A Fruitful Summer

September 8, 2025 / fgrtommo / 2 Comments

Summer this year has been consistently sunny and warm. We have been able to plan on the assumption of good weather. Day after day, with only the briefest of interruptions, we have appreciated our gorgeous local landscape in clear air and sunlight. Although keeping the vegetables anywhere near watered enough has been a challenge, the fruit harvest – both cultivated and wild – has been huge.

*^{On A Local Walk To The Shops In The Sun}*

Of course, we now know that it has been the hottest summer in the United Kingdom on record. It has also been one of the driest and, for the first time in local living memory, the stream running through our hamlet has run dry for weeks on end. That is a huge concern since we also know that climate chaos is here and only going to get worse. Increasing wildfires, floods, oppressive heat and difficulties in growing food are all inevitable. But even while knowing of this impending crisis, we have loved the summer weather and, almost as much, the recent rain showers that have started to indicate the onset of Autumn and started to refill the stream.

I picked and used or froze all the gooseberries and blackcurrants. We also managed to consume, or give to friends, a rich harvest of gorgeous plums and damsons. However, the wild bullaces (like small damsons) will stay on the trees this year and we have only picked a small fraction of our apples so far.

Walking the local paths and roads, I have seen lots of buckets of apples offered up to passers-by by those with apple trees heaving with fruit. And all those walks have tended to take a little longer than usual as I stop to pick and eat the blackberries along the way. The familiarity with the local hedgerows I have gained since retirement, means I know where the best blackberries are as the summer progresses. It’s wonderful how many varieties of wild blackberries there are, each bearing different tasting fruit at different times.

The only downside from all this fruit is that I’m gaining a few pounds of weight as I turn the fruit I pick into delicious but calorie filled crumbles. Still, it’s only for a few months that I have this fresh fruit glut and then I will retreat to more parsimonious use of the harvest we have frozen. I have time to get my weight back to target by year end.

There have been many other aspects of the summer that I have enjoyed. In recent weeks we attended a lovely wedding of one of Jane’s nephews and his wife. Of course, like so many days, this was bathed in warm sun. That helped to make the event memorable and lovely. During and around it, we got to see our sons, their partners and our grandchildren – all chatting and playing together. That was an enormous treat.

*^{Looking For Grasshoppers With First Grandchild}*

Another recent event that was enhanced by the great weather was an 11-mile charity pub crawl around 11 nearby pubs. This started at our village pub (The Hog) mid-morning and, for the hardiest (not including me), ended late at night in a curry house or back at The Hog. I managed half the stops (and pints) but had the excuse of wanting to divert up to Forest Green Rovers to see my team’s game mid-afternoon (we won!) before rejoining the increasingly noisy crawl crowd. There was much merriment, new relationship making and well over £1,000 in fundraising for the MND Association during the day. I look forward already to next year’s occurrence.

Jane and I have been out and about a few times too. We went to Frome to wander the pretty streets before heading on to Bruton and the Hauser & Wirth gallery there. Frome is comparable to our local town of Stroud but is a little wealthier, has a few more independent shops and is a little more upmarket. Stroud is moving gradually to that benchmark I believe.

At the Hauser & Wirth gallery we saw an exhibition of works by Jean Tinguely and his partner Niki de Saint Phalle. We had come across Tinguely for the first time earlier this year when we visited Basel. It was good to make the connection with that short trip and the mechanical sculptures we had seen in one of the parks there. A neat touch at Hauser & Wirth was that, as in Basel, the sculptures were powered to show their intended movements.

*^{Jean Tinguely And Niki De Saint Phalle at Hauser & Wirth}*

The Hauser & Wirth gardens, by Piet Oudolf, are always worth visiting. The planting is dense and constantly changing with the seasons. Whilst many of the plants were still in full flower, others remained interesting because of their seed heads and textures. The only strangeness is the building at the far end which looks like an elevated spot from which to view the flat garden space, but just isn’t.

*^{Piet Oudolf Designed Garden At Hauser & Wirth}*

Even more recently we visited Edward Jenner’s house in Berkeley just a few miles away from us. Jenner created the smallpox vaccine which has since saved millions of lives and eradicated the disease worldwide. His house and garden are not particularly remarkable but his life was and it is well told through the exhibits on show.

For me, perhaps the most interesting aspect of the displays was how they showed the vehemence of opposition to compulsory smallpox vaccination in the 19^th century. Scepticism about, and opposition, to vaccination was, it seems, as strong then as it has become again now despite all the health gains in the meantime.

Edward Jenner's House And Garden, Berkeley, Gloucestershire — *^{Edward Jenner’s House And Garden, Berkeley, Gloucestershire}*

It’s been a very good summer. We haven’t done any a big holidays but the weather at home has helped my retirement feel like a big, comfortable holiday at home. Waking up to clear sunshine, wandering into town for the newspaper and daily shopping, pottering around the thirsty vegetables in the garden, indulging in the burgeoning fruit harvest and relaxing in the evening sun has all been very pleasant. Now, as Autumn approaches, maybe we will think about getting away for a bit…..

