Dave 'Dodgy' Jones (1954-2025)

 I heard the news yesterday that my great friend and social activist Dave Jones passed away recently. I can't say that I will miss him, as I have already had that experience while he has been shut away in a dementia care home in Teddington West London for close to 15 years. I visited on occassions when other reasons took me down South, but as is always the case, his memory of me or SWMBO diminished to nothing very quickly. One has no idea if the visits do register as certainly the exchanges indicate they do not, but I was advised to keep going as long as I was able, to keep the care home on their toes, and in case there was some cranial activity I was stimulating.

Dave was a long standing member of the Tuesday club, a group who convened at 9pm in The Prince Blucher in Twickenham, and pretended we had all been rugby training and needed a recovery pint or three. Clearly in our fourties, our rugby training days were long behind us, but the social couple of hours were always rich in stories and memories.

There were memories for SWMBO and I as well. We would often meet him in Paris when England were playing, although his allegiance was always to Wales!! We stayed in his apartment in Amsterdam and in Rome when his work with Cellnet took him away for months at a time, but most memorable, we were with him in Atlanta during the 1996 Olympic Games as he was liaison officer for Helen Rollenson of TV fame, and we were working in the Georgia Dome. Dave sorted accomodation and had a good knowledge of  Buckhead and its bars and restaurants and we had a real blast for two weeks. 

The World was always a livelier place with 'Dodgy' around, and I felt priveliged to call him my friend. May you finally be free .

Trumpton

 One consistency during our Caribbean adventure was the unanimous loathing the Americans have for their new President. He would almost seem like a US equivalent of Enoch Powell, the Midland MP who would gain support for his controversial policies by preaching to the less intelligent members of society who were easily led.

Trump is clearly targeting the'good old boys', rednecks and others of a similar outlook to fuel his radical approach to changing the World. His pardoning of the Senate rioters looks like it will set the scene.

There may be trouble ahead!

The great British belly

 So off we go with the second blog of the year, SWMBO and I have just returned from ten days in Barbados, our first proper holiday since our Safari two years ago and first visit to the island since before Covid.

There are several theme's to expand on but the one which captured my interest was the ability to study a cross section of the UK population, and understand the challenges facing the NHS now and in the future.

There were huge beer bellies, chain smokers of a nature I had not experienced for years, and tattoo's a-plenty and that was just the women. It is clear the population has an obesity challenge, and it extends further than Birkenhead, where thunder thighs are a common sight amongst young girls and probably genetic.

There is much talk of the elderly bed blocking in our hospitals, so why I wonder does the Government not reintroduce the Nightingale hospital programme and use then to free up main hospital beds. Student nurses can train on the job under the supervision of an old fashion Matron and its a win-win situation

Kenneth Williams eat your heart out!

Must do better

 Did I really only do eight posts in 2024? It wasn' t that dull was it? Well maybe it was, Do my reader's really want to hear about me winning golf trophies, well only one actually but it is impressive and 98 years old, More to the point have I got many readers left, I can check see how many hits l get but I can't even be bothered. Its all done as a friends update, a bit like the Christmas Round Robin, but drip fed and a historical record of grandad if the grandkids ever want to know what I got up to.

Interestingly l could not have done a Round Robin last year as I was without technology for a few weeks as l got hacked. I was financially compromised earlier in the year and lost a few hundred pounds. The Bank re-imbersed me but as a tech savvy chap l was well pissed off that l got duped, imagine then how l felt the second time?

I manged to disengage before we got to the finance bit however the left some ransomware behind as a free gift. After a lot of effort l had no success removing it so had to reload from scratch. This is the first blog since then as all bookmarks and cache entries were well corrupted 

Anyway I am back and news will start to flow more regularly, starting now.

Light at the end of the Tunnel

 Liverpool will not fail for want of trying. There is always something going on, or being planned for, and, after the Eurovision Song Contest, this weekend is the Festival of Light. It consists of a series of art sculptures either based around light, floodlit or just plain light oriented.

