Sanders Blog

3rd February, 2013

Poor old Skiathan Man. His parcel of tea is so near and yet so far. We have tracked the parcel all the way to Greece but a 48 hr ferry strike was followed by another and now…. another. Let’s hope he can hold out. I have visions of him crawling down the harbour road with pictures of strong and flavoursome,Yorkshire Tea dancing before him, drawing him on and finally fading into a yellow, Liptons tea bag of tepid, cat wee and here we are in Surrey almost bathing in tea it’s that plentiful.

4th February, 2013

Drove Pauline to town to have her haircut at Headmasters. I spent a pleasant hour with a small Americano (£1.60) and my newspaper. When we got home, the post had arrived. There was one for Pauline from HM Revenue & Customs. They are definitely not good news. Last time we got one, it cost us £4000.00. This time it was just announcing her new tax code in the light of her State Pension which is payable from March. Shame but it has to be paid.

Roast tomato & Red Pepper soup topped with grated Gruyere cheese for lunch and roast pheasant for Dinner this evening. We have now done 35 days without carbohydrates or alcohol. I can’t believe it myself. However, I have dismissed Pauline’s taunt that I was alcohol dependent. There was some truth in the argument that I was addicted to the routine of nice meal must mean nice bottle of wine. It was the routine expectation that I was addicted to rather than the wine itself. I do have an addictive personality. I remember that in my post-student days I found myself addicted to sugary, fizzy drinks. I wouldn’t touch them now. I replaced that addiction with cigarettes. I wouldn’t touch them now. Set against that, I looking forward to a nice bottle of Barolo at the beginning of April.

5th February, 2013

Glorious day in Surrey – clear blue skies and strong sunshine although cold at 3C/37F compared with 15C/59F in Athens. I was reading an article in a Greek Blog – Keep Talking Greece – this morning that said the Greek Health Ministry had decreed that all non-Greek citizens, including EU members, should pay double the Greek Citizen price for Health Care. If it is true and I rather doubt it, it must be urgently challenged in the European Courts. It has to be illegal.

I wrote recently about hearing from friends we have not seen for over thirty years. It set me thinking about the passage of time. As I was going through my bookcase, I came across my Masters Degree Dissertation. It had to be submitted as a bound edition – one copy for the University and one for me.

I can remember writing it and Pauline typing it. I can remember her slaving over a steaming hot Amstrad PCW and I can’t believe how far we have travelled since then. I can’t believe that it is 25 years since I published that thesis.

6th February, 2013

The British Media today is dominated by the parliamentary vote last night in favour of ‘Gay Marriage’. It is hard to see why the Tories are getting so exercised. As someone pointed out yesterday, they really are ‘on the wrong side of History’. It is interesting to see the Tories – in Government for less than three years – tearing themselves apart over so many issues. They hate Gay Europeans!

It is impossible to run a computer without antivirus protection. Five minutes on the internet would almost certainly bring infection. I have use ‘Norton 360’ for a long time now but it can be expensive. We need to cover three computers here in UK. A warning message came up to tell us it was time to renew our subscription. The price for 3 PCs was £54.00 and I nearly fell in to it. A few minutes searching found me the same product for immediate download on 3 PCs for £23.00. They are their own worst enemies these shyster software companies.

7th February, 2013

Beautiful sunny day but cold. A day off from the Health Club – two hours walking round Tesco is all I can manage in one morning without needing a long lie down.

Nice to hear the Greek Ferry Strike is off for now although there is a General Strike to come. Today I’m turning my thoughts to Personal Financial Investment. Each year since we retired, we have each taken out our full ISA allowance for cash investment. This year the new ISA limit allows us to invest £11,520.00 between us. The problem is that, although we have four years worth still at 4.1% for another year, this time the best I can get is 2.0%. I’m beginning to wonder whether to go into Equities and take a little risk. The best cash ISAs currently on the market are Barclays (2.04%), Halifax (2.05%). At least our Barclays shares have returned to near the £3.00 level. I took a call from our ‘personal’ banking manager this afternoon. It is a waste of time. The Bank can no longer give independent financial advice. They are just intent on pushing their own products.

8th February, 2013

Gloriously sunny day but very cold at 2C/35F whereas Athens is 12C/54F. The pound/euro level is returning from its lows to a more respectable level. I think the right price would be £1.00 = €1.20. It also makes the mental arithmetic much easier.

9th February, 2013

What is wrong with horsemeat? I’d eat it. Well, what is wrong is that people aren’t getting what they bought. It could be dog meat or minced rat. Uncontrolled Suppliers may be sourcing the cheapest protein they can. What is scandalous is that the Government and the end suppliers sat on the information for days before going public – compounding the felony. How did it get past the authorities? What authorities? The cutbacks have decimated them. When disease was found in Ash trees, a fungus called Chalara Fraxinius, the Government knew months before they released information and allowed the fungus to take an untreatable hold. Maybe it would have been untreatable anyway but Government had to find a ‘spin’ for the information before they released it. Who are we to understand?

The scandal in the NHS has been developing for years. Anecdotally, there has been plenty of evidence. Empirically, the Government had mortality rate tables indicating serious problems for three years before opening up pandora’s box. How many people died unnecessarily in that time? Who are we to understand?

Nice photo doing the rounds:

Sterling is strenthening against the Euro to €1.18 today. That’s better.

27th January, 2013

This time four years ago, we were preparing for our latest and last Ofsted inspection. Pauline & I were checking that all our policy documents were current and available and staff were asked to hand in Lesson Plans prior to the inspection days. How far away those days feel now. Almost immediately after Ofsted had found us Satisfactory (the new fail) than I came down with an horrendous bout of flu. The next week I went for a heart scan and they confirmed atrial fibrilliation. Half term holiday was just two weeks away and I was longing for it.

28th January, 2013

Skiathan Man is running out of tea bags. When an English man is reduced to drying tea bags on the wood burner, something has to be done. We have gone on a mercy dash to our local supermarket to buy him some. I found a suitable box and printed off some address labels. We went swimming. It was excellent and we both felt good after it. On to the Post Office to despatch the teabags. He will soon be able to breathe easily again.

29th January, 2013

We are driving back to our much missed Yorkshire tomorrow. Because of our diets, Pauline is preparing a picnic to be eaten with a flask of fresh coffee sitting in the car high up on the moors between Huddersfield and Oldham. I’m really looking forward to it. We are taking Pauline’s sister, Phyllis, who is going to visit her friend who is in the final stages of terminal cancer. It will be a harrowing visit for her. This afternoon, Pauline is cooking Chicken drumsticks, sausages, asparagus and we will eat it with some salad. We had to pop down to Waitrose to buy our supplies. Amazingly warm out today – 15C/59F. In Athens it is 8C/46F.

Booked a couple of trips to France this afternoon – in February and in April. I had received a £23.00 return trip for car and occupants offer. How could we refuse?

30th January, 2013

Up at 5.00 am – dark wet but warm and clear morning. Out by 6.15 am and off to pick up Phyllis. On to a static M25 brought to a halt by an accident. Three and a half hours later, we were entering Oldham. One of our intentions was to take Pauline’s sister, Phyllis, to visit her friend who is in the final stages of terminal cancer. We arrived at her friend’s front door at about 10.30 am to be told we were half an hour too late. She had just passed away. It was a sad and difficult time for Phyllis saying goodbye to her friend. Pauline & I spent an hour visiting old haunts and then picked Phyllis up. We drove on to the moors where a gale was blowing heavy rain against our car. We parked up and ate the picnic that Pauline had prepared: sausages, chicken drumsticks, salad and hot, fresh coffee. It was lovely and so was the scenery.

After lunch, we drove to Huddersfield to visit our old neighbour, Jean. It was lovely to see her. I had asked if I could have a few framed photographs back that we had given her when we left. She kindly agreed and after a very brief visit, we left for our drive back to Surrey. All the time, we carried in our heads the thought of another human being – someone I didn’t even know – having left the world today. It both saddens the mind but sharpens the senses. As we move through our sixties, we become only too aware of our mortality.