Sleepy Sheep In The Summer Sun — *^{Sleepy Sheep In The Summer Heat}*

New Quay and Grandchildren

July 16, 2025 / fgrtommo / Leave a comment

There have been a number of highlights in the last month but few, if any, have beaten the times we have spent with our grandchildren. We were lucky that the geography of Britain is such that the Edinburgh-based family passed through our neck of the woods twice on their way to and from Cornwall. Additionally, we have been called upon to do a bit of ‘emergency’ baby sitting for the Bristol-based family; another absolute pleasure given that the illness preventing nursery attendance was mild.

On one day, our two grandsons got to meet each other again at our house. Seeing them together is such a heartwarming event even if the age difference prevents playing together much at this stage.

Not everyone wants children and not all can have them. But I now feel luckier than ever that we managed to have three boys. It has added immeasurably to Jane and my shared history and we would have a lot less to talk about if we hadn’t had them. Most of all though, having children has opened up the possibility and, now, the reality, of having grandchildren and enabling us to experience a whole new dimension of fascination and love. Fortunately, we have lived long enough to see and enjoy them.

Second Grandchild (SG) is less than half First Grandchild’s (FG’s) age. He’s toddling about now he has learnt to walk, loves watching FG and he smiles and smiles. Our babysitting efforts with SG are win-win-win for us, parents and SG alike; we get quality time with him, his parents can focus on work and SG gets undivided attention from doting grandparents.

First Grandchild (FG) is industrious and always wants to help. He seems to love helping with weeding, cooking, vacuuming up dead flies and almost anything that he can see we are doing. He helped me pick gooseberries and plant seedlings; his favourite phrase seems to be ‘Can I help?’. Long may all that last.

I made the gooseberries FG helped me pick into jam. That felt like a huge achievement because of the lengths to which I had I had gone to protect the crop from badgers. I pinned down netting every few inches but they dug underneath. I put rows of brick around the netting but they moved those and dug underneath. I felt I was building Fort Knox. The only thing that seemed to deter them was a sprinkle of my urine on the grass around the bush (well away from the berries I should add). Anyway, we got 3.5kg of goosberries and several pots of very nice jam.

*^{Happy Success: From Picking The Gooseberries To Producing Jam}*

Despite the very hot weather and lack of rain, I have also had a bumper crop of blackcurrants. The badgers are less interested in blackcurrants and I just need to keep the birds off them. I’ve stocked the freezer with a several kilograms, given a kilogram to a neighbour and made a batch of jam already. There are more to pick and I’m looking forward to doing – it’s an outdoor task of repetitive, mundane simplicity and exactly the sort of thing I find relaxing and therapeutic.

^{Pots Of Blackcurrant Jam – Enough To Keep Me Going For A While}

In a break from all this fruit picking and family conviviality, Jane an I visited a couple who we know from our time in London and who have a house in New Quay in Wales. We have visited there a few times previously but I don’t think I have been there since before the Covid pandemic.

*^{View On The Beach Walk North Of New Quay}*

The town, once a thriving fishing town, is now dominated by tourism. It is set between two lovely cliff and beach walks – north towards Aberaeron and south towards Llangranog. We walked both ways in much better weather than had been forecast and ate in both these towns. I loved the walks in a fresh breeze, with few other people about, and with terrific sea and cliff views. The whole stay was a good dose of natural beauty, catch up chat and good food against a backdrop of lovely hospitality.

*^{Cliff Walk To The South Of New Quay}*

Later this week we are off to Scotland to visit FG and his parents and are looking forward to that enormously. We are hoping the weather holds but continues to become a little cooler (I’m sure Scotland won’t let us down on the latter front). Whatever, it will be great to see the little one and his Mum and Dad again.

But first, a little more fill in babysitting for the not very poorly Second Grandchild; always (so far, anyway) a pleasure!

*^{SG Not 100% Well But Still Attentive}*

Belfast to Derry and Back

May 24, 2025 / fgrtommo / 2 Comments

Eight months since our last visit to Belfast to attend and celebrate the wedding of Youngest Son (YS) and his wife, we visited again a couple of weekends ago. This was a very relaxed trip with few fixed plans, no real schedule other than our flight in and out, and just a desire to catch up properly with the newly wedded couple and to see a bit of Northern Ireland again. We were helped by terrific, sunny and warm weather and, as usual, great hospitality starting with a barbeque in YS and his wife’s pretty, sunny garden.

*^{Playing Molkky (A Finnish Game Akin to Petanque and Skittles) In The Garden}*

On our first full day in Northern Ireland, we took the train to Derry/Londonderry. The train journey was very comfortable and relaxing with great views of grassy fields and hills. Then, as we passed Coleraine and Castlerock, we looked out on beautiful beaches and wide inlets before approaching Loch Foyle and the city of Derry.

