Retirement in August has felt busy so far.  There have been several separate events to enjoy.  In between these, I have been walking while listening to political podcasts, tidying our field and garden, visiting the local recycling tip with multiple dumpy bags of green (mainly thistle, bramble and bindweed) waste, and enjoying our local community hub: the village pub. 

I visited my Dad and sister in Nottingham for the first time since the end of his innovative and apparently very successful cancer treatment.  I’m really proud of him; he has stuck with all the hospital visits, the injections and the infusions and they have not only benefitted him, but furthered cancer research.  It was great to catch up with them and, for a change, win at our games of Mahjong. 

The football season has restarted and, during my brief stay in Nottingham, I managed to get to Boston in Lincolnshire to see my dear Forest Green Rovers treat me to a rare, stonking win.  After two successive, distressing relegations, we seem to have found our natural level again.

Whilst in Boston I had time to climb the church tower and take in some aerial views of Boston and the very flat surrounding landscape.  The church is large and the tower is impressive.  The port and its surrounding sluice gate system was also substantial but is now looking run down.  Indeed, much of the town looked as though it needs a face lift.

Also in August, Jane and I have visited Bath, dropped in on Second Grandchild in Bristol, hosted Youngest Son (YS) as he has worked his way through his busy month of multiple stag dos, weddings and video shoots, and attended a talk on artistic gardening in Stroud. 

Amid all this activity the most unusual event for me was the opportunity to attend part of YS’s own Stag Weekend.  That was a lot of fun – even though I opted out of the most boisterous activities and those requiring the heaviest drinking penalties.  It was lovely to be invited and great to catch up with old friends and meet a few of YS’s best mates who I didn’t already know. 

Middle Son kindly gave up his bed to allow me a relatively comfortable, though rather hungover, sleep in a large tent also shared by Oldest Son; it was my first experience of something resembling camping since YS was at Primary School and a lot more restful than then!

The main purpose of a visit to Bath was to equip YS and myself with light suits for YS’s wedding and for the wedding of one of Jane’s nieces in Italy next month.  With that aspect of the trip satisfactorily achieved, I visited The Holburne Museum to see a Henry Moore exhibition. 

This was a small exhibition of Henry Moore’s small works.  Many of his familiar themes such as mother and child, helmets, family groups, reclining figures in stone, wood and metal were covered in a single room.  The breadth was admirable but it took a while to get used to the delicacy of the work having been used to the more massive Henry Moore sculptures I have seen in the past.  In truth, only a few of the displays in this exhibition really stood out for me but a couple were lovely and it was worth the visit.

On the way out I popped into a separate exhibition in the Museum by Mr Doodle (aka Sam Cox).  He is clearly into fun art and the room completely covered in his ‘doodles’ (see below) certainly raised a smile.

Closer to home we went to a talk on ‘Where Gardening Meets Art’ at the Museum in the Park in Stroud.  The Museum has a lovely terraced and walled garden that I hadn’t visited since shortly after it was built and planted several years ago.  The sun was shining and the garden looked splendid.

The talk itself was preceded by an exhibition of gardening and plant inspired artworks by Cleo Mussi, who’s work we know well, and Fiona Haser Bizony, founder of Electric Daisy Flower Farm.  I liked several of Cleo’s mosaics, especially the simpler ones, but we quickly moved outside to the garden in evening sun and a small bar offering locally brewed beer.

Jane had booked the evening and I didn’t know what to expect from the talk.  In the event, it was efficiently introduced and a thoroughly entertaining.  The main speaker was Charlotte Molesworth who has a renowned garden in Benendon, Kent.  She was terrific.  She had a lot of good sense to share and did it very amusingly.  Her anecdotes were warm and lovely and she had a great answer to every question.  The whole evening exceeded my expectations severalfold.

August – and, unfortunately, summer – is now drawing to a close.  The final week will be punctuated by further visits to The Hog, our local pub, for its Summer Bank Holiday Hogfest (a beer, music and food festival) and then the monthly quiz.  I am also looking forward hugely to Forest Green Rovers’ first home game of the season on the club’s brand-new, hybrid (5% plastic) pitch. 

But then my thoughts will turn to our family holiday in Italy prior to Jane’s niece’s wedding in Rome.  I can’t wait to see the two grandchildren together amongst our sons and their partners.  It is going to be a real treat to have everyone together.