brexit drive.

Europe needs Ukraine inside the family of EU nations and Nato defences. It has long been a dream or ambition. Ambitions are important. They inform our actions in the now as we move purposefully towards the future. We have for too long rested on our laurels, indulged ourselves in the peace dividend by deluding ourselves about Russia. Now we have to bite the bullet (literally) and divert spending into positive defence. There is no other way and that is one thing we can agree with Trump on. We cannot rely on the US to fight our battles for us.

Seems a little incongruous but music today is about dreams. It is actually Dreams from Fleetwood Mac’s 1977 album, Rumours. It is my one of my wife’s favourite albums and I have grown to enjoy it with the familiarity of her regular playing of it. The one thing you can really know about her is that she is not GenZ. She is utterly a Boomer. A piece of research which I found amusing came out yesterday. It listed some distinctly GenZ habits/attitudes with which to measure the rest of us.

If you’ve ever been told you’re showing your age just by doing something completely normal, congratulations — you’ve officially been called ‘old’ by Gen Z. These include:

• Using a landline
• Owning DVDs or physical media
• Taking photos of everything instead of just enjoying the moment
• Paying with cash
• Wearing skinny jeans
•  Leaving voicemails
• Using the “crying laughing” emoji

In my quest to be ‘younger’, I’ve ditched my landline. I only own DVDs because I can’t face throwing things away but I never play them. Everything is digital now. I am guilty of taking lots of photographs and not being able to just enjoy the moment. I never pay with cash and haven’t for years. I have never worn skinny jeans in my life. I rarely leave voicemails mainly because I think I sound uncomfortable. I try not to use the “crying laughing” emoji although lots of my friends do so I feel pressured to use them in reply.

Thursday, 20th February, 2025

Strange global warming taking place. This morning we are 12C/54F while Athens is half that. Manchester was even warmer. Doesn’t seem right but that’s levelling up for you. It’s warmer but cloudier and wetter. Just to cheer myself up, I have chosen Bellissime Stelle (Beautiful Starry Sky) as my music for this morning. Lovely words ….

Verrai, verrai,
Dovunque arriverai:
Sei pioggia che gonfia le fontane.
Cadrai, cadrai, sul fondo scenderai
nell’anima che scalda gli occhi miei
e ancora ti vorrei.

It is two years ago this week that I was going for a biopsy that found I had an aggressive cancer in my prostate and exactly a year ago I was preparing for a second colonoscopy of my lifetime. The former was erradicated for now and I get lifetime bi-annual monitoring. The latter was clear after some concerns from the first one. My health appears to be excellent at the moment.

I have had a lifetime of dieting and have always been prone to putting on weight since I gave up playing competitive sport. I have always been too inclined to self indulgence and have always fought for a larger slice of the pie in all spheres of life. I am my own worst enemy, I know. And then I beat myself up about it and I have massive determination to do something about it. In a few days, I will mark being alcohol-free for 6 months. I will have walked 8 miles a day every day with one exception in that time and survived on 1500 calories a day. There aren’t many people who can do this but it becomes a way of life to the point that, when I eat something, I instantly regret it because I crave that ’empty’ feeling.

In the past, my substitute flavour drink was the awful Shloer which has that dreadful artificial sweetener background. In the past 6 months I have been drinking far superior products: Alcohol -free wine with Supper and Tonic-based drinks from Fever-Tree during the day. These three are my favourites and the Spanish Clementine in particular. They are low in calories and high in flavour. They get me through the hard times …. well, some of them.

In Sainsbury’s this morning, I was walking out when I saw an old chap looking at the display of seed packets for sale. He was reading the French Beans. I just casually asked in passing, Are you starting this early? I got chapter and verse about his age, health and life experience. He turned out to be 89 years old and he was thinking about sowing climbing beans this year. The problem is his hip. He needs a hip replacement and he has been told his heart wouldn’t survive the operation. It makes him sad. He only gave up riding his motorbike 6 months ago. Aging and decline is a terribly sad thing and we must resist it with all our determination. I’m going to. Are you, Dear Reader? Always on my mind ….

Friday, 21st February, 2025

Spring morning. Warm and breezy. Out early to the Health Food shop on the High Street – Grape Tree. I wanted to get ingredients for Museli. One bowl of that fills me and gets me through the day until Supper.

I know it sounds esoteric and nerdy but I don’t take it far. They have a mix of Oats, Wheat and Barley which I fancied trying plus some flaked nuts and chopped fruit which I already buy. When you’re on a diet, fibre is an essential component and I find oats swell in my stomach and keep me full for longer.

I’m rather getting to like chopped papayer and pineapple along with golden sultanas, flaked almonds and coconut combined with ice-cold fat-free milk at mid day.

Out for a walk at the beach, a stiff off shore breeze made it feel colder than it was. The last real day of Half Term was quite quiet. But Spring is definitely coming. You can feel it straining at the edges. Buds on trees, birds in trees and even bulbs forcing their way through the ground to meet the daylight. So, today’s music is Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring.

No need for heating. I even went out without a coat although that didn’t make it pleasant on the shore path. I suppose we have a long way to go until we can rely on the warmth but it is defintely coming. Hang on, Dear Reader. See you in May when everything will be warmer.

Saturday, 22nd February, 2025

Warm and grey with damp air. Not a day to be sunbathing. We are 12C, Manchester 7C and Athens 6C. Fascinating reversals. Today will be a Sport one. England v Scotland Rugby. Everton v United Football. Of course, I’ve got my own targets to achieve with a walk and the Gym.

Hundreds of Gulls were swarming from side to side of the parkland, searching for food. They are like air-rats. Ironically, by the time I had completed my walk, the sun had broken through. For the first time in weeks, I was sweating in a fleece. Soon time for shorts and tee shirt. Can’t wait!

One of the problems with a long marriage and I’ve been married for 46 years (Incredible just writing it.) is that we each take on tasks to the exclusion of the other. My wife’s iPad had a wifi problem over the past few days. There is only one person in this relationship who can fix that and it is not her. Whereas, I don’t even think about washing and ironing clothes, I’m just told when it will happen and the wardrobes are repopulated with fresh and ironed clothes. Fortunately, she loves her latest iron which is almost larger than her and makes the process quick and enjoyable …. I’m told.

We get into some so entrenched patters of responsibility that, as someone said to me the other day about there husband, I don’t know how he would manage without me. It is a dangerous position to be in. My wife woke thinking about how she would cope on her own if she had problems with the internet, her computer equipment, the Sky delivery service, the internet-based heating controls, the car settings, etc. She’s obviously anticipating a change of situation.

I would seriously struggle to use the Dishwasher, Tumble Dryer and Washing Machines on my own. I even struggle with the top oven of our two and the multitude of facilities it offers.

Sunday, 9th February, 2025

A grey but brightening morning. Going out for a walk early because rain is forecast. A fairly ‘free’ day today. Newspapers to read and Political programmes to watch, friends to communicate with and exercise to do. You could describe it as ’empty’. I don’t like empty. My Housekeeper will be busy preparing to repaint areas of the house showing wear and tear. That is all beyond me so I am the supporting act.

I am very risk-averse. I am insured up to the hilt for every eventuality. I hardly ever claim but it makes life calmer and more assured (literally). The best car, travel and home insurance possible is a must in our household. Today, we have to reconsider House & Contents Insurance which we have been buying from the same company since we moved in here 9 years ago. Privilege have been our insurers and last year they charged us £355.00 for both Buildings & Contents cover. The renewal price this time is £535.00 which is quite a rise so research is required.

You never know who you are dealing with when comparing quotes but a quick check shows Privilege insurance policies are underwritten by UK Insurance Limited, who own the brands Privilege, Direct Line, Churchill and Green Flag. They often try to hike the cost and we find alternatives to use as a bargaining chip and they usually back down. Be interesting to see if they stick to this 50% increase. It’s certainly one of these things that winds you up and demands all sorts of time consuming things like calculating the surface area of your house, measuring how far the nearest tree is too it, how much the entire contents would take to replace, how many items costing over £1000.00 you need to insure separately, etc.. I suspect many people give up and plump for round figures. Not in this Office!

Bésame, bésame mucho
Como si fuera esta noche
La última vez
Bésame, bésame mucho
Que tengo miedo perderte
Perderte después

To soothe the savage, inflamed breast, music today is another Andrea Bocelli singing in Spanish: Bésame Mucho (Kiss me a lot.) I got addicted to this song before I translated it and the Spanish is so beautiful. I wish I’d persisted with it in Grammar School. I chose it over Russian at the time but dropped it for other things before I had really learnt enough.

