Sanders Blog

25th January, 2015

How do you feel about beetroot? I must say from the outset that I have always loved it. I enjoy it in pickled, salad form and roasted as a vegetable but the one thing I have never done is drink it. In fact, I have spent my life avoiding vegetables in juice form just as I don’t wear sandals or hair shirts. We have always grown beetroot in our vegetable gardens over the past forty years without knowing its health-giving properties  but today I drank it for the first time on the strength of reliable evidence that says it increases anti-coagulation – which might help me reduce my intake of warfarin – and lowers blood pressure which might reduce other drugs I take. The juice sold by Tesco & Sainsbury is featured below.

I drank a glass this morning and loved it. Pauline is rapidly searching out Juicers powerful enough to turn raw beetroot into a drinkable form but, as I sat down to a bowl of vegetable soup this afternoon after a large glass of freshly squeezed orange juice for breakfast and a mid-morning snack of a banana, I began to panic that I was in danger of voting Green. Help!

5.30 pm GMT – Syriza has won the Greek election with what may possibly be an overall majority.

Tsipras has done it and now inherits the poisoned chalice. Maybe that’s what Samaras wanted after all. Greece will shake with excitement, (misplaced) optimism and real trepidation. Nobody knows what will happen in reality but one thing is sure, it won’t be kind to right wing business people.

26th January, 2015

Today, the Greek people wrote history, Tsipras declared in his victory speech. The Greece of the elite has been defeated.

By elite, of course, he means ‘old order’ dominated by ΠΑΣΟΚ and Νέα Δημοκρατία but also and more basically, Capitalism and the money owning classes, inherited money and privilege. The ever optimistic crowds believe their vote has sent one, simple message: Good Night, Mrs Merkel.

If only it were that simple. A famously euro sceptic French politician has said that Syriza has made a mistake to believe that you can separate austerity from staying in the euro. On the contrary, austerity has been imposed precisely to save the euro. The two are inseparable… Anyone who thinks it’s possible to reform the euro is deceiving themselves and wasting time.

The immediate question is what do about the final, €3.6 billion of aid to Greece that was due to be signed off in the next month in return for Greek compliance with the demands of the Troika – demands that Tsipras said firmly in his victory speech last night would no longer be met. A two-month extension from Greece’s creditors, granted to conclude an audit that will determine the release of the next tranche of loans, is due to expire on February 28. A flight of capital out of Greek banks that began several weeks ago is likely to accelerate and the value of the euro against currencies such as sterling and the dollar will slide. With Greek government bonds suddenly perceived as more risky, the yield, or return, given to their holders is expected to soar. For many, simple, island Greeks this will be meaningless but will hit home when pensions and services are cut and EU subsidies dry up completely. Now is not a time to be ill, old or jobless in Greece. Equally, now may be a very risky time to hold Greek bank accounts.

27th January, 2015

Busy day today including a hard, gym session so I’m writing this in retrospect which is never good for a man with a memory like a sieve. Really big event today was Pauline cutting my hair which shows how dramatic life is at the moment. The latest Eurotunnel special offer was emailed to me – a £20.00/€26.75 day return for car and up to nine passengers.

We will do our monthly shop at the beginning of February in the Hypermarkets of Calais/Coquelles and, partly thanks to the Greeks, the purchases will cost us so much less than in the Summer.

28th January, 2015

Really pleasant, sunny day which reached 10C/50F in the afternoon. We went through what has become a regular ritual in our house now. We spent half an hour reviewing my clothes and throwing about two thirds of them out because they are way too big for me. Pauline has already replaced them with new and is tired of the old clogging up the wardrobes. It is quite a cathartic exercise which feels like discarding an old and unsatisfactory past to which I know I will never return. The problem is that I’ve become quite obsessive about buying new socks but losing weight doesn’t seem to affect their effectiveness. For that reason, my sock draw just gets more and more full. Used socks are not really the sort of thing one takes to the Hospice Shop so they stay in the draw.

Having established superfast broadband last week, I’m turning my attention to ‘cloud’ computer storage this week. We both use Ms. OneDrive cloud backup services currently but would like the increased security of hosting our own data so I’ve decided to buy a wireless, backup drive for home. This has an app. for connectivity with mobile phone , iPad and laptop whilst out of the house so it will seamlessly replace our current arrangements.

