Sanders Blog

Sunday, 29th June, 2025

There are a lot of things to be grateful for in Life however sad it may seem at times. Weeks abroad in the sun are something I feel lucky for. Living 25 years longer than my Dad I feel lucky for. Never having to worry about my financial and domestic security I feel lucky for. Having my Prostate Cancer diagnosed early I feel grateful for.

Dermot Murnaghan, a television presenter, announced last week that he had been diagnosed with Stage 4 Prostate Cancer and had been discussing it with Chris Hoy who has Stage 4 Prostate Cancer. In both cases, the cancer has broken out of the prostate and entered the bone. Still treatable but both terminal. How lucky was I?

I have many regrets in my life but it has to be seen in the round. I have been very lucky. Even in acknowledging that, I must admit to utter, personal incompetence. In so many areas of life, I am an utter failure and it has hurt me badly. For the past few days, I have been watching a drama series on ITV-X called River. It is six episodes which I finished last night.

River features a clever man with huge, personal flaws. River is an extremely talented detective who is so buttoned-up that he hurts himself and limits his lfe. He wants to say things he cannot find the context, time and place to say. He only discovers that ability when it is too late. It moved me to tears. Exactly the same could be said of me.

Saying the formally unsayable, asking the unaskable, feeling the publically indescribable has come to me too late. Why do I have to be in my 70s before I can acknowledge and act on these things? River only comes to it after his love is dead. It is unbearable. River’s condition means he sees and talks to those missing from his life. He visualises them to the point where they become real in his thoughts and actions. It is a scary situation. You could dismiss it as too far fetched but I don’t.

In the kitchen, Basil has been taken from the garden and is being transformed into Pesto by my Chef.

Basil Leaves, Garlic, Pine Nuts, Parmesan Cheese, Olive Oil and Lemon Juice go into the chaos of the kitchen blender and come out as the most magical Pesto known to man. How lucky am I?

While searching for photos of her sister, my Housekeeper found these postcards that we sent from a different time. They fix us in History. I particularly love the Nysiros memory. I had a short wave radio in the years before internet and I sat transfixed on a remote and volcanic Dodecanese Greek Island as I listened to the replacement of Gorbachev by Boris Yeltsin in 1991. Yeltsin mounted a tank and gave a speech which I listened to on short wave radio and in which he took control of Russia and changed the political landscape. I was 40, Dear Reader. Where were you in my life?

Monday, 30th June, 2025

A very warm morning for a travelling day. Up early with so much to do before leaving. Sometimes, I get to this point and then wonder why I’m bothering. I could just stay at home in the ‘normal’ routines or go to Wales for the rain but nothing ventured, nothing gained. (Must stop writing in clichés.) It’s not time for slippers yet. Sun, sea, sex-no-sand, red wine, European voices, European food, new challenges – the key to life long learning.

We have travelling routines for packing and leaving the house. We each have our routines to complete and even then wonder what we’ve forgotten as we drive away. A travelling bag is permanently packed in a cupboard and everything starts from there. It contains flight-appropriate containers for liquids – aftershave, creams and female potions – passports, packs of euros, plug adapters, etc.. My Travel Agent manages all that so I leave it to her. The cases – two, large carry-ons -are already nearly packed with just last minute things to go in.

My job is to make sure the technology is ready. I have to charge and pack the Laptop, iPads, Kindles, smartphones, watches along with my failsafe, Power Bank portable charger. I have a dread of a phone running down before presenting a vital document like a Boarding Pass. Of course, the other worry is about forgetting the chargers for each item. Routines are invaluable in getting all this right.

Finally, I make sure VPNs are installed on everything to look as if we are in London while actually in Spain. Virtual Private Networks are the lingua franca of the technology world. Even the draconian Iranian government are thwarted by their citizens who find social media blocked by the regime can be circumvented with VPNs. Successful technology is the secret to a happy husband.

An additional consideration this time has been the death of Pauline’s sister 10 days ago. She has been agonising for days about whether to cancel our travel arrangements to support M in sorting things out. Ultimately, it was a decision made for us by the hospital who have ordered an a post-mortem examination followed by an inquest which has delayed the funeral. In the past few days, I have been searching the records for photographs and digitising them so that they can be potentially used in a funeral ceremony. Pauline has been searching out a couple of her sister’s favourite songs/pieces of music to play in the crematorium.

Phyllis loved the voice of Alfie Boe & Michael Ball so Pauline has picked the song above and one from Les Misérables. She went to watch the musical numerous times in London and elsewhere. She loved Bring Him Home sung by Alfie Boe. What could be more appropriate?

I’ve just been putting together some notes that might be used at her funeral oration. When I thought about it, I was amazed at her achievements: she was an intelligent girl at Blue Coat School in Oldham but economics prevented her going into Higher Education where she would have done well. She turned her intelligence and strength to creating viable businesses especially a Plumbing Business, a News Agents, a Fish & Chip shop and a Flower shop that she owned and ran in her local area.It was an undeniable achievement.

In later life, Phyllis was Registered Blind but she made so little of it that you would be forgiven for not knowing her problem. She just got on with things and didn’t expect the world to owe her a living.

Tuesday, 1st July, 2025

Happy July, Dear Readers. New month in the sun. No escape at the moment. Wherever you are, it’s going to be hot apart from in Wales and Scotland. It’s certainly hot in Spain and I am a Spanish Virgin …. well, a Spain virgin anyway.

Hot, Hot, Hot. This is my sort of weather although I should probably take a bit more care in my 75th year. I wear a cap outside and drink more water. Still do my walking but I intend to do it early in the morning and later in the evening.

I was responsible for this booking. I chose the place, the property, the flights. If it was going to go wrong, I was concerned that I had chosen the wrong airport. In the event, Murcia International was very impressive. It is small, intimate and modern. We were off the plane and through passport control in minutes in spite of being designated Third Country Nationals because of the idiots of Brexit. They thought they’d get their country back but just got economic impoverishment and long queues.

We had already arrived 30 mins early and we went for coffee before contacting the property managers. They are lovely, young people who say, Are you on Whatsapp? I’ll send you the details. Fortunately, I am and they did. I contact Jennifer, a beautiful, young Belgian who manages our property. Few Jennifers can be trusted but she agrees to meet us at the property.

The taxi driver struggles to find the property. There are so many looking the same outside. Eventually, he gets us there and Jennifer ensures we have everything we need.

The property has two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen with dishwasher and washing machine. The lounge has satellite TV and the internet delivery is excellent. The property has dining outside on a large balcony and a private, full sized rooftop solarium which has shaded areas and a barbecue but is currently too hot to use.

It could have been a bad area but we are in a gated community of modern, well serviced villas with two pools and manicured grounds. If you have to slum it, there are worse places. I think I will survive for two or three weeks.

Wednesday, 2nd July, 2025

Went to bed early after a long and demanding day. Woke at 5.00 am (CET) and listened to Yesterday in Parliament and the debacle of of last night which I had been too tired to concentrate on yesterday. At 8.00 am, the temperature here is 28C/83F so we will be going out early to walk and explore the local area. First though, will be a trip to the local Supermercado to stock the fridge/freezer

Interesting walk at 9.00 am in 32C/90F with burning sun on our back to a supermarket chain we’ve never heard of – Consum which means Co-Op. Perfectly acceptable. We were able to source fresh fish – Tuna Steaks for Supper to be served with salad. Gorgeous Mediterranean Tomatoes and Antipasti Olives and Garlic and Red Peppers.

I love Spanish wine and I’m particularly on Rioja Blanco at the moment. In this heat, it oils every wheel. Fish and white wine go so well together as all those without a chip on their shoulders would acknowledge. And it is so cheap in Spain. This bottle is just €3.75 in Supermercado Consum and tastes delicious when chilled.

Been for a walk around the quiet, privately owned area this morning. Nobody seems to have visited Torrevieja recently and no one professes to even have heard of Benidorm other than in a cheap, failed television comedy.

I am so relieved that our property has proved to be exactly what I expected. The sun terrace upstairs is large and useful but currently too hot in spite of the canopy cover for Dining. It is also much more than we require. We have two sun balconies attached to our Lounge and our bedroom but the sun terrace is huge with lots of sun loungers, two dining tables, a barbecue and a covered pergola.

It looks out to Torrevieja and the sea side. It only takes about 20 mins to walk there but I doubt we will be going. Everything we need is here … with one or two notable exceptions.

Last year, with temperatures in the 40Cs/100F+s, tourism was put under pressure. The Telegraph this morning has an article to that end:

A decade ago, I was warning people in the Greek Tourist Industry of this possibility. It is coming home and will bite them unless they readjust their offering. Winter in Greece. You never know.

Thursday, 3rd July, 2025

A night of wide divergence with the UK. In Northern England, temperatures fell to single figures – 8C/46F – whereas I was on the roof terrace at midnight in a wall of 29C/84F of warmth.

I know from experience that it can feel suffocating but up here it feels delightful, looking out over the Development, urbanisation, Torrevieja and the sea. I know I am odd but I always find the bright lights of civilisation both exciting and frightening in their potential. They offer the chance for pleasure and threat. Here, from the enclave of a gated, middle class indulgence, they look attractive but distant and other. I have no desire to go there.

Back inside, the air conditioning units are set to permanent cold. I’ve paid for it so I feel justified in using it fully. My travelling companion actually complains that the bedroom is too cold. I suggested some remedies but she couldn’t find a blanket.

Our enclave development is called Oasis Beach 8 and it is on Avenida Espuña which literally translates to Foam Avenue. Well, it is certainly a quality environment, an oasis of calm. I was warned that Torrevieja, was half a step up from Benidorm and wouldn’t suit my cultured palate. Well this does, Dear Reader. It is home from home with new influences. Yesterday was walking, swimming, politics – PMQs and all that – writing, eating gorgeous, pan-fried fresh tuna and drinking ice-cold white wine.

This only our third day here and I feel like I’ve been living here for ever. Chatted to a lovely girl on the Checkout at the Supermercado. I noticed her name badge said Ashley which struck me as odd. Turns out she was of Nigerian origin but born in UK and had been living in Spain since the age of 3. She was keen to sell her adopted home to us.

We were there to buy things for Supper. The savages may turn their noses up but this is the food of the gods. Octopus which has been boiled in brine and now will be served as octopus salad – sliced, marinated in olive oil and lemon juice and eaten with green salad. It was a favourite in Greece – Octopodi Salata. I now know that it is called Pulpo in Spanish. Here it is Pulposur – Octopus from the South of Spain.

Already, I love this place. It is my sort of property and renting instead of laying out hundreds of thousands of euros to buy a property with all the add-on responsibilities makes so much sense. It is beautifully designed constructed and maintained. The Development is for people like me – people who respect each other’s privacy, autonomy and relaxation. I am definitely coming back here – maybe for a couple of months next time.

Friday, 4th July, 2025

Out walking in the slightly cooler air last night as the sun went down, we talked – as you do – about whether this was a place to buy a property.

It really is incredibly cheap compared to Greece or Italy and the quality of the properties is generally better.

Admittedly, we had drunk a bottle of wine and optimism was high but these things are always worth considering and not automatically dismissing. If ISA levels are cut, would a Spanish property offer an alternative investment outlet. Of course, I had the voice of reason walking at my side ….

All lifestyle experts recommend the Mediteranean diet and, largely, we have been eating that way for years. Every morning, my Chef prepares the juice of two freshly squeezed oranges for my Breakfast. I just wish Sainsburys had one of these machines for making your own in store. I’ve seen them before and used them in hotels but to have one in every supermarket would be great. I filled a litre bottle with fresh orange juice and they charged me €4.85/£4.18 and it tastes wonderful.

Fish has dominated our main meal diet for quite a long time now. We have a wonderful fish supplier on the South Coast but this Co-op/Consum store has an excellent supply with knowledgeable staff serving. So far, we’ve eaten fresh Tuna and cooked Octopus. Today we bought Swordfish steaks and Sea Bream.

Well, we thought we had bought swordfish steaks because that it exactly what the looked like. Actually, we have chosen a Spanish delicacy called Emperor Fish. I’m going to have to book another month to try all this fish.

Saturday, 5th July, 2025

Up early and looking out across the Development – quiet and a relatively cool 24C/75F – as the sun came up. The only person out was a woman sweeping the lawns with a brush and dustpan. Haven’t seen one of those for a long time.

Yesterday was screaming hot as I walked down to the local beach just for the walk rather than for the beach itself. By the time I got back to the house, my shirt was heavier than me. How is it possible to lose so much moisture? Must drink more water.

We cooked and ate the Emperor Fish along with asparagus and red & green peppers. Absolutely lovely. The whole day was delightful. These are days one needs and should remember for life. I bought some postcards and sent one to myself amongst others yesterday. One for the records.

Who knows what today will hold ….

…. well, a hot walk – 29C/84F at 9.30 am -to the supermarket. My housekeeper is addicted to them. Tonight, Supper will be Grilled Chicken & Salad or Baked Sea Bream & Salad or Sweet & Sour Pork or Pan-fried Shark Steak. Choices, choices.

Actually, normal life continues and we need Dishwasher Tablets & Washing Machine Tablets. Looking for those brings endless fun. We seem to be living at the Co-op/Consum.

There are only two double bedrooms in this property with two, large bathrooms. Feasibly, it will only accommodate 4 adults but it has 4 separate Dining areas each with its own Dining Table and Chairs. We have one in the Kitchen-Diner, one under the awning covered patio outside the Lounge. We have two more huge ones on the Rooftop terrace with a barbecue and views over the sea. It has been so hot that the closest we have got to eating outside was under the awning but all the air conditioning units are in use 24hrs a day and indoors is the most comfortable place to eat.

