Sanders Blog

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.

2nd January, 2011

Sunday – New Year’s Resolution – we walked to the paper shop. Haven’t done 200 metres unassisted for a long time. Got back to the shoebox but was too tired to read the papers. We have been having some second thoughts about the Woking property over Christmas. We haven’t been able even to walk the floor plan yet although we do now have detailed measurements. A door has been changed (by the planners according to the builders) from a glass panelled one to an almost solid one. It will make the lounge too dark. We are seeking an urgent meeting with the developers who weren’t available over Christmas and New Year. I don’t know what’s happening to the workers of today.

3rd January, 2011

And now we’ve got a Bank Holiday. What has happened to the work ethic? Pauline & I are working on our itinerary for Greece 2011. At the moment, this is the plan:

4th January, 2011

Drove over to Leeds to look at furniture shops today and found a number of items that would suit us but soon decided that it was all too soon to start purchasing. We might even be going back into the property search business if we can’t resolve the problems in Woking. We must live for the moment and be patient about the future. Later, I wanted to stay up to listen to the Test Match but fell asleep and went to bed. I haven’t got Ruth’s stamina.

5th January, 2011

Off to the dentist this morning. Before I got together with Pauline in 1978, I hadn’t been to the dentist for ten years – since I left home, in fact. She made me join a brand new practice opening up in Meltham, the village where we then lived. It was run by a young man called John Derbyshire who we became friendly with. Although he eventually sold the practice and we have moved house three times, we have stayed with the practice. It is only seven miles away. It has been sold again recently and is now in Asian hands. Whether it is our sensitivities or not, it appears that we are being pushed in to many more peripheral and expensive procedures than we ever were in the past. Suddenly, today, ‘scale and polish’ which is standard NHS treatment incorporated in a check-up was no longer possible for either Pauline or I. We both need, according to Waqar Mohammed, intensive and expensive treatment from the hygenist who will then scale our teeth. Suspicious, we are grateful to be moving elsewhere soon.

Fantastic football results last night and tonight but feel sorry for Bolton and for Roy Hodgson. Can I stay up to listen to the cricket? Do they really need me now anyway.

6th January, 2011

Good day today. In one, fell swoop we have resolved the planning issue on our apartment in Woking. We think it may have been because the lead sales administrator was absent because her stand-in for a day was able to assimilate the problem, check it with Head Office, instruct the Site Manager and free the log jam. We now think that the lead sales administrator couldn’t be bothered or wasn’t prepared to make waves for the Site Manager. We are delighted.

We went out to rejoin our Health Club today. We’ll be here – on and off – for about three more months so we took out a three month joint contract for £210.00. The club has a good pool, gym, sauna, steam room and jacuzzi with restaurant/coffee shop attached. We can go off-peak (9.00 am – 5.00 pm / Monday – Friday) for less than £1.70 each per day. We started using this Health Club in 2002 and these prices are now at their cheapest. We spent a couple of hours swimming and preening.

7th January, 2011

Oh no! Just as I’m whooping up our Ashes victory, I look outside to find heavy snow has fallen and is still falling.  We could really do without that.

8th January, 2011

Up early now we’ve beaten the convicts. Where is the snow? Gone. Simple day today. Sainsburys trip and the focus on the two current strands of our life:

1. Preparing the legal pack for the apartment purchase
2. Completing the travel arrangements for April – October 2011

Before our weekly trip to Sainsburys, we went to a quaint little Huddersfield shop that we’ve used for years to buy some new kitchen knives. It is a wonderful, old hardware shop which I now realise is the oldest existing shop in Huddersfield. I got into conversation with the owner who told me that it was opened in 1865 – and he brought out photographs – and had been in the family ever since.

It doesn’t look much in this photo but the wheel above the shop is not a satellite dish but a timber saw wheel like the one that chopped of Grandad Sanders’ fingers.

