The Monday Read: The Past

You can go back, but it’s not the same

On our last full day in the UK (we’re back in Japan now), I took the grandkids to visit my old college. It’s very ‘Harry Potter’-y and we rented one of the college punts for a couple of hours of fun on the river (messing about in boats). Dropped into the pub I always went to for dinner too. They had a great time.

I enjoyed it too, but for a different reason. I spent three years there, three important years. Developmental years. There are so many memories, good and bad.

It was almost too much.

In a way, I wish I could go back and do it again. To be eighteen again, with my current knowledge and habits. It would be incredible.

But of course that is not possible (and might even not turn out as well as I imagine it would).

It was good to relive some of those memories. And I’m still thinking about it now.

Sometimes it is good to revisit the past.

YouTube

Thank you for your support of the RetireJapan YouTube channel. Go and watch some old videos to tide you over until our next new one (probably by the end of the month).

The Forum

The Forum is doing well (36,919 posts so far). The forum rules are here. In essense, they are:

1. Be nice
2. Ask any question you like
3. Only answer questions when you have relevant knowledge or experience

Here are the latest active threads:

This week’s books

Still reading the Foundation series by Asimov. On book 4 now. I’m reading them in order of publication, so the prequels at the end.

I’m also re-reading the Locke Lamora trilogy by Scott Lynch. Slightly violent fantasy, similar to Joe Abercrombie’s stuff. Good for long plane trips.

This week’s links

1. Indeed: Living in the future
2. Ugh. So that is what happened to me after 40… Scientists find humans age dramatically in two bursts – at 44, then 60
3. Had this on my trip -40 degrees in northern Spain where it would usually be in the low 20s: Unprecedented number of heat records broken around world this year
4. Crazy. There was no coffee at all when I studied there in the late 90s: China is now the world leader in coffee shops
5. I’ve never heard of these! Japan’s neighborhood watering holes
6. Very much felt this in London. We ended up in restaurants where you had to order and pay through their app, which was a huge pain. Give me a menu and let me pay normally please! Analog Is Cool Again
   
   

What do you think? Anything interesting in there?

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