Family is everything

“Family is everything” they say. And I have to say it really is!

My wife and I both had strong family upbringing’s. Perhaps we did not realise it at the time but we have passed that family culture onto our own children without the “generation gap” issues we had to navigate with our own parents in the 60’s and 70’s. The closeness with have with our children and their friends is very special. We also see strong bonds between our children and “the cousins” across all the sibling families. It’s wonderful to witness.

That love was also very much on display when our eldest got married last year. Four family clans (American, French, English and Scottish) gathered in numbers and felt the blended family vibe :) That was a very cool day.

When my parents passed some years ago, I worried about how the surviving siblings would react and cope. You hear so many stories of families breaking up and fighting over material things, or long standing grievances coming to the surface when the parents are gone. We had some of those things to deal with for sure but got through it all out of a desire to not let those things get in the way of our love for each other. Now we are stronger than ever, regularly in contact and still meeting up for big multi-generational family gatherings.

Indeed a new generation is following in our footsteps. Our first grandchild recently arrived and our nieces and nephews are also bringing new ones into the world. The circle of life continues and we are all once again jumping in to provide family love and support. It’s such a joy to experience and participate in.

But “families” are not just about blood relations. They are also about the groups, networks and individual friendships you have strong bonds with. Indeed we are all the better for the love our families, in whatever form they come, bring to us.

Cherish them and stay close. You will live longer for it :)

Onward Travels

After an amazing 2 weeks in Scotland, followed by 2 nights in Paris due to issues with the trains back to Normandy, I am on the move again for a long weekend in Washington DC. Visiting best friends and catching some new music at the same time. I can do this in the Next Stage :) - listen to my next Podcast due out on the 7th April

Brothers

I am starting a unique week hanging out with my brothers in Kilconquhar, Fife. We are staying at one of our Scottish timeshares, this one being in the Kingdom of Fife where our Father came from. We don’t get many chances to do this sort of thing together and not sure when the next opportunity will be, so we plan on making the most of it!

There are plenty of activities already planned; coastal walks, chain walks, maybe a run or two, and food & drink of course. Then to cap it all off, we will celebrate my birthday on the last night of the trip at the renowned Peat Inn, the best spot in the area by some margin. Just hope we wake up in time to check-out and get to the airport!

Scotland here we come

So the travel season begins with a week in each of our Scottish timeshares. Dunkeld in Perthshire and Kilconquhar in Fife. See Chezvous-Cheznous for more details and pictures. They have a special meaning for us, as they were bought by our parents (our Mother was from Perthshire and our Father from Fife) and are now enjoyed by us siblings. They will normally pass to the next generations in perpetuity! With fabulous surroundings, fantastic walks and great food, they are a truly great way to keep in touch with our family heritage and Scottish roots!

I chose a music “Selection of the week” to go with this visit too: Highlands by Bob Dylan

Composting

At last Spring is approaching! Instead of looking out at the garden from the inside of the house during the long winter months, we can now finally get out there and get going!

First job, to spread our homemade food waste compost on the vegetable patch, which is mainly rhubarb (that comes back better every year) and berries (red, black and blue currants). It’s taken a while to perfect the art of collecting all our food scraps and turning it into compost. However, with a bit of help by adding leaves and grass cuttings, we have finally got a decent amount to spread this year.

“Where's there's muck there's brass”. Well, we wont be making any money out of this mucky effort but hopefully the vegetables will appreciate our endeavors and respond in kind!

One tip: no citrus fruits, meat, poultry or fish in the compost, which you should be eating and not throwing away anyway! Also watch out for plants that are toxic to other plants, like rhubarb leaves, which is somewhat ironic in our case, as we have loads of those!

What’s your HBA1C %

For those who struggle with type 2 diabetes, your HBA1C % is a key indicator of how well you are doing re your blood sugar levels. It’s a figure that represents an average level over the previous 2-3 months, so something our doctors (and ourselves) watch carefully as a better trend indicator, as opposed to the spot checked Glycemie level, taken at a specific moment in time.

Why am I blogging about this. Because I have received my HBA1C results today and I am trending down significantly :) It demonstrates that type 2 diabetes is reversible with major lifestyle changes.

Keep at it fellow type 2ers

Gig Planning

So with time on my hands in The Next Stage and a desire to keep moving, I have started to fill up my gig calendar!

• Young Fathers in Washington DC in April

• Shabaka Hutchings in Paris in May

• The Rolling Stones in Atlanta, Philadelphia and Cleveland in June

• …more will be added !

Check out my Bandsintown page here for tours by these artists

Some Adjustments

Since returning from Africa, there has been a period of adjustment post retirement. I settled into a pile of admin (carte de residence, taxes, inheritance) and other financial matters.

