Winter colds

As 2021 comes to an end, on Thursday 30th December, and the weather shows no sign of repeating last years persistent snow, which caused Daisy some problems since she sat at the side of the road far too long, causing issues with tyres and clutch requiring work at Fred Henderson's workshop. This local firm has a good reputation for service and Daisy was purchased there at a bargain price, for two main reasons: first because MG came to a strategic agreement with a British firm to gain access to the European market, making the prices lowe; second because Daisy had spent a while as a courtesy car, making her price lower still. Frankly, the previous several years wandering freely about France, Spain and Portugal, with a free bus pass for the returns to Stanhope at different houses on Wear Terrace, were liberating and the decision to buy a car required consideration. This coincided with the fortuitous arrival of sufficient funds to buy a small terraced house on the edge of Stanhope, plus more to make life more comfortable, including Daisy! Actually, it was the imminent arrival  of an American pilgrim which focused the Mind.

Daisy proved very reliable, indeed you might say a pleasure to drive and much more convenient, pointing to a serious slip in the holier-than-thou persona of being a pilgrim! Anyway, she still sits there waiting to be useful, and up to now starts first time, thanks to the regular attention of Fred's mechanics. All of which mundane detail add to the reflections  of your pilgrim blogger the day before New Year's Eve 2021. Not to mention the imminent March anniversary of the declaration of Boris Johnson of Martial Law and Civil War in many other nations. Regular readers will have noted that the second slip in the philosophical purity of the blogger only compounds the issue, and frankly neither decision was taken lightly. But that's how it turned out, as politics returned after many years,  politics of a radical nature moreover. Of course it's not unusual to return to one's roots, and these roots were red, Communist, and not just any kind. And since the old blogger never liked discussing theory without testing it in practice, there was plenty of that going on whenever opportunity arose for for demonstrations and strikes.

During the red years in London, the first daughter was conceived and born, but the Mother and I had already decided London was no place to raise children, and since she was born and raised in Newcastle that's where we settled. Then her Mother was persuaded to try for another child, and the younger daughter was born 2 and a half years later. Five years later, the cracks in the marriage led her to propose a divorce, which was not contested, and after a miserable winter in a flat on the front at Seaton Sluice, the blogger bailed out to stay with his own Mother, the father having died shortly before. During this period the priorities were reviewed, though the girls always saw their father in the holidays. Holiday Dad was the new task, and their priorities were mine, leaving them both fearless, which was my ambition.

Later on the blogger fell for another woman, and that relationship persisted several years, until the blogger returned to North East England,  when Buddhism, Daoisim and non-Dualty was explored in theory.  However, Spirituality demanded testing theory in practice of course, and whilst the Library is never short of books, it's not good enough, hence the pilgrimages. One of the great teachings of Spirituality is the inevitability of bodily death, better known as common sense. The Spiritual question is the soul and ongoing consciousness of course. And since bodily death is inevitable the older folks are bound to to get there sooner than the those younger on average. Bringing us to the title of today's blog post, Winter Colds. Such diseases rarely killed children, who seemed to get at least one every year, but it's serious for the older and is well known to be the thing that finally finishes us off, if the body is weak.

So, dear reader, if you wish to live long, the best advice is to boost the immune system, often neglected in the winter here, though optimal in Spain and Portugal. This current persistent cough, plus all the other joys of working through common colds is simply that!

06.30 a.m. in Stanhope, and the longer days still waiting for Spring Equinox. Breakfast next and some reading before wandering down to the street to greet some friends, reflect on 2021 and take a walk, which is one of the best ways to boost the immune system.