Sunday, 12th November, 2023
A dark, dank, lonely morning. In the Office, watching political interviews. They are depressing other than for the latest opinion poll featured in The Sunday Times.
The election is likely to be this time next year but there could be a snap, Summer election if the Tories feel like they have a ‘window’. It’s going to be an interesting year for all sorts of reasons.
In the meantime, we have an Autumn Statement from the Chancellor to come soon and I am hoping to hear that he is actually going to make changes to ISAs. I’m always amazed how little people know about such things. Currently, we are only allowed to earn £1000.00 per year of investment income. So a couple can only make £2000.00 per year tax-free. Everything else just gets aggregated into all other income for tax purposes.
ISAs are the one, safe exception. They allow us to invest without tax liability. Unfortunately, that investment is limited to £20,000.00 per person per year. So only £40,000.00 per couple per year can be sheltered. It can be in the form of Cash, Bonds or Shares. For the past few years, returns on cash ISAs have been so poor as to be not worth the effort but now all that has changed. The best ISAs are paying 5.7%. The only problem is that we have to wait a full 12 months (from April 6th – New Tax Year) before the next £40,000.00 can be salted away.
It is rumoured that ISAs will be made more accessible which will be very welcome. Apparently, the idea is that the Chancellor wants to suck cash out of circulation to restrain spending and lower inflation. I will welcome it. It won’t make me vote Tory though.
Went out to Sainsburys to buy Pauline’s Christmas present this morning. I think it’s £42.00 well spent. What more could a woman want? She will cherish them for years.
Monday, 13th November, 2023
Lovely warm and sunny day. Sleeping for me (and with me) is quite troubled still. Although I think the effects of the hormone injections are starting to lessen with certainly less hot sweats, I’m a nightmare laying awake in bed. My thoughts drive me mad. I resort to distraction with the radio. What always surprises me is that I don’t wake up tired and it doesn’t affect my day. The effects of the radiotherapy which arrived after the first two weeks of treatment, are rather stronger and increasingly accentuated. I’m told that I can expect them to get worse for some time.
It will be two years in February since I had a colonoscopy which I had to pay for. I wrote to my GP after that to be asked to be put forward for an NHS procedure in February 2024 because the Nuffield consultant told me I should be checked every two years. I’ve written to my doctor today to ask if she has done that. We haven’t talked for over a year although I have seen other GPs in my surgery. I do try hard to take responsibility for my own health, exercising, dieting, self-testing, etc, although I’m sure there is much more I could do. My doctor recognises this and responds very positively.
I am happy to speak on the phone, to do a video consultation, to avoid making excessive calls on her time and I think I get treated well because of that. Of course, lots of the elderly are not comfortable doing what I will. The illustration above is from The Telegraph this morning.
This is the problem that all innovation faces. Almost 30 years ago, I drove the introduction of IT across the procedures of School management in a large, Comprehensive school. First we threw out all the typewriters and replaced them with word processors. Next, I introduced the school to the early internet. I had wi-fi installed right across a huge campus and I bought in hand held devices for teachers to do registration in an attempt to catch truants from school and from lessons.
As soon as I could afford it, I bought rooms of computers firstly to teach I.T. and then to do general research, document production, etc. Finally, I spent a long time researching and purchasing intranet software that allowed staff to work seamlessly at home and school and allowing pupils to do the same, allowing parents to monitor, communicate, integrate with the life of the school.
Throughout, I faced opposition from many quarters. Staff lacked the skills and the confidence to acquire them. Pupils and their parents lacked the equipment, the internet and the finance to provide them at home. Everything had to be done as a battle with carrot and stick. Eventually, we got there but far too late for me. So it is in the Health Service. Through I.T., bookings, appointments, prescriptions and Remote Consultations, doctors’ time is freed up.
This is the future forcing its way into the present and we should all leave our minds open to the change that will inevitably come. Don’t get left behind. Don’t celebrate being the out-of-touch old. Celebrate being alive by reaching out to the new, Dear Reader. Retirement can be an increasingly lonely place without embracing the Future.
