THE CHALLENGE!

Lady M loves champers!

 Hello Everyone,

Lady M here. I, like all I you, watch the news and feel over emotional, afraid, disbelief, sadness and despair. As I wrote last week, I just cannot believe what is happening in the Ukraine 🇺🇦 and my heart goes out to its people who are ‘lost’. Today, I shed tears as I saw a teenager being interviewed in Poland. Her father had spent 24 hours driving her to the border and safety. He was forced to return and fight for his country. They had said goodbye and she does not know if she will ever see him again. What if this were you? Could you bear it? First Covid restrictions and deaths, now this. Sadness permeates the world. We need happiness and positivity in order to survive.

With that thought in mind I am offering you THE CHALLENGE again.

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So what makes you smile? What makes you happy? What do you enjoy? What makes you get up in the morning? What makes your life worthwhile?

Here are Lady M's favourite things that make her smile and decide that life is worthwhile and then she will challenge you. Think about Maria in “The Sound of Music”, when she is sad she thinks of her favourite things and then feels happier.

Tram riding, watching peeps and the world go by and book signing

First, beautiful books. She has the Charles Dickens collected works; the green leather bound edition bought in the early seventies. They were the first items she purchased when she started teaching, She paid for them over a period of time at £2 a month. She has not read all of them yet but they sit on the shelves in her lounge and she adores just looking at them. Then, there are all her other books amassed over the years in her upstairs library. They make her smile each morning. She loves all of her books especially the ones she writes. The proof copies all sit on the shelf by her fireside chair where she can admire them and smile at the achievement. There are peeps who say that books are a waste of money. She says, Philistines!


Then, there are childhood memories. It seems the older she gets the more she remembers them. She was brought up on a hundred acre country estate. Life in such a situation is hectic; always too much to do... livestock, gardens, the country house, land. All always needing attention and it was a case of all hands on deck 24/7. It's only in recent years that she realises how fortunate she was to have that experience and the memories.  Walking in the private woods. Rearing the pheasants (her responsibility!) Later she would hear the shooting and know they had met their fate; that was the way it was. Sitting by the boathouse reading books, (her favourite place.) Her lovely Jack Russell Terrier, Sally. Lambs taking their first bleat. Birthday parties and fun. The annual week's holiday at the seaside. Village life. Brownies. Guides. Sunday afternoon cricket matches. Chorister. Church bells on a Sunday morning. The smell of freshly mowed grass. The hum of the combine harvester.

Watching her father wash sheep here

Plants! In his latter years her father would bring her plants each time he visited. She now spends hours each spring, repotting and taking cuttings to keep his legacy alive. She still has one of the original plants from 1986 which refuses to die. It has been repotted three times, grows, is cut down and then regrows. Such fond memories of a devoted and perfect father. A man she idolised.

Other things which make her smile in her retiring years are the thoughts of ice cream, chocolate, pizza, chips, paninis, wine and more wine! Lattes, sunny days, warmth, jewellery, new clothes, bubble baths, candles, music, flowers, reading, board games, birds chirping in the trees heralding each new dawn, butterflies

What does she enjoy doing? Visiting the cinema, libraries, taking afternoon tea, tram riding, art galleries and museums. She has a thirst for knowledge and loves quizzes, learning anything new. She spends hours watching the pigeons and other feathered species feeding from her bird table. It is strategically placed so that she has the perfect view from her chair.

Food? Yes, please!

Holidays? Yes please. She hates the hassle of airports and getting to places but adores it when she reaches her destination. She loves experiencing foreign cultures. Her favourite place is Paphos and the harbour. It is her second home. Souvenirs? Oh yes. She buys fridge magnets from every place she visits. Then, in the mornings at home she can remember the wonderful places when she staggers to the fridge for milk in her coffee.

   

Paphos sunset

Another thing she likes is her little red car. It lives in its own apartment. Others call them garages. They have travelled many miles together and seen many beautiful sites.

She is a great believer in taking new experiences and adventures.

 

So, now that she has shared her personal delights with you she offers you... THE CHALLENGE!

Until next week, enjoy whatever it is you enjoy and tolerate the rest of your life.

Yours, Lady M 

                                                  

The advancing years of life

                                                              

The famous '70' pic!

Hello Everyone,

It is Tuesday February 22nd, and as usual I am preparing a blog for Friday. I have scrolled down the archives and found this piece which I wrote three years ago. Since then I have turned 70 and experienced, like many others, a milestone birthday in lockdown. Last week, or five minutes after this pic was taken, I experienced my 71st birthday during Storm Dudley. I am still wondering how I got here but know that in another five minutes I will be either pushing up daisies with my sister or celebrating 80 but still wondering how I got there! That is life. Our days are numbered. They drift by, we know not how. One day reality dawns. We are running out of days. The past looks far better through rose-coloured glasses and the future is . . . 