Monday, 10th February, 2025

Another cool, grey and damp morning. I have an appointment with the Hygenist at the Dentists at 9.00 am so there is no time to waste. I hate the Hygenist with a passion – not the person but the process. I sometimes wonder why I volunteer to pay for it.

My poor next door neighbour has to go to work this morning knowing that Ofsted are in. She is a lecturer in English at the local College. All weekend she has been receiving emails from Senior Management reminding her what a wonderful institution she works in and with such a wonderfully understanding Management Team that she should impress that on Inspectors. Poor girl. I really do feel for her. I’ve offered to go in an and deliver a few lectures if she needs a break. You never lose it, you know.

When I go travelling, it is almost always conditioned by weather. I like the sun and warmth above all. Language, culture, sights are important but secondary. France, Italy, Greece, Spain provide so many of my requirements. I never think of Wales in that way. This morning I listened to an interview with Helle Thorning-Schmidt. She is the former Prime Minister of Denmark and the current wife of Neil Kinnock’s son, Stephen. She also sits on the advisory board of Meta/Facebook.

She talked about her new found love of Wales in general and Angelesey in particular. It reminded me that Mum & Dad loved Wales and took us across the Menai Bridge to Angelesey for a holiday. I was too young to remember much about it but I have always associated North Wales with two things – rain and old fashioned travel. Perhaps I am going to have to rethink, retrace and reassess. Might have to reacquaint myself with Angelsey.

I don’t think my acquaintance will merit learning Welsh but I fell heavily for a Welsh actress, Eve Myles and a Welsh drama, Keeping Faith, originally made for S4C in Welsh. About 5 years ago the drama gripped me and the accompanying songs composed by Amy Wadge have absolutely hung in my head ever since. Today’s music is Faith’s Song – perhaps the best and most insistent of them. I crumple under it.

Tuesday, 11th February, 2025

Birthdays are strange things, aren’t they. If you believe time moves in a straight line and I do then we all travel forwards from the Mother Ship to our final destination in a linear direction.

“They give birth astride of a grave, the light gleams an instant, then it’s night once more.”

― Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot

Like roads in metres and kilometres, Lives are graduated in months and years. Along the road to our destination, we can take temporary detours but the final destination is always the same. All the lives we meet along the road are shed and we are all alone in death.

Thought you would like an uplifting theme for the morning and, to accompany it, an equally uplifting piece of music – Chopin’s Piano Sonata No. 2 in B Flat Minor – which to the initiated will be depressingly appropriate. It is wonderful music in its own right but we cannot divorce it from common association.

The difference is that Christians seem to believe they go upwards at death whereas all the evidence seems to point the other way: They give birth astride of a grave. Ascension in to heaven is literally an aspiration which has no basis in reality. Self delusion rules.

The real question is about timing and duration. Can we intervene to slow the time or extend the duration? Are there things we can do or are we kidding ourselves. We have to believe that we can or life is meaningless. I often think I am juggling plates of performance. Yesterday my teeth passed the test. This morning by INR was excellent. My weight is coming into line. My fitness is good. My blood pressure is good and my cholesterol levels are excellent.

I still look to improve my balance, suppleness, and muscle degeneration. I constantly try to keep my brain alert and my emotions in check. I look for ways to test my abilities all the time. Yesterday in an idle moment while I was recovering from my Gym workout, I did an IQ Test online. I really enjoyed it. It was largely centred around sequential patterns of number or space and they are things I’ve always been good at.

These two tests are really the easiest starters before the real work begins. Try them, Dear Reader. Answers tomorrow … if you’re still alive.

Wednesday, 12th February, 2025

Another grey morning. I am heartily sick of greyness. Turn on the light! Give me sunshine! Now! Look to the Future …. It’s going to be warm and sunny. In the mean time, we have to grind out the self improvement programme. The diet and exercise routine continue and the house renewal starts today. All the little scuff marks are being photographed and noted ready for repainting/touching up by my Housekeeper. She has to get her pleasure somewhere.

Place has rarely been important to me. I have an inner life that makes it less relevant than to some other people I know. I like where I live. I particularly like it in the sunshine and we do get a lot of it normally but people are more important really. The Telegraph ran a feature on the Home Counties this morning and I was surprised to find they included East & West Sussex but not Surrey. They say they consulted legal documents.

Worthing was included and the new, restaurant on the pier – Tern run by Michelin star chef, Jonny Stanford who originated in Manchester. I love the way geographical connections run through life’s story. Try as I might, I can never get them out of me.

For years, this was the time I would be planning, researching, booking the return to our home in Greece. I dug out a plan I did for our trip 15 years ago today. I was only 58 for one thing. I had been retired for almost a year. I was still living in cold Yorkshire.

I loved the journey almost as much as the 6 months away. I loved the drive and, in retirement, it was so much more relaxed allowing us to take more time and have a number hotel stops on the way. I have never regretted these experiences. They made me a better person.

You light the skies, up above me
A star, so bright, you blind me,
Don’t close your eyes
Don’t fade away, don’t fade away, oh

Music today may be quite surprising but it reminds me of that drive. It took many hours across many country’s borders where we didn’t have to show our passports because we were EU members. To wile away the time, I listened to and sang to a range of music from  La Traviata to Take That‘s greatest hits. This morning, to fit in with the travel and place theme, I chose We Can Rule the World and I was singing along in the Office but, in my head, I was back on the road driving from Colmar in France to Modena in Italy – a day’s journey of about 6 long hours.

I’m sure you managed yesterday’s puzzles easily but, at the risk of appearing patronising, this is how the working went.

Thursday, 13th February, 2025

Another grey day which would be depressing if it wasn’t for the relativity of life. Two separate friends in North Yorkshire: one suffers from and is currently suffering from SAD Syndrome; the other has been diagnosed with breast cancer for the third time in the same breast. Puts my life into perspective.

One of the things I need at the moment is a new suit. I don’t wear them so often now. They were my school uniform once but every man needs a few good suits for the right occasion. I have been looking at Brook Taverner online. Never bought a suit online before. I had mine made to measure in little, specialist Tailor Shops. Will be interesting. Bet I have to have the arms shortened.

The research into House Insurance went well. My Housekeeper is proposing to switch insurers for a better policy but £150.00 cheaper. I’ll put that towards my new suit. We will move to Admiral who will allow us to be away for at least 60 consecutive days which is something we will need over the next 12 months.

Fifteen years ago, I was booking this hotel in Parma, Italy for our drive to Greece. The manager is called Elvis and the hotel is no great luxury but good enough for one night on the way. To be honest with you, almost anywhere is good in Italy. This morning I was acknowledging my neighbour across the road – Filippo from Parma, Italy. It’s a small world. Music today is from the wonderful Italian composer, Giacomo Puccini who was born in our favourite Italian city of Lucca. I know there are many more interesting pieces but why not play the classically populist card for once: Nessun Dorma or None Shall Sleep.

In the Gym today, I am going to start a new focus on Strength Excercises. I can’t drop my Cardio targets but I’ve got to integrate some strength work as well. There are lots of execises to choose from. I have a professional Rowing Machine so that will be one of them and I have some Dumbbells so I will do some Bicep Curls.

Ask anyone under the age of 40 and you are likely to find they don’t have a landline in their house. They have a mobile and use it exclusively. People over 40 tend to be in the graduated phase of mixing both landline and mobile phones. Those in their 80s tend to mainly use the old fashioned ways. We have two mobiles and a landline with 6 handsets around the house.

Discussing it the other day, we realised we hadn’t used the landline for ages other than to shout at cold-callers. We decided to do a month where we never attempted to use our landline. It turned out to be no problem. We have unlimited calls through both systems so they really were duplicating each other. Today, I cancelled my landline and saved myself the massive sum of £120.00 per year. This is at just the time when I have ordered some big button cordless landline phones for a relative with poor sight. Everyone needs something different.

Friday, 14th February, 2025

Happy Valentine’s Day …. again. Seems to come round every year. I am so romantic that I’m driving my wife to the Beautician’s to have her face renovated. Apparently, she is going to have it defoliated by using needles with electric pulses. It costs a fortune compared with a plastic, Bic Safety Razor. You can buy a pack of 5 for £0.99. I must tell her how to banish that stubble. Anyway, Happy Valentine’s Day to all my readers. Make the most of it. Doesn’t last long like all good things.

My music this morning is unashamedly down with the kids. It has to be a love song, of course. I actually quite like it: Ed Sheeran – Perfect. He is an interesting character with an interesting voice and it illustrates my ability to break out of my own conventions.

