It would be hard to distinguish today from mid-Summer. The weather has been so warm – 25C/77F at peak with lovely sunshine that, if it wasn’t for the golf which we won easily for the tenth time in twelve competitions, we would have sat outside all day. As it was, we luxuriated in the day on our trip to the Health Club for a good hour’s workout.
The newspapers and broadcast reports are all about Tory troubles. MPs defecting to Golden Dawn (sorry UKIP) and another photocopying his genitals and sending the results to on-line girls (sorry Sunday Mirror reporters).
You can’t start a party conference much better than that. Looks like it’s going to be another great week!
29th September, 2014
As we see out September over the next couple of days, the warm weather holds although today was rather overcast and steamy. Apart from our daily exercise routine, I’ve been monitoring the Tory Part Conference where pensioners were guaranteed inflation-proofed pensions. That will do for me. I also wrote to my friend, Caroline, who sends me cards from all her globe-trotting expeditions and spoke to Ruth to agree a visit to sunny Bolton in just over a fortnight.
Booked a shopping trip to France for next week we will stay in our favourite hotel in Coquelles that we have been using for about twenty years now.
30th September, 2014
It has been announced today that the month of September in 2014 in England has been the warmest and driest for over a hundred years. Certainly, today, the last before October found a temperature of 24C/75F by mid-afternoon. It felt even warmer as we left the Health Club having upped our regime, doing an hour/500 calories of cardio exercise.
We received the latest colour magazine from our estate agent and were amused to find our property highlighted.
In Greece, it is pay the first instalment of you Property Tax day and banks are seeing long queues. We always paid ours off in one go but not this year. We shall spend ours in France next week on frivolous luxuries.
1st October, 2014
Happy October!
The month opened at 7.00 am with warm rain. It was a lovely change from the most dry September for a Century.
Interesting to see the Greek political scene is starting to crack prior to imploding. Kathimerini says:
The way things are going, the administration will find itself in a process of decay and go down in a blaze of insignificance.
Certainly, if Syriza take power, Europe will disown them, the Greek Balance of Payments will spiral out of control, Pensions and property values will be devalued far more than they have been currently, the country’s infrastructure will fall apart. Already the Public Power Corporation (PPC) is heading for a financial blackout as unpaid electricity bills are growing at an annual rate of 30 percent, having reached 1.7 billion euros at the end of July from 1.3 billion euros last year. It really is not a place to live and work at the moment and, without solid infrastructure, their golden geese – tourists – will look elsewhere.
In Britain, Road Fund Licences (Tax Discs) became obsolete this morning. It will all be recorded digitally. Who will pay it now? I was taking mine out of the car at 7.00 am. Was I beaten by anyone else? I’ve still got a series of Swiss vignettes on the windscreen. I might sell them all as a memento job lot on Ebay.
2nd October, 2014
Up early on a warm and sunny morning. The temperature only reached 22C/70F but it felt lovely in the sunshine. Out of the house by 8.30 am and in to town for our annual eye checks. Everyone over 60 gets them free and everyone over 60 gets a 20% discount on the price of glasses at Specsavers. Neither of us needed new ones. I’ve got so many pairs, I don’t know what to do with them.
We went on to Headmasters for Pauline to have her hair cut. We’d thought of waiting until we were in Athens but it is just too long until we go. I went to a coffee shop and read my iPad newspaper. A new market walkway has opened up with wonderful fresh fish, meat & game, fruit and vegetables, coffee beans and tea supplies sold all along it. We bought baby hake and trout, huge corn cobs, juicy raspberries and great bunches of fresh herbs all at very low prices.
In the afternoon, we did a Sainsbury’s shop. Of course, Sainsbury’s have reported dire trading data hard on the heels of an atrocious mis-accounting scandal and a continuing slump at Tesco. Morrisons has been dragged into a price-match war with the discounters – Aldi and Lidl. Every shop till receipt tells us how much ‘cash back’ we have been awarded because of Price Comparison. To cap it all, the petrol price has fallen to 124.9p/1.59€ per litre. Our shopping bills are falling. This week, we only spent £45.00 and received a Price Comparison discount of £2.40.
3rd October, 2014
Lovely, warm, early Autumnal day reaching 22C/70F. A quiet one for us. We put in an extra effort at the Health Club. A really hard hour and just over 500 calories later, I staggered to the car. We heard from relatives of Pauline’s family who we found while researching her ancestors. By coincidence, they are also living in Surrey, close to Hampton Court. We have agreed to go over and meet them next week for coffee.
4th October, 2014
The morning started off sunny but soon turned pitch black and rain began. It’s nice to see rain It’s still warm. There is a sense of change in the air. As tourists desert the Greek Islands and look for warmer climes so we explore new destinations for the Winter. How about Siena?
We are considering calling in there on our drive across Europe next Spring.
The morning has opened fresh but sunny with a temperature of 16C/60F. The Blog is 300 not out! Can’t believe it. We have just 12 weeks to go before completing 6 years. You have to admit that it shows stamina if nothing else.
Sunday is special. In my childhood, it was the enforced attendance at Mass. For the past 40 or so years, it has been the enthusiastic attention to the Sunday papers and political journalism. It couldn’t be more exciting this weekend post-Scotland poll and the great Constitutional Debate. The West Lothian Question is being used by Cameron and Lynton Crosby to attempt to skewer Miliboots and the Labour Party. Should Scottish MPs be barred from voting on purely English matters thus depriving the Labour Party of 40 Scottish Labour MPs? Suddenly, the country is galvanised by things they know nothing about like The Barnett Formula. I remember Joel Barnett well. He was the MP for Heywood & Royton in Oldham between 1964 – 1983. He was also Secretary to the Treasury under Wilson and Callaghan.
Barnett devised a formula which could be used to devolve public spending to the regions of the UK. This process from the early 1970s persists in devolving higher per capita public spending in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland than it gives to English citizens and has been a source of discontent amongst those who realise this for a long time. Not only has Cameron appeared to entrench the persistence of this Formula but pile additional, political bribes into the equation as well. It doesn’t bode well for the United Kingdom.
22nd September, 2014
Lovely sunny morning. We drove down to Caterham, a quaint, market town, on the Surrey border to look at a property
and then on to Longfield, just over the border into Kent, to look at another. Both were interesting but neither made us leap with joy. The search continues.
23rd September, 2014
Cool start to a lovely, sunny day. Got a bit of a bug that comes and goes. Went out to see Phyllis & Colin and then on to the Health Club. We did 45 minutes and 425 calories by which time I felt much better.
I am trying to renew my downward trend in weigh loss by limiting myself to 1520 calories per day. That’s why earning an extra 400 a day through exercise is so worthwhile. Today I have consumed
a large cup of tea
3 cups of fresh coffee with skimmed milk
a banana
250g of fruit yoghurt
60g of smoked salmon
77g of kipper fillet
2 x sticks of celery
4 x cherry tomatoes
2 large glasses of red wine
and I still have 60 calories left because of my exercise contribution.
