Sanders Blog

Sunday, 1st December, 2024

Happy December, Dear Reader. I wonder how many more we’ve got ….. Anyway, let’s be positive and optimistic. The next month will be warm and sunny and the new year to come will bring prosperity and joy.

In that vein, the first day of December has opened dark, gloomy and damp-ish. It’s not raining but low cloud is distilling water on the land below including my garden. Still, going out for a walk after the rituals of the first day of a new month are completed.

I don’t need to repeat it for regular readers but the 1st of the month means data. I record our power usage for the previous month on my spreadsheet and compare it with the same month over the decades. It doesn’t really inform our usage but illustrates the different places we have lived. A separate spreadsheet records my Weight, Blood Pressure, INR, ect. That goes back to January 2009.

Today marks the beginning of Year 17 of the Blog. If you are a reader from the first day, hard luck. If you are a new reader, welcome to your new sedative. The Blog is backed up every Sunday morning now it has become an important historical record – for me. I try to refresh it’s design and to readjust it to my changing situation.

The snap shot on the right is from November 2011 when half my life was being lived in Greece. It was known as Hellas Blog – or Greek Blog for the uninitiated. Week 100 was just under 2 years into its development and I was already amazed that I had managed so long. I use WordPress to construct and maintain my story. It is a very flexible platform which allows radical changes in design while mainting the content over time. Unfortunately, a change of design which I make today translates into a change in design retrospectively as well.

Monday, 2nd December, 2024

Gorgeous morning down here. Warm and bright with strong, low sunshine. It makes driving difficult but it’s great to see the sun so I don’t complain. Had to taxi my Housekeeper to M&S this morning. Xmas presents to collect. It is quite busy in the upper clothes floors but the food hall is really bustling.

Directly across the road is the Pier. It has been closed for a few weeks for repair work underneath. They had to wait for low tides to get at the rusting metal struts. At the same time, they were replacing very old piping on the pier itself and redeveloping a swanky, new fish restaurant called Perch.

The views are wonderful when the skies are clear like this morning. You should have joined me, Dear Reader. In old age, these are days to be savoured and shared.

Haven’t been into town for a while. Today, having ventured out of my white, middle class enclave, it is obvious how multinational the population of the town is. Very few Black and Asian people although there are quite a significant number of Chinese/Japanese. Our town has many European and Eastern European immigrants – French, Italian & Spanish but also Polish, Lithuanian, Croation and Ukranian. We rarely see a dark face at all. It is such a shock when we go back to the North of England.

I have nothing against the colour of people’s skins, nothing against Asian people in my community whereas that did seem to be an strong theme underpinning the Brexit vote. We always argued that Brexit would increase Indian/Pakistani/Bangladeshi immigration as they were drawn in to replace fleeing Europeans. Dark skin immigrants with cultures far removed from our own would replace white faces with cultures largely in line with our own and so it has proved.

Of course, politicians who feel they can’t row back from the disastrous Brexit deal, have been drawn into the ridiculous argument called ‘Small Boats’. As the official data makes clear from the graph above, small boat, so called ‘illegal’ immigration counts for such a small proportion as to be not worth talking about. All assylum seekers amount to just 13% of immigrants and only a small proportion of them come on small boats. The British people are being taken for idiots and they are living up to expectations.

Tuesday, 3rd December, 2024

Well, if this is Winter, I want more of it. Now December and relatively mild although a bit overcast. Today is a day of memories and reunions. I don’t know if you have come across the sentimental poem by Thomas Hood from the 1840s called I Remember, I Remember:

I remember, I remember,
The roses, red and white,
The violets, and the lily-cups,
Those flowers made of light!
The lilacs where the robin built,
And where my brother set
The laburnum on his birthday,—
The tree is living yet!

Yesterday I heard again from a lad who I haven’t seen or spoken to since 1967. Keith lived further down the village and his dad was a policemean. Keith, who is about 2 years older than me, went to the Secondary Modern school in Derbyshire while I went to the Grammar School in Staffordshire so our paths didn’t pass much after that.

Keith went on to become a policeman in Burton like his Dad. When he retired, he moved to the island of Kefalonia. He became an entertainer and has lived there for about 25 years. He clearly wants to touch base with his past. It is a natural, human instinct to want to review and revisit the people and places of one’s past. Most of us do it. I have that instinct in spades.

This morning a picture of the village of Apollonia on Sifnos appeared with their homely little Xmas tree. It rather sums up the island we lived on for so many years. The tree is standing outside Lakis Caffenion which has all the feeling of an old, original from an earlier time. Lakis is no longer there but his caffenion goes on its quiet, understated manner. It is near the bank and we would meet to discuss financial arrangements over coffee. I look forward to sipping coffee there again and I will.

I haven’t seen my little brother, Mike, for 5 years. He lives in Wolverhampton and is just 67 years old although he has been retired for quite a long time. I last saw him in Bolton at Ruth’s 70th birthday party as she celebrated her history and drew in people from her past. He told me he was reclusive and he has illustrated that quite well over the years. I get a card from him each year and that is about it even though I’ve invited him down here.

This morning, I received a card from him suggesting he may well be on his way down to the South Coast in the new year. I really hope he does because it would be nice to see him again and show him around the area where quite a few of his relatives have lived over the years.

I have been talking this morning to a dozen or more people who I reunited with after 50 years of absence. I am enjoying it. It feels right. I have more to reconnect with yet and I will. It is my mission and it will happen. Of course we all have fears of what our Past will think of our Present. Will they expect us to be as they remember us from the past? Will they be disappointed? In the end, it is the person not the appearance that matters. We are what we are no matter how old or wrinkly.

The poet, Philip Larkin, used the sentimentality of Thomas Hood’s poem to produce his own brand of cynicism in a poem also entitled I Remember, I Remember which he concludes with the line:

Nothing, like something, happens anywhere.

Philip Larkin: The Less Deceived – 1955

In the poem, Larkin returns to the place of his birth, expecting to experience a rush of nostalgia and familiarity. Instead, he finds himself feeling disconnected and alienated. The places he once knew no longer seem recognizable, and he realizes that his memories of the town are idealized and incomplete. This may well be what we find but my experience has generally been much more rewarding.

Wednesday, 4th December, 2024

Lovely morning and much warmer than expected after the most gloriously clear and sparkling sky last night. The stars really were coming out last night for me and you, Dear Reader. Yesterday, Julie from North Yorkshire reported that her Dishwasher had broken down. This morning heard from an old friend, Diane from Saddleworth, that she is moving after her husband’s untimely death and has a brand new dishwasher for sale. Two friends from different spheres of my experience. Might get them together. Diane is staying in Saddleworth so look forward to seeing her when we go up.

I wonder what you will be eating today. I am going to have home made Museli – rolled oats, raisins, chopped fruit and ice cold, fully-skimmed milk – and then griddled tuna with green beans and asparagus for supper. Sounds quite healthy doesn’t it? And it is. Married to a cook for more than 45 years has meant that I have been eating great home cooking most of my life.

Ready Meals and Take Aways have hardly featured in my life. I was introduced to fish & chips eaten out of newspaper at College and I did eat quite a bit of it in my first couple of years of teaching. Since then, meals have been freshly prepared each evening and I have even enjoyed cooking them myself. I don’t think I have ever bought a Ready Meal since the early 1970s. All our bread is home made. We rarely eat cakes & biscuits, I am not keen on crisps and bacon & ham has been banned for a long time.

I must admit that, at the end of a very hard week of work, Friday night would be Chinese night. We had a wonderful Chinese Take Away in our village and that would be a real treat to start the weekend. Funnily enough, even that would be tinged with guilt on Saturday morning waking up with that dry mouth of Monosodium Glutamate (MSG) which is a flavour enhancer often added to restaurant foods.

This morning, the Labour government announced a program of action against ultra processed foods and I was shocked to hear that we have some of the highest consumption of ultra-processed in the world alongside the USA. It is hard to understand why and it is undoubtedly the source of serious threats to life but particularly bowel cancer and heart disease.

I gave up smoking on the 15th November 1985 and I am really pleased I did. I think I would be dead now if I hadn’t. Of course, wine is my downfall and I am addressing that but at least I never had the taste for fizzy, sugary drinks which are even more dangerous. What disappoints me is that it took me too long to bring myself to healthy things like fish and salad.

This morning, we walked by the sea where three women were swimming under a watery sun and then shopped at the Fresh Fish outlet. We bought sides of salmon, halibut steaks and seabass fillets. This year, Christmas Dinner will not feature turkey but a seafood platter instead. Today we bought or ordered Langoustines, Scallops, and a Lobster to serve with a plate of home cured Gravadlax. Looking forward to it.

Thursday, 5th December, 2024

Heavy rain over a very warm night has given way to a dry but dark sky and soggy world beneath. It is the sort of day when one wakes up and thinks it would be nice to be somewhere else – Athens for example. Dreamed about it over night because the last thing I read before bed was an article about a multi-billion Euro development.

First stayed in Athens in July 1981 en route to a ferry from the Peloponnese to Zakynthos. We arrived at our hotel in extreme heat and in darkness. As we checked in to a cheap, C-class hotel for one night before moving on, arriving at our room with the key in the door, all the lights went out and the hotel was in complete darkness.

No mobile phones with lights on in those days, not even emergency lights in cheap, Greek hotels at the time. We fumbled to get into the room as thunder and lightning roared all around. What we didn’t realise was that Greek power boxes were located on the outside of the buildings and heavy rain always knocked out the power. We were shocked. Greeks just shrugged.

It wasn’t the best introduction to a city that I have grown to love over more than 40 years since then inspite of its problems. If you were to aggregate the weeks I’ve spent there over that time, it amounts to a couple of full years residence. I have walked in the buzzing heart of the market places, met fascinating, noisy, excited and interesting people. Eaten in the most wonderful streetside tavernas and in posh restaurants. I have stayed in the cheapest, roughest hotels and in some of the most upmarket ones as well.

Over the years, things have improved greatly but the transport system has always lagged behind rapidly increasing tourism. I’ve taken my life in my hands and driven across Athens every year without noticing much improvement. At last, modern Athens is developing a 21st Century transport system that will make London look old fashioned. A sign of the times that European membership has afforded Greece to spend £4.8bn on it’s city infrastructure while we struggle to fill parochial potholes.

What worries me about UK is its insularity. It’s fear of the foreigner, the other. It harks back to the mythical Golden Age which rose-tinted glasses make look so much better to some – particularly many elderly, Faragist /Reform Brexiteers. It never was golden and we will never go back to it. In his speech this morning, Keir Starmer talked about the tepid path of managed decline.

We have to move forward. Just a few minutes drive down the road is the genteel town of Arundel with its imposing castle.

A recent newspaper article featured it as the most relaxing place in the whole of Europe. If you are immobile, in your dotage, scared of travel, of foreigners and foreign language, near to end of life – go to Arundel and relax. I want to continue embracing the challenge of activity, learning, other cultures, other ideas, other expectations and demands. Don’t settle back, Dear Reader, and lower your sights. Look to the horizon because:

Only one ship is seeking us, a black-
Sailed unfamiliar, towing at her back
A huge and birdless silence. In her wake
No waters breed or break.

Next, Please by Philip Larkin in The Whitsun Weddings – 1964

Death comes to us all in a huge and birdless silence and, before that, Dear Reader, we should take risks and make as much noise as possible.

Friday, 6th December, 2024

Gorgeous morning after a beautiful night sky … but not cold. Perfect, Winter weather. I hope the rest of the day goes to plan. This morning’s Oncology review can go one of two ways. It is 12 months since I completed my Radiotherapy treatment. My subsequent treatment plan sets 6 monthly P.S.A. & Testosterone tests plus 12 monthly, full body imaging scans. It felt very reassuring when I received it until I read of so many men who discovered metastic cancer long after the all-clear. Of course I want to know as soon as possible but then …. I don’t want to know, Dear Reader.

We have been in this current house for 8 years 9 months. We bought it ‘off-plan’ and then sat and waited for it to be finished. We returned from a month in Tenerife and came back hoping for good news. It was late and we came down from Surrey on this day 9 years ago to check progress. The garage hadn’t even been started by this time. We were desperate to move in. We got through Xmas and then went back to Tenerife for another month before eventually moving in in at the end of March 2016. Even so, where has all that time gone?

Well, all is well. Just had an Oncology review. My blood test showed ‘normal’ testosterone levels. My PSA was 0.2 which seems wonderful and my full-body CT scan showed no metastatic cancer escape. I pointed out that it was a first for any part of me to be described as normal. They told me that these checks would continue for the foreseeable future which is very reassuring. My cheeky neighbour, Dee, said she questioned the result of my testosterone level but didn’t say which way. Going out to the beach under blue skies and strong sunshine to exercise my new bill of health.

Celebrating with a walk by the sea was exactly the right thing to do. Quiet and sunny, it was a place to think and plan for the Future. It has been decided that we will book a month in the Canaries for November and get it fixed up soon. So, that is one of my jobs this afternoon after my Gym session.

Saturday, 7th December, 2024

The predicted storm hit us over night although it wasn’t as bad as expected. Dry but blustery this morning. We went out to the beach for a walk but it soon started raining and the wind was stronger there.

It wasn’t going to be pleasant walking. The sea was angry and the skies threatening. We stayed for a few minutes then drove home. It is going to be a day in the Gym.

I was looking forward to the Merseyside Derby this lunchtime but the Everton v Liverpool match has been called off because of the storm. The pier in Worthing has been closed for safety reasons and so many Xmas activities around here have been cancelled too.

In our house, two Xmas cakes are being marzipanned ready for icing. Normally, I get homemade sweets from the trimmings but not this time. Discipline maintained. Xmas card lists are being scrutinised (Who is dead? Who failed to write last time? Who can receive electronic greetings? etc.) ready for cards being written and addressed.

À propos of absolutely nothing, this chart appeared in a newspaper this morning. It refers back to the topic I was writing about on Wednesday. The difference between a Greek and Italian diet and that of UK is shameful. And we bleat on about farmers and farming. Large proportions of the British public don’t buy fresh farm produce let alone know how to cook it.

Sunday, 24th November, 2024

Incredibly warm but windy night. It was 16C/61F all night and is forecast to remain that way for most of the day. Down at the beach, walkers were leaning into the wind and being buffeted and sand blasted. My skin began to feel like sandpaper and my mouth was gritty.

The beach had been blown back over the promenade this morning and the angry tide was retreating under light grey skies. Actually, the temperature outside has reached 18C/65F by mid day. Quite unusual for the end of November but really welcome.

Walking wasn’t easy and an hour was enough this morning. The rest will be done in the seclusion of the Gym. I have to work on muscular strength as well as fitness and weight loss. The hormone treatment and radiotherapy have definitely weakened my muscle power. It suddenly hit me when I started to lug heavy things (men’s work) around the garden. I was warned of this side effect but dismissed it at the time. I’ve got to build it back up.

