Sanders Blog

Sunday, 1st March, 2020

Nice morning. Bright and sunny but cold. Political programmes and newspapers are made more interesting by the floundering of this government largely through lethargy but internal contradictions don’t help. These will become more apparent as Brexit negotiations develop.

We are already seeing fishermen who voted to Leave squealing about loss of their markets and fruit farmers who voted to Leave squealing about loss of their businesses because of stopping free movement of labour. Viral across the web are clips of cabinet ministers speaking before the referendum saying it would be madness to leave the Single Market and, of course, we don’t want any tariffs on trade and who are now gung-ho for a total breaking of all ties. Appointing people who are clearly flaky like Priti useless Patel, who was sacked for illegal and dangerously off-piste meetings in Israel and then bringing her back to the Home Office as if she can be relied on to maintain loranorder, as Denis Healey described it, is obviously going to blow up at some stage. That stage may have arrived already.

To return to something safer. The last month was wet. The Met. Office have released stats saying it has been the wettest February on record which go back 158 years. So, only Ruth will have known a wetter one. That’s why she can swim!

Finished off the arrangements for our French trip by booking the Tunnel crossing. A journey of just 35 mins is so delightfully comfortable that the cost of £74.00/€86.00 each way for the car and 2 people is negligible.

Monday, 2nd March, 2020

A lovely, sunny day thank goodness. Sun changes everything. We had to go down to the surgery to collect a ‘repeat prescription’. The carpark, which must take 100 vehicles, was absolutely packed. I had to drive round while Pauline went in. I hope it’s not a virus epidemic in our village already!

We drove on to Curry’s to look at televisions. Curry’s wasn’t busy. In fact, at 9.30 am, we were the only takers in this electrical superstore. We have 6 televisions in our house, one is 55″, two are 42″ and three in the bedrooms are just 24″. We are retired. We watch quite a lot of television. We have also caught the ‘Greek’ bug of having the television playing in the background while we are doing something else. It is not a good look but we are old enough not to care what you think.

We have found that we spend a large part of our day when we are at home, in the Kitchen (42″ tv) and the Office (42″ tv). That has come as quite a surprise to us. The Lounge is used only to watch television and almost exclusively in the evening. It has almost become a television room. Because of that, we have decided to replace our ‘old’ (4 yrs.) television and buy a bigger one. The 55″ LG Smart TV that I bought 4 years ago as we moved in cost about £1,250.00/€1,460.00. It stands on a sideboard. I want a cinema-size television with sound bar wall mounted. To find the price has dropped so far is a joy. We will have to get a little man in!

Tuesday, 3rd March, 2020

The advice to combat COVID-19 infection is to wash hands thoroughly after contact with people and surfaces outside the home. One trip to the supermarket this morning illustrated the problem with that. As we walk into the supermarket, we pick up a trolley which has been used by scores of people recently and they pushed it with the HANDLE. 

Then we go to sign in for a scan-as-you-shop HANDSET which has to be released by tapping a screen with your fingers where hundreds of fingers have already been.

Pushing the infected trolley around while scanning in the goods chosen with the infected handset sometimes means weighing, printing a barcode and scanning in loose goods like fruit & veg. Those weighing scales and attached screens will also have been touched by countless people.

Finally, the Check-out process is fraught with infected contact points which are unavoidable. Because of this, we thought we would buy antibacterial wipes to wipe all the surfaces as we went. “We found that, not only is that almost totally impractical as we tried it with tissues, it is almost impossible to buy them anyway. Supermarkets told us that their shelves had been empty of these products for almost a month.

Wednesday, 4th March, 2020

A grey day. We went out to Asda and Sainsbury’s to stock up on staples for all eventualities. Toilet rolls, toothpaste, sanitising soap, sanitising wipes, packs of tins of beans, tomatoes, fish, and packs of dried milk, dried fruit, frozen fish, etc.. 

Today, Italy announced that all its schools and universities and our Chief medical Officer suggested it was quite possible that UK would have to follow suit. We are continuing our life as normal although we are being much more careful in the public places we visit/human interfaces that we make. Particularly, our daily trips to the Health Club could prove very …. unhealthy. Every door, every locker, every exercise machine, every television screen on every exercise machine now needs to be wiped clean before and after use. 

Interesting article in The Times this morning about the wealth divide illustrated in its response to a potential pandemic. Home isolation is fine if you can afford to stockpile, get home-deliveries, afford Satellite TV entertainment/information dissemination, home heating and all the other things involved in shutting oneself from the world. Miserable if your isolation is like imprisonment without the comforts. It will certainly take a lot to stop us travelling this Summer.

Thursday, 5th March, 2020

When will it stop raining. It is belting down again this morning and we have to go out. I am having a blood test and then we are going to Tesco. One of the roads we have to drive on to get there is significantly called Water Lane. This lane feeds down to the village square. At the side of the lane runs a brook/stream/river. The actual description depends on the weather.

There has been a fabled flood 3 years before we moved here. The square flooded and those lads who thought it would be fun to pose on the village memorial seat are probably married with kids by now. Since then, our local authority, West Sussex County Council, has spent a large amount of cash to increase flood resilience. The village hasn’t suffered since. However, the brook/stream has turned in to a river today as it struggles to channel the heavy rain. It is down here that I spotted a heron the other day fishing in the water.

Friday, 6th March, 2020

Wow! Lovely, sunny morning. We made the most of it. I took a urine sample down to the surgery prior to my annual review next week. (Fantastic sample, by the way. Definitely a winner!) 

With that success still in my head, we drove on to Wickes which is in  … Wick just over the river Adur. I was buying presents for Pauline – a pot of paint and a paint stirrer. She loves these sorts of thing. Well, they had the paint but no stirrer. 

As we walked out of the shop, I tripped over a piece of wood. Prescience is all. Here, the store is giving out ‘free’ paint stirrers with every purchase. Well it worked for me.

Good workout at the gym this afternoon. It is looking just as popular as normal currently. We came home and cooked outside in the sunshine of the back garden. It felt warm and Spring-like after yesterday. Unfortunately, it is not forecast to last.

Saturday, 7th March, 2020

One of my readers wrote to me today to say that he hadn’t read the Blog for a while because the he was sleeping quite well at the moment and had not needed it. I am not at all surprised nor do I blame him. Sometimes writing it is the only thing that keeps me awake and it can be a struggle to make the content interesting when it is fashioned from a quiet life of monotonous retirement. However, I will make a mental note to do more interesting things to keep my readership entertained to the degree they expect. 

I’m trying to write my Blog each day to the accompaniment of a piece of music from my past. Tonight it is Chopin’s Nocturne, Op.9:No 1, Larghetto in B-Flat Minor. I am barely able to see the keys to type as the tears flow from my eyes. This piece I associate with one of the saddest, most despairing times of my life.

I can see myself now, confined to a grubby little flat, sitting by an old, gas fire, writing notes for a University essay in the early hours of a work day morning. I would snatch 2-3 hours of sleep and then set off for another day at the chalk face. I was miserable and metaphorically self flagellating in acknowledgement of past failings. This piece I strongly associate with Descartes. It was early 1975 and I was reading Descartes: Philosophical Writings. It is on the shelves of my office now. Some things will never leave me.

As I grappled with Cartesian theory and the mind-body problem, I realised that I loved the philosophical process and I was relatively good at following it. I was fascinated by the clash of concepts of Idealism and Materialism which Cartesian metaphysics generated. It sowed the seeds of  my exploring Determinism and Marxism in future years. These were heady days for a 24 year old youth who believed anything was possible and yet worried that nothing was likely. Because it is so engrained on my memory, I can tell you that the Chopin Nocturne was followed on my cassette by the Étude in E Major, Tristesse which, as you will know, means sadness and completely reflected my mood. I am playing it now…..

As I finish writing, my Chopin Collection moves on to Piano Sonata No. 2 in B-Flat Minor, Op.35 which the cognoscenti will know is the celebrated Marche Funèbre. It shocked me the first time I realised that I was enjoying the Funeral March. 

Sunday, 23rd February, 2020

We made a major error last night and stayed up until 1.00 am today watching an Hungarian language film with subtitles. It was hard to follow because the plot was so dense but it was fascinating and gripping in equal degrees.  It is by Oscar winning Director, Laszlo Nemes and is set in 1913 Budapest. It concerns a young woman’s search for her past as the world moves forward to World War. If anyone else has watched it, perhaps they could explain it to me.

As a result of this folly, we didn’t get up until 8.00 am! It felt like we spent the rest of the day catching up for lost time. It goes without saying that we did our exercise regime and Pauline cooked the most wonderful haunch of Hake with roasted cherry tomatoes and garlic green beans. However, my main job today has been attempting to sort out my virus software.

It has always been very reliable but, in the past few days, I have been getting an error message about Sonar Protection problems. I’ve tried running fixes. I’ve tried downloading and reinstalling. I’ve allowed Norton agents to dial in to my machine to fix it and they do so temporarily but it always come back. The real annoyance is how time consuming it has become. One thing is certain, I will not last long in a place where my data can be compromised. My next task is to take the software off my machine entirely and do a ‘clean install’. I know you will be on tenterhooks but, don’t worry, I will keep you posted.

Monday, 24th February, 2020

It’s been a bitty day of firefighting small but annoying problems. I had the Norton Security software to sort out. I have a problem with my website domain name to sort out. I have a claim for compensation for the damage caused by storm on the roof still to resolve. It’s amazing how days in retirement can progress so smoothly and so days like to day are actually unusual now. They say that, if you want a job doing, ask a busy man. There is a core of truth in that. In the cosiness of retirement and retreat from the world of work, small problems which one might have swept, dismissively away in the past suddenly become irritatingly disruptive of one’s life.

Gritting my teeth, I decided to clean every vestige of Norton software from my machine. I then downloaded a fresh copy, reinstalled and, hey presto, the problem was solved. Next, I addressed my website extension which I had deliberately chosen as .eu only recently available at the time.

I began my website back in 2008 and just chose a popular web host called 1&1 which was based in Germany. Recently, it has been bought up by an American hosting company called IONOS and they have informed me that my web address is under threat from Brexit. Having contacted them, they have offered me an escape route which involves reregistering in a shadow base in Europe. All sounds a bit cloak & dagger but I will be pleased if it works. What I am desperate to ensure is that my Blog is not compromised.

My neighbour and I have joined forces to fight for compensation for the damage caused by our roof pointing defect.. I had a smashed satellite dish – cost £220.00/€262.00 – while he had a damaged car – cost circa £1000.00/€1,191.00. The roof company are claiming it is “deemed an act of god” although they accept responsibility for the roof defect. I have a feeling we might win this.

Tuesday, 25th February, 2020

My GP is German. She is excellent and we hope she is allowed or even wants to remain in UK. I don’t trouble her. I have only seen her once in the past 18 months. I try to take as much responsibility for my own health as I can. I follow national screening programs like the bowel cancer one we’ve just completed and posted off. It was our fifth biennial such test. I have attended my annual Diabetic Retinopathy religiously. I exercise religiously. I have twice yearly Dental checks.

