September 2025 Update

It’s been a full and relatively happy month, though I usually have a depression when summer changes to autumn. It has almost not happened this time. We’ve had horrendous rain storms twice, and the temperature has dropped noticeably, but the days for the most part have still been sunny. We’ve had two Family Zooms with Coral, Nancy, Anna (& Roger) and Rosie. I’ve had phone calls with Gin and Ajit. And a Microsoft Teams with Elisabeth. Also, there have been several business phone calls with Nicole. Because of my American citizenship, I am required in Germany to divest of all American investments. Other business

matters included appointments with Nadine (in connection with opening a bank account for Richard) and with Cécile (for notarisation and to learn that my French will is sufficient for Richard and Chloë). I had a long session with Scott for my computer and a subsequently more questionable one with DJ.

Houseguests included Jean-Christoph and Carlo on the day we fetched Phyliss from the train station. That evening, we enjoyed Carlo’s risotto. The lads spent only one night with us, but before leaving Carlo prepared a breakfast of pancakes and scrambled eggs. We did the lake tour with Phyliss and again with Anna & Roger who were our next visitors.

Medically, we have been to both our podiatrist and our ears-nose-throat specialist. In St. Maximum La Baum at Ophthamax, Dr. Medan said that Richard’s eyes were the same as last time, i.e., no worse. He also said that at a certain point, we all will start to see black spots. While there, we also visited the Basilica, saw the skull and then had lunch at Malherbe (Richard: salade niçoise; me: salade du sud-ouest with magret de canard). Other meals included tacos and dessert at Jim & Annie’s party where we enjoyed the company of Susie, Eric Idle, David, Jessica, Ozzie & Carey, Gabrielle & Norbert among others. Phyliss treated us one evening to a dinner at La Table. Along with Talisker, I had warm foie gras, lobster and crême brulée. Another incredible meal and completely over the top was at Bruno’s with Phyliss and Joanne. Joanne drove us. And for my birthday, Penny treated us to dinner with Jan & Margit at the Provençal. I received birthday cards from Gin & Rix and from Santima; emails from Marion & Leslie, Giny, Chloe, Patrick and Phyliss; WhatsApps from Toby, Natacha, Jezznette, Lilan, Nancy and Jessica. And phone calls from both Gin and, from New Zealand, Amy. (For the rest of the month, we had a lunch with Steve & Annie in Montmeyan; Roger treated us to dinner at Solea; Jan & Margit treated Penny and us to dinner again at Solea; and Joanne drove us from her place to Yvonne’s where we met Barry & Debbie and enjoyed a delicious lunch of New York sours, chicken legs, cheese and flan.

This month we only got once to Calalou for margaritas - with Joanne, Yvonne and a friend of Yvonne’s. We also got to see Jessica, Lorna, Jean-François, Marius, Yvonne and Petra one morning at the marché. Otherwise, Jessica with Zac assisting prepared a most splendid meal chez nous for Jan & Margit, Cindy & Dieter, Anna & Roger, Diana & Paul, Penny, Susie, and Marijke. We first had champagne by the pool.

The evening when we went to La Table, on the way we saw that the Cresson gates were open, so we stopped. I then met Margariet’s son Eric and his son Jue (?) who was getting married there on the following Saturday. Margariet was on a bed downstairs. She is demented and deaf and did not know who I was. That morning, after fortuitously by chance learning from Pierre at the pharmacy the day before that Guy had died, Richard and I went to his funeral at the crematorium in Vidauban. It was all very low key. No ritual, etc. There were 13 of us in all – Guy’s wife, both sons, and a person who said we had met originally through Barbara. Guy had handled our olive trees and harvest for many years.

Another engagement involved Brandon’s online re-viva with the University of Lancaster. This was also with Microsoft Teams that I think lasted about two hours, and there are only minor amendments for him to do. He performed well, and I was given the honour to be the one to first address him as Dr. Taylorian. He has since asked me to be referee for his post-doctoral research. I have agreed.

My reading this month included my finishing Julian Barnes’ Keeping an Eye Open: Essays on Art and also reading Christopher Priest’s sci-fi book Inverted World. Both works I enjoyed thoroughly. I have now just begun Daniel Dennett’s Darwin’s Dangerous Idea: Evolution and the Meanings of Life – one of my birthday books from Penny. I have been able to listen online to Lily Kong’s BASR keynote on “Religion, Space & Place.” With Phyliss we watched

the film on Patrick McCollum. Movie-wise, at Penny’s, we have seen for a second time The Life of Chuck. Also, Formula One and The Ballad of Wallis Island. I had mixed feelings about this last but enjoyed it overall. And one evening we went to Lorgues with Penny to see Paris, Texas. None of us could remember virtually anything of the film from 40 years ago but found it terrific. And thanks to Roger for having fixed our set-up and showed us how to use it, we have also watched The Last Waltz – a cassette lent to us by Joanne. It was an interesting step back into our hippie past. I enjoyed it muchly; Richard was a bit disappointed.

The Soteria this month was intended to be on both James Bonds, but we never got further than ornithology and a Julian Huxley preface. And for our last Saturday night of the month, I concluded that the cosmos is absolutely incredible and fathomless, but give me the here-and-now above all. Each day we have left now becomes absolutely precious. And finally, the ideal or transcendental is what the physical no longer can do. It’s an inevitable except that the physical by its very nature is what perpetually undergoes variations. And Richard says that we are very lucky to be in human bodies and accept with it all the ups and downs.