I took this photo on the 1st of January this year looking forwards with great optimism but by any measure this year has been a disaster, it has taken away all the anchors that hold my understanding of the world which I thought I understood and all my cultural and social references are disappearing faster that the speed of light.
I know this sounds a little dramatic but this year has seen my teenage years wiped out in a several devastating strokes. What makes it even more cruel is reading about it without any notice on twitter which has often taken my breath away for a moment.
I know that becoming old is the natural way of things but never in my wildest dreams in my twenties did I think that it would be this traumatic. Everything I thought I knew and understood has now flown out of the window and I am now in free fall.
Now the old Hippie in me thinks that this is a cool concept but the reality is far more scary. I am trying to second guess my place in the universe and it is almost impossible to predict. Now I know I am a control freak but I now feel like an old telephone switchboard operator when someone has taken out all the cables. (at this point I know I have lost at least half of my readership).
So this Christmas I am going to go with the flow as Lady Ann says and see where it takes me. Half of me is hoping that it takes me to somewhere safe and the other half is hoping it will take me to somewhere that I have never been and is ever so slightly exciting.
So guys whatever your Christmas brings you I hope you are surrounded by your loved ones and you find what you are looking for because I can only think that 2017 is going to be a bit of a roller coaster ride.
All that remains for me to say is I hope you have a Merry Christmas, a happy and healthy New Year. But on a personal note please be kind to each other, it’s the only way we get through the tough bits.
After months of planning and stressing Eccles Hall has now returned to some sort of normality.
Weddings are a fantastic way of bringing families and friends together for a day of making memories that will last a lifetime. The wedding in question was my son Simon and his partner Kayleigh’s and what a wedding it was.
It only took Lady Ann twelve months to buy two hats, three pairs of shoes and two wedding suits to make sure she was happy with the results. With the Hairdresser calling in early to help her look fantastic it was left to me to do the only thing I know I can get right, a trip out for bacon sandwiches.
Now the only rule that Lady Ann insisted on was that I had to turn my phone off and not take any photographs on the day, (I only managed two tweets of the whole day). I wasn’t breaking that rule only because retribution comes hard and fast in our house.
It is difficult being the family of the groom because here in England quite rightly it is the Brides day and she calls the shots and may I say she did a great job. She did something I have never managed to do and that is to get me and my family all together, on time and in one place and that is no mean achievement its almost like shepherding cats.
I would think Kayleigh’s father wasn’t quite as calm, he had to share his house with seven women getting ready and I can only imagine what pandamonium ensued in his home that morning.
The service was brilliant and with the help of a great vicar who was most entertaining, a great reading by Kayleigh’s mother Janet all went without a hitch. Watching the happy couple smiling at each other whilst making their vows is something I will remember always. The rest of the day though is another story so it is down to our resident ninja photographer to remind us of all the bits we can’t remember. Once we have some photographs I will post them up.
The only other thing I remember clearly was the best mans speech which was a brilliant rollercoaster of a ride without embarrassing anyone and having everyone in stitches.
It was great meeting both family and friends at the reception and made for a brilliant party. All that remains for me to say is I am a very lucky person who is surrounded by an even bigger circle of friends than I had before and at my age you can’t have to many friends.
So whilst the happy couple are basking in the sun on honeymoon all that is left for us to do is return our suits, collect up all the presents and the remains of the biggest wedding cake I have ever seen and try and get some normality back into everyday life.
Remembrance Sunday is always a sobering experience for anyone with shred of humanity. I have just returned from our remembrance service which as I expected was a very moving and life affirming experience.
Our service takes place every year at the Pots and Pans memorial which can be seen from almost every part of Saddleworth and stands majestic against the skyline which is made up of some very large hills.
Now the older I get the more of a challenge it becomes but the feeling of peace when you put some altitude between yourself and the busy world we live in the more you can think about the magnitude of sacrifice that was made on our behalf.