Another trip to the old sweet shop – Bah Humbug – today because we are driving up to Surrey on Sunday with a set of phones to be installed and C has managed to get through his first Kilo in quick time. Got to keep the old natives happy. In the meantime, I have been holding a long conversation on Whatsapp with my next door neighbour who is 50 metres away. She has just completed her Ofsted at College and is embracing the weekend early. She wasn’t even observed so she shouldn’t be worrying. Anyway, she’s so skinny that they call her ‘Stick’ because, when she turns to the side, she is invisible. I’ve offered her free access to my wine store if it would help.

I was thinking about suits the other day and how seldom I wear them now having been my uniform for every single working day of my life for almost 40 years. The sloppy old man of today – I live in teeshirt and shorts most of the year – sometimes misses the formality of those days. I actually have very few formal shirts in my wardrobes and even less dress shoes. If I’m going to have new suits, I’m going to need some new shirts as well. I used to get all my shirts from Charles Tyrwhitt where each one will cost me £75.00 now. I can’t afford that!

Going out now for a walk. It is 7C/45F but feels much colder than that. It is definitely not a shorts day for me although I saw a couple of lads out in them this morning. Youth don’t feel the cold. The good news is that the sun came out as I walked and it felt quite pleasant. The bad news is that I had an Inland Revenue letter on the mat when I got home informing me that I had even more outstanding tax to pay from my investments over the new tax year. I might have to move to Florida for awhile.

Saturday, 15th February, 2025

I helped to start up a Whatsapp group. We call it Old Friends 69/72 Bookends and it involves the 20 or so men from our Year in College or at least the surviving ones. We swap our daily life experiences with each other, laugh at our problems and commiserate with the difficulties of growing old. It’s a lads thing. Some of them meet once a year back in Ripon where we first met. Some of us have not met for more than 50 years.

Yesterday, Andy H., who lives in central London and used to work at the Tower of London, was walking out of a church where he had been listening to a concert by the London Symphony Orchestra when he looked up and there was Chris T. and his wife coming out of the same church concert. They were down from Leeds especially for the concert. This was their first meeting since 1972. It’s a small world. L.S.O. Free Fridays at St Lukes is where it all happens!

My music today is from an opera that I haven’t listened to for a few years now but loved in the past: Donizetti’s Lucia de Lammermoor. It is almost 200 years old but has stood the test of time. I hope to emulate it although not in its romantic tragic content. Don’t you always hope it will end differently and well?

I don’t know if I have told the story before but I was in Digs for the first two years in College. I was the guest with two other lads of a nice couple called Mr & Mrs Boyd. After two years, in 1971 I moved into a grotty, rented flat with three other students in the centre of our small, rural town in North Yorkshire. I didn’t see Mr & Mrs Boyd again until I was at a conference in London, delivering a paper on School Attendance of all things in the latter 1990s. I was late and had to get a tube connection.

As I rushed across the concourse down in the bowels of central London, I had to push through a queue of people waiting to get to the ticket machines. As I did so, someone shouted and I thought they were complaining about me being rude. I looked back and there were Mr & Mrs Boyd from NorthYorkshire. I hadn’t seen them for 25 years. Unfortunately, we hadn’t got time for a catch up which I now regret but, what are the chances?

I’ve been invited to join the UK’s largest ever health research programme, designed to help researchers to discover new ways to prevent, detect, and treat diseases. It is called Our Future Health and it involves answering questionnaires, providing blood samples, being measured and weighed and allowing researchers to one’s medical records. I can sense readers shrieking, I wouldn’t expose myself like that! but I am relaxed about it. I have nothing to hide (well, nothing I’m prepared to tell you about).

It will give me a DNA analysis and read out. They will advise me what my DNA suggests I can expect in the future. It’s like Tarot cards but informed by science. Actually, the sell it as: Joining Our Future Health is like leaving your body to science – while you’re still alive. That quite appeals to me and it is not very inconvenient. There are local testing stations being set up across the country and the rerst can be done on the web. I can manage that.

Before they test measure me, I’m going out for a walk so I can present the best specimen I can be. Later I will do my Gym session while watching the football. No point in sitting still.

Sunday, 2nd February, 2025

Not keen on Sundays, as I’ve told you before but it has to be faced. Today is Sunday. Looking on the bright side: the sun is out; the air is warm; I am going to a sweet shop to buy a soothing present for an elderly relative which is my good deed for the day. You could almost confuse me with a Christian, Dear Reader.

Pauline’s brother-in-law has the next in a long series of painful operations to remove cancerous lumps from his skull. How he copes with it, I don’t know. To add to his problems, he suffers from developing dementia. One of the few things he really enjoys is eating old fashioned sweets. This morning, we are revisiting a shop where we bought his Christmas present from a rather down at heel part of Litlehampton.

They don’t appeal to me but these sweets really are of another century. Perhaps they appeal to the older demographic of Littlehampton. Still, they do sell in grams and not ounces. For 10 bags of 100 grams of different sweets C will have a kilo of enjoyment.

Perhaps it says something specific about me but I am genuinely pleased and more relaxed now I have largely tied up the whole year’s travel.

• May – Driving in France
• June – Thessaloniki
• July – Torrevieja
• August – Athens
• November – Tenerife

This morning I have been talking to the owner of the property we have rented for November. He sounds a nice chap and all reviews say he is very amenable. It was one of the reasons that I chose it. In addition to the current arrangements, we may fit in another brief trip to France and we will be visiting the North of England a couple of times. It’s going to be a busy year. I’m looking forward to it. I think it will do me good see new places, revisiting old ones, meeting new people, reuniting with old friends.

This morning, I’m listening to James Taylor. He has long been a friend to me. Thoughtful and intelligent, his laconic style is very appealing. Today, I am listening to:

You Can Close Your Eyes
Well the sun is surely sinking down
But the moon is slowly rising
And this old world must still be spinning ’round
And I still love you

I could have picked any one of more than a dozen tracks that regularly play across my mind. It is realxing but emotive, provoking yet enjoyable.

Lovely Spring day for a walk … and so good for you, Dear Reader. An hour or so will earn me the right to watch the football in the Gym while doing the rest of my program. Gorgeously warm and sunny this afternoon, daffodils are beginning to bloom and birds are beginning to be … birds. These are days to savour.

Monday, 3rd February, 2025

Gorgeous morning after quite a cold night. Got to valet the car ready for a trip up to Surrey tomorrow. That is my only responsibility today … apart from my exercise routine.

All the news this morning is dominated by Trump, Tariffs and the fallout for the World Economy. Economics is an exciting and fascinating subject. I wish that it had been part of my Degree study. As it wasn’t, I have had to teach myself. It’s not ideal but gives me enjoyment. The father of modern economic theory – John Maynard Keynes – came to prominence in the 1930s sparked by his reactions to the Great Depression. Keynes argued against the ideas of neoclassical economics which held that free markets would self-regulate the world market. Essentially, he was Protectionist. He believed in tariffs.

Keynes died in 1946 but his views prevailed right up until the 1970s when alternative policies by Milton Friedman and other Monetarists, who disputed the ability of government to favourably regulate the business cycle with fiscal policy, came to prominence. Free Trade was their gold standard.

It looks like this now aging debate is being revisited once more as Trump begins to impose US tariffs on a fragile world economy. It is all a bit mad because Keynesian economic theory has been espoused by the Left who saw Public Spending as a good thing while the Right saw unalloyed World Trade as a good thing. Suddenly, we have a right wing, disruptor in the Whitehouse turning to Keynesian Tariff Policy to defend national industries.

How will it end? Nobody knows although lots of people think they do. One view, expressed in this cartoon from the right leaning The Times today, suggests Trump’s attempt to bully the world will result in a backlash which will damage America. More likely, as the Financial Times suggests this morning, it will damage all of us. Tariffs from one side cannot be ignored. Bullies only prosper if you backdown. If Europe, Canada, Mexico, etc., stand up to Trump, the net result will be world inflation. Inflation will result in higher interest rates for longer and higher interest rates will lead to less economic activity and stagnation.

This is why economics is so fascinating. It is like chess. You have to think five moves ahead. What will your move do in five moves time? Is Trump capable of this? Does he only see the immediate? We will see it in one dimension? Bullies have to be bullied. If it wasn’t so dangerous for us all, it would be fun. It is not fun unless he is forced to climb down.

Music today is James Taylor again – Sweet Baby James. Always loved it, the words and shades of sorrowful colour. Loneliness is at it’s heart. It is a powerful emotion. Solitude, shades of simplicity.

And as the moon rises, he sits by his fire
Thinkin’ about women and glasses of beer
Reclosing his eyes as the doggies retire
He sings out a song which is soft, but it’s clear
As if maybe someone could hear

Out on a familiar, local walk, I suddenly realise how much faster I am pushing it now. It’s definitely a good sign. Tomorrow I will be walking like a mad man around the carparks of Ashford Hospital where I will be parked up for a couple of hours. It just has to be done.

