Sunday, 2nd February, 2025
Not keen on Sundays, as I’ve told you before but it has to be faced. Today is Sunday. Looking on the bright side: the sun is out; the air is warm; I am going to a sweet shop to buy a soothing present for an elderly relative which is my good deed for the day. You could almost confuse me with a Christian, Dear Reader.
Pauline’s brother-in-law has the next in a long series of painful operations to remove cancerous lumps from his skull. How he copes with it, I don’t know. To add to his problems, he suffers from developing dementia. One of the few things he really enjoys is eating old fashioned sweets. This morning, we are revisiting a shop where we bought his Christmas present from a rather down at heel part of Litlehampton.
They don’t appeal to me but these sweets really are of another century. Perhaps they appeal to the older demographic of Littlehampton. Still, they do sell in grams and not ounces. For 10 bags of 100 grams of different sweets C will have a kilo of enjoyment.
Perhaps it says something specific about me but I am genuinely pleased and more relaxed now I have largely tied up the whole year’s travel.
- May – Driving in France
- June – Thessaloniki
- July – Torrevieja
- August – Athens
- November – Tenerife
This morning I have been talking to the owner of the property we have rented for November. He sounds a nice chap and all reviews say he is very amenable. It was one of the reasons that I chose it. In addition to the current arrangements, we may fit in another brief trip to France and we will be visiting the North of England a couple of times. It’s going to be a busy year. I’m looking forward to it. I think it will do me good see new places, revisiting old ones, meeting new people, reuniting with old friends.
This morning, I’m listening to James Taylor. He has long been a friend to me. Thoughtful and intelligent, his laconic style is very appealing. Today, I am listening to:
You Can Close Your Eyes
Well the sun is surely sinking down
But the moon is slowly rising
And this old world must still be spinning ’round
And I still love you
I could have picked any one of more than a dozen tracks that regularly play across my mind. It is realxing but emotive, provoking yet enjoyable.
Lovely Spring day for a walk … and so good for you, Dear Reader. An hour or so will earn me the right to watch the football in the Gym while doing the rest of my program. Gorgeously warm and sunny this afternoon, daffodils are beginning to bloom and birds are beginning to be … birds. These are days to savour.
Monday, 3rd February, 2025
Gorgeous morning after quite a cold night. Got to valet the car ready for a trip up to Surrey tomorrow. That is my only responsibility today … apart from my exercise routine.
All the news this morning is dominated by Trump, Tariffs and the fallout for the World Economy. Economics is an exciting and fascinating subject. I wish that it had been part of my Degree study. As it wasn’t, I have had to teach myself. It’s not ideal but gives me enjoyment. The father of modern economic theory – John Maynard Keynes – came to prominence in the 1930s sparked by his reactions to the Great Depression. Keynes argued against the ideas of neoclassical economics which held that free markets would self-regulate the world market. Essentially, he was Protectionist. He believed in tariffs.
Keynes died in 1946 but his views prevailed right up until the 1970s when alternative policies by Milton Friedman and other Monetarists, who disputed the ability of government to favourably regulate the business cycle with fiscal policy, came to prominence. Free Trade was their gold standard.
It looks like this now aging debate is being revisited once more as Trump begins to impose US tariffs on a fragile world economy. It is all a bit mad because Keynesian economic theory has been espoused by the Left who saw Public Spending as a good thing while the Right saw unalloyed World Trade as a good thing. Suddenly, we have a right wing, disruptor in the Whitehouse turning to Keynesian Tariff Policy to defend national industries.
How will it end? Nobody knows although lots of people think they do. One view, expressed in this cartoon from the right leaning The Times today, suggests Trump’s attempt to bully the world will result in a backlash which will damage America. More likely, as the Financial Times suggests this morning, it will damage all of us. Tariffs from one side cannot be ignored. Bullies only prosper if you backdown. If Europe, Canada, Mexico, etc., stand up to Trump, the net result will be world inflation. Inflation will result in higher interest rates for longer and higher interest rates will lead to less economic activity and stagnation.
This is why economics is so fascinating. It is like chess. You have to think five moves ahead. What will your move do in five moves time? Is Trump capable of this? Does he only see the immediate? We will see it in one dimension? Bullies have to be bullied. If it wasn’t so dangerous for us all, it would be fun. It is not fun unless he is forced to climb down.