In our down time we have two tasks to complete. As soon as we get home, I have to order a new tumble dryer and a washing machine because we have a fitter booked to redesign the Utility Room. The current machines still work fine but are 9 years old and need readdressing. Now is the time to buy to take us in to our 80s. (Aghhh!) The final decision is left to my Scullery Maid but I’m pushing for Samsung machines because the are the most technologically advanced. The other task I have to complete is to decide where to move our ISAs – 6 of which come to the end of their fix after two years of earning.

There are two, large infinity pools with Jacuzzis attached to each on this Development. They serve only a small number of people which means we can go down to swim any time. They are heated to an incredible temperature. I swam this evening as the sun went down and the air temperature was 29C/84F. The pool enveloped me in soft warmth as I swam just as the Jacuzzi pummelled my tired muscles after a hot day of walking.

Sunday, 22nd June, 2025

A hot, humid night and the events of yesterday led to a fitful night’s sleep. We had planned so much for yesterday but it was a day when events made those plans redundant. As Harold MacMillan said, Events, Dear Boy, events when he was asked about the difficulties of being a statesman. Something of real moment happened and threw my petty plans into sharp relief.

Yesterday, after hours in the tawdry surroundings and unkempt workaday organisation of a busy hospital on a humid and energy sapping day, Phyllis – Pauline’s sister and Mandy’s Mum – who was weeks away from her 88th birthday, breathed her last. Suddenly, all those clichés surrounding death in age rise in one’s mind and in one’s speech about 88 being a good age to reach, about her failing health making death a release, about hoping to reach that target one’s self, etc..

Phyllis had been a feature of my life for almost 50 years. We agreed on very little but it was her feisty, opinionated personality which illuminated her life and strength to live it. She fought to succeed throughout. She never gave up. She was intelligent and sharp with a good memory and ability to recall facts which would have stood her in good stead if she had been in a position to access a formal education. Instead she lived on energy, determination and her native wit. It’s when you realise that such a fire has left the world that you begin to understand its moment. When it comes to death, no age is a good age.

Of course one death is so often the end of two. Phyllis and Colin were a long standing and hard working parnership through good and bad times.

I have hundreds of the most terrible photos of Phyllis – pictures of her with a dog but without her head on. Pictures of her on a beach but so far away that she is a dot on the horizon, pictures of her at social events where she is almost indistinguishable from the crowd. They were all pictures of a time – from a Box Brownie to a Polaroid – but I love this one of her on a motorbike from the mid 1950s. When you blow it up, you suddenly spot other figures in the doorway – ghosts of a past we never knew.

I wake around 5.00 am every morning and, irony of ironies, this morning was a program with two women who had both written books on How to Die a Good Death and No Ordinary Deaths. We avoid thinking about and planning for death until it is too late. It will happen to us all and the struggle is to fend off the inevitable as long as possible. The two of these propositions are intimately entwined.

In the past, without scientifically based Health Care and without drugs to ward off and fight disease, early death was prevalent – expected even. Our ancestors had a more integrated relationship with death, viewing it as a familiar presence in daily life. This contrasts sharply with contemporary society’s more distanced approach to death but no death can be considered ordinary however inevitable it is.

Monday, 23rd June, 2025

Don’t know if is because of the events of Saturday or what is happening to me physically but I am feeling sad and in need of emotional support. It is normal for such things to refocus thoughts of mortality. You certainly know who your friends are. Generally, I respond by being more stubborn rather than giving in but it takes me a bit of time.

In the meantime, everything is too much effort, too difficult, too trying. For example, I am calm and rational when IT problems need working through. This morning, I am screaming at two mobile phones and two computers over what should be a very simple repair. My wife, in an idle moment of madness on holiday last week saw an app advertised which would allow her to use her phone to check her blood pressure. She obviously thought that living with me meant she needed it.

Of course, it was a scam waiting to happen and, the moment it was installed, it locked her phone and demanded money to reopen it. In order to rectify the situation, I had to return it to factory settings and reinstall every service app. This was important because all her travel documents were on it along with her finance and banking apps amongst 50 or more others. Ever since then, I have been struggling to add all her Credit/Debit/Charge cards to her Google Wallet which is becoming the default payment method now.

It should all be so easy and I followed every guideline but still failed. I needed to speak to a PERSON! We used to have our own Personal Banking Manager but, as they withdrew from the High Street so they withdrew our individual online/telephone service. It is almost impossible to get a face-to-face or voice-to-voice contact. Cora has replaced it and AI really still lacks nuance. Dear Cora says she will get back to me. I’m still waiting.

At the same time, we are supposed to be going abroad in a week but there is now a funeral to organise and the timing is so uncertain that we can’t just get on with our travel arrangements as usual. I’ve already been checking our insurance policy’s cancellation requirements. Ironically, it comes through our Bank account so I may becoming best mates with Cora soon.

The circular frustration of these AI Bots leaves one feeling old and incompetent – out of touch. I am only one of those things and I can’t help being old but I refuse to accept that this needs to be so difficult. Cheap, yes but not difficult.

Anyway, home grown green beans for Supper with Roast Salmon and Pesto Crust. Something to look forward to.

Tuesday, 24th June, 2025

Quite a dull day and we are on tenterhooks about the next development. I am poised to contact the property in Spain we have rented for the next few weeks to say what time we arrive OR I am poised to collate all my evidence for the insurance company to prove why I have to claim £4,000.00 + to cancel our trip because of a funeral. It all pivots on that and I hate uncertainty above everything else.

Do we pack or do we not? My new cap is waiting for the decision. Found out this morning that my new cap which my wife ordered and loves is a Failsworth Cap. If you’d lived my life, you would know how significant that is. Why on earth did I arrive in Oldham? Oh, Dear Reader. I ask myself. Failsworth, as many will know is contiguous with Oldham. I was shocked to research its origin.

The Failsworth Hat Company was founded in 1903 at Failsworth Maypole. It is a well known place in Greater Manchester.

My ghosts walk the region. It sends a shiver down my spine. I find this dislocation very unhappy although I like the knowledge that my new cap was founded in my occasional home.

Today is the 9th anniversary of the Brexit result being reported. Michael Bloomberg, the American Billionaire told his Irish audience yesterday that Brexit was the single stupidest thing any country has ever done, adding that “it’s hard to believe how they did it. The country now completely agrees with him in huge numbers.

The snake oil salesmen – Johnson & Farage – sold them a pup as is the way that the uneducated are duped throughout history. Just think of the religious indulgences of old and the modern carbon-offsetting. There are stupid people throughout time. We warned them and they were persuaded to cry, Scaremongering! We weren’t and now they know. Phyllis wouldn’t admit it if she was still here, that’s for certain.

Wednesday, 25th June, 2025

A hot, humid, overcast morning of real frustration. We have had a couple of very sticky nights and a photo was posted on our local web of Littlehampton Marina Pier on Monday evening.

I have been desperately trying to communicate with my Bank, My Credit Cards provider and Google Pay. Ironically, after the Blog yesterday, I was speaking to a Bank Technical expert who turned out to be working from home – in Chadderton, Oldham. I could tell immediately by his accent and Yasser from Chadderton knew exactly where I used to teach. Even so, he still couldn’t sort out my problem.

At least I have been able to contact my holiday property. Dear, little Mandy is still struggling with the painful technicalities of her Mum’s death and her Dad’s future. These are rights of passage but none the less painful for that. What they have meant for us is that we can go on holiday and return to help out later. We fly in to Murcia, San Javier, Airport mid morning and a taxi will get us to the property by mid-day or 4 hours before Checkin. I am happy to pay and extra €30.00 to have the villa prepared early.

This is going to be an exciting trip because it is new territory for us. It will stretch us. Soon after returning, we fly off to Athens again – a regular trip – and then a couple of months later, go back to Tenerife for a month. Next year we have decided to combine new and old. We will return to Thessaloniki and to Athens and to our island home of Sifnos but we will integrate them all into one trip.

We intend to fly in to Thessaloniki to stay for a week and then take the train to Athens. That will be an interesting first. We’ll spend a few days in Athens, get a ferry to Sifnos and spend a week there for the first time in a decade and then go back to Athens for a few more days before flying home. I’m already excited about that.

Thursday, 26th June, 2025

It rained over night. Hallelujah! I was about to spend the morning watering the garden and the street. All done free of time and charge. Even the street borders may start to green up after a long, dry spell.

The plants along the drive have been living in bone hard soil for quite a while and a heaving a great sigh of relief.

My Housekeeper is at the Hairdressers in preparation for her holiday trip. I’m thinking about preparing the survival of the garden.

I am preparing to water the garden remotely with a programmable timer switch and two sprinkler systems attach to it.

I need to use this system so rarely that it takes a slow, old man like me quite a while to get back up to speed. Still, I’ve set it up and it will be tested tonight then adjusted if necessary.

The bank has sorted out the problem with our Google Wallets so that has cleared another gripe from my mind. I am gradually ticking off jobs as I go through the day. This morning, I’ve been producing maps of the area where we are staying with restaurants and Supermurcados.

We feel slightly guilty that we are going away on holiday and leaving Little M behind to deal with the organisation of the funeral. I must emphasise the ‘slightly’ and we will be returning to attend a funeral soon afterwards. It’s quite a long time since I have been to a funeral. It’s even longer since I had to organise one – almost 16 years. We have certainly received some lovely ‘sympathy’ cards from friends and relatives over the past few days. People are very thoughtful and we are grateful.

Friday, 27th June, 2025

Lovely, hot day for the Dentist. Just a check-up on our service contract. Lovely lady – Persian and beautiful. It helps when you’re poking about in a mouth. A couple of X-rays. No problems and return in 6 months. I will be almost 75. At least, I will have sorted a lot of things out by then.

I was amused this morning when my little friend thought I would be struggling to slum it by flying to Torrevieja. I must admit, I do have some reservations particularly when looking for restaurants in the vicinity. They are very much of the ‘fastfood’ variety. Fortunately, I’ve chosen a property some way off the town and where we can easily source fresh food that we can cook ourselves.

I think I’ve eaten Paella once in the whole of my life. Looking forward to trying it in Spain for the first time. I’ve been increasingly buying Spanish wine over the past few years. I love Rioja and the Temperanillo grape. Looking forward to drinking that.

I did Spanish at Grammar School up to GCE Level but I’ve virtually not used it since. It will be interesting to reacquaint myself with the vocabulary and learn to read road signs, menus and advertisments. I will try to follow Spanish TV and the babble of voices arround me in the streets to broaden my experience. It is a Romance Language, after all which dovetails into French, Italian and Portuguese so I should manage it.

It looks like it will be seriously hot so I will need to do early morning and late evening walks. We have a pool so that will give day time execise. I need to treat it as if I’m at home although I certainly have no intention of going ‘British’. We’ll leave that for the Lower Classes, Dear Reader.

The day has developed into a very humid one. My 8 mile walk has left me sweaty, wet and tired. Love my power shower. It is so reviving. I used to enjoy the Sauna & Jacuzzi at the end of a David Lloyd Gym session but my shower is just as refreshing.

Saturday, 28th June, 2025

Warm, humid, overcast. The sun is coming to large parts of UK … well, not to North Wales obviously but most normal parts. It has already arrived in force across Europe.

The area in Spain where we are going has this projected for next week. Just my sort of weather although I’ll need my Failsworth Cap.

We are flying into Murcia International. I say International but it looks fairly small and local really. The prices of services are incredibly cheap. I thought I was reading it wrongly but, no, a taxi to anywhere in the central Murcia region is limited to €29.00.

An SUV hired from and returned to the airport for 14 days costs just over €200.00/£180.00. Absolutely amazing. This is what you get for slumming it in Spain. My Carer spent £75.00 at the hairdressers this week which puts that price into perspective. I suppose that’s right. Never slum it on a haircut …. although mine was free.

When people disappear from your life. They never totally do. They live on in memory and custom. Phyllis died a week ago and this morning, I referred to her twice without thinking. There are rooms in our house I almost never visit. There is a bedroom which, for shorthand, is known as Phyllis’s Room. She slept in it once for one night. It is at the back of the house and I only go in there to collect a suit from the wardrobe and I don’t wear suits very often now. This morning, I found myself speaking about Phyllis’s Room and it hit me. She will never sleep there again but she sleeps in my head.

In the old days – the 1980s – before Skype and mobile phones, I would spend all summer travelling and send a stream of postcards to my Mother particularly as I was always away on her birthday.

I was surprised to find she kept them all and I retrieved them from her house when she died. They are shivery memories of a time that predates mobile phones but chronicles experiences long gone. I haven’t really sent any for quite a while other than to an old friend who can’t cope with the internet but I quite fancy sending some from down market Spain. Something to look out for, Dear Reader.

Sunday, 15th June, 2025

Lovely early morning. As every morning around 7.00 am and then again around 7.00 pm, clouds of swifts and swallows wheel in huge numbers around the skies above the hotel. As is their name, they are incredibly swift and they are masters of the air and spend almost their entire lives in flight – eating, drinking, sleeping and even mating on the wing. They usually only land when it’s time to nest. Early morning and early evening must be the best times for rich pickings of insects.

Before Breakfast for humans, the news is of raids by Israel on Iran and Iran’s retaliation. On the way to Breakfast, I talk to a lovely couple in the lift. Ask them where they are from and it is from Israel. They have been to the Electra Palace Thessaloniki before as well as the Athens hotel. At Breakfast, we agree to meet there next time. I sit at a table immediately in front of a delightful Palestinian family. The irony is not lost.