26th December, 2010 

Up in time to have tea & toast for breakfast and then watch the Test Match highlights at 10.00 am. What joy! I loved every minute of it. A good score now will clinch the Ashes. Ruth must be as happy as I am. The Sunday Telegraph had been delivered free to Pauline’s Kindle when we woke at 7.30 am. After that, the day seemed to fly by. I watched a couple of football matches but was more delighted that Man. U. won and (for Ruth) that Bolton won again. Who would believe a table like this:

27th December, 2010 

Up in time to have tea & toast for breakfast and then watch the Test Match highlights at 10.00 am. What joy! I loved every minute of it. Days are becoming a bit samey. Arsenal v Chelsea tonight. I suppose a Draw would have been preferable but it was so enjoyable to see Chelsea ground down that I couldn’t deny Arsenal their victory.

I am staying with Phyllis & Colin tonight without Sky Tv so I’m listening to the Test Match on 5_Live over the internet. Is there anything better than trouncing the Aussies in the Ashes?

28th December, 2010 

Woke up at 6.00 am and luxuriated in Radio 4. Up late at 8.30 am and had porridge while reading the newspaper delivered to Pauline’s Kindle. Later we drove out to New Malden and Cobham and found just the sofas we wanted for our new apartment. We also found a huge Sainsburys and bought a couple of bottles of champagne to celebrate our anniversary on Thursday. I’ll watch Birmingham – Man. U. tonight and possibly stay up to see England clinch the Ashes.

29th December, 2010 

Had a nice email from Catherine today:

Hi John,
I sent an email before Xmas to wish you and Pauline a healthy and peaceful Xmas wherever you are spending it but not sure if you received it-I’m sure it will have been a different one as the first without Pauline’s mum.  We have been finding it different too as Laurie’s dad died last year on 23rd Dec.and he was usually celebrating part of it with us.  I am still writing my dissertation and finding it hard to motivate myself as it is the last part of my course and I just want to get it finished now. Any way hope you are both well Have a good start to the new year.
Best Wishes Cathy x

Later we went for a drive around Cobham near the Chelsea training ground and surrounded by wonderful Italian and French restaurants. A lovely, simple French restaurant – Brasserie Gerard – a swish, Italian restaurant – La Capanna – and Carluccio’s.

30th December, 2010 

Pauline & I celebrated our 32nd wedding anniversary. Saturday, December 30th, 1978 was thick with snow and made travelling difficult for everyone. Pauline looked so beautiful. Shame about the groom. Mike and Liz look nice together in the background.

Today we celebrated by cooking a leg of lamb for everyone and drinking a glass of wine. It was nice and simple. On a day when the news is all about longevity, I hope Pauline and I have another thirty years together.

31st December, 2010 

Up early this morning and, after breakfast, we set off for West Byfleet station. A 35 min train took us to Waterloo. We walked around Covent Garden, had a cup of coffee in an outside cafe while watching juggling unicyclists. They drew a huge crowd. We walked past the Opera House where a beautiful recital was being given in the outside cafe. I would have liked to have stayed but I was hurried on to a Japanese restaurant called Wagamama’s.  As you will see from the photo, it looks like a school canteen. Pauline & I had a beautiful bowl of fresh noodles with prawns, chicken and fresh ginger. Then we went on to the Dominion Theatre to watch the ‘Queen’-based musical written by Ben Elton. Although it was the only performance of the day, there were some empty seats. Although it was written by Ben Elton, there was very little script or plot. Although I know of Queen, I only knew two or three songs. Everything was sung and played at double/painful volume. A lot of the singing was distinctly average. Having said all that, the show got a noisy, standing ovation from the audience so, who am I to judge?

We then took a taxi back to TGIFridays in Covent Garden I think largely to please the little lads. It was absolutely packed and very noisy. Pauline and I had a wonderful rib eye steak with nice, fresh vegetables. Really, we were still full from the previous meal but we fitted in with the others.

We took a taxi back to Waterloo and a train back to West Byfleet. I was shattered when we got back. I haven’t drunk anything at this point because we will be driving back to Yorkshire early tomorrow morning. I will have a glass of champagne around midnight and then off to bed.

1st January, 2011 

Pauline & I got up at 7.00 am as usual. The rest of the house – 6 adults and 3 children – were still asleep. We didn’t pause for breakfast today but packed the car and hit the M25. What a wonderful morning. Just me and Pauline in the car. The M25 was deserted. We drove with joy in our hearts. We have spent the last two years almost entirely on our own and being thrown into the hurley burly of family life was a little too much for us. Pauline’s family – sister Phyllis and husband, Colin, Niece, Mandy and husband, Kieron plus three little monsters – are all delightful people who invite us wholeheartedly into the homes and their lives but we feel smothered with their love and need to strike out alone and for ourselves.

