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Autumnal ferns lit by the sun.

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Mushroom season! 

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This is the MS Oldenburg. She ferries passengers and cargo to and from Lundy Island. Here she has just docked and you can see fresh stores on the quayside.

Interestingly, to me, she was launched just 10 days after I was born. Difference is she’s still working. Maybe I should have had a renovation in the 80′s too....🤣🤣

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A little more surreal.....

Secret place ✨

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Credit: @paugalk

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Autumn Sun on leaves and grass.

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Pickering's Pasture in the Autumn sun today.

Mists and mellow fruitfulness as the poet (Keats) said:

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,  Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun; Conspiring with him how to load and bless  With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run; To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees,  And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;    To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells  With a sweet kernel; to set budding more, And still more, later flowers for the bees, Until they think warm days will never cease,    For summer has o'er-brimm'd their clammy cells.

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A reference both to my shopping habits and, according to my 10 year old, my appearance.

Talking of which, the Spanish word for “retired” is a lot more fun than the words we use in English. The word “jubilado” (or “jubilada” for women), based on the word “jubilee” is the term used in Spanish.  

Jubilee connotes a season or occasion of joyful celebration.  In the Old Testament, a jubilee is a celebration at the end of a 50 year cycle that represents freedom or liberty. Slaves, debts, and property rights were dissolved at the end of a 50 year period.

Just about right I think. Porque estoy jubilado.

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Retirement Perspective

I was watching a young, high powered head teacher today and that got me thinking about perspective.

Why? Well his audience was obviously impressed with this marathon-running, early-emailing professional success. The unstated message was: “You need to be what I am.”

I saw it differently. It appeared energy-rich but vacuous and thin. My unspoken thought was: “I’ve been what you are (minus the marathons🤔) and I thank God I don’t have to do that any more!”

He probably enjoys it more than I did but I bet his garden’s not as nice as mine.....but then, he would probably think my gardening is vacuous and thin.

It’s all about perspective.

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Spooky tree spotted practising for Halloween at Pex Hill, Cronton near Widnes.

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A bit more surreal.

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This was thriving nightclub 2 years ago in Benalmádena Marina. It seems to have had a bad reaction to the pandemic.

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This is from the costas. Sunrise in Torremolinos.

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Some more of the original images from my short videos on Herradón-La Cañada.   

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Some of the original images from my short videos of Herradón-La Cañada

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Part 2 of the video on Herradón-La Cañada.

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Each Summer we visit family in Spain and stay in little village called Herradón-La Cañada. It’s a wonderful contrast to the costas and used entirely by Spanish people. They love its rural simplicity and the fact that it’s always 5/6 degrees cooler than Madrid (which, as you may know, is a furnace in August).

I did this simple little video to try to illustrate its charms.

Please forgive the poor quality of the images: its the best that Adobe Spark can do. Shocking really from Adobe🙄🙄. 

I’ll post the next video and the original images after this.

Find it on Google Maps.

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I do love roses. Taken by Bert in his back garden today.

And, in other news, can anyone explain to me why someone fully vaccinated returning from Spain (whose infection rate is lower than ours) needs:

test before boarding

isolate for 10 days after arrival in UK

PCR test on day 2

PCR test on day 8

Any two of these would be super safe. Is amber the new red?

Let’s hope the government actually does the much trailed rethink on this.