Tuesday, 4th February, 2025

Up early because I am driving to Surrey this morning. It’s my new, temporary job as an ambulance driver that is in force this morning. So no music today. Political Podcasts instead thhis morning. Very exciting. I bet you’d love to travel with me today, Dear Reader. An hour up to Surrey and 30 mins down to Ashton and reverse. Three hours driving with two podcasts each way. What more could anybody want?

Went the scenic route again today to avoid the nightmare rennovations on the motorway. Then off to Ashford Hospital in Staines upon Thames.

The route to Ashford took us past the new Shepperton Studios which is now part of the Pinewood Studios Group. They have recently been completely rebuilt and are dominated by Netflix Productions. Thought you’d like to know that. Luckily the journey there and back was relatively quiet today. C’s operation was excruciatingly painful but reasonably short lived. He just now has to suffer the consequences of recovery and that is a slower process when you’re 87. It is bad enough when you’re 74.

I’ve been using a Garmin Venu Sq. smart watch for a few years now. It appeals to my need for data and control. My current one, which is about 3 years old, was beginning to look a bit scratched and I wondered how long it would last so I bought a backup in the sales a couple of weeks ago. I just left it in its box. This morning, my old one died a noisy, buzzing death and stayed blank and data-less. It’s as if it knew I had moved on.

The new one has leapt into service seamlessly: Time/Date/Heart Rate/Steps/ on the front face but behind the scenes it records: Calories/Hydration/Temperature/ as well as Text Messages/ Emails/Whatsapps/Phone Calls/ and much more.

As I did my walk around the hospital carparks, the adjoining Tesco Superstore carpark and carwash site, – 1000 paces each complete circuit – I had one of those out-of-body experiences where I looked at myself from above and asked, What am I doing here? and I didn’t mean in those carparks but I did mean in this part of the world, at this time doing this activity. It is an existential question. I don’t know if everyone does that at times. Do you, Dear Reader? It has nothing to do with god or religious epiphany but an attempt to understand oneself in time-space context. I used to do it even more commonly late at night sitting outside in the pure darkness of our Greek home but it is quite disconcerting. In times like this, I need to talk but I was on my own.

Wednesday, 5th February, 2025

Beautiful if slightly chilly start to the day. Out quite early to Sainsburys to do the weekly shop. First stop as one walks in is Fresh Fruit & Vegetables. That is where we spend the most time and, this morning, where we spent most money. Total Bill was £61.20 of which Fruit & Vegetables took £40.00. It illustrates the journey we are on.

Today we bought Green Peppers, Cucumber, Tomatoes, Lettuces, Oranges and Lemons from Spain, Field Mushrooms from Netherlands, Bananas from Panama, Asparagus from Peru, Green Beans from Senegal, Melon from Brazil, Button Mushrooms from Ireland and Shallots from …. Norfolk. You see how Brexit has helped us take back control and secure our borders and made us self sufficient?

All the rubbish talked by Right Wing politicians of how Britain was self sufficient in Food in the past and our European Union membership had undermined that is sheer nonsense. Going back a century, we were not self sufficient although the imbalance was not as it is now but the variety of our diets was very monochrome compared with today.

Only the rich could afford exotic fruits and vegetables imported from warmer climes. Most of the population had to survive on things in season and not made more expensive by importation. This sort of regime was still in place for we post-war Boomers. Thank goodness life has moved on. I can eat asparagus outside the British growing season which only lasts for about 6 – 8 weeks. I want it in January. Just as I want Green Beans and Tomatoes in February not be restricted to Turnips and Swedes. The NFU claim we are 62% self sufficient. My evidence casts major doubt on that.

Music today is by a long time friend from 1969 – Leonard Cohen, Hey, That’s No Way to Say Goodbye about the girl on a Greek island who he lived with and left and who died recently without ever seeing him again. He famously wrote her a terribly sad letter when he heard she was imminently dying of cancer. Of course, Cohen himself is now dead but what a sad and incomplete story. Just listening again takes me back to a garret room in College Digs and I shudder.

Lovely, warm walk this afternoon. Nature is springing back to life probably prematurely according to the forecast. It is going to get colder before we see any real advancement of the year. I predict that key months this year will be May and October.

Thursday, 6th February, 2025

It was certainly a colder night last night. We went down to 2C/36F whereas Greater Manchester & Leeds were -2C/28F. The reward is the most beautiful morning start with clear, blue sky and strong sunshine.

Did you know that Greater Manchester in general and Oldham and Rochdale in particular are some of the country’s most dangerous places to live throughout the UK according to the latest study reported in the MEN today. I must admit, I have thought how safe my current area of West Sussex is and how I feel personally where I live. It was brought into focus when my friend’s car was stolen from his drive up in Leeds. We both have keyless entry/starting and run the risk of cloning. I immediately ordered a Faraday pouch to store my car key in but I just don’t hear of car theft in the area. Even low level nuisance by kids isn’t a problem.

When you read the charts, the North/South crime balance is something like 2 – 1 which really emphasises the effects of poverty. When I was working there, the wards of Oldham and Rochdale featured highly in the top ten wards of poverty in the country rivalled only by the worst areas of inner London. It’s no surprise that Hull and Blackpool have risen up the chart as coastal and fishing towns have declined and fallen into delapidation. The fishing industry in Hull has been destroyed most recently by Brexit. The chavvy Blackpool holiday has been on the skids since the 1970s. It is hard to see how they come back to prominence. It’s so good that Boris Jojnson managed to level them all up!

Music today is from Phil Collins – someone who I know absolutely nothing about but it just seemed appropriate to complement today’s topic:

Another Day In Paradise
She calls out to the man on the street
‘Sir, can you help me?
It’s cold and I’ve nowhere to sleep,
Is there somewhere you can tell me?’
He walks on, doesn’t look back
He pretends he can’t hear her …

I am as guilty as anyone although I am trying to improve. There really are so many poor people in need of help.

Not that Worthing is any great shakes. Lots of Victorian/Edwardian buildings that are so typical of declining seaside towns. When they are renovated, they look lovely in the sunshine but older buildings are always compromises. No double/triple glazing. Lots of pipes on the outside of buildings and wires running visibly around the inside of buildings. It makes them look old and shabby. Seaside, of course, means gulls.

I took these photos this morning and didn’t even notice the cloud of gulls in the sky until I uploaded it later. They are everywhere and they are quite messy. That mess is not cleaned up as often as one might like.

Whe the tide is out; when the season is low; when the tourist have left, the whole place can look a bit sad and waiting for paradise lost.

Friday, 7th February, 2025

A cold, grey morning. My Housekeeper is going to the Beauty Clinic for an hour or so and then I have to drive on to the fish shop by the beach for a couple of sides of salmon. I think we eat salmon, green beans and asparagus more than any other meal. We get through enormous quantities of salmon. It’s one of those fishes I am just as happy to eat ‘farmed’ as ‘wild’. Fortunately, I have a chef who is skilled in skinning and portioning fish.

It feels so cold out there this morning. It reads 5C/41F and did do all night but the breeze is making it feel bone chilling. I was told that my cancer treatment could result in me feeling the cold more and I think it’s true. Older adults often feel colder than younger people as their bodies change with age. A slower metabolic rate, thinner layer of fat and poorer blood circulation make them more sensitive to the cold. My younger wife laughs at me because it was always her who complained about the cold first. Now it’s me. She’s nice like that!

I’ve decided that activity will be in the Gym today. I’m watching a massive series called Homeland while I’m exercising. It is an 8 series x 12 episodes so 96 episode story in total. Each one is around an hour so the whole thing will easily get me well into the Spring. Essentially it is American but has a number of UK actors in it. It centres around political espionage and real life Foreign Policies all of which interest me.

I’m only on the second series and I am absolutely gripped which is good because exercise is almost forgotten as I watch. It stars British, old Etonian Damian Lewis as a Marine who was captured and imprisoned in Afghanistan for years, converted to Islam and returned to America as a sleeper spy although he is feted as a national hero.

Our Gym features a Treadmill, a Rowing Machine and a Lumbar Exercise Bike. They are all electronically controlled. You can put sound systems through them, download internet-based exercise programmes through them and chose and record exercise routines and results. Essentially, we decided from the outset that we would not have less than we did at the David Lloyd Health Club so we bought professional level equipment. It also includes an exercise mat, a Step Bench some Weights and a Skipping Rope.

I have tended to concentrate on Cardio work using the Treadmill and Bike in particular. I have to move on and intend to start Strength and Balance work. I have never been supple. I think I was born ‘stiff’. I’ve never been able to do the Lotus Position in my life. I have rugby player arms and thighs and nothing moves easily. I have got to get into more rowing, weight lifting and floor exercises. Well, that’s the aim.