As an out and out politics geek, I luxuriated in the speech of the Leader of the Labour Party this afternoon.
Fascinating stuff which is rolling the Blairite world of New Labour back and resounding with echoes of Gas & Water Socialism.
Fascinating ‘Love in the Sun’ documentary on British television which featured women who had married Greeks and lived on their islands. With one exception, all the marriages had failed. The men had exhibited liberalism and multiculturalism for a period but, ultimately reverted to type and the marriages had broken down. The island of Symi featured heavily and reminded us how pleased we were to find it in the early 1990s when we were getting so fed up of all the noise outside Hotel Kamari on Sifnos. Traffic on the road was making it impossible to sleep. We rented a lovely, quiet house up the Kalistrata and got really fit walking up and down the steps each day.
This morning, EE gave me two for free – which was nice of them. One is for Pauline and the other for me. We both have unlimited calls and unlimited texts plus 2Gb of data. In addition, our allowance is fully usable in any EU country so driving through Europe, staying in Greece will be much more comfortable next year. The whole package for the two of us costs just £55.00 per month. How things have improved recently.
25th September, 2014
Lovely, lovely day! Sunny and wonderful. Shopping at Sainsbury’s, hard work at the Health Club and then Elerania contacted us to keep us up with events. What fun!
Life is so much fun. It is only a three weeks until we go to Yorkshire and I visit my sister and acquaintances from a previous life. In an extra three weeks we are going back to Greece. Who knows what will happen there.
26th September, 2014
A lovely, warm day that registered 24F/75C although with only weak sunshine. Did a really hard workout at the Health Club after going round to sort Phyllis’s iPad out. Pauline phoned Elerania back. I spent the day wrestling with apps on new smartphones, apps on iPads and apps on PCs so that our calendars are common to all platforms and all update each other. It was nice to hear the confirming ‘dings’ as entries on one machine began to populate all the others. In just the same way, I have ensured our exercise and diet app is available across platforms and the same with internet banking and email. The next integration will be contacts.
In spite of the warm, dry weather, Autumn is increasingly showing itself and evening darkness comes quickly and takes us by surprise. As Pauline perceptibly observed this morning, the trees sound very different now.
The breeze which once fluttered leaves is now producing dry and spiky sounds of old leaves breaking away and falling in a death spiral to the ground. Only the failing vestiges of Summer maintain their hold and Winter cannot be too far away. How lucky are we in Britain to experience these distinct and qualitatively different seasons in our lives.
27th September, 2014
A calm and warm morning was disturbed by the realisation that we had no hot water. A trip to the ‘engine room’ of the Development revealed that there had been a momentary power service blip over night and the boilers had gone off. The room is huge and houses the woodchip Biomass, three gas turbines and a CHP unit but resetting is easy and Pauline can soon have her shower.
The newspapers are dominated by emergency Parliamentary proceedings yesterday rubber stamping bombing raids on Iraq and, probably, Syria to drive back those who would establish an Islamic Caliphate on the shores of the Mediterranean. I am writing to my MP to ask for the total annihilation of Golden Dawn in Greece to be included in forward plans. Talking about Greece, it looks as if the coalition’s attempts to loosen the economic reform programme’s fiscal targets and to shed EU control allowing lower taxes and higher pensions will fail. The Troika, quite rightly, just won’t allow it as ekathimerini reports.
It would be folly to go back to old ways after all the suffering people have been put through.
A new week starts and marks mid-September. I start to look around and as myself what I’ve achieved so far this month. Achievement is not as easy in retirement as in one’s working life. On this occasion, I’ve decided to re-launch the weight loss programme with renewed vigour. I have 4 stones/25 kilos still to lose so I won’t manage it by the end of the year as I’d hoped but it does get much harder as I get closer to my target weight. I now hope/expect to make it by May 2015. To that end, we did an hour at the Health Club this morning and re-launched our iPad app, MyFitnessPal which monitors weight/height/age/ plus calories in and calories out via exercise. I just find it a real motivator.
15th September, 2014
If we had stayed the full time, we would have arrived back from Greece today. As it was, we arrived back eight weeks ago. Actually, we are expecting a phone call from Sifnos this morning and are returning to Greece in about eight more weeks. Today started under leaden skies but has very quickly given way to sunshine and blue sky. The week ahead is forecast to bump along at 24-25C/75-77F.
Just got back from an hour at the Gym and 400 calories burnt off. The day is now so beautiful that we are going to sit out in the sun. Our meal today is tuna & mackerel with tomato and cucumber salad. We are so healthy we squeak!
16th September, 2014
A fortnight ago today we were snoring. I was Great and my wife was Little. I won’t go into who was Fakenham.
Two weeks later, we are hard on the fitness trail. An hour at the Health Club and 400 calories burned off later, we are both feeling holier than thou.
17th September, 2014
It looks like I may have to send Skiathan Man some galoshes or a boat because his weather is turning difficult.
Ours, on the other hand is becoming Mediterranean. We have 24-25C/75-77F forecast for today and 26-27C/79-80F tomorrow.
Although we keep being told that the Scottish vote is too close to call, it looks as if the markets have already accepted and factored in a ‘No’ vote. The Pound Sterling has been strengthening since the weekend.
Had a long call from Elerania this afternoon. We’ve asked her to rope our Special Friend in to advise the Scots in their voting tomorrow. I think they’ll see sense.
18th September, 2014
You won’t be interested but, in researching Pauline’s Barnes Family tree, I found someone else doing the same. I contacted them and found a couple – lawyer and doctor by profession – distantly related to Pauline who are researching the same tree. I emailed them and got a long reply by return.
A warm day today reaching 26C/79F at its height – muggy and sweaty. Back to sleeping on top of the bedclothes while the Skiathan is still swimming home. At 2.00 am we were woken by the most enormous lightning flashes and thunder cracks followed by a monsoon downpour although it only lasted half an hour.
19th September, 2014
Today has started off very warm as well and we understand that will continue for quite a while. Shopping at Sainsbury’s. We have started using their Fast Track process. You pick up one of their barcode readers as you enter the shop.
You swipe each item in as you pick it up and put it into a bag in your trolley. When you get to the checkout, you just hand over the reader which shows what you have recorded. You are trusted to be honest which we are. The barcode reader shows how much you owe and a receipt is generated accordingly. It is so quick. I must suggest it to Moshka next summer.
20th September, 2014
The day has rather a muggy feel to it but the overcast sky is not forecast to reveal the sun until later. We have decreed today as a rest day which means Pauline is cleaning and cooking and I am reading and writing. Because of the warmth, we opened doors and windows as soon as we got up at 7.00 am. Within a few minutes, next door’s cat, Minnie, had called in to say good morning and then strolled casually out to go big game hunting under the trees.
