Sunday, 16th February, 2025
It’s all downhill from here for February and for life. For me, the morning routines started badly. My shaver refused to pair with my smartphone. Disaster. How can you shave without a phone? I have a Philips Shaver with which I use an app called Groom Tribe. So that set me back. It records all my shaving stats going back to 2023. I’ve got it all back now but it was a hairy moment. (See what I did there?)
Downstairs for orange juice, tea and coffee while I catch up with the goals from Match of the Day yesterday. The Sky Q Box in the Kitchen had disconnected itself over night. That had to be reconnected.
Out early for a 90 mins walk in quite cold temperatures. It is only 4C/39F which is hardly exotic. It is dry and forecast to be dry all week. Driving up to Surrey at mid day taking some new phones and a huge bag of sweets along with a massive batch of freshly baked scones plus a huge pile of freshly baked Oven Bottom Muffins which the ex-Oldhamers miss.
Hopefully, the roads will not be too busy on a Sunday. Who goes anywhere on a Sunday? I’ve had to teach myself the installation of the new phones which are VOIP or voice-over-internet-protocol which everybody with a landline is being moved to. Basicaslly, the line connection can no longer be called ‘Land’ because it isn’t. Everything comes across the internet so the handset has to be plugged into the BT Hub or connected via WiFi. This is one of the reasons that I’ve given up our landline. It just duplicates our mobiles which themselves come through WiFi when we are in the house because the connection to the 5G signal is so weak inside.
Music today is playing in my head as I walk. It is from the fantastic Verdi opera, Nabucco. The title comes from a short version of Nabucodonosor (English: “Nebuchadnezzar) The opera follows the plight of the Jews as they are assaulted, conquered and subsequently exiled from their homeland by the Babylonian king Nabucco. The piece I replay in my head is the Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves: Va, pensiero, sull’ali dorate. / Fly, thought, on golden wings.
Had a wonderful political podcast about the infighting in the Labour Party/Government as I drove this morning. The time and the miles melted away. I was in it. I wanted to be in the middle of it. If I come back in another life, there are a number of things I will do better and differently. Involvement in politics is one of those areas I would think about earlier.
When we’ve done our good deed for the day, it will be an hour or so home hopefully in time for the Man. Utd clash with Spurs. I’ll watch it while doing my workout in the Gym. Well, I did my work out but United didn’t perform their side of the bargain. They are a long way off achieving anything.
I was part of a tiny, select group of lads at my College who developed an identity because we were the first. Gradually, each member of the subsequently disparate group have been relocated and I got home today to find the final missing member has been gathered in. Charles was rather an outsider who sat in the Common Room and played impromptu classical guitar to all who would stay to watch. His girlfriend was named Winsome which quckly led to the quip, You Winsome and you lose some.
Monday, 17th February, 2025
Lovely day with blue sky and sunshine. Almost made me think about the garden although, on second thoughts, I’ll give it a couple more weeks. Bins out this morning. I am the bin man this week. I have 5 sets of bins to put out and back later. So many of my neighbours are away on Half Term holidays even though most do not have kids. Any excuse and it seems like Dubai is the popular destination this year. I suspect they’ll all meet up for a street party when they get there. Anyway, I am still here – just waiting – but my time will come. The window cleaner has arrived and then we go out for a walk.
Later, my Housekeeper will be painting touch-up areas and I will be in the Gym. I’m going to restart my rowing regime today and build it up over the next couple of months. Our walk takes us out of our Development and through a park which borders an older Development from some 20 years ago. The tree planting is quite mature now and the trees are pollarded every couple of years. The Parks & Gardens were on it today. The results are stark but grow back so quickly that the results will be majestic by September.
One of the stipulations on our development in 2016 was that there should be lots of open, green space and that mature trees should be left wherever possible. This beautifully mature tree survived the build as it should have done. Even in its skeleton structure, it looks impressive this morning.
As a post-war Boomer who never had kids, I am fascinated by following generations and their attitudes to the world. We are all partially shaped by the environment of our childhood. Twenty years ago, The Times published a study of the social attitudes of Millenials. This morning, they feature an interesting comparative study into the social attitudes of GenZ. These are its key findings:
I have to say that I echo quite a lot of them. I think UK is racist. I would be disinclined to fight for such a country. I do think UK is largely stuck in the past. I would happily have chosen working from home in my career. I don’t really have a view on casual sex or on transgender. I have always drunk alcohol and virtually never touched drugs but I don’t really object to others doing it.
Being in debt in my youth was something I saw as a good thing. When I owed more than £250,000 to a bank, I always saw it as an investment that would pay back double and it did. They do seem rather less inclined to take a risk than I was. Maybe that comes down to education more than anything else.
Music today is deliberately going with a composer I’ve always found ‘difficult’. I know I am supposed to like/admire/enjoy Mozart but I have never found him easy. Today, I am forcing myself to listen to Mozart: Andante in C Major and it is starting to win me back. You should try it, Dear Reader. You might understand it quicker than me.
