I Do Like A Plan!

December 18, 2025 / fgrtommo / 2 Comments

One of the things that occasionally frustrates Jane, my wife, is how I love to stick to routines. I’m not good with the unpredictable and the unexpected. Surprise visitors, sudden changes to imminent diary dates, unbidden moves of items from one storage location to another, furniture moves, unnecessary changes to mobile phone features; all tend to cause me more anxiety than they should, especially as they are trivial first-world problems and my wife loves them all.

I think that my craving for plans to achieve calm routines is why my career went best when I was in operational information technology. There, the reliability of day-to-day computer services is critical. Having computer services working smoothly day after day was a key aim – not least because running computer services is cheaper that way. Changes had to be managed very carefully and if an anomaly happened then all efforts were made to ensure they didn’t happen again. Plans and routine were lovely then and I still hanker for them.

Fortunately, especially since my retirement, my wife jolts me out of this way of being so I am forced to stay on my toes. She will be the one to suggest that we go to a different pub for our usual Sunday pint and crossword. She will change the drawer contents around in the kitchen so I can’t find anything for a few days. She will poke me into holidays and outings. I think I am better at embracing, and even instigating, change than before – for example, my cooking skills and bravery are vastly improved from a few years ago – but it is my wife who tends to really try new things.

Of course, external events also push me off my routine and disrupt our plans. COVID almost derailed our family Christmas in 2020 and it did ultimately erase our plans to walk the North Devon/Cornwall Coastal Path earlier that year. The weather has also intervened to prevent or near-ruin other holidays in the past.

*^{Opening The Bedroom Blinds To The Sort Of Winter Sunrise And Weather I Like!}*

Increasingly too, as I get older, I’m conscious that health issues can mess up the best laid plans and prevent implementation of my normal routines. For example, I hate it when an arthritic joint prevents me from walking comfortably into town to get the newspaper and daily shopping. Last month, the blow up of my ankle problem took me off my feet for a few days and this month, a bout of orbital cellulitis (an infection of the tissue around the eyes) did the same. Anyone would be annoyed at these unplanned health issues but I feel my anxiety about them is amplified somehow by my feeling of missing out on my usual pattern of life.

Those ‘outages’, as we called computer service failures in my working life, help me appreciate the days when I can just get on with the routine and think about plans relatively proactively and calmly. ‘Seize the day’ as Jane often tells me. I need to do that more.

The bones of our plans for Christmas and the New Year are pretty much in place and, while weather and health may, of course, disrupt them, I’m very happy with what is in store. We kick off with carols in a local church then dinner at ours with Jane’s siblings. Then Christmas Day will be with Second Grandchild (SG), his parents and his other grandparent. SG is a very happy little boy by nature and I can imagine he is going to be beside himself with Christmas cheer – while not yet fully understanding many of the related concepts.

Boxing Day will be just Jane and I – for the first time ever, I think, we will be on our own. I am hoping for a sunny, crisp, wintery day and a long walk to a local pub for a leisurely lunch.

*^{Winter Sunset At Ruskin Mill (Jane’s Photo)}*

Then we are off to Belfast to see Youngest Son and his wife. To round out the family tour, we are then in Edinburgh for four weeks during which another Scottish grandchild should arrive.

We were last in Edinburgh for First Grandchild’s (FG) fourth birthday. As usual, we had a great time as we mixed family socials with art and nature. Eldest Son and his wife always provide amazing hospitality and it was lovely to see how FG had developed since we last saw him in the summer. His sense of fun combined with his determination and focus on detail were brought out by some of the presents he got for his birthday. It is clear that he is going to love ‘LEGO®’!

The Water Of Leith - Very Full During Our November Visit to Edinburgh — *^{The Water Of Leith – Very Full During Our November Visit to Edinburgh}*

The arrival of FG’s new sibling in January is going to colour, enliven and warm our visit next year. We had hoped to repeat what we did early in 2025 (without, this time, Jane breaking her shoulder!) but the flat we had rented then and booked for this visit was unexpectedly withdrawn from Airbnb last week – a very irritating imposed change of plan!

We have rebooked elsewhere (inevitably at a higher cost….) and are looking forward to our time in Edinburgh enormously. We just need to complete the plans for our schedule of trips, restaurants and art intake for the time we are there. I do like a plan!

Reading Not Walking

November 12, 2025 / fgrtommo / Leave a comment

Since retiring, I have loved spending time walking around our local area. I have done so every day when we haven’t been away from home. Generally, I will walk into town in the morning for the newspaper and daily shopping. Then I will often venture out for another walk in the afternoon.

