Sanders Blog

13th March, 2011

Watched an interview with Rory McGrath the other day. I had no idea he had been born in to a Roman Catholic family – as I had – or that he had been forced to attend church and serve at mass and that he had bitterly resented it- as I had. I knew nothing about his fractured relationship with his mother or his total rejection of religion. The interview, presumably, was to publicise his new book – The Father, The Son and The Ghostly Hole – in which he describes how even as the most lapsed of Catholics, the religion has shaped him forever in just the way I believe it has me.

The book arrived yesterday. I shall keep you informed on my view of it.

14th March, 2011

Early morning anti-coagulation check at the hospital. The last one before we leave. My INR is up from 1.9 to 2.6. The optimum is 2.5 so that’s good. The next one will be done by the Baker on Sifnos and phoned back to the Huddersfield Royal. We went on to Santander to discuss new ISAs for post April 6th. Our cash allowance has gone up to 2 x £5,340.00 = £10,680.00. I expect interest rates to go up in a couple of months and maybe by 0.5 % so we will miss out on that by being away but, at least, we can park some cash and make a bit at the same time. I have picked a flexible ISA guaranteed to pay 2.8% above Base Rate so I will at least profit from a rate rise.

After lunch – a bowl of Pea & Mint soup – I had an appointment at the Chiropody Department. I told them I was going away for six months and they have left me to make my next appointment in October.

15th March, 2011

Horribly grey, foggy and gloomy day today. We have spent the morning informing people – banks, insurance companies, etc – of our forthcoming change of address. Off to the Health Club at 12.30 pm but it is disappointingly busy.

16th March, 2011

Once again, the day is foggy and ugly. We will be swimming at mid day but up until then we are doing indoor things. Everything of significance is about leaving. Today, we have cancelled all further Council Tax payments and all further Contents Insurance payments. I have cancelled the BT phone and Broadband contract from the day we leave and Pauline is redirecting mail for 6 months to our new address. We have had a feeling for the last three months that we were largely marking time and this has increased as the days go on.

I have always had this problem of getting ahead of myself. From the moment I get to a birthday, I anticipate the next. I may be 59 but I’m in my 60th year. I may be living in Huddersfield but I am waiting to move to Woking. I maybe moving to Woking but I’m leaving for Greece. People say you should live for the moment as I prepare for my next five or ten year plan. It drives Pauline bonkers and I know ‘Life isn’t a rehearsal’ but I have to have goals, targets and purposes. I have to create my own structure around and through my life. I have to feel at least marginally in control of it. This feeling is hugely magnified by retirement.

And now the tragedy of the day – no Tarragon!

In the last few months I have become addicted to it. I’ve eaten it in years past and had to work quite hard to enjoy it but, just before Christmas, Pauline and I were in a mediterranean restaurant in Huddersfield (note the contradiction in terms) and I ordered a grilled chicken dish served with a tarragon cream sauce. It was sensational. I immediately went out to buy fresh tarragon. Only one supermarket in Kirklees was selling fresh tarragon – Asda which is a fair few miles away. Made a special trip there today only to find they had none. Why is life so hard?

17th March, 2011

Today we’ve been focussing on microwaves. All the big issues occupy us. Not for our time the minor concerns of Libya or the trivia going on in Japan. We need to consider a new microwave. We use ours for defrosting and for fast finishing food. We’ve had only three microwaves since I bought the first one – a Phillips, the size of a chest of drawers – in 1978. Our new kitchen will have a new microwave but, because our new kitchen will be installed before we move in, it will have to be free standing. We have also wanted a steam oven so we intend to combine the two functions in a multi-function steam microwave.

Actually, these machines have microwave/oven/grill/steam functions combined and come in under £300.00. You can’t say fairer than that.

18th March, 2011

Glorious, sunny day today. Even Sainsburys looked beautiful. After shopping, we went to our favourite hardware shop to buy a new, steel, filleting knife.

While we were there, I had parked up and paid £1.50 for my parking ticket. As I was walking back to my car with the ticket, a large BMW pulled up behind me. The driver, a middle aged white man, put a disabled badge in the window, got out of the car and sprinted down the street. That really annoyed me but, just at that moment, a traffic warden, a little black lady, walked down the street. On the spur of the moment, I told her what I had just seen. At first, she just brushed me off. He might be able to sprint even if he is disabled, she said. She took one look at the disabled badge and asked, Was this man with any one? When I told her that he was on his own, she said, Well that’s interesting because this badge is for a woman. I didn’t wait around to watch the conclusion of this drama. By the time Pauline and I had come out of the knife shop, the warden was still waiting for the man to return.

Later we had a lovely swim as the sun shafted in through the windows and then sunbathed in the jacuzzi. Life can be so hard at times. For Dinner this evening, I cooked roast salmon with a garlic, lemon and tarragon crust. This was accompanied by roasted shallots and peppers. We both absolutely loved it.

19th March, 2011

A strange day. It was supposed to be beautiful but failed to live up to expectations. England were unexpectedly rubbish against the bog trotters of Ireland but, at least Man. Utd. managed to squeeze a win over Bolton. Poor old Ruth.

6th March 2011

A bitter sweet day with England beating South Africa and United losing to Liverpool. Still, it’s not life and death is it? It’s much more serious than that!

