Sanders Blog

Sunday, 2nd September, 2018

Yesterday, on the first day of Autumn, we reached 23C/73F and this morning has opened with clear, blue skies and strong sunshine. At 6.30 am, it is a little cooler than one would choose but the day is going to be great. We are going to do one, final trip to the gym before leaving for Greece. We will have missed just one day in the past three weeks. In our Athens hotel, we will swim but not gym. We get plenty of walking done in the city. Looking forward to meeting old friends.

Fruits of Autumn

This is the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness to quote John Keats’ Ode to Autumn. It is characterised by mild days but cooler nights, by later sunrises and earlier sunsets. In the past and for many years, it meant going back to work after 6 weeks in Greece so there was always a hint of sadness. I tell myself that enjoyment can be sucked out of all the seasons although Summer warmth is still my real enjoyment. That is why we are buying extensions to our ‘Summer’ with trips to Greece and to Tenerife which will take warm weather well in to the British Autumn. Even so, we have just been told that this has been the joint hottest Summer in British history – equalling 1976. I had just completed 4 years of teaching and was living in a pokey little flat in down town Oldham. It doesn’t get much better than that!

Monday, 3rd September, 2018

Just as we prepared for going away, our 30 month old Tumbled Dryer died. It’s hardly done much service for two people using it a couple of times per week. Like everything else, as soon as we use lose the facility, it becomes indispensable. Fortunately, it was a beautiful day yesterday and we were able to put the clothes outside in the sun to dry but we anticipate a lot of dirty washing when we return from Greece and will urgently need a dryer.

Hoover Condenser Dryer

If you are not a tumble dryer aficionado, you may not know that there are three, main types. The first is a vented machine that emits water-laden air from a hole in the front/back/side. We’ve had many of that type in the past. They are the cheapest of the three. The second is the condenser dryer which – you’ve guessed it – condenses the water vapour before it can escape and is collected in an integral container. This type is more expensive than the former but considerably cheaper than the final type which is Heat Pump. The Skiathan can stop making notes now.

While conventional tumble dryers release the hot air used to dry the clothes, the Heat Pump technology conserves and reuses it, so less energy is used and it reduces energy consumption further. Sounds wonderful but, at £1100.00/€1220.00, it is a wonder I can manage without. A Hoover Condenser Dryer (10kg load) costing £300.00/€335.00 will do just nicely, thank you, although there is a 10 day wait for one to come back in to stock and be delivered. Thank goodness we will be away for a while.

Tuesday, 4th September, 2018

She’s such a messy eater!

Wandering through the streets of Athens in 34C/93F of sunshine from strong, blue skies, we felt we were home. It is as if we had never left. In our flight yesterday my mobile was contacted by service providers in France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, Macedonia and Greece. The flight was wonderful and lasted only 3hrs 10 mins although I was only awake for 40 mins of that. Athens airport was so slick, with luggage on the carousel before passengers were there to collect and the Metro left the moment we had picked seats and sat down.

Our hotel, the Electra Palace, had already upgraded us because of our frequent bookings and provided us with complimentary drinks, Premium Superfast Wi-Fi  plus other trappings. We settled in, went out for a walk, bought a bottle of wine and some salted pistachio nuts and went back to relax with Sky News. Later, we went out to eat at our favourite, street-side taverna – Evegenia’s Paradosiako – where we ate Greek Salad with Garlic Sauce followed by barbecued Sea Bass. Dreamy!

We went up to the Roof Garden this evening and sat around the swimming pool overlooking the Acropolis. It was moonlit, bright and warm with 30C/86F at 9.00 pm. The whole atmosphere takes us back to good times. Next Summer, we have been invited to Sifnos for the Summer. It is something we are seriously contemplating. It would be nice to see Stavros again.

Wednesday, 5th September, 2018

Very hot today. Woke up to 25C/77F at 7.00 am but reached 35C/95F as we walked out in mid morning. Our first task was to find a new restaurant we had read about for dinner this evening. It is on Odos Erotokritou

We liked what we saw on the menu and decided to return in the evening. We walked on down to Monastiraki Station to take the train to ‘posh’ Kifisia. It was hot – very hot – and our walk didn’t last long. We took the train back to Monastiraki and then walked back through Plaka, stopping only to buy a punnet of juicy figs from a street barrow.

The Fruits of Greek Autumn

Back at our hotel and with the air conditioning down low, we drank coffee and watch Prime Minister’s Questions although little good it did us. Then we were out again and taking the train down to Piraeus. It has always been a dive but even more so in recent years. We were travelling on a €4.50 / 24hr Athens unlimited travel ticket. Enforced payment is supposed to be introduced but many station barriers were left open and people just blatantly climbed over the fence where the barriers were in use. Nobody has to pay unless they choose to.

Down in Piraeus, one is overwhelmed by the detritus of travelling humanity. It is grubbier than ever but the anticipation of travel is as exciting as ever.

We just touched base but didn’t stay long. Most of our regular haunts have closed down which is sad but not surprising. We took the train back to our hotel and had a good swim before going out to Dinner.

Thursday, 6th September, 2018

Hot again. We’ve seen 33C/92F and quite high humidity. Today was walking in Athens streets. Down to Omonia and the markets. It was so hot that we couldn’t face the stench of the meat market. The outdoor, vegetable market provided anything to rival the Dordogne.

Outdoor Market – Omonia

We were visiting old haunts, places we have walked a hundred times but are now seeing with fresh eyes. We bought grapes and figs from a street seller and took them back to the hotel for our lunch. We went for a swim and did a 30 mins workout .

Going out for grilled Sea Bass and salad for Dinner this evening and linger over a carafe of chilled wine under a hot and humid sky as the light dies. How lucky are we?

Friday, 7th September, 2018

Up early – 6.00 am (Greek Time) / 4.00 am (UK Time) – and down to breakfast. The last breakfast for a while, thank goodness. Even so, scrambled egg and bacon, washed down with freshly squeezed orange juice is a pleasant treat. The sunshine really adds to the flavours and feeds the eyes for the day ahead.

By 9.00 am, we were off to the Syndagma underground station and, with 2 x €10.00 tickets in hand, we crowded on to a commuter train to the airport. By 10.00 am, we were walking into the airport, dropping off our bags for Easyjet and going down to the Goldair Handling Lounge to relax in peace, drink a glass of fresh, orange juice and read our on-line newspapers.

On board our Easyjet flight by 11.30 am, we heard that a 30 minute delay with refuelling would hold us up. It is the first Easyjet delay we have experienced over many flights. The journey back was uneventful and we landed at Gatwick around 2.35 pm.. Quickly through the airport, successful baggage reclaim and out to the Long Stay Carpark shuttle bus. In to our car and a short hop of 45 mins back home via Tesco for some essential supplies.

Sitting back in our kitchen, it seems barely believable that we were breakfasting in Athens only a few hours ago and fighting our way through the crowded underground system to travel to the airport and then sitting high up above the only too tangible clouds over the patchwork fields of France. Life is strange and magical but it was brought back to earth with a bump when we received an email from our next door neighbours to say that their cat, Como, who we had recently looked after while they were away, had been found, run over, more than a mile away from home. They are lovely people and the are heartbroken.

Saturday, 8th September, 2018

Time zones are one of the things that I take time to adjust to. After the last few days spent 2 hrs ahead of UK, we woke at 5.30 am and were up soon after. We had a fairly busy day planned so it was quite helpful. Around 8.30 am, we set off for Worthing. Even then, the coastal road was busy with joggers, cyclists and dog walkers. We parked in the multi-storey car park and set off for the Sports Direct shop in the centre of town. It always amuses me that, potentially, it is most popular with sporty, fit people and yet access to and from the shop is via an elevator. What’s wrong with stairs?

I was picking up a new pair of trainers for use in the gym. I’ve been using the same, cheap pair for the past 15 years and they are beginning to show their age. So am I, of course, but I am not so easily replaceable. (I hope.) We went on to visit Asda and Sainsburys after not doing our weekly shop this week. Home to watch the cricket and then out to the gym. By the time I had done 70 mins exercise there, my watch was showing 16,500 paces completed and I was feeling reasonably satisfied with myself. One eye on the England ‘friendly’ with Spain tonight and one eye on catching up with correspondence.

Another fun-filled day tomorrow. Today has finished with another, old fogey moment. We have had new smartphones for about three weeks. We have both had Huawei P20 Pros. Suddenly, Pauline recently noticed small scrapes on the side of her screen. This really upset her because she had no idea how they had been caused and is meticulous in her care for things. Today, I noticed similar small scrapes on my screen. I ran my finger over them and suddenly realised that the screen didn’t feel like glass. Flicking the screen edge with my finger nail brought up the plastic protector that the manufacturer had covered the screen with and which had started to bubble. I pulled them off both screens which now look pristine. I feel rather more stupid than usual.

Sunday, 26th August, 2018

It’s going to rain today. Folklore dictates that Bank Holiday weekends are wet and the weather will not disappoint. Actually, it will be nice to see some more rain. I need something to kick my lawns back to life. Bank Holidays are irrelevant any way. I bank on-line.

Two weeks ago, we picked up our new smartphones – Huawei P20 Pro – which we are given ‘free’ to maintain our EE contracts. We have unlimited minutes, unlimited texts and 10Gb of data which we can also use across Europe, US and Australia. Actually, we each pay £43.00/€47.50 per month. I chose the phones particularly for their cameras. Each phone has 3 lenses all by Leica and includes a 40MP lens with a 5x Zoom. That is far superior to my 10 year old, Canon EOS SLR.

If you want to buy these phones on the open market without a contract, they would cost you £799.99/€895.00 and, for a 2 month promotional period, they are offering ‘free’, wireless earphones. They say, as you can see, that these are sold at £149.00/ although I find it hard to believe. They certainly make them hard to ‘claim’ by making people wait 2 weeks after phone purchase and then scanning in their receipt and uploading the jpeg to their website. Not to be put off, I’ve done it this morning.

Monday, 27th August, 2018

Fuscia Janey

Today is fairly cloudy. We didn’t get above 22C/70F all day and with little sunshine. It is the birthday of my Mother-in-Law. Pauline’s Mum was affectionately called ‘Mump’ by us but was known as ‘Janey’ by her family. Today, she would have been 104 although she died 8 years ago at 96. We found a fuschia called ‘Janey’ and have planted it in her memory. She was short and squat and tenacious and the fuschia suits her perfectly. It disappears every winter and, just when we think it is lost for ever, up it pops from arid ground to flourish beautifully. We remember a lovely woman – Janey Barnes (1914 -2010). Thoughts of her still make her smile.

Slug I murdered & its Friend

I did something terrible today. I feel absolutely awful about it. I killed a slug. It was bin day today and, as I took the first bin out on to the roadside, I noticed a huge slug on our drive. I thought, I don’t want that eating our plants and I ‘deliberately’ ran it over with the wheels of the bin. I killed it and thought nothing more until an hour later when I brought the first of our three , empty bins back in and noticed the squashed and exploded slug was being in kissed/nudged back into life by another slug like some dead elephant being revived by members of its tribe. The slug was obviously dead and the ‘friend’ ultimately realised that but I continued to feel guilty for hours. When we went out to the gym, the dead slug remained alone on the drive.