My recent eye tests have raised some concerns and, when we returned from our 8.30 am dentist appointments this morning, I had a phone message from my doctor asking me to go in for a blood pressure check. Fortunately, I had just completed a week of twice a day tests on my blood sugar and blood pressure recorded on my spreadsheet and which I was about to send to her. It felt good to be on top of my own condition.

The gym was packed today and it was full of OLD PEOPLE! What’s wrong with these people? Haven’t they got Care Homes to go to? Still, we are old hands there now and we managed to get all our work done. We drove home and ate roast salmon with homemade pesto crust and salad. It is one of my favourite meals that Pauline produces without having to think much about she has made it so many times. We followed that by – I hardly dare admit it to myself – eating pancakes.

Every Shrove Tuesday in at least the past 10 years we have always been dieting and so pancakes were out of the question. After all, flour is banned. Pauline loves them and today I could deny her that pleasure no more. Well, that’s my excuse. We both had two, beautifully cooked pancakes and I covered mine with Golden Syrup – what we always mistakenly called treacle – with fresh lemon cutting through the sweetness. Absolute bliss!

Wednesday, 26th February, 2020

Quite a bright morning. although cool. No frost fortunately. By 8.30 am, we were on our way to Tesco to re-corner the market on non-alcoholic grape juice. Shloer is selling at £1.10/€1.31 per litre there at the moment – less than half normal price. It is a bit embarrassing to be seen drinking it at all However, I have just completed 8 full weeks without any alcohol and have 5 more weeks to go before I open a lovely, big, bottle of red wine. The world’s supply of Shloer will go some way to help me get there.

My skinny, little sister, Liz, has told me that she is now teetotal having received professional help to give up drinking although my very old sister, Ruth, tells me Liz is regularly giving up alcohol. I have no such desires or pretensions. I love wine. It will continue to play a significant part in my life. I have a store of around 500 bottles which I plan to supplement on our next trip to France in April. I am spending 3 months denying myself wine just to prove to myself that I am in control of the alcohol not the other way round. It will also, of course, save me more than £1000.00/€1,187.20 in cash terms and about 45,000 calories.

We have already committed to about 3 months abroad this year – in a year when a virus nears reaching pandemic level. We are spending 2 of those months on Tenerife in Costa Adeje. In the past 24 hrs, a hotel in Costa Adeje, Tenerife has been quarantined.

We have booked 6 flights so far with more to follow. Fortunately, we are staying in private villas on Tenerife so contact with lots of people will be kept to a minimum but we will have to visit supermarkets. Aircraft, airports, supermarkets all could pose infection risks. Although we’re not convinced by their efficacy, we have taken the precaution of sending for a box of surgical face masks. One size fits all although I’m not sure about the colour. I mean, what colour shoes would you advise wearing with these?

Thursday, 27th February, 2020

The day opened with heavy rain but, as forecast, turned gorgeously bright and sunny. We did our weekly shop at Tesco and, as we drove back through the village towards home, it looked and felt like Spring. Birds are singing, nesting and producing young and it’s still February. The crocuses are already fading out. The daffodils are in full bloom and the Magnolia trees are looking just as my Mother would have loved and it’s still February.

Unlike our ancestors who lived in semi-darkness without the benefit of electric lights, who live in dark, cold and smoky world without central heating, we are less in tune with the seasons, hanging on through the Winter, longing for and greeting the Spring, making the most of the growing weather and the Summer sun, making hay while the sun shines before hunkering down through dark, cold months. We fly out to the warmth and the sunshine or stay at home in heated, bright, warm houses. Even so, there is a vestigial longing for and celebration of the end of Winter and the start of the new shoots of Spring. I felt it today.

Another little ray of sunshine this morning came in the guise of a phone call. It was a a consultant from my web management company, IONOS. My annual fees for webspace rental and domain name rental come to around £200.00/€235.00 per year. I’ve been paying out for them for the past 12 years since I left an earlier company. They told me a couple of weeks ago that my fees were going up again.

I thought it was worth contacting them. I have a personal account manager who is supposed to help me. Today he phoned to say he hadn’t realised that I wasn’t a multi million business with a web presence after I had pointed out my age and the usage I put my web space to. On the spot, he cut my costs from £200.00/€235.00 per annum to about £30.00/€35.20. That was worth it. I will stay with them.

Friday, 28th February, 2020

Heavy rain today. We had to go to Sainsbury’s which, fortunately, has a covered carpark leading to an escalator up into the store. We found a new system had been introduced over night. It won’t mean much to most people who will be left scoffing at this but it brought pleasure to these shoppers. Waitrose, Tesco, Asda & Morrisons have all offered a scan-as-you-shop service for a long time. Sainsbury’s has lots of good products but not the same service. Today all changed. 

We had already downloaded apps to our smartphones in anticipation. The barcode reader on the phone only has to be roughly lined up over the product’s barcode and from quite a distance – perhaps a metre – and it reads, records and totals up. How much more fun can an elderly gentleman have?

Returning from playing at Sainsbury’s, I had to find a way to  ward off depression triggered by the wet world outside. We have decided to make this a travelling year and, this morning, we booked a few days away in France after we have returned from Yorkshire. We will have completed our alcohol prohibition period and will be able to spend a few evenings indulging in some nice, French food and wine. We may also go over to Arras to meet up with my Grammar School friend who was an English teacher there and now lives out his retirement. Of course, we’ll do a bit of shopping before we come home. Got to keep stocks up.

Greece is starting to feel vulnerable again. Erdogan has deliberately opened its borders to the West and allowed a stream of refugees to flee and Greece will be an early target.

To make matters worse, Coronavirus has invaded Greece – probably from Italy. Greece is not the strongest country to cope with this. Currently, they are toughening up border controls which will make it less easy to enter Greece. Internally, they are cancelling all regional Festivals – it is festival season in Greece. This will harm the economy because festivals bring internal and external tourism. We, for example, considered flying to Patras for their renowned festival.

Already tourist organisations within the country as in many others are reporting the crisis hurting bookings. It has badly impacted airlines which are the staple of Greek tourism. It underlines what I have long said that Greece is most vulnerable to – a reliance on tourism for its GDP. We will see how this plays out.

Saturday, 29th February, 2020

The last day of February, 2020 opened with strong winds and heavy rain but ended with beautiful skies and sunshine. Harbinger of what March will bring? I would be cautious on that. However, we drove down to the beach to get a bit of bracing, sweet air or ozone. It was quiet, beautiful and …. cold.

Pauline should have been a builder not a teacher. She loves doing building work and is brilliant at it – from rebuilding dry-stone walls to painting guttering to roller painting walls and glossing doors. She even knows how to re-wire plugs and replace fuses. This is quite fortunate because it’s all out of my sphere of competence. She has the sort of attitude which is known as ‘can do’ whereas my attitude is more ‘would do but wouldn’t be worth it’. Anyway, after 4 years in this house, all resettlement has finished and any, minor cracks can be filled and repainted. That is what Pauline has begun to do. Meanwhile, I went for a walk in the local area.

We are so lucky to live in such a lovely place. The Times reported on Saturday that Worthing was moving in to fashion for the 25 – 35 yr olds.

The things that lure retired people to these shores — with their fresh sea air, sense of community and relatively affordable housing — are increasingly tempting families seeking to swap city life for a calmer atmosphere on the coast…………..Nearly three quarters of the people who moved to Worthing, Eastbourne, Bournemouth, Bognor Regis, Brighton and Margate in 2018 were in their twenties and thirties,

The Times / Bricks&Mortar – 28/2/2020

I don’t think it will take Pauline more than a week to get the whole thing completed. I hope not. She keeps putting dust sheets down!

Sunday, 16th February, 2020

We did get some strong winds over night but nothing like what we had been expecting. I am writing the bulk of this at 1.30 pm and it is certainly raining hard outside but we have just been shown shots of the Arsenal ground where one match will be played this afternoon and the weather looks absolutely horrible – torrential, driving rain and heavy mist. The other game is from Aston Villa in Birmingham where the railway station next to the ground is submerged in flood water. Police are declaring a major incident across large swathes of Wales where whole communities have been cut off by floods.

I report the above to justify not going to the gym today. We are having a ‘tucked up’ day. House work and self indulgence will be the orders of the day. About 45 years ago, my Sunday morning would be getting up at 6.00 am and walking about a mile to the paper shop to buy a copy of the Sunday Observer and The Sunday Times. I was in Oldham and the newsagents only stocked a couple of copies of each. They were hidden behind huge piles of the colour comics and, particularly, The News of the World which has to have been one of the most misleading titles ever. I was always nervous and got up increasingly early on Sundays because I feared missing out on my newspapers. Back home with toast, fresh coffee and my newspapers, I would read them from cover to cover while, in the background, Chopin played. I was addicted to the études and nocturnes. I wore out the cassette tapes.

From cassette tapes to digital Spotify is quite a stretch and yet it defines the context of 45 years. As I’ve written before, I’ve struggled with music for quite a few years and have been trying to reclaim my enjoyment. Today I enjoyed the new facilities of my Sky Q box to much more easily access on-line apps and signed up to Spotify – media services provider which allows one to play music online.

So this morning I was ‘tucked up’ with my digital newspaper and on-line recordings of Chopin piano pieces and it was lovely.

In an idle moment, I thought I would explore some of the other apps available. YouTube was available and I rarely access it on my computer so I thought I’d try it out on my television. What to search for? I don’t know why but I put in Sifnos and the very first video that came up was one taken last summer. It was taken through the windscreen of a car as it was driven down the mountain from Άγιος Συμεών. As it sped down the road that I knew every inch of, I realised that we were passing our (ex) house. Actually, of course, it only caught the open gate and the drive but, having spent so many years there, it felt really weird.

Monday, 17th February, 2020

Out at 8.00 am this morning on a damp and gloomy morning which soon gave way to pleasant blue sky and sunshine. We were driving to Chichester to St Richard’s Hospital Ophthalmology Department. The people at this hospital are fantastic and gave me an appointment at the drop of a hat and even phoned me back to provide  an earlier alternative. At this time in the morning, rush hour traffic makes it rather a tricky journey. Today and in school Half Term, we whizzed along unhindered.

Crowded NHS hospitals? Not today and rarely at St Richard’s. They serve a huge population with a bias toward the elderly so one can only conclude that their case management is really excellent.

It is a lovely, friendly, people-centred hospital. Staff walking round the place go out of their way to ask if they can help visitors find their destinations. It even treats its staff with thought and care.

I’ve had some early signs of Diabetic Retinopathy and asked for some further investigation especially because I have only ever had the sight of one eye and, to lose that, would be disastrous. Because the traffic had been so unusually light, we arrived about 45 mins early for my appointment. Happily, I was almost immediately called in and had powerful drops administered to expand my pupils. It was a quick procedure which soon led to optical photography and I will get analysis within 2 weeks.