According to the internet (so it must be right) The memorial is situated 427m or about 1,500 feet above sea level and the views are remarkable. So now the bad news, even if you get to within walking distance which is about a half mile walk you find the path rises about 800ft which makes it tough walking for a feeble specimen such as myself.
At one point this morning whilst gasping for breath whilst stood pretending to take photographs, I did think for a moment I might not make it. But a friend a few years ago gave me some great advice about walking uphill, so I thought I would share it.
Take small steps, take Sixty steps then rest for Sixty-seconds and carry on until the reach the top. It works for me, I started this when the going got tough but by the time I was half way up I needed less and less rest and I arrived in a state ready to take part in the service rather than leaning against the rocks gasping for breath.
Just as I arrived at the top the band struck up with the first hymn, one of my favourites that I remember from School, Onward Christian Soldiers. I did try to join in but the lump in my throat made it very difficult.
As the service progressed through to the two minute silence I was amazed at how quiet it was, even with so many people present all you could hear was the wind. It is a strange feeling being stood with so many people and it being so quiet.
I always think that two minutes hardly seems enough to show the respect that these poor young men deserve for the ultimate sacrifice they made.
I have been lucky enough in my lifetime not to have had to go to war, but for these brave souls it was not by choice, many volunteered but some were enlisted which is even more remarkable.
As well as the walking up hill lesson I learned something else over the years. Once you reach your journeys end it is not over. As Tolkien said in The Lord of the Rings, A journey is there and back again.
History is littered with people who arrived but weren’t lucky enough to make it back, just think of Scott of the Antarctic, a lesson to heed if ever there was one.
This morning was no different, going down hill for me is a far more scary prospect. At my age I have found I don’t bounce like I once did. So with that fear at the back of my mind and with more than a little apprehension I made my way down without breaking any bones whatsoevever. Which on that hill is no mean achievement I can tell you.
So after my annual adventure over the moors to pay my respects all that remains to do is head of home to a brew and a spot of lunch and count my blessings and hope that all the brave dedicated people in our armed forces manage to stay safe in this ever more dangerous world we live in.
If you remember in last weeks blog I was commenting on when your work colleagues retire you have no one to have a good moan with. Well, unfortunately for me my employer must have read it, felt my pain and did something about it. They have made me redundant.
Now it didn’t really come as a shock to me, funding cuts are making Further Education almost undeliverable and it’s no easy task offering the best educational experience for students on an ever decreasing budget.
So am I outraged, upset or angry?
The answer is no. The college I have worked for have been great to me over the years and they are making an offer that will mean I can take my foot off the gas and enjoy myself before I get to old to do so.
During the twenty or so years that I have been involved with the college I have taught well over 6000 students and many of them have gone on to have great careers in Film, TV, Radio, Digital industries, and PR and that is very satisfying to see.
What really has surprised me is that how quickly the news has travelled. I haven’t even finalised the arrangements and people are getting in touch to see how they can help. I am amazed and really humbled that people would take the time to send me a message to say they are thinking of me and if I need help then just get in touch.
More worryingly I have also had a couple of job offers so I wont be starving anytime soon.
Lady Ann has said she is looking forward to seeing more of me and is already making a list of things that need doing so I won’t get bored (her words not mine) and if the list isn’t to long I will have a chance to take a breather before embarking on the next instalment of life at Eccles Towers.
So even though this part of my career is over anyone who knows me will realise even though I could retire, I probably won’t. Film makers and creative people love what they do so it really isn’t a job, its a lifestyle choice. The difference being that I can choose projects I want to work on rather that projects I have to work on and there is a world of difference between the two.
So all the remains to say on this subject is that I cant wait to get started in a part-time fashion obviously, and a great big thank you to everyone who has helped me over the years and made my job brilliant.
