We held our inaugural regular Probus lunch meeting this week.

It was a very pleasant, informal occasion, held at the Coach and Horses pub at West Park in Harrogate, overlooking the formerly beautiful West Park Stray.

There was a good turnout for this first occasion, eight members in total. A very enjoyable couple of hours partaking of drinks (alcoholic and non-alcoholic), eating a snack (or in a few cases a slap-up lunch), and shooting the breeze.  There is no agenda, no speaker (just speakers!).

As usual the topics we covered ranged far and wide. It never ceases to amaze me how Probus members have such varied work and life experiences, and are very willing to share them. Safe to say that there were NO awkward silences!

These meetings take place on the fourth Wednesday every month at The Coach and Horses from 12 noon onwards. Our next meeting will be on March 25^th. Come along if you’ve got a spare couple of hours! One or two of those attending didn’t want to go home!

I’ve recently had a couple of excellent Probus walks – not actually the real thing, like our regular fortnightly walks, but the preparation for leading one of them.

Known as ‘reccies’, or reconnoitres, apparently from an obsolete french word meaning to ‘explore’, Bill and I recently stretched the term from ‘explore’ to ‘wander’!

As it’s very early in the year to be travelling far afield, Bill settled on a circular walk starting at the village of Timble, and we duly set off.

Certainly there was plenty of mud, not just as it usually is around the gates to fields, where cattle churn up the ground something rotten, but everywhere! We made our way across muddy fields, along muddy tracks, down towards the river Washburn.  The river was in spate, and I guess going down to a river when it’s been raining is not the brightest idea, though the mud was getting better (or maybe we were just getting used to it)! The path along the river bank was OK, but here we broke an unwritten rule about reccies – concentrate!

We had relaxed into our usual banter about current affairs, Probus matters, family events etc etc. Doing one of our regular checks (where are we, where next etc.) we realised that we’d overshot a turn that we should have taken away from the river by about a mile!

Another unwritten rule is that it may be better to retrace than try to bluff your way in the general direction you were supposed to be headed! (Plan the walk and then walk the plan).

Well we decided that we knew better, and climbed up a long and winding track before heading back towards our planned course. We passed an interesting landmark (Dob Park Lodge, pictured) – that wasn’t on our plan – but failed to connect with our original planned course. Made another mid-course correction, found a new track that eventually led us to a signpost claiming to lead back to Timble, and it did!

Instead of a 5 to 6 mile walk, we actually had covered 8 miles, and by the end we were genuine wrecks!

In our defence, at no point were we ‘lost’, maybe just a bit ‘geographically-misplaced’. And the weather was lovely!

Not discouraged, we arranged to do a follow up reccie a few days later to iron out the few little difficulties that we had encountered in reccie 1. A positive start led us from Timble along the river to the Dob Park packhorse bridge. So far, so good. We had a revised plan that led us back in the general direction of Timble, but on the other side of the river. Apart from the very impressive amounts of mud we encountered in a few fields, no problems. What could go wrong?

The last section of the walk from the river to Timble could have been achieved by repeating the outward route, but in the reverse direction, but that’s too easy for experienced walkers like Bill and I.

We negotiated, even oscillated, across fields, never quite finding the planned route- but being quite close to it, only requiring yet another slight adjustment.  We startled a few pheasants, and even a hare! We had to clamber over a few field gates, and then we were back in Timble!

So this saga shows the importance of determination and stamina in conquering any little issues encountered during a reccie. (and maybe focusing on the job in hand and reading the map a bit more closely!)

The real walk is next Tuesday – we’re quietly confident about the walk, and this time we’re going to have a fine lunch at The Timble Inn at the end of it!

Nice time of year, full of positive vibes (apart from the election, of course.)

Loads of Probus social events for Probus members and their wives/partners/ friends. Lots of food, of course (and some alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages.)

I’ve lost count of the events with food and drink that I’ve taken part in – and we haven’t reached Christmas yet!