This lad above was diagnosed with cancer in his prostate. He had the treatment I did. He thought he was clear but then they found 6 small pieces of cancer had escaped and were populating his body and had developed to the extent that they were incurable. He has a death sentence. I’ve had my dye-injected CT scan to discover if any cancer has escaped or metastasised as they describe it. I haven’t had the results yet. Blood tests on Friday and then the big reveal in a couple of weeks. Can’t say I’m completely calm about it but, at this stage, there is nothing I can do.

I feel dark and searching eyes surrounded by the wrinkles of experience emerging from the mists and gazing on me, knowingly. Fate is there.

Monday, 25th November, 2024

Gorgeous, warm and sunny morning for a walk by the beach. Went out early while it was quiet. Still a few hardy souls were down there breathing the sea air.

Back home in time to meet the Home Security man who was coming to assess our CCTV system with a view to taking it over and servicing it. I need a new software controller to make it more user-friendly and a video-doorbell so that I can speak to delivery drivers remotely. It will come down to negotiating an ongoing price. We won the Lottery at the weekend so that £30.00 will help.

I first moved to the North of England in 1969 and to Oldham in 1972. My memory of that time, particularly in Oldham was of greyness – darkness even and coldness. I found it a harsh and unhappy place, a place like nothing I had ever experienced before. Of course many Oldhamers were far worse off than me. People living in abject poverty. People unable to see a way out.

Last night I watched a bit of Oldham history, a bit of my history played out in a new dramatisation of the Test Tube Baby story called ‘Joy‘ on Netflix. It upset me. I found it very emotional both as a story per se but also the memories of that harsh time I had come through.

There was so much about the story that I didn’t know but particularly the women involved – not just those desperate to conceive but those opposing the whole process on religious grounds and the girl who was central to the success of the whole project, nurse Jean Purdy who saved the project from being abandoned. Oldham Royal Infirmary resisted putting her name on the commemorative plaque until well after her death of cancer at the age of 39. I tell you what also shocked me: Dr Patrick Steptoe was described as dying of old age. He was 74!

Tuesday, 26th November, 2024

I have been recording the minutiae of my life every day for 16 years. Next week begins Year 17. Now, I cannot stop. I thought I was odd, unusual, out of the ordinary by this fixation but I’ve been realising for some time that I’m not at all. So many people have done and still do the same and 17 years is just relatively record keeping infancy. Not all do it on-line, of course, but I found this a couple of days ago in The Observer.

This girl has recorded her life every day for 40 years. That is more than 14,000 entries. Some people want to leave something of themselves to posterity. Some find it therapeutic. Apparently, the habit soared during the Covid lockdowns as people realised that they were living through history. Diaries give you the ability to distil your experiences and make sense of them. I must admit, I often find the whole process painful but cathartic. For historians they are priceless as they record social trends, layers and details that wouldn’t make it into the history books. They plug a gap in the everyday.

The lady in the article concludes that:

…. it’s simultaneously reassuring and dispiriting that I remain recognisably the same me from 40 years ago.  When painful moments are written down I can more easily let them go. Seeing life as a story with an unknown number of chapters left to write is both exciting and daunting. I plan to chronicle the days until I can no longer hold a pen. The only part of the story I’ll never get to write is the ending.

I can see a lot of that in me. There is so much of my young character that I see writ large in my senior self. So many of my weaknesses and strengths are just accentuated in later life. One of them is determination and doggedness. I refuse to give in or let go particularly in something where I have established a position. In the last 3 months, I have walked 7 miles a day every day without exception. What this does to a mind like mine is mean I now cannot not do it. Irrespective of anything else in my life, I have to maintain that standard.

In just the same way, after 16 years of recording my daily life, there are few things that would stop me continuing until Altzheimers gets me as it surely will. Only then will people be rid of me.

My wife is already worrying about what she will do when she doesn’t have a lunatic sitting in his study writing away madly. She sees the Blog as the ultimate summary of our Life together and she is worried about losing access to it. As a result, I not only pay for the webspace to post this Blog but I also rent webspace to post a backup copy which I put up every weekend. Now, all I have to teach her is where to find it.

At the beginning of my Blog journey, I wrote about a lad – a man- from my childhood. He was a youth in my village and 4 years older than me. I went to the Grammar School in Staffordshire and he went to the Secondary Modern in Derbyshire. Like his father, he became a police officer and retired in 2002. He spent a lot of his time on the Greek island of Kefalonia earning cash as a pub/club crooner.

He bought a house there and became a permanent citizen. He sounded very popular and happy. Then his wife died and, recently, I think he has had a stroke which has left him quite debilitated. I contacted him yesterday and his reply was totally unintelligble. It was a matter of all the right letters but not necessarily in the right order.

This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper..

T.S. Eliot – The Hollow Men

Until that time, I will keep juggling the spinning plates – Blogging and Jogging. Going out for a walk right now. See you later …. hopefully.

One day, you’ll look
To see I’ve gone
For tomorrow may rain, so
I’ll follow the sun …..

Wednesday, 27th November, 2024

On one of the warmest mornings of the Winter so far, I have a man coming to remove an old (3yrs) oil-filled, wall mounted radiator in the Gym and replace it with a German made, ceramic stone filled wall radiator which is much more economic and controllable. It is wi-fi controlled and can be put through my Alexa Hub so it is adjustable purely by voice instruction. The ceramic stones hold and transmit the heat much more effectively than oil.

The German manufacturers immediately prove they are a class apart. The packaging is brilliant. The installation instructions and aids are outstanding and the radiator has a 15 yr warranty. I am already saving up to replace it in 2039 when I will be 88 yrs old. That is just the year when I dye my hair blonde. Worth the wait, Dear Reader!

Heavy rain overnight but dry this morning. Don’t know what the attraction was down at the beach but these seagulls seem to have got the memo.

I know I was speaking rather lightheartedly about the next 15 years and my expectations. I am incredibly lucky to be able to speak about it at all. The photograph above was sent to me this morning of a young man who would be my age today. Bob Stevenson was a nice and interestingly quirky lad in my tutorial group in College. He died 52 years ago this week of lung cancer. All that life and love missed.

Thursday, 28th November, 2024

Glorious morning again today. Took a defunct radiator removed from the Gym wall to the Recycling Tip and then went on to the beach. Something very unusual is happening to the seagulls. At least I’ve never seen it before. Today they were massing and marauding on the sea edge and flirting with crashing waves as the tide turns.

Lovely walking but I found myself struggling a bit. I am walking around just over 7 miles a day – 50 miles a week at the moment / 200 miles a month. I also do a Gym routine each day. I think you would class that as moderately active. For a man of my age, the daily calorie requirement is 2,200. I am living on around 1500 per day. I am deliberately putting myself into deficit but this morning I hit a brick wall.

I was a bit wobbly as I walked back along the beach road but didn’t think it merited an ambulance. It turned out that there was no emergency. They had just come down for Breakfast. Ah, Breakfast! I remember that.

I’m watching a hauntingly sad dramatisation of the 1970 – 1998 IRA struggle for a free Ireland. It is a desperate part of my/our history, Dear Reader. The bombings, the shootings, the incursion of the British army in Ireland and the infiltration of Irish bombers on the mainland.

Just as in Gaza, there is no real excuse on either side for attrocities BUT, in Gaza, the Israelis have kept the Palestinians hemmed into a relatively small piece of land and continued to annexe more land for a greater Israel. The Palestinians have understandably got frustrated by this process which has denied them Statehood. As a result, they have become increasingly aggressive-resistant.

I have always believed in a United Ireland. It would mean reversing the British annexation that began in 1649 with Cromwell’s invasion of Northern Ireland which outlawed the Catholics and awarded their lands to English gentry and continued through the reigns of Charles II & James II. It was barbaric annexation and ethnic cleansing on the part of British imperialism in the same manner as the Highland Clearances. No wonder the Irish were/are angry. No wonder they took up arms against their oppressors and they were proved right. The British government would never have come to the negotiating table without the brave men and women who stood up and in many cases died for their principles. And now, they are on the brink of an ultimate win.

Friday, 29th November, 2024

You light the skies, up above me
A star, so bright, you blind me,
Don’t close your eyes
Don’t fade away, don’t fade away ….

Oh, all the stars are coming out tonight
They’re lighting up the sky tonight
For you, for you ….

Last night the sky was wonderful as the sun went down and then as the stars came out and shone across the sky. It was magical.

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Dylan Thomas – 1952

This morning, I have an early appointment at the surgery for tests to inform my Oncology meeting next Friday. The tests are for Testosterone & Prostate Specific Antigen and will be used along with the full body CT scan to decide whether any cancer cells escaped the original treatment. I hope to continue raging against the dying of the light for a little while longer.

The world is such a beautiful place that none of us should hurry to leave it. Walking by the sea this morning, the tide was coming in, the sky was cloudless, there was no wind and the sun was shining warmly. The strange thing is that, instead of just appreciating the moment for itself, I have an irresistible urge to give it meaning by sharing it with my friends, my readers.

Saturday, 30th November, 2024

The end of November is celebrated in two ways down here. First thing under a dull and brooding sky, the Park Run becomes a Beach-side Run today. I didn’t sign up. I don’t sign up for group activities as a rule.

As we went down the promenade, volunteer marshalls were preparing the administration of the event. Some people just like organising and wearing pink vests. The tide was still coming in as we walked and the waves were roaring and crashing on the beach noisily drawing pebbles back into the water on retreat. Very warm and windless. Just missing the sunshine of the past few days. Well, it is nearly December.

The second thing which seems to happen in the first weekend of December concerns Christmas or Xmas as I prefer to call it being an atheist. It doesn’t matter really. I am the original humbug. Xmas really does little for me and even more so when I am on a diet. This year, festivities are completely cancelled for me.

Anyway, the neighbours around here get together to help each other decorate their houses outside. The men carry ladders around offering help each other decorate their homes by lining their eaves with lights. Electricians and builders give their expert support. The women make coffee and carry round mince pies (What else would they do?) and they get together in each other’s house to drink mulled wine and sing carols. Yes, I know. Now you can see why I abhor Xmas.

Fortunately, the householders around us are lovely people who don’t go over the top with their decorations. We don’t have to suffer garish, flashing displays. They tend to be moderate and tasteful and some are token, minimal offerings like this weeping tree. They go up this weekend and come down by the first week of January without fail.

There was a traditional Christmas Fayre in our village of Angmering last night with a brass band, food stalls and the trees on the village green dressed with lights.

I still feel obliged to send Xmas cards especially for those without emails although we will try to send digital ones to many people. Pauline has made Xmas cakes and puddings for others but not for us. We are deciding to eat a medley of fish this year – scallops, smoked salmon, langoustines and crab instead of turkey and no alcohol but I will also integrate my exercise routine into the day.

Sunday, 17th November, 2024

Beautiful blue sky and strong sunshine to start the new week. Just 3 weeks until the Blog has be going for 16 years. Many have died both literally and metaphorically in that time. For some, it was a welcome release. The Assisted dying Bill may be as a direct response to Blog readers.

To celebrate the day, I had my haircut and then went for a lovely walk in the park for a change.

The equipment in the Gym is all computer driven. Computers are sensitive to temperature and low temperatures particularly. Of course, the garage was not connected to the house heating system so I had to have a separate system installed.

I bought an oil-filled, electric vertical radiator which seemed to work well but I soon realised it had a function missing – remote control. While we were away in the winter months, I couldn’t turn it on. This morning, 3 years after installing it, I’ve found it isn’t working. It gives me a chance to readdress the issue.

Things have moved on and improved. There are always benefits for the righteous, Dear Reader. There are so many radiators available that provide an app to control from my phone. That is what I will order tomorrow.

Monday, 18th November, 2024

Lovely morning – mild and comparatively bright. My first job on a Monday is to take the bins out. Was rather shocked to read that some areas in England are so cash strapped that they are proposing to collect Black Bins only once a month. Ours are collected weekly and there is no current suggestion of changing.

Did an early walk by the beach. The tide was on its way out. The sky was watery bright and the air was comparatively warm. The news from the North of England is less comfortable. Quite a bit of snow is forecast for them this afternoon. If I had been at work this morning, I would have been wondering if there would be a problem driving home over the Pennines to night and then getting to work tomorrow. I know we always felt it was our responsibility to be there early, before other staff arrived to make sure things went smoothly, the school was safe and had enough staff to work it.

Sometimes, I get up and suddenly realise I no longer have any responsibilities. A weight is lifted almost like a revelation of freedom. I wonder if I’ll ever throw that off. I don’t know if this happens to you, Dear Reader, but I experience a regular and frequent discomfort in retirement. I cannot sit still and indulge myself for long without getting an uncomfortable feeling of disquiet that I should be doing something and I am ignoring my responsibilites. It’s rather like an inverse imposter syndrome. It is hard to reconcile the fact that I am no longer needed.

While the sea promenade is being redeveloped the old buildings, including the toilets, have been demolished. I’m not sure they have successfully resolved the issue however temporary.

My tutor at College 55 years ago died yesterday. He was 95 and he had relinquished his responsibilities long ago.

Talking to friends/ex-students this morning, we reviewed our pioneering group of 24 boys who went through the 69/72 courses and only 20 are still alive with at least one living is sheltered accomodation. It does make you wonder who is next and under what circumstances.

Tuesday, 19th November, 2024

Humankind has been obsessed with time since, well …. Time immemorial. As Philip Larkin wrote, Days are where we live. What has always fascinated me is our differing reactions to it. What I’ve never been able to understand are the ones who say they have no interest but staying in the moment. The Now.

You, Dear Reader, may be more familiar with Morrisey and The Smiths than I and you will know his song, How Soon Is Now?

When you say it’s gonna happen now
When exactly do you mean?
See I’ve already waited too long
And all my hope is gone

Sometimes the slowness of time can bring real angst. When we long for something else, a watched pot never boils. When we are enjoying an experience, we want time to stand still. We want that moment to go on for ever. Stop the World. I want to get off.

Of course, neither position can be realised in reality but both are responses to our being trapped in the space-time continuum concept of Stephen Hawkins book. I’m not interested in History, people say. Why live in the past? It is not a thoughtful, intelligent or reflective view of our lives. I remember a film in which a family were all in a car driving to the seaside and singing:

We’re here because we’re here because
We’re here because we’re here because
We’re here ….

ad infinitum. The circularity, the very insularity, is almost an attempt to blot out the past and block thoughts of the future. We are here only because we are here is a denial of humanity. It is the ultimate vacuity. I can tell you that getting cancer really concentrates the mind on time left and puts things into perspective.

A people without history
Is not redeemed from time, for history is a pattern
Of timeless moments.

Little Gidding (1942) – T. S. Eliot

There is no present or future, only the past, happening over and over again – now, as Eugene O’Neill wrote. And when we examine those who deny interest in the past, they are the first to recognise and celebrate birthdays, wedding anniversaries, lay flowers at the graves of those who have been and are gone.

Time present and time past
Are both perhaps present in time future,
And time future contained in time past.

Four Quartets – T. S. Eliot

This morning, my wife is off to the Beautician’s for a couple of hours. Quite a lot of restoration is required – reclaiming the past. I’m home alone waiting for a delivery and booking people to install my new radiator in the Gym. And that’s where I will be this morning because it’s raining. Getting fitter by the day and trying to stay alive as long as possible into time future. Have a lovely day, Dear Reader.