On Tuesdays I will usually walk into Stroud to work at the Food Bank and, if there is a mid-week home game at Forest Green Rovers Football Club, will also walk to and from that. Those days see me doing almost 30,000 steps. On average, I have managed (often quite hilly) 15,000 steps a day since retiring. That, alongside some gardening, constitutes my main exercise.

*^{Autumn Walk. Ledgemore Bottom, Horsley, Gloucestershire}*

We are lucky that a plethora of footpaths in the area provides a large variety of routes to take to the shops or to the football ground or just as extra excursions through local fields and woods. It is particularly fortunate that Ruskin Mill College allows pedestrian access through their landscaped grounds between our village and Nailsworth, the nearest town. Further variety is provided by the seasons and this walk is especially uplifting at the moment as the trees turn to autumnal brown, yellow and red.

*^{Ruskin Mill College Grounds. Pretty Even In Autumn Rain}*

But all this walking takes up time. It’s time well spent for me; I love the outdoors, being in nature and happening to bump into friends on the way. I’ve enjoyed walking so much that, until this week, I hadn’t really thought about this consumption of time and what else I could do with the few hours a day I have spent walking.

What triggered me thinking about this time was a big flare up of a problem I have had for several months – off and on – with one of my ankles. I was most of the way to my weekly stint at the Stroud Food Bank when my ankle seized up. I pressed on and the ankle eased up a bit but then got a lot more painful. I bumbled my way through the shift, got Jane to pick me up afterwards and then spent 10 hours moaning and groaning about the pain (I’m not good with pain…)

I spent the next few days avoiding much movement. There was no thought of any substantial walking while my ankle settled down and, suddenly, I had several more hours to fill. I started reading.

*^{Walking Going Of A Cliff Edge (And A Careful Recovery Since)}*

I got up to date with a hardcopy of The Economist which Middle Son gets for me (very generously) every week on the back of his digital subscription. For the first time I could remember, my digesting of the content got ahead of publication and I was willing the next edition to arrive early. I read The Guardian daily from front to back (I still prefer hard copy; old habits die hard). And then I picked up the excellent novel (Long Island by Colm Toibin) I have been reading very slowly for weeks and finished it in a couple of days.

I ordered two more books and have started one at a pace unheard of before my ankle forced me to sit on the sofa rather more. I’ve remembered how much I like a good book and, even if my ankle recovers fully, I’m going to walk a bit less and read a lot more. That feels like a particularly attractive option as winter approaches, the days get shorter and the weather becomes less inviting.

*^{Batsford Arboretum, North Cotswolds}*

Of course, in between the routine walking over the last few weeks and before the ankle blow-up, there have been other highlights. On one sunny day recently, we went out to Batsford Arboretum in the North Cotswolds. Not surprisingly given the time of year and the weather, the arboretum was popular and some areas were quite crowded. Nonetheless, it is wonderful at this time of year. The mature trees were full of beautiful autumn shades and there were surprisingly big vistas across Oxfordshire and Wiltshire.

Batsford House can be seen from the arboretum but is not open to the public. However, within the grounds of the main house is a pleasant church, a museum of old gardening implements and a busy garden centre. We visited each only briefly and left for worthy, organic, vegetarian lunch at Abbey Home Farm on the way home.

*Batsford Arboretum Garden Implements Museum*

Batsford Church — *Batsford Arboretum Garden Implements Museum*

Two other memorable but more local events during the last few weeks have been a Diwali celebration in our local church and a local concert. The Diwali celebration was a second excuse in recent months to get dressed up in the Indian clothing we bought for a wedding of a friend in India almost a decade ago. It was a joyful event with people of all ages learning and performing Gujarati stick dancing, good music, drink and food, and a lot of local chatter. It is wonderful that we have people in such a small community prepared to organise such involving events.

The gig we went to was by This Is The Kit who we have seen before. They were supported by a band called Small Plant. They were perfect for a slightly out-there venue like the Goods Shed in a rather bohemian town like Stroud. Their first two songs were about propagating seedlings and making sourdough bread. They were unusual but we were pleased when they gave way to This is The Kit.

This Is The Kit Headlining At The Goods Shed, Stroud — *Small Plant At The Goods Shed, Stroud*

I really love This is The Kit’s music and, despite the lead guitar being occasionally a little over-dominant, they were, again, very good to watch and hear. Kate Stables, who leads the band, is a very personable and extremely talented musician. I was humming the tunes for days afterwards. Now I’m spending more time on the sofa, I can listen to them at home a little more too.

Edinburgh Cathedrals and Outskirts

February 14, 2025 / fgrtommo / Leave a comment

Before Jane broke her arm, we spent large parts of each day absorbing Edinburgh: the city and its sights. We walked to the shops, to the cinema, to the bars and cafes we frequented and even, somewhat aimlessly, to just take in the Georgian architecture of New Town or to discover slightly unfamiliar areas on its margins. We were priding ourselves on our step counts while taking in the ambiance of the city and seeing some new places.

