Crete

We are about to embark on another journey to our favourite place Crete. To be precise Ayios Nikolaos, a beautiful town situated on the north east side of the island. We have been there many times and a have lot of good friends there. We are particularly looking forward to seeing Costos and Thalia and their wonderful family. We have known them for good few years and even though we only see them twice a year we are as close to them as anyone we know in the UK.
As we all know, Greece is struggling at the moment (understatement) and there seems little prospect of the economic pain being short lived. Basically they are brassik, skint, bust and without support, cannot as a country function. there are many theories as to what the solution is, whether it be political, economic or social or all three but the reality is that they are in the shit!
I would like to dispel a few stereotypes, that maybe the rest of Europe, has about the Greeks. The typical impression of Greeks is they are lazy ,tax avoiding and generally corrupt, among other traits. I have spent a lot of time with Greek people and yes, there are, as in any country, an element of the population who are like that. There is evidence of an endemic culture of corruption but the vast majority of Greeks that I have encountered are hard working, law abiding, honest, loving, friendly people who look after each other. The are very family oriented and this is particularly true of the Cretan's. They hours that they work would not be tolerated by British citizens and in the retail and tourist industry that can also be 7 days a week. 
Yes there is a certain casual attitude to many of the rules and regulations that we in the UK slavishly follow because the  European Commission has imposed it's will upon us, however in my humble opinion this a good thing, for it stops the inevitable bureaucracy from hindering there lives unnecessarily  This is not to say that they do not have to navigate the red tape of officialdom, indeed there is juxtaposition between an apparent laxness in rules enforcement and a firm intention by local government to impose them.  Add to this, that many of their civil servants pay scant regard to the rules they should be implementing. Here is are two examples. 
We have been visiting the island before and after the introduction of the ban on smoking in public places, it has made no difference to the Greeks, smoking continues unabated more or less as it did before! 
Crash helmets were made compulsory for motorbikes and scooters ( and there are thousands more than we ever see on a UK road) . You do see most riders wearing them these days (not all) but you often see pillion passengers not wearing anything including children. When I inquired as to why both of these rules were either not followed or partially followed, the wonderful enigmatic answer I got was "we are Greek!". Now some may interpret that as being somewhat typical of the Greek attitude and they would be correct but for me that fatalistic shrug of the shoulders is one of the things that I love about the them! It is a wonderfully insightful understanding of their  nature!
But don't be fooled, the majority of Greeks care deeply about their country and as you may expect the current economic situation is high on their agenda. They also care deeply what the rest of Europe thing of them, though there is no love lost with the Germans.They are happy to accept them as tourists and are too polite to ever offend them but the scars from the 2nd world war and the Germans occupation of the country and the island of Crete in particular, runs deep and is hard to forgive (are not many other countries in Europe, not a little like this as well?).
They have their criminals and feuds do still erupt and you certainly would not want to be on the wrong side of a Cretan if he took a real dislike to you and yours! The vast majority I have always found to be a friendly, warm, well behaved and polite and there younger population could show the English how to behave! There is no yob culture in Crete.
So we look forward to our 9 day break and the warmer climes of beautiful Crete. 