Dr Martin Luther King, the man who paid the ultimate price for following a dream
I feel a little bit funny tonight, not funny laughing but funny unsettled. I have reached that unmentionable age where your friends start to call it a draw and retire. Now, this is all well and good but that means I have no one left of a similar age to have a good moan with.
I know what you are thinking, you can have a good moan with anyone but there are two golden rules to moaning. One the person you are moaning with is your age and at least knows what you are moaning about and the other is that they know who you are moaning about.
Now I know this seems like common sense but it is pointless moaning with someone who is thirty years younger than you because they do not have a clue what you are moaning about.
For example my social and cultural iconic references are J. F. Kennedy, Mohammed Ali, Martin Luther king and on a lighter level the Beatles. Now I know this seems like a load of old has-beens, but they deserve a little more respect than they receive.
They all had one thing in common, they had a belief that good would overcome evil and that the human spirit could triumph in the end. It may come as no surprise that these people paid the price for sticking their heads above the parapet.
But that is what my generation expect. I do not want people to expect average, I expect everyone to be extraordinary, I want people who can motivate nations to rise to a common objective and trust me these people are very rare in this day and age.
So as I sit here looking back with rose coloured glasses, when was the last time anyone made you feel proud.
It has been far to long ago for me to remember and that is very sad.
James looking like he’s lost the will to live in yet another clothes shop.
Sunday night should be the last chance of the weekend to wind down and try to either recover from partying hard or trying to remember all the great things you did since you walked out of the office on Friday night.
This weekend has been busy by our standards we have had to up our game because the Grandkids have stayed with us. Now that in itself isn’t usually as traumatic as it sounds but this weekend we have had to sort out other stuff as well.
Saturday we had to go prop shopping for a commercial I am making which means sorted bits and bobs and costumes for a 14 year old actress. I ask you how hard can it be to buy a couple of tops and a blazer.
At this point I should mention the actress in question is my grand daughter Saskia (nepotism is alive and well) and all I can say she is very picky. Saturday consisted of visiting several high street shops with Lady Ann, Saskia and James who I must be said has as much interest in shopping as I do.
He does however have a unique skill that it took me years to master and that is the art of looking as if you have lost the will to live, and very good he is at it as well.
So the biggest part of the day was taken up in various coffee shops whilst the women went shopping. So arriving back home I was quickly reminded that I needed to go and check on Saskia’s horse at the stables which we duly did.
So at seven thirty this morning I am back at the stables feeding the horse again before I leave to meet friends at a Car show in Pontefract (on my own and very good it was to).
So I arrived back mid afternoon, had a bit of a nap and thought what a good way to round the weekend off by watching the Grand Prix. My plans hit the skids about eight when Saskia tells us out of the blue she needs some stuff for food technology for tomorrow morning.
So Ann hurriedly went through our cupboards and found most of the ingredients on her long list but the deal breaker was she needed 600 grammes of white fish! So after travelling about 10 miles in search of white fish on a Sunday evening we had almost give up but then I had a brainwave.
Lets see if a fish and chip shop would sell us a raw fish!
Now have you ever tried to explain to the local Chinese Chip shop that you would like to buy a raw fish a bit of a challenge but hey guess what they delivered in spades. They were fantastic, life savers.
So it is now Ten o clock they have gone home the house is once again quiet and I am breaking a golden rule (no alcohol on a school night) by having a large Gin and Tonic to recover from the busiest weekend we have had in ages.
It seems like a lifetime since our holiday and like most academic institutions ours is no different in welcoming new students onto campus. To me this is the best time of year, you find out what your classes are going to look like and watch these individuals overcome a range of experiences that they probably haven’t experienced before.
Most of our students come from Oldham so you would think they would have no problems getting to know each other but meeting people for the first time is always stressful no matter how often you do it. They are no different.
Watching little groups form over the first week is fascinating as well as very entertaining. Everyone is trying to find out who the cool kids are and others drift into the corners trying to drop below the radar.