Thessaloniki is the archetypal Greek city full of a mixing pot of lovely people. I absolutely adore it. It is a hothouse of culture, politics, religion and nationalities. They talk over coffee, in the shade of the sunshine, on street corners, in restaurants ….

Politics is in their blood, It is in mine. The picture above depicts signs discarded on the pavements and an office sign above shops for ΝΕΑ ΑΡΙΣΤΕΡΑ – The New Left with the Palestinian flag. I just love their allegiances and their passion.

In the same way, I love the culture of the Greeks and its differences. In the market yesterday, anyone who is not familiar with the country would have been rather shocked to see the things on sale in the fish & Meat stalls.

Monday, 16th June, 2025

Lovely morning over the Thermaic Gulf, Dear Reader. Crystal, clear blue skies reflected in crystal, clear blue sea. The sun is deliciously strong and warm with just a hint of a breeze. I don’t want Breakfast but force myself just to be sociable.

Went out for a wonderful meal last night. After all these years in Greece, the menu introduced us to some new things which was exciting. It was all based around the concept of Meze. The name of the restaurant is Full Tou Meze. You can read the full menu here.

Meze, pronounced “meh-ZEH,” is a selection of small dishes, similar to Spanish Tapas or Italian Antipasti, that are popular in Eastern Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cuisines. These dishes are often shared and enjoyed as appetizers or as a meal in themselves. In Greece, Meze is deeply intertwined with the concept of Parea which emphasizes social gatherings and shared enjoyment of food and drinks. 

Greece and Turkey have long been irritable neighbours but their cultures have meshed as people move between the two countries. The restaurant was Greek with heavy Turkish influences. After nearly 50 years in Greece, we found dishes on the menu that we had never seen before:

• Lakerda – Marinated Sushi-grade Tuna
• Kritamo – Marinated Fenugreek or Grass of the Greeks – rather like Samphire.
• Sogania Mitilinis – Sweet onions stuffed with minced beef.
• Tsubleki from Macedonia – Beef with Peppers, Aubergine, Courgette, Potato & Feta Cheese, baked in the oven

It was a lovely introduction to new things and feels quite typical of Thessaloniki. Visitors have to be prepared to learn new things. It is good to be stretched, Dear Reader. The stuffed, sweet onions were delicious.

This morning, I have gone out for an early 8 mile walk before the heat is too intense and because my body needs to recover from last night’s meal. I was amused by the name of this dinghy hidden away in the boat yard. Torrevieja is where we will be in a couple of week’s time. We have rented a villa to enjoy some new sunshine. If we like it, we may drive there next year and stay a few months.

Tuesday, 17th June, 2025

It’s been a lovely day. Up at 6.00 am. Yorkshire tea on the patio in hot sunshine. My Housekeeper completed packing and then we went to Breakfast.

Checkout is a formality. Eveything was paid for a week ago. A taxi is called for the airport and off we go around 9.00 am.

Greek taxi drivers have been notoriously corrupt. See a wealthy tourist and triple the price. THe government has done a wonderful job in addessing that corruption. Payments are digital and visible by the authorities. Taxi drivers wor on pain of losing their licences if the cheat. As a result, the taxi driver from the airport and bac to the airport have been honest and delightful. They are incredibly proud of their city and both told us the whole history and related it to the sites we were passing. As a result, we overpaid their statutory faair for their service.

Makedonia airport is small but comfortable and quiet. We went to the Turkish lounge which is new and almost totally deserted. A calm and riff-raff free hour and we went down to Gate. A few minutes wait and we were in the scorching sunshine boarding the plane.

I must admit, I fell asleep almost immediately. It seems to be an automatic ‘travel mode’ my body adopts because I wasn’t tired. I woke with about 40 minutes to landing. The flight had been 2 hrs 55 mins in total which is incredibly fast but I had missed most of it. My Carer hasd passed the time by reading her latest ‘free’ book on her Kindle.

Gatwick was incredibly quiet and we were back on the Long Stay bus within no time. Fortunately, I had photographed the parking spot at midnight the week before and we were soon czooming off in our lovely, comfortable car. Traffic wa light and straightforward. We were home within 50 mins and off to Sainsburys for something for our evening meal.

I unpacked the car. Just two medium cabin-sized suitcases and two pieces of hand luggage and all was done. The garden was looking lovely. We ate freshly cut lettuces, freshly lifted new potatoes with mint and parsley. While Supper was being prepared, I watered the whole garden. The Green Beans are almost ready for picking. The Basil is ready for cutting. The Parsley has been cut once and is ready again. All is well in the garden which is just as well because we will be flying off again and leaving it in exactly two weeks.

Wednesday, 18th June, 2025

Woke up at 5.00 am (7.00 am Greek Time) to a gorgeous morning. Hard to tell which location we were in. The sky is blue. The sun is bright. Already we’ve lost the night but it’s raining …. raining somewhere else.

Out in the garden things are running away from me. Away for ten days and everything’s expanded to fill the space. Last night, I dug up some new potatoes and then found I did exactly the same thing on exactly the same day last year. How exciting am I? The green beans will be ready to pick by Friday and the lettuces will have to be eaten in the next couple of weeks (every day) before they run to seed.

We had such a lovely time in Thessaloniki that I am going to book again for next year immediately. I’ve written to the Hotel to thank them for their services and to tell them what I want for next time.

Unfortunately, today I have a rather more pressing problem. It is medical. I am such a poor specimen! I already have an Oncology review booked for July. I had expected it to be routine but over the past couple of weeks I have had a few worrying – perhaps, shocking – events. I have been passing blood in the toilet. On one occasion, a lot of blood and it has really shocked me. This morning, I have been to the hospital to deliver notes on this to Oncology in the hope I can get an early examination both for diagnosis reasons and because we are going away in less than two weeks. I feel it is rather hanging over me and I would prefer just to know.

Thursday, 19th June, 2025

The transfer from Thessaloniki to Sussex has been made almost seamless by the weather which maybe a few degrees cooler but still warm. At 11.00 am it is 27C and 32C in Greece. This morning, we have spoken to the hotel we left a few days ago and booked the same suite for June next year. I have been using the Electra Group Hotels in Greece for 40 years and get a 15% discount on my booking which saves me about £600.00 for the week.

In the Now, we are home for less than two weeks before setting off again to Spain. It will be a new experience for us and that is what I need. We are flying to Murcia International Airport and have rented a villa on the edge of Torrevieja. It will be exciting to do something new. I need to be stretched in experience.

More sunshine; more walking; more learning – it’s all good …. hopefully. And if it is somewhere we like, we might book for a month or more next year and drive there via Portsmouth to Santander.

Still feeling the effects of travelling home and the 2hr time difference today. Went out to buy a 2kg Swordfish loin which will be cut into steaks for grilling in the garden. If you’ve ever cooked swordfish, you would know that the smell is strong and all pervasive. Better tantalise the neighbourhood cats than lingering for days round our house. The fish supplier is on the beach which was beginning to look summery.

I am planting out a second lot of Basil plants which have been nurtured for a couple of months and survived our time away. We need to establish them before we go away and then set up the automatic watering system. They will love this weather and it is 30C/86F as they go out in the raised beds this afternoon. It is Sweet Genoan Basil (Genovese Basil) and it is warmer here than its homeland today.

Friday, 20th June, 2025

And the lovely weather goes on …. and is forecast to for another week. Then we go off to Torrevieja as the rain is forecast to fall. That will be really helpful.

Anyway, a lot of my focus over the next 10 days will be on getting the garden resilience into action to cope without its Carer for a while. Mainly, I will be preparing for travel. Not really knowing anything about Spain, never having flown to Murcia International, I have to check out organisation and timings.

• Taxi from airport to villa – €50.00 / 50 mins
• Look up the place where I’ve rented ….
• Check Check-in time – 4.00 pm.
• Note name of Property Manager and email them with Flight Times
• Arrange to pay early Check-in fee.
• Use Google Maps to digitally walk the streets and locate restaurants and Supermurcados.
• Note places worth visiting.

It is always a bit of a lottery but, hopefully, all the facilities we want will be present and of a suitable quality. This is what I booked and things like cooking, washing, air-conditioning and internet provision are paramount. This is what is promised by the booking:

All of these experienes are examples of confidence and optimism. We have sometimes lost but more often gained. You just have to make a leap of faith.

A leap of faith was made in Parliament today – akin to David Steele’s Abortion Bill of 1967 and Leo Abse’s 1967 Bill to legalise Homosexuality – the Assisted Dying Bill will change the culture and almost certainly for the better.

I have been seriously conflicted over it for some time. The Commons debate had a large number of excellent and thoughtful contributions and a number which we knew were religiously motivated but unacknowledged. Ultimately, individual autonomy is the winning argument in spite of concerns of coercion. After all, there is coercion now and know one screams about it being unregulated.

Saturday, 21st June, 2025

And the heat goes on
Just like my love, everlasting
And the beat goes on
Still moving strong, on and on

A hot, humid night that didn’t fall below 22C/70F – going to have to get better air conditioning. We are currently discussing it seriously. It’s the disruption not the cost that is holding us back. Holes drilled in walls, electrical points added, condenser units on the outside of the house, large boxes on the bedroom and lounge walls.

Can we face it? Predictions are that it will only get more important over time. It is probably better to take action now. We will probably install 4 or 5 units. Things to think about/ research this Summer.

Right now, we have more important things to think about. Over night, Pauline’s elderly (88 in August) sister has had a fall and hit her head resulting with her being hospitalised. It is possible we will be driving up to Surrey this morning.

At 5.00 am, I was laying in bed listening to a political podcast: Chris Patten – a British politician who was the Chairman of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1992 under Thatcher and the 28th and last Governor of Hong Kong from 1992 to 1997. He presided over the return of Hong Kong to China with all the disastrous and predicatable events that ensued. He is now 81 years old but the interview reprised all the events of the late 1980s and early 1990s – events which were, to the young interviewer who was only born in Thatcher’s last year of power, only history but, to me the history of part of my life.

I’ve spent a difficult day driving up to Surrey and then in St. Peters A&E. Pauline’s sister, Phyllis, didn’t pull through but, unfortunately died this afternoon. It is so sad that another human being left the world.

It hits one hard and I will write more about her tomorrow but what stands out for me is how so many lives I have known and lost end in the tawdry surroundings of a world they hardly saw.

Sunday, 8th June, 2025

Lovely sunny morning but quite fresh. Haircut day early so it doesn’t get in the way of work and exercise. I’m not allowed to go away without a haircut and, actually these days, I like having my haircut. All a far cry from 1967 when, aged 16, I swore I would never have my haircut again. Oh what foolishness of youth! Of course, in old age, eyebrows, ear and nose hair are also in need of attention. My barber does a good job and I can watch the political interview programmes while she does it.

Got to get all the lawnmowing done today so things look smart for the residents of the street while we are away. The garden vegetables are developing well. We are already cutting lettuces and herbs. Whe we get back, I hope to be lifting new potatoes and picking green beans.

After my haircut, my Hairdesser has decided that I need a hat to shield my thin scalp from hot sun. I hate hats. I have never seriously worn a hat. Dad was a country gent who wore country caps. They just don’t suit me. Anyway, I was bought a baseball cap which I refuse to wear. It looks ridiculous and has been captured by the MAGA movement encouraged by Trump. There is no way I will copy that.

By pure accident, I was in Sainsburys this morning and came across a cap which is reminiscent of Vladimir Lenin – the renowned Russian revolutionary leader. Ok, I still look daft in it but if I need something to cover my thinning scalp, this will amuse me and others.

Unlike Lenin, I’ve cut all the neighbour’s lawns today, The street looks good and everything is fine for leaving for a week or so. The weather is mixed here over the time I’m away so it should survive my absence. After a couple of weeks back, I’m off to Spain for a while so the neighbourhood will have to cope alone.

Monday, 9th June, 2025

My new cap sparked some local commentary yesterday. My sister, Jane, said I looked less like Lenin and more like my Grandfather – my Dad’s father. Quite shocked and slightly moved me. My lovely, German next door neighbour is mad about hats and sent me more photos than I could cope with. I particularly like the one as a young student on the ferry to Hull a few years ago now.

Do you remember what it felt like to be young and alive, Dear Reader? The number of times I’ve driven on and off that self same ferry as we travelled Hull – Zeebrugge and back over the years. Wonderful times!

No more ferries at the moment. Off to Gatwick Airport tonight. It takes about an hour’s drive. Half way through, one of us will say, You did remember to pack …. ? After a few minutes head-panic, we realise that we have and settle down to the trip.

I think it must be my age but even though I relish everything digital, I cannot quite let go of analogue. I think I say this every time but all my Lounge passes, my Carpark booking, my Flight Tickets and Boarding Passes, and Hotel Membership cards along with all my everyday payment cards, etc. are saved on my mobile in Google Wallet. It makes presentation so straight forward but, having grown up with emerging technology regularly failing and embarrassing me, I still have that lack of total confidence in it. A file of paper printout backups always accompanies us and makes me feel pathetically ancient.

All the lawns cut. All the plants watered. All the technology packed. All the paperwork filed. All the house lighting set both inside and out. All set. Do you want to come, Dear Reader? Funny but setting the automatic systems suddenly jarred me back into the past. Do you remember these Programmable Mechanical Timer Plug Switches? Just over a decade ago, we had dozens and needed hours to set them up before we went away. Now, everything is done from one app on my mobile – ceiling lights, table lamps, outside lights, heating, cameras, sound systems, even my car – at the click of a finger. I could do it from the airport or from my hotel room. How far we have come.