Music today is James Taylor again – Sweet Baby James. Always loved it, the words and shades of sorrowful colour. Loneliness is at it’s heart. It is a powerful emotion. Solitude, shades of simplicity.
And as the moon rises, he sits by his fire
Thinkin’ about women and glasses of beer
Reclosing his eyes as the doggies retire
He sings out a song which is soft, but it’s clear
As if maybe someone could hear
Out on a familiar, local walk, I suddenly realise how much faster I am pushing it now. It’s definitely a good sign. Tomorrow I will be walking like a mad man around the carparks of Ashford Hospital where I will be parked up for a couple of hours. It just has to be done.
Tuesday, 4th February, 2025
Up early because I am driving to Surrey this morning. It’s my new, temporary job as an ambulance driver that is in force this morning. So no music today. Political Podcasts instead thhis morning. Very exciting. I bet you’d love to travel with me today, Dear Reader. An hour up to Surrey and 30 mins down to Ashton and reverse. Three hours driving with two podcasts each way. What more could anybody want?
Went the scenic route again today to avoid the nightmare rennovations on the motorway. Then off to Ashford Hospital in Staines upon Thames.
The route to Ashford took us past the new Shepperton Studios which is now part of the Pinewood Studios Group. They have recently been completely rebuilt and are dominated by Netflix Productions. Thought you’d like to know that. Luckily the journey there and back was relatively quiet today. C’s operation was excruciatingly painful but reasonably short lived. He just now has to suffer the consequences of recovery and that is a slower process when you’re 87. It is bad enough when you’re 74.
I’ve been using a Garmin Venu Sq. smart watch for a few years now. It appeals to my need for data and control. My current one, which is about 3 years old, was beginning to look a bit scratched and I wondered how long it would last so I bought a backup in the sales a couple of weeks ago. I just left it in its box. This morning, my old one died a noisy, buzzing death and stayed blank and data-less. It’s as if it knew I had moved on.
The new one has leapt into service seamlessly: Time/Date/Heart Rate/Steps/ on the front face but behind the scenes it records: Calories/Hydration/Temperature/ as well as Text Messages/ Emails/Whatsapps/Phone Calls/ and much more.
As I did my walk around the hospital carparks, the adjoining Tesco Superstore carpark and carwash site, – 1000 paces each complete circuit – I had one of those out-of-body experiences where I looked at myself from above and asked, What am I doing here? and I didn’t mean in those carparks but I did mean in this part of the world, at this time doing this activity. It is an existential question. I don’t know if everyone does that at times. Do you, Dear Reader? It has nothing to do with god or religious epiphany but an attempt to understand oneself in time-space context. I used to do it even more commonly late at night sitting outside in the pure darkness of our Greek home but it is quite disconcerting. In times like this, I need to talk but I was on my own.
Wednesday, 5th February, 2025
Beautiful if slightly chilly start to the day. Out quite early to Sainsburys to do the weekly shop. First stop as one walks in is Fresh Fruit & Vegetables. That is where we spend the most time and, this morning, where we spent most money. Total Bill was £61.20 of which Fruit & Vegetables took £40.00. It illustrates the journey we are on.
Today we bought Green Peppers, Cucumber, Tomatoes, Lettuces, Oranges and Lemons from Spain, Field Mushrooms from Netherlands, Bananas from Panama, Asparagus from Peru, Green Beans from Senegal, Melon from Brazil, Button Mushrooms from Ireland and Shallots from …. Norfolk. You see how Brexit has helped us take back control and secure our borders and made us self sufficient?
All the rubbish talked by Right Wing politicians of how Britain was self sufficient in Food in the past and our European Union membership had undermined that is sheer nonsense. Going back a century, we were not self sufficient although the imbalance was not as it is now but the variety of our diets was very monochrome compared with today.
Only the rich could afford exotic fruits and vegetables imported from warmer climes. Most of the population had to survive on things in season and not made more expensive by importation. This sort of regime was still in place for we post-war Boomers. Thank goodness life has moved on. I can eat asparagus outside the British growing season which only lasts for about 6 – 8 weeks. I want it in January. Just as I want Green Beans and Tomatoes in February not be restricted to Turnips and Swedes. The NFU claim we are 62% self sufficient. My evidence casts major doubt on that.
