People and Places

Now then dear readers of Wear and Dao the blog, regular readers may have observed the lack of blog posts recently. Rest assured dear readers that the blog will continue in a new format called People and Places whereby the tired old blog is given a makeover so standby for the new version of Wear and Dao, coming soon to a tablet near you.
(to be continued)

Monday mixed day

Monday began rather wet dear readers of Wear and Dao,  so the proposed trip to Cragside for more books in the D.I Ryan series by J.L Ross including "Cragside" and several others, was postponed until tomorrow when the weather forecast is fine and no rain ...

So, today your old blogger and his kind caring friend stopped indoors for a while whilst the rain persisted only venturing out for some potatoes to make chips for lunch with a goose egg each and baked beans which was delicious and nutritious of course and rather filling.

In the afternoon we set out for Bishop Auckland to the Vodaphone team who sold the friend an updated phone recently and gave her old phone to the old blogger in order to transfer the data. Mission accomplished we returned to Stanhope in time for tea (leek, potato and butter bean soup).

Tomorrow is another day so who knows where we'll go and for what? Rest assured however folks that we'll be going somewhere or other and enjoying the life of being retired  ... it's a nice life indeed when Monday is no different to any other day.

Cyprus in winter for 3 weeks and Devon and Cornwall for a week or so is possible ... let's see how those plans work out shall we dear readers!

Sunday philosophy

Today dear readers of Wear and Dao the blog Bill the philosopher arrived for lunch prepared by the kind caring friend and chef de cuisine and your old blogger, plus Alan well known in Northeast England and Cumbria for his work on community-based action and social enterprise  and well known on Facebook too. Bill had never met him before today so it was an opportunity for them both to find out about each other not to mention philosophy and psychology, the Meaning of Life and the Nature of Reality, while the chef prepared a delicious, nutritious meal of chick pea curry with poppadoms and pitta bread, followed by a trifle.

As you can see dear readers Sunday really is a day for deep thinking ... not unlike the Christians who go to church religiously on a Sunday, except of course that philosophers question everything!

After a good session of discussing philosophy over a cup of tea Bill departed whilst Alan stayed for more philosophy and psychology before heading home to Sherburn, Durham.

Tomorrow is another day and who knows who will arrive or where we'll go, but books still need sorting out and more bought for the library of A Place to Be now based inn a different house ... anyway A Place to Be is where you are obviously, and each human being the centre of their own universe which is tricky since logic infers billions of human beings are creating their own worlds.

Another option is a trip out to a National Trust place such as Cragside near Rothbury in Northumberland. .. let's see what tomorrow brings shall we dear readers?

Friday Fun

Yesterday dear readers of Wear and Dao the blog was another day that started sunny and became showery later. Before all that an oxygen nurse was awaited at about 11a.m to check the breathing problems of your old breathless blogger. Prior to that he called into the Stanhope Travel Agents in search of winter holidays. As it turned out the first choice of Tavira via Faro was eliminated due to travel restrictions to Portugal and Spain to visit Santiago de Compostela also!

This left Albania, Cyprus and Greece as main choices for warm weather winter holidays  ... and Greece the favourite since your old adventurous blogging friend visited there many times: Corfu, Athens, and Crete for example, not to mention Santorini with its black volcanic Sandy beaches and Ios famous for its naturist beaches, halfway to Crete. So which would you choose dear readers?  Crete appeals to your blogger whilst his kind caring friend prefers not to change flights, though finds the hotel accommodation not to her taste even though a direct flight sounds preferable.

A light lunch of cheese on toast was taken with the imminent  arrival of the specialist nurse on the cards . After being pronounced as good as expected and a further appointment being made to check oxygen requirements we decided to visit the vodaphone store in an attempt to keep up to date with the younger generation and be able to do face to face calls with friends and family .......maybe !

Then to a local school to mix with an even younger generation and pick up grandchildren to take them out for a promised supper . Yet more face to face contact dear readers and a pleasure to see the excitment at greeting us.
Rise at Barnard Castle was the agreed venue for supper , the old blogger and younger child having cheesy tomatoe pizza and the grandmother and older child sharing a rather large sandwich with accompaniments.  No meal at Rise would be complete of course without one of their many types of pastry , chocolate and raspberry tart and lemon tarts being chosen.

Then back to the childrens' home for further babysitting which saw your old blogger assisting with a 3D jigsaw; who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks !

Tomorrow dear readers, Bill the philosopher and Alan founder member of A Place to Be plus maybe Peter another founder member and teacher of Mindfulness making 5 for lunch (vegetarian chick pea curry and rice) which is nice for a sunny Sunday ... philosophers all round exploring the Nature of Reality and the Meaning of Life and enjoying a delicious nutritious lunch.