But true to form, I started travelling pretty quickly. First to Braga, Portgual for an electronic music and digital arts festival that my son “Nexcyia” was performing at :)

Then a series of short trips to London, Edinburgh and Dinard to visit family but also take care of Chezvous-Cheznous business. There is always something to be done!

Our faithful and much loved Polish sheepdog Fenix passed not long before Christmas and Luna, a cocker/bichon frisé mix puppy arrived. A very different animal, not least because it’s a girl not a guy!

Christmas came and went fairly quietly for us and I fought off the January blues by starting to work on this website amongst other things. One of those other things was to embark on “Dry January” and radically change my eating habits and exercise regime. I have stuck with the lifestyle changes into February, lost a bunch of weight and started training for a 5k+ run.

Hey retirement and 2024 are suddenly looking quite good! Hope my Doctor thinks the same :)

Vic Falls - The End

And so we came to the end of our long trip through Southern Africa, in spectacular style at Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. We crossed the Zambezi on the catwalk under the bridge, chained to a safety bar, perched ourselves on the edges of the gorge to feel the spray , took a thrilling helicopter ride to marvel at the scale of this 7th wonder of the natural world and finally dined in the ridiculously colonial Victoria Falls hotel.

Goodbye Africa, we will be back.

Animals

This was a real animal encounter. This Leopard had been chased up the tree by some lions who wanted his kill!

The latter part of our tour was devoted to game rides through Namibia’s Atosha national park and the Okavango delta in Botswana.

A feast of wildlife. We saw the big 5 (Lions, Elephants, Leopards, Buffalo and Rhino -white and black) but also many many more including Giraffe, Zebra, Hippos, Sprinbok, Oryx, Impala, Antelope, Hyenas, Warthogs, Crocodiles, Jackals, Wilder Beast, Kudos, Ostrich, Mongoose, Vultures and of course many Baboons and Monkeys !!

Not forgetting the hundreds of colourful small birds, too many to mention and worthy of a separate project in itself to identify them all.

But it was not just the quantity and variety of animals we saw but how close up we were to them. We had some amazing encounters that we will never forget

Neocolonialism

I took this picture sitting in the bar of the ridiculously colonial Victoria Falls hotel

As we drive a round and stay at more places in Namibia, you realise that most of the resorts and accommodations are white owned - German or Afrikaans, playing country & western music in their bars!

A Google search tells us that over 70% of the land is still white owned, 30years after apartheid. I imagine the businesses are too.

Neocolonialism is still a hard nut to crack

The Namibian Desert

Taken by one of our group and we made it to the top of the Dune 45!

Nothing quite prepares you for the vastness and colours of the Namibian desert.

Magnificent dawns and sunsets. Amazing stars flood the night sky.

Massive sand dunes, deep canyons, quiver tree forests add considerable variety to the desert landscape.

Oryx and Springbok roam the land, not to mention our over friendly baboons!

Red earth, oxidized iron sands and orange skies complete the incredible palette that leaves you breathless.

OG - The Baboon

My wife took this picture of OG has he watched us from our bedroom balcony waiting to jump!

So we have all seen the videos of baboons stealing stuff from tourists. Far fetched you think, or easy to shoo away perhaps.

But oh no, we came up against OG - the Original Gangster baboon. He had no fear of us and even mimicked our “shoo away” gestures, as he bashed on our glass patio door and tried to open it with the handle.

Fortunately, the baboons all go to bed when the sun sets, so no nighttime shenanigans. Only the nightmares of the day before to re-live!

Star Gazing

First night under the African stars. A blanket of millions at 8pm. And we can clearly see the Milky Way. Amazing sight to match the daytime landscapes. An 8th wonder of the world surely !

We Love Cape Town

We started our African adventure with 4 nights in Cape Town. And we quickly fell in love with the City, the Cape and its people.

Sort of the LA of Africa, if a comparison has to be made; sunny, great cuisine, multicultural and edgy in parts, with beautiful landscapes to discover.

But the surprise - far less racial tension than its Californian counterpart. From this first visit, good vibes, smiles and a very harmonious experience is how we will remember Cape Town

Crossing the Equator

We have been flying all night and crossed the equator early morning for a short change of flight in Nairobi. First time in the Southern Hemisphere. We will then do a fuel stop in Victoria Falls before finally getting to Cape Town for lunchtime.

First Impressions so far. The flights have been majority white. Yes, socio-economic factors certainly at work here but still a bit of a surprise for a newbie to Southern Africa like myself

And so it began

And so it began with a party. My first day of retirement (1/9/2023) was a blow out bash at the Point Éphémère. We probably chose each other - my people and the slightly edgy venue. We couldn’t have been better matched.

We drank, ate, danced and told funny stories until 2am. What a blast. I then spent 2 days in Paris feeling properly READY for the Next Stage.

Next Stop: Cape Town