The unrelenting clock of life

This week proved again that it never stops-- it continues despite when -- someone we love leaves us-- that clock doesn't stop, it just keeps on in that relentless manner, so that all those that are left behind know that they are still here.

Most of the time there are more questions than answers-- why? - why them? -- what could we have done and the one that makes me think a bit more these days -- when is it my time--after all we are around the same age-- but there are usually no answers anywhere.

Last week we lost a good friend in Pantelis Kosmas - who would have been 50 tomorrow-- with no answers as to why it was his turn to leave

This was a guy who had made a great life and touched so many people so the question hangs there -- forever unanswered--why him.

 

Then this week , this guy has gone --- George Burton , resident of Aegina, Greece -- Husband of Melody and Principle of the Aegina Sailing School---

 

The really sad thing is that George and Melody had just positioned themselves to be able to step back from business and start to relax, with no more pressure, and now that has cruelly been taken away from them.

R.I.P. George -- I hope there is the opportunity to sail away into the sunset.

 

There is no reason why him rather than any other person around the same age but if you ever want an example where you need to live life to the full then this is it and maybe even more so when you look at these who have passed this year---

 

There is no special consideration because your famous and in fact , with Lemmy below you would probably say that whatever his age , he had probably lived life to the full anyway

 

 

So there is a bit of me that says that I should stop work right now and just do nothing that will cause me stress or make me unwell -- and there is the other bit of me that says , getting nearly half the year off to travel with Lynda , to chill out in Greece and go to special places and in between having to do a bit of work that I enjoy and challenges my brain-- some of the guys at work would challenge anyone's brain-- and, although I don't get paid for the extended leave and although the company does get the benefit of my willingness to open my emails and attend the occasional conference calls, it is still a pretty good compromise at the moment.

 

Ok so I am going to say thanks for every day I am here-- however long that will be and try to make sure that I enjoy my life with my wife , enjoy seeing our children doing well and our grandchildren blossoming and generally try to do things that help others in some way whenever I can---do the right thing when necessary .

 

WE have lots of planning coming up over the next few weeks getting ready for Easter in Aegina with the boys-- and their mum and dad of course---

 

With this man--my Greek brother and his amazing family -- all of them , which will be incredible

 

-- and for the trip to here with all the children and some of the grandchildren---

 

In the wonderful Aegina with these 2 who are great friends and we spoke for nearly an hour on skype last night--

 

 

And of course being in aegina in any year would never be right without these too treasures of ours --

 

 

For those who are not included -- sorry -- but this blog would be too extensive but the point is that we all need to enjoy ourselves but to also take of each other , to be there when needed and to know that you have people around who make sure that you and your family are ok.

 

So I don't want to end on too sad a note and our thoughts with the Kosmas Family in Seaside, Oregon and with Melody and all her family----but this picture  is for George--it was your life -- so Bon Voyage and sleep well.

 

 

Lynda and Philipxxx

 

 

 

 

 

Reflection Times of a Beautiful Soul.

You know that there are so many sayings for a time when folk lose someone they love - "Gone to a better place" - "We share your loss " - "See you on the other side", but these kind of platitudes always seem inadequate to me.

The reality is just like the quote from our Queen----

 

And she is not wrong about that -- when all said and done we are blessed in the first place to be able to say that we had Love at all-- many people never have that experience.

So it is joyous that we can eulogise about an individual who has managed to both find and give love and touch so many people in many different ways.

There are many experiences in life when you travel around --locally and internationally -- and you get to meet all manner of people, some that you will never like-just because of the feeling they give-- and others that you know that you will both like and be friends with .

But there are a handful that you just know will be something much more-- even though you will be 3000 miles from each other and will see each other only half a dozen times and for the most part will keep in touch with what they are doing in their lives via Facebook and his incredible family-- but that is exactly how it has been with Pantelis Kosmas and me. Him in Portland and Me in London(or Greece).

So after a week where the news that this wonderful person left this earth where tears were never far away every time we saw more outpourings from so many people that this incredible man touched during his life.

Forever the one who knows how to pose for a picture -- but this guy was kindness itself , had a heart as big as a house and shared his love of his family and of his life all around. Most of the man he became -- and that of his brother Christos came from the strong family and the guidance from his Baba & Mama , who loved them unreservedly ---was defining and the support they gave both boys at all times ---

Left to right is Pantelis, the beautiful Mamma Anna and the very Handsome ( definitely not the ugly brother Chris) Christos.

 

And here it is Christos , the very handsome and our great friend Soulis (or Tom to some) and again Pantelis.

 

I really love these guys-- the first time that we met them in Portland--we did know them all from when they were visiting Aegina to see their Greek family-- they welcomed us like they had seen us only last week .

