Sunday, 1st September, 2024
Farewell to the Summer of 2004. Happy Autumn, Dear Reader. Yesterday was mainly grey and Autumnal. Ironically, today is gorgeously hot and sunny. Yesterday we just managed 22C but today we are already basking in 28C/82F under blue skies.
Had to drive out to ALDI!! where they were selling AVOCADO OIL!!! Don’t ask. I have no idea why it was necessary but there it is. At least it encouraged me to go on to the beach where parents and children were making the most of their final weekend before the new school year by swimming in the sea, eating icecreams and letting off steam.
We found no where to park because so many people had come down. To add to the crowds, a yachting regatta was in full swing as others pottered about in canoes or just swam out to get a better view. Angmering beach is a very homely place which is safe for families. There is a small Funfair Park for little kids and a few desultory ‘occasional’ shops selling finger fish food – crab meat, prawns, whelks – donuts and coffee, candyfloss and flipflops, buckets & spades, etc.
There are quite a few restaurants but they are not much good – fast food, fish & chips, a Harvester – that sort of thing. People will eat anywhere when they are in the holiday mood.
I have been talking to a number of Hotels in the past couple of days and it has been really interesting (to me) to see their responses. The general rule of thumb in commerce has been there is little gain in loyalty. People buying Insurance have log know that. Newcomers seem to get prefential rates than long term customers. I am by inclination a loyal person and my experience has been exactly the opposite.
I have bought dozens of new Honda cars since the early 1980s. I have always had good (even preferential) treatment as a customer. I have used the Electra Group Hotels while travelling in Greece and I have been rewarded by real preferential treatment from them. Nowadays, I am a Gold Card holder.
In the past couple of days, I’ve been talking to Holiday Inn Brighouse which we’ve been using for many years. We were members of their Health Club for a few years. They are members of the huge, faceless, Anglo-American IHG goup but I’ve had multi-personal dealings with the bookings girl on the Brighouse desk moving around bookings that I was not really entitled to do. They recognised our loyalties and bent the rules to help me.
Monday, 2nd September, 2024
Rain overnight and the world looks fresh and wonderful. It is warm but there are increasing signs of Autumn with brown leaves on the lawns and birds raiding berries from the bushes. Grey sky but brightening. Yesterday we peaked at an amazing 31C/88F but today we are just 20C/68F.
Nice to go down to the beach this morning. Yesterday it was very busy – hot and sunny. Today it was totally isolated other than for one, lonely detectorist trying to find the valuables lost by yesterday’s crowds.
Of course, all my Generation – The Boomers – are in the Autumn of their lives. A lot are Grandparents. I was sent a picture of Grandad Tolley on his Training Day walk this morning before kids go back tomorrow.
Not being a Grandad myself, I have dual feelings about it. Sometimes I think it would have been nice and fulfilling and, on other occasions, I wonder if I would have risen to the challenge or whether I even wanted to rise to the challenge. I suppose it would have depended on Rebecca Jane.
Got through quite a lot of Office jobs since we got back from Greece and quite a few practical ones as well. Three trips away sorted out – 2 in Europe and 1 in UK. Flu + Covid Booster jabs booked. Eye test sorted out at the hospital. Done a week of hard dieting and exercise. Found a wooden floor repairer to come and do a small restoration job on our hall flooring. Sorted out a printer sharer problem for the Office because we both need to print to the Laser Printer. Bought Pauline a present. There are not many girls who would be delighted with 3 ltrs of Kalamata Olive Oil but she is.
In order to go alcohol-free, I have been buying up the world’s supply of Perrier Sparkling Water + Fever~Tree’s Clementine Tonic Water and Shloer’s Zero ughh drink. Would never have guessed that I’d enjoy Clementine Tonic Water
Tuesday, 3rd September,2024
Rain over night but the morning is warm and sunny with cloud. Had to go out to M&S this morning to collect an order. Little Viv (so called because her name is Viv and she is little) who worked in our school had given Pauline an M&S gift voucher for her birthday and she finally got round to spending it.
No surprises that she used it to order kitchen things: an oil bottle, a new cheese grater, a pair of kitchen shears and a set of Corn on the Cob holders. Thank you Litte Viv.
M&S is just across the road from the Pier and the Wheel. It all had an end of the Summer feel to it. Tourist stalls were closed. The wheel was empty, the funfair was quiet. Bliss and it’s still warm – 22C/70F in mid morning.
Back at home, I am reading and writing, interacting with friends: Kevin & Dave, Julie & John all sharing their lives with me. It’s nice. Particularly today, the newspapers and news programmes are discussing the shift in the country’s opinions from the Express/Daily Fail view more towards mine. In the 1980s, Thatcher declared that there was no such thing as society just individuals in it. I was on the other side. Later, Theresa May criticised about the Citizens of Nowhere. I was one of them. More recently, there has been the Johnsonian National Exceptionalism and flag waving Jingoism. I was nowhere near that.
I didn’t agree with any of that and I didn’t believe the majority of the country did either. The Tories kept telling us we were wrong to the point where you begin to doubt yourself. This morning, a new study conducted over the past couple of years showed that the Tories 14 year in power had coincided with or caused a marked decline in National Pride and an increased receptivity to the idea that being British didn’t demand being born here. It certainly suggests that it was time for the Tories to crawl away and hide for a decade or so.
