Travelling East

The travellers depart

Sally left me (for a while)
In February 2019 Sally set off to travel almost 2,000 miles away from Saltaire to Saint Petersburg in Russia. Then she’ll go a further 440 miles to Moscow, not to mention a further 3,790 milles to Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia and finally a further 725 miles to Beijing in China. Almost 5,000 miles in total….mostly by train…. All being well she’ll fly back home after her adventure of a lifetime, inspired by her pal Maggie’s dream to travel on the Trans-Siberian railway. Sometimes dreams come true. I’m holding the fort and experiencing the adventure by proxy via WhatsApp and texts.

To the East and back.... Amy's Japanese adventure, savoured by proxy

Big world, small world
In some ways the world is a small place, given that pictures and voices can travel almost instantaneously via cyber-routes. But in other ways, the distances between countries are still very great and geographical features still have to be traversed by foot, bicycle, car, train, boat, plane…. Maggie’s daughter, Amy, recently worked in Japan and brought back recipes (and prezzies) to expand my palate and tell tales that illuminated Japanese culture. The last time I experienced Sally leaving me for so many nights was when she completed her medical elective in Mysore, South India – that was about 5,000 miles away, as well….

Carpe Diem
But seizing the day is what it’s all about, I suppose. Birthdays, Easter, Bonfire Night, Armistice Day, Christmas, New Year, Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter, St George’s Day (aka Shakespeare’s birthday….) If an opportunity presents itself, as E M Forster declared in A Room with a View:

By the side of the everlasting Why there is a Yes – a transitory Yes if you like, but a Yes.

Memories are made of this.

The everlasting Yes
Sally said Yes to Maggie’s madcap dream and there they are, on the banks of the River Neva, visiting St Isaac’s cathedral and the Nevsky Prospect, attending the ballet at the Mariinsky Theatre and downing several shots of vodka….

One element of this year's "birthday season" for Amy.... carpe diem! Declare the Everlasting YES!

Wasted time....

Ben Whishaw as Richard II in the BBC's Hollow Crown series.
Credit: http://grancontessa.tumblr.com/post/120927108205

I wasted time, and now doth time waste me….

Richard II’s words (above) are poignant reminders to Seize the Day. Minutes pass, as do hours, days, weeks, months and years. I am approaching my second anniversary of being retired from full-time teaching and Easter (for me) has always been a good time of year to reflect on the past, present and future. What has happened since retiring? Have I wasted the time?

Five a month

Five a month? Tick!

In my first blog, I recklessly stated that I hoped to be achieving five posts a month by August 2016. I have been doing that now since August 2015 so today (no April Fool, this, or maybe I’m an April Fool for writing it in a public space….) I’m turning to my next medium-term retirement goal which is to work more systematically on longer pieces of writing, in addition to the blog. Therefore from today onwards (April 1st 2016) every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday from waking to 1pm I’ll be in the study calling myself a “writer.” As in,

Hello, I used to be a teacher but I retired from that and now I’m a “writer”.

I hope by April 2018 I won't feel the need to put "writer" in inverted commas. Two years from now. April 2018. I'm giving myself two years. In my life I've always measured Real Change by the span of two years passing before you can think of a change as embedded.

Why not be a “writer” every Tuesday too?

Tuesday is going to be Domestic Day. “Big shop” at the supermarket for the week, hoovering, mopping and ironing – my weekly chores…. And of course the Tuesday visit to Slimming World, as announced in a January blog. I’ve got my “You’ve lost a stone and a half” certificate now. And I am still enjoying (a lot of) food, wine and plenty of treats. So something has clicked for me after three decades of ignoring the pounds piling on – thanks, Slimming World!

So doth time waste me in retirement?

Not if you count:

• better quality time spent with family and friends 
• decluttering over thirty years of teaching resources
• learning to sleep better, eat better and get more exercise
• fragments of the glimpses of the inklings of feeling a little bit like a “writer” (in inverted commas for now.) 

I have a (treasured gift of a) bowl with a message painted into the pattern. It sums up this blog entry, an answer to Richard II’s self-pity: The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.