As years go, 2023 was pretty bad. This year, 2024, was probably even worse, but tempered by lots of good news.  Sometimes its difficult to enjoy the good news and good times when there are bad things going off.

Mum continues to get weaker, and thinner.  And then there are two court cases to deal with, while the Government continue to threaten our pensions and retirement income.

MUM 

Mum resigned as Secretary of the Nottingham Elders Forum, only to end up as Chairman, doing much of the Secretary’s job anyway. The days of campaigning seem to be over now as there are less people who want to take over and be active members. After seeing the time, trouble and responsibility involved, I don’t think its something either of us want to play a more active role in. We have done loads to help them in the past behind the scenes.  But we’re not in a position to take on a more active role right now, even if we wanted to.

COUNCIL BATTLES

Our battles with Gedling Council and Nottinghamshire County Council continue. Given the information we have, our local councillor acted unlawfully and then both Councils acted unlawfully after the County Council Officer had tried to correctly apply the law and was prevented from doing so. This has caused endless trouble for ourselves and neighbours.  There are issues with access, flooding, physical attacks, and legal threats.

Lies takes many forms, and you have to trust that a liar will be undone eventually, just like the Post Office. But application of the Law is painful and expensive. Let’s hope we don’t suffer like the sub-postmasters did. With authority and power should come responsibility to look after people. You would expect Councils to do the right and legal thing, but all we are getting is a cover up and threats. But I think the tide will turn next year.

This all prevents us being able to book our next holiday, visit friends, and look after those who need it. So we make the most of a difficult situation and try to maintain our health, which is clearly under severe threat, as are our finances.

LOSING FRIENDS

Beth and Geoff invited us for “Burns Night” in January and we had a great time; although I was accused, not for the first time, of being a mean Englishman, by a Scot.  It seems I didn’t fill the whiskey glass full enough. It wasn’t even my whiskey. Sadly, neither Beth nor Geoff are with us anymore. We wish we had met them sooner. We have never attended so many funerals in one year. That is at least 5 in 2024. I guess it only accelerates from now on. Just thought I’d cheer you up.

So all the good news is hard to enjoy with all that going on in the background.

GOOD NEWS – WEDDING BELLS – OR AT LEAST THE SOUND OF STEAM ENGINES

Claire met James in January this year and they have a wedding planned for next year. It will be a civil ceremony with a Steam Punk theme. That means lots of dressing up and buying and making costumes. They will also be moving house, hopefully, in 2025, and hopefully before the wedding. We thankfully have the help of a keen and enthusiastic dressmaker to help out when things don’t quite go right.

We have another wedding to look forward to as well. Craig got engaged to Magali, who, because of Brexit rules largely, is unable to find work in the UK. So they are commuting between France, Switzerland, and Nottingham. We have done that, or at least Sue has, and international commuting is not much fun. The novelty soon wears off. Magali is a scientist, but also a talented artist, who is selling her animal portraits and pet commissions. Craig’s house was full of her paintings on all the walls until he sold it. He bought the house next door to a friend, but didn’t tell him of course. Why wouldn’t you tell him? You want it to be a nice surprise. Thankfully it was. But meanwhile, he is living at another friends house while that friend is relocating from Maastrich to Copenhagen. I remember when commuting to school in Eastwood from Nottingham seemed exotic.

HOLIDAYS WITH A DIFFERENCE

MENORCA – WALKING THE CAMI DE CAVALLS

We had a few holidays last year. Notably two in Menorca. We walked with our friends on the Cami de Cavalls, a path which goes all the way around Menorca. They had a head start by several years but still had a very difficult and inaccessible part to do. We were able to do some of the less accessible parts between us by taking two cars. At least that was the theory. In the end we just walked half way from both directions for the most difficult and inaccessible parts, and then walked back to the car. So we did the most difficult parts twice! Our friends finished one day and we finished two days later. We were one km short of finishing together. We celebrated. We continued to celebrate. Then we told everyone about it and celebrated some more. Several times over I suppose.  On our own, probably  none of us would have finished the walk, but it was possible to do it together.

We’ve done other parts of the Cami with other friends too, taking a picnic, or stopping for a meal where possible. But in many parts, there are no restaurants for 10 miles or more, so a gluten free picnic is very nice, and the only option.

