Sanders Blog

Sunday, 5th May, 2019

A bright but chilly start to the day – one which didn’t get above 13C/55F. I’ve been in shorts & tee-shirt for the past couple of months. Actually, I’ve never lived anywhere that I’ve seen so many men in shorts & tee-shirt almost all year round. Today, our bare flesh was something of a bellwether for the changing temperature.

Sundays are newspapers and politics and today was no different. I’ve been finding it difficult to remember that it is a Bank Holiday weekend. While working, I’d have had no problem in remembering we had an extra day to come. Now, I just find it annoying that the workers aren’t away in their …’works’ and leaving the real world to us.

Actually, the Health Club has been almost deserted for the past couple of days. Once again today, after doing our full gym workout, the outdoor pool was completely empty for the 30 mins we were there. We did our full swim followed by 10 mins in the sauna and 30 mins in the jacuzzi and water massage. It’s been a good month of our new resolve. You will notice that my watch has transmitted 28 days of data to my phone. It shows that I missed just one day’s exercise because I drove to Surrey to visit relatives that day.

My personality hates seeing that one blip in the orange bars but I am pleased that I have covered almost 195 miles in this period from 376,000 paces. I am averaging almost 14,000 paces per day for 28 days. I have still not touched a drop of alcohol and have followed a more restrictive diet. Only another 4 months to do!

Monday, 6th May, 2019

Gorgeously sunny morning with beautiful, blue sky. Warm enough to go out in shorts & tee-shirt. I’m told that it is Bank Holiday and, as we went out at 9.00 am, the roads were very quiet. The workers were making the most of it and staying in bed. The retirees were making the most of it and ‘playing out’. Hope that keeps the Health Club quiet this afternoon.

Actually, I was going to Asda to corner the market in Shloer. It is helping me drink more water and abstain from wine. In Waitrose and Tesco the price is £2.20/€2.58, but it has been reduced in Asda to £1.00/€1.17 and I am taking advantage of this and bulk buying. It is not a straight replacement nor could I drink it neat too often. It is bearable mixed 50%/50% with sparkling water. It is also low calorie so it has two benefits of reducing my calorie intake and increasing my water consumption.

In my Blog-post of 10 years ago today, I was enjoying the fact that we were in our second month of retirement and contrasting the before and after states of our changing life style. I wrote this:

After I had got home, I would have opened a bottle of wine while I/we started the cooking, finished that bottle at the start of the meal, opened a second and drunk half or more before the end of the meal. After a sweet and coffee, I would have fallen asleep for an hour or so before waking up and wandering into the Study to start preparing for Friday.

It is difficult now to get back into the mindset that produced these actions but I’m glad I am in a very different place today.

Tuesday, 7th May, 2019

Some people think I ignore ‘Green’ issues. One of my sisters accused me last time we met of being a climate change denier. Neither of these two charges are accurate. There is no doubt in my mind that the climate is currently changing. I would describe myself as something of a sceptic about its causes and resolution. Climate changes and has done over all known records. Man has always found solutions for the effects of those changes. Man will again. What I could not accept is the solution that says,

We invented motorcars but we must eschew them and return to the horse & cart or bicycle. We invented the jet engine but we must now all stop flying. We have been meat eaters from time immemorial but now we must all become vegans.

Returning to the early 19th century or before is not the answer. We cannot and should not uninvent things. We need to find ways in which these inventions are bent to the environmental cause. Hybrid and electric cars are already arriving rapidly. All-electric aeroplanes are not far away. These things will be available without our need for a medieval hair shirt.

A perfect example, for me, is the wind turbine. Few people want one near their house. They are noisy and intrusive. Not many would really object to them out at sea. The port of Zeebrugge has been surrounded by them for 20 years without complaint. Worthing has a wind farm off shore which really doesn’t trouble people. I wanted solar tiles to be used for the roof of our new house but we weren’t even offered solar panels. We live in one of the sunniest areas in the country. Within 6 months of moving in, all the new properties delivered on our development had solar panels on the roofs. I enquired about the costs of fitting solar panels privately. On current projections, we would have to live to 95 to make it cost effective.

That is where you find me. I love innovation. I am an early adopter by nature. I will try new things if I think they will be beneficial to my family but I am not magnanimous enough to sacrifice myself for somebody else’s family long after I’ve gone. I will not vote for hardship now to deliver gains for people I will never meet when I am long dead.

Wednesday, 8th May, 2019

We’ve got rain! I think that’s what you call it. It’s been so long since I’ve seen it. I don’t remember before having to water the lawns in April/May but I have this year. It’s actually lovely to see – rather like the first strong rains of Autumn in Greece.

Because it’s wet and because we aren’t going out this morning, I am doing some of the ‘minority’ jobs that I’ve had in mind for some time. For example, I’ve had in mind for some time, to deal with the burgeoning problem that so many of us suffer from as we increasingly negotiate moving from analogue activity to digital.

Particularly, I am talking about passwords to secure entry to our sites of business. They are a nightmare to record securely and remember or retrieve when required. I am considering buying a Password Manager to help me. Having installed it and stored passwords for different sites – We need passwords for 3 different Banks, for Health accounts, for power and water suppliers, for retailers sites, for web development sites, for on-line newspaper purchases, etc., etc. – all one requires is one password to enter the software to retrieve all the others. One can even store Bank Account & Credit Card numbers securely in this way.

StickyPassword costs less than £20.00 to download and works across all one’s platforms on all one’s instruments – PCs, Macs., iPads, Android smartphones – and syncs continually. It helps with dementia symptoms or just someone like me who has never had a memory.

Thursday, 9th May, 2019

A day of sunshine and showers. As we drove from our garage, where rain had lightly fallen, a mile away to Asda, where no rain had fallen at all and then on to Tesco about 3 miles away where raining was still falling, the temperature read 16C/61F. It continued that way throughout the day although sunshine beamed out strongly as we swam in the tranquillity of our Health Club’s outdoor pool.

The weather in Greece should be warming up and the dry season really should be underway. We wouldn’t have expected any rain from now until September. On this day in 2012, the temperature was 26C/79F and we went down to the beach to test the water – it was a bit too cold for swimming.

Two days ago, Greece had snow. Kathimerini told us that:

The weather in Greece has obviously gone crazy. Beginning of May and some landscapes in the country look as if they are still in January. Heavy snowfalls were recorded in North-Western Greece on Tuesday morning in Nymphaio by Florina in West Macedonia and some mountainous villages by Ioannina or by Metsovo in Epirus.

Certainly, Greece’s weather has been in a strange state of flux for the past 12 months.

Friday, 10th May, 2019

Out early on yet another beautiful day. They just keep on coming. We were off to Worthing – a 10 mins drive away – to collect some ordered shoes and do a bit of shopping at Waitrose. We always take the coast road just to enjoy the views. Of course, people are at work and school and the beach was lovely and quiet. It was 16C/61F at 9.30 am – just lovely for a walk.

It is good to remember where we live. It is so easy to get trapped in our narrow corridor of life. Pauline chose our village specifically because it gave us quick and easy access to these views and we don’t look at them often enough.

Actually, today we walked away from the beach and into the town. Nice surprise was to find a French Market setting up down the centre of Montague Street. Unfortunately, they were selling all the things we are avoiding like bread, cheese, tarts, cakes, olives, etc. Still, maybe we will visit them in France during the Summer after we’ve collected our new car.

Back to the Health Club at mid day for our 34th consecutive session of exercise. Generally, the club is quite quiet. This may be down to the inconvenience of the changing rooms being completely refitted. It is also the time when those who took out ‘New Year Resolution’ memberships and have now fallen by the wayside. Whatever, it makes activity very relaxed and swimming outside in the sunshine and bird song is idyllic. The temperature reached a really pleasant 18C/65F this afternoon as we swam in paradise.

Saturday, 11th May, 2019

Bright and sunny but cool this morning. We went out early to the Post Office to return, yet again, clothes Pauline had ordered but rejected on first sight. We went on to Sainsbury’s for tomatoes and Aldi for smoked mackerel. Later, we went to do our 35th consecutive day of exercise and came home to a roast salmon & salad meal.

We are also on our 35th day of diet and ‘no-alcohol’. I wasn’t putting weight on but I wasn’t losing it either. I wanted to start moving it downwards again. I decided that I was prepared to take a bit of pain for a few months.

In terms of my diet, I have come a long way from my past.  I was thinking about it this morning as we purchased smoked mackerel. I wouldn’t have entertained this in my younger, more indulgent days. Now I love ‘oily fish’.

In the past, I would have snacked all day on sweets, chocolate and biscuits. Now, I don’t touch any of that ever. My snack of choice is fruit and particularly bananas, grapes and dried fruit. Even then, I have to fight to control myself. My first bulwark against hunger is a drink of coffee, tea or sparkling water. It means I seem to spend a lot of my time in the toilet but, at my age, I do anyway.

Sunday, 28th April, 2019

A quiet morning so we decided to take some travel decisions. We can’t put it off any longer. First, we decided to book a trip to Athens for a week at the end of August. I can tell you that recent reports in Greek news outlets about overcapacity driving down room prices in Athens are unfounded. We are returning to our favourite hotel – The Electra Palace in the centre just off Navarchou Nikodimou – and a suite for €315.00/£275.00 per night. It’s a nice room in a nice hotel in the centre of a capital city but…

Even the Easyjet flights seem more expensive than usual. Return flights from Gatwick with extra legroom, speedy boarding and 2 x hold luggage costs £762.00/€885.00. Still, it’s only money, isn’t it?

Well it was until we spent some more! We’ve booked four nights in our Yorkshire hotel in October. That puts the Greek price into context. Four nights in a suite in the Holiday Inn will cost us £590.00/€685.00. I must go and see my sister in Bolton and commiserate with her over her team’s relegation. We are now looking for a nice villa with private pool in the Canaries, preferably Gran Canaria, for the month of November.

Erratum: I was wrong about the Greek hotel prices. Last year, we paid €223.00/£193.00 per day for a ‘classic’ room whereas we are only paying €308.00/£266.00 per day for a suite this year.

Monday, 29th April, 2019

Gorgeous morning. Blue sky and strong sunshine. I am watering the lawns today in the face of a prolonged dry spell forecast for our area. I’m also looking for an addition to my automatic watering system to maintain the pots of herbs we are growing. Because we are not having an extended holiday in this Summer, it won’t be a major problem but, after collecting the new car, we may do the occasional short break on the Continent and even 4-5 days will need some watering.