Tuesday, 10th June, 2025

Lovely, uneventful drive to Gatwick last night. The only hazard was dodging badgers in the moonlight. Great title for a book: Dodging Badgers in the Moonlight. The roads were quiet. The airport was incredibly quiet. Went through Security Check in less that 2 minutes. My Handler flirted with a few new pairs of sun glasses en route to the Executive Lounge – No.1 Gatwick North is one of our favourites.

We had pre-booked it because it has been popular recently. This morning we almost had it to ourselves. We were called to Gate very quickly and Speedy Boarding was exactly as described on the tin. No sooner had we arrived at Gate but we were walking on to the plane and strapping in. The privilege of great seats and large cases stored overhead is so liberating. The journeys themselves on modern planes are a delight.

Our flights to Greece in the early 1980s were 4 hrs 35mins followed by a 60 mins bus to Piraeus, a 3hr wait and then a 5hrs 30 mins ferry to our island. On a Friday/Saturday after a hard year’s teaching, we had to be committed to the cause. This flight was a mere 3 hrs 5 mins followed by a 30 mins taxi service to our hotel. Youngsters today don’t know they’re born!

The upshot of it was that we arrived at our hotel about 3hrs too early. We dropped off our bags and went out for a glass of wine and nibbles in the sunshine by the sea front. A fatal start to the day, Dear Reader. I will not bore you with the developments.

The hotel proudly announced that we had been allocated the best Suite on the top floor of the hotel. They knew we would be delighted and, I think, expected us to confirm that on inspection. Nice, big, wrap-around balcony with two lots of outdoor furniture and views over Aristotelous Square and the Thermaikos Gulf.

Of course, I am not used to eating or drinking. I have spoilt myself for Dinner tonight so the most I will do is stroll in the sunset and then sip iced white wine in the 32C/90F warmth of the evening … and so to bed. Hopefully, I will see another day …. After 10 months without alcohol, this gorgeously dry Malagouzia wine from the Peloponnese is playing havoc with the evenness of my keel. I would recommend it to anyone who drinks to forget.

Wednesday, 11th June, 2025

Feel for me, Dear Reader. I’ve had to eat Breakfast this morning. Bacon & Scrambled Egg. Feel terrible now.

Of course, my head and my stomach think it is 5.30 am. My watch says it is 7.30 am. It is hard to reconcile the two. My head knows it but my stomach rejects it all. Up on the roof, it is 26C/79F, tables are set for of every type Breakfast and the displays are groaning with gargantuan amounts food. A man who has been starving for the past year really doesn’t know whether to eat the lot or run away.

Last night the trouble started. We had eaten some Lunch and drunk too much wine waiting for our suite to be ready. As a result, our heads said we should be going out to Dinner. Our bodies rejected the whole, gross idea. We sat on the balcony in a very humid 32C/90F and watched the βόλτα/Volta/Evening Sauntering below.

This morning, I am going for a long walk on the miles of promenade aside the warm waters of the Thermaic Gulf. Do you want to come, Dear Reader? Out in the sunshine at 10.00 am aiming to get back to the hotel for 1.00 pm /11.00 am (UK) to watch Prime Minister’s Questions followed by the Spending Review from Rachael Reeves.

Back early and into the Hotel’s Executive Lounge for a Lunch of smoked salmon sandwiches and white wine. It is a ‘free’ service that comes with our suite. It would be rude not to avail ourselves of the service.While there, we watch the BBC’s presentation of the Parliamentary developments and the hotel’s Customer Service Manager, Restaurant Manager and Wine Manager all come to fawn over us

Incredibly hot afternoon watching politics on the Balcony via a 17″ Laptop screen. Amazing how quickly you forget the size and get lost in the pictures. Thank goodness there are occasions where size doesn’t always matter. Nice experience though. Just my sort of distraction.

Beach volleyball doesn’t do it for me. I know it does for some men and they would be happy here this week as Thessaloniki convert their classical Aristotle Square below into a beach by importing tons of sand to make a court with pop-up viewing platforms for the international Championships. The games will start on Friday and complete by Monday. The world’s media will be here to televise the excitement.

Thursday, 12th June, 2025

A very warm night outside and, at 6.00 am / UK 4.00 am, the temperature is 27C / 81F. At this time just as the sun is rising, the sky is full of clouds of small birds darting hither and thither for the rich feed of insects available. It is repeated as the sun goes down in the evening.

Out on the balcony, the city is already bustling moving, rushing to work. Ladders are going up at a hotel in the distance. They obviously have the builders in. Out in the sea, a huge container ship is slowly moving out to distant destinations. The world revolves without our input.

Did my 8 mile/13 kilometre walk down the sea side this morning in 32C/90F of sweaty, humid heat. Walked past my most notable ancestor glorified in stone at the beach side. Alexander the Great (Αλέξανδρος O Μέγας) on his charger – giving me the surname of Sanders. Obviously, I have put him and his exploits in Macedonia into the shade but he is still important in history.

In this heat, I am not hungry at all but my Carer longs for a traditional Moussaka which is pronounced Moo-Sar-Kar and tastes nothing like those served in UK and pronounced Moo-Saar-Ka. I will sip wine and nibble bread while she stuffs her face. I will still end up fatter but at least I am resigned to it.

Friday, 13th June, 2025

Friday the 13th, Dear Reader. Beware. I could be knocking on your door. The King’s could be driven to distraction. A very hot morning which is already reading 32C/90F at 10.00 am. Forced myself to eat Breakfast – only to accompany my Carer, of course. We chose a table outside looking down on Aristotle Square which has been transformed since we arrived from a classical, old site to a modern beach volley stadium. The girls, in their skimpy bikinis, are already playing down there. The TV cameras of ERT TV are recording the action and spectators are arriving.

I wondered what my old friend, Aristotle himself, would think of it. I went down to talk to him about it and, maybe, gaze wistfully at the girls on the court. He looked rather distracted although I couldn’t gauge whether it was by the tanned limbs in front of him or by his Ethical Principia.

After so long of self denial, eating feels associated with guilt. Breakfast today has to be assuaged by the penance of physical exercise. Set off for an 8 mile / 13 kilometre walk down the coast to the Thessaloniki Opera House. It is a beautiful, red brick building on the edge of the Thermaic Gulf. What I will do for Art!

Felt like a saint when I got back – 2 hrs later – in 90F/32C of – hot sun. Fortunately, there is lower humidity today which is the killer.

Back at our hotel, we went into the Executive Lounge which provides us with non-stop food and wine ‘free of charge’ and lots of pampering. Today it was the turn of Zoe & Roula until Alexia, Guest Relations Manager came in and presented us with a Thank You gift – a bag of gifts including an elaborately packaged bottle of extra virgin olive oil and an object from the local museum shop – a polished metal sculpture of a Dove used all around Greece as a symbol of peace and friendship.

It is all a bit cheesy and you can see it cynically like that. Alexia’s note to us can be seen in the same way. After nearly 50 years in Greece, we know it is both cheesy and meaningful. These are genuine people. The Americans automatically say, Have a nice day. almost as a substitute for Goodbye. We know that Alexia’s Warmest Regards have both cheesiness and genuineness interwoven. It is the Greek way. At Birthdays, they wish you to live to 1000 years. At weddings, they try not to view beyond the hearts and flowers. Of course philoxenia (φιλοξενία) translates to friend to the stranger or guest-friendship, representing a strong tradition of hospitality and welcoming strangers. It’s a virtue deeply rooted in Greek culture, valuing generosity and courtesy towards others, even those unknown. That’s why I love them.

Saturday, 14th June, 2025

Well, survived Friday 13th – just. Hope you did, Dear Reader. Warm night – 17C/63F – across UK but with some rain. A hot night here – 26C/79F – without any sign of rain and we are expecting to reach 33C/92F at peak.

One of the nice things about returning to a city and a hotel that you’ve visited before is that the learning process, the acclimatisation is much quicker. As a consequence, although we are only just starting our 5th day here, it feels like I’ve been here forever.

We are in a different and larger Suite of rooms but it all feels the same, safe, rather dated Greek style of yester year. It is comfortable with a good bed and a huge, wrap around balcony that would host a Dinner Party comfortably – 2 Dining Tables and chairs / 2 sets of sofas outside. You wouldn’t choose to furnish your own home like this but the Greeks think it is the height of genteel living. The Management proudly told us it was the best Suite in the hotel. At least it is very quiet and I know where the bathroom is in the darkness when I get out of bed at night.

I love Thessaloniki. The people really care about their environment and the wider world. History and Politics are central to their lives. They talk about, argue about, espouse the causes of environmentalism, the Palestinian cause, destructive tourism, the weakness of their government, and so on. They care enough to stand up and be counted. It is in their DNA.

Sunday, 1st June, 2025

Happy new month, Dear Reader. It’s going to be a great Summer. I’m determined to make it so. Well, I’m going travelling so I hope that augers well for all of us. The sun will shine …. somewhere. I hope it shines on the Ripon Mafia and doesn’t rain too much in Wales.

I’m looking forward to Foreign climes, to airports and flights, to the babble of European tongues, the aroma of sun-soaked European plants and the tantalising smells of European kitchens. Oh, and a bit of UK travel as well to make new connections. What more could one ask for at the great age of 74?

Woke early to find my Housekeeper awake beside me. At 5.00 am on a Sunday morning, there is nothing on the BBC. There is a TV in the bedroom but I can’t watch TV in bed. Thank goodness I have the facility of Alexa at my side to play my favourite political podcast from Global Player: The News Agents. Today it was discussing the credible risk to the UK from the Russian state. Even my Housekeeper was gripped. Foreplay doesn’t get much better than this!

First, exercise and a long walk. Then gardening in the sunshine. This is healthy stuff. Then I have to turn my attention to financial matters. When I return from Greece, I have to be prepared to reinvest fixed interest bonds and 6 fixed ISAs which are maturing in July. Financial Health is almost as important as physical. My Housekeeper is concentrating on preparing for our first trip with ironing and packing.

After 45 years of travelling together, we have paired back and refined things so much that we now travel very light. Unless we are going away for a month or more, we seem to be able to manage without Hold Luggage. Dressing up for Dinner is not something we have ever done in Greece. Simple, unpretentious, island-style tavernas are our choice and no one expects formal dressing there. If they did, I wouldn’t go.

What this does is allow us to go on short stay travel without all the time-consuming queuing up with luggage at Check-in and carousel on getting off the aircraft each end. We are one of the first out of the airport and first to get a taxi. It feels so liberating and not really limiting at all. I buy Easyjet Speedy Boarding, Extra Legroom and two small cabin bags and two Large cabin bags each. Who can wear more than 30kgs of clothes in ten days? I also have a laptop, two iPads and a Kindle to carry.

Twenty five years ago, we had to finance the purchase of land in Greece, hire lawyers, an architect and builders to construct a house for us. We sold our large house on the Pennines and bought a large house in Huddersfield but without all the extensive gardens. It freed up a lot of cash for our next project and provided us with a big house but less grounds to maintain. It shocked even us that we stayed 10 years and really enjoyed the time there.

The house was built in a former quarry and we constructed a garden from scratch. The steps in this photograph were installed by Martin & Darren – two lads from school who I had employed in the school’s Resource Centre and IT Centre. For unlimited chocoate bars and a trip to Nandos, they worked tirelessly through their summer holidays. Nice memories.

Monday, 2nd June, 2025

Another week. Another week of work. Going to push myself to get through a long list of jobs. The months, the Summer, the year, the lifetime is running ahead of us, Dear Reader. No wonder the important motto remains Carpe Diem – Sieze the Day. We have to grab each one as it passes by unless we lose it. Less than three weeks now until the Longest Day and then …. the year begins the decline into darkness.

Good night’s sleep and I have lots of energy this morning. The sky is blue. The sun is shining and …. go. Went down to a local Garden Centre where the lady on the till was the Founder with her now dead husband back in 1975. It’s still going well and so is she at the age of 85. Let that be a lesson to us all.

This morning I have been talking to an old friend from the late 1960s/early 70s who lives in Bolton – but we don’t hold that against him. We were swapping thoughts about a Cumbrian poet, Norman Nicholson whose work I wrote my College Dissertation on and then went with Nicholson to do a poetry reading in Leeds Town Hall in 1973. On my bookshelves I still hold and regularly refer to these books. They cost me 60p and £1.00 in 1971. The centre book by Philip Gardner, is signed by Harry Chambers which will mean very little to most people but means a lot to me. He was an early publisher of Philip Larkin and Seamus Heaney. He was also my University Tutor for 20th Century European Poetry.

Norman Nicholson warns us not to wish our lives away but to seize the current day and squeeze every last drop of goodness and joy out of it.

My brother-in-law will be 89 this week or Rising 90!! If there is a more scary thought, I’d like to hear it. Still, we will all have to face it …. hopefully. I’m preparing for the next 25 years at this very moment. Rersearching investment opportunities to fund another quarter of a century of playing out.

Actually, I am turning over the potential of fixed rate ISAs and fixed rate Bonds with a variety of durations. I’m thinking of ISAs to mature after 1, 2 & 3 year durations. Actually, the interest rate is not markedly different. There is no way to really predict how interest rates will go but the BoE is predicting we will return to Bank Rate of 2.0% by this time next year so to lock in at more than double that will be useful. The worry is that Trump smashes things up.

I’m also looking at Fixed Rate Bonds which I can get a over the same fixed periods. It just means I will be paying tax on them. I don’t mind paying tax but I would rather not if it puts the principle at risk of erosion by inflation. I must admit that I am ceasing to be spooked by the lack of good rates from traditional, High Street names because the High Street no longer has traditional representation. They are all retreating on-line so everything will be internet/app based.