We were home for around 5.30 pm.. I was tired after 500 miles of almost continuous driving.

31st January, 2013

January going already and February is so short. It’s scarey! This morning, we’ve had an email from a couple who we haven’t seen for thirty years. I remember going to dinner with them in their first home – love’s young dream – as he trained as an accountant. They are younger than us. They look old! What does that tell us about ourselves?

At least the last day of January has opened with clear blue sky and sun. We are told, however, that the colder weather is returning this weekend. We will see. I’ve just read that we chose the best time to be in Yorkshire and Lancashire this week. Both the Oldham Chronicle and Huddersfield Examiner have told stories of damage done by strong winds which were rising while we were there but became distructive and caused damage and injury later as we left.

1st February, 2013

Happy New February. White Rabbit.

Unlike Skiathos, the month has started with dark clouds and a bit of rain. We don’t care. There is so much to do indoors today and we are going swimming later. It always makes me laugh that Pauline has a raincoat and umbrella to get to the swimming pool. Clearly, she has appropriate wet and inappropriate wet. We are now completing the fifth week of our self-denial. My clothes are beginning to feel a bit too big. My face is changing. I’m losing my fifth chin. Only another year of this and I might have done the job.

2nd February, 2013

We had a chat with friends from the island today. They rang us because they had picked up our electricity bill which we had already paid through the bank. They were shocked to find we hadn’t been charged the property tax like everybody else. I wasn’t. The final stages of our authorisation were just too late to be registered for this year’s charge. That’s saved a bit of cash. I was shocked and saddened to hear that their pensions had been reduced again. Originally, they had amounted to €2800.00 and now are exactly half that. They are really going to feel it. We would love to help them but they are proud people. To compound their misery, the ferries which are poor enough at this time of the year are on strike for four days.

Today – a beautiful, sunny day – Pauline is going out for a pedicure with her sister while I watch the 6 Nations rugby matches. It is the Calcutta Cup today.

20th January, 2013

Snowed all day from 8.00 in the morning until 6.00 at night. Everywhere was silent as people hunkered down in the warm. Pauline made delicious casseroled rabbit with banana shallots and girolle mushrooms. Celery and turkey stock gave it the most wonderfully deep flavour. The perfect meal for a winter’s day.

I spent the morning writing up my first entry for the Family History page. I have now re-designed four pages and two Blogs. I have one more to restart soon.

The enjoyable day was a little tarnished by an injury time goal scored by Spurs to hold Manchester United to a draw which they didn’t deserve.

21st January, 2013

Huddersfield and the Pennine route are snowbound this morning. It is a wonderful feeling not having to try to get across the moors to a school which is devoid of pupils who have all gone off sledging. The Daily Telegraph reported that today is Blue Monday. It isn’t if you’re retired in Surrey. Went to the Health Centre for a swim and found half the population of Surrey bunking off work to lounge in the jacuzzi. I don’t know what the world’s coming to. No one wants to work nowadays! Anyway, we got our 600 metres done and tottered home, glowing. We are also glowing with pride for having completed three weeks nil by mouth to alcohol and carbohydrates: bread, potatoes, pasta and rice.

My wife has made pea & bacon soup today. It is delicious. I’m going to work on some web-based albums for my website this afternoon. I have just read my Blog entry for this day four years ago. In 2009, we had just started our final term of teaching and I wrote: Just heard this afternoon – Ofsted in on Monday. Can life get any better?

It really has!

22nd January, 2013

Snow lies all around and a new fall is forecast for this afternoon.  It is 0C/32F outside and 14C/57F on Sifnos. The airports – particularly Gatwick & Heathrow – have been on reduced service and many schools across the country have stayed closed. The public and press are up in arms about it. We will brave the road for a trip to the Health Club and hope that most people have gone back to work today.

Like me, my Dad loved cars. Long before I was born, he was renowned for being the first to own and drive a green, open top sports car in the village. I learnt from cousin David that it was a Morgan. I think I have suddenly stumbled on a possible reason why. In 1887, an innovative engineer called W. J. Stephenson Peach set up engineering workshops at Askew House on Milton Road opposite Desford Terrace, a terrace of houses that our family built and owned. Boys came from all over the country to be trained and Repton School was in the forefront of public schools in its attitude to engineering as a discipline. The range of products emerging from the workshops by the boys — was considerable and included oil, steam and gas engines, road rollers, motor cycles and eventually even simple cars. The chassis was produced at the workshops for the first Morgan three-wheeler, unveiled at the 1910 Motor Show.

Presumably, Desford Terrace was named after the origins of Great, Great Grandfather Richard from Desford in Leicestershire. I remember that two of Sanders & Son’s joiners, Dick Bowring (famous for his grampagrowlers) and Harry Gaskin (who taught me to sweep up) lived there. Below is Askew House as it was. Today it is on the market at £650,000.00. The picture of Desford Terrace is current and one cottage is currently on the market for £235,000.00.

Pauline served up braised pheasant with rosemary and customised ratatouille of peppers, onions, tomatoes, mushrooms and beetroot. It was out of this world. Greek yoghurt and raspberry coulis for sweet just finished it off perfectly.

23rd January, 2013

Snowing lightly this morning. It is 1C/34F here and, in Greece, 15C/59F.  ‘Call-me-Dave’ Cameron finally made his speech this morning. It is the first step of the Conservative party sleep walking out of Europe. An in/out referendum by 2018. What fools! I’m going swimming.

I’m getting too good at this swimming. I’m going to have to up the distance. The Health Club restaurant were advertising Homemade Tomato & Red Pepper soup – £1.95. By pure coincidence, Pauline had made exactly that for our Lunch when we got home. We worked out that two huge bowls each had cost £1.00.

Yesterday, I watched the magical performance of Bradford beating Aston Villa in the semi-final of the League cup. This evening, Pauline cooked cod loin with garlic prawns and sugar snap peas for dinner. I knew there was a reason why I married her. After Dinner, I watched a brilliant performance by Swansea City against a dismal Chelsea. A lovely cup final for two sides who have won almost nothing throughout the histories.

24th January, 2013

In the Summer of 1990 (and I have to force myself to acknowledge that it is nearly 23 years ago), Pauline and I had been visiting Sifnos twice a year for five or six years. We felt we knew the Cycladic islands quite well. We had visited about ten of them. We thought we should experience the Dodecanese. I looked at brochures. Laskarina was the top (maybe only) tour operator going there at the time. I thumbed through the brochure pictured below, got an idea of how to get there and what properties were available and we just found a phone number for a travel agency on the island.

Fighting with little Greek at our end and little English at the other, Pauline managed to negotiate a price to rent a house for two or three weeks. This was quite a daring and unusual approach. No travel agent, no charter flight, no travel rep.. We flew through the night to Rhodes and got a bus to Mandraki harbour. We sat drinking coffee for hours waiting for the boat to leave. Even so, we arrived on the harbourside at 12.00 mid day in August heat – shattered. I remember that we waited for nearly an hour for a pickup truck to arrive and we and our bags had to sit in the open back on a makeshift, wooden bench as we were driven up to the Hora.

Twice a day we descended and ascended the Kali Strata, the huge, polished stone steps leading down from the Hora or Chorio to the harbour. I have never been so fit as then. It was fascinating to experience a different Greece, a different approach to building, to cooking and a different feel to life. As a news addict, I had my short wave radio with me and remember listening to reports of the release of Brian Keenan from captivity after being held hostage with Terry Waite for nearly five years.

Simi is still there. There are obviously lots of chances for good holidays on Simi. I remember Tony Banks, former Labour Minister for Sport almost adopted Simi for his holidays in the late 90s. You will notice that I follow a Blog maintained by a lovely bloke called James. I sent him a few of our 1990 photos out of interest and, today, not only did he bother to feature them but he gave our house sale on Sifnos a plug. When it has sold, we will have to rediscover Simi.

