Sunday, 13th April, 2025
A very (relatively) warm night. We didn’t fall below 13C/55F. This morning is lovely. Out walking early in the sunshine. I ought to do this more often. Spam burgers out & walking in. Haven’t been down to the beach for a day or two. Yesterday, it looked absolutely idyllic.
Sometimes people ask why I should go abroad … but then, of course, we don’t get the searing heat that I so enjoy. I will get that in Greece in June and August. I will get it in Spain in June. It’s still agreat view on a sunny day, Dear Reader.
Out walking early because I am driving up to Surrey this morning. I’m fitting up a new TV box for an elderly couple. Unfortunately, school holidays in Easter week on a sunny morning will bring out the motorists and we already know that there is a motorway works closure causing trouble en route so it could be frustrating. I won’t even notice. I will be deep into the lates polical podcast from The News Agents.
Meanwhile, people on our Greek island continue to follow the time honoured rituals in preparation for Greek Easter. Each year, the women of Kamares come out to paint the lines between the flags of the pavements giving them their characteristic look. When the crowds disembark in the port in the background, everything will look cared-for and pretty. The men will be slaughtering the lambs and preparing the spit barbecues for the roasting celebrations.
Monday, 14th April, 2025
Another warm night and another gorgeous morning. Please don’t let it end … ever. Got a busy day ahead and I think that is important. Keeping busy, having stuff to do is important in Retirement. Exercise is certainly helping with my health and especially with my Blood Pressure.
At breakfast this morning, my Nurse took my Blood Pressure with this result. The challenge is on. Aged 74, can you beat this? All photos welcome …. The little heart at the top indicates Atrial Fibrillation and that is my weakness.
This morning I’ve got walking, lawn raking and car cleaning. This afternoon I’ve got patio cleaning and Gym work. I know, you’d find all that too exciting, Dear Reader. Well, you lie down and I’ll just get on with it quietly in the background.
Talking about quietly in the background. Have you ever listened to BBC Radio 2? It used to be known as the ‘oldies channel’ and I have never knowingly listened to it. I did today. It is dreadful. I really suffered but I was taking one for the team. Dee next door contacted me to say Michelle across the road was going to be on Radio 2 this morning to celebrate her 50th birthday. Dutifully, I found Radio 2 to hear Michelle talking about her favourite music over her 50 years. I can honestly say I had no idea what she was talking about – poor child. Still she has widened my experience even if it was a stretch too far.
Good to see the House Price movement is positive after a period of retrenchment. It is a sign of an improving economy when house owners feel more confident of their assets and see them as worthwhile investing in. The Labour Government are starting to turn the supertanker round in spite of the Tory Press machine’s head winds. Rising asset prices mean people are more likely to invest to improve which, in turn, fuels the economy. If I wasn’t so happy here, I would consider another new house with all the innovations of the last decade that would be included now. Who knows? Maybe …
Tuesday, 15th April, 2025
It rained over night and that was wonderful, much needed. Grey and warm this morning. Today is National Vent Opening Day – well, I’ve unilaterally declared it. With no prospect of any more cold weather and certainly no frost until November/December and no need for central heating, the trickle vents on all the windows and doors which have been closed since last November can now be opened.
My friend would sleep with the windows open all year round. I’m more fragile and prefer the warmth. Actually, I have found that I feel the cold a lot more since my radiotherapy treatment and I recently read that was a common response.
Life is full of challenges and data records. I am beset by them every day. From the moment I get up I am challenging myself to do better. I constantly feel a failure who has to improve. I could list my failures but it would be too painful. I prefer to focus on successes.
This morning started by being weighed. That’s OK. My shaver reports the quality of my shave. That’s OK. At breakfast, my blood pressure is taken and that’s OK. On Tuesdays, I test my INR (blood coagulation) and that’s OK. During the day, my watch and fitness app on my phone will be monitoring the distance I have walked, calories burned against calories consumed and … that’s OK. And yet, I still feel a failure. OK is not good enough.
Schools used to be damned with the faint praise of Satisfactory by Ofsted. My school was pleased to be so damned. Then, my data challenges were pupil numbers, exam results, attendance rates, etc.. Never felt more than OK. Why can’t I achieve Outstanding?