• The club Christmas lunch was well attended and with lovely chatter and food
• The Probus carol concert had some great brass-band driven carols (and buffet)
• The biennial Christmas walkers’ lunch at William and Vic’s was a spectacular success – another 4 hour lunch. It’s a tribute to the 11 of us that we still have the stamina for such an activity!
• The traditional Probus walker’s lunch (it’s the lunch that’s traditional, not the walkers!) after a walk through the Fountain’s estate was excellent.
  • Our walk was notable mainly for having to walk past a line of pheasant shooters in the Valley of the Seven Bridges. They stopped (briefly) as we passed them, and we were ‘treated’ to the sight of birds plummeting to earth and being picked up by the gun dogs! Not a common experience.
  • The food at The Chequers pub was notable for its usual excellence in newly and beautifully decorated surroundings

OK there have to be some Christmas gripes.

• Why does sellotape for Christmas parcels have to be so thin that it’s really difficult to use, requiring constant re-establishing where the end of the roll is?
• Why does a fault that develops in your Pay TV have to wait for Christmas to materialise?
• Why are Christmas tree lights so complicated? They used to rely on all lights working correctly – if one failed, none of them would work. Now it seems that they have a huge number of settings – from always on to flashing at various frequencies. I had to rely on a visiting grand-daughter to fix it so that they didn’t flash all the time, driving me crazy (er)!
• Why are some websites so difficult to use (while others are wonderful)?
  • I’m now the proud owner of two pairs of new trousers of the same colour, rather than two of different colours that I thought I’d ordered!
  • Actually I like them, so maybe Google (or similar) knows better than I do as to what colour would suit me best? (Big Brother/Mother)

Happy Christmas!

It must be getting near Christmas-time. The calendar is filling up with Probus events of all sorts(and a few non-Probus).

Our Christmas Probus lunch earlier this week was very enjoyable. A great bunch of members, their partners and guests enjoying some excellent food and a chance to win the bottles of fine wine and some pretty fine chocolates in the raffle. A happy start to the festivities. The weather was lovely as we arrived, with a gorgeous blue sky, but it deteriorated by the end of the meal towards a seasonally appropriate early sunset.

Conversations with my sister in Western Australia establish that she’s ‘perspiring’ in 42 degrees heat, hiding away in her home or in air-conditioned shopping malls. I’m diplomatically sympathetic to her plight, but inwardly a bit jealous. Australia does seem to have extremes of temperature at very odd times, with huge bush fires adding to the heat in many States.

Over here Christmas continues with our Probus walkers’ Christmas lunch on Monday, much awaited as the previous two in the last twelve months (we have a very flexible view about when Christmas actually is) were so enjoyable, raucous, fun. A bit Dickensian, perhaps (I’m imagining that bit, I’m not that old)

Then it’s on to the Probus Carol concert on Wednesday – another traditional gathering with half a brass band providing the music for our efforts at singing. And it’s still a fortnight to go until Christmas day!

We do have our Christmas Probus walk around Fountains Abbey on December 19th (with excellent food (especially the desserts) at The Chequers’ Inn).

Then there won’t be much time to fit in the inevitable present buying for the family.

Thank goodness for the late opening of petrol stations with their small shops – life savers for busy retired men!

Happy Christmas!

I’ve just come back from a short holiday in Fuerteventura. It’s lovely to get away for some warm weather, just when our own is going to pot (or more strictly to autumn!)

There are lots of plusses to going away:

• It’s a change, and a change is supposed to be beneficial (I’m avoiding politics here, as all parties seem to be offering more or less radical change in the upcoming election. I’ve never come across an election yet where any party says that they’re going to keep everything the same, even if they’re the departing Government!)
• I like sandy beaches, the sea, and most especially the warmth
• I do enjoy having lovely food prepared for me by polite strangers. There’s something especially satisfying in a labour-less grazing from multiple types of food, especially when it’s all ‘free’, or more specifically paid for in advance, irrespective of the amount eaten, and hence painless to the wallet ‘at the point of choice’.
• Drink is an undoubted attraction. Is it the sea air that gives one a larger appetite for both food and wine? Helping yourself to wine from a tap under an ‘all-inclusive’ deal is particularly tempting, especially when it’s OK wine. I do have some reservations about the evening drinks, especially the whisky and brandy, as the spirits on offer are not likely to be ‘the real thing’ – rather a local imitator. Drinking spirits with mixers can be fraught too. For example I like whisky and ginger (I’m that old fashioned!), but the best I’ve managed on holiday is whisky and lemon fanta – not quite the same…..
• Lastly, getting away from Brexit and elections for a while is a huge plus – not just a change, a short period of relative sanity. Now we’re back, not only has England failed in their bid to be World Rugby Champions, but the electoral cycle is pedalling along every road there is – promising things, being rude about their rivals and giving the nation yet another set of choices that are difficult/impossible to be rational about..
• One of my best responses might be to go abroad again. But of course there’s Christmas to look forward to, with all the lovely Probus events!