Got a message from Sue Wilson this evening via Facebook. I don’t really use Facebook but have any messages redirected to my email address. This is how the exchange went:

Sue Wilson  March 7, 2011 at 2:46pm

60 this year eh John ?And I’m 50 – where does it all go ?? Sx 

John Sanders  06 March at 22:48

How kind of you to remind me, Sue. I only take comfort in the knowledge that the decade 50 – 60 goes so fast you hardly have time to draw breath. If you have a list of things you want to get done, don’t hold back. There soon won’t be time.
Love John  

Sue Wilson  March 8, 2011 at 5:09am

How very true. And no, we’re not holding back – Phil and I have been together less than 2 years, have bought a 50 acre farm and will be living the good life within a year. As a first step towards that, I’ve just tossed in my $130,000 stressy job with a software house, booked to come back to UK for 3 weeks at the end of March to sell my house and get things in order. Phil has also sold his main place and we move in 11 days time. Everything will go to the farm, he will clear 6k’s worth of debt/loan each month and we will find somewhere cheap for Mon-Thurs. So we’re cracking on !What about you ? Are you full-time in Greece now ?
Sxx

Notice the strange date system used in Australia. This is what Australians look like and could explain why they can’t get the date right:

7 th March 2011

Yorkshire Water – a wonderful company – told us today that although we will have consumed five months worth of water by the time we leave the shoe box, they will not charge us a penny. Pauline had set £150.00 aside for the water bill but, when she phoned to let them know when we would be leaving the shoe box, she was told that our property hadn’t been registered with them yet so that they wouldn’t be requiring a final reading and would not be billing us at all. I record this event because you won’t hear of such magnanimity often.

I took Pauline for a hospital appointment this afternoon and recorded Huddersfield Royal Infirmary in all its glory. Hardly historic is it?

8th March 2011

Glorious, sunny and relatively warm Spring day today. I makes one glad to be alive. Got a letter from an ex-colleague who I haven’t seen for around 15 years. A Birmingham University History graduate, he had been stricken by polio as a boy and went through his whole teaching career coping with the left side of his body virtually lifeless. I never knew how he coped and, one day, he got to Oldham on the bus from Halifax which he had done every day for about thirty years, leaving home each day at 5.30 am in order to arrive at school by about 7.30 am. He would do an hour’s marking, teach a full day, attend a meeting until 5.00 pm and then get two buses back to Halifax, getting home about 7.00 pm. This particular day, he arrived at the bottom of the hill, got off the bus and thought, “I can’t face this any more!” Bursting into tears, he got back on the bus and went home where he lived with his parents in Halifax. This was fifteen years ago now and I haven’t seen him since but I have received a Christmas card from him each year since until this year when we got nothing. It turns out that his father had died and he was so upset that Christmas was cancelled.

It is strange but little contacts like this drag one back across the years in a way that isn’t always welcome and underlines the essential sadnesses of so many (maybe all) human lives.

9th March 2011

Pancake Day.  A reason to be cheerful particularly if you are married to Pauline who makes fantastic pancakes.Those more eagle-eyed readers will have noticed that I erroneously mourned the missing of Pancake Day on February 16th. What a fool! The trouble was, I’ve been cutting down on food so much my stomach has shrunk and I couldn’t eat many. After my tenth, I was starting to feel full.

Today Pauline started packing boxes for despatch to Greece. We bought three cartons but it looks like we may fill four. It will cost us a bit to send them to Sifnos but, when the things that make life happy surround us in our house, we rarely stop to count the cost.

Instant & Fresh Coffee                     Tea Bags
Porridge Oats                                     Dried Yeast
Basmati & Risotto Rice                    Assorted Batteries
Printer Paper                                     Printer Toner                        
Large Roll of Dustbin Bags              Mouthwash
Tubes Toothpaste                             Interdentals  
Bars of Soap & Handpump Soap    Suntan Lotion                                   
Anti-perspirant                                 Boxes Tissues                                               
Boxes Dishwasher Tablets              Dishwasher Cleaner

These things may look as if we are trying to recreate England in Greece. We are not. They are each chosen for one of two different reasons.

Some things are extortionately expensive on a Greek island where they are not so much in demand. For example, Dishwasher tablets cost double the normal English supermarket price. We buy them when they are on two-for-one offer in England – effectively one quarter of the Greek price. When we buy for six months at a stretch it saves lots of money. 60 tablets cost £13.58 in Tesco and £26.00 in Greece. In Sainsburys’ two-for-one offer we only paid £6.50. Six boxes cost £39.00 instead of £156.00. That, in itself, pays for the postage of all the boxes. In six months, we use 25 bottles of suntan lotion which can cost three times as much on the island.

The other reason is quality of product. Have you ever used Greek soap? If you had, you would know it smells of the most revolting, cheap-floral scent. Greek tissues are as soft as newspaper. Tea bags in Greece are cat wee in water – Lipton tea bags. Have you tasted them? Once tasted always forgotten:

The word ‘Quality’ is a relative term and it does not exactly describe the contents of the bag.

10th March 2011

Had a phone call today to tell us that our apartment in Surrey was finally finished and had been signed off by NHBC. Shortly afterwards another phone call told us that of yet another viewing for our shoe box tomorrow.

Fascinating to hear the current attack on future pensions. Will workers, grateful for a job, take it or will they fight? Thank goodness we were paid to go when we did. I know how I would be feeling now if I had, say, five – ten years to go.

This afternoon, the weather, which has been Spring-like for days turned a little wintry. Nothing desperate and nothing like Athens at the moment which is deep in snow.

The snow is so bad in Athens at the moment that the transport unions have called off the General Strike on the basis that they can’t do worse than the weather.

11th March 2011

Sent Catherine an email for her birthday last Wednesday and received a reply today:

Thanks for birthday wishes-had work all day but enjoyed an eve meal with family. Back to dissertation the next day but getting there .  Looking for a job.Good luck with move, Enjoy your 60th and have a great time in Greece. Love cathy

I find it hard to believe that Catherine is 56 years old. While I have aged quite noticeably, everyone else has stayed the same age, in my imagination, that I remember them from the past. Talking about the past, I have been reflecting on origins, places, belonging, etc.. I think I will miss Yorkshire and the familiarity of place but not for long. When I return to Repton , I shiver uncomfortably with memories. I look over my shoulder in case someone recognises me. I want to be the unobserved observer.

I have invested more than 25 years of my life to Sifnos in the Greek Cyclades. Our house there is valued at about £400, 000 – £450,000 but soon after we have left it, we almost forget that we own it. We have always tried to conduct our two lives as if they were unconnected. The Greek house had to be developed and financed so that it didn’t impinge on our life and finances in UK and largely that has been true. I suspect that, when we sell the Greek house, we will never return to Sifnos and it will soon retreat into a shadowy hinterland of past.