My other jobs this morning have included individually lobbying ever, single voting member of Labour’s NEC who will be meeting and voting on an integral and confirmatory second vote on any Brexit arrangement. There are some 42 of them and I have had to search out their individual Twitter accounts and, failing that, their email addresses. I failed in only 4 cases so feel I covered as much as I could.

Finally, I have to find a villa in the Canaries for the month of November. We keep talking about it and then putting it on the back burner and then returning to it. More evidence of tourists avoiding European bookings or, putting them off has come from Thomas Cook this weekend with bookings to EU countries like Greece sharply down and bookings elsewhere and, notably Greece’s great friend, Turkey, sharply up.

After an enjoyable trip to the gym & swim, we came home to eat cold duck and salads and book a villa in southern Tenerife with sea view and near beaches.

It has a heated pool, 3 x double bedrooms, 3 x bathrooms, kitchen with dishwasher and washing machine, wi-fi internet, British television programming including Sky/BT football, indoor and outdoor eating. It has a lounge which faces the sea with views to La Gomera. It is within walking distance of restaurants, shops and supermarkets.

The cost is £5,200.00/€6015.00 for the month of November. We can cancel with full refund right up to the beginning of October. So, if anything goes wrong in the next 5 months or so, we are covered. We’ve sent a deposit on the app but still await confirmation so we will wait. We have also still got to arrange flights but it feels like we’ve tied up a lot of the lose ends for this year and it feels satisfying.

Tuesday, 30th April, 2019

Another beautiful day to see out April. I should clean the car but I’m finding it difficult to get motivated because we’ve already sold it. We will drive it for just 2 months more so I will have to clean it soon but, perhaps, not today. In this wonderful sunshine, everything is growing away.

The hedges at the front have just grown up and out rapidly but almost imperceptibly. I walked out of the front door this morning into the strong sunshine and was immediately struck by the sight of a healthy, mature hedge. It is about 4ft high but we want to put about another foot on it so we’ll let it grow a bit straggly before trimming it. That’s my excuse anyway. Meanwhile, we are waiting for official confirmation of our Tenerife booking before booking appropriate flights. We will almost certainly go with Easyjet. They are definitely the short haul airline to beat at the moment.

Confirmation of our booking has just come in from a lady called Rita. It is written in Spanish but we quickly translated it and she informed us that not only would they pick us up from the airport but, because we were staying for a month, they would completely wave the charge of €15.00 per day to heat the pool. This is the sort of welcome that could make us the sort of people who could quickly become regulars.

What this does mean is that we can book our flights. So the return flights for two of us will be  £657.88/€762.25 which is made up of:

Even with Easyjet, the cost soon mounts up. However, when you’ve booked a property, it’s nice to tie up the travel.

Wednesday, 1st May, 2019

Kαλό μήνα – Kαλό Máios  – Happy new month – Happy May. You will never see April 2019 again. It has fallen off the ever moving carousel of time. The older one gets, the more significant this carousel and disappearing time become. I was asked the other day why I featured a white rabbit on each first day of the month. I suddenly realised that I didn’t know the origin of the tradition. I asked the internet.

There is no definitive answer but various sources say it originates from Medieval times but don’t give an explanation of its origin. I also learnt that ‘White Rabbits, White Rabbits’ was written in the  Notes and Queries book from 1909. It reads “My two daughters are in the habit of saying ‘Rabbits!’ on the first day of each month. The word must be spoken aloud, and be the first word said in the month. It brings luck for that month. Other children, I find, use the same formula.”

We are enthusiastic travellers but no one could accuse us of being impromptu or impulsive. We micro-plan everything. Nothing is taken for granted. For travel some 6 months ahead, we are just about to book a taxi to the airport and a night at a hotel before our early morning flight.

We used the Sofitel last year because it is very comfortable and directly linked by a pedestrian way to the Departures Terminal. This means, we can drop our bags off the night before and get up at a more acceptable time in the morning of our departure. A Superior Room without breakfast is £145.00/€169.00 (member’s Rate).

Thursday, 2nd May, 2019

A pleasant day of gentle sunshine and 16C/61F. We went out to do our weekly shop at Asda and Tesco and we were delighted that we were offered a large, 1.5 kg joint of fresh Tuna that will make 4 meals for us. It cost £37.50/€43.70  and looks beautiful quality. As we walked in, there was a Hearing test ‘tent’. This is temporary but inside there is a permanent Pharmacy, a Dentist and an Opticians – supermarket health service.

All my adult life I’ve drunk wine. Since the age of 21 – a total of 47 years – I have drunk the best part of a bottle of wine each evening with my main meal of the day. I love wine. I love French, Italian and Spanish wine particularly. A survey I saw this morning chimed with my reasons for drinking almost exactly particularly while we were working.

I spent January not drinking alcohol and I’ve just finished April without alcohol. This time, I’m pledged to not drink alcohol until September if I can do it. I’m doing it mainly to save around 550 calories per day but also to give my liver a rest. Of course, alcohol generates consumption of additional food and calories as well. I’ve often wondered if I was an alcoholic but really knew my addiction was to the ‘pattern’ of the day which ended with that warm fuzz of an empty bottle of wine. When I get into the pattern of sparkling water with my meal, I don’t give alcohol a thought. The only time I do think about it is when I walk past my wine store of some 200 bottles. Perhaps I’ll have to up my consumption when I start again just to deplete the stock a bit.

Before that, I’ve been putting the world to rights by voting for a Remain party in the local elections and then doing my 25th day’s exercise out of the past 26. Felt a bit tired today and even the swimming was an effort but we had been very busy in the morning. This evening, I’ve just topped 16,000 paces for the day.

Friday, 3rd May, 2019

What a lovely day. Sunshine and 17C/63F made swimming, after a full work out, really lovely. We are in the Arun District Council for local elections. It has been Tory for as long as people can remember. Not any more! I knew our votes for Remain would do the trick. The Tories can’t believe they’ve lost control but they are losing it everywhere. Can’t wait to contact my MP, Tory Brexiteer Nick Herbert, tomorrow to let him know we are coming for him next. It is time this message was sent to the Leave parties: up with you we will not put!

This day in 2010 we were gardening in 26C/79F in our Greek home. We then drove down to the fishing village of Faros where we ate lunch at the water’s edge and sipped ice cold white wine as the waves lapped against the shore.

While we sat there with our Calamari and Horiatiki, we were actively sorting out the sale of our Yorkshire home prior to moving down to Surrey. How far we’ve come and how much has changed since that day. It’s almost unbelievable.

Saturday, 4th May, 2019

Gorgeously sunny morning although a little chilly at 7C/45F. I don’t know if it’s age or retirement or fitness but, every morning, I can’t wait to get up and on with the day. I always watch a review of the morning’s newspapers at 11.30 pm as they first come out so I know what I want to read first thing in the morning.

There is really only one thing this morning and that is the Local Election Results. I was amused last night by a tweet from a solicitor, former Lib.Dem. parliamentary candidate for Colne Valley and a friend of ours who was at our Wedding 40 years ago. He was raving about the overthrow of the Tory councillors by Lib.Dems. in a small area known as Lindley. The Tory majority had been 2000 votes and it was an achievement but he was describing the win in apocalyptic terms befitting the fall of a Dynasty.

What has equally amused me is the narrative from Brextremists that the election results above clearly show that the population want Brexit to be done. What part of all the Leave-supporting parties losing support set against the Remain parties hugely gaining support could be read as that would puzzle any sane human being other than to know we really are in a Trumpian, post-truth era.

After newspapers this morning, I will complete my manly duties of vacuuming the house while my wife begins to address the final, little ‘snagging’ details. We are now starting our 4th year here and we only have 2 years of warranty left but we can deal with all sorts of small things ourselves – well my wife can. Every new house has some resettlement problems. We had to have the tiled floor in our en suite re-laid because hairline cracks appeared in a couple of floor tiles. The builders did that and it took three days of work. Slight separation between a skirting board and stairs because of resettlement is an easy job for Pauline to fill and paint/touch up. We have a few, minor paint scrapes on walls over the past 3 years so she’s addressing those as well.

Later, we will go to the Health Club to do our 27th out of 28 consecutive days of exercise. I think 2,700 minutes or 45 hours of cardio-vascular exercise in a month is a reasonable commitment on our part. Actually, it is self-feeding now. I really look forward to it and the thought of not doing it makes me anxious. Anxiety is not good and exercise is so you know what will happen!

Sunday, 21st April, 2019

For many years, Easter was spent in Greece with a mad dash to the airport on a Friday night in order to get the Saturday morning ferry to Sifnos. Often, of course, it wouldn’t coincide with Greek Easter at all and, this year, English schools go back on Tuesday and Greek Easter is next weekend. We always returned to Athens from the island a couple of days early because Greek ferries are notoriously unreliable in poor weather. This year, a couple of days in Athens would have been less than enjoyable with poor, cold weather.

Today, we will reach at least 25C/77F and, next week, Easter on Sifnos will hover around 20C/68F. For once, the fates have smiled on us. The countryside all around us looks wonderful.

The photograph above was featured in this morning’s Sunday Times. You can see why we do not go to the beach on public holidays. Still, with schools going back on Tuesday, the beach is ours to enjoy. For today, we’ve been hard at it in the garden potting up herbs and tidying everything up.

Later, we will be off to the gym and then Pauline will griddle Tuna Steaks out in the garden. I apologise if my posts include quite a lot of food at the moment but I am trying to be hard on my consumption so thoughts of food are higher on my agenda and hunger is never far away.

This morning of April 21st, 1967 Greeks woke up to the rumble of tanks, occasional rifle shots and military hymns playing on the radio. Then it was the ominous, sinister announcement on the radio: “The Hellenic Armed Forces undertake the governance of the country”. The Junta led by Colonel Georgios Papadopoulos, Brigadier General Stylianos Pattakos and Colonel Nikolaos Makarezos  ordered the tanks to roll in Athens. Greek soldiers took over the most crucial spots in the capital, then arrested all key politicians.

The junta suspended 11 articles of the Constitution to establish the regime. Freedom of speech became non-existent, with strict censorship rules for radio, newspapers and, later, television. Isolated from the rest of Europe, condemned by most Greeks and especially those who were in self-exile, it took 7 years and led by a student uprising to force the junta out which opened the way for Constantine Karamanlis to return to Greece and form a democratic government. Those condemning the Climate Change protesters in London at the moment should bear this necessary protest for change in mind.