Here are a few examples. We were fortunate that it opened on Friday when we were in town, just to be in town, so we got a sneak preview.

 

I am in town again on Wednesday, when my golf Captains group are having a pub crawl. I took the opportunity to show Maxine the first venue, The Vine, or 'Big House' as the locals call it. It is one of a number of traditional pubs which a group has taken on and refurbished. they concentrate on wet sales so it will be interesting to see how they make end's meet

The Sands of Time

 Has my life got so mundane or routine that I struggle to post on here? Do people really want to hear about me winning golf tournaments, supporting Wayne Rooney, landscaping the garden or getting merry at beer festivals, because, to be honest, they seem to be the major acivities dominating my life during the Summer. with no posts throughout July and August and only a couple in May or June, there has been less to bring to the attention of my regular readers.

So what has happened that's different and news worthy about me, or the World in general? Me first.

Well number 1 son is now a qualified fitness instructor, earning a crust in a gym in Geneva. Its a tough school with the need to build up the client base the big challenge. So far so good though. He tied in his qualification by taking Tay to a Taylor Swift concert where he did the one knee thing and got engaged. We are down to Bristol in October to meet Tay's family which should be good.

SWMBO continues to try to recover from a very unique hamstring injury which occurred during a Park Run in March. Rather than the hammy snapping, the tendon to bone attachment tore and the bone splintered. It's tricky to treat so the recovery process will take some while yet.

I have been trucking along during the activities listed earlier, although I had a scare when I got into difficulties trying to climb the Worcestershire Beacon near Malvern. Just me thinking I was still 40 and could do serious climbing with nil preparation. Lesson learnt. 

Number 1 grandaughter has jibbed off  her football chum and hooked up with a guitarist, so she is now a groupie. She has GCSE exams next May so all focus on those.

Number 1 grandson has moved to senior school and seems to be finding time to fit lessons in between rugby, golf, swimming and football.

Talking of rugby ( you see what I did there), the S-Club have finally knocked Twickenham weekends away on the head. There have been several reasons for that. Twickenham ( or the Allianz as it is called now) is full of corporate or non-rugby types, who are up and down to the bar all match. The ticket prices are around £120 pounds and until recently the product on the pitch was not worth that price. The kick-off times are also less conducive to a good post match run ashore somewhere. Factor in one or two nights hotel at £150 and rail tickets prices and it becomes an uncomfortably expensive trip.

So all good teams have a plan B and ours is to embrace the Champions Cup in 2024 and the U20 fixtures in 2025. First up is Bristol v Leinster where hotel, travel and match tickets are less than the cost of a ticket to Twickenham. who can't love Bristol. It has an Ivy restaurant and a Fullers pub although it takes three trains to get there these days.

SO probably more changes ahead as SWMBO and I are setting up a few visits to see houses with a view to considering whether we should be downsizing. No reason to at the moment but better to do it when fit and able than when one is infirm and it becomes a struggle. Watch this space. 

Mr and Mrs Cooper

Number two daughter has been footloose and fancy free for ages, but some years ago  she hooked up
with Nick. Their relationship has been full of twists and turns, as many are, but some while ago Nick asked for her hand in marriage, and after some venue searches  and other negotiations, the event took place  in Liverpool town hall last Friday.

The town hall is primarily a registry office, but if one explores beyond the small 'Lady Mayoress' parlour where the legal stuff is conducted, the building is a wonder and a treasure trove of rooms, decor and ornamentation.

We had two upstairs rooms for the wedding vows and the canope's, champagne and speeches before moving into the ballroom for food, dancing and general partying. The ballroom to help you understand the size had three ' brace yourselves, Rodney' chandeliers and both ends were wall to ceiling mirrors. it was a fabulous venue.

So that's all the kids settled, now SWMBO and I can focus on  a  holiday or two.

Here are the before and after pictures, the wedding car broke down so taxi to the venue, doing my Ritchie Benaud impersonation, and casual walk back with hubby through Liverpool club land!!