Slightly festive greetings

September 2025

Christmas is a low key affair at Lola Towers - I turned down all invitations, although some lovely friends just said I could turn up and join them if I want. I planned some nice meals, lined up some films, took four books out of the library and didn't get dressed or speak to a living soul all day. Bliss.

The week leading up to the holiday was just like usual - went to a film with Nameless Man, spent a day with a friend from Nottingham, Muscles put me through my paces, and despite reservations I returned to Monday badminton and had a great time. Phew. At mum's we continue to go through the contents of the two rooms that need to be cleared out to accommodate me. Mum is glad to be doing it; I find throwing things away or recycling them cathartic. The dehumidifier has been set up in the kitchen.

I advertised my huge bookcase and the first person who expressed an interest didn't turn up and stopped responding to emails, the second sent a very apologetic message that after measuring again it was actually too big, and the third didn't respond when I came back to them. I'll give it another go after Christmas.

As I was loading up the photo I took of the bookcase for the online listing, I noticed a large patch of damp on the wall - I hadn't seen it at all when I was taking the photo or using the room. I still had the dehumidifier at that point so I set that going for a couple of days and the patch has faded somewhat. It might be a one-off because there's an air brick on the other side of the wall, but it might be just one more thing that needs sorting out.

Last event of the season was a very cold Boxing Day walk around Kenilworth Castle, with blue skies and sunshine followed by homemade mince pies, treacle tarts and mulled non-alcoholic wine. And so ends another Christmas.

Another year ended

Buda palace, December 2022

Happy New Year to all my 30 or so readers. If you've been waiting for an invitation to let me know who you are, please do write me a comment! I'm intrigued.

Anyway, the old year ended with a few lovely events and a couple that weren't so much fun. I managed to achieve a blood donation, the 49th that is recorded with the service (although I'm pretty sure that a few in the early days have been missed). Then there was my initiation into the Invisalign system which is going to straighten my teeth with the aim of preventing them falling out and helping to reduce the chronic refractory periodontitis. However, one tooth is already scheduled for extraction in January, and both the orthodontist and periodontist are pessimistic about another one, and I'm starting to think they might be right. I have many, many appointments to come so if you are a fan of teeth you will find much to enjoy in the next 18 months.

Among the happier events, Pat the dog has come to stay again, this time for a whole week without respite because the training centre is closed. This is the longest time that I've been the primary carer for any living being. She is a sweet dog and getting on well with her training too, and she would very much like me to play with her now but I am writing this instead, so she has just settled herself on the floor and emitted a sigh of resignation.

I joined Lola II and Mr M for Christmas for a change, and went to see 'It's a Wonderful Life' with them on Christmas Eve, For several years they have gone for a lunchtime walk and picnic with a group of friends on Christmas Day, so that's what we did. The day included a Secret Santa event (with gifts costing no more than £3), the playing and singing of carols, supper, and pass the parcel. I'm not sure what my perfect Christmas would be, but despite this involving much more interaction with other people than I would wish it was actually pretty good. Thank you Lola II and Mr M.

Between Christmas and New Year, apart from the blood donation and Pat the dog, I had a visit from a chap to fix the induction hob after it was previously fixed. Poor UJ had dropped a heavy cast iron pot lid on it and cracked the glass - as I returned home she met me at the front door to tell me that something dreadful had happened, and I thought it was some awful calamity involving Russian missiles and family in Kyiv, so when it was just cracked glass it felt quite trivial in comparison. Anyway, the repair man came and replaced it with very little fuss, and if I had paid more attention the first time then a second visit wouldn't have been necessary. The problem was a mismatch between the markings on the glass and the touch activation, so that I had to touch the controls about 1 cm to the right of the marking. Fixing this took the second repair man about 5 minutes.

I had the option to go to the Buddhist Centre for New Year's Eve, but I couldn't quite face the uncertainty of taking Pat with me not knowing how she would behave, so I just watched a film and read a book and had a quiet time. I took advantage of Pat's presence by arranging walks with five different friends - one of them after Pat had gone because we were both too busy beforehand.

And Ilf came for another day of helping out with things that need drilling, painting and/or two people, including hanging pictures, fixing the downstairs toilet door and the verandah outside, and a bit of painting. I did all the necessary cleaning following Pat's visit, although all her bedding is still in the boot of the car ready to go to the launderette. All is shipshape again and looking good for 2023.