25th January, 2013

The Sanders family have played a central role in the life of Repton village since the mid-19th Century. There are dozens of newspaper cuttings in which the are mentioned. Today, I brought some of the more significant ones together in a pinboard presentation of the website.

If I like the look of that, more will follow. Watched a bit of Murray beating Federer in Australia and then went swimming. The Nuffield Health Club is full of fit, young things running between meetings in one room or another. I think that if they don’t run everywhere saying, How are you? Good? all the time, they are sacked. Why don’t they wait for you to say, I’m absolutely knackered or Actually, my back aches or Have you got a bottle of Red? Today, one of the young lads – about 18 with scars all over his knees where he came off his bike in the Iron Man Challenge– said to me, You’re getting faster! It used to take you hours when you started. I forgot I wasn’t in school and gave him a slap. I felt so much better.

26th January, 2013

Our former haunts of Yorkshire and Lancashire were hit by extreme snow yesterday evening. Multiple accidents occurred on the M62 and M6. It was one of those situations where, to get anywhere (like home), one had to put one’s life and car in jeopardy in the knowledge that travelling the next day would see the risk gone. We usually took the foolhardy choice rather than miss our home. Here in Surrey we had nothing.

I feel rather lethargic today. It is lovely and sunny outside and yet I don’t want to engage with it. We are in our 26th day of nil by mouth for alcohol and carbohydrate. I think it is making me rather lacking in energy. I’ve spent the day writing emails and letters. I love writing.

13th January, 2013

Quite a nice coincidence – Week 213 starts on 13th January, 2013. The omens are all good. And so it is proving. Today, I received information from cousin David about my Great, Great Grandfather, Richard Sanders (1821 – 1891). His wife, our Great, Great Grandmother, was Ann Newbery (1828 – 1898). Notice that they both lived to 70 years old even then.

Above is Great, Great Grandfather, Richard Sanders (1821 – 1891) resplendent with his Newgate Fringe. This was the description given to his beard style expropriated from the convicts of that prison who grew their beard hair between the chin and the neck. It was so called because it occupies the position of the rope when men are about to be hanged.He was born in Birstall, Leicestershire but moved to the flour mill in Repton which went on to be the Sanders Family home until 1938. Richard, it appears, was an illegitimate son of a stocking seamer, Jane Sanders, who went on to marry a man called John Kilby, also a stocking seamer in Birstall. Below is a photograph of Ann Newbery. She looks a bundle of laughs.

Finished the day, happily, watching Man.U. beat Liverpool.

14th January, 2013

The tables are turning – cold here and relatively warm in Greece – so the heating is on and soup is for lunch. Fantastic swim today left us both glowing.

More from cousin David who is mining a rich seam. It appears that illegitimate Richard gained a stepfather when his mother, Jane Sanders, married neighbour and fellow stocking seamer, John Kilby. By the time he was 30, Richard was living in Swepstone (Measham/Swadlincote) at ‘Clock Mill’ which is now a listed building and may have later become known as Desford Mill. Within ten years, he had moved the relatively short distance to Repton in Derbyshire, a journey of 20 miles but one which in those days was quite adventurous. With his wife, Ann Newbery, who had been born in Desford, 10 miles from Swepstone and 30 from Repton. In the 1851 Census, they had one child, Elizabeth aged 1 year. They had two more children who I haven’t yet discovered names for but born in 1852 and 1854. All three children died in 1860. There was an influenza pandemic in 1859/60 which would be a plausible explanation for the loss of all three. I found a photograph of Desford Mill and a painting of it. Sometime after 1851 (yet to be established), Richard, Ann and family moved to the mill in Repton. This mill was at the bottom end of Repton on the way to Park Ponds on the opposite side of the road to Grandad Sanders house. The mill is pictured below and the Sanders family lived there until 1938 when they moved to the new house in the High Street.
     

Twenty years after they left it and I was living in High Street, I remember going ‘fishing’/exploring with friends at the bottom end of Repton in an idyllic, weeping willow fringed stream and coming across a ruined building. When I recounted that tale around the dinner table, Dad told me that I had found the ‘old mill’. If only I had understood the significance of it.

15th January, 2013

It seems that there is no stopping cousin David. He has discovered the most amazing story about Richard Sanders’ stepfather, John Kilby. When he was 41, in 1842, he was arrested for ‘feloniously killing a sheep with intent to steal’ and, at Leicester Quarter Sessions on March 2nd of that year, he was sentenced to transportation for fifteen years. He was taken from Leicester jail to a hulkship called Justitia at Woolwich. He was kept there for a month and a half – one can imagine in what conditions – and was described in the ledger as ‘bad in every respect’. He was taken to Plymouth from where he set sail in the ship, Susan, on April 21st. After eight weeks at sea, he was landed in Van Diemen’s Land, Tasmania on 24th July, 1842.

John Kilby returned to England – not on the 1851 census – maybe in 1857 after serving his full time. He is back in Leicestershire – in Belgrave, a parish of Barrow upon Soar. In 1851, his wife, Jane, is Head of the family and aged 52, living with her family of four. Jane died in 1856 and by 1862, John Kilby is living alone. It is possible he never got back in time to be reunited with his wife.

16th January, 2013

Temperature in Surrey this morning -3C/27F and in the Cyclades islands 17C/63F. Even so we went for a fantastic swim this morning and then got into conversation with an old chap who usually comes to swim at the same time as us. I have always had a fault/character trait which can get me into trouble. I am absolutely fascinated by people and their lives. I remember meeting an old lady in an old people’s home a couple of years ago. I got chatting to her and, after fifteen minutes, she said, You now know more about me than anyone else in this building and I’ve lived here twenty years.

Well, the poor old chap got into the huge jacuzzi where Pauline & I were luxuriating. When he escaped, ten minutes later, I had drawn from him the fact that he was 72 years old. He went to Oxford and then trained as a doctor in St Thomas’ Hospital in central London. He went on to become a specialist clinician but I don’t know what in yet. I didn’t get round to that because we learnt that, in 1962, he and his wife drove to Greece in an ancient Austin 8 motorcar. The didn’t stop in Athens but continued right on to the Peloponnese. Where did the stay en route? Oh, they had a tent with them! This is so far from the approach of Pauline and I as to be an anathema. Every hour of our journeys is mapped out and recorded. We don’t just stop off at a hotel; we book it months in advance and ferry crossings similarly. We are the last people one might describe as ‘intrepid travellers’.

Enjoyed United beating West Ham in the FA Cup this evening. Particularly, I enjoyed Old Man Giggs getting Man of the Match at the age of 39. The old ones are always the best ones.

17th January, 2013

I make no apology for stealing someone elses Blog entry today. This is why I read The Skiathan first of all blogs on Greece. Today Skiathan Man has summed up an important thread running through Greek – and particularly island – life currently. We knew it would come. We knew many Greeks were in denial. It has arrived:

Judgement Day

We had to read our electricity meter today for Scottish Power and return our reading on-line. The bill was returned instantly. We worked out that our annual electricity bill here is about £400.00 which means that the Heating Allowance I received pays for half of it. If you take into account the cost of our hot water and central heating which comes through our service charge, out total yearly outlay is about £550.00. Looking back to our bills in Yorkshire four years ago now, this represents one third of our previous costs. There are real advantages to downsizing.

19th January, 2013

No snow today although it’s forecast for us tomorrow morning. The sky looked full of snow and the light was poor. 0C/332F felt like -4C/25F. It was a day to be indoors and to do a bit more research.

