Personal Space

Welcome to a surprisingly pleasant autumn day in South Manchester at the end of my first week of retirement. To be honest, I’ve had so much to do this week that it has flown by. I’ve had some personal and retirement related things to sort out, but I did find time to go to the last cricket match of the season at Old Trafford with a fellow retiree yesterday. While my ex-colleagues were slaving over a hot computer, I was sitting in the sunshine watching Lancashire play Somerset. I realised that retirement is actually good.

Today I have been sorting things out for my holiday. I will be up at 3:45 am tomorrow to get to the airport to catch a flight to Skiathos in Greece for a week long break in what is left of the summer. It will be good. 

I’ve just about packed now so I have some bonus time to do a last minute blog post from Sunday Stealing before I settle down to relax this evening. 

Let’s dive in. 

1. What popular TV show do you refuse to watch?

One of the most popular shows in the UK is called “Strictly, Come Dancing”. Each year, they select a group of so-called celebrities to team up with professional dancers who put them through a rigorous training schedule to perform, each week, a dance routine and they are judged by a bunch of “experts” and then ultimately by the general public. This drivel goes on for weeks and is just over-the-top nonsense. I was unfortunate enough to watch the Christmas Special one year because we were at Mrs PM’s mum’s house and she loves it. 

It was utter over-hyped nonsense and a real pain to watch. I would honestly rather have sat in a darkened room listening to Mrs PM's music than subject my poor eyes and brain to that inane rubbish. I watched flawed dance routines, fawning judges who said things like “My DARLING! You were magnificent! You were like melted butter sliding over a crumpet.” 

I almost threw up my Christmas dinner. 

The show isn’t without its controversy. There have been several occasions when the contestant and dancer have become a little too intimate and ended up breaking up relationships and marriages. It's known as "The Strictly Curse". The British public seem to lap up garbage like that. And recently there have been allegations of dancers bullying their celebrity partners. 

The show is back on our screens now in the prime time Saturday night BBC1 slot. 

Thankfully Mrs PM hates it too so it will never ever appear on the TV screen in the Plastic Mancunian household. 

2. What pets did you have while growing up?

The first pet I vaguely recall was a black and white mongrel pooch called Rinty, who sadly passed away when I was very young. He was replaced by another black dog also called Rinty who lived to be about 12 before he was sadly killed by a car when he escaped the house. 

His replacement was another small mongrel called Paddy who lived until the ripe old age of 21 before going blind. I loved that dog and he was still around when I left home for university in Liverpool and my subsequent move to Manchester. Through Paddy’s long life, we managed to get through three cats. The first one was a ginger female cat called Charlie and the second was also a female called Smokie. Sadly both of them met the same fate as Rinty at a young age. The third cat proved to be a psycho cat, a male tabby called Midge who loved Paddy more than any humans in the house. He was very loving but he used to hunt me and my sisters around the house and attack us for fun. He lived to the ripe old age of 18. 

3. What is the luckiest thing that has happened to you?

Meeting Mrs PM and somehow, just by being myself, showing that I am a worthy partner for her.

4. What are some small things that make your day better?

Both of my cats are very friendly and I love it when either of them sits next to me on the sofa. In particular, Star(dust) stretches out along my leg and tries he best to become one with it, like a limpet. Star(dust) is a little head shy though but Ziggy loves head-bumping. I’ve been woken up in the morning by a forceful head bump to my face when we have accidentally left the bedroom door open. 

Such things make me smile. 

5. What’s your favourite piece of clothing you own/owned?

I had a brilliant leather jacket in the 1980’s and I loved it. It came with me to many gigs and lasted well into the 1990’s. Sadly Mrs PM hated it and I stopped wearing it around 2000. Eventually I opted to get rid of it, which is a shame. I have a leather jacket now but it’s not as good. 

6. What’s the most annoying habit other people have?

I hate to be interrupted and I also get annoyed with people who invade my personal space when talking to me. I don’t mind a hug at all and I also don’t mind somebody sitting really close to me but when that person is talking to me and their head is about an inch from mine, I have to create a bigger gap. 

Mrs PM is an exception to this rule. 

7. What game or movie universe would you most like to live in?

I’d quite like to live in the Star Trek universe. Technologically speaking I would feel like the cat that got the cream. 

I would particularly love to be transported to anywhere else on the planet in a few seconds. Playing around in a holosuite would be incredible. It would also be amazing to cure most illnesses that are rife today. And also wouldn’t it be incredible to be able to travel easily to another planet and meet different alien species? And that doen’t even scratch the surface, given the other advanced technology that would be at our fingertips. 

8. What’s the most impressive thing you know how to do?

The most impressive thing I can do involves geekiness and playing around with computers. It’s sad but true although as I said last week, I plan to step away from IT for a while. 

