W-wa Jeziorki: Golden autumn, golden years

Another birthday (64) in that space running up to retirement age (65 in Poland, 66 in the UK). And while I harbour no thought of stopping, slowing down does make sense. Slowing down to speed up, slowing down to optimise the time left, to get all those things done that I need to do to fulfil my human potential. That much I owe myself.

I have been lucky (in Poland at least) with a good run of fine weather for my birthdays. From childhood, I associate 4 October with large, wet, brown leaves; mud, conkers and slippery grass on Ealing Common and a sad sense of the ebbing year. Yet when brightness prevails - I went for a walk today regretting my second layer, daytime high 22C - an entirely different, and positive perspective on life is achieved. The Hammer of Darkness still lies ahead, but until then, it's a cause to celebrate. An additional day of summer in autumn. Below: between Jakubowizna and Grobice.

"The crooked straight, and the rough places plain" - between Chynów and Nowe Grobice. This is one of several places where a footpath would be useful, rather than having to wade waist-deep in weeds and clamber over a couple of fences and a stream.

Nearly home - just around the corner from my działka.

A new tradition - the birthday blood-pressure chart. As I've been on the działka since Friday, this year's readings are an average of the last seven taken up to 1 October. Remarkably consistent, although I must confess that during high summer they went up somewhat, which I attribute to physical laziness. It seems that around the summer solstice each year, I have the highest readings; by the autumnal equinox they are back to normal; by my birthday - optimal. For that - deepest gratitude. Key to optimal blood pressure - early nights (in bed before 22:30), vigorous exercise, and a diet low on animal fats that includes a daily bowl of porridge.

	Systolic	Diastolic	Pulse
4/10/2017	115	78	77
4/10/2018	116	79	75
4/10/2019	117	79	76
3/10/2020	113	80	75
1/10/2021	115	79	75

Make the most of each day. Appreciate. Be grateful for your health, for each additional sunny day. Waste not a moment. Time ticks away at the rate of one minute per minute, one year per year. Although I'm becoming convinced that we have supernatural powers, which we can develop to alter that truism. In the garden today I came up with the notion of a simulchron - a machine that can simulate time itself.

"Don't let me hear you say life's taking you nowhere"