Back home and courtesy of Spotify, I have renewed my long lost acquaintance with Sergei Rachmaninoff today. In the mid 1970s, I became obsessed with Rachmaninoff and today I replayed the first piece I ever listened to – Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. From a new, 4 bedroomed home on the West Sussex coast, I was immediately transported to a scruffy old bedsit in a Lancashire mill town. The span is almost unbridgeable but Rachmaninoff did it.

Tuesday, 18th February, 2020

I don’t know about you but I have resisted getting a cloud-based voice service like Amazon‘s Alexa or Echo because I need to move more than I need to speak. However, our new Sky-Q handsets obviate the need to manually search for channels, programmes, titles, people, etc by providing a voice command service. The last time I used a voice recognition facility was 20 years ago in a text scanning software suite which allowed one to read it in to the page. It created so many typos that it was more trouble than typing the text out oneself. 

Our new, Sky-Q handsets travel smoothly through about 800 channels but take a long time to get there, However, we are having fun using the voice-command facility which never stumbles and drives the software at lightning speed. I really should have ordered this system 12 months ago. It’s providing lots of new facilities and actually costs me less than the old setup.

We had a pleasantly dry and sunny morning after a clear sky last night. We drove to the Health Club early today – at mid day – in good weather but came out about 3.00 pm in rain and darkness. The David Lloyd Club was quiet and has been so recently inspite of many special offers of ‘free’ day-passes and ‘cheap’ 3-month tasters. Recently, they have been running an expensive television advertising campaign which emphasises the family quality of exercising together in the clubs.

We are torn between wanting David Lloyd to attract enough members to maintain the facilities but not so many to make it feel crowded and definitely not ‘kids’! 

Wednesday, 19th February, 2020

Our fisherman’s shed is closed on Monday and Tuesday and any other day of bad weather. We arrived this morning just as a full supply of fresh fish arrived. It looked wonderful. We bought a joint of Tuna, a joint of Swordfish and a huge, whole Hake. 

We seem to be going once every couple of months at the moment and the more we get known, the better deals we get. We spent £152.50/€182.20 this morning with them and that seemed to make us their new best friends. Commerce is so shallow and fickle isn’t it?

Portioned, it makes 3 meals for 2 people of Swordfish and 7 meals for 2 people of Tuna. The Hake is cut into 3 meals for 2 people. So, in all, we will get 13 portions each out of this catch which works out at just £11.73/€14.02 for each meal for 2 people aka Pauline & I.

With all this lovely food, I need to work it off. I felt absolutely knackered after my gym workout today. I don’t know why but I refuse to admit it has anything to do with age!

Thursday, 20th February, 2020

There is anticipatory joy and celebration in the Sanders Household this morning. We will be playing Poo Sticks again. 

Our biennial Bowel Cancer Screening test kit has arrived. For those readers much younger – and I don’t mean Ruth – the NHS provides bowel screening tests every two years between the ages of 55 and 75 although Ruth will be pleased to learn that she can continued to receive them on request.

Until now, this was quite a demanding test performed over 3 separate days. The first 2 days’ results had to be kept in the ….FRIDGE! Now, it has been refined and can be conducted and posted off on the same day. 

Of course, taking the test at all is a sign of age. We spend all our time trying to avoid acknowledging the process of aging. I was actually delighted yesterday to wake up with a huge spot on the end of my nose like some love-sick teenager. When I squeezed it the mirror was showered with gunge. However, when I see aging in others, I know I am just denying a reality.

Yesterday, a friend sent me a photo of people we knew on Sifnos and who we haven’t seen for 5 years. We were shocked to see how much older they looked. In just the same way, I walk around with pictures in my head of people I last saw in the early 1970s. My first reaction is, Do I look that old? Of course the answer must be in the affirmative although I can’t see it myself. 

Friday, 21st February, 2020

If Pauline reads this, she’ll probably kill me but here goes. One of my abiding memories of my Mother-in-Law was of her sitting at the window of her flat with mirror in one hand and tweezers in the other plucking hairs from her chin. I must admit, it had never really crossed my mind that women ever needed to do it. Well they do and now it is Pauline’s turn. 

As a sign of the times, she has booked a course of 6 treatments at the Beauty Parlour to have hers removed by electrolysis which, apparently, removes the entire root of the hair so it doesn’t return. I’m thinking of having my entire face treated so I don’t need to shave again. Anyway, I drove Pauline down to Rustington for her 4th of 6 sessions. We went on to the Health Club for our usual couple of hours. As for most of the week, there were quite a few students down from University (Do they have Half terms?) in on their parents Family membership. Aren’t students annoying! That wasn’t a question.

In 2011, just 9 years ago this week, we were living in the ‘shoebox’, a temporary home for us after we sold our Yorkshire house and were waiting to move to a new-build in Surrey. We were renting a new-build, 2-bedroom apartment for 6 months before we moved down to Woking and then drove off to Greece. This was not our favourite time but it was a means to an end. The Blog is a great reminder of the path we have travelled.

Saturday, 22nd February, 2020

A quiet day of exercise for us and watching sport. We did our full workout at the gym but I also had time to watch some 6-Nations Rugby Union and a Premier league match in which Leicester unfortunately just lost to Man. City.

These days are good ones for reading newspapers and catching up with Blogs. We do try to push ourselves most of the time so it is pleasant to have a down day once in a while. It is relatively mild here today – 12C/54F – although still rather grey and a bit damp. At least we’re not having flooding. According to a Greek Blog I follow, KTG, it was snowing in Athens today and there was quite an accumulation on higher ground. North winds are blowing in the Aegean up to Beaufort 8 and the daytime temperature is forecast as peaking at 9C/48F. 

Many European countries that had expected reasonable and pleasant reciprocal treatment of their expats in UK are beginning to realise that the xenophobic rhetoric of Boris Johnson and his Home Secretary, Priti Useless Patel, is not just hot air but could become a reality. Katimerini reports:

The negotiations will be rough and it is quite likely that Britain’s target of a final agreement by the end of the year will not be met. As if anticipating failure, the British government has adopted a hard line against EU citizens who live in Britain or who would like to move there. It has announced strict criteria and expensive visas for them, like those for citizens of states outside the EU.

Anecdotally, many European countries are beginning to flex their own muscles. We have been reading reports of people being denied entry/exit through EU channels at airports and ports and being forced to queue in ‘Third Country’ status lines. We, ourselves, have had similarly slower services in and out of the Channel Tunnel. UK citizens are reporting having their paperwork – passports, etc. – scrutinised very closely at borders. This is all giving Brits a taste of their own medicine.

The Greeks, of course, who know on which side their bread is buttered – although butter on bread is not a big thing in Greece – want to be far more conciliatory. There is a movement towards associate membership of the EU for Brits who don’t accept Brexit and Kathimereni says this:

Instead of reciprocating with similar measures, the EU should offer special citizenship status to the people of Britain. As a living reminder of past friendship.

That is a hand that few others seem prepared to hold out at the moment and it hasn’t escaped notice that the Turkish tourist industry is currently splurging huge funds on advertising in Britain with the added bonus of a much more favourable exchange rate than the EU. That must concern the Greeks.

Sunday, 9th February, 2020

All the talk of the coming storm caused us to expect an uncomfortable night and to decide not to visit the gym today. Although the web is full of reports and pictures from around the country, so far we have escaped. Maybe it is all to come. We have light rain and blustery wind but nothing exceptional. 

Disappointingly, the Manchester City v West Ham match this afternoon has been called off this morning ‘Due to extreme and escalating weather conditions’. However, I am watching England absolutely slaughter South Africa in the final One Day International from a sunny place. 

Another sunny place in early Summer is southern France and, today, I am booking a few days in Bordeaux  in June.

We have decided to rent an apartment in the centre of the Old Town and I have found a good one on Rue du Pas-Saint-Georges, an old street liberally scattered with cafes/restaurants spilling out on to the pavements. The old market is within walking distance as is a large supermarket. The train station isn’t far away. 

Monday, 10th February, 2020

We had strong winds last night and quite heavy rain but none of it was really out of the ordinary. However, this morning the Sky dish was out of operation and, when I went out to check on it, I saw this below:

When I looked up at the edge of the roof, I could see where the mortar had fallen from and I realised that we would be phoning more than just a satellite engineer.

Fortunately, the roof is covered by our 5-Year warranty and David Wilson will send someone out today to sort it out. I’ve engaged a same-day-service satellite firm to come and repair or replace the satellite dish. It will cost me £69.00/€82.00 which is fine but I have to be prepared to stay in between 9.00 am – 6.00 pm which is a pain. In the meantime, I am running Sky‘s All Out Politics on one of my iPads.

Well, the original call-out charge soon escalated into a new satellite dish and fitting costing £220.00/€260.35. Believe me, I would have payed double that for normal service to be resumed. The builders will now be out tomorrow to make good the damage. They sounded extremely chastened when we contacted them this morning. They were particularly concerned about the safety of people underneath. They could see huge compensation claims in the pipeline. Fortunately, we got away with a broken satellite dish and a smashed wheelie bin lid. We can’t decide whether to be so petty as to reclaim it from the builders. They’re nice people.

Tuesday, 11th February, 2020

The winds continue. Although not really terrible, they are bringing a cutting edge to the temperature. At 8.00 am, the builders arrived to assess the damage. In itself, it is minor but it damaged our Sky dish and they have agreed to refund of the cost of repair. I discovered last night that our neighbours’ car had been damaged. Fortunately, ours was in the garage.

Happy Birthday to Kevan today. As if coping with Ruth wasn’t enough, now he also has to contend with aging. Life really isn’t fair!

Spending 6 months each year in Greece led me to stockpile drugs because they weren’t really obtainable abroad. In fact, when we were there, the Medical Centre & Pharmacies put out pleas for people to donate their unused/unwanted drugs back to the central stores for other’s use. Repeat prescriptions and a generous doctor made my stockpile fairly easy to build. Unfortunately, as we stopped those half years abroad, I continued to build my store. 

Today, we addressed the drug mountain. We filled two bin bags with out of date drugs. Even so, it felt rather reprehensible.

Wednesday, 12th February, 2020

We drove into Worthing early this morning. It was beautiful as we went down the coast road. We were going to the open market for our latest addiction – Medjool Dates. They are absolutely delicious and a great substitute for sweets which we are not allowed. 

On Wednesday, there is a linear open market in a Worthing street parallel to the sea front. We don’t go very often but we found a stall that sells high quality Medjool dates at a price far cheaper than the supermarkets. We bought a kilo for £6.60/€7.90 and they will last in the fridge for up to 6 months theoretically. Actually, they will be gone in 2 weeks in our house.

My recent diabetic eye check-up has resulted in a follow appointment because a problem was found. This is always concerning for me because I only have sight in one eye. Anything wrong with my good eye terrifies me. The letter told me that I would be invited back within the next 3 months. I phoned immediately and the specialist in charge said, What are you doing on Monday. I could see you around 10.00 am. Fantastic response from a fantastic National Health Service. 