So here I am sat at my desk with another academic year to look forward to and wondering how many more years I will have the energy to do this job. On a good day it is brilliant, on a bad day it is exhausting, the issue is when you get up in the morning you don’t know which it is going to be, if I did some days I wouldn’t bother getting up.
So to all parents everywhere who are now sat having a post-apocalyptic summer break brew I am envious, I will have to wait about nine months for mine. As a friend said on Monday as she was stood at the school gates after dropping off her daughter ‘How come all the kids look like they are starring in the only way is Essex and all the parent look like they are in the cast of the living dead.’
Not All Who Wander Are Lost is a line from the poem All that is gold does not glitter, written by J. R. R.Tolkien for The Lord of the Rings.
This week whilst touring Scotland I have been reminded on several occasions of that book which I read in my late teens. I remember it took me months to read and it wasn’t until later in life that the messages within it have begun to resonate with me.
Now I’m not saying we didn’t get lost but it did feel like we took very tentative steps on a great adventure, wandering the great open spaces just because we could.
Scotland is the place that is full of romance and mythical beasties, you only have to look at Andy Scott’s fantastic Kelpies to see that folklore is at the forfront of most peoples minds when they visit Scotland.
I think that viewing large powerful landscapes makes us try to put our lives into perspective and how we fit into our wider world, and the landscapes I have seen this week certainly have done that.
Being someone who lives in the South Pennines I should be used to hills and beautiful landscapes but Scotland has places that make you gasp at the scale and the rugged beauty of it all. Even in the rain it is still epic.
We have spent the past few days touring the northern highlands taking part in the North Coast 500. The scheme as the name suggests takes you around the northern coastline of the Scottish highlands and takes you to places that are truly remarkable and beautiful in equal measure.
Now you would think that being August and most places booked solid it would be full, but at times we went hours without seeing another soul and that can be very refreshing.
But it’s not only the scenery thats amazing, it’s the people you meet on the trip, talking to fellow travellers taking the same routes who all have the similar opinion that Scotland really is a magical place.
Ann and Myself have reached the age that camping under canvas is not an option that we would take lightly. If fact I would say that unless armageddon reduces everywhere to rubble, camping is not an option. With that in mind we booked into Inns and Hotels around the route.
All the places we stayed offered a warm welcome and great food for the weary traveller but one place takes that welcome to a whole new level. At the John o Groats Guest House I met a couple who take customer service very seriously and then add a sprinkling of magic to make it the best place I have ever stayed in.
Photo Courtesy of John O’Groats Guest House
The guesthouse in the first building you see when you get to John o Groats and as you can imaging after hours on the road it is a very welcome sight. Mary and Mark greeted us with a very welcome cup of tea and we sat and had a bit of a chat about the place and explained about some of the photographs of people that litter the place. Each photograph representing something very special.
It is the end spot for the End to Enders as they are called. People who walk, run or cycle from Lands End to John o Groats and that is a challenge and a half.
Think about it Lands End to John o Groats according to google (so it must be right) is 866 miles for those who have to avoid motorways. It’s a huge distance to travel and the expressions on the faces in every photograph is of smiley faces full of pride through to abject relief and I take my hat of to each and every one of them.
The guest house has a transient population, most of the occupants like us passing through either onwards to the Orkneys or back down the coast to Inverness and I assume everyone gets the same treatment.
At the evening meal again I was reminded of Lord of the Rings. All of the guests sat at the same table chatting about our homes, families and where we are travelling to next.
I have to say that it’s the first time I have sat having dinner with an Italian CERN Astrophysicist, a Gynaecologist, A Business Consultant and a Teaching Administrator discussing what we all had for Christmas dinner in our respected houses.
Now I know thats not an earth shattering conversation but it confirmed to me that no matter what nationality or background you come from we all have the same pride in where we call home.
I suppose that’s how it used to be before the large hotel chains took over and reduced us all to stay in our rooms watching TV and eating microwave dinners.