11th March 2011

The longer we have lived in Greece, the more we are amazed to find so many English people doing the same thing. I featured John Humphrys twelve months ago when I bought his book – Blue Skies & Black Olives – in which he describes his purchase and building of a house with his son on the Pelopponese. His son lives and works in Athens as a classical musician. The erstwhile Minister of Sport in Blair’s administration, Tony Banks, had a property on the beautiful, Dodecanese island of Symi.

Today a clothes designer, Katherine Hooker, was featured in The Daily Telegraph today. She designs for Kate Middleton – whoever that is – but she lives on Patmos from April to September and was preparing to set off. We leave in four weeks for Greece.

27th February, 2011

The Sunday papers felt thin and poor today. Fortunately, Birmingham beat Arsenal and England gained a moral victory over India.  It really should have been declared a victory as we had wickets to spare but we have to subsidise the Third World as in everything else.

I watched the autistic  people of Kirklees, young and old, protesting outside the Town Hall that funding for their Day Care Centre was being withdrawn and that they would become housebound because of this as would their carers. The passion with which they expressed their plight was extremely moving and persuasive. I would prefer that my taxes were spent here than on relieving poverty abroad. For example, we are, even now, giving oversea aid to China. It will cease in April but it is happening now. Read about it here.

28th February, 2011

The last day of February! Can you believe it? I thought time would slow down when we retired but it is actually speeding up. In five weeks, it will be exactly two years since Pauline & I last set foot in a school and since we caught any sort of infection at all. Lovely quiet swim today after cleaning and tidying the shoe box because a couple came for a viewing this morning and another will come tomorrow.

Ordered a new telephoto zoom lens for my camera today. The camera itself was courtesy of school and cost £750.00 when I first bought it. Now it can be bought for £500.00. The lens is less than £150.00 for a Canon ef-s 55-250mm f4-5.6.

This will give me great fun, particularly in Greece.

1st March, 2011

March hares abound on white rabbit day. It has been a beautiful Spring day. We were basking in sunshine through the glass around our pool today. Swimming felt vaguely Mediterranean this morning. The Health Club was almost empty and we had the pool to ourselves.

While we were out swimming we allowed our Letting Agent show another client round the property because we are keen that they let it for the month of April and will, therefore, refund us a month’s rent. As soon as we got home, I cancelled my BT account for phone line, calls and broadband from April 4th. I’ve only had it for three months of an 18 month contract and those first three were free so, of course, I’ve had to pay a cancellation charge of £120.00 but, when I get back in October, I will use Sky to supply my services.

2nd March, 2011

Pauline reckons she gets through a bottle of SPF30 Sun Cream in less than a fortnight. In Greece, each bottle would cost €18.00 (£15.00) and she would need 15 – 20 of them. £300.00 on sun cream does seem a little excessive. Instead, we wait until it is discounted in British supermarkets – at least 50% reduction. Today we went to Asda and bought each bottle at £5.00 or one third of the Greek price. The other big purchase today looked like this:

Yes, we ordered two toilet seats for the bathrooms in Greece. Greek toilet seats are cheap but nasty and very uncomfortable. Our bottoms deserve real English class!

3rd March, 2011

Some disappointing news this morning. Our completion date has been postponed by two weeks from March 18th to March 31st. This is annoying because the builders were particularly forceful about insisting that we agree to their initial completion date and now it is they who are holding us up. They say that hard landscaping and planting will not be finished in time  and they want everything to be perfect before anyone moves in. Fortunately, we will not be greatly inconvenienced by this but people with dependent property sales going through will have real difficulties. We have to rearrange the fitting of the blinds but that is all.

Greece is still wracked by strikes. Today and tomorrow State telephone company workers and the police are striking and rallying in Syndagma Square over job cuts, wage cuts and pension cuts. On Monday, Trolley buses in Athens are cancelled. On Wednesday all modes of public transport are on strike throughout Greece. On Thursday, all postal services are on strike protesting against privatisation. However, if you could travel to Cape Sounion south of Athena you might just see this night view of a cusp of the moon through the Temple of Poseidon:

4th March, 2011

Sainsburys shopping on Friday morning although all the dozy old biddies seem to be there by ten o’clock. We had to go to Staples first to buy new packing boxes for despatching to Greece. They need to be quality, double skinned, reinforced cardboard to withstand a battering. Then off to buy four new pillows for Greece and on to Sainsburys. After doing a week’s shop, we fill up with Sainsbury’s petrol. When we were working, we would do 250 miles a week at 27 mpg. Our bill would have been £55 – £60.00 per week. Now it is less than half that.

All the time we were out shopping, I was itching to be trying out my new telephoto lens that arrived at the beginning of the week but I hadn’t had time to use. I thought I would combine this with my sentimental need to record the ‘shoebox’ for posterity before we leave it. It is not particularly a place I will recall with affection but I would like to be, at least, able to recall it. The longer lens was, of course, wholly inappropriate for this job but I was determined to try it out.

When we first moved in here in early November, ours was the only car. We were the only residents. Since then, the flats have gradually been solved as the prices have been reduced from well over £100,000.00 to the final four being advertised at £73,000.00. We believe these four have been snapped up as a job lot by an investor. We worked out that with the rent they are charging, the yield would be about 8.5% which is, currently, very good. Behind the flats, in the back of the courtyard, are what they laughingly call ‘coach houses’ in which the accommodation is on two floors over the garage. We think they initially went on the market at £180,000.00 two years ago but they have all been sold for just over £120,000.00 which anywhere else would be ‘cheap as chips’. The development still has a lovely view over the Colne Valley.

20th February, 2011

Dark, brooding and oppressive sky – loveless, lightless and foggy. Pauline went out for the newspapers and found an old lady standing outside the apartment block next door to ours. She had gone out for a walk, taking a newly cut key with her. When she returned, she couldn’t turn the key in the lock even to get in to the communal area never mind her own apartment. She lived alone and didn’t want to wake any one else by ringing their bell that early on a Sunday morning. Pauline saw how cold she was -there was snow all around us – and invited her in to the shoebox.