Wednesday, 20th November, 2024

What is happening? We have distict signs of frost on the lawn. The sun is out but the temperature is only 2C/36F. Might need a fleece when I walk outside this morning even though we have gorgeous sunshine.

Got some workmen calling first to inspect a small job. The new radiator for the Gym was delivered last night. Some exhausted young man hurriedly arrived in a white van, ran to my house at 6.30 pm with a 50lb package and ran back to his van. He had disappeared almost before I’d closed the door. What a life! Who would be a white van man?

When I was a young teacher, full of vigour and ambition, I was always tired. Mind you, I was surviving about 4 hours sleep a night and studying for an Arts Degree while teaching full time. Later in Education Management, mental tiredness left me driving home with a head feeling like concrete and almost incapable of thought. Now, tiredness is physical and utter bliss.

There is something really wonderful and self-congratulatory about the fatigue of exercise and that is what I feel in retirement. I am an all-or-nothing personality and pushing myself to the limit is genuinely rewarding. An old friend was declaring his achievement of Dry October. Three months without alcohol and counting for me at the moment. All or nothing. I love red wine but I also love my power over it rather than adiction to it.

My new varifocal glasses have proved so successful that I ordered a second pair this morning and my wife who already has 4 pairs of reading glasses ordered a fifth pair combined with sunglasses so she can read her Kindle out in the garden – unless, of course, she’s thinking of wearing them in bed. We went on to buy some Christmas cards – with robins on, of course. This year will be a crossover year. Anyone who can be reached by Whatsapp or Email can expect an e-card. Those who I can only reach by text or snail-mail will get a robin.

On to the fish shop for 2 dozen locally caught sea bass and 2kg of Tuna and then on for a walk. The beach and sea were looking gorgeous today at a time when our old stomping ground of the Pennines was looking as illustrated above.

Thursday, 21st November, 2024

Up before 6.00 am and out before 7.00 am on a cool, dark morning. Driving to Gatwick Airport South Terminal to meet a B.A. flight from Tampa, Florida. Collecting P&C and driving back to Byfleet, Surrey. Just hoping we don’t get caught up in rush hour to the city.

I love driving in the dark and that was the first half of our journey. Long queues at roundabouts as people headed for work. Couldn’t do that every day. We arrived just after 8.00 am but parking was difficult. South Terminal Short Stay was packed. We drove around for some time before finding a spot.

Out across the concourse to Arrivals and the Flight Board which confirmed for us that the Landing would be 20 mins early. We found the Passenger Exit point and waited. And waited. And waited. One full hour after landing, the 5 strong party came into view. The apparatus around flying seems to have got more onerous and time consuming since we first flew 45 years ago. It really makes me prefer to drive if it is a viable alternative.

David, James & Jade went off to their car. P&C came with us. A 40 mins drive to Surrey, drop off P&C and then an hour’s drive home.

This last leg is always lovely but today it was absolutely beautiful with trees in strong Autumn colour in lovely sunshine from a gentle sky. The round trip took us 5 hours and then I had my exercise routine to complete. An hour in the Gym and an hour out walking will do today.

A sign of the times: on this day in 1971, the band, Lindisfarne performed at my College as part of their Lady Eleanor Tour. Look at them now.

Do you remember this, Dear Reader, from 1971? Don’t think I’ve heard it since then. I remember Whispering Bob Harris on The Old Grey Whistle Test though.

Friday, 22nd November, 2024

Gorgeous morning opens with just a hint of frost on the roofs. It had been a night of huge, sparkling stars. Were you gazing, Dear Reader? I was before I went to sleep, perchance to dream.

Busy morning. Lots of shopping and then I am contacting a new security company to discuss taking over our CCTV system. I haven’t been happy with our initial company so I’m going to invite our Burglarm Alarm servicers to take over management. I want them to install a video-doorbell which will alert our smartphones as well.

Can’t believe how lucky we were yesterday. We did the Gatwick Airport run successfully and all went well. Today would have been a nightmare. There has been a bomb scare which has closed all the access roads to the airport.

Those in the airport or arriving back to the airport have been forced to evacuate and stand outside in the cold. There is a suspected bomb in luggage on an arriving plane. Very exciting!

We very rarely eat red meat – occasionally Stuffed Peppers & very occasionally grilled Steak. Tonight I am making Beef Ragoût for Supper. It will, of course, be outstanding and a real treat. I make it from the most wonderful Skirt of Beef from our Butcher. It is so tender, I am almost tempted to turn it into Steak Tartare but wouldn’t be allowed.

Saturday, 23rd November, 2024

I am back in shorts and tee shirt. It went from 4C/39F to 14C/57F over night …. but wet. Exercise will be in the Gym today. On days like this it is a life saver. Kevin in Leeds and Julie on the North Yorkshire coast have both got snow this morning. I’m going to spend a bit of time looking for some sunshine.

First, though, my eye was caught by a story from the mean streets of Oldham. A story appeared in the Manchester Evening News that immediately flooded my memory banks. Around 46 years ago, we appointed a bright new Maths teacher called Frank to our school where he had been a pupil. A couple of years later, we appointed an attractive, young Home Economist called Diane to the staff. Within months, they were an item and subsequently married.

After a short spell, Frank decided he didn’t want to teach in Oldham and he and Diane went off to teach in Malawi. As a staff, we learned the Malawi National Song to sing to them as they left. That didn’t last long and they came back rather sheepishly. Frank went into Insurance for a while and Diane came back to us.

Suddenly, we were told that they were buying a school! It was Farrowdale School in Shaw – a private school for kids aged 3 – 16 yrs. They ran it successfully for 30 years although I think it was harder work than they imagined and not the money spinner they hoped either.

They retired and sold up, about 10 years after us and started the normal retirement travel plan – Australia, New York, Spain, etc. Suddenly and without warning, Frank was diagnosed with a Brian Tumour and was gone in weeks. Diane had been left to continue a long, lonely retirement of narrowing possibilities.

Sorry – all triggered by a news item – and rather sad but a salutory lesson to measure life by.

And so to the Gym all the way across the garden. Two full hours I’ve got to do today. Fortunately, I’m watching an engrossing and intelligently written drama spanning four tumultuous decades during The Troubles in Northern Ireland. It’s available on Disney Plus and called Say Nothing which is what IRA families were taught to do in the face of an authoritarian military occupation from the mainland.

It is our history, my history and centres on the 1972 abduction and murder of Jean McConville by the IRA who suspected her of being an informer. She was a Protestant married to a Catholic in Belfast. She was torn from her family, dragged away and never seen again until her body was discovered some 30 years later. The drama strongly indicts Gerry Adams as a central figure in the action. He has always denied his membership of the IRA in the face of strong evidence. I have always believed that a united Ireland was the only acceptable position and we do look as if that will come about maybe even in my lifetime.

That is Gym-time watching for me alone. Evening sharing is the most unlikely pick for me but I am really enjoying it. You wouldn’t put me down as someone who enjoys stories about love and relationships but that is what I am doing. I pay for Netflix, Amazon Prime, Apple TV+, Disney Plus, ITV-X but ‘free’ on iPlayer is a genuinely funny and gentle series of mini episodes called Cheaters. It is a drama, semi comic series about sex, relationships and infidelity.

Sunday, 10th November, 2024

Well, I was wrong about the shorts. Lovely, warm morning for walking by the beach. There were even people in the sea. I walked past a garden full of blooming roses this morning – in the middle of November.

As part of our year of travel, we are considering again a couple of Winter (UK) months in Australia. We would do December (2025) – January (2026) for the best weather and, we think Sydney for the best overall experiences. Flights at the beginning of December and back at the end of January with Emirates via Dubai would cost us just over £7,000.00 especially if we commit early so that will be under discussion this week.

Currently health, fitness and diet are high up the agenda. It is the reason why we are not travelling. Enjoyment, relaxation, indulgence are all part of travelling. I can’t risk that at the moment. It would encourage me to eat and drink outside my plan. It would make the exercise routine more difficult.

I’m not just thinking about calories in the diet. I am trying to think healthy holistically. There was an interesting but horrifying article in The Times yesterday about the all round problem. It sort of establishes the narrow options for a healthy diet. It almost entirely dictates non-processed foods. Processing involves sugar/salt well over safe amounts, additives and preservatives both of which are dangerous. The cooked meats in the picture above used to feature in my meals. Not anymore. The salt content and preservatives are seriously dangerous just as fried food has been dropped.

My diet over the past decade has increasingly become fish/chicken and green vegetables. Salt & pepper don’t go on the dining table but are just a part of the cooking and herbs and lemon juice replace them for flavouring. One of the ways I control my hunger is through drinks. I love fresh coffee and I love wine. The Times article makes clear that just 4 cups a day of the former and complete prohibition of the latter is the advice. I’m not sure I can go that far but I have done 75 days without alcohol although I have also been thinking of buying a new coffee maker.

Monday, 11th November, 2024

What is happening? The world looks different. We have blue sky and sunshine this morning. It is warm outside. Not sure if I can cope.

The walk was done in shorts and tee shirt in lovely, warm sunshine. What a joy. Makes such a difference after a depressing fortnight of greyness.

Back home, I am speaking to our home security installers. I need the software controller upgrading and I want a video doorbell installing that I can back up to my own, home cloud. If I’m spending months in Europe and Australia next year, it will be important.

Talk about surveillance. As we parked up at the cook shop this afternoon, I had the distinct feeling that I was being watched. These massing starlings seem to be starting later this year.

The big event of the afternoon is a trip to Lakeland. Being married to a cook, they have featured quite a lot in our lives. Back in the 1970s, they used to be called Lakeland Plastics because they were founded to supply plastic wrappings to the Agricultural industry. Over the past 60 years, they have transmogrified into a kitchen/cooking products suppliers with about 90 outlets across the company. They figured in our lives because chef could only source some, cutting edge, things on their website. We have spent a fortune there over the years.

Now, an outlet has been opened a couple of miles away from us. Chef came home with a (drumroll) …. cake icing turntable and the big prize, a complimentary Lakeland shopping bag. What more could any girl want?

Tuesday, 12th November, 2024

Oh, what a gorgeous day ….. Thank goodness normal service is resumed in some ways. Warm and bright to raise the spirits. Mermaids in the sea.

East Beach Cafe outdoor seating is a lovely place for coffee and basking in the sunshine. Early in the morning, the promenade is quiet. I must admit even I am surprised how long into the end of the year people are still able to swim. I don’t think I will be trying it.

On this day exactly a decade ago we were in Athens not for leisure but for business. We were spending a lengthy, nervous hour in this bank securing thousands of pounds worth of Euros from the final payment tranche from the sale of our house. It was a nerve wracking situation that you had to be in the middle of to understand. Getting money out of Greece in particular was especially difficult. They had gone through the financial crisis and well-off Greeks had been smuggling most of their cash out of the reach of the tax authorities. As a result, all money being moved out of the country was closely supervised.

We were going to the National Bank of Greece where we had an account but we were using a branch in Syndagma, Athens – pictured above. The people were not known to us and we were strangers to them. They were extremely suspicious. Were we money laundering drug dealers? Were we trying to avoid paying Greek Government tax? Well … You may think that but I couldn’t possibly comment. Having established the probity of our money, the bank manager then tried to sell us some investment bonds which we declined and the money was winged electronically to our UK account. A big sigh of relief followed by an even bigger glass of wine. A decade on, that money has been working hard for us through careful investment management. It will warm-line the cold winds of our old age.

Wednesday, 13th November, 2024

At least it’s not Friday. With clearer skies come beautiful sunsets. Where were you last night, Dear Reader? The South Coast is beautiful on evenings like this.

Of course, clearer skies bring colder nights. We went down to 9C/48F last night which is quite cool. This morning has opened bright and sunny. Going out early for a long walk beside the sea and then collecting my new, varifocal glasses. I’m hoping they will improve my driving experience. I need to be able to see the road and read the car’s digital information at the same time. Everything – speed sign, actual speed, sat.nav. direction, lane-keep setting, etc. – is projected up on to the windscreen just above the steering wheel. I am peering over the top of my driving glasses to read it. It is a bit dangerous.

On to hospital to sit outside an office for an hour in an almost empty waiting room. It is hard to understand how this has been achieved after previously packed hospitals and long queues. Anyway, things are moving forward and may be sorted out later this week …. Spoke too soon. It isn’t sorted out at all. Might be 3 months wait.

After a long and tiring morning, this afternoon, Chef begins to cook for Christmas. Two huge Christmas Cakes and two Christmas Puddings none of which will be eaten by us. An hour in Sainsburys sourcing all the ingredients and then another few hours in the Kitchen with the early preparations. This is fun for her. I will be in the Gym working out and watching the new adaptation of The Day of the Jackall.

This is my sort of escapist fiction. I have absolutely no idea why. It is one of the magical things about human beings that we cannot fathom but which is so attractive to see. My secretary – long since dead of breast cancer – had an inexplicable fascination/obsession with fire engines and firemen. She could be driving to work or the shops or home and a passing fire engine with all the lights and sirens going compelled her to turn round immediatedly and follow it. My fascination with espionage is not quite so extreme but it is there none the less. Human beings are so interesting!

The new adaptation of the Frederic Forsyth novel on Sky Atlantic is cool and gripping and filmed across 10 x 1 hour episodes. It is the perfect foil for exercise in the Gym, Dear Reader. You should try it.

Thursday, 14th November, 2024

Been feeling sad for a couple of days. This morning I have a full body scan at the hospital and, over breakfast, the BBC Today programme had major items on prostate cancer and the need for early diagnosis. It rather overwhelmed me. Pathetic, I know. I am pathetic. It has to be acknowleged but that doesn’t really help. I heard about a man who had his cancer identified early, had it treated ‘successfully’, went on with his life and then it returned just 4 years later and unbeknown to him. It killed him. When you feel sad, these things seem to attach and bolster the feeling.

Eight years ago, we were spending the month of November here. It is the Rocca Nivaria Gran Hotel on Tenerife. It was magical weather and a glorious time. It was our third month there in a short period over the time we were moving to West Sussex.

Of course, we were in a lovely hotel which was feeding us the most fantastic food & wine whenever we wanted it and however much we wanted but didn’t need. It was all totally over-indulgent inspite of the fact we spent time in the Gym and the Pool, walking on the coastal path and generally keeping active. I still put on weight.

It all seems so far away in terms of Time and Geography. We are stuck in the gloomy, self-disciplined straights of a generally dark month. Yesterday, I missed a gathering of similar old men. As T. S. Eliot said, Humankind can not bear very much reality.

I am facing my reality full on and I have turned my back on fantasy, indulgence and so I carry on my lonely path through a 2024 of work and self-denial. The prize is the promised land in 2025. Sorry about the biblical references. They are so much part of the language that I can’t be bothered excising them.

