Sanders Blog

23rd February, 2014

A quiet but very mild day which reached 14C/57F which is well above the seasonal average which is 8C/46F on this day. We’ve had a quiet day but Pauline’s sister and her husband had some bad news.

Colin’s younger brother died in hospital this morning of a heart attack. Pauline & I both know from experience that the death of someone closely related jolts one’s system and forces one to confront one’s own mortality.

24th February, 2014

Glorious, glorious day in Surrey with clear blue skies, strong sun and relatively mild temperatures predicted to reach 14C/57F today. I’ve spent the morning sorting out the next batch of ISAs which mature in a week’s time. We have some more to do in early April although we’ve decided not to buy new ones until the end of the year this time giving us time to get more clarity about interest rates. We can shelter £11,880.00 from tax for the new financial year but the amount earnable on that is small. If we both put in our maximum cash allowance we would earn £178.00. One has to wonder if it’s worth the bother. The only upside caveat to that is the CPI has dropped to 1.9%.

25th February, 2014

The day started with sun but soon moved in to torrential rain. It feels mild although it is only 12C/54F. We have been finalising visits for our trip to Yorkshire/Lancashire at the beginning of April. It centres around our information seeking visit to Pauline’s relatives to check out our research on the Family Tree and  then to have Dinner with two, old school colleagues. We are staying in a Holiday Inn at Brighouse as we did last winter and we will have our car serviced while we are there.

I’m really looking forward to the moorland between Lancashire and Yorkshire. I don’t think you can beat it for emotional contact with the world.

Today, we are free to do what we like so we are off to the Health Centre to work on our fitness. We are expecting Jane Bennett to appear at the Centre one day soon – probably as a Trainer.

26th February, 2014

Another delicious day of warm sunshine in Surrey. We went out early for Pauline’s appointment with a ‘hearing test’. For ages now I’ve been telling her she’s going deaf and she’s been replying that I mumble. Today we got the definitive answer. I am going for elocution lessons!

The next task today is to sort out my wardrobe and bag up all the clothes to go to the charity shop. For the last ten years, I have been spending £30.00 – £40.00 per shirt from CTShirts (Charles Tyrrwhitt). I notice that the price has come down since the recession and they probably wouldn’t set the world of fashion alight particularly if you shop at Boden but I loved them.

They are now far too big and I rarely wear a shirt & tie now anyway. They are going for someone else to enjoy. Pauline is happily disposing of them as well as many other items some of which were bought as transitional garments last year.

I had a bit of a heart/blood pressure blip at the gym yesterday so we are giving it a miss today.

27th February, 2014

I’ve had a postal relationship with my friend, Caroline, for the past twenty years. I employed her as an Attendance Officer at my school all those years ago. She had attended the school as a pupil from the first day it opened in 1951 – the year I was born – and had come back to serve as a representative of the Local Authority until I bought her in as a privatised service when the LEA retreated under financial stress. Since she retired, she has travelled to almost all points of the Globe and sent me cards, hundreds of them, when she wanted to share her experiences with a friend. I have tried to reciprocate.

Not so long ago, Caroline was writing to me from South America and, yesterday, I received a card from Goathland. I had to check the map to see where it was and suddenly realised that I had once been near it when I did the Lyke Wake Walk with College friends one inebriated night. It is in North Yorkshire near Robin Hood’s Bay. It is a beautiful spot.

28th February, 2014

Farewell to February and officially welcome Spring tomorrow. Actually, Spring arrived in Surrey some time ago. Mild and sunny, the weather has been one of the nine warmest winters on record along with the wettest. The trees are in blossom and the daffodils are blooming. The trees are bursting with the weight of new buds.

We were visited last night, in the South, by the Northern Lights or as we learned in school is called the Aurora Borealis. How wonderful is this?

On a more mundane level, I had to see the dentist today to be delivered the wonderful news that I require a crown at the cost of £650.00. It will be done in the next couple of weeks at the practice in Westminster near Pimlico.

1st March, 2014

Welcome March and welcome Spring. The sun is out. It’s warm and bright and daffodils are opening. Happy new month to you all.

The Skiathan is a bit downbeat as he records: It’s another dreary start to the day. Skopelos News is anticipating: dreary weekend with a big chance of rain. Symi Dream says: Let’s hope the rain holds off. It can only get better!

16th February, 2014

Spring has arrived. That’s what he meant by Valentine’s Day!

We sat outside in the Quad. at lunchtime today and it was delightful to enjoy the birds, the trees and the air in the sunshine. We must remember, however, that two people died in the storms yesterday, many places remain flooded and storms are predicted to return on Thursday so we are making the most of it.

17th February, 2014

Been a really interesting day today and what more can one ask for than that? Pauline & I were doing some research because the Woking Council has objected to the fencing around our development. We have been taking photos, measuring fence heights and pacing out distances.

After all that fresh air, we went to the Health Club. We had cholesterol tests. Mine was 4.3 but Pauline’s was 7.1. Of course mine is the result of five years of Statins. Pauline, who has been careful about her health all her life, may now have to join me.

18th February, 2014

Quite heavy rain today coming across the trees in swathes of water. Can’t be a pretty sight for the flooded. Pauline went to a Pilates class with her sister at the Health Club while I continued to research her family. Already, I’ve got it back to 1802 with her Great Great Grandfather, John Barnes. This type of research can be really frustrating but this line has allowed me top zip through it.