I would never have considered Aldemore Bank or Hampshire Trust Bank in the past. Now, I rely on the FSCS Compensation cover which guarantees £170,000.00 (2 x £85,000.00) for the two of us in one overarching institution. It allows one to be a bit more adventurous.

Tuesday, 3rd June, 2025

A sunny start to the day although we are warned of rain to come. Going out walking early before it arrives. I’ll finish off in the Gym on the Treadmill later.

Focus for today is to research new flooring for the Hallway. It is only 16m² so not a major project but the existing one has a couple of chips in the surface that catch the eye every time I walk in so it has to go.

Went in to our local town, Rustington, to look at flooring in reality and it became harder rather than easier. We basically have three, different choices to make. Do we want: Laminate Flooring, Luxury Vinyl Tiles or Engineered Wood? Ultimately, the decision will not be cost but appropriateness. It will be fitted while we are away for the month after returning from a fortnight in the North of England.

Went down to the beach as the weather changed and the sun retreated. Not many small boats expected today. The sea is quite unfriendly.

It never ceases to amuse me how my Father – who died when I was just 14 years old – would have been amazed at my interest in Gardening. He tried for years to cultivate (no pun intended) that interest without any sign of success. Yet here I am at the grand old age of 74 and the past 50 of those years has been spent gardening, particularly growing vegetables and planting trees.

Over that time, I’ve owned properties with acres of land around them. Particularly, in Helme Village in Huddersfield but also in Greece where we bought 4 acres of land. On this day 12 years ago, I was learning how to grow tomatoes, green beans, aubergines and bell peppers in the intense heat of a mediterranean sun. Experienced men from the island taught me to dig bowls in the dust dry earth and to fill them with water in the cool of the evening to get the plants through the next day. My success rate was …. partial. Lovely memory though.

Wednesday, 4th June, 2025

Not a brilliant day. Quite cool and blustery with intermittent sunshine. Had to teach some visiting Jehova’s Witnesses about the importance of Atheism. They even had a sad, young lad in tow. I warned him of the dangers of indoctrination. I think he understood. I’ve been communication in with friends myself – keeping the lines of communication OPEN.

Had a contact from a relative yesterday asking about hotels in Athens for October. Having spent almost 45 years visiting Athens every year, I am often asked for recommendations. It is usually a pleasure to pass on my experience. It is only for two nights at the beginning of a cruise when they want a central Athens hotel but I got a real shock this time. Almost every hotel I would normally recommend is fully booked. Not sure what is going on but I really struggled.

I was able to find a room in a small hotel that we used almost 30 years ago. I checked my records and it cost us just £37.00 per night including Breakfast. Today, they were able to book the same for £236.00 per night. I will write them a guide to Athens that I have acquired over the past 45 years so they don’t need to go through all that experience first.

Got a phone call this morning from our Thessaloniki hotel. They were supposed to take our payment for 8 days stay yesterday – one week ahead of our arrival. Since we booked 12 months ago, our Credit Card had been upgraded and I hadn’t renewed it on their site. Yesterday, they were supposed to take €4,356.00 for 7 nights. Currently that is £3,670.00. That is a penthouse suite with Breakfast. Bit embarrassing but soon sorted out.

As well as exercise, we have both done gardening today. The hedge has been trimmed, the cuttings swept up. New plants have been put out and herbs sown for the Summer. It is forecast to rain tomorrow so it is important to get these things done today. Life goes on.

I have to arrange financial investments for the middle of July now. I have to book work on my house for November now. I have to order new machines for the Laundry now, hopefully to be delivered and installed in August/September.

Thursday, 5th June, 2025

A wet start and plenty of rain forecast for today. The garden will be pleased but I will have to spend more time in the Gym instead of the sun. Talking of sun, as we prepare to fly off to mediterranean heat, we look nervously at the weather back home while we are away. Yesterday the forecast suggested the garden would see at least two days of rain. This morning, it’s all change and the garden will just see hot sun. I’m thinking of moving it to Northern England or even to Wales for the duration.

For the moment, I’m really concentrating on Retirement Income and how to ensure it is improving not declining in value over time. As this article from The Times Money section emphasises, less than half of retirees are confident their savings will see them through their lifetime. It must be genuinely upsetting to feel financially insecure at a time when it is difficult or imposible to increase your income. It is something I addressed even before we retired and have been working on ever since. Hard work and sacrifice is paying off. After 16 years of retirement and in our mid-70s, we actually feel more comfortable than when we were working.

A rule of thumb is that you should aim to have about two-thirds of your salary as an annual income in retirement. To fund a “comfortable” life, you need a pension of £44,000 a year as a single person or £60,600 between you as a couple.

This morning, I have been out to speak to our investment bank to arrange the next steps. They are withdrawing from the High Street and it will be our last visit there. Pity really, so many of their Financial Advisers are looking for new jobs after years of service with them. Fortunately for us, the rain has stopped and we can walk there.

Friday, 6th June, 2025

A day of scudding clouds and chill winds. Dry but threatening. I was exhausted last night and went to bed early. Consequently, I was up even earlier this morning and had completed an hour and half’s walk by 9.00 am. Today is the first Herb Harvest Day of the Summer. Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme, Tarragon, Oregano, Mint and Chives are all being cut, washed, spun dry, chopped and bagged up for freezing.

There will be a couple more such days before the growing year is over and the freezers will be bulging with supplies to last 12 months. The Basil has already had one cutting and a batch of Pesto made and frozen.

I have always been interested in ideas – philosophical and political particularly. I have quite strong views developed over time through reading, listening and thinking. I try not to be dogmatic and to keep an open mind , prepared to change if I see a reason to do so. A couple of such questions are currently passing through public consideration.

I have long believed in the principle of assisted dying. I could see no reason why people should be denied personal autonomy over their own lives. No one has the right to deny me the right to end my life early if I so choose. Recently, however, I have been given pause for thought. Although I still utterly believe in the personal autonomy principle, I have experienced a number of occasions when I believe people’s deaths have been accelerated in what I would consider cases which facilitate the medical profession rather than the patient. Do Not Recussitate orders even lean in that way. The medical profession’s Do No Harm principle is put under serious stress even now and would be more so if they are drawn into assisted dying decisions.

Another principle of mine currently being challenged is having to prove one’s identity on demand. The concept of identity cards has long been rejected by Left Wing opinion. Identity Cards have always been considered susceptible to Far Right, Authoritarian governments in controlling their populations. Of course, this topic has come back on to the agenda partly for exactly that reason. Illegal immigration leaves governments looking helpless. Identity cards would allow those not legitimately here to be challenged more easily. Of course they would also allow all of us to be challenged (harrassed) in public on a daily basis. Do we want to grant the authorities that possibility?

Of course, the world is changing and rapidy. I have a Driving Licence, a digital Tax Record, a digital Health Record, a Mobile Phone record, a Credit Card record, umpteen service plans with online companies which display my personal tastes and my financial probity. I can look up and be looked up by others who can find my age, my address, my phone number, my Birth Certificate, etc, on the web in minutes. So much of me is out there – not to mention all the personal information I volunteer on my Blog. It is a short step to bring these things together in an Identity Card. I think I am coming around to that too.

Saturday, 7th June, 2025

A wet night has, fortunately, given way to a dry morning. The world outside looks thoroughly refreshed and so am I. Woke early – 5.30 am and listened to a political podcast from The Newsagents. It was an exciting start to the day. An interview with Jeremy Hunt about the Liz Truss effect on the prospects of the Tory Party. If you want excitement in bed, that’s the way to go! Anyway, that’s as much as you get today, Dear Reader.

I am 74 and I am lucky. The traditional expectation of Three score years and ten refers to the biblical expression for seventy years, meaning a typical human lifespan. Actually, it was more optimism than reality until quite recently.

It always shocks me – death and particularly with people I know/knew and especially those younger than myself. These two girls, photographed in 1972, were two years younger than me. I remember them on Freshers’ Week. The one on the left, Caroline Horncastle, is now dead. The one on the right, Heather Ward her best friend at College posted this photo yesterday in memory of her friend of more than 50 years. She had attended the funeral and said, She is now part of the hill in Allendale from whence she came.

What a thought. Caroline was born in Allendale – a beautiful part of Northumberland and that is where she is now buried. It hit me like a ton of bricks. The matter-of-fact acceptance of the situation. The ordinariness of the relationship and the report. The normalisation of putting the body of a vibrant, young girl in the earth where she was born.

They give birth astride of a grave, the light gleams an instant, then it’s night once more.

— Samuel Beckett, ‘Waiting for Godot’.

It may happen every day but considering it now, the thought is almost too much to bear. It emphasises how little time we have to burn.

Sunday, 25th May, 2025

Rain over night – fantastic. Sunny and warm this morning – fantastic. Out on an early walk, the world looks lovely. It’s amazing but the older I get the more important small experiences are.

This little vignette on my walk this morning seems to sum up the pleasure in living. Poppies – Papaveraceae – flower brightly and beautifully but are over very quickly. A metaphor for Life?

Just two weeks and we will be off to Gatwick Airport and on to Thessaloniki in Northern Greece. I have fallen in love with this city over the past few years and really look forward to renewing my acquaintance with it.

By day and by night it has so much to offer in terms of culture and friendliness, sights and sounds, food and exercise. All of that comes with the delicious heat of Greeek sun and lapping of the Aegean Sea across the Thermaic Gulf. Can’t wait!

A dear friend from school who still lives in West Yorkshire is 70 this week. I am thinking of her now as she was 20 years ago. My carer, I’ve worked out, will be 74 in just over 4 months. I am about to buy machinery which has a 5 year warranty which will end when I’m 79. Age is racing towards us. One of the most important things to do, in my view, is not let go of the Future. Don’t say, Oh, I’m too old for all that. I intend to be exercising, travelling, embracing new technology, pestering my friends right up until my very last breath. I certainly won’t be buying cars that aren’t complicated, as the Sunday Telegraph trumpets. That way is …. the end.

Monday, 26th May, 2025

Woke at 4.30 am on this warm, bright morning. I dread it. My head explodes with thoughts at that time. Given to introspection at the best of times, my mind goes into overdrive in the silent moments of the early hours. It is a time to reflect on the context of existence. That is scary enough but the radio was running an Obituary programme and everyone seemed to be dying in their late 70s and early 80s.

What we call the beginning is often the end
And to make an end is to make a beginning.
The end is where we start from.
…
Every phrase and every sentence is an end and a beginning,
…
We die with the dying:
See, they depart, and we go with them.
We are born with the dead:
See, they return, and bring us with them.

Extracts from T. S. Eliot: Four Quartets 4: Little Gidding

I think it was sparked by the death of Alan Yentob – a giant of BBC culture and management – at the frighteningly young age of 78.

I’m 74. I have 4 years, only 4 years. What can I do in just 4 years? I must do it all this year just in case.  Everything has to be reconnected before it is too late.

Thou hast nor youth nor age
But as it were an after dinner sleep
Dreaming of both.

Shakespeare: Measure for Measure: Act Three

It is the utter inevitability of age and what it brings that is so undermining. We see people we know aging all around us. We see their age-related stresses, their needs for support and comfort and predict our own by inference. I constantly check myself for signs. I work hard to convince myself that it is not now, not yet.

Here I am, an old man in a dry month,
Being read to by a boy, waiting for rain.

T. S. Eliot: Gerontion

But when?

Tuesday, 27th May, 2025

Very blustery night – warm but quite wet. Dry this morning but still windy and grey. Going out for an early walk while I can. While out, the robots will be at work. Those upstairs and downstairs – Little John and Little John’s Mate vacuuming the floors. Upstairs it is a mixture of carpet and tiles. Downtairs it has to adjust between carpet, tiles and wooden flooring.

They take about 40 minutes to complete their routine’s and return to base to recharge. Of course, John and his Mate could do the job themselves but so much better to have it done for us while we do things we want to do. It was interesting over the weekend to read of the increasing take-up of robot technology particularly by Gen.Z. I’ve always known that I am young at heart if old in body. I was a reasonably early adopter of Robot Vacs but we have all been using robotics without realising it for years.

I was amused to read that, in giving my robots nicknames, I am adopting nationwide habits without realising. Of course, we have all been using robotics in our daily lives for a long time. You only have to look at simple machines – say washing machines – that can be switched on remotely or just by a timer, that can be told how long to wash, to spin, etc. Nowadays, they can be told to sense the type of fabrics inside and how much water is required to wash them. You can look all over one’s life for these sorts of things.

We have been in our ‘new’ house for more than 9 years now and are just starting to look around for a refresh. Usually, that would mean a new house. This time, we are just going to refresh the current house. Starting with the Utility Room, new technology driven appliances that make things easier, do things better and more economically are being ordered. A joiner will rework the unit housing and an electrician will add extra sockets.

In the Hallway and downstairs Cloakroom, the flooring will be replaced. This has been a debate for a while. We looked at it months ago and couldn’t agree. We have agreed that it will be hard wearing, wood (effect). We have now narrowed it down (I think) to these two choices: mine is on the left and is obviously much nicer. This will be quite disruptive so our workers will do it while we are away for a month in Tenerife.

The next debate is adding aditional units, work surface and an American-style Fridge Freezer in the Kitchen. It will mean moving a radiator and the Television to further down the room so will be quite involved.

Wednesday, 28th May, 2025

A warm night where we didn’t fall below 16C/61F. A sunny morning and I’ve done an early walk. My Housekeeper is cutting, preparing and freezing herbs for the future. There’s going to be a future? Sage, Tarragon, Rosemary and Parsley will be washed, chopped and packed into freezer labelled boxes. I’m looking at Trades People for house redevelopment and sorting out upcoming travel plans.