Wednesday, 4th September, 2024
Lovely and warm and sunny this morning. Took Pauline to yet another new Hairdressers. Her current one has had a heart attack and is unlikely to return. He will probably retire to the island of Crete. She has found a replacement after lots of agonising. It seems to have gone well. Only cost £60.00 and she’s still got some hair.
The hair dresser is on Sea Road so we went on to the beach now all those little sods with buckets & spades have been locked away at school for another year. It was beautiful and peaceful with a cormorant sleeping on a tidal post, gently lapping warm waves and the smell of the sea.
I have always been a ‘clever boy’ but lazy or, at least, a procrastinator. There is always something more enjoyable than hard work. It took me years to realise that hard work was enjoyable in itself. My Mother was shocked and furious when the Head of my Grammar School told her I would come to nothing intellectually.
When I was 18, my dreams involved sex, getting away from my mother and my suffocating village and going to university. I thought I could encapsulate them all by applying for a Literature Degree at Newcastle University or Sterling University – two institutions far enough away from the centre of England where I lived. There were going to be girls and …. no Mother.
In Grammar School, I learnt that I could achieve but I would rather play Rugby, Athletics and Bridge. I did so badly in my A Levels which I had thought would be easy and I was shocked by my rubbish grades. What to do? What to do to get away? My mother had warned me against teaching. The salary would be too low but Teacher Training seemed the next best way to get out and so I took it. I knew almost immediately that I’d sold myself short.
After completing my Probationary Year in 1973, I started to think about putting it right. Fortunately, Harold Wilson & Jennie Lee had instituted The Open University which opened in 1971. I started a Literature Degree and discovered how exciting hard work could be and that I was good at it. Teaching by day and studying by night got me through.
I did always think it was second best though. I would rather have been at Oxford reading (PPE) Philosophy, Politics & Economics but it was my own fault. Before I even finished my Degree, I noticed a Political History Masters Degree at Huddersfield. I went to speak to the professor who designed the course and started even before I had heard the result of my first Degree. It was like heaven. So demanding that I could never rest. I even took books to read and make notes on the beach in Greece.
With the indulgence of my wife and her secretarial skills, I completed my Masters. I should and would have loved to go on to do the Doctorate but life called. It would have been a self indulgence and taken another 5 years. I decided to stop because I felt vindicated. I had lanced the boil of failure. I still wonder whether I should have carried on. I hate the failures in my life and constantly try to re-address them, to put them right. I’ve actually considered reapplying to Oxford University as a 70 year old man to do PPE. Can you imagine it, Dear Reader. I can but … no. Life is too short.
I chose this topic this morning in the knowledge that I have written about it before because the students who obtained the Teaching Certificate that I received for three years playing at Training College is now being upgraded to a Degree status rather as an Oxford University B.A. graduate can buy an upgrade to an M.A. without further work. I used to feel quite cheapened by the idea but it’s amazing how age melows one … about some things.
Thursday, 5th September, 2024
Rain arrived over night. The gardens are loving it because the air is still warm. Our house is just too hot all the time. I can’t bear it. The windows are permanently open to compensate. Looks like it is the North’s turn for better weather this weekend. Might have to pop up and enjoy it.
Twenty years ago, I was diagnosed as Type 2 Diabetic. There are a number of treatments to correct that and I was prescribed drugs. I didn’t want rely on them so I began a personal journet of exercise and diet which amazed my doctor when she declared I would no longer be considered diabetic and the drugs were withdrawn. I will always be monitored as a diabetic but I manage myself completely through diet alone. When you’re a diabetic, all prescriptions are free so, long before I qualified by my age, I enjoyed that. I was given regular GP check-ups and two, hospital eye checks a year.
I was born with a condition which I now know is called Amblyopia and more commonly known as lazy eye. I have always been stupid and, at birth, my left eye was perfect while my right eye was short sighted. Guess which one I chose to be a lazy eye? So all my life I have only had the sight of one eye and been short sighted in the other.
One morning, in my early 50s, I got up, opened my newspaper and was utterly shocked to find I couldn’t read the text even with my reading glasses on. It was scary. I went immediately to the opticians who said I should urgently visit my doctor. By the time I got there, might sight and miraculously returned but that is when Type-2 was diagnosed and I was sent to see a consultant who diagnosed Atrial Fibrillation or irregular heart beat. I’ve always thought that young girl optician at Specsavers saved my life.
My checkups are now only once a year but I am always nervous. Today is my annual checkup and I have no idea what they will find but it could make the difference to my life if they see a deterioration. I could lose my driving licence. I could need an operation on the one good eye. I’m always terrified of them saying I need a cataract operation on that eye. I know they are generally safe but one slip up would leave me totally blind. So, that is the joy for the day.
Going in the Gym now where I am watching Official Secrets, a British drama film based on the case of whistleblower Katharine Gun who exposed an illegal spying operation by American and British intelligence services to gauge sentiment of and potentially blackmail United Nations diplomats tasked to vote on a resolution regarding the 2003 invasion of Iraq. This is exactly the sort of political history based drama I like.