I don’t know if you have moved to this yet but I have persuaded Pauline to join me in the cloud. Everything we do on our computers, laptops and IPads is saved to Ms Live.com where we share about 10 Gigabytes of on-line space which is perfectly adequate for our needs. We also back that up again on portable drives but it means we will never be dependent on our computer drives again. The SkyDrive suite combines file storage with on-line mail, address book and calendar.

Early night tonight. We’re off to France on a shopping trip tomorrow.

19th February, 2014

Out of the house at 6.00 am. Arrived at the Tunnel just after 7.00 am. In France by (8.00+1) 9.00 am. Off to the wine store and then to Auchan in Coquelles. Before I could draw breath, Pauline had bought three pairs of shoes and a new bag. We went on to buy Rabbit, Duck, Pork, Fish, Mustard, Lettuces the size of dinner plates, wonderful radishes. From the charcuterie counter, we had smoked pork, cold, pressed belly pork, smoked sausage, galantine of ham.

We had a cup of coffee and Pauline had a sandwich then we drove back to the Tunnel and caught the first train. We were back in our home at exactly 2.00 pm. It was a really enjoyable morning.

For our meal this evening, we feasted on goods from the Charcuterie Counter and a really good bottle of claret.

Sent an email to Bob who has joined me on the age of 62. Happy Birthday, Bob.

20th February, 2014

A really pleasant day with Spring weather and a temperature of 13C/55F. We were tired after yesterday’s excursion so gave the gym a miss. I had to be at the Medical Centre anyway because I had the first of my ECGs. This one was done by a nurse in the surgery and my heartbeat registered at 61 bpm. This is excellent but my heart was in atrial fibrillation at the time of the test which made it more guess work than anything else.

I spent some time this morning on my research into Pauline’s ancestors. I am still working on her father’s line of the Barnes/Fish strands. I’ve got back to her Great, Great Grandfathers – John Barnes (B. 1802 in Doncaster) and Matthew Fish (B. 1794 in Norwich). It’s proving a really rewarding quest and very quickly productive.

Pauline cooked a lovely meal of confit of duck legs, shallots, mushrooms and peas. It was wonderful.

21st February, 2014

Relied on my own INR reading for the first time today. It came in at 2.2 just within my 2.0 – 3.0 acceptable range. I emailed St Peter’s Hospital with my result and they emailed me back by return with dosage advice. It was exactly what I predicted but it is a fantastic service. We went on to town to do some shopping and visit the Halifax to discuss ISAs which are about to mature. We’ll be moving from 4.0% to 1.5% but at least inflation is coming down (1.9%) to meet us.

It has been another relatively warm and very sunny day with temperatures once again reaching 13C/55F.

22nd February, 2014

Pauline went to Zumba class at the Health Centre with her sister. I stayed at home and went on with my research. I’m really enjoying it. We knew that Pauline’s paternal Grandfather, John William Barnes, was a Coal Merchant in Oldham at the start of the last century but Pauline had searched in vain for any mention of it in the records. I subscribe to the Ancestry website

and, after a few hours of searching, managed to find his listing in a 1935 telephone directory. It was very rewarding to confirm that fact.

While Pauline was out, I prepared and cooked rabbit casserole. I used some pork belly to keep the rabbit moist and included celery and thyme to accentuate the flavour. We will eat it tomorrow.

9th February, 2014

While the world around us appears to beset by floods and we have news today that it has been the wettest winter for 245 years, we are tucked up and our patio is bathed in Surrey sun. The temperature reached 13C/55F in the sunshine but wind and light rain did sweep in later in the day.

Cousin David appears to have worked our Sanders Family Tree back to 1770 which is impressive. I have set myself the next month or so to research Pauline’s Family by tracing back the Barnes and Farrow lines. Having lived and worked in the vicinity of Oldham for the last forty years, it will be interesting to explore the history of the Nineteenth Century Cotton Mills through Pauline’s ancestors. The town is still dominated by the architecture of the mills which were long since abandoned by their primary function – even their secondary trade of mail-order service has largely now gone and many mills rot.

This mill, built in the immediate pre-First World War years was almost redundant after the 1929-21 cotton price crash. Think of the investment someone put into this:

Pauline Grandfather Barnes worked as a Cotton Carder but eventually began his own business as a Coal Supplier.

10th February, 2014

Someone’s posted a 40 year old picture of me on Faceache.

I’m the one in the blue jumper aged 20-21 on a tour round the Masham Brewery famous now for Black Sheep beer or Theakston’s Brewery famous for Old Peculiar. I would like to say Those were the days. but they weren’t really. Anyway, 42 years on, I haven’t changed a bit!

11th February, 2014

The Tories are really getting ‘flooding’ in the neck. Cameron is panicking and, tonight, promised ‘unlimited funds’ to solve the problem. I predict that it will come back to haunt him. Harold Macmillan, when asked what a prime minister most feared, said: ‘Events, dear boy, events’.” Well poor old Cameron has got his event.

I weighed myself today and saw a figure that I haven’t visited for about twenty five years. Pauline is still skipping around the Lounge.

12th February, 2014

A day that started off well but soon degenerated into pestilence and flood. The television news is only about flooding in the South. They seem to have forgotten that the North is flooded as well. What it must be like for anyone who has flooding affecting their home, one can only imagine but we are told that there is much worse to come. You can guarantee that the Summer will be dominated by hosepipe bans.