It is so cheap these days. Two terabytes plus software will cost me £99.00/€132.30. My first PC had a 42Mb hard drive partioned at 32Mb because that was the working limit at the time. This backup drive is 2,000,000Mb. How times have changed!

29th January, 2015

January is nearly done already. Has anyone found the ‘pause’ button yet? We really need it now. Life is so good that ‘pause’ would be perfect at this time.

Oh well, onward and upward – well outward to Currys to purchase my ‘Cloud Drive’ and to the doctor to collect a repeat prescription. The morning has been spent connecting up the drive, linking phones, laptops, iPads and Desktops to it. While we are out at the Health Club, 7Gb of data will be backed up wirelessly.

30th January, 2015

Very chilly day to day where the temperature didn’t rise above 6C/43F. We did a shop at Tesco this morning, dropped in to see Phyllis & Colin on the way home and intended to go to the gym. After four hard consecutive days of exercise, I decided that I needed a day off so we went out to M&S to buy a birthday present for James. As we got to the counter to pay, a older lady nipped in front of us. She was very trendily dressed in leggings and a particularly colourful, patchwork style, short coat. Pauline said immediately that she loved the coat. The older lady turned and smiled and said, Oh, I’ve had it for years. I’m 92 you know. We were left absolutely amazed as she skipped off towards the escalator. That’s certainly something to aspire to.

One thing that has particularly helped me to control my eating has been my new bean-to-cup coffee maker. I’ve had it exactly a year now. I drink three or four cappuccinos each day without sugar and with fat free milk. Today I found some interesting cups to serve it in. I’ve been looking, unsuccessfully for quite some time. These may be the answer:

31st January, 2015

Woke at 7.00 am to a heavy frost/light dusting of snow but it had disappeared by 10.00 am as we went out to fix an iPad problem for Phyllis. Actually, it was something I had not come across before where her internet browser had gone into negative colour which made it even more difficult for her to read it. After a long period of trawling nerd chatrooms, I discovered that she had accidently touched the ‘Private Browsing’ button which, if selected, results in that effect. When you know, it is remedied at the touch of a button.

Unwittingly, Pauline and I are fitting in with the current demographic in relation to shopping. Forty years ago we used to do one, huge, monthly shop at a supermarket – Asda – and then smaller, supplementary ones at local, village shops. Twenty years ago, we went to one supermarket – Sainsbury’s to do a weekly shop and that was enough. Working long hours made us time-poor so the least time spent in the process was best. Now, in retirement, we shop at Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Waitrose and Asda according to what we need at what is good value. We play the system. The last two shops have been in Sainsbury’s and Asda so, today, came an envelope of coupons to the value of £25.00/€33.37 off our next shop at Tesco. In addition, we have 20p/€0.27 per litre off petrol which is already currently £1.06/€1.41 per litre. In a couple of weeks, a similar enticement will come from Sainsbury’s and we’ll go back there for a shop. All the supermarkets are desperately seeking increased customer base and loyalty but the British people are responding by becoming ‘discount tarts’. And so are we.

18th January, 2015

A grey, damp and cold day all day – just the sort for staying in and reading the papers. This time next week the Greeks will have voted in a general election that could cause the country to default and leave the single currency. The Sunday Times, this morning,  had a lovely explanation of how the perfect bailout might work:

There’s a village in Greece where everyone is in debt. One day a German tourist walks into the local hotel and puts a €100 note on the desk, saying he wants to inspect the rooms before deciding whether to stay. The owner gives him some keys and as soon as the visitor walks upstairs, the hotelier grabs the €100 note and dashes next door to settle his debt with the village butcher.

The butcher takes the €100 and runs to repay what he owes the pig farmer. The pig farmer uses the €100 note to pay his drinks bill at the taverna. The taverna owner uses it to pay his barmaid, who is staying on tick at the hotel. She pays off her room bill with the €100 note. Then the hotel owner replaces the €100 note on the counter, so the German will not suspect anything is amiss. That’s when the traveller comes downstairs, announces the rooms are not to his liking, pockets his €100 and resumes his journey.

No one produced anything. No one earned anything. However, the whole village is now out of debt. That’s how a bailout should work.

Now that’s how the Greeks would have liked it to work. Unfortunately, life’s not that simple as the 60,000 or so Greeks who fixed mortgages in Swiss Francs are finding now they are 20% more expensive. There is no substitute for straight, honest dealing.