Monday, 22nd April, 2019

Our Easter meal yesterday after returning from the Health Club was fresh tuna steaks griddled in the garden and served with huge quantities of different salads. Radicchio & Radish, Lettuce & Courgette slices, Rocket & Lemon, Broad Bean. Accompanied by sparkling water because alcohol is off the agenda until September if we can manage it.

Actually, the first month is always the hardest and, particularly when we combine it with a severe reduction in calorie intake and a considerable increase in calorie output but, as we get close to completing that first month, my personality traits kicked in and I find myself craving sparkling water. That is how weird I am!

We ate our meal around 4.30 pm after exercise. The day was still very warm and even more beautiful as the sun went down. We ate in the kitchen but with the patio doors flung open wide for the first time this year.

Today has been just as warm but rather sultry – humid almost. We’ve spent the morning gardening and both felt shattered even before we set off for the Health Club but we still went. Actually, Easter Sunday and Bank Holiday Monday have been the quietest days we have experienced in The David Lloyd Club. The past two days have been absolutely delightful swimming in the sunshine and warmth. We are so lucky and constantly remind ourselves.

Tuesday, 23rd April, 2019

Quite a humid and steamy morning. We spent it mulching all our shrubbery beds with the most deliciously scented bark chippings. It was a really satisfying activity which leaves the beds looking and smelling attractive. Actually, I had seriously underestimated how much it would take and we had to dash off to Wickes half way through to buy another 4 bags which allowed us to do the job generously.

As we worked outside, we were constantly visited by cats who were attracted by the scent of the wood bark and wanted a bit of a stroke. Our next door neighbours had a cat called Como (Lake not Perry) but he was found dead on the road after a few months. Having got over that, they collected two ‘rescue’ cats – two, young sisters – one tabby and one jet black. They are named Mimi and Rosetta after characters in Opera. I did point out that, after their first cat suffering a tragic death on the road, it was tempting fate to name a second one after Mimi from  Puccini’s La Bohème. In the opera, of course, Mimi dies tragically young of consumption. Last night, I thought my prediction had come true. I noticed that our neighbours had listed Mimi as missing on the local Facebook site. She had been missing for 24 hrs.

This morning the panic was over and Mimi came round to check out the wood bark, bringing her sister with her and a new friend we had never met before. They all seemed very happy although Mimi did have to show off by climbing the young tree outside our house.

Wednesday, 24th April, 2019

A different morning. Grey sky with a few spots of rain – not enough but a start. For once, we hadn’t got lots of jobs to do. I vacuumed the house while Pauline did the dusting. We were actually left with time to do some reading and writing which was nice.

We have been really pushing ourselves since returning from Yorkshire almost 3 weeks ago. Stronger control on the diet and push on the exercise. We have missed just 1 day in the past 19 at the Health Club.

My smartwatch records my activity although I don’t collect the swimming data. The data is bluetoothed to my smartphone where it is presented by day/week/month/year. I am obsessed with achieving a yellow graph bar denoting 10,000+  paces recorded for the day. In the past 7 days, I am averaging 15,007.3 paces per day and I’ve covered 54.5 miles in those 7 days. I’ve covered 2,400 miles in the past year. I burn circa 700 calories in 90 mins in the gym and another 150 calories in 30 mins swimming in the outdoor pool each day. Data, don’t you just love it?

We are starting to feel the muscles straining under the constant exertion but we are determined to push on. This will be continued until we go abroad in September. If physical exercise keeps one alive, we are determined to live forever. Mind you, if United lose to City tonight, I might just end it all this evening!

Thursday, 25th April, 2019

The morning opened grey and lightly damp but was totally transformed to blue sky and sunshine by 9.00 am when we went out on a marathon shopping trip. Asda, Sainsburys, Aldi and, finally, Tesco  took us 2hrs. We definitely fit the latest shopping pattern in that we no longer buy everything in a one-off shop from one supermarket.

Today, we bought bananas and grapes from Asda – one for quality reasons and the other on price.  We bought tomatoes and chicken thighs from Sainsburys because trial and error has taken our preference there. On to Aldi just for smoked mackerel which is better quality and less than half the price of the major supermarkets. Finally, we went on to Tesco for the rest and especially fish. They are still holding whole salmon at less than half price and we bought one plus some lovely, thick cod fillets.

Interesting reading the Greek Press this morning. Bookings from UK are falling and, although Germans are still the main market, British are falling down the list with Italians now coming second. The evidence quoted from Trivago is that hotel prices are heading down although I could see no evidence of that in our favourite Athenian hotels. One thing you can say about this trend is that Brexit is certainly a major factor and will be for some time to come.

Friday, 26th April, 2019

A cooler day with only a little sunshine. We spent the morning doing paperwork, correspondence and accounts. It was actually nice to do some catch-up work but, all the time, I was concerned that I wasn’t getting steps on my watch.

We did, of course, do our 20th day of exercise routine in the past 21 days and swimming at the end was a delight. The pool is surrounded by tall, well-clipped yew hedges out of which small and large birds constantly appear, fly off and return soon to dive back into the hedge. Goodness knows how many nests there are in those bushes. Squirrels clamber along the tree branches and tightrope walk the bevelled tops of wooden fences and seagulls straight from the sea fly lazily above us. We finished off with a sauna and jacuzzi/water massage. The wildlife stayed outside.

I don’t know if it is that I sound like a sad, old man but my little sister, skinny Lizzy, sent me a worried text having read in my Blog that I was dieting and pushing my body in the gym. She doesn’t have to worry because it is exactly who I am. Of course, after all this time, she would not really know that. However, it was nice that someone took the trouble to show concern.

Saturday, 27th April, 2019

My Mum died 11 years ago today. Even writing that shocks me. I can smell, touch and hear the days surrounding her death and funeral although, I must admit the urge to contact her has faded into a seldom jolt of unthinking impulse. She still lives on in us all and, every time I meet one of my brothers and sisters, she figures significantly in conversation. She had a profound effect on all of us.

Time and memory has always fascinated me. Recently, I was reading a book called Making Time by a Senior Lecturer in Psychology at Leeds Beckett University. It confirmed something I had found out unwittingly and to my cost. Quite seriously, one of the reasons I pushed to build a property on a Greek island and live there half the year was because I thought it would help slow time in retirement down. Life on a Greek island is not lived at a fast pace – quite the opposite. Often it could be described as a slow-paced monotony of order, repetition and routine. It is largely uneventful in the grand scheme of things and certainly compared to a busy, professional life in a UK city.

How wrong could I be. No sooner had we arrived back on the island in early April but it seemed we were packing up ready for departure in late September. Back in UK, no sooner had we got back into the routines of our life here than we were planning our travel back to Greece. As Steve Taylor expands on in his book, it is the very nature of routine that speeds time up in the human consciousness. For young children, time seems to go slow because every experience is new. Taylor posits that, the more information our minds take in, the slower time seems to pass.

This partly explains why time passes so slowly for children and seems to speed up as we get older. For children, the world is a fascinating place, full of new experiences and fresh sensations. As we get older, we have fewer new experiences and the world around us becomes more and more familiar. It also explains why short breaks away in new destinations can seem much longer than they are. Hold that thought!

Sunday, 14th April, 2019

A pleasant start to this chilly morning was improved by the obvious state of complete panic in the Tory Party portrayed in the Newspaper headlines and illustrated in the political interviews. Lovely to see Iain Duncan-Smith more agitated than normal at the prospect of having to fight European Elections and desperate to depose his Leader. Great to see former Tory MPs and Ministers announcing their defection to The Independent Group and listen to David Lammy out on the front foot.

I am constantly hungry and fighting it. We are really working hard to decrease our calorific input and maximise our calorific output. I have been trying to maintain a regime of activity. This morning, I spent an hour or so spraying the lawns with broadleafed weed killer. By 1.00 pm, I could have eaten the kitchen floor tiles. I have to use Displacement Activity to counter those pangs of hunger. I go to the gym and that is what we did today.

As my wife, who knows much better than I how my body works tells me, exercise can suppress appetite. Apparently, it generates a hormone called peptide which signals satiety.

I wanted to watch Liverpool v Chelsea this afternoon so we didn’t do our swim. Just 70 mins in the gym and then a relaxing 20 mins in the Spa which combines a jacuzzi & Water Massage area with a steam room and sauna.

Back home, I just had time to griddle some vegetables and chicken thighs outside in the garden. I had been marinating them in lemon juice, garlic, oregano and olive oil since this morning. And so ends another lovely day. Happy week everyone!

Monday, 15th April, 2019

A pleasant, bright morning but with a chill in the breeze. Highlight of the morning – apart from putting the bins out – was a trip to Wickes in Wick.

We were going to buy large packs of bark to mulch the shrubbery beds. Yes, I know, too exciting but contain yourself. W have an offer of 4 x 90 ltr bales for £22.00/€25.50 which, if you are in the bark cognoscenti, you will know is a good deal.

As UK prepares to bask in temperatures warmer than Corfu, Greece has suffered a weather event which is rare for April.

Here we are expecting lots of tourists for the Easter week of sunshine and 70F/22C temperatures. Worthing was featured on the television news this evening to celebrate our pier being voted best across UK. Worthing is the new Athens!

Tuesday, 16th April, 2019

Up early for some reason this morning. The world was rather dull and grey at 6.30 am. In my quest to keep active, I immediately think through a series of jobs I will do before the gym. I’ve got my husbandly duties to perform – vacuuming the house. I’ve got my manly duties to perform – valeting the car. I’ve got my senior citizen’s duties to perform – taking my wife to the surgery to collect repeat prescriptions. and then I’ve got my fitness duties to perform – a trip to the Health Club for our 10th, consecutive session of 100 mins continuous exercise.

We think 1000 mins/16.7 hrs of exercise in 10 days is an acceptable level of commitment. Allied to that, we have been scaling back our consumption and drinking no alcohol at all. Because we have altered our plans for this Summer, we are going to try to use it for a Health campaign and are going to try to keep this going until September. Of course, age and retirement fuel these thoughts and intentions in many, people. I read that my sister, Catherine, goes swimming regularly and takes lots of walks with her dogs. My brother, Bob, is always out walking and following his passion for photography. My sister, Ruth who is very old, and her husband go walking with organised groups. My sister Jane BG is an internationally renowned,  x-country runner of note.

Last night I received a text from one of my younger sisters, Skinny Lizzy, with a picture of her out hiking. She is 62 and suffers from arthritis (commonly known as Arthur) although I didn’t know that. I lived with her for the first 18 years of my life but have seen very little of her since. I realise that I know very little of her but she looks lovely and happy which makes me feel happy.