Do you know what this is? It is data from the last century. They used to call them cheques. I don’t have a cheque book and haven’t had one for years. The other day, our Investment Bank demanded two forms of identity and a cheque in order to open a new ISA account. My Accountant had to rummage through a filing cabinet to find one. Not only have I not used a cheque book in years but I seem physically incapable of signing my own name now. I have digital copies of my signature which I insert into letters these days.
On Sunday, someone gave us a cheque to pay into our account. The last local bank closed down a few months ago so what do you do with a cheque? Well, it is so easy now. I just open my Banking app on my phone. It automatically scans the cheque and credits it to my account. Why hasn’t it always been like this? We even pay our window cleaner digitally. Who needs banks?
Wednesday, 16th April, 2025
Nice morning but a bit breezy. Gardening today. Things are growing so fast including the grass so I have to deal with it while I am here. This year, of course, is a year of travel. I have only been to Spain (proper) once and that was a delightful trip to Valencia. This year, I have rented a property in Torrevieja for July. We are flying there this time but, if we can establish a property we like, next year we could rent it for longer and drive there. That is the aim.
Ironically, there was an earthquake in Spain on Tuesday and it hit … Torrevieja among other towns of Murcia. Actually, it was only 2.8 richter but it shook the residents. Anyway, Spain feels quite a way off at the moment. Before that, I’ve got trips in May including one driving to France. Just been looking at places to re-explore.
Thinking of spending a day in Boulogne mooching about the shops. I like the fish market on the docks and the Philippe Olivier cheese shop but there is a lot to see elsewhere.
I know it seems to include food markets but that is what France is so good for and I am starving! It will be great for walking too as long as the weather is fine.
Fifteen years ago today, I was driving on the Autostrada del Sol from a hotel stop in Modena and setting off for Ancona port, past acres and acres of fruit trees – pear blossom looking and smelling wonderful and on to an Anek Lines ferry to sail down the Adriatic to Patras. Happy times.
Been a gorgeously, warm and sunny day. Met my lovely neighbour out on my walk. We talked about her deciding to finish teaching now in her early 50s and how they looked forward to paying off their mortgage and spending more time in Europe travelling in non-holiday periods. I’ve just been telling her how to access the Teachers’ Pension site to get an estimate of her pension and Lump Sum. I had forgotten how little I knew about my pension until a few months before I left the job at the age of 57.
Thursday, 17th April, 2025
Glorious start to what is going to be a wonderfully warm and sunny day. The blue of the sky is delicicious. The green of the new leaves on the trees is luminous. The sunshine is to be drunk in by the eyes. I might be 74 but I am free to do what I want, when I want and I will.
Rather buoyed up by the data from the IMF reported in The Telegraph this morning although I realise it has a political slant:
Of, course, the slant is to encourage people to continue contributing to the economy after the traditional retirement age of 60-65 but, for a man who retired at the age of 57 and has been playing out for over 16 years now, it gives one pause for thought. Of course, it is not life span that is important but healthy life that counts. Yesterday, a report released said the data suggested people in the more prosperous parts of the country lived 19 more healthy years than those in the poorer parts of the country. That’s a huge disparity but is dictated by poor housing, poor diet, more stressful financial security and employment, less easy access to the Health Service.
Intellectual strength is important and it is amazing to see the finding that cognitive function of 70 year olds today is equivalent to cognitive function of a 53 year old just over 20 years ago. That is is incredibly fast development. I really try hard to keep working on, thinking & reading about, learning new ideas; keeping my mind open to change.
I do worry about the old people I see shuffling out of the newsagents (who buys print newspapers these days?) with a rolled up copy of The Daily Fail or the Daily Regress under their arms so they can browse the pictures and the huge, simplistic headlines which challenge no one intellectually at all. That is their attraction – ‘readers’ don’t need to think for themselves. They are told what to think.
Are you shocked when you look back how far you have come, Dear Reader? My wife was a keen ice dancing fan for years and particularly got hooked in the era of Torville & Dean winning the Olympic gold medal with a dance to the music of Ravel’s Bolero. This morning it was announced that they were making their retirement tour. I’m surprised they can still do it. They are aged 67 but 70 is the new 50. It was February 1984 – 41 years ago. We were still just 31, Dear Reader. How time has flown along. Time to reclaim it!
