Category Archives: personal

personal

Unblogged August

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My usual round up of things I didn’t otherwise write about this month.

Saturday 2
Everything is so early this year. Today I noticed the first yellow leaves on the Gleditsia in the street outside our house. Now I know it’s the last to come into leaf and the first to turn in the autumn, but this is ridiculously early (like maybe 4 weeks) even for Gleditsia.

Monday 4
So I was sitting on the loo first thing this morning, and felt a tickling on my right leg. Looking there’s a wasp crawling up my shin. It’s fairly dopey, so probably not long for this world. Anyway, I caught it, identified it as a worker Vespula vulgaris (no surprise there) and released it outside into Nature’s care.

Tuesday 5
An interesting, and useful 45 minutes with N’s (new, young) renal consultant today. He says he’s going to be attached to N’s renal centre for 6 months, so maybe we’ll get some stability. If he is as good as he came over then we might make some progress, as he seems happy to try to push things along. Even better he was communicative and took the time to stop and explain things as well as asking some fairly searching questions of N. He was also quite willing to admit that the NHS is very good at finding ways of kicking the can further down the road! I’m hopeful, but I won’t hold my breath.
But why are hospitals such dreadful gloomy places? They try with the main public areas, but once you get off the main thoroughfare you’d have more ambiance in an old submarine. They’re dreadful! They need to be bright and cheerful everywhere; it would help both staff and patients.

Sunday 10
I’m struggling with which radio station to have on the alarm clock. Currently the alarm is BBC Radio 3, so classical music, but I’m getting fed up with them advertising other Radio 3 programmes (and always the same few) between every piece of music – and most of the music they play is boring mainstream classical. I chose Radio 3 because I can’t take loads of adverts, but want music, and not mindless pop. But there seems to be no alternative; every other station is either awash with adverts or mindless music. The clock/radio doesn’t have a CD player, or any connectivity; and music through the Google assistant things sounds dreadful. Where does one go without spending unnecessary cash?

Monday 11
So today comes news that we’ve lost one of the very first literary society members. Well he was 103! An American and a real gentleman, who was part of the American administration in Japan after WW2, and then a Fulbright Scholar in London in the late 1940s/early 1950s. He became a Professor of Public Administration at Syracuse, and was a book collector who had wide-ranging interests across almost all the arts and beyond. Although I didn’t meet him many times, I shall certainly remember him with great affection as a real and erudite gentleman.

Wednesday 13
Blimey, it’s still hot and humid. Although at 27°C it’s several degrees cooler than yesterday. But 79% humidity is on the high side – and it’s going to be worse overnight with the forecast for 89% humidity at dawn tomorrow. Today has been uncomfortable; yesterday was unbearable.

Thursday 14
Yet again a day of getting nothing I wanted done. The get-up-and-go had gone off somewhere else. I did however manage to spend a load of money – but I resisted spending even more, which I guess is a result.

Friday 15
Today is the first ever Home Nudist Day – a low=pressure day dedicated to people who choose to live clothes-free in the privacy of their own space. Whether you’re just lounging around, tending the garden, or working from home in the nude, this lifestyle fosters body acceptance, mental peace, and emotional freedom. For me home nudity is all about being comfortable, liberal, eccentric (which is how I was brought up) and not giving a fuck. After all many, like me, practice their nudism at home because they have no easily accessible social nudist opportunities (eg. clubs, swimming sessions). There’s an article on Home Nudist Day at https://www.planetnude.co/p/a-new-day-for-home-nudists; and I’ve written here about nudism many times, notably at https://zenmischief.com/on-nudity-and-naturism/ (or do a search on “nudism”).

Saturday 16
Now here’s a curiosity. I was eating some cherries for breakfast, and you know how sometimes you find a pair of cherries, and very, very occasionally three, conjoined. Well today I had four joined at the stem. I’ve never seen this before, and even N – who grew up with the fruit trade – said she’d never seen it either.And, yes, I know it’s all to do with where the stems join and how they’re picked, so it’s not entirely natural.

Tuesday 19
What an awful day. One of those where the mood is very depressed and there’s no get up and go. A real struggle to do anything other than fall asleep. Why do I always feel worse when N isn’t here? – something always drags me down.

Wednesday 20
The gardener was here and as it was dry and not cold I spent the afternoon sitting outside repotting some of the larger houseplants. Sent the gardener away with a clutch of Sansevieria to pot on or propagate. A shower was required afterwards!

Thursday 21
Why is it always just before a bank holiday? Today I have a UTI. Luckily I got a phone call with my GP and have some antibiotics on the way. But it doesn’t do anything good for the depression.