We have some brilliant workers on our books already but there are so many good people in the market for work around here and, just in time, the lates monthly Trades Magazine came through the door while I was out. Kitchen fitters, Electricians, Plumbers, etc. are everywhere. The hardest part is deciding which from which. We try to develop relationships with people and keep hold of them but there is always churn. Anyway, it is good to keep them on their toes with healthy competition.

We have 8 flights booked for the next few months and it is my responsibility to pre-book Executive Lounge places for each. Although we have ‘free’ access to them all, we have found recently that they get ‘full’ at this time of the year so I forward book them to ensure places. I have done them all now and the Entry Passes have been downloaded to our Digital Wallets on our smartphones. Every flight is with Easyjet and one can check in between 30 days and 2 hours before the flight departs. I have been doing that and saving Boardingh Passes in our Digital Wallets as well. If I was a Gen. Z generation – 24 instead of 74 – that would be enough. Being an old man, I also print a hard copy just in case.

Being an old man, my memories go back quite a way. On this day 16 years ago, I recorded this sad event:

It is a sad but important record that only lives on in memory. And, in my view, that is important.

While here in West Sussex, we are beginning to work on our Kitchen and Utility rooms and searching out materials and tradesmen, 15 years ago we were doping exactly that in our Greek home. We were off to Athens to source tiling for the kitchen and the patio.

It was an involved business which meant three days of travelling, hotels, taxis, Haulage Trucks on ferries and off onto the island. It all added to the costs. We had to get our estimates right. Run short of materials and the work to get more was not easy. Life is a lot easier now.

Thursday, 29th May, 2025

Woke up early with things walking through my head. A disappointingly grey but very warm start to the day. It rained over night which was useful. The grass colour is returning to nearly green.

Populism and populist are terms used to emphasize the idea of the common people and often position this group in opposition to a perceived elite. It is often associated with anti-intellectual,  anti-establishment and anti-political class sentiment. It is also often associated with Nationalism and tends towards Authoritarianism. It appears with the rise of the extremities of political thought – Far Left and Far Right.

It emerged for the first time in the 1850s in pre-revolutionary France and pre-revolutionary Russia. Populism constructs The People as a virtuous and unified group and sets them against The Elite which is portrayed as a homogeneous, corrupt force undermining the people’s will. Rousseau said only the people know what is best for society which  John Stuart Mill countered with the concept of the tyranny of the majority. Populist leaders harness that dichotomy.

We saw it in Stalin and in Hitler – extremes of Left and Right. We saw it in Mao Tse-Tung and Mussolini but it waxes and wanes according to the times and social conditions. We have had the rise of dangerous Right Wing Populism in Hungary with Viktor Orbán and the potential for Marine Le Pen‘s group in France. In the US, we have Trump and here we have Farage.

All have one thing in common. They identify concerns of the uneducated, disposessed and never posessed and offer simple solutions to alleviate those concerns. Simple solutions to complex problems are superficially attractive especially if you don’t examine them too closely but will never ultimately work. The Judiciary in the US is holding Trump to account. The Labour Government in UK is holding a light up to the absurdity that is Faragism.

Even so, these are destabilising times and ones in which we should all be alert. We have to stand up and be counted. It was good to see the Prime Minister call out the bogus economics of Farage’s populist policies. It is important that they should not go unchallenged even though it bestows an air of respectability on them in that address.

Friday, 30th May, 2025

Another grey start to the day. What is going on? It’s Flaming June on Sunday. Looking forward to our imminent trip to Greece. Third time for this lovely city on the edge of the Thermaic Gulf and our delightful hotel – The Electra Palace.

This year, we’ve pushed the boat out and moved up to the top floor Suite. We thought that we might as well indulge ourselves after a hard year of exercise and diet.

Thessaloniki is a lovely place for walking and for just sitting and watching the world go by, for cafes and restaurants and wonderful food. Of course, it is also a place for warm sunshine and enjoyable swimming.

After yesterday’s Blog, I was pleased to hear an inspirational interview with my American namesake, Bernie Sanders on Radio 4 this morning. The mad, American Right like to cast him as a Communist – they even described Joe Biden that way at one point so you can judge how far to the right they are. The thrust of Sanders’ thesis is that it wasn’t Biden’s late withdrawal that cost Kamala Harris the Presidency but the policy offer. Populists make ordinary, working people think they are on their side, have their best interests at heart when, usually, they only have their own interests at heart.

When working people are struggling to put food on the table, pay their rent/mortgage, heat their house, pay for their Healthcare and Education, they will vote for someone who says they feel their pain and will do something about it. They won’t be interested in fairly arcane transgender issues, Universities freedoms or even Abortion rights. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t offer those policies but they shouldn’t be elevated above the nitty gritty. And there is the lesson for Labour and the Lib.Dems. in the UK.

Saturday, 31st May, 2025

Lovely morning, Dear Reader and it’s a gardening day. Of course, I still have my daily exercise routine to complete but then I’ll get on with work.

The potatoes – I’m growing Casablanca First Earlies for a change. – are growing madly and will start to be lifted when we get back from Thessaloniki. I think I’ve overdone it with the lettuces but it will help with the diet.

A bucket of Parsley will be washed, chopped and frozen for the Winter. I love Mediterranean herbs but find I’m returning to the ones of my childhood – scary!

I left the sun of the back garden where things are developing nicely and went down to the beach where a different climate existed entirely. I think they call it sea-fret and it looked weird. with people paddling in the sea but barely visible.

Very warm but weirdly inappropriate would be how I would describe the experience. We didn’t stay. There seemed no point although the sun was obviously trying to fight through.

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.

Sunday, 11th May, 2025

I’ve got to stop saying it is another glorious day … but it is. The sun is up. The sky is blue. The sea is still and it is a day custom made for small boat immigration.

Immigration seems to be high on the agenda at the moment although, I must state from the outset that I welcome immigrants and lots of them. The UK desperately needs immigrants to fill the huge gaps in economic activity of native population. A rapidly aging population desperately needs workers to perform the tasks, pay the tax to fund the services and to support the pensions of the senior sector of which I am a member. As Joseph Stiglitz, the American, Nobel prize Economist has just said, without immigration, the whole US economy would cease to be. It is that important.

Of course, this is not a new phenomenon. It has been central for the past 30+ years. In fact, it goes back centuries to the slave trade and Colonialism, to inviting the Windrush generation of post-war labour shortage and to Asian immigrants in the Northern Textile Trade. Economies desperately need immigration. Contrary to popular belief, immigrants come here to work and contribute to the host country. It is on their backs that the relatively wealthier, indigenous population thrive.

As the graph shows, Blair-Brown were the last government to openly acknowledge the importance of immigration to the economy. Those following have done one thing and said another because they recognised the bind between economic development and electoral popularity. The Starmer government will be no different. It’s whole raison d’être is growth. Growth requires skilled labour. One of the central planks (no pun intended) of its growth plan is housing. Where does all the skilled labour come from? It needs skilled immigrants.

Next door to me lives a lovely German/Australian lady who lectures in a local college. Across the road lives an Italian man who works in IT and Pharmaceuticals. Just down the road lives a Cypriot who is an Accountant. They are lovely people who work hard, earn lots of money and pay lots of tax which funds my pension. Thank you. Thank you. That’s one of the reasons I am giving back by cutting their lawns, planting up their flower beds, etc..

Planting out this afternoon under a baking sun. It’s hot work but I’m not complaining. I’m getting my immediate home in order so I can go on my travels without worry. I’ve got 8 flights and 4 long drives booked/planned already and who knows what extra is to come. It is important to expand one’s horizons, Dear Reader, not narrow them.

Monday, 12th May, 2025

Expand horizons not narrow them, Dear Reader. Today, our world is so expansive because of the internet and mobile technology. I’ve just walked through one of our local parks where a huge 5G mobile phone tower stands in one corner. It serves a massive area. Our house is probably 2 miles away but the signal is still good.

You might say it is an eyesore but no more than an electricity pylon and just as useful. In the early 1990s, I was living in Huddersfield and desperate for all the latest technology. I took out a mobile contract but had to drive a mile away from home to use it. There was no signal at home in the countryside. That was more than 30 years ago and we have gone through 2G, 3G, 4G and some of us are now enjoying 5G speeds of signal delivery.

I was reminded of this by a story from the Manchester Evening News this morning. There are still completely dead areas up there.

Thirty years ago, we were living on the Pennines and might have been excused a poor signal but this report is of Middleton in Manchester. How can that be a dead area? If the Labour Government are to achieve growth, they cannot afford dead areas.

Last night – joy of joys – we had rain. The land everywhere could be heard cheering and drinking in equal measures. It is a drop in the ocean but it is welcome nonetheless.

We think we’ve been dry and we are reputationally drier and sunnier than most in UK but the distribution map featured in The Times this morning illustrates the spine if England is really suffering. For so many decades under a privatised water distribution system, supplies have been drying up while leaks have not been fixed.

This is in a temperate climate with wet winters providing lots of water on a usual basis. Few new reservoirs have been created. Little action has been undertaken to divert and transport water from wetter areas to dryer ones. We could be using Welsh water down here if the work had been done. I’m sure it wouldn’t be so much inferior as to be undrinkable.

Ironically, I will soon be flying off to a much drier, hotter and sunnier place – Thessaloniki in Northern Greece. In contrast to the early days of Greek flying and although I am still taking Easyjet, I booked, paid for and have just checked-in all on my mobile phone. Isn’t progress wonderful, Dear Reader, just as long as you don’t live in the North.

Tuesday, 13th May, 2025

Gorgeous morning. Quite a contrast with yesterday which started off grey and damp as I took my Housekeeper to the station. She went up to London to meet up with an old friend and have Lunch in the Darwin Brasserie in the Sky Garden building.

Alright for some while ate my Cannellini Bean & Prawn salad with sparkling water. Of course, my Housekeeper has infinite powers. She not only jinxed the weather for one day, she also caused a major shutdown of the London transport system.

Just for one day – the day she was there – a major power outage on the National Grid closed the Underground and led to the cancellation of many mainline trains as well.

Now, I don’t do this very often, Dear Reader, but a self-portrait has been demanded this morning. A passport to knocking on doors. I always aim to please.

Wednesday, 14th May, 2025

A Reunion of men in their mid 70s from more than 50 years ago. It is sobering to see the effects of time but surprising to see the spirit of survival.

Today in the most beautiful sunlight, the band of 20 men – the first in the women’s College – met again in the beautiful grounds of The Ripon Inn.

Nature renews itself in the sunlight. Not so old men’s bodies. A dwindling band met today and dined on Burger & Chips with Yorkshire Bitter. Friendships renewed and old bonds reinforced.

Unfortunately, I was not there. I was more concerned with bodies and health. A comprehensive medical review took me away to the City and a meeting with a whole-body scanner which will provide me with 2,000 images of my body from all angles, recording every mole, freckle and vein.

Hooked up to ECGs, vials of my blood were taken to be analysed and my grip strength was tested. This was followed by an eye health check and an assessment of my heart and lungs. Futuristic and technological, the testing Centre is the antithesis of Beer, Burger & Chips but, hopefully, it will be helpful and I will be up in Ripon soon anyway.

The South of England saw 28C/83F today and it felt hot. These are days to savour and enjoy.

Thursday, 15th May, 2025

As an immediate contrast to yesterday’s High Tech experience, 16 years ago today, I had reason to seek medical advice. The difference was that I was living on a relatively remote, Greek island which brings its own challenges. They are things tourists rarely think about. Certainly young people rarely consider and 16 years ago, I was still only 58.

I found out that the island’s Medical Centre was hardly medical and definitely not really a centre. It had two, Junior Doctors neither of who could speak much English. The conditions and services were akin to Third World.

Most specialist services have to either be sought in Athens which involved long ferry journeys or waited for with specialists visiting the island occasionally. What about emergencies? You might well ask. At the age of 58, and after more than 30 years on the island, I really confronted that question for the first time. Greek island travel is a genuine risk in the case of medical emergency. Just routine treatment is problematic in a relatively poor country where top professionals would rather live in big city centres not find themselves marooned on remote islands.

There is no question that we made the right decision to not spend 6 months a year there anymore. Increasingly, age made it problematic. But, we are now marooned on our own island of Brexit isolation. The populations of Greek islands no longer want tourists buying up their scarce land and building on them. The residents of our island regularly make it clear that they would not want us to do what we did just over 25 years ago – buy a farmers field and build a large home that we would only live in for part of the year. That movement is being echoed on Canarian islands and in central Spain. The world is turning in upon itself. Even little Wales is getting sick of second homers.

Friday, 16th May, 2025

A gorgeous day to embrace life. Blue sky, strong sunshine and warm air. We all have so little time on this earth and then, I can assure you, all we know is oblivion as we go back to the earth. It is important to make the most of the living.

Vitamin D – the food of the sun – is now known to help us ward off Dementia and contribute to not only a longer life but a healthy longer life. We need to embrace it as much as we can. Shorts and teeshirt for 8 months a year really helps me do that. Walking outside for a couple of hours a day helps me to do that. Trips abroad give me that. I am and have been generally suntanned for 40 years.

Isolation shortens lives. We’ve recently learnt that isolation through deafness is a predicter of later Dementia. Certainly isolation from friendship groups brings on an earlier end to life. Embracing people is important. I have not always found that easy but I am trying much harder in my Retirement and beginning to enjoy it. I am constantly reaching out to people now I have the time although a lot of it is in communication at distance.