Our President, Tim, gave a terrific talk at the last Probus meeting. It was all about the Suez Canal, and particularly about the merchant ships that were trapped for eight years in the canal, ending only when the Yom Kippur war ended in in 1975. The focus of the talk was about the camaraderie that existed between the sailors from the 14 trapped ships, even though they came from many different countries.

As our Probus talks often do, I started wondering about other canals constructed in the world.

I’ve seen a huge canal with a massive lock for seagoing ships in the Niagara area of the US/Canada border. Very impressive engineering to enable large ships to go further upstream than the natural rivers would allow.

Of course the Panama canal is very well known, connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, enabling ships to avoid a very long journey around the cape Construction started in 1881, and opened in 1914. The locks constructed have been widened to enable today’s massive ships to pass through.

The Corinth canal was thought about from 600 BC, but plans were hindered by the thought that the Adriatic Sea would flood the Aegean! Emperor Nero was the first to start it in 67AD, helped by 6000 slaves, but sadly he was murdered before its completion. It was finally completed in 1893, but because its only 25 metres wide it cannot be used by current merchant ships – it’s for tourists now!

The Caledonian Canal in Scotland runs from Inverness to Fort William, and it was completed in 1812. Having been constructed for a variety of reasons (unemployment, ship safety, to help the fishing industry etc.), on completion it was of little/no commercial advantage, and has become a tourist route. The canal follows the line of a massive geological fault which identifies the northern side of the Great Glen as having originated in North America, and tectonic plate movement resulted it in becoming part of Scotland. Cynically, I wonder if it had been a bit further south it would have been very useful as a replacement of Hadrian’s Wall for a potential boundary between Scotland and England!

I guess that massive engineering projects (think HS2, Northern Powerhouse Rail (HS3), and Boris’s bridge between Scotland and Ireland) are likely to have their objectives changed in the time it takes to build them, and possibly come to be regarded as ‘follies’ over the longer term. However they are significant human activities showing what we can do as a species – even if the end result is wonder rather than improvement.

I’ve recently had a minor operation on my two big toes (don’t ask for details – I’m sure you don’t want/need to know!). It’s given me a new appreciation of how important mobility is. I can still walk about fairly normally, but I can’t put shoes on for any length of time, as the toenails (which I now don’t have – oops, too much information) are very sensitive, and not yet ready to have any pressure put on them.

Thus I haven’t been able to take part in any of the Probus walks over the last six weeks or so – and I’m missing them something rotten! I’m doing the best I can, by going to the lunches that follow the regular walks – but it’s not the same!

Hopefully in another few weeks all will be back to normal. It has to be, as we are approaching autumn with its lower temperatures and more chance of heavy rain, and my sandals are going to look increasingly bizarre!

This experience, and the fact that we are all ageing, got me thinking. If you had to lose one of your six senses, which one would you choose?

• Well I’m already hard of hearing, and find that a bit limiting, especially when groups of people are talking at the same time, or when actors in TV dramas mumble and subtitles are either absent or out of synch.
• I think losing sight must be very difficult to manage, though my sister seems to manage very well with extremely poor vision in just one eye – though she’s got much more will power than I have.
• I guess that it wouldn’t be too bad to lose the sense of smell – though I’m probably thinking of bad smells that it would be OK not to be aware of. Maybe if you couldn’t smell anything, your personal hygiene might deteriorate, and suddenly no-one would want to talk to you? Flowers, perfumes, even cigar smoke do have some importance in a normal life.
• I think taste is pretty important. Food seems to be a very important part of life now. When working, I think I tended to rush meals and get back to work – now I still rush meals, but enjoy them especially when they’re not bland in taste.

The last two senses are much trickier:

• an inability to sense touch would be very isolating personally as well as affecting all your activities of daily living. I guess that you couldn’t pick anything up, though you could drop a lot. And I currently have a bit too much sensitivity to touch!
• A lack of intuition would cause a lot of social upsets. So much of our everyday judgements relies on instinctive awareness of what people around are thinking. But enough about Brexit!

