Sunday, 28th September, 2025
It is a grey, overcast but rather warm day after a warm night which didn’t fall below 17C/63F. Didn’t sleep well last night and have woken tired. Out early to exercise while I’ve got the energy. The lack of sunshine is a bit depressing. Got to raise my spirits by focussing on happier things. Travel is in my mind. Seeing people.
It is the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool and it is at an important time for the Government. I have been a Labour supporter all my voting life. I have followed the history and the principles of Left Wing politics all my intellectual life. I used to think it was as a reaction to my Conservative voting, Daily Telegraph reading parents but the more I have thought about it, the more I see that it is as a response to the Social-Educational-Political milieu of the 1960s/70s in which I grew up.
There have only been 7 Labour Prime Ministers since it emerged on to the political stage in 1900 led by Keir Hardie and formed out of Left Wing groups such as the Workers’ Trades Unions and the more intellectual and middle class Fabian Society and the Methodist Church. Keir Hardie attempted to unite them under the banner of the Independent Labour Party and, subsequently, the Labour Representation Committee.
Like all political parties, Labour has always been a stiched together spectrum of views. Keir Hardie was trying to integrate the more militant Trades Unionists with the more gradualist and cerebral Fabians and the more philosophical Methodists. All wanted to achieve similar aims but in different ways and at different speeds.
Keir Hardie was a Methodist preacher. The British left owes more to Methodism than Marxism, it’s true. Even Corbyn himself is a teetotaler, embodying the values of the temperance movement and he embodies the dilemma – Methodism or Marxism.
It falls to the latest Keir (Starmer) to knot and hold together these relatively disparate groups in order to achieve the common goal of encouraging the social and Liberal Left while opposing the traditional Right and the current populist movements that are emerging so strongly. What has happened, particularly, is the swing from workers to intellectuals from industry to education. You are far more likely now to vote Labour, espouse Socialism if you are a Graduate rather than an Electrician or Mechanic. Labour support has drifted inexorably from Northern Towns to the Southern, Metropolitan Elites. It is this movement that has placed such challenges on both, major parties and given the rabid Right a chink of light to dive into.
Monday, 29th September, 2025
A glorious morning of blue sky and sunshine although there is a hint of sea mist out across the beach this morning. Reminds me of my drive to work each day across the Pennines as I descended through the mist over the moors and into the town.
Preparing the house and garden for cooler times, for Autumn and going away. Signs that time cannot be held back even with hair dye are everywhere.
Just been out for my walk in really hot sunshine. My phone says it is opnly 18C/65F but it feels so much warmer in direct sunshine.
Momentous occasion this week. The car is one year old and will go in for its first Service. It won’t have quite done 5000 miles although a trip to the North of England and another to France will soon put that total up. It’s been a really good car so far. I’m pleased I bought it. Be at least another twelve months before I consider trading it in. Really must move on to a Plug-in Hybrid next time. With so many of my journeys being short ones these days, I would be able to do most of my driving in full electric mode.
In this week in 2013, I was driving home from Greece stopping in Patras on the Peloponnese at the Poseidon Palace, in Parma, Italy at the Hotel Villa Ducale, in Mulhouse, Alsace and Reims near the Cathederal before driving to Coquelles and the Tunnel home to Surrey.
It is experiences like this that I need to get back to. We will be completely static much too soon. Now is the time to move while we still can.
Tuesday, 30th September, 2025
These are lovely times of warmth and sunshine before the Winter comes. We have to enjoy the seasons as they turn through the year. Yesterday, walking down at the beach, you could be forgiven for thinking Summer had returned. Warm and windless with sun shining on the sea and high cloud graduating the sky, the temperature reached 22C/70F
Today, I had to take the car in for its first service. Honda showrooms were gleaming in the sunlight with metal shone to perfection. The service takes about 2 hrs including a complimentary full valet.
Normally I would sit, drink coffee and read the newspapers on my iPad but the day was so beautiful that I went for a walk instead.
All around signs of Autum are showing. The lower sun across the fields that the community is resisting house building on, the Chestnut Trees being one of the first to shed their leaves and this year with a heavy crop of nuts.
I love Autumn in France. I have wonderful memories of kicking through the dead leaves on the streets of Lille in October sunshine. We are going back very soon to renew our experiences.
Really looking forward to going through the Tunnel and registering for the new EES – European entry/exit system as we do. Fingerprint scan and facial scan just as we do going into USA, proof accomodation and financial probity established once will allow us to cross borders quickly and easily on subsequent occasions – for example, going to Tenerife in November. It will allow us to digitise our passports at an early stage. Only 13% of UK citizens do not hold a passport so this process will make digital ID cards the norm as Labour bring them in.