13th February, 2014

Drove to collect our beautifully repaired alloy wheel this morning. It has been re-edged, polished, lacquered, kiln-dried, rebalanced and fitted back on the car for the cost of £145.00. It is lovely to have it back. We’ve spent three days running on a ‘space saver tyre’ and restricting ourselves to 50 mph.

Our other commitments today were an hour in the gym and, later, two hours in a Residents’ Meeting. They are usually boring but, on this occasion, was expertly run by our Management Company, Chamonix. Just a run-of-the-mill day for us but only a few miles away poor souls are drowning in floodwater or diluted sewage as it is becoming known.

14th February, 2014

Torrential rain today and quite strong winds although nothing like those down on the coast. Reasonably mild, though, at 12C/54F.

The Skiathan tells me it is something called Valentine’s Day. I don’t know what that means but, apparently, this day holds some significance. Youngsters eh!

Had a visit to the Doctor this morning. I have to have two ECGs. The first is at the surgery and is done on the spot. The second is a 24hr ECG which involves me attending hospital early in the morning, being fitted with sensor pads wired up to a monitor and then being sent out to do a ‘normal’ 24hrs before returning the monitor which will be analysed by a private company who will report back to my GP. On the basis of those findings, they will decide how proceed. Say what you like about the NHS, my treatment is absolutely wonderful.

15th February, 2014

When you’re not working, Saturdays mean very little. And so it is with us. Pauline is making marmalade and I’m drinking fresh coffee and reading the papers. We are both rather tired because the wind was roaring through the trees last night and, although the morning started off dry and bright, heavy rain is constantly moving across in organised attacks.

2nd February, 2014

The lovely days keep coming. Sunny and mild today. We should be outside walking but, instead, are reading the Sunday papers – electronically. I’ve just received and email from Jean, our neighbour when we lived in Yorkshire. We are arranging to meet in March which will be nice. Got a couple of football matches to watch as well. Lunch today was celery sticks with humus. Can you believe it?

I am distraught, today, with the news that the apostrophe is being dropped by most Local Authorities in their signage, etc. The reason is that they don’t have enough staff who know how to use it. What have these teacher’s been doing?

3rd February, 2014

Made that trip to WheelWizard in Cobham this morning. My alloy wheel repair will cost about £120.00 next week and take a day and a half. It’s better than £500.00 for a new one.

Watched a fantastic match tonight in which Chelsea beat Man. City by playing them off the park. Early night because we have to be up at 5.00 am and out at 6.00 am to avoid rush hour traffic on the M25 as we head for the M1 and up to Lancashire.

4th February, 2014

Long but wonderful day today. We went to a funeral. Up at 5.00 am and out by 6.00 am. We drove on to the M25 where the ‘rush hour’ was already well under way and then on to the M1 which, miraculously, had no holdups. We did the 220 miles from Surrey to Lancashire in under 4 hours. The night before had been wild and wet and the night following was predicted to be the same. Our trip neatly slotted between the two with dry and fine weather.

The first thing we noticed as we got out of the car in Waterhead was how freezing cold it was. We called in at Haynes’ bread shop to buy Colin some ‘oven bottom muffins’ and then on to the Tesco Superstore to buy him a dozen Hollands meat pies. You can take the boy out of Lancashire but you can’t take Lancashire out of the boy. Colin may have emigrated to Surrey but his tastebuds are still in the North.

We then moved on to the main event of the day and drove to Hollinwood Crematorium for John Woolley’s funeral.

It was like, as one person observed, a school reunion. The old school was demolished in the summer while we were away and it, obviously, left a huge feeling of void which this cremation, ironically, filled. John Gillespie at 88, John Fidler at 77, Liz Hardy, Pat & Derek Wild, Mike & Doreen Elwell, Norma Taylor, Lesley Scoble, Val Winkle, Dave Joynes, Lindsay Heneghan, Dave Spencer, Trevor (Sniffer) Parry, Jim Rothwell, Vince Kenny, Jean Lowe, Mary Decelis, Andy Clough, Nelli Wood, Julie Rogers, Pete & Kate Holford, Pat Baxter, Pauline Pichon, Margaret Taylor, Little Viv., John & Carol Bewick, Helen Crowther, Eugene Kirwan, Sarah Bristow, Hilary Nelson, Michael Charlesworth plus us made about 35 ex-staff present so at least a third of the staff. It was stimulating to see them all again.

Afterwards, we drove another 4 hours back to Surrey and I collapsed with a glass of red wine. I had eaten just two bananas all day.

5th February, 2014

Went to bed at midnight as usual last night but the trip had taken its toll on us and we got up almost an hour late this morning. It is 10C/51F but rather grey today.

It is beginning to look like I will have to have a pacemaker/heart-monitor fitted and I read today that the procedure is becoming much easier. The latest innovation means that a small device, the size of two matchsticks can be injected into the chest muscle in the Doctor’s surgery in a matter of minutes. rather than the much larger monitor placed into a cavity prepared by operation.

6th February, 2014

Our one commitment today was top appear before the ophthalmologist at Woking Community Hospital for my Annual Diabetic Eye Test. Pauline has to accompany me because the drops I have to have mean I can’t drive home. The service is fantastic. I arrived at 11.20 am. Within five minutes, I’m called in for the drops to be administered. Twenty minutes later, I have half a dozen photographs taken of my eyeballs and we are off home. On so many occasions we are reminded how wonderful the NHS is whatever common parlance says.

7th February, 2014

Very mild day that reached 13C/56F in the sunshine. It felt like Spring. Workmen appeared on site to install electric car charging points. Nobody who lives here drives an electric car but this condition of the development was put in place by Woking Borough Council.

