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!

A Different Way In Edinburgh

February 7, 2025 / fgrtommo / 3 Comments

We are booked for a month into a very comfortable, nicely warm and well-furnished Airbnb in central Edinburgh that has a view of the Castle. Our idea has been to try a model for visiting Edinburgh that is different from our usual 3-4 night stays with Eldest Son, wife and First Grandchild. In part it is just an extended holiday, but in part a test as to how we might find living more permanently in this wonderful city.

*^{Sunrise Over Edinburgh Castle From Our Airbnb}*

The first two weeks have been extremely successful – until a bit of a disaster yesterday; more on that later.

We have already visited lots of Edinburgh sights – the museums, cathedrals, galleries and exhibitions – got into the hinterlands of Edinburgh and, of course, done a bit of grandchild entertainment. Were lucky enough to have a double dose of grandchildren when Middle Son, his fiancée and Second Grandchild visited us on our second weekend. That visit, plus the nature of the intermittent contact with First Grandchild over a longer period than usual, has created a bit of a feel of living here rather than just holidaying here.

*^{Edinburgh From The Top Of The National Museum of Scotland}*

No doubt that feeling would have been further enhanced by Youngest Son and his wife being able to join us as planned on our first weekend in Edinburgh. Unfortunately, Storm Eowyn put paid to that. Their flight was cancelled and Edinburgh was all but shut down during the worst if the storm. Even at the end of the storm, the gusts of wind were strong enough to knock me off my feet!

Because of, first, Storm Eowyn, and then a visit from Middle Son and family, we have tended to eat in rather than out. However, we have sampled a couple of our favourite bars and a few cafés, and we love the local pub (Teuchters). Anyway, there are two more weeks for trying some more recommended restaurants.

*^{Another View of Edinburgh Castle From Flodden Wall}*

Cooking in a holiday home is not new to us but doing so most evenings over a few weeks is another way of generating a feeling of being ‘home from home’ rather than just being on holiday. Next week, we are even entertaining Eldest Son’s parents in law. That will be a further novelty but a nice reflection of how things might be if we moved to Edinburgh more permanently.

During our days here, we have been very active. We have, of course, sampled the normal delights of the Royal Botanic Garden the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, the Modern Art Gallery of Scotland the Scottish National Gallery and the National Museum of Scotland. Edinburgh is a capital and has public buildings, exhibitions and collections to match that status. There were new exhibitions in all of the galleries and all were a pleasure to visit – although it was sad to see the Storm Eowyn damage in the Botanic Gardens.

*^{Storm Damage – One Of The Largest Cedars In The Royal Botanic Gardens Has Gone}*

The Scottish National Gallery is celebrating 40 years of its photography collection and curation. Photography is not my favourite art form but it was good to see some pictures by some famous photographers (such as Robert Mapplethorpe, Annie Liebovitz, and Lee Miller) among the often gritty, local Scottish fare.

*^{40 Year Celebration Of Scottish Photography Collection – Including The Iconic Lennon/Ono Photo}*

The Modern Art Gallery continues to show the substantial Everlyn Nicodemus exhibition which I saw on our last Edinburgh visit. I sped through that but perhaps somehow enjoyed it a little more on a second viewing; plus, there are several other works in the gallery’s permanent collection I had not focused on before.

^{‘After the Birth’ By Everlyn Nicodemus}

The Scottish National Gallery had a sequel to an exhibition of JMW Turner watercolours that I had seen in the gallery two years previously. That had shown the section of the Henry Vaughan collection of Turner watercolours that had been bequeathed to Scotland. This new exhibition was of the selection of watercolours bequeathed to Northern Ireland that again, as part of conditions of the donation, can only be shown to the public in January.

*^{Turner Watercolours at the National Gallery of Scotland}*

There were no surprises in the collection of blurry seascapes, sunrises, sunsets and mountain valleys shrouded in mist. But I like Turner’s style and enjoyed the viewing despite the long queues to get in.

Also at the National Gallery was a small exhibition of art inspired by the landscape of the Orkneys, called ‘In Orcadia’ and including large, interestingly constructed paintings by Samantha Clark.

That was good but even better, I thought, was the large exhibition of paintings by the Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolour. There were hundreds of paintings on show and of course, not all hit the spot for me. But overall, I thought the quality was very high and I could imagine several on my living room wall.

^{The Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolour Annual Exhibition}

We also went to diverse art exhibitions at Dovecote Studios and the City Art Centre. At Dovecote we saw textiles and paintings by Ptolemy Mann. The designs were colourful and bold but Jane was a little disappointed that the majority of the textiles were manufactured in India not Scotland.