The Lake in Ayios

Birthday

You did not expect a man of my verbosity to not write a few words on my actual birthday, did you?
Today I have lived 6 decades, not such an achievement as it once was when life spans were not so long but hey it is my lifespan so far, so i am damn well going to celebrate!
When I was born it was only 7 years after the second world war, rationing was still in place, there was hardly a TV in existence and not every home had a telephone, we still had smog and fog, coal was the main fuel and rock and roll was embryonic beginnings at best. I am eldest child of three (a brother Julian 5 years younger and a sister Alison 14 years my junior) and my first home was shared with my maternal grandparents, we had the upstairs they had the down. Like all children, of my generation, I went to primary school and then on to Secondary Modern (failed the eleven plus no grammar school for me), by which time we had our own house, which was in a culdisack and had a big green in the middle, which was ideal for football, cricket and many more games, whilst the outer circuit was ideal for bike racing!
I was uninspired at school, not really good at education, always "could do better", was the constant theme of my report card and I was apparently badly behaved or at least a a cheeky git who could not help making comments (I haven't changed!). Like many children, I experienced bullying and some prejudice but it was just the way it was in those days, it did not have the prominence it rightly gets today! I don't believe it really had any lasting effect and I did deal eventually, deal with one persistent tormentor, in a satisfying and somewhat violent manner!
 I left school at 16 with no real qualifications, I think I passed some exams but have never looked at the results. I remember I had fractured my hand at the time and writing was literally a pain!
I stumbled into adulthood and through a number of uninspiring jobs, I partook of most things that adolescents do, smoked (didn't drink till much later), had fumbled sex, played football, learnt to drive and attempted to tinker with cars (poorly), went out with girls and was a dumper and a dumpee, took drugs (it was the late sixties!), drove my parents mad and generally tried to sample as much as one could,went to watch many of the bands and performers of the day as possible, I had some good friends and a circle of acquaintances, as everyone does, none of whom I have seen or heard of for more than 30 years. 
Music has sustained me throughout my life and whilst I cannot play a note on any instrument ( I have tried but do not have the perseverance or talent).  I love all sorts of music and have listened to as much as possible, since my early years of trawling through my parents record collection (not inspiring but  a few gems) and like many thousands of teenagers being thrilled by The Beatles and the whole sixties music scene. my love has increased over the years and my taste expanded, especially with the advent of the internet.
I met my future wife Wendy, when I was 20 and she was 14, it was a brief but memorable meeting, though it would be a few years before we got together. She had dalliances with two of my friends first before she finally realised that I was the best choice( I had a brief dalliance with her best mate)! We were by that time friends and I had always fancied her, when we eventually went out together, I just knew she was the one for me (you'll have to ask her if she felt the same). Oh and by the way for the record she initiated it. 
Time past and at 27 for me and 22 for her, we got married in Harrow registry office and moved out of London (too expensive) and into our first terrace house in Northampton (April 29th 1980).
I believe it cost £5500 and the mortgage was £52 per month, oh happy days. 
I had a job which caused me to have travel back to London most days and Wendy, cause she is clever and has a gazillion qualifications, worked as a Lab technician in the local general hospital. We got a couple of cats, eventually burgeoning to five (we have had over 20 cats in our married life and whole piece could be written just on those characters alone! We also had a wonderful Red Setter for almost 13 years, as well as other assorted pets as family life went on!)   and life went on. We move to a bigger house, after three yeas and Adam our first son was born. We were happy and unremarkable. I now worked in Milton Keynes in computer company and would do for the next 12 years, the longest I have ever worked for any single employer. Along the way we met our best friends Peter and Carol and we have remained close families eve since, they have enriched our lives and I hope we have enriched theirs.Peter is my closest friend and a remarkable man, we have a closeness that I would be devastated if it ever was lost and I know he feels the same way. 
We moved once more to a typical three bed-roomed semi-detached ( where we have lived for the last 26 years) and our second son Andrew came along, 2 years after his brother. They are now 28 and 26 respectively and I have said previously, we must have done something right in bring them up because they are both well adjusted adults ( yes they have their quirks but hey who doesn't, I've got so many that I have given up trying to smooth them out!)

                                              The 3 Primhak "boys" at my sixtieth party 

Well I have just read this missive and it is humorless and about as exciting as watching paint dry and I assure you that I can be very funny and it is humour that has sustained me throughout my life., Humour in my opinion is the best medicine and alongside positive thinking and an optimistic nature, have always sustained me. 
Wendy and I have now been married for 32 years are we happy together, yes, do we have to work at maintaining our relationship, yes, do we get down and angry with each other, yes, are there things (many) that irritate us about each other, yes, do we love each other, yes more than ever! That is what marriage is all about and the younger generation would do well to realise that, it is not about spending a vast fortune because it is fashionable to have a big ceremony! 
Have we faced trauma in our life yes of course,  Wendy accumulated a number of wear and tear injuries as she has been a Fitness Consultant for many years and it does take it's toll (currently waiting for a knee cleaning opp). Me well I have had a fairly trouble free exsistance but in true style when in 1999 I managed to contract leukemia ( try an avoid it, if you can) had 15 chemo therapies and at one point had a 50/50 chance of survival but survive I did and am still here to talk about it over 10 years later.  
I am a very lucky man with a wonderful family and good friends some of whom I have only met in  recent years. Boring really, grumpy, eccentric (according to my sons), kind (occasionally), sarcastic (a lot), generous (when required), unemployed (temporarily), a son (dads still with us, mum died years ago), a son-in-law (mother-in-law is delightful if not a little scatty, like mother like daughter!), a father and a friend. 
So that's me now sixty and still going strong (I hope!) with many more years ahead. I will I am sure continue to report on them!