The morning after we all met up again, had a huge breakfast and said our goodbyes then we all went our separate ways.
We loaded the suitcases into the car and we headed for the finish line at Inverness Castle.
Now one thing that Ann wanted to see on the trip was a dolphin so as we headed back to Inverness we headed for the Black Isle and in particular to Chanonry Point to try and spot them from land.
I have discovered on this trip that sometimes your trusty Sat Nav can take you to the most interesting of places. We finished up going down a road that led to what appeared to be a graveyard for unused North Sea Oil rigs.
This was very disconcerting, they are huge and these large industrial structures seemed to look almost satanic set against the beautiful surrounding countryside, it came as a brief reminder of what we do to satisfy the insatiable appetite for oil and petrol products.
Eventually we ended up at the Nigg ferry, a very small ferry that left every half hour. After seeing the size of it we decided that it might be prudent to turn around and follow the road around the estuary.
By the time we arrived at our next hotel it was to late to spot anything so we decided that in the morning we would take a boat on the Moray Firth to try and see the local pod. Unfortunately they didn’t want to come out and play so she was a little disappointed.
You can imagine our surprise this morning whilst sorting out the photographs of that one I took of Chanory Point from the boat, I had inadvertently photographed one of them. So that was one happy ending.
The black wave is a Dolphin (no wonder we missed it).
So I am sat here looking out over the Pennines at a rare blue sky thinking of the places I have seen, the people I have met and the delicious food I have eaten, (not been on the scales yet, I will have to build upto that one).
It brought me back to thinking about Tolkien again and in particular this quote ‘If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.’
One thing is for sure I think I have left a little bit of my heart up in Scotland and I can’t wait to go back and visit again.
Today in my professional role is the day before the holidays, the day is split between what you need to do and what you feel you should do and that is always a disastrous proposition.
We are all human and how many modern couples are conflicted by the feeling of being out of control whilst being on holiday. I don’t mean this in a derogatory way but we run hard and fast all year and then all of a sudden when the brakes are applied and we are expected to have a holiday.
Now don’t get me wrong I love holidays, a chance to recharge the batteries and spend time with your loved ones who are all but ignored for the rest of the year. This is an opportunity to get some brownie points with your kith and kin.
Now that brings a whole different pressure on your average man and woman, demands which are well outside a normal worldly experience. For example stood in your speedos by the sea trying to look cool whilst your kids are making sandcastles is in my opinion wrong on so many levels so I ask you to stop immediately.
The question you have to ask is, is this a natural proposition. The answer is no it isn’t but we still manage to make it work because we love our children and our grandchildren and I suggest that there is no situation that parents and grandparents will not endure to ensure the kids are having the time of their lives,
So I m here tonight is a very relaxed frame of mind trying to make sense of all this after having a great night out and I am now searching for another answer to another age old question, ‘what makes great night out ?’
So here is my answer for what it is worth:
Number one, great company. People who can tell a great story. Trust me I know these people they can tell stories that can make you cry with laughter or break your heart. It does not matter a jot as long as they emotionally connect with you.
Number two you cannot second guess a good night out. Good nights out just happen. It is a combination of getting to the weekend and the attitude of living in the moment and not worrying about the headache tomorrow. (Most drinkers will try and feed you the miracle hangover cure but it does not exist).
Number three this is the best reason whatsoever, you need to feel young again, revisit your youth, a time when your only responsibility was to ensure you put you underwear the right way round!
Don’t get me wrong we all have responsibilities which weigh us down but everyone needs a break and guess what in this household it happens the same time every week.
So this is my message to you, have a great holiday, enjoy yourselves and above all experience life as you would like to live it.
Have a great break and see you after the holiday season with some more grumpy musings..
Remembrance Sunday is always a sobering experience for anyone with shred of humanity. I have just returned from our remembrance service which as I expected was a very moving and life affirming experience.
John D Eccles 