Sanders Blog

15th May, 2016

Came down to the mild and delightful smell of beeswax in the Kitchen/Family Room. Our huge and heavy dining table came from Lithuania via Oldham in Lancashire. It is made from reclaimed wood and seats eight diners with plenty of elbow room. The wood has dried out a bit in transit and storage and needed some wax.

Pauline, who does all things practical, was girding her loins to spend a couple of days rubbing a tin of beeswax in to the wood and then another couple of days, rubbing it off. After considerable research, she found this tin of liquid wax that just had to be ‘painted on’ with a brush and left to soak in for an hour. Because of this, she had time to give the table three coats of liquid wax, leaving an hour in between each coat and still serve our meal on it in the early evening.

I had the hard job of putting pictures up on the wall. I call it the pre-Alzheimer’s prescription. I put up the framed photos of all our houses and, in doing so, bring all the memories of other decades flooding back. I put our academic certificates up on the wall in the Office and it immediately sparked a conversation of the late nights of essay writing we both spent completing our degrees and of the long periods of time I spent in the Manchester Library rotunda researching my Masters thesis which Pauline typed up on our Amstrad PCW with the dot-matrix printer taking noisy hours to print out.

It has been a source of amusement to those who have known me over the years that I have a very poor memory for the most simple things. I can remember whole chunks of poetry that I learned when I was 18, the central thrust of Rene Descartes’ Meditations on First Philosophy  which I studied when I was doing my BA more than 40 years ago and the arguments addressed in Ferdinand Tönnies : Gemeinschaft und Gesellschaft or the thread of The History of Trade Unionism, 1666-1920, by Sidney and Beatrice Webb, both of which were my summer holiday reading on a Greek beach in 1985.

What I can’t remember, is how to get to B&Q from my current home even though I have been there five times in the past month. I couldn’t remember how to get my wife to my Family home to meet my Mother 35 years ago. Thank goodness for Sat. Nav.. I can never stray too far from the car because I have no memory of where I parked it. Pauline & I maintain synchronised, on-line calendars so I can keep tabs on the week’s/month’s events. I keep this Blog as a form of aide memoire. As TS Eliot, in The Wasteland, says:

These fragments I have shored against my ruins.

My framed photos on the walls do the same for me.

16th May, 2016

Gloriously sunny day. We are full of the joys of life. Up early and on with jobs. Our to the Post Office to pick up a parcel and post a letter. Back for coffee and then lawn mowing for me and cleaning for Pauline. I followed my job with pressure washing the drive to get rid of the residue of builders’ mud. All of this was done in strong, hot sunshine.

We griddled salmon steaks outside and ate them outside with Greek Salad in the sunshine. The bedroom furniture fitters are due before 8.00 am tomorrow so we are tidying the rooms up for them. Four days of work should see the job done and we can get on with a normal life.

Just to underline our lucky escape from Sifnos island is the confirmation by KTG of the:

Scrapping VAT deductions on the islands:  Sweeping price increases in goods and services are expected on the islands (Syros, Thassos, Andros, Tinos, Karpathos, Milos, Skyros, Alonnisos and Sifnos) as of 1. July 2016, as the VAT deduction of 30% will be scrapped.

This is in addition to all the other increases:

Value Added Tax rise from 23% up to 24% as of 1. July 2016
Fuel prices: Hikes in special consumption tax
Beer: retail price will be increased
Cigarettes, e-cigarettes, tobacco: special fee: estimated30-50 cents per package
Phone land lines: additional fee of 5%
Cable TV: an extra fee of 10%
Hotels & Rooms To Let: A special fee will be added on accommodation bills

It is going to make islanders feel that they are living their lives under siege – a siege waged by Germany against this tiny nation. With 60,000 or so migrants camped out around the country and islands, life will not be comfortable this summer.

17th May, 2016

The bedroom fitter arrived at 7.30 am on a dry, sunny and fairly mild May morning. He has four rooms to install wardrobes with internal furniture as well, dressing table runs, bedside cabinets, etc.. It feels like a tall order to us but he seems confident. He is a local man – from near Brighton – employed by the Lancashire company.

While the fitter is working, I’m looking at storage shelving for the garage. I get all the ‘sexy’ jobs. Heavy duty, metal staging is what we need. I have to store car products and tools. I’m not quite sure why because, although I’ve got every tool under the sun neatly stored in three, graded-size tool boxes, I have little idea and zero confidence in using them. Still, a man has to do….

18th May, 2016

We’ve got rain and it feels lovely. We’ve hardly seen any for months. At least I got the lawns cut on Monday but they are really growing fast. Of course, it is new-ish turf so that may explain its vigour. According to the forecast, we will have some rain today and a bit more tomorrow so the garden will be expressing its gratitude.

We have the bedroom fitter working on bedroom 2 today and I’m watching The State Opening of Parliament and The Queen’s Speech on television. It is going to be a policy-lite speech because it is taking place against the backdrop of the European Referendum which is still quite close and will see the prime minister  leave if the vote takes us out. Even if it is close, he may have to go because the governing party is stuffed full of euro-sceptics who will demand a new formulation. Farage has even suggested that, if the vote is narrowly to stay, another referendum will follow on its heels. This is brilliantly illustrated in today’s cartoon in The Times.

19th May, 2016

We’ve moved to a small village which is clearly skilled at one thing at least – growing wisteria. So many of the brick & flint walls of cottages here are clad in abundantly flowering wisteria. We have never seen it so vigorous and successful. It is absolutely lovely right now.

The bedroom fitter is completing day 3 of 4. He is fitting out wardrobes, bedside tables and a dressing table in bedroom 3. Tomorrow he will complete Pauline’s ironing/sewing room. The furniture components have all been produced and prepared in Oldham,  – which was featured on Radio 4 yesterday as the most deprived town in England – boxed up and shipped down here. Our garage has become increasingly full of cardboard and off-cuts of wood as the days have progressed. Today, I have filled the car boot with rubbish and we have driven off to the communal tip to dispose of it. Two more trips should do it over the weekend.

20th May, 2016

A delightfully sunny and warm day. The bedroom fitter arrived at 7.00 am for the fourth consecutive day and worked solidly until 3.00 pm without a break. By this time, he had completed the fitting of all four bedrooms, cleared out his tools , vacuumed each room and left for his drive home to Brighton. For his four days work, we paid him £850.00/€1100.00. For the bedroom furniture, we paid an additional £11,000.00/€14,300.00. Everything is now done and we have our house back. We were left with a garage full of packaging and off-cuts which I packed in to the back of the car. We drove to the local waste disposal site and dumped it. The site is staffed with a great team workers of  who are keen to help people carry waste materials from their cars and put them in to the correct bins. It is all so easy and convenient.

We came home via Tesco supermarket where we bought a side of salmon, 4 sea bream fillets, a kilo of calamari and some cod loins. It’s going to be a fishy few days.

21st May, 2016

Up early on a rather overcast but warm morning. Loaded up the car with the last, remaining off cuts of wood from the bedroom fitter and drove to the local waste tip to dump it. At last the garage can get back to an empty state and the car can be put away. After leaving the tip, we drove 3 miles on to Climping Beach. It is a lovely, natural area with gorgeous, old houses clad in wisteria and leading down to a shingle beach which is quiet and lovely to walk on. Now that our house is in full working order and most deliveries have arrived, we can spend time exploring these places before we set off for Europe.

Came home to put some more pictures up and finish tidying the garage. I am going to fit two shelf racks for storage at the back of the garage and can now seriously think about ordering them. A reader of the Blog contacted me with a suggested supplier and that is the one I am going to go with.

8th May, 2016

Up at 6.30 am after a very warm night. Opening up the conservatory doors to allow the sunshine straight into the family room, the temperature was already reaching 20C/68F. After fresh orange juice and tea, we celebrated the start of the new week by driving to the Littlehampton Waste Disposal site to get rid of all the cardboard and wood generated by our unpacking and garage clearance.

I was re-reading my Blog from this time two years ago and found that we were starting the same process but in reverse in our Greek house. We had already agreed the sale but had to keep it quiet. We knew that we wouldn’t be taking much back to Surrey with us in the back of our car. We arranged to sell or leave all the furniture and fittings. Things like Kitchen and Dining equipment, pictures, televisions, computers, etc.,  were given to friends and helpers. Still that left a huge amount to be got rid of and we had to do that without drawing attention to ourselves. Almost every morning, we would get up early and make a trip down to the communal bins or up to the waste tip to dump unwanted items. We didn’t want to compromise our sale in any way by indicating its imminence. The plan worked, thank goodness.

I found space in the car for The House for Sale sign which I thought would be a good memory. This week, it will go up in our downstairs Office on the wall with framed photos of all the houses we have lived in together throughout our marriage.

It is still light at 9.00 pm and extremely warm – 23C/73F, close and sticky. The temperature has reached 27C/81F today. We sat outside for an hour or so to eat our meal and had to put the sun canopy up to beat off the sun. The winter and summer duvet covers have been changed – from 10 tog to 3 tog – and I will still probably sleep on top of it. The changing year has suddenly crept up on us. Still light at 9.00 pm.! You wouldn’t get that in Greece.