For example, for the first time in all our past Edinburgh visits we went to both the cathedrals in the city. St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral is actually just at the end of the street with our Airbnb. It’s a relatively modern cathedral but it is in a gothic style. It is large, imposing and pleasantly airy, and set in grassy grounds.

St Giles’ Cathedral is far older and is set right in the heart of Edinburgh next to the Royal Mile. It has a lovely open spire and a pleasingly compact shape. Inside, the layout is unusual with a central altar. I liked the atmosphere, the scale of the place and the fact that it encouraged donations rather than imposed an entrance fee.

The Thistle Chapel that was bolted onto the side of the Cathedral in 1911, is a particularly interesting aspect of the building. The chapel was designed and built in the neo-gothic arts and crafts style for the Knights of the Thistle, an order of chivalry associated with Scotland which dates back to 1687. This order consists of sixteen members and a new member is only ‘invested’ when another dies. Each member is represented around the chapel with statues or, more recently, plate crests. I loved the cool, almost damp atmosphere in the chapel and some of the diverse stories of the past and current members.

*^{The Thistle Chapel, St Giles’ Cathedral}*

We also ventured outside of the City. We visited South Queensferry which Jane had seen described somewhere as the UK’s second prettiest town. It has a quaint high street and some interesting buildings and gardens nearby.

*^{South Queensferry Looking West From The Beach}*

However, I think the most remarkable thing about the town is the view across the Firth of Forth between the road and the rail bridge. The rail bridge was originally built in 1890 and I’m not surprised that it has been voted Scotland’s greatest man-made wonder; it is a terrific, dramatic structure.

*^{Road And Rail From South Queens Ferry; A Panorama}*

We spent a day in Border Country south of Edinburgh. The journey south through the Pentland Hills and past the Eildon Hills to Melrose was very attractive.

Melrose is a pretty town with a number of tourist attractions (mainly closed for the winter). The Abbey on the town outskirts looked great in the sunny weather. However, it was clear that it is undergoing significant renovation and repair so we didn’t venture into its grounds. Instead we simply strolled around the town for a while and then set off to see nearby Dryburgh Abbey.

I vaguely recall visiting Dryburgh Abbey when I was a teenager. It has changed a lot less than me since then but Historic Scotland have, I suspect, increased the information available around the site. This did illuminate what it must have been like to be a Premonstratensian monk in the 12^th century. Apart from the 2am nocturnal mass, the vow of silence and the bitter cold, it didn’t look like being such a bad life!

The abbey is now a lovely ruin surrounded by very mature trees and well-kept grassland leading down to the River Tweed. Sir Walter Scott is buried amongst the ruins. We were almost the only visitors at the time and the Abbey and its environs were peaceful and relaxing to walk around.

We drove on to Selkirk and then Peebles. We started on roads along the sparkling River Tweed but were diverted, due to bridge repairs, onto a hillside route. I was surprised at how wild the landscape is around Peebles and, given that we were in no rush, the diversion proved to be a welcome one.

We found a relatively fast electric car charger on the edge on Peebles town centre and walked into the town. We took on board cake and coffee at The Milkman and wandered up the high street of what was a spa town. It was all very relaxing and pleasant, and, all the while, reminding me of childhood holidays with my parents in the Tweed Valley.

We headed home chattering about our impending day of baby-sitting First Grandchild the next day, unaware, of course, that subsequent events would prevent that, or further big trips before we return home. At least we managed to see some Scottish countryside and we can comfort ourselves with the knowledge that it will be there still when we return in the future.

A Bath Trip and Interesting Fungi

February 16, 2024 / fgrtommo / Leave a comment

As part of our joint New Year Resolution to get out and about more when the sun is shining, Jane and I went to Bath earlier this month. We always enjoy visiting Bath, in part because the architecture reminds us of Edinburgh which we have also come to love, but also in its own right.

*^{One Of The Georgian Crescents Below Sion Hill, Bath}*

Jane always seems to find a treasured, discreet parking spot on Sion Hill. The walk from there to the centre of town takes us past takes us past Georgian terraces and crescents and through big open grassy slopes with broad vistas. It is an early treat on our visits, especially on a sunny day. Then in the city centre, there are the impressive squares and circuses of intact Georgian houses, the river and its bridges, and the Roman Baths and Cathedral, all clad in wonderful local stone.

A highlight of most of our Bath visits is the opportunity to pick up sourdough bread from Landrace bakery in Walcot Street. It is simply our favourite bread. This time we also visited The Fine Cheese Company a few doors along. The service from the French chap behind the counter was a little snooty (perhaps because we enquired about English cheese) but he was very efficient in giving us a taster of the smooth and luscious Old Winchester cheese which we went away with.