Phone rang at 11.00 am. The estate agent asked if they could bring a prospective buyer round in fifteen minutes. Pauline had just finished cleaning. Everywhere looked perfect. When the buyer is escorted round the property, we make ourselves scarce. We will be told on Monday morning how it went. I hope we haven’t sold. We could be out on the streets soon!
A lovely, warm day of 22C/70F. We spent it reading the Sunday papers which were fixated on the poll showing Scotland’s separation from UK becoming more likely. With ten days to go, the Chancellor appeared on television in a naked attempt to bribe the Scots with promises of reforms to come if they vote against separation. It looks as phoney as it is and won’t work.
I spent the afternoon, tidying up one of my websites to suit changing circumstances. It is an ongoing project.
8th September, 2014
Every day I read a handful of Greek Blogs, which are featured on the right of mine. I keep up to date with life on Symi island in the Dodecanese – somewhere I last visited in 1990. The author writes about the weather, about photographic tours, about filming, about new books and about a cat. I suddenly realised yesterday that he hadn’t mentioned an influx of Syrian refugees. This article appeared in the Sunday Times yesterday:
As we stepped off the Dodekanisos Pride ferry onto the Greek island of Symi for our late August beach holiday, our thoughts were on sunbathing and sailing. But our first sight was of 48 dispossessed Syrians carrying backpacks containing their worldly possessions. Within a week their numbers had grown to more than 200 and we could ignore their misery no longer.
Spending our last four days among them, we came across a septuagenarian with facial gashes who sat bleeding in 30C heat waiting for a doctor, as he had for 10 hours. He had hit his face against rocks when the Greek port police fired a shot in the air.
Nearby was the Kahalani, a 180ft yacht whose crew hovered attentively beside those sipping cocktails on board. Little did these pleasure-seekers realise that many of those in misery just steps away had once holidayed on yachts of their own.
This is the modern-day Greek tragedy unfolding on the closest island to the Turkish mainland, a 45-minute catamaran journey from Rhodes.
It’s a middle and upper-class Syrian exodus. In the past weeks neurologists, lawyers, bankers and judges have slept on the concrete floor of the police station terrace beside their only (blocked) lavatory.
“Ninety per cent of those arriving are university-educated. Twenty per cent earned over $200,000,” confided an undercover policeman. He talked off the record to highlight how the police do not have the manpower and facilities to cope.
Despite requests from the United Nations, the mayor refused to allocate a reception building for the refugees. By law they are illegal immigrants, and they are under arrest until the district attorney has checked their paperwork.
At first many refugees were too frightened to speak to me, fearing that I was a Syrian agent. They all asked not to be photographed or named. Again and again I was told: “If the army sees we’re saying what’s happening in Syria, they’ll kill our families.”
There was the once-privileged woman whose driver got lost in Damascus when the electricity went out. “I opened the car door,” she said, “and there were heads and decapitated bodies everywhere being eaten by dogs.”
Among the group, who were wearing numbered armbands to identify them, was a 17-year-old boy travelling alone: “My mother, father, brothers, sisters, aunt — all extinguished.” And the student who said he went to his best friend’s birthday in the next village and returned to 3,000 corpses: “All killed with poisonous gas.”
“I’m an old, sick man,” pleaded another arrival. “I’ve a sugar problem.” He indicated injecting himself with insulin.
Many had not slept for days. “We looked death in the eyes to come here. I thought we were leaving behind our suffering,” whispered Omar, an engineer, breaking into tears. “But it’s just beginning.”
One night dozens of people lay on the police terrace in rows, their legs bent to avoid kicking those squashed at their feet.
The overspill filled the post office, which the refugees called “the ghost house”; it had been described by the UN as unsuitable. Here babies slept on the floor, sweltering amid the rubbish. They were condemned to stay for up to five days while the local police struggled to complete their paperwork.
You have to be solvent to get this calibre of refugee welcome. These Syrians had paid up to €11,000 (£8,700) each to reach Greece — including €3,000-€5,000 to Turkish traffickers for the sea crossing, often just five nautical miles and 40 minutes away. They were headed for Athens to pick up fake passports and identity documents, for which they had already paid more than €3,500. Most were aiming for northern Europe. They could not travel legally or apply for political asylum until they reached their final destination and they risked a jail term if they travelled under a false identity.
While the UN reports that the number of Syrian refugees has risen above 3m, the problem is rapidly accelerating in Symi: 900 arrived in August, and the police there estimate up to 8,000 by the end of the year. On an island with a population of 2,600, that’s equivalent to 126m turning up temporarily in the UK.
One morning I took breakfast with two men who had made a treacherous five-hour crossing in a rubber dinghy. Only 10% of those arriving were women and children. Most of the men hoped to get their families out later, less perilously.
The situation will worsen this winter. “The waves are 13ft high; the boats cannot quickly land close to the shore,” the police told me. “In February the traffickers threw 12 or 13 people overboard near Nimo, including a six-month-old baby.”
The refugees cannot count on help from the islanders once they land. “The port authorities treat us like animals,” said a 19-year-old, once an economics student. “I was called a ‘rat’ and ‘vermin’.”
The hotels are now busy because it’s high season, but even those with vacancies mostly refuse to let rooms to asylum seekers. It’s bad for tourism. Last week the chief of police was yelling to the mayor to find accommodation for a 70-year-old couple. He shrugged and they wandered off, saying they would sleep on the street.
My daughter Ella, 16, and I helped as much as we could, smuggling three children to our shower, getting food and medicine to a handful of people, giving away most of our clothes to those who had lost theirs overboard.
“You mustn’t talk to them,” said one islander. “You don’t know what diseases they might have.”
A local restaurant, Pantelis, sometimes provides food. The Syrians are entitled to two free meals a day costing a total of €5.60. But last week the port authorities charged them €10 a head for one meal. Jill Quayle is a resident Brit who supports the refugees tirelessly. They weren’t even getting drinking water until another island resident, Ian Haycox, collected €300 from fellow expats to buy it.
“They talk about human rights,” says Vassilis Milathianakis, the harbour master. “But why should we feed them when they’ve paid €3,500 for their boat trip? We don’t have the money. We’re the ones suffering — I’ve had five hours’ sleep this week.”
As we boarded our ferry to leave the island, we saw that many of the refugees were coming too, including the old man with the gouged face. He was lying on a stretcher, and Ella held up his saline drip as he was taken aboard.
Then, one after the other, the 150 Syrians departing with us nodded towards us, put their right hand over their heart and mouthed: “As-salaam alaikum.” Peace be with you.
It paints a difficult and painful picture of the island as a holiday destination.
9th September, 2014
Beautiful morning – bright, sunny and mild but not too hot. It reached 22C/70F in the shade and 33C/91F in the sun. The forecast is for this to continue throughout September. We had a phone conversation with a Sifnos friend this morning. Everything seems to be going fine. Maybe we will see her in early November. Today, we are going to do a big workout at the Health Club.