Tuesday, 28th August, 2018

A lovely warm and sunny day which only reached 22C/70F but felt hotter because of the humidity. Although I am sedentary by instinct, in retirement I have become active by design. Today, we did a tour of shops and Doctors’ surgeries followed by the gym. It amounted to 14,000 paces and a feeling of pleasure.

I read a lot. I read newspapers, political blogs and Greek blogs along with many other things in Twitter and Faceache. It is important to keep up with current information in all spheres. I read Greek Blogs everyday in order to keep me in touch with the country I have invested 40 years of my life. If I wanted to go to any country where I would feel at home it would be Greece. Even so, I am still absolutely convinced that our decision to sell and leave was absolutely right in economic terms and I don’t regret it for one minute.

Though Greece slipped to 24th place on the list of the wealthiest countries in the European Union in 2017 from 14th a decade ago, it remains the 19th dearest state in the bloc, data from a Eurostat report on prices for consumer goods and services showed. Incomes and prices have parted to a worrying degree. Despite the economic crisis and the impoverishment of millions of Greeks, prices for consumer goods and services remained high. On the other hand, the country was cheaper in housing with prices last year remaining below the EU. How lucky were we to extricate ourselves from property ownership?

I’ve read a blog from Skiathos for many years. The Skiathan is a very interesting man and worth following although his blog, like mine is diminished by his departure from Greece. I read a Blog from Simon in Birmingham/Corfu which has amazingly connected to people Pauline &  I know from our academic experiences. Simon Baddeley lives in Birmingham and Corfu and is a lecturer in Social Administration. He featured one of Pauline’s Assistants one day quite out of the blue and we were amazed at the coincidence. We first went to Greece in 1981 which surprises me in retrospect but the Skiathan’s wife only went to the island ten years ago.

We used to leave Sifnos towards the end of September and, sometimes, in early October. We virtually never saw rain in August. This year, Greece has experienced exactly that. Every year we saw bad weather on Greek television with hailstones as big as golf balls featured as they destroyed northern crops. This year, it seems to have gone further south than usual. Skopelos lost electric power for hours after numerous lightning strikes. The joy of these blogs is that we recognise and feel the experiences they depict like this shot of the garage of a Greek ferry. We spent so much of our lives in these suffocatingly hot and smelly places.

Wednesday, 29th August, 2018

Well, it might have rained in Greece but it is certainly raining here this morning against all former predictions. Between 6.30 am – 10.30 am, it came down incessantly. I’m beginning to get a bit worried that, even with rain, my back lawn is not regenerating. Before we go to Tenerife, I may have to get a professional company in to scarify and reseed it. I can’t spend the entire Winter looking out on huge, brown patches.

We went to the Health Club around 12.30 pm by which time the sun was out and the warm world (22C/70F) was restored. We have only failed to do our exercise regime once in the past 18 days. Routine is the important thing here and it no longer feels an imposition. I use the jogging machine for 40 mins while watching the One O’clock News and then I have recently become engrossed in a programme called Murder, Mystery and My Family which is effectively historical research in which two, criminal barristers reinvestigate historical cases of murder where the alleged perpetrator was hanged. They submit their findings to a High Court Judge.

The Rotunda Central Manchester Library

My Masters was a Research Degree in the History of Ideas. The process of discovering and interpreting information from the past is absolutely riveting. Today, while watching the two barristers research their case, I was flashed back 30 years to the hours and days I spent in research for my thesis which was entitled R.H.Tawney and The Medieval Tradition. It was founded in the rise of Marxist Theory informing political thought at the end of the 19th Century and the birth of the Labour Party at the beginning of the new Century. I submitted it, successfully, in 1989 having completed it while I was working full-time as a teacher. In fact, I had been a teacher for nearly 20 years.

Today, 30 years on and many miles away from Manchester, I was on the jogging machine in the Health Club watching a television programme as the two barristers visited the very place where I had spent so long in my own research – The Rotunda Central Manchester Library. Life is full of so many rich coincidences. I got off the jogging machine and kissed my wife who supported me so unswervingly throughout that tortuous process of research. Without her, I would never have completed it.

Thursday, 30th August, 2018

A lovely warm and sunny day reaching 22C/70F – maybe the end of Summer. Certainly, it is quite alarming how quickly the evening light is dying and the morning arriving later each day. The European Union have received an overwhelming expression of opinion from citizens with 8 out of 10 respondents in a European Union online survey supporting the ending of daylight saving time. I must admit, it has been my view for a long time and I would welcome the change. What would be interesting would be if Brexit left UK marooned in the old time-warp while the rest of Europe moved ahead.

Went to the Health Club for a workout today for the 17th day out of the past 18. Yesterday, I wrote about my intellectual, former life. Everything I’ve done since leaving school in 50 years ago has been fairly sedentary. Until then, I was energetic and active every day. I played rugby, did athletics or trained for the two at least 6 days per week while at Grammar School. After that, I was studying and teaching. Both activities involved a lot of sitting down, of writing and reading. Since I retired almost 10 years ago, I have been gradually ramping up the exercise and today my calculator says I have covered a record (for me) 187 miles walking and cycling in the past 28 days.

I was amused to read of the Greek embrace of SIMP – the Sustainable Island Mobility Plan – which

encourages solutions to the mobility issue of the Greek islands by using methods such as the wide limitation of the use of cars, the promotion of carpooling, the introduction of electric vehicles, the reduction of speed limits and the improvement of existing parking spaces as well as the creation of new ones.

Sifnos is being announced as the first SIMP in Europe. Good Luck with that. Like the smoking ban, it will be more ignored than observed. I look forward to the first battery powered ferries to dock in Kamares. They’re on strike again on Monday, anyway so that should cut down on emissions.

Friday, 31st August, 2018

Paradosiako Taverna

We are seeing August out with a lovely, warm and sunny day. The window cleaner has been and left us with sparkling windows but £18.00/€19.90 poorer. It’s worth it though. I’ve mowed what’s left of the lawns and we are tidying up the hedges and weeding the borders to leave the place tidy before we go away next week. The temperature has reached 22C/70F with lovely sunshine.

A three hour stint at the Health Club and home to griddle Tuna Steaks in the garden to be eaten with tomato and cauliflower salads. The last day of Summer is ending well. We will be in Greece in three days and real heat. Looking forward to that. Dinner at Paradosiako, our favourite taverna. Can’t wait.

Saturday, 1st September, 2018

Never an easy month to welcome; we just have to grit our teeth, acknowledge that Summer is over and embrace the Autumn. Happy September to you all.

Certainly the light is changing noticeably. Mornings start later and evenings earlier. Ironically, the weather has spent late August feeling autumnal and gone back to Summer just as the new season begins. This morning is warm and sunny. Ideal to make pupils and teachers not want to go back to school. Oh Dear. How sad! Never mind. We are off to the gym to in an attempt to fight back against the onslaught of infirmity.

I once worked out in an idle moment that we would have, theoretically, emptied our theoretical pension pot if we drew on it for 17 years. With only 7 years to go we are working towards theoretical profit. Of course, it’s all theoretical, fortunately. They will continue to threw money at us if we live to be 100. Over 40 years of pension. Now you’re talking!

Sunday, 19th August, 2018

Well, a grey and mild start to the day. It is just 20C/68F this morning and a little breezy. I’m told it’s Sunday by my phone although it makes little difference to me. It is nice to download a Sunday paper and to watch a bit of Test Match and Football but I can do most of that on so many days that it really doesn’t matter.

Dublin 1979

It mattered to my Mother who would have been 95 on this coming Wednesday. She was a totally committed Roman Catholic and she wanted her 7 children to be so as well. As I developed a thinking mind, I resented it hugely and, the moment I left home at 18, I dropped the ‘pretence’ immediately. Subsequently, all of my siblings have done the same. However, there is a saying that Once a Roman Catholic, always a Roman Catholic and there is some truth in that. For a long time, I didn’t recognise this but Catholicism imbues one with a sense of ‘original sin’ of being subsequently guilty and unworthy. I recognise, intellectually that such a position is not justified but, emotionally, it is much more difficult to jettison.

Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature. .. It is the opium of the people.

Karl Marx – ‘A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right’.

Dublin 2018

We see that it is accepted most strongly in oppressed and/or impoverished groups – in the Third World, for example, but also in the black minority in Britain and in the Irish. Religion seems to ‘explain’ their poverty and place in inequality. The gradations of social standing from God in his Heaven, the rich man in his castle and the poor man at his gate made All Things Bright & Beautiful.  Of course, Mum derived from Irish stock and inherited her Catholicism. She was by no means stupid but wasn’t prepared to look critically at her beliefs in the way those born further on in the Century are. She was furious when I told her that, just as she had tried to force religion on me so I saw it as my duty as a teacher to advise children to avoid that pernicious, world view.

I have long militated for the eradication of religion’s place in politics and social administration. I have been extremely heartened by the rapid decline in religious observance in Britain. Today, The Sunday Times runs this article:

Young Ireland says Nope to the Pope

On the eve of another papal visit, in pubs and parks Irish people say the Catholic Church has lost its grip on the nation.

It is enough to gladden an old man’s heart, to raise the spirits of Karl Marx and to answer my Mother’s attempts at indoctrination.

Monday, 20th August, 2018

Taken 40 years ago.

Out early on a warm and humid morning which reached 24C/75F. Pauline was having her hair cut before we leave for Greece in a couple of weeks. The sea front was in busy, holidaymaker mode and the sea looked  blue, warm and inviting. Back home, we booked the installation of a new garage door, a trip to the PYO Farm to pick Victoria Plums which Pauline has a passion for and to arrange a visit to Byfleet to visit her sister.

This time last year, we were in Haydock, Lancashire to say goodbye to Pauline’s cousin, Vivienne who had died of cancer. We are thinking of her husband, Richard who has had a year to come to terms with his grief. Neither of us is confident that we can really imagine what it is like to lose our close partner but know it will happen to one of us ultimately.

We set off for our 8th, consecutive visit to do our duty in the gym. It is becoming easy and routine at the moment and we are looking to increase our efforts by adding a piece of machinery – probably rowing – to our exercise regime. It will be good to get back in to swimming soon when the kids go back to school and the indoor pool repair is completed.

However, target driven as I am, I get real pleasure from screens on my smartphone like the one pictured here. I am uncomfortable if my chart has gaps on its daily report. Pleasure is a full row of yellow bars demonstrating my commitment. A daily average of 13,748 paces covering a total of 48.7 miles for this week makes me feel good. Did you know I was weird? It is something that retirement requires to be meaningful – target achievement. We wrinklies have to set our own targets and drive ourselves on to achievement. We are trying so hard to do just that!

Tuesday, 21st August, 2018

Cloudy and humid start to a day which never dipped below 19C/66F over night. We went out early to the local PYO farm just round the corner from our house. Victoria Plums are ready for picking. They are a favourite of ours. In 20 mins, we had two bags containing 8kgs/18lbs of plums. The trees are so prolific and easy to pick from. It was a delight. By the time we drove home, the temperature was 28C/82F although fairly dull and very humid.