19th January, 2015

Gloriously sunny but cold morning. The air is sharp and clear. We are out early to the supermarket and then off to the Health Club before coming home to clean and tidy the house. This evening, we are hosting a pre-residents meeting to set the agenda for the residents meeting tomorrow. It is one of those necessary evils we have to go through twice a year. A number of our services are communally funded – heating and hot water come from a heat interchange unit centrally sourced and maintained. Our refuse goes to a community bin store. Our car parking space is in an underground car park where other residents park as well. Our grounds are maintained by a communally hired gardening team and they are lit by centrally funded lighting. It is all very economical but policy has to be agreed across 38 property holders which can be frustrating. It is one reason that we are intending to move to a detached property where we can take full responsibility for our own lives.

20th January, 2015

Our coldest night of the Winter with temperatures down to -5C/23F. The Times featured an excellent photo to illustrate this in today’s edition:

Now, at 11.00 am, we have a beautiful, sunny day with frost largely gone.

The Greek election appears to be increasingly going to the far-Left, Syriza party. Three opinion polls last night saw the anti-austerity party increasing their lead to somewhere between 4% – 6%. This is outside the area of statistical error and really firms up their chances. A poll for Mega Channel put them 4% ahead. A poll for Pro Thema put them 4.4% ahead and a poll for Skai Television put them 6.5% ahead. The only real question is whether they will need coalition partners or can manage alone.

21st January, 2015

We had a long meeting last night and were very late to bed. Consequently, this morning we weren’t up until 7.15 am. We did go out for a tough session at the Health Club but Pauline still had the strength to make a wonderful meal of roast vegetable and tarragon soup followed by home made baked beans and Cumberland sausage.

Interesting news from the Economic Summit in Davos where the head of BP has said that oil prices could remain low for up to three years. He added that that could send UK petrol prices below £1.00/€1.30 per litre. Every little helps! It also looks as if the European Central Bank will embark on a policy of Quantitative Easing to the tune of 500bn euros / £382bn. This policy will tend to drive down interest rates which will also make investors less enthusiastic about investing in the currency. Recent depreciation of the euro is largely due to anticipation of QE coming down the line. All in all, it should be good news for we Brits.

22nd January, 2015

Had to perform my least favourite husbandly duties this morning. To her credit, Pauline doesn’t ask it of me often so, when she does, I comply uncomplainingly. So it was, we went off to the Peacock’s Shopping Mall to look for clothes.

The funny thing was that, no sooner had we entered the shopping area but a tannoy message told everyone to go outside because fire had been detected. We were back in very soon afterwards and I managed an hour and a half during which time Pauline failed to find anything to her taste. On our way up to the roof top car park, we passed a new butcher’s shop which had opened in Market Walk and we bought four pheasants at £3.25 / €4.30 each which is an excellent price.

I installed my new Sky Router this afternoon because the switch to fibre optic super power is supposed to take place during tomorrow. Switching routers usually results in temporary reductions in speed and so it is for me. I will wait and see the outcome over the weekend and do a speed test on Monday. I’m sure you’ll wait with bated breath.

23rd January, 2015

Woke up to the heaviest frost of the Winter so far. It registered -6F/21C where we live although a little Oxfordshire went down to -9C/16F. The day gave way to beautiful sunshine although it was still only -2C/28F as we drove to Sainsbury’s at around 10.00 am. We were just turning into our lane on the drive home when I noticed an Openreach worker fiddling around in the Fibre Optic case on the corner. I knew instinctively that he was linking me up.

I rushed through the front door to check, barely noticing that the burglar alarm wasn’t set. Sure enough, my 5Mbps had leapt to 32Mbps download and upload had been transformed 10 fold to 10Mbps. It was only then that Pauline pointed out the burglar alarm problem. It is linked to a call centre by phone. I checked the phone and it was dead. The service department made light of it and soon had me back on and sailing along. The whole thing strikes me as distinctly odd, though, as I have a sky phone line rental (on a BT installed line) and a Sky fibre broadband connection using wholly BT infrastructure based in a BT cabinet. How can this really be considered privatisation?