Another poll shows the Scots/UK breakaway as a real possibility with opinion split 50% v 50%. The uncertainty is affecting share prices, Sterling exchange rates and Scottish house values. This is how the Sunday Times reported it yesterday:
Spent the best part of two hours at the Health Club including Gym and Pool work. Drove home in brilliant sunshine and drank a bottle of red wine on the patio. Everything feels so perfect at the moment I want to burst with happiness. Talking about bursting – I weighed myself today and I have lost half a stone since returning from Greece. I am now at the weight that began to really worry me in 1984 at the age of 33. It can only improve from here.
10th September, 2014
I’m looking more and more like my Mother. It’s not a good look for a man! I work on the treadmill facing floor length mirrors and see my Mother staring back at me. Scary or what? I was a teenager and formed my guiding beliefs in the Left Wing 60’s politics. I was passionate about the primacy of Nurture over Nature; I was scathing about those principles that others derived from genetic inheritance and eugenics. As one gets older, of course, one tends to soften but I have been really shocked by my family’s influences on me and my destiny. Not the least shock is beginning to realise that I have my Mothers eyes, jowls, moles, emotions, etc..
11th September, 2014
This time last year, Pauline & I took up 4G sim-only plans from EE which were incredibly cheap. We don’t actually use mobile phones a great deal anyway. We had pretty basic Galaxy Ace smartphones which were still adequate for our needs. A year on, we are beginning to reassess. We can have another smart phone with a contract from EE. The decision is whether to have a Windows phone – i.e. a Nokia – to mesh with our Windows 8 computers and our Microsoft Cloud storage or an iPhone to integrate with our iPad software.
They’re both ‘free’ but it’s one of those things the idle retired can muse on endlessly. Feeling a bit under the weather today with the return of the edges of a ‘flu bug so I’ve not gone top the Health Club and I’ve got time to speculate mindlessly about such things as mobile phones.
12th September, 2014
A beautifully warm late Summer day which reached 24C/75F without a breath of wind. The trees are just beginning to betray marginal signs of Autumn and the ground beneath their feet has a light sprinkling of early Autumn leaves. Woodland anemones have been reaching to the light and flowering amongst the detritus of Autumn onset.
After our Sainsbury shop and a quick drive down to Farnham to look at some new houses being built, we returned home to sit outside and drink a glass of red Bordeaux in the extremely warm air.
Yesterday was new school day on Sifnos – just an hour – with religious blessings of everything that moves and some that don’t. Today the children did a full day and the poor teachers got a taste of the year to come. We are expecting a first hand account from our friends.
13th September, 2014
Newspaper columnists are writing Farewell to Scotland letters this weekend and may well be writing Farewell to Europe letters in the near future. Meanwhile, the Greek coalition is looking increasingly creaky as a recent poll published on a Blog I follow shows this:
SYRIZA 23%
NEA DIMOKRATIA 20.4%
KKE 5.6%
GOLDEN DAWN 5.3%
POTAMI 4.8%
ELIA/PASOK 4.6%
Independent Greeks 3%
There is one good and obvious thing about this finding – the fruitcakes who are Golden Dawn are falling back. They need 3% to be represented in Parliament and further action may degrade them below that point. Actually, the motormouths who like to act tough are not when it comes down to it. It’s good to be out of that febrile atmosphere.
Farewell to Summer. Holiday makers are leaving Europe’s hotspots and returning to work. For retirees like us, it is time to travel. Hotels seem to welcome us with open arms at much reduced prices. Our first visit to Europe’s hotspots is Chelsea-on-Sea or Wells Next the Sea, Norfolk. We drive there tomorrow morning. It is only about three hours away so we won’t have to leave too early. We are staying in Little Walsingham.
1st September, 2014
Happy New Month! White rabbit but no goldfish. Hope you enjoy September 2014. You’ll never see it again. We intend to squeeze every last drop of enjoyment from it by keeping busy.
Setting off for Norfolk in a few minutes. Should be there for 2.00 pm. A swim in the pool and then explore the area. We take so many gadgets with us even for a short break – a laptop, two iPads, two smartphones and a Kindle plus, of course, all the chargers. Still, we like to stay connected. My friend, Chris, from Huddersfield sent me an email this morning which I rather enjoyed – enough to share with you:
David Cameron asked the Queen, “Your Majesty, how do you run such an efficient organisation? Are there any tips you can give me?” “Well,” said the Queen, “The most important thing is to surround yourself with intelligent people.” David Cameron then asked, “But how do I know if the people around me are really intelligent?” The Queen took a sip of tea. “Oh, that’s easy; you just ask them to answer an intelligent riddle, watch me and listen” The Queen pushed a button on her intercom. “Please send Prince Charles in here, would you?” Prince Charles walked into the room and said, “Yes, Mother? The Queen smiled and said to Charles, “Answer me this please Charles. Your mother and father have a child. It is not your brother and it is not your sister. Who is it?” Without pausing for a moment, Prince Charles answered “That would be me.” “Yes, very good!” Said the Queen. Ah ha I get it said David, thank you Ma’am. And in a great rush he left. Cameron went back to Parliament and decided to ask Nick Clegg the same question. “Nick, answer this for me.” “Your mother and your father have a child. It’s not your brother and it’s not your sister. Who is it?” “I’m not sure,” said Clegg. And then in true Nick Clegg style he went on to say. “Let me get back to you on that one.” He went to his advisers and asked everyone, but none could give him an answer.
Frustrated, Nick went to the men’s lavatory, and found Nigel Farage in there. “Nigel, see if you can answer this question.” “Yes Nick” replied Nigel. “Your mother and father have a child and it’s not your brother or your sister. Who is it?” Farage immediately answered, “That’s easy, it’s me!” Clegg grinned, and said, “Good answer Nigel, I see it all now!” Clegg then, went back to find Cameron and said to him; “David, I did some research, and I have the answer to that riddle.” “If your mother and father have a child who is not your brother or your sister, the child is Nigel Farage!” Cameron went red in the face, got up, stomped over to Clegg, and yelled into his face, “No! You bloody idiot! It’s Prince Charles! . . . AND THAT MY FRIENDS IS PRECISELY WHY UKIP IS DOING SO WELL!
Make of it what you will as all you poor people trudge out to work this morning.
2nd September, 2014
This our Hotel – Reeds Barn from the front and the back garden from our room:
A beautifully still and clear morning in Norfolk. Clear blue sky and strong sunshine in the heart of the countryside. Fresh raspberries for breakfast followed by wonderful bacon and sausages. What an indulgence! We are going out this morning to explore the area. North Creek is the first port of call followed by Burnham Market.
It has been the most wonderful day of delightful, coastal villages and wall to wall sunshine as we drove down narrow, Norfolk lanes to coastal villages of North Creek, Burnham Overy Staithe, Overy Staithe, Wells-Next-the-Sea. and Cromer where we ate Fish & Chips washed down with Norfolk cider and beer.
