Sunday, 7th August, 2022
Screamingly beautiful day of hot sunshine, clear blue skies and pleasure. We did another very hot and long walk. My problem is that I am averaging 11 miles a day for a year. I just can’t back down. Someone told me a few months ago to just let it go. It is not in my nature. I cannot let go. That is what drives me on.
We drove down to the beach for a while. It was beautiful. There were people on the sands in places and quite a few cooling off in the sea but so much was just empty and available.
I like ’empty and available’. I like to control my relationships. I have spent the past few days talking to old friends across a 50 year divide: John Ridley in Yorkshire and John Morris in the Midlands, Julie and Nigel on the Yorkshire coast and Kevin, Tash and Chris Tolley in Leeds even Kevin Sellers in the most Northern tip of Scotland. The internet, social media and smartphones have made this possible and given me real enjoyment. We all have comparatively so little time left, it seems pointless not to remake these connections now.
After a lovely, warm day of perfect weather which I have tried to use to the full with lots of exercise, trips out and jobs around the garden completed, we cooked and ate our meal outside in the garden – griddled swordfish steaks and homegrown green salad followed by homemade caramel-yoghurt ice cream. The skies are suggesting there will be a repeat performance tomorrow.
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Dylan Thomas – 1914-1953
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Just writing the words makes me weep but they are such an important reminder to us all that we cannot afford to hold back, to wait, to make excuses. Do it now or forever regret.
Monday, 8th August, 2022
The day has opened hot and sunny … again! In mid afternoon, we are reading 27C/81F and sweaty. Sainsburys by 9.00 am – pointless.
Down to the beach before families descend. It was looking absolutely gorgeous today. The Marina was busy and optimistic.
The sky was reflected in the sea. The sea was warm enough for many to be swimming – not us.
A quick walk in the sunshine and then home. Just in time to pick up messages from Christine thanking me for a celebratory bottle of champagne and sending me a lovely photograph of the past revisited.
August 5th, 1972
Wished David Roberts in Rochdale a happy 71st birthday and talked to John Morris who is suffering with melanoma and the need for a new hip plus his driving licence back after failing a diabetic retinopathy test. I almost feel healthy. My wife says I look beautiful in my 1972 photograph. Of course, she is right. We all look young, optimistic and reasonably happy. I had high hopes for the future.
Back in the here-&-now, going to mow, feed and water the lawn before the hosepipe ban comes into action at the end of the week. After that, I will have to do everything in darkness. Of course, as you will know, everything is more exciting in darkness!
Tuesday, 9th August, 2022
Seems a strange topic for such a beautiful day but time cannot be held back. The theme today is Life and Death.
Though lovers be lost love shall not;
And death shall have no dominion.
Dylan Thomas – 1914-1953
Death is never final. Although I am a committed atheist and have no consolation of a religious afterlife, we all live on in others – in their thoughts, in their memories and their mementoes. We measure our own lives against those who have gone and wonder how much more time we have ourselves.
The news is led today by the death of Olivia Newton John at the tender age of 73. The second half of her life was spent fighting breast cancer. As we are 71, that turns one’s thoughts immediately to self and longevity.
On this day every year, we particularly remember Vivienne, Pauline’s cousin who died 5 years ago having suffered breast cancer years ago and then had cancer return. We think of her husband, Richard, in whose memories she lives on every day. These are not easy things to talk about even from a distance. We all carry images around in our heads of those who have enriched our lives. They bring happiness and sadness in different measures.
Late last night we had a text from a very old friend – a girl who taught in our school in the early 1970s. Frank and Diane were good friends. Frank went to our school as a pupil and then returned as Head of Maths. Diane taught in the craft Block alongside Pauline. They left to open a private school in Shaw and, as we moved south, our only contact has been emails and Christmas cards.
Frank and Diane sold their business and retired around 5 years ago. They moved to Australia briefly before returning to set up home in Uppermill. Frank is a fitness fanatic and a cyclist. He would go on long bike rides and proudly post up his routes.
In mid-June this year, Frank & Diane walked 13 kms and climbed 2,500 ft. Within two weeks, Diane noticed that Frank was walking strangely, his balance deteriorated and he was immediately diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour. Just 3 weeks on, he is in palliative care in hospital in Bury with Diane sleeping on a camp bed at his side. Their whole lives turned round in really a matter of days.
The fragility of life is stark and terrifying. We have no knowledge or control over its duration. What we can know, however, is that our time and relationships are precious. We should use them and embrace them to the full. We are all a long time dead as Philip Larkin – born on this day 100 years ago – wrote in his poem, Next Please.
Always too eager for future, we
Pick up bad habits of expectancy.
Something is always approaching; every day
Till then we say ….Only one ship is seeking us, a black-
Philip Larkin: 1922 – 1985
Sailed unfamiliar, towing at her back
A huge and birdless silence. In her wake
No waters breed or break.