She came in and sat down in our lounge. Pauline went on for the paper while I entertained the lady. In ten minutes I managed to get her life story out of her. She came from Ireland as a young woman and settled in London where she had spent most of her life. She told me she was 82 years old . Although she was from a family of eight and was a lapsed Catholic, all her brothers and sisters were dead. She had three nephews in Huddersfield which is why she had moved up here.

After talking for ten minutes, I thought that I would try her key in the lock. After j-j-j-jiggling it a bit, I managed to turn the lock and get her in to her block. She was delighted. I gave her a kiss on the cheek and she scampered off to her apartment. Only when Pauline got back with the papers and asked me what the lady’s name was did I realise that was the only thing I hadn’t asked her.

Great win for Bolton at Fulham yesterday. Certainly looks like they made the right decision about their change of Manager.

21st February, 2011

One of the most dismal looking days I’ve seen for a while. Six weeks today we move house and seven weeks today we set off for Greece.

This morning we went off to Santander to buy a couple of cash ISAs. £10,200.00 at 2.85% (2.35% above Bank Rate guaranteed for twelve months). It offers instant access if I need it. The Advisor said he expected 4% to be available for the new Tax Year after April 6th. We will take out two more ISAs then and, hopefully transfer these current ones in.

22nd February, 2011

Trying again to go down to Surrey this morning. The aborted trip from a couple of weeks ago is back on now. Pauline wants to check out hairdressers and make an appointment for just before we leave for Greece and we both want to look at Doctors’ surgeries. The M1 is reported to be very foggy this morning so it may take a while.

The drive was wonderful and the M1 half empty. A journey that can regularly take four an a half hours and has taken up to seven hours a couple of times today was completed in three hours. We unloaded our bag at Phyllis & Colin’s house and then went on to Weybridge to book a hair appointment for Pauline on April 9th – two days before we leave for Greece. We went on to Woking to to visit two Doctors’ surgeries to pick up their information packs and check the premises out.

23rd February, 2011

Met the blind lady from Hillarys Blinds (I don’t think they’ve heard of apostrophes.) just after lunch today. We met at our new property which was absolutely full of workmen. They were blitzing it for completion in three weeks. We had to negotiate quite hard with the blind lady. Eight windows and a full length glass door will cost us £800.00 fitted and working. This will be done the day we pick up the keys and will allow us to lock up, set the alarm and leave the place secure. The alarm will be set up so that, if it goes off, it will automatically contact Pauline’s sister in West Byfleet which will be great when we are away.

Drove straight back up the M1 to Huddersfield. It took near four hours than three this time because of long hold up for an accident just before Sheffield. At least we got back in time for Man.U. v Marseille although there were no goals.

24th February, 2011

Tired this morning after the drive yesterday. Even so, we went swimming. What a mistake! Apparently, it’s Half Term. Parents had brought their kids. We beat a quick retreat. I hate Half Term.

I am working on new photo albums for the website. A lot of them will have to be done in the winter when I’ve got time to raid the photo stores and scan them all in. It will be a November project. I’m also considering going on a training course to improve my website design skills. Goodness know, I need it.

25th February, 2011

The skies are so dark today. We shop on Friday. Even though the skies are grey, the familiarity of Huddersfield town gave me pause for thought:

I have five weeks left as a Yorkshire man.

26th February, 2011

Saturday is papers and sport. A strong win for Man. Utd. and a nervy win for England against France both made me happy but it doesn’t compensate for information confirming and deepening the recession. I was getting quite gung-ho about a rate rise in the next couple of months leading to at least 1.5% by the end of the year. This would have strengthened the pound and given better investment rates. The latest news makes that rather less likely. When will the economy support we pensioners? Those youngsters just get it all their own way.

13th February, 2011

A dark, wet day outside only lifted by the Sunday Papers and Man. United’s win over City yesterday enhanced by Rooney’s overhead goal. We have reconsidered the hotels en route to Ancona in April. Last year we stayed in Colmar (Alsace) and Modena (Italy). We have decided that, because we are going through the Tunnel and will be hitting the French motorways an hour and a half earlier, we can aim a little further. Our membership of the Spirit Health Club allows us privileged prices at Holiday Inns across Europe. We have booked a Holiday Inn in the Medieval, Alsace town of Mulhouse. Just see how medieval the hotel looks:

We will drive on to the hammy city of Parma in Italy for our second night. Like all Italian hotels, the Holiday Inn is classically designed:

To be honest with you, we spend so few hours in these places before moving on that there is no point splashing out on luxury. We have found that hotel prices are falling across Europe. These two hotels cost less than £55.00 per night each with free internet and breakfast. Where else could you get that?

14th February, 2011

Valentine’s Day means a trip to the Anti-Coag Department at the hospital. My INR is rising nicely and I will have one more test before we go away. I shall continue to phone my blood tests in to Huddersfield Royal while I am in Greece, have one more face to face in October before I can reorganise in Surrey. Off to the Health Centre and, after a half hour’s swim I relax in the Jacuzzi where I meet a young man who appears keen to talk. Unbelievably, it turns out he has driven up from Surrey where lives on the other side of Woking from our new apartment. He fits solar panels in millionaires row just down the road in West Byfleet. Lovely to see Chelsea sinking without trace and Torres failing to score again.

15th February, 2011

Today, after exhaustive searching and price comparison, we go on another buying trip for items bound for Greece. Purification filters for our Brita water jugs, Wash&Go shampoo, Corsodyl toothpaste and ‘Oral B’ electric tooth brush heads are all either horrendously expensive or unavailable entirely on our island. We don’t usually shop at Asda but all the bargains were there today and so were we. Of course, we are buying enough for six months so we buy in bulk when things hit ‘half price’. Spending so much time in the sun means sun tan lotion is essential. Pauline insists on a ‘once-a-day’ lotion. She buys ‘Piz Buin Day Long’ sun tan lotion. For 200mls, it cost £19.50 standard price. Pauline pounces when it turns up under £10.00. We usually go away just as the holiday market is being kick started with ‘half price’ or ‘2 for 1’ offers.

