Forced into retirement at 51, and after a year of cancer treatments for a condition only diagnosed when very advanced, my body is broken and frequently painful. I am left with my thoughts, observations and views on the world around me. Stuck not only in a body which refuses to work properly but in a lovely, but rural, village in the middle of England I am left with my sense of the ridiculous at the situation I am in and the world that surrounds me.
This column (sent as nearly regular posts) is my view on the world as I see it or on subjects which interest me - be they global politics, religion, food, drink, cancer, toilets, my kids, or the issues the village are squabbling over at the moment. My windows on the world are the media I read, see and listen to, the view from my study at the front of my house (which is very dull - both the view and the house) and conversations with friends and family.
Half Life - the name is inspired by the columns I read (while standing up in the newsagents so I didn’t need to buy it) in The Spectator titled High Life and Low Life, in particular Low Life by the late, brilliant, Jeffery Bernard. My life is now half a life - reduced to that by Nobby (the name my young children have given my cancer). Where once I travelled the world for work and holidays; now a trip up the stairs is an adventure on crutches. I am passionate about a lot of things and watch/read/listen to anything I find interesting, or as my youngest says when I choose a TV programme… “daddy has found another documentary on paint drying”. Without a sense of mental adventure as well as of the ridiculous combined with a sense of humour we cannot get through this life, and certainly not this half life.
I do not promise these will be regular or anything about the topics they will cover - hence no charge. All I can say is they will reflect the half life I am now forced to lead. Should that change I might start. If you enjoy them, tell me.
Charlie
Good start to a project?
Love you Charlie. Who knew you were such a bloody good writer. Cherry xxxx