88 Today

Well it's tomorrow to be precise but I don't think that my mum will be looking at this blog this evening and I'm off out early in the morning so Happy Birthday Mum. Not too many people make it into their 89th year looking such a picture of good health and I'm very hopeful that I'll be saying something similar ten years into the future (if I'm still around to say it). We're always reading about how life expectancy is going up and up but when I look around I sometimes wonder whether those living well into their eighties and nineties have much quality in their lives. I'm glad to say that Mum is truly an exception to this. She's kept herself active with her laptop and iPad and always keeps up to date in her fashion sense without needing to dress like an OAP. Although she no longer drives she enjoys going out and about with her friends and I hope that her good health continues for years to come. We're going to see her at the weekend and look forward to finally showing her the delights of Suffolk in the spring.

I've had no contact with Instanta at all since we retired although I've kept up to date with what some of our old colleagues have been up to on Facebook, been to a few birthday parties and met up with Sales Director Nick (above) a couple of times when he's been working in the area. I knew that Nick was leaving but his departure was brought sharply into focus today when Paul from our old adversary Calomax sent me a press interview with his successor. Marion and I shared some very enjoyable times with Nick when we worked on exhibitions together in places as diverse as Birmingham and Dubai. He put in many many long hours and travelled thousands of miles in the years that he worked for us and his efforts greatly contributed to my writing Notes From Retirement today instead of Notes From the Office. We hope that he has a very happy and successful future career. 

His successor is Graham Crisp. We wish him and his new colleagues every success. 

My Mum The Model (86)

To say I was, to use an ugly word, gobsmacked when I turned to page 55 of this month's edition of Which? magazine would be an understatement. For there staring out at me beneath an article advising on how to negotiate cheaper car insurance was a photo of my eighty six year old mother. (Sorry to say it Mum but I'm not sure that you or I would have too much scope to reduce our car insurance with our driving skills). I've never read Which? before but, with lots of home improvements in the pipeline, we subscribed to it for a trial to check out new kitchens and bathrooms etc.

I did a double take and sure enough it was definitely Mum. I remember her telling us about our Spanish niece Vicky's photographer boyfriend Aaron and how he's taken a few photos of my family in his studio and how he'd sold some stock photos via the internet. And I'd seen some of the photos posted on Vicky's Facebook page but it was still a big surprise to see her in a high circulation magazine. A model at 86 eh? It just shows that you're never too old to start something new.

As it was Mother's day today, our page 52 girl came round with Marion's Mum and we had a glass of fizz to celebrate. Sadly Flo was not very well today; she hasn't been eating properly this week and as well as feeling weak and debilitated she was worried because she had lost her wedding ring. We  managed to find it for her when we took her back to her care home and I hope that the relief of getting it back will make her feel a bit better and help her to get her appetite back.

We were able to sit in the garden for a while and it's always exciting to see frog spawn in the pond as it means that, hopefully, we've seen the last of the winter. It looks like the heron I wrote about a few weeks ago has finished off all the fish over the winter but at least the frogs and newts remain.


And speaking of amphibians, how do you wind up a frog?