Tavira the day after tomorrow!

Excitement mounts as the 2 week holiday in Portugal approaches!

Today we took the grandchildren out to Durham since their teachers were on strike demanding pay rises in line with inflation. Seems perfectly reasonable to rational people ... which clearly does not include the Tory government. Now, the government's rationale is balancing the books, so public services take the hit. The 2020 lockdown is blamed for the overspending that year, conveniently forgetting that they massively overspent in support of martial law, declared around the "civilised" world!

Hey ho, dear readers, when will we ever learn not to trust politicians? !! Well, the mainstream media were dragooned into supporting governments falling into line ... notably, notoriously the good old BBC ... ... A Social Experiment as a friend observed. As for the BBC, well they're in the shit after trying to silence Gary Lineker, well known football pundit. His crime ? A tweet about Tories using immigration of refugees as a political football as a General Election approaches. His tongue in cheek comment comparing the Tories to Hitler upset the incumbent government and co-incidently the BBC Director General and the Chair of the Trustees are both Tories. Lineker, on the other hand is more inclined to socialism (otherwise known as compassion and common sense)!

Enough of politics dear readers ... it's all a game.

Eyemouth and back ...

Snow in March is not unusual in Scotland and England. We arranged to meet the elder daughter and her baby son in Duns, where she lives with her wife, a police officer. We found a bed and breakfast guest house in Eyemouth nearby, since their house is rather small and stayed there for two nights, which was delightful.

Wednesday we went over to Duns to see the family and had a lovely day, including a decent walk in the countryside. .. then returned to the b&b in Eyemouth and supper in The Ship Inn. The seafood lingiuni was quite delicious(and nutritious !) ...

Thus the week before Tavira passed peacefully, including a trip to see the partner's daughter and new grandson.

The snow today and yesterday was heavy enough and disruptive in places, including Stanhope, though only at the high places. This morning there's snow laying and Sun shining ... beautiful! !!

So, dear readers, just a week before the flight from Newcastle to Faro on the Algarve coast of Portugal ... no snow expected there next week ...

Lockdown exposed and other events ...

Well well dear readers, as you may recall from previous posts during 2020, there was consternation in the world over an outbreak of an illness known as Sars-cov-2, a serious disease though not lethal to the reasonably healthy. Death, as we know, comes in various guises, and in the end we all succumb for one reason or other. The key is to try to stay fit and take some chances in life since a life spent in constant fear of death is hardly worth living!

Your old blogger has certainly lived a full life this time round, having fun, making friends, being lucky enough to have two lovely daughters and recently a grandson too. The history of this life is the subject of an autobiography being prepared for anyone interested, notably for my daughters and grandson, and indeed as an aide memoire as memory fades!

This brings us back to the subject of the pandemic of 2020-21 ... a strange time indeed dear readers, as fear of death was stoked up by governments worldwide. Why, is the question of course. Somehow this fundamental question was left aside by many otherwise intelligent folks who reverted to fight or flight and buried their heads in the sand or up their own arses and fell out with those who examined the evidence and found a conspiracy against the people by those supposed to defend our interests!

Now Matt Hancock is involved in a row with Isabel Oakeshott, the journalist hired to help the hapless ex-minister write his book. Emails shared with her show government ministers joking about Partygate, quarantine hotels and generally deriding the public for falling for the story!

Will we never learn dear readers, not to trust politicians? !

Nearly March again!

Here we go again dear readers, March approaches and February will soon be done once more ... time marches on remorsely the way it does ... always forward.

Today, Saturday, dawns rather damp and at 11am the funeral of a much loved woman will be held in St Thomas's Church.

Around 1pm friends are due for lunch ... when doubtless discussion will include the usual questions of the meaning of life and why we're here. Joe came to Stanhope some years ago to join the circle of friends at A Place to Be at Wear Terrace seeking to understand these deep questions with others sitting in circle in meditation and seeking some answers.

The days, weeks and years have flown by since those times, and some friends have left, others passed on ,but Joe from South Shields still keeps in touch.