Wednesday, 17th April, 2019

Lovely morning. Great to be alive. Driving up to Surrey to visit P&C for a couple of hours. The hedgerows along the route are alive with urgently new, green leaves and shoots. There is beautiful blossom everywhere which is highlighted in the sunshine. The temperature has reached 19C/66F and I am back in my shorts. One downside is the number of dead badgers we pass on the roadside. I have never seen so many before as I have down here. Until now, I thought they were essentially black and white. Actually, these are mainly tawny coloured with white heads and black patches. Why anyone would want to exterminate them I don’t know. Down here, they can just rely on motorists.

We returned from Surrey and arrived back in Sussex by 3.30 pm. Catching up with the news, we heard about the continuing problems with Greek weather. Greece’s National Meteorological Service EMY issued a warning of dangerous weather phenomena forecast to strike Athens and Attica. EMY warns of strong rainfalls, thunderstorms and locally also hail. By 4.30 pm (GT) today, a Greek Blog was reporting four people were injured after a lightning strike hit the ticket office at the base of the Acropolis of Athens during a thunderstorm this afternoon. The injured have been transferred to Evangelismos hospital in the city centre.

By contrast, UK is set to get warmer and to reach 26C/79F by the weekend whereas Athens will founder around 17C/63F. We are looking forward to exploring our area in the sunshine. This is Angmering Wood today.

Swimming should be good in this weather and, maybe, we can get started on planting out pots of herbs and salad plants.

Thursday, 18th April, 2019

Lovely morning – sunny and 16C/61F – and I’m out shopping in shorts and tee-shirt at Tesco. We buy a whole, fresh salmon about every 2 weeks and pay around £13.50/€15.65 per kilo. Because it’s Easter holidays, Tesco Fish counter is selling whole, fresh salmon for £5.50/€6.40 per kilo. We bought 3 at a total cost of £46.50/€53.80. It just shows how much over the odds we are paying normally.

Because we buy so much fresh fish at this counter each week, we have developed a good relationship with the man who is responsible for it. He now goes out of his way to provide us with good service and supplies us with fish which is not on display but held in cold store waiting to be prepared for display. Instead of tiny pieces of fresh Tuna, he supplies us with full joints to slice ourselves. Instead of a handful of fantail prawns, he supplies us with 2kg bags from the back store. He always produces a beautiful display of his fish in the mornings and is very proud of his skill.

As we left the store, I nearly fell over in shock. My mother, Catherine, – who has been dead for 11 years – was walking towards us. I caught my breath, looked away and looked back again. My mother turned out to be one of my little sisters – also Catherine. She only lives 4 or 5 miles away but I’ve only seen her a couple of times in the 3 years we’ve been here. She had just come from the gym and was looking very skinny. We talked for a few minutes and she sounded very happy and contented with her life. I am pleased. I want all my brothers and sisters to be as happy and contented with their lives as I am.

Finished the day with a gorgeous session at the gym & swim where the numbers were massively down. Looks like everyone’s gone away. Even the 23C/73F weather didn’t attract numbers to the outside pool where we swam in quiet isolation. Sauna, jacuzzi, water massage and home for roast salmon with pesto crust and 4 different salads – Samphire, Broadbean, Rocket and Tomato. Wonderful! I’m addicted to salads.

Friday, 19th April, 2019

Across the country, it has been a beautiful day but I’m sure none more beautiful than in Sussex-on-Sea. We have reached 24C/75F this afternoon and the seaside/countryside looks wonderful.

We have tried to be as active as possible while the workers are much more inclined to relax and indulge themselves in the  sunshine. Out at 9.00 am to Littlehampton to buy bags of soil, plant food, lawn weed & feed and some early herb plants to pot up – different sages, different thymes, a couple of (French) tarragon and a couple of rosemary.

When we got home, I mowed the lawns and then set off to the Health Club where we did 70 mins in the gym and then 30 mins outside in the pool. It felt a bit like a hotel pool on the Mediterranean today. Not so many swimming but lots on sunbeds surrounding the pool and even more in the outdoor restaurant just at one end. Still, we managed to have a good swim and then drove home to cook in the garden. Pauline had prepared goujons of cod with 4 different salads and garlic sauce. Dreamy!

Saturday, 20th April, 2019

There are some days when one is just glad to be alive. Today is such an occasion. It was almost too tempting to just sit around in the sun but I didn’t give in. The sun was strong; the sky was blue and the temperature was 22C/70F by 10.30am. I went out to wash the car. It took me about an hour. Then, I fed the lawns with a granular, weed&feed mixture that I scattered by hand. I followed that up by watering it all in with an automatic sprinkler system because no rain is forecast for quite a while.

We sat out in the sun for about an hour and then set off for the gym. I have missed one day in past 14 since we returned from Yorkshire. It was reasonably quiet although the weather had brought out the sun-worshippers so we gave swimming a miss. The temperature reached 25C/77F contrasting well with Athens where it reached a mere 16C/61F at the foot of the Acropolis this afternoon. Actually, we were both shattered when we got home. Cold fish and salad for our meal – Smoked Mackerel, Tuna Tartare, Endive Salad & Garlick Sauce, Broadbean Salad – which all felt so right in this weather.

Lovely, Lovely Day.

Sunday, 7th April, 2019

The first night of my 69th year was rudely interrupted. Around 2.30 am and in darkness, I found myself hunched over the dressing table in our bedroom, stark naked and howling in pain. My wife – also stark naked – was heavily massaging my inner thigh. Even at that time of night, I hadn’t expected such activity. I had leapt out of bed with the most chronic cramp which felt as if my thigh muscle had turned to a rod of iron. It took me back more than 50 years when Saturday night/Sunday morning was often punctuated with such problems after the rugby game I had played that day but it is rare at my current age.

My wife’s hands managed to soothe the tension and relieve the pain and I gingerly returned to bed but took quite a while to get back to sleep. Consequently, I was tired when the alarm went off at 6.00 am and we lazily stayed there for another hour. As ever, Sunday mornings are newspapers and political programmes and then off to the gym which was incredibly quiet. Half Term has started and a lot of families have gone away.

We did our full routine including a delightful swim outside and then left via the café where Pauline insisted on claiming the ‘free’ birthday cake that I was entitled to as a member of the club. She even took it home to eat after her meal.

She eschewed the ‘free’ coffee that was included in the members’ birthday offer. The meal was tuna steaks griddled outside and accompanied by three, different salads. Looking forward to the laying on of hands again tonight.

Monday, 8th April, 2019

No problems in the night. Didn’t get up once. The day has been lovely with warm temperatures – 18C/65F – and sunny skies. I cut the lawns and pruned back the herbs in pots ready for lots of new growth. Later we went to the gym and also did a wonderful swim under sunny skies with bird song all around.

We should have been in Lancashire. We feel dreadful that we aren’t there for our friend, Pat’s funeral. We have both known her for 45 years or more and she laid claim to be the matchmaker between Pauline & I although she wasn’t really. We continued to indulge her in her view. Pat taught in our school Craft Block – Art & Fabrics, particularly weaving. She married Derek, Head of Chemistry, a saxophonist and karate enthusiast.

We last saw them about three years ago in their Uppermill home and just did not know that Pat had already suffered and fought off two bouts of bowel cancer. They thought they had beaten it but, before Christmas, it was confirmed that it had returned and this time there was no coming back. Pat died two weeks ago at the age of 78. When our generation was young, death at that age would have been considered a success and a ‘good innings’ as it was euphemistically described. Today, it feels cruelly short.

Unfortunately, we were in the north for four days last week and don’t feel able to make the long trek again so shortly afterwards. We have spoken to Derek and our friend, Little Viv, will represent us at the funeral. She sent us a copy of the Order of Service with the photographs I’ve posted above.

Tuesday, 9th April, 2019

A wet, wet day on the south coast. We did a trip through Littlehampton and Wick to Curry’s Superstore where we were collecting Pauline’s new smartwatch, a Garmin Vivofit4. It measures lots of things including her daily paces, interfaces with her smartphone and it also tells the time which is useful. It is, importantly, swimming-proof. As smartwatches go, it is very cheap – £49.99/€58.00 – and does everything she needs.

The road was damp as we drove to Wick and, some way before the roundabout, we hit a traffic jam. Traffic is increasingly heavy around here like most places but this was unusual at 10.30 am. As we got closer, we saw the tell-tale flashing blue lights and closer still two police cars and two ambulances were attending an accident on the roundabout. A middle aged man was on the floor, wrapped in a blanket and being attended to by paramedics. His motorbike was absolutely crushed just nearby. A van and a car were parked at the site. For the rest of the day, we carried that sight round with us in our heads and it wasn’t a happy experience.

Wednesday, 10th April, 2019

This morning has opened with dry and brighter skies and reasonably warm although only 9C/49F. This morning is Politics, Politics,Politics, + PMQs. Wonderful!  Meanwhile, the temperature on Sifnos is double ours as they start to pull away towards Easter. This is the view from the back of the beach in Kamares this morning:

Actually, we reached 14C/57F as we swam outside in lovely sunshine. Just 30 mins per day about 6 times per week leaves me looking like a weather-beaten beachcomber. It’s quite amazing how little daylight and not always sunshine one needs per day to top up the vitamin D. We are certainly lucky to live in an area with one of the highest sunshine rates in the country. My sister drew my attention to this article in the local paper, The Argus:

I must say that the West Sussex coastline is really attractive and enjoyable to walk along. I wouldn’t say the town and pier are a wow. Like so many British seaside towns, it has quite a strong whiff of decay which will always be hard to regenerate until global warming brings the Mediterranean to us.

Thursday, 11th April, 2019

Quite a chilly start to the day. The temperature read 2C/36F on our smartphones although it was just a clear sky with lovely, early sun outside. If you follow the Blog day by day, you will have noticed that I reverted to confusing the days and dates this week. My only excuse is that I copy & paste from one entry to another to save time and sometimes absent mindedly forget to update the paste. I’ve corrected it this morning but not before I committed another, stupid error in the supermarket.

Everything is automated in our shopping. We do self-scan and pay by smartphone at the checkout. It is all so quick, easy and painless. We don’t even feel we are spending money most of the time. We instantly have digital records of our purchases and payments. Even so, Pauline is eagle-eyed and sceptical about everything. Today, as we neared the end of our shop which normally hovers around £100.00/€116.00, Pauline noticed that the handset was reading £138.00/€160.00. I immediately blamed Brexit but Pauline insisted on scrolling back through the handset. It turned out that I had been heavy handed and entered 44 red peppers rather than just 4. Major crisis over, we drove home.

