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Hello Everyone. I hope you are ok. We are jogging along as best we can. It's been lovely here so we visited the annual food market in Plymouth - Flavour Fest. I'm really sorry about the terrible photo. I have just spotted that I have taken a photo with the bins in the middle of it. I really must pay more attention. I'm a bit over cautious taking photos of people in big gatherings. I always imagine that I will accidentally include a member of the International Mafia who is on the run and he will spot that I have taken his photo and hunt me down and kill me and my family. Look - these things happen. At least I suspect they do. Obviously, we would never find out about it because my body would be dumped off the North Sea and I would be eaten by the fishes. And THIS is why I do not allow myself to watch horror films. 

To return to the rubbish photo. Flavour Fest seemed a bit truncated this year. I think it's partly because Plymouth City Centre is still dealing with the aftermath of the trees problem. When you cut down 90% of the foliage in the city centre - literally overnight, it is always going to take a while to sort it, leaving vast swathes of the public space behind attractive fences (very much NOT attractive) reducing the amount of land available for the stalls. I'm not really sure why HOH and I go to it, to be honest. I don't think it is for us.There's a lot of gin on sale which is fine, except that the bottles appear to be on sale for £50 a go. If you think that is a reasonable price - go ahead - fill your boots. I refuse to pay a King's Ransom for something that smells to me as if you could take a couple of layers of varnish off an Old Master with it. There's also usually lots of relish on offer and fudge that will make your teeth vibrate. 

There's also a lot of International Street Food served by People From Many Lands. My usual aversion to anything that makes the back of my throat kick is very strong here and HOH is worse than me. They don't call us "The Blands" for nothing. Also, I am very old and was always taught that people who ate in the street were "common". This especially referred to children who drank tea out of baby bottles and used the other hand to demolish a pasty out of a paper bag. I was always a bit jealous of the pasty thing. Sometimes, my nana, a Salford lady with very few airs and graces would take me to the butchers over the bridge and buy me a couple of slices of brawn to eat on the way back. "Don't tell your Mam" she would say and I never did. (I have just looked up what brawn was made of. I feel a bit sick now.)

Thinking about my Nan makes me feel quite old. It was a different time. I remember her taking me to the chiropodist to get a verruca dug out - and I mean dug out - they took no prisoners in those days. She could be a bit rough but it was mainly for my own good. If I banged my head, she would fight tooth and nail with me to get some butter rubbed into the lump. She also took me to the Salford Panto every year. We saw the stars - The Bachelors, Joe "Mr Piano" Henderson. I was very young. Mostly, I remember her sitting on my Grandads budgie when she was trying to put her boots on. Tragic. And also, the gentle "clink" of her pull-along trolley as she would take back her Double Diamond empties and get her stock refilled. Aged Parent used to say that looking after me had driven my Nana to drink. I wouldn't rule it out. I remember my cousin and I hiding in a wardrobe while she looked for us and jumping out and shouting BOO when she opened the door. I'm not sure I have seen anyone change colour like that without passing out. Anyway, it wasn't my idea and I think everyone went a bit over the top. 

People say stuff like "Age is only a number". Well, I seem to be collecting quite a lot of numbers these days. Next weekend I hit 63 - all being well - don't want to take anything for granted. People say - you are only as old as you feel. Well, I FEEL old. I do. Bits are creaking and aching. It's like Graham Norton says. when you are 18, if you get a pain, you just think - Oh that's nothing but when you are older you always think - well this will finish me off. 

Last week I finished this book. The author is a distinguished doctor and she is 103 with all her chairs under the table. She says she feels she still has stuff to do. It's a very interesting book. It's got a bit of manifesting nonsense. (I would be more sympathetic to manifesting if people were trying to manifest peace in the Middle East rather than money for face cream and a family trip to Disney). She has some good stuff to say about positivity and faith - her parents were Christian Missionaries. She also sat down in her sixties and wrote out a twenty-year life plan. I'll be honest, I would feel that was a bit presumptuous at my time of life. Has anyone else done something like that? Aged Parent was always against that kind of thing - quoting "We leave it with the Lord." I have no idea what she meant but, as you know by now, we were a mystery to each other most of the time. However, I found this translation in Proverbs.

We plan the way we want to live,
    but only God makes us able to live it.

It's like God isn't against planning for life - just don't forget who is in charge baby. I think I am fine with that. Have a good week.