I told you earlier in the week that the step father of my Great, Great Grandfather, Richard Sanders was convicted of stealing a sheep and sentenced to fifteen years which were to be served in Tasmania. Between being found guilty at Leicester Quarter Sessions at the beginning of March 1842 and being shipped off from Plymouth on HMS Susan towards the end of April 1842, Richard was incarcerated on a hulk ship prison moored just off Woolwich. I managed to find information about the hulk ship which was then called the Justitia. First purchased by the Navy in 1804 from the East India Company, the vessel went through a number of names and services before ending up as a hulk at Woolwich.

I found an actual partial illustration of the Justitia which is held by the National Maritime Museum but is also on sale at …………………Amazon.

I know this is a fragment but I did find something else of interest to counter balance cousin David’s deliberate attempts to render the Sanders family as illegitimate criminals not entitled to the name Sanders. We may be all of those things but we have a connection across time with William Bligh, the unfortunate Captain in the Mutiny on the Bounty and Captain Cook, the explorer.

When the Justitia was first built out of teak in 1799, it was known as Admiral Rainier . In 1804, the vessel was commissioned by the Royal Navy and renamed HMS Hindostan. The most notable service the vessel saw was sailing to Australia in 1809 bringing Governor Lachlan Macquarie to replace Governor William Bligh after The Rum Rebellion. Bligh turned out to be a very unlucky man. After surviving the Mutiny on the Bounty, he was the Governor of New South Wales who presided over The Rum Rebellion of 1808 which was the only successful armed takeover of government in Australia’s history. More of this will feature on the Family History page very shortly.

6th January, 2013

A lovely, quiet and very warm day. I’ve spent it working on Sanders Site. Most of it is up and running now. Only the Family History pages are to be developed and uploaded now. They will be on-going pages anyway and constantly changing as we discover new things in our research. At the moment, I have addressed three pages – At Home, Abroad, & Links – plus providing access to the Blogs – Hellas Blog, Greek Island Living & Pauline’s Recipe Store.

7th January, 2013

In Greece, instead of Birthdays, the celebrate Name Days. The custom originated with the Greek Orthodox calendar of saints and, across Europe, with the Catholic calendar of saints. Name Days are more or less significant in more than twenty European countries. Today is my Name Day – Giannis/Ionnanis/John.

Happy Name Day to me, Happy Name Day to me,…………

8th January, 2013

Lovely warm day in Surrey. Woking is 50F/10C this morning. Athens is 37F/3C. Skiathan Man is reporting snow over night. He has posted this photograph in his Blog today:

Other Greek bloggers report urgently searching for wood to keep fires going. For years in our house in Yorkshire we maintained an open log fire during the winter months. We had cut down a number of thirty foot ash trees and had them logged but we were amazed at how quickly an open fire can eat logs up in cold weather. This is why we chose our log burning stove which can survive on a couple of logs for a long time.

This urgent trend to wood burning in Greece to reduce the cost of heating is bringing immediate and unexpected consequences. eKathimerini is reporting today that a “group of scientists from seven research centers will be taking smog readings in a number of Greek cities from January 10 to February 10 to gauge the environmental impact from the increased use of fireplaces and wood-burning stoves”. Also, they are reporting heavy snow in Athens closing roads and schools.

Even so, I know where I’d rather be at the moment.

9th January, 2013

Like so many others after Christmas indulgence, we have entered a chosen period of self-denial to open the new year. No alcohol and no carbohydrate are the principles at the centre of our hair shirt and we are almost enjoying it. Not one to be known for masochistic tendencies, I am actually enjoying testing myself against the frugalities of this new regime. It is also posing an interesting challenge and opportunity for Pauline. She loves the idea of inventing new meals because she is so skilled and ingenious in that regard. We have just started our second week of no alcohol and no carbohydrate which we are combining with our daily swim.

At the same time, Pauline has launched her new Recipe blog which will begin with Christmas food but move rapidly to inventive meals under the new regime. It is very current because of its timing and the media’s focus on it at this time of year. We have just watched a three part series about cooking and dieting featuring the Hairy Bikers which didn’t really break new ground other than their attempts to recreate old favourites in new, low calorie format. To all intents and purposes, this is what Pauline is attempting.

10th January, 2013

Watched The Iron Lady – played by Meryl Streep – last night. I didn’t enjoy it. It took me almost the whole film to get in to it. I didn’t like or approve of her view of the world yet it was impossible not to feel real sadness at her decline in the film. And it just underlined Eliot’s words in The Hollow Men that opens with:

We are the hollow men
We are the stuffed men
Leaning together
Headpiece filled with straw. Alas!
Our dried voices, when
We whisper together
Are quiet and meaningless
As wind in dry grass
Or rats’ feet over broken glass
In our dry cellar

and ends

This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.

It was in my head all night.

Up early. Cold morning. First INR test of the new year. Having stopped alcohol for ten days, it may be skewed a little. We are told that cold weather is on the way – maybe even snow. At times like this, it is good to be living in Surrey.

11th January, 2013

A wonderfully bright and sunny day. Not hot – 5C/41F at 9.00 am – but very inviting. Not quite the same on the Greek island of Simi this morning where a Simi blogger writes:

There are heavy grey skies this morning and the sea is the colour of a battleship. I don’t really have much news as I wake up and start to warm up in the very cold front room.

I am watching England amass a large total in the first one day against India while having my hair cut by Pauline. Can life get much harder? Well, we will have to go swimming in a couple of hours.

The Tory led Coalition Government in Britain and rapidly digging their own graves. Their mission is to paint the Great Unwashed as lazy shirkers on whom money should not be wasted. Cutting income tax on the rich incentivises them while those lazy scroats on the minimum wage need a good dose of deprivation to shake them up. At the same time, they try to set the Middle Classes in opposition to the poor. You work all day only to keep those no good idlers in clover. The posh boys of Torydom who don’t know the price of a pint of milk are trying desperately to reassume the mantle of The Nasty Party. And next, lets attack the pensioners. They’ve got it rich. We can’t allow that. Free bus passes, heating allowances, free tv licences, we’ll take those back.

Mistake! Yes, Pauline & I don’t need our Winter Fuel Allowance; we don’t need a bus pass or a free tv licence; we don’t even need our State Pension but, like everyone else in this country, we have contributed every penny of our dues in income tax and national insurance for the best part of forty years and we expect the other side of the contract to be honoured. Unlike the callow youth, unlike the hardpressed middle aged, we have the time and the bloody mindedness to lobby and to vote. This government – already doomed – will write its own suicide note if it frames its next manifesto with cuts to old age promises!

Lovely cartoon in The Telegraph this week:

12th January, 2013

A cold morning – 3C/32F – and rather grey. The focus this morning is sorting Pauline’s laptop keyboard out. It is starting to intermittently fail. Sometimes the occasional letter prints twice or doesn’t print at all. The shift is starting to be a little unreliable. It is a two year old Toshiba Sattelite L670. I first thought it was dirty and sticking. I tried to clean it but without any noticeable change. After all, Pauline is clean. Unlike me, she doesn’t eat peanuts while typing or spill the odd bit of red wine on it while trying to shake toast crumbs out of it. After consulting the internet, I realise that it is a problem with this model.

Incredibly, a brand new, model-specific replacement can be had from Amazon for £25.00. I’ve already ordered one.

30th December, 2012

A beautiful, blue sky and sunny day heralds our 34th Wedding Anniversary. This day of 1978 was thick with snow. We lived on the edge of the Pennines and friends and relatives from all over the country were driving to Meltham in Yorkshire. For many of them, the weather made it touch and go but they all made it. Mind you, they weren’t helped by the council gritter men going on strike. I genuinely remember it as the best day of my life. I loved every minute. I’m afraid that, although our love has got stronger over the years, the photographs are deteriorating. Never mind, I remember it clearly:

31st December, 2012

I remember someone asking me when I stopped working, What achievements will you have to aim for? It brought me up short. Pauline & I have always lived our lives by that sort of measurement. Five year plans to be completed have always been our ruler. We have continued to set out our plan and to push towards completion. In some respects, we have more now than when we were in employment but now they all concerned with our lives and not our jobs. Today was the day to discuss them. I’m afraid I’m not going to share our plans with you.