I’ve also got to work on my balance. I’ve noticed recently that it’s even worse than it used to be which was already very poor. Now, I can close my eyes and … fall over. I can go up a ladder and feel extremely out of control. This is a change and it is another sign of aging. Researchers have found that balance begins to decline in midlife, starting at about age 50. I have to exercise to combat it.

Music today is a bit left field for me. It is Ed Sheeran and Andrea Bocelli combining on a pertformance of Perfect Symphony. I don’t know why but I love it!

Saturday, 8th February, 2025

A grey, cold morning. It isn’t inviting me out. So, I’m staying in at least for a while. I’ve got I.T. jobs to do. My wife’s laptop is running slow so I’m working on that, cleaning up old, dead, broken files, tidying up the Solid State Hard Drive, removing unnecessary Start-Up programmes, anything to help it along. Because a large chunk of the rest of this year is going to be spent travelling both abroad and in hotels in UK, I am addressing the safety of our data.

Everybody with a smartphone, tablet or laptop they use outside the security of their own home should install a VPN. A virtual private network establishes a digital connection between your computer and a remote server owned by a VPN provider, creating a point-to-point tunnel that encrypts your personal data, masks your IP address, and lets you sidestep website blocks and firewalls on the internet. In human speak that means you can be whoever you want in which ever place in the world you want at any time.

If you live in a dictatorship – Russia, China, America, etc., you can still access the free press by telling the Web that you are actually somewhere else. A girl in China can be in London … virtually. On a lower level but just as valuable to me, I can be in Italy but still access British TV & Radio as if I’m in London. Much more importantly than that, I can be using a hotel network but my activity – like access to my Bank Account or Credit Cards is hidden behind the wall of VPN secrecy.

Of course, nothing is for free. I have paid £64.00 for 2 years’ subscription to the service but I will install it on 2 PCs/Laptops, 2 iPads and 2 smartphones. It is definitely worth it. I have found that, when I scan shopping items in at Sainsburys, Waitrose & Asda, vpn comes on automatically with the supermarket network connection and that stops the scanning process so I have to turn it off. Otherwise it is priceless. Whether I am in a Greek or Spanish hotel or even in Yorkshire/Lancashire, the people I contact will always think I am in East London.

The kitchen is a hive of activity. Salmon is being prepared for Salmon & Tarragon fish cakes. The oven is being valeted. The Laundry is buzzing with washing and the dryer bleeping to be emptied. I sit quietly in my Office, installing VPN software on apparatus and writing my Blog while listening to today’s music which is about as obscure as I can.

I remember some things so clearly although they were long, long ago. I can see myself in my childhood bedroom at 12.00 pm on a Saturday afternoon when out of a battered old radiogram the Moody Blues, “Go Now.” came and I almost fell over. I can see the exact moment beauty jarred with squalor when I first heard Chopin’s Nocturne in C Sharp Minor in a terrible upstairs garret in Oldham. I can remember the first time I heard this song: Lorraine Ellison – Stay With Me as I worked on a University essay at 3.00 am in the morning. I can remember the feeling of a hand reaching deep down inside me and wrenching my inner self out so violently that I was utterly empty, devoid of anything. If only losing weight was that easy.

Managed to get an hour’s walk in before the rain started this morning. It was cool and grey and fairly miserable but the exercise must go on. Afternoon in the Gym before the big, Rugby Match – England v France at Twickenham. Hope it’s a good game!

Sunday, 26th January, 2025

A grey morning. Sundays are generally grey. There are the occasional zealots who light candles and believe they are illuminating the world. In reality, of course, they are merely obscuring it, hiding/cowering behind the smoke of religiosity.

If you are a regular Blog reader, you will know I think it’s nonsense and you might as well read the Tarot cards or follow your Horoscope. As I rush forward to the age of 74, look what’s in store for me. Unseen cosmic forces …. Wow! And if you believe that, you will believe anything like ….. an man ascended to heaven.

So, don’t read too much into today’s hauntingly beautiful music choice – Miserere Nostri by Thomas Tallis. It was written 450 years ago in 1575 which is one of the most amazing things about this accomplishment.

You may have noticed that one of the things I enjoy doing is taking photographs. I don’t know why. I haven’t got the skill of my little brother, Bob, who really takes it seriously but I do enjoy it. My wife bought me an early SLR camera in 1982 and it gave me great pleasure as we toured Europe.

I looked back and 15 years ago, I was using a more professional edition – a Cannon EOS SLR – which my school had kindly bought for me. Actually, I bought it for myself and just forgot to leave it there when I left. I remember thinking at the time how expensive it was at £750.00. Now, it would be around double that. I think it was a serious 12mp sensor and I got quite creative with it – even doing some b&w stuff.

Fast forward 15 years and I still have the camera but never use it or the multitude of lenses that I spent a fortune on in a vain attempt to get better. Now, I have a Samsung S24 Ultra smart phone which has a 200mp sensor. Quite incredible. The next generation must-have which has just been launched – the Samsung S25 Ultra – will incorporate AI into its lens technology to allow zoom and scaling beyond belief of the 2010 world.

A bag full of camera and lenses, cleaners and filters along with a tripod is replaced by a single smart phone in my pocket. I don’t have to go out to take photographs just record things I see on the spur of the moment.

I think it does quite well and everything is immediately backed up to the Cloud. I can digitally manipulate them in my Office when I get home. Isn’t Technological Advancement a wonderful thing, Dear Reader?

Monday, 27th January, 2025

This is how it should be. Everyone goes back to work and it is a gorgeous day …. left for those who deserve it like me, Dear Reader. The aroma of freshly baked bread is wafting through the house – taunting me to break my diet. Not a chance. Targets have to be met! Aims have to be achieved. Today is my 159th without alcohol. Just 112 more to go. Ahhh …

Still, the news is full of the 80th anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz so I have a lot to be thankful for. We Boomers never knew the horror of war like our parents. Our deprivations were minimal and threats of the Cold War didn’t come to pass.

Music this morning is the hauntingly beautiful Schindler´s List Theme – John Williams. From the perspective of today, the whole thing feels unimaginable but that is the real risk that survivor warn us about. It gives the lie to those who argue that the past – our History – does not matter and that only moving forward is important. If we don’t reflect on and learn lessons from our past, it has all been for nothing and we run the risk of repeating our mistakes.

We stand on others shoulders. Every generation has something to deal with and we learn from it, develop a collective memory which we pass on through our children or other people’s children to increase the fund of knowledge.

This is particularly true of teachers. I have known some wonderful teachers across the years who have been constantly told they are not worth paying big salaries to – the country can’t afford them – unlike the workers in business, the entrepreneurs, the inventors, etc.. It is conveniently forgotten that all those people started out being taught by teachers. They stand on teachers shoulders and society conveniently forgets that at crucial times. I don’t. I wrote to the significant teachers in my life recognising their contributions and thanking them for it.

These three men from my Training College in Ripon retired long after I left but had all come from war time service and then contributed to countless lives of future teachers. Brian Parker who taught in my Faculty of English had been a fighter pilot during the war – a perilous and normally short-lived profession – but lived to pass on his experiences to another series of generations. Ronnie Kent, whose religion meant nothing to me, was a captivating scat-jazz pianist who would entertain the crowds in the Common Room at the drop of a dog collar. There are some things one never forgets.

Tuesday, 28th January, 2025

Dark and wet start to the day. Going to get better as the morning develops. Just about to book the Spanish trip which makes things better. All the statistics are going in the right direction. My weight is down .. again. My INR, which I currently test every Tuesday, is exactly right at 2.5. It’s gone straight on to my spreadsheet which I started exactly 16 years ago this week. I was only 57 and in my last couple of months of teaching. Momentous times!

I have never been one for fashion but I am bang on trend this time. Prostate cancer is now the most commmon form. It has overtaken breast cancer as the most common type of the disease, after a record 55,000 men had it diagnosed in 2023, up from 44,000 in 2019, analysis by Prostate Cancer UK shows.

Two years on, I am free …. at least for now. It was a life-changing experience which I am not in a hurry to repeat. It disrupted my pattern of life in ways I did not predict. Not least, it insidiously disrupted my fitness particularly with the hormone treatment. It has been a long haul back but back I am and ready to start living life again.

I don’t know if you take your health seriously. I do but I didn’t for large stretches of my life. I was the typical boy. I thought I was invincible. I would live forever and I wasn’t too bothered if I died. It wouldn’t make much difference. I didn’t see a doctor. I didn’t go to the dentist. I ate too much and drank too much. I did give up smoking but reluctantly. I worked hard and the stress of that was rewarded with unhealthy pleasures.

