How are you feeling right now?
I am feeling really relieved right now. Yesterday I went for an appointment at the hospital regarding my prostate. My previous blood test had shown enough of a spike for my Doctor to refer me for possible early cancer. I had been for a second blood test to check my PSA at the beginning of the month and yesterday I got my result. My PSA had gone down by a whole point! Now I know, and the consultant reminded me, that the PSA is nothing more than an indication of your cancer risk, but after an examination he said that the prostate felt fine and that he would see me in six months after another blood test.
I have been carrying this in the back of my mind for quite a while so I was really pleased that I had my Pre-Sessional teaching to take my mind off things. I have really enjoyed the challenge of the last 8 weeks and I hope it’s going to be a regular summer gig for the next few years. The students have been brilliant, the lessons fascinating to prepare for, with loads of art and design concepts that I loved learning about and new ways of doing things. Everything that teaching should be and often isn’t.
Anyway, as a final thought, we men are often very bad at looking after our health. Go and get those tests, particularly PSA and blood pressure, and if something may be amiss it will be spotted and acted upon. Yes, it’s a worry, yes the examination is uncomfortable, although not especially so, but the alternative is far worse.
What daily habit do you do that improves your quality of life?
OK, so the title is a sardonic take on a prompt that recycles two others in the past month! However, there is something in that approach to daily life if you really think about it. It is boredom and each day being just like the one before and the one after that kills quality of life. What happens when this is the case and what can you do about it?
Well, life goes, or appears to go much more quickly. There are a number of reasons for that, but one of the main reasons is that you do the same thing on each day, each week, each month and each year. When that happens days blend into each other. Childhood goes much more slowly as each day contains new experiences. This is why Christmas appears to come round faster every year. If that seems to be the case you need to get off the treadmill and start running on the open road, metaphorically speaking. How do you do that?
Well, for me, it’s the avoidance of daily habits where possible. Don’t do the same thing at the same time every day. Now, obviously there are routines such as school and work that have set routines. Having worked in education I have been in that routine for a good 50 years of my life so I can speak with expertise on both sides! However, I tried to take on different tasks, try new lessons, develop new skills and, even in the last year of year round teaching, take an interest in new ideas and new technologies such as AI. My last year has seemed to move more slowly as a result.
Take up different hobbies or learn something new. I took up German 130 days ago and it has been a struggle at times, but I have learnt something new every day. Happy Colour gives me a new picture every day. Some are straightforward, some are much more tricky, but every day contains something new to do. Those two apps tend to be ones I go to when I have time so it’s not a case of doing the same thing at the same time every day. People who have complex morning routines stretching for hours are speeding their life up and, I would suggest, not really gaining much in return.
Now don’t get me wrong, I know that routine is necessary in certain areas of your life, but it mustn’t become routine. You should always try to find a different way to follow that routine. If you do, your life will be more varied, more interesting and it will seem to go more slowly. Avoiding repetition may not be easy but we should try it.
What was the last thing you searched for online? Why were you looking for it?
There are four main reasons I look for things online using a search engine. First, I saw someone on a film or TV programme and wanted to find out more about them. Second, I want to find a resource for my teaching. Third, I am looking for a recipe. Fourth I am on Duolingo and need some help with German.
The last film/TV star I looked for was Sofia Carson who stars in two films I have watched and thoroughly enjoyed recently, My Oxford Year and The Life List. The last teaching resource I looked for was an article about branding that was relevant to my art and design students. It was about the return of 90s branding and the reasons behind it. The last recipe I looked for was how to make Harissa Paste at home because I figured it can’t be too complicated. Turns out it isn’t so I look forward to adding it to my home made repertoire. The last piece of German I looked up was the German word for street. This was not because I didn’t know it, but because my phone keyboard doesn’t have any special characters that I can find and if I spell the word phonetically it is marked wrong. So, I went to Bing and asked What is Street in German. It is Straße by the way, and I don’t know how to get the fifth letter on the keyboard. Maybe that should be my next search as there must be a shortcut I can use!
What TV shows did you watch as a kid?
As a child I was something of a telly addict. I lived in a household where both parents went out to work, relatively unusual in the 1970s, and where, as long as I remembered my key, I was generally left in total charge of the TV after school and during the day when it was holiday time. To be honest I could be here all day reminiscing but I will focus on one of my main reasons for watching a programme, the theme tune.
If a programme had a really good theme tune I would instantly be interested, and even if the show itself was bad, I would often switch on for the theme and then turn over once it had finished! So, what were my favourite themes when I was growing up?
I suppose I should start with the Sunday afternoon line up on ITV. My favourite lunchtime show was The Persuaders starring Roger Moore and Tony Curtis. What a great theme tune, which is still instantly recognisable 50 years later. Following that, the next show was almost always a Gerry Anderson production. Whatever show was on, you were guaranteed a brilliant Barry Grey theme tune. The standout for me was the psychedelic masterpiece Joe 90. It was a favourite at Northern Soul nightclubs because it was so good to dance to. Then it was Sunday afternoon football with Brian Moore in the Southern TV region and the Big Match. The excitement of the theme tune often outdid the matches themselves! Finally, perhaps the king of theme tunes at the time, the incredible Black Beauty theme tune, Galloping Home. Even now, it’s a piece of music to send shivers down your spine.
The children’s programmes from Monday to Friday had a great range of theme tunes. My favourite tunes were from a pair of ITV Sci fi series. Timeslip had an unsettling theme tune that reflected the very challenging nature of the material, but it was the Tomorrow People that was the stuff of nightmares! If you have never watched it, take a look at the link below.
What’s your favorite time of day?
I don’t think my teenage or twenty something self would believe this, but I really love the early mornings! I’m almost always the first person up and about, usually around 5.30 to 6, and I have grown to love the unhurried quietness of the hour or two before my wife and daughter have to get up.
The first thing I will do, particularly in the summer is to look for Albus in the conservatory or the garden. If he isn’t there, he is usually somewhere nearby and it won’t be long before he comes in purring. There is no better sound than the full throated purr of a contented cat. Sometimes he will want food, sometimes he will want to sit on my lap and snooze for a while and sometimes, like this morning, he will go straight in to my daughter’s room to sleep next to her.
Once I have sorted him out, I will get myself a cup of tea and open up Jetpack to see what today’s prompt is. If it flows like today then I will probably spend 30 to 40 minutes crafting my daily entry (although to be entirely honest that has only been part of my routine for the past 41 days and counting!) for my blog. Once I have done that, or once I have decided that I need to have more time to think of something, I will go to Twitter (it’s always that name, never the new one, like Marathon chocolate bars as any 70s or 80s kid will know) and complete any music challenge that I may have.
By this point I will be thinking about my wife’s packed lunch if she is going to work. Pretty much since we moved in together we have made packed lunches if our partner is going to work in the office. I always enjoy making her lunch and eating the lunch she made for me if I was off to work. These lunches just taste better. When I was in Japan, I took my packed lunch out of my bag and a trio of girls saw it and asked if I prepared it. I said that it was my wife who had prepared it and, in unison, they said ‘Love Lunch’! It has been a love lunch from that day forward. I just adore that phrase as it is so true and so simple.
So, there you have it. My early morning is one of quiet preparations and it is a time I really value. As I head to a new way of life that is one thing from my old way of life that definitely won’t change.
David Pearce - Popular Culture and Personal Passions 