 

Another similarity that we share is that the Kosmas family have a wonderful holiday home in the delightful coastal hamlet called "Seaside" as we have with the house on Aegina. For so many years these guys have had amazing breaks there with family , friends and waifs and strays--(that's us Brits). Almost every weekend there is someone in this place and the memories for all who have been will be delightful.

 

Occasionally , you even get the whole family together--rare occasions but they must be captured--

 

 

 

Doesn't the weather look great--- trust me it isn't always that good--one of the times that we went out there from Portland with Anna Soulis and Rod & Ann, it hammered down all day with rain so we all got hammered indoors on white wine and ouzo -- ok so not you Anna.

 

For those of you who have never heard of Seaside, I bet you heard of The Oregon Trail--so this was back in the days of the great explorers and in this case it was from the guys in the statue below--

 

This is Lewis & Clarke

They hit the pacific and turned round and headed east and  went back across the USA--- they must have been so tired--

 

I am very proud to wear the Blue and White of the Mad Greek Deli soccer shirt and even more proud of Pantelis for his support and wearing the mighty Chelsea shirt--

Don't think I ever looked so cool in a Chelsea shirt.

 

One for you Pondo---Go Timbers---

 

 

We were privileged to have shared an Easter or Pasca  to some- with Pantelis and Gina & their children among a host of others, as well as the rest of the family and their friends---Greeks will share their Lamb with anyone-

 Gina would have loved this picture below and wow is Austin the split of her--

I shall treasure the Mad Greek polo shirt I have as well--

 

 We have pictures of many other meetings and I really like this one-- even if I was not there--

In Aegina Island of course

And to be able to have shared our House , Kardia - with these wonderful people on their holiday with their Greek family---

And for them to pay a visit to the carved stone behind, of the Madonna and Child, carved by their uncle Vangelis Antonio, who we loved dearly--such wonderful memories--

 The best man --- sorry Chris

 Ready for Pistachio picking---bit early I think

 Always ready to screw up an important photo but at least this time he is in front and not jumping around behind people who think they are having a very serious picture taken--

And a long over-due picture of the truly amazing Lori --who we know managed to capture Pantelis heart and made him whole again--- I love this picture but there are hundreds of you both that would equally show the love you both have had for each other.

Love this of the Kosmas men folk on the patio in Seaside--- whose the bird watcher-- was that you boys looking at the non feathered variety

Looking good Pondo with the lady in Red.

 And of course at the end of a long hard day -- lots of brotherly love in this picture.

So this was us going through the next part of our journey and my undying memory was from Chris turning up at the house with a hamper for the 4 of us -- Lynda , Ann , Rod and me -- will be heading down the Pacific highway , and the send off from the Mad Greek Deli from Pondo before we set off--you are really an amazingly generous family , both with gifts and with your love---

 

I could keep going all day but to help close this out for now I share these who are all thinking of you Pantelis and of Lori and ALL of the family---

 

And this bunch

And these guys

 

From these 2 rich folk--

 

 

And with all those not on this blog post--

 

 

Oh and from these guys as well--

 

 

And these 2 didn't quite understand but we know they would wish you well----if they could speak of course--

 

This might not be the last time I write something on here regarding my friend Pantelis but for now lets just say that the world is a sadder place without you Pondo and for me the sun definitely went down in more glory when you left us---

 

Kalo Taxithi

 

 

Fickle & Precious -- Thats Life

When you arrive at an age of the late 60's and the statistics are telling you that on average men are living till the late 80's and yet since the new year if you listen to the news at all, there is this whole bunch of celebrities that have passed away and for the most part they are all between 65 & 70, then unless you are completely passionless , start to think about your Mortality.

There is no doubt that I have started to look around at the kind of things that make an impact on my health and will try to get the benefit from them.

And this is the bit now where I sound like a typical EX smoker but I gladly do this especially for my family and friends who still cant get it sorted in their heads to stop.

I smoked between 20- 30 cigarettes a day for the best part of 30 years and it wasn't until I got a real bout of Bronchitis. I went to the local surgery and was introduced to the Sister/nurse there , Sally Bullen, who discussed the whole -- Do I want to quit or not -- this women and taking a tablet a day for around 9 weeks helped me quit and I will always be grateful to her.

So that was near 15 years ago and the only medical support since was taking an inhaler with me when we went to the ranch in Colorado---

 

 

 

 

This is horse riding from a ranch that is already at 9000 ft and riding up into the Rockies to around 13000 ft and I recognise that helped enormously at the time -- but I never used it since.