Sunday 24
Cannot shift this UTI and its effects. Actual UTI seems better, not best. But still discomfort round bladder; temperature up & down; etc. I see a trip to the GP coming on again.

Wednesday 27
I don’t know. I can’t cope. I’m deeply fed up with it all. Still haven’t fully shifted this UTI and it’s associated crap. Call placed to doctors yesterday, but they’ll not be too interested until I finish the antibiotics tomorrow. Not enough sleep last night isn’t helping. So N has had to go interview her specialist on her own which was not intended. Bugger!

Thursday 28
Early this evening there was some fairly heavy rain together with bright late sunshine. Surprise, surprise, a good rainbow; always easily visible from the study window. I can never remember the suggested exposure settings for rainbows, so inevitably end up grabbing shots on “auto everything”; not ideal but I’d rather capture the moment than lose it looking stuff up, especially knowing I can tweak up the settings digitally. Note the very faint second rainbow on the right.At the same time the hips on the rose which has grown to the top of our silver birch tree were bathed in golden sunlight, looking like strings of red fairy lights. I had to try, although I’ve never been very successful before as the hips are too small. I think this is about the best shot I’ve ever managed.[As usual larger photos by clicking the image.]

Friday 29
Processed the rest of my resent photos, but I’m keeping the best under wraps for now! 😊

Sunday 31
Well I suppose it serves me right for leaving them by an open window … but bugger! My chilli plants are covered in whitefly. They’ve been relegated to the shower and sprayed (one of the few times I will use an insect spray); surroundings in study also given a good spray. I picked the ripe chillies before spraying, so they’re edible; but the 3 or so decent sized ones left on the plants really aren’t so I’ll let them ripen and keep them for seed. After that I think I’ll retire the plants as they’re already in their third summer and not being as productive. Then we can start over next Spring. Not that we need to grow more chillies as we already have a freezer full!

personal

This Month’s Two Tiny Changes

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Each month during 2025 we’re offering two tiny changes which may help improve your life. This month …

  1. Focus on doing what you enjoy. If you don’t enjoy it, don’t do it. Find the exercise regime, hobbies, recipes, even work that you enjoy and you’ll do them more, and more happily
  2. Daily meditation. Find a meditation practice that works for you, and commit to doing it at least once a day.
memes, personal, ramblings

Unblogged July

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Being some things what I done, or what happened, during the month of July.

Tuesday 1
OMG! We’re over halfway to Christmas. Already!

Wednesday 2
There’s just been a Cavalcade of Hats going up the road. (There’s a community transport group here called HATS, who use minibuses to deliver disabled children to the school down the road. So every morning, shortly after 09:00, there’s a line of their minibuses promenading up our road.)HATS minibus; stock image

Friday 4
And fun was had by all. We needed to swap in N’s new PC. This meant she had to clear the rats nest off her desk, and the one under her desk, then play like a rat to crawl under the desk to find where everything plugged in. Having ripped out all the old cables we put the new machine in, with less, and rather tidier, wiring. We had a countless number of various cables left over. We still have to clear up the remains. Oh and having recovered the space on my desk, I can now start work on our new file server.

Sunday 6
The only trouble with spending Friday humping computers etc. around is that I’ve done my back; and it isn’t settling down. It’s probably the old, old injury, but I don’t now have an osteopath. So tomorrow it will be find a new osteopath.

Monday 7
So today we went a-hunting an osteopath – and captured an appointment for late tomorrow afternoon.

Tuesday 8
Hopefully that trip to the osteopath has fixed my back; although it doesn’t quite feel like it yet.

Wednesday 9
This hot, humid weather makes everything hard work; it’s completely draining. But the butterflies like it. In the last couple of days we’ve had Large White, Small White, Brimstone, Red Admiral, Peacock, and Comma on the buddleia outside the dining room window – not as many as there used to be, just odd ones, but better than none.

Sunday 13
We sat down to evening meal, and suddenly there were two small whiskered faces looking up at us. As so often, word had got round amongst the felines that the humans were about to devour cold chicken (well make that any chicken). I think the only thing which out-ranks poultry are prawns – they hear them come in the door!

Monday 14
The evening of the two tarts. (No, not that sort!) We had gooseberries (albeit from the supermarket), we had blackberries from the garden, and we had some very ripe nectarines. We also had two sheets of puff pastry. Sheet one was used flat with gooseberries in a layer on it; no need to pre-cook the fruit, just sprinkle with sugar. Sheet two had blackberries and nectarine piled in the centre and the ends folded over, to make a sort of rustic pie-cum-pasty (again sugar applied). The gooseberry was delicious, still warm, with some cream. Haven’t tried the blackberry yet as it was still too hot. As N said, they’ll make breakfasts for the next several mornings.