Friday, 12th April, 2019

One of the real bonuses of being retired – and there are many – is that it is possible to visit places in relative peace while the thronging crowds are at work. This morning, we went to our local garden centre at 9.30 am and it was wonderfully empty. The extensive grounds are in full bloom and ready for the Easter crowds.

They didn’t make much out of us. We only went in for a tub of Growmore and to look at the early pots of herbs for future purchase. It was lovely just to be walking in the warm, Spring sunshine.

We did our exercise routine but it is a little less relaxed at the moment. The builders are completely gutting the men’s changing rooms and re-fitting them. When they have finished, they will move on to the Female changing rooms and the women will temporarily move in to the Men’s and the men move into the Women’s – because the builders are male. The men lose out for about 6 weeks. We are cramped up in to less than luxurious conditions while still paying out a large, monthly fee. The male members are revolting!

Saturday, 13th April, 2019

I’m currently working hard on my diet. I had been slipping a bit and had to pull it back. My friend, Brian, has just been diagnosed as pre-Type 2 Diabetic and is worrying about dying. I wrote to him yesterday and it made me reflect on the changes I’ve made since my first diagnosis. Eschewing starchy carbohydrates – bread, pasta, rice, potatoes – has been one of the most important things. The other is discovering a love of salad something which amazes me. In the past, salad was just an adornment for a real meal. Now, I eat the salad first. It is the staple of a meal. This has been a major shift.

Fruit virtually didn’t feature in my eating or drinking at all. Now, the things that get me through the hungry times are pieces of fruit. The fruit bowl on the dining table in the kitchen is permanently full of oranges for juicing in the morning – 2 produce a glassful for breakfast – and bananas which are my go-to if I’m desperate for energy. The other thing which is really useful and enjoyable is grapes. Currently, I am hooked on a black, seedless variety called Sable from South Africa (via Sainsburys/Tesco/Asda). It has a distinctive and delightful flavour. I have to control my intake of these because of the high sugar content.

My youngest brother had a heart attack in his early 30s and my dad died of a heart attack in his late 40s. Having taken my health for granted for years and feeling invincible, as young people do, for much of that time, I am seriously addressing my own mortality. Life is such fun and so enjoyable that I just want more of it – much more.

Sunday, 31st March, 2019

A quiet day of sunshine but cool temperatures. All around us, neighbours were celebrating that commercially manufactured Mothers’ Day. We have no mothers so didn’t bother. To mark the start of British Summer Time, we broke the habits of a long time by eating red meat. It must be almost 12 months since we last did it. Today, we shared a roast leg of lamb. It was lovely and tasty but overwhelmingly fatty. We enjoyed the experience but won’t do it again in a hurry. Back to fish tomorrow.

We didn’t go to the Health Club either today which left me champing at the bit. No doubt, my legs will feel better tomorrow when we go. It is going to be another tumultuous political week although we will be away for most of it. We’ve chosen to go to Yorkshire just as snow is forecast. Looks like I will have to leave my customary shorts at home.

On this day 10 years ago, we had finally made the decision that we would accept a redundancy package and leave teaching forever. We were in some trepidation about our futures. We were uncertain about our financial security. We were just 3 days away from finishing and would never have believed how well it would work out for us. Finishing teaching was the best thing we ever did as I will expand on as the week unfolds.

Monday, 1st April, 2019

Happy April 2019. It is All Fools Day as few fools will be aware. Aside from picking spaghetti from our pasta tree, the fools who would be Tory politicians  will be centre stage today. The quest for Brexit (or not in my case) goes on this week. Actually, this morning has started with clear, blue sky and lovely, strong sunshine. It represents about the nearest clarity we can expect today.

Brexit is destroying our lives. We have even put off booking travel abroad because of it and I know many others have done the same. We wanted to drive down through France to Murcia in Spain to rent a villa for the month of July. I’ve even found a lovely one which would do fine. It has all our requirements – a heated pool, wi-fi, satellite television, kitchen, washing machine, iron+board. As usual, it is far too big with 3 bedrooms but it is standard fair. For the month of July it would only cost us £3,686.28/€4,300.00 which is a fantastic price.

We have a second problem which is causing us to rethink. We ordered our new car but have to wait  ….. until the start of July to have it delivered. Not only could the price go up by 10% if we have a ‘No-Deal’ Brexit but it blocks our attempts to commit to any dates. It might arrive at the end of June or be delayed into the middle of July. We want to drive there and we have fixed a trade-in of our current car based on a predicted mileage which would preclude an extra 3000 miles for a round trip to Spain.

It will be nice to do it in a new car so may have to be put off until next year. Nothing will prevent us returning to Athens in the Autumn nor spending a month in the Canary sun in November. The month in Spain would have cost somewhere around £7,000.00/€8,150.00 so we will bank that and use it to good effect next year.

Tuesday, 2nd April, 2019

Shortly after 9.00 am with rain spitting in the grey sky and a temperature of just 9C/48F, we drove off in the direction of Yorkshire. The journey – A24, M25, M1 – takes just under 5 hours. Traffic was delightfully easy, even the M25, but the weather was a different matter. Spitting rain gave way to torrential rain and standing water on the motorway with all the heavy goods vehicles creating spray blinding vision.

We had one stop at Toddington Services for a cup of coffee and a wee as we joined the M1. By that time, the sun was out but it was still fairly chilly and, as soon as we set off again, the rain came down again. Intermittent rain and sunshine with the temperature yo-yoing between 7C/45F and 3C/37F and back and a bout of wet snow as we drove through Derbyshire.

We arrived in Huddersfield by 2.00 pm and filled up with petrol. £43.00/€53.36 that journey cost us. Fascinating to find Unleaded costing £1.27/€1.49 up here when it is £1.14/€1.34 at home in Sussex. Then we drove up to our hotel in Brighouse arriving in beautiful sunshine. The receptionist told me she went to Rastrick High School where the Headteacher was a friend and former colleague of ours.

We went to our Suite of rooms on the top floor and had a cup of coffee while we unpacked and watched Sky News to catch up on the Brexit developments from the Cabinet meeting. It consisted of a presenter and a reporter standing outside No10, looking at the comings and goings and talking about the cats in the street. We opened a bottle of Rioja and ate cold garlic chicken with tomato salad. Man.Utd. playing tonight.

Wednesday, 3rd April, 2019

A cooked breakfast – the only time we ever even contemplate it is in a hotel. We had one this morning before coffee in our suite and then driving off to Royton in Lancashire to meet our old friend, Brian and his wife, Val, for a catch up. It was fantastic and they will come down to visit us in the Summer.

We moved on to revisit old haunts in Oldham and then Huddersfield as the weather cycled between Winter, Spring, Summer and back again. It is exactly 10 years since we left our school for the last time after nearly 40 years of work. At the time, we had no idea how life would treat us and were in some trepidation.

Equally, we knew our school was finished and that, after 60 years, it would be bulldozed for other purposes but, further than that, we knew no more.

Life has treated us so much better than we expected and our school’s site has been sold to the House Building company, Redrow. Actually, standing there this morning, felt strange and rather out-of-body. New houses were going up at exactly the place where the two, caretakers’ houses once stood. Jack and Phil have been dead for some time. Now their physical existence has been totally expunged – the houses as well as Jack and Phil. The entrance to the main building is now the entrance to a building site upon which many, ‘Executive’ houses will be built right down the ski slope to Ripponden Road.

Actually, 10 years has almost completely anaesthetised the memories and we rapidly move on. Driving across the moors over the A640, Nont Sarah’s road to Huddersfield, we drop in on our old residence of Salendine/Longwood. Down in to Huddersfield town and a cup of tea in Sainsbury’s cafe and then back to our hotel to download and watch PMQs and drink a glass of wine. Tomorrow, we are meeting friends in Holmfirth for Lunch at a restaurant sited in an old, converted ‘Carding Shed’. Looking forward to seeing them again.

Thursday, 4th April, 2019

A relaxed morning of Breakfast and reading the papers. A little grey start to the day but it brightened up and we left around 10.30 am heading towards Holmfirth. We went through Huddersfield town centre going past the great, University buildings and on to Lockwood, Netherton and Meltham. It is strange how, returning to such familiar surroundings forces one to concentrate and resist the natural temptation to take the route for granted. We left here in 2011 and we spent this morning exclaiming, “They’re still going. They’re still here.”

Eventually, we drove through a rapidly changing Meltham village and climbed towards Holmfirth. We were meeting old friends, Margaret and Little Viv. Margaret is charged with finding a new and innovative venue every time we meet. Today, it was redeveloped woollen mill buildings on the outskirts of Holmfirth.

It was the former ‘Carding Mill’ that we were going to which housed a vintage vehicle repair garage and sales area.

There was a clothes shop where Pauline did some unsuccessful (thank goodness) shopping and a restaurant where we met up with our friends. We shared a sea-food platter and a Caesar Salad with fizzy water. Pauline went for it with cake & cream for pudding. I didn’t. It was a lovely time although we did reprise all the deaths in the past 6 months – John Gillespie, Marjorie Pogson, John Ownsworth, Harry Taylor, Pat Wild – and we pledged to meet again in October if Viv & Margaret can’t make it down to Sussex before that.

Friday, 5th April, 2019

Up early on a beautiful morning. Wonderful breakfast although we are pledged to not have hotel breakfasts ever again after this. We just eat too much. Coffee, packing and down to the car in lovely, warm sunshine.

The grounds really inform the enjoyment of this hotel. Rabbits and squirrels scuttling around under the blossom add to the delight. The M62 motorway is only 700 yds away but doesn’t intrude. It has been a lovely stay and we really enjoyed it but now we must make our way back.

M62, M1, M25, A24 are the roads we take from West Yorkshire to West Sussex on a drive of 260 miles. The drive was really easy and enjoyable. Now that the M1 has been completed in its transmogrification into smart motorway, there are no holdups and it is actually much quieter. We left Brighouse at 9.25 am and, even with a coffee stop, arrived home by 2.30 pm.

Saturday, 6th April, 2019

Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birth…. well never mind. Who can really celebrate being 68? At least news on the Brexit front was improving this morning as negotiations run in to the sand and a ‘long extension’ is mooted. Lord Adonis and I have already agreed that around 500 years would be reasonable and then renegotiate.

