1st August 2025

🎤 Talking to the Oldies

I’m not sure whether it was a coincidence, but after musing last month that I was still waiting for a date, after I had been contacted by a retirement home about gjving a talk, they got in touch. Health permitting (see below) it should take place this month.

🔪 In praise of the NHS

I’m getting old, and as a consequence managed to give myself a inguinal hernia whilst gardening (it’s a man thing). It took only 2 days to see my doctor and last Friday I saw the consultant at a private hospital, after being given a multiple choice in both private and NHS clinics. My operation is imminent, so if CabbieBlog posts take a hiatus you now know the reason.

🚽 The price of progress

I’m old enough to remember my Dad buying a cold-water tap washer from a hardware shop (remember those?) costing 1d. My modern toilet now doesn’t shut off the flow. The cost? £17.99 plus postage, and getting a plumber with the tools to fit it.

🏡 Improving the environment?

As a consequence of our little dog’s health, I’ve spent too much time in Upminster. Just up the road from the vet’s, the former pitch and putt course was sold off by Havering Council in 2021 and is now Kings Green: ‘a collection of exquisite detached homes set within a private community’, where you can: ‘step into a realm of opulence’. Sterling work by the locals prevented the developers chopping down a stand of oak trees, but some inevitably were lost. Now this public green space that once contributed to reducing global warming is neither public nor green.

📺 Human

This new BBC series examines how Homo sapiens emerged as a species. In the early years of our evolution there were at least six other human species on Earth, and one of them, Homo erectus, lived for a very long time – almost 2 million years. That’s about 6 times longer than many archaeologists believe our species, Homo sapiens, is thought to have existed. Makes you think about how long we’ll last, for we seem to be making an excellent attempt at extinguishing our own species.