Jane had spotted that there was an exhibition of Gwen John’s work on at the The Holburne Museum and, for all the attractions of picking up top quality bread and cheese, seeing that was the prime purpose of our Bath trip. I was only vaguely familiar with Gwen John following a recent conversation with friends in our village who had seen an exhibition of her work in Chichester. They had recommended it and, anyway, I trust Jane on choosing worthwhile exhibitions like this one.

The exhibition proved to be small but interesting. Gwen John was clearly a formidable and influential woman. It seems that her popularity has grown since her death but in life she mixed with, modelled for and inspired a wide range of other artists and produced attractive and innovative paintings. I particularly liked the set of paintings on show called the ‘Convalescent Series’. These are portraits with muted colours with an unusual surface texture apparently produced by the oil paint soaking into a chalky glue mix which caused bubbles and then small perforations in the finish.

*^{‘Woman Seated’; Part Of ‘The Convalescent Series’ by Gwen John}*

When Jane and I met up outside the exhibition room afterwards we both said how much we had enjoyed John’s paintings but, amusingly, we both through that the best painting on show was one that was hung to illustrate her influence on other artists. This was an interior with a single female figure by a Dane, Vilhelm Hammershøi. We both thought it lovely.

^{‘Interior With Writing Table And A Young Woman’ by Vilhelm Hammershøi}

I recall seeing a Hammershøi painting in the Musee D’Orsay in Paris last year when I began to appreciate his work for the first time. I love his understated views of rooms, his grey palette and the ambiguity that stems from not being able to see the faces of the figures in his pictures – or the lack of a figure at all in the case of the painting I saw in Paris.

Alongside the Gwen John exhibition was a small exhibition of rather strange works by Gillian Lowndes. The point of these seemed to be to mix as many different materials as possible so they looked like weird debris dug up from a brownfield industrial site somewhere. The results weren’t uninteresting but I wasn’t moved by them.

*^{Two Of The Works By Gillian Lowndes On Show At The Holburne Museum}*

The Holburne Museum also had a display by Lubaina Himid called Lost Threads. This involved piles and streams of beautiful, brightly coloured Dutch textiles strewn across the floors of the museum rooms and woven between the pillars at the front of the building. Jane and I had been to see a substantial exhibition of her work at Tate Modern a couple of years ago. Like then, while we enjoyed the vibrant colours, we weren’t bowled over by works.

*^{The Holburne Museum Clad With Textiles By Lubiana Himid}*

Having got a dose of culture, we went for lunch at Oak. We had a very tasty lunch of vegetarian small plates. These arrived at a relaxed and, for us, ideal pace – always a pleasant surprise in small plates-oriented restaurants where, too often, things seem to arrive with a timing to suit the chef not the customers.

My life back at home has been largely routine. The weather hasn’t been very conducive to gardening and, while I have recommenced work in the field, there is still a lot to do to ready the vegetable patches for the new season and to plant some pot-bound trees I acquired a couple of years ago.

The weather hasn’t stopped some good local walks. Indeed, between the bouts of rain, we have had some lovely sunny days.

I’ve enjoyed the displays of snowdrops and the growing enthusiasm for the coming Spring being demonstrated by small birds singing their hearts out.

I have also spotted some interesting fungi which seem to be thriving in the mild damp. Just yesterday I saw a great pile of some sort of puff ball mushroom.

*^{Crazy Mound Of Puff Balls Looking Like A Pile of Discarded New Potatoes}*

A little earlier this week I saw, for my first time, a myriad of small bright red fungi growing on felled tree trunks and branches and dotted through a few square yards of undergrowth. These are Scarlet Elf Cap fungi. A friend tells me that it is from these little red cups that the wood elves drink the dew to refresh themselves each morning; nice story and a lovely sight.

While I have taken myself off for leisurely walks or lounged around rather too much, Jane has been very busy organising an exhibition of local artists work as part of the village’s cultural festival (called Horsley Unwrapped). Trying to tie down artists to various deadlines for facts about the work they want to display and any sale prices has been like ‘herding sheep’ at times, but the display boards have arrived and hanging of the work has started. After the exhibition this coming weekend, Jane is suddenly going to have a lot of discretionary time available!

*^{On My Way To Get The Newspaper: Winter Sunrise}*

My only contribution to the festival so far has been supporting Jane with some of the collateral materials for her exhibition. However, next week I am organising a Fun All-Comers Darts evening as part of the Festival. Goodness knows how that will go – I haven’t played darts for a few decades! I’ve bought some darts and am ready to go. More on this next time perhaps….

