Sunday, 7th September, 2025
Gorgeous morning of blue sky and sunshine with a temperature of 22C/70F at 8.00 am after a really warm, moonlit night. Haircut day. At least I don’t need it dyeing. It’s dying of its own accord.
Yesterday, I had to chaffeur my Housekeeper in to Worthing to try on some shoes she had ordered. I am always asked for my opinion and I try to be optimistic. These are suede and I have a pathological dislike of suede. I have no idea why. I think these shoes were about £50.00 a pair so relatively cheap – giving me all the reason I needed to overcome my feelings about suede. I appealed for help to rescue me from this dilemma but no help came. However, reality was all it took to reject the cheap and nasty objects that even Housekeeper couldn’t accept.
Worthing had returned to holiday vibe as the weekend developed. Haven’t been down there for a bit and it was nice to be amongst people – young people, active and happy people enjoying the restaurants, coffee shops, wine bars and the beach. Even The Worthing Wheel was busy and moving.
I’m still reeling from the DVLA letter which arrived while I was out. My car is extremely fuel efficient being a petrol Hybrid. I am still being asked to pay a fortune for Road Fund Tax that the Tories brought in. I really don’t think I get what I’m paying for. Over £600.00 to tax the car is crazy and I have to pay it every year for 5 years when it reduces to the standard £180.00. Who can keep a car for 5 years? I will have traded it in long before that and be back on the high charge treadmill …. if I don’t die first.
I have done a 90 mins walk in the sunshine but I am feeling tired today. All the jobs I’ve planned are going to take mind over matter. I don’t feel as if I’ve got enough energy. I’m being told that it’s my age but I refuse to accept that. I was just 58 on this day 16 years ago as I lunched in a Vathy beach taverna. I was in the first Summer of Retirement and everything felt new, strange but exciting. The first year that school had gone back without me. I still get that feeling even now. School went back this week without me. Still feels a bit wrong.
Monday, 8th September, 2025
A warm clear night of stars and a Blood Moon last night. Were you looking at the moon last night, Dear Reader, because it was certainly looking at you.
You light the skies up above me
A star so bright, you blind me
Don’t close your eyes, don’t fade away ….
Deliciously warm night which didn’t fall below the palindromic 16C/61F. It will probably be one of the last of the season although we are forecast for a return down here at the end of the week.
Another week. Another week of Retirement. Another week of generating activity … for the sake of activity. Sometimes, I long to add meaning to the days. I talk to friends; I try to keep fit; I maintain my world as best I can but, so often, I think there has to be more to it than this. I’ve decided that I am going to major on travel.
I cannot trivialise my time. I am unfortunately unable to accept the simple, momentary pleasures of sparkling lights and popcorn. Ferris wheels and ‘Pop’ music leave me cold and feeling that there has to be something better than this. There is a Void that has to be filled with meaning that is deeper than the superficial. Not the enjoyment of the sunset but what it means.
This morning is bin day so one of high excitement and activity. Not only do I have to put them out but collect them and put them back – for myself and for my neighbour who is in Australia on business. What more could one want?
I am cooking tonight which will be fun. I am doing Roast Chicken Thighs with Garlic Parmesan White Beans which is billed as the SEXIEST white beans you’ll ever try! in this recipe. I’ll be the judge of that.
Tuesday, 9th September, 2025
Beautiful, warm and sunny morning. Promising to be a good day. Last night finished quite well. The meal I cooked was a success although I burnt my finger on a pan which put a bit of a dampener on it. Otherwise, the food was good. Just done an early walk in wonderful warmth. I’m looking forward to spending the whole of November doing that in the Canaries.
I was struck by a report in the M.E.N. this morning about the expansion of a windfarm in Rochdale. I’m all in favour of renewable energy. We should have been embracing it years ago. You know that Greeks have heated water by the sun almost since we started going their 45 years ago. In those days, it was really common to see solar heated water containers on the flat roofs of every house.
It made sense in Greece. In UK, we have more wind than sun so it makes sense to farm the wind in places renowned for it. Having lived on the edge of the Pennines for 40 years, I know it can be windy although I do fear for the compromise it brings to the stark beauty of the landscape and the report is that this site is going to be massively increased..
