Monday 30th September 2024

 

The alarm went off at 7.30am, I hit the snooze button only to then wake properly just before 8am. I'm on my way to work ( though as I discovered later I'd actually booked today off as leave but then forgot about this additional day).

However my mind immediately thought of time passing as the theme for this final post. I've been on leave, that's in the past now. Each second is in the past a second later, and life as I age dwells more on the past as the years advance.

I arrived in the office and logged onto the work system. It was 9.42am, as I write this it is 13.40 and I'm sitting outside on a very dull day with rain spots in the air. Somehow another four hours have passed in my life, tik-tok-tik-tok. That journey from birth to death is never ending. 

Though all has changed while I've been away and a huge reorganization of BBC Audio division is now going to happen. I'll need to reapply for my job in March as all 42 production management roles are closing in their current form. The BBC as I joined thirty one years ago is gasping it's last breath as time has finally caught up with it.

As has happened with coal power. Today the UK finally switches off it's last coal fired power station, and in doing so effectively ends the Victorian driven industrial revolution in many ways. 

If I return to this blog when approaching 65 I don't expect to be working at the BBC, so this image of two grapefruit (for breakfast this week) and my lunch on the BBC's Club terrace will be the last ever one I mention on here. It's an interesting feeling, my last sit on the terrace and noting what I do on my lunch hour. To my right as I sit I can see my old NHU Radio office, the window directly above the bay window. We had the attic rooms too. It was sitting in that office in 2015 that we were told NHU Radio was going to be dismantled by the then Director General, Tony Hall. Actually we weren't told, the closure only appeared in the transcript and picked up by Sarah Blunt. That closure came as a huge shock to us all including Julian Hector our Editor as he hadn't been told. Since then there's been a lot of changes; some good, some bad, most just different.

And now as I approach 2pm my lunch break comes to an end, and so must this year long blog. It's been a fascinating twelve months, challenging in some ways, but as I write these last words I feel in myself it's a time of personal change ahead of me. No doubt some of this will be good, some bad, most though will be just different. So will I return in the autumn of 2028 and begin this a fourth time? We'll see. 

The leaves of autumn are beginning to steadily fall now, they are blowing in the breeze, their usefulness to trees now at an end. A similarity with my time on this spinning Planet, the feeling that my usefulness to society is coming to an end. Soon I'll be a burden. But keep looking forward, that's the key, spring is just a few weeks away now, the first early daffodils will flower in 12 weeks or so. 

With every new step I now take then remaining unrecorded here, it is au revoir, not finis prope.

Sunday 29th September 2024

Caught up with Annali today down on the Somerset Levels. So great to catch up for the second time this year, after not seeing each other for years and years. It's not quite half way between us but the Avalon Marshes hub was our rendezvous point.  After a coffee then it was off for a walk, retracing our route in July to Canada hide but then pushing on to the Hawk and Owl Trust site which is where the images were taken. Autumn really is settling in now and on our return the wind was whipping up, removing a number of leaves from the trees. A few more windy days and the foliage damage will be evident.  Friendship is important as is catching up regularly with friends.

Saturday 28th September 2024

 

The reason I took this image of the M5 between Clevedon and Gordano is that nearly eleven years ago I spent three hours stationary here after the motorway was closed due to an accident. Then I was on my way into the office and it developed into what was the second ever posting on this blog. Today I was a passenger, quite unusual for me, heading to the Watermill Theatre near Newbury. I just had the urge to mark this spot years later as we drove by.

The image gives away the theatre production we'd come to see, the King's Speech. We got here just after 12 noon, with a lunch booked before the performance. The restaurant here does a lovely pre show menus, today Julie had roast vegetables with chickpea pie followed by fruit salad, and I went for the chicken followed by apple and bramble crumble.

We had around an hour to kill before the performance so sat outside in the sun just absorbing the atmosphere. The play was superbly acted, possibly the best performance we'd seen at the Watermill. It was truly outstanding. How this small theatre puts on brilliant productions time and time again I'll never know, but they do. And that is recognised by the trade as this year they've won the Stage's Top Theatre of the Year award. That's some achievement for a theatre that's lost it's Arts Council funding too. 

Just a lovely, lovely day in West Berkshire by a chalk stream, watching a fabulous play.