9th May, 2016

Up at 7.00 am on a warm and windless morning although the forecast was for the arrival of rain. After breakfast and a few minutes reading The Times, I was outside with the Henry vacuum cleaner, a glass spray and a leather cleaner spray working on the car’s interior. We can’t believe that we’ve kept it for nearly 4 years and already done 27,000 miles. We have never done anything like that before. Actually, the car has been an excellent one in spite of having crossed Europe four times in its life, and is still ‘nearly new’. We will trade it in sometime during the Summer and buy a new, slightly updated model which will cost something like £35,000.00/€44,000.00. If we keep it the same length of time, our next new car will see us approaching 70!

After a quick cup of coffee, I was out again mowing the lawns. I’m so pleased that I forked out for a rechargeable, cordless mower. It is so liberating. I fly around the lawns and cut 160 m² of grass in under half an hour. It is left striped but green and luscious. What more could you want?

It is a sultry evening. As I write at 10.00 pm, the temperature in the Office is 26C/79F. We are still casting around for furniture for the lounge. The bedroom furniture is being delivered on Thursday and fitted throughout next week. Our fitter has texted to say he will come and fit the bathroom furniture, which is clogging up the garage, towards the end of the week. Hopefully, by June, we will almost be at stasis and ready to go away. What will we do when this house is sorted. We’ll have to sell it and start another.

Ta Nea reports today under the headline:

Εξοδο της Ελλάδας από το ευρώ ζητούν οι Γερμανοί Φιλελεύθεροι
(German Liberals seek exit of Greeks from the Euro.)

The German Liberal Party argue that the only way forward for Greece is through a ‘haircut’ accompanied by leaving the Euro (however temporarily) and a deep devaluation. Economically, it is the only way they will dig their way out of this hole. It will be painful but would not mean the continual downward spiral that they are currently in.

10th May, 2016

Light rain this morning at 7.00 am soon gave way to warm sunshine and 18C/65F. We had some shopping to collect and a couple of parcels to wait in for so the Leisure Centre fell off the end of the agenda. We picked up a new microwave and a deep fat fryer. We don’t use the latter much but love to eat Calamari with salad.

The microwave was ordered from Curry’s. In 1980, I bought Pauline what I thought was a dream Christmas present. It was a Phillips microwave that was a big as a house. It cost a whacking £450.00/€571.00. Now, 36 years on, this microwave cost just £110.00 Goodness knows how the comparison works when allowing for inflation over those years. – Actually, I’ve just used a Historical UK inflation calculator to calculate that our original machine would cost £2056.50/€2610.00 in today’s terms. The fryer is a plastic copy of the professional one we left in Greece. This one cost just £30.00/€38.00 and will only be used outside in the garden.

The heavy rain we were told would hit us this morning failed to materialise and, this evening, the temperature in the Office as I type this up, has reached an uncomfortable 27C/81F.

11th May, 2016

A warm but deliciously wet morning. Everything is looking green and luscious. Had to do my ‘official’ INR test this morning. As I haven’t ‘officially’ left my current doctor and registered with a new one down here, I have emailed my results to Woking Anticoagulation Dept.. Having missed a couple of days, we must get to the gym today and make sure that it coincides with PMQs at mid day. We are expecting a fitter to arrive over the next couple of afternoons to sort out the bathroom furniture.

I’m rather enjoying playing with the newly discovered Historical UK inflation rates and calculator. I started teaching in September 1972. I was paid by cheque and my first one was for £60.00/€76.00. How could I forget. We had to work a month in advance before we got paid and, in order to live, I had to borrow £60.00 from Lloyd’s Bank. It took me six months to pay it off. The £60.00, of course, was take-home pay for the month. We used to calculate – as a rough guide – that we were paying 30% of our headline pay in Income Tax + Graduated Pension + National Insurance. So, my headline pay will have been circa £90.00/€1152.00 per month or £13,824.00/€17,492.00 per year. Actually, a starting salary for teachers today is significantly better although still not much at £22,244.

We have finally found and ordered a sideboard for the lounge. It seems to have taken forever. We celebrated with a lovely meal of roast cod loin, roasted field mushrooms stuffed with feta cheese and drizzled with basil oil, accompanied by roasted shallots and yellow peppers. We drank a wonderfully scented but sharp bottle of chilled white wine with the meal and the day descended in to a haze of happiness.

12th May, 2016

We decided against the stag’s head!

A busy, busy day. The bedroom furniture is being delivered this morning prior to being fitted next week. The delivery is pre-timed for 7.00 – 9.00 am. We have strict instructions to clear the rooms before they come. As we’ve only got beds in them, there is little to do. We already have wardrobes in Bedroom 1 and are having dressing table and bedside tables built in. In the other three bedrooms, wardrobes, bedside tables and dressing tables are being fitted. It is a huge lorry load that arrives. It was wet over night so Pauline has fitted covers over the carpet all the way upstairs and in to the rooms.

The lorry arrived at 8.00 am. It was dry and warm outside. Two men – one Polish – began to do the trek from the lorry to the bedrooms with each item labelled and numbered. We have already been told that it will take four full days to fit so the amount of stuff coming in is not so surprising. It has taken them over an hour to unload. Now we have to do the weekly shop. Life for we high flyers is unbounded.

Talking about high flyers, we have met and received at our house so many good people doing so many fairly ordinary jobs (albeit ones I could/would not do) but who have good Honours Degrees. The man who delivered and fitted my British Gas Smart Meter had a 2:1 Honours Degree in Hospitality & Recreation from Birmingham. The lad who came to screw bathroom furniture on the walls has a Physics Degree from Bangor. The lorry driver who delivered and fitted our Office furniture had a degree. The electrician who fitted our media distribution points had a degree. Of course all education is essentially rewarding but, if you end up with a developed mind which fails to be stretched at work, it runs the risk of frustration and dissatisfaction. Not only that, you also end up with a large debt. An excellent cartoon last week depicted an old man celebrating his 80th birthday and asking his wife: What to pay off first – the mortgage or the student loan? It may be funny but it could be accurate.

13th May, 2016

Friday 13th – Unlucky for some. Let’s hope it’s not for Pauline. She’s going to Toni & Guy in Worthing to have her hair cut. She would have to take the train to London to find a Vidal Sassoon salon which she would prefer but is hoping this will do. Failing that, we may have to fly to Athens. She really likes her hairdresser there. I am being given an hour or so to explore the Worthing shops and, maybe, even the sea front. We have four days ‘free’ before the next wave of work begins. On Tuesday, the bedroom fitters will be in for the rest of the week. We are hoping we can be confident enough to leave them while we go to the Leisure Centre each day but we’ll have to ply them with coffee and biscuits.

Now the bulk of our spending on the house is done, – We have a few lamps and side tables for the Lounge to find. –  I am turning my attention to replacing the car. It’s on its way to 4 years old and has done 27200 miles/43775 Km. I have been told that it is currently worth £14,500.00/€18,500.00. The new one will cost me £35,000.00/€44,500.00 so I will need to make up £20,000.00/€25,500.00. I have always bought from the same dealer and the same salesman in Huddersfield since 1984 – usually each year until retirement. Even after moving south, I returned to Yorkshire to replace my car although not as frequently. This time, I will probably buy & sell on-line for the first time. I feel quite disloyal but it is hard, economic sense.

Delightful morning in Worthing. walked down to the beachside and the pier and then did some shopping while Pauline had her haircut. She booked the Manager and he turned out to be ‘Sassoon’ – trained. She was delighted with his skill so we may be alright for a year or two now. It only cost £60.00/€76.00 as well so it was win-win for me. The weather was hot and sunny although the headline temperature was only 22C/70F. It was humid which made it feel hotter.

14th May, 2016

Quite a change in temperature today although still sunny. Yesterday, 22C/70F and very humid. Today 14C/57F with a chill in the wind. We were warned that there was a possibility of frost in the North.

Every property we have lived in has been photographed, framed and put on the wall of the next one. Our Office is stuffed full of a desktop computer, 2 laptops, a scanner, 2 laser printers, a label printer, 2 iPads, 2 Kindles, a Sky box and television, an internet hub, a smart meter monitor,  2 desks, 2 filing cabinets, a cupboard, a book case and 2 computer chairs. Not wishing to leave any bare walls, I’ve now put up our previous homes including our Greek house Sale sign.

The Office is somewhere we spend a lot of our time. I am Blogging, website designing, and writing while Pauline is doing the day to day accounts, shopping and corresponding. We have always had this sort of facility in all homes – including the Greek one – as well as at work. It is important to me to have designated thinking and writing space.

Talking about Greece, it’s economy shrank 0.4 % in the first quarter compared to the last three months of 2015. In addition, House transactions in Greece are grinding to a standstill in 2016. The first few of months of 2016 find residential property sales in even worse shape than last year, according to the Bank of Greece.

1st May, 2016

Καλό μήνα

New week, new month. Happy May to all our readers and a special Καλό μήνα, καλό Πάσχα to our Greek friends. We have got a beautifully clear and sunny sky and I am having my hair cut in the garden by my beautiful wife. I’m not terribly keen on sitting still so long so my face will begin to look like this rabbit’s before she’s finished.