I also learnt that we have a hospital down the road in Shoreham on Sea – Southlands which is home to a new, state-of-the-art eye care centre and specialises in outpatient services, diagnostics, day surgery and more. If you’re going to go blind, you might as well do it somewhere nice!

Thursday, 13th February, 2020

Well a dark, wet day and not very warm in the stiff breeze. As we drove out to the supermarkets. There was evidence on the roadsides of strong rain from the previous night. While we were in Tesco, the rain roared on the metal roof and the floods were more obvious as we drove home. We drive up Water Lane (Wondered where it got its name.) as we go towards our house. It starts off in the village and this is what it looked like 3 years before we moved in. Fortunately, our Development is much higher than this.

In Littlehampton, Climping Beach has been hit by falling rain and rising tides to break through the sea defences and flood the roads and surrounding farm land.

The Environment Agency say they cannot afford to replace them at a cost of £100,000.00/€120,000.00 per groyne. This deliberate neglect has been going on for around 10 years we are told and is not exclusive to Sussex. All round the country’s coastline, the sea defences have been allowed to deteriorate and fall. It doesn’t affect us personally but the facility of the shores are a huge advantage and we regret any degradation.

No cooking outside today. As soon as we got back from the gym, the house smelt deliciously of roasted loin of Hake with scallop and prawn topping served with roasted tomatoes. Absolutely wonderful and cosy as the rain bounced down outside. Could have done with a nice bottle of sauvignon blanc but still got 47 more days to go.

As a direct reaction to the weather here, I have set aside this evening to research a hotel for a week in Barcelona in the summer. We need lights at the end of the tunnel to walk towards.

Friday, 14th February, 2020

We went out early this morning to our local refuse disposal site. To get there, we have to drive over the railway lines and we were held up to wait for a train and held up again on the way back. Strangely, for 9.00 am, the trains were almost empty.

After driving home, we prepared the house for a Sky engineer who is visiting tomorrow. He is going to install a Sky Q 2TB box in our lounge. It will mean moving the sideboard/cupboard on which the tv stands. It is full of all sorts of things we couldn’t decide where to store and is very heavy.

Behind the cupboard is the media panel installed by the house builder and the engineer will need access to it. After we had emptied the cupboard, and moved it out, we realised that it hadn’t been moved since it was delivered 4 years ago. The spiders which had taken up residence were not happy at being exposed to the light and even less happy to find themselves being sucked into our vacuum cleaner. Pauline would have been mortified if the Sky engineer had found out she hadn’t cleaned there for so long. I, on the other hand would have been quite relaxed about it.

This system connects one box – the 2TB box – to the satellite dish via hard link HDMI cable and then up to 4 mini boxes linked to that via wi-fi. One will go in the Kitchen, one in the Study, one in our Bedroom and one in the Ironing Room. The main box allows one to record 6 programmes and watch a 7th at the same time. The mini boxes allow one to watch independently other live programmes or programmes saved to the main box or to pause a program on the main box and pick it up in another room. They also make it much easier to pause live tv and restart it. It just suits the way we use our media as we walk from room to room arguing with politicians and journalists alike.

I’ve just told Pauline that the engineer will need access to 4 additional rooms and she has gone absolutely mad. Fortunately, I will be out of the way watching football tonight so she will be left in peace to clean the 4 rooms.

Saturday, 15th February, 2020

I hate days like this. The Sky engineer is expected between 8.00 am – 5.00 pm. Do not pass Go! Do not leave the house! We are told that the storm will hit us about 11.00 am

It is 11.00 am and the sun has started to trickle out. My Sky account informs me that the Sky engineer will be with us between 3.00 pm – 5.00 pm. We decide to pop down to the beach for a walk in the sea breeze. Signs of the previous storm allied to high tides are still absolutely obvious with shale strewn across the coastal path, across the coast road and up adjoining streets. 

The sun very quickly gave up the struggle and settled in to a gentle greyness. Although the temperature registered 11C/52/F, it felt much more bracing in the stiff breeze coming off the sea.

Over the past 4 years here, we have welcomed so many tradesmen and, almost without exception, they have been delightful, with a pride in their job and keen to provide a good service. Mark from Sky arrived at 3.05 pm. By 3.10 pm, I had learnt that he was born and bred in Littlehampton, went to the local school, lives in a flat near the beach, is 29 years old and engaged to Jenny who works in a Call Centre. They will be married in Worthing in April.

Mark brought with him the Main Q-Box and one mini-box. I asked him to supply me with three additional mini-boxes which I had earlier been told would cost me an extra £300.00/€361.00. I thought it was a reasonable price but Mark told me it would only cost half that. Who was I to argue? He finished by 5.00 pm – just in time for me to watch Liverpool win again. Mark told me that we was rewarded with £3.00/€3.62 for each of the 3 extra boxes he sold me. This is how wonderful workers are exploited. It wasn’t much but I gave him a couple of bottles of wine as he left. I was very grateful for his work.

Sunday, 2nd February, 2020

Well, Brexit hasn’t improved the weather even on this palindromic day – 02.02.2020 – Grey and wet this morning although mild at 12C/54F. It’s enough to turn one to drink although not me. We Derbyshire-bred men are made of sterner stuff. Yesterday, I began my second month of abstinence with equanimity. Today, I have only 59 more days to go. They would go and make February 29 days this year. Still, with resolve stiffened, I go forward to the gym.

It could be worse. On this day in 2009, it was snowing across the Pennines. The roads were blocked and school was closed for 4 days. I was visiting a Cardiologist who ordered an echo cardiagram and diagnosed me with Atrial Fibrillation. I have been an imbiber of rat poison ever since.

Monday, 3rd February, 2020

We are pushing ourselves for the first 3 months of this year with a view to ‘earning’ and indulging ourselves in a sustained period of travel after that. Today, against a backdrop of grey skies that turned, eventually, to more rain, I pursued a rental property in central Bordeaux. We intend to spend a week of June in the city and have decided not to stay in a hotel but rent an apartment instead. 

We are ‘foodies’ and one of the frustrations when we are staying in hotels in European cities is to browse the local market, find lots of exciting ingredients but not be able to do anything with them. An apartment will provide that opportunity. 

We intend to take an apartment in central Bordeaux where we can shop in the nearby Marché des Capucins which appears to feature the most wonderful fish, meat, game, fruit and vegetables that will give us great enjoyment.

Tuesday, 4th February, 2020

Lovely sunny day with clear blue sky and sharp, rich colours. Pauline has gone out to the Beauticians for her 3rd of a course of 5 facial treatments – electrolysis on her chin.  We are both being visited by the evils of old age. Pauline has about 5 hairs appearing on her chin. They are so slight that I haven’t even noticed them. I am too worried about my own degradation. I am starting to develop grey hair. I am constantly catching myself walking round with my mouth open. I’ve noticed that lots of old-er men do the same. When you walk round with your mouth open, not only do you look brain dead but there is a tendency to slobber. Sexy it is not. 

To distract myself from slobbering, I am continuing to research our Bordeaux trip. I have found a pleasant apartment just off Rue des Faussets which will be worth following up. The area is teeming with small restaurants and leads out on to a lovely, sunny square – Place Saint-Pierre.

What is so lovely is to be able to find the property on a website – today I am using Booking.com – and then to be able to walk around the area on Google Maps and search out all the attractions without getting exhausted.

Having used my fingers to do the walking in France, I am now off to exercise in the gym. I have now done 5 full weeks without alcohol and missed just 2 days exercise targets. Must try harder!

Wednesday, 5th February, 2020

We were out early on a beautifully bright morning. Pauline had to be at her ‘new’ hairdressers for a 9.00 am appointment. I walked along to the pier where scores of noisy school children were supposed to be queueing for a production in the pier theatre of Jane Eyre. My head immediately switched into ‘teacher’ mode and I was about to bark out a few orders but managed to restrain myself.

The rabble were admitted to the restraint of mid 19th century Bronte of and I continued to late Victorian Worthing Pier. Later, I rested in Costa Coffee with a giant coffee and my iPad until the most beautiful girl in the world returned.

Back home, we did something fairly revolutionary. We decided not to go to the gym. Instead, we walked around our Development and then the local area. I manged to achieve my target even so. As we walked, the most massive rabbit I have ever seen in my life darted out of the hedgerow, saw us and darted straight back in. I didn’t really believe what I was seeing. It was huge. Have to take it with me to the gym tomorrow. 

Thursday, 6th February, 2020

A busy, early morning which opened with clear skies and a touch of frost on the lawn. Major supermarket shopping day starting with Asda and then on to Sainsbury‘s followed by Tesco. My mother’s generation wouldn’t begin to understand our style. For most of my life at home, she shopped locally and expected everything to be brought to her baskets by the shopkeeper. Service was all. Most things were wrapped in heavy duty paper including meat and fish. After I had left home and she had moved on to supermarkets, like us she did one, main shop per week at one, main supermarket although I could never understand why she chose to do it on Saturday when she had all the quiet times of the week to avoid crowds.

Our trip today results from Pauline’s research into which supermarket is best for each item. She uses a supermarket comparison app to compare prices and special offers. We have the time and it is amazing how much she saves in that way. It isn’t only about price. Individual supermarkets have items which are consistently better than from their rivals. The only downside is that we like to do everything ourselves. Scan as you Shop is what we like to do. We use it in Asda and Tesco but it is not available in Sainsbury’s. As a result of that system, we can just scan our phones across the terminal to pay and have an immediate digital record of our purchases.

I started bright, sunny but cold and it didn’t really get above 9C/48F all day. This afternoon, we drove down to Rustington Beach which was bathed in sunlight as the tide was far out. We parked up and set off to walk to Littlehampton Pier. As we walked, the breeze was at our backs and the effort of walking raised our breathing and our temperatures. 

Walking back, the bitter breeze attacked our faces and left us keen to turn on the heated seats, the heated steering wheel and the climate control. Still, amazing how good, clean, seaside air can make one feel!

Friday, 7th February, 2020

Went out early on a cold and bright morning to … Hobbycraft. Pauline had noticed that she could save £1.00/€1.18 on cake containers. She will need 2 next Christmas so we ventured out to save £2.00/€2.36 over a 12 month period. You can take this enthusiasm too far, you know.

I don’t use texting on my smartphone very much. I have big, fat fingers and I don’t find the keyboard easy to use quickly. Consequently, I don’t receive many texts on it either. You will never find me sauntering across the road replying urgently to a text from someone. Even if I got one, I would always respond in repose with forethought. I get out of the habit of checking texts unless my bank or similar require identification. 

This morning, purely by accident because my fat finger caught the text app, I noticed that I had a message from Lizzie Dripping. She is one of my many little sisters. She had the brilliant idea of going to China for Chinese New Year. Actually, her son is married to a Chinese girl so it was obviously a nice idea until coronavirus struck. She texted me to say they had been forced to leave early because Shanghai Airport was about to be ‘locked down’. I texted back – Don’t come near me for at least 2 weeks. but, as she has not come near me for 40 years, I suspect that I am safe.

