Sunday, 14th April, 2024
Sunday, Sunday here again … but I won’t be lazin on a Sunday afternoon. There are too many things to do. It’s warm but rather grey today so far. A couple of years ago on this day we were eating Lunch outside in the sunshine garden. I don’t think we’ll be doing that today.
I don’t know what you think about Amazon, the online retailer. I first came into contact with it just over 15 years ago. I bought Pauline an Amazon Kindle. I love all things I.T. and we were travelling abroad for 6 months at a time. We were both taking boxes of books with us in the car and the Kindle offered the chance to ditch the books and read them electronically. It was an immediate step forward. The Kindle was/is small, light and will carry thousands of books at any one time.
She is constantly buying, downloading and storing books to her library and gets through more than one a week. Her Kindle even has a free internet connection to download books at any time from anywhere although the 3G service will not last much longer. It saves me a fortune because almost all the books she downloads are free.
I must admit, we resisted buying generally from Amazon in the early days but are Amazon-aholics nowadays. The initial fear that they were more expensive is either less significant than we thought or we are just becoming more self indulgent than before. We pay a monthly fee for Amazon Prime which has two benefits. Firstly, we access the Prime Video platform on TV but also everything I order from Amazon comes delivery ‘free’ and almost always ‘next day’. If I search the web for something I want, invariably, Amazon will come up as a potential stockist which I know will make the process easy and quick.
The idea on which Amazon was founded and developed is brilliant. Information Technology, Artificial Intelligence and Robotic Automation were the future, are becoming the present and are definitely offering exciting development.
The one weaker link in the chain at the moment is delivery to our door. We have an Amazon depot a bout three miles away and their vans are everywhere but it is not the most cost effective way to do it. The poor drivers are pushed almost beyond their limits and earn just a pittance plus the pressure for space on the already busy roads is a problem.
In the past fortnight, Pauline has bought and downloaded 4 books and we have jointly bought and had delivered 14 items. I can order things up to about 10.00 pm and they are delivered the next day for ‘free’. I can’t wait to see all those drivers get better jobs, all the vans taken off the roads and most Amazon parcels being delivered to my door by drone. If we can fight wars with drones, we can deliver purchases.
Just 3 of those14 items have been returned. That is another thing which Amazon do well. Returning goods is simple, ‘free’ and quick. There is no obligation to have a reason other than change of mind. We download a QR code to our phones, take the item, unwrapped, to a Post Office, or Hub and the refund is made within minutes. Everything is in place to encourage returning custom. Why didn’t I think of that? Bezos, who founded Amazon in his garage just 30 years ago, recently sold a few shares in the company for $8.5 billion and the company is valued overall at just under $1.9 trillion. Soon they’ll be talking serious money!
Monday, 15th April, 2024
Well it’s turned a bit chilly again and we had an absolute cloudburst in the middle of the morning. The shorts have been put back in the wardrobe for a day or two. I’ve also had to tell my beans, which are rapidly shooting, to slow down a bit.
I grow all kinds of herbs both for cutting fresh and for freeze storing. There are some it is just not worth growing. One of the most popular herbs in Greek cooking and in fish cooking is Dill or, officially, Dill-Weed. It has a delightfully mild aniseed flavour. It is a large, frond type plant which needs a lot of space and staking. I find it is easier to just buy it. Asda sells huge bunches. I bought 4 today for £4.00. Certainly not worth the effort of growing at home.
I’ve hurt my back this morning. I’m now wandering around hunched over like an old man. Oh, I am an old man … I just don’t want to look like it. I did it by taking an old (2yrs) garden parasol base to the local tip. There was nothing wrong with it other than it weighed 45 kgs and was a nightmare to move around as a woman instructed me to do when the sun moved.
We have two, garden parasols – a circular one and a large rectangular one. This latter came with a heavy, concrete base which nearly killed me to move around. The other came with a wheeled base + handle to pull it into position. Yesterday, we bought another of those and today I made the ultimate sacrifice by lifting this 100 lb lump of concrete from the patio into the boot of my car. As I drove away to the local tip, I knew I had a problem. I approached one of the workers there who made light work of taking the rock out of my boot and tossing it into a skip. That’s the second time I felt old today.
Earlier, I was chatting to an old friend from Greece. He is an Englishman from Bexhill in East Sussex but for the decade or more we were in our house on Sifnos, he & his wife were renting a house on Paros. On a clear day, the island of Paros was clearly seen from Sifnos and we pretended we could see each other as we talked. Just as we have left, so has he. The wages of Brexit bite deeply.
