Month: January 2024

Darn It!

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One of my New Year resolutions was to do more creative things.  I think I have met that challenge, albeit rather mundanely this month, by darning several pairs of socks.  I had bought the materials to do this some time ago but had left them languishing in a drawer.  I got them out again and followed a YouTube video showing me how to bring a bunch of socks back to life.  I admit that the holes were quite small and the finished products are not works of art, but I was proud of myself for doing it rather than just throwing the socks away and buying new ones.

Not Beautiful But Newly Functional

My wife Jane has also been darning and even went on a workshop to facilitate more complex darning processes than I had attempted. Her main output was a repaired soft toy – called ‘Robert’ apparently – that my late mother had knitted for our Middle Son (MS) and which he still remembers adoring as a small child. MS and his fiancé are expecting a baby in March and, touchingly, MS wanted the baby to have a smartened up ‘Robert’ for his or her nursery. As with my socks, the repairs are, fashionably I’m told, very visible. Hopefully, both socks and ‘Robert’ will have a new lease of life.

‘Robert’. 30 Years Old And Going Strong. Thanks Mum!

Most of my other New Year Resolutions have started well. I’ve been walking a lot, watching my weight and my alcohol intake, and have countered my fear of average, lukewarm coffee by going to a cafe with Jane when she has requested (only once so far). I’ve reduced my intake of the miserable world news a bit. I’ve also remembered to do my back exercises on most days and although they are limited, they are also pain free. While doing them, I have enjoyed remembering that these exercises weren’t really possible a year ago after I put my back out with an unexpected, untimely and big sneeze; that’s good progress.

Only the gardening resolution is untouched but, so far in January, the weather has been either too cold and frosty (lovely to walk in), too windy or too rainy.  Climate chaos certainly seems to be producing very varied winter weather and convenient excuses not to get out working in the garden.

Frosty Mornings On The Way Into Town

In the last two or three weeks, there has been plenty of cloudless sky in between the storms.  Jane and I had a lovely walk through some woods on the other side of the Stroud Five Valleys from our home.  Lack of parking places forced us to alter our plans slightly but it is always rewarding to find new places to stroll through and the Five Valleys are blessed with a vast network of well-tended footpaths.

Striding Through Sunlit Oldhills Woods On The Chalford Biodiversity Trail

I have revisited some of the long walks around our village for the first time for months.  I’ve loved these sunny walks, their views and their solitariness and the time they give me to think (but not about very much).  The frozen ground meant there were no worries about the mud and the mix of bright sun and deep frost everywhere has been spectacular at times.

I Love This Old Barn Complex. I Hadn’t Been Past It For Ages
Big Skies And Views

Some of the recent winter sunrises have been spectacular too. 

The Sky On Fire Behind Our House

Spring is on its way.  I often find upcoming February is the toughest month to negotiate; I get impatient for the ever longer days and daunted by the amount of work there is to do to prepare the garden for planting.  Darn it, perhaps I should have focused a little less on mending socks in recent days, and a little more on gardening so as to have got ahead of tasks on the vegetable patch and in the field.  Even in retirement, time is too short.

New Year, New Trip

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We chose Belfast rather than Edinburgh for Christmas but I couldn’t wait to see First Grandchild (FG) again and so we pitched up in Edinburgh early in January.  The added benefit of going then was that we could celebrate Eldest Son’s birthday with him.  As ever, we had a great time and experienced wonderful hospitality.

We did some of the usual things with an enthusiastic FG.  We spent a morning exploring the National Museum of Scotland and another wandering through the Royal Botanic Garden.  Both are great places to take toddlers and FG is very chatty now so trips like these are more pleasurable than ever. 

Morning Across Edinburgh To The Pentland Hills From The Royal Botanic Gardens

FG also has a soul mate in my wife, Jane, when it comes to visiting the cafés in these places.  Since I have pledged to overcome my fear of lukewarm/weak café coffee, and have added going to cafés when requested by Jane to my list of new year resolutions, I went along willingly with their desires.

We had driven up to Edinburgh and the journey was smooth with no problem with charging up the battery.  As a result, we had the option to drive FG and his parents beyond Edinburgh for an outing.  Since the weather was cold but clear, we chose to go to the beach at Yellowcraig near North Berwick. 

Yellowcraig Beach

We had a lovely time passing FG sticks, stones and chunks of seaweed that he could throw into the waves amid Yellowcraig’s open vistas and its big skies.

Looking North To North Berwick Law And Bass Rock From Yellowcraig Beach

Back in his flat, we threw ourselves into entertaining FG with drawing, tower building (and knocking them down), Playdoh moulding, and reading.  FG takes these activities very seriously and loves having control; I love that and it makes the times when he simply laughs and messes about even more enjoyable.  He’s developing so quickly. 