Off to the supermarket for huge bags of sugar so the jam can be made. That is Pauline’s job for the rest of the day. A trip to the gym is cancelled. I am watering the lawn and trying to persuade it to regenerate. The plums were so easy to pick, we ended up with too many really. They have been stoned and quartered and cooked up. After the sugar has been added, I become an enthusiastic Chief Taster. I so rarely get to eat anything sweet that ‘normal’ jam now tastes almost unbearably sweet. Gorgeous!

We have two weeks until we leave for Athens and then a further two weeks until we fly to Edinburgh. My cousin in France has been trying to entice me into a cousins’ reunion in the Charente Department of south west France. That is where we visited her about a month ago and, because of that, we are not in a hurry to return. There are only so many places to visit in a lifetime and we are already planning events for next year. We are hoping to revive an Australia trip in the Spring, a month villa rental in July in Girona over the border from France to Spain, an Athens trip allied to an island visit in September and then a month in the Canaries in November. Quite a busy year.

Wednesday, 22nd August, 2018

Mum & Me in Foremark Woods 1953

Today, my Mum would have been 95 years old. Unfortunately, she died 10 years ago and the pain is rapidly greying into recession. In the photo, I was 2½ years old and she was 30. It is so unsettling how these experiences and memories have run away into the mists of time. It is exactly what will happen to me and my darling wife and to all of you. We cannot escape it but it is so difficult to embrace and accept it.

Living one’s life in the here-and-now is the only option but these pinch points of memory are painful in the extreme and even more so as reality is replaced with the chimera of memory. I remember my relationship with my Mother in the awkwardness of its reality and, talking to my sisters some years on, I am surprised and vaguely shocked that our memories and judgements have an uncomfortable similarity. I wasn’t as odd and mad as I have thought over these past 50 years. Still, I find myself hard to live with.

In the here and now, my lawn is still a dying mess after no rain for the five weeks I was away. I can’t quite decide what to do about it or how far to go to revive it. I may have to re-seed whole areas of it this Autumn although I’m going to be away for a lot of that too. I may have to get a professional company in to advise me although, if we redesign the garden anyway, I don’t want to go mad with the original lawn. What a dilemma!

Thursday, 23rd August, 2018

Woke early – 5.00 am – after a hot and humid night. Left for Surrey around 9.30 am. We were visiting C&P in Byfleet. The first three quarters of the 50 mile journey were pastoral and delightfully quiet. The last section should have joined the M25 but our sat.nav. warned us of a 40 mins delay on our section so we detoured through Cobham which is a delightful town but can be frustratingly busy to navigate. A journey which usually takes us an hour actually took us 90 mins and the frustration made me tired.

It was nice to return to the area. After all, it is only two and a half years since we left, having completed five years living in the area. It is strange how one drops back, almost unconsciously, into the routes and routines of places once so familiar. It was nice to see C&P again. As we talked, I dropped back into the routine of sitting talking and upgrading their iPad as I did so. They never do it for themselves. I’m not sure if they know how to. Anyway, that was always my job – downloading and updating the operating system, updating the apps, cleaning up the messages, etc..

We stayed around three hours and then drove back incorporating the M25 leg without any hold-ups in that direction. Even so, after sleeping for only 5 hours last night and then doing some 2½ hours busy driving, I was tired. Pauline did the cooking – roast cod loin with garlic and white wine fantail prawns and more salad. Two glasses of wine and I was ready for a sleep.

Friday, 24th August, 2018

Woke up at 5.00 am for the 3rd time this week and didn’t really get back to sleep. Beautiful, sunny day with clear, blue sky although a little edge on the air this morning. In the modern way of things and quite without any formal intention, we shop in almost every different supermarket there is according to what my wife considers best quality and best value.

Bananas are my go-to energy replacement food and, although it will sound pretentiously fussy, the bananas from Asda are a quality level higher than all the other suppliers in terms of taste. We eat a box of cherry tomatoes per day on average and are addicted to a variety called Vittoria which we buy in Sainsbury’s. Our salads always include capers which Pauline buys in large jars from Waitrose. The salad is dressed with Kalamata Olive Oil which is great value from Aldi. Any fish that we don’t get from the local fisherman’s shack is bought in Tesco although Morrisons is the only one to always have a supply of fresh, locally caught Octopus and we buy supplies of Whitebait from Iceland.

Because of this, we had a busy morning visiting supermarkets. We also went to the Post Office ‘Sorting Office’ to collect a parcel that we missed while we were out yesterday. The parcel was two more, pairs of shorts for me. I haven’t worn any, normal clothes since the beginning of June. I haven’t slept under the bedsheets in that time either. We are off to Athens and later a month in Tenerife which could well see me extending the naked legs and short sleeved T-shirts until the beginning of December. Long may it last. Global Warming is working for me at least.

Saturday, 25h August, 2018

Another pleasant start to the day with lots of sunshine. The day just struggled to 22C/70F but felt really lovely. It has been quite quiet. Pauline has done a 3rd harvest of our basil pots and made another, huge batch of Pesto which is then bagged up in 50g packs which is enough for one meal for two people. We have about a dozen plants of Italian – large leafed – sweet basil and Greek – small leaved. We already have enough Pesto to get us through the next twelve months but we may have one more cutting in late September.

I have been catching up with correspondence. I wrote to my Sifnos friend, Martin, who I haven’t seen for quite a few years now but we have agreed to visit him to catch up. Instead of just sitting down to watch football now, I try to time my exercise in the gym so I can watch at the same time as sweating. Actually, I really enjoy it and it makes me feel quite virtuous. Today has been another lovely day. We are so lucky. We say that to each other almost every day. If only we could freeze time NOW.

Sunday, 12th August, 2018

Sometimes one has to admit one is an old codger. I plead guilty. On Friday, I went in to the EE shop which is in our local Sainsburys. We have had EE contracts for the past 6 six years and been fairly happy with the service provision. At the end of our last mobile contracts which provided us with 2, Samsung S6 mobiles, we were entitled to new phones if we renewed our contracts. I chose Huawei P20 Pro smartphones for both of us. If you wanted to buy them without a contract today, they would cost you £1600.00/€1790.00 for the two.Going into the EE shop was preferable because we wouldn’t have to wait for them to be posted and have to wait in to receive them plus I could get an Assistant to clone our old phones and save me a few hours. Or so I thought….

We came home with our new phones on Friday and I spent the rest of that day and most of Saturday updating and re-organising all our apps for Organisation – calendars, newspapers, media, etc / Social Media – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Chrome, etc. / Finance & Investments / Files & Cloud Storage … and so it goes on. Our phones are insured through a ‘free service’ of our Bank Account so I logged on to alter the details. As I entered the IMEI number to identify the phones, the site told me that Pauline’s was a metallic Huawei P20 Pro but mine was just a cheaper and smaller Huawei P20. Bear in mind, I had just spent 2 days setting it up.

I checked the two phones and, sure enough, mine was distinctly smaller. I checked the box which was identical to Pauline’s with one exception of 3 letters – Pro – and that made all the difference. I felt a bit of an idiot and stupid old codger. Even so the EE Assistant hadn’t noticed either. A trip back to the shop in the middle of Sunday morning and I emerged with a new, Huawei P20 Pro phone and I spent the rest of the day setting it up.

I am a politics geek and a news junkie. I need access to information media at all times. Radio, TV, Newspapers and Politics Blogs over the internet are essential. As soon as we leave the UK on our travels, that is what I become anxious about. How will I access the news? Driving across UK is not a problem but, the moment we roll out of the Tunnel into France, I start to have a problem. Our car provides DAB/VHF/MW/LW radio. In UK, I use DAB. In the early stages of France, DAB is lost but VHF is possible but not for long. I then switch to the poor quality Long Wave which goes a remarkably long way. We could pick up Radio 4 in the Dordogne but it often became lost in the interference of power lines and other obstructions.

While we were driving back at the end July, I was musing on this and suddenly had an epiphany. Our car infotainment unit offers Bluetooth connection. My smartphone offers Bluetooth connection. Perhaps I could Bluetooth the radio on my phone through the speakers of my cars infotainment unit. Today, with my new phone, I established that this process worked. I shouldn’t have a problem next time we drive through Europe.

Monday, 13th August, 2018

Early start because we both had appointments with the ‘dreaded’ Hygienist at our Dentist’s surgery conveniently located in Sainsbury’s next to the EE store. Personally, I hate all Hygienists with a passion too strong to fully express. We have Dental Plans which cover a 12 month period for about £100.00/€121.00 which provided for 2 x dental checkup per year and 2 x hygienist visits per year. She keeps trying to cajole me into 4 x hygienist visits per year but there is as little chance of that as .. (Fill in your own impossibility.). Pauline and I have both bought and been using water jet, tooth picks three or four times a day to keep our teeth clean after food and drink. According to the Hygienist, it has made a major difference so has been worthwhile.

After 20 mins of agony, we went out to do yet more shopping. We eat one, large pack of cherry tomatoes per day on average so we bought another 4 to get us through to next shopping on Friday. Haddock loins with fantail prawns for our meal today with, tomato salad, cucumber & dill salad and rocket salad. Looking forward to it already. Before we go to the gym, I have contacted a couple of firms of garage door installers to come and quote us for an automated, roller door.

Really enjoyed our workout followed by jacuzzi and water jet massage. We were out for about 2.5 hrs. Came home to cook a lovely meal and a bit of relaxation. I have had a garage door company confirm a visit later in the week and I will require at least one more before I choose.

Tuesday, 14th August, 2018

Lovely, warm start to the day. We are in charge of next door’s cat, Como (named after the Italian Lake not the American singer), for the next 4 days. It is quite a responsibility. Our first job is feeding him this evening. Made a note on our online, interactive calendar. Just hope Como reads it and comes home.

Our car has a built in, Garmin Sat.Nav.. It is possible and now time to update the maps. This is done by installing Garmin Direct app on my PC and then downloading the maps – about 3 gb of data onto a usb stick. Then, one has to plug the USB stick into one of the car’s two USB ports and upload the data. Download from the PC takes about an hour. Upload to the car takes about 3 hours apparently. In that time, the sat. nav. cannot be switched off which means the engine must be running continually. This means I need to be with/in the car for those 3 hours.

Did a good workout at the gym, came home and griddled duck breast slices and vegetables – onion, courgette, red pepper and mushrooms in the garden and then completed the car sat. nav. upgrade. It actually took less than 30 mins.. I’ve been putting it off for months because of the inconvenience I was pre-warned about. The meal was lovely and the sat.nav. easy so all went well at the end of the day. Now, at 7.00 pm, the next door’s cat is fed, we have been fed and the sun is shining warmly. The day reached a pleasant 23C/74F. The world is peaceful.

Wednesday, 15th August, 2018

Overlooking Genoa Port – July 2017

A lovely day which reached 23C/74F. We have spent a lovely day doing ordinary things like mowing and feeding the lawns and exercising at the Health Club. At the same time, the Italians are still reeling from the collapse of a major, highway bridge just a few hundred metres from where we were exactly a year ago. July last year, we were staying in the Holiday Inn Genoa overlooking the port and just a few hundred metres from the bridge that has collapsed. We loved Genoa but there but for fate go we!

