I thought I would bring you up to date with how my learning about jazz improvisation is going. You may remember in a previous blog I referred to the fact that I had signed up for another Coursera course. They are a brilliant idea – free (mostly), on-line learning, but I did find the first…
China 2 : Gan Bei
The second in an on-going series of blogs from our friends who recently started working in China. Sounds like a lot of fun, I think. Before we get too far into the year I thought I would issue a warning before I forget. In my first week of work, I got to go to a…
Vineyard 19 : Disaster Strikes
It really grates to keep reading what a great year it’s been for grapes. It rankles to hear, on the radio, that there are 50% more vineyards this year than last. Well, you say, you sound a bit – dour. And I am. I haven’t been looking forward to writing his blog but I’ve put…
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly and Les Dawson
I seem to remember that a while ago I promised I would write about the good, the bad and the ugly* (I think there was a Les Dawson joke about ugly – see end) of retirement. The more perspicacious among you will realise that this weighs the odds two to one in favour of the…
Psychology and Retirement : Part 2, Cognitive Behaviourism
It’s against my nature to join anything, as Groucho Marks said … Despite this attitude and grave reservations, I recently join an on-line community called The Psychology Network and I had a reason for doing so that was related to this blog. I wanted to post a question to my esteemed colleagues around the world….
The Spirit of the Age – of retirement
In 1951, I was 3 years old. That’s the reason or at least the connection to why I’m writing a blog about retirement – I’m 66. According to a programme on TV (Bright Lights, Brilliant Minds) the other night the year 1951 had great significance in the city of New York. This was, reportedly, the year…
Our first retirement trip
Yes, we’re travelling, our first proper trip since we got the pups over a year ago, only three nights in Oslo (hence the flag), modest by past standards but grand in recent times. In my last blog I wrote about routines and how I missed them when they weren’t there. So even when we travel…
The (retired) Aussies were here
The last of our Australian visitors has just walked out the door at 6.30 in the morning. Like the proverbial bus you don’t see one for a long time and then two sets show up, quite coincidentally, at once. Of the two sets of partners only one person is working, so, in total, that’s five…
Vineyard 18: What a month
As Charles Dickens once wrote, it was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Sums up this month quite well, although perhaps the ‘best of times’ bit was a little under-played. But let me start with the bad bits and see if I can end on a positive note. We had a…
No cricket for me in retirement
Thursday I went to watch Yorkshire v Somerset at Headingley (see photo of ‘new’ pavilion under glowering skies – no surprise that the game finished early, there are no floodlights, we’re a bit backward) . I could be mentioning this because this is, in part, what I thought I might do when I retired. It’s the…