My wife is currently seriously testing my resolve. Two Christmas puddings have been steaming outside – 6 hours in all. Now they are cooling off in the kitchen with the all pervasive scent drifting tantalisingly in to my nostrils. I won’t be tempted. I am just about to embark on my 80th day without alcohol. I am walking 7 miles a day so I have done well over 500 miles in this time. The weight is coming down. I’ve been plateauing for a short while and now on the way down again. My trainer has lost as much as she dares. She is now allowed chocolates.

Friday, 15th November, 2024

Winter is coming. You can feel it, Dear Reader. There is an edge in the air, a harshness, a lack of tenderness:

“A cold coming we had of it,
Just the worst time of the year
For a journey, and such a long journey:
The ways deep and the weather sharp,
The very dead of winter.”

T.S Eliot – The Journey of the Magi (1927)

Last night we had the central heating on for an hour so it must be serious. Before the hour was up, we were sweating. That’s what I like about modernity. The house is a new-build with all the advances in insulation and comfort that owners of older properties could only dream of. I love the heating controls. It was one of the best decisions I made to install it. It makes the use of heating so easy and so infinitely controllable.

Unlike the old days, we can now control the heating in different zones of our house at the press of a button on our smartphones. It means that we don’t waste money heating areas we aren’t using or heating those we are using for longer than needed. This is what the internet-of-things can do for us. This is what life should be like.

I have an app on my computer that downloads weather satellite video projections/forecasts for the days ahead. It allows us to map the movements of clouds and winds, of rain and temperatures. When I lived in the North of England – in Greater Manchester and West Yorkshire – Winter was always an experience. The journey over the Pennines was difficult and often snowbound. School was often closed because it was unsafe. The school was a 1950s build with drafty iron-framed windows. Pupils lived in old housing stock which were often cold and damp.

We are not immune to cold down here but snow is extremely rare. Certainly the last sighting was long before we arrived 8 years ago. (Of course, now we will see avalanches this year.) But the sea is like a ground source heat pump. It holds temperature when the sky is losing it. Living on the coast, we are usually 2-3C above the countryside inland. Doesn’t sound much but it is enough to make all the difference.

Was sent a memory yesterday which really put life into context. This photo is of the College Refectory where we ate at the beginning of the 1970s. It was a grey, analogue time of plug-in 3 bar heaters, warm clothes and of calorie-busting food. So long, so far away …..

Saturday, 16th November, 2024

Wonderful full ‘Super’ moon last night. The garden was floodlit at midnight. Quite magical. The sky was full of huge and brightly shining stars. A night when people of a religious persuasion would look up and say they could see the light of heaven. They would imagine their dead loved ones leading an eternal life in a mystical, starry afterworld.

Those who have crossed
With direct eyes, to death’s other Kingdom
Remember us ….

And voices are in the wind’s singing
More distant and more solemn
Than a fading star.

T.S. Eliot – The Hollow Men

You will know, Dear Reader, because I have said it often enough that I am an atheist. I have been all my life although there was a time when I trotted through the rituals of a Roman Catholic faith in a narrow complicity. So my views on moral/spiritual issues come from the standpoint of Humanism. The Assisted Dying Bill in UK which will be voted on in a couple of weeks has interested me for my own stance on it.

Growing up in a world where, before the Suicide Act 1961, it was a crime to take one’s own life and anyone who attempted and survived could be prosecuted and imprisoned, while the families of those who died could also potentially be prosecuted. In part, that criminalisation reflected religious and moral objections to suicide as self-murder. Because of that, I have always believed that the State could never preside over individual life and death. I am utterly opposed to Capital Punishment and I have always held the view that every person had the right to take their own life ….. until now.

Now I am having doubts – not that we should have the free-will over our own lives but the burden it will put on doctors. I have seen people with terminal illnesses have their lives hastened away in over worked hospitals with drugs that blur the lines between pain relief and death-induction.

The first rule of Medicine is to do no harm but this would be severely tested if elderly people press medics to administer or help them self-administer life-taking drugs. It is an area fraught with ethical uncertainty.

We are already in this uncertain world with DNR notices. A Do Not Resuscitate is a legal document that’s usually written by a healthcare provider after discussing the risks and benefits of CPR with the patient, their loved ones, or their legal decision-maker. People who choose to have a DNR often have a terminal illness or other serious medical condition. We are in the world of Assisted Dying already. Geriatrics could easily slip into Euthenasia. Moving towards the geriatric stage myself, I wouldn’t be comfortable with that.

More than anything else, what this has shown me is that I am capable of change. I can have my opinion altered by sound argument. I am not set in my ways …. completely. There is hope.

Sunday, 3rd November, 2024

Grey, grey, grey, grey. Warm but grey into the near future. There are a few chinks of light but they are few and far between. This from the beach last night gives a glimpse of the glory to come.

Quite chilly walking by the sea this morning but I’m still in shorts and tee shirt. Quite a few of the older walkers in coats and boots give me astonished looks and are clearly surprised. I don’t like to tell them that, when you’ve lived in Lancashire, this is like mid-Summer.

Fifteen years ago, we were still living in Yorkshire. We were driving to Greece each year and wanted to be nearer the Channel Tunnel. We were living in a perfectly nice place but it was a big house with five bedrooms which we just didn’t need for only 6 months of the year. We wanted to move South to be nearer to The Tunnel. I wanted to go down to Kent for exactly that reason. We set off for a tour to look around the Ashford, Folkestone, Dover, Sandwich, Canterbury areas followed by looking around the Rochester, Gillingham, Chatham area.

We ended up with a half way house by buying in Surrey. It was very profitable but I wasn’t happy there and it wasn’t by the sea. The Sussex coast is a real delight after that.

Of course all, serious eyes are on the USA this weekend. After Labour’s demolition of the Tories 3 months ago, what the world needs desperately is a Democrat government over the Atlantic Ocean. The Americans are absolutely bonkers. Their religiosity is bonkers. Their worship of the gun is bonkers. They scream about not allowing abortion but desperately insist on their right to carry guns to kill people. Their insularity is bonkers. So many Americans don’t even have passports and know little and care less about the world beyond their own continent. How can people live that way? It’s a nervous time.

Monday, 4th November, 2024

Went out for a local walk early this morning. The main event of the day is a trip to Worthing Hospital. Not really sure what to expect other than a fight for a car parking space ……..

…… Well, the car park turned out to be the best part of the experience. The hospital part was something of an anticlimax. Still, there will be more to come. The hospital is building a huge, new wing for emergency admissions and cannibalising the carparking for the space. Sounds trivial but it is essential to sort that out.

You will probably already be familiar with Thomas Malthus, Dear Reader. His theory – An Essay on the Principle of Population was published in 1798. It was a seminal work of political economy in which he posited the theory  that population growth is potentially exponential while the growth of the food supply and other resources is linear. According to this theory, poverty and inequality will increase as the price of assets and scarce commodities goes up due to fierce competition for these dwindling resources. This increased level of poverty eventually causes depopulation by decreasing birth rates.

Modern caveats to Malthusianism reference Birth Control and Abortion as mitigating factors but, even now, the basic principle survives. Yesterday, I found an interesting article in The Times which referred to Britain’s Tumbling Birthrate and centred on Brighton just down the road from us.

Of course, having gone through a cost of living crisis – some would say many are still going through it – and real terms inflationary pressure, young couples are disincentivised against having a family. With home ownership being pushed back into middle age and many 30 year olds still living with their parents, when are they going to find the time, space and freedom to create babies?

The sky high price of housing in our region is clearly proving an insurmountable barrier to many young people and the knock on effect, to coin a phrase, is a lower birthrate. We will all need to do our bit.

Tuesday, 5th November, 2024

Everything is grey. The light that informs the scenery is grey. We just have to keep making an effort and believing that things will brighten.

It looks like Winter but it is really warm. Walking, walking, walking back to full health and fitness. I am managing 7 miles a day now so only 3 short of where I was before the cancer treatment. Reasonably pleased with that. It seems to be a better balance in terms of the time it takes up.

There is always something interesting to see on the walk despite the light. Here I can introduce you to my new, best friend. Harbinger of Death, Colin the Crow seems to have a copy of my Will already.

I try to learn new things all the time. It is important to keep pushing your mind as much as your body. This morning, I received a news flash from the Manchester Evening News as I do a number of times each day, every day. It was a simple, local incident in Rochdale where police had closed a street called Oberlin Street off Manchester Road. I wanted to know what this name derived from and a casual search brought up an Oberlin Street in Oldham as well. There had be something more to this.

As a student of Labour History, I was well aware of the influence of Robert Owen – 18th/19th century textile manufacturer, philanthropist and social reformer, and a founder of Utopian Socialism and the Co-operative movement. What I didn’t know was that J. F. Oberlin, a contemporary of Owen and a pastor from Alsace, was separately espousing the tenets of Christian Socialism. There were clearly Oberlin Philosophy missions in the working class districts of the North West but there is still a huge Oberlin College in Ohio, U.S. which lists the Rochdale Co-Operative principles as informing its foundation.

Let’s hope the spirit of Rochdale social co-operation permeates out from the Oberlin College, Ohio into the nation as a whole and brings victory to Kamala Harris. What a wonderful symbol of social and intellectual mobility that would be. Utopian Socialism. One can always dream ….

Wednesday, 6th November, 2024

Well that really is depressing. I woke at 5.45 am to the news that the American madness has returned. It is a difficult thing to hear and makes me draw in upon myself, insulate myself, hunker down and wait for it to pass.

Even so, I fear for Europe in general and Ukraine in particular. I fear for the protectionism of the USA and its effects on the World economy. It’s not my job to fear for the American people who have taken that decision but an insular Presidency can only mean trouble for World security in terms of standing up to despots but also in terms of Climate action.

Out on my walk this morning, the greyness reflected the mood. It may be warm still but it is depressingly bland. It is amazing what a difference sun can bring to the world. I must get some!

We have four years of a convict dominating the Western World, sucking all the oxygen out of Liberal Democracies and pandering to the basest instincts. There is always music for the occasion and this sums it up.

Well Dear Reader, I wonder if it depresses you as much as me. Probably not. Perhaps I take it all too seriously. I know there are intelligent people out there who understand my plight and all offers of consolation will be welcome. Here, I am trying to take comfort in my dieting and fitness campaign. I have been on it for 10 weeks now. That means no alcohol for 70 days so far. I calculate that has saved me around £1000.00 over that time. We have taken out a savings plan to capitalise on and reinforce it. In fact, my weight is coming down in inverse proportion to the way my savings accounts are going up. We have to take comfort in small, localised wins.

Thursday, 7th November, 2024

It is one of those days when I am delighted to find it is grey and dull. Today, I have to go to the Eye Hospital for a diabetic eye check. I have always been particularly careful with my eyes because I only have ever had sight in my right one. Most people who know me are not really aware of that. It has never held me back having suffered it since birth.

This morning, I am going to be tested by a piece of kit sexily known as a Slit-Lamp Biomicroscope. Slit-lamp biomicroscopy involves two-photon imaging of the cornea using femtosecond laser microscopes and tomographs.

It’s a lot of words but essentially it means a slit-lamp, which is a specialised magnifying microscope, which is used to examine the structures of the eye, including the cornea, iris, vitreous, and retina, and produces a three-dimensional image of the internal structures.

In order to scan the eyes, I will have to have them enlarged temporarily and about 15 mins before the scan I have drops put in to dilate the pupils and stop them becoming smaller when lights are shone into them. As a result, walking out into daylight afterwards, sunlight is agony for a couple of hours. So, welcome to a grey, dull morning.

It’s over and I am pleased to say that the verdict is good. It appears that I have a cataract developing ….. in my blind eye but not in my good one. It would be pointless to operate. Apparently, half of all 80 year olds have cataracts. I’ve always been terrified of a cataract operation on my one good eye because of the risks. Not much I can do about it but it is a concern. However, for now, all is well.

Going out to start the exercise for the day. Weight is falling quite fast at the moment. Pauline is worried that hers is going too far. She will continue to exercise but stop dieting so hard. I will continue with both for the next 6 months.

À propos of absolutely nothing, thought you might like this. It was sent to me this morning – a picture of serenity. Littlehampton Marina at night time.

Friday, 8th November, 2024

The warm and grey goes on. This morning my entire life will be thrown into confusion as my broadband feed is switched from BT to EE. Internet will be disrupted – hopefully for no more than a couple of hours – and I am painfully aware how many taken-for-granted services will be suspended. The new internet feed will provide additional bandwith or extra channels and our household definitely needs it.

The demands are comparatively huge. We have 7 TVs & Sky Q-Boxes going out to the Gym where we also have wifi heating controls. Our main central heating is wifi controlled. The car outside is also as are our our landline phones and our home security cameras. The radios in bedrooms are wifi fed and our mobiles use wifi for best signals inside the house. Laptops, iPads, smart_watches all will stop for a while. It is hard to imagine all these services going down even for two hours but …. they will.

Talking about things going down: in coming to terms with the relative brevity of life, I have had this image in my head for a long time that seems to sum the inevitability of it up. My wife refuses to admit it will ever happen to either of us but …. people from our experience and age bracket are disappearing.

Today I read of an old, Greek friend who had died within weeks of his wife dying on the island. Of course, in typically sentimental and flowery language it is reported in the Greek newspaper – Apostolos Diaremes “left” for the long journey. The island is getting poorer and poorer. Certainly, Apostolos was a lovely man. He was our taxi driver and our friend. He would appear at our gate with a box of tomatoes, peppers & courgettes from his garden for two mad English people – immigrants to his island. I’m not sure how old he was – a little bit older than us – but inevitability is mixed with sadness and regret.

Saturday, 9th November, 2024

Grey and a little colder this morning. I have a feeling that I may well be coming to the end of shorts and tee shirt on the beach for the season. I’ve done it this morning but I was definitely one of the few. This treasure hunter definitely didn’t need sun cream this morning.

Well, the broadband installation went well. The next project is to get the Home Security team in to look at our current CCTV camera provision and to install a video doorbell. This is preparation work in readiness for a big, travelling year in 2025. This weekend, I’m going to be looking again at an Australia trip for a couple of months next Winter. We really have to do that.

I’ve been researching it myself, of course and the whole thing seems fraught with difficulties. It isn’t just a matter of which doorbell but whether I want it to physically chime in the house as well as alert our smart phones. Then there is the problem of saving video and the ongoing cost of storage in the cloud. I’m looking at installing my own, Home Cloud storage to avoid ongoing charges.

I’ve written before about the effect music has on me. I really don’t know why but I absolutely dissolve as it washes over me. I was searching for this piece last night. It is commonly known as Handel’s Largo. Actually, it is the opening Aria from Handel’s opera, Xerxes. I only know all that because my Grandfather gave us an old, wind-up 78 speed gramaphone and some discs that he had treasured. A lot of it was ‘popular’ 1930s trivia but this piece immediately grabbed me and twisted my heart strings. It has stayed with me for the past 60 years.

As I wiped my eyes, the YouTube site I was on listed this which I found a few years ago and I find it hard to believe anyone could feel unmoved by listening to it. I have no religion. I think the idea of a god is absolutely bonkers. This 16th Century piece composed by Italian Catholic priest, Allegri – Miserere mei, Deus translates as Have mercy on me, O God.