We bought the first Honda CRV to arrive at our Dealership in Huddersfield back in 1998. We proceeded to have a new one each year for quite a while until we got much nearer to retirement. I think we have had 13 over 4 different models over the years. Our current car has done just 17,000 miles in 27 months. However, we have been keenly anticipating the new model – the 5th generation – which is due out in early 2019.

It is a hybrid engine with continuously variable transmission powering all-wheel-drive. It features automatic emergency braking and adaptive cruise control, forward collision warning, collision mitigation braking, lane departure warning and lane keeping assist as standard. It will have a hybrid engine option for the first time. Honda calls the new system Intelligent Multi Mode Drive (i-MMD), and it comprises a 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol engine and two electric motors and gives automatic stop-start action. Looking forward to that and we’ve now learned it will be only 30mm wider than the current one so, with the new, garage door, it will continue to be garaged.

Thursday, 16th August, 2018

A warm but damp start to the day. It improved but didn’t register above 19C/66F. Fortunately, I had cut and fed the lawns yesterday so the rain was very welcome. We did our weekly, Tesco shop and then a full workout at the gym.

By the time we got home, the sun was out and the day was lovely. We cooked roast salmon and pesto served with salad for our tea and the day ran down quietly. We never cease to be amazed at how lucky we are to have this time together. Nearly 10 years now of comfortable and interesting retirement. Preceding generations could only have dreamed of such luxury. We leave for Athens in a couple of weeks and our hotel, The Athens Electra Palace, has been voted the best placed hotel to book for people visiting Athens. We have been using it for so many years that we almost take it for granted but we are not surprised by its rating.

We have been there so many times, it feels like a home from home and Athens, that once felt dirty, noisy and a bit aggressive, now feels warm, homely and very familiar.

Friday, 17th August, 2018

Up early this morning on a lovely, bright and sunny morning but one which had just a touch of Autumn in the air. Yesterday at 7.00 am, the temperature was 19C/66F but this morning read only 13C/55F. That’s come a bit too soon but it is only two weeks until September. (Back to school – Ha Ha!). At 8.30 am, the garage door company arrived to measure up and give me an estimate for a new, automated, roller door which will give me 10″/25.5cm more width on the entrance. This will make all the difference in putting the car away each night.

The cost is more than I at first anticipated because we have a non-standard door width opening. Apparently, it is wider than standard. Goodness knows how people drove through anything narrower. They would need to be a midget in a Smart Car to make it.

Anyway, I have offered the old door to our neighbour across the road who has dented his and he is pleased to accept it. For years we have had automated garage doors and it will be good to get back to that. This door sits neatly on the inside of the garage and rolls up into a box over the lintel. We will have two fobs for the operation plus a control on the wall.

The world is full of ‘old people’. Well, my world is. It struck me as I stood at the checkout of Sainsburys at 9.30 this morning. Looking round, everyone apart from the workers was grey haired, wrinkled and rather slow. I was getting increasingly agitated as I tried to negotiate slow thinking, slow acting, slow, slow, old people. Am I being insensitive and unkind? I’m sure I am and I’m equally sure that it will come to me … but please not yet!

Saturday, 18th August, 2018

Yesterday morning felt slightly Autumnal. Last night was warm and humid. This morning at 6.30am, I was listening to Farming Today on BBC Radio 4 coming from a Herefordshire farm and the commentator pointed out rows of swallows roosting on the telegraph wires. Anyone with country knowledge knows that that is a sure sign of Summer drawing to a close and the onset of Autumn. At home, as a boy, I would watch from my bedroom window as the numbers of swallows got so many that the phone wires seemed to sag under their weight as they twittered away before leaving en masse for a warmer, African winter. It still feels too soon so let’s hope it’s a false start.

When we started to live in Greece until well through the Autumn, we were always shocked by how the weather seemed to know that September had arrived. It continued to provide lovely weather but with almost instant inconsistences. If you monitor Greece and the Greek economy like I do – sad person that I am, you will be hearing the constant refrains about surging tourist arrivals and the imminent possibility of the country escaping the close attentions of its European creditors. The intention is to create an atmosphere of rising optimism even though many, perhaps most, Greeks are still hurting from their reduced circumstances.

Greece-Turkey bilateral trade at £3.05 bln / €3.4 bln in 2017

However, just as hopes may be rising of a better future, a perfect storm may be about to crash around them. Close neighbours and trading partners, Turkey, are feeling the heat as the Turkish lira crashes. Greek companies that export to Turkey are concerned that the collapse against the euro and the deterioration of consumer and business confidence in the neighbouring country will affect their exports this year. Greece currently has a trade surplus with Turkey but there are fears that this could be reversed if the Turkish economy dips into recession.

Another neighbour of Greece, Italy, is bracing for a debt crisis like the one it suffered in 2011, fears that have been exacerbated by the problems in Turkey. Moody’s and another big ratings agency, Fitch, will announce if they are going to downgrade Rome. That comes at an awkward time as the economy is slowing and the European Central Bank is reducing the size of its monthly bond-buying program. On both sides, Greece is facing a potential reduction in demand for its products. Total reliance on tourism is a dangerous thing.

Sunday, 5th August, 2018

Up early on another beautiful morning. After breakfast, we went down to the beach for a walk.  It was absolutely delightful. We walked for about an hour from Goring to Worthing Pier. The sun was strong and the crowds were absent at 9.30 am..

Packed beaches in Worthing.

As a child, I remember going with my parents to the seaside, and being told to “smell the ozone”, as it was healthy and good for me. You could certainly smell the “ozone” this morning. We took huge lungsful of it as we walked along. Actually, I’ve since found out that the distinctive (seaside) smell is not ozone, it is dimethyl sulphide and inhaling it is not necessarily good for you.

Be that as it may, we did our walk and then went home and into our sun-filled garden to empty our crabs of their bounty. A 0.5 kg of crab meat was mixed with a 0.5 kg of cod to make a 1kg of delicious, Crab Pâté. Garden cleaned of crab shell, we headed off to the Health Club and did our full session. Back home and in scorching sunshine, we griddled swordfish steaks in the garden and ate them with wonderful tomato salad.

The day has finished with us saying to each other – I’ve really enjoyed today. – as we seem to do at the end of most days. What more can one ask of retirement or any life stage? We are enjoying life so much that I am constantly checking over my shoulder to see if some harbinger of doom is lurking. If it can happen to a Chuckle Brother, it can happen to anyone.

Monday, 6th August, 2018

Absolutely blazing hot morning which reached 29C/84F by mid morning and 30C+/86F+ in the afternoon. We had a man from British Gas booked to come and replace the ridiculously complicated analogue controls for the central heating with Hive digital ones. While I was waiting, I mowed the lawns and ran the water sptinkler on them for a couple of hours. Because we missed our window cleaner while we were away in France, I did all the windows and the door at the front of the house.

When the engineer did arrive, it turned out to be a lad from a few houses away who had been assigned to our installation. The original controls were replaced by digital ones linked to my internet hub. We have dual zone heating and hot water which separately controls upstairs and downstairs. Now, all of that can be controlled from my iPad, smartphone and computer across the net and from anywhere in the world. Although that sounds fanciful and pointless, it would have been very useful when we were in France for five weeks and will be very useful while we are in Tenerife for a month in November.

It is also so easy to use compared with the intricacies of the older controls. Of course, after one has absorbed the ease of on-line control of the heating, one can go on to extend the uses to power plugs and light bulbs. Anyone who goes away for any length of time will be familiar with the needs to install timers for lighting to foil/fool burglars and, maybe sound/radio to give the deception of house occupation. It also appeals to gadget geeks and computer freaks. Guilty!

There are some occasions when one takes a leap of faith and immediately regrets it. As an instinctive ‘early-adopter’, I have been through that many times. This has proved an instant justification for taking that risk.

Tuesday, 7th August, 2018

Another beautiful day – how long can we say that? – It was 31C/88F as we set off for the Roundstone PYO Farm which is less than a mile away from home. The farm is huge – big enough to use a small set of tractor drawn carriages to take people to the varied picking fields. Strawberries are mainly over but raspberries are in full swing along with soft fruit such as red/white/black currants, blackberries, rhubarb, plums, runner and French beans, cabbages, cauliflowers, sweetcorn, courgettes, beetroot, onion etc..

We only wanted raspberries today because Pauline is making jam. In less than 40 mins, we picked 5kgs of luscious raspberries in scorching sunshine, paid just over £5.00 per kilo (Tesco is £12.00) for around 5kgs and drove home. We went off to Tesco to buy 5kgs of sugar and the jam will be made tomorrow because we are not going to the Health Club. Tomorrow, we are having Lunch with our next door neighbours.

As I opened my local paper on-line yesterday, I was shocked to find onw of my 6 sisters staring out at me. She reminds me of my Mother which is shocking enough in itself.

Nothing surprises me greatly anymore but this really did come out of the blue. It shows how isolated members of my family are from each other.

Wednesday, 8th August, 2018

We are not going to the gym today for the first time in 10 days. We are going out to have lunch at our neighbour’s house. Before that, I have been exploring a problem we have with our car and garage.

For most of our life, we have had large, double garages and usually with large, double doors remotely controlled. It makes life so easy and convenient. Here, we only have a single garage with a single, (narrow feeling), manually operated, up-and-over door. Our car is large and wide and has a tolerance of about 5″ either side as we drive through the doorway. This is made particularly narrow by the door mechanism being bolted on to the side walls with their aluminium struts and guides. Driving in and out without accident requires two of us – one steering and the other shouting from behind – even though we have reversing sensors and a reversing camera with guidelines.

A must-have, new model of our Honda CRV comes out at the end of this year and, horror of horrors, it is wider than our current model. I think this will be our 12th or 13th new CRV and they have gradually become more ‘butch’ in design to suit the American market. This has meant putting on more bulk. Short of demolishing the garage and rebuilding it, I was coming to the conclusion that we would have to park on our drive as all our neighbours do on theirs. Throughout our lives, we have been the exception to the rule in many things and putting our car in the garage has been one of those things.

My wife, who is extremely practical, looks like she’s solved the problem. A motorised and remote controlled, roller shutter door which doesn’t fit on the inside entrance pillars but behind the entrance and takes up little extra room at all looks like the way to go. I have done some research of providers and the cost is remarkably little. Delivered, installed and with two, remote control units, the cost is around £1000.00/€12,00.00. You can’t say fairer than that although I will try to beat them down a bit by getting three quotes and playing one off against the other .

Thursday, 9th August, 2018

Well, how lovely to wake up to rain. That’s exactly how we felt in Greece when we got an unexpected downpour. Like manna from heaven if either actually existed. Quite a bit cooler today. Didn’t get above 20C/68F and with only weak sunshine.

We went out to do our weekly, Tesco shop. We bought sides of salmon, tuna steaks, plus 4 bags of frozen, calamari tubes along with lots of other things. As usual, we do scan-as-you-shop which really suits us. We have a running total of purchases and expenditure on a handset which we clip on to our trolley. At the end, our bags are full of purchases and we transmit our handset to the till which takes our payment – in our case, through our mobile – and w leave without troubling the shop staff at all.

Of course, there is the possibility for theft and fraud. Either not scanning some items or scanning in cheaper items for more expensive ones is a weakness with the system. There has been a huge rise in the sale of (cheap) carrots, apparently, because people were scanning them in instead of (expensive) avocados. The supermarkets noticed that they were selling many more carrots than had ever been in their stock. Actually, I prefer carrots to avocados.

