A reader writes, "I am writing to share a deeply emotional and troubling incident that occurred on January 17th, 2025, in Aljezur. A stork's nest, along with the platform that supported it, was removed, leaving the storks that have called this place home for years without their cherished nesting spot.
As things to say just before you breathe your last, it is difficult to think of a more appropriate valediction than Bing Crosby's when he died on a golf course: "That was a great game of golf, fellas." His doctor had advised him to play only 9 holes, the doc obviously wasn't a fan of lengthy tee parties.
We must presume, or I must anyway, I am often accused of being presumptuous, that job opportunities were limited in the past. Before fire was discovered in the Early Stone Age, there weren't any firefighters, only people throwing the first stones. And before wheels started rolling off production lines, no cars travelled along non-existent roads, so becoming a driving instructor was a doomed ambition.
There is a sinister saying in Scotland, "I could murder a fish supper," and an even worse one, "I would kill for a battered fish and chips." Neither of these is meant to express anything other than a keen desire to tuck in to a hearty meal of which you approve. (Post-Brexit it is apparently illegal to use the words 'French fries' without getting your fingers burned.)
February 2004 - A funny thing happened to me. It was quite a laugh actually, and I think the ridiculousness of the situation was what got me through it all.
What you regret most at the end of your life is said to be the things you didn't do -- climb Everest without oxygen, go over Niagara Falls in a barrel, bungee jump into the crater of an active volcano. Are you crazy? What I would regret most at the end of my life would be the end of my life.
Watching TV news makes me feel quite normal at times, which is at least an improvement. The usual news is awash with failure, and success is often wiped from the headlines by celebrity scandal and political fiscal gloom.
"Old age ain't no place for sissies," said Bette Davis, who lived till she was 81, and still had Bette Davis eyes.
According to geriatricians, who try to discover new things about old people, our early and middle years are just a preliminary training period for the pleasures of being an elderly adult - what they refer to as "the happy senescence phenomenon."