8th February, 2014

At my advanced age of (nearly) 63, it is no surprise to learn that most of my contemporaries are retired. Certainly, most of those who I met at my Teacher Training College in the late ’60s and early ’70s seem to have hung up their chalk. After all, what was the TPS created for if it isn’t to keep us in the manner to which we have become accustomed?

Some of those retirees are to be found on social media and one this morning reminded me of my first teaching practice in a Northallerton school which didn’t want a long haired, tieless boy wonder in their classrooms. I was reasonably happy to put on a tie for a few hours but not to get my haircut. Bob Barker-Whyatt came up with the answer with a wig he found in the Props Basket. It had seen better days. It was slightly ginger and thinning rapidly for a twenty year old’s head but it did the trick. On my last day there, I took my wig off and all the kids stood up and applauded. What I hadn’t realised was they all knew it was a wig from day one but refrained from commenting. Happy days!

26th January, 2014

Apparently last night was one of torrential rain and tornadoes around the country including less than 50 miles away from us but here we slept in an oasis of calm. It is raining lightly here now but nothing to suggest flood-level precipitation.

My job this week is to make a full, backup copy of my Blog because I’m thinking of migrating it to another site and I don’t want any accidents. The Blog is in to its sixth year. It intend to continue it, now, until I die. Whenever that is. However, it would be nice to integrate features that my current platform doesn’t allow so I am looking further afield.

27th January, 2014

A few days ago the European Commission belatedly acknowledged the self-impoverishment threatened by its renewable energy policies, and abandoned its previous insistence on maintaining mandatory targets for each of the 28 member states in the union. By giving massive subsidies to renewables they had been forcing other power
plants out of the market. Of course, satellite records show no land-mass global warming at all for the past 16 years.  We are now being told by experts on solar physics that we are heading into a period of exceptional inactivity on the surface of the sun – and, therefore, one of exceptionally cold temperatures. We now need extra greenhouse effect if we are not to suffer increasingly cold times. Let’s use our the natural resource we all walk on in the UK. Bring back coal!

My weight has just entered a territory that I haven’t seen for more than twenty years. That’s the good news as long as my heart doesn’t give out!

28th January, 2014

Lovely, sunny morning although chilly as I take the rubbish up to the bin store fortified by a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice, and a large cup of Yorkshire Tea. As soon as I’ve unstacked the dishwasher, I reward myself with a cup of freshly brewed coffee. Heaven! Pauline is going to a Pilates class with her sister while I am catching up on correspondence and then we are both off to the Health Club.

29th January, 2014

A grey and wet day. Not warm either at 5C/41F. Apart from a trip to the Health Club, this will be an ‘in’ day. I thought I would share with you an ‘app.’ on my Windows 8 computer which conveniently gives me ten years of meteorological data for each day of the year. It appeals to spreadsheet/research geeks like me.

I am preparing a new, ‘Back Office’ app. for my Blog which will tell me lots of stuff about my readers. It will tell me how many, when and where they are and even who they are through the IP address of their computer so that I can look them up. It’s going to make Blogging a whole lot more interesting.

30th January, 2014

Almost the end of another January. It is certainly going out with a wet flourish. I just hope it brightens up on Tuesday when we do an eight hour round trip to Yorkshire and back. Today we are going to the farm shop in Esher to buy meat.

It is official. This has been the wettest January on record (therefore for at least 100 years).

Few are surprised, least of all those living in Somerset, because they have been marooned since before Christmas.

31st January, 2014

Farewell January. See you next year. Horrible cold, wet, dark day to go out on.

A few days ago I grazed one alloy wheel on a stone curb. Part of the rim was roughed up. I knew it was possible to have a repair done so I phoned a local firm called WheelWizard. When I told them the model of my car they said that the repair would take a full day and cost £120.00. I instinctively thought, I could buy a new wheel for that but, when I looked it up, found that a set of four, replacement wheels would be £2020.00 or £504.00 each. I shall be driving over to The WheelWizard very soon.

1st February, 2014

Happy New Month. The word February is believed to have derived from the name ‘Februa’ taken from the Roman ‘Festival of Purification’.  The root ‘februo’ meaning to I purify by sacrifice. There’s not much purification been going on here recently unless it is by water!

The month has started with a screamingly beautiful day of clear blue skies and strong sun. The temperature is not great but equals the ten year average of 8C/47F. Rain and strong winds are forecast although a respite is promised for Tuesday when we drive up to Yorkshire.

19th January, 2014

We heard today that John Woolley was dead. It was something of a shock. We had known him for more than forty years and worked with him for most of that time and yet he was a couple of years younger than us. His partner, Julie, died of cancer in her early 50s. And now John is dead from a heart attack at the juvenile age of sixty.

He looked older. I think he was a lonely person. He was a Scout Commissioner as well as a Geography teacher but what defined him most of all were his Austro-German origins which made him dogmatic not diplomatic, splenetic, even frenetic not calm and controlled. I didn’t even like him particularly but he was a factor in our lives for almost as long as we can remember. We remember him for that and draw closer in our life.

20th January, 2014

When I searched the web for a photo of our former colleague, John Woolley, who died yesterday, something came up and shocked me. Google brought up a photo with John Woolley in it. Unfortunately, it was not the John Woolley I had known. However, as I scoured the photo, I was flabbergasted to see someone intimate to my past spring out of the page. I will allow members of my family to find him for themselves:

Dad is the tallest at the back in the centre. He was playing for the Burton upon Trent Grammar School rugby 1st team in the season  1930-31. He was sixteen years old and had just thirty three years left before dying of a heart attack. I feel I never really knew him and I regret that.