It has been a lovely, warm day. My hair has blown away across the garden. I hope it will form the basis for some bird’s nest – preferably a robin. Roast chicken and root vegetables for our meal was delicious. We remember when the price of chicken made it a luxury to be eaten very occasionally in the 1950s whereas fish was fairly cheap. Now it is the opposite. Pauline still buys the best fresh chicken she can find and it certainly rewards her with excellent quality and flavour. Today a bird of 1.8kg cost £7.57/€9.70 from Tesco ‘Finest’ range. It was delicious. It will make two meals for us so is very cost effective.

Watched three Premier League matches while reading the Sunday Times this afternoon as the sunshine belted in through the open, conservatory doors. It was a strange experience not to be rooting for United to win and to feel pleasure when Leicester pulled off a well fought draw. There is little, now, that can stop them winning the title.

2nd May, 2016

Bank Holiday for many but just another day for us. We have been to David Lloyd Leisure Centre to sign a 12 month contract. It will cost us £129.50 per month. That is for ‘off-peak’ usage which suits us fine. We will use it 5 days per week and concentrate on the gym, pools and health spa. There is an on-site hairdresser and beauty treatment centre which Pauline may use and a restaurant/café with televisions and Wi-Fi which will be useful. There are also lots of ‘free’ classes which Pauline may book up for like ‘Zumba’.

Built-in obsolescence is a terrible thing – as I keep reminding my wife. I’ve had a simple but efficient scanner for a few years. Suddenly, with the recent upgrade of Windows 10, it has ceased to work and there is no new driver for it available. I’ve been looking for a new scanner. Cannon, which makes my current machine has produced an identical model but with an updated driver and they will charge me £50.00/€64.00 for the privilege of using it with the new Windows. Even so, I’ve ordered one to pick up tomorrow at Currys/PCWorld.

3rd May, 2016

Lovely, sunny, cloudless day – rather mirroring the mood of the people of Leicester. We have a little man coming round to do some work this afternoon so we feel rather ‘confined to Barracks’ while awaiting his appearance. Tomorrow, we have our ‘induction’ at the Leisure Centre by our ‘personal trainer’. Sounds fun!

Today our new sideboard was delivered. It had come all the way from Spain and we had waited for weeks. The deliverers unpacked it in our lounge and ….. it was damaged. We couldn’t believe it. We paid £650.00/€821.00 six weeks ago and waited with rising anticipation. To find it damaged and have more time to wait is unbearable. Our dilemma is that we looked for a long time before choosing it and failed to find anything else we liked more. We are reluctant to go back to the drawing board but not prepared to wait much longer.

4th May, 2016

On this gloriously bright and sunny day, we both woke up early and turned and said to each other, “We need to go back to the drawing board.”. I had my orange juice and then emailed the suppliers to tell them to refund £650.00 to our account and collect the damaged sideboard. They replied immediately saying the refund would be made but it was cheaper for us to donate the sideboard to a charity which is what we will do. We will now look for a replacement. We are deliberately focussing on modern, slightly quirky, maybe designer in their use of materials. I wonder what you think of these:

Alright, perhaps they’re not your cup of tea but they seem right for a new-build house. The only problem is that they are not viewable in store. They are all internet-only companies.

Did our induction session at the Leisure Club this morning and came home and grilled chicken and shallots outside in the sunshine. Life is definitely good at the moment.

5th May, 2016

Glorious, glorious, glorious morning on the Sussex coast. At 7.00 am, the newly mown lawn was bathed in warm sunshine and the temperature was 11C/52F. We are looking for 21C/69F today moving towards 24C/75F by Sunday. It’s going to be an enjoyable few days.

Jobs this morning include a trip to Currys PC World to collect my new scanner and then in to Tesco next door for the weekly shop. Back for coffee and then out to the Leisure Centre for a work out and swim. I think we will use the outdoor heated pool today in this sunshine.

Great session at the Leisure Centre timed to coincide with the Daily Politics. It is almost two months since we did a gym session and we began with some trepidation but we needn’t have worried. It was fine and very enjoyable. Admittedly, we didn’t overdo it and, afterwards, just luxuriated in the huge Jacuzzi pool. It was very enjoyable. Driving home in glorious Summer weather, we reflected on how happy we are and how reassured that we had chosen exactly the  right place to settle.

6th May, 2016

Glorious Summer’s day. Yesterday actually reached 23C/73F as we left the Leisure Centre. Today is 26C/79F in the shade in our back garden. Quite delightful! We griddled sea bass fillets on the patio and ate them with Greek Salad. We did about 90 mins. of workout and came home to relax in the sun.

Everything about the David Lloyd Leisure Centre is on a magnitude of ten compared with our previous Nuffield Health Club. The sauna is big enough to hold a party in and so hot I could manage less than ten minutes. It is less friendly and personal but it is exactly what I like. I just want to do my exercise and leave. I am not looking for community. I’ve got a wife! Tomorrow we are going to Littlehampton Marina which is about two miles away. We aim to be there in time for the fishermen landing their catches and selling it from huts on the shore.

7th May, 2016

A hot and sultry day in which we were fairly active. We worked on continuing to unpack boxes from our move. This coming week will see a lot of bathroom furniture installed – our fitter has been in Las Vegas for a couple of weeks and will need to build his cash reserves back up so is keen for extra work.

When they are installed in the three bathrooms, we can move ‘stuff’ out of boxes and into the cupboards. The newly produced bedroom furniture is being delivered on Thursday and installed the week after. We only have wardrobes in our bedroom at the moment and none in the other three rooms. They are being fitted and then each of the four bedrooms will have bedside cabinets installed and a run of dressing table furniture with chairs and mirrors. After that, I can have the bedroom televisions installed.

I’m rather glad I’m not in Greece yet. There is a general strike which will paralyse the country and, particularly, its transport system. Hope you’re not expecting to travel by ferry this weekend to an island. You better stay at home! There is a general air of gloom surrounding the security of the current government at the moment. With their arms bent far up their backs by the Germans, they are having to force through more tax rises and more pension cuts. There is something of resigned despair emanating from poor and middle class Greeks. This accompanying poster has been hijacked by the British Leave Campaign to make their own case but it has been snatched from a Reuters article in a similar vein. There is definitely a sense in the air that a new, Greek crisis might be looming in mid-Summer.

24th April, 2016

The last week of April already. Hold on to the handrail! At 7.00 am, the sky was pale and wan, as Yeats would have described it. The temperature was a cool 7C/45F. I watched the morning political slot with Andrew Marr and then we went out shopping. We had ordered a low tog – 3 – duvet and had to pick it up from Dunelm. We went on to do a large shop at Tesco next door. The supermarkets are so busy of Sunday morning. It’s enough to gladden one’s heart!

Back home in time to unpack and set up my new pressure washer. It will see use tomorrow. On to the e-Sunday Times with glorious fresh capuccino topped cinnamon sprinkle sipped while I watch Andrew Neil with the combative Dominic Raab and the obstructive Lucy Powel trying to filibuster. Of course, Raab was on for discussion of the European Referendum vote. I find myself in the most deliciously contrary position. I love Europe. I feel decidedly European. I am determined to vote to stay in Europe. However, when establishment people tell me that voting to leave will bring a plague upon my house, it makes me want to vote ‘out’. It must be the natural dissenter in my character.

25th April, 2016

All These Bits!

I am not and never have been a practical person. At Grammar School in 1962, I was required to do one-year taster courses of metalwork and woodwork. I failed in the end of term task to make a ‘pipe rack’ and I failed again in the next term’s test to make a key tag and a coat hook. In practical things then as now, I am a failure. I used to be ashamed of it. Now, I realise, I am good at thinking, writing and analysing and I am happy to rely on my wife for the practical solutions. Pauline will take hours writing a few lines to friends. I will take hours removing my new pressure washer from its packaging and trying to assemble the parts from sketchy illustrations produced by a German company.

Just look at all the bits that came in the box. The illustration doesn’t even show you that I’ve had to attach the handle and wheels already. I’m exhausted and I haven’t even assembled the gun/lance/thingy. After I had finished assembling the whole thing, I connected to our garden tap and power from the garage and proudly called Pauline out to see the demonstration. She turned the power on and I turned the water on. Before I even got hold of the gun/lance, water spouted from every orifice. It clearly wasn’t right. Pauline laughed, checked the instructions and reassembled the connector in seconds. Turning the water back on saw the whole thing work perfectly. Aren’t wives clever? Tomorrow she will let me clean the car.

26th April, 2016

A strange day of brilliant sunshine and short showers including one of hail. It was never really warm – I think it reached 10C/50F. – and often feeling raw cold. In the sunny morning period, I managed to mow the lawns, and pressure wash the patio. In the cold times, we hunkered down in the house, emptying the Office in readiness for the delivery of the furniture. I had bought a cheap, stand-in computer desk while the real stuff was being manufactured and delivered.