I spent 30 years on the island of Sifnos and remember every inch of it. This morning a friend and chef on the island posted a couple of photos that took me back there immediately. The first is a taverna with the picture of a tree-silhouette and the words Το Λιοτρίβι / The Liotrivi underneath. The Liotrivi is The Olive Press and it was a delightful restaurant. The second photo is also taken from the village of Artemonas and is of the Bakery & Zacharoplasteio. Wonderful bread and sweets made there.
Tuesday, 16th April, 2024
Lovely morning. Going to do some gardening. I’m setting the under-gardener on to giving the hedge its first trim of the season. She does it so well. We’ve got a cooler but drier 10 days to come so not going to do more than preparation at the moment. All feels rather parochial and hemmed in at the moment.
Talking to my former Greek expat friend yesterday took me back to this week in 2013 when I was driving from Mulhouse in Alsace, across the border into Switzerland, through the 17km Gotthard Tunnel, round Lake Lucerne, into Italy and round Lake Como, on to the Milan ring road and on to a hotel in Parma which is where, ironically, my next door neighbours are from.
Received a surprise letter/email yesterday inviting me to have a Covid Booster in the next few weeks. They say I have been identified as more vulnerable because my immune system will have been weakened by the Hormone treatment and Radiotherapy of last year. Apparently, I am only just in that category because the treatment was within the past 6 months. I’ve booked one because I am happy to have my antibodies boosted. I’ve got an ultrasound scan next week.
Wednesday, 17th April, 2024
Gorgeous morning of blue sky and strong sunshine. I was woken just after 6.00 am with a Whatsapp message on my phone. It was from an ex-pupil of mine who is now in her 40s. She was a very bright girl who I took under my wing but who was not allowed to go to university at the time.
She is currently a Teaching Assistant in Oldham and is married with children. She has continued to work and, last night, was recognised by Sheffield Hallam University for her outstanding efforts. Although she has my mobile number, she still calls me Sir. She sends me love and kisses but daren’t tell her husband. She still wants my approbation for what we both saw as her initial failure to capitalise on her ability as she redresses that failure now. Might try to see her when I drive to the North – hopefully soon.
Another day of gardening as everything is beginning to grow away. In North Yorkshire, my friend, JohnR, is extolling the beauty of the early flowers on his 50 year old cherry tree. As I pointed out to him, in Sussex they would be considered late flowering. KevinS on the northern tip of Scotland tells me he has another month to wait.
Still, JohnS lives in the beautiful, North Yorkshire village of Catterick which he sent me this photo of this morning. It has old world charm and gentility.
Thursday, 18th April, 2024
Beautiful, sunny morning. Such a lovely change from recent times. The sun streaming in through the conservatory windows and over the Breakfast table bodes well for the day to come. In contrast, I was thinking about death and loss this morning. Sending a sympathy card to the husband of Pauline’s recently deceased relative in Lancashire this morning. The funeral will be in the next 10 days. Can’t believe that someone so full of life and joy of life is so suddenly no more. They live on in memories, of course, but you can’t kiss memories. My mother died 16 years ago next week and the memories definitely soften and fade over time.
We are all programmed to stay alive. Self preservation is genetically programmed into all life. Sometimes I pretend to myself to be blasé about my longevity but I know, deep down, that death is just a huge void which I do not wish to enter before I have to. Trying hard to keep fit, to eat well, to exercise, to keep my brain alert and challenged.
I am a typical man and reluctant to visit doctors but I have a Carer who is keen on these things and pushes me to do the right thing. I have been doing the Biennial Bowel Screening which involves those aged 60 – 74. I received my latest this morning but realise I will not receive another unless I specifically request it. All these little crosses on the balance sheet like this and the driving licence renewal, move one further down the escalator of life … and I don’t like it. What about you, Dear Reader? Or am I worrying needlessly, inordinately?
Well according to today’s Daily Telegraph, I am already in the last chance saloon with only 7 years left and that’s living in one of UK’s healthiest, wealthiest places. Panic!!
Out in hot sunshine this afternoon on the road at the front of our house. Trimming the grass verges, preparing the flower beds and generally neatening up in readiness for the Summer season. We will be away for quite a bit of it so trying to do our bit now. Pauline was trimming the hedge which looks incredibly healthy and vigorous. She’s got the patience to do it carefully. I was in support role, sweeping up, removing cuttings, etc..