*^{Dovecote Studios And Ptolemy Mann Artwork}*

At the City Art Centre were two exhibitions of modern Scottish art and of pop art; I liked the pots by Lara Scobie at the former and the typically irreverent set of cartoonish watercolours by the seemingly slightly unhinged, David Shrigley.

^{Works By Lara Scobie and David Shrigley At The City Art Centre, Edinburgh}

We made a couple of trips to the National Museum of Scotland. The first to see some of the displays that we don’t get much of a chance to see when accompanied by First Grandchild. The second was with him; his increasingly calm inquisitiveness was a joy to participate in.

One concept we discussed, as we passed some of the dinosaur and wild animal exhibits, was that of skeletons. Subsequent conversations indicate that he understood how creatures often have skeletons and that you can’t see until after they are dead. It’s fascinating to watch children learn.

*^{Everything From Dinosaurs To Hi-Tech On Show At The National Museum of Scotland}*

And now we come to the misfortune of yesterday….. Apart from Storm Eowyn, the weather during our stay has been largely dry and sunny. However, it has also been cold and yesterday morning my wife, Jane, slipped on some ice and, it turned out, broke her shoulder. The pictures of x-rays that we came away from the hospital with have helped First Grandchild understand the importance of bones but there is no other upside to the accident.

We’ll cope and enjoy the rest of our stay in Edinburgh but plans regarding how are changing……

Heading Into 2025

January 13, 2025 / fgrtommo / Leave a comment

My memories of Christmas are beginning to dissolve into a blur of having felt very good about the convivial familial get together. It was great to have our close family in our house – the only exception being Youngest Son’s wife who had to dog-sit in Belfast. It was, once again, amusing and interesting to see the two grandchildren in close proximity and to compare and contrast their current, very different characters. Jane ran the kitchen with help from all and we ate and drank well. But now we head into 2025 with the promise of new challenges and entertainments.

The cold snap has brough some frosty and icy conditions underfoot but some beautiful clear air and skies. My physiotherapist has advised me to continue walking despite my uncomfortable knee and so I have limped around to keep it mobile. I think that continued walking, and the daily exercises I’ve been given, are helping my knee although they have also strained other parts of my hips and legs so health sometimes feels like a running battle.

I’ve been thinking about New Year resolutions as I always do at this time of year (but, usually, not so much thereafter). I will maintain my ongoing targets for drink free days, limiting alcohol unit intake, weight and walking steps. However, I also want to be more proactive generally about the various health niggles that I suppose are inevitable at this time of life.

*^{More Cold Walking On The Way To Town}*

I’m also keen to do better on a resolution I made this time last year: to be more creative and do more creative things. I made some progress early last year with visible sock darning, devising and running a darts competition in the local pub, and creating a few treasure hunts for First Grandchild. But my creativity petered out and, for example, the Kintsugi kit remains untouched and making sourdough bread is on hold. I must do better.

I also need to read more books and not just newspapers and magazines given that I enjoy fiction so much. I have resolved to read more during the day since, currently, I never manage more than a few pages each night in bed just before nodding off. Currently a 500-page book takes me almost 6 months to get through even when it’s a good read (as I think Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver is).

My ability to find that daytime reading space is related to a resolution to nap less after lunch. I love our very comfortable sofa adjacent to the kitchen with its view out into the garden and nearby copse so I just have to avoid sitting on it after lunch!

Our local Talk Club for men sharing how they feel and what they are going to do about improving their mental health, has restarted after a 6-month hiatus. At the first meeting of the year, held in a new location above the village pub, I realised once again that my only real anxieties at the moment are rooted in health – which I need to take a bit more control of where I can – and world events. So, another resolution is to reduce use of social media (I have already left the increasingly toxic ‘X’) and continue last year’s resolution and listen to the news on the radio even less. I’m not sure if that will help but Talk Club is a good mechanism to ensure that I think about how world news affects my well-being and if increased abstention from hearing about it makes any difference.

The year has, apart from the ongoing health irritants, started well. Following the family-oriented period over Christmas, I have resumed visits to the village pub and contacts with friends and acquaintances in the village. It is clear from talking to them that I, and Jane, have been fortunate to avoid flu so far this winter.