We have found that ferry connections from Piraeus to Sifnos are awkward when we arrive this year. We have decided to spend a couple of nights in Patras on the Pelopennese before driving down to Piraeus port on Saturday, April 16th. Pauline has already booked the Hotel Patras Palace. We normally pay £120.00 per night. This year the price is below £90.00. Maybe the Greeks are seeing sense at last.

16th February, 2011

A beautiful morning – blue sky and sunshine – only spoiled by learning that we had missed Pancake Day yesterday. I had no idea. Can I justify pancakes today instead?

We went in to town this morning and did a tour of the banks because we will soon need them to transfer money to our solicitor’s clients account. The cash is in three separate banks – Nat West, Barclays and Lloyds TSB – each one will charge between £20.00 & £30.00 to send the money digitally by CHAPS – robbers!

17th February, 2011

Thick fog in Huddersfield this morning as we set off for Bolton to visit Ruth & Kevan. As we progress down the M62, the skies clear and the sun comes out. It was lovely to see them again and especially because they took us to see the ‘Show Flat’ in the old mill where their new apartment is being completed. Ruth is very excited about moving which has rather surprised Kevan but we can see why she can’t wait to move in. Her penthouse apartment is in ‘The Cotton Works’, a development of a beautiful, red brick, art-nouveau-ish mill built for Sir John Holden between 1925 -1926. Typically, real design went in to the building but it only lasted as a cotton mill for 40 years and closed in 1965, six years before Ruth even met Kevan.

We couldn’t see Ruth’s apartment because it won’t be available for a couple of months but she took us to the ‘show flat’ ands it was very impressive for fellow down sizers. What was equally impressive was the price they have agreed to pay. They are stealing it! Kevan took photos of Ruth with Pauline & I in the show flat.

18th February, 2011

Interesting day today. We received a joint gas & electricity bill for the first three months in the shoebox. The bill came to a paltry £270.00 which is less than we were paying for one equivalent month in our house. We are leaving the shoe box one month early having paid six month’s rent up front. We have asked for one month’s rent back. It is only £550.00 but would buy us something in our new house. We only get it back if they can let the shoe box for that month. Today we got a phone call to say that someone wanted to view the shoebox tomorrow. We’ve got to sell the unsellable.

19th February, 2011

Happy Birthday to Bob. 59 today. He’s certainly got the key of the door! Got outside the door of our shoebox to be met by this:

Had to send my wife to get the paper in a blizzard. Poor woman!

6th February, 2011

Lovely day with the papers made so much better by Chelsea losing to Liverpool.

7th February, 2011

The very final papers to be signed and witnessed have to be sent off this morning. We asked the lady in the Sales Office of the Charles Church development where we are renting this shoe box to witness our signatures and, particularly, the plan illustrating the extra land we have bought outside our Duplex. This will be very important, in our view, when we come to sell. We are going down tomorrow to meet the blind man (or it could be a woman called Hillary).

8th February, 2011

Was it lucky or unlucky? It depends how you view it. We were packing the car prior to setting off to Surrey this morning when the phone went. It was the builders advising us that it would be difficult to get on site for a couple of days. We had to phone the Blind man and cancel the fitting and we cancelled our journey.

It was a pity really because the day was so beautiful. It felt as if Spring had arrived. It could have made for a nice journey. It was also a pity because I had put off meeting Ruth because of our journey. Anyway, we will see her next week. We took advantage of the sun and drove over to Oldham to say goodbye to my friend, Brian. We hoped to see one or two other people but our final trip to Oldham will be on Thursday of this week.

9th February, 2011

You wouldn’t believe how few possessions we have in our shoe box home. Admittedly, it isn’t really possible to walk in to the second bedroom because it is stacked from floor to ceiling in packing cases and stacks of framed pictures. The lounge has three arm chairs, a coffee table and a television. The kitchen has a round dining table and four chairs. We have a huge bed, bedside cabinets and dressing table and chair, two filing cabinets and a hall table. This is the sum total of our things which have to be moved to Surrey. We have asked three removal firms to give us a rough quote and each one is about £1000.00. Now we have asked two to come and quote us specifically. One will arrive at 9.00 am tomorrow.

We have deliberately chosen smaller, family firms with good reputations. Tomorrow it is Jack & Jill Removals from Holmfirth.

10th February, 2011

Two removal firms came today to quote. Jack & Jill featured above – They said they would need two lorries and two days and cost about £1100.00 and Walsh Transport & Storage who said they would use one lorry with two drivers and cost £700.00 + VAT. We chose them not just on price but because they will call at 6.30 am on Monday, April 4th,  load the lorry and drive straight down to Surrey. They will unload, swap drivers and set off back. That is just what I wanted. We will stay with Phyllis & Colin that night and then drive back to Huddersfield on Tuesday.

I have booked three nights in a hotel so that we can tie up our affairs in Huddersfield before we finally leave. We have paid £650.00 deposit on this shoebox and we intend to get every penny back. When we return to the empty flat, we will paint over the  scrapes to the walls that inevitably come from six month living and from moving our goods in and out. The painters on the site have given us a huge can of paint that they used to paint the walls in the first place. We will hoover the carpets, clean the kitchen and bathroom and leave the place looking as we found it – a sparkling shoebox.

We will go through a ritual that we have done each year for the last ten – we will take two large boxes of items to the main Post Office in Huddersfield and have them despatched to Greece. They will weigh about 30Kg in total and cost about £100.00. Sending these boxes allows us to have things we can’t get in Greece or which cost such an incredible amount in Greece that we find it hard to justify buying. To give you two examples: it isn’t possible to buy decent tea on Sifnos so we buy six months’ supply and send it; dishwasher tablets cost three times the price on Sifnos so when they are on half price offer in Sainsburys, we buy six months supply and they will be sent. It all makes a huge difference to life on the island and leaves extra space in the car for essentials like Italian wine.