24th January, 2015

Feels like Spring in Surrey. The skies are blue, the sun is shining and the birds vigorously being birds all round the woods. For Greece, however, the final supper looms. As Sky (Greek)TV called the election for Syriza by 7%, today’s editorial in The Times says this morning that Syriza is:

a leftist movement that believes it has overcome the laws of arithmetic. If any Greek government after the elections, either as a single party or as a coalition, implements Syriza’s programme, it will do great damage.

Certainly, the markets look as if they are bracing for trouble. The Euro has settled at £1.00 = €1.34 for the weekend. Thank goodness we sold last Summer and bought Sterling. The British currency is strong as many, panicking Greeks have realised and seek to get their money out by buying it.

11th January, 2015

Glorious morning of blue skies and sunshine but cool with a hint of frost. Roles are completely reversed today. Sifnos is three times warmer than us. 6C/42F at 10.00 am compared with an island temperature of 18C/64F. We are going to generate some heat in the Gym this morning.

I had a disturbed night and woke at 4.30 am thinking about the Skiathan‘s problem. Actually, I was thinking how I would cope with it if Pauline was ill. To tell the truth, you never really know until it happens. I just hope I would be strong and not fall apart. I like to think I would fight for every scrap of medical support available. There is mounting evidence that that is exactly what one has to do. Of course, unlike the Skiathan, we don’t have a young child to look after and shelter from the storm. Radio 4 came on at 6.00 am as usual and distracted my thoughts. The Skiathan does not have that luxury.

12th January, 2015

Horribly cold, snowy weather with Force 8 gales are set to hit the Cyclades in the next two or three days just as snow is forecast in Northern England. Down here, the weather is comparatively Mediterranean – well not too bad anyway.

Had my six monthly medical review this morning and was told that I am close to leaving Type 2 Diabetes behind. This is what Pauline has been saying could happen for the past two years but I didn’t really believe. I would like to say that it’s been a long, hard slog but, in reality, it hasn’t. At least it will give me the incentive to continue the campaign. On that note, we drove straight to the Health Club for an hour’s exercise. I was too enthusiastic and felt absolutely shattered when I got home.

My review was with the Practice Diabetes Nurse. The waiting room was packed with old people coughing and sneezing, shuffling with sticks and bent over. Is this the future? Tomorrow I will have a follow-up phone call from the doctor. It is a fantastic surgery which is privately sponsored by a charitable trust founded around finance from the Bedser Twins (England’s fast bowlers in the 1930s and ’40s) and Harry Secombe (1950s star) of The Goons.

This seems to make a big difference to its ability to offer services other practices can’t afford.

13th January, 2015

Have to put off managing the country today because we have to shop at Tesco, host the Burglar Alarm engineer for our six monthly service and receive a follow-up phone call from my doctor after my annual review. I just hope there’s no major terrorist attack forcing me to convene and chair the COBRA Committee. This always happens when I’m in Tesco.

A beautifully sunny and pleasantly mild day which has just been improved as I am delighted to confirm, after my doctor phoned this afternoon, that I am no longer a diabetic. I find it hard to believe but it is official. Now where’s that wine?

14th January, 2015

Lovely sunny day but cold. At 10.00 am, it is only 3C/37F which is seriously chilly. The sharp light under glorious blue skies makes one glad to be alive. Not going to the Gym today. We’ve got too much to do.

My job is to upgrade our broadband facility to superfast fibre optic and to complete the transfer of another pair of ISAs. The derisory interest rate is beginning to look almost acceptable as CPI falls to 0.5%. We will actually be making a +1.00% improvement. We are being told that deflationary pressure in UK is good while underlying inflation – RPI – stands at 1.6% and Europe, the basket case, is in a deflationary spiral which could be difficult to pull out of. Unfortunately, as Europe is currently our biggest trading partner, you can’t really separate the two. What is incredible and why we are so pleased to be out of it, the Euro has fallen to nearly €1.30 = £1.00. My Foreign Exchange Bank has just texted me to say that Sterling is at a six year high against the Euro. There is still a real chance that Greece will elect a left wing alliance called Syriza who will default on its debt and find itself pushed out of the E.U.

Syriza is and has been offering the Greek people an alleviation of what they perceive as their suffering – having to pay taxes, reducing over generous pensions, breaking closed shop monopolies that have been handed down through families, demanding backhanders for state services, ignoring building and planning regulations, etc. Reality says that, if this really is Syriza’s policy, it will fall at the first hurdle. Polling suggests Syriza really will win this time:

“The difference is between a rough three and four percentage points and I don’t see it closing,” said professor Dimitris Keridis, who teaches political science at Athens’s Panteion University. “Samaras is facing the inevitability of defeat.”