Friday 27th September 2024

On the final 'proper' day of my weeks leave the weather turned out to be lovely. Thus after a relaxed morning, which included paying the final £685  balance of the refurbished kitchen, Julie and I walked to the Owl in the Oak cafe for some exercise. They've been donated a new bike for their entrance this week, nice to see though I'm slightly saddened this 1950's bike will now just rust away and never be ridden again. Sadly too we got there too late for any food but thoroughly enjoyed the 3.3 mile walk we did, complete with the only rain shower during the whole day which was typical for this week of being caught in the rain.

After all this exercise it was back home to flick through my latest book purchases which arrived by courier this morning. The Dixon's Cubs book is interesting in that this 2003 reprint was for members of the John Moore Society. Only 350 were printed, this one is number 36 and signed by John Moore's widow Lucile just six weeks before her death in September of that year. A lovely connection to Moore himself as she held that book briefly, knew Moore of course and therefore connects me. Fanciful thought maybe but that is how history works, by association and direct contact however tenuous.

Thursday 26th September 2024

 

The forecast today was 'a respite from the rain before the next wet spell arrives'. So where to go and what to do on my penultimate day of leave this week? The top option was to go to Bossington near Minehead, ahead of that I checked the three webcams I look at now. Lyme Regis above, Porlock Weir below and Boscastle Harbour below that. Something said to me record each view at around 8.30am. Which I did. As you can see there's not much happening at either place.

Bossington it was then. Somehow we managed to avoid all the rain showers that we could see trundling over Exmoor, just the odd spot on the wind reaching us. There's a lovely cafe in Bossington which did soup with cheese on toast, and unusual combination but delicious. Thereafter a walk up to the coastguard hut on Hurlstone Point, with a return to Bossington via the beach which is where we sat for a while, with four ravens overhead to keep us company.

As we sat we watched the rain barrelling in over from Foreland Head so we decided to head back to the cafe (avoiding the school party on a field trip) where the rain only lasted for a moment, and we were under cover with a hot chocolate and pot of tea. That was the last rain of the day. On the way home we drove to Bossington Hill as we're booked to do a dark skies event there in November. I'd never been up there before but there are stunning views. 

All in all a very good day dodging the rain which has battered many areas between the M4 corridor and Nottinghamshire. Some areas of Oxfordshire and Bedfordshire have had three times the September rainfall amounts in a few days.

Wednesday 25th September 2024

I'm now into the final week of this year long blog. Fitting then that I'm on leave from work to do some interesting things during the final week. Today I was in Wells having lunch at the glorious Good Earth cafe, a cauliflower cheese with a red wine gravy, absolutely delicious. My parents discovered the Good Earth cafe thirty years ago and the quality hasn't changed at all, so I did think I'd record today's menu, on the blackboard.

Home and a flick through the papers, followed by Jane Eyre, the 2011 version on DVD which I bought in the Oxfam shop for £1.99. It was very good indeed. I also bought the Kings Speech and The Way We Live Now, Oxfam did well today while I was on holiday.

Tuesday 24th September 2024

This is most peculiar. On September 11th this year I visited Boscastle in Cornwall for the first time in eleven years. Today I returned to Boscastle, with Julie this time, just 13 days later. The top image is  from an even earlier visit, 10th May 2010. The one below from today. What is remarkable is that the rocks around me in 2010 are identical to 2024. Now if course you'd expect that in geological terms but with all those tourists milling about up there and windy eroding weather you'd expect some change in 14 years. However apart from the change in coat colour and hat, everything looks the same, even the vegetation.

Sadly the improving weather forecast didn't materialise and it remained cloudy for most of the day, except that is when we popped in the Riverside at 3.30pm for a late lunch. While we were in there the sun shone down. After Julie had enjoyed her fish finger sandwich we headed back up the hill to the viewpoint. By the time we'd reached the top the sun had disappeared to be replaced by cloud.

Whatever the weather though, being at Boscastle is perfect.

Monday 23rd September 2024

 

6am outside the bedroom window. Autumn has arrived, this rain is torrential. It was so heavy it woke me up. So quickly does summer recede and in is ushered fallen leaves, dark mornings and RAIN!. Last week was very summertime in feel, this week looks set to bring in turbulence with gales forecast and below average temperatures. In many ways I like this change which always follows the equinox but maybe not during this week, simply because I'm on a week's holiday. Now, where are my wellies then...

