Sheppy's World

One of the many upsides to early retirement is an abundance of free time. I’ve been spending a great deal of the past almost three years volunteering at the local covid vaccination clinic. It’s been an incredibly uplifting and humbling experience but it’s now coming to an end, or at least until we are told otherwise! I’ve been on the lookout for another opportunity to help out in the local community and it appears that I have found it.

I am now a fundraising volunteer for the Springboard Project, a charity supporting children, young people and their families. Our first event together is a Christmas donation stand in the shopping centre in town. Between now and Christmas we will be raising awareness and hopefully accepting donations & Christmas gifts.

Somewhat incredibly, having briefly mentioned this at a recent vaccination session, three more public spirited friends turned up to assist, much to the general shock and gratitude of the charity organisers.

As with the vaccines, I have already met some lovely people and this feels like a very good organisation to be involved with. Here’s to a long, happy and successful journey together!

I don’t think I have ever written about one of my greatest passions, an error that I will now correct.

The good lady and I are dedicated and long serving members of our local amateur dramatic society. Over the past 20 years we have participated in countless shows and it seems to me that the quality just gets better and better.

Last week we were working backstage on our production of Hairspray. While judgement will always be personal and subjective, I have to say that this is the show where I personally believe all departments came together to produce pretty much the perfect show. There were no weak links. The show was superbly cast and they were all professional, energetic and totally committed. The 15 strong orchestra were amazing under the leadership of our incredible musical director. Wardrobe provided dozens of dazzling and memorable costumes. The backstage team, supported as always by the excellent theatre technical team, produced a virtually flawless show. The lighting design was absolutely beautiful. It sounded great, looked amazing and ran like a well oiled machine. It was a total sellout, which is a testament to the hard work and skill of our incredible publicity team.

Great fun, hard work, very satisfying and an absolute pleasure to be a small part of. We are not available for the next one as we are jetting off round the world, but needless to say the quality, hard work and dedication will be just as evident as everyone moves on to the next exciting adventure.

Only two people live in our house. One of them has an unhealthy appetite for binge watching what might loosely be termed as voyeuristic tv experiments in the human psyche. It is more correctly classified as crap by the other, wiser member of the household!

It would appear, somewhat frustratingly, that this so called entertainment actually has something going for it in terms of life & relationship counselling….

We have been married for twenty years this year and in common, I imagine, with many other couples enjoying such marital longevity, we appear to have meandered down a dead end in terms of intimacy and affection. Neither of us is happy with this situation and whilst communication channels remain loosely open, I am not sure either of us really knows how to reverse this diversion and get us back on track.

Finding myself in the unfortunate position of being in the same room as an episode of one of these shows, it seems there are lessons to be learned. I found myself offering the people in the show the exact advice that I should be be giving myself. Talk more. Cuddle more. Take a chance every now & again. If you don’t tell someone how you feel they are never going to know.

It appears that I am wiser than I thought aside from in one important aspect. I am great at giving advice, I just need to start following it myself!

Most of what I post here is somewhat introspective and rather personal, not of much interest to anyone else and unlikely ever to see the light of day.

Occasionally, however, real life intrudes on my ruminating…..today is one of those days.

Our niece that lives in Canada is beautiful, caring and we love her to bits. These traits are of course common to all of our nieces. Our nephews have similar characters and we love them equally.

For this particular niece, however, life changed dramatically as of yesterday. For yesterday she became a fiancée. Betrothed to be married to her lovely fireman and headed toward what we know will be an extremely happy marriage. We wish them only happiness and joy together for the rest of their lives. And the dog, obviously.

We will be there for sure. Wild horses etc……

Elsewhere in these blogs I have occasionally mentioned my intention to start some serious writing. Serious in terms of input you understand, the output is at present anyone’s guess. Efforts so far have been a learning experience, ideally moving towards some sort of style and perhaps even a little confidence.

The audience has been precisely one, me. That is fine and exactly as intended. In order for anyone else to read these posts I would have to publish the website and that would have required a level of bravery that has so far escaped me. Just as well really because the anticipated memoir has been relegated to the bottom of a very long list!

If these blogs go a little quiet no one will notice apart from me.

The time has come and my efforts will now focus on germinating some sort of an idea. I’ll check back sometime soon with a progress report. Assuming there is anything to actually report. In the meantime it’s thinking cap on and an abundance of coffee!

Well it’s weigh in time again and the results are still pretty impressive…..

August means another 3lb gone and I am getting trimmer every day. The intended ban on sweets & treats is mostly holding and I am generally making sensible eating & drinking choices. The overall feeling is that being active every day is the driver for continued success. Avoiding the couch is just as important as avoiding the intake of excess crap.

Aside from being generally lighter & healthier, the goal is to be able to enjoy eating & drinking whatever I like for a month on holiday next year. It does start to feel, however, that this is becoming a longer term lifestyle shift. Those that know me well may harbour thoughts that they have heard all this before, but honestly it does start to feel achievable.