It does make you think!

It’s been a difficult week. Three people whom I knew, some well, have passed away.

One of our Probus members, our centenarian, Sefton, has met his maker. He had repeatedly said “that he has had enough and he would be happy to meet his maker”, so it would be churlish not to feel pleased for him, while being sad for his family. Sefton was such a nice man, increasingly deaf and near blind towards the end, but always courteous, and as he was a former fly fisher, fascinating to listen to.

On the same day, one of my close friends, Duncan, died suddenly in Western Australia. We had been on holiday in Italy with him and his wife just in June this year, so the unexpected nature of his departure added to the intense sorrow. The great distance to travel, at short notice, meant that a video tribute, uploaded to the Web for use during the wake following the funeral, had to suffice. Difficult.

Finally, the fly fishing club that I’m secretary of lost a member of 48 years standing, Tony, at the age of 90. Not known to me, but still a sad loss, even at what I still regard as being an advanced age.

I’m hoping that this ‘run’ of deaths has stopped for a while. There was quite a series of funerals of Probus members and partners last year – here’s looking forward to a happier time.

It’s strange how during the course of a life one goes from making personal relationships, through going to weddings of others, then celebratory events (anniversaries etc.), to be followed by the inevitable funerals.  Funerals do have their interest, as well as their sadness, as often the lives of the departed, narrated in the eulogies in the services, bring out totally unknown and unexpected sides of a personality you thought you knew well.

It’s finding suitable words to express your feelings at these times that I find tricky. Words like ‘passing’, and ‘loss’ are never used in ‘normal’ speaking, only at these sad events – and they seem so hollow and meaningless.

Just been to a family celebratory BBQ near Leeds. One of my wife’s cousins has been married for 60 years. Seems a bit excessive, even compared with our 52 years of marriage!

We hadn’t seen them for about 30 years, even though they live so close to us. In fact the last time we saw them, we were at the golden wedding of the cousin’s mother, now sadly passed.

Well, in that time their tribe had expanded somewhat. The cousin’s six children, now ranging from their 60s to their 70s have had lots of children themselves! Their fascinating family tree, including my wife, was on show, and now extended to 4 large pages, – more of a small wood than a tree!

The event provided me with a number of issues.

When you meet someone in a gathering like this, who are they? ( they’ve changed a lot over time, and so have you), and what, if any, is their relationship to my wife?

What are the names of their children, and which ones, of all those milling about, are theirs?

Yes I know one could always ask, but I find it difficult to hold all the new information in my head at one time.

Luckily there was a photo ceremony, unfortunately towards the end of the BBQ, in which the six children were arranged for the photo in order of age. So that gave some clues – but not enough, and a bit too late!

However, genetic similarities did help, with lots of the kids looking uncannily like their parents did so many years ago! So it was possible to group them into families, fairly accurately…. I think!

A charming event, with lovely food – but lots of opportunities for social faux pas!

Am I alone in having these difficulties?

Lake Como in Italy is a marvellous place for a holiday.

Majestic mountains, lots of attractive villages along the extensive shoreline, impressive villas with gardens reaching the shore,

Kayaks and boats of a variety of shapes and sizes criss-crossing the lake. And the chance to try out my deficient italiano on the few locals that don’t insist on using their English!

But …. twisty roads all around the lake, Italian drivers who appear to have no fear, teenagers riding noisy high-revving small motorcycles, and tourist prices for everything that are a far cry from the early days of the EU (EC!) when the Italian lira was a laughing stock currency. Now it’ll soon be the UK pound that’s out in the cold!

However, capitalism can still ride to the rescue! Having bought a bottle of local wine at an extortionate price from a village shop (it’s a small producer, and I know the family….), I found another local shop that supplied wine from large metal cylinders ino three or five litre ‘plastiques’. Nice wine, and less than half the price! I’ll drink to that!

Of course, the wine didn’t really taste as good as the genuine local stuff, having been shipped from another part of Italy and no doubt adulterated with other wines, but if you drink enough of it, the wine starts to taste OK!

I’m not sure if there’s a Br***t lesson in all this? I still love Italy and intend to continue going there, whatever our trading status. I would like to be more than just a trading partner – but I’d have to understand the language a bit better!