When we were home owners there, it is what we most dreaded. Markets are likely to plummet. Banks are likely to haemorrhage, capital controls are likely to be required. It will be Cyprus  revisited. It will certainly put the wind up right wing hoteliers!

15th January, 2015

Mid-January already and incredibly mild outside with lovely sun. The gardeners are preparing the grounds for the Spring. I think there may be a little local difficulty before then but we must be optimistic.

I contacted Sky and they will upgrade my broadband to 42Mbs with a new, wireless router for free. In six months time, it will cost me just £10.00/ €13.00 per month extra and the whole process will take ten days. Joy of Joys!

Well you heard it here first and today it happened. The Euro moved to its weakest against the Dollar and Sterling for seven years, moving to £1.00 = €1.31 this morning making the Euro worth £0.76. The immediate reason was that Switzerland unexpectedly unpegged the franc from its anchor to baseline euro because they are worried about a Greek debacle pulling the euro too low. Of course, many are worried about that and the Swiss franc has soared as Euro countries have sort refuge. For us, travelling across Europe this year will be considerably cheaper whereas living in Greece will be considerably more expensive for imports.

16th January, 2015

The Euro holds at £1.00 = €131 and reports from Greece this morning tell us that so concerned are Greeks that the outflow of money is causing serious liquidity problems for the four, main banks. Two – probably Alpha and Eurobank – have already been cited as seeking  emergency liquidity assistance (ELA) with the other two expected to follow shortly. There are still nine days to the election which gives plenty of time for money to flow abroad.

The Health Club was incredibly busy today. All these people on New Year resolutions. We know they’ve got no staying power or, as my friend, Sam used to say in his annual lecture, STICKABILITY. Two or three weeks and their hectic work and social lives will have kicked in as they increasingly don’t manage to find time for the gym. We junior retireds, on the other hand, have all the staying power required although quite how we’ll deal with it when we are abroad this year, we still have to figure out. We no longer have a Greek garden to clear.

17th January, 2015

The morning has opened with a heavy frost but it has soon been despatched by a lovely, sunny sky. We put the central heating on for half an hour – a noteworthy event – but it soon got too hot. Pauline received a parcel from Lakeland this morning. It is a vegetable spaghetti maker or a new version of that old classic spiral cutter for fruit and vegetables. It will save us doing it all manually. Yesterday, our meal was Courgette Bolognese with blanched, al dente strips of courgette instead of spaghetti.

It actually proves to be a delightful and low calorie alternative. We will use it with courgette, carrot, parsnip, celeriac and cucumber possibly peppers and celery. It only cost £30.00 / €39.32 and helps me continue the struggle. We have a mandolin but this is a little less lethal.

We’ve just completed a really hard session at the Gym instead of eating lunch. I am absolutely exhausted. Fortunately, there is a football match to watch this afternoon. I am cooking. It is roasted vegetables – celery, fennel, carrot, onion, tomato, mushroom – and chicken breasts. Everything left over will go in to tomorrow’s soup.

4th January, 2015

Lovely, sunny day. We have spent it quietly reading the newspapers which are full of Royal indiscretions – lovely to see Airmiles Andy getting his comeuppance -, the starting pistol being fire on the Health versus Wealth election and the dire state of Europe. Sport has been centred on FA Cup. Its famed romance is rather lost on me.

5th January, 2015

How the time is flying past – measured in olive oil consumption. We brought 3 x 5 Ltr. cans of olive oil from our favourite supermarket on Sifnos when we left in July. The oil is Pauline’s favourite for cooking and for salads. Today, we are opening the final can.

Will it last until we return or will we have to survive on a French/Italian substitute? It will certainly be cheaper this year whether Greece is still in the Euro or not. Today, the Euro fell to its lowest point for nine years. Reversion to the Drachma would depreciate Greek products still further. Yesterday, the Germans said they were prepared to cut Greece adrift and although there is a huge slice of posturing in that threat, there is also a strong thread of reality running through it.