Tuesday 15
Rain! We have rain! Only short sharp showers, but it’s water from the sky, which we desperately need. And if you believe the weather forecast we’re likely to have rain on and off for the next week.

Wednesday 16
So the gardener cometh not, which verily was a nuisance as we had lots that needed doing. On the other hand it gave us a “free day” in which to savour the delights of completing this year’s tax returns. And ouch! How much to we owe HMRC?

Thursday 17
It’s been one of those days when everything is a struggle. I wish I understood why this happens – what in the Universe controls it – then I might be able to circumvent it. Otherwise it is very annoying and depressing.

Friday 18
And suddenly there was on my desk a small Common Green Lacewing (Chrysoperla carnea). They’re surprisingly pretty (note the red eyes) – and their larva are great aphid eaters.Lacewing

Saturday 19
A good doctors’ patient group meeting this morning. Only half a dozen of us with the Practice Manager, but sane and sensible considering the recent appalling patient survey results. The Practice Manager and I were both dreading the meeting. Basically something has to happen to improve the front of house, which we’ve been bleating about for ages. Meanwhile: we have rain! Lots of rain! Just as forecast. And badly needed.

Sunday 20
In the kitchen this evening, a very lively ichneumon wasp. I think a Woodland Darwin Wasp (Echthrus reluctator) but I’m sure the experts on iNaturalist will confirm (or not). Also found a very dead, melanistic ladybird; confirmed later on iNaturalist as a melanistic Harlequin.Oh, and this afternoon, three greenfinches in the top of the silver birch. Haven’t seen greenfinches for some years as they’ve been almost wiped out by a virus; so great to see them again.

Monday 21
So what happened to all this rain and thunderstorms we were supposed to be having? Well we had a few heavy drops of rain, but hardly enough to properly wet the pavement.

Tuesday 22
Do other people have days where they just feel totally incapable of doing anything? Because I had one of those days today. Apart from starting the supermarket order, I spent the day fiddling about because I could not get down to do anything. Very irritating.

Friday 25
I’ve spent a large part of the last couple of days striping apart several old laptops and PCs. If nothing else I wanted to get the hard drives out of them so I could clean off the data. I can’t get over what hard work it was to get them apart: hundreds of tiny screws, half of which you can’t move; and then plastic components clipped together and equally recalcitrant. Any way I’ve eventually got them stripped down to recyclable electronic components, several chassis, miscellaneous metal which can also be recycled, and a bin bag full of garbage plastic. All the hard drives have been added to my collection of “spares”; all two dozen of them. Mind, all that work has created almost no free space! Now I’m wondering what we’ve got hidden in the loft!

Sunday 27
Just how did the England girlies manage to win the European football? They never seemed to have been in a winning position, always coming from behind, and then somehow mesmerising the opposition when it came to the penalty shootout. Did they deserve to win? I have no idea. Am I surprised? Yes, very. I guess at the end of the day it all comes down to who has the best self-belief and can keep the cooler head. On that score: well done Lionesses!

Monday 28
Is there no end to the excitement? Today, for both of us, the 6-monthly trip to the dentist for a check-up and the hygienist. Clean bill of health for both of us; so we’re just booked again for January.

Tuesday 29
Rescued this morning, one Harlequin Ladybird, which was trying to drown itself in a sink of soapy water. It seemed to recover OK and, having had a rest, was released outside.

Wednesday 30
It’s a medical week. Dentist on Monday (as above). Audiology for a new hearing test yesterday; followed by a call from my doctor’s to book my annual diabetes check-up. And this afternoon N and I were round at the doctors for a couple of hours – in our patient group capacity to talk to patients in the waiting area. We never talk to many people (most just want to sit and zone out) but the conversations we do have always provide useful feedback. At the same time we tidy up the book exchange and check over the noticeboards etc.

Thursday 31
Today the first sizeable chilli harvest of the year … I picked 15 Hot Lemon chillies; the largest are about 4cm long. OK they’re not huge, and this isn’t a gigantic haul (although we have already had two or three smaller picks), but it’s from two plants crammed in a pot on the study windowsill, and now in their third season.Considering the number chillies, both these and scotch bonnets, we have in the freezer it wouldn’t matter if we never grew another plant. These Hot Lemon Chillies aren’t very hot if you remove the seeds/pith, but if used raw do have a slight citrussy flavour.

personal

Unblogged June

Being some things what I done, or what happened, during the month of June.

