Week 856

Sunday, 18th May, 2025

Lovely morning and the immediate world around looks fine …. as long as you don’t raise your eyes to the wider real world. Chaos is all around and we have to fight to make sense of it, to bring order to it. There is such self inflicted suffering at our doors that it hurts to be enjoying myself.

We haunt the people that we love, And we become ruins by doing so. Chasing them down every line, no matter if spoken or lived by it. Running in circles, remembering them, While watching ourselves turn into others’ ghosts. We haunt and live and we will outlive…..

Must just wish my very little sister, Caroline – known to everyone as Cal – a very happy birthday. She is the ancient age of 63. Can you imagine it? It shouldn’t be allowed. I suppose she suffered a lot of the time as the youngest and most put upon. Now, she is having the last laugh. Happily living out her retirement in her pastoral Irish home with someone she loves and enjoyment in Newcastle football success. We have all reached reasonably contented conclusions which is something to be celebrated.

I have been working hard for months and now is a time to relax and enjoy … well enjoy. I will still have to do my exercise programme. If I give up, I will be dead. This week will be made enjoyable – mooching around French villages, markets, countryside and it will be lovely, sunny weather.

I’ve been doing a last minute check on local markets which are always a source of interest. There are so many to choose from but walking on Plage de Wissant promenade in the sunshine after wandering round the local market is an absolute delight. You should come, Dear Reader. One of my fondest memories going back 40 years is eating locally caught, grilled Sea Bass in the sunshine of Le Touquet. Maybe I could visit my old school friend who has lived in Arras since 1970 or revisit Wimerex and Audresselles. Car, Country, Sunshine, Freedom – what more could we want? I will even drink some wine. My cup runneth over!

This morning I fully valeted the car while my Housekeeper/Dresser has been ironing clothes for travel. You really don’t need to do that with shorts and tee shirts but she insists.

Monday, 19th May, 2025

A strangely cool and overcast morning. Seems so wrong after all this lovely weather but it rather matches my mood. Last night I was watching an earily prescient Drama on Netflix called Years and Years which predicts a depressingly dystopian future for us all.

It features the rise of a populist politician – a female Farage – played by Emma Thompson and is set in the years between 2019 and 2034. Written in 2018, it frighteningly features things that are happening before our very eyes right now. The rise of anti-immigrant racism. The growing tide of uneducated, unthinking, unsophisticated people who are easily swayed by simple answers to complex problems. I found my anger, frustration and, yes, fear rising over the evening.

And then there was news about poor, old-ish Joe Biden which hit me particularly hard. I have been a fan of Biden and his style of politics for years. He represented victory over populism for years. He represented an inclusive State caring for its own people while open to the excitement and riches of the wider world in oppostion to the narrow and stupid America-first movement which we have seen in Little Englanders here since Brexit.

It hit me particularly hard because there but for the twist of Fate go I. I had a particularly aggressive form of Prostate Cancer but it was diagnosed early enough to be eradicated. My 8 months of Hormone Treatment was horrible and worse than a month of Radiotherapy. But it worked. My cancer had not metastasised into the bone which is almost inevitably fatal. My Consultant said before I went through the Nuclear Medicine investigation which eventually cleared me that bone cancer could still be treated but was much more serious.

Ironically, because I contracted Legionnaires Disease in America, I was tested and found to have Prostate Cancer. It is quite possible that a few more months and it would have escaped my prostate into my bones and that would have been a case of Goodnight Gladiator. I went to bed sad and feeling a bit abandoned in spite of my good fortune.

In contrast, today has become hot and sunny. We reached 24C/75F. It is a day when I walked 8 miles and put in 6 hours of gardening. Planting, mowing, watering, feeding, tidying. Everything is in order for leaving while we are away. France and relaxation calls.

Tuesday, 20th May, 2025

Gorgeously sunny and warm morning. Up at 6.00 am and out on the road at 7.00 am. I’ll be at the Tunnel at around 9.00 am although it will be through rush hour traffic. Au voir. À bientôt.

Well, the journey was excellent with lovely sunshine and gorgeous countryside. We were offered an earlier Shuttle but decided to enjoy the sunshine and have a walk around the developing Facility. E-Gates are coming to European travel thanks to the wonderful Labour Government. Huge new terminals are being constructed to facilitate that.

Anyway, we were off early and under the sea before we could finish a political podcast. It’s weird but I always think of those I am leaving behind when I go somewhere. I hope they are OK when I’m not there to help them. I always have this massive sense of responsibility. I am always responsible for the little people, for those less able to fight their corner. Going abroad always feels like a dereliction of duty.

I will always be there for them and return at the first sign of trouble. I Whatsapp‘d my gorgeous neighbours threatening them with Death & Destruction if they didn’t look after my flowers. They went into an immediate panic because they know I mean it and did their duty.

At Duty Free, my Housekeeper bought industrial quantities of Clarins perfume. Why on earth she needs it, I don’t know but I do know better than to question it. I have no need of anything that can be bought.

To be honest, I was allowed a trip to the wine aisle and the Fish Bar. I do get what I want without shouting, Dear Reader.