Thursday in the Sun

Today dear readers of Wear and Dao the blog, dawned warm and sunny at 23°! Which was rather hot outside on the bench awaiting delivery of a bookcase from the British Heart Foundation in Bishop Auckland. Of course as regular readers will know by now a library at A Place to Be is always in need of good books of a philosophical, psychological nature or enlightening books of any kind although my kind caring friend has suggested that the bathroom and her bed are no place to store them.

Your old blogger enjoyed the freedom that his mobility scooter gave him today and visited several shops as well as the hub to meet up with friends always willing to share philosophical discourse. And for the second course a wonderful omelette made with a goose egg purchased from the local greengrocer made with my own fair hands dear readers as my friend was out for lunch with June another member of the Wheels to Meals team.

A visit in the afternoon from the Angel of Stanhope turned into a bit of a tea party  or should I say cream tea party , with talk of old Wills saying that all the world's a stage with each of us playing a part and the less than kind and caring nurse pondering which of us was the mad hatter ? An enjoyable time dear readers was had by all with the Angel of Stanhope leaving to complete her 10000 steps for the day and your old blogger and friend setting to to fill the shelves of the new bookcase . Not a bad life eh ? Tomorrow a visit from a specialist pulmonary nurse is on the agenda and later picking up the grandchildren with another nurse and a visit to Rise for artisan bread and a healthy supper , and perchance a cake or two .

Wednesday in Corbridge

A bright and beautiful morning in Stanhope dear readers of Wear and Dao the blog sees your old blogger in summer attire  having a short walk from the centre of the village having purchased a gift of a plant for a Polish flower who had invited your old blogger and friend to her house in Corbridge .

Being aware of our capacity to take wrong roads despite hints from Google, Siri , and online maps we decided to make our way on a route we were told would take 32 minutes an hour and a quarter early . The journey across the moors went smoothly dear readers and until we had travelled over Corbridge
all was well , several errors later and the kind help of a stranger who turned out to be the neighbour and friend of our hostess saw us arriving early, perplexing our hostess who had kindly arranged a get together for your old blogger with friends he had first met in Hexham some time ago and had hoped that they would arrive prior to your blogger so as to complete the surprise .

A wonderful gathering it was indeed , discussions of a philosophical nature interspersed with a wonderful meal of smoked haddock risotto with roasted vegetables and trifle for desert . Let's just say dear readers that having had his fill your old blogger took time for a short siesta in the beautiful garden his hostess and husband had spent so much time and effort to make following the grand conversion of a house that will hopefully serve as a happy loving home for themselves and their two boys.

Tomorrow there are plans for a lunch between the kind caring friend and June now organising Wheels to Meals. Meanwhile a team from the Red Cross charity shop in Bishop Auckland are scheduled to arrive with a bookcase for the house ... books being somewhat of an obsession for your bibliophile old blogger!  In the afternoon Gillian the Angel of Stanhope arrives for afternoon tea of fruit scones with jam and clotted cream

Temperatures are set to soar so sitting outside the house is a pleasure. .. Do pop round if you fancy a cuppa .. that is if you're near Stanhope in Weardale, Northeast England dear readers.

Tuesday Solstice ...

Another lovely sunny day in Stanhope dear readers of Wear and Dao,  with a trip to the George and Dragon in Heighington with Wheels to Meals, not as a driver or organiser this time but a customer.  Due to the need to get back early we chose to use the car , many might say we missed out as there are those who enjoy the experience of stopping to pick up grandpa's and grannies from all sorts of crooks and crannies as all part of the social experience.

A long time has passed dear readers since your old blogger last drove the bus and the carer enjoyed her role as passenger assistant and many of those who used to travel with us have taken this life's final journey and others have found other means to combat isolation by choosing to live with others in care home settings.
 
Life goes on dear readers with or without us and new members of Wheels to Meals were evident and appeared to enjoy the experience as they surely should have given the fine menu , your old blogger enjoyed vegetarian lasagne with chips and salad , others near by had fish and chips , scampi and chips and liver and bacon . No meal is complete without dessert dear readers and desserts they were a plenty , Apple pie with custard or ice-cream , chocolate gateau,  banana pie and my own choice Eton mess ! With kindness offered by John a new volunteer driver and Gillian the Stanhope Angel and passenger assistant I'm sure the new members will go on many further outings and grow to enjoy them as much as the old crew once did.

Prior to the Heighington trip we called into the travel agents in Stanhope to ascertain the optimal place to spend a few weeks in the sun in winter. It seems Spain and Portugal are still insisting on all the covid nonsense so Greece looks the best option and Crete to be precise.

Tomorrow we go to Corbridge to visit Marta in her new house and have lunch, philosophy and psychology for the day. Still, that's tomorrow which may never arrive ... who on earth knows the future for sure?   All we have is here and now (Wear and Dao! ), the past has passed and anyway is usually written by the winners and the future is contingent on how we live in the present moment. ..

Thats the Power of Now dear readers of Wear and Dao.