*^{Coastal Views Between Castlerock And Derry}*

We traversed the Peace Bridge over the River Foyle. The bridge was funded by the Northern Ireland Government and the European Union Fund for Peace and Reconciliation. It is an unusual s-shape with two main supports. We learnt later that the shape is to indicate that the path to peace is not straight and that the two pillars represent the two sides of any peace agreement and the importance of both to enduring harmony. Derry has been a fulcrum of conflict for centuries between English and Irish and Protestant and Catholic, but the bridge is a testament to the current atmosphere of relative calm, hope and peace.

We headed into the city and refuelled with coffee at The Hang Ten Brewbar. There was further, more alcoholic refuelling in the sun at Peadar O’Donnells traditional Irish pub and then we strolled through the city to meet up with a city tour guide.

Looking Up Waterloo Street, Derry (Peadar O'Donnell's Pub On The Right) — *^{Looking Up Waterloo Street, Derry (Peadar O’Donnell’s Pub On The Right)}*

He gave a brief account of the early history of Derry including its initial establishment as a monastic community by St Columba in the 6^th century and the much later takeover of the city as part of the colonisation of the area by livery companies based in London – hence the alternative name of Londonderry. These companies, loyal to the English Crown, build the city walls in 1619. These have apparently never been breached despite a myriad of sieges and attacks since – hence a third name for the city: ‘The Maiden City’.

The guided tour followed a simple route around the top of the city walls which have a roughly rectangular layout with four original gates in each side. Between the two thick sides of the wall is a mass of clay that helped to absorb the power of cannon shot. Atop this is a thoroughfare broad enough to carry large heavy wagons.

On Derry's City Walls — *^{On Derry’s City Walls}*

Of course, the walls also provide great views of the surrounding countryside, the river and some of the more significant buildings in the city itself.

St Augustine's Church, Derry — *^{St Augustine’s Church, Derry}*

These included the pretty St Augustine’s Church (The Wee Church on the Walls’) and the First Derry Presbyterian Church. The tour ended in the very centre of Derry from which we could see all four of the original gates and could show our appreciation to the tour guide for a very informative and interesting 90 minutes.

Our evening meal back in Belfast was at the very good Mourne Seafood Bar not far from Belfast City Hall where YS and his now wife were married.

Throughout our stay, we ate very well. It is great seeing one’s offspring mastering skills I have never possessed and YS’s control of his new barbeque was excellent. He is barista trained and has access to good Belfast bakeries so breakfast at home was very good. But even better were the breakfasts at Cultura (where I had a really exceptional Italian Hash) and Neighbourhood Cafe (where I was greedy and had both the lovely fruity, minty coconut granola followed by the excellent Scrambled Eggs Rayu). The quality was reminiscent of the great breakfasts we had on our trips to Australia some years ago when YS was based there.

*^{Murals Near The Cathedral Quarter, Belfast}*

After breakfast at Neighbourhood, Jane went with YS’s wife to her osteopathy studio for a treatment for Jane’s shoulder while YS and I wandered nearby to see The Cathedral Church of St. Anne and some of the local murals. During the several times we have visited this Cathedral Quarter I had not previously noticed the distinctive cathedral spire which was, this time, shining in the sunlight. The way the spire protrudes down into the interior of the church was an interesting bit of design.

Another highlight of our trip was an outing to Mount Stewart, a large estate on the edge of the extensive Strangford Lough and now owned by the National Trust.

We didn’t go in the house this time since the weather invited us to spend our time in the beautiful gardens and wandering around the lake.

We also ventured into the woods following signs to a red squirrel hide in the hope we might spot one. In the hide we sat quietly for five minutes peering out of a large and presumably one way window. Moments after I had I whispered to Jane that this was probably all a bit of a long shot and waste of time, a red squirrel appeared around the side of the hide. It was a very exciting moment followed by 10 minutes of watching this little, shy creature poking around the feeding boxes and scampering over fallen logs. Red squirrel numbers have collapsed in the last century due to viruses and competition with larger, invasive grey squirrels, but are now beginning to revive due to conservation efforts such as that we saw. We felt very lucky to see one.

*^{A Red Squirrel; Very Happy In Its Conservation Area At Mount Stewart}*

We thoroughly enjoyed our trip to Belfast and to Derry/Londonderry. Belfast seems to be thriving despite some political and governmental issues. It was nice that we had an opportunity to peek at a soon to open restaurant associated with Yotam Ottolenghi. He is certainly a famous restaurateur and his investment in Northern Ireland must be a good sign for the region.

Site Of The New Restaurant Associated With Ottolenghi — *^{Site (A Repurposed Mill) Of The New Restaurant Associated With Ottolenghi And Opening In 2025}*

It was great too to see how YS and his wife live, why they enjoy Belfast and Northern Ireland so much and how they have made their home there with their rather elegant and increasingly mature dog ‘Reggie’.

We were glad we could repay their relaxed hospitality with a bit of gardening. The centre point of our effort was the retrieval of an old zinc water cistern from a local skip and working with YS and wife to fill it, and a few other pots, with herbs. YS’s new barbeque is now surrounded by these pots and is adjacent to a bit of planting that we all felt very proud of. It was not only a very enjoyable weekend but a productive one.

