How to Make Compost To Bring Joy and Save Money
A few years back I’d never have dreamed of writing on this topic. Now I am the proud owner of five compost bins. What’s more amazing is that I see this as the bare minimum of what we need for…
Why You Need To Swedish Death Clean: A Cautionary Tale
I’m going to ‘fess up now. I’ll admit that I haven’t read ‘The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning’ myself. Maybe I will some day. But I’ve heard enough about the book to get the gist of what it’s about.…
Retirement Life In the Week Ended 30 December 2024
I’ve spent week number three in Essex looking after the oldies. I’ve survived well for someone who thought that they were on a whistle stop visit and only brought two changes of underwear! I won’t be making that mistake again.…
How To Invest Time In Your Health Just After Retirement
When we retire a lot of us decide that we’re going use some of that extra time that we have to get fitter and healthier. It might be that during our working lives we were too frazzled to focus on…
Little Squares et al: My Love Affair With Mosaicking
Here’s one that I made earlier. It was an entry for the Channel 4 programme Grayson’s Art Club Series 3 Episode 4. The theme was ‘In My Head’. I wanted to show what went through my mind while I was…
Retirement Life in the Week Ended 22 December 2024
Another week in Essex away from all my Devonian chores. Ho hum! I’m missing out on festive celebrations and won’t be going home for the big day itself. For all sorts of logistical reasons Paul isn’t coming here. It’s a…
The Green Owl: Has Duolingo Made Language Learning Simple?
I’ve rather fallen in love with Spain because of its food, scenery and marvellously chilled population. We now visit in our motorhome at least once a year, often for a whole month. This is a shot that I took on…
Reflections On Being A Long Distance Carer: A Personal Perspective
Like many other people who have taken early retirement. I’m the main carer for my Mum and Dad. However my situation is complicated by the fact they live 250 miles away from Devon. Getting to my old childhood home in…
Retirement Life in the Week Ended 15 December 2024
How’s it going for you guys? At the start of the week I thought that I was going to make a quick trip back to Essex. Mum and Dad needed to sign paperwork for their house sale. But it was…