We got back to Huddersfield in record time and suddenly breathed a sigh of approval even for our shoe-box flat. Lots of post to follow up. Lovely card from Jane BG and one from Jonathan Kelly. Phone call from Dave Beasley. Apptitude test from Ruth. I look forward to writing to them all. I love writing. Ruth, being a Grandma and never having been a teacher, still loves children and the family milieu.

19th December, 2010

This is the start of Year 3 of the Blog. All life is here with its ups and downs, deaths and celebrations. I had hoped it might bring me back to my brothers and sisters and link us up however tenuously. I am genuinely sorry that it has failed and it may well be my fault but so be it. The blog will go on. Actually, the Blog started on Christmas Day 2008 and featured these two ladies.

Only one is left now. We will move forward together.

20th December, 2010

Last night reached -12°C. It is 10.30 pm as I write and already down to -10°C. We wanted to get the car cleaned before we set off for Surrey on Wednesday but there is no chance. It is just too cold. The temperature hasn’t risen above -4°C at any time during the day. We have been working on investments all day and had a pleasant surprise when we found £2000.00 neither of us can remember investing and certainly hadn’t recorded. At least it partly makes up for the £4000.00 unpaid tax demand Pauline has received from the Inland Revenue. Very strange for someone who has only ever been on PAYE.

21st December, 2010

The Winter Solstice – the shortest day. It all gets better from here. Pauline was up early to check out the eclipse of the moon. She’s really into things like that. She loves star gazing. That’s why she loves looking at me. (Christmas joke!)

We are off to Surrey tomorrow so its our last day of peace and quiet alone for a week. Half an hour defrosting of the car and then a ten minute journey in to town for some last minute purchases. Later I had a nice phone chat with Ruth who told me she was meeting Liz this evening at the Manchester Christmas Market. I asked her to give Liz a kiss from me.

22nd December, 2010

The day has opened cold but fine. The temperature went down to -14°C last night and is still -5°C at 8.00 am. We are supposed to be setting off for Surrey this morning but, having checked the M1 Traffic website, we decided to delay our travel for one day. A considerable band of snow had fallen/was falling across the Midlands causing a number of crashes and backlogs on the M1 from Chesterfield right down to Daventry. We decided that discretion was the better part of valour and, by 12.00 noon the BBC were reporting heavy snow in Leicestershire so we felt justified in our decision. We will leave early on Thursday morning.

23rd December, 2010

Up at 6.00 am and off on our travels by 7.00 am. By the time we set off it was -4°C so quite warm really. The journey was fantastic. Hardly any traffic on the road. Derbtshire & Leicestershire had lots of lying snow even fringing the motorway. We arrived at Tesco in West Byfleet by 10.45 am, did some shopping filled up with petrol (£1.23 per litre!) and had the car cleaned. The rest of the day was spent with Phyllis & Colin. Pauline’s Kindle had arrived and she spent happy hours searching the Kindle store for books and downloading them. I’m very pleased I bought it for her.

24th December, 2010

Woken up in sunny Surrey to -6°C at 8.00 am. What am I doing here? It’s supposed to be warmer. Today, the rest of the family are going to the pantomime in Woking.  They are going to watch Snow White starring Gareth Gates & Claire Sweeney. By the time they get back, we have to have a meal prepared. We are going to present a hot and cold buffet on a French slant. We bought a lot of the constituents in France last week. We don’t think the boys, at least, will ever have eaten quail or duck paté so it should be interesting.

25th December, 2010 

Got up late and straight into present opening. The three boys had three hamsters amongst other things. Hamsters are nocturnal creatures but had to perform on Christmas morning. Each hamster had its own plastic sphere and was placed on the snooker table in the conservatory.

After present opening, we had wonderful bacon and sausage sandwiches with fresh coffee. Feeling full, we looked forward to Christmas lunch in a french restaurant in Weybridge.