*^{Promising Sunrise Viewed From Our House}*

Also, Jane has gone off for a week-long sewing retreat at Merchant & Mills, her favourite sewing pattern manufacturer and textile sales room in Rye. That has been a nice change for us both; she has enjoyed the retreat and learnt some new sewing skills while I have fended for myself successfully and have got to watch some streamed series in the television that Jane has no interest in (Series 3 of Industry on BBC iPlayer is, again, remarkable).

Next, we have an innovative trip to Edinburgh – innovative in the sense that it is a month-long stay rather than just a long weekend. We are both excited about how it will feel to be on holiday for so long (with the logistics helped a little by the likelihood of a bit of house sitting by some family members while we are away). We are looking forward to seeing the Edinburgh branch of the family in a different context and over a longer period than usual and to getting to know Edinburgh even better. The icing on the mid-winter break cake is that we are accommodating the Bristol and Belfast branches of the family on a couple of weekends while we are there. It’s a stimulating start to 2025.

Slivers of Summer

June 17, 2024 / fgrtommo / 1 Comment

Overall, the weather during the last few weeks has been rather disappointing. The meadow grass in our field that usually waves gently in sunlight at this time of year has, instead, collapsed in the windy wet. The cool and damp spring and early summer has meant growth of vegetable seedlings has been slow. Many have been eradicated by slugs and snails who have revelled in the damp conditions. Fortunately, there have been several lovely days of sun and some of those have been when it has mattered most.

*^{Roses In Rain: Along The Permissive Footpath Through Ruskin Mill Into Town}*

For example, we had a lovely sunny afternoon during which we were able to visit Second Grandchild (SG) in Bristol and to help his parents with their garden. We got a lot done – though there is more potential to fill the vegetable and flower beds with a bit of home produce and colour and we look forward to helping again there. Having said that, the highlight of this trip was having the chance to give SG a bath. He has discovered the joy of moving his little limbs and they didn’t stop threshing throughout his little wash.

We also had a relatively warm and dry evening for a wedding party in Kew in west London with some past neighbours of ours. It was a lovely celebration of their wedding – some 14 years after first meeting – held in their garden with opportunities to meet a number of other old friends from our time in Kew. The drinking started early and finished very late and I can’t remember when I last had such a bad hangover as a souvenir of an entertaining evening.

I have had to pick and choose my moments for local walks in the sunshine. On one of those sunny days, Jane and I went to a couple of National Garden Scheme open gardens a couple of valleys away from our home. One of these was very good; the other, not so much. But regardless of the quality, it is always interesting to see a slightly different part of the Stroud Valleys and to have a nose about in someone else’s back yard.

^{National Gardens Scheme Gardens In France Lynch, Gloucestershire}

Most importantly, despite the gloomy BBC weather forecast for the weekend, we had good, chilly but bright weather for our latest trip to Edinburgh to see First Grandchild (FG) and his parents. As usual, we were treated to great hospitality, FG was on fine form and Edinburgh was full of interesting things to do.

*^{Little Boy, Big Gunnera In The Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh}*

In between our compliance with FG’s constant demands to ‘play a little bit’ we visited a few art exhibitions, took FG as usual to the outstanding Royal Botanic Gardens and National Museum of Scotland, walked the streets of Stockbridge and along the Water of Leith, popped into our favourite bar (Spry) and had a lively evening out with FG eating pizza at MILK.

Beyond the wonderful entrance hall of the National Portrait Gallery of Scotland was a recent rehanging of the main hall of portraits that focused on modern portrait creation. Many of the paintings and photographs were new to me and several were impressive. The gallery is quiet, compact and one of my favourites.

*^{Portrait Of John Burnside (Scottish Poet) By Alan J Lawson, National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh}*

We also visited the National Gallery of Scotland. Walking to it across Princes Street gave us a great view of the hordes of ‘’Swifties’ heading off by bus and tram to Murrayfield for one of three concerts Taylor Swift was holding over the weekend. The sun was shining but there was a cool wind. I felt sympathy for the majority of fans who had diligently dressed up in extravagant boots and light sparkly skirts and tops – as Swifties apparently do – given the expectation of a big drop in temperature while they queued to get back into town after the concert and night drew in.

*^{The Current Royal Scottish Academy Annual Exhibition At The National Gallery Of Scotland}*

In the gallery was a showpiece ‘national treasure’: a painting by Vermeer that had been put on special show to commemorate the 200^th year of the National Gallery. It is lovely of course but we spent most of our time in the new gallery extension and among the pictures by The Glasgow Boys (and Girls). The new gallery is a wonderful, light space with great views (see below) and, on a Friday, not crowded despite the multitude outside waiting to get to see Taylor Swift.