Saturday, 8th February, 2020

I retired 11 years ago in April. Most of my major software came with me from work. Well, it would have cost thousands of pounds to buy for myself. I’m still using Macromedia Web Design suite and Adobe Acrobat Pro from 2008. 

I have updated my 2007 copy of MSOffice a few times when I could scrounge a copy from somewhere but now, Microsoft have got wise to this policy and are forcing customers to ‘rent’ their software on an annual licence basis. 

I run Ms. Office over multiple machines and it would cost me about £80.00/€95.00 per year. I’m not paying that! After searching, I found an Office 2019 for £36.00/€42.50 as a download. What’s not to like about that. I paid, received my download button and registration key and roared ahead. Except, I didn’t. As soon as I tried to download, the software didn’t come. I immediately thought that I’d been scammed and they had my credit card details. 

I hate it when old people get to scared to make transactions online for fear of fraud. Was I falling into that category? I even phoned the card company with my concerns. They didn’t seem over worried and didn’t suggest ‘freezing’ my account. I got into a rather fragile online chat relationship with the company’s technical help who told me that I needed to remove every last vestige of any, older Office components. Never had to do that before. I had 2010 & 2016 copies on my machine. Having done that, the download went smoothly and the installation but, when I came to register my software, Microsoft told me the software key had been used to many times already. My ‘scam’ fears rose again but, as soon as I informed the company, they sent me a new ‘key’ and the job was done.

Apart from a bit of nervous perspiration, I have a fully working copy of MS Office 2019 which will last me a few more years for the sole cost of £36.00/€42.50 so I’m already squids in!

Sunday, 26th January, 2020

The greyness continues although its is mild. Rain is forecast for later. It is a morning in and we have divided our work on traditional lines. Pauline made breakfast, set about cleaning the house and ended the morning with a bit of ironing. I was busy watching the cricket from South Africa and reading the newspapers.

Actually, I also spent some time tying up loose ends for our Springtime travel. When we go away for a month, we book a taxi to Gatwick and take a room at the Sofitel the night before. We drop our bags off at the airport in the evening and then just walk through the covered corridor to the Checkin in the morning. We go through security and down to a Executive Lounge, No1 Gatwick for Breakfast. If we had to pay for any of this we probably wouldn’t do so. Entry on the door is £40.00/€47.50 per person. Fortunately, we get a DragonPass Premier card from our bank which entitles to choose entry to all the Executive Lounges. However, we have found increasing pressure on entry to these facilities and now book ahead to ensure we have places available. The Lounges want to maintain the serene atmosphere and limit occupancy levels in order to do that.

We will have breakfast and download our newspapers in peace and quiet before venturing out into the teaming concourse with people walking everywhere at the slowest pace one can imagine and dragging their potentially lethal cabin case behind them.

It beats me why anyone shops for electrical goods or clothes at the airport because it isn’t really ‘duty free’ at all. Those shopping are oblivious to others just wanting to get on with their travelling. Anyway, we insist on booking ‘extra legroom’ on our flights so we automatically get ‘speedy boarding’ and don’t need to queue for hours.

With that trip done and dusted, we went out in light rain to the gym and did a full exercise routine. It makes sense for me to watch the cricket on the jogger and on the exercise bike than just on a settee in our lounge.

Monday, 27th January, 2020

Grey at first and wet later. The weather couldn’t get much worse. I’d rather be in South Africa for the weather and the cricket.

Whatever I was doing today, I was never far from a television screen for what turned out to be the final day of the Test Match. I’ve really enjoyed watching this series especially because we were winning. It is lovely to be able to be able to access live broadcasts and the time to watch them. It is one thing I missed in Greece where the satellite service providers didn’t deem their audience likely to want to pay for it. Perhaps there are a few in Corfu but not generally in Greece where Basketball, Football & Athletics reign.

Today we received a letter from our bank informing us that they owed us money. You don’t get one of those every day. Apparently, a recent historical audit had found that customers who had made international payments between 2010 – 2014 had done so with wrongly calculated foreign exchange rates. This was a time when we were spending half the year each year in our Greek home and using the bank’s services extensively. They have informed us that they will be paying back the deficit plus interest. I’ll drink to that …. on April 1st after my 3 month embargo.

Unpleasant outside though it was, we went out to do our exercise routine. Addiction is a terrible thing. I have missed just one day so far in 2020. My body expects it now.

Tuesday, 28th January, 2020

The day has opened with beautiful sunshine and blue skies. We went for an unusually early Gym session because I had an appointment this afternoon. The day felt lovely after the persistent greyness of recent times. Driving with sunshine in our eyes felt delightful. The gym was busy at 11.00 am with people who we never meet in our normal slot.

Back home, I read for a while. On Faceache, an ex-college student had made a return to the town and taken pictures of a rainy Ripon a few days ago. I was immediately transported back to 1969 in Ripon market square and its obelisk where I first learned the power of red wine. I was 18 and in my first week away from home. Wonderful, wonderful days that I didn’t really want to end. Reading on, I went to the Huddersfield Examiner which reported the first snow of the season by publishing a photo taken in the lane next to our garden in the tiny village of Helme. We were working in that garden from 1984 – 2000. It was a joyous place where we were very happy and I, once again, didn’t want to leave.

I had to go out to the Hospital to have my annual, Diabetic eye check up which involves receiving iris-expanding drops followed by 3D photography of the eyes. Fortunately, I am no longer considered diabetic so the pressure on my sight is not so extreme but I value the service for my own reassurance. 

Pauline had to drive because of the drops effect on my eyes and I was carried home and ‘waited on’ for a couple of hours until I was prepared to admit that I could see well enough to look after myself. It was then that I opened my email to read the most shocking story of the day or week. When we sold our property in Helme in 2000, we moved to a house built in a disused quarry in Longwood. We really enjoyed it and the experience was made even better because we had such lovely neighbours. We hadn’t really had any neighbours for the past 20 years.

Jean & Perry lived next door and we would often come home to find Jean mowing our lawns. Perry lectured at Bradford College in Crafts. In his spare time, he bought, renovated and let out properties in the area. He would often come round and do the odd bit of joinery for us because I certainly couldn’t. Jean is our age but Perry is about 14 years younger. He always said he would retire at age 55 which is this year. They have owned Spanish properties in the past and dreamed of buying another one for their Retirement. 

Today all those dreams are gone. Recently, Perry a fit workaholic, was diagnosed with Vasculitis which has resulted in him receiving a plasma cleansing treatment seven times in a short space of time followed by an infection that gave him fluid on his brain and then a massive blood clot on his lung. He has been left with little feeling in his feet and fingers and will always have to wear a splint and use a crutch. If that doesn’t put one’s troubles in perspective, nothing will. It certainly teaches us that we should never take our time for granted but make the most of every single minute we have here together. We never know when we might lose it.

Wednesday, 29th January, 2020

A gloriously sunny day but nor warm. Quite a chill in the breeze has kept the temperature at around 10C/50F. Quite a lot of Office work this morning – writing to friends, contacting our bank and our builders. 

To enjoy the sunshine and get some bracing air, we nipped down to the beach where humans don’t exist. The tide was coming in and rattling the pebbles against the breakwaters. Amazing how the seagulls cope with such waves but they seem quite at home. There is something elemental down here that chimes with one’s sense of being. 

The tugs and sways of the sea find echoes in our subconsciousness. I suppose, humankind crawled out of the primordial soup and back to it we will return. The shingle beach is scattered with death – shells, fish heads, etc. which will wash in and out on the tide until they are reduced to grains of dust.

Thursday, 30th January, 2020

The penultimate day of January 2020 has reverted to recent type with dull, grey skies and intermittent rain.  We were receiving a tradesman this morning for our annual, central heating service. For the past 10 years, we have lived in new-build properties and heating has barely featured as something worthy of attention. We have lived in old houses. Our first was a coaching house built at the beginning of the 20th century. The heating was costly to run and not particularly efficient. We opened up a fireplace in the lounge to burn logs and provide direct warmth. The boiler was upstairs in the ‘Airing Cupboard’ and was drop fed from a cold water tank in the loft. 

When we lived in a 5-bedroom, 3-storey house in Yorkshire more than 10 years ago, the heating bill was about £2,500.00/€2,965.00 per year. The house was built in 1980 when insulation standards were so much lower. Here and 10 years on, our heating bill is less than half that because of greater efficiency of the apparatus and more modern approaches to insulation. However, one of the things you don’t really get in modern systems is a hot airing cupboard. In the past, our copper boiler was just lagged with an ill-fitting and laced-up boiler jacket. Lots of heat escaped which dried and aired the washed clothes. There is little or no heat escaping from the totally encased boiler which is directly fed from the incoming cold water pipe.

Of course, our boiler is connected to the web and we can control it from iPads and mobile phones which feels like light years away from the boiler we coped with in our first house more than 40 years ago. However, it still has to be maintained and we have an annual contract for a little man service. He spends about 90 mins and we spend £120.00/€143.00 but it’s worth it. 

Friday, 31st January, 2020

The days continue grey and damp and reflect our mood and that of millions of our fellow countrymen and women.

TV programmes this morning feature interviews with Brits who voted Brexit and didn’t think it would affect them in Spain. Now they are concerned about their pensions vis a vis uprating and exchange rate fluctuation. They are worried about how they will afford Healthcare now EHIC cover is disappearing and, of course, as our government rows back on early pledges over Europeans in UK, EU member states are likely to review their conditions for the residence of UK immigrants to their countries.

We were out shopping this morning with basketsful of European vegetables and fruit. Guaranteed supply for the rest of the year is not enough. 

We have 2 months planned abroad in the Canaries so far this year plus a week in Athens. We have 2 x 4 days stays in Yorkshire and we expect to arrange similar shopping trips to France in June and September. We want to do a couple of European City Breaks as well which will include Bordeaux and, possibly a Spanish city as well. We’ve wanted to go to Bordeaux for quite a while and I am currently exploring hotels and flights. Easyjet flights from Gatwick are incredibly cheap but I haven’t really found a good hotel within walking distance of the town centre so that is my current quest. Whatever anyone else says, we will be travelling as citizens of Europe!

Saturday, 1st February, 2020

Sunday, 19th January, 2020

Another glorious day with a hint of frost around. It is so lovely that we went for a walk around our Development to enjoy the sun and fresh air. We had woken up to a disappointing message to tell us that the villa we had booked on Lanzarote for the month of May is no longer available.

Apparently, the owner has two booking platforms and one had failed to communicate with the other. The villa was already booked but it failed to show on the Booking Chart. I had even booked Easyjet flights yesterday at a cost of £540.00/€634.00 for the two of us. Fortunately, Easyjet have a cancellation policy which meant it only cost us £33.00 and the rest was repaid to us. We discussed it as we walked and decided to look again.

Two days ago, Pauline took a photo as we left the Health Club. Today, I took the same photo.

What a difference sunshine makes. It’s even stiffened the backbone of that previously wilting lamp post. We have now done every day for 3 weeks here and I’m really feeling weary but my target is 91 so only another 70 to go. 