*^{New Planting (Just Missing The Jasmine That YS Added Later)}*

Spring Blossoms

April 29, 2025 / fgrtommo / 2 Comments

In the weeks since we got back from our month in Edinburgh – a month we have already booked again in Edinburgh for 2026 – we have settled into a home-based routine. This has been especially pleasurable due to the exceptional Spring weather. It has been largely sunny, the mornings have been fresh and clear and, since the clocks went forward, the evenings have been long and getting longer. It has been a lovely time to be back at home in the country and to see the trees, bulbs and perennials start to come back to life and into flower.

*^{Cherry Tree In The Local Town of Nailsworth}*

The walks into the local town for the newspaper and daily provisions have been chilly on the way in but warm on the way back. The dry weather has opened up previously muddy routes across the fields. The paths have offered views in the local woodlands and hedgerows of, first, the last snowdrops, then daffodils, then bluebells and primroses, and, now, wild garlic and cow parsley.

The bursts of white from the blackthorn and, now, the hawthorn have been terrific while the early flowering cherry trees have now been supplanted in their splendour by later flowering cherry, apple, plum and pear tree blossom.

*^{Apple Blossom In The Neighbouring Field}*

In the midst of all of this we have had a late Easter celebration with our grandchildren and their parents. The weather was kind and made the construction of my Easter Egg Hunt for the grandchildren easy. First Grandchild in particular, really enjoyed it and we all enjoyed watching him gather up rather too many Easter eggs. FG and his parents live in a central Edinburgh flat and he really appreciates the contrast of English countryside. It was so rewarding to see his excitement on the Easter Egg Hunt and on other nature hunts and adventures we had organized.

FG also loved seeing and holding the brand-new baby goats owned by some village friends of ours. I was amazed at how gentle both the baby goat and FG were.

^{Easter: First Grandchild And A Brand New Kid}

Second Grandchild was too young to join in everything directly but he too seemed to capture the vibrant atmosphere of our Easter weekend. He always seems to be smiling. That was particularly the case at Easter with so many people around including, especially, his cousin.

The good recent weather has allowed me to catch up on clearing vegetable patches. There is more to do and I need to be careful not to aggravate joint aches and pains, but I am pleased with the progress I have made. Plus, the sunny evenings are starting to beckon us out for relaxed drinks amongst the euphorbia, Judas Tree and wisteria and, soon, the alliums and salvias.

Against this Spring backdrop, there have been a few other highlights. We made a rare trip to London for a wedding (of Jane’s God-daughter) and to see and stay with some old friends of ours. The finale of a decade-long set of ‘boy’s nights out’ with mates dating back to the 1970’s was arranged to coincide with our trip to London. Apart from the hangover, it was a splendid trip and very enjoyable, particularly as we got to see our friends’ newly renovated house. It was great that the final boy’s night out was a little extravagant with a private room, silly hats and a wonderful souvenir booklet produced by the prime organizer. This included pictures of long-ago evenings together that encapsulated fading but amusing memories.

Also, back in March, friends in the village took Jane and I on an excursion to Dyrham Park. We have long admired this couple for heading out on quickly arranged short breaks and excursions when the weather looks promising. This time they took us off with them for a very relaxed and interesting time together.

We didn’t venture into the Dyrham Park house which has been renovated comprehensively recently, but the gardens were lovely. The daffodils were in peak season and the beautiful pale limestone of the baroque hall provided a great backdrop to views of the planting. The parkland around the house offers splendid views of the south Gloucestershire and Avon landscape.

I hadn’t been to the park for several years, when I went with my parents well before my Mum died, but I’m keen to go again in Autumn. By that time nature will have moved on and the trees and gardens will look very different.

Two other highlights: first a very enjoyable visit to Tetbury Goods Shed to see a band we have seen a few times called Faeland. They were on good form with an extended lineup and the lead singer’s beautiful clear voice resonating around a well-designed venue.

Second, I finally pickled the crop of shallots that I harvested well over six months ago. They have been winking at me from the string bag I had stored them in every time I went into the shed. Two years ago, I set myself a New Year resolution to do something creative at least once a month; I have failed on that. But pickling well over a kilogram of stored shallots counts as being creative for April – even if I haven’t actually tasted them yet.

Not everything in March and April has gone smoothly. My knee and ankle are improving slowly with help from physiotherapy but both have been annoyingly painful at times. Plus, a couple of weeks ago, I had a ‘fall’ (when approaching 70 one seems to call them ‘falls’ rather than a ‘trip’ or a ‘slip’ which would have been a more accurate description of the event) which wrenched my shoulder. But, overall, it has been a very good early Spring and I have appreciated being retired and so able to fully appreciate it outdoors rather than from an office window.

A Stag In Active August

August 26, 2024 / fgrtommo / 2 Comments

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.

*^{Dad Ringing The Hospital ‘Ward Bell’ To Celebrate His End Of Treatment}*

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.

*^{Boston Football Club: Nickname The Pilgrims Because So Many Original Pilgrim Fathers Migrated To The Americas From Boston}*

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.