To complete our cultural ride, we visited a lovely little exhibition in Leith. This was in an old, small but elegant building – an ex-pharmacy apparently – owned by Mote102 as a charming pop-up space for shops and artists. It had been partially restored so that some of its original (Georgian or Victorian) features were visible and it was a good fit for the work on show.

*^{Works By Gail Turpin At Mote102, Leith}*

The artist on show – and present for a short talk – is an old acquaintance of Jane’s called Gail Turpin. Jane had found out that she was now based in Edinburgh from the bride at the wedding celebration we had attended a couple of weeks previously. All three, and a few other friends, went on an eventful holiday in Greece a few decades ago.

After Jane had reminisced with Gail about that, I perused the textiles and drawing on show and then left Jane to the talk while I found a small present for FG and parked myself in Spry Wine Bar.

*^{Another Part of Gail Turpin’s Exhibition, Leith}*

We travelled to and from Edinburgh by train this time. That had its benefits; the journey was an hour shorter despite a train cancellation and we had booked seats so it was a relaxed journey. Train cancellations are not so frustrating when one is retired and there aren’t meetings to get to ad hard deadlines to meet. Also, while in Edinburgh, Jane didn’t have to keep thinking about moving the car to avoid parking restrictions (I rarely get involved in this aspect), we avoided car parking costs and didn’t have to worry about charging the car up.

*^{Waverley Railway Station, Edinburgh}*

However, despite the avoidance of car parking costs, the train is a more expensive option. Also, it seems that, on this occasion, there was a hidden downside in that the packed train was carrying the coronavirus. Jane caught it and has had a few rough days as a result. Fortunately, for the second time when Jane has had Covid, I seem to have dodged the bullet. Lucky me not (so far) to have never caught the dreaded Covid when so many others have!

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.

Three Property Purchases and a Funeral

December 19, 2022 / fgrtommo / 1 Comment

Last month we went to a funeral for a very popular, lovely, family man almost 10 years younger than me. He had died suddenly leaving his family and friends shocked and bereft. It was an absolutely packed and emotional church service – he was a terrific guy who was enormously popular – followed by an equally packed reception. The whole occasion was very moving and I have thought about it a lot since.

Of course, the overriding feeling during the service and afterwards was sadness that it represented a life cut short, especially as he was so full of life, he had looked so well and was so obviously a vital part of his family, the organisation he worked for and his local community. However, the speeches and readings at the funeral were largely an uplifting celebration of his life. There were many amusing anecdotes and also a lovely poem by David Harkins that provided a positive slant on death that gave a little boost even in such a sad situation.

You can shed tears that he is gone
Or you can smile because he has lived

You can close your eyes and pray that he will come back
Or you can open your eyes and see all that he has left

Your heart can be empty because you can’t see him
Or you can be full of the love that you shared

You can turn your back on tomorrow and live yesterday
Or you can be happy for tomorrow because of yesterday

You can remember him and only that he is gone
Or you can cherish his memory and let it live on

You can cry and close your mind, be empty and turn your back
Or you can do what he would want: smile, open your eyes, love and go on.

Into this mix of shock, sadness and a celebration of a life well lived, was a feeling of being the recipient of good fortune in that I am still here and reasonably healthy. I have seen three sons settle with three delightful partners and seen Eldest Son produce a wonderful child with his wife. And, this year, I’ve seen all three sons purchase homes with their partners that are each very different but which seem very well suited to each pair; a flat in Edinburgh, a terrace house in Bristol and a semi-detached house in Belfast.

Old age may bring aches, pains and worse but it is a privilege to have had longevity to be able to see our sons grow and establish themselves in the world, to be happy and to establish a platform into which they could introduce new life. As I stood in the crowded church at the funeral, I thought: lucky me.

*^{Late Afternoon Walk With Middle Son And His Partner Near Their New Home In Bristol}*

Even as Christmas approaches and we look forward to hosting our sons and their partners at various times over the Christmas period, Long-Suffering Wife (LSW) and I are starting to think about making the most of our time with a few trips next year. First, we want to get to Belfast to see Youngest Son’s new house but we will be trying to visit Edinburgh too and, I hope, spending smaller but more numerous fragments of time in nearby Bristol. Plus, after a few years of abstinence, we want to travel abroad again.

Meanwhile, I continue to potter through my local routine of walking, shopping, cooking, and working a bit for the local Climate Action Network and Food Bank. In recent cold, clear weather, the local walks have been a real treat.