Having set our world in order, we went for a long swim. We had been swimming for about twenty minutes when some middle aged chap came in to the pool and decided to launch himself between Pauline & I doing a flailing and over exuberant crawl stroke. He was clearly there to make a point that he was a stronger, faster swimmer and old wrinklies were just in the way. I’m not having people call Pauline an ‘old wrinkly’. He quite deliberately struck in to me as he went past. What he didn’t realise was that I am rather like an iceberg – 10% above the water and 90% elsewhere – so he proceeded to attack Pauline. What he didn’t realise is that Pauline is genuinely scarey. He soon stormed off in a huff, shouting at children as he did.

At 10.00 pm precisely, Pauline sent Happy New Year texts to friends in Greece and I made sure the champagne was chilling well. We’ll probably open it at 11.30 pm or we’ll never get to bed and we wrinklies need our sleep if only to stay alive long enough to achieve our dreams 5-year plans.

1st January, 2013

Happy New Year to all our readers – Ευτυχισμένο το Νέο Έτος

All years should start like this. A bottle of champagne with my favourite girl. Bed by 2.00 am. Up a little bit late to the most glorious, sunny morning. Emails and texts of good wishes from lots of friends and relatives. A glass of freshly squeezed orange juice and a bucket of Yorkshire Tea. The Times arriving on my iPad. No commitments. Absolute Bliss! 2013 is going to be a very good year.

2nd January, 2013

I was just thinking of my old friend, Jonathan. We were friends from Repton during the 1960s. He married an American girl – a teacher – and moved to Acton, Masachusetts where he has remained ever since. I last saw him forty years ago in about 1972. We have been corresponding since Mum died four years ago but he is still working and doesn’t have time to write. I was at my desk, in front of my computer, thinking of Jonathan, when up popped an email from him – the first for quite a few months. To be honest, I don’t think he’s to comfortable writing chit-chat. He’s more at home with scientific test reports. But he’s in America and I am never comfortable on a phone. I love writing so he has to do the same. His wife is retiring this year and Jonathan is beginning to think about it even if he says he can’t afford it. He is a very careful man by nature and seems to still worry about affording Healthcare when he leaves his company’s scheme.

3rd January, 2013

Pauline paid a lot of money to have a front tooth veneered to cover a permanent brown blemish I believe was caused by a childhood infection. Over Christmas, the veneer has turned decidedly light brown. We have gone back today, to have it reappraised. The dentist immediately agrees to redo the whole thing next week so Pauline has heaved a sigh of relief.

When I had my Desktop computer serviced the other day, we realised that I had bought it eight years ago and fitted a new hard drive four years ago. Delighted though I am with my machine, I made a resolution that I would take Backup more seriously. Pauline & I have important data on a desktop and two laptops in UK and a Desktop in Greece. We would be devastated if we lost things like financial or medical records, photographs, research material, correspondence, etc.. We do back it up sporadically on USB sticks but I’ve decided it is time to embrace backing up in the Cloud. I used Microsoft ‘Live’ for a while but found it slow and cumbersome. I’ve turned to Google Drive as a possible solution and I think it’s going to be fine.

I get 5 Gb free and that should be plenty for quite a while. What’s more, it is automatically synchronised with my computer so that when I open or close my machine, files I have worked on are automatically backed up. That’s the theory. I’ll let you know.

4th January, 2013

Greece is colder than Surrey today. As I write, Athens in 45F/7C whereas Surrey is 52F/11C. It probably doesn’t help to know that but it’s interesting. We received a Christmas card from Sifnos this morning from our friend, the plumber and his family. It was lovely to open in our English apartment.

Great swim today – 30 lengths – and then home for smoked salmon salad lunch. I’ve been trying to get some records out of Derbyshire County Council. They haven’t made it easy and, just as I get close, they close their Office in preparation for moving it. I can have nothing until the middle of February. They directed me to a Blog with pictures like this to prove it.

5th January, 2013

Another mild day. We’ve spent it indoors. I’ve been working on an upgrade for Sanders Web. It is strange making all ones mistakes in public but I am past worrying about it.

23rd December, 2012

The Blog began four years ago this week. Mum had died a few months earlier. Pauline’s Mum was still with us although she was beginning to feel rather unstable on her feet at the age of 94. She managed another two years. Four months after the first Blog entries, we had left our jobs and taken the first steps into the world of retirement. We had already spent a our holidays for a couple of years in our Greek house and were contemplating freshening up our home in England prior to putting it on the market. At the time, we had intended to work for one more year. We might even have done two if the house didn’t sell. As it is, we had to seize the financial settlement on offer while it was there and to move on to our next five year plan.

Unlike previous diary attempts which failed on day two, this one has endured for the very reason that so much has changed in our lives since its inception. The Blog has formed a stable axis of a turning world and I believe that it will continue to do so.

24th December, 2012

A lovely, bright and extremely mild day. Pauline has spent the morning preparing things for the family feast tomorrow – making chocolate torte, making ice cream and orange sorbet. I spent a few hours working on a new, on-line photo album software which I need to help me upgrade the Sanders Site as it presents new things. Later in the afternoon, we all met at The Maybury Inn for an early evening meal. Two of the boys, aged 11 and 9, were already rather too tired. It was a nice, homely meal to start Christmas.

25th December, 2012

To most of our Greek readers, Καλά Χριστούγεννα. Happy Christmas to one & all. Bah, Humbug!

We woke to a mild, bright morning but, by the time we had finished breakfast, the skies were leaden with dark thunder clouds which opened and deluged the neighbourhood. Soon we will leave for Pauline’s family’s home to suffer Christmas.

Pauline cooked a wonderful meal. Everyone had a happy time. We ran off when Strictly Come Dancing was mentioned and retreated to the sanity of ‘Sanders Towers’.

26th December, 2012

The morning is wonderful and calm. The sky is blue and the sun is pouring through the windows. The temperature is only 8C/47F but feels much warmer. No Health Club today. We used to drive to the coast for a picnic on Boxing Day but we have decided to spend the day reading and writing. Pauline sent for three swimming costumes and they arrived on Christmas Eve. She is trying them on this morning and parading around the house. All part of life’s rich tapestry. This evening, there are a couple of football matches to watch.

Turkey Pie for our meal today followed by the remainder of the wonderful chocolate torte with raspberry sauce that Pauline made for the Christmas Day meal.

The whole day was complete when United won in the last minute and City lost….again.

27th December, 2012

Another lovely & bright day. I received a letter from Bill Flook including copies of :

• Mabel Lilian Flook’s Birth Certificate
• Mabel Lilian Flook’s Marriage Certificate to Richard Watthew Sanders – our Grandfather
• Mabel Lilian Flook’s Death Certificate
• Richard Watthew Sanders’ Birth Certificate

While I was idly browsing a research bank, I also came across

• Auntie Kessie’s Teaching Appointment Record.

I am beginning to make connections, to feel empathy with lost members of my family. I am wandering around in a world of Repton of a century ago and to realise what events must have meant to them. It is quite exciting.

Phyllis bought us some wonderful freesias before Christmas and, as they continue to open, the lounge becomes increasingly perfumed. I love flowers. If it didn’t feel so decadent and self indulgent, I would fill the house with them.

28th December, 2012

Incredibly mild for the end of December. These dog days between Christmas and New Year are strangely anti-climactic. However, we have our wedding anniversary to celebrate on the 30th so that is one event to look forward to. We may go out for lunch if we can manage to eat anything after Christmas food.

I’ve spent the day planning for 2013. Pauline & I always like to be clear about our commitments and targets where ever we are. More of this will unfold as time passes. For the immediate, I am about to work on the Sanders Website and one of my needs is display the genealogical material efficiently. I particularly want to display graphics attractively. I use Macromedia Dreamweaver and there is a very basic facility in there to do the job but the professional platform is Java. I learned very early on that I am not a scripter. I went on a very expensive three day course and sank without trace. I was quite surprised because I think extremely logically but I was useless at learning script. I’ve bought a small, off-the-peg program to build my presentations for me. Even I can do it. Now the web will be swamped with photo albums.

