How not to be a Grumpy Old Man (or Woman)

MARVEL. Marvel every time you see a child learning to walk and speak at the same time. Share in their delight. Wonder at the dawn of each new season: sunshine and shadows, falling leaves, frost, sudden new growth. You are still alive to take it all in. That’s an unexpected bonus.

APPRECIATE. Have a look around your living room and concentrate on items designed for your comfort and entertainment, which your forbears never had. Think of someone you don’t like; now ponder a couple of their good points. Try to desire their welfare more than their downfall.

FORGIVE. (That’s a condition for being forgiven). You may have to do it over and over again for the same person. Unearth grudges which have been lying under the surface. Are they worth preserving that much? Think of the damage they are doing you.

MARRIED OR SINGLE?

DON’T ENVY. The grass on the other side of the street isn’t greener, it’s just different. Count your blessings - some will be uniquely yours. Be concerned for the welfare of someone whose circumstances are unlike yours.

DEAL WITH DISAPPOINTMENT. If you have become grumpy it’s probably caused by a deepdown dissatisfaction with yourself. Stop raking over past failures. Each morning when you wake up, say with the Psalmist, “This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.”

CHANGE. No, it isn’t too late. It will only be too late to change when you are in a coffin. In the meantime, there’s still room for manoeuvre. Remember John Henry Newman’s words, “To live is to change, and to be perfect is to have changed often.”

There aren’t many gadgets that appeal to kids and grown-ups alike but drones definitely fit the bill: they’re fun to fly, and you can use them for serious work such as drone filming and photography and even drone racing.

A drone is a remote-controlled flying machine that uses four propellers to fly and hover; thanks to some clever electronics inside it can keep itself steady even in windy conditions. Most drones have built-in cameras that you can use to stream live video to your phone and to take video and photos.

The DJI Mini 2 is probably the best buy for serious use; it’s quite expensive at £409 but you can find second-hand models for less. There’s a newer model, the Mini 3, but it’s considerably more expensive.

If you’re looking for something more affordable, the Ryze Tello is a lot of fun, and it’s currently £99 at Amazon and Argos. It’s not brilliant in the wind and the video quality is fairly basic 720p – similar to DVD quality – but on a calm day it’s great.

There’s also a new kind of drone in town, the FPV (first-person view) drone. That’s designed to be used for drone acrobatics, and while some can be terrifyingly expensive the £264 BetaFPV Cetus Pro Kit has been getting great reviews. It is very difficult to learn drone acrobatics, though, so this one’s best left to more experienced flyers.

An important thing to know about drones is that they’re easily broken. Some firms charge around £150 for fairly simple repairs, and the costs can go up dramatically with more damaged or more complex drones. It’s worth investing in propeller protectors, which are plastic bumpers that surround the propellers to prevent some of the more avoidable crashes, and you might want to consider drone insurance too.

This isn’t DJI’s best drone – it makes seriously powerful ones for filmmakers too - but it’s the most affordable of the premium drone pack and it’s very easy to fly. £407, amazon.co.uk

This one isn’t for beginners: it’s an FPV drone designed for thrilling and exceptionally difficult drone acrobatics, so you need to be highly skilled to pilot it. £264, amazon.co.uk

We’d strongly advise fitting propeller guards to any drone that doesn’t already have them: in a battle between flimsy propellers and a brick wall or a tree, the propellors always lose. £20, DJI.com

If you’re buying for a beginner you don’t need to spend hundreds: this drone might not have the highest quality video but on a calm day it’s a lot of fun. £99, argos.co.uk

NORTH KOREA – how it all began

SOME 75 YEARS AGO, on 9th September 1948, the People’s Democratic Republic of Korea (North Korea) was established, headed by Kim Il Sung.

Korea as a whole had been under Japanese control most of the 20th century, with many Korean guerrilla groups fighting to regain the country’s autonomy. The Second World War led to the surrender of Japan and the division of Korea, with the Soviet Union occupying the north and the United States the south.

Attempts to create a unified country failed, and two separate governments emerged, each claiming to be the legitimate rulers of Korea. As a result, the Korean War broke out in 1950, resulting in a great deal of destruction, followed by stalemate and a line of demarcation between north and south at the 38th parallel.

The leader of the north, which became the People’s Democratic Republic of Korea, was a famous and accomplished former guerrilla leader called Kim Il Sung (meaning Kim Become the Sun), who because of his earlier exile spoke very little Korean when he became head of government. He had been raised, he said, in a Presbyterian Christian family, one of his grandfathers being a Protestant minister. During the Second World War he was for a time a Major in the Soviet Red Army. He was in office for more than 45 years, being succeeded by his son and then grandson, as North Korea became a totalitarian socialist dictatorship, with a centrally planned economy, closely linked to the Soviet Union. At first the north outperformed the south, but when South Korea stabilised and bloomed economically in the 1980s, the situation was reversed. The tension between north and south continues.