Music today is by a long time friend from 1969 – Leonard Cohen, Hey, That’s No Way to Say Goodbye about the girl on a Greek island who he lived with and left and who died recently without ever seeing him again. He famously wrote her a terribly sad letter when he heard she was imminently dying of cancer. Of course, Cohen himself is now dead but what a sad and incomplete story. Just listening again takes me back to a garret room in College Digs and I shudder.
Lovely, warm walk this afternoon. Nature is springing back to life probably prematurely according to the forecast. It is going to get colder before we see any real advancement of the year. I predict that key months this year will be May and October.
Thursday, 6th February, 2025
It was certainly a colder night last night. We went down to 2C/36F whereas Greater Manchester & Leeds were -2C/28F. The reward is the most beautiful morning start with clear, blue sky and strong sunshine.
Did you know that Greater Manchester in general and Oldham and Rochdale in particular are some of the country’s most dangerous places to live throughout the UK according to the latest study reported in the MEN today. I must admit, I have thought how safe my current area of West Sussex is and how I feel personally where I live. It was brought into focus when my friend’s car was stolen from his drive up in Leeds. We both have keyless entry/starting and run the risk of cloning. I immediately ordered a Faraday pouch to store my car key in but I just don’t hear of car theft in the area. Even low level nuisance by kids isn’t a problem.
When you read the charts, the North/South crime balance is something like 2 – 1 which really emphasises the effects of poverty. When I was working there, the wards of Oldham and Rochdale featured highly in the top ten wards of poverty in the country rivalled only by the worst areas of inner London. It’s no surprise that Hull and Blackpool have risen up the chart as coastal and fishing towns have declined and fallen into delapidation. The fishing industry in Hull has been destroyed most recently by Brexit. The chavvy Blackpool holiday has been on the skids since the 1970s. It is hard to see how they come back to prominence. It’s so good that Boris Jojnson managed to level them all up!
Music today is from Phil Collins – someone who I know absolutely nothing about but it just seemed appropriate to complement today’s topic:
Another Day In Paradise
She calls out to the man on the street
‘Sir, can you help me?
It’s cold and I’ve nowhere to sleep,
Is there somewhere you can tell me?’
He walks on, doesn’t look back
He pretends he can’t hear her …
I am as guilty as anyone although I am trying to improve. There really are so many poor people in need of help.
Not that Worthing is any great shakes. Lots of Victorian/Edwardian buildings that are so typical of declining seaside towns. When they are renovated, they look lovely in the sunshine but older buildings are always compromises. No double/triple glazing. Lots of pipes on the outside of buildings and wires running visibly around the inside of buildings. It makes them look old and shabby. Seaside, of course, means gulls.
I took these photos this morning and didn’t even notice the cloud of gulls in the sky until I uploaded it later. They are everywhere and they are quite messy. That mess is not cleaned up as often as one might like.
Whe the tide is out; when the season is low; when the tourist have left, the whole place can look a bit sad and waiting for paradise lost.
Friday, 7th February, 2025
A cold, grey morning. My Housekeeper is going to the Beauty Clinic for an hour or so and then I have to drive on to the fish shop by the beach for a couple of sides of salmon. I think we eat salmon, green beans and asparagus more than any other meal. We get through enormous quantities of salmon. It’s one of those fishes I am just as happy to eat ‘farmed’ as ‘wild’. Fortunately, I have a chef who is skilled in skinning and portioning fish.
It feels so cold out there this morning. It reads 5C/41F and did do all night but the breeze is making it feel bone chilling. I was told that my cancer treatment could result in me feeling the cold more and I think it’s true. Older adults often feel colder than younger people as their bodies change with age. A slower metabolic rate, thinner layer of fat and poorer blood circulation make them more sensitive to the cold. My younger wife laughs at me because it was always her who complained about the cold first. Now it’s me. She’s nice like that!
I’ve decided that activity will be in the Gym today. I’m watching a massive series called Homeland while I’m exercising. It is an 8 series x 12 episodes so 96 episode story in total. Each one is around an hour so the whole thing will easily get me well into the Spring. Essentially it is American but has a number of UK actors in it. It centres around political espionage and real life Foreign Policies all of which interest me.
I’m only on the second series and I am absolutely gripped which is good because exercise is almost forgotten as I watch. It stars British, old Etonian Damian Lewis as a Marine who was captured and imprisoned in Afghanistan for years, converted to Islam and returned to America as a sleeper spy although he is feted as a national hero.