9. What was the best book or series you’ve read?

I loved the original Bourne trilogy by Robert Ludlum. I also loved the Necroscope saga by Bryan Lumley. And Peter F. Hamilton has written some epic series such as the Night’s Dawn trilogy and the Commonwealth saga. 

10. What state or country do you never want to go back to?

I’ve been to many places that were a bit dodgy but I feel that I would possibly go back to most of them. I will select Russia as the answer to this question because although it is a fascinating country, the fact that it is ruled by a mad, warmongering, dictatorial nutter has put me right off the place. 

I have spent eight weeks of my life in Moscow with work, two of them in summer when the weather was amazing, 35 degrees Celsius and glorious sunshine. The remaining six weeks weren’t as pleasant though because it was the middle of winter than the temperature ranged from -20 degrees Celsius to -10 degrees Celsius. 

It’s such a shame what is happening to that country with mad Vlad at the helm. 

11. Where do you usually go when you have time off?

Regular readers will know that I love travelling and will go anywhere I can depending on finances of course. 

12. What amazing thing did you do that no one was around to see?

I flawlessly played this on the piano on Wednesday and I had headphones on so nobody, not even the cats, heard me:

I tried this morning and sadly a couple of mistakes crept in. I’m getting there though. 

13. What is something you think everyone should do at least once in their lives?

Go to a foreign country that is unlike your own country. For example, if you are British or European don’t stay in Europe or go to the United States, Canada, Australia or New Zealand; they are too similar. Get on a plane and fly to Asia – somewhere like Japan or Vietnam or Thailand

14. What’s something you’ve been meaning to try but just haven’t gotten around to it?

That’s a leading question because now I have time to do it. One thing I am interested in doing is to try to trace my family tree back as far as I can. I had a taste of this during the pandemic when one of the genealogy sites opened up for free for three days to commemorate VE day. It was most interesting, especially as my grandad was a prisoner of war. He was reported missing in action and my grandma thought he was dead. And then when the war was over he just turned up at her front door and apologised for being late. Apparently she fainted.  

15. What is something most people consider a luxury but you don’t think you could live without?

Again it’s back to travelling. To be honest, I, too am restricted because it is expensive but I am quite good at budgeting for such things. I am sure one day I will get sick of actually getting to a foreign land (especially long haul flights) but at the moment I just find it irritating. Whether I will feel the same in twenty years’ time I don’t know – probably. 

Here are my next trips (some definite, some almost certain):

Tomorrow – Skiathos in Greece (one week).

October – University reunion in Budapest, Hungary (four days). 

December – A treat for Mrs PM’s mum – Prague, Czechia (three days). 

January/February – Malaysia and Hong Kong (two and a half weeks).

May – Malta for Mrs PM’s mum’s 80th birthday (five days). 

And have one or two more for next year that are currently in the embryonic stages at the moment. 

At a Loose End ...

 

Welcome to an autumnal South Manchester on the day after I have retired. 

Yes, that’s right; I have finally left the rat race and can now pursue more leisurely activities. 

My only involvement with computers will be for personal use. I aim to step back from writing software to write nonsense posts instead, so look out for more bloggery in future. Whether I return to try my hand at writing code again is something that I haven’t thought about yet. 

For the time being I am bidding a fond “Sayonara” to software, databases and other related activities. I will relate a little bit more about what I did in the coming months, but for now I will answer some silly questions from Sunday Stealing.

1. What takes up too much of your time?

If you had asked me this yesterday, I would have said work. From next week I will have to reevaluate this. I had a few beers with my ex-colleagues last night in my local pub, some of whom are already retired, and I asked them about retirement. The most common answer was that they are so busy that they don’t know how they manage to fit work in at all. 

That’s what I plan to be like. I don’t know how yet but I have enough things to keep me going while I consider new things. Mrs PM is always amazed when the introvert within me takes over because I can always find things to entertain myself on my own. Of course I will be trying to find more sociable pursuits too to satisfy the extrovert within – I’m just not sure what yet. 

2. What do you wish you knew more about?

Lots of things. I would love to know more about the universe for example and I am always fascinated with documentaries about space, the universe etc. I also like weird spooky stuff so I would love to know more about ghosts, aliens etc. I will have more time to investigate such nonsense to find out whether my scepticism is justified.

3. What’s the best way to start the day?

From now on, with a lie in and a lovely cup of tea and a glass of apple juice and orange juice mixed. 

4. What mystery do you wish you knew the answer to?

As I implied in question 2, I would love to know what really happened at Roswell in 1947. I love anything like that. Another example is the Mary Celeste. What did happen to the crew?