Monday 2
Had to unblock the pond pump again today as it is choked with mats of algae, in less than a week.

Tuesday 3
Dear God! It’s relentless. I’m still trying to catch up with everything I didn’t manage to do on Sunday. It mostly revolves around the 25th Anniversary Lunch for AP Soc on Friday – and I’m not even organising it! But the money is flowing through me, so it’s continual questions. Plus I’m expected to take all sorts of stuff like merchandise with me! I seem to have done nothing else for the last week. Heaven alone knows what they’ll do when I’m not here!

Friday 6
Blimey that was a tiring, but worthwhile, day. Celebration lunch for the 25th anniversary of the AP Soc at National Liberal Club. 65 attending, I think, including some well known names as well as some of AP’s extended family. Great to see everyone again, not having done so since before Covid.

Saturday 7
It’s surprising how much better one feels for a really good night’s sleep. I was so shattered after yesterday that I went out like a light, and although I woke up twice in the night I slept through to a few minutes before the alarm. For the first time in ages I woke up not feeling stressed and depressed, but awake and rested. More please!

Monday 9
If it’s happening, I don’t know anything about it. I’m still trying to catch up after Friday and its prologue. So I’ve been paying little attention to the world and its mess.

Tuesday 10
That made an interesting change, and a childhood memory of weekend tea. For a quick light tea this evening, when N got back from the hospital, I had sardines on toast. It’s nutritionally good, and seems very down market until one follows it with strawberries and thick double cream. Of course Queen Cat got a share of both sardines and cream!

Thursday 12
I do not understand couriers. Today I had two boxes of the literary society’s latest book delivered from the printer. Two identical boxes; labelled “1 of 2” and “2 of 2”. They arrived on two different couriers about 30 minutes apart. Mad.

Friday 13
When I sat down to lunch today I felt absolutely fine. By the time I stood up at the end of lunch I had a full-blown attack of vertigo and had to spend the rest of the day horizontal.

Saturday 14
Horizontal.

Sunday 15
Still horizontal.

Monday 16
Vaguely vertical.

Tuesday 17
Finally feeling almost back to normal – or at least I would if I’d actually had a decent night’s sleep. It didn’t help that I had to be up early and spend the morning at the doctors: meeting with Practice Manager, blood test and see my GP. GP agreed there’s not a lot one can do about the vertigo, although she did give me a link to information about the Brandt-Daroff exercises which are supposed to help remove crystals from the semi-circular canals. And the Practice Nurse who took my blood did say that vertigo always takes around 5 days to resolve – which is my experience.

Wednesday 18
Well it’s a medical week. Today I had a pre-op phone call with a nurse at our local private hospital, where in two weeks time I’m having surgery to remove my finally expired molar. I thought, OK this will be a 20 minute check in call. Not a bit of it. She spend nearer an hour and 20 minutes diving down every conceivable rabbit hole – although she didn’t quite get to demanding what my grandmother liked for breakfast. To cap it all she tells me that tomorrow I have to go to the hospital for blood tests and an ECG. Oh joy!

Thursday 19
OK, I know it’s private healthcare but well under an hour to go to the hospital (just a mile up the road), get blood tests and an ECG and get home. Just as well because it was meltingly hot out.

Saturday 21
Spent almost all day sans shirt, although I had to don a t-shirt for a literary society Zoom social call just after lunch. After less than 90 minutes I could have wrung the sweat out of the t-shirt!

Sunday 22
Why does doing simple tasks like putting things in envelopes for the post take so long. OK, I admit I had quite a bit to do to catch up on, but I ended up spending the whole day sorting our literary society stuff: mailing books; website updates; emails … and all the fallout therefrom.

Monday 23
It never rains but there’s a fucking hailstorm. Today, Boy to the V-E-T because his tail is drooping – which can be serious for cats. His tail is normally upright and waving around as if he was a foxhound; but since Friday evening his tail was drooping and he couldn’t hold it above horizontal. The vet found a puncture wound a the base of his tail (top and bottom); probably inflicted by another cat rather than the fox. So antibiotics and an anti-inflammatory for several days.

Tuesday 24
Gone 19:00 and I’m about to have tea when I pick up a phone call. It turns out to be the anaesthetist who’s on the team for my op next week. A 20 minutes discussion results in him saying he’ll do the op with sedation and local anaesthetic. If they can pull it off, that’s a definite result, because if I had a general anaesthetic (as originally planned) they will keep me in overnight; but with sedation they won’t. Not only much nicer but also a lot more convenient.