*^{Views Across Boston, The Port And The Church}*

*^{An Attractive Part Of Boston Next to The River Witham With The Tide In}*

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 Walled Garden At Museum In The Park, Stroud}*

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.

*^{Cleo Mussi’s Hands Mosaics At Museum In The Park, Stroud}*

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.

*^{Charlotte Molesworth Speaking About Where Gardening Meets Art}*

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.

Nadine Shah and Hamilton

May 19, 2024 / fgrtommo / Leave a comment

Perhaps the top birthday highlight amid a thoroughly pleasurable weekend of mild (no longer wild) celebration was a concert by Nadine Shah at the Cheltenham Festival. Because it was my birthday, Jane generously came along with me even though I had told her it wouldn’t be her choice of music. It was an opportunity to take in a bit of the atmosphere of the Cheltenham Jazz Festival, see an art exhibition featuring one of our village acquaintances, and have dinner out together for a change.

I have seen Nadine Shah nine times now and have loved every one of those performances. I still remember first seeing her in 2013 in The Lexington in London. Then, the hairs stood out on the back of my head as she sang ‘All I Want’ virtually unaccompanied and I became a big fan. I recall I chatting with her Dad afterwards and then meeting her. She’s a charming Geordie and a huge, interesting talent.

*^{Up Close With Nadine Shah Almost A Decade Ago In The Sebright Arms, London With Middle Son}*

Up to this month, the venues I have seen her perform in have been small and intimate. Cheltenham Town Hall wasn’t that. The sound was muggy, the distance to the stage – we were half way back – was huge in comparison to previous Nadine Shah concerts I’d been to, and we were sitting down so only foot-tapping was really allowed. For all that it was alien to previous experiences, I loved the music and her energy; Jane, not so much!

*^{Nadine Shah In Full Flow At Cheltenham Town Hall}*

Nadine Shah’s latest album (Filthy Underneath) traces her fall from grace as she left Ramsgate and London for her native South Tyneside to look after her terminally ill mother during the Covid pandemic. The pandemic prevented her from touring and performing her music, she separated from her husband and, in her relative isolation, became addicted to her Mum’s drugs. Several of the songs on the new album relate to this dark period of illness, suicidal thoughts, rehabilitation and recovery.

Despite their dark themes, I love their dramatic, relentless, pulsating beats and the compelling lyrics. They were in my head seemingly incessantly for well over a week after the concert.

Helping with that was a birthday present from Middle Son and his fiancée: Wireless Bone Conduction Headphones by Shokz. I hadn’t seen these until MS showed me his a few weeks ago. He had bought some because he doesn’t like wearing in-ear headphones and knows that I have a problem with them too. These new ones sit outside the ear and use vibration to exercise the cheek and ear bone structure to reproduce perfect headphone sound without blocking out birdsong or traffic noise for example. The technology verges on the unbelievable to me. The headphones are perfect for my two-hour walks into Stroud on Food Bank days and, on the first of those after I saw Nadine Shah, I naturally gravitated to playing her music.

*^{Shokz Wireless Bone Conduction Headphones}*

Since my birthday, and a flurry of family related activity, life has returned to normality; lots of walking in spring sunshine, local volunteering, visits to our local pub and, now the weather has finally improved, gardening. Gradually, one patch and raised bed at a time, I am getting the vegetable garden under control. I also need to invest time in the garden at our rental property and the small allotment I tend very fitfully; next week, maybe….

*^{Wild Garlic Gone Wild Along The Path To The Food Bank In Stroud}*

Jane and I did manage to spend an afternoon helping in MS and his fiancée’s garden. Their own gardening desires are frustrated currently by a necessary focus on their new baby and work. It was nice to be able to step in to tidy and plant a few things in their garden and, of course, to see Second Grandchild.

Plus, they gave us a couple of tickets for Hamilton on its UK and Ireland Tour which they had bought before the timing of a new baby was fully realised. It was my first visit to the Bristol Hippodrome and, as far as I can remember, my first live musical (rather than opera). I was enormously impressed with both. Management of the audience in and out of the Hippodrome was extremely efficient, the stage sets were impressive and our view was elevated, central and splendid.

*^{The Hamilton Cast (Photography Was Banned – Good! – So I Pinched This Off The Bristol Hippodrome Website)}*

Hamilton itself started with a bang and the energy didn’t let up throughout. The hip-hop and r&b songs were catchy. They were sung beautifully but in a way that enunciated every lyric so that the story, for those with only a passing familiarity with it, could understand the multiple layers of the storyline.

A huge amount was packed in and I was left a little overwhelmed by the end of the performance. I really enjoyed the variety of the music and the way elements of it cropped up repeatedly throughout to remind us of the key themes. It was a thoroughly enjoyable, brilliant, invigorating introduction to modern musical theatre.

May has been a full and very enjoyable month and we still are barely more than halfway through!

Resolutions, Resolutions

January 3, 2024 / fgrtommo / 1 Comment

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.