And also – what in the name of all that is sane is going on in Donald Trump’s head? Migrants eating cats and dogs in Springfield, Ohio? Perhaps what is a bigger mystery is why on earth would anybody vote for this nutter? AGAIN???

5. What’s your favourite genre of book or movie?

It’s science fiction. I am a geek and a nerd and I love a good space opera novel or a crazy effects-laden sci-fi epic movie. 

6. What’s the farthest you’ve ever been from home?

That would be when I visited Australia, the farthest place being Sydney which is 10,565 miles away from Manchester. 

7. Where is the most interesting place you’ve been?

All the places I’ve been to are interesting in their own way but I would have to say that Japan is the most interesting because it is so different from anywhere else. And some it is just crazy. Here, for example, is the Robot Restaurant. This is a video that I personally took and if you listen carefully you can hear me chuckling in the background. If you can explain to me what is going on, please do. 

It was brilliant and mad but sadly is no longer there, I heard. 

I have to say that most places in Asia are incredible and this is the reason why Mrs PM and I like to visit there.

Here are a couple of other photos from that amazing night at the Robot Restaurant.

8. When was the last time you climbed a tree for fun?

I have never climbed a tree for fun. I have climbed several trees in the past but it was quite a scary experience, especially when you get too high. 

9. What do you consider to be your best find?

I’ve never really found anything interesting. When I was a kid I found a wallet on a bus and it was full of money. I did the right thing and handed it into the bus driver. I hope the bus driver also did the right thing. 

Of course, I also found Mrs PM so that counts as the best find I would say.

10. What’s special about the place where you grew up?

I grew up in a town called Walsall which is 15 miles away from Birmingham, the second biggest city in the UK. It is 85 miles south of Manchester. 

It is a large market town and the borough has a population of about 250,000 people. Apparently it dates back to at least the year 1000. 

It is the leather capital of the UK and is the world capital of saddle making, which is why the nickname of the football team is “The Saddlers”.  Talking of which, I still support the football team from the town. 

Here are some pictures:

11. What age do you wish you could permanently be?

I guess that would be between 30 and 35 but with my current 61 year old brain. 

12. What fictional place would you most like to go?

I think I’d quite like to go to Jurassic World well before it all turned to utter chaos of course). 

Also I like the Shire in Middle Earth because it reminds me a small tightly-knit country village. 

I’d also be happy visiting the planet Risa from Star Trek because it is known as “the Pleasure Planet”.

13. Where is the most relaxing place you’ve ever been?

There are several candidates. I’ll go for these off the top of my head. 

Phuket in Thailand, Marbella in Spain, Hoi An in Vietnam, Santorini in Greece

14. What’s the most interesting piece of art you’ve seen?

I am not really a fan of art, especially contemporary art, most of which is as mad as it is controversial. I mean who wants to see something that looks like it was painted by a toddler portrayed as if it is “art”? 

Personally I prefer the classic paintings by artists that could reproduce a scene beautifully. The most famous I have seen in probably the Nightwatch by Rembrandt in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.

15. Who has impressed you the most with what they have accomplished?

I’m quite impressed with the achievements technical gurus like Elon Musk (despite the fact that he is as mad as a bag of badgers). I am also envious of musicians who have produced truly magnificent music over and over again, for example David Bowie. Some authors have created absolute masterpieces, people like Stephen King. I also admire Tom Cruise as an actor who dedicates himself to his movies so much that he is still producing great movies while performing crazy stunts at the age of 62. He’s just a few months older than I am and I can’t imagine myself doing what he does. Let’s forget Scientology though – that is a massive blemish on him. 

Quirks

Welcome to a warm and sunny South Manchester where the temperature is a very pleasant 26 degrees Celsius (79 Fahrenheit). We’re going to Chester tomorrow to meet some friends for a barbecue and I think it will be just as pleasant (fingers crossed).

I’ve been a little busy recently with a trip to Nice for Mrs PM’s birthday and also a gig or two so I haven’t had much time for bloggery. 

I’ll put that right now with some silly questions from Sunday Stealing.

1. What shows are you into?

Right now we have a couple of TV shows on the go. 

I have just finished watching "Snowpiercer", which is about a train with over 1000 carriages hurtling across a frozen post-apocalyptic landscape full of the last survivors of humanity. I really enjoyed it.

I am also watching "Stargate SG-1", a show that I have never seen. I tried to watch it back when it came out but TV scheduling at the time meant it was all over the place. It’s a little dated now but enjoyable all the same. 

Mrs PM and I are watching the new version of "Quantum Leap". It’s been cancelled, I know, and I can see why, but we are sticking with it.

We are also watching "Vikings Valhalla", which is the follow up to the brilliant "Vikings". I love a bit of Viking history. 