On our last day in Huddersfield, we will walk the flat with our letting agent to establish its condition and the go on line to the property rental deposit scheme to reclaim our deposit. We will drive down to Surrey for three nights before we set off for the Continent.

11th February, 2011

After reading the Daily Telegraph this morning, I immediately contacted my Honda Dealership to complain about adverse publicity for my car.

Strangely, Honda didn’t seem to understand that news of a Tory espousing their car could harm its ‘reliability’ image. Astonishing!

Drove over to Oldham for the very, very last time today. Pauline’s cousin’s husband, Harry, was having problems with Skype so we went over to help out. We said goodbye to Joyce and Harry. They are lovely people. We drove on to meet June, Pauline’s widowed sister-in-law, and spent half an hour with her before saying goodbye. It may not be the absolutely last time we see people but we will have to make a special journey to visit and see them.

12th February, 2011

Beautiful, sunny day today. It really does feel like Spring but we know cold weather is due on Monday so let’s enjoy it. I have spent this morning on one of those scintillating internet searches for a ……mop. I know it is a big idea and hard to get your head round but I need a mop. Me, personally. We spent about £10,000.00 last summer having the outside of our Greek house tiled.

It is my job to keep the tiles clean but I need a mop to do it. The Greeks are weird people and their spades have no handles, their brushes are medieval and their mops are bits of rag.

I ask you, could you use these tools? Of course not! I took my spades and a proper yard brush and now I need a proper mop with a flat head.

30th January, 2011

Inspite of Sunday papers, I spent the day moaning and groaning and being a typical man who is ill. This stomach bug still has a grip. I have been trying to work on updating my Blog and website design but could only really feel sorry for myself. On the upside, at least I’m not eating much.

31st January, 2011

I’m getting rather tired of this and I’m not sure what’s wrong with me but I can’t keep food inside me for more than an hour and I’m not being sick. I couldn’t face swimming again today. Later in the evening I felt a little better and began to work on my website. I am toying with a view like this:

We exchanged contracts on our property this afternoon and we are going down next week to meet blind fitters (fitters of blinds) so that they can be fitted as soon as we get the keys on March 18th. We won’t live there until October when we’ve got carpets and wardrobes fitted.

1st February, 2011

I’m better and going to the Health Club this morning. I’m certainly glad that this bug is on its way out.

Swimming was great. The sun came out and lit up the pool but had disappeared by the time we drove home to our shoebox. As we parked up, it suddenly occured to me that we had never featured our shoebox in the Blog. I remedy that here.

There are currently no designated parking spots so, as you can see, we claimed the one by the front door. Not for too much longer now, thank goodness.

2nd February, 2011

After a bowl of cereals, it is soon obvious that my stomach bug hasn’t completely gone. We set off for town but come back early because of my discomfiture. Phyllis phones to say she has a problem with her printer. We try talking her through all the obvious work-arounds but to no avail. Telephone IT support must be a nightmare to work in.

I get twenty or so emails each day. When I was working, I was getting five times that many. A large proportion are skim-read and deleted. I have a huge structure of folders to save the others from ‘purchases’ to ‘travel’ to ‘family’ and ‘friends’. The best emails to receive after those confirming some lovely purchase or element of foreign travel are from Family and from Friends. Last night, just as I was going to bed at 11.30 pm, I got one of each. From Ruth I got an email arranging to meet before we leave for Surrey and for Greece. I look forward to that. I then got an email from lad who taught in my Department in Oldham. He moved on a year before I retired so it is almost three years since we communicated. Email is wonderful. I can’t get in to ‘Facebook’ and ‘Twitter’ seems quite mindless. The clue is in the name.

3rd February, 2011

Porridge for breakfast this morning and, although my stomach is still a little fluttery, I have retained it for three hours so I’m going swimming. It’s a lovely day. I’ve written a grumpy-old-man email to Jeremy Paxman about the BBC World Service. He’s complaining about the service being cut and, although I not opposed to paying for the British Broadcasting Service to the world, anyone who listens to it in Europe will hear very little about Britain but will soon become experts on political and social conditions in Pakistan, India, Indonesia, etc..This is not the service I pay my money for. The clue is in the title. I want British Broadcasting news and culture of Britain being broadcast to the rest of the world in the hope the may emulate it.

4th February, 2011

One of those days when you’re glad not to have to go to work. Torrential rain and gales outside. We were going to drive down to the Honda garage this morning but local television tells us that the roundabout leading to them is closed due to flooding. Unfortunately, we have to go to Sainsburys and then we must go swimming. Perhaps we could combine the two.

Received an email from Malcolm last night and the same one copied from Ruth telling me about poor old Malcolm’s accident. Apparently, he went in to his garage on Saturday morning – still blind drunk from the previous night – and he lurched drunkenly, falling and breaking both bones in his left leg. Poor man. He was so drunk, they pinned his leg without anaesthetic. Below is a picture of Malcolm the night before he fell:

5th February, 2011

Saturday! Everyday is Saturday now. It’s throwing it down with rain but the gale-force winds have died down. Saturday papers! I’m not a Tory supporter and definitely not a Lib.Dem. supporter but, at last someone is addressing the ghastly, failed experiment of Multiculturalism. If you’d taught in Oldham, Burnley, Preston, Huddersfield, Bradford over the past forty years you couldn’t possibly disagree. In fact we have been desperate for someone in government to have the bravery to articulate it. We have said throughout our teaching life that the Asians of Oldham have to come out of their Pakistani enclave and embrace Britishness. A large proportion of the Mothers of Oldham’s Asian community still can’t speak English. The fathers prefer it that way. Learning the language should be a pre-requisite of permanent residency.

23rd January, 2011

Fresh coffee and the Sunday papers. Say no more.