The week or so since the last post on here dear readers, has flown by, mostly at home in Stanhope. Last Monday we went to Beamish Museum with the boys on a sunny and breezy day and walked round the usual route, stopping for lunch of macaroni cheese then hopping on the old bus back to the entrance/exit and gift shop, where we found a gift for the front garden: a metal sign advertising the Women's Land Army! As it happens, dear readers, the blogger's Mother met Dad in Dorset after WW2 as she was serving in the Land Army  and he in the Army Medical Corps. The rest is history!

The holiday to Tavira approaches fast ... other holidays too, including Findhorn again.

Thoughts of another winter holiday are premature ... let's see shall we dear readers? !!

Thursday 16.03.2023

A brief post to update you dear readers and reflect a little on things past and possible future. As we know, dear readers, what's past is done and dusted and all we can do is learn any lessons worth learning and try not to repeat any not conducive to one's physical or mental health, or, indeed that of folks dear to this old blogger!

The past few days have passed happily in Stanhope ( clearly the best place to live in the whole world ....), plus a trip to Wallington Hall to enjoy the benefits of National Trust membership again.

It's been a contented life so far, though never boring ... the challenges have been met head on, sometimes successfully,  sometimes not. That's life after all and winning or losing is not the fundamental question, but to do our best to the benefit of ourselves and others dear to us.

As for future plans, well next month's trip to Tavira is anticipated with joy by your old blogger, dear readers, since he's spent lots of time there on and off over the years, starting when a good friend Pedro, a refugee from the fascist regime in Portugal, decided to return to join in the revolution against Caetano, the successor to Salazar a friend of Franco the fascist dictator in Spain. We had a wonderful time visiting old friends and relatives around Lisbon and then south to the Algarve and Tavira. Further trips to Tavira were as a base between walking the various Caminos to Santiago and Fisterra ... the partner however has never been there, so will see the beautiful town and surrounding countryside and seaside at its best time, which is Spring, when then flowers bloom, the sea is warm and the sun too.

It's been quite a life so far dear readers, and there's a few a few years left in this life with luck ... let's see!!

Coldingham, St Abbs, Holy Island and Farne Islands ...

Saturday again and we've returned from the visit to your blogger's daughter and grandson near Duns in the Scottish Borders.

The trip up to Scotland via Jedburgh for coffee and a scone was our first stop, followed by Coldstream for lunch and the purchase of a kilt at the army surplus store. .. let's see who will wear it and where! Next stop was Coldingham at the guest house where we'd booked for two nights. Having settled in we walked to the nearby New Inn for a drink and light supper.

From there we walked to St Abbs the following day for a snack of Cullen Skink or fish soup... mmm! Delicious. ..

After the snack we walked back and drove the car to see the daughter and her baby son near Duns. The afternoon was delightful and the weather stayed fine for a lovely walk in the sun, then returned to Coldingham to rest awhile then head out to walk to the New Inn again.

The next day ie today we left early and drove south to Lindisfarne or Holy Island where we had breakfast before walking round the island to burn off some calories. From there we drove past Bamburgh to Seahouses and embarked on the catamaran Serenity for a 90 minute guided tour round the Farne Islands seeing seals basking in the sun and heard the story of Grace Darling the girl famous for saving the lives of many survivors from shipwrecks.

We drive south again on the Coastal Route to Morpeth then picked up the A1 to Newcastle. From there it was not far to Stanhope and home after a great short break in Scotland!

Saturday 04.02.2023

Just a quick update dear readers on Saturday the 4th of February. .. after another fine morning walk up the hall road and round to Crawleyside via the redundant quarry, then home for lunch. Black bread toast spread with Philadelphia cream cheese and stuffed with smoked salmon followed by soup ... quite delicious and as usual nutritious!

The week or so since the last post has been mostly in Stanhope apart from a trip to Toft Hill to see the partner's daughter and grandchildren, which was fun as always. A tutorial with Mac in the week enabled the further development of the blog you're reading and the autobiography you may read as it moves through childhood memories, adolescence, adulthood, adultery, fatherhood, divorce (see above) and middle age, however that's defined. Both blogs are ongoing for now and both will cease when this life's done. ...

As for tomorrow, Sunday, the day is open ...