Head of the River pub

November 1977

Different clientele in those days.

Inevitably so. No one under the age of 47 today had even been born then.

They don't know what they were missing. Better days by far.

Fair comment. But speaking for myself, although overall they were better days, in some respects they were far worse.

They were worse for me too in a personal sense, but the general environment was better.
Why do you think otherwise?

I don't. The general environment was undoubtedly better. I was referring to my own personal life in days past, when I could make only very limited use of that environment.

That surprises me, as I thought you were always jaunting in your youth.

Only to a far more limited extent than today. Working full time, I had at most three weeks holiday a year, and after that, to go away, a live-in carer or respite stay had to be arranged for my mother, and even after that I was still constrained by Shirley's health and work commitments.

It's only in the last 12 years that I've been able to travel at will, by when most destinations were no longer as picturesque and nice as they were. The number of photos per year I managed to get says it all. In (e.g.) the 1990's I'd get 30-50 new pictures a year as compared with the 280 I've so far got in 2024. Digital technology has, however, created a lot more photo opportunities.

I was talking about local places. I thought you went out most weekends.

Nowadays, yes. In those days, no.

In contrast to what the forecasts said, the weather today would have been perfect for my twice-postponed walk from Charlbury. Very annoying, because the Autumn tints are at their best.

Oh yes, we've had perfect weather today.

S*d it. I could so easily have done my walk. All I did yesterday was get my tyres checked, do my week's shopping, get my hair cut, research iPhones, wash and hoover the car, 'phone an 89-year-old friend who's got Covid, have a sleep, compose and circulate a club email, exchange two other emails, prepare lunch and dinner, try and fail to to fix my garage door opener and book an engineer to do it, and finally go to an evening meeting of a local photographic society, of which many years ago I was a member.

You had a busy day.

Very well set out - a good advertisement for the tour company.

Thanks. I had to describe the tour and the company in glowing brochurese - everything about both positive and good - else they wouldn't have published it.

Did you get any financial reward?

A voucher entitling me to £50 off my next trip or workshop with them.

And are you planning one?