A Disorderly Retirement
I know I promised that this week I’d report back on my cull of expenses, but while executive approval is pending, I’ve been thinking about foreign languages instead. This is because I have read yet another article about warding off dementia. Is this a modern trend, this torrent of advice from experts about how to…
I’ve been thinking about how much it costs to keep ourselves entertained. Years ago, we grew vegetables and darned socks in our spare time, no doubt while listening to the wireless. Far from costing anything, these pastimes actually saved people money. I can definitely remember my parents mending and growing, although with the ingratitude of…
I’ve just come back from Africa and I’m thinking about mountain gorillas. Still. I did a quick search through my blogs and found that, since 2020, five of them have mentioned gorillas. It’s definitely been a recurring theme. I started out thinking how wonderful it would be to see them in the wild and then…
Yesterday I learned that ‘No’ is a complete sentence. Who knew? I think it’s one of those personal growth lesson thingies, the type you’re supposed to write on post-it notes and stick on walls around your house. Those life-affirming mantras like “I am worthy and loved”, “My boundaries matter”, “My children don’t hate me”, “Just…
In two weeks’ time we are off to Uganda to track gorillas. When I booked this trip about a year ago it seemed like a wonderful idea. I decided that preparation was everything and enrolled at a gym. I had gone to the gym for years, but never really went back after the pandemic. One…
All those guides to retirement say that life is cheaper once you retire, but I have my doubts. It might be the case if you ended up spending lots of money on commuting, smart work outfits and oatmilk lattes, but none of that applies if you work from home, which I did. Retirement can turn…
It’s not something I thought about until I went to Louisiana. You don’t encounter alligator much in Britain, on or off a menu. Pescatarians eat fish and seafood, but what about cold-blooded creatures that live in the sea, like serpents and snakes? Insects and frogs are both cold-blooded, so can I eat them? I think…
I do occasionally wonder why someone who leads such a safe and risk-free life feels the need to go overboard on holiday. I am not a daring person. I always take a cardigan with me in case it turns chilly and look three times before I cross the road. I don’t lead protest marches or…
I have just come back from Boston, Massachusetts, where the leaves remained stubbornly green rather than glowing in fiery shades of red, orange and yellow as they should in the autumn. Still, the sun shone and it was perfect touring weather. The first thing dedicated tourists do in Boston is to embark on the Freedom…
Right now our news is dominated by stories of schools and hospitals on the point of collapse because they were built with substandard materials. Just to cheer us all up. They’re no longer ‘fit for purpose’ and probably never were. It’s making me wonder about the people who use these buildings – are we fit…