Today, two delightful; chaps turned up in a huge delivery waggon and carried off an L-shaped corner desk unit and a straight extension desk unit, a 4-drawer filing cabinet and a 3-drawer pedestal cabinet. They brought out a full height, beech bookcase for the downstairs Office and a white bookcase for Pauline’s ironing/sewing room. The men themselves were almost as interesting as the furniture the were delivering. One was a Bulgarian who had been in UK for three years, taken his HGV qualification, had worked as a courier for CityLink until it went bust, worked subsequently for Hermes and was now working for Office Furniture. The other guy had lived in Worthing throughout his childhood but now lived in Manchester. This is the reverse journey that we have made. Lives are interesting and strange.

27th April, 2016

Mum has been dead for eight, long years today. Eight years! How I miss her. I remember her now. She would be very exercised by the effects of the oscillating weather on her large magnolia tree in her garden. It was her pride and joy but hugely susceptible to frost.

A wonderfully sunny morning with just a hint of light frost on the newly mown lawn. Sun streaming through the conservatory windows made the kitchen a hothouse. It got even hotter when we started to unpack and piece together our new, office chairs.

When we were young, everything seemed to come stamped with Made in Taiwan. Now, everything comes stamped Made in China. There is only one, central reason for this – The incredibly low wages paid in that country. Unfortunately, low wages do not equate with motivated workers and high quality production. If you’ve ever built an office, gas-strut chair, and I’ve built hundreds in my school days, you will know that it should be a fairly simple process with few pieces to assemble. The Chinese seem to have a knack for making it difficult. These chairs cost about £200.00 for the privilege of building them ourselves. That formed a couple of hours of our lives that we’ll never get back. Still, like the pains of childbirth, the angst has gone now we have wheeled them into our office and use has begun. Actually, I’m sure childbirth is a breeze in comparison!

28th April, 2016

Once again, we are treated to a Summer view first thing in the morning. Up at 6.45 am to clear blue skies and strong sun. Cold though and a hint of frost on the lawn and on the roofs once again. The targets for today are getting all our books on to the newly installed bookcases, tidying up the garage of all the empty boxes, visiting the local tip to dispose of accumulated cardboard and just enjoying the day.

I love gadgets and I have lots. I am what’s known as an ‘early adopter’. I must be one of the few people in the country who is delighted and fascinated by the delivery of the British Gas smart meter monitor, It is on my desk now. The house builder set us up with a British Gas Dual Fuel account from the outset and with that came an expensively commissioned smart meter monitor. We have had earlier prototypes for years. We had one in our Yorkshire house at least ten years ago but this is far more sophisticated. The government are legislating to make them compulsory under their ‘Green Agenda’.

This smart meter monitor uses the power of the internet to wirelessly communicate with the actual meter outside and with the British Gas who will no longer have to employ armies of meter readers who roam the country in all weathers trying to gain entry to old houses to read their meters or who open up the meter boxes on the outside of newer house on an annual basis. Many of us have been reading our own meters and supplying the readings for decades but all of this will fade in to the oblivion of a bright new age. Now we can work out how much boiling the kettle is actually costing us or lighting the gas hob to heat soup. On our meter, the gas consumption and electricity consumption is provided by the hour/day/week/month/year. Why we can’t compare decades, I don’t know.

29th April, 2016

Yorkshire this morning.

We had a little bit of rain last night which has freshened up the borders and the lawns but we haven’t got the view that my sister, Jane, has tweeted from her lounge window in Yorkshire this morning. It is not hot but we have the conservatory doors open to the fresh air and it is perfectly pleasant. I must say, it doesn’t make me long for Yorkshire. As we approach May, it does get close to being all wrong!

As any reader of the Blog will know, we have been buying lots of ‘stuff’ to furnish and kit out our new home. It is costing, quite frankly, tens of thousands of pounds to do – probably reaching nearly £50,000.00/€65,000.00 by the time we’ve finished. On so many occasions in the past few weeks, we have been confronted by a salesman saying that we can pay for our goods on interest-free-credit over a certain period. The weird thing is that it is impossible to negotiate better terms by paying up front. If the cost of delaying or spreading payment is built in to the price of the goods, our view has been – Although we can afford it, the money is better in our investment account than in someone else’s. As a result, the bedroom furniture – £12,000.00/€15,400.00 – will not be paid for at all until May, 2017; the  beds – £3000.00/ €3,900.00 – will not be paid for until March 2018; and so it goes on until the Lounge furniture is finally paid for in March 2020. I will be 69 by then and we’ll probably be looking to replace it.

30th April, 2016

The last day of April which here in Sussex is going out with wall to wall sunshine. Not so everywhere, however. It has been a distinctly schizophrenic season in Northern England well illustrated by this photograph put out on Faceache this morning. We have the conservatory doors open to cool down the kitchen. The temperature outside was nothing to write home about – 12C/54F – but the strong sun without a hint of a breeze made it feel so much warmer.

At last,this afternoon, we are going to sign on at the Health Club. It will be about five weeks since we were able to do specific exercise. We have had plenty of exercise but it has all been incidental as we addressed our new house issues. Next week we start the new regime – back to work! Can’t wait.

17th April, 2016

A beautifully sunny and warm day after quite a chilly night. We went out to the pharmacy in Sainsbury’s because Pauline has an eye infection again. She has had this recurring for years. She has been told it is because she has dry eyes and doesn’t make enough tears. Anyway, treatment cream purchased, we drove back and, as we were parking, met our next door neighbours for the first time. They seem very nice. One is an executive with Last Minute.Com and the other is called John like me so it will be easy to remember his name.

We have a very busy week dominated by house, house, house. Thank goodness we are retired. Actually, Pauline asked if, like her, I felt I was on holiday. Living in a new place with all the freedom of time that we have does feel like permanent holiday. Soon, however, we will sign up at David Lloyd Leisure and will go back to work. Before that, I’m going to get fit watching two football matches.

18th April, 2016

So much for living on the South Coast. We were the coldest in the country last night because we were the only ones without cloud cover. Like on Sifnos, our house here is not polluted by lights and the moon and stars were in full view. The temperature went down to 0C/32F but there was no sign of frost and the morning remains cloudless with strong sun.

We are expecting a delivery of wall furniture from the Bathstore this morning. Another £1000.00/€1255.00 for mirrored cabinets, mirrors, toilet roll holders, towel rings, etc.. A little man is coming to fit them tomorrow (hopefully) but they will go in the garage until then. Later today, an electrician will come round to install an extra spotlight over the shower so Pauline can highlight her wrinkles while washing.

Moving in to a new property, particularly a new-build property, the services are very often so up to date they need a ten year old to understand them. We have a new cordless phone system which monitors callers and allows us to filter out those we don’t want to speak to. (Note to Poison Dwarf!) There are four handsets for around the house and a setup handbook as thick as an old telephone directory. I have been putting off reading through it and setting the system up until now. All phoners in the first two weeks have been interrogated within an inch of their lives before being put through. Yesterday, I put a couple of hours aside, set up the access, set up the messaging, saved all known contacts in the address book and sat back tired but happy.

Today we are going to get to grips with the burglar alarm and, tomorrow, the intricacies of the dual heating system. For this latter, there are controls for hot water and for radiators plus separate ones for heated towel rails BUT all of these are duplicated and separate upstairs as well as downstairs. I think I can cope with today’s task. I may struggle tomorrow.

19th April, 2016

Sussex has felt like Greece over the past couple of days, not because of the weather, not because of the language but because of the αύριο (mañana) syndrome. The electrician was due on Monday – cried off until Wednesday – and the carpenter was due on Tuesday – cried off until Thursday. Mind you, our woodman on Sifnos said he would rebuild our pergola in April and arrived at the end of September so we are still doing relatively well.

Amazon have tried (or say they have tried) to deliver twice in the past couple of days but ‘failed’. We have been at home so it can only mean they couldn’t find us or couldn’t be bothered looking. I went on the Post Office website to get our address registered. It is a nightmare of complexity. I tried to phone Customer Services to find ….. it is a nightmare of complexity. From recorded message menu to recorded message menu I fumed. Eventually, I deliberately chose the wrong option just to speak to a human being. Didn’t you know, he asked laconically, that the Post Office and Royal Mail are now separate and you want them not us? I confessed I didn’t. He offered to put me through to their Customer Service thus proving they weren’t that separate at all. After 5 minutes of Vivaldi, a recorded message advised me to go to their website where I’d first started and I collapsed in a heap on the Office floor, sobbing.

20th April, 2016

Wall to wall sunshine today. I’m going to give the grass its second cut. Just in time, our brown bin for garden waste was delivered this morning. It’s collected every second week with the recycled one. Brilliant and friendly service down here. For two more days, we are stuck at home with deliveries and tradesmen calling. By Friday, we will be ready for a trip out to Surrey.

The electrician arrived at 10.30 am and, in under 15 mins, ran a spur from the main light in the Family Bathroom to above the shower, installed a ceiling spotlight and left. At no time did he turn the power off. How did he do that? At 12.00 pm, the Blind Man arrived and fitted full length – wall to ceiling – blinds across the conservatory windows.  Within an hour and £550.00/€700.00 later, he had finished and disappeared into the sunshine.

We have been having an ongoing struggle with Amazon for a few days. For the third, consecutive day, a delivery driver from Brighton said he had tried and failed to deliver our parcel. He hadn’t even tried. He was Polish and probably paid a pittance but that is no excused for fraud. We complained for the third time to Amazon who gave the driver hell and, an hour later, he found us. Amaze balls! We had ordered three light shades. Two were Murano Glass and perfect. The third was plastic and horrible. It is going back immediately.

