What to you think about salt beef for breakfast?

When I was working I rarely ate breakfast. I would wake at about 0545 each morning, get up quickly and be at my home desk or commuting to an office by 0615. When I got to work I would get a black decaf coffee and clear my emails before most of my colleagues were around. I felt ahead of the day. My first meeting would usually be 0730 or 0800 and I would be back to back. I was lucky enough to have a PA in those days and she (it was always a “she”) would make sure one hour a day was “Pete time” and I got to walk around and see my team or think about things that had come up or I was planning. I would rarely have a proper lunch break but would grab a sandwich on the move.

Don’t feel sorry for me. I was pretty good at finishing work at 1700 Mon-Thu and 1630 on Friday. And except when there was a service incident, I would not work at all at the weekend. I really loved my work and the colleagues I worked with. How many people get to say that?

Six years into retirement, my life is now somewhat different. And it includes breakfast.

A typical day for me now starts at about 0645. I will wake and still get up quite quickly. If we are on the narrowboat I will take Lulu for a walk and get back to make Mandy her breakfast in bed at about 0800. She always has cheerios and coffee. If I am in a house it is more lazy and I don’t get Lulu up for a wee till 0730. Mandy typically has her breakfast at about 0830 and then I take Lulu for a walk before setting off on whatever adventure I have planned for the day. I will often have breakfast now which can be anything from a couple of slices of toast to the flinglish.

On Tuesday it was slightly earlier because my adventure was helping my two brothers in law to move a caravan in the Lake District. It is Andrew’s van and it has not moved for years so he was worried about bits falling off it. In the end everything ran smoothly with very little work for Steve or me, but Andrew still appreciated our help as “insurance” and offered us breakfast as a reward.

We went to a very trendy cafe in the lakes called “Born and Bread” and I chose the “Salt Beef Bene”. I love a good Eggs Benedict and this one was with huge slices of their home made salt beef, on home made sourdough toast and with home made mustard hollandaise over the poached eggs. And there was sauerkraut and gherkins. So it was somewhere between a Reuben sandwich and normal Benedict. That made it a touch strange for breakfast and the beef was certainly intensely salty. But I really enjoyed it.

Do I miss those long busy work days? I certainly often dream about them which must say something. But I have no desire to go back to that intensity, living on adrenaline. I prefer my more relaxed world. And I do like breakfast.

But salt beef first thing inn the morning is a bit of an acquired taste. Would you try it??

October 23, 2026 0

Star Wars Planet Niamos is just up the road

I took Lulu for a seaside walk this week. Usually if we want to go to the beach, we go to St Annes, which is not far away. But this week I fancied somewhere different, so I took her to Cleveleys which is about a 20 minute drive from home.

Cleveleys is a quiet town, mostly populated with retirees (like me) and culturally far away from its sister Blackpool. It is more commonly known as Thornton-Cleveleys because politically is joined up with the ancient village of Thornton. Cleveleys grew rapidly in Victorian and Edwardian times as somewhere for posh people to visit and take the water. Many of them stayed at the massive Hydro Hotel, which had salt water pools and Turkish baths.

The promenade is concrete with an Art Deco styling and that is what attracted the producers of Star Wars series Andor to form the setting for Niamos, a holiday resort planet, under strict rule from the Galactic Empire. There is a famous scene where Cassian Andor is arrested and held against a wall by android K-2SO.

This image is often recreated by the many Star Wars fans that visit Cleveleys, dressed as characters from the film. When I was there this week, there were no stormtroopers or rebels, so I found this view through the famous wall.

Instead of recreating film scenes, Lulu and I just wandered along the beach and the prom, enjoying the walk, taking in the fine views and chasing other dogs. It’s a lovely place to visit, even without any cos play.

October 16, 2026 0

Is October a good time to visit a theme park?

I spent a day at Blackpool Pleasure Beach this week. The forecast had been for wall to wall blue skies, but it turned out overcast and a bit drizzly. Nevertheless I determined to have fun.

This must be the quietest time of year for theme parks. They stay open till November so that they can make the most of Halloween, but this week is too early for that, and too late for holidaymakers. Blackpool promenade was almost deserted. There were a fair number of people in the park, including a surprising number of children, given that this is a school week. However I never had to queue for more than a few minutes to go on any ride.

I got to go on all the big ones, including The Big One! I like fast and high rollercoasters, and there were plenty of them. My favourite last time was Icon, which I think is the fastest of all. But this time I think I enjoyed Infusion even more. Your feet dangle as you hang from the ride and it is very easy to lose any idea of where you are as you get flung around.

The new ride for 2026 is Aviktas, but I avoided that because it is a spinny ride, and I think I would have got travel sick.

Instead, I showed my age, and took in a few of the tamer attractions between the coasters, including the Ghost Train, Wallace & Gromit’s Thrill-O-Matic, and the Derby Racer Carousel.

I even went for a wander through the Chinese Puzzle maze. I remember that last time I was here, I got thoroughly lost so this time I tried a particular technique that I know works in a few mazes, and found my way out after about 15 minutes.

At the end of my trip I was feeling a little bruised, especially from some of the older rides like Grand National and Steeplechase, which throw you around, but I had had a lovely time and rewarded myself at Blackpool’s famous icecream parlour Notarianni’s.

Would I have preferred better weather? Yes. But was it amazing to have no queues and go on just whatever I wanted? Certainly. So is this the best time of year to go to a theme park? Quite possibly.

October 9, 2026 0

Why is Pete’s Blog late?

I have been writing this public blog ever since I retired, nearly six years ago. I used to write a blog for my team when I was working and it sort of carried on from there. Typically I write it on a Thursday, fettle it a little and then publish it early on Friday afternoon. So why am I sitting here on Saturday morning?

I could give you many excuses.

If you remember in last week’s blog I was pondering whether to take Narrowboat Thuis north or south for our last adventure of the year. We decided south, but unfortunately after a couple of day’s boating, Lulu the dog had a rather nasty stomach upset and we decided she needed to get to a vet.

We do know a number of vets along the canals, but as Mandy and I reflected, we both came to the conclusion that we were just not feeling it on this last trip of the year. The weather was not great, I was not getting enough power on my solar panels, and it just felt that we were pushing to do another trip just because we have had less time travelling this year, what with weddings, anniversaries and stuff.

So we drove back to our house in Lancashire and took Lulu to her “home” vet here. The good news is that she is recovering well. So now we have three weeks before our next big adventure – a month in the wilds of Scotland.

If you read my blogs regularly you will know that I hate being bored. So I came up with a monster list of jobs I could now get on with. And that is what I have been doing this week. I have booked a “once in a lifetime” visit to Canada for this time next year, including trains, planes, automobiles and a cruise ship. I have sorted a new bank account to cover our travel insurance and motor breakdown. It appears that buying my own travel insurance would have been twice as expensive because I am old. I have bought a new heat pump tumble drier that I am ridiculously excited about. And I spent a day back at the marina, winterising the boat. That means taking off clothes, towels, bedding, cushions, crockery, glasses, cutlery, food; emptying the water tank, fixing and painting the side door, varnishing the window sills and many other little jobs.

I woke up this morning feeling good and preparing to take Lulu on a lovely circular walk by the sea, when suddenly I realised that after about 300 editions of this blog, for the first time I had forgotten to write.

So what do you think? Do I have good excuses? Or after six years am I finally learning to be retired and relaxed?

Nah. It’s just not good enough. Sorry!

October 3, 2026 0