Thursday 26
Another result today. Had to go to Audiology at the local hospital to (a) have wax vacuumed out of my ears, and (b) take one hearing aid in for repair. The young lady who manages the centre, and does the ear vacuuming, was incredibly helpful. Having cleared my ears, she said “Oh I’ll repair your hearing aid now; it’ll take only five minutes”. In fact she actually replaced the hearing aid as the volume control had died. Job done and I’m out before the end of my appointment slot; with no need for another trip to collect the repaired device. A definite win.

Saturday 28
Something worth recording, although a bit out of sequence … I’ve had two rather nice raptor sightings recently, both new for me. First, several times over recent weeks I’ve seen a very swift-like raptor (but noticeably bigger than swift) jinking across the gardens. It has to be a hobby. I know they used to be around because local bird-watchers have told me about them. Secondly, on Thursday sitting outside Ealing Hospital one of their peregrines was flying around: practicing doing circuits; before disappearing behind the top of the building. It could have been one of this year’s young, although they should long have fledged. We know the peregrines nest there (and have done for several years) but I’ve never spotted one before.

Sunday 29
This afternoon I unloaded all the images from my trail cameras from the last three weeks – all 6500 of them – eeekkk! Well 20-30% were complete rubbish; just foliage waving in the breeze! Another 50% were the usual boring stuff: cats and foxes trotting hither and yon. But there were a couple of surprises. First one early morning at the birdbath there was a collared dove; no it’s a juvenile woodpigeon; oh no it isn’t it really is a collared dove. I thought I’d heard one around; but I’ve never before seen one here. Then a few days ago, again early morning, lucky Mr Fox is seen trotting off down the garden with a woodpigeon in his jaws; I saw not the catching, so I can only think the stupid bird hopped into his jaws.

Monday 30
Bugger! Had to cancel my dental op on Wednesday. Just don’t ask.

Sorry, no photos this month as everything has just been too manic.

arts, books, personal

The Anthony Powell Society at 25

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7 Ormonde Gate, ChelseaOn a balmy early evening, on this day 25 years ago, six of us gathered at 7 Ormonde Gate, Chelsea, just across from the National Army Museum, at the invitation of Julian Allason.

Julian had the grand idea that we should celebrate English author Anthony Powell, who had died a couple of months earlier at the age of 94.

I was introduced to Powell’s magnum opus, A Dance to the Music of Time, in 1983 by my wife’s best friend from school. “You like Evelyn Waugh”, she said, “You might like Dance.” Powell soon became one of my heroes.

Since about 1993 I had been building a web presence for Powell. And in 1997, at the time Channel4 TV showed their 4-part dramatisation of Powell’s A Dance to the Music of Time, I had started an email discussion list for Powell’s works. I was resisting suggestions that I should start a Society in Powell’s honour.

Julian was one of the early contributors to the email discussion list, along with our friend Stephen who was one of the six aforementioned. I dragged in my wife, N, and our friend Sue, who was (and still is) a professional conference and event organiser. Julian brought along his friend Catherine, a PR specialist. Experts were needed!

As Julian had said to me a couple of weeks before: “We must celebrate the man. We must have a conference.” Which is where discussion started on that fateful evening.

Being the ever practical project manager, I asked how we were going to achieve this. After all, I pointed out, we were six nobodies, we had no entrée into the literary world, we had no money, and frankly we stood little to no chance of getting useful big name sponsorship (organisations like Vodafone and The Daily Telegraph were mentioned).

Julian, great on ideas and not one to be thwarted, said that we had to have something on which to hang the conference. So at 19:30 under a huge portrait of Peter the Great, the response was …

“We hereby form the Anthony Powell Society”

OK, Julian, then you’re Chairman … and Keith you’re Secretary (which I remained for 18 years!).

But we still had no members and no money. Julian committed to fix us a bank account. We agreed that everyone then joined to the email discussion list (barely more than a couple of dozen people) was an honorary member until the end of the year – giving us time to organise a membership system.

And that conference? We held it at Powell’s alma mater, Eton College, the following St George’s Day. To this day I have no idea how we achieved that given that we were all also doing demanding professional jobs.

Since then the Society has achieved a lot: not least 10 international conferences and more than a few publications; we were awarded charitable status in 2003.
(On a personal note the Society has taken me to places, and introduced me to people, my wildest dreams couldn’t have conjured up.)

So today, after a lot of hard work, good luck, and almost against all expectations, the Anthony Powell Society celebrates its 25th anniversary.

Sadly Julian died a few years ago, so will not be here, at least in person, to see the fruit of his idea.

AP Soc logo

You can find out more about the Anthony Powell Society and its work at https://www.anthonypowell.org/. There is also a Facebook page and a YouTube channel.