There are lessons for us as a nation, as a body politic in that. Isolation, Little England is not conducive to a long and healthy life. We need to embrace others, integrate with others, accept and enjoy the differences and similarities of humanity across the globe. In this light, Starmer’s descent into Faragist rhetoric is worrying and distasteful. If you are old enough to remember the Enoch Powell, Rivers of Blood speech in 1968, that racist sentiment got him thrown out of the Tory Party then. Now it would make him a leader. That is how far we have travelled.

And travelling is important not just to the British pubs of Benidorm but the the cultures and languages that are outside our everyday experiences. This moving article by Yasmin Alibhai-Brown in the I-News illustrates how far some of us have travelled and others not so. That gulf has developed as politicians see the value and necessity of immigration to our economy but have not felt able to to teach their ill-educated electorates who feel fearful and challenged by the unknown.

An old friend sent me this photo today. He has definitely improved my appearance and he certainly understands me.

Saturday, 17th May, 2025

Good morning, Dear Reader, from Sparticus – your friendly Blogger. A warm morning but with only hazy sunshine. The blue sky is on its way as the day progresses. Went down to the beach for a change of scene. The sea was well out and people taking equipment out like dinghies and paddleboards were looking for assistance from the small, sand tractors.

The Saturday Beach Run was just starting at 9.00 am with lots of enthusiastic participants; the amusement park had opened its doors for hard pressed parents to entertain their young and Dads were by the Marina’s edge with little lads, buckets of water and crab lines starting out with hope.

Didn’t stay long. I’ve got another day of getting dirty, sweaty and shattered. I worked so hard yesterday that I lost 3lbs. I forgot to eat and was so tired at the end, I had no appetite at all. On today’s list we’ve got to plant out Basil plants I’ve been nurturing for about a month, thin out Lettuce seedlings and earth up potato plants which will be providing lovely, white, egg-sized new potatoes in about a month. I am beginning to look like a ghost from the past. Here are some more.

For years, we’ve done the National Lottery without any expectation of winning anything but it has helped to fund good causes. We do an NHS-funding Lottery on the same basis. We win small amounts reasonably frequently but I would guess never enough to break even. That doesn’t matter but, for once, something has come up that I will enter specifically to win.

The Omaze House Draw has a Beachfront House, worth £4,000,000 in Angmering on Sea just down the road from us. It would be a nice, spare house to have available.

Sunday, 4th May, 2025

Easy like a Sunday morning … Nice, sunny and warm start for an relaxing day. Some people go out and pray to false gods, some light candles in the hope of redemption. I just plough on regardless and enjoy my latest gadget in making my favourite drink – a caffemachiato – at the press of a menu button. Literally, it means stained milk and is steamed, frothed milk with a shot of strong coffee over the top. The coffee sinks and the milk forms a band on the top.

You drink the coffee through the milk. Usually, I have a sprinkling of chocolate powder on top of the milk but then I’ve always been self indulgent. Oh, god is good!

Politics goes with the coffee – Trump, Farage, Populism, Nationalism, International Isolation, Racism, the big boost for Labour with the rise of Farage and the impending death of the Tories. Life is never dull, Dear Reader.

You only need to glance at the populism of the Colour Comics to see the gulf in understanding that serious politicians have to cross. They say, Don’t look here at the real national problems, worry about some errant member of the Royal Family that has been built up by the right wing press and an ex-footballer’s family trouble. Who the hell cares? And what about the the disgraceful distraction of the Express, Dear Reader? Millionaire farmer threatens suicide because his millions are being taxed as much as everyone else’s. Utter pap!

Lovely, sunny walk around the local area this morning. Down past the rugby ground which is absolutely packed this weekend. They are hosting the Girls’ National Rugby Tournament finals all weekend. Hundreds of girls in sports kit, many with their parents and friends in support are putting out gallons of energy and enthusiasm on a variety of pitches in the sunshine. There is so much of this down here.

Monday, 5th May, 2025

I like Mondays but I can’t stand Bank Holidays. Conflicted this morning. Lovely blue sky and sunny morning but quite chilly in the air. Wanted to go down to the beach but the hoards will be out today so it will be better at home. The roads will be busy. Chatting to friends on Text and Whatsapp where traffic doesn’t affect us.

This morning Skype finally ceased to exist. Just over 20 years ago, our Greek home was built and we were spending lots of time there including 6 weeks at a stretch in the Summer. My lovely Mother-in-Law was in her 90s and increasingly frail. We were caught in the age old trap of wanting to / having to live our own lives but needing to support her. In those days, mobile calls from Europe to UK were difficult and expensive. Fortunately, some Estonian lads developed phone connections across the internet (VOIP) using Skype which was almost ‘free’. It literally cost a few pence for an hour’s face to face talk.

It was genius and liberating. We talked every day. Having bought a Skype phone for our Laptop, it was wonderful to sit in our house on a remote Greek island and be instantly beamed into a retirement flat in Waterhead in Oldham but, like everything else, the internet’s expanding bandwidth overtook Skype.

Ten years later, Apple brought out the iPad and gave us Facetime which was a huge step forward. To just have a screen to talk to anyone anywhere in the world as if you were sitting with them is life changing – literally. Mind you, you have to remember to put your clothes on before answering the call, as I once found to my cost while cooling off in Greece.

In the past 10 years or so, Whatsapp have added video calling which is easy and free if you have a smartphone. It is such a quick connection process that I prefer it and use it all the time. I often wonder how my parents generation would have benefitted from these developments

These days, more than 20 years on and fulfilling the predictions of all the sci-fi writers, we can use software with videocams and microphones to hold meetings of huge numbers of people simultaneously. It is a revolution hastened by Covid and the socio-economic shift of working-from-home.

Nearly 15 years ago, Zoom cornered the Office interface market but was quickly challenged by Google Meet and Microsoft Teams. I’m eagerly anticipating being able to do all this through my glasses in the near future.

This morning, I’ve been talking to my lovely neighbours who are actually in Germany and are flying back from Berlin having checked in on their elderly parents. I’ve told them to avoid the VE Day Spitfires ….

Tuesday, 6th May, 2025

Quite a chilly edge on the morning’s breeze. Only 11C/52F as we go out for a 5 mile walk before the tasks of the morning. We are driving up to Surrey to see little M who is back from Florida. It is a lovely, sunny morning so the drive should be nice. We will be taking another Kilo of sweets for C and a batch of home made Flap Jacks for everyone …. apart from me.

Flapjacks, particularly the British kind, have a history dating back to the early 1600s in England. The term “flapjack” initially referred to a flat cake or pancake. While Shakespeare mentions “flap-jacks” in his play Pericles. ‘Flap’ refers to a flat cake and ‘Jack’ refers to an ordinary common man.

You see, Dear Reader, you learn something new every day or you should try to. This is the way to ward off Dementia … if I remember rightly.

Had jobs to do this morning including booking an Executive Lounge at Gatwick for November. Got to get in early! I’ve also been chasing up the delivery of a pair of trainers from Sketchers which should have arrived last week with UPS but didn’t. They tell me now that they are coming from Belgium and are stuck in Customs. Bloody Brexit!

Gorgeous drive up to Surrey in lovely sunshine and through wonderfully lush, green roadsides with very little traffic. Nice to see M again. She is a lovely girl. Well, I say girl. She might be 60 but she will always be a girl to me. After a couple of hours of chat, drove home on almost empty roads and then did an hour’s walk followed by a Gym session.

Having finished the marathon of 96 episodes of the absolutely brilliant Homeland, I have moved smoothely on to another Anglo-American production of Succession which is based around the Murdoch family and their Newspaper/Magazine/Television/Film and Sky Platform company. After 5 episodes of the first of 4 Series. It’s interesting but it isn’t distracting me completely yet. These things need time to work on me.

Wednesday, 7th May, 2025

Lovely but slightly cool start to the morning. The sun rises here at 5.30 am and the temperature slowly recovers. It is 8.00am as I write and the current temperature is just 12C/54F. The most tender plants are still kept under glass over night and have to be moved out to harden off during the daytime.

Gradually, daytime light and temperatures lengthen. Today, sunset is 8.30 pm so they will have had 15hrs of growing light. Watering is the most important at the moment. With no rain for ever and none in sight for the next few weeks, I have to provide it. The potting up area of the back garden is looking a bit like an off-shoot of the Garden Centre at the moment.

Had to go down to the beach to collect a fish order. Back at work and school for the hordes, seaside free and clean and wonderful. The colours are just wonderful and my eyes really want to drink them in.

Great to hear Joe Biden talking on UK media this morning. He is a much underrated politician and President of the USA. This is mainly down to the avalanche of insane, right wing media there and here. There is a feeling engendered by this media engine that Trump is strong on Economics and Biden failed. In fact, the evidence is all the other way and increasingly so with Trump version 2. An approach to tariffs that doesn’t understand their effects for your own citizens and causes international instability which narrows your trade deal negotiating scope and reduces your soft power around the world

The Center for American Progress article published a few couple of months ago makes the argument powerfully and authoritatively. They list the areas that you don’t see acknowledged by the rabid Right:

• Economic growth surpassed expectations
• Stronger productivity growth returned despite a global slowdown
• Inflation was tamed without a recession
• Workers benefited from the strongest labour market in generations
• Households saw substantial wealth gains

Their Conclusion is:

Looking ahead, analyses from Goldman Sachs and Moody’s in 2024 predicted that retaining current policy settings would continue favorable macroeconomic performance in future years. However, increased tariffs—as proposed by the new administration—are expected to worsen economic performance, particularly over the next two years, with increased inflation and lower GDP growth.

History will judge the relative merits of the two men and Biden will surely prevail as he did before Trump tried to overthrow the American Constitution by inciting the riots of Capital Hill.

Thursday, 8th May, 2025

I am a very pampered man. I fully recognise that. I am treated very well by my Carer. Every morning, after I am provided with freshly squeezed orange juice, my body is fully serviced.

I have got up every morning since the beginning of April and put on shorts and tee shirt. I spend a great deal of my time outside in the sunshine. I walk 8 miles a day every day. I garden most days. My skin is exposed to the sunshine for many hours a day. My feet take a pounding every day. I get through trainers at a fast rate and replace them with new ones. I can’t do that with skin and feet.

I am a man and generally can’t be bothered looking after my body. That’s why I have a Carer. After Breakfast every day, I have sun tan lotion on my face and moisturiser on my arms and legs. The soles of my feet are filed for hard skin and creamed to avoid cracked skin. I have early signs of nail fungus on one toe so that is treated with an athlete’s foot cream. I had a sun damage spot which has been successfully treated with Actikerall – a Cutaneous Solution which worked like a dream. Finally, I grazed the top of my head in a gardening accident and that is still being treated with antiseptic Germaline.

I walk into the Office feeling like a new man each morning. I know how lucky I am. Today will follow that pattern – Walking & Gardening. My Carer is leaving me next week to go up to London. I will be left to fend for myself. My body will just have to cope. This morning we are going down to the station to sort out her travel and then on to the Garden Center to spend yet more money on plants. Actually, it’s a cool and rather overcast morning. Not very conducive to gardening but jobs have to be done.

Good to see the UK Labour Government doing such important trade deals around the world where the tired, old Tory band failed. Last week, a free trade deal was announced with India – one of the world’s great and expanding markets.

India has cut taxes on goods imported from the UK including:

• cosmetics
• scotch whisky, gin and soft drinks
• higher-value cars
• food including lamb, salmon, chocolate and biscuits
• medical devices
• aerospace
• electrical machinery
• The deal will also allow British firms to compete for more services contracts in India.

Today, we are expecting a UK – USA trade deal to be announced which will reduce trariffs and particularly on cars. In a couple of weeks, we expect the most important trade deal of all to be announced with the European Union which we hope and expect to include some return to free movement under the guise of young people’s increased freedoms to travel, explore, work and learn across UK and the whole of Europe.

The long haul back begins …

Friday, 9th May, 2025

Been a hot and sunny day of hard outside work. Had to do all my walking and Gym work but we both spent the largest part of the day doing voluntary Community Work.

We were working on the lawns and flower beds along our street outside neighbour’s houses. If there is one thing that stands out about living here it is the wonderful neighbours. People came out of their houses to say thank you. People stopped their cars to say thank you and, within an hour or two of completing this evening, our lovely neighbour, Dee, had sent this video of thanks.

I’ve been growing flowering plants for the past couple of months and they will go out next week. It will be something of a relief to get our garden space back but, as they grow and flower, our street looks good, attractive and develops the physical unity of similar colours which we have in human terms of happy people living in some harmony. Sounds a bit too good to be true, doesn’t it? But almost everybody around here says the same thing: the lovely neighbours make it somewhere they want to stay.

I am rather ashamed to admit that in many things I am rather too faithful. I’ve driven Honda cars for ever. I’ve been a Sky customer since the outset. I get my mobile phone contracts through EE and have done, they tell me, since 2011. I am so completely sold on the Samsung brand that all my TVs are Samsung and our mobiles – we have one each – are Samsung, our vacuum robots are Samsung. We are even thinking of buying new Samsung washing machine and heat pump tumble dryer.

Today, EE offered me upgrades for our smart phones. We have two S24 Ultra 5G handsets but they are keen not to lose us. We currently pay them £160.00 per month. The upgrade will tie us in for another two years and increase the monthly cost to £188.00 but the camera is so much better and the software is AI assisted so they are irresitible! The big question is which colour? The most important feature of the contract though is the unlimited calls, texts and data at 5G speeds in UK and all across Europe.

Saturday, 10th May, 2025

Don’t you just love the Summer. The weather here is set fair as far as the eye can see. It is a time for growing. My garden is a hive of industry. We even have these gorgeous Scented Stocks in the Kitchen pervading the air with their sweet perfume. Outside, we have reached 25C/77F by mid-afternoon – almost as hot as Athens.