Plus, of course, I have been watching a lot of football at the World Cup. Qatar may have been a crazy choice for a number of reasons but the overall quality of the football has been great. For all the concern about the Qatari views on LGBTQ rights and workers rights, it has been a pleasant change to see the joyous, ebullient crowds in the stadia in contrast to the thuggery and tears at Wembley at the Euros a couple of years ago.

My normal routine was also interrupted but enhanced by a trip to Lewes in Sussex. I tagged along with LSW who wanted to visit a specific shop called Freight there. It was a long way to travel for a shop but it was very much LSWs thing and Lewes is a very attractive town.

*^{Harvey’s Brewery And St Michael’s Church, Lewes}*

Harvey’s brewery is based in the town and the smell of hops was delightful as we walked down the high street. It is a smell that reminds me of my home town of Reading which was the home of Courage breweries in my youth. I love it.

After a very good value and pleasant lunch at Bill’s, LSW and I split up for a bit. While LSW surveyed the shops, I wandered around the town’s castle and gardens. The gardens are a bit bleak at this time of year but the weather was fine and the views from the visitor-friendly castle were pretty impressive in all directions.

*^{Views Of And Views From Lewes Castle}*

Since getting back home, the weather has been very cold and then surprisingly snowy. We had about seven inches of snow and it stuck around for almost a week. My Yaktrax Ice Grips allowed me to continue my normal round of walks to and from the local towns and the frost and snow made the local countryside en route even prettier than usual. A week of such weather is, though, enough in my book; I am looking forward to temperatures rising a little bit before Christmas.

*^{Frosty Weather In Nearby Ruskin Mill Valley}*

And so on to Christmas! Hopefully our sons and their partners will be able to avoid the issues caused by strikes and weather to make it down to us from their various new abodes. Then we can feel so lucky all over again…..

*^{A Cold And Not-So-Lucky Grey Heron In Ruskin Mill Valley}*

Dunkeld: Dreich But Alluring

November 30, 2022 / fgrtommo / Leave a comment

After celebrating First Grandchild’s (FG’s) first birthday in Edinburgh, we headed north to Dunkeld, ‘The Gateway to the Highlands’, on the southern edge of the Scottish Highlands and on the River Tay.

*^{The Tay at Dunkeld (From The Bridge)}*

We arrived in time to take stock of the village and to stroll past the partly ruined Dunkeld Cathedral (now serving as a Parish Church) to a riverside walk along the Tay.

We learnt a little of the history of the village – it was almost completely destroyed in 1689 during and after the battle of Dunkeld between the forces of William of Orange and the Jacobites supporting James VII of Scotland (who lost this one) – and started to plan the following full day in it.

*^{Old Entrance To Dunkeld House (Which Was Where The Grass Behind Now Is)}*

As twilight drew in, we retreated to the bar of The Taybank hotel where we were staying. Our room was tasteful and very comfortable but notably low-tech (no TV). The bar wasn’t as cosy as it looked but dinner in the restaurant was outstanding. We retired to bed very satisfied with the previous few days of wedding and birthday celebrations and the comfort of our new surroundings.

Tastefulness At The Taybank Hotel

All that rather fell apart next morning. LSW was ill having clearly picked up whatever bug had been bothering FG the previous weekend. With the rain tipping down outside I stayed in the room offering a few words of sympathy – probably not enough – and devouring both of our breakfasts that had been delivered to our door. Those breakfasts were, like the dinner the previous evening, excellent.

With no sign of LSW’s recovery, I set about finding a local electric car charging point and getting us up to full battery capacity again. The only charger in the village was in use with no sign of the driver. While waiting, I sloshed through the rain down to the Tay. I must have looked a sad sight with my umbrella substituting for a lack of properly waterproof clothing and I’m sure the few locals I met giggled under their breath about daft English tourists. However, I was strangely content in what felt like a truly Scottish landscape in dripping, autumnal Scottish weather. I then read my newspaper in its entirety in our drenched and steamed up car for a while before, and then after, finally getting use of the charge point. Job done (eventually)!

LSWs lunch was Paracetamol and by the evening I was thinking that I might need some too for an increasingly persistent headache and back pain. It turned out later that many attendees at the previous weekend’s wedding had fallen down with a variety of illness symptoms. Stomach upset, sickness, headaches and back pain in a variety of combinations were tell-tale signs that we had got too close to FG. As my symptoms passed I felt even sorrier for FG who had probably had all the symptoms but had not understood why and had been unable to do much about it.