A long walk in hot sunshine finished the day before a hot shower and relaxation. Self indulgence and enjoyment is important at my age. There are so few nights left for this.

Wednesday, 21st May, 2025

Coming away is so good for me. It is so easy and comfortable to fall in to regular patterns of behaviour and get stuck – stuck in a comfortable rut. There is no better way to hurry your life away than through unthinking, unchallenging routine. Just a short hop over / tunnel under the Channel is all it takes to break out and look in anew. Last night, I drank wine for the first time since August last year. It tasted good but it felt strong. A couple of glasses and I was anybody’s.

This morning I ate Breakfast for the first time since I was last in a hotel. I really shouldn’t do it but I’ve got to keep my strength up, Dear Reader. The change of routine is difficult to adjust to, my mind and body is challenged by this change. That is good.

This morning, we will drive to Wissant to walk in the sunshine by the sea. It is beautiful and blue, fresh and sweet. I know my friend, Chris Tolley, loves it here. He’s an artist and Wissant is known for its artists community who congregate there for this lovely light.

Just 8 miles to walk this morning and where could you find much better than this. The promenade is quite busy but the beaches are quiet.

Well the beaches were quiet until a wagon parked up and disgorged dozens of migrants ready for the next inflatable to set off for UK shores. They walked along the roadside, down towards the wide sandy beach. They walked with hope. We heard later 800 got across safely. Farage was on holiday …. in Europe and missed the whole event. Amusingly, he was in the South of France.

Being Farage, he brought mindless destruction in his wake as heavy rain and hail brought flooding to the region.

Thursday, 22nd May, 2025

Lovely, sunny and warm morning. Morning will be spent walking and afternoon will be shopping. Pauline is going to put in a bid for this entire shop as a present for Kieron who has absolutely no sense of taste and loves Haribo.

She is so skinny but she is addicted to chocolate. Yesterday she spent €150.00 on about 4kg of chocolates. Lindt Truffles are her absolute favourite and there is a shop connected to a fashion outlet near Cité Europe that sells a huge range she can’t get in UK.

When we are here, she stocks up for the year. What gets me is not the financial cost but the calorific cost. My body couldn’t cope with it. Hers just shrugs them off. Anyway, she has such strong self control that all this chocolate will be eked out over a long period. Coffee chocolate is her favourite and she has chosen at least 5 different flavours incorporating coffee including Irish Coffee, Cappuccino and Tiramisu fillings.

Walking on the Côte d’Opale in the sunshine this morning was lovely. Fresh, sea air, wide blue skies and the sound of the sea returning to UK beaches was wonderful as a backdrop.

Unfortunately, I am paying for that enjoyment by having to go shopping this afternoon. A husband’s work is never done!

Friday, 23rd May, 2025

The last week of May 2025, Can you believe it? Have to wish my old sister, Ruth, a happy Birthday. 78 is an incredible age to reach and a bit scary. But, that’s where she is. We wish her a happy day in sunny Bolton.

Back to UK this morning. Up at 7.oo am for Breakfast. Out at 9.00 am for the Tunnel. Off just after 100.am and home by just after 12.00 pm.

Unpacking the car and settling down to relax over a final bottle of wine before the rest of the diet. Greece in under three weeks. Life is hard! The Tunnel was quiet on our way back but busier the other way for Bank Holiday.

First reactions are to check all the plants in the garden but, fortunately, it had rained a bit and everything was fine.

Saturday, 24th May, 2025

Many people probably wouldn’t even know this before they set off for France but there is a temporary probition on the importation of quite a lot of stuff one would often go to Europe for. Usually, our car is piled high with Meats – raw and cooked, Cheeses and Butters, Quiche Lorraine, Garlic Saucisson, etc..

Because I listen to the Farming Today programme every morning at 5.45 am, I knew there was a temporary ban on importing these things back to UK but had not been told formally by anyone. There were no warnings up at the Tunnel and I was surprised. Then, about an hour before leaving from France, I received a Text from Uk Gov. telling me about the prohibition. Good job I hadn’t invested hundreds of pounds in these items that day.

Even so, nobody checked anything at Customs. I was asked if I had anybody else in the car and they were immediately satisfied with my reply inspite of darkened windows on the car which prevented them looking in. If they had, they might have found that I was carrying 50% more wine than I was entitled to but who cares?

New/old people keep popping up on my newsfeed. John Ridley met up with a girl/woman from our 1969-72 intake who was resident of Cottages in 71-72. Sandra Bates is now Sandra Morkunas. Sounds like she married a Lithuanian although she hasn’t travelled far. She lives in Bedale.

Many of the men from my cohort have been on the edge of their seats today. They are from Sunderland and the Play-Off Final at Wembley to get promotion to the Premier League was being played between Sheffield United (the red hot favourites) and Sunderland (the underdogs). Sunderland were outplayed for most of the match but snatched a winner in the 5th minute of injury time. That win gives them promotion and a £220 million windfall as well. Derek Coulson, a life long Sunderland fan posted the above photo of how he felt.