27th July, 2014
How wonderful life is. A hot and sunny Sunday with the newspapers and Test cricket. Excellent day for England.
Pauline cooked duck legs with grilled vegetables – dreamy.
28th July, 2014
Hot and humid night gave way to early morning thunder storms. Heavy rain gave the grounds a fresh and perfumed sensation. We were busy indoors until mid-day when we drove to the Health Centre. Until then, Pauline was busily contacting developers of new houses towards the south coast and then fielding pushy phone calls from them in follow up.
Really enjoyed exercise at the Health Centre – We spent about an hour and a half ending up in the pool and Jacuzzi. After we got home, Elerania phoned us from Sifnos with news. I was busily watching England declare on 569 for 7 and take the Indians to 25 for 1 before the close. Tomorrow, we are off to France on a shopping trip.
29th July, 2014
Happy Birthday to Jane B G. Hope you’ve got another 40 to come – at least!
Didn’t sleep well last night. It was hot, humid and the foxes outside were screaming at each other. Why do they do that? Why can’t they talk normally like everyone else? Anyway, up at 5.00 am and out of the garage by 6.00 am. We are driving down to the Tunnel for a French shopping trip.
What a wonderful day! Mind you, every day is wonderful at the moment. An hour and a half down to the tunnel. Coffee and read the paper. Half an hour crossing (plus an hour for French time) and we rolled off in Calais about 9.30 am. Of the two, big hypermarkets – Auchan and Carrefour – we prefer the former at the moment. Their fresh fish counter is wonderful as is their huge, delicatessen area with more cooked meats and cheeses than you can imagine.
Today we stocked up on Sea Bream (Dorade), Salmon (Saumon) and Cod Loins (Pave de Cabillaud). We bought some more Duck which we both love plus half a garden of wonderful salad. It was wine that was our prime purpose today because the car was so stuffed full on the way back from Sifnos. Enough to get us through to our next trip in a couple of months time.
30th July, 2014
The lovely days just keep coming. We have begun to skip through life once again. Is it really possible to feel so free and happy? Today, I went round to try and sort out Phyllis’s email settings on her iPad. I failed miserably. I will have to do some research and go round later in the week to have another try.
Went to the Health Club and did an hour and a half in the Gym and the Pool. Felt absolutely great after that. Came back to find England had declared and left India with an enormous total to get in the last day. They now need 333 with 4 wickets down.
Another very warm evening. We have all the windows and doors open at 10.00 pm. We are told it might cool by the weekend.
I don’t know if I told you but the power shower in our apartment in Surrey is so strong it almost knocks us off our feet. It is such a difference to our pump-fed shower in Sifnos which was perfectly adequate but comparatively weak. We had a huge, corner bath in Greece as well but rarely used it. In fact, we’ve become confirmed fans of showers so much that neither of us has had a bath for over a year. Having written this, I’m going to have a shower now.
31st July, 2014
Survived the power of shower last night and I’m pleased I did. Went out early to pick strawberries and raspberries this morning on a hot and sunny morning that climbed to 26C/79F. The current strawberry crop are still plentiful although we had to work a bit harder for the raspberries. We managed about 4kg of each because we were the first to pick.
It always pays to be early. Pauline bought some more fig & sherry ice cream to go with the fruit and we are a big bowl as soon as we got home. Just no self control!
Got home in time to watch England wrap up the Test victory before Lunch. Really pleased.
Pauline, meanwhile, was emailing every house builder in Sussex, Hampshire & Kent and then spent the rest of the day fielding phone calls from them inviting us down to see their Developments. All the houses we are considering are new-build.
1st August, 2014
From the cat (and rabbit) that got the cream, Happy August 2014. Can you tell that the cat is dreaming of goldfish? The rabbit is just dreaming.
A warm, quite humid but slightly cloudy day for the start of August. It is a finance day with most things being done on-line. We have internet banking with three, separate banks plus accounts in two others. I am fed up of having to maintain spreadsheets just to remember where everything is. The aim today and over the next few weeks is to rationalise everything into a couple of institutions.
2nd August, 2014
Good Samaritan day. Went round to sort the email account on Phyllis’ iPad and to set up Skype for her. That achieved, we did a bit of shopping at Tesco and had the car cleaned. Pauline is constantly fielding phone calls from house builders and our short journey out this morning was interrupted by two more.
Going to the Health Club this afternoon. We don’t usually go at weekends but we are trying to up the activity levels. ………….. Just did 45 mins today but it was enough to make us feel better. The Health Club was reasonably quiet but the roads were full of cyclists. I can’t be doing with them at all. No cycling licence required, no road fund tax paid, no knowledge of the Highway Code to be achieved. These cyclists are laws unto themselves and a nightmare for motorists. Talking of nightmares, I wonder how the Poison Dwarf is getting on?