Where I live, the sea accompanies wind and we have a seascape involving turbines. I have no problem with that. They are far enough out to be inoffensive. I am happy for this to be expanded as is suggested but solar power down here is increasingly becoming a viable alternative. There is no reason why every house should not be clad with solar panels, no reason why every public building should not do the same. Electricity is clearly going to dominate the rest of my life. It’s going to power everything I use. It may well be that Fusion Power will eventually produce unlimited, cheap electricity in the future but for now, renewable energy will increasingly dominate.
This morning I’ve been booking flights for next year and Channel crossings for next month. Travel is certainly no longer cheap. Admittedly, we do choose the most expensive seats and services but Four flights (2 Returns) from Gatwick to Greece on a ‘Budget Airline’ now cost £1,500.00 and return tickets with Le Shuttle to France in October cost £210.00 whereas we used to get £20.00 promotions.
Wednesday, 10th September, 2025
A bit of Autumn arrives this morning. Still very warm but starting wet. One of us is visiting The Beauty Clinic this morning to give another woman £100.00 to help with her Groceries.
When you see what they do, I shudder. Can you imagine, Dear Reader, paying for this? What’s going on up there, goodness knows but I thought shock treatment (ECT) had been largely discredited even in treatment of mental patients.
Meanwhile, another Beauty Show was going on in Worcester. It was Graduation Day. Rather laughably, as a life long atheist, I am a God Father to a lovely girl called Julia. Yesterday, one of her three children graduated from Worcester University. I don’t have children of my own but can seen why old people feel a sense of pride when their offspring achieve. Rebecca-Jane would certainly have been brilliant.
It’s pouring with heavy rain again so I’m going in the Gym and I need something gripping to watch while I work.
While I am feeling sad, I just came across a holiday maker’s post of their beach photograph this morning. I wasn’t interested in that but I was when I saw our former house, the one we designed and built standing out in the background. Gone are the days … I can’t take my mind of of you.
Thursday, 11th September, 2025
Very warm but with frequent bouts of heavy rain this morning. I am driving up to Surrey to see C in his Dementia Facility. He loves Christmas cake and sweets. We are taking both.
C is a natural performer/entertainer. He loves to sing and entertain the crowds. His idol is Frank Sinatra and he reacts volubly to photos of him. His Facility really goes the extra mile for its residents with daily forms of entertainment. These are ideal for C who really gets involved. Could be a difficult drive in wet conditions today but it has to be done. …. Actually, the forecast turned out to be completely wrong and we had lovely, warm sunshine and gloriously clear roads for our trip. Even managed a 90 mins walk when I got home.
The new Energy Price Cap comes into force soon. October 1st – now I’ve got your riveted attention, Dear Reader! We buy our dual fuel energy from British Gas because that is what we inherited from the builders when we bought the house off-plan. The smart meter is set up for British Gas. My phone app is set up for British Gas and, every time I check there is very little to gain from leaving them. They are still a bit monolithic but we’ve used them in the last four properties before this so there didn’t seem much point in switching.
We hardly use any gas and most that we do is for cooking on a hob. The central heating is on so rarely down here. We are extremely electricity greedy with all the appliances/applications we use. Our bill is 15% gas to 85% electricity and will annualise at around £3000.00. Even so, I monitor our usage monthly and record it on a spreadsheet so I can compare it historically. I know how many units of gas/electricity we used each month of September since we moved into this house so we can see our trends. I follow whether it is better to fix our price for the following year or leave it floating until conditions improve and for a while now it has paid to fix.
While I was in Athens, British Gas contacted me and told me my contract was coming to a close and advising me to fix. I went on line and did that immediately. When I got home, they contacted me with the same advice. I phoned them and they insisted I had’t. They did it for me again there and then and reduced my unit price “as an apology for the error”. Two weeks later, they contacted me to say I really should fix before October 1st price rises. I went through the saga and they ‘fixed’ again for me – reducing the unit price again “as an apology”.
It’s a good game and saves me money but I do worry about the competence of UK’s foremost energy supplier and I’m writing to the Management to point that out. Their systems in general and their online systems in particular leave a lot to be desired. All a bit nerdy, I know, Dear Reader but why give them money when you could be spending it on yourself?
I’ve found the Dementia trip has affected me more than I expected. It has made me examine myself and my own human interrelationships, my memories of long and short term past. The human brain is such a scary engine.