Further down I found myself staring at myself back in September 1967 as I was appointed Burton upon Trent Grammar School prefect. I am the beautiful one on the back row, second left.

21st January, 2014

A misty, October morning in mid-January. The day has started with disaster. Pauline has gone to a Pilates class with her sister at the Health Club and I was about to settle back with a lovely cup of fresh coffee when my espresso machine spluttered and died mid cup. I am bereft. I must admit that, although it produced good coffee, my Cuisinart has always been a bit flaky.

I’m going to replace it with a Delonghi ESAM04.110.S Magnifica 15 Bar Bean to Cup Espresso/ Cappuccino Machine

It’s double the price at £300.00 but I can’t do without good coffee. Unlike the previous one, this grinds beans and brews fresh coffee with one button touch. It also self cleans each time.

22nd January, 2014

An absolutely gorgeous and sunny day and, although not tropical, it has reached 11-12C/52-53F. The average English temperature in January is, I am told, 3C/37F. This is no ordinary winter.

Yesterday I had an email saying my new coffee maker had been despatched and today – in the second day sentenced to instant mud – I have been told it will be delivered tomorrow. How wonderful!

Our good friend, Margaret, from Huddersfield sent us a Christmas present of Black & Green’s Chocolate and a bottle of Californian red wine. Unfortunately, it was misdelivered and we didn’t receive it until it was re-delivered last night four weeks late. Now, of course, I can’t sample any of it but it will keep.

23rd January, 2014

A day which began with a lovely rising sun which painted the bare limbs of the surrounding trees in a warm glow, soon turned grey and moist. It didn’t matter because we were expecting two, separate deliveries from Amazon. It is quite amazing but, try as I might, all the things I want are at least as cheap on Amazon as they are from the Manufacturer. Take my lovely, new espresso machine which was delivered today. On the Delonghi website, it is possible to buy it for £450.00. From Amazon, it is £300.00 with free delivery.

The final delivery arrived so late in the afternoon that we didn’t go to the Health Club. Anyway, the coffee maker took me so long to work out – to get out of the box never mind to work successfully – that it dominated the evening. I should have read the English half of the manual rather than the Italian.

24th January, 2014

I am currently something of a ‘Demic’. I know I whinge on about my health in the Blog. Actually, over my sixty two years, it is only in the last five or six that I have troubled my doctor. For more than ten years before I was forty I didn’t see a GP once. Last night my upper arm was agony as if I have damaged a tendon/muscle – possibly rowing in the gym. I found it very difficult to sleep and this morning’s supermarket shop was very painful. Pauline had to drive and took over trolley pushing duties. I’m hoping three days out of the gym will allow it to settle down.

We are in the learning/experimental stage with the new coffee maker. I have mastered the ground coffee method and the milk frother. Now I am trying to get the correct strength and taste direct from beans. I bought these this morning and they seem to be pleasant after a couple of attempts:

25th January, 2014

In the past few days a fox has crossed my path twice. At 6.30 in the morning at the end of last week, I was walking to my car in the hospital car park and a beautiful fox walked slowly across my path some three metres away. It stopped and looked at me before walking on without panic or alarm. I was shocked by its confidence. Yesterday, on the grass outside our apartment, a mature fox with magnificent bush tail walked slowly up the banking and into the woods. Once again, he/she stopped and stared at me as if to say, What are you looking at? and was in no urgency to move on.

We do hear foxes ‘barking’ outside at night time but it is an absolute delight to see them in such close proximity.

It is a dry day here today. Weak, winter sunshine is filtering through. The temperature has reached 11C/52F. Interestingly, the average for this day over the past ten years is 8C/46F and, in 2007, it fell to -7C/19F. It is quite amazing but I think we’ve had the heating on for a total of four hours since we got back at the beginning of October.

12th January, 2014

A sharp frost and a bright start to the day gave way to grey darkness and light rain. We understand that it will be a wet week.

Pauline and I have spent the day discussing our plans for 2014. You may think this is a few days late but we have both been thinking it through and are now ready to negotiate and agree the way forward. Of course some aims are contingent on the achievement of others but the direction of travel is clear. Health and wealth figure highly in our continuing journey to joint happiness. I have set myself a weight target for this time next year and it will be near to my wedding weight. The one problem neither of us can see our way past at the moment is that identified with my heart and subsequent drug intake but we will try not to let that unduly cramp our style.

13th January, 2014

Another day that started cold and bright but soon went pitch black, with thunder and lightning followed by torrential rain. The gutters here have proved to be inadequate for heavy rain and will all have to be upgraded. The last attempt was not good enough because the joints leak.

14th January, 2014

Gloriously sunny day. A little cool but strong sun in blue skies is a tonic.

I swore I would never do it but I found an ‘App.’ on my iPad, tried it out and got hooked. I’m rather ashamed. Pauline is amused because she advised it many times over the years but I rejected her advice. I’m counting CALORIES! It started because all the gym equipment tells me how many calories I’ve used after each exercise. I was then just browsing the iPad App Store when I came across the MyFitnessPal app that records calories in and calories out in terms of meals broken down into their constituent parts with calorific values and exercise calories used on the other side of the balance.