Wednesday, 1st October, 2025
October has opened soft and warm with gentle colours of decay. I’m mowing grass through clouds of dying leaves. Feels a bit like an allegory for my life. Still tidying and reordering the world to suit my view of it.
Got to get the gardening done before Friday when we are said to be hit by gales and rain. At least it will blow the leaves away. It’s good exercise and keeps me in contact with the neighbours. It will be one of the last times this Autumn as I will be away a fair bit of the rest of the year.
Do you remember the observation: Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus. Did you read the book, Dear Reader? I didn’t but perhaps I should have. It could have saved a lot of trouble. It was published just over 30 years ago and was based on years of counselling of couples and individuals, helping men and women realise how different they can be in their communication styles, their emotional needs, and their modes of behaviour.
I have to admit I have never understood girls even though they have almost always understood me far too easily – to the point of embarrassment. An article I was reading in The Telegraph this morning addresses just this topic and says: in recent years, rigorous science has proven the stark differences in how men’s and women’s brains are wired. And it now seems that women are twice as likely as men to develop one of the most concerning of brain disorders: Alzheimer’s. Two in three people living with it are female, and after turning 60, women are twice as likely to develop Alzheimer’s than they are to get breast cancer, according to the Alzheimer’s Association.
I knew men were the superior species although I’ve always worried that I have quite a lot of feminine traits. But help is at hand, Dear Reader. Women can at least reduce their risk by doing a number of things
- You should continue to challenge you brain by exercising your intellect – study challenging ideas, follow politics, learn a language, read and write, argue and debate.
- Make sure you exercise – women are less likely than men to do so.
- Get enough omega-3s in your diet, through foods such as eggs and oily fish like salmon or mackerel.
- Look after your mental health.
- Consider HRT.
If only life was that easy, Dear Reader. I’ve been tasked with sorting out the Tenerife details. Car parking, Flight times, Arrival, Taxi, Apartment Address, etc. Do you know, it turns out to be cheaper to drive and park Long Stay for a month than to take a taxi. Amazing. Going to stay the night at the Sofitel because we fly early.
The only problem is the restaurant is rubbish. Pub meal quality at inflated prices. Anyway, we have a month to get over it. Looking forward to Oldham/Huddersfield + France in October and a month of sunshine in November. People to see and places to go.
Thursday, 2nd October, 2025
Another nice, warm day – bright but not sunny. At 6.30 am, I got a message from Michelle across the road thanking me for all the work I did on the street yesterday – mowing the grass and blowing off the dead leaves, taking up the dying flowers, strimming and cleaning the curbs. That’s why I do it. Not for the thanks but because I remember how stretched I was in a very busy, working week and how grateful I was to come home to find my neighbour had mowed the lawns for me. Now it’s my turn.
Of course, with age, other my turns will come. They’re all dying, you know, Dear Reader. A week ago, an old boyhood hero of mine, Ming Campbell died at the scarily young age of 84. I was a sprinter and my Grammar School’s Athletics Captain when Ming was running in the Tokyo Olympics and was being described as fastest white man in the world. I wanted to be that. Once, 84 would have seemed a good age but not now for a fit man who went on to become Leader of the Liberal Democrats, it feels cruelly short.
Another of those who I looked up to in the late 1960s/early 1970s was the poet, Brian Patten who died yesterday. He was one of the vaguely ‘hip’ Mersey Sound poets who came in on the tide of the Beatles success. I must admit that I haven’t returned to his work for many years but I was shocked to learn that he was only 79 – just 5 years older than me when he died. He hadn’t exactly lived a hard life of manual labour in his more gentle pursuit of writing poetry.
Whatever we do to mitigate our fates, some are just unfathomable. If we exercise and keep fit, we think that must help. If we work with our minds, testing to the limits words, phrases and ideas, we think that will ward off Dementia. If we keep a strong check on our physical health, we think we can can identify and erradicate things early.
I was struck by one more death this week of Professor Graham MacGregor at the age of 84. He was a renowned Specialist in Cardiovascular Medicine and a leading figure in the fight for healthy eating and reducing salt in foods to cut down on heart attacks and strokes. He died of cancer.
We can only do our best. Many of us can’t even do that but we can tell ourselves we are trying. It’s very worrying that intolerance and racism is on the rise across the country. This morning a stabbing/shooting incident has taken place on Middleton Road at a synagogue. Of course, not much good comes out of Middleton.
What is taking place in Gaza under the aegis of a Far Right Jewish government and the direction of a criminal prime minister trying to avoid his day of justice is appalling but Jews living in Machester can hardly be held to account. Unfortunately, the pronouncements of Farage and Trump have emboldened – even legitimised these sorts of crimes – and brought the rabble out of the dark to have their day in the sun. We must subdue them again with decency and tolerance.