Friday, 19th April, 2024
Tempus Fugit. On Sunday, the Blog will begin its 500th week. Talk about Life Expectancy! Fifteen years ago, we were just returning from our 10th Easter Holiday on Sifnos but this one was different. We didn’t have to go back to work. We were retired and this was the time it first really hit us. So often, we would get back the day before work and I would be berating myself about not having prepared that presentation, not having written that report, etc. Not in April 2009. I was turning my attention to the garden and selling the house.
This photo of Kamares in Easter 2009 sums up the sort of unpredictable weather we could expect at that time but it didn’t matter. In 2011, at this time in our Greek home we were turning the underfloor heating on. We had stopped going to Greece for the weather long before. In fact, we would have been delighted this year because 3 days of rain are forecast to fall in Sifnos and the garden would already be crying our for water.
I am not an animal lover. I’d rather eat them than house them but my heart was definitely opened by this little, feral cat which adopted us in our Greek home. She was known as Mother Cat because she kept having babies – the nearest to Fatherhood I got. It really hurt us to leave her to survive each Winter unaided but we had no choice and she proved resilient enough to cope just fine. She greeted us noisily within hours of our return in the Spring after 6 months away.
I know you’ll think I’m mad but the photo I took of Mother Cat always reminds me of one of my favourite ever paintings which can be seen in Manchester. I had a large, framed copy on my walls for years at home in Huddersfield. I always go for the wild girls!
Here today it is mild but grey. I’m going to get some exercise gardening before getting some more exercise in the Gym. Talking to my friend, Julie, on the North East coast of Yorkshire this morning, she complains that she is already wearing a fleece indoors and is just about to light the log fire. I’m so grateful that we came down here. And what lovely neighbours. Everyone stops to chat as we work on the streetside lawns and flower beds. So & so is going off to Seville next week. Another is getting ‘Flu. A couple go past with their dog and worry about it getting too friendly. They know I’m not keen on dogs.
We build our lives in the details of these everyday things and so many rarely hold on to the bigger picture, the major events, the ultimate timeline of being. I, for one, will never be able to escape my past. It torments and delights me in equal measure.
Saturday, 20th April, 2024
A lovely, deceptively sunny day. The breeze has a cool edge on it. Although I went down to the Garden Centre early on this morning, I will not be tempted to buy for at least another week and even then we will have to plan around when we will be away.
Our village square always looks nice in the sunshine and the gardening team, Angmering in Bloom, work hard to maintain it with seasonal planting. Every year, the council pollard the trees so they are always late getting back into leaf which is a pity.
Living in a nice, attractive and well maintained space is so often associated with increased longevity for its residents. I noticed this article in the Huddersfield Examiner yesterday. It is a piece about the village of Uppermill near Oldham where many people still consider themselves living in Yorkshire even though it was designated Lancashire years ago. Lots of our friends and former colleagues live there. Infants born within the OL3 postcode, covering extensive areas of Uppermill, Greenfield, Diggle, and Dobcross, are predicted to live a prosperous 85 years on average whereas life expectancy nosedives to 75 years for new-borns in the OL1 region, home to parts of Chadderton, Royton and Shaw which is among the country’s lowest.
P&C need somewhere new to live. They are both in their later 80s and vulnerable for different reasons. C is in the mid stages of Dementia and P is registered Blind. Until now, each has looked after the other but that is coming to an end. C is the driver but really isn’t safe out in the car anymore. P has managed to cope brilliantly with her disability but now is not able to manage herself plus a deteriorating dementia sufferer however much she tries.
Their lovely daughter has made her later life in Florida and tries to get back regularly but has her own life to lead and it will be in America. P&C need to move on to their next stage urgently before it is too late. In Surrey, where they live, there are lots of retirement opportunities that provide for freedom and support. They are not cheap but P&C are fortunate to have the financial backing to take advantage.
At Highfields, they can have a 2-bed apartment for £530,000.00 or for Rental from £3,050 pcm. At Botanical Place, in the heart of the village/town, they would be near boutiques, cafés, and restaurants but in reach of friendly faces, listening ears and help when they needed it. When you are in your late 80s, there is no better place. In this latter place, they can buy, rent or part rent/part buy. For them, it really doesn’t matter. The big decision is making the move in their minds after so many years of totally independent living.
We will all find it hard but, in your senior years, you have to accept an element of dependence. Pride is good but can be taken too far. Children have their own lives. The parents have to move on themselves. I know my Mother actively encouraged us to go away and fight for our own lives and to leave her to sort out her own support network.