My latest low weight is 13st dead and that is a land that I have not visited since the early 1980’s. At this rate I should be reporting weights starting with a “12” in a month’s time and then its just a case of how low do I want to go?!

As always, watch this space for updates……….

The missus is now a disciple of the world’s most important acronym, or at least in relation to us.

Recent events, in particular the relentless loss of friends & relatives taken long before their time, have convinced us that life is too short. Potentially very short indeed and certainly much shorter than most of us hope.

Without the expensive joy of children we are free agents. Debt free, custodians of the significant asset that is our current home, we are well able to afford a comfortable lifestyle. We are also happily early retired, well in advance of our 60th birthdays and the world, it appears, is our oyster.

So what to do with all this free time? The answer fairly obviously is don’t waste it! For us this means lots of travel while our minds & bodies are still willing. We both have secret wish lists that I imagine we will share at some stage, however so far decisions have been easy and requirements comfortably aligned.

Norway & The Fjords, the Italian Lakes, the Orient Express, Venice, cruising round the Mediterranean, Budapest all ticked off. Next up Australia, New Zealand & Hong Kong followed by a quick flit to Athens. Beyond that the jury is still sitting but don’t be surprised if you spot us cruising down The Nile or checking out the wildlife somewhere in Africa. Of course we also must make sure we head west to British Colombia to keep up with our family over there. Not forgetting the gang distributed around the UK!

So watch this space and enjoy the ride, we certainly are!!!!!

This was supposed to be a month on from my last post and I was a little wary that I would be reporting little or no progress.

Happily, that couldn’t be further from the truth. The last Friday of every month used to be weigh-in day and it occurred to me this morning to take a sneaky look. Around a year ago we were excitedly anticipating a major holiday and I had slimmed down to a weight not seen in decades. A mixture of being freed from the confines of the office desk and a general nod in the direction of eating & drinking healthily, had resulted in a dramatic drop. From a heady all-time high of 16st 7lb I was a sylph-like 13st 3lb. I felt great and even attracted the occasional compliment. Of course the holiday took its predicted toll and I was nearer to 14st when we got home.

As previously mentioned, increasing age means we are more exposed to the effects of over-indulgence and this was causing some concern. Coupled with plentiful opportunities to socialise this means a potentially lethal cocktail.

Now for the satisfied “but”……..despite all the above, today I checked in bang on 13st 3lb and I couldn’t be more chuffed. It seems that the current level of exercise and moderation in all things is more that sufficient to maintain this old body at a sensible and relatively healthy weight. Of course the idiots that live by the BMI cobblers will say I am still edging toward being obese but frankly they can beggar off.

So here it is, yet another fresh start but this one seems too be paying off. A day out today eating & drinking with my brother may be better for the soul than the old body, but it seems like a good way to celebrate success – and to set the next target.

The next big holiday is March/April next year and a little “headroom” is going to be needed to be able to fully enjoy a month of all-inclusive over indulgence. Something under 13st would be great and the way I feel today that should be easily achievable…….so watch this space for the next update!

Paraphrasing from a previous post, chocolate is supposed to be off the menu and snacks a distant memory. Health & fitness are a top priority and consuming crap on the highway to an early slot at the crematorium a big no-no.

This has not gone well. The sad facts are as follows…….

I like the good things in life and will power doesn’t appear to be one of them. Retirement offers many opportunities to indulge, just when the body is at its most vulnerable. Events of the past month or so have demonstrated this in technicolour and the evidence presenting itself comprises tighter shirts, tighter belts and a general feeling of uncomfortable disappointment.

If I want to continue to live this wonderful life, in glorious style but with a general focus on health & fitness, I need to start walking the walk….the general idea is obvious. How many more times can I say this and fail to deliver? Good question! I’ll check back with myself in another month but I can’t keep experiencing this general feeling of disappointment.

Sermon over.

Pretty much everyone I know has a weight problem. Too much, not enough, everything in the wrong place. Therefore it seems that I am not alone, although that doesn’t make this phase of life any easier.

I should explain. I spent the majority of my early life playing sport. It was quite easy to stay fit. I was generally fairly competent at whatever sport I tried. The upside of all this activity was that I could eat & drink pretty much anything, in whatever quantities I liked.

The onset of middle age and the inevitable decrepitude that followed have not been so easy. Nature and other life priorities have seen a decline in activity. I have failed to compensate with a similar reduction of intake. Activity clearly no longer trumps calorie intake and a radical overhaul is necessary.

This is therefore a planning & commitment post. Things will change. Starting with the small chocolate bar that I have just finished alongside my Starbucks fix, chocolate will be a distant memory. Snack is now officially a swear word. Alcohol will no longer be taken other than in strictly controlled social environments. Exercise will increase so that every day involves some sort of cardiovascular activity. Portion control will be a way of life.

I know, I have said all this before. My lovely wife regularly reminds me of my failures. That stops right now. I have written elsewhere about mortality & unexpected loss and I am sure I will come back to those subjects. In the meantime I will be doing everything I can to avoid joining the ever increasing roll-call of those taken too early. There is more annoying to be done before I quit this place!