Out this morning to Asda, Sainsburys and Tesco. Then we drove down to the fisherman’s hut at Littlehampton Marina and bought some Hake steaks cut from fish caught around Brighton. Apparently, Hake is, surprisingly, not so popular in the UK where much hake is caught but generally exported to Spain, Portugal and Italy where it is highly favoured. If we Brexit, that could be a problem for the generally Leave-voting fishermen who desert their primary markets.

We also bought two, large, locally-caught sea bass which will be simply accompanied by Samphire for my birthday meal this evening. Finally, we bought a large joint of Tuna which will cut up into six, thick steaks for griddling.

It is a real bonus to be able to easily source fresh, locally-caught fish. While we lived in Huddersfield, our one, good fresh fish stall closed and left us without. In Surrey, we really had to rely on supermarkets and the occasional foray into the outdoor market. Here, we can buy fresh fish every day of the week depending on weather. We were told today that most of the fish was caught within a few miles of where we were and that, although locally caught crabs had been available all year round, he was short at the moment because the boats had been struggling with strong winds. I love fresh crab.

Sunday, 24th March, 2019

Talk about Spring. Feels as if Summer has sprung today. No Gym today so spent the day in the back garden in warm (almost hot) sunshine. delicious!

We unpacked the new furniture and enjoyed a relaxing time. Nice to find that the wireless net reaches out to the garden so we could follow twitter outside.

Nice to see the will of the British People is still speaking loud and clear while the Tory government is still floundering and falling apart. Fascinating week ahead.

Monday, 25th March, 2019

Gorgeous, gorgeous day. It was a bit unusual for us because we had the ‘snaggers’ in to retile the floor of an en suite bathroom. For that reason, we were up a little earlier and it was a good job we were. At 8.00 am, we received a phone call from someone who we had not seen for two or three years. It was an ex-colleague who was telling us of the death of his wife who was also a former, professional colleague.

I’m afraid I don’t have a photo to commemorate her here but Pat Wild, who was the matchmaker between my wife & I more than 40 years ago, has died of bowel cancer. She had fought it off twice before but finally succumbed last night. She had taught in the Arts & Technology building of our school and delivered courses in Fabrics & Weaving for many years. Her husband, Derek, who phoned us, had been Head of Chemistry for equally many years. They have lived in Uppermill, Saddleworth for 47 years.

These events are immediately evocative of life past. Hearing of Pat this morning and we are back in those buildings, those offices, those corridors – places Pat had not graced for 20 years and we have not seen for a decade. Pat’s death is a symbol of the passing of the lives of all who met in that place.

Because the builders were in and will be for three days, I had to go to the gym on my own. Pauline was making endless cups of tea for plumbers and tilers. She also took the chance to bake loaves of bread and make her favourite ginger biscuits. I have been captivated by the Prime ministerial statement concerning her total failure to cobble together support for her ‘deal’. The best way forward is to revoke Article 50 and the petition is already over 5.5 million signatures and increasing by almost 300 per minute. Ultimately, the Commons must take notice.

Today in Greece they celebrate Independence Day under the shelter of the European Union. Britain should remember that. The Greeks certainly don’t want to leave the EU but they are proud to be independent. The two are not incompatible. They blend beautifully like Bakaliaros, Skordalia & Banzari – salt cod (hake), garlic sauce & beetroot which are traditional fare on this day.

Tuesday, 26th March, 2019

Another beautiful morning and we have the tilers in for the second of three days of ‘snagging’. I’ve written how lucky we are to have a 5-year warranty because we are now just into year 4. Our next door neighbours signed for their property a few weeks after us and only received a 3-year warranty because our builders had downgraded their offer in that time. Incredibly unfair to them but fortunate for us.

Wednesday, 27th March, 2019

The tiler and plumber came back for a couple of hours this morning to replace the sink and toilet and grout around them. Two, lovely, hardworking and gentle men. Polite, dedicated and delightful, they have highly sympathetic and pleasant. We have found so many skilled men of genuine kindness in the process of purchasing and configuring our home. It is constantly uplifting to meet them.

The workmen finished and left by mid-day which freed us to go to the health Club together. I was doing the 12th routine in the past 14 days but felt good and really enjoyed it. The swimming at the end was just wonderful. The water was warm as was the air temperature at 16C/61F even though we had no sun by afternoon.

Couldn’t wait for parliamentary proceedings as we drove home around 4.00 pm. Today, the House of Commons took control of the order paper and held indicative votes. A second referendum came with 27 votes of being approved and will go forward to the second round on Monday. The Prime minister has offered to resign to buy votes for her ‘deal’ but the DUP have pledged not top support he so it looks as if she’s thrown herself under a bus prematurely and unnecessarily.

Thursday, 28th March, 2019

Sister, Jane, comes of age today with her 65th birthday. Quite unbelievable. To think it is 50 years since we shared a bus together as I got off at the Boys Grammar School and she went on to the Girls High School. We haven’t seen much of each other since then but, now, we are both playing out in retirement. I wish her a very happy birthday.

A warm day and lovely and sunny after a grey start. We did our round of supermarkets for the week’s shopping and then home to do jobs. The back garden was bathed in sunshine and quite delightful. The re-seeded lawn is lush, thick and healthily green. In a secluded, warm spot behind the garage, the fig trees are loving their situation. they are covered in baby figlets ready for the summer harvest. The coming nights are forecast to be cold so we have covered the trees in nets to protect them. We are looking forward to making fig jam again after five years without it.

The potted herbs – Tarragon, Oregano and  Laurel Bay are doing well. I will replace the Thyme, Basil, Dill and Sage in a couple of weeks. We use so herb in our cooking now and so little salt that it is good to have large stocks of frozen, fresh chopped herbs in our freezers.

Another, full Health club exercise routine again today. it is my  19th out of 20 days. The swimming today was quite delightful. Warm sunshine, warm water, tuneful birds singing optimistically all around us.

Friday, 29th March, 2019

Happy Independence Day and what a day! Blue sky, strong sun, warm temperature which reached 20C/68F by mid afternoon. Although we went to the gym to do our exercise routine, the day was dominated by Brexit proceedings in the House of Commons. Our house had the Parliament Channel in Quadrophenia throughout the morning.

Televisions were on in two rooms upstairs as Pauline ironed and put things in the wardrobes and in two rooms downstairs as I moved between the Office and the Kitchen. I have to admit that although I believed, intellectually, that the Government was going to lose, emotionally, I had grave doubts. Something could go seriously wrong. My real concern was that Labour rebels would turn fright at the last minute and back the Withdrawal Agreement.

As the debate continued, we drove to the gym and spent 90 minutes watching the Parliamentary proceedings as we exercised. We finished just as the speeches wound up and the Commons moved to vote. Today we didn’t swim for the first time this week and I went off for 30 mins in the jacuzzi and water massage area. As I shared and changed, I realised that I was thinking about the vote and the result. I was actually quite nervous. I left the changing room to meet Pauline in the Lobby where she had been watching the proceedings on television as she waited for me. She immediately greeted me with thumbs up. The motion had been defeated by 58 votes which was more than I expected and enough to deter the Government from bringing it back. What joy!

It’s going to be a good weekend. Maybe a good few years. Anyway, chicken griddled in the garden with tomato and rocket salad and a bottle of delicious Bordeaux rouge. Life could be a lot worse. I’m raising a glass to the Skiathan.

Saturday, 30th March, 2019

This is the day that leads to BST. It is a beautiful day of warm sunshine. 16C/61F by mid morning. Tomorrow marks the start of British Summer Time although our village is looking incredibly summery already. One minute everything was dead as a dead thing and then everything was a riot of colour. Particularly, now, our village is seeing the last of the daffodils fade, the magnolia blooms still at peak fullness and now the Ribes – Flowering Currant everywhere alight. The crimson of Ribes set in front of the blushed white flowers of magnolia is inspired planting in gardens around here.

Driving around the West Sussex roads, the hedges are vibrant with the white flowers of the inappropriately named Blackthorn hedging which is abundant down here and stands out starkly in the sunshine. Nothing is standing still, however. Trees, hedges are suddenly green without any real warning. The grass is growing lusciously as the frolicking cattle outside with sun on their backs gorge and graze. This is such a time to be alive and feel optimistic. It is a time to be grateful for being alive and feel able to be optimistic.

I cannot sit still any more. I have to be active. This morning, under a strong, warm sun, I spent 2 hours fully valeting the car. Then we went to the Health Club for the 20th day in the last 22. Actually, we will have tomorrow off which will be strange but allow us to adjust to the loss of an hour.

Sunday, 17th March, 2019

So many of our friends are posting pictures of flooding in the North. Here, the weather has finally returned the sun. After a third, consecutive early night, I woke at 4.00 am and couldn’t get back to sleep. By 6.00 am, I was desperate to get up.

After breakfast, we decided it was nice enough for a walk down on the beach. It wasn’t so warm and the sea breeze kept us aware of that but it felt so healthy. We parked at the marina’s edge and walked up the promenade.

A few people were already out with their dogs and one or two couples were sitting on the beach, making sand castles with their toddlers. We walked along the sea’s edge and inhaled the salt & ozone air.

Still did a full Gym & Swim session this afternoon. We had the pool to ourselves although seagulls were squawking overhead. We both felt good as we drove home to cook roast cod loin with prawns and accompanied by cauliflower and Broccoli salad. I’m starving!

Monday, 18th March, 2019

Always looking for things to lower my calorie intake without compromising life too much. For quite a while, I substituted a sparkling grape juice from Asda which costs £1.00/€1.17 and contains circa 150 cals per 750 mls compared with a similar size bottle of wine which packs around 600 cals. The flavour and effect are, admittedly, not equivalent but I can kid myself through it.

I buy it in collections of 10 bottles at a time and keep it in the wine cooler/fridge. I went to Asda today to replenish my stock but was shocked to find the shelves were bare. When we enquired, we were told that it had been discontinued. I felt quite lost, bereft and searching for an alternative. There is Shloer but it is quite disgusting. I had to resort to one of my favourite Riojas instead. Bit of a rude name but a lovely flavour. It cost me £4.99/€5.90 to import but would cost £9.50/€11.15 to buy in UK.

I am increasingly finding myself impressed by Speaker Bercow. I don’t know why but there it is.

Tuesday, 19th March, 2019

Bright but coolish day. The lawns are growing fast and the daffodils are going over as we approach ‘official start of Spring’ tomorrow. UK (Catholic) Easter is just 4 weeks on Sunday and Greek (Orthodox) Easter the week after. Our friends on Sifnos sent us a photo of little piece of us that remains on Sifnos. We gave these things to Elerania, our Notary, when we left and she has maintained them in her garden and office.