21st April, 2016

Up early and DISASTER. My e-copy of The Times wouldn’t download./ After deleting the app and resetting my iPad, I resorted to old technology and phoned the newspaper. They had been inundated with calls after updating their app over night. Within ten minutes it was fixed and I was happily reading over my fresh orange juice. Calm restored.

A busy day saw us out at 9.00 am to Rustington to return the rubbish lampshade to Amazon. This is incredibly easy and the money was already refunded to our card account before we handed over the parcel for return. We went on to a bank where we have ISAs to change our address. It required our passports for that. Rustington turns out to be a delightful place with lots of lovely shops and restaurants. We went into the delightful Waitrose there and bought dressed crab for tea. Driving back, Pauline told me that Asda were selling the washing gel she uses for the washing machine at less than half price. I told her we would corner the market and bought six bottles which saved her £27.00/€35.00 and, with the two bottles she’s already got, will last her a year.

I went on to Argo to purchase a pressure washer and extension hose so I can clean the car myself instead of paying £10.00/€13.00 every couple of weeks. The washer and hose came to about £150.00/€190.00 which wasn’t bad. Thirty of cleaning the car myself and I’m in profit and I need the exercise. By the time we got home, however, I was tired and decided the car could be cleaned later in the week.

We ate dressed crab and fresh prawns with tomato and cucumber salad. We shared a lovely bottle of chilled claret on a day which got so hot for April. We reached 19C/66F with glorious sunshine. Tomorrow we are driving up to Surrey. It is bound to be cold and raining!

22nd April, 2016

Set off for Surrey at 9.00 am on quite a grey, cold morning. Drove to Chobham to collect the arm of a leather chair we were having restored by a firm there for P&C. Drove on to visit them and stay for a couple of hours of chat then home. We haven’t been in Surrey for a month and the change – bushes and trees now in flower and full leaf is quite extraordinary. Woodland carpeted with bluebells were just magical. Oak trees in their fresh, early ochre leaf colour automatically appear harbingers of full blown summer. By then, our house will be completed and we will be on our travels. That is something to look forward to.

No longer will I have to look forward to receiving my State Pension. Today, I officially became and Old Age Pensioner. I am a proud man!

23rd April, 2016

A quiet day of consolidation at home. I have been rationalising investment accounts as ISAs mature and need my attention. As a savings vehicle, they are becoming increasingly less important now we all have an investment interest free sum of £1000.00 per year per person or £2000.00 per married couple. With interest rates hovering around 1.3%, it takes quite a bit of capital investment to breach the £2000.00 barrier. We will roll our ISA funds over but not take out any more because ‘open’ funds currently offer a marginally better rate. What hurts is the fact that investments are maturing which have been paying 3.5% and it is almost impossible to find homes for them at more than 1.2 – 1.3% without tying them up for years Currently, I’m not prepared to do that.

Sifnos at Prayer. (Supplied by a friend.)

We have also been looking at booking our Greek travel and, in spite of the weakening of the pound, finding it cheaper than last year. There is no question but that the migrant crisis in Greece is harming the tourist trade. There is also the persistent theme of Grexit. The Greeks are being forced to raise their VAT rates and to sell off their national silver. The government is being squeezed ever tighter to raise taxes and cut spending. There are regular rumours of undertones in the governing circles that the fight is not worth the pain and that Greece should just bite the bullet and leave. This could come to a head in peak holiday time. Even though the grip of the orthodox church is ever loosening as they increasingly plead poverty, prayer is all that is left to some on Sifnos.

10th April, 2016

GTECH cordless lawnmower

The start of a new week and we haven’t been in our new house fourteen days yet. Even so, we have achieved a lot. Today, in warm sunshine, I gave our newly turfed lawn a light hair cut with my new, cordless lawnmower. The GTECH Falcon is a wonderful machine – simple and intuitive which suits me just fine. It has a three hour charge which will do 40 mins mowing. I managed to do front and back lawns in just over half an hour. The grass was rich and luxuriant from high quality turf. I just lightly trimmed it because cutting too low – scalping – encouraged bare patches and subsequent weeds. I haven’t done any lawn mowing for nearly six years and I really enjoyed it today. As we intend to travel quite a lot as soon as we are established here, I don’t intend to do anything with the garden apart from maintain the grass. I may have to get a gardener when we go travelling.

Sunday, of course, is papers day along with the Andrew Marr political morning slot and The Sunday Politics mid morning. Twitter is alive with political geeks like me welcoming politics back into our lives after the Easter parliamentary recess. Now I have Sky Sports back, I am also watching the Leicester game followed by United’s match.

11th April, 2016

If I live to 67, I’m covered.

The table was finally delivered today. We might be able to eat from it tomorrow. Sky callec and replaced my 2 TB box because it wasn’t functioning properly. We went out to buy a re-chargeable strimmer to finish off the garden. We continued to unpack boxes from the garage. Tomorrow, the carpenter will be round to put up the extra kitchen unit and do other jobs. We are almost ready to resume normal life.

Woking Borough Council were environmental stazi. Arun Council, by comparison, are pussycats. Our landfill bins are collected every week. Our recycle (What is that?) bins are collected every other week along with our Garden Waste bins. We don’t do food waste! Don’t bother about it, the lady at the Council said. We don’t take it seriously and you don’t need to. That’s the sort of philosophy we like. That’s what we’ll vote for.

12th April, 2016

Sky+ Box

It’s been an absolutely delightful day. Sunny and warm throughout the day, we have sat outside for most of it. We always set ourselves targets for the day. Mine was to tidy the garage. As it is still littered with huge plastic boxes loaded with books and dozens of framed pictures leaning against the walls, this was no mean feat. Now it is decidedly passable. Next weekend, we will be able to garage our car and assume normal life. We drove out to the shops to collect accoutrements for our bathrooms. A joiner called to say he would do a series of jobs on Thursday – adjusting our new, reclaimed wood dining table, putting up an extra kitchen cabinet and a shelf under the television in the kitchen for a Sky Box.

Jason, the carpenter, will return to install all our bathroom additions – mirrored cabinets in all three bathrooms, toilet roll holders and towel rings plus a couple of extra mirrors. Rather him than me drilling and screwing through the tiles. Pauline wants an extra light put above the shower in the Family Bathroom so that will be done. The additional bedroom furniture is about a month away and then we should be finished. What will we do to occupy ourselves?

13th April, 2016

Another gorgeous day of warm sun and blue skies. We registered 18C/65F which is not earth shattering but will do at the moment while we are busy. In Yorkshire, where the cricket season gets under way this week, they are forecasting heavy rain and sleet or snow at the weekend. We received deliveries this morning. First, at 7.30 am, a sun umbrella for our outdoor eating furniture arrived. I went out to unpack and install the umbrella into a heavy, patio base. After 20 mins, Pauline came out and if I was struggling. She knew I was. She took the pole parts from me and, before I could draw breath, I heard them click together in her tiny hands. We both broke down in hysterical laughter. Bloody typical!

At 10.30 am, a box containing ten ceiling light shades arrived and Pauline put them up. I held the ladder. I did put some coat hooks up on the back of six doors but then had to sit down in a fit of nervous exhaustion. After I had recovered, we went down to Bathstore and spent another £1000.00/€1260.00 on cabinets and wall furniture. The manager was a delightful Greek-Cypriot from Lanarca called Panos. He was very pleasant, helpful and gave us 15% discount which is the best part. We came home and ate roast salmon with roast vegetables outside in the sunshine. Life could be a lot worse.

14th April, 2016

Up early for a long and busy day. Aft tea and fresh orange juice (which Pauline is able to do for me now we are settled in our own home), I produced a list of snagging jobs for the carpenter – they were all to do with adjusting doors/door handles – all the important things of life. We had talked to the builder about extra lights in the Family Bathroom ceiling over the shower which is currently a bit dark. Within two days, he had sent an electrician down to see us and he came this afternoon to say that he will install one on Friday. The electrician was followed by the chief carpenter who was coming to do ‘foreigners’ for us.

First, our new table, bought from Oldham but made in Lithuania, needed its legs attaching to the top. I took a brief stab at it and immediately realised that I needed an expert. The expert arrived, sorted the table out in under 10 mins., put an additional kitchen cabinet on the wall complete with cornice and pelmet, put a shelf on the wall to hold the Sky Box for the kitchen television and agreed to come back next week to do some more work and left for his journey home.

15th April, 2016

We got up this morning to torrential rain. We had breakfast sitting at a Dining Table for the first time since we moved in. We are pleased with our purchases:

and life appears to be returning to civilisation. Homemade soup followed by tarragon chicken with roasted vegetables was our celebratory meal on our new table.

With so many purchases being purchased, delivered and unwrapped in the past couple of weeks, including the table and chairs, we have accumulated enough cardboard to paper the globe ( slight exaggeration) and we have already made two trips to the local refuse tip to rid ourselves of it. Today we made our third trip and the house breathed a sigh of relief. The workers at the Arun Council Refuse Site are delightful, friendly and helpful. As soon as we got out of our car, they rushed over to help carry and dispose of our rubbish.