Football Footnote: Forest Green Rovers, who I support through thick and thin, have just had their first league win since October 2023 following a run of 15 winless league games. Incredibly there is a team worse than us in our Division (English Football League 2) and the win took us off the bottom. This one win has turned hopelessness into absurd levels of hope that we can avoid a consecutive relegation this season. But as someone on the FGR Fans Forum often says, ‘it’s the hope that kills you’. Hope will either burgeon or turn to dust again this coming weekend as we play again the team we beat last October. My fingers are crossed….

Darn It!

January 28, 2024January 28, 2024 / fgrtommo / 2 Comments

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}*

Some of the recent winter sunrises have been spectacular too.

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.

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.

Anniversary and Birthday in Edinburgh

November 28, 2023November 28, 2023 / fgrtommo / 1 Comment

Autumn is turning to winter but there is still some colour in the trees and the occasional sunny day provides a bit of autumnal sparkle. I continue to feel fortunate to live in a pretty (but not prettified) part of Gloucestershire and we enjoyed showing it off a bit while some friends stayed with us at the end of October. When the sun is low as it is now, the Cotswold stone of the houses glows beautifully and the crispening leaves on the trees glimmer in the breeze.

I am well behind on the bedding down of the garden and allotment for winter. I have made some progress but, when the weather has been nice, I’ve tended to take the opportunity to go for local walks. When the weather has been cold and wet, I’ve stayed close to the heating in our kitchen. I feel that, as I get older, I feel the cold more than I did.

Our First Grandchild (FG) doesn’t seem to feel the cold anywhere near so much! He is thriving up in Edinburgh. We visited Edinburgh recently to celebrate his second birthday and his parents’ first wedding anniversary. They have a lovely flat and, now there is a wood-burner in the lounge, a very cosy spot for the evenings. FG can now lark about before bedtime in his nightwear – or just his nappy – without me feeling chilly by proxy.

We stayed in Edinburgh for longer than usual but hopefully avoided overburdening the working parents by staying a couple of nights in a hotel rather than with them. FG seemed to enjoy having two more people to order about especially once his birthday brought more toys for us all to play with.

He also liked his usual trip with us to the Royal Botanic Garden, where we collected different colours and sizes of leaf. It’s a wonderful, free resource regardless of the time of year.

On the actual day of his birthday, we all joined him on an extended visit to the National Museum of Scotland where he joyfully rushed from exhibit to exhibit. It’s a great place for kids.

We had other lovely family outings in brilliant sunshine to Saughton Park, which had an interesting history and a goldfish pond which fascinated FG, and to Lauriston Castle gardens with its great views across the Firth of Forth. Much to Jane’s satisfaction, each visit involved a café stop. This is something that, when we are alone together, she finds hard to persuade me to indulge in. With FG, it’s another little opportunity to watch him develop.

*^{Lauriston Castle With The Firth Of Forth Beyond}*

It was convenient that we had our car, could get around easily with everyone, and that ES and his partner had some time off work so they could enjoy their anniversary and birthday fully.

Jane and I also went off on our own for perusal of Stockbridge’s shops (Jane) and walks by the Water of Leith (me). The Water of Leith was gushing more than usual following the recent storms which made the riverside walk somehow even more pleasurable than usual, especially as the sun was shining.

Views Along The Water Of Leith (Including An Anthony Gormley Statue Top Right)

We also managed to slide off for an hour in Spry, our favourite wine bar, and for a set of very tasty, innovative small lunch plates at Noto where Eldest Son (ES) and his partner had celebrated their anniversary a couple of nights before.

*^{My Walk Along The Water Of Leith Led Me To Murrayfield}*

While FG and his parents went off to a birthday party of one of FG’s contemporaries in south Edinburgh, Jane and I took advantage of more sunny weather to climb Blackford Hill. This afforded great views north of Arthur’s Seat and the city and I had a bit of an internal psychic glow knowing that this was where ES had proposed marriage.

^{Views North From Blackford Hill}

In between the anniversary and birthday festivities, and as the weather deteriorated, Jane and I visited the newly opened half of the National Gallery of Scotland. This great new space doubles the size of the gallery and has some excellent works including many by the Glasgow Boys and the less renowned Glasgow Girls.

*^{The New Galleries At The Scottish National Gallery}*

In a slight overdoing of cultural experience for one day, we also visited Dovecot Studios to see an exhibition called ‘Scottish Women Artists: Challenging 250 Years of Perception’. This too had art by the Glasgow Girls. I thought the exhibition was a bit uneven but particularly liked the works by Joan Eardley and a few others.

*^{Dovecote Studios: Scottish Women Artists (Including Joan Eardley And Alberta Whittle – bottom right and left respectively)}*

While we were in Edinburgh, ES’s partner cooked us lovely meals and we had great toast-laden breakfasts (Archipelago Bakery sells outstanding bread) plus a couple of substantial delivery meals from local food outlets. Fortunately, this visit, we met ES’s partner’s parents again and we all tucked into an Indian spread while sharing FG-stories.

