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.