To counteract fraud and theft, the stores do periodically and, apparently, randomly check the till receipt with the goods in the customer’s trolley. Today, it was our turn. You can imagine Pauline’s horror when it turned out I had forgotten to scan not one but four bags of frozen squid. I must admit, I was slightly embarrassed myself. Actually, four bags of frozen squid would not my first choice for a theft and the supermarket assistant just smiled it off but what it will do is ensure we are checked quite a few times over the next few visits. We will have to make a number of quick visits to buy single items so we aren’t held up for long periods. Awkward!

Friday, 10th August, 2018

The morning started off beautifully when we got up at 6.00 am but, soon, clouded over and light rain fell intermittently and is forecast to throughout the day. Missing the warm sunshine already so we have turned our minds to going abroad. Amazingly, it is only 2 weeks since we returned from France. The papers this morning are full of torrential rain and flooded streets in France & Switzerland yesterday. Thank goodness we were driving back in that. We are paying for our Tenerife villa today. It is a 3 bedroomed property with its own heated pool on the south eastern coast of  Tenerife which we have rented for the month of November. The cost is quite reasonable compared to a hotel £3,500.00/€3,900.00 + flights which are very cheap.

The villa is within walking distance of the sea and shops, restaurants, etc. and it fulfils my three, main requirements of wifi, pool and English language tv. It has a large kitchen with dishwasher, washing machine and there is a barbecue outside on the patio. More importantly, its location will more or less guarantee us sun and warmth in November and that is worth paying for.

Busy itinerary today. Out to a garage door showroom in Lancing. I bet they don’t have any boils! On to the EE shop to, hopefully, collect our new smartphones and then back home to set them up by exchanging all our aps and information from old to new phones. Finally, we will go to the gym for the 11th day out of the last 12. Impressive or what? OK, what!

Saturday, 11th August, 2018

A second day of not going to the gym. Beginning to feel a bit stir crazy. We’ve been trying to catch up with jobs at home. I’ve been updating our new phones so that all the services we use them for regularly are restored. Although I tried to resist it, I’ve conceded that it would be best to use a case to protect our phones from accidental damage by fitting a case. I’ve found the ‘official’ one which allows one to access the it from the front screen. ‘Officially’, the cover cost £19.99. From Ebay, the cost is £3,85 postage ‘free’. I’ve ordered two.

Sunday, 29th July, 2018

We were told that we would get rain overnight but didn’t believe it. Woke up to rain. Unbelievable! Yesterday, I cut and fed the lawn. This morning, the weather watered it in for me. Be interesting how long it takes for the grass to resume its green and luscious look.

The hydrangeas we planted at the front door seem delighted with the water. Lots of organisations in our area have events planned for today and they are definitely not pleased to see the break in the weather.

We went out for the 10.00 am opening of Tesco. As we walked round, Pauline remarked on the dull lighting over the fruit and vegetables. When we got to the check-out, we realised why. This Tesco doesn’t open until 11.00 am on a Sunday. Archaic law. It will have to change!

The day has remained damp/rejuvenating throughout. I look forward to my grass updating very soon. We will restart our gym routine tomorrow. We have five weeks until we fly to Greece and I am determined to work hard to earn that indulgence.

Monday, 30th July, 2018

Liz & Caroline

Lovely to wake up to rain again this morning. Quite warm and we reached 25C/77F although fairly cloudy for most of the day. We are expected to rise to 31C/90F by the end of the week with high humidity. I will keep watering the lawns. They are showing real signs of regeneration already.

It has been a day of reminiscences which never goes well with me. I was opening a box file in our office and this photo fell out. It pictures my two, youngest sisters, Elizabeth (now 60  and Caroline (now 56). Of course, they live in my head with this image because I left home shortly after this to go to college. My first foray into tertiary education was to take up a teacher training place at the Anglican, all-women’s College in Ripon, North Yorkshire. As a (nominal) Roman Catholic male, I couldn’t have asked for better. I was one of 20 men in college of 600 women. Religion was suddenly irrelevant to almost everyone.

Today, those members of the ‘lonely’ 20 men were posting reminiscences of their of their own. I, embarrassingly, featured in a number. One recorded our production of Ibsen’s Peer Gynt in which I played the Button-Moulder. I didn’t enjoy it. I am not comfortable on stage or, indeed, in a theatre but it was a requirement of subsid. Drama. I also wrote my own 15 mins sketch called ‘Sentimentality’ which bombed and was not revived. Thank goodness.

Went to the gym for the first time in over 6 weeks and did a full work out. Felt good and we really enjoyed it. We have maintained our fitness while abroad by doing plenty of walking and swimming. Now we aim to move on and extend our routines. I have to start doing some sit-ups to strengthen my stomach muscles.

Tuesday, 31st July, 2018

July is ending with another beautiful day. I think we had quite heavy rain over night -certainly, the lawns were cheering – but this morning is clear blue sky and lots of lovely sunshine. We have only reached 22C/70 F but it has felt delightful. We did a second, full workout at the gym but, at last, I got round to giving the car an inside/outside valet for the first time since we returned from France a week ago.

Since getting back from our travels,  I have switched our dual fuel power supply from BG …. to BG but on a new and improved fixed tariff. I’ve also booked an engineer to install Hive Active Heating which will connect our boiler controls to our broadband hub and allow us to control it using apps on our smart phones and our iPads.

This system is really just a digital control backbone which can ultimately be expanded to add controlled electrical sockets and light bulbs allowing remote control of many electrical items as well as delivering surveillance video stream to us across the net. Really appeals to a geek like me.

With our bank account, we get ‘free’ annual travel insurance, mobile phone insurance and unlimited entry to and services of airport lounges across the world. Having a pre-existing health condition – atrial fibrillation – I have to pay a top-up premium. Pauline renewed our cover this morning for the next twelve months and it hadn’t gone up at all.

Wednesday, 1st August, 2018

Happy August to all readers – I almost forgot. Where am I on the Dementia Gradient?

We live within walking distance of the sea but rarely go down there. Every time we visit Worthing town, we are surprised that it is on the beach. Today, we had some things to look for – Aftershave for me, Trainers for Pauline etc. – and we drove down the seafront road, past the pier and to the multi-storey carpark where we go right up to the top for the views.

View from a Carpark.

It was an absolutely beautiful morning, warm, sunny and bright, reaching 22C/70F. For Worthing, it was open market day but the town didn’t feel particularly busy as a French market day would. On the beach edge there was a tawdry fair ground although not many takers for rides at 10.00 am.. Purchases made, we headed home and then did another, full exercise session. We are really enjoying getting back into this routine and celebrating the fact that we haven’t lost any of our fitness over the 6 weeks away.

Thursday, 2nd August, 2018

Woke to another wonderfully clear and sunny blue sky at 6.30 am. Actually, we remarked on the early darkness last night. It seemed to be coming earlier in spite of a completely clear and starry sky. I know we are past the tipping point but to be noticing shorter days already is a bit of a shock.

My Mother would have been 95 this month and my Father would have been 103 in October. Going through their mementos, I found a leather folder of honeymoon records. They married nearly 70 years ago and honeymooned in the Cotswolds. Mum had saved for all those years after Dad’s death in 1965, pictures of their honeymoon accommodation and the receipts for everything from their rooms to the meals and even room service. One, particular hotel stood out for me – The Lygon Arms Hotel in the Cotswolds situated between Banbury, Worcester and Cheltenham. Mum always talked highly of her love of the Cotswolds although I’m not aware she ever went back.

The Lygon Arms – Cotswolds

This morning, I received an email from a company called Chic Retreats offering three nights of absolute luxury in a Cotswold hotel called The Lygon Arms. It’s not somewhere that I would choose to stay. I really do prefer modern over ancient. Obviously, it was to Mum’s taste and had very special meaning for her.

They were only staying there for two days en route to The Fortfield Hotel in Sidmouth – a hotel which was very grand but burned down a couple of years ago. Unusually, I have Mum’s record of their stay in The Lygon Arms with all the charges they paid. They were there for the 22nd & 23rd April, 1950. I was born on 6th April, 1951 so one pre-conception is shattered.

Friday, 3rd August, 2018

Absolutely gorgeous day of blue sky and strong sunshine which peaked at 30C/86F. We walked down into the village to take a parcel to the Post Office. It is an easy and enjoyable walk from our house which takes about 10 mins..

We are always shocked to find that our village is on the ‘tourist track’ and, as we walked through the village centre this morning, tourists were having their breakfast outside the The Lamb and the sunshine underlined the ‘holiday’ character of the village. Our coast is renowned for its reputation as the sunniest in UK and people are prepared to pay for that on their holidays.

I am continuing to irrigate the lawns to bring them back from the brink of five weeks baking hot neglect. That was the order of the rest of the Morning while watching the Test Match. Off to the Health Club at lunchtime for a 2 hr session. The indoor pool is being drained for restorative work so the outdoor pool is like Blackpool at this time of the year.

We drove home to griddle (French), swordfish steaks in the garden. We dressed them with olive oil and lemon and ate them with salad. I was thinking this morning that, without any conscious intent, I hardly ever eat red meat. A popular choice during our time in France was a pate of white fish and crab. As soon as we got home, we made our own with cod and a dressed crab. Tomorrow, we will go down to the Fishermen’s Shed to buy two, fresh crabs to make some more. I love it.

Saturday, 4th August, 2018

After a night in which the temperature didn’t fall below 19C/66F, the morning opened a little hazier than normal but soon reached 24C/75F and is expected to peak at 28C/82F this afternoon. We went out early to walk by the seaside and buy a couple of crabs from the fisherman’s shed. Families were already arriving and setting out their pitches on the beach. Many looked as if they were there for the day with chairs, tables, umbrellas and cool boxes. Children were charging down into the sea with gay abandon that only the young can exhibit.

Littlehampton Crabs – 2 for £16.00/€18.00

Instead of destroying the kitchen, we will take all the meat out of these crabs outside in the garden where we can afford to make a mess. It will be quite enjoyable to work on them in the sunshine.

Sunday, 22nd July, 2018

Week 500. You have to admit, it demonstrates perseverance/obduracy at the very least. I was pondering on this tangentially this morning. I do tend to commit myself to things. Since 1984, I have bought Honda cars. I have been an IHG member for many years and collected many ‘points’ and ‘free’ hotel rooms over that time. I became hooked on Greece, in general, and Sifnos, in particular, over a period of 35 years. Currently, we have been using hotels from the Accor Group and it has been causing me a bit of angst and a sense of betrayal. I’ve been trying to analyse what it is about my character that leads me into this enjoyment of continuity.

I would like to say that I had the answer but I don’t. I certainly don’t give in easily. If I’m in a fight over something, I will not stop until I’ve won or it is absolutely obvious that I can’t. I am incredibly loyal to people who gain my trust but cut them dead immediately if they betray me. The Blog began to help me record my life and shore up my memories for the final 20/30/40 years (perm any number) and has become a friend in itself. I feel totally committed to it. It will be lovely (for me at least) to begin Week 1000 in 2028 when I am 77 years old and, who knows, Week 2000 in 2048 when I am 97 although I won’t be holding my breath even if I’ve still got some.