FG’s birthday cake was a delightful mum-made ‘hedgehog cake’ with chocolate buttons for spines (he loved the candle blowing out process and the chocolate). Later, his birthday dinner was a shared set of delivered pizzas. Meals delivered to the door are rare treats for me; we don’t have them at home since the choice is limited and the distances feel too great. I put on weight in Edinburgh but it was well worth it.

It’s a long way to Edinburgh and back in our car (though we again had no real problems with charging it up as we travelled). But we love Edinburgh. Jane and I know that had ES not met someone from there who wanted to settle in the city, we would not have had such an opportunity to get to know Edinburgh so well. There is so much more to see there and we look forward to another trip for ES and his partners’ birthdays early next year.

Last Day In Ghent

October 25, 2023 / fgrtommo / 1 Comment

On the morning of our second and last full day in Ghent, Jane and I set off north again to the Museum of Industry. The sun was already shining again, the temperature was pleasant and we seemed to be finding, together, a good pace and combination of visiting the sights of Ghent and of casually taking in its atmosphere.

Gent is a significant industrial centre and, it seems, has been so for centuries. The museum focused on Ghent’s history in textiles and printing.

*^{Museum of Industry, Ghent: An Original ‘Mule Jenny’ Brought to Belgium Illegally From The UK To Spawn The Textile Industry In Ghent}*

There were working machines and technical descriptions but what was even more interesting were the accounts of peoples lives as the city’s industry developed. These were presented among relevant artifacts through short videos that I found very informative. This was an excellent museum.

*^{Museum of Industry, Ghent Including Some Very Large Looms And A Lot Of Old But Operational Printing Equipment}*

Following a quick stop for a revitalising coffee and off-the-beaten-track people watching at Peaberry, we used our trusty ‘CityCard’ to embark on a guided boat ride around some of Ghent’s waterways. The sun helped make this a very pleasant and novel excursion. The boat also took Jane towards another linen store that had been recommended at the Museum of Industry.

While she sought out the linen she wanted and then sat in another bar, I went off to visit the Bijloke campus.

*^{Bijloke Campus: A Mix Of Old And New}*

This campus is a monastery and hospital founded in the 13th century that is now a collection of buildings of various vintages that include the Ghent City Museum and a concert hall. I spent longer in the City Museum than I had planned – I found it very interesting and its contents dovetailed nicely into what I had learnt in the Museum of Industry earlier in the day.

^{Inside Ghent City Museum: The Monastery Refectory and Cloister}

By the time I got back to Jane, I was ready for a beer and planning for the evening. Guess what? More beer and another burger!

This time we ate at the Artevelde brewery and I cleared another item off my Belgian bucket list: drinking a sample tray of beers. All of the beers was good and the accompanying burger, almost overwhelmed by chips, was one of the best we had while in Belgium.

We had a final beer in the rather luxurious bar in our hotel. This time we got free beer and snacks courtesy of the fact that we had eschewed a laundry change during our stay – apparently a small encouragement to eco-practices pursued by hotel management. That was a nice bonus to round off our stay.

On our final morning, Jane did a bit more shopping while I took a farewell look at Ghent from the top of the Ghent Belfry (Belfort). Once again, the presentation of information – once I had found the way in – was very good. I was glad that I went early in the day though, since the stairwell was not built for crowds!

Our journey back to Brussels and then London and then home was uneventful. There was plenty of time to contemplate a very good city-break holiday and how, after all these years of going on holiday together, Jane and I have both compromised to find, I think, a good balance between sight-seeing and chilling out in cafes and bars. We must plan another.

More Sun in Ghent

October 20, 2023 / fgrtommo / Leave a comment

Following our day in Bruges, we had two full days in Ghent. As in Bruges, we spent quite a bit of time just walking the streets. However, there were churches, museums and galleries we wanted to see and, to facilitate that, we bought a pair of Ghent ‘CityCards’. Despite the significant up-front cost, these proved good value and reduced the hassle around ticket buying and queuing. Also, they encouraged us to venture into a couple of places that we might not have bothered with if an entrance fee had been required.

*^{Ghent Waterways: (Quite) Early Morning}*

First though, we had to fortify ourselves with breakfast. On our way to Bruges the previous day we had passed a café, STEK, that had looked promising and we made the first of what turned out to be two visits there. The breakfast was excellent – rivalling the brunch we had had the previous day in Bruges – and again I was sold on the inclusion of peanut butter in my banana crumble. I have been adding nut butter to my breakfasts at home ever since.