I managed another wet stroll through the gloaming both around the village and a little further along the Tay. I was astonished by the speed of the river and impressed by the moodiness of the light and the woodland alongside the river. The area is famous for the age and size of a number of its trees including larch, pines and beech and the history of many is set out informatively and proudly. I am looking forward to visiting again in better weather (when we are both in good health) so we can sample more of the numerous local walks and take in more of the alluring but vaguely melancholy atmosphere.

On our last morning in Dunkeld I again hoovered up both breakfasts. LSW couldn’t eat a thing but, by now, was well enough to venture out to sample several of the local, independent shops. Lon Store was particularly good. Then we then set off in the almost relentless rain for Dundee to see another part of a very wet Scotland.

In Praise Of A Clear Head

August 24, 2022 / fgrtommo / Leave a comment

I have been monitoring the number of my alcohol-free days since 2005. Over a decade ago I was drinking alcohol almost every day, and often drinking a beer alone in my flat after work in London. Now I have a target of 50% drink-free days each month and I have achieved that for the last three years.

When I retired 5 years ago, I realised that although I was starting to achieve the target number of drink-free days, I was way off the target for units of alcohol recommended by doctors. To galvanise myself for change, I set a monthly target for alcohol units consumed too. That target is 100 units of alcohol per month. That is still almost twice the recommended level but 50% less than where I was in my first two years of retirement.

I have achieved this personal target for the last two years but it’s been a struggle, especially this year (for reasons I’m yet to quite fathom). On days when I drink, I find that I average 6-7 units; that’s two thirds of a bottle of wine or three pints of beer (not, I think, an unreasonable amount of pleasure to have on a sunny evening in the garden, at a celebration, or in the pub garden on a lazy Sunday). But multiply that by 14-15 days and I’m closer to the 100 unit target than I would like.

*^{Alcohol Units/Month Consumption Since 2019 (I’m More Consistent Now But Consistently Only Just Below Target (100 Units)!}*

I have been helped in recent years by the advent of decent no, or low, alcohol beer; I like those from BrewDog especially. But now I have a new helper: ‘Clear Head’, a low alcohol beer served on tap at our village pub. It’s quite a refreshing, hoppy and nice tasting pint. Its recent availability on draft means that I can visit the pub more often and feel as though I’m having a proper pub drink (not the soft sugary stuff that I generally avoid, or mineral water that I can get out of the tap at home), while keeping my alcohol unit consumption down.

*^{One of the Best Low-Alcohol Beers I’ve Had}*

The net effect has been that Long-Suffering Wife (LSW) and I have visited the local pub more often during this summer, especially during the recent heat waves, but I have still stayed within my alcohol unit target. That’s good because the pub is so central to the community and our visits create opportunities for us to have impromptu meetings with other villagers and we just enjoy hanging out in the relaxed atmosphere there. The only downside is that LSW is probably drinking a bit more alcohol because she usually goes for a can of the relatively strong craft beer rather than the low alcohol variety, but then she drinks slowly and so is well below the recommended unit levels.

Another bonus is that 5% of Bristol Beer Factory’s revenue on sales of Clear Head go to Talk Club which is the valuable charity organisation that helps establish and organise Men’s Mental Fitness chat groups such as that I have been attending in recent weeks in our village. The sessions that I mentioned in my last post have continued to be fulfilling and have had the side effect of making me feel even more a part of the community. The pub landlord, who helps run the sessions, even gives participants a pint of ‘Clear Head’ to accompany us through the meetings; really nice!

*^{On Draft At Our Local Pub But It Comes In Cans Too}*

So, the heat waves are over for another year it seems. The cost of living crisis seems to be drowning out concerns about the climate and related biodiversity crises. However, the recent weeks of intense heat have underlined the need for us all to think about reducing our carbon footprint and adapting to the new climate that is inevitably going to envelop us.

*^{Local Lake Dried Up In The Recent Heat And The Same Lake Two Years Ago (With Cow)}*

LSW has planted most of our flower beds and terraces with relatively drought resistant plants so the garden has looked great throughout the summer with just minimal watering. However, during the greatest heat, we had to have the blinds down all day in our kitchen/diner extension with all its glass. Rather than be able to look out over the garden from the extension, we spent much of the heat wave sheltered in the cool of the old part of the house.

