Sunday, 8th September, 2024
A nice, warm, sunny morning. A morning for a haircut. I hate haircuts because I have to sit still under a sweaty cape for so long. But I like the result so I grit my teeth and try to distract myself.
Sunday morning is politics morning. Some people stay in bed. Some actually go to church. Some say they go to church but actually stay in bed. I get up at the same time as any other day and worship at my own choice of altar. I like to watch Trevor Philips on Sunday followed by Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg so I can do that while sitting still having my hair cut.
My school was regularly In Need of Improvement or in Special Measures in the last decade of my career. The very nature of our catchement area virtually ensured that. Eventually, the Race riots in Oldham in 2001 and the reflection of impoverishment of the two communities led governments to try something else. Great play was made of closing Counthill and Breezehill schools and combining (integrating the largely white, former population with the largely Asian heritage, latter population under one roof of a brand new Academy.
Waterhead Academy was built at the cost of a mere £25 million and was widely seen as a ‘brave experiment’. It was featured in a BBC documentary. It was written about in the national press. It was shouted about by its new Management but, ultimately, it was doomed to bump along the bottom and that is exactly what has happened. It has been in and out of Inadequate / In Need of Improvement / Satisfactory (Not) and so on. And so the merry-go-round continues.
Instead of really acknowledging the true causes, another Educational Trust will take it on and it will fail again. Poverty engendering hopelessness, lack of ambition engendered by decades of hopelessness will have to be tackled first. Levelling Up was exactly the right idea but it was never anthing other than a campaign slogan and nothing/little changed. Until it does, the school will fail quietly.
Monday, 9th September, 2024
Went down to the beach this morning. Searching, searching … Soft and warm, gentle, muted colours to infinity ….
We have lingered in the chambers of the sea
By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown
Till human voices wake us, and we drown.Waters of Death – T.S. Eliot
Lovely to walk in the fresh air and without the hoards of Summer. The beachside food shops are locked up and deserted. The little train that takes people along the beach path was standing sad and empty and will soon disappear completely until next year. Clouds of birds – murmurations in the making were swarming over the sea.
Drove home to find our neighbours putting their garden furniture away for the Winter to be ressurected next Spring. Going to spend the afternoon in the Gym. I do my session every day, 7 days a week without exception. Only by building up a consistency can I force myself on days when I would rather rest. The next few months will be like that – working hard and mintaining my discipline. It has to be done.
If you’d like an economic prediction, make a mental note of this. Oil prices will plunge in the near future, amid doubts over demand from China and the US. There is likely to be global oversupply and a glut leads to a fall in price. This should lead to a drop in petrol prices and will help if the budget increases the price. If sustained, it could lead to a fall in generated heating fuel prices but that is a bit more tenuous. Certainly, it will tend towards lowering inflation.
Tuesday, 10th September, 2024
A warm, grey day again with a little on shore breeze. Lovely walking on the beach path this morning and found this old tree trunk washed up. Wonder where that floated from. Should it be repatriated to France?
Interesting experience on the way to our walk. We had to call into Currys/PCWorld. Nearly two years ago, Pauline bought a Bosch Kitchen Blender. It cost £100.00 and came with a 2yr Warranty. It was double the price of most available at the time and was bought with quality in mind. Yesterday, just within the 2yr warranty, it failed. We took it back this morning. Currys didn’t bat an eyelid when we presented the Sales Receipt printed out from the email at the time.
Because the model is no longer made, we were offered a full refund or another model of our choice. Pauline chose a KitchenAid machine which had just been reduced from £160.00 to £113.00. We had to pay £13.00 for a new machine with a 5yr warranty.
Lots of talk about Pensioners at the moment. This article appeared in The Telegraph this morning and made me think. We are both in the Teachers’ Defined Benefit Pension Scheme which is inflation linked. I worked out that we would each need around £820,000 to fund our pension in the open market which everyone else needs to do – a joint pension pot of £1.6 million. Of course, contrary to comon expectations, there is no Teachers Pension Fund. Our Pensions are paid by the Government from taxation. In that, we are very lucky.
We have never felt so comfortable. The general expectation is that a couple would require £59,000.00 a year to live comfortably in retirement. This would mean funding all the home services plus a reasonable amount of travel/holidays. We are so lucky that ours well exceeds ‘that’comfortable’ which allows us not to question our choices too closely. For example, our car is just 19 months old and has clocked a mere 7,500 miles. Honda Sales have just rung me with what is an excellent offer for a new car and I don’t need to think too hard about it. I will make an appointment to go in and discuss it with them next week. The question is whether to go for the self-charging hybrid or the plugin hybrid. Questions, questions …
I am writing all of this in the context of the announced means-testing of the Winter Fuel Allowance for Pensioners. We don’t need it. We have never needed it. We’ve taken it but tended to spend it on Food Bank contributions. The State Pension isn’t brilliant and I can’t imagine surviving on it but there are many like me don’t need top ups like Heating and Christmas Bonus. Unlike many of my contemporaries, I qualified for the New State Pension by one day. I was born on April 6th which allowed me to creep over the line whereas my younger wife gets the Old State Pension.
Earnings this year are at 4%. We will both be enjoying the Earnings uplift part of the Triple Lock – The greater of Inflation, Earnings or 2% – which has helped poor people keep afloat.
Wednesday, 11th September, 2024
Glorious day if a bit cooler than recently. Out reasonably early to walk by the sea. The sun was strong and the air was fresh but pure. I’m going to try to start my day with this routine for a while if it is dry. About an hour and a half in the sunshine really does make you feel better.