The Met. Office, so The Daily Telegraph reports, is forecasting a three month heat wave for UK – September – November. Could there be a better time to be living in Surrey and not in Greece?
3rd September, 2014
Got up at 7.00 am to beautiful sun over the pool and fruit garden. Lovely breakfast of local bacon and pork sausage. Won’t need to eat again today.
Today, we are going to the lavender fields at Heacham
and then the seaside area of Hunstanton.
After visiting these interesting places in lovely sunshine, we headed for Burnham Market.
Nowadays it is so popular as a tourist destination that we couldn’t find a single place to park. We carried on back to our hotel and ate a picnic meal in the sunshine in the garden on the camomile lawn. Chicken & ham pie from the farm shop, mixed olives and triple-cream cheese from France washed down by a beautiful bottle of claret.
4th September, 2014
Another lovely, sunny day. We have been so lucky on this trip. Breakfast at 8.00 am, car packed and off. The M25 was wonderful and we were home for 1.00 pm. We returned to multiple telephone calls from sales office reps trying to interest us in their new properties. We may follow some up.
Kids across Britain go back to school today. It is an amazing six years since Pauline & I started a new school year although it still feels so fresh in the memory. We have got through so much in those six years – much of it for the better!
5th September, 2014
Happy Birthday to Phyllis this morning. Only 77 years young.
Surprisingly tired after our four days away. I suppose we did do quite a lot of driving. Anyway, I really stayed in bed too long and didn’t get up until 8.00 am. What followed was a fairly ordinary day of shopping at Sainsbury’s and watching the cricket. I was trying to spot my sister, Ruth, who, apparently, won two tickets to the Headingly match. I didn’t see her but England won a fairly meaningless contest.
6th September, 2014
Very strange day. Pauline went into London with her sister and her niece to have a meal and see a show. They went to see Once at the Phoenix Theatre in Charing Cross Road.
I spent a quiet day redesigning one of my websites. I will re-launch it some time tomorrow. News came tonight of a poll showing a lead for the Independent Scotland Campaign with just a couple of weeks to go. It is looking more and more likely that Scotland will break away from UK and that UK will break away from Europe. The world is going mad!
A bit of a shock this afternoon. Our Duplex appeared on RightMove suddenly and, within an hour of spotting it ourselves, a woman was outside viewing it. We had been told that they wouldn’t start marketing until after Bank Holiday Monday. Obviously, they thought better of it.
I’m afraid it was rather an indolent day watching football and a bit of motor racing. I did take part in cooking the meal which was excellent – although I say it myself. We jointly cooked Rabbit Cassoulet. It was an absolutely delicious twist on the classic, French pork & duck cassoulet.
25th August, 2014
A rainy morning, dull and leaden skies – beautiful. I deliberately went out for a walk to feel the rain on my face – delicious! The project today – as it’s raining in Bristol too so the One Day cricket is on hold – is to prepare the pictures for sale.
I’ve reported before that we have over thirty, huge framed nineteenth century pictures from a past home which are too big and dated for a modern house. I’ve found an auction room that I believe will sell them but I have to provide an illustrated catalogue for valuation. Today, we will photograph and list with artists and dates. Tomorrow, we can contact the auctioneers.
26th August, 2014
Pauline’s persistence seems to be paying off. Hours and hours each day trawling through property sites has produced some good finds. This property is one of just four being built by a private builder next to a cricket ground – hence the name of the house. It is in East Sussex with pleasingly short distances from Woking and the Channel Tunnel. The houses aren’t finished inside yet but we have spoken to the agents, done some ‘due diligence’ checks and we hope to go down and look on Thursday.
Heavy rain for the second day although it is mild. We have to go to the Health Club for a workout. I need it. First, we will visit Phyllis & Colin to discuss a buffet we are constructing for tomorrow night with all the family.
27th August, 2014
It would have been Pauline’s Mum’s 100th birthday today. She died aged 96 and we really had thought she would make it all the way.
We all met for a buffet meal this evening. Phyllis & Colin, Mandy & Kieron and the boys, Pauline & I. It was nice to mark the occasion. I took this photo of the three girls:
28th August, 2014
Went to hospital for the first time since April for my blood test. We were up at 6.00 am and out by 6.30 am.. At 7.00 am I was giving an armful of blood and ten minutes later at home drinking my morning’s orange juice. By mid-morning we were driving down towards the outskirts of Royal Tunbridge Wells.
The houses we went to see weren’t really far enough on in their build to make a judgement about them. The area was beautiful – perhaps too beautiful in the sense of being in the heart of countryside with lots of narrow, thickly tree-lined lanes. We haven’t written them off but we will continue to look in the meantime. What we did learn was that we rather liked Tunbridge Wells.
We weren’t disgusted at all. We will look in a radius of that town which has all the facilities we want.
29th August, 2014
I don’t know if I caught this reading Skiathan Man’s Blog but I’m definitely feeling under the weather. I am tired, lethargic, lacking energy. I couldn’t face the Health Club today. We did the Sainsbury’s shop and came home. I’ve been sitting around going ‘Oh! Oh.’ all day. I’m rarely ill but, when I am, everything and everybody suffers with me.
This afternoon we had to go out so that the Estate Agency could show a prospective buyer round. It wasn’t someone who wants to live here but rather a speculator who wants to invest. I can’t see that sort of buyer wanting to pay the price we are on at but you never know. We haven’t found anywhere to move to yet so it is becoming a little more urgent.
30th August, 2014
The new freedom we have found since selling our Greek property has been enormous. It has amazed us both. On Monday, we are driving to Norfolk for a few days to fulfil a long-held wish to re-visit Pauline’s childhood haunts. In October, we are driving up to Yorkshire to visit friends and, in November, we fly to Athens for a break and, later, drive to France for a shopping trip. I am already exploring our plan to rent a property in Italy next Spring en route as we drive to Sifnos for the Summer.
We quite fancy Le Marche – Urbino or Perugia areas. A month there will leave us with a short journey to Ancona for the Superfast connection.
Exhausted after an hour in the gym, I’ve spent the afternoon watching Man. Utd. draw a goalless game against Burnley – AGAINST BURNLEY – England almost certainly losing the One Day series against India and completing the catalogue of the pictures we are going to send to Auction. We are only going to sell 22 framed prints at the moment. They have been great friends for twenty five years but it will be good to start afresh in a new house. This is the catalogue: Framed_Prints
We have been back in Surrey for four weeks. If we’d stayed to full time, we would have left the island in three more weeks this year. As it is, we are enjoying the cool of a lovely, English Summer and planning our next trips. We intend to go down to the south coast this week and in two weeks, we are off to Norfolk. Poor, old Barty Simpson on Paros is talking of hot and sticky days. I don’t miss those.