 How many of you can identify with this predicament?

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Lady M still here. She wakes up each morning and checks if she's still alive. Her next thought is how did she get to her late sixties without noticing. Then she ponders over the fact that the big 70 is approaching and hopefully she will get a new lease of energy and life. She will no doubt do what she did at 60; namely knock off the nought! At 70 she will declare herself 7 and vow to behave like a 7 year old.

She usually goes into her library and finds the remote control, presses the ON button and half expects to see solemnity because we have a new monarch. No! How does our Queen manage so much at the age of 93? Then she moves over to her computer and presses another switch to engage herself in modern technology which she does not really understand. It was all so simple in the 1960's. The television had two channels and if you wanted to watch the alternative station someone would have to move to the set and manually switch over to 'the other side'. No recording, catch up, or +1. If you missed the programme you missed it but life continued. Then, there's this computer thing which she is seated at now. The entire world is at her finger tips on this thing called the world wide web. When did that happen and what happens when the web goes down? Chaos and disaster. It was all so simple when everything was done by using pencil or pen and paper. Information? Use the library. 

Everything seems to have speeded up as she has slowed down in her senior years. A modern essential appears to be a mobile/cell phone which is permanently attached to individuals either in the hand for texting or by the ear for conversation. She recalls the excitement of a luxury item appearing in her home... a fridge! A telephone was not even an essential item in her youth. They were items with dials and wires and only usually found in businesses. She remembers seeing her first phones. One was in the little red booth by the Post Office in the village and the two others were at her grandfather's and uncle's places of work. They were black and rarities. 

She still has a Wonder atlas from the fifties which has the new air age on it's cover. Travel by air used to be so exciting. Just visiting an airport was a delight watching the few planes landing and taking over for exotic foreign shores. One dressed up to travel and enjoyed the experience. Now one dresses down and endures it.

There are so many things in the twenty first century which puzzle her or do not seem right. The times have changed but she does have a favourite phrase regarding progress... progress is backward! Alas, away with negativity and let us look at the good things which have evolved from progress. Last weekend was Gay Pride weekend. There's a new term which baffled her LGBTQ's so she looked it up on line (she's learning!) Definition: lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (or questioning). Really? If you fell into one of those categories in her youth you suffered in silence so it is good that our society recognises that individuals should be free to lead a life that suits them without prejudice. She remembers a couple of gentlemen who lived together in the sixties but insisted they were not homosexual. If they had come out of the closet they faced a jail sentence. Although, she finds it strange when a man refers to his husband and a woman refers to her wife. 

Then there have been all these sex scandals which started with Jimmy Savile. He was clearly a sex offender but it was all swept under the carpet. The case seemed to open floodgates for scores of others to come forward and claim they had been sexually assaulted by celebrities in their youth. Now, rape is rape or non-consensual sex and that is definitely a crime and even more serious if with a minor. However, what concerns Lady M is what are all these so called sexual assaults that women are complaining about? Personally, she thinks a lot of it was probably groping or what was known as 'whs' wandering hands syndrome. Some men were well known for having this and it was common practice to grope or place their hands on various parts of a fully clothed female in a social situation or the work place. It was so rife that if you weren't groped you wondered why. It was not against the law then so how can you be prosecuted for it fifty years later? This puzzles her. Are such women just women with grudges or attention seekers? Are the authorities able to sift out the genuine cases? If so, what happened with Sir Cliff?

Last week she watched The Lionesses playing football for England. Women playing football? Traditionally, a man's sport. She didn't even know they had female teams never mind a world cup for it. Females used to play hockey, lacrosse and netball; males played rugby, football and cricket and all was well in her little world. She loves her Songs of Praise on a Sunday but cannot get over the fact that we now have female clergy and even bishops. She made an appointment at her local GP's with a nurse in the practice and was surprised to be seen by a man. She knows it's over 40 years since we had the sex equality act or whatever it was called and it is normal practice but somehow her brain cannot get used to it. 

She frequently remembers her grandmother who was born during the reign of Queen Victoria and even in her last years still acted as if it were the Victorian era. She expressed her horror at the music, the mini-skirts, the permissive era of the sixties and the general changing times. Lady M would say, "Gran, it's the swinging sixties. Everything's groovy and fab." She did not really understand and strongly disapproved of the modern era. 

Oh dear, she thinks she's turned into her grandmother! 

Love to you all, Lady M xxx

                              

Sofia's Choice 1... Her 65th birthday!

Howde Folks,

Yes, it's November and Lady M is going on her jollies or as she would say having a blast and enjoying days of booze, food and snooze in the sun. So, Donald and I have been called away from having fun to bring you some of our favourite posts from the archives. We thought we would begin by reminding everyone of her age. This was first posted almost four years ago when she reached the milestone and decided to wear that tee-shirt so that she could remember how old she was. Haha, Lady M you should have left us having fun!