Friday, 3rd October, 2025
Today was supposed to be awful – heavy rain and blowing a gale. What is the point in weather forecasting if it is so totally wrong. Warm and dry, I was out walking at 9.00 am and did a 90 mins session without problem. Got home with a number of planning jobs to complete in readiness for our month in Tenerife.
Check-in with our airline opens on-line this morning. I do it early and download Boarding passes from both flights to our digital wallets on our phones. Because I’m old, I also print out hardcopies as backup. I virtually never use them but it makes me feel better. I inform the property managers in Tenerife of our flights and arrival times so they can meet us. The taxi from the airport only takes about 20 mins. I have to make sure I have enough Warfarin with me to cover a month plus a month extra in case of emergencies so I’ve ordered that. What fun it is to be old, Dear old Reader! My annual travel insurance which comes ‘free’ with my Bank Account has been renewed.
Of course some people adopt a Faith as an insurance policy in Old Age. In God We Trust is their faith. My Mother did exactly that but I am shocked how many of my Generation do the same. I have no faith in anything other than myself. I believe in what I can see, touch, prove. I will never believe in fantasy, social construct, desire to imagine an alternative reality, fiction.
I am painfully aware of people who have treated me abominably while professing to be people of Faith, believers in a God who preached Love Thy Neighbour. I am aware of the sensitive and brittle egos under the majesty of their heaven. I am aware of the hypocrisy of a Faith which allows the Catholic Church to persecute the unmarried mothers, of the Jewish Faith which allows the extermination of the people of Gaza, of the Muslim Faith which allows the erradication of Jewish neighbours. Faith is blind and terrible. Only Science, Rationality, Empiricism can form a secure platform for advancement.
I’m going to have to go up and save the people of Manchester who are struggling with the multiplicities of Faith – all believing different Gods which, in itself points up the farce of Faith. My Mum, a staunch Catholic, would not allow me anywhere near a Church of England service. Everyone was struggling to establish the supremacy of their Gods.
The whole process points up the nonsense of the construct. People create Gods to construct an image outside themselves, above themselves to appeal to, to defer to, to rely on. Rather than looking out, they should be looking in on themselves for strength and sustenance. Humanitarianism is the only way. Forget candles to false gods and love thy neighbour like thyself.
Saturday, 4th October, 2025
Gloriously warm and sunny morning after a blustery night. I’m on duty this morning. Pauline has a birthday tomorrow so I am out early sourcing ingredients for a Birthday Meal. It will be Mezze which she enjoys. Lots of small, taster, sharing dishes emblematic of Greece. If you go into a Taverna, Kafenion, Ouzerie and order a glass of Ouzo – the clear, aniseed distilled alcohol drink which turns cloudy white with added water, the waiter will bring you an accompanying plate of Mezze. In that situation, it is usually bits of Feta Cheese, some Kalamata Olives and cubes of Cucumber and maybe some peanuts.
Of course, for a Birthday Supper, mine will be far more extensive but I can’t reveal that too soon. Expectation is all important, Dear Reader.
Its always nice when someone younger than me has a birthday. Gives one a slight feeling of retribution. I’ve been talking to friends across the North of England over the past few days. One in Rochdale who I’m going up to see soon is 85 which makes me feel absolutely great but all the others from my College are one or two years older and, suddenly, they all have Covid. Not a good thing to get at that age.
There are these new strains emerging rapidly and they are particularly virulent in the North of England. Gives me pause for thought about visiting. Hospital admissions and deaths are rising as they tend to do in the Winter months and we are not even there yet.
The football this afternoon is Chelsea v Liverpool. On this day 16 years ago, our car was packed, the ferry was booked and we were preparing to drive back to UK. The temperature was 85F and we swam in the sea. In the evening, I watched Chelsea v Liverpool before going to bed. Life is circular, Dear Reader. What goes around, comes around. It’s happening again today. I will always return.
Tragedy has struck on the edge of a 74th birthday celebration. The steam cleaner has packed up. I’ve had to order a replacement urgently. It will arrive tomorrow. Phew …
The Daily Telegraph featured an excellent Rioja at Aldi this morning. I nipped down to buy a dozen bottles. Only £5.99 a bottle. I’ve tried it already and it’s delicious.
Going out for my second long walk of the day. It’s stayed sunny and warm. The breeze is down. Can’t sit around all day. Man.Utd. are already winning 2.0 against Sunderland and Chelsea play Liverpool later. I have time on my hands. Must keep moving!!