If there were a god, it couldn’t failed to be moved by such a beautifully plaintif cry. I find it cuts through me to my core. My Mother would be amazed and immediately hopeful of her project being successful after all these years. Don’t get your hopes up. There is no chance!

And after that, Dear Reader, you may be surprised by this contribution by that well known atheist – Amy Wadge. Keeping Faith accompanied a BBC TV Drama by that name. Irrespective of the drama, this speaks to me with devastating resonance and leaves me a jibbering wreck.

Sunday, 27th October, 2024

Lovely, clear morning of blue sky and sunshine although not warm. For some, strange reason, Worthing held its Bonfire & Fireworks event last night. The funfare had been arriving on the sea front all week. The old pallets had been delivered by the lorry load for days and the weather was marshalled to be dry and clear.

The town was virtually cut off to normal traffic and all carparks commandeered for Bonfire visitors. It was obviously a triumph and the weather, which is normally wet on Bonfire night played ball. It took me back immediately to family bonfires as a child. We were fortunate enough to have a big garden and Mum & Dad put on a firework and bonfire display for the family along with a Firework Supper of Jacket Potatoes & Parkin or Ginger Bread. The fireworks were so different then – Sparklers, Catherine Wheels that stuck half way round, Roman Candles that were beautiful but tame, Jumping Jacks and Bangers that are illegal now and rockets that burnt and faded too quickly.

Down at the beach this morning, gloriously warm and sunny walking. If you are ever fed up, this is the place to come. It lifts spirits immediately.

While I was walking, three old ladies came out of a beach hut in their swimming costumes and proceeded to walk, shrieking with pleasure, straight into the sea. In the last few days of October!

Monday, 28th October, 2024

A very different day – warm but windy with cloud overhead. The tide was coming in and the sea reflected the colour of the sky combined with the sand churned up by the waves.

It wasn’t a morning for old ladies to be venturing out in bathing costumes. The red flag of Socialism had been raised with warnings that blue-rinse ladies swam at their own risk.

Fifteen years ago today we received acknowledgement that we had paid off our last ever mortgage. For years, we had deliberately stretched ourselves with ever larger borrowings against ever more valuable properties constantly shopping around for cheaper mortgages. Our final Lender was the ultimately failing Northern Rock. It ceased trading three years after we paid them off.

We have bought three properties since but with cash and it is a great feeling to be not in debt to anyone. We are into our 9th year here in this house but already my wife is agitating for the consideration of a move. She sights the general rule that you shouldn’t stay in a new build house for more than ten years. We had a 5 yr full Builder’s warranty and then have an additional 5 yrs under the NHBC warranty. Our builders – David Wilson – are still supporting us even though we are way out of our warranty because they sell themselves on quality and reliability as opposed to cheapness. That was a real consideration when we chose them over our previous builders – Taylor Wimpey. Personally, I am very happy here with lovely neighbours and facilities but change must constantly be on the agenda lest we fossilise.

Felt a bit sad and empty this afternoon. Chopin, of course, is the perfect companion at this time. It has been with me for more than 50 years. The Nocturnes cut through me like the knife of loss, the lost years.

Tuesday, 29th October, 2024

Love this warm weather as the month of October puts its coat on and prepares to leave the house. The trees are turning but still clinging on. Strong November winds will be needed to dislodge them.

Trying hard to distract myself with politics and purchases, walking and wonderful skies. Pauline has been relying on an Amazon Kindle now for over 20 years. When it came out in 2007, it was quite revolutionary for lots of reasons that many still don’t realise. If you are still stuck in the analogue mode of paperbacks, you don’t know what you are missing.

The Kindle allows you to review, select, store and carry round thousands of books to read at any time. It did/does this by storing books in the Cloud well before its time. It provided ‘free’ access to the internet anywhere there was a mobile signal. While we were all treating our computers and laptops as fragile and easily corrupted, the Kindle was made to carry around in a handbag, surviving all sorts of knocks. Quite brilliant in retrospect.

Twenty years on and after the introduction of the iPad, the Kindle goes on developing. This week will see the release of a much improved colour version. Guess who is having one.

Full fathom five thy father lies
Of his bones are coral made
Those are pearls that were his eyes
Nothing of him that doth fade,
But doth suffer a sea change
Into something rich and strange

The Tempest – Ariel’s Song

Warm and bright with big sea and big sky this morning. It is a scene for dreaming … what is out there for us on the horizon, in the future? How far is it to rim of the world? How long? What do you think, Dear Reader?

Wednesday, 30th October, 2024

A grey day. I want the sun. Warm walking this morning but the quiet sea was reflective of the mood. Dreaming of sunshine. Please don’t make me wait too long.

This morning, other than walking, has been taken up with medical affairs. I hate it. It makes me feel so old. I am old but I’m not old. I don’t want medication but I have to take prescription medication. I don’t want to see doctors but I need to seek their help. I want to live not just a long time but a healthy, long time. I always contrast then and now. The decade of the 1970s saw me never visit a doctor. Indeed for most of it, I didn’t have a doctor. Neither, regrettably, did I visit a dentist.

This morning has involved collection of repeat prescriptions ordered online. Booking blood tests online to coincide with a full-body CT scan leading to a Oncology review in December. The review will be a remote one unless the test results are really serious and urgent. This is the new, Labour Health Service. If I’ve got to seek help, I like it.

Our adopted place, Angmering, is a village between Littlehampton and Worthing in West Sussex on the edge of the South Downs National Park. As I have written recently, it is rapidly expanding but, as this photo from the Village Green, still maintains much of its charm. As we enter our 9th year here and think about our long term prospects, I for one would be happy to keep what we have. It will a lot of thought to consider uprooting again … unless it is to the Meditererranean sunshine.

The afternoon is given to the Labour budget – the first ever Budget delivered by a woman. It has been an historic event for many reasons but it was wonderful to watch. A budget for investment without so many of the Tories predicted taxes. No fuel duty tax. No extension to tax band maintenance which would lead to fiscal drift. No additional taxes on alcohol – all things that the Right Wing had tried to scare the electorate with. Instead, money for the NHS, Education, Transport, Social Housing and the Green Economy.

Thursday, 31st October, 2024

Routines of the day shopping, walking, talking, writing. Routines are where we live. The rhythms of our lives are places to hide, suspend thought and feeling:

What are days for?
Days are where we live.   
They come, they wake us   
Time and time over.
They are to be happy in:   
Where can we live but days?

Philip Larkin – Days – Whitsun Weddings

But there is something about routines which anaesthetise one against the sharp edges of the challenges of existence. We can put our minds into auto-pilot and not engage for a while. At times, we all need to step out of our routines to see the real context of our lives. Those who don’t like to stop and look back or pause to project forward never see themselves in the stark realism of the context of their lives.

Talking about looking back and historical context, the poem is from a book by Philip Larkin that I bought new in 1973 for 42p. Now, if you wanted to buy this specific edition on line it would cost you £44.00. That is how old I am.

I first accessed the internet in the early 1990s through a normal telephone line and dial-up modem. In the next decade, I had two ISDN lines spliced together to provide Broadband which was still very slow and cranky. For the past 20 years, I have had BT Broadband and, since moving here, that has been on superfast, gigabit full fibre supply.

For many years, I have had two mobile phones supplied with unlimited calls and data by EE Mobile. Their service has been unparalleled. I have seen no reason to change until BT bought out EE. This week I was contacted to be told that my accounts would move over from one to the other automatically if I didn’t do it myself but I was offered incentives to jump rather than be pushed. I did that this morning.

I don’t know why but I chose to keep my landline. I don’t know why but I do use it. It is one of those old-person routines I am finding hard to throw away. I never go anywhere without my mobile phone but we have six, wireless, digital handsets which are scattered around the house and are looking rather last decade’s technology.

The trouble is, my smartphone is my diary, my phone book, my address book, my To-Do list, my Photograph Album, my Calculator, my app acccess, my everything and I find it hard to speak into it and access it for information at the same time.

So, as I phoned BT this morning, I used my landline but had my smartphone available for my BT app and my EE app to access account information. To verify it was me, they sent me pin numbers via my smartphone text app while talking on my landline. This is the stage I’m at but, as I negotiated the switch, the Salesman asked if I really wanted to keep my landline or give it up and save £120.00 a year. I heard myself saying, For such a small saving, I’ll keep it. but my head was saying the opposite. After all, we have unlimited ‘free’ calls with both. For the next month, we are going to run an experiment at home. Whenever we need to phone someone, we will only use our smart phones and see how we get on. Then we will decide.

Friday, 1st November, 2024

Good bye to October 2024. You will never see it again other than in memory. I would like to welcome November but it is rather grey and downbeat. Bit depressing really. Warm though as I walked along the coastal path this morning.

My friend, Kevin, suffers from SAD Syndrome. He reacts to lack of sunlight with depression. Because of that, he likes to get away for regular weeks to Spain throughout the year. It is a quick, cheap hop from Leeds/Bradford to Alicante.

Kevin’s destination of choice is Benidorm. I must admit, it wouldn’t be mine. He enjoys Karaoke. I couldn’t imagine anything worse.

Of course, he leaves for Spain just as the country is reeling from natural disaster in Valencia. The flooding has already claimed over 200 lives including those of tourists.

We spent a week in Valencia about 5 years ago and absolutely loved it. We stayed in a lovely hotel on the edge of the dry river basin that has been developed as a park and a culture centre with Museum, Art Gallery, Concert Hall and Opera House alongside beautiful buildings and water features. Everybody there appears to lead such a healthy lifestyle – jogging, cycling, walking, kayaking – in the park which goes on literally for miles.

We learnt that the river bed was dry because the water of the River Turia had been diverted away from the town after a very serious flood in 1957 which claimed many lives. The town used that disaster to assert a new and vibrant life of Culture, of Arts & Science. Lovely people. Lovely Food. Lovely weather (quite often).

Saturday, 2nd November, 2024

A warm, dry, grey day which, we are told, will lead to a warm, dry, grey week ahead. I have lots of old-person things to get through in the next week including hospital appointments, eye examinations and other exciting stuff. I’m going to try again with a new pair of varifocal glasses and I’m going to have my new broadband installed around the house. I could do it myself but the service comes ‘free’. I know, Dear Reader, how will I cope with such a dramatic week?

There is an interesting news item that caught my imagination this weekend. It is a series on BBC R4 called The Gift about DNA Testing and some surprising results. It is called The Gift because DNA Testing Kits tend to be presents for the person who has everything.

You will know, Dear Reader, of my interest in Historical Research, Ancestry Research and People Research. DNA testing combines all three strands of research in one effortless activity. I have thought of buying one many times but been a little concerned about what it would reveal.

Of course, most reveal entirely mundane information about where your gene pool is most concentrated in the UK and across the world. Some Brexiteers would get a few shocks about their European origins but little more than that. So many people have now had DNA tests that there is a large database nationally and internationally of results to inform us of our gene pool.

The frightening bit that has always put me off is the medical history/projection area of our Life Plan. Do I want to know Genetic Conditions and Hereditary Diseases that I might have inherited? Do I want to know my Cancer risk: whether I am predisposed to get some types of cancer? When I was younger, I really didn’t want to blight my future with the knowledge of what might come. Now I’m older, I am quite keen to know what I may have to face. It would be helpful to prepare and try to mitigate anything I can.

In the case being reported this weekend, a fascinating story of wrong identity emerged. A lad who took the test found all the expected things of his family on the results but suddenly realised that his sister’s name was wrong. He was able to contact the woman who was claimed to be his real sister. She had also done a test and found something wrong. To cut a long story short, the two girls had been born in the same hospital at the same time and, somehow been mixed up in the ward. Now, 55 years later, these girls are being reunited with their real mothers.

I think I know what I’m buying for Christmas.

Sunday, 20th October, 2024

A grey, breezy, wet morning. Still very warm but I’m going nowhere beyond a walk across the garden to the Gym. I’ve just been told that Greater Manchester has actual wind and North Wales has severe gales. Inhabitants are advised not to travel at all. Here, travel is all I want to do but Pauline’s got a couple of medical appointments to attend this week so I won’t be going anywhere.

I was noticing a Van Gogh Exhibition at the National which is on this month and through to January which I quite fancy but other things come first. Got to get Pauline’s problems sorted out first and I have follow-ups to my prostate cancer in the next few weeks with a full body scan. When that was first mooted, I though it was great but a little excessive.

Having read about Chris Hoy this weekend, I’m beginning to understand. He has Stage 4, terminal cancer which was found in his shoulder but soon discovered to have originated in his prostate. The cancer had metastasized and is now throughout his body. My scan is to make certain no cancer has esaped from my prostate and I will be on edge until it is done. As I understand it, I will have a full body scan once a year for life or until they consider me too old to bother at which point, I will have to pay for it privately. Apparently, hours in the saddle each day increase the risk of prostate cancer considerably. I spend 30 mins a day on an exercise bike but I don’t know if that counts.

We can only do what we can to keep the plates spinning, to remain healthy as long as possible and to enjoy our lives. Healthy food, healthy exercise, mental stimulation and maintaining friendship groups all are prescribed to that end.

Monday, 21st October, 2024

A grey morning. Dry but threatening. Lovely and warm with a dry, warm week in prospect which will allow me to get some outside jobs done. When the radio comes on at 5.45 am it is still dark-ish now. Actually, the clocks go back next Saturday night/Sunday morning so we’ll all gain an hour.

Like a stopped clock, I go on about my enthusiasm for the new, for innovation, for the move from analogue to digital. I’m going to go on about it again today as the Labour government launch their push for a new, digital record in the NHS. I’m enthusiastic about it.

In October 2000, my bank contacted me and asked if I would like to be on the trial group using their newly launched online banking site. My identifier was 0001. It was great fun and look where it has taken us. Almost everyone who still has a brain uses a mobile phone to pay in shops and uses online accounts to pay across the web. They have internet access to/control over their bank accounts and investment/savings accounts. On street banking outlets are disappearing fast and the whole process is rapidly abolishing cash altogether.

When Pauline’s Mum was in her 90s, she was admitted to hospital many times. Often it was for a day or two and then off home. Each time, we accompanied her and sat in corridors and cubicles while she was interrogated about her health conditions, her medications and her treatments. After a while, we could provide the information ourselves without bothering her at all because the same questions came up over and over again and the answers were recorded on paper by over worked medics. I remember thinking then that all of this should be available online.

For the past 4 years, we’ve been using the NHS app and the Patients Know Best website. It really came to the public during the Covid Pandemic. In a sense, the two, separate apps could be merged into one. Equally, our GP Surgery has adopted another online information base which is called SystmOnLine and offers very similar functions. We’ve been using all three from the start. We book appointments both with our GPs, our Pharmacy and our hospitals.