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Pensioners out there will sympathise with my plight of what to wear for such an occasion. Also, my fear of blinking in case 70 arrives because it does not seem like five years since my 60th birthday. As you see from the above pic I believe in recycling clothes. This was the tee-shirt I purchased for my 60th altered with a highlighter to suit the occasion. Those of you who follow me on Facebook will know that I have found a new place, 'Gelamo's' where there is a selection of ice-creams to die for.

So, when this milestone in my life arrived, how did I spend the day?
In one of my favourite places, Paphos, and with friends. I woke up and sighed in disbelief, opened the curtains to glorious sunshine and view of the harbour. After presents (oh yes, I had warned friends that I would be away and to send gifts early... forward planning on my part) and breakfast I took my stroll along the beach path to the harbour for my daily fix of ice-cream. Just look at that pic. Happy! Happy! Happy! Next, met my dear friend Boris before strolling back to the hotel for lunch.

In the afternoon? Relaxing on the sun-lounger, a little light reading and snooze until the sun went down. Then returned to my room and what did I find?


                                    

Yes, yippee... cake and champagne from The Alexander the Great Beach Hotel. I just love being pampered. Somehow, I managed to eat the cake and drink the champers. Well, it would be rude not to wouldn't it? It was delicious. Sorry folks, too delicious to share.

Then, the final part of the day. Mexican dinner in the restaurant with another special birthday cake and candle. The last part of the day? In the bar. Where else?

So, the perfect Paphos day.

I am now planning the next five years. Milestones are a part of life. How we deal with them is personal choice. Enjoy, weep or ignore.

How do you spend your milestones?

Until next week... be happy and if you have a milestone coming up accept it and try to enjoy it..

Lady M.

                                                       

                                                    

Birthdays!

Hello Everyone,

It's 16th February today so it must be my birthday or rather another one! I cannot believe that it has come round again so quickly. Has it really been 365 days since the last time? We all know it's a sign of old age when birthdays seem to speed up. The pretty pic above was taken two years ago when I was 65 and in Paphos. Have two years slipped by since then? Seven years ago I celebrated my 60th in Paphos when a kind friend found the comment about 'pushing 60'.

Now I'm thinking to myself, I'm dragging 60 and pushing 70. In another decade or five minutes I'm either going to be pushing 80 or pushing up daisies. So, guess I should make the most of every minute that's left. What have I done since I hit 60? Published three books, visited new places, enjoyed  holidays and discovered the privileges of being a senior citizen. So, I've not been idle but there are still things to do and tomorrow is not promised to us. Three years to 70 and before then I have another book to share with the world and another two to write. I would like to move house. Not sure where I'm going but when it's right or if it's meant to be it will happen. They say the devil makes work for idle hands but I don't intend mine remaining idle. Today, I'm getting used to the idea, looking at the cards and slowly recovering from the last weeks in Cyprus. Tomorrow...

So birthdays, what are they? They are those annual events that take forever to arrive when you are a child but somehow speed up with age. The psychologists say that it is because we gain experiences with age and consequently have far more to occupy our minds which makes it seem as if time is passing by more quickly. But that does not explain why we look forward to them in childhood and grow to dislike them as we grow older. There are those milestones... 30...40...50...60 and if you are still around 70...80...90? If you are a UK resident the next decade is really exciting because if you make it to 100, a century you get a telegram from the Queen or reigning monarch. So, does your aim in life simply become the urgent desire to hit the three figure number for the joy and satisfaction of receiving a special card on that birthday and each subsequent one, if you make it?

As time goes by you tend to change without noticing. Appearance, thinking, behaviour, attitude, and then there's that awful day when you begin using phrases like, 'when I was younger', 'not in my day' or 'oh no I'm turning into my mother'. 

When you were a child there were lots of presents and cards and a party with a cake and party games and you were growing up, another year nearer, into that wonderful world of adulthood where everything seemed to be wonderful. No one telling you what to do, money of your own, allowed to drink and go out as you pleased. It was going to be fantastic. Then, after waiting forever the day arrives and suddenly the picture has changed. It has turned into a life of work, bills, problems and responsibility and you yearn for those carefree childhood days again. 

So, what are the joys of birthdays? Why do we wish each other 'Many happy returns of them'? How do we spend them? Parties? Family celebrations? Do you STILL look forward to them? Do you still enjoy them? Do you still look forward to cards and presents? Do your family spoil you? Do you spend them on your own? Which was your best and most memorable birthday? Which was your worst? Would you care to share your memories and/or views of that annual event?

Love to you all, from an ancient Lady M xxxx