Tuesday, 14th November, 2023
A very warm morning of rain. Talking to friends around the country, it looks as if the only question is where you decide to drown today, Dear Reader.
I had to brave it because things were needed from Tesco, Asda and Sainsburys this morning. So much is missing from supermarket shelves that this sort of tour is often required especially if you’re a perfectionist like my Housekeeper. I made a complaint out loud to myself when I couldn’t find something I wanted. A couple of women openly laughed in agreement as if the whole scarcity problem has become so accepted that it is a wry joke. Only a reversal of Brexit will ultimately improve supply chains.
One of the more discussable side effects of my radiotherapy is terrible tiredness, crushing, physical tiredness. I have to haul myself through my exercise routine because I do not give up. You might have heard that before, Dear Reader. I do not give up. It is 1.30 pm and I am going in the Gym for a couple of hours. The only way I can face it at the moment is the long-running, MI5 spy drama series I am watching called Spooks. I was a bit daunted to find that it runs to 10 series and 86 episodes but now I’m hooked.
I am becoming a little concerned by these side effects, not least because I’m driving to France in a couple of weeks. I’ve also booked some fairly demanding European trips next year. I may have to review them nearer the end of the year if things haven’t improved. At least I am fully insured although my current condition is costing me quite a bit extra in premium. For many years, our travel insurance has come free and unlimited courtesy of our Bank Account. When we turned 70, we were subject to a £75.00 ‘age extension’ excess each on our Annual premium. Now, I have to pay an additional £195.00 for the magic word, ‘Cancer’. So our ‘free’, Annual Travel Insurance, we will be charged at £345.00.
Well, by 2.00 pm, the sun came out warm and strong and we went out for a walk. Met a couple we see regularly, stopped and chatted. They asked after my treatment and then volunteered the information that the husband was going to Brighton Cancer Centre every day for 5 weeks for radiotherapy on a brain tumour which had affected his peripheral vision and deprived him of his driving licence. Made my problem seem so totally irrelevant.
Wednesday, 15th November, 2023
Lovely, sunny morning. Driving to Town down the beach road and past the Worthing Pier. It was delightful. We were going to Waitrose amongst other places. Warm and sunny but quite blustery, I was in shorts & tee-shirt although quite a few of the old people were dressed for Winter.
The beach path is lifted above the road on one side and above the beach on the other to avoid the problems of High Tide. You can’t really view the sea from the road.
I stopped for a few minutes on the promenade. It’s great to breathe the sea air. You should have come, Dear Reader. We drove on to Waitrose carpark but the news coming through from the Supreme Court about the Rwanda Plan verdict and, knowing that PMQs was coming up, we did a quick shop and drove home.
Pauline is one of the healthiest people I have ever met. She is very fit and takes no medication. Like me, she does like to check her blood pressure each a day and I have created a spreadsheet to record the readings. Yes, I know, I’m an incorrigible Romantic.
To help, I’ve also ordered her a wristband monitor that continually provides blood pressure and heart rate data. She can consider that a supplementary Christmas present.
Thursday, 16th November, 2023
It is pouring with rain this morning. Looked out and thought I was in Wales! I’m not going to be straying very far from the house today. This morning, I am talking to a variety of friends from my Office. Looks like my Friends in the North have better weather.
It’s surprising to me how often people from my past drift across my mind in the early, sleepless hours. I was talking to an old friend yesterday about a lad called Alan who I haven’t seen for more than 50 years. Alan was a mild-mannered, thoughtful and intelligent young Geordie. His party piece was singing Gene Pitney songs, particularly 24hrs from Tulsa which he did on request. I didn’t have much connection with him other than playing football together but I have often thought about him.
My friend, JohnR, was meeting an old student in a pub in North Yorkshire and just happened to say he hadn’t seen Alan, like me, for 51 years. At that very moment, Alan and his wife walked in to the pub for Lunch. I just love such coincidences whether they are engineered or pure happenstance. At the distance of time and geography, we are sharing our retirement and adding a dimension that would otherwise be lost. I learnt this morning that Alan had moved back to live in Ripon, hadn’t done much teaching but had gone into the building trade. I would never have predicted that.