Wednesday, 10th August, 2022
I’ve done something right for once. Last year, price inflation was becoming an increasingly obvious event charging down the tunnel of time towards us. I hadn’t specifically identified the price of power but I chose to fix our Tariff for Dual Fuel with British Gas for 2 years. Ours lasts until the last day of 2023. Maybe the market will have settled down by then. We can always hope.
Going to be another scorcher here and I’m more concerned with cooling the house now. Sleeping with air.con. on is so much more comfortable. We are lucky to have a modern property with modern insulation and airflows but it does get quite hot in the Summer.
We have 22C/70F here early on and have reached 32C/90F at peak and staying there until 10.00 pm. We were at Aldi for Almond Milk while I bantered with friends on my phone. Went on to the Greengrocers for gorgeous cherries.
Home for coffee and, of course, we went out walking at the peak temperature. The landscape, pre Hosepipe Ban, is arid. The sometime lake is not a lake.
Really look forward to walking round a lake again. I know I will do it soon as seasons move on automatically.
Had great news this afternoon. Kevin is clear of cancer something which has been hanging over him for a week or two. I’m really pleased for him.
Thursday, 11th August, 2022
Very hot night that hardly fell below 22C/70F. Ironically, I had one of my best sleeps for weeks. I went to bed happy and woke up happy. Strange dreams though. I never normally dream but last night I was walking round a lake in a park and I was eating barbecued spare ribs. What does it mean? I hardly ever eat meat either …
Out early to Sainsburys. At 9.00 am, the temperature is already 26C/79F and forecast to hit 35C/95F. This is my sort of weather and the reason I enjoyed living in Greece so much. In the 1980s, we would walk miles across the island in these temperatures and half naked.
Now, Pauline finds the heat less enjoyable to deal with and mumbles something about hormonal, old ladies. Of course, I am impervious and batter on regardless. Kevin and I are both sun worshippers. I have just wished him a good day on the strength of Golden Wedding celebrations, cancer-free celebrations and Mediterranean weather in Yorkshire. What’s not to like.
Tomorrow is the first day of our hosepipe ban so, officially, I’m reduced to watering cans although I suspect that won’t hold for long. Tonight is August full moon and going to be very hot. This afternoon, I’ve used the hosepipe to clean the car and soak the garden hoping it will last for a while. Good things are coming! I can feel it!
Friday, 12th August, 2022
Oh let these days continue! Up at 6.30 am and 22C/70F. Out walking by 9.00am and 27C/81F. Only 11 miles and it’s easy this early while the energy stocks are high.
Last night was absolutely glorious with warm, balmy air below crystal clear sky floodlit by the full moon. The photo above is not mine but taken by a friend. I should have gone down and taken my own but I was tired and had drunk wine so couldn’t be bothered, I’m ashamed to say.
Julie has her 92 yr old Mum staying with her at the moment and she took her to Bridlington Beach yesterday. It made me laugh when she said, Mum & I bottom right.
Kevin has sent me delightful photos and video clips of his 5oth wedding anniversary which they combined with a grand daughter’s birthday celebration. They all look very happy. What it must be to have grand daughters!
I am walking so much, I spend most of my life in trainers these days. My wardrobe full of formal, leather shoes is left unopened. I’ve walked 3,800 miles in the past 12 months and it is amazing how many pairs of trainers I get through to do that. I ordered another three pairs today which will probably get me through until the end of the year.
Saturday, 13th August, 2022
Our friend, Frank Wilkinson from Oldham is dead. His wife, Diane, informed us today. She has been by his side in a Hospice for a week. It was inevitable but that has made it no easier to understand or cope with. It is such a shock to us all. I have been contacting friends across the North of England with the terrible news. No one can really believe it.
Frank, was younger than me. His wife is much younger than us. He has a brother who is a doctor in Oldham Royal and a younger brother who I used to teach. From super fit to dead in weeks is a lesson to us all. Keep your relationships and affairs right up to date. Never say, I’ll do that in a bit. I’ll get back to them at an easier time. Time will come back to bite us all. Frank & Diane were just down the avenue from us in New York last year. We missed each other by 24 hrs. Now, we will miss each other by a lifetime.
In a week we will be in our favourite Acropolis View Suite in the Electra Palace Hotel. It is incredibly comfortable with all the facilities one could want in a city break. We are there for more than a week which will give us plenty of time to enjoy our favourite city.
It will give us the chance to meet up with old friends, renew acquaintances with long loved places and explore some new ones. We will probably go down to the Athenian Riviera at Glyfada. It is almost 30 years since we were last there. We may do a day trip to a local island like Aegina which is only an hour or so away.
There is something delightful and relaxing about returning to a place you know so well. No time is lost in learning routines, places, sources of pleasure. I know where to look immediately. I know the best places to eat, to swim and to walk. I know where to relax and people watch. Just enjoying the language is a big thing for me. Greek is a challenge and a delight. I need that.
We have to look to expanding our delight every day not closing it down and being scared of the new. Challenging ourselves and taking risks is what life is about and more so as we get older.