Friday, 12th September, 2025
Glorious morning to be alive and mainly in full possession of most of my faculties. What yesterday underlined for me is that there is nothing more important than the present and delay is unacceptable. We have to sieze the day while it is still available. It also increased my determination to keep the context of my actions in all round focus – past, present, future – as much as possible.
Our grip on reality and imagination can be a tenuous one at times. I have strong abilities to remember and link events of Past & Present and interpret one in the light of another. It is what Historians do. Even then, there are debates and disputes over the empirical evidence set against the philosophical/political beliefs informing them. Where I have no abilities at all is in Geographical memory and direction. I have driven between Sussex & Surrey so many times over the past 15 years that you would think the car would almost drive itself. Actually, I would be absolutely lost without sat. nav..
I was amused and heartened by a story on the BBC webpage which could easily be about me. It features a wedding in Scotland and the photographs taken on the day revealed the presence of a very tall mystery man. Nobody invited him and nobody knew who he was. Only when it was uploaded to the web did someone solve the mystery and name the gatecrasher. Apparently, he was expected at another wedding a couple of miles away but didn’t realise he was at the wrong wedding until the bride walked down the aisle. Well, Dear Reader, I could have been the mystery man who nobody invited and nobody knew …. at the wrong wedding.
I don’t like to leave things to chance. I prefer to be in charge of my own destiny. I like to see my time ahead planned out and ordered. I am frustrated that the property I want to book in Spain for a month next June/July has not yet been released and I am having to wait to secure it. I made a contact in the company which Manages it so I’m hoping to pull a few strings to hurry it along this afternoon.
A bit cooler this morning. Just 16C/61F with clear blue skies and strong sunshine. It will soon warm up. The cherry tomatoes out in the garden are covered in fruit and it is still ripening. I suspect they will have another couple of weeks or so before I grub them up.
If you thought Greece was year round sunshine then this suggests not. Our first stay extended from April into October shocked us with the rapidity in which the Seasons changed as rain and low cloud obliterated the beach and the Port.
Saturday, 13th September, 2025
At least it’s Saturday. I was woken in the early hours by torrential rain and that has continued into the morning accompanied by loud cracks of thunder. It is dark and the whole atmosphere is very Shakespearian. The old world decays and dies and gives way to a new world with a bright, new future. We have to be optimistic.
The Tempest breaks up the old order and gives way to a fresh and shiny new beginning. Miranda, pictured here by one of my favourite artists, John William Waterhouse at the very time the storm of war was rending the world, finds love with Ferdinand and they inherit the new world. The older generation,in the form of her father, Prospero, leaves the stage just as in all our lives.
Occasionally, memories come back to bite us. And so it is, just like you said it would be ….. This morning my Digital Memory Box shocked me. It threw up pictures across the last two decades. Back in 2006, I was 55 and still working but walking around with our Greek home in my head as a retreat. In 2011, I was 60 and desperately trying to get fitter by swimming across the bay while living in Greece. In 2015, at the age of 64, I was homeless. Well, we were between houses and spending two months in a hotel in Tennerife while waiting for our new home to be ready. Just two years ago in 2023 I was 72, I had cancer and was undergoing Radiotherapy in Brighton. All events in the graduation of time.
What did shock me – and I won’t be sharing this naked image with you – was a short video recording that I made in Summer 2006 in the Greek house to remind us of things we had to return from UK with in 2007. The video caught a glimpse of me in one of the bathrooms in the mirror. As I played it back this morning, I found myself seriously asking, Who is that? before realising it was me nearly 20 years younger.
I go about my life thinking I haven’t changed much while everyone else has. Everybody we meet swears that Pauline is 20 years younger than her age and then says, Sorry about you, John. To see a live edition of a 55 year old me was shocking. My skin looked so Healthy, Smooth, Shiny and …. YOUNG! I am shocked! I’m not taking it well. At least I don’t need a wig!
I am consoling myself with more travel bookings. My contact girl in Spain has come through with an offer on the property we rented in June. Four weeks spanning June/July next year will cost me just €3,700.00. Fantastic value and I can’t wait to sign the contract. That’s something to anticipate across the Winter. Now, all I have to do is stay alive.