Le soleil se lève sur le lac asséché ce matin.

This morning, we woke up in our room in the Novotel (Accor Group) Limoge Le Lac – which was still minus Le Lac this morning. We had a wonderful breakfast, returned to our room to download our copies of The Sunday Times and prepare for our journey to Orléans. We loved the Limoges hotel and were reluctant to leave it but we’d booked ahead for the next three nights so couldn’t do anything other than leave.

Betrayal but Irresistible!

Our journey to Orléans on this gorgeous, warm and sunny morning was really enjoyable. Just 2.25 hrs of smooth and quite quiet motorway through almost totally empty countryside. Our French hotels are so civilised and check-in time is midday which suits us well. We arrived at our Mercure (Accor Group) Hotel but not before being pushed all around the city centre by road works and diversions that threw our sat.nav. into paroxysms of despair.

We arrived, were provided keys for our room which I insist must be at or near the top so it is quiet with good views. A caveat to that is the availability of a lift and I have slightly questioned the principle after Grenfell. However, that specification is in my membership account ‘preferences’ and I haven’t got round to changing them. Eating a hotel Breakfast in Limoges has left us absolutely podged for the day so we didn’t book the restaurant. We have rested with our newspapers, a glass of white wine and some gorgeous pistachio nuts. We need rest because, tomorrow, we will ‘do’ Orléans.

Monday, 23rd July, 2018

Woke up in a different hotel room and had to find the toilet in the dark. In the previous, Limoges hotel, the bathroom and toilet were separate. I had just learnt that and we moved on. This early morning, I nearly ended up stark naked in the corridor.

Dignity saved for now, we made tea and listened to BBC Radio 4 Today. Before going down to Breakfast, I got dressed. Once bitten ….Hotel Breakfast is judged by the quality of the scrambled eggs and this hotel passed the test reasonably well. Freshly squeezed orange juice is my other test and here it was passed with flying colours. Can’t be doing with hotels that provide ‘long life’ juice from packets/tins.

We ate our breakfast by the side of the pool in lovely sunshine. There were three GB cars in the carpark and near to our table was a family of parents and two, under-fives who were learning all the words of breakfast items in French. They hardly knew them in English. At least Nutella didn’t over reach them. At my age, drinking orange juice, tea and coffee at breakfast has to be followed by a period of rest and renewal before I can venture in to the world inspite of France’s reputation for easy access to public toilets. It gives me an excuse to read my newspaper in peace before setting out to explore the town and its shops.

Would you believe it. Monday is half day opening in Orléans and the shops don’t open until 2.00 pm. We walked in 31C/90F temperatures …. to look at the cathedral. Actually, it is magnificent and infuriating in equal measure. It’s magnificence is infuriating because, when one thinks of the lives consumed in the incredible effort to build that structure and the dwellings they must have lived in set against the cathedral’s edifice, the central futility of the project is laid bare. It is for ‘ruin-bibbers’, as Philip Larkin described us, to walk round on a sunny morning before the shops open and little else.

Tuesday, 24th July, 2018

Sunrise over the cathedral & roofs of Orléans.

Up early. We have a 4.5 hr drive to Coquelles this morning. We are going to endeavour to stay on the Paris ring road and avoid the centre of the city this time. I’ve seen enough of the Arc de Triomphe for a lifetime. It doesn’t matter how long we’ve been away or how much we’ve enjoyed ourselves, by this stage, we really look forward to getting home. We have one night in Coquelles and then some shopping to do in the hypermarkets of Calais before we go through the Tunnel tomorrow.

Absolutely delightful drive avoiding the Parisian tourist sights but going close to Arras, the home town of a boyhood friend of mine from Grammar School. No problems. No incidents. Smooth driving on clean, clear motorway. As we drove into the grounds of our hotel in Coquelles, the first thing that struck us was the colour of the grass. When we
stayed there 5 weeks ago, everything was green and vibrant. Today, the grass is a brown and dry mat. The temperature is 31C/89F and humid. Rather uncomfortable. We have a suite in the hotel. We use it so often that we even specify the number now.

We shopped for things and then returned to our suite and laid out a buffet of tasty bits – tomatoes, cucumber, Salmon Pâté, Scallop or Saint-Jacques Pâté, Serrano Ham and a bottle of red wine. We relaxed and read our newspapers, watched the UK news and breathed out. Tomorrow, we will do a weekly shop and then go through the tunnel and drive back to Sussex.

Wednesday, 25th July, 2018

When you’re on your way home, you just want to get on and get there. Well, that’ s how we are. Up at 6.00 am on a hot and sticky morning. Showers and down to breakfast. Nice scrambled egg but the orange juice is not freshly squeezed. It will be tomorrow! Coffee in our suite with the BBC Radio 4 ‘Today’ programme and then out to the hypermarket. No wine this time just groceries. Auchan had loins of swordfish (Espadon) and we bought 10, large steaks. We also put 16 duck breasts in our trolley. When we thought we could fit no more in our car’s fridge, we stopped.

It is school holidays and we thought the tunnel would be busy. It was quite the reverse. Perhaps people really are taking their holidays at home. We have never seen the Tunnel car park so quiet.

Our car began to think it was superior as it sat in splendid isolation. We listened to the radio and logged in to the Tunnel’s Wi-Fi while we waited for our train. By 1.00 pm (UK time) we were off and into Kent. The drive back was quiet and enjoyable. The temperature outside was 31C/90F but inside it was 17C/63F. That’s the sort of temperature I like to drive in. It keeps me alert.

Back home, we were shocked to find the lawn was brown. When we left it was a lush green. Fortunately, all our pot plants – herbs mainly – were fully grown. There is so much Basil that it will take Pauline most of tomorrow to make Pesto and freeze it. I had set the heating system for ‘Holiday Setting’ which is ‘frost free only’. Unfortunately, very early on in our absence, there was a local power cut and the heating reverted to default settings which meant that the water was kept hot throughout the five weeks we were away. It also reset the burglar alarm. Still, these are things I will consider and address for next time.

Thursday, 26th July, 2018

I was up at 6.oo am. I will be for a while because I am slow to move out of Central European Time. The watering system that I moved to the figs and olive trees has completely revived them so I am now on a non-stop campaign to bring the lawn back to health. At 6.30 am, I was turning on the watering system for a long day of treatment.

No breakfasts now – just freshly squeezed orange juice, tea and coffee. It’s not a problem. I did find breakfast difficult to eat and it made me feel lethargic for quite a part of the morning. Having my hair cut by my wife because it has really grown over the past five weeks. I’ve then got all sorts of jobs to catch up on. I’ve got investment accounts that need renewing/replacing. I have to update our power supply contracts which run out in a fortnight. I have to organise the new smartphones that EE are desperate to give me to keep our business.

We do everything finance-wise on line. While we’ve been away, using insecure Wi-Fi, I haven’t been able to access our accounts. This morning, Pauline is checking and bringing our bank and credit cards accounts up to date. The credit card is one long list of tolls paid and ‘non-sterling transactions’ to accompany them. Most of our spending was in euros to avoid these charges but, at the peage, a credit card is much easier and quicker.

French & Italian Peage. What Fun!

There is a pre-pay system which we may set up for our next, European drive.

The basil was so strongly grown over the past 5 weeks that we decided to capitalise on it immediately before it turned to seed. There is so much herb that Pauline needed a kilo of Parmigiano-Reggiano and of pine nuts before we could start. After a trip to the supermarket for pesto constituents, we harvested the sweet, Italian Basil plants and Pauline set to making the Pesto. I set the watering system up to slake the thirst of the front garden, the pot plants and then the back garden and, particularly, the lawns. I will have them back to their best before we fly to Athens in a few weeks time.

Friday, 27th July, 2018

A very warm and sticky night. If this sort of temperature becomes a feature of our climate, we are going to have to make changes – ceiling fans or air conditioning units in our bedrooms. The main problem is that we have bought a new-build property because of its most up to date insulation qualities. Our use of the central heating is kept to a minimum. However, those qualities are exactly the ones that militate against keeping it cool in the hot weather. Should have thought of that!

Crab fishing from Littlehampton Marina.

I was up at 6.15 am and had the sprinkler system on the lawn working flat out shortly afterwards. I left it on as we went out to shop at Tesco, Sainsburys and Waitrose. We also went to Littlehampton Marina to the fishermen’s shed to buy crab.

My wife went fishing for crabs.

Actually, we bought crab and sea bass. The crab will be mixed with cod loin and some thick yoghurt and herbs, which we bought in Tesco, to make a crab-flavoured, fish Pâté.

Tomorrow, we will make the next batch of Pesto and then the Basil will be fed and watered and persuaded to put on growth for at least one more cutting in mid-September after we come back from Greece. We will also harvest three pots of Oregano, two pots of Tarragon and the Chives. It’s going to be a busy Saturday.

Saturday, 28th July, 2018

The day has started off bright but fresher and breezy. We are around 22C/70F with a strengthening breeze that is bringing screaming gulls in from the shore. All around us, farmers are starting to move straw bales to winter stores and are completing their harvesting of grain. It is still only July. Farmers will all be going on holiday at this rate. It is harvest weekend for us too. Today, we made the second cutting of our herb pots with realistic prospect of at least one more to come.

My job was Oregano…

….. and Tarragon…

Pauline did the Thyme and made the Basil Pesto.

Today, we harvested huge amounts of sweet, Italian, big-leaved basil and small-leaved, Greek basil. Because of its fragile nature, it was immediately combined with pine nuts, olive oil, garlic, lemon juice and Parmigiano Reggiano to make the most wonderful Pesto you will ever taste. My wife is brilliant!

Of course, I don’t get to just observe. Today, as well as the Basil, we had to crop Oregano, Thyme, and Tarragon. The Dill, which we cut before we went away, has failed to regenerate for a second crop and the Marjoram has died completely. It was my job to cut and strip the Oregano and the Tarragon. It is a laborious and time-consuming activity and I was glad when it was over. In the meantime, Pauline was stripping the Thyme and cutting the Basil.

Although the lawns are very brown, I have watered them virtually non-stop since we got home on Wednesday. Today, I cut them and fed them. We are expecting some rain over night which will help to water the feed pellets in. I am hoping to get it back to luscious green within two weeks.

Sunday, 15th July, 2018

The morning opened with claps of thunder but it soon gave way to hot sunshine and a temperature of 31C/89F. We were up at 6.15  am and out walking by 9.00 am. We tried a new route and found ourselves walking past a Pécharmant chateau. Chateau Terre Vieille or Old Land is a hidden establishment in idyllic countryside unhindered by modern life.

“Not sure why they put those pillars and gates there other than for show. If the gates were closed, which they probably never are, visitors could just walk around them.

Monday, 16th July, 2018

Woken up again by a thunder storm at 6.00 am. Apparently, they are a common corollary of the high, Summer temperatures round here. They hit phone services – both landline and mobile – plus power supplies. This morning, the power did go off for 5 mins but it soon returned and life moved on. Well, we boiled the kettle, put the radio on and downloaded our newspapers, updated our Twitter feeds, etc..