                               My lovely wife with her "baby" (she hates having her photo taken) 

60th

On Monday it is my 60th birthday. Like everyone, the older one gets, the more you wonder where the time disappeared, how did it go so quickly? It seems only yesterday that I was  embarking on an "adult" life and looking forward to all the things that it would bring. I am still relatively young by today's standards, (and only 18 in my head, aren't we all!) when I was young, in my teens, we thought that 30 was old and 40 to 50 was ancient, any age over that was positively aged in the extreme. Our perception of ages has changed dramatically and as the majority of us live longer, 60 no longer seems quite so old and is course the "new" 50......!
Becoming 60, naturally, gives pause to look back over your life and review all the choices and decisions you've made. I for one am not particularly good at this, as I do not tend to dwell in the past and have always tried to take each day as it comes. My memory of my childhood is poor and I would make a lousy autobiographer. There are many events I remember vividly, meeting my wife Wendy, getting married, having my two sons, Adam and Andrew, amongst the many highlights. 
I have been married to Wendy 32 years (though we have been together much longer) and like all married couples we have had good times and bad times, up and downs. As Wendy says it would have been boring to be on the roundabout and she would rather be on the roller-coaster with me, even if it is less predictable it is a more exciting ride!
She is my best friend, my only love and how she has put up with me for all this time is beyond my understanding (although it cuts both ways!). She obviously knows me better than anybody and still she stays! I am fortunate to have two sons who are well rounded adults and I could not be more proud or love either of them more.
So that's the sentiment out of the way, as my title description says, I come over sentimental occasionally, please forgive me!
They say as you age one gains experience and wisdom? I have certainly gained experience, as to wisdom, at the risk of sounding pretentious, I am wise enough to know that I have little of that commodity, I am still trying to acquire some. I have some life skills I've picked up along the way, I can cook, clean, iron and do many other household chores. I am quite good at decorating (lazy at getting started). I can drive a car and my favourite thing pedal a bike. There are many other skills in my armory but as those who know me will testify, I am far to humble and modest to blow my own trumpet and way too shy to share any of my them with the world!
I am also blessed, to have gained a very few really close friends and alongside my family, it is these close friends with whom I share my life who have become the most important part of my exsistance  If there is one thing I have learned, it is these relationships are the most precious and should be cherished. Sorry sentimentality creeping in again!
You gain other gifts as you age, that nobody tells you about when your younger, an assortment of aches and pains! The knee that gives way now and then, the ankle that keels over, the neck that aches if sat in one position for too long etc, we also develop a fine range of moans that disguise our difficulty of rising form an armchair or sofa. One also gets the opportunity to visit the bathroom more often and take longer once in there, especially at night when your sleep is interrupted regularly by the need to pee.I should not complain I am healthy and pretty fit and far better off than many others I know. We must accept that the wear and tear of our physical bodies is inevitable and there is a faint amusement, when you both rise with aaah escaping from your lips! 
It is odd that when I was in a better, younger, condition to take part in all the sporting activities that I would liked to have tried, I failed miserably to do so, I played football and did the usual things, young men do, with an interest in sport and the many more that young men attempt that were not so sporting! Now I am a older with the inclination to try them, there are many, which frankly I am not capable of! Yes I know you are never to old and if you read my previous writings,  you will read that I still have sporting intentions and ambitions!
Wendy says, I am getting grumpier and as my blog states, I can do nothing but agree with her. I fell it is the prerogative of all men to complain more as we get older, after all there is so much to complain about and so much that needs complaint......!!!
So in conclusion, thank you to everyone who has shared my journey thus far, there are many whom I would rather have not met or at best avoided but there are the few without whom my life would not have been as enriched as it has. There is plenty more to come and I will no doubt share some of it with the readers of this page. 

Happy birthday to me!!!!!

Thursday

Many is the time that I have looked at this blog and had nothing to really say! This is one of those times........... no hold on a thought is emerging wait.........................no sorry nothing ah well!!!!!

Cycling Buddies

In my previous scribbling, I wrote about a cycle ride that I took part in on Sunday. With the exception of my mate Peter with whom I went, I had not made the acquaintance of any of the other riders. It seems I have been drawn into a number of other rides with them and that we are already comrades in arms, on the road. How quickly one becomes a willing participant in a cycling fraternity and quick to join in other organised rides. I have already registered for a "Mad March" sportive and feel sure that other similar adventures  will manifest as time passes and especially as the climate improves past March 2013. 
I have decided that any previous reluctance to do more than just ride locally, as I have done for the last few years, will not do, it is time to stop reading about these different events and take part in them. I am 60 years young in 7 days, so could there be a better juncture to embark on such adventures. I may fall flat on my face and find I am unable to always complete some events but I am bloody well going to give it a go!