Age finally catches up with everyone. There is time for self-reflexion. Suddenly, I realised that only I could really change the situation. I had to grow up and take responsibility for my own health.

Every time I went for a Doctor’s appointment and I was asked, Now, Mr. Sanders how much do you drink a week? My stock answer was, Why, how much do you drink in a week? I was defensive by being passive aggressive. It feels so much better to be facing that question myself now. I haven’t given up alcohol per se but I have maintained my self discipline and that is important.

Dementia will come to so many of us who live in to our 80s. Professor Tim Spector who runs the Zoe Health Study I have been contributing to daily for the past 3 years has this article in The Telegraph today. It’s basic thrust is that, although Dementia has a genetic element, in large part it can be allieviated and held at bay by diet – largely the Mediterranean diet of Fruit & Vegetable, Fish & Lean Meat + olive oil. That more or less sums up my diet for the past 25 years.

Of course, living in the Mediterranean atmosphere helps enormously. This morning, we rented a house for July just on the outskirts of Torrevieja. It has everything we need – Air Con., WiFi, Pool, Dishwasher, Washing Machine, Smart TV, Kitchen, Large, sunny balcony to eat outside. Walking distance of beach and shops but in a ‘nice’, quiet neighbourhood. We fly out of Gatwick and into Murcia International. Never been there so it will be an interesting experience.

The grey morning turned into a sunny afternoon. Music this morning was an old friend – Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto. I went out for a long walk with it playing in my head. Written in 1809 between the Napoleonic Wars, the music is uplifting and majestic, confident and brave. It made me walk much faster and with more sense of purpose today. It is so good to be back to fitness. It makes me feel so much better.

A session in the Gym before Supper which is Γεμιστές πιπεριές και σαλάτα / Stuffed Peppers and Green Salad. Absolutely delicious. And then on to the next trip to arrange – Southern Tenerife for the month of November. It is the warmest destination in Europe in the Winter. That’s what I need – warmth!

Wednesday, 29th January, 2025

Lovely morning. Major target with my weight reached 3 days early. I had been aiming for the start of February. Off to town and M&S alcohol-free shelves. First, I’m going to listen to the music for the day: Vivo per lei sung by Andrea Bocelli.

A bit sloppy, I know, but great words. If you want Romanticism, you can’t go far wrong with Bocelli.

Vivo per lei da quando, sai,
la prima volta l’ho incontrata.
Non mi ricordo come, ma
m’è entrata dentro e c’è restata.

Don’t things sound so much better and more appropriate in a Mediterranean, romance language? Everything sounds, tastes, feels better in Italian. I have known this song for many years. I know it well. I can more or less sing it in the original. Well, I say sing …. In the car on my own I sound exactly like Andrea Bocelli.

Down at the beach opposite M&S, the sky was still grey with a weak, watery sun trying to break through. Nice and warm but looking wintery. The incoming tide was churning up the sand and reflecting the sky.

Spent a while trying to fix a South Tenerife rental for the month of November. Actually, I seem to be doing it early enough to have quite a bit of choice. This one seems favourite at the moment – £4,400.00 for a month with everything of our requests ticked off. Sleep on it tonight. Act tomorrow.

Thursday, 30th January, 2025

Absolutely gorgeous morning. Cold but bright and sunny with clear blue sky. Had to put the central heating on downstairs this morning. At least I can do that. There are so many in heating poverty and this morning they will hear that water bills are going up considerably because the private businesses owning water (and you have to consider that description and ask yourself who should own the natural stuff that falls freely from the sky) are going to make us pay for all the development that their profits should be used for instead of enriching all their shareholders excessively.

Anyway, the cold outside is nothing to the hardship of a 19th century poet’s garret featured in Puccini‘s La Boheme and I make my music for the morning Rodolpho‘s aria: Che gelida manina (What a frozen little hand.) as he takes the hand of the fated Mimi while he tells her of his life as a poet, and ends by asking her to tell him more about her life. We poets are all the same. It all begins with the hands.

I don’t know what your relationship with sugar is like but mine is non-existent. I divorced sugar at least 15 years ago. Since then, I have relied on Saccharin, Aspartame and Sucralose – all manufactured sweeteners with virtually no calories. It does work but it would have been more helpful if I could have eliminated my need for sweet flavours at all.

As I’ve got older, I have found my preferences moving from sweet to savoury but I still need sweetener in things like Museli, Yoghurt and Coffee. I use a sucralose derivative called Splenda on a daily basis. OK, it has 2 calories per serving. I can live with that but there is some evidence that Artificial sweeteners can alter the gut microbiome, which may negatively impact gut health. I must try again to limit my usage.

The advice for healthy eating is no longer 5-a-day but 30-a-week. Research found that people who consume at least 30 different plant-based foods each week had a higher diversity of microbes in their gut, which may contribute to improved overall health and well-being. I easily do that. Sometimes I do it in a single day. What I am concerned about is that the good microbes of fruit & vegetables are being counteracted by my artificial sweeteners. You have to think of these things, Dear Reader.

Of course, not everyone has their own inventive Chef as I do but I am happy not to go over the top with cooking. I prefer classic simplicity if anything. Wandering through Waitrose this morning … as you do, I noticed their weekly paper available. On the front is an attempt to persaude people to eat fruit and vegetables that just goes a little far for me.

When it comes to cauliflower dressed with pomegranite, I tend to turn off. Cauliflower? Yes. Pomegranite? Maybe. Together? Not really. Still, I haven’t got a closed mind and I’m willing to try it.

Today, I will consume freshly squeezed oranges, a banana, some grapes. In my Museli I will have oats, sultanas, coconut and berries. This evening my Supper will include Green Beans and Asparagus. This is an average day of at least 9 different plant-based foods. I’m going to live forever! I can hear some groans of despair. Stop it!

Friday, 31st January, 2025

A dark, wet morning opening. It will get better. Life will improve. I was only thinking yesterday how the daylight was lengthening. The mornings are lighter earlier and the evenings darken later. As we say goodbye to January 2025, a new world is coming. There are always set backs in the progression and this is one.

I am in my Office searching for sunshine to buy and unashamedly listening to Andrea Bocelli – Sogno (Dream). Coming back to it has reminded me how much I have loved it in the past. I have always tended to the sentimental and Italian just enhances rather underscores the platitudinous lyrics.

While I am in this mood, I should record the death of Marianne Faithfull – a seminal figure from my past. Her father was Major Glyn Faithfull, an eccentric British MI6 agent turned professor of Italian literature. Marianne spent her early years at Braziers Park, an upmarket commune founded by her father in an Oxfordshire country house. In her autobiography, she described it as a “mixture of high utopian thoughts and randy sex”.

Certainly, to a young man with the testosterone-fuelled sap rising, she represented the latter. There were stories of her and Jagger and a Mars Bar that we could only dream of. Her life spiralled in and out of control and featured heroin addiction but to die at 78 must shock our generation. A 74th birthday soon would mean just 4 more left and it is unthinkable.

On another plain entirely but still unthinkable, five years ago, on 31 January 2020, the UK left the European Union. It was an act of blind and wanton vandalism that was shocking in its ignorance.

It is now widely acknowledged that it was a catastrophic mistake which the thinking class warned the unthinking classes it would be. We were told we were scaremongering. All the scares have been well and truly mongered. UK Plc has been harmed in virtually every area of life including the one thing that we were told was driving the vote – immigration. This was mainly because the Tory government told people they wanted to control their borders while knowing we need huge amounts of immigration to support the economy. And nothing has changed.

And after all that, the sun has come out. The sky is blue and walking can start. Happy days, Dear Reader!

Saturday, 1st February, 2025

Happy new month, Dear Reader. Every new month, I set myself targets to achieve. I have given myself a weight loss target and a fitness target which stretch into March this time because Feb. is a short month. There is an ongoing savings and investment target which must be met. The alcohol target – of nil – remains. Funnily enough, there was a whole programme devoted to the rise in alcohol-free wines on BBC-R4 yesterday. Apparently, Gen Z don’t do alcohol at all. They much prefer drugs to blur reality instead.

At least January ended well. After days of searching, I finally decided on a property to rent in Tenerife for the whole of November. It is on the Adeje coast by the beach although it has its own heated pool as well. It’s in a gated community but close to shops and restaurants. Reviews of previous stays are excellent.

Along with the property, I’ve booked flights from Gatwick and, because I don’t want to leave the car in an airport carpark for a month, we will go by taxi and stay in a hotel the night before. I’ve booked Sofitel at Gatwick Airport for the night before and an Airport Lounge for the morning of travel. Nothing like being fully prepared is there, Dear Reader? This time, I’ve used Booking.com which I am a member of and have used many times before. I now have to contact the individual owner with our flight details so they can prepare for our arrival …. in 8 months time.