On the way lunch, we called in at the house of friends of Mandy & Kieron – Peter & Elspeth – a paediatric surgeon and his wife. They gave us smoked salmon blinis and pink champagne. The restaurant was fairly unprepossessing in appearance but the meal was really nice. Good food in an informal atmosphere is what Christmas should be about and that’s what we got.

12th December, 2010

This week draws the second year of the Blog to a close. I have never, in my life, kept a journal so consistently and for so long. So many things have happened in these two years. Pauline and I have both lost our Mothers, we have both left our jobs and sold our house. There is only so much dislocation one can take in one’s life and we feel we are on the edge of that at the moment. The new apartment will be ready from mid-March and that should reintroduce a little stability back into our world.

13th December, 2010

Today we have been on a tour of Walton on Thames, Weybridge and Guildford. This was a general tour but with a focus on restaurants and fitted bedroom furniture suppliers. You can’t get more much more exciting than that. It was a delightful drive and remarkably successful. We chose our bedroom furniture from Sharps although they can’t supply it yet. We found more Italian trattorias (including Carluccios)and French Bistros ( including Auberge) than you can ever eat in. Tomorrow we go to France to find a real auberge.

14th December, 2010

Up and out early this morning to get to Eurotunnel. This was just a fleeting visit. Wine store, coffee, Supermarket, meal, home. I usually buy 160 bottles each time but that’s because we live in the North. Now, we can go every month and I will buy half my usual number. Because it is Christmas, we also bought some Champagne. Our first stop was an ex-Oddbins store. It is now called Calais Wine Superstore. The choice and the price was so good that we bought all our wine there.

We moved on to Auchan next for lots of food stuffs. We bought trays of little quaille with their heads dangling limp, packs of wonderful duck breasts, pots of duck, pork, rabbit patè an assortment of cheeses, a huge array of salad things and vegetables, bottles of olive oil and jars of mustard

After a lovely meal, without wine, we drove back to the Tunnel. The arrangements at the Tunnel are so much better than they used to be. First of all, the return journey cost us only £20.00 for the car and up to 4 people. Even though we didn’t make it three or so weeks ago, I just phoned them and they put us on the crossings of our choice at no extra cost. I saved the train fare in the first 5 or 6 bottles. When you drive up to the Check-in, they have dispensed with people. It used to be so slow. Now the have numberplate recognition. The boarding passes are printed out automatically and, if you arrive early, they offer you the next possible crossing. With so few people crossing at the moment, the travel is delightful. The M1 was fine on the way back but I had to have a couple of coffee stops because I was tiring easily after an early start. Because of this, we took about five hours to get home.

15th December, 2010

We got up late today and we were both tired after yesterday. Unfortunately, I had to be at the diabetic foot clinic by 9.15 am so we were in a bit of a rush. After that,  we did a Sainsbury’s shop before going to our favourite farm shop in Netherton. We have used Hinchcliffe’s Farm Shop for years. It is huge and the meat is wonderful quality. While we were away in Greece, we read newspaper article about it being burnt down and thought that would be the end of it but they have come back under temporary buildings. We bought pheasants, back bacon, belly pork, and thick, pork sausages. Thank goodness we’re not interested in food!

16th December, 2010

The weather is closing in again. North Yorkshire has heavy snow. It is cold here. Pauline has booked an appointment at Sassoon’s in Leeds for Saturday morning but the weather forecast says that is exactly when heavy snow will arrive in Huddersfield. Pauline always books a ‘top stylist’ and they are usually much less available. Today, Pauline hoped to swap her appointment for this morning and found she could almost choose her own time. Must say something about the economy around Leeds. Ironically, as we drove up the M62, we hit a blizzard – totally unforecast – which reduced traffic to a crawl. It took us an hour to do a half hour journey. Pauline alerted Sassoons en route but they were quite laid back about it. The Top Stylist – Nancy – didn’t seem to have any more appointments. She did Pauline’s hair beautifully.

17th December, 2010

We bought Pauline a new Laptop – a Toshiba Satellite because I think they’re fantastic quality – 17″ Display / Pentium Dual Core /  4Gb of Ram / Wireless Card / Webcam – and we having been using one over the past year. It feels like we have more computers than we know what to do with. I have a desk top in Greece and one here in England. We now have two laptops and a 3G Kindle arriving soon. I spent a chunk of the day putting Microsoft Office Pro (£200.00) and Adobe’s Macromedia Suite (£800.00) (Dreamweaver/Fireworks/Flash) and Adobe Acrobat Pro (£190.00) on it. My software is starting to become a little bit outdated now because it is 18 months since I had access to school funds to buy it but I don’t feel justified splashing out any more.