At least England won the Test match and, with it the series 3-1. The Indians rather gave up really.
18th August, 2014
Just heard from my little sister, Liz, at 7.00 am. She’s off to Portugal this morning. Liz is Tri-borough Executive Director of Adult Social Care Services for three, leading London councils: Hammersmith & Fulham, Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea. She is pictured here with her grand daughter, Georgia Rose.
Well Autumn temperatures seem to have arrived early. Only 20C/68F is forecast for the week ahead. It feels rather as it used to do when we had left Italy in mid-September, driven through the night and woken up in France. Cool and unusual!
Today, we are contacting the estate agents who came to value our Duplex to tell them which one we have chosen to sell it. A trip to the Health Club to stay alive and then planning a day or two driving to the areas we have chosen to explore for our future property.
The Notary on Sifnos, our friend, Elerania, contacted us and we had a long chat. It was lovely to hear news of what’s going on but the more one hears, the more one despairs of the country ever throwing off its Third World mantle. At least we sold to the right people!
19th August, 2014
You will notice a change. I thought I couldn’t continue with a Header that was a view from someone else’s house. It does not signal any less commitment to Greece or Sifnos but acknowledges a change of location. The Sifnos book has been proof-read and despatched. We await its return.
I must report the winning joke from the Edinburgh Fringe by Tim Vine was:
I decided to sell my Hoover… well it was just collecting dust.
Four years ago he won with:
I’ve just been on a once-in-a-lifetime holiday. I’ll tell you what, never again.
although I rather liked:
I picked up a hitch hiker. You’ve got to when you hit them.
We are still struggling to choose which Estate Agent to ask to sell our Duplex. Two out of the three were asking 1% and the third was 1.5%. This morning, one phoned to say they were having a new promotion and would do it for 0% just to get our business. It doesn’t necessarily persuade us but it makes the decision more complicated. We are going to discuss it with Phyllis this morning.
This afternoon, on impulse, we drove down to Hampshire to look at a property which was just being built. Although the illustration on the web looked fine and the actual structure was acceptable, it was too near the road with all the attendant noise to make it worth following up.
20th August, 2014
Quite a cool start to the morning although it was bright and sunny and reached 22C/70F by early afternoon. Having finally made a decision, I contacted the two Estate Agencies we were rejecting and Pauline phoned the one we had chosen. They are coming to take photographs tomorrow afternoon.
We were supposed to be going to pick Victoria plums on a Surrey farm but, after an hour in the gym, we decided to pick them from a shelf in Waitrose instead. It was far less time consuming.
We are entering the last third of August and the summer is running out. Barty on Paros is already talking about boats to Piraeus being booked up as Greeks go home in their droves. It is amazing how short the ‘season’ is in Greece.
21st August, 2014
A cold night. Got down to 7C/45F (in mid-August!). Had to sleep under a sheet for the first time. Currently, at 11.00 am, it’s only 18C/65F but lovely and sunny. The gardeners are outside mowing the lawns and tidying the flower beds. The smell of new-mown grass is heady in the sunshine. A quintessential English Summer’s day.
Photo shoot by the Estate Agency this afternoon. Pauline and I have a process we go through when selling a property – and this is the fifth one. We try to de-personalise it, removing as much clutter as possible. I then take photos to see what stands out as good or bad so that, when the professional turns up, as many problems have been eliminated as possible. This is one of the bedrooms after de-cluttering:
22nd August, 2014
She has been dead for six years now but Mum would be 91 today. I’m sorry she hasn’t made it. She wouldn’t thank me for sharing this and I’m amazed how young she actually is but this photo was taken in 1981 when she was only 58 – five years younger than I am now – in her retirement bungalow that she and Gordon bought on Bretby Lane.
Happy Birthday, Mum.
Another chilly night has given way to a sunny day of 22C/70F. The phone doesn’t stop ringing. Pauline has emailed so many Property Developments that Sales Office staff keep bombarding her with invitations to view. Actually, we are going to look at one in Surrey on Sunday.
It feels like we are constantly on the move at the moment. We will be driving down to Sussex next week to view some more Developments. The week after, we are going to Norfolk for a few days. We are going to Yorkshire in mid-October and I am currently planning a trip to Athens in November plus a trip to France in November. Should keep us on our toes.
23rd August, 2014
A morning of on-line Property Searching, talking to Sales Staff over the phone, planning trips next week. One of our problems is that so many houses we like – and we want a brand new one – are still at the drawings stage and won’t be built until Spring 2015.
Went to the Health Club for an hour. We expected Saturday morning to be busy. It was quite the reverse. Something about an hour’s exercise makes one feel deserving of a rest. When we got home, I watched the football & Cricket and Pauline did the hoovering – well, she gets bored easily.
I looked for flights to Athens Eleftherios Venizelos airport in early November. I was very pleased to find that British Airwayswas as cheap as easyJet who also charge for Baggage. Two return flights cost us £313.96/392.87€ all in. You can’t say fairer than that.
We were told to expect the tail end of Hurricane Bertha to hit us during the night. It didn’t. No wind at all. We woke to a pleasant morning but, by 9.00 am rain started to fall and became quite torrential for about an hour and a half. Gutterings were overflowing but the trees and plants seemed to breathe a big sigh of relief. The Surrey Cycle Race chose exactly the wrong day and wrong start time but who likes cyclists anyway. Let them swim!
Talking of swimming, I dug out some photos of our first trip to Greece – Zakynthos as I wrote yesterday. It was August 1981. We had been married for three years and had just recovered from a very serious car smash. It was our first holiday together and our first time flying. I was 30 years old and Pauline 29. You will notice that we haven’t changed one bit.
11th August, 2014
Lovely sunny morning but much cooler today – only 21C/69F. We spent our last weeks giving things away on Sifnos. Now, we are doing the same thing here. We are off to the Woking Hospice with lots of unwanted bric-a-brac and clothing. On Sifnos, we gave away carloads of things we didn’t need and took more than thirty bags of ‘rubbish’ to the bins. By the time we’d finished, the house almost floated it was that empty.
12th August, 2014
Bright, sunny, brisk morning – 20C/68F. We didn’t go to the Health Club so we have to a double session today. Tomorrow the first lot of estate agents come to our apartment to do a valuation and then others on Thursday. Lovely contacts with the island over the past couple of days keep us up to date. My work on the Sifnos book is progressing well.
In three weeks we are off to Wells-next-the-Sea on the Norfolk coast – a place that has resonance with Pauline’s family. She’s talked about it throughout our married life so, at last, I’ll get to see it.
13th August, 2014
Bright and sunny but cool morning. The apartment is prepared for its first valuation this afternoon. We had one done last November but estate agents tell us prices here have moved up markedly in the past ten months so we are having three, new ones done.