6th January, 2015

The oil price fell below $50.00 per barrel today as OPEC refused to cut production and a slow down in global energy consumption is leading to excess supply. In purely parochial terms, our pump price for unleaded petrol fell to £1.09/€1.38 per litre. We filled the car and had a £0.14/€0.18 discount so paying £0.95/€1.21 per litre. The cost of filling our tank has fallen by about £15.00/€19.10 or 25% in the past three months. Better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick!

Made the mistake of teasing my sister, Jane BG, about her weight. Well she is enormous. She retaliated by trying to get me into a x-country race – 5K or 10K – sometime soon. My Doctor says I can only accept the challenge if she is prepared to fund the funeral expenses. Knowing her, she probably is.

7th January, 2015

Haven’t really seen any snow for the past three years since we moved down to Surrey. Haven’t really experienced much cold weather either. All so different from our life in Yorkshire and so different from Greece where snow has closed some schools today and could be found on the beaches of Crete. Sifnos had some wet snow, friends tell us. Not the place to be in the Winter! There aren’t many houses with underfloor heating. Below is a picture of Crete yesterday:

Rather them than me.

8th January, 2015

A lovely, sunny day which was twice as warm as Athens and the Greek islands. Tinos is so badly blanketed in snow that they are in their third day without power which largely controls heating and water pumps. Fancy a holiday? Try the Yorkshire-Lancashire Pennines. They are green when compared to Tinos.

Felt a bit under the weather myself so we didn’t do a Health Club session but we were out at 7.00 am for an INR test at the walk-in centre. I test myself once each week which is just as well because my next ‘official’ test is in six weeks.

9th January, 2015

The weather really is topsy-turvy still. We have another beautiful day with temperatures double those of Greece. 14C/57F against 7C/44F and, believe me, that can feel deadly cold on Sifnos where creature comforts are lacking. This is a photograph taken today up above our ex-house on the island of Sifnos. It was sent to me by a friend. Skiing holidays in Sifnos. I can think of one or two people that I’d like to send on that.

Felt better today so skipped around Sainsbury’s but didn’t go to the Health Club. Might try to squeeze a session in on Sunday.

With Winter – a dead time for house sales – being followed by a General Election which is commonly acknowledged to engender uncertainty and put off house buyers further, the housing market is forecast to be flat over the main part of 2015 although it may flourish in the Autumn. Therefore, we don’t expect to be moving anytime soon. Because of that, I have decided to grasp the nettle and address the ‘superfast broadband’ issue and then use it as a selling point. We have a tri-partite package of television, telephone and broadband supply from Sky. I have resolved to ask them to upgrade our broadband to fibre optic which will take us from circa 6Mbs to 76Mbs. It will cost only about £10.00 per month extra and give us much better service for a Desktop, two laptops, two iPads, two smart phones and two wireless televisions.

10th January, 2015

So warm this morning we had all the windows and doors open to freshen up the house. Suddenly realised after an hour that everything was still open to quite to a freshening breeze. At 9.00 am it was 13C/56F which is pleasant for mid-January.

I can’t believe how shocked and slightly emotional I felt this morning when I opened a Blog I have been reading daily for some three or four years. The Skiathan’s Blog has been a source of familiarity and friendship however remotely. The horrible thing is that Ian and his wife, Kamila, have had the equilibrium of their family torpedoed by every family’s nightmare. Cancer! I have never met them but it is no less shocking. They are clearly very nice people and, as is so often observed, bad things always seem to seek out nice people. Ian has announced his intention to stop blogging and concentrate on helping his wife through her crisis.

His reaction is completely understandable. In times of crisis, we tend to look inwards. There are many, not least me, who will miss him and hope he will reconsider in time. Sharing your thoughts, emotions, concerns with others, however tenuously, can be cathartic, even useful. I am spending my day today with the Skiathan in my head and I wish him and his family so much good fortune. They certainly need it and, I think, deserve it. I look forward to see him on-line again soon with news.

28th December, 2014

The Greeks are doing their level best to see the year out with a major disaster. We woke to the news of a ferry on fire in the Adriatic. It is a vessel chartered by ANEK Ferries who, along with Superfast Ferries run a joint Ancona-Patras-Ancona car ferry trip up and down the Adriatic.  We have done that trip thirty times in the past fifteen years and have almost always used the Superfast/ANEK consortium. I have to admit that this kind of accident does cross one’s mind but is forcefully pushed to the back. The vessel is a smaller, leased one for reduced winter traffic. It is the F/b Norman Atlantic which was built in Italy in 2009 as F/b Akeman Street  and later rebadged F/b Scintu.