The record on the right is not mine but you will notice that their logo was modelled on me which particularly drew me to them. A male of my height and weight and generally sedentary nature is advised to limit calorie intake to 2170. In the past week and a half I have always managed with half of that allowance given that I use 350 – 400 calories in the gym.

15th January, 2014

Heavy rain over night has given way to another beautiful, mild day. After the warmest winter for twenty five years, wildlife not normally seen until spring has been tricked into making an early appearance by mild temperatures. Butterflies have been reported in Cambridgeshire and Pembrokeshire, ladybirds in Devon and Co Durham, and swallows in several places in Southern England.  There has been  a surge in sightings of birds nesting and shrubs coming into bud. There are reports also of snowdrops flowering in Kent, Suffolk and Anglesey, hazel flowering in Devon, Lincolnshire and Cheshire, and elder budburst in Hampshire, Essex and Somerset.

Apparently, the Met. Office has said that the average UK temperature last month was almost 2C above the average. The heavy rain seems to fall over night but the Surrey days are sunny and mild.

16th January, 2014

I (we) are worried about my heart rate and about my INR. At the same time, I am trying to lose weight. The food that would help me lose weight – green leaf things – counteracts the warfarin I take to control my INR. The exercise I need to supplement my diet in burning calories, raises my heart rate – sometimes dangerously. It has been decided that I must monitor my heart rate more closely and regularly, particularly when exercising. I am having to wear a heart monitor across my chest which communicates with my watch by Bluetooth to inform me of my fluctuating heart rate.

17th January, 2014

I understand that scientists are saying the Sun is in a phase of “solar lull” – meaning that it has fallen asleep – and it is baffling them. History suggests that periods of unusual “solar lull” coincide with bitterly cold winters.

The most extreme solar minimum on record was the Maunder Minimum. This lasted from 1645 to 1715 and corresponded to a minor Ice Age. What price Global Warming?

18th January, 2014

The day has started off grey and dull but the sun was out by ten and it has developed in to quite a pleasant day. We have been planning travel arrangements. Eurotunnel, once again, have advertised a £20.00 day return just in time for us to do some shopping. Probably Wednesday, February 19th. We have also booked the Holiday Inn in Brighouse, just outside Huddersfield for three nights in March to visit friends. We were members of the Health Club there for a number of years.

Next we are going to arrange some more trips to the South Coast for house hunting. Pauline has gone out to a Zumba class at the Health Club. She’ll be shattered when she gets back.

5th January, 2014

The day started off sunny with a frost but soon clouded over and rained. I think I’m depressed. England lose the Ashes 5-0 and then Man. Utd. get kicked out of the FA Cup by Swansea. What is there to live for?

6th January, 2014

This is Finance Day. The first of our ISAs matures and has to be moved from 3.7% to a gut-wrenching 1.5%. We have more that will do the same diminishing act in February and then more dropping from 4.0% in April. Unlike those with mortgages, we can’t wait for interest rates to go up … and up… and up! The problem with doing any financial transactions nowadays is that everyone is treated like a potential money launderer. Today, we are attempting to open our fourth on-line savings account through the Post Office Bank. Even though we have done this three years running, they still demand passports and driving licences as proof of identity and address. It is becoming like Greece.

I’m a bit worried about Skiathan Man. He hasn’t blogged for three days. I hope he hasn’t got lost under a pile of wood.

Had to drive through two ‘Road Closed’ signs and a ‘Traffic Diversion’ to get to the Health Club today. Our 4-wheel drive vehicle could manage the floods that I wouldn’t have attempted in a saloon. Our next door neighbour, The General, phoned from a weather-torn queue on the M1 to say we wouldn’t be able to share Afternoon Tea. However, it was coastal towns that were taking the brunt of it.

I am suffering with Low Blood Pressure now rather than Hypertension. It is inducing dizzy, fainting spells and short blackouts. It is a little disconcerting and I am having to seek advice about it. Fortunately, through the haze, I see the epiphany of Skiathan Man. Give Thanks!

7th January, 2014

We had thunder and lightning and torrential rain during the night. Around the South Coast, high tide storm sirens were sounded. This picture is one of many in The Times this morning. This one is taken in Blackpool.

Not feeling well this morning but I’m still going to the gym. I started using a food intake/exercise output app on my iPad yesterday. It told me that a man of my age/height/weight and relatively sedentary disposition should be eating 2137 calories per day to lose 5lbs per month. I logged everything I ate and drank yesterday and offset it against my workout and I had used less than half my allowance for the day. Perhaps that’s why I’m not feeling well.

I’m a bit worried about The Skiathan. He seems to be celebrating Easter two weeks earlier than everyone else. Perhaps he knows something we don’t. According to my information, both Western and Orthodox Easter Sunday are on April 20th this year

8th January, 2014

Another very mild day. We suddenly realised today that we’ve only used our heating for one hour since Christmas. However, we are told that cold weather is on the way next week – in the North at least.

While I’m working out in the gym, my pulse rate is acting very strangely. It starts of about 80 – 90 bpm and then, suddenly, starts escalating wildly in blocks of 10 bpm up to 200 and then, just as suddenly it falls again in just the same way to 140-150 bpm. Next minute it is repeating the journey. I don’t feel unwell but it is rather disconcerting.

9th January, 2014

Another mild and beautifully sunny day. This time in 2009, temperatures were in minus territory with a great deal of snow to follow although we were in Yorkshire and we had an Ofsted Inspection coming up.