Pauline is fielding replies from her enquiries on new properties to buy. It still seems quite a hard sell is used by these agents. Fortunately, we are experienced enough to play them at their own game. We may go to pick plums at Garsons’ Farm next week after our valuations have been played out. Apparently, the Jubileum plums are ready. They are like Victoria plums but bigger and you can’t beat bigger plums!
14th August, 2014
Well, we thought house prices had gone up in since we went away but we were shocked to find our Duplex had put on £50,000 in nine months. However, we are struggling to find a property we really like. Stretching our budget to £550,000 has brought more in to view. We saw this, so far unbuilt, property in Kent. It is a one-off in a Kent village. It looks interesting although broadband speeds are poor there at the moment. The website says ‘superfast broadband’ is arriving in September 2014 but that must be a concern. Still, we’ll probably go and have a look.
Two more valuations today and then we’ll decide whether to proceed or not. Exciting times!
Well, the outcome has been astonishing. Of three valuations, there is a variance of £125,000. The lowest estimate was beaten by £75,000 in the second and by £125,000 in the third. As the third has just sold an adjacent property, we are pleased to go with that. We were told that it should go within six weeks so we’ve got to get a move on and find our ideal property in our ideal area but where that is, we haven’t a clue. We are going to explore some areas next week. The fifth Test starts tomorrow so I will be ‘busy’.
15th August, 2014
Went shopping at Sainsburys Knaphill which is about five miles away. It is huge and well stocked and points up why Tesco is suffering at the moment.
We took our current prescriptions with us because there is a pharmacy within the supermarket. I was shocked to see the notice on the counter announcing that prescription charges have gone up to £8.05/10.04€ per item. I have a list of 9 items and Pauline has one more so our bill would have come to £80.50/100.40€ – an enormous bill. Fortunately, it costs us nothing because we are over 60. In fact it has cost me nothing for nearly ten years because of my Type 2 Diabetes diagnosis but the cost otherwise would be huge. At least we can easily get the drugs. In Greece it would be far less certain.
The cricket’s going well. At the time of writing – 3.35 pm – the Indians are 83 for 8. They don’t like it up ’em! …… The day finished India 148 all out and England 62-0. England will now definitely win the series.
16th August, 2014
A quiet day working on projects in hand. I had correspondence to write for the Management Group of our Development and progressed the book I am putting together.
Unfortunately, I was being constantly side tracked by the Test Match which was certainly going well and three football matches which weren’t – if you’re a United supporter. Roasted tarragon chicken with a medley of roasted vegetables for our meal. Overall, it was a lovely day.
The day began overcast but humid and has developed in to a wonderfully sunny summer’s day with bright light and a gentle breeze. Sunday (digital) newspapers this morning and some business to finish in a communication with our Management Company.
I have a
Desktop computer (1 year old) with Colour Laser printer and Mono Laser printer
Toshiba Laptop (3 years old)
iPad Wi-Fi (2 years old)
Pauline has a
Toshiba Laptop ( 1 year old)
Amazon Kindle (3 years old)
Amazon Kindle (1 year old)
We have been discussing updating for a little while and, today, I ordered a new iPad Air Wi-Fi + Cellular from the Apple Store.
I also ordered a new leather case for my old iPad which is going to Pauline and a case for my new one. We are going to need a new laptop sometime this year as well but, first, our mobile contracts will be up in September and EE will be offering us new smartphones to tempt us to stay with them. They are offering a new shared 4G Data plan with unlimited calls and texts which will do nicely for two smartphones and two iPads. We couldn’t do that on Sifnos although I do rather envy Bart Simpson on Paros who has been gorging on fresh figs picked in his garden. We completed our sale just a few weeks too soon.
Interestingly, Bart muses on the origin of the saying: ‘I couldn’t give a fig!’ It goes all the way back to Middle English when a fig was considered a free fruit of no worth so it meant to care almost nothing. You wouldn’t say that if you saw individual figs wrapped in tissue paper to protect them being sold in Waitrose at 50p/60c each.
The day was completed with a lovely call from my friend, Brian, who I haven’t seen since last October. He is on a three month tour of England’s coastline and was phoning me from Bude in Cornwall. We have agreed to meet for lunch in October when we drive up to Yorkshire.
4th August, 2014
Blue skies, bright sunshine, clear diary – what more could one want. Actually, Pauline is contacting Estate Agents for three valuations of our property and I am planning out the sections of my Sifnos Book. We will, of course, have an hour or so at the Health Club and we have been asked to cat-sit for our neighbour, Rosina, who is going away for ten days. Minnie (who is so big she should be renamed Maxi) is a lovely, friendly cat who will be fun to look after.
5th August, 2014
I was so preoccupied today that I am having to write my Blog in retrospect. Couldn’t go out because we were expecting deliveries. Pauline continued to contact builders/developers in the Kent/Sussex/Berkshire areas and prepared to grill them on things like:
Are you in a Flood Zone?
Where’s the nearest Health Club?
Can we have underfloor heating?
Can we re-specify the kitchen?
Meanwhile, I was collating material for the Sifnos book and preparing the sections. When the new iPad arrived at around mid day, I was consumed with setting it up and altering the old one for Pauline. This took me the rest of the day and I still wasn’t finished by bedtime. Altering email settings gave me a headache for a while. I do everything in the Cloud and Pauline doesn’t yet. We use on-line calendars which we both want to edit, read and share. This is still giving me a bit of a headache. Lots of apps specific to my interests had to be reinstalled on my new iPad and taken off Pauline’s.
The second delivery – the leather covers – didn’t arrive until 3.00 pm by which time it was too late to go out. We cooked our meal – wonderful, farmshop lamb steaks with broadbeans, onions and tomatoes. It was delightful.
6th August, 2014
Woken by torrential rain in the night but, by morning, the skies had cleared and the sun was out. In our Greek home, we had become accustomed to cooking outside and our main method was griddling meat and vegetables. It’s not so easy to do in a smaller, apartment kitchen so we will look to install in any new house kitchen a built in griddle plate and heavy duty extractor fan. For a temporary measure, I’ve just ordered a large, cast iron griddle plate to put over our hob.
The temperature here reached 25C/77F with considerable humidity. Work in the gym was decidedly sweaty. It’s amazing how physical effort is affected by one’s mental state. Today, I did 45 mins exercise on a couple of pieces of equipment. All the pieces of equipment have mini TVs integrated into one’s personal exercise data. Today, Sky Sportswere showing the Ashes victory which was dominated by Freddie Flintoff. I was so engrossed in the games that I didn’t see the time flowing away. That’s definitely the way to do it.
7th August, 2014
Went to Sainsbury’s today to do the shopping. Not only is it much better than Tesco – so much more choice – but makes shopping on Sifnos look like visiting a third world country. The temperature here was a sunny and comfortable 24C/75F.
The choice is unbelievable so much so that we over bought. As we drove home, I began to think that we would never eat all that fresh produce before it went over but this is what the fantastic choice of a British supermarket engenders – almost unlimited choice.