Talked to Julie this morning who is spending her days going to photography clubs, screen printing classes, the gym and swimming pool. Today, she told me she was putting her house on the market and looking for a new one to accommodate her aging mother as well. Kevin is biking and swimming and playing his collection of guitars but has to go for a second operation on the other hand next week so is going to be out of action from his hobbies for a while. JohnR is touring the North of England giving talks on his experiences as a Primary Headteacher and eating curry until it comes out of his ears. I had to tell him, I absolutely hate curry. Give me Mediterranean cooking every time, Dear Reader, please.
There is a chill wind today and my wife insists she’s got absolutely nothing to wear to combat the cold. She needs a ‘Fleece’. When we get to the shop – Mountain Warehouse – no sooner has she found one she likes but there is another just as good. We leave with two after having to hold her down from buying matching hats. Who cares as long as she’s happy. I always tell her that it’s all her money anyway so spend it.
Now, the rain has at last stopped and we are going out to test one. She will be dressed for Winter and I will be dressed for Summer. She will perspire and I will shiver but those are our choices. We continue to march through retirement trying to extract as much enjoyment out of it as we can, enjoying the people around us and connected to us, sharing our lives as vicariously as we can.
Friday, 17th November, 2023
An absolutely wonderful morning of crystal blue skies and strong, low, autumnal sun. There are very few things missing from this morning. Up early and out to the Rustington Butcher’s and the Littlehampton Fishmongers. Skirt of Beef for a Greek Stew and a kilo of locally caught Squid. The freezers are bulging.
Mid-November. You would expect it to be cold, harsh and aggressive. Quite the opposite. It is mild, inviting and delightful.
Took the opportunity to go down to the beach as the tide came in. What a great time with warm air and few people. If only we could invite just the people that we want and exclude the rest.
Although we’ve been dashing around all day, I’ve still got an hour to do in the Gym. Fortunately, I’ve still got more than 60 episodes of my spy thriller to complete so I’m looking forward to it.
I have never been a fan of Monarchy. I have always supported Republicanism. This week, we have an unelected Prime Minister asking an unelected King to make an unelected man a peer so he can become an unelected Foreign Secretary. It is absolutely appalling. Having said that, I found that I really enjoyed the Netflix production of The Crown which has returned to our screens this week. We watched the first two episodes last night. They dealt with divorce and relationship with Dodi Fayed leading to Diana’s death in Paris.
Watched the first two episodes last night. It is our history. I remember as clearly as yesterday coming back from the Greek island of Symi on 31st August 1997. Waking up in Quarry Court, West Yorkshire to the news that she was dead. Had always held out hope that she would engineer the downfall of the monarchy in UK.
Over 25 years ago, we rented a villa on top of the hill to the right and behind the church with the plum coloured dome for a month in August. I was aged 46, very slim in small, white shorts and I ran up the 200+ steps to the property. Where does it all go? I remember waking up on the Monday morning and being shocked to hear on the radio by my bed the news of her death. It was shocking but not shocking. The State had triumphed again.
Saturday, 18th November, 2023
I’ve pre-prepared this, Dear Reader, and I apologise for that. Just didn’t know if I would be near a computer to write it this weekend. A bit busy.
Tomorrow is International Men’s Day. It is something I have advocated for years. I don’t have a problem promoting Women’s issues – well, some women – especially medical ones but I’ve always felt it marginalised men. Nothing could highlight this more than the latest announcement on prostate cancer.
I’ve have had quite a number of tests over the years since I was in my 50s. None had been conclusive although, if my results a couple of years ago had been taken more seriously, I might have caught this cancer earlier. Now a new screening trial is being assessed prior to rolling the process out nationwide. The problem with the blood test is that it throws up so many false positives/negatives as to be almost useless unless they are done often and regularly which would make huge demands on the NHS. Now an annual MRI scan offered to all men in the risk cohort could reduce these concerns and identify problems early. This is the sort of focus a Men’s day can provide.
We men have to start fighting back! Have a lovely day.