There are not many people who go to Menorca and see the parts we have seen. We think we’ve done well, completing it in 8 years. A little bit at a time, but really accelerating our progress since we met our walking friends in Menorca. And so strange that they live just a few miles away in Derbyshire. But the amazing thing is that while we do perhaps 6-12 miles a day, there are people who will walk or run twice that, and maybe more. And some people actually race around the island in 25 hours! They don’t all make it though. There are many accidents along the way and its not surprising when people are racing over treacherous terrain in the dark, wearing, if they are lucky, a headtorch. Many people finish covered in blood. Whatever you achieve, there’s always someone who has done it faster or better!

It’s great to know that other friends have had an operation on the injury sustained while walking with us and can now resume, thanks to surgery. Maybe they won’t want to. Beware, we’re dangerous people to know. Undesirables, our local councillor calls us, and has told people not to talk to us! Just think yourself lucky you haven’t been skiing with us. Many people have got plastered while skiing with us and had to get a special flight home, or a special taxi.

The Cami is 184 km long, but in all I think we have walked over 230km, plus many km just to get to the Cami as well. Some of it was done on one leg, but being 6 miles in any direction from help, there was little choice. Most of it was done in blazing heat.  We’ve been followed by Red Kite and Eygyptian Vultures (looking for their next meal, no doubt), we’ve seen Fire Ants (they can kill you!), Preying Mantis, Turtles, Tortoises, Hoopoe, Sharks and Lizards of course. We’ve shared the path with Horses and Cyclists, seen ancient ruins, had ants burrowing under our skin, encountered goats, sheep and cows on the beach, scaring people off and helping themselves to the tourists’ lunches. And most unusually, in the toughest and most remote places we experienced the scariest thing of all….silence and isolation. In eight hours of walking one day we saw four people. Well, it was either this, or sit on a sun lounger drinking beer or gin, with kids screaming and jumping in the pool. Maybe we can try that one time. I believe its called a holiday. Sue keeps recommending it.

PARKRUN

A combination of walking the Cami, supporting Craig doing crazy runs, and a sense of craziness I assume, inspired Sue to do Parkrun. Her goal is to do her 25th Parkrun on her 65th birthday. It is in doubt after the Hunstanton Parkrun was cancelled, leaving no leeway for further missed weeks. Although the Hunstanton run was cancelled due to adverse weather conditions, we still turned up, and we did run, although we did a shorter run as the course wasn’t laid out. And I can say, without fear of contradiction (that’s unusual), that it was freezing cold as the wind came in off the North Sea, ripping the cold salty air straight into our faces. But, strangely, Sue enjoyed it; she was glad we didn’t know it had been cancelled. Well, I have to admit that it was warmer than one of our training runs, which froze the breath on my hat into ice which then gave me brain freeze. Sue will be able to run the whole course shortly, and I am in danger of her beating me. Although its a run, not a race.

It wouldn’t be the first time Sue beat me though. When I took her orienteering after recovering from a broken leg; we walked most of the course. The lure of “just a walk” sold it to her in the first place. But at the end of the course, the TV cameras were there and she sped up and I couldn’t keep up with her. I had only just had my plaster removed after nearly 5 months in plaster. But the record shows that Sue finished ahead of me; and it was on the TV too.  Sue has a wicked sprint finish.

HUNSTANTON AND THURSFORD

What were we doing in Hunstanton in those conditions? Well, we had a weeks holiday. Sue’s dad and step-mum enjoy the Thursford Christmas Spectacular. They used to combine it with a few days holiday too. I volunteered to take us all and it has now turned into a weeks holiday. Sadly, its still not the kind of “holiday” where you sit on the beach. Same again next year hopefully, but this time we hope the weather is a bit kinder.

HISTORIC HOUSES

We managed a few National Trust and Historic Houses holidays too. We even managed to take the caravan away this year, although its harder to get it ready now we can’t get it on the drive. We took it to Northumberland. When we got home, we realised we were staying in the next village to our friend who was world speed reading champion for years. She had an unfair advantage though, since she lives less than an hour from the famous Barter Books, which we enjoyed visiting and gathering more books than we can read. We’ll drop in to see her next time. I can’t imagine her book bill:  she can read a book in under an hour. Fortunately, I can’t read that fast. I can’t afford to.