Pat the dog

Budapest

Memorial in grounds of Great Synagogue, Budapest, December 2022

It was a lovely trip with my two friends A & S, ostensibly to visit the Christmas markets as we had done in previous years in Dusseldorf and Munich. I didn't make any notes as I went along, and it now feels like it was ages ago, so I'll probably have forgotten some of the best bits, but hey! blogging is supposed to be fun, not work.

We flew on Friday and came back on Monday - Friday and Saturday were very wet; Sunday and Monday were very cold. The line for taxis at the airport was so long that we took the bus to the hotel, which was modern and in a convenient location although it took me two nights to work out how to turn the heating down. After we arrived on Friday we had a quick foray into the nearest market, but because of the pouring rain we were lucky to find a café with space indoors for us. Budapest, like Madeira, doesn't generally cater for vegetarians, but the soups were terrific. Luckily I like soup, and this was the first good one: garlic cream soup with croutons.

We started on Saturday with a wet walk along the river as far as the poignant memorial to the shooting of the Jews in 1944 on the bank of the Danube. After another foray into the Christmas markets A and I joined a pretty good walking tour while S went off to the thermal baths. The tour was of the Jewish quarter, although being Saturday the synagogues weren't open to tourists; we returned to the Great Synagogue on Sunday. The tour ended in a 'ruined bar' which was an extraordinary space comprising many rooms and many bars with glitter balls, interesting lighting, plants, repurposed furniture including chairs made from a bath tub and a piano among other things, and covered with graffiti, which was encouraged.

That evening we went to a restaurant that had been recommended and which had very peculiar decor including upside down model buildings stuck to the ceiling, mannequins, and an inexplicable model plane. Soup: mushroom with strips of egg and smoked quails eggs - another triumph.

On Sunday the rain stopped but the temperature dropped. The famous Chain Bridge was closed for renovation so after visiting the synagogue and lunch (pumpkin soup) we walked across a less interesting bridge to the Buda side. We rode up to the palace via the funicular railway and visited the labyrinths that had been formed by underground water and then repurposed for storage and various other activities over the years. Bean and smoked tofu soup was wonderful for dinner - I can barely remember any of the main courses but the soups stood out.

I learned quite a bit about the history of Hungary especially in relation to the second World War; if we'd stayed longer I'd have liked to go on one of the other walking tours that focused on Communism in Hungary. We were reminded that Mr Rubik of the cube was Hungarian, as were Theodore Herzl (father of modern Zionism), Tony Curtis's father, Estee Lauder and Harry Houdini. On Monday we finished our business in various markets, punctuated by the need to go indoors to warm up every couple of hours. We were concerned that the cold snap in the UK might close Birmingham airport, but everything was fine and even the trains were running.

Interior of 'ruined bar'

Scooting and gaming

View from Funchal botanic gardens, November 2022

Coming back to collect the car after my trip to Madeira I helped mum to make her first excursion on the mobility scooter, down at the park at the bottom of the road. She has since made further forays and reports that so far she is not enjoying the experience at all. The pavements in the neighbourhood are not well maintained and  the hill is steep so she constantly feels as though she will tip off. Nevertheless she is persisting and I hope it will become easier with practice.

Back at home UJ's residence permit arrived, and she has returned (via Lisbon) to Kyiv where her parents still live - I think she has been missing friends and family a great deal. She wants to persuade her parents to move to Poland where they have access to an apartment for the winter, given the harsh conditions that a Ukrainian winter without reliable electricity will bring.

Then I went to Mr MXF's Christmas party. Despite doing very little for him in a highly sporadic and unreliable manner, I was still invited to lunch at a very nice pub followed by board games at a Games Café, where there was much merriment and where Mr MXF's daughter won everything there was to be won, although she had an advantage as she had played most of the games before. Mr MXF has since reassured me that what I've been doing has actually been very profitable...

Somehow time has become a scarce commodity as it's been a week since I returned from a long weekend in Budapest and nothing written beyond brief notes. I've been turned away from a blood donor session because apparently Madeira presents a risk of tropical infection that requires a 28-day wait before donation can be accepted, so I've rebooked for just after Christmas. But I even skipped badminton last night because I just needed to go to bed early, so the account of Budapest will have to wait until next time.

Orchids growing wild in Madeira

Happy New Year holiday

Yarcombe, January 2022 (Photo credit: L from family JJL&J)

Happy New Year to my very few but dedicated readers. There's been a break in transmission, not so much because of the holidays but because of a rare interlude when I just haven't felt like sitting down and writing.