*^{Dry Garden And Sun Through Meadow Grass}*

We are thinking about ways to further adapt to persistent high temperatures in the future at the same time as trying to work out how we can isolate rooms we want to heat in winter so that we reduce overall energy demand and so save money in the face of escalating electricity and gas bills. We won’t be alone in that.

Later this week we are off north to Edinburgh to see First Grandchild and his parents again. The relative cool of Edinburgh may look an increasingly attractive medium/long term location as the south of the UK feels the impact of our changing summers. Short term, though, I’m sticking to home in our village and an occasional pint or two of ‘Clear Head’ on draft.

Hope and Resolve in 2021

January 22, 2021 / fgrtommo / Leave a comment

Yesterday, Storm Christoph, which has been battering and flooding many parts of the UK, brought us a dramatic combination of rain, wind, thunder, lightning, snow, bright sunshine and then a great sunset. I suspect that we might see a similar drama in events and a variety of ups and downs in 2021 as we wrestle with the coronavirus pandemic, the impact of Brexit and the normal hurly-burly of life.

*Sunset Over The Garden After The Storm*

Currently, the rather boring but necessary lockdown continues and Winter life revolves around meals at home, shopping for them, walking the local lanes and fields, reading books, listening to the (voluminous and ever changing) news, watching TV dramas in front of the woodburner, and sleep. But the delivery of vaccines is providing some hope that, in a few months, we will be able to resume adventures around the UK and meet people normally again.

Yes, there are new variants of the virus and, yes, the death rate will rise yet further before it subsides, but there is expectation now that the current pandemic will pass (or, at least, become a lot less disruptive) during 2021. Of course, I am dearly hoping that is the case. However, I also hope that the Government does not hide behind an effective roll-out of the vaccines (assuming they manage that). We must learn, and make transparent, the lessons learnt from doing almost everything too little and too late to combat the virus. After all, this is hardly likely to be the last pandemic we need to deal with and we need to do far better next time.

Against the uncertain backdrop of pandemic and Brexit, it is hard to set concrete personal resolutions for the New Year. The lockdown has induced a gentle lethargy in me (I’m one of the lucky ones). I think it is going to take the fine Spring weather and an end of the lockdown to generate some proper enthusiasm to break that ennui. So my resolution process this year is really to just continue on the path set over the last couple of years.

For example, I will maintain my target of walking an average of over 15,000 steps a day. Apart from a bit of garden pottering, that is really my only substantive exercise these days. So, it’s good that I exceeded that target again in 2020 and I plan to do so once more in 2021. That should be achievable, and be thoroughly enjoyable to achieve in our lovely countryside, provided I stay healthy. Hopefully, many of those steps will be taken a little further afield than was possible in 2020.

The 2020 resolution achievements I proudest of in 2020 were those relating to increasing alcohol-free days and reducing average alcohol units per day. I beat my target of 40% alcohol free days by more than 10% – well over half or 2020 was alcohol free! I also thrashed my 10% reduction target of decreasing my alcohol unit intake. My tracking on the Drinkaware app has shown that I managed a 35% reduction in alcohol compared to 2019 and I now average 22 units/week.

That still leaves me well above the recommended limit of alcohol intake (14 units a week); so there is more to do. However, there is a balance to be struck here. Until I really can’t drink whiskey, wine or beer for precipitate health reasons, I need to weigh the benefit to my feelings and mental health with the physical risks of exceeding the rigour of what is recommended. So many pleasures have been curtailed during this pandemic, reducing further the pleasure I get from what is now a relatively occasional drink is not in my set of 2021 targets. I will just aim to at least repeat what I achieved in 2020 – that will involve will power sufficient to be challenging enough.

That, plus the continuation of walking, should help with my perennial objective of getting my weight below 11 stone. By the week before Christmas, I had managed that. However, for the second year in a row, the combination of mince pies, Christmas cake, Christmas pudding, brandy butter and a major Christmas dinner – lovely as that all was – tipped me over the edge of the 11 stone marker just before year end and just as it did in 2019. My resolution this year is to reduce my weight to such a degree by mid-December that I can enjoy those Christmas excesses without jeopardising target achievement.

Other resolutions from last year have been a bit of a washout. I failed to listen to the news on the radio less and listen to music more. There was just so much news from the pandemic, to Trump, to Brexit, that I just couldn’t stop taking it in. Plus I failed to reach my target of reading 20 books (I managed only 13, a poor show given how much discretionary time I now have and how much I enjoy good fiction). I resolve to do better in 2021.