OLD HAUNTS

We even managed a week in Ingoldmells. It has changed a lot since Adrian used to go there to the caravan every weekend as a child. We didn’t have enough tattoos or piercings to blend in with the locals, but we had a great time anyway. The locals were really friendly, although the clouds of drug smoke may have obscured the moon on a few occasions. And the beer…the beer was so cheap. A round for four people cost £8.25. Although, my posh cousin’s wife, (his wife is posh, not my cousin) did have to explain what a Sauvignon Blanc was. The barman did eventually catch on that she wanted a white wine. She had a choice of two: opened or unopened. She made the wrong choice. It didn’t look like anyone had asked for wine for some time. So we moved on and paid over £10 for the next round at a much more salubrious place. When we complained about the increase in the price compared to the last place, they politely explained that for that price, they cleaned the glasses too, unlike the last pub. We decided to eat there and had four excellent meals (mine was a steak) for about £50. At Sutton-on-Sea we had perhaps the best fish and chips we’d tasted for many years. Excellent quality, unlike the seawater. But the most important thing is that we laid down a memory, and had a great laugh together. We even watched England play in a bar. We were in the bar you understand not the England team. Although they may have been in a bar before the game. That may explain a few things. I don’t recall if they won. They may have won on penalties.  The cider was cheap, the glasses were large, and I was walking home. I’ll bet I had a whole three pints that day before walking several miles home! Ah yes, I remember it well.

ADOPTION

Cats know a person don’t they.  We have a beautiful cat who has decided to adopt us.  We really were not looking to have a house of cats again but we will never see an animal suffer.  “Rascal” as we call him can eat constantly if given the opportunity.  He’s 7 kg and our cat is losing weight.  “Rascal” is big, like a dog.  But we really just wanted the freedom to go where and when we wanted, rather than paying the price of a holiday for care home fees for two cats!  We have taken him home dozens of times but he just keeps coming back and looks at us as if we are stupid for not understanding that he is moving in.  If we don’t feed him he brings us a rat or a bird or a squirrel, as if we are short of food.  And we haven’t seen any frogs all year since “Rascal” arrived. But of course, he is absolutely lovely. If his owner can’t encourage him to stay at home after Christmas, she intends to sell him.  He intends to come here.

How can we not take care of a cat on our own doorstep when we work in the cat rescue in Menorca on our holiday?

HOPES AND PROMISES

I wonder what next year will bring and if we’ll finally be able to start enjoying our retirement and if they’ll leave our pensions alone. I think the need for an Elders Forum is as great as ever. And as an economist, I can almost guarantee the economy is going to take a turn for the worst. Part-time jobs have been hit the most.   The sort you might want to have if you’re a pensioner trying to make ends meet.

ECONOMIC FORECASTING

At Boots, I used to write the response to the budget for the CBI Retail Trades.  We were consulted on what should be in the budget in the first place in those days. I’m glad I don’t have that job now. I’m simply not subtle enough and refuse to tell lies. I’m speechless and stunned these days. The funny thing is that as an economist, I never came across Racheal Reeves as she is politely called, either at the Bank of England or the Halifax. My friends were economists there. I wonder what reports she authored. They should be online. And as an economist in the energy sector, I have to say I would expect, if renewables were cheaper, and bring down bills, that they would already be used. Finance would dictate that in a free market.  So who is going to subsidise them?

OLDIES ARE STUPID AND WORTHLESS

I’m clearly not as smart as people in Government, so it’s a good job us old, stupid people are out of the labour market. What a mess we would make of things. Ho ho ho. They should close down that Ken Dodd school of accounting. What a joke he made of it.  I thought it was just him who fiddled the taxes.

There is a difference between competing views and gross incompetence.  I am just totally stunned at the basic lack of competence I witness daily.  The only ones who don’t realise they’re in a car crash are the ones driving the car. I think it’s time my “Peoples Economist” website took off.  It is great to know that I can combine it with my other passion of astronomy and write about the existence, or not, of “Black Holes” and how they are created.

NET ZERO TARGETS – TIME TO HIDE

I think we live in interesting times. Oh, for a lounger by the sea. I guess those days are gone. Well, I’m off into hiding now because I understand farting is a major cause of global warming and with a net zero target, I fear the target, well….. the target may be me.