Been down to the beach to buy fish. You need a mortgage now to do that. We had 2 kilos of Swordfish, 2 kilos of Tuna, Cod Fillets, Wild Sea Bass Fillets and a Kilos of Prawns. Nearly fell off my feet when it came to £250.00. Still, good, healthy food contributes to a long life … with luck.
Friday, 18th April, 2025
A bright, sunny but quite chilly morning of remembrance. Memory is always a mixture of happiness and sadness. I noted that 16 years ago today, we were flying back from Athens after an Easter holiday on the island. They were times of optimism and happiness. They are gone.
Memories are sad, aren’t they Dear Reader. The joy of the past is sharpened in its loss as life continues without it. Everywhere was a different place 16 years ago and everyone was a different person. Things have happened since then that cannot be unhappened, said that cannot be unsaid and done that cannot be undone.
In my beginning is my end. Now the light falls
Across the open field, leaving the deep lane
Shuttered with branches, dark in the afternoon …T.S. Eliot, Four Quartets Part II: East Coker
Where will we be in another 16 years, Dear Reader, I at the age of 90 and you? It is almost unimaginable. And yet, I want to know. Only 16 years to 90.
Just been out to sell a £1000.00 of US Dollars which we’ve been holding in our Travel Bag for about 3 years. We’ve finally decided, like so many other Europeans, that we can’t face Trump’s America. The number of European travellers visiting the US has fallen sharply as political and economic tension and fears of a hostile border under Trump threaten the world’s most lucrative air routes. In spite of the imperative of Realpolitik, we are increasingly expecting our Governments to be more muscular in their dealings with the U.S..
We have reports of people’s Social Media accounts being checked and them being excluded because of adverse comments about Trump. Certainly, two reported Journalists have had that experience. We know that Canadians are savagely retrenching with some selling second homes in the US and repatriating their cash.
In the meantime, we have the awkward problem of how to get a wad of Bank Notes into our account. We have so few Bank Branches available now it is a problem. Checking, I find that we have one branch in town still or I can pay it in via the local Post Office.
Saturday, 19th April, 2025
Quite a grey start to the day which is disappointing. I woke up at 5.30 am and felt disatissfied, at a loss, without purpose. I hate it. For the first time for quite a while, I don’t have a list of tasks to pursue and get done. It is an uncomfortable feeling. I find myself inventing things to do. I am going to clean and tidy the Gym. I use it every day and, because of that, familiarity masks the grubbiness and untidyness.
I’ve had a hankering for a new coffee maker for quite a while. I have been able to keep it at that until now because there’s nothing wrong with my curent one and its replacement will cost me about £750.00 which I begrudge. I like bean-to-cup machines and have been using them for the last decade.
Currently, I have this silver De’Longhi Magnifica which I’ve been using for the past 5 years. It has a milk frothing wand. I want this black De’Longhi Rivelia which automatically integrates milk frothing according to the selection of coffee that you chose from the menu – Espresso, Cappuccino, Lattemacchiato, etc.. In fact, there are 16 different hot and cold coffees it will make automatically.
In that time, I’ve owned so many coffee makers as technology has improved, moving from early filters to Bean-to-Cup machines with separate milk frothers, wand milk frothers so integrated milk frothing and dispensing will be an advance. You can still manually adjust the coarseness of the bean grind and the strength of coffee delivery to taste. I buy a an Italian roast, strength 4 bean. Particularly at the moment when I am restricting calories, drinks are very important. I only ever use fully skimmed milk and have done for 40 years. I also drink instant coffee but I’ve decided to phase that out and drink less but better quality.
We all spend our money on different things. My lovely next door neighbour sent me this photo of her birthday present. She had a facial which had, as she said, some gold in it. I checked and the claim is that gold has various benefits for the skin, including slowing down collagen depletion and preventing sagging. You know you need it, Dear Reader. I think I’ll order that coffee maker!
The sun has come out so time for a walk. The exercise routine goes on in the background whatever I’m feeling. There is always pain, Dear Reader. There is always pain. …. I can tell you my Gym work hurt and was real mind over matter today after a lovely, warm walk around the parks. We reached a comfortable 22C/70F this afternoon which softened the pain. This type of weather really does encourage sharing and indulging.