Passengers had left Patras at 17.30 (Greek Time) on Saturday and were called on to the top, outside deck in the early hours of Sunday morning as they were going through the Corfu-Albania passage. This was in complete darkness, extreme cold and gale force winds which meant lifeboat launch was too dangerous. Can you imagine it?

At the same time, there is still a credible and tangible danger of the Coalition losing the Presidential vote on Monday with the subsequent snap election triggered in February. This leaves the country prey to Tsipras and his anti-European stance. Samaras made an appeal to the undecided MPs on state TV NERIT on Saturday evening. Will it be enough? Fortunately, it doesn’t matter to us anymore but it will affect our friends.

29th December, 2014

What a fantastic morning. Brilliant blue skies and strong sun on sharply frosted lawns make a beautiful, Winter scene. My thoughts have been with those stranded outside in the freezing cold, wet and gale-force winds curdled with acrid smoke on the ferry in the Adriatic. Where else in the civilised world would deliverance from this emergency be so prolonged? I was living the agony they must have gone through in my head all night. How would Pauline & I have coped?

Woken from sleep in the early hours of the morning, waiting for the tannoy announcement to be translated into English. Scrambling into clothes. What to wear? Getting out on top deck would be easier for us because that’s where Luxury cabins are already. Out on deck in the pitch black, freezing, wet wind; breathing in thick, black smoke; hearing Greek voices jabbering and panicked. Where to stand. Nowhere to sit for hour after worried hour. No news apart from a few people being winched off by helicopter. That looks almost more dangerous than being on board.

The BBC are now reporting eight dead bodies have been taken off the ferry.

Now, at 10.30 am (GMT), the Greeks have voted for elections in the next month (Jan, 25th) and the possibility of Syriza, rejection of Austerity, rejection by the European Union, exit from the Euro, downward spiral. If the sea doesn’t get you, the economy will. How lucky are we to have sold our house and be out of it? It’s getting better all the time. Happy New Year! Don’t forget to book your restful, Greek holiday.

30th December, 2014

Thank you for your Congratulations on our 36th Wedding Anniversary. This day in 1978 was thick with overnight snow. The Pennine routes were almost impassable and the Council Gritting Teams were on strike. Oh for the good old days! We had a wonderful day and we will again today. We’ve been to the Gym to celebrate and earn our bottle of champagne and roast pheasant Dinner.

Have to share with you a story that my recently lost hero told some 20 years ago. Tony Benn recounted this:

The NHS held a boat race against a Japanese crew. After Japan won by a mile, a working party found the winners had eight people rowing and one steering, while the NHS had eight steering and one rowing. So the NHS spent £5 million on consultants, forming a restructured crew of four assistant steering managers, three deputy managers and a director of steering services. The rower was then given an incentive to row harder. They held another race and lost by two miles, so the NHS fired the rower for poor performance, sold the boat and used the proceeds to pay a bonus to the director of steering services.

Not a lot has changed in Britain 20 years on. Exactly the same can be said about Greece. We could have told you that the ferry’s manifest would not marry the reality. Only 40 names under-recorded. That was quite accurate then.

31st December, 2014

Farewell to 2014! Hello to two, lovely readers of the Blog – apparently pictured in the Hilton Hotel, Manchester. Good of them to get in touch and supply a photograph.

The Orwellian 1984 and the Millennium (Bug) 2000 have both passed and here we are welcoming 2015. My long term aim is to break the 2050 barrier but I have a feeling this immediate new year is going to be a really good one. Lovely story in The Times today with more than one Poison Dwarf found in East Yorkshire.

The British chap who seems to have achieved ‘hero’ status from the Greek ferry disaster is quoted in The Times today saying:

In high seas and amid darkness and thick smoke, he and five other passengers stayed below to lead the task of connecting the stricken ferry to a tug boat sent to tow them to shore.

“There were no crew members down there — it was just us. I couldn’t work that out. From what I understood, some of the crew members bailed out at the beginning. They got off with the first lifeboats. There were so many women and children left on the boat. Why were they not the first in line to get on the lifeboat? It was just chaos. I think there should be a few people with their heads a bit low.”

Why are we not surprised?