We went out for a walk around Bergerac. It has its own airport. It is a regional centre but it is just an overgrown village. We spent an hour exploring the backstreets. The French seemed to be suffering post-World Cup lethargy. Shops were opening very reluctantly. Traffic was light and parking easy. In these cities, I like to check out property shops and collect brochures to be read at leisure. Of course, I usually relate them to our Greek property owning experience. Today, I picked up an Anglophile, expat magazine.

It contains essential services provided by expats for expats. Particularly, I would have given my right arm for the following service advertised to those settling in the Dordogne. I did try to get Sky satellite feed in our Greek home. I even took my Sky box from Surrey to the house. Unfortunately, it wasn’t possible and we ended up settling for a Greek/Albanian feed which gave me Premier League football and BBC News but was still limited.

Having said all of that and even though we have loved our time here, the Dordogne would not be our choice for a foreign home. It is hard to put one’s finger on that decision but, ironically, it is a bit too parochial, a bit too pastoral and a bit too isolated for my taste as I move towards my 70s. The buildings honour the past and the standards of the past rather than meeting the exciting expectations of the modern and the future. This may well appeal to those who are old at heart but not to me.

I want modernity and the services of the modern world and value them above all else. The Dordogne and its culture seems to celebrate values that are not mine. Even the markets feature small scale, pastoral production of things that swerve the standards expected of such products produced on a national scale. One cannot imagine this process to be sustained in the long term. It harks back to a romantic view of an earlier age just as the architecture does. In spite of this, it will go.

Tuesday, 17th July, 2018

A lovely but slightly fresher morning of sun and cloud. We have five days left here until we move on. After more than three weeks setting out most mornings to explore new places, we can feel our enthusiasm moderating and a more ‘normal’ modus operandi asserting itself. This morning I am taking the rubbish bags down to the village, communal bins. We will buy fresh fish from the visiting fish ‘shop’ and we will do our 10,000 paces plus half hour swim. I have tested my own INR this morning and reported it to Worthing Hospital who will send back advice on medication levels for my anti-coagulant and the next testing date by the end of the day.

This is how I prefer to approach travel – not tourism but living somewhere else however temporarily. I like the process of researching, investigating, learning and installing the elements of my life wherever I am at that time. I still follow largely the same diet and exercise regime, follow the same internet and political news passions but set against a different backdrop. It was just so in Greece, the same here in the Dordogne and will be when I live my November in Tenerife. It actually gives me genuine pleasure pulling one life through another.

We set out for an early walk towards a village/town called Mouleydier. We walked for an hour each way in warm but not burning sunshine. It was quite delightful. We walked in bright sunshine and wooded shaded. After an hour’s walk past the most delightful but isolated, country properties, we arrived in Mouleydier – just another, interesting but ‘frozen in time’ village/town

Mouleydier Town Centre

En route, we passed one of these common acknowledgements the French put at the side of roads. This was a small, quite overgrown memorial to a 9 year old boy who died when the Germans entered and set fire to the village.

Our walk took us two hours in total by which time, I had completed my 10,000 paces quite easily but, as soon as we got back, we went straight to the pool and did a strenuous, half hour swim. It was quite delicious.

Talking about delicious. Today we had pre-boiled haricot vert (green French beans) that we bought from the village market and mixed in a fresh, tomato sauce cooked with garlic and dill. After having digested that and watched the Daily Politics, we went for another half hour swim. So, two hours walking and one hour swimming. Our reward was a meal of smoked salmon, tiger prawns and tomato salad. Absolutely wonderful. We followed it with yoghurt and fresh blackberries picked from around the grounds of the Gite.

At 8.30 this evening, the temperature is still 28C/83F. All our windows are thrown open to cool the gite. The temperature falls very slowly at night. I must admit, I didn’t realise this about the Dordogne. It certainly feels more Mediterranean than I imagined.

Wednesday, 18th July, 2018

Gloriously hot and sunny day which had hit 31C/89F by 11.00 am. We are in the 4th week of our time here in the Dordogne. This morning, we have done our lst, major shop at Intermarche. They have already latched on to our custom and we were able to use a loyalty voucher to reduce our bill by €9.61.

We leave on Sunday to drive to Orléans for a couple of nights and then on to Coquelles for a night before crossing to Folkestone on Wednesday. Here, in the Dordogne, Intermarche, holds sway but, back in northern France, Auchan and Carrefour are the dominant retailers so Intermarche will have to whistle.

Thursday, 19th July, 2018

First person to greet me this morning – after my gorgeous wife, of course – was my holiday buddy, Brian. OK, he is a snail and a snail in France but never be derogatory about snail’s pace. Brian moves like lightning. Well, Brian moves quite fast. Every morning, he is there to greet me on the front step. Every evening, he is there to wish me goodnight from the back step.

This morning is absolutely gorgeous with very strong, early sunshine from cloudless skies. We are forecast to be 33C/92F today so swimming and walking will be done relatively early so Pauline doesn’t shrivel up in the intense heat.

We are already preparing for our drive home although we don’t leave until Sunday and cross to UK on Wednesday. My job this morning is to examine two contracts that end and need to be renewed/replaced as soon as we get back to Sussex. Our dual fuel power provider contract finishes in a couple of weeks and I have virtually concluded that a new, fixed price contract with British Gas will provide me with the best, all round service for the next 15 months. I am going to also choose their offer of ‘Hive’, digital heating controls because I love innovation.

The other contract I have to resolve is our mobile phones which are complete the week after we return. We are entitled to ‘free’, new handsets and to renegotiate the terms of our plan. We expect to travel a lot in Europe over the next couple of years which the contract will cover so we like to have plenty of ‘data’ to take with us until that cross-border facility runs out if there is a transition period. Because of ‘old eyes’ we would both prefer a bigger screen and the camera is really well used now. I think I have decided on Huawei P20 Pro. It has 3 cameras including ‘zoom’ and ‘low light’ capabilities plus ‘facial’ and ‘fingerprint recognition’ unlocking. The contract is only £43.00/€48.22 per month although we will need two so £86.00/€96.44 per month. For that we each get 8Gb of data per month plus unlimited texts and calling minutes plus ‘wi-fi’ calling which is useful in our house. And, in two years, we will do it all again with a new handset. Keep you posted.

Friday, 20th July, 2018

A very warm and humid night which made sleeping uncomfortable. We have booked this Gite until Monday – 28 nights – but had already shortened that by adding an extra night on the way back in Orléans. Now we have truncated it by another day and booked a night in Limoges – the porcelain city – for Saturday night.

It splits the first leg of our return journey into two, relaxing, 2 hr. drives and assuages our feeling that we have largely exhausted this area for now. We are always like this anyway. Wherever we go and for however long – be it for 6 months or 6 days – we get itchy feet in anticipating the moving on. We recognise it in ourselves after all these years travelling and embrace our weaknesses.

Last night, we discussed the possibilities. I identified Limoges as a easy, en route possibility and searched Booking.com for hotels. I chose the 4* Novotel Limoges Le Lac. It has a pool, gym and good Wi-fi. The price for a ‘Superior Room’ with Breakfast is €177.00/£160.00 and the hotel is sited on the banks of Lake Uzurat. Check in & out by 12.00 pm. Ideal for one night. We will leave on Sunday for another 2 hr drive to Orléans and two nights there followed by a 4 hr drive to Coquelles on Tuesday.

Saturday, 21st July, 2018

Closed our Gite. Reclaimed our €200.00/£178.00 Deposit and set off for Limoges. It is a lovely, 2 hr drive on good motorway. Just two days ago, we had booked the 4* Novotel Limoges Le Lac. When we arrived at a really lovely hotel, we found the Lake…..completely dry. Not the weather like the UK but because work was being carried out on the ‘basin’.

View from the window of Room 436.

The only water was in the hotel’s pool which was too busy in this very warm weather for us to seriously swim. Anyway, we thought we would retreat to our hotel room and pamper ourselves with a bottle of wine and some pistachio nuts. I know, we really go for it when we let go!

How it should have looked.

We will settle back and listen to the BBC 1.00 pm News on Radio 4. It is wonderful now that Hotels across Europe realise that wifi provision is as essential and expected as bathrooms. Until recently, hotels thought they could charge for the ‘privilege’. Then they thought they would provide ‘free access’ to an impossibly slow service and charge for a provision that was actually useable. It soon became apparent that they were charging for the air their customers breathe. Now, they accept that good, reliable and useable wifi access is a taken-for-granted facility which defines their establishment. I would never return to a hotel where my internet access was compromised.

In this hotel, I am downloading pictures from my phone and editing and updating my Blog while receiving BBC Radio 4 simultaneously. I would expect nothing less.

Sunday, 8th July, 2018

What a gorgeous day in the Dordogne. How many more times can I say that over this month? We went out early before the temperature rose from 26C/79F to 32C/90F. We drove about 5 km to the village/town of Creysse – not to be confused with Cressy – which has a population of 1800 people.

It is right on the banks of the Dordogne and sleepy, green and beautiful. We walked along the river path in the shade of the trees fringing the river bank. Lots of  20ft fig trees here.

The walk was delicious at 9,00 am and, after an hour, we resisted the Boulangerie and drove back to the gite to watch Marr and then enjoy a vigorous 30 mins swim in the pool. We finished just in time to watch The Sunday Politics. It is so lovely to watch the Brextremists squirm and spit because they begin to realise that the best they can expect is BINO (Brexit in Name Only). The Left are moving towards a second vote and potential abandonment of the whole, sorry nonsense. I predicted it but we will continue to hold our breath. For those who think this is all obsessive nonsense – wait to see the effects of a full on Brexit. You will regret being a bystander!

Monday, 9th July, 2018

As the very warm and sunny weather continues, we are beginning to question the schedule we are pushing ourselves through. Even so, we went on a 40 km drive today through the bustling and busy town of Sarlat and cross country to the beautiful, Thirteenth Century, Bastide village of Domme.

Looking down from the ramparts across the Dordogne.

We parked in the carpark at the bottom of hill and got on the miniature train to be taken up to the village. We had a recorded commentary in multiple languages to listen to on the way up which was quite useful.

Domme village

The village itself was beautiful and disappointing in equal measure – beautiful because so many of the original, 700 year old buildings are still standing but disappointing because they have been turned into a tourist theme park.Pécharmant

We took the train back down and drove back to our gite where we swam the dust of the day off in the cool and crystal clear water. Pauline griddled salmon with pesto outside and we ate it with salad. We are tired tonight and are resolved to do much less tomorrow. It is the England match tomorrow and we need to do a shop. Other than that, we will relax, walk, swim and read.

Tuesday, 10th July, 2018

An easier day. Didn’t get up until 7.00 am. Wonderful fresh orange juice, tea and coffee and then out to the mobile fish trailer that comes to the village on Tuesday mornings. We came away having spent €67.00/£59.34 on sword fish steaks, tuna steaks and a side of salmon – enough to give us 4 griddled meals. On to Intermarche for other shopping like duck breasts and chicken and then back for a long swim. With the temperature settling around 30C/86F, we set off for a long walk along the local vineyards. They are vines of the  Pécharmant appellation, a local red wine.

The fields are still green after little rain and under baking sun. The air was alive with the astounding din of unseen choruses of cicadas. At least this evening would be relaxing with a chilled bottle of Pécharmant and a football match in which I am neutral.