Before FG arrived, my wish was to see a grandchild before I died but now, inevitably, I want to live for decades so I see more and see them grow up. We are so looking forward to the arrival of a second grandchild in Bristol in a couple of months.

We did slip off for some ‘me-time’ too.  I walked down the Water of Leith to Leith town.  I’ve done that before but this time I went a little further to the edge of the port.  Leith is a vibrant town that is being transformed into a trendy outpost on the edge of Edinburgh with a new and frequent tram connection.  Next time we will try to get to see the Royal Yacht Britannia which has been retired to a berth there.

Late Afternoon In Leith And Leith Port
One Of Antony Gormley’s Water of Leith Statues Clad In A Hibernian Football Shirt For New Year

I also wandered through Stockbridge to see some of my favourite residential areas of Edinburgh.  We still debate whether moving to Edinburgh – or at least having a permanent second base there – would be viable and sensible.  The best Georgian flats and houses are lovely to look at and dream of owning.  More practically, a modern flat would be a better target but there’s no harm in looking! 

My Favourite (So Far) Edinburgh Square – Saxe Coburg Place

The drive home from Edinburgh always feels a lot less exciting than the journey up.  Although charging up the car was again problem-free on the way, there was an hour-long stoppage due to an accident – a Range Rover towing a food truck strewn across three of the four lanes near Manchester – to further deflate the mood.  But getting home is always a relief and a pleasure of its own.  Now we are chilling out back in our weekly routine which includes evenings in front of the fire and series after series of streamed television. 

A Cosy Fire At Home

Until the next trip to Edinburgh and more memory creation with the little one…..

Heading To The Waves!

Resolutions, Resolutions

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Jane and I celebrated New Year Eve in our local pub but, I’m afraid to say, were in bed by 10.30pm.  Despite not lasting out the end of year festivities, the turn of the year does always seem to me to be a highlight and a chance to think afresh about the world, and our actions within it.  What better time is there to check on past personal resolutions, set some new ones and think as hopefully as possible about what lies ahead.

My New Year resolutions have largely been the same from year to year and have revolved primarily around walking more, drinking less alcohol and managing my weight.  I’ve done ok in hitting targets in these areas and am not inclined to tighten the targets here.  I walk enough, my weight is stable and I enjoy drinking beer, wine and whiskey too much to reduce my intake to, for example, the “UK Chief Medical Officers (CMOs) low risk drinking guidelines, based on up-to-date scientific evidence”.  I may regret that one day, but not yet.

Beyond My Normal Walking Routes – An Old Cemetery in Woodchester, Near Stroud

Another of the New Year’s resolutions last year was to do more day tripping with Jane.  The idea was to capitalise on the flexibility of my retirement and her limited working hours to decide at short notice, when the weather forecast was positive, to go on a short excursion.  We did manage that a few times – a big success, for example, was our day trip very early in 2023 to Clevedon.  But our joint resolve petered out so this New Year we have renewed it.

The Severn Estuary – A Totally Different Landscape To That We Are Used To

Once again, we have started well.  Already we have made it to Frampton on Severn, embarked on a walk along part of the Severn Estuary in squally weather, and dropped into The Bell at Frampton on Severn for a drink in a previously unvisited (by me at least) pub.  Now we have to keep that up and I’m definitely counting our trip to Edinburgh this weekend in the tally.

The Gloucester And Sharpness Canal, Frampton On Severn

As targeted, I did manage to read one more book in 2023 than the paltry total I managed in 2022.  I want to read more novels and will especially focus on easy-reading crime and historical thrillers.  It is unfortunate for my resolution target that the book I have just started is a sprawling 560 page novel (by Philippa Gregory) with a tiny typeface. However, it is exactly the sort of historical novel I tend to enjoy so I hope to up my reading pace.

I have added a few more New Year Resolutions to the usual set.  One is to watch, and listen to, less ‘news’.  Its depressing, I tend to talk over it with my views and critique, and listening to it at breakfast, at lunch, before dinner and then again before bed is repetitive and needless: stop!

I really need to get out in the garden more.  There is always so much to do and the build-up of gardening tasks is one of the things that causes me anxiety while, once I get out there, gardening is one of the things that really relaxes me.  It is also good exercise despite being challenging to my back.  To compensate, I have added a resolution to stop talking about doing my routine back exercises and just do them.

There are a couple of others that will be harder to track.  I want to do something a bit more creative but need to think harder about what sorts of things that might entail (watch this space – maybe….).  Finally, I want to do a better job of satisfying my wife Jane’s frequent desire to have a coffee in town on the days we walk in together.  Being stuck in my ways, I always prefer the very hot, strong coffee we make at home but I know Jane likes the sense of occasion having a cup in a café for a change.

In the interests of transparency, here is the full set of resolutions with 2023 performance against those carried forward.  The key will be to stay healthy so their achievement is possible and hope the world doesn’t go to hell in a handbasket in the meantime.