29th December, 2012

Received an email from Ruth today with a nice photo of a few old codgers. I’m still looking for the key to turn time back particularly when I hear reports of people like Tony Gregg falling off the conveyor belt at 66!

16th December, 2012  

This is the last week of the fourth year of my Blog. I would never have believed, when I started, that I would sustain it so long. I am determined now to maintain it until I can no longer write even if its format or platform is forced to change at some time in the future. I may be the only one but it gives me genuine pleasure. Pauline has proof-read the whole four years and I am about to save it in Pdf form as well so I can make a future hard copy. All sounds a bit navel-gazing but, when you’ve got a navel like mine, what else can you do?

My Great Great Grandfather, Edwin Thomas Sanders, Chairman of Repton District Council, had a brother William (1869 – 1927). I was browsing through some old newspaper reports and came across this:

According to the family tree I’ve inherited, William would be 30 years old at this time and a bit mature for this recklessness but who knows. His father, my  Great Great Grandfather, Richard Sanders, owned the flour mill at the end of Main Street and I was lucky to find two photographs in a little softback book of photos of Repton.

They are said to date from 1900 and feature the mill which is their home. The children who would have lived here at some timed were Annie, Edwin Thomas, Sarah, Alfred Henry, Mary Jane and William Richard. By the time of these photos, Great Great Grandfather, Richard Sanders had been dead for nine years and Edwin Thomas, as the eldest surviving male heir, had taken over in charge of the Mill. In the photograph, above left, Alfred Henry Sanders (1864 – 1938) is seen holding the horse, centre right. The woman standing is Mary-Jane (1866 – 1946) and the woman sitting is Sarah (1862 – 1940).

The photograph above right shows Mary Jane feeding the chickens and a pig. Her long skirt trails in the mud. Mud splatters feature on the once white walls of the thatched dwelling. The water supply is a hand pump from the well on the outside wall of the house. Cold, dark, damp and dirty is what springs to mind. Having said that, they all lived to respectable ages (at least those that didn’t die in infancy.) Great Great Grandfather lived to 70. Annie lived to 76, Edwin Thomas to 67, Sarah to 78, Alfred Henry to 74, Mary Jane to 80. Only the youngest, William Richard let them down by only managing 58 years but I suppose he was a bit reckless!

Actually, Edwin Thomas is listed in 1895 as a Builder of Repton, as I suspected. Wealth built up in milling was being used to diversify into other services. I have to present the next article of evidence in two pieces. The item, below left, is continued by the item, below right. It is a report in The Derby Mercury of 1895 of a Lively Parish Meeting in which the second half lists E.T. Sanders (Builder) as dissenting. It also shows William Dakin (retired builder) as in the dissenting ratepayers of Repton. William Dakin was married to Edwin Thomas’ sister, Annie.

By 1909, Edwin Thomas was a highly respected member of the community, aged 49 and describing himself as a builder. He was elected to Burton Board of Guardians and Repton Rural Distric Council.

I cooked Cassoulet for Dinner this evening. It was a real success.

17th December, 2012

We were just about to go swimming when we found our road had been totally closed for resurfacing without any warning at all. We now realise that this was at the behest of the developers not the Local Authority so there were none of the statutory notices in advance. Lucky we had no emergencies.

Spent the day researching and found the source of Richard Sanders (1821 – 1891), my Great Great Grandfather’s Will and of William Dakin’s, who was married to my Great Aunt Annie. I have to send to the Derbyshire Records Office for copies.

Ate a wonderfully, smelly, gooey cheese that is like imbibing a deep tasting double cream with attitude. We bought it in France on spec.:

18th December, 2012

The daily swimming session is beginning to show real dividends. We are doing just 600 m. each day but I’m feeling much better for it. Having missed a day yesterday because of the roadworks, I felt quite tired today at the end of 600 m.. I’ve got to be up to 800 m. by the end of January and 1000 m. / 1 k. by the end of March. We’ve got to incorporate the jogging and rowing machines in the new year.

19th December, 2012

The day has started with beautiful sunshine. We have no appointments booked apart from the Health Club. I hate Christmas and all it stands for both religious and commercial but I love getting cards. I love all mail. It is a standing joke in our house that I run like a puppy to grab the post as it comes through the letter box. I love ‘junk’ mail. I am happy opening and reading a flyer from the latest pizza joint nearby even though I will never eat their wares but I love hearing from relatives and friends and cards and newsletters are just my thing. Got a card and newsletter from an old school colleague this morning which was lovely to open. People’s lives are what really interests me and people watching.

Felt absolutely dead after swimming today. It was raining and Pauline put her umbrella up, saying she didn’t want to get wet! News on Greece was good today with the City announcing, Standard & Poor’s ratings agency last night upgraded Greece’s credit grade by six notches. This is its best position for the Greek economy for quite a while.

I’m cooking again tonight – Duck and Green Salad – but not being too adventurous. We bought wonderful, huge duck breasts in France and their flavour is dynamic. Washed down with a carafe of claret. Wonderful! I’ll be back swimming tomorrow.

20th December, 2012

Welcome to 20. 12. 20.12. A dark and gloomy day. Heavy rain all night has given way to persistent rain this morning. It feels cold at 9C but I notice Sifnos is only 9C this morning and Skiathos is only 8C  with torrential rain that has made an impact on the streets. For me: Operation ‘Tidy Study’ this morning before swimming.

You will notice the other Blogs I follow in the Blogroll or ‘Links’ list at the side of my writing. I usually work my way up from the bottom to the top although some are not currently operative. An interesting lady who lives in Piraeus and writes almost exclusively about food has written an interesting article in the last couple of days entitled: Are there too many municipal employees? It can only be a rhetorical question but so many, native Greeks can’t see it or, at least, acknowledge it. Just as it is for the State industries/services, so it is for State Bureaucracy. The author is not Greek but married to a Greek. She is in a unique position to observe and comment. I wish she would do more of it.

It is fatal being retired and married to a cook. We appear to have eaten all the mince pies she has made. And now she’s made a Christmas Cake. Actually, she made it weeks ago but iced it today. The little decorations on the top typify Pauline completely. She bought them in 1967 when she was doing her ‘O Level Domestic Science. Unlike me who would have lost (or eaten) them by January 1968, Pauline has kept and used them for 45 years. She has a wonderfu sense of continuity. We’ve been married 34 years at the end of this month. Can she keep me going as long as the decorations?

21st December, 2012

This is the shortest day – Winter Solstice 2012. In fact, the skies are blue, the sun is out, squirrels are running around with gay abandon. Yesterday’s dark skies would have been much more appropriate. I may have to divorce my wife. I will certainly have to restrain her. Yesterday, in addition to all the other cooking, she made an apricot and cream sponge sandwich cake. I was going to put a picture of it on my Blog today but we ate it. (The cake not the Blog.) I will never lose weight at this rate. We had to put in an especially hard swim today but now I can’t walk.

Had a lovely, long phone call from our Greek Amanuensis last night. We caught up with lots of island gossip. Stories of torrential rain abound. We had sent our friends a large box of presents we bought at Fortnum & Masons – Different sorts of teas, speciality coffees, high quality chocolates, fudge, biscuits, etc.. It arrived on the F/b Adamas Korais on Wednesday and they had great fun opening each, individually wrapped item. We had to say a massive thank you for their very special help and friendship. They told us that another of our friends, the Notary, had suffered a fall in her office and is quite badly injured. We will speak to her tonight.

22nd December, 2012

This is the season of goodwill to all men. It seems to include Greeks. Reading Kathimerini over the last couple of days, the news about Greece is unbelievably positive. You might like these articles:

• Current account deficit shrinks further, lifting economy.
• Last major austerity package, says eurozone official.
• German paper picks Samaras as politician of the year.