Tuesday, 18th February, 2025
What a gorgeous morning. We are reading 9C/48F but the sunshine makes it feel warmer. Going down to the fish shop on the harbour to buy locally caught cod and swordfish. The morning started weirdly with a call to BT. Change is always difficult and sometimes fraught. The other day, I had a phone call from BT who I buy Broadband and Landline from and have done for 25 years. BT have joined forces with EE who I have two mobile contracts with. They have been having service integration problems.
I was moved from BT to EE for their Broadband provision a few months ago. They sent me all the new equipment. I have it up and running well. Last week, a nervous BT office called me and tried to get me to re-sign another 2 year contact 6 months early. I thought it was strange at the time but I agreed. I told them I wanted my Landline taking off it because it was no longer useful. I was told it would disappear yesterday. When it didn’t, I phoned them this morning to be told that they had no knowledge of it.
New research published this morning commissioned by Recycle Your Electricals found that nearly 40% of UK homes keep their small electrical connectors and chargers in a ‘drawer of doom’ just in case they are ever needed. I am one of that 40%. This morning I scrapped a full set of 6 landline phones. Even having read the research, I hesitated over whether to store them in my Drawer of Doom in the filing cabinet or just bin them. I fought hard with my instincts and binned them but it was touch and go.
Music today is … (Hold your breath in astonishment!) … Take That: The Garden. I like the song but, particularly, I like it for the words – the quality of lyrics like this:
Everyone, everyone, can you hear the soldiers coming?
And everyone, everyone, every man and every woman
We all fall in the end, we’re just miracles of matter
So come on let me love you ….
I like it because it’s sung by a lad from Oldham in identifiably Oldham cadences. It takes me back. I especially like it because it plays on the theme of a poem from the mid 17th Century written by Andrew Marvell: To His Coy Mistress.
Had we but world enough and time
This coyness, lady, were no crime
Basically, Marvell is trying to get his love into bed but she is playing hard to get. He is saying that they don’t have time to mess around. Time is short. The Garden is doing exactly that. The soldiers of time are constantly marching nearer. Before they arrive, let me make love to you. It is an eternal theme.
Wednesday, 19th February, 2025
Some respite from the cold has arrived. It is noticeably warmer and will get warmer still over night. That’s a positive sign which will encourage the daffodils and the birds. I am dreaming, dreaming of real warmth in the future. I know I will make those dreams come true. I’m preparing for it right now.
There is always one good moment in the calendar for February each year. That is when my little brother, Bob, catches me up. Just 10 months apart (That’s fecund Catholics for you!), Bob is 73 today and we wish him Happy Birthday.
I’m finding it hard to listen to the News since Trump took power. The World is going to hell as he thinks he can trample on the dreams of the Ukranians and the Palestinians. Their dreams of freedom are just that and nothing more as the unprincipled autocrat surveys the world stage. To hear his view this morning that Ukraine invaded Russia not the reverse and that the only settlement will mean ceding their territory to their enemy is obscene and insane. If the West don’t stand up now, they never will.
What it will do, is push the UK back towards European integration again. It may start in Defence but already people are begining to see that back in Europe will be our ultimate destination. I’m all for it and still can’t understand the thoughtless, Brexit drive.
Europe needs Ukraine inside the family of EU nations and Nato defences. It has long been a dream or ambition. Ambitions are important. They inform our actions in the now as we move purposefully towards the future. We have for too long rested on our laurels, indulged ourselves in the peace dividend by deluding ourselves about Russia. Now we have to bite the bullet (literally) and divert spending into positive defence. There is no other way and that is one thing we can agree with Trump on. We cannot rely on the US to fight our battles for us.
Seems a little incongruous but music today is about dreams. It is actually Dreams from Fleetwood Mac’s 1977 album, Rumours. It is my one of my wife’s favourite albums and I have grown to enjoy it with the familiarity of her regular playing of it. The one thing you can really know about her is that she is not GenZ. She is utterly a Boomer. A piece of research which I found amusing came out yesterday. It listed some distinctly GenZ habits/attitudes with which to measure the rest of us.
If you’ve ever been told you’re showing your age just by doing something completely normal, congratulations — you’ve officially been called ‘old’ by Gen Z. These include:
- Using a landline
- Owning DVDs or physical media
- Taking photos of everything instead of just enjoying the moment
- Paying with cash
- Wearing skinny jeans
- Leaving voicemails
- Using the “crying laughing” emoji
In my quest to be ‘younger’, I’ve ditched my landline. I only own DVDs because I can’t face throwing things away but I never play them. Everything is digital now. I am guilty of taking lots of photographs and not being able to just enjoy the moment. I never pay with cash and haven’t for years. I have never worn skinny jeans in my life. I rarely leave voicemails mainly because I think I sound uncomfortable. I try not to use the “crying laughing” emoji although lots of my friends do so I feel pressured to use them in reply.