There is one more piece of software that Pauline must have – Ms Money. It was last released in 2006 but I’ve managed to bend it for a number of different platforms – Windows Mx / Windows 2000 / Vista / Windows 7 – and on each occasion it has gone on after a few tweaks. Pauline’s entries go back to January 1993. Before that she had filled three accounts books in the first 15 years. We hope it will be a while before she has to learn new software.

18th December, 2010

We have woken up to heavy snow. A walk out for the papers and then a day in catching up on email correspondence. The other thing I have to address my mind to today is our investment portfolio. Most of our investments came to the end of their bonus %ages at the end of November. I have to look again. We must use our ISA Cash allowances either side of April 6th. That will make another £20,000.00 tax-free but it will need some research. It is the sort of thing I like doing anyway.

5th December, 2010

Had a lovely conversation with Ruth & Kev today. It took place after she texted me with quite flabbergasting news. She and Kevan were putting the bungalow home of 35 years on the market with the intention of buying a two bedroomed, duplex apartment in the Cottonworks some fifteen minutes away from where they currently live.

This is wonderful news. Ruth is a lovely girl and I sincerely hope she and Kevan will be very happy. We are going down to Surrey on Tuesday but only for a week and then we will go over to see Ruth & Kev..

6th December, 2010

Last night was the coldest in Huddersfield records ever. It reached -18°C although we didn’t feel it in our flat. We were colder than both Finland & Iceland. Regular readers to this Blog will well know my Green credentials. I am well into it. Now I am getting my reward. The new development within which we’ve bought an apartment has a biomass installation and we are guaranteed to save at least 10% on our energy bills because of the biomass supply. We are also promised 40% reductions in CO₂ emmissions whatever they are. The kitchen is kitted out with low energy efficiency equipment and the laundry with low water consumption appliances. Pauline & I will probably bid for Ecologist of the Year awards in twelve months time.

7th December, 2010

Icy day. We had to go out to do a tour of the Banks. It is disappointing to report that £350,000 deposited in three major banks has only made about £1200.00 interest in six months. Pauline had to go for a mammogram which was great fun. Our builders phoned to say they had received our ‘holding deposit’ and to make an appointment for further talks. We are going down to Surrey tomorrow.

8th December, 2010

Positively balmy last night. It only got down to   -4°C. Today is the 30th anniversary of the shooting of John Lennon.

If he had lived, he would now be 70 years old. Exactly six months before the death of Lennon, Pauline & I had the most serious experience of our lives. We were involved in a terrible traffic accident on a bend going in to Oldham. In the thirty years since, there have been so many accidents on that bend – many of the fatal – that it has been officially designated an accident black spot and has ‘traffic calming’ alterations to the area. In our case it was June 15th, 1980 when a man in an old Ford Cortina who was driving too fast on his way to work out of Oldham span out of control, across the road and into us. We were trapped in our car – a brand new mini – and had to be resuscitated by ambulance crew.

After two weeks unconscious in hospital and two months recuperating at home, we went back to work but it soon became apparent that I wasn’t coping. I had to take another term off before I was anywhere near better. It took me quite a few years before I was really over it. Pauline, meanwhile, completed her degree while she was recuperating. Thirty years ago. I really can’t believe it.

With these thoughts in our head, we set of for Surrey.

9th December, 2010

Woke up in Surrey – our new home – and set out to learn about Woking. We drove to the Peacock Shopping Centre to buy me a pair of shoes that won’t skid on snow.

It was very cold all day. Woking seems to have plenty to offer. Particularly, it has a number of Greek, Italian & French restaurants and a theatre which regularly puts on Opera.

We drove round the back of our new development and took this photo:

10th December, 2010

Going to the sales office of our development this morning to sign all the paperwork but also to ask a few questions about the finishing of our property. When we got there we signed all the papers and fixed a moving in date of March 18th. That will give us about three weeks before we go to Greece. We will leave England on Tuesday, April 12th, be in France on the 13th, Italy on the 14th and Ancona on the 15th.

