Wednesday 11th February 2026
An accumulation of appointments and bad weather have conspired to prevent me from walking anywhere for weeks, and if I'm honest, advancing old age imposes a reluctance to face the COLD.
My son W. has oftrn lampooned me with his perception that I am at my happiest when I voluntarily go out into lashing rain and wind to do a walk at the limits of my endurance, but I reckon those days are over.
On top of all that, blogging seems to have more or less died a death with few posts from bloggers I follow and a sobering absence of comments from those who were previously literarily vocal. Hateful banal social media (a hateful term in its own right,) seems to have taken over.
Ok, so no walking as I await spring and watch from my window the birds on my feeder compelled to brave the rain for their survival. I think of my past, undertaking my own masochistic enjoyment, which in some ways has helped to keep my "mental health" under control...
...yes, everybody has "mental health" these days, so why not me? I'm a bit cynical about the indiscriminate use of that term which every "celebrity" and the rest seem to have something to say about, but I in no way detract from those who do seriously succumb to its various medically diagnosed forms.
In some ways the link to an article in today's Guardian encapsulates a namby-pamby approach which these days seems to be prevalent, with excessive health and safety, much of youth expecting everything to be done for them, and global politics kowtowing to dictatorial regimes.
After reading the review I felt unable to watch this programme which I had recorded because the tv résumé indicated that it had something to do with mountaineering in the sense that I understand that activity.
I do feel guilty sounding off about this, not having watched it myself, but hopefully I may have saved some readers the waste of time in doing so?