One of the reasons may be that some time ago I developed a low-key but significant pain in my left arm (intermittently from forearm to neck), which in the last few days has prevented me from lying down comfortably in almost any position. After ignoring it for as long as possible, it has now become important to work out what is going on, and with only a moment's consideration, I feel fairly sure it's because of how I've been sitting at the computer. Today I switched the mouse to the other side, and more importantly I replaced the exercise ball I've been sitting on with my proper computer chair. My new posture feels much better, so fingers crossed that this is reflected in a less hurty arm.

Christmas with friends in Nottingham was lovely, and I have become a convert to the strange yet delicious combination of champagne and advocaat for Christmas morning, which effectively softens the focus for much of the rest of the day. I'm not a fan of either champagne or advocaat on their own, so it was quite a surprise to find that they taste rather good together. A lot of cheese was given and received, Christmas dinner was at a local curry house, and there's really no more to say about that holiday.

There was uncertainty over whether we could get together for New Year in Devon until the very last minute. Thankfully we went ahead - we were a party of 15 housed in a majestic Grade II listed manor house said to have been owned by Sir Francis Drake. It has been updated since the 16th century and was generally warm with plenty of baths, toilets, showers and hot water, which are the essentials of a comfortable holiday in mid-winter. 

Sheafhayne Manor (Photo credit Mr M)

It was also enormous - 11 bedrooms, 4 staircases, a large lounge, a small lounge and a games room with full size snooker table as well as a huge dining room (with piano), kitchen and many pantries and store cupboards and utility rooms and outbuildings... There was also enough crockery and cutlery for about 100 people, and two working dishwashers. We even discovered a huge 'ballroom' at a lower level containing further delights which we didn't really make use of, what with having plenty of space and things to do in the main house. If I were forced to criticise anything it was that the lighting was a little underpowered for my elderly requirements. Some might complain that the internet access didn't extend beyond the lounge, but that was fine with me. 

In the olden days on holiday with this group of friends there was usually some discussion in the evening about the next day's walk, and a time to set off was determined which might be as early as 9 a.m. ahead of an all-day walk, sometimes requiring a packed lunch and returning home as it was getting dark. Perhaps because we are older, lazier or just simply enjoying a relaxing holiday together two and a half years after having booked it, we tended to get out at around 10.30 a.m. and the walks relied quite heavily on a lunch stop at a pub. 

Disappointingly, on nearly every day where a pub was involved, there was a problem - food was being served only to those who had booked ahead, there was no food at all, the pub was closed. Outside the tourist season it seems that one has to be more organised if one wants to eat, and organisation was not something that bothered us much that week. The weather was also rather warm and quite wet, and therefore extremely muddy until the final day. Views were hindered by mist, and we were definitely not as fit as we used to be. But walking with friends is something that warms my heart, so I enjoyed it all.

Cooking has also changed slightly over the years. We still divide up the evening meals so everyone is responsible for one day, but in the past each team has focussed solely on their day's cooking, and mountains of leftovers accumulate throughout the week. This led to me taking on the task on the last evening to combine everything remaining into a mammoth soup alongside leftovers that couldn't be included (e.g. cheese and biscuits). This time each successive cooking team not only took account of what remained in the fridge, but also made much more appropriate quantities, so I nearly had to buy more provisions to make sure we had enough for soup at the end.

Photo credit: Mr M

Highlights: spending quality time with my lovely friends, the Bucket Game we played after dinner on New Year's Eve which successfully kept us all awake until midnight, and the Key Lime Pie made by Bee Lady 2 (yes, Mr MXF and BL2 were among the company). BL2 estimated the quantity required based on four times the amount she would make for her family of four. Fifteen of us managed to eat just half the amount she had made. I was very impressed to see family JJL&J's daughter (L) eating some of it for breakfast. I thought that was something that only a Lola would do.

Lola II and Mr M very much enjoyed the entertainment provided by more talented company playing their favourite tunes on the piano. I participated in the joint jigsaw puzzles, the first being relatively straightforward and the second being the most fiendishly difficult puzzle I have ever encountered - Starry Night by Van Gogh with every one of the thousand pieces a different and non-traditional shape. I was presented with it to take home, but most of the completed sections disintegrated on the journey and it's taken me over a week just to get back to where we were, about two thirds complete.

I've done a lot of catching up since coming home and nothing of significance except supporting mum to help dad through a nasty bout of illness (not Covid). There's been quite a lot of Buddhist stuff, badminton, walking, jigsaw puzzling and generally enjoying the life of leisure. Next week I'll definitely get back in the saddle with Mr MXF, especially as working at the computer is so much more comfortable now.

Lyme Regis (Photo credit Mr M)