Editorial
Today , as I write , it ’ s June 12 . I know that because tomorrow on June 13 , we ’ re off to France with Harry and Polly who , you ’ ll recall , are our Greek rescue pups who came to live with us in December . We ’ re taking them to France because they ’ re European dogs and have European passports and because they ’ re European dogs they have to have their rabies updated in Europe . I don ’ t really understand it . I asked and back came the familiar exasperated sigh accompanied by the word “ Brexit ”. Pickle , our other dog , is staying here because we got him from Raystede which is near Lewes and ... oh , you know , he ’ s got a blue passport . British dog .
Bexit ’ s been on my mind a bit . And not just because of Harry and Polly . There ’ s an election coming up and there ’ s been a lot of rabbit from all the parties about what we ’ ll do if we win and no one has talked about Brexit . Well , no one apart from the Lib Dems , but that ’ s a sadly quiet voice . It ’ s the proverbial elephant dancing away that everyone has silently agreed to ignore . I wonder . Would talking about it really be such an electoral turn-off for The Great British Public ?
So anyway . A few days in France . There are worse things . This morning on the radio I heard that Rishi Sunak didn ’ t have Sky TV when he was a kid . Can you imagine ? Some people really do have it harder than the rest . How he ’ s made a life for himself after that , I don ’ t know .
It ’ s tempting to say stuff , to use this platform to bang the drum for things we
Growing old ( er ) disgracefully
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’ Lisa for feeding my cat ), ( thanks Tracey at Jaglia for my cat cups ), trades people ,
think are important ( As if we would do that . As if ) and it ’ s frustrating because so many of the things we here at Whistler Towers think they should be talking about such as Brexit , climate , food production - maybe they ’ re all the same thing - don ’ t get much air time and all you hear about is tax cuts and tax cuts and tax cuts like we ’ re all little children who just want to be given sweets all the time and ... Pah . Let ’ s not . Even if we wanted to talk more about election stuff , print deadlines mean we ‘ re at the printers before Labour actually release their manifesto . But keep an eye on our website - westhillwhistler . com - where there ’ ll be more interviews with the other local candidates .
Ours is an interesting constituency . The sitting party has a 20,000 majority which , in normal circumstances , would translate as “ All bets are off , let ’ s go to the beach ”. But this time round , it feels different . The MP with that majority - Caroline Lucas - you don ’ t need me to tell you - is off . There ’ s a new Green Party candidate - Sian Berry , interviewed on the facing page - but did those 20,000 people vote for the Greens or Caroline ? The party or the person ? We ’ ll find out soon enough I guess .
The election ’ s important , but I tell you what ’ s also important and is actually much more us , much more what we ’ re about : The St Nick ’ s Dog Show . That ’ s the stuff that ’ s really important . Community , togetherness , rosettes . Fun , sun and a glass of Pimms . What ’ s not to like ? ve had my sights set on returning to West Hill since I flew up to London post Sussex Uni . I ’ d been living in Alexandra Villas back then , doing an MA in Victorian Literature . I loved the area with its white houses , regency porches and artistic vibe .
Thus , I landed in dank December last , like some half-crazed homing pigeon on auto pilot . Six months later , the tsunami of my life ’ s mess finally subsiding , I ’ ve shoe-horned myself into a fabulously quirky place – and I ’ m home . And happy . Now , despite still having to battle up to the London bog once or twice a week for work , I can scuttle happily back to West Hill and enjoy living a more colourful life .
“ Oh , you ’ ve downsized ”, London friends coo sympathetically , “ Are you retiring ?” “ Nope ”, is the snappy answer . Nowhere near ready to down tools . If anything , I ’ m ready to start regaining a sense of my wilder , freer , more creative , self and fill my end-of-life bucket full of lots of new experiences , thrills , and people .
My daughter decamped to Bristol from the family home last year saying she was going to ‘ Please herself ’, so I think I ’ ve followed her lead , coming to Brighton , to ‘ Please myself .’ This entails giving up some redundant overworthy life patterns :
First off the list : all the shoulds , oughts and musts . In the bin with them . My new guiding light is : “ What do I feel like doing ?” “ What do I fancy ?” Tuning into me has included painting my Tardis-like home in hues of deep purple and red , terracotta and gold . It matches my hair , which I have to say , I ’ ve been sporting in all its trademark purplish glory for about 15 years .
Second : duty before pleasure . This doesn ’ t mean I don ’ t care , but it does mean I only go to things if I really want to . Invited to something and I ’ m not I the mood – I don ’ t do it . Maybe knitting , reading a good book or watching Bridgerton in bed eating chocolate , is just what I need .
Third : caring what people think . One of the tenets of screenwriting is ‘ Nobody knows anything ’ ( why a film bombs or not ), and indeed in social relations it ’ s impossible to know what really people think , so why bother ? We spend so much time caring about this , but frankly – who knows ? Also , who cares ?
Fourth : equating alone with lonely . I ’ ve learned to love my own company and seldom feel lonely . However , the genuinely friendly welcome I ’ ve received from neighbours ( thanks
shopkeepers , even bus drivers , has meant West Hill has offered the warmest of welcomes so far .
Fifth : no time for me . I plunged straight into weekly Pilates with Helen Douglas and Shape Note singing , both at the West Hill Hall .
There will be more singing , dancing , swimming , sailing , and creating to come .
Growing Old ( er ) Disgracefully by Corinne Sweet Psychotherapist , writer , broadcaster www . corinnesweet . com
Photographer : Lynn Herrick