Long-Suffering Wife and I failed, for obvious reasons, to achieve our resolution to get out together around the UK more. We made it to Belfast for the first time but other holidays to Cornwall and Wales were planned then cancelled. This year, when the virus allows, we will revisit Belfast where Youngest Son is establishing himself, and visit Eldest Son in his new home in Edinburgh. We also have booked, rather ambitiously, a family Christmas on the west coast of Skye; if that comes off, the world really will have returned to something like normality.

*Memories Of Exploring The UK In 2020; Belfast Lough*

This time last year I said in these blogs: “I think that 2020 is going to be a far better year than 2019”. In some ways it was in that we had no sons in near fatal accidents. Now, I really do think 2021 will be far better than last year but who knows what it will throw at us. Good job my resolutions are not critical work targets that must be met; I can relax, be flexible, go with the flow and just be content with pushing myself just a tiny bit.

*Early Snowdrops – A Sign Of A Brighter Future?*

TV Mini-Series And Music In The Rain

June 13, 2019June 13, 2019 / fgrtommo / 1 Comment

View From The Garden – Sun And Impending Hailstorm

June has been a very wet month so far but I suppose the garden and allotment needed the rain after such a dry Spring. Few vegetables are growing quickly yet but the garden flowers are thriving. Encouragingly, the bees flitting among them, between the bouts of rain, seem more numerous than last year.

Peonies Before Being Beaten By The Rain

Allium And Bees In The Garden

Partly due to the weather, Long-Suffering Wife and I have been watching more box-set TV recently. Much of what we have watched has been excellent and I’m pleased ‘Killing Eve’ and ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ have started up again. Of recent TV treats, I particularly recommend:

‘The Virtues’ (Channel 4) which has an astonishing performance by Steven Graham and a climax that had me holding my breath tensely for ages and mentally urging his character to do the right thing
‘The Looming Tower’ (BBC) starring the brilliant Jeff Daniels, which is showing how infighting between the FBI and the CIA contributed to the terrorist success of 9/11
‘Chernobyl’ (Sky Atlantic) which reproduced compellingly and with amazing special effects and crowd scenes, the (western understanding of the) nuclear disaster there.

We were able to see the last of these thanks to Youngest Son (YS) having access, in ways I’m not sure I want to know about, to channels and films that are not available to us through our normal facilities. This has been just one of the upsides of having him around for a few weeks since he returned from Australia. YS’s cheery demeanour has certainly brightened our days recently as the rain has set in. However, he has now disappeared to undertake a video project in the US and left us with the rain continuing to pour down.

The Garden In A Hailstorm

Another very good mini-series, still currently ongoing, is Years and Years. This follows a fictitious family through a vision of the next 15 years of global and UK politics and social development. It is not a cheery watch since it picks up some of the most modern-day contentious issues and shows how they may unfold in the near future with pretty depressing effects. One of the issues, of course, is the climate emergency and the story postulates a future where 80 days of heavy rain with flooding is a norm. I’m fed up with the rain after a week; I can barely imagine a future where it rains for months!

I hope that the future is brighter – and not just weather wise – than Years and Years predicts. However, I confess that the management of immigration, the climate emergency, the future of democracy on both sides of the Atlantic and the apparent rise of shallow populism are growing concerns for me. It is fortunate, then, that YS keeps LSW’s and my rants at the radio news over breakfast and lunch in check (to a degree). They may get ridiculous while he is away.

To help distract ourselves from precipitation and political current affairs, LSW and I have been to a couple of very good gigs over the last few days. The first was very local at the refurbished Tetbury Goods Shed and featured a local band called Faeland who I didn’t know until a week ago but who are lovely. They follow the folk music idiom but with bright, modern songs and an engaging presence. LSW loved them too – and very much enjoyed the provision of comfortable seating and a perfect view at the venue.

Faeland At The Tetbury Goods Shed

She was less enamoured by the shoulder to shoulder standing room only at The Exchange in Bristol. Here we saw a singer-songwriter I have been following and enjoying hugely on Spotify and CD for a couple of years – Billie Marten. I love her songs and, although she could have engaged a tight packed, eager and intimate audience a little more, I enjoyed the gig very much. LSW enjoyed it too but I was nervous about her comfort and we left just before the end. That was fine since Billie Marten had already played for an hour and I may anyway get the chance to see her again in London.

Billie Marten At The Exchange, Bristol

As I complete this post, I see that the sun has come out. I shall go out for a walk humming tunes from Faeland and Billie Marten and think cheery thoughts……

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