Sunday 22nd September 2024

 

Well I've only lived near Weston Super Mare since 1995 and today I visited the Weston Helicopter Museum for the first time. Strictly speaking I didn't visit the Museum, just the cafe. Rewind a week or so, my friend Iris got in touch asking if Julie and I would like to visit this museum as she wanted to take her grandchildren but wasn't sure what it was like (I had to confess I thought it had closed down). We said okay next Sunday. 

Sunday dawned complete with a monsoon, I've not seen rain like it for a long time. Iris arrived at home and we sat chatting, and we sat chatting a bit more as the rain continued, and with every passing hour we felt less inclined to venture out. At 2pm though Iris said what about some lunch? The decision was made to visit the Helicopter Museum cafe so at least Iris knew where it was. And we did. It looks okay, we didn't go inside, just used the cafe, which was at best adequate. 

As a child I used to love going around such museums but they leave me emotionally cold now, though I can see their appeal if you like engineering or aircraft. And watching middle aged blokes wandering about in pilot overalls is entertaining. Interesting yes, though I very much doubt I'll come back, even though it's only 4 miles from home.

Saturday 21st September 2024

 

I've said before how much I like being in bird hides. As I write this it is 14.35 and I'm in the Mere Heath hide on the Shapwick NNR. To get here I crossed the River Brue, strictly speaking a drain. There's some ducks and shorthorn cattle on the right bank. Otherwise it's a quiet Saturday on the Somerset Levels. Julie's walking on to Ham Wall and will fetch me on the way back. Hides though have a very relaxing atmosphere (normally), which I love.

 

They also have a sightings book, this one has a joke, from August. Whoever wrote it needs a new 'hobby' and a 'tern' in an old fashioned music hall. 

Friday 20th September 2024

A sad envelope. Trying to get gardeners for my dad was a troubled affair. Then a couple of years ago I found Louise Parkin through the Garden Guild association.  She didn't do maintenance gardening, but said she'd look after dad's on an ad-hoc basis. And she's made the garden lovely again as she knew her stuff. Sadly I got a text from her recently saying she'd taken on a full time job with an estate and was having to let her clients go. As dad is housebound, she had a key to let herself in and so has returned it. So that's a lovely gardener coming to dad's no more. I really do wish her well, I absolutely understand her need to have regular work. But now need to find a gardener, I doubt I'll find one as nice as Louise. It'll not be easy.

Thursday 19th September 2024

 

I'm feeling my age today. I can be seen here in Studio 1A, recording two Tweet of the Day episodes with Arjun Dutta. Arjun has just sat his finals, Geography at Cambridge and lamenting the fact he is no longer a student. At 21 he's 39 years younger than me, which is sobering. Suzy Robbins was with us (I'll not mention her vintage), the studio manager in Bristol making sure the recording went well. We make a good team, but am I really the oldest person in this image? Well yes, a reminder of time moving on minute by minute.

Before leaving the house though these apples were on top of the wheely-bin, a gift from Harry our neighbour. We rarely chat as, as with most gardens, the six foot fence prevents intimacy. However yesterday he was collecting the apples from a ladder and called down to me as I sat in the garden, "would I like some apples". They look lovely, zero food miles too. The proof will be in the tasting.

Wednesday 18th September 2024

 

Ten years ago I wrote about my ever youthful father celebrating his 83rd Birthday. Today, if my mathematics are good he celebrates his 93rd. Now pretty much housebound he had a lovely day I'm informed. The carers brought him a cake and some cards, and organised a video call with me at 10.30. A lot has changed in those ten years, and mostly not for the better. Looking forward and keeping positive is key.

In the evening I attended an Alliance of Literary Societies (ALS) Zoom meeting with a title Significant People, in relation to the society in question's author. It was really interesting and a good way to learn facts quickly. Ten years ago Scotland was holding it's independence referendum. What happened to that then? Ten years ago I'd not heard of the ALS. Ten years ago my father was simply my father, mum was alive too. A lot has changed in ten short years, like a blink of the eye.

Tuesday 17th September 2024

Julie is away on her mini break at Trebles Holford now. She's staying in an air B&B for the first time and it's lovely apparently, complete with a sauna in the garden. Not my cup of tea but each to their own.

Back home I tried to take a photo of the harvest moon tonight. It's rubbish. 