All of this is in stark contrast to the Woking Council site where we were treated suspiciously from arrival and every item of waste scrutinized minutely and categorised within an inch of its life. Bin collections were fortnightly at best. Here in Arun Council area, general waste bins (Black) are collected every week and Recycle (Blue – Don’t bother separating it. We’ll do that for you.) are collected fortnightly. What delightful people. Mind you, we do have to pay for the service. Today we received our Council Tax Banding F for the house which levy £2387.00/ €3005.00 per year for local services. The Greeks should consider themselves lucky to be let off so lightly!

16th April, 2016

We have spent the day quietly at home reading and writing. Pauline made a lovely meal of home made soup, poached tarragon salmon and Greek salad. This afternoon I ‘ve watched Norwich lose 3-0 to Sunderland and I am hoping to see Chelsea find some pride and go on to beat Man. City.

New Peloponnese Highway which cost the EU 250 million euros

After all the bluster and bravado, the Greek newspapers are speaking about the decline in tourism last year and negative trend in bookings for this year. This is backed up by a decline by 20% in car rental bookings for this Easter. Ironically, these figures come at the very moment the new and expensively EU-financed new Peloponnese highway connecting Corinth, Tripoli and Kalamata is about to be opened. At least this won’t be used by the thousands of illegal migrants camped in the country. Pauline and I will be keen to drive it this Summer. Kalamata is on our wish list.

 3rd April, 2016

Pauline’s present – a tumble dryer.

A long day began at 6.00 am. We were expecting television installation men from 8.00 am onwards. They arrived at 9.00 am, took one look at the walls, another at the wall mounts I had been sold and said, ‘No!’ After they had left, we made a trip to the local Currys, returned the wall mounts and received more appropriate replacements. A return visit for the fitters is booked for tomorrow although I’m not over optimistic. They don’t like fixing them to plaster board. One, large screen television was set up temporarily in the lounge and I was able to watch Sky Sport for the first time in six months. It was good to see Leicester hold on for another win and Man. Utd. scrape one as well.

Tomorrow the bedroom furniture surveyor will be with us – all day according to him. When Pauline enquired, he said he would need two hours per bedroom. Eight hours does seem a little excessive but we will see. We are really finding this process rather draining at the moment. At least Pauline’s new condenser tumble dryer arrived from Currys this morning and fitted in perfectly.

4th April, 2016

We woke at 6.00 am and felt we had to get going because today will be very busy. By , we were up and about and ready for the onslaught of the day. That’s what it feels like at the moment.

The bedroom designer arrived at 10.00 am as promised. He patiently and methodically went round the four bedrooms with us talking, suggesting and making measurements and notes. After each room, he would return to the kitchen where he had set up his draughtsman’s drawing board on our garden table and draw up immaculate plans for the furniture manufacture and the installer. We were warned that he would be with us for eight hours – two hours per room – but he managed it in five. The bill will come to about £11,000.00/€14,000.00 which is around the price we were expecting. I had already managed to negotiate a price reduction of almost £1000.00/€1300. The furniture will be manufactured in Oldham, of all places, and shipped down to us in about a month. It will take about five days to install.

The television install didn’t go as well. Still got the wrong wall mounts – on the advice of the experts. Exchanged them again at Currys and rebooked fitting for Friday.

5th April, 2016

Superfast Broadband arrives.

I approached this prescient week with happiness and trepidation. Last Sunday was the seven years anniversary of our retirement. Neither of us can really believe it but we are increasingly realising that we will never go back to work. Tomorrow, I am 65 and officially become an Old Aged Pensioner although that term is no longer used in polite society. On Friday, it will be two years since we last set off to drive to Greece. How those past experiences will inform our future actions, I have no real idea but they will. It is up to us to build on them and make them meaningful.

What more could a man want?

Yesterday, my broadband connection was upgraded to superfast, fibre optic by BT. At 8.00 am, I was receiving 8Mbs download speed and 1MBs upload. By evening I was getting 42Mbs download / 14Mbs upload. This is quite a remarkable increase. I am delighted with it.  BT seems to get a bad press currently. I have nothing but praise for them. They have managed the process for me immaculately.

Chairs ——–

without a Tble.

Today, our dining table and chairs will be delivered and the garden furniture can go where it belongs – out in the garden…………….Wrong. The six chairs arrived but the table was not on the lorry. We phoned and there was a mix up on the collection. The table will not arrive for a few days. The garden table which had gone outside has been brought back in. The thing about being ‘older’ is that one learns to accept disappointment and to be patient. Where is that TABLE?

6th April, 2016

Well, I made it. 65 today. Officially an OAP. What a pity Dad didn’t get this far.

John – 1983 – Milos

Happy Birthday to me.
Happy Birthday to me.
Happy Birthday Old Bugger.
Happy Birthday to me.

Did the 10 minute drive to Littlehampton Pier Road and bought Dressed Crabs and Turbot. Crab for Lunch and Turbot for Dinner. It’s good this 65 thing.

West Sussex Dressed Crab

Turbot

7th April, 2016

Got up early and went out to B&Q in Worthing. Needed a white shelf board and some coat hooks. Don’t ask. We’ve got a little man coming round in the next day or two and need to be ready for him. Came home just after mid day and realised we were starving. Pauline had made tomato & basil soup which was wonderful.

I unpacked the lawnmower and began to charge up the battery. The heavens immediately opened and rain poured down intermittently for the rest of the day. At least the lawnmower will be ready for the first available slot. The delivery company contacted us to say the dining table would be delivered on Monday morning which is good. The new lawn turf is growing strong with rich, green vigour. It needs a light trip to keep that growth in check.

8th April, 2016

One of the things about our house move – Did you know we’ve moved house? – is that we have relied on so many people providing so many services. Although we realise there is a commercial imperative, the interface has been wonderful and life-informing. This morning, two gas fitters came round to install our televisions. They worked for Currys Knowhow team and had been despatched to mount our televisions onto the walls of the kitchen and the office. They did the work with such friendly aplomb that it was a joy. While they were here, the snagging officer appeared to ask about any problems we might have with our new property. One or two doors needed adjusting and we have some extras we need installing but nothing major at all. Over all, we are delighted with our new home.

The dining table will be delivered on Monday. Sky will send an engineer round to look at our installation the same day. On Tuesday, a carpenter will call to put up extra kitchen cabinets and do other small woodwork tasks. On Thursday, we will have our doors adjusted and there will be little else to do.

9th April, 2016

Lovely morning. The first without any commitments since we moved in ten days ago. Actually, we were receiving a delivery from B&Q but that came by 9.30 am so we were free for the rest of the day. We did some food shopping and then went in to Currys to buy a memory stick. We chose the wrong time. Their computer systems had crashed and they were struggling to get them back up. Nothing can be done under these conditions. They wouldn’t accept hard cash because the database wouldn’t be updated and they couldn’t print an invoice. The world cannot function without digital technology now. A few years ago, Pauline was about to pay £200.00/€250.00 for a suit in Ermou Street in Athens when a thunderstorm hit the power supply and everything went down. We had to go back the next day to buy it.

We are hoping to get out to the David Lloyd Leisure Centre tomorrow with a view to restarting our exercise programme early next week. We have a three days of deliveries and workman calling but we think that we can fit our exercise around them. We are beginning to lower stress levels and relax in our new house. The Leisure Centre is huge compared to ours in Surrey and we are looking forward to ‘off-peak’ membership which will give us real freedom. The price is about the same. It will cost us about £120.00/€150.00 per month as a couple which is fantastic value because we go at least five times each week. That’s 40 adult entreancs per month or £3.00/€3.72 per use. You’d have to go a long way to get better value than that.

`27th March, 2016

We have two days to finish our personal pack, Spring Clean our hosts’ house before they return and then drive down to Sussex to start our new life on Tuesday. We know so little about our new area so we are excited to explore. Just down the road and within walking distance is this scene:

Angmering Beach

Beachcombing may well become my new occupation. Here, everything is ‘lasts’. Last trip to the Health Club tomorrow. Last trip to Tesco tomorrow. Last sleep in Surrey tomorrow. Not that we’re sentimental.

28th March, 2016

Happy 62nd birthday to my sister, Jane.

East Hill 28/3/16

Pauline & I blithely slept through what was purported to be a wild night. We slept well and woke early and refreshed although we did find the dustbin on its side when we got up. Today is our last in Surrey. We will sleep in our new bed in Sussex on Tuesday. It is 10.30am and, while the workers enjoy a morning in bed, Pauline is cleaning and I am packing the car. We have to be in Sussex by mid day tomorrow to receive a delivery. We’ve already decided that we can’t make the Health Club today so it is finished.

Did some final shopping and, because we were passing, couldn’t resist going to say goodbye to our former home in Maybury. As we drove away down East Hill, we found it blocked by a fallen tree caused by last night’s winds. Let’s hope our new house still has a roof!

29th March, 2016

Well, what a day. We were up at 6.00 am and cleaning the house. After a cup of tea, I packed the car while Pauline made our hosts’ house look respectable again. We drove down to Tesco to pick up a ‘last’ prescription (the useless chemist there didn’t disappoint having kept us waiting for three days, he still didn’t have a full order.), fill up with petrol for the last time and drive off into the sunset.

