The Year Dot 2026

  Keeping Fit Here we are half way through January and I have already failed at my diet but I am still going to crossfit twice a week and my walking speed up the hill outside my house was commented on the other day so something is working.  But the days when I was a slim size 12 have long since gone and I see no sign of them ever returning.   So far I have tried weight watchers, slimming world, keto, and fasting.  All diets seem to do is give you weeks of misery and after losing a few pounds, you look at a doughnut and instantly put it all back on again, I seem to inhale calories.  I am very fortunate to have a husband who loves cooking, we always cook from scratch and eat very healthily but our downfall is our huge dinner plates.  We have tried to use smaller plates but the thing is, we used to cook for five people plus when the kids were at home and now they are gone it is hard to keep the portions small, so although we sometimes use small plates there is...

  Why Weather? Well it’s what we all do isn’t it? Talk about the weather I mean. for example when you meet your neighbour you invariably say, "Hi there Mrs Smith, bit nippy out today isn't it?" or "Did you hear the thunder last night?" The weather plays a large part of all of our lives. Well certainly here in the UK anyway. This shows itself prominently in holiday postcards. I feel with social media and the like the art of postcard writing is dying out, I hardly see them anymore, I never send them or receive them.  Chances are you'll be back home anyway by the time they get to their destination.  When my Uncle Jim (James Mason) died back in 1996, I inherited a huge stash of postcards sent to him and my Grandma from various friends and members of the family. (Uncle Jim used to live with Grandma.) There must be at least 50 or so postcards. They are from the 1950’s through to the 1970’s. They had received them, read them and then stuck them in a drawer , some...

Holidays, holibobs, getaways, whatever you like to call them, often get thought of and planned about this time of year don’t they? When you are retired, as we are, and have been for the last seven years or so, it makes you wonder, what are we holidaying from?  We are fortunate enough to live in an idyllic place with a sea view and within walking distance to a very pretty fishing village why would we want to leave? To be honest nowadays I feel slightly homesick even when we have to go shopping! Anyway who wants to add to their carbon footprint any more than necessary, but I didn’t always feel this way. Remember when we nearly… ‘ Remember when we nearly went to Istambul ’ This advert made a lasting impression When Martin and I visited London in the early 1990’s we saw this poster staring at us while we waiting in the underground.  We looked at each other and vowed never to let things come to this.  We always have tried never to have a regretful ‘remember when we nearly…’ mo...

 I (Sally, Sal to some,) have missed writing a blog so much I will endeavour to begin this year with a new one called The Year Dot, or sallysyeardot.blogspot.com  for people trying to find it online. “Why Dot?”  I hear you ask, …I’m sure I heard someone ask.  Well as a few of you know, I was called Dorothy Sally originally on my birth certificate but somewhere along the line, long before I can remember, I have always been called Sally.  However Dorothy stares up at me from that pink  birth certificate and so that is what I have to put on all my important official documents including passports, health records etc. So thank you parents! Or should I say Dad, because when I asked my bohemian mother on one of my visits to her hillside mediaeval village inTuscany where she had resided for 35 years before her demise, she told me “Your father dealt with all that as you were a bit of a surprise!” (Thanks again!). The Year Dot refers to this year, 2026.  I have ...