Friday, 2nd. October 2026

I must admit to slight worries about my health. I know there is a tendency for people who monitor various health metrics at home to perhaps feel concerned when they see readings that are out of the ordinary, but I like to think I am not one of them. Unusual readings might just be outliers. However, if they continue for some time even I would start to be concerned. So, although my blood pressure and vascular health are not in the range of their usual ‘optimal’ or ‘normal’ I am not concerned, hoping and assuming they will return to normal in a few days.

So, now that I have got health out of the way, it is a fine late-summer day out there: sunny with a clear blue sky and very few clouds and a gentle breeze. Autumn is not here yet! Temperatures are due to rise to around 20 degrees celsius this afternoon – very pleasant. I shall be in town before noon to meet up with my mother, but then home immediately after. I started the month worrying about how I was going to pay all of my bills as September was a particularly draining month financially. So conversation in the pub is out of the question. I don’t mind that; I will miss the conversation but not the beer so much, especially if I want to get my good health back on track!

I have a lot of catching up with friends to be getting on with, especially my good friend diagnosed recently with stage-4 cancer. I must take time out to write to them. When I say write to them I mean, of course, email. Sadly, the days of writing letters and posting them are long gone. I have many fond memories of receiving letters in the post. For example, I remember a certain excitement at receiving a Par Avion letter from my girlfriend – who was at the University of Nice for a year – on airmail paper of course. I probably thought less about it at the time than I do now, but even back then I thought it was somehow special. Emails are ten-a-penny – and finding the good stuff amongst all the junk is not easy! Finding a hand-written letter amongst the junk mail on the front door mat is much easier. Or should I say, was much easier.