24th January, 2011

This week starts with three themes:

• producing a timetable/plan for the next two months.
• completing arrangements for the following six months
• dispatching legal documents & deposit for the apartment

This morning, it is the last point first. The signed legal documents are packaged up and taken down to the post office for ‘registered mail’ delivery. Next, our internet banking site. We have immediate access to our current and deposit accounts. We often transfer cash from our English to our Greek banks and expect the same process to our solicitor’s account to be easy. It isn’t. We find that we can only transfer £10,000.00 ourselves. Anything further needs Bank involvement. What’s the point? A number of phone calls later and at the cost of £20.00, the job is done. So much for internet banking. Our solicitor, who is in Southampton, by the way, confirms receipt of everything. We are now totally committed and on our way.

Wonderful couple of hours at the Health Club. We were wondering why it was so quiet. I was talking to a chap in the sauna who told me that people were cancelling their subscriptions. Some were going to a new, Local Authority Health Club a couple of miles away. Others were cancelling because the recession made it too expensive. As so many new contracts are taken out in January, it is this month that sees them not renewing. All the more room for us!

25th January, 2011

Today, after our swim, we drew up this rough plan for the period up to going abroad:

We still have about ten weeks before we leave and, in that time, I must visit Ruth and wish her Good Luck in selling her property and moving on. I must go to Oldham for the first time since we left after Pauline’s Mum’s death. We will visit Margaret, the Anchor House warden, Cath, the cleaner and Brian, my friend from school. These are responsibilities before we leave for the South and for Europe.

26th January, 2011

Today after swimming I have turned my attention back to the drive across Europe. We need two hotels en route; one in France and one in Italy. I try to do 5 – 6 hrs driving each day for the first two days and then only 2 – 3 hours on the final morning before we board the ferry in Ancona. Because of that, it means we hit the same areas on the map each time. Last year we stayed in Colmar in Alsace and we will do again. We will try a different hotel. The next day, once again, we will stay in Modena for night two but we will try another hotel there as well.

I have found Booking.com to provide an excellent service for booking hotels in Europe, particularly last year when we had to change our dates at the last minute. In Colmar, this year, I have chosen Hotel l’Europe – Horbourg-Wihr, Colmar.

In Modena, I have chosen Hotel Real Fini Baia Del Re:

Both hotels are 4* and both are close to our route. In very low season, the French hotel only cost £70.00 for a double room for a night. We will eat dinner in the L’Eden des Gourmets restaurant but we won’t have time for breakfast. Italian hotels are almost always more expensive than equivalent French ones. Hotel Real Fini Baia Del Re is no exception but still only £105.00 for a double room for a night.

27th January, 2011

A wonderful swim today. In fact, after two swims, two jacuzzis, a sauna and a steam-room session, I could hardly walk back to the car and Pauline was too tired to carry me.

28th January, 2011

Must have overdone it yesterday because I woke up stiff, aching and tired. We decided to give the Health Club a miss today. Instead, we did our Sainsburys’ shop and then went on to the farm shop. We bought a couple of pheasants and wanted some rabbit but non was available. A pheasant easily does a meal for two and costs £3.30. It’s so tasty. On the way back, we drove through the Yorkshire countryside reminiscing on times past – so sentimental but nice.

29th January, 2011

I have an upset stomach today. I don’t know if it is something I have eaten but the feeling is unpleasant. Today, I have just had a bowl of porridge but the flutters go on.

I think it is time for the Blog to have a refresh so I am experimenting with different skins at the moment. This is one I quite like:

These are other possibilities:

16th January, 2011

After Sunday papers, we had to give ourselves over to the apartment Legal Pack again. It is a massive 200 pages of legal jargon. This is nothing like buying a house. An apartment is so complicated. We actually HAVE to become part of the Management Company. It is Leasehold – 125 years – and we have to pay Ground Rent as well as Service Charge which is about £2000.00 per year. Fortunately, that is off-set by providing our power and heat. It also covers our Buildings Insurance.

17th January, 2011

Before we go off to the Health Club, we have to push the Builders to let us on site this week. Pauline phones and we get an appointment for Friday morning. We will drive down there on Thursday. All the work on the property can now be put off until we return from Surrey. We are planning our Greek trip in parallel. We have booked our crossing through Eurotunnel at 20% of the cost it would have been from Hull. And there is no better way to get to France.

18th January, 2011

Our solicitor has strongly advised us to insist on seeing our new property, whatever state of development it is in, before we despatch signed paperwork. The builders were trying to stall for the end of January but, as soon as we insisted, they caved in and we have agreed this Friday. One of those days you dream of at the Health Club. We arrived at 1.00 pm, changed and went to the pool. It was deserted. We had it completely to ourselves for 30 minutes swimming and then on to the jacuzzi. It was delightful.

We spent sometime speaking to our solicitor about financial transfers because we have money in at least three different banks for security. It is a lovely feeling not needing a mortgage or to sell a property BUT it is less than comfortable having huge amounts of money in banks when financiers are advocating allowing failing banks to go bust at the expense of their creditors.

19th January, 2011

We drive 6 miles to the Health Club but it only takes about 5 minutes because it is all motorway: junctions 24 – 25 of the M62. Unfortunately, today it was blocked solid we suppose by an accident. We turned straight round and went home. Tomorrow we are off to Surrey.

20th January, 2011

We are up especially early today. I have to have my haircut – Pauline says – before we set off. I hate it but it has to be done. We then check the car – oil, tyres, washer bottle – and load it up with things we want to get down there but not via the Removal Service. My huge, desktop computer, monitor and laser printer are going today. We have survived with a couple of laptops for the past 9 months so it will be nice to get back to a proper machine in the new apartment.

We are late setting off for the M1. It is a beautiful, sunny day which has already reached 11.00 am and we haven’t set off yet. Set off at 11.30 am and, with one, short break, we arrived easily within 4 hrs. The motorway was absolutely empty and in clear, strong sun. It was a joy to be travelling.

21st January, 2011

We are up early because we have to be on site for 10.30 am. When we got there, we had to where builders’ boots and hard hats before we were allowed on site. We were introduced to the site manager who turned out to be a Yorkshireman called John. We got on well immediately. He came from Thirsk where I did my first teaching practice.