The biggest and certainly most dominant holiday advert on television this winter offers two distinct choices – Turkey or Spain, Spain or Turkey! What about Greece? It is not mentioned. There has not been a single advert for a Greek holiday this winter in my viewing. I had one email from a Corfu Villa – based company but nothing else. What is the GNTO doing?

10th January, 2014

Lovely and sunny and mild again. Although we are in our third consecutive day without  rain, all the multi-million pound, Surrey – on – Thames properties are continuing to be engulfed in (still rising) flood water mixed with effluent. We saw an aerial shot of the magician, Paul Daniels’ house totally surrounded by waist high water in the television news …. and he’s not very tall.

Did our exercise walking around Tesco and Asda this morning but followed that with a trip to the Health Club. We had a swim today for the first time this year.

11th January, 2014

Gorgeous blue skies and strong sun today. Feels incredibly mild for mid-January. I checked the temperature at only 8C/47F but it feels much warmer.

Skiathos is double that and it’s got wonderful fish. This day four years ago we were stuck in a temporary ‘shoebox’ in Yorkshire, surrounded by snow and feeling rather gloomy.

I nearly blacked out in Tescos yesterday and this morning I found that my weight has reached a level I haven’t see for over twenty years. It’s possible the two are linked. Anyway, we’ve got a relaxing and quiet weekend ahead.

29th December, 2013

A surprisingly sharp frost this morning followed by a wonderfully sunny day. Our next door neighbour came round with a bunch of flowers. They are lovely. I really love cut flowers in the house. The General is very generous and they brighten up the table.

We are having a fairly quiet day in today. Pauline is making fresh cream ice cream for our anniversary meal tomorrow. I am hard at work with The Sunday Times and a couple of football matches.

At this time 35 years ago, we were both exhausted having done everything we could to prepare for our wedding. We lived on the edge of the Pennines – on the Yorkshire side – and it had begun to snow heavily. To make matters worse, the Council workers and particularly the Gritting Team, had gone on strike. Paulines’s family would be trying to get to us across the treacherous Pennines from Lancashire and my family were arriving from Derbyshire and all other points around the country.

30th December, 2013

At this time (9.30 am) on this day in 1978 I was nervous. I was getting married at 11.30 am but it wasn’t that. Pauline’s family who only lived 15 miles away but over the Pennines had just phoned to say they were struggling to get to us. I hadn’t heard from members of mine at all who were driving from points all over the country.

You have to remember that fashions were different in 1978! Suffice it to say, we had an absolutely magical day. Everybody DID manage to arrive and the day was a joy but not as wonderful as the ensuing 35 years. It is hard to believe, now, that it was so long ago.

31st December, 2013

Having spent the past twelve months denying myself carbohydrates, I celebrated our Wedding Anniversary by cooking Risotto for Dinner which we ate with a bottle of Champagne. Pauline’s contribution was chocolate soufflé with melting middle and delicious, homemade, double cream ice cream. Anyway, we’re back on the waggon on Wednesday.

Today we’ve done an hour at the gym which was busy with workers on holiday. Disgraceful! They should all be back at work by now.

This evening’s meal will be barbecued spare ribs with a really good bottle of red wine and then Champagne at midnight. When (if) we wake up in 2014, the discipline starts again for another twelve months. Pauline’s already got the clothes catalogues out – but no Boden!

1st January, 2014

We wish you all a wonderful New Year. Of course, we remember welcoming in 1960 and the ‘white hot revolution of Technology; 1984 with excitement and trepidation of ‘Big Brother’s’ visit; 2000 and the ‘Millennium Bug’ that failed to materialise. What will 2014 bring? Let’s hope it brings our family and friends what they would wish for themselves and Skiathan Man more fish than he can eat. Maybe we will meet sometime soon. Happy New Year to Bart Simpson, to the Skopelos team , to those at Simi Dream and to Simon Baddeley at Democracy Street.

2nd January, 2014

Up at 6.00 am and down to the hospital by 6.40 am. Urgent blood test and home by 7.00 am.. The darkness at 7.00 am gave way to a beautifully sunny morning with bright, clear blue skies. After some ‘Office’ work, we went off to the gym for an hour or so. It was reasonably quiet although not all have gone back to work yet. Workers are just being too indulged by those soft employers these days.

Beginning of the new year is always software renewal time for me. My strongest I.T. advice to anyone on the internet is to purchase and install a good virus checker. I wouldn’t advise freeware for this. I use Norton 360 for my machines. It has dug me out of lots of problems.

It can be expensive. A standard price from Norton is around £59.99 for 12 months cover for three machines. Norton flag up the date for renewal constantly and it is easy to click and pay. Two minutes search on the net reveals the same product half price from Total Computing – £29.99. We use a desktop and two laptops so the cover is very economical.

3rd January, 2014

Up a bit later today after a long day yesterday but we were out at the supermarket for weekly shopping by 9.30 am. Television news was full of flooding, high tides and strong winds but there is no sign of any at the moment. Apparently, Cobham, which is less than nine miles away, is cut off by floods.

Now 12.30 pm and the skies have gone black and we have thunder & lightning and heavy rain. Neighbours are just in the middle of having a satellite dish erected on the roof. What fun!

Although I can hardly believe what I am writing and the old me would never have done so, our only meal today has been a fish salad with a glass of sparkling water and I’ve loved it. Cold cured salmon and smoked salmon dressed with olive oil and lemon on a bed of mixed leaves. All this fish I’m eating, I’ll turn into Skiathan Man soon! I also opened a pack of coffee I received for Christmas. It was a revelation.