Thursday, 20th February, 2025
Strange global warming taking place. This morning we are 12C/54F while Athens is half that. Manchester was even warmer. Doesn’t seem right but that’s levelling up for you. It’s warmer but cloudier and wetter. Just to cheer myself up, I have chosen Bellissime Stelle (Beautiful Starry Sky) as my music for this morning. Lovely words ….
Verrai, verrai,
Dovunque arriverai:
Sei pioggia che gonfia le fontane.
Cadrai, cadrai, sul fondo scenderai
nell’anima che scalda gli occhi miei
e ancora ti vorrei.
It is two years ago this week that I was going for a biopsy that found I had an aggressive cancer in my prostate and exactly a year ago I was preparing for a second colonoscopy of my lifetime. The former was erradicated for now and I get lifetime bi-annual monitoring. The latter was clear after some concerns from the first one. My health appears to be excellent at the moment.
I have had a lifetime of dieting and have always been prone to putting on weight since I gave up playing competitive sport. I have always been too inclined to self indulgence and have always fought for a larger slice of the pie in all spheres of life. I am my own worst enemy, I know. And then I beat myself up about it and I have massive determination to do something about it. In a few days, I will mark being alcohol-free for 6 months. I will have walked 8 miles a day every day with one exception in that time and survived on 1500 calories a day. There aren’t many people who can do this but it becomes a way of life to the point that, when I eat something, I instantly regret it because I crave that ’empty’ feeling.
In the past, my substitute flavour drink was the awful Shloer which has that dreadful artificial sweetener background. In the past 6 months I have been drinking far superior products: Alcohol -free wine with Supper and Tonic-based drinks from Fever-Tree during the day. These three are my favourites and the Spanish Clementine in particular. They are low in calories and high in flavour. They get me through the hard times …. well, some of them.
In Sainsbury’s this morning, I was walking out when I saw an old chap looking at the display of seed packets for sale. He was reading the French Beans. I just casually asked in passing, Are you starting this early? I got chapter and verse about his age, health and life experience. He turned out to be 89 years old and he was thinking about sowing climbing beans this year. The problem is his hip. He needs a hip replacement and he has been told his heart wouldn’t survive the operation. It makes him sad. He only gave up riding his motorbike 6 months ago. Aging and decline is a terribly sad thing and we must resist it with all our determination. I’m going to. Are you, Dear Reader? Always on my mind ….
Friday, 21st February, 2025
Spring morning. Warm and breezy. Out early to the Health Food shop on the High Street – Grape Tree. I wanted to get ingredients for Museli. One bowl of that fills me and gets me through the day until Supper.
I know it sounds esoteric and nerdy but I don’t take it far. They have a mix of Oats, Wheat and Barley which I fancied trying plus some flaked nuts and chopped fruit which I already buy. When you’re on a diet, fibre is an essential component and I find oats swell in my stomach and keep me full for longer.
I’m rather getting to like chopped papayer and pineapple along with golden sultanas, flaked almonds and coconut combined with ice-cold fat-free milk at mid day.
Out for a walk at the beach, a stiff off shore breeze made it feel colder than it was. The last real day of Half Term was quite quiet. But Spring is definitely coming. You can feel it straining at the edges. Buds on trees, birds in trees and even bulbs forcing their way through the ground to meet the daylight. So, today’s music is Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring.
No need for heating. I even went out without a coat although that didn’t make it pleasant on the shore path. I suppose we have a long way to go until we can rely on the warmth but it is defintely coming. Hang on, Dear Reader. See you in May when everything will be warmer.
Saturday, 22nd February, 2025
Warm and grey with damp air. Not a day to be sunbathing. We are 12C, Manchester 7C and Athens 6C. Fascinating reversals. Today will be a Sport one. England v Scotland Rugby. Everton v United Football. Of course, I’ve got my own targets to achieve with a walk and the Gym.
Hundreds of Gulls were swarming from side to side of the parkland, searching for food. They are like air-rats. Ironically, by the time I had completed my walk, the sun had broken through. For the first time in weeks, I was sweating in a fleece. Soon time for shorts and tee shirt. Can’t wait!
One of the problems with a long marriage and I’ve been married for 46 years (Incredible just writing it.) is that we each take on tasks to the exclusion of the other. My wife’s iPad had a wifi problem over the past few days. There is only one person in this relationship who can fix that and it is not her. Whereas, I don’t even think about washing and ironing clothes, I’m just told when it will happen and the wardrobes are repopulated with fresh and ironed clothes. Fortunately, she loves her latest iron which is almost larger than her and makes the process quick and enjoyable …. I’m told.
We get into some so entrenched patters of responsibility that, as someone said to me the other day about there husband, I don’t know how he would manage without me. It is a dangerous position to be in. My wife woke thinking about how she would cope on her own if she had problems with the internet, her computer equipment, the Sky delivery service, the internet-based heating controls, the car settings, etc. She’s obviously anticipating a change of situation.
I would seriously struggle to use the Dishwasher, Tumble Dryer and Washing Machines on my own. I even struggle with the top oven of our two and the multitude of facilities it offers.