Never Quite Enough Time

  For most of my life there has been something of a garden.    I’m not saying that it has always been me tending it and my current garden which, in one guise or another, I have been in constant charge of since 1989, thrives on neglect.     ‘Thrive’ might not be the word but ‘neglect’ certainly is. Every year it gets away from me and generally I start the gardening year is trying to claw something back from the state it was left in the year before.    My preference is for fruit and vegetables so they do get priority, granted the fruit looks after itself for the most part.    That said, they too will get away from me at some point in the year.    This does not happen to my next door neighbour whose sole focus is on his vegetables and fruit (in that order of volume).    He is a very traditional vegetable gardener.    Me, less so.    I can’t grow anything approaching the amount of main crop potatoes, carrot...

I bought a pair of black leather ankle boots from eBay, delivered today.    Yes, another pair, I accept there  appears to have become a bit of a theme here.     I’m not saying recent(ish) purchases have been a mistake, they haven’t, but equally they have not been quite as successful as I had hoped they might be.     This pair shows promise though I suspect a new sole or, at least, toe piece will be needed sooner than I might wish unless, of course, I slash my step count. Tempting though that is, it does go against the grain external advice wise and is distinctly contrary to my retirement planning lists.    Possibly not one of the better random   thoughts that cross my mind then! I am a little thrown though as M&S or Clarks used to be very reliable and long lasting in a keeping Timpsons’ share price up kind of way.    Perhaps my gait has changed?    Perhaps I have developed a post 60 shuffle?    Hmmm...

Last week was not a productive week.    Very little I touched seemed to get across the finishing line ie out of my outlook ‘draft’ box, sleep was constantly interrupted (I know not why) and I was at home so little (work hours for two days apart) that it’s a mystery to me how the house managed to get as grubby as it did.     The weekend, however, is a different story and beyond the truly mundane the tally is: One walk and drink whilst catching up with an old school friend. One bumping into a sort of extended family member I haven’t seen for a long time. One veg bed covered in cardboard, then soaked and covered in muck. One autumn raspberry bed cut back, nearly weeded and ready to look after itself. One full garden waste bin. One impromptu book gift that went down very well. One incinerator sorted, put in place and paper finally burnt. Two visits to my parents, one to take a book to Dad, one compost for Mum. Two    garden arches pieced together which will be ...

Over coffee a short while ago someone opined that they did not understand why people would pay solicitors to do LPAs for them - “It is just a form” A form, indeed it is.    All 20 pages of it.    Plus 3 ancillary pages.    There’s a fairly sizeable guide as well.    I know this as S and I have very recently done our Health and Welfare LPAs ourselves.    Our Financial LPAs were registered some time ago.    We did those ourselves as well.    At this juncture I am almost tempted to say that it has taken us years to get over the stress of doing the financial ones to get on and deal with our Health and Welfare ones but that wasn’t actually the real reason.    Rather, at that point, whilst I was curiously ok(ish) thinking about the financials and having someone talk to the bank for me and deal with my bills, I didn’t want to think about (a) not being able to tell medical staff what I wanted; or (b) not be in a pos...

  I admit to bias.    I was early teens before I got on cross country skis.    It was another 5 years before I did that again and it has not been repeated a third time.    Very late teens before I had a down hill taster and then picked it up later.     I was, however, well into my 40s before I got on a snowboard.     4 hours on a dry slope was enough.     I value my wrists.     S hung on in there for longer but I haven’t seen him being in a rush to give it a go again either. My niece was put on skis from a very early age and is a qualified skiing instructor.     Before Covid and university, more university and still more university, interrupted the more serious pursuit of following the snow around the world, she taught in Austria, Verbier, New Zealand and Australia.    Snowboarding did not really feature until a lot more recently.  Out in Whistler mid January to early February I hear...

  Decluttering is difficult and I find my wardrobe is particularly tricky.    I do go through it fairly regularly and tend to recycle suitable items through eBay.    The principal problem, however, is that I have a lot of clothes I like and they fit me, for the most part as I am not shy on getting anything I like altered.    That, in itself, can make getting rid of anything a little harder.    If it has been altered specifically to fit me, selling it on or donating it is unlikely to be a success.     The other problem is that so many items    belong to a time prior to March 2020.    On the face of things nothing has really changed for me. I do the same job, I socialise with, more or less, the same people, I go to broadly the same places.    I just do not wear the same clothes.    Or, at least, not really and not mostly. When in the office (3 days a week) it is a casual affair and a blazer...

  I met up with a friend for a walk this am.     A circular walk from her front door and only 4 miles which is my kind of walk.     Daily steps taken care of.     Not that this is ever a problem at weekends in the same way it can often be during the week when stuck at a desk.     It being local it was also flat.   I know some consider 4 miles to be taking the dog out before you go on a proper walk or after you come back from a proper walk.    Flat barely counts at all unless you have come down to a tow path after conquering more rugged terrain.   It’s not that I have anything against a big day out on Scarfell Pike, Striding Edge, Snowdon, Ben Nevis, Pen y Gent, Whernside, Ingleborough or many others.    Rather, as a matter of routine, 4-6 miles fits more easily into my life.  This might be different if I lived on the doorstep of a National Park but I don’t and other stuff needs to be squeezed into a wee...