Back from my eye examination and blinded by eye drops and bright lights, I was overjoyed to be told that my sight was getting better. I read the entire chart without my glasses which not many people of my age can do. I will be tested again at 74 and, if all is well, put on biennial tests from then on. Lovely people and a great service. I am so lucky.
Friday, 6th September, 2024
A warm but wet day. Soft and graduated grey. The Fish Suppliers on the beach told us they had Sword Fish in so we drove down to buy a 2Kg slab to be sliced into steaks and a dozen Sea bas fillets. It is so warm that getting wet isn’t a problem … in fact, it’s almost a joy. But then I don’t have to worry about my hair.
The sea is beautiful in soft shades of muted colour. It smelled gorgeous and sounded so relaxing. Isolated and empty apart from the sea kale. It is all mine.
The whole place has a sense of sadness, slightly scruffy and deserted. The beach huts closed up for the next few months apart from a few hardy souls who are determined to get full value out of their tenancy. For me, it is sunshine I crave. Anyone got some to share?
It must be more than 40 years since we used a travel agent or a holiday brochure to book trips away. I remember the first couple of package holidays to Greece and thinking I could book much better arrangements myself. Teletext was the first source to go to.
Accomodation and travel are two, separate items and have been almost throughout our travelling life. The problem can be marrying the two elements neatly together. It has, at times, been hairy trying to gets seats on flights to match nights booked in hotels, etc. We have been forced to fly with some dodgy airlines just to get the dates. It’s all part of the fun.
Nowadays, nothing is left to choice. Hotels, villas, etc, are booked first online and then flight seats are booked to fit. There is so much more choice available. I have an account with Easyjet because we use them so often. My app on my phone does everything and automatically fills in all my personal details including my credit card so the whole thing is incredibly quick.
The flights are still all remarkably cheap. We add on an additional carry on suitcase each instead of things going in the Hold. It makes everything so much easier and quicker. None of that waiting anxiously at carousels. We add on Extra Leg Room and Priority Boarding and these are the prices:
| Gatwick | Thessaloniki | 2 x £55.00 | £110.00 |
| Thessaloniki | Gatwick | 2 x £60.00 | £120.00 |
| Electra Palace Thessaloniki | 7 Nights | £3,667.00 | |
| £3,897.00 | |||
| Gatwick | Athens | 2 x £ 54.00 | £108.00 |
| Athens | Gatwick | 2 x £218.00 | £436.00 |
| Electra Palace Athens | 7 Nights | £3,775.00 | |
| £4,319.00 |
I really don’t know why the leg back from Athens is comparatively so expensive but it has always been like that. We flew almost the first ever flight on Easyjet from Athens in 1995. It is a very reliable airline.
Still, as the nights get darker earlier and the mornings get lighter later and that is all very obviously happening now, having sunshine trips in the calendar is a beacon to look forward to. There will be lots more like that to come in 2025.
Saturday, 7th September, 2024
Well nobody had pointed out that I had done my usual trick of copying across from the previous week and forgotten to upgrade to September. Thick as a brick – sorry. It really does feel like September. Warm but grey with rain over night. The garden is winding down and we are beginning to clear it.
The green beans might have one more picking in them. The herbs are being cut down to restore themselves in the Spring. Today, I’ve pulled the last of the beetroot. The carrots will be next. I’m not sure I’ll bother growing my own root vegetables again. They take up too much space and are not dynamically better than shop bought. The green beans were totally different. So much better than the supermarket ones flown from Kenya. I will definitely grow those again.
The passing of time – days, weeks, months, seasons, years – makes me rather wistful. Life is running away. Press the STOP button NOW. The whole of this Winter is going to be focussed on diet and fitness. I intend to be and I will be back to my pre-cancer condition and better. I am in the mind set. Just got to keep my focus. I think I’m going through a mid-life crisis at the age of 73.
My friend, Kevin has suggested that we buy a motorbike and sidecar. He would be happy in the sidecar being driven around. I wouldn’t. The scary thing is that I even considered it for a moment. Definitely a sign of the times. The last time I rode a motorbike was around Norway in 1968. Wonderful experience but one that is just a stretch too far to revisit.
But the past cannot be eradicated or shut out. There are so many good things, enjoyable things to retain. One of the wonderful things about buildings from an earlier age is the philosophy of pride not economy that informed their design and construction. You would not see such indulgence applied to a swimming baths building now so saving the Ripon Baths frontage is well worthwhile and that is what’s now going to happen.
When I lived in Oldham, my favourite building was the Prudential Assurance Building – a beautiful redbrick construction both in design and detail. Internally, it was indulgently lavish as befits a financial institution who wanted to display their probity in brick. Oldham, like so many Northern towns, has been impoverished for as long as I have known it. The building was deserted by the Prudential and Oldham had no cash to do anything about it. Nature has taken back the space.
Until now. Now the council have received a grant and will spend £8.6 million on turning this beautiful building into a business incubation hub. Great idea. You can always trust a Labour Council working in tandem with a Labour Government.