Monday, 20th January, 2020

Beautiful day of blue sky and sunshine. We had been led to expect very low temperatures last night and heavy frost this morning but it failed to appear even though the sky was so clear. I think we are saved by proximity to the sea.

I am addicted to politics, current affairs and news as well as really enjoying sport. I regularly move between the kitchen, lounge and office as I did this morning watching the last throes of the 3rd, S. Africa v England Test Match. England were going to win as long as the weather held out. It did and they did. I was determined to watch the victory. The televisions were on in all three rooms where there Sky boxes.

1. In the lounge we have the main box – a Sky+HD 2TB Box – allied to a 55″ smart screen. This allows me to record 2 programmes at once + download catchup programmes saving up to 350 hrs of material.
2. In the kitchen we have a Sky+HD WiFi Box allied to a 42″ screen. This allows me to record one programme + download catchup programmes saving up to 60 hrs of material.
3. In the office we have a Sky+ Multiscreen Box which just allows us to watch any other Sky programme. 

So, practically, we could have 3 different Sky programmes on in 3 different rooms at the same time. We also have 3 ‘Freeview’-receiving televisions in 3 of the 4 bedrooms upstairs.

Today, I gave in to Sky’s persuasion and agreed to swap over to Sky Q boxes. This has been prompted by our newly acquired super, super fast, fibre to the door broadband. Sky Q boxes are largely run on wi-fi not all relying on satellite dish reception. It is about time. After all, all the Spanish properties we’ve stayed in have received/supplied all Sky channels through internet alone.

The main Q box currently will connect to the satellite dish but will then feed all the other mini boxes via wi-fi alone. This means that the main box will record 6 shows and watch a 7th live. It will also allow users to watch different Sky programmes on 3 different televisions at the same time. It is also possible to freeze a live or saved programme in one room and pick it up at the same point in another room. Finally, it allows one to download programmes/films to an iPad and watch them at a later date.

I was paying £101.00/€118.40 per month for my current package. By making this switch to a larger Q box + 4 mini boxes and taking their incentive of Sky Cinema, the monthly price will be ….. £98.00/€115.00. A Sky engineer will be calling soon.

Tuesday, 21st January, 2020

A hint of frost and a beautiful day. We decided to go out to a different beach. I looked at the map and just picked one. Our sat. nav. said it would take us 20 mins to drive there and so we set off. We were going somewhere we had probably been just once before – Elmer Beach just outside Bognor Regis. George V famously is reported as saying, Bugger Bognor when he was asked to endow it with Regis in its title. Pauline had  similar view of it when we went there a couple of years ago. Elmer Beach, on the other hand, is a jewel.

Miles of virtually deserted pebble beach, beautiful sunshine and vibrant colours all provide a wonderful counterpoint to Winter’s greyness. We walked and drank it all in. Fresh sea air, brilliant sunshine a Mediterranean colours do so much for the spirits. We even enjoyed talking to the cormorant.

Wednesday, 22nd January, 2020

In total contrast, today is dull and cold. Why did I decide to clean the car? Anyway, it had to be done so I did it. In this week back 11 years ago in 2009, we were just entering our last Ofsted inspection of our careers. How far away that feels. I do know I’d rather be cleaning the car whatever the weather.

Coming back in from the depressing weather, I made an enquiry about a villa in Costa Adeje, southern Tenerife for the month of May. 

It looks interesting, reasonably well appointed with its own, heated pool and may give us an enjoyable month in the sun. We’ll see.

Returning from the gym, we cooked our meal outside but it was rather cold – only around 8C/47F – and the air was damp. Where is that global warming when you want it?

Thursday, 23rd January, 2020

Grey, grey, grey and the same temperature as yesterday – 8C/47F – but feeling cuttingly colder in the coastal breeze. Today, we were dragged out of the E.U.. On this exact day 7 years ago in 2013, I wrote in my Blog:

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

We were out early to do our weekly shopping at Sainsbury‘s and Tesco. Our bill struck me as quite high – circa £160.00/€190.00 – although that did include two, large, sides of salmon, 3 cod loins, and a large, quality fresh chicken which certainly adds to the cost.

We went to Sainsbury‘s first and rather regretted it. It was in darkness and the escalator was stationary. There was a power cut which, unbeknown to us, was being experienced over a wide part of our, local area including our own home which we found as all the clocks were flashing when we returned. Sainsbury‘s announced, when the power came back on, that their computerised tills would take some time to re-boot. They did but, just as customers goods were being swiped through, the power went off again and the whole process started over again. This happened three times before order was restored. Amazing how much relies on computers and, therefore, on electricity.

The photograph above appeared in my inbox yesterday. I was immediately take back over the past 20 years of our lives. This is the port of the Greek island on which we bought a field and built a house. Looking back now, it almost feels unreal and yet the memories are testament to its reality. Must go back and see it soon.

Friday, 23rd January, 2020

Between 1969 – 1978, I wasn’t registered with a doctor at all. I never needed one. I’m ashamed to admit that I didn’t visit a dentist either. Between the ages of 18 – 28, many of us are generally healthy and too busy living our lives and dreaming of immortality to worry about our health. Getting married, of course, changes all that. In my experience, women think and know about bodies more than men and Wives like to organise their maintenance. Well, that may be a big generalisation but it certainly applied to me. I don’t like to acknowledge illness but, if something goes wrong, I don’t understand it and panic.

In the space called Retirement, we have more time to contemplate our navels .. and other bits. I am constantly amazed to learn what bits we have got and which I’ve had for almost 70 years without realising it. Of course, increased knowledge of body bits means increased areas of concern. I have always been, essentially, blind in my left eye. I was born with it and never even thought about it as a youth. In my 50s, I had a ‘vision episode’ which led to me visiting Specsavers exactly 11 years ago. The young girl there who checked my sight probably saved my life. She picked up an irregularity which led me to a cardiologist who diagnosed Atrial Fibrillation and prescribed life-long warfarin. Without that, there is a huge chance that I would have suffered a stroke or heart attack by now.

Although I am no longer considered Diabetic, I still feel reassured by attending annual Diabetic retinopathy test in which my eyes are scanned in 3D for any blood vessel abnormalities. Of course, this is made even more important in someone with sight in only one eye. Next week will be my annual test. As regular readers will know, I am religious about testing my INR or coagulation rate of my blood vis-à-vis my Atrial Fibrillation and next week will be my bi-monthly hospital report. Bi-annually, as senior citizens, we do the poo test. It is, of course, more formally known as the Bowel Cancer Screening Test. Next week, we will be undertaking this for the 5th, consecutive time.

Let’s hope we pass that lot …. if you’ll pardon the expression!

Friday, 23rd January, 2020

Recently we have got used to getting up and observing a grey world outside. Today was no different. I resolved to complete a Springtime booking in the sunshine. The previous villa I featured on Wednesday has been rejected in favour of a new-build villa that we know of from our walks last November. It is built on 3 levels at the back overlooking the sea and one level on the front overlooking the extinct volcano with the banana plantation.

The problem with these rentals for just two people is that, to get all the facilities we want, you have to rent a property which is far to big for us. This is huge in footprint and has 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, a large, open plan lounge/dining Room, kitchen, laundry room, pool, verandas all round plus garage. The cost for 4 weeks is €4,567.00/£3,850.00 + flights. We have booked Easyjet return flights with extra legroom and speedy boarding for £640.00/€760.00. On a grey day like today, I would have paid double for everything!

Sunday, 12th January, 2020

A lovely day of blue sky and sunshine. I am on the 12th day of 91 days without alcohol. I must say that I have hardly thought about it but I control the circumstances.  We had considered a few days in France but that would be fatal. Going to a dinner party, going out to a restaurant, anything out of routine, in fact, would severely test me. Drinking wine is essentially a social act and, for me, is intimately wrapped up in eating good food.

I use one specific replacement for alcohol. It is not pleasant but I can easily become addicted to it. I drink Shloer and sparkling water in spritzer form. The wine racks remain absolutely full and the Shloer boxes rapidly become empty. Over Christmas, supermarkets sell a lot of Shloer and, in the new year discount it. This year, standard price is £2.20/€2.58 and I found that Morrisons was selling it discounted at £1.00/€1.18. Too good to be avoided for an addict like me. This morning we drove down there to stock up. 

I completed scanning in Pauline’s memories box with the help of her sister’s memory. Pauline didn’t know who these people were although they were in her box. The photograph was taken in Oldham in the early 20th Century and were, in fact, the Grandparents she never met.

We did our gym workout and then Pauline griddled Tuna steaks in the garden. It is noticeable that the afternoons are remaining lighter longer which is a lovely prospect of what is to come.

Monday, 13th January, 2020

Another beautiful morning which is lucky because I have to wheel 3 bins out on to the roadside for collection this morning. I’m a bit tired because we went to bed well after midnight. We were watching a film. It is a very rare event for me. I am not a fan of films or fiction generally. I am more attracted by facts and ideas. Also, I don’t cope with late nights as well now as I did in my youth. However, one of the benefits of retirement is the ability to choose to do whatever one wants and hang the consequences.

I am rarely if ever conscious of dreaming although I am aware of specific triggers in me that cause it. Since childhood, if I had a temperature through illness, a common dream for me was to be on a high cliff or building and feel the sensation of falling. I know we are all believed to dream every night particularly in our REM state. During Rapid Eye Movement sleep, our brain is almost as active as it is when we are awake. REM sleep is thought to help consolidate memories.

It is almost 11 years since I retired from teaching and I haven’t taught an English lesson since the 1980s but, recently, I’ve been waking up genuinely concerned that I am going in to a classroom this morning where my class is about to sit an examination on a book which I have not taught them – actually, I’ve not bothered to teach them. In real life those sorts of things didn’t really worry me. I took them in my stride and always found a solution – usually it was just CHEAT. However, in my dream I wake slightly fearful of the consequences and then reality suddenly dawns on me.

          You’re not a teacher. You have no responsibility. It’s somebody else’s problem.

I am instantly bathed in a warm enveloping sense of relaxation and calm. It is the calm of retirement that everyone should experience.

Tuesday, 14th January, 2020

Tuesday is INR testing day. Recently, I have been so stable that I’ve reduced it to fortnightly. Actually, if I didn’t have my own machine, I would be having the test only every 8 weeks which is a little too scary for me. That is how often that I have to report my reading to the Hospital which I do via email. It is so convenient.

I am fortunate to be able to fund myself. The machine is about £600.00/€699.00 to buy and, although I get 24 test strips on prescription from my doctor, I buy a backup pack at a cost of £80.00/€93.22 per year as well. I suppose I could demand additional ones on prescription but I decide to make it equitable. My INR range should be between 2.0 – 3.0 and, mainly, it is. I have kept a spreadsheet since January 2009 recording every single reading which is more than can be said of the NHS. Every time I have moved, my records have not moved with me.

I have now completed 2 weeks without alcohol and my test today reflects that. For the first time since April last year, I am outside my required range. I tested 1.8. This is because my blood is slightly too thick. Alcohol contributes to blood thinning/anticoagulation and my test reflects that. I have two choices: take more Warfarin or drink wine. I have decided to ….. take more Warfarin.

