Yes I do feel as if I have been dashing here, there and everywhere; but it’s all good fun.  This little update includes a freedom of information request, a trip to Cumbria and car troubles. As usual I am spinning too many plates with too many tabs open in my mind.  I have a few books which I am supposedly reading, producing another and I haven’t been to the gym for yonks.  How did I ever find the time to work before I retired?  I’m not complaining, moreover expressing a self-inflicted grumble. Freedom of information As our village and the surrounding area is relatively larg ..read more

Do you ever go on holiday to the same place?  Some folk we know go to the same resort every year and I’d always thought that was terribly dull and boring.  Now we have been back to Barcelona, I’m changing my mind. I guess the reason why I’ve always resisted the idea of returning to a place where we have already been is that it’s a bit boring, especially when there are so many other compelling places to explore. So are you one of those people who value the security of knowing what to expect?  Knowing the weather, what food to expect and having already become familiar with a holid ..read more

This blog post about being a reluctant landlord has been swirling in my mind for quite some time now.  I have mixed feelings about being a landlord and I’ll try to explain why in this post.  Are you in a similar situation or have a view?  Please comment below. Here in the UK we have a housing crisis This issue doesn’t get a great deal of air time because it simply rolls along with little changing and society almost seems to accept the status quo as an unavoidable reality. If people try and explain why we are in this mess, they often point to the numbers of immigrants and disrega ..read more

February has been busy but also a month where we have been knocked-for-six by a virus.  Usual optimism continues in this round up of things going on. Yes, thankfully negative for Covid, although we were both pretty sure we had caught it.  We had all of the symptoms including (and worst of all) a really horrible cough which has lingered for a couple of weeks afterwards and now more-or-less gone. What made things worse was being away on holiday and to compound this even further, the holiday was really a Christmas present from me to Rachel.  We were both pretty groggy as we left ho ..read more

My Seville marmalade Things are looking up, seriously.  Monday evening was a hectic evening, including a trip to the airport and a phone call from my favourite hospital consultant and I’ve been making marmalade. I remember being told in 2018 that I would always be in the renal system for life.  They expected my kidneys to recover a little over a few months and then level off before the normal ageing process takes over with a slow, natural decline.  Back then my kidney performance had dropped well into stage 4 (out of 5, with 5 involving transplant, dialysis and grim stuff). It w ..read more

This last Monday was my body MOT time.  In particular presenting my teeth and eyes to the dentist and optician.  It seems my denial of being 62 continues to be challenged as I kick and scream against it. The dentist was fairly straightforward, it was time for my regular check up.  I know the patter used by my young dentist.  She knows I know, so without any kind of a pause, she opens her door and says “Please come in how are you nice to see you please sit in the chair when you’re ready and tell me if you have any dental issues”.  This is all without taking a breath, in ..read more

Seems ages since I’ve reviewed anything, so here goes.  Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference Kenyan ground coffee. This pre-ground coffee from Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference range which means it is their premium, upmarket range.  It is sold in the normal pack size of 227g and costs £3.90.  The pack tells me it is Fairtrade, so that’s always a good sign. The pack also informs me that it is 100% Arabica coffee and medium strength (3 out of 5).  It is a single crop coffee, so no blending with other coffees, either good coffee or floor sweepings.  It is from the “High Platea ..read more

Millennium Bridge towards St Paul’s Cathedral on a very BLUE day! Getting back to normal is very welcome.  Let me explain, as much as I enjoyed the celebrations over Christmas and the New Year, there is something so comforting about settling back into normal life.  Why? More than ever I think I need my little routines and I do like to have some space to think.  Thinking includes daydreaming, mulling things over and weighing things up with Rachel.  It brings security and balance to life. Last week saw January 1st and the celebrations concluding.  On January 2nd Becky an ..read more

Me at 61.8 years old Funnily enough, judging by the number of hits an older blog post gets, many people search Google wanting to what being 58 is really like.  My blog post told them and the link is in the footnote below.  Now it’s my turn to be 62 and this is what it is like. They say we significantly age every seven years.  Well, 62 can’t be exactly divided by the number 7.  Does being in my 63rd year count?  Do I believe all that anyway?  Nah.  Surely we all ‘age’ and get older all the time? That said, I feel as if I have aged a lot of the last year.   ..read more

A little gift appeared in our kitchen, from the youngest Ukrainian guest Life with our Ukrainians is going well on the surface.  We are now 7 months into this arrangement and time, once again, to jot down a few notes. I don’t think I’ll ever forget the day our Ukrainian family arrived.  It was last June, quite a hot day.  Our first sight as they emerged into the public area at Luton Airport was of three smiling faces.  Behind those smiles were three very tired, emotionally drained and exhausted Ukrainians.  They had travelled overland from their village on the front li ..read more