A Lull In Proceedings

October 2, 2023 / fgrtommo / Leave a comment

A few weeks ago we were in Ireland and Edinburgh. Later this week we are spending a few days in Belgium. In between we have slowed down into more usual routines and come to terms with the fact that, despite unseasonably warm weather, the trees are starting to turn and Autumn is upon us.

*^{Some Of The Last Big Dahlias From The Garden This Year}*

There is still a lot to do in the garden before closing up for Winter. I’ve made some progress in that I have brought in an excellent harvest of potatoes and onions, have started to pull down the climbing beans and their frames and have collected the wood remaining from some cut trees from out of the field.

*^{Some Of This Year’s Bumper Crop Of Onions, Potatoes and Squash}*

However, I need to weed the currants and leeks, and harvest the squash and Jerusalem artichokes. I also need to dig over all the vegetable beds to give the bindweed and creeping cinquefoil another almost crippling blow before the end of Autumn. I say ‘almost’ since it cannot be eliminated, only managed.

^{Preparing For Winter – Wood Turned Into Wood Store}

A further project is to tidy up the compost heaps which have become very dilapidated. Jane will be upset that I will once again put together a rather improvised set of heaps using old pallets rather than use the purpose-built wood frames that she bought for me years ago. I continue to save those for when we move to our ‘Tin House’ (currently rented out) in Jane’s nearby childhood village of Amberley. The timeframes for that are vague but my short-term solution for the compost heaps will suffice in the meantime; I just need to get my skates on and do it.

*^{My Over-Full, Collapsing Compost Heaps}*

That effort needs to fit in alongside getting a grip on my small allotment in Amberley which I have held onto as another sign of our intention to move to the ‘Tin House’ at some point. Also, we have taken on a mini-project to help Middle Son (MS) and his partner to design and enhance his new garden in Bristol. This was a requested alternative from MS to a more typical birthday present. We really enjoyed delivering our first instalment of help while he cooked us a lovely roast lunch.

A low light of the last few weeks has been watching the steady decline of Forest Green Rovers (FGR) – the football club I support (enthusiastically through often through gritted teeth). Relegation last season following glorious promotion the previous season wasn’t entirely unexpected especially after our now much lauded manager left abruptly for Championship and, more recently, Premiership football. But we are struggling again this season and the disconsolate and disappointing defeat in the last match was very dismaying. What goes up can come down!

*^{FGR At Meadow Lane, Notts County. A Proper Football Stadium}*

On the other hand, a highlight in the last few weeks has been a weekend in Nottingham with my sister and Dad. I saw FGR play Notts County while I was there – we lost again, though only narrowly and a little unluckily – but what was most encouraging was seeing my Dad fighting his way back to the level of activity and health he had earlier this year. For a while this summer he was really struggling with a side-effect of the innovative, and seemingly successful, cancer treatment he has been on. Now that side -effect has been addressed, he has his mental agility and much of his strength back, and his treatment has restarted.

I stayed with my sister in her new house not far from my Dad, but spent the days with at my Dad’s house where we reminisced over tea, lunch and a game of Mahjong. We played with a lovely, intact, bone Mahjong set that has been in the family for ages. The feel of the bricks and the counters that substitute for money is wonderful. Dad was able to demonstrate his powers of mathematics were undiminished as he worked out who owed who and how much after each round. I lost all I had won when we last played back in May last year.

The rest of the month has flown by through a routine combination of the village men’s Talk Club (restarted after a summer break), a morning a week at the Food Bank, local walks solo or with friends, shopping for and then cooking good home food, and evenings of streamed television.

Our current streamed television of choice is Fauda on Netflix. It’s a gripping action series that develops interesting male and female, Israeli and Palestinian characters over four series. We are about to watch the last episode and we shall miss it a lot when it’s over. The last series is partly set in Belgium. I think later this week we will be visiting rather different parts of the country from the vast, labyrinthine housing estates depicted in Fauda!

Places to Go, Things to Do

May 11, 2023 / fgrtommo / 2 Comments

Our three sons came from Edinburgh, Bristol and Belfast to stay with us to attend Jane’s Mum’s funeral and then my birthday brunch. The funeral was very well attended and passed flawlessly, peacefully and movingly. My birthday was low key but very enjoyable. It was great to have all three sons in one place for the first time for a while, to hear them banter with each other, and to chat to.

Two of them asked, independently, what on earth I fills my time in retirement. I’m not sure I was entirely candid about my occasional post-lunch snoozes or the rather excessive amount of time I spend looking at my mobile phone – though they are also fairly guilty of the latter so they would understand. But what struck me once again as I tried to answer is how busy my life still seems to be.

The routine of walking to the nearest town for the daily shopping and the newspaper, reading that newspaper and the weekly Economist magazine, preparing lunch and (50% of the time) dinner, all takes up hours of relatively relaxed time. I spend up to a day a week in local climate action and other village activities and another half a day at the Stroud Foodbank. I have recently inserted an hour or two of gardening into the routine (not enough, but it’s a start) partially at the cost of my frequent walks around the local countryside that usually constitute my main exercise.