It is a horrible day outside – grey and wet. Coastguards have issued an urgent warning for West Sussex, as the remains of ex-Storm Brendan sweeps in. We are still going to the gym but I can’t see myself swimming today.

Wednesday, 15th January, 2020

We went out early to buy fish from the fisherman’s shed on Littlehampton Pier. At that time, the day was dire – grey, cold and wet. Fresh fish was just being displayed as we arrived. Usually, we can only order large amounts of Tuna and Swordfish which, of course, is not caught locally but today, a joint of each had just been delivered.

A 1.3 kg joint of Swordfish cost us £31.00/€36.17 which compares with today’s market price of £32.00/€37.30 per kilo. The 4.3 kg joint of Tuna cost us £98.00/€114.28 which compares with a market price today of £60.00/€70.00 per kilo. 

We moved on to Littlehampton Beach which was much less inviting than usual even the seagulls had left for the land and allowed the rooks to move in. Certainly not a day for a swim in these waves.

Thursday, 16th January, 2020

We seem to spend our lives shopping. Yesterday we were out on the shoreline to buy fresh fish.

Today it was Sainsbury’s and Tesco for our main, grocery shopping. This split photograph shows the shop frontage of Tesco Extra. The right hand side is the first quarter and the left shows the other three quarters. The toilets are at the bottom of the far left corner. This is not good news for old men. Walking from one end of the shop to the other is a reasonable workout in itself. No wonder you see so many old people bent over their trolleys in exhaustion.

Talking about exhaustion, I’m feeling it today. I didn’t sleep well again last night and I have no idea why. I’m not troubled in the slightest. Quite the reverse. I am into the 16th day of a rather calorie-reduced period. I am about to go to the gym for the 18th consecutive day of my current piece. These things do take their toll but my mind just fights back and shouts, Keep going. Don’t let yourself down. Who could ignore that?

Friday, 17th January, 2020

Pauline went out this morning in rain to go to the Beautician’s in Rustington and returned an hour or so later in brilliant sunshine out of clear, blue sky. I’ve certainly had enough of grey, English days. I really wish we had booked some time away in the sunshine.

This morning I booked us a month away in Lanzarote in a 2 bedroom villa with a pool, washing machine wi-fi and English language tv. 

For the month of May, it will cost us £3,850.00/€4,520.00 + Return Easyjet Flights at £540.00/€634.00 for the two of us.

We will go to Gatwick the day before, drop off our bags early and stay in the Sofitel for the night because we fly early the next day which gives us plenty of time on arrival at our villa for orientation.

Saturday, 18th January, 2020

Gorgeous morning with a hint of frost in the fields. We drove down to the beach to let our eyes drink in the sunshine and banish the Winter Blues. The tide was out and the sand exposed, strewn with pebbles.

Pauline always comes prepared for every, climactic condition  and she posed in her Mediterranean sunglasses to the total admiration of all the passing dogs and their owners.

We walked along the waterline for a while and breathed in the ozone being greeted by trotting dogs, large and small before driving home for coffee. 

We went off to the Health Club at 1.00 pm for our 21st, consecutive day and did a couple of hours exercise before driving home to griddle chicken thighs and mushrooms in the garden. I watched Cricket in the gym and was disappointed when rain stopped play but I caught the last few overs of the day back home. Great to watch Newcastle beat Chelsea in the last minute of extra time this evening.

Sunday, 5th January, 2020

The weather has turned out to be completely wrong. Supposed to be pleasant this morning according to BBC forecasts. I planned to clean the car. Actually, it is cold with light rain falling. I have decided to watch the cricket from South Africa where the sky has also taken an overcast demeanour. Fortunately, the cricket is going England’s way – at the moment.

I’ve had superfast, fibre -to-the-door from BT for a few months. I pay for a guarantee of 300 mbps download speed which is 10 x faster than before. I also expect around 50 mbps upload. I thought I would do a check this morning and received this result.

I do find BT incredibly reliable and worthwhile. It costs me £75.00/€88.00 per month but that also includes ‘Unlimited Anytime Landline calls’. What I find astonishing is how these communication/information/entertainment bills  have gradually been incorporated in to our monthly outgoings over the years. We pay:

• BT Broadband + Landline Calls = £75.00/€88.00
• BT Sport = £10.00/€11.74
• EE – 2 Mobiles = £89.00/€105.00
• Sky TV = £102.00/€120.00
• TV Licence = £13.20
• Web Space + Domain Name rental = £16.50/€19.40

So that is a total of £305.50/€408.40 per month or an astonishing £3,666.00/€4,900.80 per year and this has just insidiously crept up. We always had a landline in our house as a child although we were not allowed to use it. Many people, probably most in the early 1950s, had to rely on the red box public telephone on the street. Making a call involved pushing a few pennies into the phone box and pressing Button A. In those days people did not have access to mass communication or information gathering. The nearest source for that was the local library.

Personally, I believe that all such access to information and communication should be a right and ‘free’ to individuals financed through progressive taxation. Of course, entertainment is a different matter. People should not have to decide whether to eat and heat their homes as opposed to hearing/watching the news of world events or being able to telephone their friends and relatives. 

Monday, 6th January, 2020

Didn’t sleep well last night and woke up tired. The day was grey and the street had taken down its Christmas lights thank goodness. In the religious calendar, it is Epiphany. I’m pleased to know that I had my own epiphany many years ago and saw sense. The Greeks, of course, take it to extremes and dive into the Aegean in spite of the season. 

I saw a video clip of snow falling today at Σταθμός Δουκίσσης Πλακεντίας, the last Metro station on the way out of Athens before reaching the Airport. Quite amazing. These days are featuring cold, strong winds, rain and snow across the Hellenic lands. What a time to throw oneself into the sea. On Σίφνος, just one person volunteered at πλατυ γυαλο and you can see how sunny and warm it was.

In Φάρο, no one could be found and the cross was thrown in attached to a string only to be retrieved by the priest himself by hauling in the string. I’m sure the sea gods understood in those conditions.

I didn’t need a god to persuade me in to the water today. My wife is fearsome enough. Actually, it’s easier when the water’s heated. Someone should tell the Greeks!

Tuesday, 7th January, 2020

A week in to the new year already as the travellator speeds up. Today, I have booked up another chunk of the year. Yorkshire in March will be interesting. Friends from our past who we were thinking of visiting in Australia have helpfully saved us a pile of cash by getting themselves deported back to UK. Their visas have run out and there son’s job and that of his Australian wife has meant a move to the U.S. so they have failed to get their visas renewed. We are going to visit them in Saddleworth in their new home. It will coincide with the first day of our 12th year of Retirement. Really hard to believe.

The day is lovely which bodes well for our gym & swim. Before that, I’ve had to read my new car manual because, when I was cleaning the car the other day, I looked at a row of switches below the steering wheel and thought that I wasn’t completely sure what all of them were.

Now I am clear, will I remember? I will do my best. I love the car and love driving it. I have never had a more relaxing driving experience from any car. This would have been ideal for driving to Greece. Let’s hope it is as we drive across Spain in the Summer. I’m already wishing my time away! 

I am such a lucky man. Every day I finish my meal and observe how wonderful it was. Today, Sea Bass with Scallops and Prawns in a light, Garlic Sauce with roasted peppers & endive. If I died now, I’d die a happy man!

Wednesday, 8th January, 2020

Yet another grey day. It’s depressing. Pensioners shouldn’t have to put up with this. Actually, it is forcing us to reassess our future arrangements. We have been discussing reallocating our travelling times to alleviate this darkness. Maybe we should return to our previous pattern and do two months in the Canarian sunshine in November and January/February and then enjoy the warmer months at home in Sussex. We are going to toss that idea around in heads before making any firm decision.

If you want grey, you can have grey and we did this morning as we walked on the beach with the gulls and the rooks.

Although the sight and sound of waves breaking on the pebbled beach raised our spirits, we definitely felt that our get-up-&-go was missing this morning. It was a real effort to do our exercise routine today … but we did. As we drove home, Pauline read a report of a man suffering a heart attack on a jogging machine in our gym about a week ago. Fortunately, there are defibrillators everywhere and all the staff are trained in CPR. The man was resuscitated and has been released from hospital unscathed. Reassuring. Now where’s the sun?

Thursday, 9th January, 2020

Another dark, damp morning although mild at 12C/54F. Today is shopping day – Post Office, Asda, Sainsburys, Tesco. After that and before we go to the gym, we discuss our other trip to Yorkshire which will be in October. This trip has to include October 18th which, unfortunately, this year falls on a Sunday. I went on my IHG app and put in the dates. Just 4 nights in our normal suite including member discount was coming out at £650.00/€765.00 which seemed a bit steep. We decided to look around for alternatives. We never eat in our hotel other than for Breakfast so we looked at a development that was being designed as we were leaving Huddersfield in 2011.

Just down the road from where we used to live, a beautiful, 18th century textile mill stone building was being converted into apartments. Subsequently, they were let out on short/medium terms with accompanying facilities like gym, spa, coffee shop, bistro, hair salon, conference & meeting centre.

We would rent the penthouse which is sited at the top of the old water tower. It has a roof terrace which provides panoramic views over Huddersfield. More to the point, it has a fully equipped kitchen which will allow us to do our own catering which suits us very well.

We had never considered it before but, when we put our dates in to the booking form, it came up with a price of £350.00/€412.00. That is quite a persuasive argument which we expect to follow up tomorrow. 

Friday, 10th January, 2020

Well, something has gone seriously wrong this morning. Blue sky, bright sunshine and reasonably warm. How did that happen? We celebrated by doing a bit of gardening – pruning and tidying. It was nice to be out there and active.

This morning I received a fascinating photograph from a Sifnos friend. It shows what looks like tourists in white, summer suits with straw boaters posing for pictures with Kastro as a backdrop. It just underlines how slow the pace of change was up to the 1970s. 

Of course, Sifnos time differs from that in the rest of the world in one major respect. Whereas we all work on BC & AD, Sifnos just has Pre-PD & Post-PD. These two photographs feature Sifnos in gentler times, pre-Poison Dwarf.

Saturday, 11th January, 2020

We had a panic two days ago because Pauline had lost her autograph book. She got it in 1960 and her enthusiasm for collecting signatures lasted long enough to get about 8 specimens. However, it is priceless to her because one of those eight is her father’s. It is a link with him that has endured since his death in 1961 when she was just 10 years old.

It always sat in an old, oak box on the mantlepiece in other houses. We don’t have a mantlepiece here and the oak box is empty. Everywhere has been searched twice until this morning when a clutch of old photographs revealed the autographs nestling inside. Pauline’s Dad was there and will never be lost again. He is to be filed carefully after I have scanned him in and saved the scan in triplicate – on a USB Memories stick, in the Cloud and on this Blog. 