^{Lovely Belgian Breakfasts: Blackbird (Bruges) vs STEK (Ghent)}

Our first gallery visit in Ghent was to the Municipal Museum of Contemporary Art Ghent (S.M.A.K.) to the south of the city. This was only established in 1999 and, frankly, the collection betrayed that. The gallery has some big rooms – all white as is usual for galleries of this type – but there wasn’t a huge amount on show. I enjoyed the peace and quite of the place but we didn’t stay long.

We strolled over the road to the Museum of Fine Arts Ghent (MSK). This holds a vastly more comprehensive collection than S.M.A.K. It’s collection represented art across several centuries, a solid coverage of Belgian art and a diverse set of artists from Hieronymus Bosch (who I always find interesting) to Rubens, Rodin and Magritte.

*^{St Bavos Cathedral – A Painting By Belgian, Pierre Francois de Noter at MSK}*

I was initially impressed by the incredibly well-preserved colours in the medieval religious works, then flagged a bit through the portrait rooms, before reviving as I moved into the galleries of more modern art. The gallery has been renovated recently and it was very comfortable, quiet and well laid out according to chronology but also thematically.

*^{A More Modern Belgian Painting – ‘Skeleton Looking At Chinoiseries’ By James Ensor}*

Having had our culture infusion for the day, Jane and I strolled back in increasing sunshine towards the centre. We popped into Saint Peter’s Abbey but were confused by the lack of things to see and took what turned out to be a wrong turn into the attractive, but unremarkable, adjacent gardens and vineyards. It turned out that these were open to the general public and we were now locked out of the Abbey. It was not the only time during our stay in Belgium that a combination of our lack of language skills and dubious signage confused our sight-seeing.

We found our way back to the Abbey entrance but since there was no exhibition on, we moved swiftly next door to Our Lady of St Peter’s Church. This was part of the original abbey complex which was one of the earliest settlements that ultimately became Ghent. It dates back to the 12th century and was rebuilt in a Baroque style in the 17th century. It was impressive inside and out.

*^{Inside Our Lady Of St Peter’s Church}*

The sun was well out by now and we continued a relaxed walk along the Ghent waterways, past the new and radically modern-looking library to St Bavo’s Cathedral.

As expected, the Cathedral was crowded with tourists most of whom were seeking a view of the famous Ghent Altarpiece which was completed in 1432 by the Van Eyck brothers.

The altarpiece has survived clandestine sales of some of its parts, thievery, war and religious uprisings. It has been restored in recent years – indeed, we saw part of this process during our visit to the Fine Arts Museum. It is now largely back in St Bavos and is a huge tourist attraction, including a virtual reality tour (which I opted out of).

^{Inside St Bavos (With The Ghent Altarpiece To The Right)}

While Jane sought out places to buy Belgian linen, I visited St Michael’s Church and St Nicholas’ Church. In the latter, there was an ongoing service so I didn’t loiter.

^{Our Hotel (1898 The Post) And St Nicholas Church From St Michael’s Bridge, Ghent (From a Similar Angle to The Painting By de Noter Above)}

St Michael’s Church was rather lovely – probably my favourite of the churches in Ghent that I saw. It is another very old church; it was started in 1440 but its tower was only completed in 1825. Its internal brickwork was beautiful in the dappled sunshine coming into the nave past nearby trees and, although ornate in parts, it felt slightly less polished and more homely than some of the other churches we had seen.

*^{Inside St Michael’s Church; Empty, Airy And Beautifully Sunlit}*

Whoa! It had been a very full, long morning. By now we were ready for something other than churches and galleries. Food and Belgian beer beckoned.

I spotted that the brewery for the beer I had drunk on our first night in Ghent, DOK, was open for food as well as drinks. It was at the northern end of the waterways surrounding the centre of the city and we set off in what was by now warm, continuous sun. As we approached the brewery, we passed Bar Broei, a rough and ready looking bar that nonetheless sold good, homemade snacks and excellent beer. We chilled out there very comfortably and with a very personable barman for a couple of hours.

*^{Bar Broei – Rough And Ready But Just What We Needed After A Long Morning Sight-seeing}*

We resumed our walk to Dok Brewery and discovered that it was in an industrial area surrounded by a variety of street food outlets busy with, it seemed, mainly local residents. This was perfect for us and we tucked into more beer and, of course, a beef burger.

*^{Dok Brewery: Vibrant Eating And Drinking Establishments}*

Such meat eating was becoming the norm. So were the early nights back at the hotel, first in the bar and then our room. We still had another day in Ghent to go.