Music today is … the last one from moody Bocelli (I promise.) – Il mare calmo della sera / The calm evening sea. I have known so many of those over the years on Greek islands in general and Sifnos in particular and I hope there are many still to come, Dear Reader. Long, hot, lazy evenings with the water lapping gently under a starry sky. Sipping a glass of good red wine and nibbling luscious olives, talking, planning, late into the night. Dreaming of good things ahead. Let’s hope there are many, many more to come.

Now I am going out for an hour or so walk which will let me watch the Ireland v England Six Nations match later in the Gym. I haven’t played a game of Rugby since 1975. I can’t believe it was 50 years ago.

Sunday, 19th January, 2025

A cold, grey morning in which one has to grind out the intentions for the day. Political thinking and interview shows, newspaper reading, music, Blog writing, exercise – walking outside and Gym work, football to watch …. and rest.

• Blog starts 839th week – 5,867 days
• Alcohol abstinence for 21st week – 145 days
• Walked 7.5 miles every day for 141 days – 1057 miles

The news is all centred around the Gaza deal which looks like it will start in the next few hours. The political interview shows are hijacked by this news and the Trump slant on it. It is still very disturbing that the media is so dominated by right wing ownership and thinking and that the print media feeds the Radio/TV media to generate a blanket right wing noise.

Music today is centred on one of my favourite instruments – the cello – and one of my favourite exponents of the cello – Jacqueline du Pré who died so tragically young. It is a very sad sound and a very sad piece in the gloomy light of this morning – Gabriel Fauré’s Élégie in C minor Op. 24. The irony is that the context of my introduction to this piece was the shabby poverty of Acre Lane in 1973 across which this rich but plaintive sound played.

An interesting piece in the Sunday Times today illustrated the passage of time across the generations. My age are known as The Boomers because we were the product of the post-war baby boom that attempted to replace the war dead and celebrate a brave new world.

My generation are all now in our 70s. We are early Boomers because our early life was still influenced by rationing and demob talk. All the talk recently has been about Gen Z (pronounced as an American Gen Zee) who are so disillusioned with the world and with politics and so far away from Hitler and World War, from Stalin and the Cold War that they espouse no democracy prefering the leadership of a strong autocrat.

The Millenials or Generation Y are so called because the oldest members of this generation became adults at the turn of the millennium. They, on the other hand, value convenience, individuality, ethics, and sustainability. When I look down the list, I find little I disagree with. I must be young at heart. For those readers who accuse me of obsession with the Past, they are clearly wrong. Like Millenials, I welcome the new, technological innovations of the age but it is only possible to fully appreciate them in light of what they replace, supersede, improve on.

I’ve done an hour’s walk in quite cold (4C/39F) temperatures. Now I can allow myself to watch the football …. while exercising in the Gym.

Monday, 20th January, 2025

A bright, sharp start to the morning as I discovered when I put the bins out. My next door neighbour remarked that I seemed to be getting slimmer by the week which raised my spirits and set me up for today’s effort. I am catching up on correspondence with friends and reading my digital copies of The Times, The Telegraph and The Guardian while listening to the music of the day – Brahms | Violin Sonata No. 1 in G major op. 78 in the background. Delicious!

Meanwhile, Chef is portioning up 8 pints of stock which were produced in the pressure cooker outside in the garden yesterday. Outside because the smell is all-pervasive and it drives the neighbours’ cats wild rather than permeating the house. The stock is then stored in the outside freezer for future use. Chef is amused that a Turkey bought after Christmas for just £8.00 instead of £60.00 has provided 4 meals and all this stock – the true meaning of home economy.

Window cleaner’s here today and the glass is sparkling in the sunshine. He only comes once a month and still charges £21.00 as he has done for almost 8 years. He seems happy and does a good job so all is well in window land.

If you have a smartphone and are a Boomer or younger, you probably use the phone for digital payments. Android phone users tend to have Google Pay and Apple phone users have Apple Pay. They use digital wallets into which one can slot digital copies of all types of cards.

Mine contains Credit/Debit cards, Shopping Cards like Nectar, Waitrose, Tesco Clubcard, etc.. It also contains, at times, my Boarding Passes for flights, Airport Lounge cards, Hotel membership cards and more. It will be used for the new, European Visa card and was used for my Covid injection credentials in the past.

All these cards saved digitally report information about me and my activities to their sponsoring organisations. They are a part of my digital footprint. Of course, any over-sharer like me is not really troubled by that process. Shops see my purchases and target me with offers based on that information. Hotels offer me incentives to book again, etc..

Now, we are going to have a new, government digital wallet for our Driving Licence, Health Records, Pensions and more. Not sure why it can’t be integrated into existing ones but it will certainly put the skids under the phogeys who haven’t got round to smartphones yet. They will become essential to modern life and not a moment too soon.

Quite cool down at the beach this morning although it looks as if Antony Gormley got there before me.

Tuesday, 21st January, 2025

A lovely bright start to the morning which featured my music of the day from Claude Debussy – Deux Arabesques. I didn’t find this until relatively recently but I think it’s going to feature more over the next couple of decades of my life. I hope you’re sampling them, Dear Reader. It’s never too late to try new things …. or old, for that matter.

Today, I’m looking at diet. I have always struggled with my weight. I blame my Mother. I am an early Boomer and was brought up on hearty, calorie-filled meals which included plenty of carbohydrate. Homemade Suet Dumplings with Beef Stew, Shepherd’s Pie, Chicken & Mushroom Pie, Steamed Puddings, Treacle Tart, home made cakes and biscuits, etc.. I’m sure they conditioned my body for life. Of course, childhood was a time of constant moving. I was playing and training Rugby 6 times a week during the Winter and similary Athletics in the Summer. I always remember a girlfriend saying, You never stop moving even waiting for a bus.

When I stopped playing competitively, I tended to put on weight. And so my mature life has been a constant battle. It has taken me a long time to learn to eat low calorie things like green vegetables, salads and fruit. Although starchy foods like pasta, potatoes, bread and rice are generally good for people, they are a nightmare for me. My blood sugar goes sky high and then plummets leaving me feeling the need to eat again. It challenges my self-discipline.

As a result, my wife has devised ingenious ways of replacing carbohydrates. I know science differentiates Simple and Complex Carbs but I just try to control my glucose levels and things like this Spiraliser which makes spaghetti out of Courgettes help me. Not drinking alcohol also helps me because alcohol fuels hunger and encourages me to eat more than I need. Fortunately, my addictive nature has got me hooked on alcohol-free wine which doesn’t have that effect. Went down to M&S for just that this morning.

One of the funny/interesting things about alcohol-free drinks is that one has to be age-checked to buy it. Why? The supermarkets can’t be bothered adjusting their databases to distinguish between the two. The M&S lady said she wanted 4 examples of identification before she could let me buy it. It’s not cheap at £4.00 a bottle and she was joking. I offered to show her my wrinkles but she suddenly seemed less keen.

Coming out of M&S, the day had lost its light and low, grey cloud arrived. The lights on Worthing Pier were coming on. That will teach me to go to M&S. We are forecast for a week of rain to come. Looks like I’ll be living in the Gym where I’m watching Homeland, an espionage thriller which will keep me going a long time with its 8 Series of 12 episodes each.

Wednesday, 22nd January, 2025

A relatively mild night in which we didn’t fall below 8C/47F but it has brought a grey, misty morning. Fresh fish has been ordered from the coast shop – sides of salmon and locally caught cod – so we will go down for a walk and to collect it. Still finalising travel plans so that is near the top of the list this morning. I’m struggling with a malaise that is dogging me and dulling my incentive to act. I’m working to shrug it off.

Music this morning is a relatively modern piece – less than 100 years old – Aaron Copland’s Appalacian Spring. I first heard it in 1968 in the Prefects’ Room of my Grammar School and found it intriguing but ‘difficult’. I think I still do. It was written at the end of WW2 in 1945 and was seen as clean sweep in the world of music. You hear the cadences of ‘popular music’ woven into it. What I know as The Lord of the Dance is there but that is a hymn written in 1963 so post dating it. What I’ve subsequently discovered is that the melody was taken from the American Shaker song Simple Gifts composed in 1848. I tell myself that I have to listen to ‘difficult’ pieces and that all of this is a learning timeline but, at the age of 73, perhaps it is time to settle for those I really enjoy.

