I haven't given up on this blog. With stuff happening and health being more bad tempered than ever, the blog had to give way to other priorities.

 A big week at our place. After 46 years it was time to give our retaining wall a serious facelift. Simple enough. Clean it up, 2 coats of paint and that should do it. Wishful thinking. We sought advice from a friend who is a renderer. He was pleased the wall was still straight and vertical. But that was it. He found several things that needed fixing long before any painting. So a reasonable project for me became a job for tradesmen who know what they are doing. How surprising, though it shouldn't have been. Our wall was a mirror image of my ageing body. It wasn't hard to make that jump. In fact it was uncomfortably easy.

 If I don't address the problem bits in my old body, it won't matter how often I dress it up. Sooner or later-probably sooner-the thin veneer of pretending all is fine, will be seen for what it is...just a veneer. So I see the doctor and the physio and the eye specialist. Not because I want to but because I have to. I don't have to like it. But that's not the point is it? I go there because I know what will happen if I don't with very predictable results.

 The Great Wall of Southport looks pretty good actually. And so it should after all the professional attention it has received.