Al fresco indoors!

We arrived at around 11.00 am because there was a problem on the road and we were sitting in a jam for half an hour. Only at 4.00 pm did we realise we hadn’t eaten. We broke the rule of a lifetime – well the last three years – and drove down into the village to buy fish, chips and mushy peas. The sell mushy peas even down here! Our dining table and chairs don’t arrive until next week but our garden furniture has. That’s what we put in the kitchen to eat our meal. This is one of the amusements of moving house.

Our televisions haven’t arrived and Sky has not yet been installed so we were reduced to watching television on the internet using my laptop. We have to keep telling ourselves that things will get better and they will. I haven’t needed a lawnmower for five years. I need one now and I’ve ordered a cordless one from Gtech. It has a detachable power pack which provides 40 mins of mowing. Who could mow for that long?

I pick it up from Halfords in Rustington on Thursday and, with the weather set fair for the next week, I’ll soon be doing 35 mins of mowing. I’m just starting the final week of my 64th year and life is good.

30th March, 2016

My new bean-to-cup coffee maker

A long day today. It has been sunny and 12C/54F but there was a real chill in the wind. We continued to unpack boxes. A hall ‘console table was delivered this morning and then I went out to collect my new coffeemaker and a new monitor for my new computer. No body told me that new computers don’t use VGA monitor leads and sockets. It’s all HDMI now.

This is the problem with selling everything, you have to buy it new again later. Tomorrow, the new lawnmower will be delivered. We’ve got a man coming to measure up for additional wardrobes, drawpacks and dressing tables and an additional kitchen unit is being delivered.

31st March, 2016

Quality made in Oldham?

A long, tiring but enjoyable day. Got up at 7.00 am as usual and, while drinking tea, read the instructions in fifteen languages for setting up and using my new bean-to-cup coffee machine. Having had one before, it was easier than I thought. The first fantastic coffee for six months tasted wonderful. By 10.00 am, the bedroom furniture designer had arrived and was measuring up. We have wardrobes in the Master bedroom but want a run of draws and kneehole dressing table plus drawers either side of the bed. The other three bedrooms need wardrobes and bedside drawers plus dressing tables all built in.

The designer was from a company called Betta Living. We were astonished to find that they were from Oldham where we worked for 40 years. Pauline spoke to the company in Oldham this morning only to find that the woman who answered said her mother was taught by us. That doesn’t inspire confidence. I have a recurring nightmare in which I wake during brain surgery and the surgeon tells me to relax and not worry as I realise he is one of my ex-pupils!

While the bedroom designer was with us and drawing up his plans, the Blind Man came to measure up for the kitchen blinds. No sooner had he left but the lawn mower was delivered. and all day long, the sun beat into the kitchen through the conservatory doors. It felt so hot although it didn’t actually get above 14C/57F. Our back garden is South-facing and very sheltered.

All the time this was going on, I was trying to set my new, desktop computer up. Mainly, this involves installing Ms Office, Adobe Dreamweaver, Fireworks and Flash and Adobe Acrobat Professional plus the drivers for a mono laser, a colour laser, a label printer and a flatbed scanner. This takes quite a long time and I was doing it while the designer was discussing plans with Pauline but I was constantly being asked for my opinion. The designer quoted a price of £12,000/€15250. After negotiating a discount, we were so exhausted, we accepted and the furniture will be built over the next month and fitted within five weeks.

1st April, 2016

Pauline & I – Nest Building

Happy April to you all. I must apologise that the white rabbit came late. We are so wrapped up in establishing ourselves in our new house and our new area that All Fools’ Day completely passed me by. Silly old fool!

Gull Watch

A gloriously sunny day with blue, cloudless skies and no breeze. We went out early to the Post Office, to the fish shop on Littlehampton Pier Road and to Tesco nearby to buy in for the weekend. As you can see, Pauline’s shopping was monitored by the seagulls. The area is proving delightful although the traffic is still quite busy.

After driving home, we set out to look for light shades. We haven’t got any yet. We couldn’t decide in spite of the fact that there are hundreds to choose from. Moving house is proving very tiring.

2nd April, 2016

‘Sky’ Man Cometh!

For the second time in a week, the Sky Installation Man cometh. AND NOT BEFORE TIME!!!!!! I’ve been surviving on internet television for FIVE DAYS!!!!! He came a week ago and told me he couldn’t possibly go in the loft – it was against Elth & Safety. Today he returned and scrambled across the loft like a mountain goat. Sky boxes plus a satellite dish installed. The Sky Man left and left me happy. Unfortunately, all the new televisions don’t arrive until tomorrow morning. Currys will deliver and install in the morning – just in time for the Man. Utd. match in the afternoon. Can life get any better?

20th March, 2016

The start of our last full week in Surrey. Next week we move to Sussex. Lots of people have contacted us to wish us well in our new venture and I am in the process of contacting everyone I know and some I don’t with our new address and phone number. It will take me some time because the next few days will see us shuttling constantly between locations.

We have about three or four more Health Club visits before we join the David Lloyd in Worthing. Pauline is just informing our Doctor of our imminent move and getting our last ‘Repeat Prescription’. We have quite a few ‘lasts’ coming up over the next few days. I must admit, I don’t feel sentimental about it like I did on leaving Yorkshire after more than 30 years of moorland and dry stone walls. I am actively looking forward to the move, embracing change and going forward.

The car is loaded up and we are off early to Sussex tomorrow to await delivery of our new Lounge furniture. We are going to test out our new kitchen and showers in the bathrooms. I am going to build my temporary desk and use my new internet connection.

21st March, 2016

Up at 6.00 and out by 7.00 am. The morning started cold and grey but, by the time we reached our Sussex house – just after 8.00 am – the sun was breaking through. We spent an hour or so unpacking crockery and cutlery and putting into newly cleaned kitchen cupboards. My bean-to-cup coffee maker came out at last but I didn’t have any beans so we had to survive on instant – again.

By 11.00 am, the sofa company were phoning us for details of our address because our post code is not featuring on sat navs yet. The soon arrived with two 3-seater settees, an armchair and a footstool. They unpacked it all, put in to the Lounge and gave us some aftercare advice along with a pack of ‘problem solving’ potions – for cleaning various stains off. As soon as they had gone, I was able to watch the Daily Politics on my iPad followed by the disastrous Budget debate from Parliament. I also called a television installation firm to come and advise and quote me for work in seven rooms.

We were back in Surrey by 3.00 pm and eating Crab Salad and Tuna Pâté with Greek Salad. Then I packed the car ready for a repeat trip tomorrow.

22nd March, 2016

Up at 6.00 and out by 7.00 am again this morning. We are back down to the new house in Sussex. Today we are receiving the new beds – Bensons for Beds are delivering in the morning. The removal firm will be bringing the contents of our storage pod in the afternoon. It is a beautiful, sunny day. The road down is quiet and strewn with dead badgers, dead rabbits, dead pheasants – in fact Sussex is strewn with road kill.

When we arrive, sun is streaming through the windows of the Kitchen/Breakfast Room. I snatched some photos on my iPad. The first two made quite nice compositions taken from the corridor through the kitchen door.

The bed company arrived right on time, unloaded, hauled three, huge beds upstairs and assembled them. The left, taking all the packaging with them even though our new Recycling Bin (what are they for?) was delivered this morning. The fourth bedroom will become the Ironing/Sewing Room without a bed.

In the afternoon, Aspen Movers brought the contents of our storage pod and put it all into the garage for me to move at my ‘leisure’. We chose the right company quite out of the blue. The service was excellent and only cost £420.00.

23rd March, 2016

Another lovely day and we were out early again but to the Surgery for a repeat prescription then shopping for a snack to take to the new house and petrol which has just gone up to £1.01 per litre at Tesco. All this driving means I’m getting through a lot of it at the moment. Anyway, we set off for Sussex at 9.00 am and the drive was good but a little busier.

The Dining table hasn’t arrived yet so we have ordered garden furniture which may arrive first. Al fresco dining may be what happens for a few days.

Pauline is just about to order an extra wall cabinet for the front left above the coffee maker and the wine cooler. Symphony Kitchens supply them at the cost of £730.00 for a double wall cabinet. Are they gold lined? Anyway, it’s what Pauline wants so it is ordered. I also ordered Sky Multi-Room with Sky Sports in three rooms and BT Sports in three rooms so that must have been the trade off.

In the afternoon, the Blind Man arrived to fit blinds in every window apart from the kitchen. It took him two hours and we didn’t get away until 7.00 pm as it was beginning to get quite dark. Our first drive back to Surrey at that time of night was made more interesting as the country roads leading to the M25 have absolutely no street lighting. Now I realise why I see so much roadkill in the mornings. Just before we left the new house, an envelope was pushed through the letter box. It was from our neighbours across the road welcoming us and introducing themselves. That was nice.

24th March, 2016

A grey start to the day which deteriorated into rain – fine turning heavy. We are surprised it is only Thursday. It has felt a long week and we are tired from the stress of trying to get things right. The Sky installers will come to the Sussex house on Saturday and the patio furniture will be delivered. Today, we have been out to buy the televisions, a condenser tumble dryer and a replacement desktop computer from Currys. The computer will be delivered on Tuesday and the rest five days later. After months of relaxation, arranging all this has been exhausting.