I must say thank you to Mandy. I shall certainly buy some more of this.

4th January, 2014

An unpleasant day outside today – wet, cold and windy. Unfortunately, I have to take Pauline to the Nuffield Hospital in Runnymede to see a Specialist about a little cyst on the joint of her toe.

The newspapers are headlining runaway house prices across the UK over the past year. The area we left three years ago is still showing a negative figure – of minus 1.5% whereas our area is galloping away with +11.5%. All our lives in the North of England we have been watching this disparity grow. Now we are hitching a ride on it although we don’t know for how long.

When I had my blood test at the hospital on Monday, I came straight home and tested it myself with my new machine. The home test produced INR = 3.7. Today, my hospital result arrived by post. It said INR = 3.7. Although the result is outside my 2.0 – 3.0 range, it was reassuring to know that my machine and process was accurate. I have just got to stop eating green leaf vegetables because the vitamin K decreases my coagulant capacity. What does one eat to lose weight?

22nd December, 2013

A beautiful, warm and sunny Spring day in the middle of December. Yesterday was mid-Winter and the Shortest Day or Winter Solstice. It produced tranquil, evening colours on the landscape.

Today starts the march towards the Summer. Once again, we are warmer than Athens.

Unfortunately, I’m celebrating Christmas with a stinking head cold. It is the first bug I have suffered from since I finished work four years ago when I would expect to get two or three of these each year as the pupils passed it round the institution.

23rd December, 2013

A bad night and the heavy head cold persists. We’ve had to cancel a trip to the Health Club. The day outside is extremely warm but has turned very wet and windy as we approach lunchtime. (What am I talking about? I don’t eat lunch.)

Pauline is cooking for Christmas – preparing two kinds of stuffing: sausage meat & chestnut and sage & onion , two sauces: cranberry and apple. She is preparing pigs in blankets, finishing the Christmas cake decoration and checking on the pudding. She made meringues and double cream, vanilla ice cream. One thing’s for certain, there will be no shortage of food.

24th December, 2013

It was a wild night of gale force winds and torrential rain but the morning dawned still and dry and very mild. The television news this morning, however, and the newspapers were dominated by the effects of the storm. The Surrey/Sussex border seemed to be particularly bad along with the South Coast. These are pictures from the morning papers:

Hundreds of trains weren’t running because of trees across the line. There were reports of thousands of people without power. Phyllis & Colin arrived to say they were without power and had been since midnight. A terminal at Gatwick was packed with people trying to get home for Christmas but going nowhere because of persistent power cuts.

The sun is out here and we are preparing for a family trip to the best, local Italian restaurant for a late afternoon meal. All diets are off when we step through the doors of Amore.

25th December, 2013

In spite of terrible floods and power outrages, Christmas morning has opened up bright and sunny if rather ‘crisp’. We had a lovely Italian meal with the family last night. We drank wine but still managed to rise around 7.00 am. The news was all about towns and villages not far from us being flooded and cut off, thousands of houses without power for Christmas Day. We feel fortunate and we hope you do too.

It was on this day five years ago that the Blog actually started and it was with this picture of Pauline’s Mum out on the fields of West Yorkshire. Sadly, neither are still with us

although both are in our minds and hearts.

Pauline cooked the most magnificent meal. The trouble was that trying to eat two days running was too much for me. Everybody enjoyed the day and we went to bed tired and stuffed.

26th December, 2013

We woke at 6.30 am still tired and stuffed but to the Radio 4 news telling us that Byfleet – a village about two miles down the road – was virtually cut off by flood waters and that the giant retail park, which houses M&S and the Tesco hyperstore where they were expecting Boxing Day sales to start at 9.00 am, had a totally flooded car park and sewers erupting like fountains. The story had been similar all around us on Christmas Day with floods and electricity outrages at Guildford, Bournemouth, Leatherhead, Epsom, etc.. The photo below shows Debenhams in Guildford:

Unfortunately, I’ve passed my cold to Pauline and she has become a fellow sufferer. The difference is that she doesn’t mention it.

27th December, 2013

A lovely, bright morning. Took Pauline out early to M&S to pick up an order she had made on-line. Apparently, ‘click & collect’ is fast becoming the shopping method of choice although I prefer ‘click & receive’. Whatever floods there were have disappeared and life is back to normal in our area anyway.

The post brought a card from Greek friends with lovely wishes for the New Year along with the inevitable Bills – electricity, satellite TV (OTE), etc.. I also took a call from my old friend, Brian, who has just completed the sale of his French property in Bordeaux and is happy about that. We will go up to Yorkshire/Lancashire in March to visit him.

I used my new INR testing machine for the first time and produced an almost optimum result of 2.6 which was very pleasing. I must admit, though, that neither of us is feeling brilliant at the moment. I still haven’t thrown my cold off and Pauline’s continues to develop.

28th December, 2013

A beautifully sunny and relatively warm day. An early trip to the supermarket to avoid the crowds was completely unnecessary. There were hardly any shoppers and this morning’s Times reported footfall down 10% in High Street Sales although they suggest it may have been partially compensated for by on-line shopping. They were probably all reading The Skiathan instead. Intriguingly, they also reported a large rise in people doing their on-line tax returns on Christmas Day between 12.00 – 1.00 pm..

These are the cash-rich-time-poor people who wait for such a moment of free time to pay their tax.