Life
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A Remembrance of Times Past
I was faced, yesterday, with a typical teenager question, one most will have heard at some stage, maybe even uttered themselves. What’s the point. What is the point of all that we do, all that we learn, every second of every day? Do we have a purpose, or a destiny written in, or by, the stars, by fate, by some Almighty entity hidden from view and only revealed to the True Believer? The question, though, came from my partner who, to be brutally honest, has not seen their own teenage years for several decades, and who was referring to my penchant for historical works and, in particular, updating a certain…
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Glancing Back at a Vanishing World.
It was reputedly Socrates who complained that the youth of his day were rude, uneducated and had no respect for their elders, although he was probably not the first to do so. The so-called youth of his times wanted change, more for themselves but without the responsibility, less stress and pressure to perform or succeed, and recognition of themselves as individuals. There is little difference today, with the up and coming generations moving for change to suit their own values and, as they see it, to fit better into a changing world. And they are not wrong, many of us were the same when we were young. The difference now…
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Striding Out of the Comfort Zone
What exactly is the Comfort Zone? Where does it begin, and where does it end? During my long working life I have rarely had to consider what I am happy doing and what would be too much of a change or challenge for me. We all sign up for a specific type of work, are told what it entails, and follow it, hopefully to the best of our abilities.
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Retirement: The Fast Approaching Last Day
There was a time when I would never have considered retiring and retirement, it wasn’t in the scheme of things, an unthinkable event far, far in the future. And now, here we are, with my retirement date officially set and a considerable amount of paperwork still to be completed, officialdom approached and convinced, plans set and followed through on. Yet, in the back of my mind is that thought, set in stone one sunny day back in 1969, sitting at a desk in a bleak primary school classroom in London, when I patiently worked out how old I would be in the year two thousand, and what I might be…
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Winter, Weather, And The Theory Of Chaos
Completely unexpected, as ever at this time of year, winter has hit what used to be part of the frozen north. For the first time in many years
