I’m going back to work on Monday. It’s a nuisance because Julia has some time off over the next two weeks and I would like to have been off with her. However, I’m better and I don’t like letting them down at work.

The last two weeks has revealed to me just how much I want to retire (the money is now the only thing that keeps me at work, other factors have taken away my enthusiasm). However, I still have twelve months to go before my planned date and though it will fly by, it seems like a long time as I look at it now.

It’s sad that it has come to this, but I suppose that’s how life is. You make plans, you change them, you make more . . .

More pressing than my motivation is the need to clear the house within the next twelve months and organise the move. I really need to get on with that. I am going to have to teach myself to throw things away. It seems easy enough but after years of being a dealer I always feel like I should be getting paid for stuff. If I throw it away I feel guilty about not recycling. If I give it to a charity shop I feel bad about not getting paid. I know this is bad, but that’s the result of years of conditioning.

Meanwhile, I still have to do something for the Numismatic Society meeting, and have eleven days to do it. It always seems to get to this stage before I actually do anything, so I’m now blaming my lack of application rather than my infection.

The paper flag below is, as you can see, of Scottish origin. This is appropriate because the Scots were the originators of paper flags and were enthusiastic sellers of them. When I have done my research I will let you know more.

1917 – Soldier and Sailor

1917 – reverse