The problem is, I have to develop a control over photographs or you will get or have got utterly bored with them. Talking to our neighbours yesterday and we all said we forget we live by the sea and should walk there more often. Well I will.
I was phoned by Honda yesterday and I’ve spent a bit of time this morning getting my current car valued through online companies. It looks as though it will be around £31,000.00 trade in. It is just under 2yrs old and has only done 7,600 miles. If I buy a new one, it will cost me about £55,000.00 because I’m thinking of moving up from a self-charge hybrid to a plug-in hybrid. It will incur the extra cost of having a charging point fitted on the garage wall but it will offer quite a few additional facilities.
The new car has a self-park facility which allows the driver to just let the car line up the parking space and slot it in without intervention. It has 4 parking sensor at the front, 4 at the rear and 4 on each side. It has all-round camera coverage. Most of all, it will address the style of our day to day driving. I like long distance driving and it will do that very economically with its petrol engine. So, when I drive up to Huddersfield or over to France, I won’t need to worry about range but our day to day trips barely extend to a 15 mile round trip. This plug-in hybrid will do 50 miles just on electric charge so will be much more economical.
Thursday, 12th September, 2024
We went down to 7C/45F last night. It may be a blip but it warns us that Winter is approaching. We will soon be searching for extra warmth. I have already closedthe window vents around the house.
I was looking at a record of what I was doing on this day in 2010. I recorded that we had just 3 weeks left in our Greek house before setting off to drive home. Just two weeks into September, the weather had changed dramatically. The stifling heat had vanished and had been replaced with this scene. We actually started to switch the underfloor heating on before we set off for Patras and our drive through Italy.
The sun has risen and the world is warm again. Decided to walk by the Marina this morning – away from the sea and the path we normally take. We should all take different paths at times, shouldn’t we Dear Reader.
Boats are being packed up and moored for the winter. Old people are out in warm clothes against the breeze whereas I am uncompromisingly wearing shorts and teeshirt to get as much sun to my body as possible.
I am strictly controlling my food intake, not touching alcohol, upping my exercise routine, trying to make an effort. I have lost 15 lbs. When I’m not drinking wine, I am buying and storing it to make myself feel better. Receiving a delivery of choice red wines this afternoon. Another light at the end of the the disciplinary tunnel.
Friday, 13th September, 2024
Gorgeous morning. Lovely, strong sunshine for Friday the 13th! Glad I didn’t choose today to have my hair cut. Shopping day today. Went down to a branch of GrapeTree for health foods to construct the morning’s Museli. (What am I saying??) On to Sainsbury for the weekly shop. Had a row with a man whose wife was talking on her phone while blocking the escalator. Didn’t hit him … or her.
I don’t know why but I am fascinated by research and, particularly, people search, their lives and events. I have always been like that. I enjoy programmes like Who Do You Think You Are and Long Lost Family even though I find them quite an emotional watch. I was gripped by the film, The Magdalene Sisters particularly because it exposed the Catholic Church for what it is.
There is an innate need in us to search for those who are lost to us even if it takes decades. This week it was illustrated in a story from Royton, Oldham. A mass burial ground containing the remains of aborted and stillborn babies, other young children and some adults was found. As the reports said, people who spent more than half a century not knowing where their loved ones were buried have finally been able to visit their graves. Some were ‘paupers’ graves, some were hospital ‘disposals’. They came from a different time when lives and sentiments were cheaper.
Of course hearts are what are important. You are not human without a heart. They always fascinate me. Like car engines just tick away for thousands of miles and day after day so hearts just beat constantly from birth to death – could be 100 years. Amazing things. However, looks like there may be a problem on the male side of my family.
My Dad died of a heart attack at the age of 49. My youngest brother survived a heart attack in his 50s. I was diagnosed with Atrial Fibrillation or irregular heart beat in my late 50s. Now my other, younger brother has had a couple of strokes. It has rather shocked me and made me redouble my fitness campaign. Bob is a fit 72 year old although I didn’t know he smoked until he told me this week. Even so, he is the last person I would have expected to suffer in this way ….. unless it is genetic. Thank goodness I gave up smoking almost exactly 40 years ago.
Scorchingly hot day in the garden this afternoon. Not unheard of in mid-September, of course, but lovely all the same.
Saturday, 14th September, 2024
What a glorious day. Burning hot sunshine and no movement of air at all. Down at the beach for my walk in shorts and teeshirt and it really is burning. Lots of others out today enjoying the warmth.
Lots of people walking but plenty on the beach, in the sea paddling, swimming, boarding. It’s like being on holiday but these days I don’t know the difference.
Home for Breakfast … well, Museli and coffee. The weather is forecast to be like this throughout the week so plenty to enjoy for a while. Also, had good news from my brother, Bob, last night. It turns out he hasn’t had any strokes as he believed and reported to me. The Consultant who he saw yesterday told him that he was suffering a form of migraine – which he has experienced throughout his working life. No headache just shimmering shapes and now blurred vision. He is allowed to drive again so is over the moon.
Was sent this mashup this morning which is destined to become a Campaign Anthem. Really worth a listen, Dear Reader.
I’m agonising over buying a new car. Against: our current car is only 19 months old and has done just 7,500 miles. It is an indulgence. For: I love new cars. Honda are offering a discount. I can afford it. Why not indulge?
Turning it over in my head today. There is lots in there and not much room for indecision. I will know the answer by Sunday evening. Tolley made an interesting comment this morning. He had come back from France and gone to Ripon for a reminisce. In spite of all he’s done in his life including living in France, he sent this photo and said,
Just popped in. Still feels like we belong here!
Isn’t life strange, we carry these things round with us in our heads all the time. They are the experiences that make us what we are.