On the Greek Cycladic islands, the temperatures are rising. The anticipation of tourists and income is rising rapidly as well. Beautification is going on apace in anticipation of the clink of cash registers – or credit cards nowadays. The Mediterranean light is enhanced by the stark, bold, primary colours of buildings and nature.

The Bourgainvillea is in full bloom and screaming out in reds, purples and apricot hues. The gardens are rapidly burgeoning with fruit and vegetables – tomatoes, peppers, aubergines and lettuces, parsley and the ever present sweet basil plants.

I grew huge patches of Basil in my Greek House garden but, when I tried to grow it in the North of England, I had little success. Just too cold. Fortunately, down here it grows for fun and I have been nurturing these seedlings under glass for a few weeks. It is virtually time to plant them out. I have 8 plants and they will roar away to give me a large and constant supply from late June to mid-Septenber to feed the Pesto Factory.

We eat so much Pesto that a whole freezer draw is given over to storing it frozen in measured proportions to suit one meal for two people. Usually, it serves as a fish crust and home made is like a different thing altogether. Basil leaves, garlic, pine nuts and olive oil combine to encapsulate the summer warmth and a form of heaven.

Sunday, 27th April, 2025

Beautiful morning of clear blue skies and warm sunshine. Should be running in the marathon today but haven’t got anyone to run with. Have to do my daily walk instead. The Seasons change but remain in an eternal pattern and the theme today is summed up in the old addage:

Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose ….

Literally, it means that the more things change, the more they stay the same … The older one gets the more true this appears. I see it in myself. I sometimes hate it in myself. It can be so difficult, impossible to shake off one’s past, one’s early life.

I hate aphorisms and I don’t want to bore you but T.S.Eliot quotes are different. I know I have quoted Eliot’s line from the Four Quartets many times before but I am increasingly reminded of their relevance. When I look at myself and my life, I have changed a lot but, at core, I have hardly changed at all.

In my youth, I was always running everywhere. My brother road his bike and I ran at the side. I captained the school athletics team in the summer and winters were dominated by rugby where I played on the wing. I loved ideas and words both of which dominated my degrees. I loved travel. Here I am at the age of 74 with my days dominated by exercise and reading & writing and travel. I hated to let things go. I always have to revisit them. Here I am now shoring up my memories by Blogging as Eliot was doing in The Wasteland.

And yet, I have always liked new things and been a bit of a risk taker. I like to make things happen. I have a tendency to be the Aries that I am and to ram through blockages to ambition. I don’t like to take No for an answer and that can lead me into trouble which I repent at leisure. But, I never learn. I do it all over again. There is always a new opportunity or new beginning ahead …. until there isn’t.

And, of course, there is one constant in everyone’s life that changes everything. Mum died 17 years ago today. It is an event which none of us can avoid how ever hard we try.

I would give anything to go back and see her one more time and, if you’re old enough, I’m sure you would too, Dear Reader. Mind you, I wouldn’t have gone yesterday. She would be totally absorbed in the funeral of the pope and she wouldn’t have welcomed my contributions from the sidelines.

This photo was taken after Dad had died and on one of Mum’s rare nights out. She is in the black dress at a Dinner-Dance with her best friends, Herb & Nellie Deacon and some other woman I don’t recognise. So, it must have been about 1966/1967 – the years I was touring Southern Ireland and Scandinavia, exploring my freedom before I left home for the last time.

Monday, 28th April, 2025

A gorgeous morning opened unusually for me. It is just 8 weeks, by the way, to the Longest Day and the tilt becomes all downwards again. However, the morning started at 5.30 am with a Whatsaapp from my sister, Jane, about the photograph I posted yesterday and the mystery woman in it. It soon spread to a chat with Bob and Catherine as well.

Learnt something interesting about my mother this morning after all these years. Jane told me that the other woman apart from Mum’s friend, Nellie, in the photo was Agnes. Agnes & Effie were Nellie’s sisters. This is Agnes. Mum used to go on holiday with Agnes – they were really good friends. Sadly Agnes also had cancer & died. Both sisters asked Mum to ‘look after’ Effie who Mum didn’t particularly like! But because she’d promised them she would, she took Effie shopping most weeks & drove her to church etc. After both Mum & Effie were widowed & as they both got older they used to take it in turns to ring each other every day at 7pm – to check they were still alive & to ensure they each spoke to one person at least that day.

It is interesting to know of a life that went on outside my experience. I knew nothing of this but it illustrates how exposed Mum was in later life. It was largely of her own making, of course, but it was still suffered. And all this time I thought I was unusual waking, acting, reading, writing, thinking early in the morning. I’m not at all. Jane and Bob were doing the same. I probably woke Catherine up but that was good for her.

The BBC R4: Today programme comes on at 6.00 am after a really interesting Farming Today programme which was all about Pulses being grown in UK. Did you know that the majority of all Pulses – peas and fava beans – are grown for animal fodder? No, I didn’t. Seems such a waste. I love Fava Beans in a salad. It is a favourite on a Greek menu (Φάβα) and so nutritious and healthy.

Anyway, my mind soon moved on to an interview with Stephen Kinnock who is a Health minister in Social Care. He was extolling the coming digital revolution in the NHS which would bring huge savings. Using the NHS app meant all the paper missives written, printed, addressed and posted would be done away with. The problem, as so many of us who tried to pioneer the digital revolution have found, is at the margins.

Last week, I had a Medical Review postponed and rearranged for a date I couldn’t make. I phoned to change it and that was quick and easy. Five minutes later, my NHS app showed the cancelled date and the new date clearly. Three days later, I got a formal letter cancelling the first appoinment followed by a second formal letter setting the new appointment. However, within a couple of hours of having a blood test at the surgery, I can see the results tabulated on my app. This is the sort of service I appreciate.

The innovator’s great fear is that some people will fall through the net, not make appointments miss apointments or travel unnecessarily. There are still some people who don’t have smart phones, can’t afford smart phone contracts and are scared of technological change. They don’t have access to the app. I know some of my age who will miss out for that reason never mind the really old people. Even so, it has to happen and the old and younger wrinklies will just have to catch up. May be the Government could put on compulsory courses for them. How to use a smart phone. How to install an app. If you attend these courses and become proficient, you will be allowed to keep your pension. It could be the way forward.

Another way forward would be for Government encouragement of activities like these. All year round in our neighbourhood adults give up hours of their time to train and supervise kids in sporting activities. At the Rugby Club just down the road, on the playing fields attached to the school, in the local parks, both boys and girls from 5 – 25 are shrieking, laughing, puffing and panting as they stretch themselves in sporting activities. Fitness for life is definitely a way forward.

Tuesday, 29th April, 2025

Spring and Summer meet here today. Yesterday we reached 24C/75F. Today we are expecting 26C/79F and tomorrow 27C/81F. These are bonus days. Bikini days. I’ve got mine on. Planting out is going on and beans, potatoes, lettuces, parsley growing strongly. Still Spring flowers bloom in Bluebell Wood …

… but all around the neighbourhood, Chestnut trees are in full blooms as well. These beautiful flower candles light up my walk in the sunshine.

Gardening Day. My Under-Gardener is tasked with giving the hedge its first trim of the season. It is looking luxuriously green and ready to greet May sunshine. I’m doing the more demanding job of mowing but somebody has to do it.

Now the Marathons are done and my neighbour, Chris, is here proudly displaying a medal which he has earned the hard way – getting up at 5.00 am every day and going out running for an hour before breakfast, thoughts are turning towards holidays. We’ve already got trips booked for every month until the end of the year with the exception of September.

Over the last few days, we have been discussing, considering, researching a week or so in Bordeaux where Autumn weather still averages 25C/77F which would be nice. We would fly to make the most of the time and that is quick and cheap.

Wednesday, 30th April, 2025

April closes with another glorious day. True to forecast, we reached 26C/79F yesterday. I was outside walking and gardening almost the whole day and had a bit too much sun probably. Have to wish Kieron in Florida happy birthday. He’s only a spring chicken … if only he could remember it.

Out early this morning to Honda. After 40 years of buying new Hondas without any problems at all, out new, electric-hybrid vehicle is on its second recall.

The first one was for a fuel pump issue which we weren’t aware of and this one is for a power steering problem …. which we aren’t aware of but has affected about 5 CRVs worldwide. They need the car for 3 hours so it must be quite involved.

Drive there and walk back through the woods. It’s an absolutely lovely way to go. The production of Honda has moved back from UK to Japan because of Brexit and that’s where the problems started. If only ..

Walk back 2 hours later to collect the car which has been fully valeted which justifies the recall and then on to the beach. The cafes were packed. The beaches were popular although mainly with the elderly. Retirement is a wonderful thing, Dear Reader. Which beach are you on?

Thursday, 1st May, 2025

Happy May, Dear Reader. April 2025 has gone for good other than in the Blog where it smoulders for ever. Welcome a great, new month. We have to make the most of it. Could be a make or break month. Let’s hope it isn’t break!

For me, May starts travelling season this year – and it doesn’t come a moment too soon. I’m going stir-crazy. Travel in Britain and Europe, movement not stasis is what will come from now.

My Housekeeper is going to the Beautician‘s for a couple of hours. Goodness knows what goes on there. It is like something of the Black Arts to me and better that I don’t know. I have to say she returns feeling very much better about herself and I have to say she looks much better although, in reality, I can see absolutely no difference at all. It is all a game, a dance we do that isn’t worth challenging.

Because it was the anniversary of Mum’s death earlier in the week, I was going through my digital store of photographs. This one came up and got me thinking. It is of my maternal Grandmother (Nanna), Mum, (Catherine) and a girl called Monica. I don’t know who she was. It was 80 years ago, at the end of WW2, in 1945, and Mum was just 22.

They lived in Croydon and were regularly buying and selling houses. In 1955, I went to their (different) house in Croydon in Laburnum Grove. This house in Mount Park Avenue will have been a fairly modest, suburban dwelling which I looked up to find it last sold for £800,000. I think they would have been shocked to hear that.

It always gets me that lives go on without me. How can that be. I’m not involved. Lives spark, light flame intensely and then die out to smoulder in other people’s memories. Here Nanna & Grandad, Lily & James Coghlan are living their daily lives in the 1930s. I think this was them in Brighton.

She was a seamstress and he was a furniture restorer just reading in the sunshine – he, the ‘Dandy’ he was and she, the quiet, unassuming one. Their lives flickered and burned out – her’s all to soon – and now they are the smouldering embers of our family memories.

Grandad and I watched wrestling on ATV television in the 1950s. Nana cooked massive Victoria Sponge Cakes for tea. And here I am, living within a few miles of their origins. I am doing what I said I would do, going back to touch my past. I want them to know that I haven’t forgotten them.

Housekeeper returns – looking radiant and beautiful (she says) – it is 1.00 pm and the temperature has just reached 28C/83F. It feels lovely although something happened to me yesterday which has never happened before. I sunburned the top of my head. My hair is growing finer and thinner and this process has been hastened by radiotherapy. I am more vulnerable now to the strong sunshine but I look ridiculous in a hat. Going to have to walk round with my hand on my head to protect it.

Friday, 2nd May, 2025

Delicious weather continues. The garden is loving it. Everybody’s garden is loving it. Walking around the area is a delight of colour and freshness. The wisteria in every form is delightful and the red, Photinia hedges are a riotous backdrop to green and luscious lawns.

Every other house has some form of wisteria, it seems, but none could compare to the Wisley Wisteria Walk from the RHS gardens in Woking where we used to live. Paired up with the lovely mauve of mophead Aliums beneath is inspired.

It immediately reminded me of Monet’s Garden at Giverny from more than a century ago. It is amazing how well plants do down here compared to our efforts in the North of England. On my walk today, I passed this glorious Ceanothus Tree on the roadside and this elegant Wisteria on a house next to me.

Definitely, Housekeeper-week this week. Yesterday Beautician’s. Today Hairdresser’s. Back home to collect a delivery of new shoes for …. well, not me.

The bad news arrived in the post. Two poor, old, failing pensioner ex-teachers are now expected to pay Higher Rate income tax. I didn’t see that coming. It is the consequence of higher investment rates I suppose even though I am trying to shelter it in tax-free savings but still they’ve got us. Thinking of moving off-shore. Well, one can dream ….

Saturday, 3rd May, 2025

Warm night. Already sleeping on top of the bed. Living in shorts and tee shirt. Behaving as if Summer was in full swing. Warm morning although a little hazy. Currently, we are forecast for little chance of rain for the next two weeks which is a little worrying. We are already hearing rumblings of hosepipe bans on the horizon.

Still, we are going to be away for quite a large part of the Summer so the garden will have to get on with it. On this day 15 years ago, we had driven down to the fishing bay of Faros (Φάρος – Lighthouse). It is a lovely, sleepy place to have Lunch out of Season.

We had been on the island for just 3 weeks and Easter was over. The crowds had disappeared and the temperatures were rapidly rising. Island life was continuing slowly around us. Boulis the shepherd walked his flock up the road past us in the morning and then down the road past us again in the evening. We were cleaning and clearing after a Winter away. Planting and picking. The Lemon Trees were heavy with fruit this year but not always.

We had a favourite restaurant down there and spent a lot of time staring into the calm waters, at the fishing boats and eating the wonderful food.

This morning, I have been out and spent another fortune on plants. Many are for the Public Areas outside at the front of the house. Hope the neighbours appreciate the sacrifice. I’m pleased that I’ve been able to source Basil plants – green and purple. They are essential for our kitchen. I will grow them into a forest of aromatic leaves.