The early evenings comprise of the ‘Quick Crossword’ over a cup of tea and/or visits to the local pub. Later, we watch streamed TV series (we tend to gravitate to dark European crime thrillers) and then its time for the BBC News, 15 minutes reading in bed and sleep.

So, even in weeks without trips to Edinburgh or funerals to attend (and there have been two in the last month unfortunately), I feel pretty occupied. How did I fit 10 hours a mid-week day on work? It was interesting to hear Middle Son start to feel the same way now he has given up his job for a bit of downtime before a ‘gap-month’ travelling in Columbia. He too seems to have found that available time just gets filled with activity. In retirement, those activities are mainly non-urgent and discretionary; suits me!

Our trip to Edinburgh last month to see First Grandchild (FG) and his parents was as rewarding as usual. FG is discovering the desire to exert control and is developing a temper, a willingness to do things but only at his pace and when he is ready, and a sense of humour. Its lovely to see his development in the videos we are sent but even more so face to face. Maybe I just lack the recall power but I think work got in the way of appreciating all of this in my own children at FG’s age.

*^{The Splendid Roof Of The Scottish National Museum’s Main Hall}*

As usual, taking FG out to the National Museum of Scotland, to the Royal Botanic Garden and to the local playgrounds were highpoints during our Edinburgh trip. It’s wonderful to see that everything through his eyes is so new and something to learn about.

^{Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh: Rhododendrons Out In April!}

However, there were many other treats amid the hospitality offered by Eldest Son and his wife and the fun of being with FG. Jane and I walked to Leith where I bought her birthday present in advance and with her close guidance. On the way back we stopped off at Spry, our favourite wine bar in the city.

We also visited the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art to see an exhibition of Alberta Whittle’s work. We had seen an exhibition by her in Bath a few months earlier which we had enjoyed. However, although the exhibition in Edinburgh was much broader in ambition, neither of us enjoyed the individual works so much this time.

*^{‘Taking A Leap Toward The Ancestors’ By Alberta Whittle (2022)}*

Our cultural immersion while in Edinburgh continued with a brief stop at the private The Scottish Gallery (mainly to see some pretty floral paintings by Angie Lewin) before exceeding all our daily steps targets by crossing the city again to visit the Dovecot Studios. This was a real highlight.

*^{Part of the Kaffe Fassett ‘Power Of Pattern’ Exhibition}*

Not only was there an excellent exhibition of textiles by and inspired by Kaffe Fassett called ‘The Power of Pattern’, but the tapestry studios themselves were fascinating. I was only vaguely familiar with Kaffe Fassett but I loved a lot of the work on show here – mainly because of the vibrancy of the colour – and I learned a lot about his philosophy, way of working and his collaborations with others.

*^{Close-ups Of Quilted and Tapestry Works By Kaffe Fassett And Followers}*

The tapestry studios at Dovecote are restored and re-purposed swimming baths that were part of the now defunct infirmary. The space is airy and dramatic. The floor – what presumably was the bottom of the swimming pool – is an art space that is currently occupied by a series of looms of varying sizes and types. Each contained part-finished tapestries that suggested the huge effort that has to go into each. Upstairs, completed tapestries illustrating various techniques and styles are on display. We really enjoyed the experience.

To round out the cultural aspect of our Edinburgh trip, I also managed an hour or so in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery. The entrance hall is stunning and I wanted to see that again. Inside there was no special exhibition this time but the permanent displays – especially the modern section – were interesting enough.

*^{The Scottish National Portrait Gallery Atrium}*

^{The Scottish National Portrait Gallery: Two Unusual, Medical Portraits (By Ken Currie)}

Back home we have been enjoying an admittedly rather wet spring. The wild garlic, bluebells and cow parsley adorn the lanes and the woods. In the garden, the daffodils, the amelanchier and most of the tulips have been and gone but there are allium flower heads about to burst and green shoots everywhere. In our lush and green field cum orchard, the cowslips and wild geraniums have proliferated and our eyes are peeled for orchids.

*^{Exotic Garden Tulips And Perfect Apple Blossom}*

A recent visit to The Ethicurean with Middle Son and his partner for Sunday lunch included a wander around the gardens that provide many of the vegetable ingredients for the cooking. The lunch itself was multi-course but much more than a tasting menu; it was really imaginative, tasty and filling, and delivered at a perfectly slow pace in the gorgeous surroundings of a converted Victorian greenhouse. We’ll go again.

*^{The Rather Wonderful The Ethicurean Restaurant}*

Since then, rather inspired by The Ethicurean’s gardens, I have made progress in clearing most of the vegetable patches, planting beetroot, chard, onions and potatoes and getting bean, courgette and squash seeds on the go.

This year I have applied a method Jane used for some of her flower seeds to the germination of the beans seeds I recovered from my last two harvests. Instead of popping them in composted seed trays, I put them between two sheets of wet kitchen roll and put the result in zip lock plastic bags. I left the bags on the floor of our kitchen which has underfloor heating and, lo and behold, I had a 100% success rate for germination!

*^{My (Janes!) New Ziplock Plastic Bag Method Of Seed Germination}*

I have transferred the germinated beans to the small pots and now hope they will grow on with, unlike previous years, zero seed wastage. Success in a busy retirement schedule is sweet!