Who would have thought that Samaras could do it. He’s held the most unlikely coalition together for almost six months against the opposition of almost 50% of the constituency. The Germans have been the Greeks’ bogeymen and to hear them recognise Samaras’ achievement will mean a lot – as will the suggestion that they need not fear another austerity package. Whether or not it is true, the Greeks feel they have been subjected to new austerity measures every few months for the past three years. After all, they’re even having to paying tax on their earnings now. Where will it end?

 9th December, 2012

Sunday, which used to be such a dreaded day – family at church followed by family lunch followed by family walk – is a lovely, relaxing day. The Sunday Times is interesting today. Gove’s war over pay for teachers is one of the provocative items. I’m not a teacher. It won’t affect me but it still riles me. The man is bonkers! He is already talking about putting his Department on a ‘war footing’ against the teachers. Having floated the idea of regional pay, he is now pushing ‘payment by results’. Both show a complete lack of understanding of the type of people who become teachers. I walk round the lounge, seething against things which will have no bearing upon me. Pauline tells me to calm down.

I sit down with a cup of capuccino and sip it slowly like a Greek and then turn back to my iPad newspaper to read: People have morals, not firms like Starbucks and my blood pressure hits the roof. I think back to this time last year as HMRC pursued us for £3000.00 of unpaid tax and wonder what sort of world I’m living in. I suddenly realise that I am fiercely pacing the lounge and Pauline is telling me to sit down. I turn back to my coffee and iPad and read: Nurse Russell knows what’s killing the NHS and I’m back in the chaos that Pauline & I have experienced over the past five years or so. I really am becoming a grumpy old man. I’ve always had a point of view but now I’ve got time to pursue it. The House of Commons email server will be reset to block my address very soon!

It was all brought back to perspective by a football match. Now that is worth getting worked up about, particularly when it’s City v Utd..And what a match! United deserved to win 2 – 3 but the quality was high on both sides. Later, I cooked tarragon chicken and potatoes with a cold & crisp, lemon-tangy, Pinot Grigot. My blood pressure’s feeling better.

10th December, 2012

Pauline is unwell. It’s only a head cold but, after four, clear years, it has hit her. She had forgotten what it was like. Today she is dosed up with Lemsip. She is staying in doors because it’s quite cold outside. We are not going swimming until tomorrow.

I received a second email from my cousin, David. It contains lots of good information plus two photographs that I haven’t seen before. Of course, David is very, very old so I would expect his memory of family history to be much deeper than mine.

This photograph was taken – I’m sure in our garden in Repton – I believe around the date 1924-25. It is a happy family scene featuring my Grandmother who I never met, Mabel Lilian Flook with Aunti Kath on her knee and my Grandfather, Richard Watthew Sanders with Aunti Marg. on his knee. Dad, Eric Richard Sanders aged 10+, is sitting in the middle looking as if butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth. I looked identical at that age.

I wrote earlier about being contacted by a member of the Flook family who has quite a bit of family tree work done already. I’ve finally been able to reply with information about and photographs of his/her Aunt, Mabel Lilian.

11th December, 2012

In spite of strong sun and cloudless sky, the frost has stayed all day. Even now, at 3.00 pm., frost whitens the lawn under the trees. Unfortunately, we are due to be out early tomorrow for a shopping trip to France and freezing fog is forecast. We’ve checked oil, tyres and water. We’ll see what the next morning brings.

12th December, 2012

Up at 4.30 am and out at 5.30 am. It is -4C and we are expecting freezing fog on the motorway. The temperature falls to -6C as we drive but the fog stays away. We get to the tunnel check-in with 45 mins to spare. The sun is just coming up as we drive through passport control which is a desultory affair.

Time for coffee and newspapers. The 8.00 am crossing seems popular. The 30 min crossing is soon over. Lovely sunny morning in France. We drive to the wine store first. We only spend around €200.00. Unlike the old days, travelling from Yorkshire, we can pop over the Channel any time we like. We don’t need to stock up for six months. Off to Auchan in Coquelles for coffee and grocery shopping. We bought a bit more wine including a case of champagne for Christmas, a large assortment of pork, duck, rabbit, fresh salmon and white fish. Lots of salad things, meat patés, and an assortment of cheeses.

I can’t cope with more than two hours shopping anywhere. By 12.30 pm (French), I was shattered. We bought a sandwich which we ate with coffee and checked-in for an early train home. As we drove up the motorway at 2.00 pm (UK), the sun was already going down. The temperature dropped 4 degrees immediately we crossed the Channel. The further we drove into Surrey, it was apparent that the frost had never disappeared. I couldn’t really stop to photograph the really intense scene. My iPad grabbed this.

13th December, 2012

Another very cold morning. Up at 6.00 am and queuing outside Woking Walk-in Hospital bt 6.45 am in -4C. Born in Derbyshire and 40 years in Yorkshire has toughened us. It was noticeable that the Surreyites couldn’t take it this morning. Later we take the wine we bought for Phyllis & Colin. They seem happy.

Pauline is still really suffering with this cold. It is almost a week now. We decide to stay in the warm. Pauline is cooking salmon & pesto parcels for the Christmas Day starters. I’m continuing to work on the update for Sanders Web which will be lauch as soon as I’m happy with it.

It is reported on a Greek Blogsite today that Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras declared that the Grexit era was dead. Speaking in Brussels to reporters after the Eurogroup approved the mammoth bailout fund of 52.5 billion euro, an obviously relieved Samaras said:

“Solidarity in our union is alive, ‘Grexit’ is dead. Greece is back on its feet.The sacrifices of Greek people have not been in vain,. It’s not only a new day for Greece but also a new day for Europe.”

“Grexit’ is the short term used by international media commentators and economists to describe scenarios about the possibility of bankrupt Greece exiting the euro zone.

14th December, 2012

Heavy rain outside with occasional flakes of snow. We’ve just been told that West Yorkshire has had its once a year morning of black ice with people unable to step out of the houses without falling, multiple car crashes and lots of rescue horror stories. Dozens of Kirklees schools were closed today. We remember the experience vividly and I was only too pleased to sit and watch the cricket. Lovely stuff. It is so good to watch a winning England side.

For living in the development that contains our duplex apartment, we pay a service charge. It is something we have never done before. Originally, it was set at just under £2000.00 per year and we expected it to increase every five years or so. This charge pays for weekly cleaning of public areas inside and out. Although we have our own front door on to the garden, we walked down a carpeted corridor to the underground carpark. That corridor is cleaned and hoovered every week. Windows are cleaned. The Development and the carpark electric gates are serviced when required. Trees and bushes are planted and pruned. The leaves swept up and taken away. The lawns are mowed. The parking areas are swept. The communal lighting is maintained as is the binstore. The tv satellite and distribution system is maintained, all electrics, water, etc. are maintained. To add to this, it includes the cost of generating power in our own on-site Energy Centre and supply of all our heating and hot water. It also includes our house insurance and Emergency Repair Service. The more one looks, the more it seems to be a very good deal. What has made it even better is that the £2000.00 per year has been reduced over two years to £1400.00.

Quite unexpectedly today I received a phone call from Bill Flook. He had written to me out of the blue during the summer. I’m still not sure what relation he is to me. All I can tell you is that my Grandmother Mabel Lilian who I never met was Bill’s Aunt being the older sister of Bill’s Father, Norman, Albert Flook. He is only 50 which surprised me and he has been an invalid for twenty years. He has agreed to send me paperwork of his research and I will do similarly.

15th December, 2012

Beautiful, bright and sunny day with much better temperatures up at 10C. I’ve completed the setting up of a new, on-line savings account and received the paperwork to start using it today. The only thing is that it’s a whole 1% less than last year.

