Archive for the ‘My life & thoughts’ Category


Holiday in Namibia (3): the Quiver Tree Forest & the Fish River Canyon

April 17th, 2023 by Roger Darlington

Sunday was definitely a travelling day. We left the Bagatelle Kalahari Game Ranch just after 8 am and eventually rolled up to the Gondwana Canyon Village a little after 4 pm, after a journey of 8 hours. We were always travelling directly south, for about two-thirds of the journey on a normal road and for […]

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Holiday in Namibia (2): Windhoek & Kalahari

April 16th, 2023 by Roger Darlington

Our journey from Britain to Namibia consisted of two flights: one of just over seven hours overnight from London to Addis Ababa and another of five hours in the morning from Addis Ababa to Windhoek.  At Windhoek, we met our guide for the whole holiday, Carlos Mauers. His father was of Portuguese heritage and his […]

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Holiday in Namibia (1): introduction

April 13th, 2023 by Roger Darlington

I am about to go on a holiday to Namibia with the company Voyages Jules Verne. This will be the ninth country in Africa that I have visited and the 86th nation worldwide. It will be a challenging trip, especially for someone who is almost 75.  I will be away for just over two weeks. […]

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For me, a new year means a new diary

January 1st, 2023 by Roger Darlington

I have a near-lifelong practice of writing a diary and I have an entry for every day since I started. As 2022 ends and 2023 starts, I have now kept a diary for 61 years and the total number of daily entries now stands at 22,278. I find comfort in keeping a diary: I record […]

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A sign of these economically troubled times

December 23rd, 2022 by Roger Darlington

A message today from the hotel in Milton Keynes where I’ll be sleeping this Christmas: “We’re so excited to be welcoming you to stay with us once again. But, much like many businesses across the UK, we’ve been experiencing supply chain issues across a number of different areas, including team shortages, which unfortunately puts some […]

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Word of the day: Twiddlemuff

November 30th, 2022 by Roger Darlington

A Twiddlemuff is a double thickness hand muff with bits and bobs attached inside and out. It is designed to provide a stimulation activity for restless hands for patients suffering from dementia. I came across one today while volunteering in the Older Persons’ Unit of St Thomas’ Hospital in London.

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Are we inching closer to a cure for dementia?

November 22nd, 2022 by Roger Darlington

This article offers some hope on the intractable and growing problem of dementia. For almost five years, I have been a participant in a long-term health study with the acronym CHARIOT PRO which has been studying the possible connection between dementia and a protein in the brain called beta amyloid. That study is about to […]

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Holiday in Chile (10): back to Santiago and home

October 30th, 2022 by Roger Darlington

On Friday, we took the first of three flights to get us back to London. The flight from Punta Arenas to Santiago involved some excitement even before we boarded as, for three of the group (including Silvia and me), seats were only eventually allocated at the boarding desk. None of we three sat together. The […]

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Holiday in Chile (9): Punta Arenas 

October 28th, 2022 by Roger Darlington

The rest of Wednesday was free so we spent the afternoon relaxing in our hotel room and the evening having a meal in the hotel while the weather – in true Patagonian style – blew a gale and poured with rain. Indeed it rained ALL night. Essentially our Chile holiday was over. For the next […]

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Holiday in Chile (8): Torres de Paine National Park

October 26th, 2022 by Roger Darlington

It was a fabulous day (Tuesday) as we spent our time travelling to and around Parque Nacional Torres del Paine. We knew that it would be cold in Patagonia, so I wore a thick shirt, a jumper and a padded jacket plus scarf, gloves and hat. In fact, it was not that cold today and […]

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