11th December, 2010

Today is the first mild one for weeks. We are up to 9°C. We are going in to Woking today to look at a fitted wardrobe company and carpet sellers. We will watch the football later. I phoned Eurotunnel to book another crossing. Just in passing, I mentioned that we had not been able to fulfil our booking a couple of weeks ago because of the weather and the girl said we could go any time free of charge because of that. I have booked for Tuesday.

28th November, 2010 

We went back to a development that we had been monitoring for over a year. The Pinnacles, ironically built in the grounds of the former St Peters Convent, Maybury Hill, Woking. It quite appeals to me – the fading away of religion being replaced with modern property.

The apartment, which will not be ready until February/March, is a two-bedroomed duplex with underground parking. It is in gated grounds with lots of huge trees around. It is just out of but not far from Woking centre. It represents easy access to London and to Folkestone. It is five miles from Pauline’s sister who will keep an eye on it while we are away.

29th November, 2010 

Today we are organising our finances and preparing to make an offer. By looking at quite a number of developments in the past few days, we know that their prices are starting ones. It is possible to negotiate up to 15% off  and, as cash buyers, we intend to do exactly that.

After sitting throughout the morning with our accounts, we decide on our strategy. The apartment has three toilets and two bathrooms each with a bath but no separate shower. We decide to offer £30,000.00 below the asking price plus insist a bath is replaced by a walk-in shower. On that basis, we go over to the site office and stress our credentials – cash buyers who are prepared to move quickly. Actually, the apartment will not be ready until February/March and we should only have to put a £2000.00 holding deposit down. The sales assistant gave cause for a fair degree of optimism. She said she would put our offer to the company and get back to us within the next 48 hours. We will be in France tomorrow, weather permittting so she will have to phone our mobile. We haven’t decided what we’ll do if they reject our offer.

30th November, 2010 

Today we were supposed to be going on a wine buying trip to France. We left West Byfleet at 5.00 am for an 8.00 am crossing on the Tunnel. By 6.00 am, we were in a blizzard and the traffic was crawling. We decided that discretion was the better part of valour and we turned round and headed for Huddersfield. Thank goodness we did. We went through two or three absolute white-outs on the M1 but, on each occasion, we emerged into sunshine. Huddersfield had had plenty of snow. The motorway is the highest one in the UK. During the evening, more fell. We feel rather trapped. The Property company phoned to say our offer had been agreed in principle. They wanted to move money around to increase the headline value of the property but pay all the Stamp Duty for us. They’ve also agreed to our requested alterations. The deal, to all intents and purposes, is done.

1st December, 2010 

My white rabbit’s turned black!

Today we have another blizzard. The television news confirms that we did the right thing by turning around yesterday. People were stuck on the M25 and M1 for hours last night. We managed to get home before the jams really formed.  We are supposed to be picking up our new car today. We have already posponed from this morning to this afternoon.

We had a window when the snow abated and we picked up our new car. Chris, the dealer, reminded us that it was the 20th new car we had bought from him over the years. It is still lovely to drive out with the new car smell in one’s nostrills. We went and bought Sainsburys up in case we got snowed in again. We just got home and the heavens (or whatever) opened and the world became white out for two or three hours.

We received an email with official confirmation of our purchase of the duplex in Woking. Family members might see the delicious irony in the fact that, not only is the property built on a former Convent site but it is next to St Columba Retreat.

2nd December, 2010 

Another freezing day surrounded by feet of snow. I stayed in all day because BT were coming to install a phone line and Parcelforce were delivering Homehub Broadband equipment. When it got to 5.00 pm and neither company had contacted me, I was getting very annoyed. I tried a phone in a socket just on a whim. It worked. The line was set up without entry to our apartment but they had failed to tell me. Thank you BT. Our lovely Post Lady struggled through the snow drifts and arrived at our door just before 6.00 pm with my Broadband hub. I will spend the evening setting up a desktop and a laptop. Oh joy!

Transferred a deposit for the purchase of our new Duplex in Woking by internet from our Bank to our builder’s bank. The deal is sealed. Chris, my Honda dealer, emailed me to say that in the past 20 years we have bought 20 brand new cars from him – an Accord, 8 Preludes and 11 CRVs. If we have another Honda in the future, I will almost certainly come back to Huddersfield to buy it from Chris. He has been a real friend as well as a salesman.