These are all early attempts to move our information from face-to-face to online and I applaud it. What has always been amusing is that we can look up our appointments and the results of our tests almost before the professionals have seen them. Unfortunately, the old NHS still feel the necessity to double up the information stream by sending paper copies through the post as well. This is clearly time consuming and expensive. Now, this forward thinking Labour Government are going to bring all these disparate sources of information together under one, digital app which will both store information but also monitor health – blood pressure, physical activity, weight, etc..

The work goes on to get fit and lose weight. Warm and grey on the promenade this morning. We didn’t get any of the forecast strong winds thank goodness because our fence won’t be fixed until tomorrow. Back home for coffee and Gym work. Got to keep striving. P&C + M flew out of Gatwick this morning Florida bound. Should be lovely and sunny for them all. They will be back for Christmas and I will still be keeping on keeping on. I’ve done 55 days alcohol-free and will have achieved almost 140 days by the end of the year.

Tuesday, 22nd October, 2024

Gorgeous morning. Slept well and up out of bed with energy. Looking forward to the day. Got lots to do. Take my housekeeper to her hairdresser’s. Hopefully, meet the Fenceman although he hasn’t confirmed a time. Do a beach walk and a Gym session.

As winter approaches, the Gym will come increasingly into its own. With all the rain this year I have used it a fair amount anyway. We set it up just over 4 years ago. Leaving David Lloyd Health Club was a bit of a wrench. We enjoyed meeting people and using the outdoor pool, sauna and jaccuzi but the pandemic made it essential. It was costing us about £2,000.00 per year but we used it every day so it was cost effective.

When we set up our own Gym, I spent about £5,000.00 on equipment and about £3,000.00 on converting the garage. So, over the past 4 years, we have about broken even. I don’t meet many people in my Gym, of course but I do get to choose when all the equipment is free. I get my own, 65″ tv to watch rather than one of those tiny built in screens on the equipment. I don’t have to drive there. I just amble across the garden garden and, if I get thirsty, I’ve got 400 bottles of red wine racked up behind me – not that I would dream of touching them. Well, dream ….

We had a service agreement built in to the price of our professional quality equipment which we bought from a wonderful company in Shoreham by Sea near here. Even so, little has gone wrong. These machines are built for work with multiple users throught a full Gym Club day so I’m not going to break them. Because of our ages, I bought a lumbar support bike from a different supplier so it would keep us fit into the future. It would cost about £800.00 to replace. Recently, the pedal straps needed replacing and I couldn’t get any.

The manufacturers said I had to buy a pack of replacement pedals which would come with straps – cost £100.00. Desperately, I bought them. This morning, I found generic ones on Ebay for just £8.60. What an idiot!

Wednesday, 23rd October, 2024

An overcast start to the day but very warm. We’ve got workers due to arrive this morning so we are tied to the house. I’ve got lots of jobs to do plus Gym work so it’s not a problem.

What is wrong with this place setting? Answers on a postcard. It is the most common setting for Supper in our house. A fish knife & fork, a pudding spoon & fork plus a wine glass and napkin. The cutlery is set out so one eats from out to in as convention teaches. Can you spot the element that makes this a sign of us being ‘common’?

The most usual evening meal for us is one of fish and vegetables. I use a fish knife and fish fork for that purpose. I learnt this from my upbringing. Actually, we only ate fish once a week – on a Friday because we were brought up as Catholics. Almost always, we ate Plaice smothered in parsley sauce with boiled potatoes and we ate them with our fish knife & fork.

I never eat plaice or parsley sauce now probably because of the past but I do use a fish knife and fish fork and this week I am told it makes me Common. Lady Glenconner, former lady-in-waiting to Princess Margaret, declared that the offending cutlery item is a telltale sign of one dreadful thing: being middle class. And that, Dear Reader, is common. 

My Mum was a snob. I think she almost acknowledged that herself. She went to a snooty, Catholic High School/College where she felt she had to compensate for or whitewash out her Irish ancestry. She adopted signs, trappings of success to that end. I clearly inherited this trait. I am aware of it too. An article in The Telegraph this morning sparked by the current fish knife row, lists other things that indicate common, Middle Class traits:

• Using Liquid soap – not sure why but use encouraged by pandemic.
• Mounted televisions – Anything bigger than a 46in television is suspect especially massive 100in televisions. Even worse if it is wall-mounted. Class is a small, very old TV set indicating you’re not really interested in watching anything. 
• Prosecco in lieu of champagne – cheap alternative giveaway.
• Personalised number plates – considered provincial, vanity plates.
• Trainers – chavvy.

There are others on the list that I don’t do:

• Eating on the street – behaviour is American. When eating, you sit down at a table.
• Holding a knife like a pen – quite obviously vulgar.
• Applying make-up in public – desperate and vulgar.
• Hot Tubs – Must admit I can’t see the point in them.
  
  Of course, there is Common … and then there is Working Class isn’t there, Mum?

Thursday, 24th October, 2024

Gorgeous bright, sunny and warm morning. Hard to believe we are in our final week of October. Shopping, walking and Gym-ing day. Tomorrow we have workers in and we are out for Pauline’s eye test and new reading glasses. This is what living the High Life is like!

While Pauline is having her eyes tested and spending interminable hours searching for new frames which will suit her while reading her iPad, Kindle, Laptop, Ingredient containers, etc. because she always has to look her best, I am going to investigate SuperDrive Varifocals because it is time. I wear distance glasses for driving and reading glasses for … reading. is so much reading to do while driving now that it has become a real problem for me.

I paid £350.00 about 20 years ago for a pair of bi-focals but just couldn’t get on with them at all. Eventually, they went in a drawer and stayed there until I tidied them out. Technology has developed much more effective varifocal glasses and I am thinking of trying them again.

Currently, our new car has a number of speed settings – maximum speed, consistent with current traffic speed, speed set to road side speed limit sign, etc. This latter one is a new, European Directive. All new cars have to be fitted with a speed recognition/vehicle control system which dings to warn the driver of a speed sign and if the vehicle is going over that limit – rather like a seat belt warning noise. In our car, this information is projected upwards onto the windscreen just above the steering wheel. I am struggling to read it through distance glasses. I think varifocals could be the answer.

Delicious walk down the beach path this morning. Incredibly warm and sunny. So many people had been attracted by the weather that it was difficult to park. Plenty on the jetty soaking up the rays and signs of the beach being deposited on the promenade after high tides.

Down the length of the promenade, attracted by the lovely weather and the confluence of Half Term and Bonfire Night, contractors were busily installing fun fare installations on beachside and a huge bonfire on green side.

Friday, 25th October, 2024

Up early and lots to get through today. Early appointment at Specsavers in Rustington. Pauline is having her annual eye test. She only needs reading glasses but wants new ones … again. As I reported yesterday, I am thinking of retrying varifocals for driving after rejecting them some 20 years ago.

While Pauline was being checked, I spoke to a nice, young lady who found me the perfect frames for the new lenses and I agreed on the spot. I could deny her nothing even at £310.00. After all, it was cheaper than 20 years ago. Eventually, Pauline emerged to look for new reading glasses – two pairs = £220.00. Cheap at half the price!

As we were near to the beach, we took the opportunity to do a walk. It was lovely and warm but grey and gloomy. What a difference a day makes. Quite a few children around with their parents and grandparents as if they were on early Half Term. I kept wanting to challenge them: Why are you out of school? but I was restrained by my Minder.

You may know that I am on a restricted calorie intake. Alcohol and refined carbohydrates are forbidden. No wine, no bread, cakes, biscuits, potatoes, pasta, rice, etc.. I am allying this to increased activity on the basic calories in versus calories out theory. It is working well. I am half way through my 59th day of a 300 day stint. My intention is to be at my target by the end of May. When I say I will do something, I will do it. Putting it down on the Blog just makes that committment even more unswervable. Everywhere you look are seasonal temptations. I am strengthening my resolve.

Saturday, 26th October, 2024

In retrospect as I’ve written before, I so wish I had done a Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE) degree. I did politics and philosophy but not economics and I find that discipline absolutely gripping now. I enjoy the theory of economics and the practice of it as it impinges on my life. I love researching National Economic policy. I’m really looking forward to the Budget – the first Labour Budget for 15 years. I love researching investment opportunities, forward projecting them and deciding how to proceed.

I am 73 so I can’t afford to think too long term with my investments. I have no children and so no one to leave my money to. When investing, I only think in terms of insulating my wife’s life when I’m gone. She has good pensions of her own but a widowed life can be cold and expensive so she will need a large insurance pot to draw on. We can never rely on the State to provide that.

Ten years ago this week, we were back in UK after selling our Greek home. I was negotiating Banks’ money-laundering checks in order to put the proceeds into UK investment vehicles. It wasn’t as straightforward as you’d think. It was a bit tense but I found it exciting. I had prepared the ground before leaving Greece and, ten years ago next week, we were preparing to return to Athens to transfer the rest and close National Bank of Greece and Alpha Bank accounts.

A decade on, those investments have done well although the early years were in a climate of low inflation & low interest rates. More recently, interest rates have been (relatively) so high that tax has become a big issue and the need to shelter profits has become imperative. Fortunately, I chose fixed rate Bonds and fixed rate ISAs when interest rates were 6.1% and 5.5% respectively – so well above the current BoE interest base rate. Now inflation has fallen to 1.7%, those fixes look very healthy. Having moved out of ISAs in the last 20 years, I have been forced to move back in to get tax-free earnings. At least I have another 18 months of real earnings of around 4%+ above inflation tax free.

Sunday, 13th October, 2024

A cool, grey day. Went down to the beach but it was packed with walkers and there was nowhere to park so we came back and did our old walk round the local park today. It was quite nice to see it again. Haven’t been down there since last year.

Actually, it’s been a morning of revisiting. Thinking about the North of England – Lancashire & Yorkshire this morning. I was looking for a photo of my old village of Helme to show JohnR when up popped a house sale. https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/147755765#

It was bought by my doctor. I had gone to see him about my bad back but all he wanted to talk about was viewing my house. He has obviously retired and wants to downsize now. It brings back so many memories both happy and sad – so many good times and some absolutely terrible ones. We lived in it for almost 20 years while working.

I was really pleased to see that they had kept this door and used it at the entrance to the Laundry Room. It came from my Office as Headteacher back in the 1990s. Solid mahogany, it was installed in the school, which was ultimately raised to the ground, in 1885. It was the original door.

It is this sort of coincidence that really pleases me. The circularity of experience. I need to revisit and retouch the past. It is so rewarding.

Monday, 14th October, 2024

Woken up to rain. Not very inviting! Why does it always rain on Bins Day? Not only do I cut all the grass for my neighbours but I put their bins back because the are out at work. My lovely Bavarian-Australian English Lecturer next door sent me this at the weekend.

Actually, the rain will stop around 9.00 am and the week is going back to …. Summer. It will be around 22C/70F by mid week according to the Met. Office. Still in shorts and tee shirt. Still no quilt on the bed. Still no central heating. Apparently, the day Brits most commonly start using the central heating is 2 weeks away – October 27th. We will see.

Yesterday, I featured the sale of our old house in Yorkshire. We bought it as much for the land as for the house. It was set in about an acre of conservation land. It had neighbours but so far away that it was easier to phone them than speak across the hedge. We wanted to stretch ourselves to our maximum budget – invest to accumulate – with a view to it providing a springboard to bigger properties. In the event, I loved it and we stayed for 16 years only selling it to help us finance our Greek build.

Now in retirement in the South, we live with much closer neighbours. We didn’t spend all our money on a house. We actively chose this. In older age, we need cash in the bank and people nearer to us. We moved to a village. Normally, I abhor villages having grown up in and run away from one but this is the South. Villages are not remaining such for very long.

Of course the older residents are up in arms about that. Isn’t it strange. Old age seems to make us more reluctant to change and accept change around us. I always knew I was odd. Change excites me more the older I get. There is so little life to live and so much to cram into it. Think of all the innovations to come that we 70 yr olds will never see. Will I live to see flying cars, drone deliveries, Universal Incomes, Free Essential Services of Power, Water, Communications, Healthy Life Expectancy of 150? Perhaps not but …. I will try. Got to keep the plates spinning.

Tuesday, 15th October, 2024

Driving up to Surrey this morning on this mild Tuesday morning to visit relatives. My online calendar informs me that it would be my Dad’s birthday. Today he would have been 109. He actually died of a heart attack at the age of 49. What a waste!

Dad was Eric Richard Sanders and Granddad was Richard Watthew Sanders. I am John Richard Sanders. All three of us were pupils at Burton on trent Grammar School. These photos are of Dad in his final years there.

Like me, he was a Rugby player. I’m not sure about my grandfather but Dad was a good player and I think had England schoolboy trials according to legend.

Dad died as a relatively young man. The only upside to that is the fact that he never had to worry about coping with old age. We have been out today up in Surrey accompanying relatives in their late 80s considering buying in to a new Retirement Village Development. It would provide so many services to assist and enrich their final years. Wrap around care includes all in-house needs like Cleaning and Laundry, a Restaurant and a Supermarket plus many other in-house shops. There is a Gym, Exercise Class Room, Indoor Swimming Pool, Hobbies Room for things like Pottery and Art.

It provides Emergency Medical Services, Concierge Services and the community of a large number of similar aged residents. Of course it is not cheap both because of the rich provision of the lifestyle and because it is in the centre of one of the most expensive places one can choose to live in UK.

One of the things all this definitely emphasises is the dilemma of the final years. It starkly sets out that you need to build up a serious nestegg of reserves to soften the difficult end of life decisions. It is all very well living for the moment but there will come a moment when you will wish you hadn’t.

My big take away from today was when I told the Sales Office lady how impressed I was with the properties. She turned and said without a pause:

I’m sorry, Sir, you have to be over 65 to buy here.

I will take compliments like that all day long especially from girls. Checked the mirror as I walked out.

Wednesday, 16th October, 2024

A warm and depressingly grey day. The world is wearing a helmet of darkness this morning. It is soft but depressingly heavy and unwelcoming.

This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.

T.S. Eliot – The Hollow Men

What will become of us? Our trip out yesterday left more questions than answers. Age is the one thing we cannot run away from. I was confronted by my Future, your Future, Dear Reader, all our Futures. There will come a time and there will come a time ….. when we all have the same dilemma on the path to becoming Hollow Men. How do we cope with age and infirmity …. alone? How do we store up enough cash to prepare for that eventuality without making our last years joyless?

I have always tried to get the balance right and to make enjoyment inform prudence. Building a house in Greece meant making some sacrifices. We sold our large, Yorkshire home and moved to a cheaper house to help fund the building. I borrowed money against my house to provide additional funding for the building. However, ultimately selling the Greek house allowed me to move to the much more expensive South of England and keep investments for the grey skies of Old Age.

Well, the day just got better. The sun came out. The sea was splashed with twinkling blonde dye. The walk along the beach road was accompanied by the music of the crashing waves. This is a lovely, daily walk. It actually lifts the spirits wrapping us in warm and tender love ….

It is lovely and warm. Walking at 11.00 am, the temperature reached 22C/70F and there was almost no movement of air. It felt like the return of Summer however temporarily.

Got to give the car its first clean today. Rain over night brough a shower of Saharan Dust which has dried patchily on the pristine paintwork. It is one of the problems with choosing gloss black. I knew I would have to clean it more regularly.