We both love our iPads. Particularly, I love my huge iPad Pro with its attached keyboard cover that turns it almost into a laptop. However, its main drawback is that the screen is unreadable in sunlight and we love to spend our spare time in sunlight whether in the garden or abroad. Pauline has long used an Amazon Kindle to read books. She reads every night in bed and often in the evening and outside in the sunshine because the paperwhite, liquid crystal display doesn’t degrade in sunlight. 

She has 2 Kindles and the first one was bought in December 2010 for £150.00/€177.00. She bought a larger one with a backlight and sharper screen display since then but both have ‘free’ 3G/4G AT&T connectivity to download from the Amazon shop, collect emails and slowly browse the web. This element is fairly basic but has been invaluable when we’ve been in isolated places without wi-fi.

Today, it looks as if Kindle 1 is dying. Only 9 years service? They just don’t make things to last these days. Of course, Brexit will put all that right. 

Sunday, 29th December, 2019

As Christmas week ends, the Blog begins its 12th year of inconsequential babble. For me, it is structure, routine, purpose, context, diary, memory…. Whatever it is for you, Dear Reader, you have my sincere sympathies. The anniversaries come thick and fast around now. Christmas Day, Boxing Day, Wedding Anniversary (41st tomorrow – Thank you, Richard.) New Year’s Eve, Start of New Decade – the 2020s.

Over the years, I have not been brilliant at maintaining friendships in any meaningful way. I have not been prepared to go the extra mile for anyone other than my wife. It’s not that I don’t care but that I don’t care enough. If have to be blunt. I know, because my Mother warned me over 50 years ago that I would die a sad and lonely death through lack of friends and she will probably be proved right. I think, in many ways, she did the same.

However, on retiring and having time to reflect upon my life, I took stock of the support significant people gave me at strategic points in my development. I realised that there were people who went beyond the call of duty – unlike me – to help me find my way. I realised that I owed them the duty of gratitude I should have bestowed at the time but was too much in a hurry to leave that stage of my life behind and move on to the next to do it.

There was my Rugby/Athletics/English mentor who helped me through the time after Dad’s death. I hadn’t seen Vic Roebuck for 40 years and he was in his 90s when I tracked him down. I wrote him a long letter of thanks for all the precious time he had spent on me and what it had meant to me. He wrote back with real gratitude that I had ‘remembered’ him. He died a couple of years later. I wrote to my College English tutor, David McAndrew who had supervised my thesis and started me on the path of life long learning. He provided me with the spark I needed to forge ahead in my academic development. David was in his 90s when I finally tracked him down through the publisher of his last volume of poetry. I actually received an email of thanks from him. He died the next year. At least I manged to acknowledge my debt to them before they went and I recorded it in my Blog with their photographs at the time. 

As a child, I did not really like large family life or small village life. I found them both claustrophobic. I was desperate to break out, to break away. Of course, as a young lad, I was unable to do either but I was given one, genuine escape by David Beasley. He was/is about 12 years older than me. He ran the village Scout Troop and his wife ran the Cubs. In the Winter of 1957, David put me on the back of his motor cycle and drove me all of 200 yds up the village High Street to the Village Hall to join the brotherhood of males in the Cubs. It was the most exciting thing that had ever happened to me.

As I progressed from Cubs to Scouts, etc, I received huge support and advice from David Beasley. He took me on my first journey outside UK …. all the way to Southern Ireland. In the summer of 1966, just as England was winning the World Cup, we toured around Loch Derg in SW Ireland in a horse drawn ‘tinkers’ caravan. I first learned to smoke and be violently sick on that trip. I learned that Catholic priests got drunk and that Irish horses farted all the time. I haven’t seen David since 1969. I moved away to college and he moved away to live in his beloved Wales with his dear wife, Sue. He was the third person I had to track down and thank and, 10 years ago, I did just that. We have corresponded ever since.

Yesterday, an old scouting friend who has lived in Massachusetts for the past 50 years emailed me to say he had phoned Dave over Christmas only to be told that Sue died in her sleep a week ago. She was just 76. Like Pauline & I, Dave and Sue had led a quiet, fairly isolated life on a remote, Welsh farmstead relying on each other and troubling no one else. I can only imagine how he is feeling now.

Monday, 30th December, 2019

The penultimate day of 2019 and my 41st Wedding Anniversary has opened with an orange light illuminating a foggy sky. My phone says it is just 3C/37F but it is bin day and feels quite mild as I venture out to do man’s work. By 9.30 am, we are out and down on Littlehampton Pier. 

The sun is fighting the mist and will obviously win eventually but the battle is beautiful. Everywhere was almost deserted save for the occasional dog taking its old man for a walk. We both rejoiced in the acknowledgement that we lived in such a beautiful place. 

Even so, we still did our gym routine and then returned to cook scallops, prawns and Sea Bream in white wine and garlic sauce with Gruyère cheese topping accompanied by roasted endive. What a wonderful, celebration meal.

Tuesday, 31st December, 2019

Overcast and cool this morning to mark the end of 2019. Although we’re going to the gym, we have jobs to do beforehand. It is my job to unstack the dishwasher. So that’s done. It is my job to vacuum the house. So that’s done. Now I am going to turn my mind to New Year Resolutions.

1. First on the list is actually making the Hotel/Flights booking for Athens in August/September. Prevarication has stopped and that will be done today. Next, I will try to firm up Summer travel with a drive across Spain and a villa in Murcia for June/July. In between these travelling events, we will intersperse shorter trips to France although we would like to arrange a week in Bordeaux at some stage.
   
   
2. Second, we are going to tighten up on our diet starting with a complete embargo on alcohol for 3 months. This will be accompanied by renewed vigour in the gym & pool. Particularly, we are going to start adding a new piece of resistance equipment in to our routine to work on our stomachs.
   
   
3.  I am going to address one of my other, life-long weakness once again. That is learning to program. I have decided to become a child again and learn Python.

I think I’ve written before that I am a strong ‘end-user’. I have no understanding of the ‘back office’ at all. I can drive a car but know nothing about its workings at all. I couldn’t repair one and I’d struggle to change a tyre. I know how to use my body but I have no idea what parts it is made up of or what could go wrong with it. I use lots of computers but, even though I went on a course to teach me, I still could not possibly build my own.

Information Technology I was good at. Computing I failed completely. It always surprised me because, in spite of being an Arts student, I was always good at Maths & Logic. I thought they would lend themselves to programming. I spent £1500.00/€1765.00 on a course to learn how to program but found I was out of my depth immediately and, although I was reluctant to admit it, I just gave up ultimately.

Twice I have tried to confront my failure but never with any real conviction. This time is different. I can feel it. I will learn to program in Python!

Wednesday, 1st January, 2020

Warning! This year will include flashing images…

I must admit, our acknowledgement of the New Year was fairly cursory. We drank our last glass of wine for 3 months together, Pauline exclaimed, White Rabbit and we went to bed. That’s what old people do. We heard the occasional firework although most of the people around us have gone away for New Year. I don’t know if they’re trying to tell us something.

Even so, we allowed ourselves 10 more minutes in bed this morning. Over breakfast, the normal conversations of the day took place like, What shall we eat for our meal today? We settled on roast salmon and salad. What do we intend to achieve over the day? Pauline will steam clean the floors downstairs. I will vacuum out the car but, before that, I must cancel my Amazon Prime (temporary, free) Membership. I watched about 5 Premier League games over Christmas and then searched to see if there was any other content I would like to see. There wasn’t but, even if there was, I couldn’t have saved it to my Sky Box so it was pointless. There is nothing I buy that is needed at break neck speed so it’s over.

We’ve had a lovely, long chat with our Sifnos friend, Elerania, who was wishing us Happy New Year and commiserating over Brexit. She was our Notary and her husband was our Dentist. They have two, delightful children. One is studying in Athens and may even come to London to university. 

They live in the fortified settlement or castle, Kastro. They all seem well and happy and would like us to visit soon. Who knows …

Thursday, 2nd January, 2020

What a depressing day! Dark, grey and gloomy from start to end. We went out shopping early in the gloom. We swam outside in darkening gloom and we cooked in the garden in near darkness but with the outside lights on at 4.00 pm. It was 10C/50F but felt quite cool. Contrast this with the gorgeous day on Monday pictured in the photo below when the temperature was only 8C/47F but felt much warmer in the sunshine.

I think it is the very darkness of the day that pushed me on to look for additional travelling possibilities. The Spanish trip is becoming more focussed in our minds and I hope to tie something up very soon. Today, however, I heard from my friend, Brian, who lives in Shaw, Lancashire and we have decided that we must go up to see him at the beginning of April. No travel before then because we are concentrating on Exercise, Diet and being alcohol-free for 3 months. That would all go by the board if we were travelling and socialising so early April it will be.

Friday, 3rd January, 2020

Slightly brighter morning and a bit warmer than recently. We were reading 11C/52F  at 7.00 am. Mind you, it’s not half as bright as the morning in Cape Town where the cricket I am watching is coming from. While I am watching, I’ve seen something completely new to me which is nice.

Do you ever think about birds? I must admit, I rather take them for granted most of the time and then, suddenly, I realise that there are these entities carrying on their lives largely high above our heads. Tweet of the Day precedes Radio4 Today programme at 5.55 am. This morning, it was David Attenborough presenting the Mistle Thrush. Hearing it, I realised immediately that that was the bird I hear every afternoon singing high up in the surrounding trees while I’m swimming at the pool.

We live above Water Lane in Angmering. Obviously, it is always better to live above rather than below it. In the Winter when the water table rises, a hidden brook runs openly on the surface of the grassland. This year, we’ve noticed two, grey herons fishing there which was quite exciting. Reading up, I realise it is quite a common sight and I do remember herons eating all our fish in the pond of the picnic area in our Repton garden. Even so, I have seen them only rarely. 

An intruder appeared on the Test Match outfield in South Africa which the commentators laughingly referred to as a Hadida. I have never heard of or seen one before. Looking it up, I found that it is a form of Ibis. Nice to learn something new.

Saturday, 4th January, 2020

Yet another grey start to the day and quite cool – only 5C/41F. I was going to cut the lawns this morning but have decided to give it a few days for warmer, drier times. Actually, I was looking back at earlier times as I watched England take 3 South African wickets in Cape Town. Ten years ago this week, I was sitting in the hospital carpark listening to Test Match Special from South Africa as Pauline’s Mum was being prepared for cataract operations. 

We had driven across a snowy Pennine route. This sort of scene seemed to be a big feature in our daily lives for the best part of 40 years. We have hardly seen snow for the past 10 years and would be quite happy to never see it again. 

Pauline’s been allowed out on her own this morning because she’s got the first of 6 appointments  to ‘improve’ her face. We are still going out to exercise in the early afternoon. Let’s hope the air has warmed up for our venture out to the pool! …..

……. and, suddenly, the clouds disappeared, the sky was blue and the sun shone strongly as we started our swim. Mind you, we ran back to the sauna as soon as we got out. 

By the way, I don’t know if you noticed but today at 8:20 pm and 20 seconds it was 20:20:20 2020.