A couple of weeks ago we took another walk on the wild side. I just haven’t got round to writing about it until now. It’s yet another example of the kind of retirement activity I swore I would never get involved in and it needs to be ruthlessly exposed. I confess, we joined a walking,…
Retirement is just one long holiday – maybe
I have to say, right up front, that I’m not sure what this blog is about other than it’s about retirement in some vague way. I wrote it a while ago but didn’t publish it because I thought it had no ‘essence’ to it. But now I’ve decided that’s OK, it’s just a blog, not…
What can we learn from the past?
What has publishing a chapter about living in New Zealand 17 years ago got to do with a blog on retirement now? Well, a couple of things I suggest. First, being retired gives a person an opportunity to reflect on and simply enjoy some of our past experiences. That’s not always easy in the hurly…
Vineyard 12 : Where the idea began
We were up at our vineyard this weekend. We had hoped to see buds and that’s what we saw. This is about 6 or 7 weeks earlier than last year, my diary tells me we first spotted buds on May 4th last year. If you look at the photos in my last vineyard blog you will understand why this…
Self Esteem : Would it kill you to say something nice?
Something happened to me over Christmas and it has taken me until now to write about it. I think it fits into the general topic of self esteem. Christmas, as we all know, is a time for meeting up with friends you haven’t seen for a while. Yes, humbug, but it’s got to be done,…
100 and still batting
As I sit reflecting on my new life (i.e. retirement) I realise that in all the many, many years I played cricket I never scored a hundred or anywhere near. After just six months of blogging I have clocked up one hundred blogs of various sorts. Pretty good in one way because, as my blog…
Ghost Story 5 : The Cathedral Chest
The fifth in my series of ghost stories. If I remember I think the idea came to me on a visit to Carlisle cathedral or was it Ripon? I’m not sure. I know I find cathedrals and churches quite inspiring when thinking about ideas for ghost stories. The colder, damper, darker the better. This one…
Patriotism, sport and retirement
This is a rambling, ill-formed blog, hope you like it. Question : are retired people more patriotic than younger people? Let’s clear this one up right away. I have absolutely no idea. I get the impression that the UKIP vote is made up more of us elderly types but that may be scant evidence of…
Vineyard 11 : The Shed
I suppose it says something about our ambitions for our vineyard when I tell you that the only building we’ve added to the vineyard ‘concept’, is a shed. This is not in any way to denigrate my shed. As I’ve hinted at elsewhere a person needs a shed or similar. Either virtual or actual. In my…
Ebooks : Dead Country
I’ve written before that I intended to look into my bottom drawer to see if anything in there deserved to see the light of day – as an Ebook. I found this crime novel, Dead Country, that I wrote a few years ago and re-read it. I thought it was OK, good enough to give…