Thursday, 17th October, 2024

Lovely, warm and bright morning promising a wonderful day. It will be great for walking later. Jobs to do first. It was a warm night for the latter half of October – 16C/61F – and the shorts and tee shirt go on.

I belong to a Whatsapp group of former male students who talk mainly nonsense in the attempt to maintain relationaships over distance and time. People post things all day from all over the country and others pick up on things that interest or amuse them. It is a virtual society. This morning a lad in Knaresborough posted this old football chart and it struck a chord with me.

I am a citizen of Nowhere. I began my life as a Rams supporter. One of my first girlfriends was Peter Taylor’s daughter – the daughter of Brian Clough’s assistant. (Free tickets).
I moved on to support Latics when I started teaching and flirted with the idea of supporting Town when I moved house. As Latics and Town faded, I moved on to support United. After emigrating to Surrey, I supported the Pensioners for a while but now, down here on the South Coast, I am trying to get into the Shrimps who are actually known as the Seagulls. In Greece, I supported Panathinaikos which literally means ‘All across Athens’. Its nickname is πράσινος prásinos, which means “The Greens”.

It was a delightful day yesterday which, I must admit was pleasing after such a poor start. Lots of people reacted to my video clips of the sea on our walk in the morning. You are lucky to live by the sea, they say and we know. We feel lucky. It gives us a constant source of interest. People regularly say that it feels as if they are on holiday when they are here. Of course, I never consider I am on holiday even when I’m on holiday. I just move my life to a different location.

The same prepossessions, routines, interests are involved wherever I am in the country or the world. I still walk, Blog, photograph, enjoy good food, meet interesting people, enjoy language, see interesting sights. These things accompany me wherever I go and now, with all the instruments of the internet at my disposal, I still take my friends, relatives and associates with me too and I talk to them, share with them and learn from them.

Yesterday afternoon, I was talking to a lad who I shared a flat with for a year in 1971. He was admiring my video clip of the waves and saying how he was obsessed with the sea as well. Tolley used to have a house in France but like so many of our age has sold up and retreated to his home in England with his grandchildren. Like many of the group I was involved with, he is an artist. He still paints and he loves to paint the sea. He shared this picture with me from his landlocked home in Leeds.

Friday, 18th October, 2024

Absolutely gorgeous day after the most wonderful night. As I went to bed around 11.30 pm, the garden was in full moonlight and it remained all night. When I got up around 6.30 am, the sky was still illuminated by the moon. Soon after, the blue sky chased the moon away as the sun rose over the horizon. It is relatively warm for this time of year and grass is still growing.

We are having some work done in the garden today so exercise will be in the Gym. It is a day of Remembrance which we would normally mark in Oldham but medical events have delayed us this year. On this day 14 years ago, we were living in a Supported Old Age living accomodation because my Mother-in-Law was unwell and needed lots of support. On this day 14 years ago, she was still in hospital after an incredible operation for a 96 yr old the day before and we were woken at 5.30 am by a phone call that we both instictively knew was not good news.

We dashed to the hospital where my lovely Mother-in-Law died shortly afterwards – 14 years ago today. Can hardly believe the passage of time. We will visit soon to mark the occasion.

We just hope that we can match her resilience having been born in to poverty and hardship. She worked incredibly hard to bring up her family doing fairly menial jobs. She was widowed very young and spent a large chunk of her life as a widow always remaining cheerful. From that basis, her life to 96 was one of triumph over adversity.

The Office for National Statistics recent report into Life Expectancy finds that, of the 10 local areas with the lowest life expectancy, none were in the south of England and Oldham was up there. Just as examples, life expectancy in Hampshire for women is 86 years whereas in Greater Manchester it is 79 years. It might not sound a lot but, when you get there, 7 more years will seem like a lifetime.

I was looking for restaurants in Manchester which we can try when we visit. Today, a newish Greek (Mykonos) Taverna was reviewed in the MEN. Fenix Manchester sounds like a possibility.

Saturday, 19th October, 2024

Unbelievably lovely day yesterday of hot sunshine. We were marooned at home waiting for a Fenceman …. who didn’t turn up. He texted to say that his workers had cut a power line on another job and he was needed there to sort it out. So, for the second time, he was a no show. He will now come on Tuesday, hopefully. Ironically, the sunshine outside was not reflected on the inside for me. I’ve been feeling rather sad and empty for a few days – a bit listless. Must get a grip!

I received a video and photos from one of my former pupils who should have gone to University but wasn’t allowed to originally. Since leaving school, she married, had two kids, started a counselling course, started a counselling business in the Asian community and finally completed the B.A. degree she should have done through Oldham College affiliated to Sheffield University. The graduates processed through the streets of Oldham yesterday in the sunshine and led by a jazz band. Lovely to see but a frightening reminder of 20 years ago.

Fortunately, today is another good day. Very warm and sunny with white, fleecy clouds. Walking by the sea along the Littlehampton Promenade the air was warm and enjoyable. With the sounds of the waves, the shrieking of the gulls, yapping of the dogs and children excitedly whooping to each other. Apart from that, it is a quiet walk which feels like it is doing us good because of the strong smell of sea air and the sun on our skin.

On the right of this photo, you can see the fencing that has gone up to protect the public from the development work which has started. Arun Council has got a £7.2 million regeneration grant to develop the beachside. It will have new toilets and beach showers, new car park EV charging points, new food shops and a waterpark for kids. It’s called Levelling Up.

Really finding my Gym work hard at the moment. I’ve upped my target but I’m not eating enough to fuel the energy to do my routine so I’m having to fight it constantly. I know that is the idea. Less in and more out but I am really struggling with it. Fortunately, I’ve been enjoying a really well written legal/police investigation drama series called Showtrial on BBC iPlayer. It is two series each of five episodes and well worth 10 hrs of your time on the treadmill.

Sunday, 6th October, 2024

Well, I am shocked but the meal I cooked was a success. Even I enjoyed it – the cooking and the eating – although I have put 2lbs on this morning so got to do a lot of work to get the downward trend restarted.

Set off early for a walk along the promenade under grey skies with a chilly wind off the sea. I was in shorts and tee shirt but the majority of walkers were in Winter clothes. The temperature was 16C/61F but the edge on the breeze made it feel cooler. It was perfect for Kite Surfers but they were in wetsuits. Walking keeps we hardy types warm. After all, this is like mid Summer in Oldham.

I wrote the other day that it never rains but it pours. This morning, we discovered that we have a leak from the wash hand basin in one of the bathrooms. Nothing terrible but enough to need to turn off the cold water feed to that basin and to get a plumber next week. The same one happened a couple of years ago. It looks like our hard water may be the cause. Anyway, this coming week, we have a Fence man coming and now a Plumber will have to come as well.

As we move towards the darker days of Winter, thoughts turn to sunnier, warmer places. Apart from a trip to the North of England, we have already fixed two trips to North & South Greece in June and August 2025. Looking at 6 weeks June-July to do a European driving trip either down the West side of France to Bordeaux and then the South of France or taking a ferry Portsmouth to Bilbao and driving across Spain through Zaragoza to Murcia. Either way, I would look to rent a villa for a month.

I favour Spain for a change but Portsmouth – Bilbao/Santander is a 36 hr ferry journey which rather puts me off. France is a nice drive but most of which we’ve done before so it could be a bit repetetive.

The ferry takes 36 hours one way so we would need a good cabin. The cost for 2 passengers with a good, ensuite cabin is £900.00 return so that has to be factored in. Nice dilemma to have though and some cool nights to research and decide in.

Amazingly warm here tonight under cloudy skies. Rain has begun to fall lightly as I watch Brighton destroy Spurs just down the road – 10 miles – from our house. Until yesterday, we had expected a wet week to come but it appears to have veered off to the North – where it belongs – and our week of walking will not be too disturbed.

Monday, 7th October, 2024

Very warm night but woken at 5.00 am by heavy and torrential rain. It didn’t last long and is now moving North so it is safe to go out on a walk. I seem to be constantly walking whereas, in the past, I was running. I was reminded of this by a story in the MEN this morning.

I lived there until 45 years ago and could be seen at 5.00 am running like an idiot around the streets in my purple tracksuit with bright yelleow stripes down the leg trying to keep the fitness up and weight down. It was a dreadful place with poverty threaded through it. I had never seen anything like it before. Street after street of Victorian, Terraced, red brick houses, Corner Shops, Pubs, Fish & Chip shops and Hairdressers. Everything was old and grubby. But this was the catchment area of the school where I was teaching.

What there was in these streets was a sense of community, of all in the same poverty, of all struggling to survive. But life has to go on and you can’t live on community spirit alone. New homes built to modern standards were desperately needed. The LEA bought up most of the old house and demollished them. Streets of new houses have been built but then … they ran out of money and, for some areas, time has stood still as Nature reclaimed them. There are now plans to restart the regeneration plan but it has taken so many years. I see it, of course, in my mind’s eye still 50 years back in all its poverty. Nothing can erase that.

Still exercising but rather walking than running now. Got to protect my knees and hips now. I’ve thrown the purple tracksuit away. Lovely on the beach promenade this morning, warm and quiet. A bit of sun but wondeful, fresh air. Still in shorts and tee shirt. I’ll be sorry when it turns too cold for that. I noticed this morning that we have a talking telescope looking out to sea. I don’t know what it says because I never carry money and it wouldn’t accept phone payment.

Just done a post-sale review of our Honda Dealership which they sent me. It is all good. execellent, in fact. It is our 15th new CRV which speaks for itself. We always pay cash for new cars, and for the last 20 years they have come with 5 years ‘free’ servicing not that we ever keep them that long. It also comes with 5 years UK & European Breakdown cover, not that we’ve ever broken down but it is good to know and adds to the resale value. Recently, these last two benefits have come on the condition that we use Honda Finance in the purchase of the car. On this occasion, we had to include £1500.00 of Honda Finance loan but were told it could be paid off in full after 2 weeks of signing for the loan and no charges would be made. We will pay it off this week but still have no idea what Honda get out of this process at all.

We spent the weekend trying to decide which plumber to choose to deal with our leak in the bathroom. Having asked around, scrolled through umpteen local sites and recommendations we finally picked a name.

Phoning him on his mobile this morning, he said he would be happy to come round and help but it would have to be be tomorrow. He was speaking from Milan and flying back tonight. Sounds like our kind of plumber. We love Milan having stayed there and driven through there many times. A long way from Derker in Oldham that’s for sure.

Tuesday, 8th October, 2024

Heavy rain and a flash of ligtning last night but very warm. Gorgeous morning of blue sky and sunshine. Out early to take Pauline for a cholesterol test. She’ll sail through it as she does all medicals. After all, she’s been controlling her diet tightly for the past two months to make sure she does. Actually, we have both been very disciplined for the past 7 weeks now. Orange Juice for Breakfast. Home made Museli mid morning. One main meal of Fish & Salad/Vegetables each evening. We have allied that to an exercise regime and no alcohol. It is working. The fitness levels are going up and the weight is coming down. My INR is also coming down for the first time for years.

The strange thing about it is the process has become enjoyable. I have stopped feeling hungry. If I do feel hungry, I eat fruit – figs & melon. I don’t think about wine at all and I can’t sit still for long without feeling uncomfortable. I intend this to go on until the end of May – 8 months. Maybe then it will be a fixture.

Out for a walk by the sea now. Just an hour or so in lovely sunshine and really no breeze makes it feel warm and enjoyable.

This morning at 5.30 am, I was listening to an article about weather and seasons which was saying that the early signs of Autumn had been completely stopped in their tracks and the trees were now still rich green with barely any signs of turning colour or falling. It is true. This warmer Autumn has been lovely and only the Chestnut trees are turning. Outside our houses, we have Linden Trees which are largely remaining unaffected at the moment.

While we were walking, the plumber phoned to say he was back from Milan and would be round this afternoon to look at our jobs. Sounds a really nice, bright man. So far so good.

Wednesday, 9th October, 2024

We are in a nice pattern. It rains heavily over night and then goes warm and sunny during the daytime. And so it was last night. This morning is already shaping up in preparation for our walk. We have some lovely, sunny days in prospect over the weekend. Talking to my friend, Kevin, yesterday. He suffers from SAD syndrome brought on by the darkness of Winter which isn’t helped by living in Yorkshire. He should have been on my walk this morning. Also talked to my old friend, Brian in Royton, to catch up and arrange to go and see him. Lovely to catch up.

The Plumber we chose arrived on time yesterday. He was about 6′ 6″ tall and ex-army. He is from Chester originally but we’re not holding that against him. He will come tomorrow to do the leak plus three other small jobs. The electrician has phoned this morning to say he will come tomorrow afternoon to move the electrics on the Fence post in the garden that has to be strengthened and the Fence man is coming on Friday. By the weekend, everything should have been sorted out.

Out on our walk, the air was warmed by intermittent sunshine without breeze. You’d have liked it, Dear Reader. The Arun River inlet/outlet was low but an armada of small boats were slowly drifting towards the Marina.

Thursday, 10th October, 2024

Do I seem weather-obsessed to you, Dear Reader? Perhaps I am. I am obsessed with lots of things. It rained over night again and everywhere is soggy this morning. Our lovely, friendly Electrician, Darryl arrived at 9.30 to move some of the lighting installation on the garden fence in readiness for the Fencing Installer coming on Friday to look at stregthening a post which has obviously rotted over the past 8 years.

The post cannot be strengthened too soon before the winter winds. In fact, I panicked this morning when I looked at our local weather on the BBC site and saw the above forecast. Look at the wind speeds on the bottom. That’s enough to blow a house away never mind a fence. An hour later, a tickertape on Sky News said there was a glitch on the BBC weather site and the computer had thrown up erroneous figures. Phew!

It even looks as if our Florida property has survived the worst of the storm … so far. Phew! Phew!!

I’ve written before of my ability to get people’s life story out of them within minutes. I don’t think I look like a priest in a confessional but Darryl was only her 15 minutes and, in that time, he volunteered that his Mum had been battered by his Dad. His Mum died of cancer when he was 14. His Nan had looked after him. His Dad was a racist who moved a black woman in to live with him and threw out his Nan and him. He hadn’t seen his Dad since – and Darryl is now 50 – until they met at a funeral and he didn’t recognise him. Darryl now composes music in his spare time and his two daughters are musicians. What a lovely lad and that’s just a bit of what I learned.

The Plumber is with us now. A 6’6″ Cestrian, who is articulate and efficient, he has come to do a group of 4 jobs including repairing a leak and replacing a swan-neck tap in the Utility Room. I am trying to find a Spanish rental property. We want it for about a month from the end of June on the coast between Aguilas and Mazarron. We are looking for a property with a pool, outside eating and cooking, dishwasher and washing machine, somewhere to park the car and, most importantly, good Wi-Fi. We are looking around the £5,000.00 for 28 days price range although we will pay more for a perfect property.

The problem is that so many have all the requirements but are tired, dark and old inside. Really having to be ruthless in the search.