It was exciting to see the apartment for the first time but it was dificult to judge it properly because it had so far to go to completion. Somethings were better than we thought; some things not as good as we hoped. The bedrooms are going to be fine. The ensuite is really lovely. The Lounge has a couple of awkwardly placed features which would make the settees we were going to buy less easy to fit comfortably. We have decided now to buy nothing until the keys are handed over and we have spent a little time there on our own. This may well be October when we get back from Greece. For this reason, we don’t stay on in Woking but drive straight back up to Yorkshire to our shoebox. The drive to and from Woking were entirely M1 & M25. Both ways the sky was clear and blue with strong, low winter sun that turns gloriously red in the evening. The motorways were so quiet that we wondered if mankind had been hit by some deadly disease wiping out 90% of the population at a stroke. Were we the only ones with immunity? We mulled over the idea as we drove. We decided that it was likely to be the infectiously high petrol prices which had slaughtered a nation of car drivers. The Coalition will pay for this too.

22nd January, 2011

We went to Sainsburys to do our weekly shop. We also filled up the car. The cost, in petrol of driving to Woking was £53.00. The cost of driving back was £52.00. I know we are excluding wear and tear and depreciation but the journey was really enjoyable and cost £105.00 up front. I looked at the cost of a rail ticket from Huddersfield to Woking and back at the same times (which are condsidered off-peak) and it would have been an incredible £385.00. I don’t even like trains or the smelly people who travel on them. All those MPs in economy – Brr! The stench of corruption pervades the whole train even if you do get to sit down.

We have been surviving on instant coffee since October. It has been a nightmare. We were trying to avoid unpacking everything that would just have to be packed up again shortly. Today, we could stand it no more. We attacked the stack of 37 huge boxes stacked neatly in bedroom 2 of the shoebox and finally repatriated our coffee maker. We bought some fresh coffee this morning and, after spending half an hour inhaling it, we brewed two, huge cups and hugged ourselves as we gulped it.

9th January, 2011

A freezing cold day with thick ice everywhere. It was a nice day in with Sunday papers and a win for Man. Utd.. Poor old Gerrard but he had to go.

10th January, 2011

Up early this morning. Lots to do starting with a trip to the Anti-coag. team at the Huddersfield Royal. I am really going to miss them. My INR has gone down to 1.7 which is too low and my Warfarin has been increased to 8mg per day. I will have been taking warfarin for two years in a fortnight. Home to the shoebox for coffee and then out to the Health Club for a lovely, long swim.

Completing the legal pack for the house purchase this afternoon and, therefore, carefully re-reading all documentation related to the house. One of the interesting elements of the purchase is the service charge which, originally was set at £2000.00 per year but was subsequently reduced, under negotiation, to £1500.00. of this, £800.00 per year funds the on-site hot water generator. All of our central heating and hot water and all of our electricity is provided by a Combined Heat & Power unit in the basement with a biomass boiler as a backup. The CHP unit even generates enough electricity to export some back to the National Grid. Instant Heat and Hot water is supplied on demand. The system is supplied by Vital Energi.

11th January, 2011

We finally instructed solicitors to go ahead with the purchase of our property in Woking. Exchange of contracts is supposed to be March 18th but  already the builders are making a few noises of bad weather having delayed them a little. We have been told we can view the property from the inside from the end of this month and we then hope to get contractors in to measure up for wardrobes, carpets and curtains/blinds. We will have just over three weeks between getting the keys and leaving for Greece. It’s all a bit tight.

12th January, 2011

After a long swim which left me unable to walk further than to the car, we spent the day doing paperwork and generally tidying up our affairs. It is one of the great joys of retirement to be able to put a day aside to organising one’s finances, catch up on correspondence, organise one’s life, tidy ones computer, filing cabinet, papers, etc.. While one is working, all of these things constantly nag away at one’s consciouness and are desperately completed in the margins of one’s life.

Anek Lines brought out their 2011 brochure today. Its prices are so good that we’ve been pursuaded to jump ship and leave Superfast for Anek. We have successfully managed to book a Luxury cabin for two for a return price of less than £500.00. It is an incredible price.

13th January, 2011

My hamstrings were so tight that Pauline allowed me a day off swimming.

Recently, I have had a long email from Jonathan Kelly who has lived in America for the past thirty years. He is in Boston, Massachusetts and his sister, Gillian, who some of you might remember, lives in Canada. Jonathan is 64 – so nearly as old as Ruth – but he expects to have to work for at least another three years. He is coming to England in the summer for a holiday. Unfortunately, I will be in Greece but he is going to visit Dave Beasley. Surely you remember him! Dave and his wife, Sue, sold up in Repton and bought a small holding in Wales. Dave retired at the ripe, old age of 45 and is now approaching 70. By coincidence, Dave phoned me this afternoon and we had the first long chat for ages. It took me back almost 50 years to days of naive fun. Who remembers those?

14th January, 2011

Lovely couple of hours at the Health Centre. Achieved my week’s target in the pool and the Steam Room was back in action. Our main meal was roast pheasant and vegetables for our meal today. Delicious!

Received the legal pack for the Duplex purchase. It is intimidatingly complex particularly because we are not buying a detached house on a separate plot of land but a two floor apartment in a three floor building with enclosed but shared grounds. It will take most of the weekend to read through and respond to. It will also mean an early trip back to the site – possibly next week.

15th January, 2011

Strong winds and heavy rain today. Unfortunately, we had to go to Sainsburys. When we got back and relaxed over the Saturday papers, we decided to ignore the Legal Pack for the property and concentrate on preparations for Greece. We need Health Insurance for six months and House Insurance for the next twelve months:

The Health Insurance for us both with my existing conditions of:

• Diabetes,
• Hypercholesterolaemia (high cholesterol),
• Hypertension
• Atrial fibrillation

costs just £264.00 for the six months from Columbus Direct.  The insurance for the Greek house comes from a company called Intasure.  A year’s cover for the house, including earthquake damage and £20,000.00 Contents cover is just under £400.00. At least we have a fairly belt and braces insurance cover for ourselves, our car, our property and its contents.