Wednesday, 11th July, 2018

A second quiet day at the Gite. We did an early morning swim and a late afternoon swim which, together, amounted to 1.5 kms. We were both shattered after that.

The grounds of this Gite are absolutely delightful. Plum, Fig and Apple trees are interspersed with Blackberry bushes and lots of flowering shrubs. It is so green in direct contrast to our Greek property which we left exactly 4 years ago today.

We are driving over on Friday to visit my cousin, Sue, who has bought, renovated and now entertains guests in a large, village house in the village of Salles- Lavallete. I haven’t seen her for 10 years since Mum’s funeral. It will be fun to catch up.

Thursday, 12th July, 2018

Another lovely, hot and laid-back day. We went out to view a small, Bastide town called Villeréal. Another medieval masterpiece living and breathing in the 21st Century. I’m not sure how many more of these I can take. I certainly couldn’t live in one.

Town Square – Villeréal

They are interesting, some beautiful like the one today which had been seamlessly integrated into modern life but one just knows that living standards are heavily compromised by the buildings and infrastructure. Power, water supply, sewerage disposal, roads, parking all are adjuncts to the structures of 800 years ago. I think the featured cars are fairly modern.

We drove back through fields and fields of sunflowers. They have obviously been staggered sown and are now at various stages of development. I thought I’d take the cliche shot but the sun refused to move round and so did the flowers.

Back at the gite, we did a hard, 30 mins swim, did an hour long walk around the vineyards and then returned for a second swim before griddling swordfish steaks and ate them with salad. It was a truly wonderful meal. I have a feeling we will sleep tonight.

Friday, 13th July, 2018

If you were superstitious, you would have been wary this morning. We are not and weren’t. We did the 50 mile trip through the centres of Bergerac and Ribérac to visit my cousin’s B&B plus Gite in Salles-Lavalette.

Cousin Sue & (Australian) husband, Phi Tuffin.

The journey was fine and we stopped in Ribérac town to walk the market en route to our destination. It was typically bustling and colourful.

Ribérac Market.

Sue & Phil’s house is in a very relaxed village which would lull anyone to sleep. They are lovely people who also rent out bikes to cyclists to explore this wonderful landscape. They are still waiting for Ruth & Kevan to drop in.

Saturday, 14th July, 2018

View from a Gite.

Last night was hot and humid with a fiery sky. Even so, we were tired after a three hour drive and slept like logs. This morning, we have woken up still rather jaded and, as the sun and temperature rise, we have decided to stay at base and relax. Well, not exactly relax because we’ve done a hard swim and will complete our 10,000 paces with a good walk later but we will not need the car today.

View from a Gite.

Smoked Salmon Salad for lunch today plus Wimbledon and the England match. Life could be so much harder!

Sunday, 1st July, 2018

Happy July from the sweltering Dordogne.

A hot and humid night and we were up early – 6.30 am – to greet the sunrise. Freshly squeezed orange juice followed by Yorkshire Tea and a cup of coffee get me started for the day. We are going to another of those, essentially, medieval towns (villages) which has a big, all-encompassing open market on a Sunday.

The place is called Issigeac which the locals seem to pronounce EasyJack. It is only 20 mins drive away although we must have past at least 10 different wine estates en route. One can become rather blasé about the scenery after a while because it is so similar just as the little settlements are. We felt the same about Italian/Tuscan towns. I suppose, you could say the same about most, British towns.

Although we were there and parked well before 9.00 am, the market was already busy and vibrant. We walked through the first street and said to each other, “We’ll have some of those and … those and those. The most wonderful and interestingly huge tomatoes – red, orange, yellow, purple – maybe about ten, different types. Shallots, garlic and onions in the green, newly pulled stage. A little, old lady was selling her own eggs from her small holding and had pictures of her hens. I asked their names but she didn’t understand. Even so, we bought half a dozen. We also bought local strawberries (gorgeously sweet) and raspberries,  pickled garlic and delicious, green olives.

We drove back to watch the Sunday Politics show and for a swim in the pool as the temperature ramped up again. I did some jogging round the grounds to get my paces up. We cooked and ate large, shelled prawns in a tomato and garlic sauce with langoustines cooked in garlic oil. It was accompanied by griddled slices of cauliflower with lemon sauce. Absolutely delicious! Later, we went for a long walk in the countryside before watching some football.

Monday, 2nd July, 2018

Fantastic thunder and lightning show last night. Really spectacular sheet and forked lightning. It drifted away around 11.30 pm and we went to bed. I always go straight out like a light – the sleep of the just. When I woke at 6.00 am, Pauline told me she had been awake and walking around half the night because the storm had returned with even greater intensity and heavier rain. I had snored through it all. Well rested this morning, we had a problem with the internet. The hub had been knocked out by the storm.

We went out to Sainte-Alvere, about 20km away and, once again, we had chosen market day. How France manages to sustain so many small scale producers can only be through these local outlets. Even so, it must be fairly precarious. Our problem is that we seem to have been to a different market each day and can’t physically store or eat any more food however special it is.

Today we are going take it a bit easier although we will fit in two, half hour swims and a walk. We are griddling chicken thighs with salad for our meal and looking forward to the football after last nights penalty shoot-outs.

Tuesday, 3rd July, 2018

Hot and very humid this morning. In fact, our phones reported 100% humidity. We went down to our local market for fish – sword fish steaks – and artisan bread for Pauline. Back to the gite for coffee and then out on  20km drive to Perigueux. Interesting city particularly if you like cathedrals which are not my thing. Needless to say, the traffic was a Perigordian knot of its own and we didn’t stay long.

Everywhere on the drive back was beautiful. Farms to the left of us vineyards to the right all punctuated by restaurants. Don’t make me eat any more!

Back at the gite, coffee and the newspapers and then a 30 mins swim in the pool. My job then was to make a tomato sauce with huge purple and yellow beefsteak tomatoes plus a whole bulb of garlic, a massive, green shallot and some olive oil, white wine and a large bunch of dill (aneth). With these sort of ingredients, I am a genius. This sauce will be matured for use tomorrow with langoustines.

Oh, it all feels so indulgent. If we were having a holiday from a busy and pressured job, we would feel totally deserving. But we’re not. We are permanently on holiday and just moving home to the Dordogne for a while. As such, this whole experience feels incredibly fortunate. After all, we may never do it again.

Wednesday, 4th July

A quieter day today. No major excursions if you don’t count driving out to the local bottle-bank. Actually, it was very lucrative. We posted 4 plastic water bottles into the container and were given a couple of cents token to spend at Intermarche. Now what will I spend it on? Maybe a bottle of Bergerac wine. I think I’ll need to drink a lot more bottled water before I can afford that.p

Just going out for a long walk in the local countryside followed by a strong swim which will earn me the right to watch 90 mins of Prime Ministers Questions. We may go mad today and eat red meat for the first time I can remember for months. Griddled filet steak looks a possibility with shallots and mushrooms. That sounds good enough to merit a long walk.

Actually, the early evening brought a violent thunderstorm with lots of thunder claps and strong rain. The power went off just after we had washed up from our meal and made coffee. We thought it would last a few minutes. After two hours, life was becoming a bit tedious. After four hours, I was searching the boot of our car for a torch. I had one but had never used it and the batteries were corroded and useless. As the light faded to dark, the power came back on ….. and immediately went off again. Fortunately, the second coming stayed and I made coffee and turned on the television news. Bliss! Amazingly useful stuff, electricity!

Thursday, 5th July, 2018

Another lovely day although slightly cooler. By late afternoon, we had peaked at 26F/79F. We went out for a tour this morning. We intended to start with a market in Lalinde village. As we approached it and looked for parking spaces which were at a premium because of the event, the skies opened and rain poured down.

We decided not to stay but drive on to our second destination – Limeuil which is situated at the confluence of the rivers Dordogne and Vézère which feature picturesque viaducts in the village.

Last of the Summer Wine.

Limeuil itself is a delightful hamlet of potters and artists and others exploiting the water. Down on the banks at the confluence of the two rivers, a canoe school was set up and waiting for customers. Rising up above the river banks, old, honey stone buildings edged narrow streets which climbed the steep hills – defences against flooding. It reminded us of Holmfirth with sunshine. We did a long and tiring climb to the top past umpteen pottery and art shops – mostly naieve work which could capture the tourist – and restaurants which we had to struggle harder to resist.

We drove back in lovely sunshine and stopped in Lalinde where the market stalls were just packing up. There was a lot of crushed ice on the road a strong smell of fish. On to the gite and a strong swim in the pool. I was exhausted at the end of it. We cooked langoustines in tomato, dill and garlic sauce and ate it with griddled cauliflower and red pepper. Lovely day. These are experiences to be stored in the memory banks – dementia willing!

As we drank coffee, our attention was drawn to the quiet, rural lane that we can see over the fields from our kitchen. Initially, we noticed a build up of traffic. Next, a fire engine and an ambulance arrived followed by a couple of police cars. You could not find a quieter or more isolated lane but traffic does drive much faster than the 90kph/56mph limit and there had been a downpour. Big incident for a little place. Everything has its context.

Friday, 6th July, 2018

Another really enjoyable day. Humid and ‘close’ but inconsistently sunny. We did our weekend shop but indulged ourselves with walks around Carrefour, Netto and Intermarche. We also looked round Brico (B&Q equivalent) which had house and garden hardware. Recently, we visited the market in Eymet. Today, as we walked round Netto, we noticed a jar of simple pâté de campagne made by 4th generation family producers in Eymet. That became our lunch and it was absolutely delicious.

The morning produced 7,000 paces and we returned to have a strong swim in the pool before lunch. Now we are reading our newspapers before we go for a walk and return to watch World Cup matches.p

Our main meal today will be brochettes of duck breast, marinated in lemon and garlic and then griddled. As usual, we will eat it with a simple salad. While we relax for the rest of the day, we will spend the evening researching tomorrow’s trip.

Saturday, 7th July, 2018

Early morning in the heart of the Dordogne.

Up at 6.00 am to watch the sunrise out of the early morning mist around our gite. The long grass has nets of mist/condensation blanketing it but soon to be burnt off. We are going out to (another) medieval village/town. This time we will visit Monpazier about 40 mins drive away. Of course we have to be back for 4.00 pm for a particular event.

Our trip out was an absolute joy. In baking sun, we entered the cool shade of this medieval town. It is hard to believe that people still live, move and have their being in this ancient place. It is billed as ‘the most beautiful town in France’ and who could argue with that sobriquet?

Astonishing constructions for covered walk ways from 700 years ago. Cool, dark and protected from the weather.

We spent a lovely morning exploring the past in the present and then drove back via Beaumont du Perigord which turned out to be a ‘mini-me’. one becomes rather blasé after a while.

Back at the gite, we had a strong, 30 mins swim and then went out for an hour’s walk through the woods as the cicada orchestra almost deafened us with its enthusiasm. Back from our walk, we were in time to watch England beat a disappointing Sweden 2-0. After showers, we griddled swordfish steaks outside and ate them with salad and an ice cold bottle of Bergerac Sauvignon. What a lovely day. We say that so often these days that we realise how lucky we are. It is after 8.00 pm (CET) but still 32C/90F. It’s going to be a sticky night.