Friday, 11th October, 2024

Nice sky over Angmering village last night although I suspect Northerners had a better display.

Gorgeous morning to open the day. We’ve got the Fence Man coming and then I’ve got lawn mowing to do. can’t let the neighbours down!

I have a Oncology Review coming in early December. Before that, I have to have a CT Scan and some blood tests. So I am going back in the imaging tunnel. This morning I had to fix those dates so they don’t clash. The hospital were fantastic. What lovely people. The scan has been set for when I requested – November 4th. All the fireworks come afterwards. Apparently, I will have a ‘free’ whole body scan annually at a cost in the Private Sector of circa £1000.00. I feel incredibly lucky. I was listening to an actor talking about his throat cancer. When asked what his advice would be to others, his first response was, Don’t get cancer. but then he went on to advise, Seek regular and often scans of every part of your body to find things early. I couldn’t disagree with that.

Last night I was talking to our Yorkshire hotel about our stay as well as planning trips for next year. I am only able to do this because my cancer was caught early enough and hadn’t metastasised. Well, in theory anyway. The scan may tell a different story.

Saturday, 12th October, 2024

A grey, overcast morning. Quite mild and dry but not very inviting. Annoyingly, we stayed at home but our Fence man didn’t turn up and didn’t contact us in spite of us phoning and texting him. Today has become Sainsburys day instead.

Each morning with my freshly squeezed orange juice I take a statin pill, a warfain pill and another small, white one. I’ve been doing it for years. I don’t really take much notice. My resident Pharmacist organises it all. This morning she removed the small, white pill from my month’s worth of pill organisers.

Like all Pharmacists, she is Health Advice mad. I have been fed suplements for decades. For many years, they have included Vitamin D tablets. I have no idea why and I don’t usually ask. I just take my allocation like all good patients. Today, the small, white, Vitamin D pill had disappeared.

It seems that my resident Pharmacist is keeping up with trends. Vitamin D was originally said to boost immunity and help calcium support bone structure – she tells me. Now, the Zoe Nutritionists are saying that people like us who get plenty of sunshine and eat a healthy diet don’t need Vitamin D and, in fact, it can be actually harmful.

Too much vitamin D in the system leads to a buildup of calcium in your blood (hypercalcemia), which can cause nausea and vomiting, weakness, and frequent urination. Vitamin D toxicity might progress to bone pain and kidney problems, such as the formation of calcium stones. To be fair to my Pharmacist, she was concerned that I was immuno-compromised by my radiotherapy. Anyway, I’ve now got one less pill to swallow in the mornings.

Being old, for me, is like being a plate-spinner. I feel like I’m constantly checking recording, working to maintain/improve my data: my blood pressure, INR, cholesterol, eyesight, weight, fitness, etc.. My readings are good at the moment and most of them are unaided by drugs but controlled through diet. I haven’t drunk alcohol for 45 days and really haven’t missed it. I have really controlled my food intake to one, light meal per day. The weight is falling off and my fitness level is now rapidly coming back.

I do worry about taking any drugs really. I would rather not. Warfarin is a blood thinner. It should help save me from strokes and heart attacks. I’ve been taking it for over 15 years. Of course, it is better known as rat poison because in huge quantities it is fed to rats through bait. They ingest it and, ultimately, explode as their hearts and veins burst. My Pharmicist has an easy option there if she wanted to get rid of me but, of course, I’m too lovable.

It is early afternoon. The sky is blue. The sun is bright. There is no football on TV. Going out to the beach for a long walk. Looking forward to it.

Gorgeous walk but with people out and about this afternoon. I’m getting so much quicker at covering the return journey of my fixed course. Definitely fitter. Cut 10 minutes off the hour walk today.

Sunday, 29th September, 2024

The Eight Hundreth and Twenty Third week of this online Diary begins as the last few days of September 2024 end under grey skies. It is dry and warm but not promising. The Day begins and ends with Data. All sorts of Data. It appeals to me. Vital statistics are important.

The morning starts with shaving. I monitor it on my smartphone app which tells me how well I’ve done. Last week I managed 95% performance so that is my target to beat this week. Step on the scales. They are really going well in the right direction. I am delighted by my efforts. I have lost 40% of my target and I intend to continue until June next year. Low food intake. No alcohol (33 days now) and increasing exercise. It is beginning to feel less painful and more enjoyable. I have a spreadsheet to record all these things.

First thing after Breakfast is to go down to the Beach for a walk. It is warm but there is a strong breeze off the sea. Lots of walkers are dressed in coats. I get some surprised looks as I stride down the promenade in tee shirt and shorts. Actually, it was lovely if invigorating.

The new car will be delivered tomorrow afternoon. One of the joys of a new car is learning all the new elements of its functions. I’ve been reviewing them in advance and I’ve actually learnt something about my existing car that I haven’t known for two years. I am a little embarrassed about it. Always wondered what those three little lines were on the door handles.

Our last two cars have had keyless entry. As long as the key is in my pocket, the doors open as soon as I touch them. The boot opens as soon as I swing my foot underneath so I can open it while holding bags of shopping. Reading about the new car, I find that those three little lines on the door handles are where the car can be locked remotely by just placing my finger on them as long as the key is in my pocket …. and not in the car. In the new car it is possible to remotely heat the car, start the car and open all the windows and doors with one click.

Today is clearing out the interior – Sunglasses, Driving Glasses, Reading Glasses, Spare Change for meters, Tissues, Shopping Bags, etc.. I’ve also got to clear the Destinations from the sat.nav. which includes our Home address and lots of other personal details, phone numbers, addresses, etc. I do this every couple of years and every time I have to feel my way back through it. Anyway, now done. Jobs cleared in time for Man.Utd. v Spurs.

Back on the scales before bed. And off to dream of many things but, particularly, being thin.

Monday, 30th September, 2024

Out with the old. Enjoy the last day of September, 2024, Dear Reader. It’s been raining here for 12 hours solid. Standing water everywhere. Reminds me of that famous quote from an early 20th century American humourist when he visited Venice in the 1930s. He sent a telegram to his agent saying:

Just arrived in Venice.
Find all streets flooded.
Please advise.

Robert Benchley

Exercise will be in the Gym today. But first Breakfast. Every day the same for me. Entirely liquid. Two oranges freshly squeezed by Chef. Each year, I consume 730 large oranges each year. They mainly come from Spain and Florida but, recently, they are from South Africa and are not particularly wonderful in sweetness or juice content.

There was an interesting article in the The Sunday Times yesterday that quoted the company who sell Tropicana. The justify price rises by saying that the price of oranges had risen by 400% over the past two years because the biggest source of oranges was Florida and the USA has suffered a catastrophic citrus blight which had massively reduced the crop.

I was reminded of the problem we had in Greece. After a few years of our lemon trees fruiting well, suddenly the leaves started turning black as if covered in soot and very little blossom was followed by very few fruit. When we asked islanders, we were told that this aphid blight was covering the island. We were advised to spray the trees each Autumn but it still hadn’t cleared up before we sold. A fellow Englishman with a house on Corfu has been reporting the same problems since then ….. until this Spring when his trees are fruiting heavily again.

The new car will be delivered in mid-afternoon. I was reminded of something else which is featured on the existing and new models which I never take advantage of. Paddles behind the steering wheel which can be used for graduated deceleration. Using the deceleration paddle selector situated on the steering wheel, you can sequentially shift through four stages of deceleration but, why would you want to? I let the car largely drive itself by setting Adaptive Cruise Control which drives for me according the traffic around.

The new model takes driving lights one step forward by providing Active Cornering Lights which turn the headlights from straight ahead to round the corner as you turn the wheel and Adaptive Beam Control which automatically switches fromfull to dipped and back according to approaching traffic. The new model also features the long overdue Headlight Auto Turn Off which takes care of that job instead of just giving a warning sound when you get out of the car.

The new car has come with so many changes and a 350 page handbo0k that I will be up all night preparing to drive it tomorrow. What fun!

Tuesday, 1st October, 2024

Welcome to October 2024, Dear Reader. Let’s hope it will be good for us all. Happy meetings, revisitings, reconcilliations. New beginnings. More than anything else, I expect to enter December a whole lot lighter and fitter.

Nice morning to go out in my new car for a walk by the sea. I’m getting to grips with the new controls. I must admit, I’ve already given up with the huge Owners’ Guide and I’ve been watching video clips on YouTube. They are much more accessible and informative.

I’ve already sorted out the reversing camera’s guidelines and the Adaptive Cruise Control. Our smartphones have been linked and Android Auto is set up for use. Going out now to put the instructions into action.

Before I do, I’ve had real fun learning how to use the app on my smartphone to control the car remotely. It will lock and unlock the doors, open and close each window separately along with the sunroof. It will prestart the heating, screen de-icing, tell me how many miles I’ve got in the tank, how many miles I have on the clock, and set my sat nav up for my coming journey. It has a perfectly good sat. nav. but I am enjoying putting Google Maps through it instead. It allows me to park, set my location and it will guide me back to my car later.

It allows me to set a geo-fence security perimiter beyond which I will be immediately alerted. So, if someone moved it/stole it, the car would not only alert me but would track where they had taken it. The car is permanently linked to Honda Assist all over UK and throughout Europe so they can help me through any problems. Often, they will know I have a problem before I do but, if in the unlikely chance I have a breakdown, my car will call for assistance wherever I am.

Absolutely lovely and warm down at the beach. People much older than me were swimming and wind surfing as the tide rolled in. Did a good walk and then drove home to laugh at the Conservatives in their Party Conference in Birmingham. They haven’t learnt a single thing from their recent demolition.

Wednesday, 2nd October, 2024

Warm but rather overcast today. Up early to get my walk done before it rains. Last night, it was forecast for mid day today. Over Breakfast, I noticed all talk of rain had gone. Unfortunately, it never rains but it pours and with strong winds forecast for later next week, we’ve found that one of our fence posts is rotten at the base. Sounds trivial but it impacts on our neighbours and on the electrics installed on our side.

The fence man can’t come until next week and our electrician has said he will move the electrics before the strengthener is installed. I could do without it but Life constantly gets in the way, doesn’t it Dear Reader.

Lovely walk in warm air by the sea. Been there every day for just over a month now. It is followed by a Gym session and it is working. I am definitely feeling fitter and the weight is falling away faster than I expected.

For the last 5 years, I have been contributing to a Health Study led by Tim Spector, Professor of Genetic Epidemiology at King’s College London. It began with Covid but has spread over time to general health.

I don’t go mad about it but I do follow recommendations generally and I do contribute my own data every morning via my smartphone as I drink my fresh orange juice and freshly ground coffee. Pleased to see this report in the Daily Telegraph this morning. My wife drinks nothing but water. Can you imagine that? Hot (90F) water for breakfast and cold water with Supper. Nightmare!

Thursday, 3rd October, 2024

Glorious morning of warm sunshine and blue skies. Unfortunately, it is shopping morning and I am driving to 6 different shops. At least it gives me more time to learn about the new car and get to know its facilities.

There is plenty just on the Infotainment screen to get my teeth into but just simple things like the bonnet no longer relies on one of those flimsy iron support rods anymore. It goes up slickly on side hinges. Lovely.

First this morning to Sainsburys and then Aldi and Tesco. Each one has specific items that my Housekeeper finds superior to others. On to Next to collect more clothes orders and, finally, down to the Fish supplier by the beach for more things to put in the freezer. Each time I stop, I enter destinations into the sat.nav. Happiness.

THe big highlight of the day is a trip to our surgery for a combined Flu/Covid vaccine. All but one of our vaccines have been Moderna and this combined one will be the same. It will be interesting how we react to it. Last time I ached a bit and felt a bit more lethargic for a couple of days. Pauline had quite an extreme reaction with heart flutter for a couple of days and raised blood pressure for some weeks afterwards. She is justifiably rather nervous this time and has been taking and recording her blood pressure for a few days to compare with readings after the event.

Friday, 4th October, 2024

Little cooler over night but a gorgeous morning. Down at the beach in the sunshine, the council were delivering and installing new beach huts – basically, they are colourful sheds with no water or electricity or furnishings. They are garden sheds painted bright colours.

The council then sell them off like Council Houses. I don’t know how much you’d pay for a shed on the beach but they are currently selling for £29,000.00. I can’t imagine who pays it but you do see some old Brexit voters, stuck in the 1950s, with their teapot, tea cosy and chintzy cups on tea trays, sitting on deckchairs proudly outside their beach shed.

In the 1950s, my family would go to the East Coast – upmarket Sutton-on-Sea not chavvy Mablethorpe – and rent a house for a fortnight along with a Beach Chalet as it had to be called in middle class speak. Not a shed. In there we would shelter from the rain, eat our picnic sandwiches, chage for swimming – if we could face it – and dry off out of the biting East Coast wind. A small, Calor-Gaz ring would boil water for hot tea to revive the feeling in our fingers numbed by the icy, British weather. It would also store our Deck Chairs and Windbreak – the essentials of a gritty holiday.

Through others we understand ourselves. These three reprobates were contemporaries of mine at Training College 1969 – 72. I always wonder what their lives have been like over the past 50+ years. It excites, fascintes and frightens me.

Got to force myself into the Gym now because, as usual, I am feeling a little lethargy in response to yesterday’s jabs. They had to be done but the Covid one always makes me tired and the Flu one gives me a sore throat. It’s a price worth paying but I don’t look forward to it. However, I am so pleased with my fitness gain and my weight loss that I will keep fighting on. No cause is ever truly lost, is it Dear Reader …. until we’re dead ….. and that’s a long way off.

Saturday, 5th October, 2024

Gorgeous morning for a walk and for a birthday. Out early and down to the beach where the world was beginning to stir with dog walking and fun running, children screaming as they ran in and out of the enveloping waves of the incoming tide and the physically challenged just sitting in the warmth of the sunshine.

There is a little edge to the breeze off the sea and definitely a sense of Autumn. Today is Pauline’s birthday so I am on duty. It is tradition that I take her official birthday photograph and so I did this morning. I think one would be hard pushed to say she was 73. She is known as Peter Pan among her friends. She doesn’t weigh much more than she did when we got married and she really hasn’t got many signs of aging. Her hair isn’t going grey and although she wouldn’t agree, she has very few wrinkles. Her Mum lived to 96 and there seems a very good chance she will emulate her.

I am cooking Supper today. If all goes well, I will be serving:

King Praws served on a bed of Endive Leaves with Aioli

Honey & Dijon Mustard glazed Roast Salmon
Roast Cherry Tomatoes, Shallots and Chanterelle Mushrooms

Roasted Figs with Honey & Yoghurt

I am a little nervous about getting it right … particularly because I want to watch the football.

Some clever little innovations are still revealing themselves in the new car. Today, I realised that the windscreen washer doesnt spray up from nozzles on the bonnett. It is delivered straight out of the windscreen wipers meaning less is needed.

When you press the car’s brake pedal and come to a stop, the (electronic) handbrake is automatically applied and released as soon as you depress the accelerator. In the previous car, we had to deliberately choose it by pressing a button. Simple improvement but makes such sense.