Weekend Ride

My good and dearest friend Peter and myself decided to register with Skyride https://www.goskyride.com. it has been setup to introduce local riders to each other, for rides to be organised and riders then register to take part.
The site promotes all aspects of cycling with particular emphasis on the everyday rider, whatever their level might be. Go to the site if you are interested and there is something for all cyclists however keen you are..

This Sunday we took part in our first event, organised by a fellow cyclist Phil Holliday. It started from Salcey Forest (it is a dense wood, slightly misnamed) in Northamptonshire and took us around North Buckinghamshire, through the country lanes via Stony Stratford through Milton Keynes, stopping at Newport Pagnell and then onto Olney, returning to the car park at Salcey (just as well as the car was there!) In all it covered about 58 miles and it took us approximately 6 hours, longer than anticipated but there were a number of stops for riders who had "dropped" off the "peleton" and a couple of longer ones for so as we could feed and water. 
Eleven participants started all except one on road bikes and all of us wrapped up, as, though a sunny morning with a beautiful blue sky, it is October and an Autumn chill was in the air. 
I was a little apprehensive, as this would be my first group ride for 30 odd years and I was not sure how well I would keep up (I am slow going UP hills). Everyone seemed friendly, although it surprising how difficult it is to tell someones age, when they are donned in a cycle helmet!
I have done a couple of charity rides in recent years but in those I was on my own or with Peter and everyone goes at their own pace with no obligation to keep up or wait for any rider. A group ride by definition is exactly that and whilst it would separate from time to time the purpose is to start and finish together.
Without describing the route (mostly flat with the odd incline or steepish hill, nothing that would concern the average rider or tire them to much) in great detail and thus becoming a boring description of this road and that incline, I was pleasantly surprised to find that I kept up pretty well, indeed we both did. Don't make any mistake, we were not riding at tour pace or anything close (nor could we) but there were times when we were spinning along at a fair rate of knots. I am sure, as it appeared in the latter stages, that three or four, were able to ride quicker than I can but I did find myself, surprisingly, at the front quite often. I write this not to "big" myself up, I was genuinely, stunned! I will admit that on this particular day I felt great and that I could easily ride  the distance required. All cyclists will  understand that some days you just feel full of riding and this was one of those days. It all balances out, as there will be future days when the opposite will be true and a ride will become a real grind! You have to enjoy the days when the the legs are able to speed you along at a good cadence and of course the conditions helped, the morning was about as perfect as it gets in October, crisp and sunny, fantastic!I
On the way back from Olney,  four or five of us went ahead at a faster pace and I really enjoyed the comfort of being drafted along as the riders in front shelter you and punch a hole in the air. It had been a long time since I had experienced the phenomenon and it is amazing how it drags you along. I did not manage to hang on to the wheel in front the whole of the of that leg of the ride but it was great. Of course during the ride, there were times when I got dropped (up hills) and I hung back at one point to accompany Sharon, who was struggling and brought her into Olney where she phoned a friend to come and pick her up. She was the only female on the ride and self admittedly said she had not ridden enough miles recently to prepare.
We lost one more rider on the way home to Salcey but he had already ridden double the distance, than he had ever attempted before, so no shame there.
I had left Peter behind on this last leg and when we stopped in Hanslope and he caught up he professed that he was "knackered". We only had 5k to go and it was almost completely flat, so he tucked in behind me and we rode in tandem to the finish.
Everyone who did finish seemed very pleased with the days ride and we said our goodbyes albeit it a little later than originally intended ( I hope those words do not come back to haunt me).
I arrived home and my darling wife Wendy had, as promised, had conjured up some of her superb Lentil soup, which was very welcome and slipped down to warm me after the inevitable shower.
I felt tired but also a tremendous sense of well being, as only one can after a enjoyable physical effort. 
I would like to extend my thanks to all the riders, you were great company and I hope to ride with as many of you as possible again soon. special thanks to Phil for organising and to my best mate Peter for driving there and back. 

Dog depression

I am a sad and lonely man bereft of my temporary canine companion Sugar. We only dog sat for a week and now the house feels empty, no Labrador, staring at you when you eat or get under your feet when in the kitchen in case some food might come her way. It is amazing how quickly you can become attached to a creature and then when they return to their owner how much you miss them. Well I have never pretended to not be a big softy!