It is lovely to feel that contact still remains however tenuous. We look forward to our return this Summer/Autumn. Let’s hope conditions ease and we feel free to commit ourselves to European travel once again.

Wednesday, 20th March, 2019

Well, the first day of Spring has not started well – grey skies and 13C/55F. The window cleaner has been and relieved us of £18.00/€21.00. At least the windows are sparkling. I’ve mowed the lawns which makes the world look a little tidier after treating the broad-leaved weeds that have crept in over the Winter. I did that a few days ago but I still have one or two areas that will need a little reseeding. I still love my cordless mower which is moving into its 4th year and going well. It takes all the hassle out of mowing and I can do everything in around 30 mins.

The only problem is that you have to remember to charge the battery in advance. This morning, I tried it without and the machine died after 5 stripes. Now I’ve got to wait before finishing – a bit like Theresa May!

By weird coincidence, Mum’s family originated in Brighton. She would be surprised to find me living down here now. I must admit, I didn’t realise where her love of Magnolia trees came from. Sussex seems to provide the perfect environment for them to thrive and flourish. In her East Midlands home, she was incredibly proud of a massive (over large) Magnolia tree that dominated the top of her garden. She was always nervous as the buds were about to open because they were very prone to frost damage which was quite common up there. Here, on the South coast, frost is much less a threat. Our village has been illuminated by the most magnificent specimens for around three weeks. As we move into the start of Spring, Magnolias and daffodils are fading already.

Thursday, 21st March, 2019

Recent winds revealed a problem with a stretch of garden fencing which separates our garden from our neighbour’s. The installers are being brought back by our builders to address the two posts which seemed to have not been sited properly. It is another great value of a 5-year warranty on everything. I already have one or two thin patches that need additional re-seeding. Newly dug holes for fence posts will need it now too.

No shopping this morning because the contractor was here but politics was plenty absorbing anyway. As we move into the Brexit endgame, another referendum is rapidly being replaced by the urgent need for revocation of Article 50. Fortuitously, a girl with a Greek name, Margarita Georgiadou, put up a petition on the Government website demanding just that – revocation of Article 50. Within 10 hrs, it had more than 1.5 million signatures and was so popular that it kept on crashing. Quite amazing how these things sometimes arise out of the zeitgeist and take off. We are writing the government’s Plan B.

I am desperately tired tonight. We have just completed the 6th out of 7 days of exercise – 600 mins. When we have completed tomorrow, we will have done 13/14 days or just short of 23 hrs effort. It is no wonder we are beginning to feel it. May have to take Saturday off although it’s looking less likely we will get to the London rally. No coach spaces left. The train service which should be just one journey is already advertised as two trains plus a bus replacement each way and, from our last experience, there is a good chance that we might not get home.

Friday, 22nd March, 2019

Another grey and cool day. We did our weekly shop and then decided NOT to go to the gym. We have been really good recently and feel distinctly tired so a less energetic day was planned. It didn’t quite turn out that way.

The political scene is captivating at the moment. The government is falling apart. The referendum decision is contributing to that disintegration. We know it was a major mistake for the referendum to be called, for a binary decision to be placed, for the national suicide that is Brexit to be chosen and for an incredibly right wing clique to place its own interpretation on that result.

What is more surprising are the people who have gone along with that movement. One person I follow who maintains a Blog, who is a former expat on a Greek island and who has a European partner/wife actually believes that UK should withdraw from Europe with all that entails. To realise that leaves me in despair and wondering what people think Brexit will practically do for them. What is the actual upside? I just cannot get in to that mindset at all. Today, a Revoke Article 50 petition, which was only listed yesterday, reached a record-breaking 3.5 million signatures. Tomorrow, we will see a huge demonstration of national will in favour of a second referendum and Remain in the EU. Anybody with strong links with the EU and a love of Greece should support it.

Saturday, 23rd March, 2019

What a grey day! Spring warmth but not light. We woke up thinking about the People’s March and feeling ashamed that we had not managed to arrange to be there. We followed it on Twitter Live Streaming as the crowds built up to a crescendo of 1,000,000 +. Even the BBC and Sky News were quoting those figures as the day went on. People at the event like my sister, Jane BG, messaged me to say that the numbers were so much greater than the previous march that she thought that, headline figure was probably an underestimate.

While that demonstration of people power played out with members of all political parties speaking out, the Revocation Petition was powering on and is currently standing at 4,630,000 signatures. Any politician who ignores these signs is signing their own demise.

Fighting against our demise, we spent the morning stockpiling against the threat of a No Deal famine – buying staples like toilet paper, washing tablets, tinned pulses, bottled water, etc, supplies of which are threatened by this lunatic suicidal tendency. We then did our 12th exercise session out of the last 14 days. I had cooked Cassoulet for our meal so it was ready when we got home some 3hrs later. Now, we are so tired, it is all we can do to listen to this afternoon’s speeches. They were good, though. Let’s hope the Skiathan was listening.

Sunday, 10th March, 2019

A windy night which left us repositioning the garden furniture this morning. Mild and bright but windy. May not swim today but just do our gym work. Big football match this afternoon.

The big Brexit week to come has been prefaced by a number of pieces of news about Greece.

The first and not immediately Brexit-related came concerning American tourists who form a large part of tourism to Greece. Travelling to Europe will become more complicated for Americans beginning in 2021. The European Union announced Americans will need to obtain a visa known as a European Travel Information and Authorization System, or ETIAS, to travel to 26 nations starting in 2021. Among the nations included are France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

The second is for British Expats in Greece. The Head of Greek Customs has made an announcement confirming that, in the case of no-deal, all imports and exports from and to the UK, including 7,000 products imported daily from e-shops, will be subject to the customs checks associated with third country nations. Tariffs will also be imposed. This includes parcels through ELTA and Courier services. Greek businesses will need an EORI number to make declarations.

The third is for tourists. 4,200,000 UK tourists a year will be subject to irritating baggage checks and will be unable to carry more than 10,000 euros cash with them. He says that a no-deal Brexit would cause huge problems. It certainly will if the combined changes persuade the lucrative tourist market to look elsewhere.

Monday, 11th March, 2019

The winds have dropped, temporarily, but they are forecast to be back in the early hours and for the first half of tomorrow. Today is an absolutely lovely day with blue sky and sunshine.

Lovely sunshine on Sifnos yesterday for their annual carnival with the ‘folk’ pageant in Artemonas village. Plenty of people doing ‘silly’ things for the enjoyment of the crowds. Today is a  Bank Holiday for Καθαρά Δευτέρα or ‘Clean Monday’ – the start of Lent. Fasting starts today and traditionally no meat, fish, eggs, dairy products or oil are allowed to be eaten for the 48 days leading up to Easter. And, if you believe that, you’ll believe anything. It’s certainly all Greek to me!

Tuesday, 12th March, 2019

Strong winds this morning. The bins are rattling around. The natural world is in turmoil. We went to bed last night in mental turmoil as we listened to news that May & Cox had returned from Strasbourg with a ‘Deal’ which would ‘get Brexit across the line’ as common parlance would have it. How would the DUP and the ERG groups view it? This was the crucial thing. By midnight, the tiredness of the day had snuffed out the cares of the evening and brought the soothing sleep of night.

At 5.55 am the radio awakes us and the news tells us that the legal text will be available by mid morning but that they have secured ‘legally binding changes’ to the Backstop. That is the worst nightmare. It could bring the hard-line Leavers on board. Depression over orange juice at 7.00 am. By 9.00 am it is announced that the legal text has been released and it says in cold, factual text that the legal position has not changed at all since the last, huge rejection.

As we set off on our trip to the Health Club, Attorney General, codpiece-Cox explains the lack of change to the House of Commons. Working out on the jogger and the exercise bike while watching the proceedings makes the time wizz past. The Tory Benches are full for the Attorney General but sparse when the Prime minister gets up to speak. It soon becomes obvious that she hasn’t got support of her own side never mind the Labour Party. The question is can she squeeze her vote out? Nervous wait until it is announced that the DUP and ERG will not support the deal. Joy but nervous.

The Commons troops through the Lobbies at 7.00 pm and we hear that the Deal will fall. The ‘No’ lobby, we hear, is absolutely packed. The announcement and time to pop the corks as Brexit deal defeated by a huge 149 votes. The next two days will see votes to take ‘No Deal’ off the table and then, on Thursday to vote for an extension to Article 50 which will help facilitate another vote. This is the playing out of the scenario we have been envisaging since A50 was so perceptively triggered without any plan. Brexit is in the Terminal Ward.

Wednesday, 13th March, 2019

After the elation of last night, we were brought back down to earth this morning with the arrival of the post. Our Council Tax demand for the next year came through the door.

Actually, although the increase of 5.6% appears high in percentage terms and certainly high set against the current UK inflation rate of 2.1%, in reality it is not so high financially. Actually, although we’re starting our 4th year here, I couldn’t remember our Banding. When I looked up what Band F valuation was, I found our valuation in 1991 would have been £160,000.00/€187,000.00. If only we had bought it then. Of course, the lunacy of this system is that our house wasn’t built until 25 years after that indicative valuation.

Thursday, 14th March, 2019

A wild and windy morning that was extraordinarily mild – reading 15C/60F. We did our weekly shop at Asda and Tesco before setting off for the Health Club and our 7th consecutive session. Swimming was wonderful but the breeze across our backs was a little chilly as it whipped up spray and dashed it, even colder, down into our faces. We always follow 70 mins in the gym with 30 mins swimming outside and with 10 mins in the sauna. I follow that with 20 mins in the jacuzzi and water massage pool. By the time we leave, we have been there over 2 hours. By the end of all that and a shower, I feel fit, relaxed, excessively clean and fresh and ready for my meal.

Walked just short of 50 miles this week and 160 in the past month. In the past year, I’ve covered 1900 miles. I am quite pleased with that. In just over 3 weeks, I will be 68 years old and it will be almost exactly 10 years since I retired. On the exact anniversary of that day, I will stand outside my school and take a photo which will be placed in contradistinction to the scene pictured above. You may be surprised to see the difference on April 3rd. Everything changes, I know but I do get flash backs. I don’t long to go back ever. I am very happy with the present and look forward to the future but I do think one’s history informs future stages and keeping things in context is important.

Friday, 15th March, 2019

Almost three years ago, we were moving in to our new home without furniture. We had ordered a dining table and chairs from a shop in Oldham/Manchester but it hadn’t fully arrived. We needed somewhere to sit and eat so we rapidly bought a six-seater garden table and chairs from Argos and put it in the kitchen while we waited.

