Getting on with the New Year

Susan and I were talking about life, our lives and how time runs through your fingers like water, you think you have forever but you don’t. Looking at my daughter and her family, there is so much I still want to do with them, experience with them and be with them but they are in Australia, a dream, reality is the wiser.

I cooked an Indian dish a few nights ago. All plant-based, no meat, the Australians need to know that. Beans, chickpeas and the usual for an Indian dish. After eating it I did say to Jenson, “It does get stuck in your throat”, it cannot be good. Claudia would say, not enough sauce, one can never have enough sauce.

Speaking of Matilda, I asked her what are the most popular names in Australia. It turns out that, you thought Bruce, you are wrong, Oliver then Henry. That astonished me. Girls name then, wrong again, Sheila is not that popular, Olivia and then Kai. How little I understand them down under.

They always say, “Time changes things” but, you actually have to change them yourself. They also say “Do what you love and the money will follow". I just had a bottle of wine, a steak supper and watched TV. Now I wait.

Travel plans ahead. February sees us chancing the Euro Tunnel in search of the road to Brugge in Belgium, we have to navigate the French section on our journey. Michael has offered to drive on the French side of the road, I will drive to the tunnel. What’s in Brugge you might ask, well the canals have for centuries been the veins of the city, winding through Bruges and treating you to another magnificent view around every bend. Then there is the Chocolate museum and shops, Brugge is famous for its chocolate. Cathedrals, museums and markets are all there for the seeing. Should be fun and the weather is kind to us. 

In April there is a trip planned to Yorkshire and we meeting Lauren and Robert for a weekend away. I might add, that this is in the planning stage, dates and destinations could change. 

Then it is on to the  C2C, Sea to Sea adventure. Most people think the C2C is Coast to Coast but not so, the route is called the Sea to Sea, C2C. Four days of cycling between the Irish Sea to the North Sea. Setting off from the Lake District and ending somewhere near Newcastle in June. 202 km and the cyclists are hoping to do it in 2 days, that is achievable but it is those elevations that will take its toll. We must also remember to uphold the tradition of the C2C with the cyclists dipping their back wheels in the Irish Sea at the start of the journey and their front wheels in the North Sea when they finish.

Michael Faraday - (1791 – 1867)

The modern world is inconceivable without this son of a blacksmith and his meticulous, relentless brain who made breakthroughs in the understanding of electricity, changed the technology by which we live and contributed to our theoretical understanding of the forces underpinning the universe. Faraday also devoted his life to spreading the understanding of science into public life via his lectures at the Royal Institution.

Your hair dryer, your television, your car. All these things and most of what we use in our daily lives, comes from Faraday’s understanding of electricity, in essence, without his discoveries, we would not have them. Well not exactly, someone else would have discovered them but he was the pioneer. The other little-known fact is the simple way we teach our students today. In his day they just taught them everything together. He realised that we need to separate all this teaching into groups, ie. Mathematics, History, Science etc. He advocated teaching in ‘Subjects’. Something we take for granted today.

Birthdays

Captain Ben is celebrating his birthday today 21st January - Happy birthday Captain Ben. May the seas treat you kindly and the waves catch your board perfectly.

Susan, otherwise known as Granny Susie Pie, GSP is having her birthday on the 28th January. Yes, she was born in the Lunar Year of the Tiger. Susan is in London for the day but we will celebrate when she is back, hopefully, the trains will be on time and there will be no leaves on the track. Susan is now a firm devotee of Yoga and Pilates, goes to her country club, David Lloyds, 4 times a week and the instructors actually phone her if she does not arrive. Needless to say, they are now all good friends and tailor their classes to suit her. I must admit, she does look good in the latest fashion and yoga outfits, I am sure the sponsors are taking a good look at making her a sponsorship offer.

Just a snippet of information regarding Pilates. 

Pilates was developed by Joseph Pilates in 1914. He called it Contrology. Pilates said that the inspiration for his method came to him during World War I, while he was being held at the Knockaloe internment camp in the Isle of Man. Pilates spent four years there, working on his fellow internees, developing his method of a system of exercises intended to strengthen the human mind and body, believing that mental and physical health were interrelated.

Kingston Lacy and the Snowdrops

To end all this rambling, we have just returned from a ramble around the gardens of Kingston Lacy. The news is out, the snowdrops are flowering and half of Dorset was there. Well, I say the snowdrops are flowering, actually just started, give it a week or two and they will be in full bloom. We had an ulterior motive for travelling to Wimborne, for breakfast. We did have our morning swim, no rain, light wind and light clouds welcomed us. The weather was kind but the water is not that welcoming, 7 degrees C and quite murky. Not for the faint-hearted, thinking more of Gary and Matilda, they would not cope. 

Getting back to breakfast, Susan decided after much thought, the Little Pickle was our breakfast venue. I had the breakfast bap, a good amount of bacon and runny eggs, all washed down with a drinkable coffee. Susan had smashed Avocado on sourdough toast topped with two poached eggs and salad, looked very tasty, not sure if salad would be my choice for breakfast but who am I to judge? 

To sum up. If you planning on going to see the snowdrops, wait a week or two.

Getting on with the New Year

It is the Lunar New Year on the 29th January and is called the Year of the Wood Snake, why? Research has pulled up some interesting facts. 

The Chinese zodiac is a 12-year cycle that links each year to an animal sign. The 12 animal signs are Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog and Pig. The order of the animal signs is fixed, with the Snake being sixth in the cycle, hence the Year of the Snake in 2025. Last year, 2024, was the Year of the Dragon and 2026 is the Year of the Horse. Clever but there is more.

Each year also corresponds to one of the five basic elements in Chinese cosmology, namely Metal, Wood, Water, Fire or Earth, creating a 60-year cycle. There is more but I decided not to bore you any longer, you can look it up if you want but I think it gives us a good idea why it is called the Year of the Snake. So fellow reader, Happy Year of the Snake.

Too end. Some random images that are both true and sad. The cats are AI.