We’ve also tried out the new series of "Frasier", which bizarrely stars Nicholas Lyndhurst, a well established British comedy actor. The show is just as entertaining as the original series and I like the fact that Nicholas Lyndhurst is playing an eccentric British Harvard professor. I imagine many in America have not heard of him but he was in one of the most famous British sitcoms of all time, called Only Fools and Horses, where he played the younger brother of a dodgy old cockney market dealer who is always walking the line between legality and illegality. 

Here is a clip.

2. What’s your claim to fame?

We have a National Lottery in the UK where you can win several million pounds. We also used to have a football prediction competition called the Football Pools where you could also win a couple of million pounds.

My claim to fame is that I won both of them in the same week.

Sadly, I only won £10 on the lottery and £8 on the Football pools.

3. How often do you play sports?

I used to play sports a lot but as I have got older I have gradually whittled it down to nothing. As a kid, I played rugby, cricket, hockey, badminton, squash, softball, basketball and lots of athletics disciplines. At university I played football, badminton and squash but when I started work, I only continued with football. I finally gave that up when I was about 38 years old and started going to the gym instead. I got bored with the gym at about 42 and gave that up too. I had three years of doing no exercise before I decided to start walking to keep fit and I have been doing that ever since. Now, I walk about 4 miles almost every day.

4. Are you early or late?

I am definitely early. I hate being late and it has caused some friction in the past between Mrs PM and I because she doesn’t mind being late. Now we have compromised and we usually arrive early still, after I persuaded her that it is always better to be early. She moans occasionally though. 

5. What quirks do you have?

I have lots of odd quirks and I am not sure I should tell you what they are to be honest. I am a geek, a nerd and an all-round weirdo so that is quirky in its own way,

Okay – here are a few that you might find odd.

I call out things I don’t understand with the phrase “What’s the point?”. For example, when I see somebody on an electric bike I say “What’s the point of that? Surely you have a bike to keep fit but he is just coasting along and doing nothing.”

I correct Americanisms in American TV programmes. When somebody says “Do the math!”, I say out loudly “It’s MATHS!” even if I am alone. Similarly I will say “It’s ALUMINIUM not ALUMINUM!”. I Particularly I get riled when the actor is British and playing the part of a British person.

I correct the American spellings in Sunday Stealing. For example “favorite” becomes “favourite” and “color” becomes “colour”.

I won’t divulge the weirder ones (even though you may think the above are weird). Well, maybe in future if you ask me nicely. 

6. How often do you people watch?

Not often enough. I love people-watching and have seen and heard some great things just sitting there drinking a decaf coffee in a coffee shop or just walking around. I may have more time for this when I retire (which is very soon). 

7. What’s your favourite drink?

My favourite beverage is decaffeinated tea. I have been known to drink caffeinated tea occasionally (or “full fat tea”) but it is rare.

My favourite soft drink is Sprite. I don’t drink it very often but if I do I will choose Sprite.

My favourite ale is Timothy Taylor’s Landlord. A lovely pint of bitter.

8. What do you hope never changes?

The world is a totally mad place at the moment, including my own country. I need some sanity to counteract the lunacy that is prevailing and that sanity comes with simple things that keep me going during the chaos. 

So I hope that the things that keep me sane don’t ever change.

9. What’s your dream car?

I’m not really a car person at all. I know loads of people (almost all men) who are forever discussing their favourite cars. All I want is a reliable car that gets me from A to B when I need it to.

10.  Where would you rather be from?

I’m quite happy being an Englishman, thank you, although Brexit has challenged that recently, making me think that it would be nice to be from the European Union somewhere; perhaps the Republic of Ireland.

11. What songs have you completely memorised?

I’ve memorised thousands of them over the years. Here’s a song that was a challenge, but I have impressed Mrs PM by singing along to it on a balcony in Spain when on holiday (the full version that is):

12. What would you rate 10/10

I have lots of albums that I rate 10/10. One of them is “Hand. Cannot. Erase.” By Steven Wilson.

Here is my favourite song on the album. Strap in – it’s 13 minutes long.

13. What job would you be terrible at?

Anything that requires manual dexterity. I can do some DIY but there are certain things that I am totally useless at. For example, carpentry, anything to do with cars, building work, plastering or indeed anything that involves constructing or reconstructing things. 

14. What skill would you like to master?

At the moment I would love to master the skill of speaking Spanish and French and playing the piano. 

15. What movie title best describes your life?

Probably “The Good, The Bad and the Ugly” but I think that sounds too negative because really “The Good” is far superior to “The Bad” and “The Ugly” combined.

At this precise moment in time (and ignoring the past) it would be “Life is Beautiful”.