The garden furniture set cost about £300.00/€352.00 and we’ve had it three years. A cost of £100.00/€117,30 per year seems excessive but we needed more comfortable seating outside and so the old has to go. It was only ever a stop-gap. Today, we cleaned it up and stacked it on the drive – 6 x chairs + 1 x glass topped table + umbrella, pole and weight-anchor. It was collected by the local hospice charity, St Barnabas House which we used when we first arrived to donate about £3000.00/€3520.00 worth of artwork.

We went to the Health Club late because of the Hospice Pick-up. We had also been to collect another tranche of Euros bought at £1.00 = €1.18 which was a recent high. We just did 70 mins and not our swim. It wasn’t pleasant weather anyway. Light rain made it feel unpleasant. When we drove home, I cooked a dish of roasted Fennel, Onion, Red Pepper with sliced field mushrooms and dressed with Dill and olive oil. The chicken thighs were dressed with tarragon and Parmigiano Reggiano. It represented an answer to that Friday feeeling.

Saturday, 16th March, 2019

We are told that the weather is moving towards a fine, dry and settled spell. No real signs yet. It feels nice and mild although isn’t especially at 11C/51F and 4C less than yesterday. It is still spitting with rain and fairly grey above. Time for a change – to coin a phrase.

This time 9 years ago we were just boarding an Anek Lines vessel at Ancona bound for Patras. The day before, we had driven at top speed through Switzerland (as any sane human being would do) and on to Moderna in Italy where we stayed the night.

Only 9 years ago but it all seems a life time away. We still haven’t finalised travelling arrangements this year until Brexit uncertainty is resolved and it appears that we are not alone.

Anyway, back to the grindstone and a 9th consecutive day of exercise. If we don’t turn up, people will be starting to worry for our safety. However, the most amazing thing has happened over the past couple of nights. I have always woken at 6.00 am and gone to bed at midnight. I’ve done this most of my adult life apart from when I was teaching and studying for a Degree at the same time. Then, I rarely slept much at all. For the past two nights, we have gone to bed at 10.00 pm and 9.30 pm and slept like logs throughout. Although it seems a waste of time, we must have been tired.

Sunday, 3rd March, 2019

We made the right decision to stay at home today. Very unwelcoming outside – wet, grey and windy. So many bushes and particularly hydrangeas are budding up in anticipation of the Spring warmth. Daffodils have been flowering so early that many are already starting to go over.

Looking back, I find that 10 years ago today we had heavy snow in our Yorkshire, quarry garden but that it didn’t last. In retrospect, it seems a lifetime away. Our working lives were in their last few weeks although we couldn’t exactly be sure of that. Things were still being negotiated.

We still owed £65,000.00/€76,000.00 on our mortgage 10 years ago although it turned out that we only had another five weeks of paying it. At the signature of a pen, we stopped work, paid off our mortgage and set off for Greece. Now, in five weeks time, we are going back to see what has actually changed 10 years on.

Monday, 4th March, 2019

A quiet day at home in the morning and Health Club in the afternoon. We are beginning to pluck up courage to book our future trips but we will obviously spend some part of the summer in our deliciously, warm and sunny garden. We’ve decided to do it in comfort by ordering more comfortable garden furniture.

Reasonable price for Sofa, 2 x Arm Chairs, coffee table plus weatherproof covers. I ordered it and received an email back within minutes to say that it would be delivered on Thursday. It’s coming from Farnworth in Bolton, Lancashire. There is only one day this week that we will not be at home and that is …. Thursday. We are shopping in France. I emailed them back and received a message by return to say it would arrive on Friday instead. Incredible service!

Tuesday, 5th March, 2019

A busy morning out around the area including collecting ‘repeat prescriptions’ – Makes us sound so old. – and trips to Asda and Sainsburys. We leave the house at 1.00 pm and return from the Health Club at 4.00 pm. It does take a chunk out of the day but it makes us feel so much better. The trip from our house to the David Lloyd Health Club takes about 5 mins and there are notable views on the way. Before we drive through a heavily wooded stretch of road, we pass a couple of farmers’ fields which, on some days, are full of sheep and on others are covered in pheasants. Now I love pheasants to eat and the males look absolutely wonderful.

Back 60 years ago in rural Derbyshire, Dad used to go on a New Year’s Day pheasant shoot and then hang his kill in an outhouse to ‘mature’ before they were roasted and eaten. To a young lad, they seemed very strong in flavour. The joke was that game should be hung until it moved involuntarily (with maggots) before it was ready to be plucked, gutted and roasted. Dad also joked of running pheasants over on the roads around our village and sticking them in the back of his car to be taken home. For quite a few years, Pauline and I have been buying pheasant carcasses for about £3.50 each and enjoying them roasted at home.

As I drove to the Health Club today, a magnificent, cock pheasant scurried out of the woodland and across the road towards us. I didn’t have time to think but jammed on my brakes as ABS kicked in and I ground to a halt. Fortunately, the car coming the other way also saw what was happening, braked and the startled pheasant stepped back in to the woodland. It lives to be shot another day before ending up in my oven.

Wednesday, 6th March, 2019

A fairly uninspiring day of grey clouds and spits of rain which is a pity because our village has suddenly become a riot of colour with carpets of crocus and daffodils in full bloom and trees and bushes – cherry, magnolia, forsythia all shocked into colour by the recent warm weather. The two elements seemed rather incongruous as we drove out to Tesco this morning.

I had a task to do before I went out. It is Day 7 of my ‘challenge’, from an old, college friend, to review books which have most shaped my Life. For my final day, I recalled my post-formal education influences and described my personal attempts to widen my knowledge of the world of Music & Art. These were areas in which I felt my personal education was badly lacking.

I forced myself to buy and play classical works – starting with Chopin and Rachmaninov, moving on to Mozart, Beethoven, Sibelius and Shostakovich. Often, I hated what I was hearing but, by constant repetition, I began to learn and to love the music. For the first time, I found music profoundly moving. The Études and Nocturnes of Chopin could reduce me to a blubbering wreck. I learned something about myself that was a little frightening but I was pleased that I had confronted it.

Next, I had to try to break in to the world of Opera. It is quite daunting. My local newsagent – back in the day that I was going out to buy physical copies of The Times and we were still buying magazines – had a new publication on the shelves. It was a monthly booklet called Discovering Opera. Each month it featured a major work and was a collation of biography of the composer/librettist, a simple outline of the opera narrative, information of famous artists who had performed in past productions and a Cassette/CD of recordings of significant sections from those productions. Issue 1 was Bizet’s Carmen, followed by Puccini’s Tosca, Verdi’s La Traviata and Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro. After two years, Issue 24 and final edition featured Richard Wagner’s Lohengrin.

Of course, Opera is a performance art and we did go to some performances but it was soon apparent that it was not right for me. Music makes me cry. Lots of things make me cry but especially music. I cannot get through La Bohème without soaking my shirt but, worse, I cannot stop myself singing out loud along with the professionals. For that reason alone, I have been banned from live performances.

Thursday, 7th March, 2019

Up at 5.00 am and out by 5.30 am just as the light was rising. Driving to the Tunnel for an 8.30 am crossing. The traffic was light and very light at the tunnel. Actually, we left at 8.20 am (9.20 am CET) and drove off at 9.55 (CET). Our crossing was ‘free’ because I had pre-ordered £250.00/€293.00 of wine from Calais Wine Store. It was already on a trolley for me when we arrived. We picked another £250.00 worth of additional wine and loaded up the car after putting the back seats flat.

We drove on to Auchan in Coquelles with still signs of illegal immigrant penetration around the area. There was a strong, blustery wind which had a biting edge to it and a group of immigrants huddled together for warmth and protection from the elements in a bus shelter. As we drove past, a Gendamerie car stopped and they began to disperse. After loading our trolley with about £200.00/€234.00 of goods mainly dominated by Duck Breasts, Duck Legs and fish, we set off for Cité Europe a shopping centre located next to the French terminal of the Channel Tunnel at Coquelles.

It is all very convenient. Pauline bought a couple of pairs of summer shoes to add to the other 150 pairs that she rarely wears which are stored in her wardrobes. We bought cheeses and cured meats, some vegetables and lots of large jars of Moutarde Dijon which we love especially for cooking and in sauces.

Off back to the Tunnel sous le manche just 5 mins away at 12.30pm CET. That’s where the fun started. The passports and customs checks are being imposed as if we have left the EU and we immediately get stuck in horrendous queues for checking of vehicles and then for checking of passports. It is taking five times as long as it used to do and is very frustrating.

Just to add to the dissatisfaction, the weather changed rapidly to dark and brooding with blustery, cold and driving rain. As we drove to the UK tunnel entrance, we saw the motorway reduced to 2 lanes with the third reserved for queuing lorries and even worse was the freight queue on the French side. Just-in-Time will certainly become Just-in-Time-for -next-week if we Brexit. The French border is already beginning to look as bad as the Swiss crossing.

Friday, 8th March, 2019

Quite a long day yesterday and about 4 hours of driving. This morning we were a bit tired. We’ve got a delivery of garden furniture from Bolton. The company have sent me a text to say it will be between 12.30 – 14.30 which is just when we would have been off to the Health Club so tiredness and other circumstances conspire to keep us at home today. As a result, I decided to do a bit of garden tidying.

The hydrangeas are budding and opening so I have pruned back all the dead heads of last year. Quite a symbolic act. Unfortunately, I had only been outside for half an hour and I was really chilled. It is 10C/50F outside but there is a strong breeze and it feels so much colder. Why fight it. I gave up and settled for a cup of coffee.

The furniture has arrived, been unpacked in the garage, had its weather-proof coverings put on and set out on the patio. As we moved the furniture out of the garage and on to the patio, Pauline stumbled and fell, grazing her knee and bruising her ankle, thigh and hip. Fortunately, none of her injuries were very bad but bad enough and warning that we must take more care. The car is now stuffed to the gunnels with folded, cardboard boxes and polythene covers which will go to the local tip tomorrow. Outside, it has just started to rain lightly and we are going to spend the afternoon tucked up indoors.

Saturday, 9th March, 2019

When you have sisters in their 60s, you know you are in trouble. I’m in trouble! When we moved in to our new house, Catherine came round and brought us some small, cyclamen plants. Just over two years later, they are thriving, flowering and multiplying. As I photographed these this morning, a huge bumble bee sat on the petals. Signs of a nature’s cycle re-awakening.