Our Gym features a Treadmill, a Rowing Machine and a Lumbar Exercise Bike. They are all electronically controlled. You can put sound systems through them, download internet-based exercise programmes through them and chose and record exercise routines and results. Essentially, we decided from the outset that we would not have less than we did at the David Lloyd Health Club so we bought professional level equipment. It also includes an exercise mat, a Step Bench some Weights and a Skipping Rope.
I have tended to concentrate on Cardio work using the Treadmill and Bike in particular. I have to move on and intend to start Strength and Balance work. I have never been supple. I think I was born ‘stiff’. I’ve never been able to do the Lotus Position in my life. I have rugby player arms and thighs and nothing moves easily. I have got to get into more rowing, weight lifting and floor exercises. Well, that’s the aim.
I’ve also got to work on my balance. I’ve noticed recently that it’s even worse than it used to be which was already very poor. Now, I can close my eyes and … fall over. I can go up a ladder and feel extremely out of control. This is a change and it is another sign of aging. Researchers have found that balance begins to decline in midlife, starting at about age 50. I have to exercise to combat it.
Music today is a bit left field for me. It is Ed Sheeran and Andrea Bocelli combining on a pertformance of Perfect Symphony. I don’t know why but I love it!
Saturday, 8th February, 2025
A grey, cold morning. It isn’t inviting me out. So, I’m staying in at least for a while. I’ve got I.T. jobs to do. My wife’s laptop is running slow so I’m working on that, cleaning up old, dead, broken files, tidying up the Solid State Hard Drive, removing unnecessary Start-Up programmes, anything to help it along. Because a large chunk of the rest of this year is going to be spent travelling both abroad and in hotels in UK, I am addressing the safety of our data.
Everybody with a smartphone, tablet or laptop they use outside the security of their own home should install a VPN. A virtual private network establishes a digital connection between your computer and a remote server owned by a VPN provider, creating a point-to-point tunnel that encrypts your personal data, masks your IP address, and lets you sidestep website blocks and firewalls on the internet. In human speak that means you can be whoever you want in which ever place in the world you want at any time.
If you live in a dictatorship – Russia, China, America, etc., you can still access the free press by telling the Web that you are actually somewhere else. A girl in China can be in London … virtually. On a lower level but just as valuable to me, I can be in Italy but still access British TV & Radio as if I’m in London. Much more importantly than that, I can be using a hotel network but my activity – like access to my Bank Account or Credit Cards is hidden behind the wall of VPN secrecy.
Of course, nothing is for free. I have paid £64.00 for 2 years’ subscription to the service but I will install it on 2 PCs/Laptops, 2 iPads and 2 smartphones. It is definitely worth it. I have found that, when I scan shopping items in at Sainsburys, Waitrose & Asda, vpn comes on automatically with the supermarket network connection and that stops the scanning process so I have to turn it off. Otherwise it is priceless. Whether I am in a Greek or Spanish hotel or even in Yorkshire/Lancashire, the people I contact will always think I am in East London.
The kitchen is a hive of activity. Salmon is being prepared for Salmon & Tarragon fish cakes. The oven is being valeted. The Laundry is buzzing with washing and the dryer bleeping to be emptied. I sit quietly in my Office, installing VPN software on apparatus and writing my Blog while listening to today’s music which is about as obscure as I can.
I remember some things so clearly although they were long, long ago. I can see myself in my childhood bedroom at 12.00 pm on a Saturday afternoon when out of a battered old radiogram the Moody Blues, “Go Now.” came and I almost fell over. I can see the exact moment beauty jarred with squalor when I first heard Chopin’s Nocturne in C Sharp Minor in a terrible upstairs garret in Oldham. I can remember the first time I heard this song: Lorraine Ellison – Stay With Me as I worked on a University essay at 3.00 am in the morning. I can remember the feeling of a hand reaching deep down inside me and wrenching my inner self out so violently that I was utterly empty, devoid of anything. If only losing weight was that easy.
Managed to get an hour’s walk in before the rain started this morning. It was cool and grey and fairly miserable but the exercise must go on. Afternoon in the Gym before the big, Rugby Match – England v France at Twickenham. Hope it’s a good game!