Spurred on by Bill Flook contacting me, I’ve returned to research today. I’m enjoying looking through past newspaper records and I just illustrate a few findings today. Family members will remember that Grandad Sanders – Richard Watthew – had three fingers missing on one hand. We were told that he cut them off in the circular saw in the wood store. Well, I found confirmation of that:

I’m not sure Granddad would have described it as a Minor Mishap.To put this horrible and traumatic accident – referred to by one newspaper as a ‘little mishap’, into context, it happened one year after his father died and just six months after his wife has given birth to Edwina, an experience that has or is beginning to unhinge her mind. And we wondered why Grandad was so monosyllabic and serious.

A few years later he was bouncing back as the following advert illustrates:

2nd December, 2012

Interesting article about inflationary pressures in the British economy in The Times yesterday. It was illustrated by this chart:

It is allied in my mind to the suggestion that Public Sector pay is unlikely to rise before the next election under this coalition. It is also apposite because we retired one year after it’s baseline. In that time, because we have payed up our mortgage and down-sized and because our Teaching Pensions have increased by inflation plus Pauline is about to access the State Pension, our disposable income will have risen by around 20% whereas the average, per capita household income has diminished by just less than 4%. At the same time, while energy bills have nationally increased by 63%, ours have literally tumbled by around 60% as we’ve left our large house. Petrol costs are up by 13% nationally whereas ours are down by at least 50%. OK, we still eat and food prices have affected us like everyone else but the overall position has led to us feeling incredibly fortunate and not in a position we could have predicted when we took our first, tremulous steps into retirement.

3rd December, 2012

You can always tell people with time on their hands. One of the jobs on the list for this week is Christmas post. Cards and presents for Greek friends. I’ve managed to resist the Poison Dwarf this year. Cards for British and French friends and relatives. My job was to do a brief, illustrated note – one for Greece and another for Britain – to slip inside the card. I was also responsible for printing the address labels from our database. Pauline had the easy job of handwriting all the cards because she doesn’t trust me. Once she went mad because I signed them all from John & Pauline Sanders. I couldn’t see what was wrong with that but she said it was rudely impersonal. I argued that I hated receiving cards from people and not knowing who they are. Happy Christmas from Martin. WHICH MARTIN?????? I know lots of Martins and I can’t read the Post Office stamp.

Which is why I am not allowed to write Christmas cards – good excuse. I received a present from Honda today. A cheque for £500.00 for being a good customer. Better than a poke in the eye. Went for a really good swim – we have set a target of an extra five lengths by the end of the week. We did our extra one for today. By Friday, we will be doing 600 m..

4th December, 2012

Off to the Post Office with a parcel for Greece. £40.00 to send 6.5 kilos in 7 days with a £100.00 insurance cover. It’s not great but needs must.

So many jobs have come up today that we’ve had to miss swimming. It’s feeling very cold outside today. The Greek Blogs seem to be moving seamlessly from olive collection to wood gathering. Cold weather is on its way to Europe.

5th December, 2012

At 6.00 am, I looked out of the window and teased Pauline saying, Heavy Snow! She believed me but it wasn’t. We listened to the Today programme for an hour and then Pauline got up, looked out and said, You won’t believe it’s snowing. I didn’t and it was. The snow was what you would call ‘a light dusting’ but we heard of Luton and Stansted airports being closed, schools in Essex being closed, trains to London being delayed and problems on the roads. Laugh on Yorkshire!

Our next door neighbour sent a text during the morning saying she was playing golf in Woking this morning but would put her keys through our letterbox this afternoon as she set off for Manchester to fly to Qatar to play golf. She was doing the same in Spain last week. What a life.

Braved the blizzards to go swimming today and managed an extra couple of lengths. We’re on target for 30 by Friday. Back home, I checked my Blog for this day over the past couple of years. Last year was fine but, in 2010, we were renting a tiny flat in Huddersfield and it was the coldest night on record of -18C. We were surrounded by a foot of snow. Even so, life continued as normal.

6th December, 2012

My computer says it is -2C outside at 8.00 am but by 10.00 am, we are in positive figures. I managed to catch a bit of the Test Match on television. Alistair Cook was on another Century and England were making India look tired.

I had to be dragged away to do shopping. We’re off to France again on Wednesday so we can’t afford to clog the freezer up in advance. As we walked around the supermarket, I had the story of Anastasia Karagaitanaki ringing in my ears. I read about her in Ekathimerini in an article headed, Depression deepens Greek middle class despair. Anastasia is a 59 year old, former cafe owner. When her business went bust, she had to move in with her aged Mother and now they both survive on the €785.00 that her dead father’s pension still provided. Her great fear is what she will do if and when her Mother dies. Just as in England, the political elite find it easier and more to their taste to squeeze the middle classes until the pips squeak rather that chase those who can afford to avoid tax.

7th December, 2012

I often watch Yorkshire local news on BBC to maintain our links with the past. Every work day of nearly forty years, we drove over the Pennines from Yorkshire to Lancashire and then back again in the evening. In the winter, we would invariably go the M62 one stop each eay. As anyone who uses it will know, southerners complain about the M25 but it is nothing compared with parts of the M62 which is a nightmare. The small section we travelled on experienced serious accidents two or three times per week which brought long traffic delays. It was renowned as the highest stretch of motorway in Britain. If snow was around, we would get it. We once hit a blizzard in April while driving to the airport. This morning we saw film of our stretch of the M62 which was blocked yesterday morning and again last night at rush hour. We will never do that again.

We are continuing to enjoy and discover new elements of our 13th new Honda CRV. Because we spend six months abroad each year, I have despaired at not being able to adjust the headlights for right hand driving. We ‘ve always had to rely on those cut out and stick beam adjusters that you can buy from Halfords. After six months of car washes in Europe, they are not so good. Today, Honda have confirmed for me through the ‘concierge service’ (We new CRV drivers have our own, dedicated concierge service, you know.) that Smart Technology in my headlights not only switches them on automatically according to the level of daylight but makes them shine left when I steer left, right when I steer right and self-dip if I’m on an upward incline or if it senses traffic coming towards me. I have put a complaint in to Honda about the lack of an espresso machine so I expect to see that in the next model.

Went to the local waste disposal centre to get rid of a lot of junk that had been clogging up our garage store for months. As we dumped it, we heaved a sigh of relief and the garage rose visibly. We reached our target in the swim today; 600 m. up from 500 m. last week. Our task now is to get to the 1000 m. / 1 kilometre as soon as possible. I need a lie down.

8th December, 2012

Will someone please stop the clock. It’s the 8th of December already. My life is running away. It is a wonderful morning, one that makes me feel so glad to be alive. We have a top gastro pub just over a mile away from us and we’re going to walk there for lunch. First I have my Blog and emails to do.

• Email to David Pritchard. I sent one a few weeks ago but haven’t heard back from him.
• Email to Martin – ex-Sifnos friend.
• Email Rizwan – ex-teaching colleague.
• Email to Ruth – lovely sister.
• Email to Chris – Honda Salesman/friend in Huddersfield.
• Email to Anne Clwyd, MP.

Over the past four years, Pauline and I have had three close relatives die in hospital. We have seen the NHS up close and personal and been subject to its dreadful short comings at first hand. We have seen the poor, physical state of the buildings, the lax maintenance of the interiors and learnt of the appalling short comings of NHS Management through recent experience. Pauline & I went to the trouble of meeting with the Senior Management of West Pennine Acute Hospital and, reviewing our notes from that meeting in the cold light of day, they are no less shocking. We are learning to become grumpy old people. We were touched by Ann Clwyd’s tears in the House of Commons last week as she described the gross neglect of her husband as he died in hospital. It so mirrored our own experiences but was said by the Minister and the Nurses Leader to be an unfortunate one-off. It was neither ‘unfortunate’ nor a one-off. It is the result of a systematic breakdown in the nursing management which encourages semi-literate nurses to believe they are graduates who go on to believe that basic care is beneath such intellectual status.