 

Then with the trip to Australia I didn't know what that would be like so went to see Sally and we agreed that the time was right for me to start to use a daily inhaler with a special one for any particularly strenuous places such as the rain forest--I had no idea if this would be any kind of a problem for me.

 

So I am telling you all out there that  -- "IF I HADNT SMOKED , I PROBABLY WOULD NEVER HAVE NEEDED AN INHALER OR HAD ANY RESPORATORY ISSUES"

 

GOT IT.

 

So I now every day have a puff on this--

And it is great and I know it helps me open up the airwaves--

 

She also recommended that I start taking a daily vitamin tablet to make up for what we don't get in the way of sun in the UK and so for £1 for a 100 I take these every day---

 

Not sure if they are doing me good but they are non prescription and might be doing some good I am going to continue to take them---

 

SO THINK ON PEOPLE IF YOU DONT WANT TO DO THIS OR WORSE---

 

So  another little thing that others might wish to get involved in looking at is this bit of kit that I am buying for myself at work. People need to Google "Sit/Stand" desks--there are some great articles in Wikipedia and also in the Guardian to help understand.

 

 So the short version as to why I would want to buy and use this is that there is evidence that by working at you work station standing for 3-4 hours a day standing every day at work , is the equivalent to training and running 10 Marathons a year for a start. It stops posture problems, reduces backache, gets circulation going and generally helps you lose weight---- OK , so you've still gotta eat reasonably well and cut down a bit on the beer but even so a good thing to do.

 

the one above which I am getting is from a Fit&health company but google www.inmovement.com to see more and google sit/stand for further info.

 

So here I am , still here, thanking my lucky stars, for the day I met Sister Sally, by being a bit ill , but also glad that I listened and then did something about making better choices as I am not sure I would have still been here if I hadn't stopped smoking.

 

I give thanks for every day for still being on this earth and even more so for the love of my life who takes such great care of me---

 

Happy Valentine Lynda--your my wonder women.

 

It is the most important thing to remember that Life is precious and none of us can know when it is going to be cruelly taken from us so we need to do the best we can to prolong it as best we can and wherever we are and whoever we are with we try to do good  and generally do the right things.

 

Take care.

 

 

 

Dreams can Come True -- Well Some of Them Can.

Something that I never made anyone aware of is that one small part of Lynda and my trip to Australia was that Lynda wanted to go to the location where Home & Away TV series was filmed on location.

Now I say that it was a small part , but that would be for me not Lynda, who I have to say that apart from meeting all her family which was without doubt the most important, this possible visit --- Ok so not "possible"--down right certain-- ran it a close second.

 

So here is the thing-- when you watch something 5 nights a week on the TV , where you know every character that has been on this show since it started in 1988-- where you have seen people die--as a character and as in real life-- where you have shed a tear and had a laugh, where you have to put up with ridicule from family and friends, who just don't understand what you can possibly see in this program about a bunch of folk who spend their life in shorts and "T" shirts and most of the time on a beach on the other side of the world.

This is about 20 miles north east of Sydney.

 

So there was no way that I wasn't going to make it happen to go there and we slotted this in to the day before we left Australia-- cutting it fine but it was always going to be.

 

The only issue that we had with this was that it was the day before Australia Day which was on the 26th Jan 16, and someone had not got the memo that we were coming, and gave the actors a couple of days off.

I mean come on --- Lynda Andrews-- number 1 fan all the way from the UK and they couldn't be bothered to get out of bed and drive the short trip up to Palm Beach -- better known in our household as Summer Bay-- well , pretty mean I think.

So there was no Him---

 

And no her--

 

And no her--

 

And most definitely no Him-- The Brax -- the Kane Dingle of the Home and Away stories--

But I have a real sneaking feeling that Lynda if she was really given a chance to meet anyone on this cast at all then I think it would be Marylyn---

 

Who brings a smile to Lyndas face almost always when she is on, whether it is being scatty , or loving or thoughtful or sad.

 

So we had to put up with --- well-- just each other , but what she was able to say when it was on last night-- "I was on that pier" -- "i was on that beach" -- I was there last week.

 

And guess what folk's -- she was!

 

 There she was at Alf's bait shop and then she is on the beach -- actually we were both on the pier and time for a selfie with the bait shop in the background.

 

So for me that is mission accomplished -- we had a great day -- Lynda had a wish  removed from her list and apart from me not having an address to go round and drag Darryl Braxton out of his pit , to come to the beach to have a photo taken with my missus, I think I did ok.

 

Now then -- what location can I think of to visit in one of our future trips---- Corrie, no done that--EastEnders, not a chance---- Ah, what about Emerdale, now that would make her happy.

 

G'day Folks