My wife would happily be 20 again. She longs to be younger. She bemoans every sign of aging. In the past, people routinely lied about their age in order to deny the aging process. I think I am out of step because, at every stage, I have always tried to be content with who and what I am. However, I am becoming increasingly concerned about the physical changes of aging. I know I am challenging myself more in retirement but I ache in the mornings, find getting up out of a chair takes longer to straighten up and go forward. When I get out of the car after driving for an hour or so, I walk like an old man bent double with age.

While changes will occur every year, past research shows that, at the protein level, the most notable changes take place around ages 34, 60, and 78. Most people begin to notice a shift in the appearance of their face around their 40’s and 50’s. Other than this, the transition is so incremental as not to be noticeable. It is photographs like this that really hit me hard and go back to my own records.

It is in bones, muscles and joints that deterioration is most noticeable and that’s why I am trying hard to exercise and eat healthily. Unfortunately, my sisters, who must be made of inferior stuff, have had to have a number of their body parts replaced as they fall into the pit of old age. But mental deterioration often gets ignored even though it can be even more devastating to the quality of life. That’s why I read, analyse and write every day. It is why I continue to challenge myself intellectually in the hope that it will stave off or delay dementia and why challenging travel and relationships must be continually pursued into old age. A long walk and a Gym session is where I’m going now and later I will book the next piece of travel abroad.

As Trumpism returns with a vengeance, we must never let this sort of thing back into the body politic:

While the world recoils from the rule of oligarchs, it’s good to see Murdoch and his ilk humbled by Tom Watson and Prince Harry.

Thursday, 23rd January, 2025

Up early. Big day. Today is Dishwasher Day. It is now a month since we had a working dishwasher. If we don’t have a working dishwasher by this evening, I am literally going to kill myself. It has been intolerable! I have had to dry up after each evening meal. It has been like the 1950s. Four weeks ago, we went to Currys to order a new one to replace ours which had broken down after 8 years of good service. We were told we would have to wait a fortnight for it to be delivered and fitted. When it was, they told us immediately it wouldn’t work. There are two sorts of fully integrated, fit under dishwashers – Fixed and Sliding. Who knew?

They delivered a Fixed Door machine and guess what we required. Our kitchen was an upgrade of the standard David Wilson supply which came with an AEG dishwasher and Blackpool illuminations below. The plinth studded with lights means the door has to slide up and down as it opens and closes. Today, they are supposed to be delivering a sliding door dishwasher to bring joy and celebrations to our household.

While I wait in anticipation, I am listening to the music of the day – Mozart – Piano Sonata No. 16 in C Major – in my Office. Can’t decide whether I am enjoying it or not. I wanted to play the Requiem but wondered if it just looked too depressing for a Thursday morning and that you would judge me badly, Dear Reader.

No, to hell with it. I’m going to be daring. I am going to throw caution to the wind and play Mozart’s Requiem in D minor – Lacrimosa. Written, as he was dying, in 1791. Death featured strongly in the lives of the people of the 18th century. Mozart himself died at the age of just 35.

It’s a wonderful word, Lachrymose. We don’t use it enough nowadays. If you don’t know what it means, look it up. You should do that every time you come across a strange word and do it immediately. That’s what Google is for. I was hearing about a lad who shunned all the privileges of a private school education that his parents bought, achieved little or nothing in his school work but suddenly, in his early 20s, realises he is in deficit. He thinks he ought to read some books. Those around him are using words he doesn’t understand.

I was lucky to be brought up with words. My Mother used words all the time. My Grammar School education was big on words. My English teacher had a policy of introducing and getting us to learn a new word every day. He was my Rugby teacher who I idolised and I can still go back to 1963 as he led us to the upper floor window of our classroom overlooking the pitches. We waved his hand across the view and said, Panorama. We then had to use the word each time we saw him around school … until the next word, Aesthetic.

Of course, many years later and as I was learning Greek, I found that the origin of both words was in the Greek. Panorama came from Πανόραμα Pan horama / All view and is pronounced Pan-or-ama. The stress is on the or not the a. Aesthetic came from Αισθητικός and is pronounced Ais-thet-ikos with the stress on the thet.

I am gripped by language. I have carried the lesson around with me for the last 60 years. I can’t not know the meaning of a word. I have to look it up instantly. Of course, I no longer need a dictionary or a thesaurus. Google everywhere is my go-to source. With smartphones, I don’t even have to wait until I get home. I can often be found on a walk looking something up on my phone.

The strangest thing nowadays is that I know so many more words than I realise. While I am writing, I use a word which I think I should check and it invariably turns out to be exactly the right one for that situation. How many words do we all know in our collective subconscious but don’t use enough to make ourselves understood? You ought to try the principle out, Dear Reader. It doesn’t matter what age you are. Learn a new word each day and use it all the time until you get comfortable with it. It is so empowering.

Can you believe it? The dishwasher has arrived. Another Romanian – with pefect English – has arrived to fit it. Turns out the previous plug had overheated and fused to the back of the machine. A new socket is required. An electrician is required. Can you believe it? The Romanian is an electrician in his spare time. He just happens to have a spare socket replacement with him. He does the job in 5 minutes and I pay him £20.00. Dishwasher slots in and the only difficulty is fitting the door. A few nervous moments and … I don’t have to kill myself. We have a working dishwasher.

Friday, 24th January, 2025

Storm? What storm? It isn’t pleasant outside. Dark clouds over head and rain still falling lightly but no storm here. The rain will disappear in the next hour and then we have a good day in prospect. Very mild over night – 11C/52F – but dark under brooding clouds.

To match the weather, I have chosen a piece inspired by rain this morning. Chopin – Raindrop Prelude (Op. 28 No. 15) is just delightful and draws down inside me as it insists with the left hand just as the dark skies do. The prelude is noted for its repeating A♭, which appears throughout and sounds like raindrops.

From the sublime to the ridiculous this morning. Never have I been so happy to have to unstack the dishwasher. It was a joy! We’ve had a dishwasher since we moved to Slade House in 1984. To be without for a month was a nightmare. Sanity is restored once more. Life can begin again.

Mandy was a very young 13 when I first met her in 1978, into animals and particularly horses. She had her own horse in the paddock in front of the house. She was/is clever and has particular emotional intelligence with great interpersonal skills all of which I lack. She was attending Hulme Grammar for Girls. One of the first things she invited me to do was join her and her friend in a game of hopscotch which was chalked out on the patio.

She was known as Titch. Now, 47 years on (What am I saying?) and living in America, Mandy is celebrating her 60th Birthday. We wish her a very happy day and hope she sees it as the milestone it is. She is officially a senior citizen.

Saturday, 25th January, 2025

The day started well at 7.00 am as I got on the bathroom scales. It got much better as we went to the beach for a walk in warm sun. Whatever the warnings were about storms recently, they just passed us by completely.

The world was out this morning – walking, dog walking, cycling. scootering, sailboarding, kyaking, paddling – it was all going on this Saturday morning.

Back for coffee and some Office work. New edition of one of our central credit cards means a major job for updating with so many organisations from media purchases to hotels and holiday bookings to purchasing organisations, iPad and phone apps, etc. Every one has to be Bank cross-checked which adds to the time.

While I work, I am listening to the optimism of the day and the sun and blue sky outside through Vaughan Williams – The Lark Ascending which, ironically, was probably written to signal quite the opposite. Composed in 1914, it rather signalled the end of an era, the final symbol of purity and beauty in Nature that men at war would leave behind in old England – reflecting nostalgia for a partly mythological lost age of innocence.

Anyway, all done now and time to read the press. Like 1914, nothing stays the same. Everything is in a permanent state of flux. And so it is for the government. Growing the Economy is on the front of every Labour politician’s mind and the most effective way to do it is to deal with housing. Young people need places to live. If they can become home owners, they have a stake in society that will change their lives completely.

People who buy houses do so by working, earning money, paying taxes and then spending their money on furniture, furnishings, home services, cars on the drive, etc.. They go on to have children and spend money on them. All of this contributes to the Economy. It drives Demand which commands Supply which drives Consumption and more Demand, etc.

The problem is that many people find it difficult to deal with change. They find it threatening. New houses built in their neighbourhood threaten to change it. The view is changed. The density of people and transport is changed. The collective noise is changed. There is fear of the other – the stranger. Cultures are broadened and challenged. And so a groundswell of dissent based on fear of change arises and threatens inevitable development. And it is inevitable. This is what a Labour Government is bravely siezing.

The village we moved to 9 years ago has had an enormous amount of new housing since we got here. It has changed the feeling of the area, the congestion on the roads and the density of customer demand. This morning, in a trawl of local media of locations from my past – Derby, Greater Manchester, Huddersfield and Sussex, there was no shortage of dissatisfaction with a changing world. Labour are the first government to show a willingness to override them.