It is extremely tricky making qualitative choice ‘off-plan’ and co-ordinating them. We have been relieved to find kitchen units work with work surface and floor tiles. I particularly like the stair carpet which also runs along the upstairs gallery landing.

This is the view from the Lounge looking across the corridor running from front door to the kitchen. It just feels a bit ‘funky’ for an older couple.

This afternoon, we drove to a leather restorer’s premises in Chobham taking the detachable arm of a leather swivel chair belonging to P&C. We didn’t damage it but its condition has got worse on our watch so we though we would have its condition restored while they are away. Fascinating, multi-process old works staffed by very young people. We wait to hear if it can be done.

25th March, 2016

A  gloriously warm and sunny day reaching 15C/59F. It is really our last quiet day before we move. We went out to buy sea food – prawns, crab and smoked salmon for our meal tomorrow plus a leg of lamb for Sunday. Since returning, we have been trying to find a suitable sideboard and coffee table for the lounge. We want to avoid too traditional – go mildly modern and have been struggling. Today, we think we might consider these:

Sideboard

Coffee Table

The light wood is contrasted with polished, dark concrete. You can’t get much more ‘modern’ than that.

This afternoon we’ve been changing our address on numerous websites – banks, credit cards, supermarkets, etc.. Tried to change our driving licences and the car tax, etc.. Usually do this on the Government Gateway. We store the details digitally in the cloud but use them so rarely that it is always a fag to find and retrieve them. We must have re-registered half a dozen times since it started. This time, in spite of logging in correctly, we couldn’t update our details because their database couldn’t find our new build’s post code. Not surprised because the Post Office struggled until recently. The DVLA are closed today (ridiculous!) so we will revert to phoning in a few days.

26th March, 2016

An expensive but inoperable media distribution panel in the Lounge.

We had a really early start this morning. Up at 6.00 am and driving down to Sussex by 7.00 am. The Sky installers were due to arrive between 8.00 am – 11.00 am. We were there on time. The Sky man didn’t arrive until 10.00 am. After doing most of his work, he found that the distribution centre in the loft was not completely connected to sockets in the rooms. I have to get the builders to deal with that before the work can be completed.

Had to drive back to Surrey to watch a famous and well deserved victory against the Germans. It was well worth the drive to see really high quality goals from England.

13th March, 2016

Another new Desktop PC

Lovely sunny day and reasonably warm – reaching 14C/57F. I have to say that it didn’t start well as I discovered that my PC had been infected with a Trojan Zlob virus. My virus checker recognised it but which is annoying. failed to clear it and, I got into an infernal loop of restart / close down which I couldn’t recover from. It means I need a new hard drive at (isn’t it always) just the most awkward time. I haven’t lost anything because all my ‘stuff’ is saved in the cloud but my software all has to be put back on to a new machine which is tiresome and it will cost me £500.00/ €650.00. Never mind. Life is too short. Anyway, all my early PCs cost me around £3000.00/€3890.00 per unit so this is decidedly cheap by comparison. For the moment, I am surviving with my laptop.

14th March, 2016

Tunnel Crossing

Up early on a grey morning that is expected to develop into bright and sunny skies. We are driving down to the Tunnel for a short break in France before we move in to our new house. It will take our mind off the waiting. We cross around 10.00 am and do some shopping before checking in to our hotel. I’m not bothering to take my laptop with me so the rest of this Blog will be completed when we get back to Surrey.

Our Hotel in Lovely Grounds

The sky brightened; the sun came out and this beautiful weather lasted for two days. The Channel Shuttle was very quiet and almost empty. We left early and arrived early and drove straight to the Calais Wine Store. We were buying wine for P&C who have put us up for six months. It is to say thank you in part. After that, we bought things for our meal and drove to our hotel to relax for the rest of the day.

As soon as we were settled in our suite, we received a call from the MD of our builders to confirm ‘completion’ on Friday and another from our Blinds fitter to confirm his day for installing the window blinds. Immediately afterwards, we had a call and emails from our solicitor to confirm the settlement and details for closure. This is great news.

15th March, 2016

Auchan – Temple of French Produce

Up early although we didn’t need to be. Old habits die hard! Breakfast in the Dining Room and then out to Auchan. Because we are near to moving, we couldn’t do a major shop. In fact, we just bough enough for a couple of meals. A couple of dozen snails in garlic butter looked irresistible and lots of prawns and crab meat.

Snails on the table not just in the garden.

We drove to the Tunnel with not a single migrant in sight although there were lots of new, barbed wire fences. We didn’t see any lorries either although, when we rolled off in Folkestone, the motorway was extremely busy with freight from Italy, Poland, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Romania, Holland, Germany and, of course, France. Nobody can argue that these companies will cease to trade in UK if we vote to leave the E.U..

Of course, the economic argument should not be the decider of EU membership. It should be about cultural and humanitarian collaboration first and foremost.

16th March, 2016

Gorgeous Spring day of blue skies and strong sun although chilly in the breeze. We only reached 11C/52F and it felt a little cooler than that. It was a busy day of arrangements. At 8.00 am, we were at the Storage Pod meeting a Removals Firm boss. He looked at what we’ve got – which is negligible – and agreed an excellent price of £350.00 to transport it down to West Sussex next week. We gave him a key and the door entry codes. He will do the rest.

Delicious Food

We came back to draft a letter for our storage provider, cancelling our contract from next week. We delivered it and saved ourselves £200.00 for another month’s storage. We went on to the bank to transfer hundreds of thousands of pounds (scary or what?) to our solicitor’s account for ‘completion’ of our property purchase. This was at 9.30 am but we had to wait until 12.30 pm before we received confirmation of its receipt. Anyway, it’s done and, although we are much poorer, we are very happy.

We went to the pool for a swim but the water was so cold that we had a Jacuzzi, shower and came home. I cooked tarragon boned chicken thighs with some roast root vegetables, shallots and mushrooms. It was delicious and we ate too much.

17th March, 2016

On a cold day with a biting breeze we ventured out at 7.45 am to meet a Removals Man at the Storage Pod. He viewed our goods for removal and transporting to Sussex and quoted us a very acceptable price. We agreed it on the spot. It will happen next Tuesday.

Our new local fish shop.

Tomorrow, we will drive down to the house to meet the site manager to be walked round the house and inducted into the operation of central heating, burglar alarm, etc. Afterwards, legal ‘Completion’ will take place and we will get our key and take walk-in possession of the property. Over the next week, our new furniture will be delivered and the window blinds fitted. In order for this to happen, we will drive down almost daily to meet the deliveries. We will move in immediately after Easter.

With all these changes buzzing round our heads and through our systems and making us both feel rather unsettled and less inclined to go for exercise. We are still going to the Health Club but rather going through the motions. We look forward to being settled and getting back into our diet and exercise regime. To that end, we will immediately join the David Lloyd Leisure Club in Worthing and shopping at the fish shop on Littlehampton docks which sells freshly caught fish from local boats daily.

18th March, 2016

Angmering on Sea

Out at 7.30 am and down to West Sussex. It was a cold morning and the atmosphere was bitingly penetrative – rather like a cold day on Sifnos. We approached our new home at about 9.00 am. As we did, our solicitor phoned Pauline’s mobile to inform us that our funds had been transferred and our property purchase had been ‘completed’.

We met the Site Manager who walked us through the technology of the house – services gas, electricity and water, central heating, burglar alarm, etc. We received about eight sets of keys and a welcome hamper containing wine, a jar of coffee plus two mugs, biscuits and a fruit cake. It felt a bit bizarre but nice all the same. We unloaded the things we had brought from the Storage Pod – the broadband router was first of all. I had a phone to plug in as well. A temporary desk to get me through until the Office is fitted out and the ‘Richard’ chair which represents my link with my family’s past.

We had three keys for every lock and, with eight locks, had twenty four keys to juggle, try out and label. Our central heating has zoned controls which allows us to control temperatures upstairs independently of downstairs and water separately from radiator heating. The whole process was explained in about five minutes and we struggled to absorb the process. Left alone in the house later, we struggled to get to grips with it. We will try again next week  having read. The Lounge furniture will be delivered on Monday, Beds on Tuesday plus everything in storage and window blinds will be fitted on Wednesday. The Dining table and chairs will follow after Easter.

Only as we drove back to Sussex did I realise that I hadn’t taken a single photo for my Blog. I will have lots of time to do that next week.

19th March, 2016

New Home – New Phones

Today we picked up a new set of cordless, digital phones to take down to the house on Monday. Getting the services up and running really makes us feel better. This set include answerphone, call monitoring and call barring to get rid of nuisance and cold calls.

Interesting report in The Times today. It involves Oldham in Lancashire where we worked for almost 40 years and Woking in Surrey where we have lived for the past five years. The report was from the ONS (Office for National Statistics) and its examination of relative deprivation. It found that Oldham is the most deprived across the metrics of employment, health, education and income. It found that Woking came top across the same metrics. We have obviously experienced the lows and highs of life.