Sunny Belgium

October 17, 2023 / fgrtommo / Leave a comment

Jane and I spent a few days in Belgium. We had visited Antwerp several years ago and had been surprised at how much there had been to see and how interesting the city was. We wanted to see a couple of different Belgian cities this time and to travel by train. We booked the Eurostar to Brussels with an included ticket on to Ghent with the intention of also visiting Bruges. Jane booked an impressive, centrally located hotel in a building with an interesting history; we were all set.

*^{Ghent Post Office (Designed 1898) Now Shops And Our Hotel For A Few Days}*

The UK train workers dispute disrupted our journey to London and we decided to drive to Jane’s sister in Teddington, and impose on her our need for a lift to the Tube. Fortunately, the Eurostar was on time, comfortable and smooth. The onward journey to Ghent in a double level carriage was especially comfortable as we accidentally sat in the first-class upper deck and had great views of the Belgian countryside. Taxis seemed absent at the station but the tram into the centre of town was easy to navigate and a bit of a novelty.

*^{‘1898 The Post‘ – A Moody Looking Hotel}*

We settled into our hotel room and then relaxed into Ghent’s late afternoon sunshine with a stroll around the northern bend of the River Leie and past the Castle of the Counts. We ended up at a sunny, packed bar overlooking the river and indulged in our first taste of local Belgian beer.

*^{‘Gravensteen’ – Castle Of The Counts, Ghent}*

We also had our first taste of Belgian beef – I confess that I ate more beef in our three days in Belgium than I think I have in the last three years. When in Belgium…..

We made our way back to the hotel for an early night (very early given the UK-Belgium time difference) and resolved to make an early start for Bruges the following morning.

*^{View From Outside Our Hotel Including St Michiels Kerk}*

The rail journey to Bruges was again easy and comfortable. Once in the city, we just walked around in lovely October sunshine for a while, just taking in the gorgeous juxtaposition of medieval architecture and the river and canal network. Of course, there were hordes of tourists many of which were participating in large guided tours led by guides with little flag poles; not my cup of tea!

*^{Me And Other Tourists Capturing The Sights In The Centre Of Bruges}*

We shuffled out of the main flows of these tours into peaceful side streets and quiet corners. Wherever we looked we saw pretty bridges, attractive buildings with the traditional stepped parapet walls, and an overall sense of cleanliness and history.

*^{Starting To Get Away From The Bruges Crowd}*

We walked north to a vegan café, Blackbird, that Jane had discovered online, for a well-earned brunch. We had what turned out to be my favourite breakfast or our brief Belgian holiday; an acai bowl laden with fruit, yogurt and peanut butter accompanied by a wonderful cup of coffee. I’m a nut butter convert now!

*^{The ‘Blackbird’ Cafe In Typical Bruges Buildings}*

We continued to wander along the canal paths past stunning buildings and back to the city centre. On our way we popped into the Bourgogne des Flandres Brewery for a local brew, a quick rest and a view of boats going up and down the waterways. Then we pressed on to visit the 800-year old Belfort (Belfry) to learn more about the city and get a elevated panorama.

The belfry dominates the main square of the city and required a 366-stair climb to get to its top. On the way up is a Treasury with its artifacts and a lot of information about the city and, especially, the way the bells in the tower were used to signal peace or danger.

Near the top we could enter a floor where the belfry carillon with its 47 bells sits. It was installed in 1748 and has been repeatedly extended and restored. It is like a huge musical box with a large cylinder with pins that cause the bells to ring in a particular sequence that can also be set by a keyboard. We were able to see it working although the chiming of the bells is best heard from outside.

At the very top floor of the belfry, the views were predictably spectacular.

We resumed our wander through Bruges’s streets while skirting the densest crowds and made our way to Saint Saviour’s Cathedral, also known as Sint-Salvatorskathedraal. This is a beautiful, airy space with a huge nave, impressive tapestries and remarkably vibrant stained glass.

^{Saint Saviour’s Cathedral, Bruges}

As with several of the historic buildings we visited whilst in Belgium, there was a Treasury. This one had several lovely pieces on show.

*^{The Saint Saviour’s Cathedral Treasury}*

By now we were beginning to think again about beer and food. We walked back towards the north end of the city centre and found a delightful waterside bar (it was hard to know if the waterways were river or canal but here the water was flowing and not at all smelly). The sky was cloudless and the temperature, view and atmosphere was so perfect that we settled down for a lengthy session of beer and more beef – a very nice steak and chips this time.

Replete, we decided we had had a lovely but sufficient Bruges experience. Our phone batteries were low – I’d forgotten to bring my remote charger and Google Maps is such a battery suck. Jane had to start asking passers-by for directions (I would rather use the position of the sun than ask anyone the way!) Finally, a circuitous route took us back to the station, the return journey to Ghent and another early night in our hotel there to prepare us for a couple of days of Ghent sight-seeing.

My Retirement Journey

I've Retired! What Next?

Walking