An hour at the Health Club was enjoyable this afternoon and then Pauline cooked Salmon fillet in tarragon sauce with asparagus and griddled oyster mushrooms. Absolutely delightful!
8th August, 2014
A steamy day – only 24C/75F but humid and we had five minutes of heavy rain before the skies cleared again. Pauline has spent the morning arranging valuation meetings for our Duplex. She has chosen three companies – Townends, who will come next Wednesday and Curchods and Aston Meadson Thursday. We may invite Gascoigne-Peeson Friday. We are in the lovely position of not being in a hurry to move. We will go for the top-end valuation and then wait for the required offer. Not only have we not found another property to go to but haven’t even confidently identified the area along the southern coast that we want to move to.
Fortunately, the weather is dry at Old Trafford at the moment so I am watching the cricket. England are currently hauling the Indian total back and will soon overtake it.
Unfortunately, we had just returned from a couple of hours at the Health Club when the cricket was rained off for the day. England were going well but you can never trust the weather ‘up North’. Pauline cooked a wonderful meal of griddled vegetables – peppers, onions, mushrooms and asparagus to accompany griddled sea bream.
No wonder we rarely go out to eat. She is such a brilliant cook! As we finished our meal, the heavens opened here. Everywhere outside soon smelled so clean and fresh.
9th August, 2014
Gloriously hot and sunny day here undisturbed by weird tourists. A light breeze helped but it still felt rather humid. A day at home watching the cricket and what a result! I could hear Ruth applauding all the way up in Bolton. The nonsense that commentators talked about Cook before the game was completely dispelled and England won an easy victory. The Indians just aren’t very good in UK conditions.
Pauline reminded me that it was 33 years ago this coming week that we first went to Greece. We spent three weeks on Zakynthos (Zante) island. There was no airport on the island in those days. We flew cheap charter in the middle of the night to Athens and then went by minibus across the Peloponnese – through the now very familiar Patras – to the port of Kyllini where we got a ferry to the island. By the time we got there, we were so exhausted that we wanted to go home. Three weeks later, we didn’t want to leave and were firmly hooked on Greece. The rest is history.
How wonderful life is. A hot and sunny Sunday with the newspapers and Test cricket. Excellent day for England.
Pauline cooked duck legs with grilled vegetables – dreamy.
28th July, 2014
Hot and humid night gave way to early morning thunder storms. Heavy rain gave the grounds a fresh and perfumed sensation. We were busy indoors until mid-day when we drove to the Health Centre. Until then, Pauline was busily contacting developers of new houses towards the south coast and then fielding pushy phone calls from them in follow up.
Really enjoyed exercise at the Health Centre – We spent about an hour and a half ending up in the pool and Jacuzzi. After we got home, Elerania phoned us from Sifnos with news. I was busily watching England declare on 569 for 7 and take the Indians to 25 for 1 before the close. Tomorrow, we are off to France on a shopping trip.
29th July, 2014
Happy Birthday to Jane B G. Hope you’ve got another 40 to come – at least!
Didn’t sleep well last night. It was hot, humid and the foxes outside were screaming at each other. Why do they do that? Why can’t they talk normally like everyone else? Anyway, up at 5.00 am and out of the garage by 6.00 am. We are driving down to the Tunnel for a French shopping trip.
What a wonderful day! Mind you, every day is wonderful at the moment. An hour and a half down to the tunnel. Coffee and read the paper. Half an hour crossing (plus an hour for French time) and we rolled off in Calais about 9.30 am. Of the two, big hypermarkets – Auchan and Carrefour – we prefer the former at the moment. Their fresh fish counter is wonderful as is their huge, delicatessen area with more cooked meats and cheeses than you can imagine.
Today we stocked up on Sea Bream (Dorade), Salmon (Saumon) and Cod Loins (Pave de Cabillaud). We bought some more Duck which we both love plus half a garden of wonderful salad. It was wine that was our prime purpose today because the car was so stuffed full on the way back from Sifnos. Enough to get us through to our next trip in a couple of months time.
30th July, 2014
The lovely days just keep coming. We have begun to skip through life once again. Is it really possible to feel so free and happy? Today, I went round to try and sort out Phyllis’s email settings on her iPad. I failed miserably. I will have to do some research and go round later in the week to have another try.
Went to the Health Club and did an hour and a half in the Gym and the Pool. Felt absolutely great after that. Came back to find England had declared and left India with an enormous total to get in the last day. They now need 333 with 4 wickets down.
Another very warm evening. We have all the windows and doors open at 10.00 pm. We are told it might cool by the weekend.
I don’t know if I told you but the power shower in our apartment in Surrey is so strong it almost knocks us off our feet. It is such a difference to our pump-fed shower in Sifnos which was perfectly adequate but comparatively weak. We had a huge, corner bath in Greece as well but rarely used it. In fact, we’ve become confirmed fans of showers so much that neither of us has had a bath for over a year. Having written this, I’m going to have a shower now.
31st July, 2014
Survived the power of shower last night and I’m pleased I did. Went out early to pick strawberries and raspberries this morning on a hot and sunny morning that climbed to 26C/79F. The current strawberry crop are still plentiful although we had to work a bit harder for the raspberries. We managed about 4kg of each because we were the first to pick.
It always pays to be early. Pauline bought some more fig & sherry ice cream to go with the fruit and we are a big bowl as soon as we got home. Just no self control!
Got home in time to watch England wrap up the Test victory before Lunch. Really pleased.
Pauline, meanwhile, was emailing every house builder in Sussex, Hampshire & Kent and then spent the rest of the day fielding phone calls from them inviting us down to see their Developments. All the houses we are considering are new-build.
1st August, 2014
From the cat (and rabbit) that got the cream, Happy August 2014. Can you tell that the cat is dreaming of goldfish? The rabbit is just dreaming.
A warm, quite humid but slightly cloudy day for the start of August. It is a finance day with most things being done on-line. We have internet banking with three, separate banks plus accounts in two others. I am fed up of having to maintain spreadsheets just to remember where everything is. The aim today and over the next few weeks is to rationalise everything into a couple of institutions.
2nd August, 2014
Good Samaritan day. Went round to sort the email account on Phyllis’ iPad and to set up Skype for her. That achieved, we did a bit of shopping at Tesco and had the car cleaned. Pauline is constantly fielding phone calls from house builders and our short journey out this morning was interrupted by two more.
Going to the Health Club this afternoon. We don’t usually go at weekends but we are trying to up the activity levels. ………….. Just did 45 mins today but it was enough to make us feel better. The Health Club was reasonably quiet but the roads were full of cyclists. I can’t be doing with them at all. No cycling licence required, no road fund tax paid, no knowledge of the Highway Code to be achieved. These cyclists are laws unto themselves and a nightmare for motorists. Talking of nightmares, I wonder how the Poison Dwarf is getting on?