Monday 16th September 2024

 Even in an exotic rollercoaster life like mine it's good to suggest some days are empty. I was in the office, I'd taken beef and tomato sandwiches in but had eaten these by 11am. At 1.30pm I was hungry so went to Bakersmiths just updating the road. A hot chocolate and sausage roll later I went back to work. In the evening I took part in a Richard Jefferies sub-committee Zoom meeting, then went to bed. It's days like this which makes me giddy.

Sunday 15th September 2024

 

When we went to see Ann she provided a M&S cheese selection for lunch. It was very nice. This afternoon I spotted something very similar in Sainsbury's, virtually the same packaging but more cheese than the M&S version. At £9 I threw caution to the wind and treated myself. It was delicious, accompanied by a vintage cider, gluten free crackers and four hours watching episodes 5-8 of Bleak House on a DVD, I'd watched episodes 1-4 earlier in the week. I class that as a very relaxed afternoon.

Saturday 14th September 2024

 

We normally come to this part of the Quantocks at dusk in the summer to watch nightjars. But today we visited as Julie was a little unsure how to get to Trebles Holford near by. So it was strange to be here mid-day in bright sunshine. A different atmosphere of course, we could see further but Staple Plantation was still as peaceful. I had a book with me so enjoyed reading that for about an hour while Julie went for a walk. Bliss.

Before that though we stopped at the Rocking Horse cafe in the middle of nowhere near Stogumber. The place was packed when we arrived, which considering it's accessible only along narrow single track lanes, is remarkable. A couple of ice creams later I heard music. This turned out to be coming from Stogumber station where the West Somerset Railway was hosting a 1940's weekend. We didn't venture to the station to see what was happening, maybe we should have, as we both like the past. It all goes on around the Quantocks.

Friday 13th September 2024

 I really don't know why I physically come into work these days. I'm writing this at 2.14pm in the afternoon sitting on the ex-BBC Club terrace. My image is reflected in the glass but for all intents and purposes I'm on my own in the site. Where is everyone? Of course I know the answer, but sitting in silence over lunch is so strange. I could have stayed at home. But I had some things to do that are a lot easier in the office. But after a full morning I've only had a brief chat with Polly and said Good Morning to Karl the workplace guy as he crossed the carpark. Actually as I wrote this above Grant Bayliss rang me to ask about Ramblings and where the post should go. That's three people I've interacted with since 9.30. If it gets any busier I may go and lie down - after all, no one will notice if I'm not in the office!

Thursday 12th September 2024

After yesterday's grand tour of Cornwall today I kept a little closer to home, not too close though. After a few jobs in the morning I pootled over to Wells. I've a year pass for the Bishop's Palace gardens but with one thing and another I'd not been since June. The sun was strong as I drove over, by the time I'd arrived rain spots threatened. Those spots became full blown deluges once I'd got into the garden with my take-away hot chocolate. I had no coat.

I took shelter for a while in an archway, watching the rain cascade over the flowerbeds. It was very pleasant just the rain and I. The shower passed, the sun shone, I headed off. I like it here as it's very peaceful. The gardeners must have been very busy this morning as the lawns were striped to perfection. But the place was deserted aside from this modern art installation. I called it Raking Green. Not long after taking this image the deluge returned, this time for a good 20 minutes. I took shelter once more under a yew. Ravens grunted over head, bossing the jackdaws on the Cathedral roof. Next to me was the instrument of grasses torture. And still I had the place to myself. Signs of past activity then, but of the present toil and activity, it remains a mystery.

 

Wednesday 11th September 2024

I watched the 2022 film Fisherman's Friends One and All last night. I'd seen it before but it is a lovely feel-good film. It may have been that or just a general idea but when I woke today I really had an urge to go to Boscastle. I used to go here regularly in the first years I lived down south. It's a two hour drive each way but back then I'd do the trip half a dozen times a year without thinking. Today I hummed and arrr'd over the distance. Then took the decision to go. As it happens I'd not been for over ten years. Until today.

It was worth the drive. The sea was spectacular from the cliff edge. A choppy turquoise Atlantic crashing against black resistant rocks provided a pleasing escape from the everyday. I spent a good hour sitting on a rock just taking in the sights, sounds and aroma of the sea hundreds of feet below me. It was memorising, and very much what I needed to reset my jangled mind. I forgot everything. Despite the village being very busy with day trippers, few people ventured up here on the cliffs to disturb my reverie. I'm very fond of Boscastle.

I wasn't completely alone though. My pen-pal Gideon joined me too. He loved it.