3rd December, 2010 

We fought our way back up the M20, the M25, the M1 and the M62 to get back to Huddersfield on Tuesday afternoon. We have been surrounded by metres of  snow and in temperatures constantly falling ever since. Last night Yorkshire reached a record breaking -19°C. We have remained in doors. Our new car has still only done 4 miles but we intend to enjoy our last few weeks in the North.

4th December, 2010 

Just an ordinary day – snow bound. At least I have the internet to reach out to the world. It does appear a little warmer today and there might be a little bit of a thaw this morning.

21st November, 2010

Sunday papers and then packing the car to go down to Surrey. In order to do that, we had to go back to the home of our old neighbours Jean & Perry (aka Dusty Springfield & Rod Stewart). We didn’t want to put our large and expensive television in store. Jean and Perry put it into one of their unused bedrooms. With a bit of manoeuvring and a lot of laughing, we managed to get the huge television and its stand into our 4-wheel drive. We are missing those lovely neighbours already and really hope we find people just as nice.

22nd November, 2010

Anti-coag. check at the hospital at 8.45 this morning. The results were fine. Set off for Surrey at 9.45 am.. The M62, as usual, was horribly busy but the M1 was great all the way down. The weather was cold but mainly dry. We arrived in West Byfleet at about 1.30 pm.. Phyllis and Colin have already done some research for us and got some properties lined up for us to see.

23rd November, 2010

Internet research for properties this morning and then touring locally – Byfleet, Weybridge, Hersham, Woking, Walton on Thames, Cobham, etc – this afternoon. This evening, we will go and see the little boys because Daniel wants to beat me up. Saw a really nice new apartment in Woking today, ironically built in the grounds of an old monastery, convent and retreat. We will bear it in mind. It is called The Pinnacles.

We went on to visit our first Waitrose supermarket and I immediately walked in to a very tall, thin man dressed in scruffy jeans. I looked up and there was Peter Crouch staring down at me. I’ve never met anyone like that in Sainsburys.

24th November, 2010

Glorious morning, wonderful drive down the M25 / A22 to Hailsham in East Sussex. I was amazed to find how close every where was to every where else. Hailsham was just an hour away from West Byfleet and very near by were Eastbourne, Brighton, Worthing, etc.. The trees were glorious in the sunshine. Hailsham environs was delightful. A four bedroomed, three storey, brand new house was very reasonably priced.

We may go back on Friday to have a second look. Tomorrow we have to take Colin to Croydon. I seem to be retracing Mum’s childhood.

25th November, 2010

Mum used to live in Purley, Croydon. I actually remember going there in 1954 to stay with Nana & Grandad. I remember because I was playing a game in bed and got stuck the wrong way round under the blankets. I panicked because it was dark and had to be rescued by Grandad. I remember flowering cherry trees on her street. Fifty six years later I have returned. What a terribly depressing place it is.

We were taking Colin to the Hospital to see a skin specialist. The hospital is terribly antiquated and, like the rest of Croydon, has seen better days. It was a very cold day all day today – rarely rising above 1°C.

26th November, 2010

Another beautiful, bright but cold day today. We went off to Hampshire to look at some houses They were rubbish. I shall never feel the need to visit Basingstoke again. It isn’t a place but more like a housing estate. We went on to Andover but that wasn’t much better. They are illustrated in that order below:

27th November, 2010

The temperature was -2° when we left the house this morning on our next search. We were off to Canterbury, Sittingbourne and Ashford. It is a long time since I have been to Canterbury. In fact, I think I was mentioned by Chaucer. The town was interesting and pleasant if a little run down in places. We were offered a brand new three storey, four-bedroomed house with a garage for the price we wanted to pay and, when we pressed them, the price was reduced by £20,000.00 immediately. We were sure there was more to get off the price if we go for it. We left the site office distinctly upbeat and moved on to Ashford. Even the old Ashford is pleasant and there is a new and exciting Ashford rising. Unfortunately, the new houses were in a Victoriana Toy Town. When we arrived, there was even a staged dusting of snow.