Task Oriented Autumn

November 9, 2022June 9, 2023 / fgrtommo / Leave a comment

A few posts ago I mentioned that I had started going to a Mental Fitness For Men group under the auspices of Talk Club. Our local pub landlord has arranged weekly Talk Club sessions and I have made it to most of them since they started a few months ago. The sessions are of fixed format but the people who turn up each week vary so there is always something new to listen to as well as, usually, something new to say.

I’ve found the meetings useful in that they help me frame what I am grateful for and what I’m going to do in the next week to make things feel better for myself. However, I do often feel daunted by the lucidity with which most others in the weekly groups talk about the way they feel. In comparison I tend to fall back into talking about things I have done and things I’m going to do. I have explained to the group (and myself) that I tend to feel happiest when I am ticking off tasks on my to-do list but I suspect that I need to get deeper into how I feel about life rather than describing tasks.

Having said that, I have felt a certain contentment that, by and large, I have done what I said I would do over the last few weeks. The tasks have varied from raking up the scythed and strimmed grass in the meadow (into piles I don’t quite know what to do with), to harvesting the last summer crops and gathering seed for next year, to production of a string of documents I promised for the local Climate Action Network group that I belong to.

*^{Not Quite A Crown Prince Squash. Grown From Gathered 2021 Seed And Reverted From F1 Hybrid – Tasty Though!}*

Today, post-Foodbank duties, I am even finally managing to get around to making crab apple jelly which is a task that has been on my to-do list for a few weeks. Overall, October and early November has been a good month for tiny achievements amongst my retirement routine!

*^{Making Crab Apple Jelly – Tree -> Apples -> Straining -> Jelly! (First Of Two Batches)}*

There have been a few other high points recently. Middle Son (MS) and his partner have moved from London to Bristol – just 45 minutes away. That means that we will see them more often. For example, Long-Suffering Wife (LSW) and I were delighted when they popped over for an impromptu dinner a couple of Fridays ago. It was lovely to have a normalised drop-in-type arrangement with one of our sons rather than have to think about days packing, travelling and staying away from home.

Not that those sorts of visits are not welcome. We are off to Edinburgh again later this week and can’t wait to see First Grandchild (FG) again (and his parents!) for the first time in over two months. It’s going to be a special visit this time to celebrate not only FG’s first birthday, but also Eldest Son (ES) and his partner’s marriage. I’m so glad they have chosen a relatively low key way of getting married and celebrating that with a few close relatives. However, the event is momentous nonetheless and it will be lovely to have all our boys, their partners, my Dad and my sister all together with FG in one place at the same time.

We have also had some old friends come to visit us for a weekend. We have been rather poor at inviting people over for almost anything since the Covid pandemic; we seem to have just got out of that pattern of being. But it was great to see these long standing and close friends again. We had an active but relaxed time with them that culminated in a delightful walk in the Slad Valley and then an excellent lunch at The Woolpack (of Laurie Lee fame).

*^{The Slad Valley Near Stroud Between Autumn Showers}*

Much of the rest of the time in the last few weeks has been more routine. However, I helped to advertise a talk that our village Climate Action Network group arranged with the Parish Council on rewilding and the impact of climate change on our local trees. The theme of this talk, and a continuing series we have planned for next year, is ‘hope’. This is to counteract the inevitable descent into gloom if we consider and talk too much about the climate and biodiversity emergencies alongside other current preoccupations such as the war in Ukraine and the cost of living crisis.

The first talk in the ‘Hope Talks’ series was almost wildly successful. We have a hard act to follow as we go into next year. The talks themselves bring the village together and just the fact they happen adds to the resilience of the community and its cohesiveness. I edit a quarterly newsletter (another task done this week!) and submit articles to the monthly village magazine but these ‘Hope Talks’ hold out greater promise for conveying useful information while being a great relationship building mechanism.

*^{Our Learned ‘Hope Talk’ Speaker – Local Resident, Dr David Bullock (With Props)}*

Of course, other continuing elements of my recent retirement routine have been steadfast support of local football teams (Forest Green Rovers but also Shortwood United and Horsley United) and more of the Autumnal walks I talked about in my last post.

*^{Local Team Shortwood United In The Process Of Winning 5-0}*

The Autumn weather has been so mild and, until recently, so dry that the walks have been particularly pleasant. The colours in the trees have been changing quite variably from species to species. That has meant that while the reds and yellows have perhaps not been as spectacular as in some past years, the blending of different colours across the valley slopes has been very attractive.

*^{Local Walk Lined With Lime And Hazel Trees}*

I plan to keep up the local walks even as the winter weather closes in. However, I do also plan to reduce the number of discretionary, extraneous things I commit to in the next few months. At least that way I may be able to think more about abstract feelings rather than worrying about the state of my to-do list and the rate of knocking items off it. I may even resort to that old trick of adding things to the to-do list that I have already done…..

My Retirement Journey

I've Retired! What Next?

Gardening