1st January 2015

If you like fireworks, click the graphic. This is going to be a brilliant, new year. Hope you enjoy it. The weather outside is mild but grey. Inside it is lovely. I started the morning by unstacking the dishwasher to the strains of the Berliner Philharmoniker’s New Year’s Eve concert conducted by Simon Rattle. Life doesn’t get more sublime than that. New Year’s Day will feature rabbit stew and the last bottle of wine for a while – maybe a month or, maybe, three months.

I sincerely wish Skiathan Man and his family a happy and increasingly healthy 2015. They’re going through a tough time. Happy New Year to Barty Simpson on Paros, to the Simi Boys, and the dwellers on Democracy Street. Looks like this is going to be an interesting year for those with Greek connections.

2nd January 2015

2014 is so last year. So is the Euro. Greek instability is moving the £1.00 towards €1.29. If they vote for Tsipras, it will weaken still more and make island life increasingly expensive. Our petrol today is down to £1.11 per litre/€1.43. Must ask our Sifnos friends what it is there. Our analysts are predicting the £1.00 litre soon.

Glorious sunshine and quite mild today. We are reaching 13C/55F which is not too bad for mid winter England. Just been checking the Superfast Ferries site and our tickets this year will be €985.00 / £770.00 return with car in a Luxury Cabin. (Don’t know if that includes a life jacket!) To add to that we’ve got three or four hotels costing around another £500.00/€640.00 each way plus return Speedrunner cost of about €450.00/£350.00. Add another £150.00/€200.00 each way for petrol and £500.00/€640.00 for meals. The total cost of the week taken traveling each way comes to circa £3000.00/€3845.00.

3rd January 2015

Got a bit of a shock today as I watched the BBC News in the peace of my Study. There was a news item about the convicted rapist footballer being rumoured to be about to sign for Oldham Athletic. The cameras were out seeking vox pop clips for the news bulletins with the opinions of Oldham’s finest for or against the controversial decision. Suddenly, in huge high definition, came a face that took me back years. The one person interviewed was a young man who I hadn’t seen for six years.

Andy was I.T. Manager and helped me introduced wireless networks across the school allowing the community to access a digital curriculum, an intranet and all management documentation and communication across the institution and from home. We revolutionised working practices in a very few years. It was lovely to see him again.

21st December, 2014

Happy Winter Solstice and welcome to the first week of the Blog’s seventh year on the longest night and shortest day. It is one of the oldest winter celebrations known to man (and woman) and celebrates the rebirth of the sun and beginning of winter. In ancient Rome, the week-long feast of Saturnalia honoured the sun god Saturn. They’d have a job here because the sky is grey and heavy. At least it’s all downhill from here. Already looking forward to Week 364 this time next year.

22nd December, 2014

Already the days are getting longer. Optimism abounds and we look forward to the Spring. This morning we were up at 6.00 am and shopping in Tesco at 7.30 am. Even so, it was very busy. Pauline is cooking for nine on Christmas Day so this morning was sourcing of final preparations. Christmas does very little for me and I often feel that we are going through the motions. On Christmas Eve, all nine of us are going out to Valentina’s – an Italian restaurant in Weybridge and then we will have the traditional meal in West Byfleet on Thursday. Pauline and I then try to eat and drink as little as possible after Boxing Day because the next celebration is on December 30th which this year will mark our 36th Wedding Anniversary followed the next day by New Year’s Eve. Found a couple of delightful, sparkling wines in our French vintners. They are from New Zealand. One is a sparkling Sauvignon Blanc and the other is a delicious Pinot Noir-Chardonnay blend.

In England the sell at around £14.00 a bottle and in France they cost just under half that.

Unfortunately, immediately after all the Christmas and New Year festivities, I have my annual INR and Diabetic reviews. I need good numbers in spite of the alcohol so must go easy. For the first time, my reviews will be conducted over the phone with my doctor. That’s an economical first.

23rd December, 2014

A lovely sunny and mild day opens on this Tuesday. We were warmer than Athens and Sifnos yesterday and are pretty much the same today. I bet the new owners of our house are using the underfloor heating in the evenings now. Pauline is busily preparing things for the Christmas meal. Cranberries have been stewed and bottled. Three sorts of stuffing – sage & onion, forcemeat and chestnut have been prepared and set aside. The Christmas cake and Christmas pudding were completed and ready long ago. An orange sorbet and a lemon posset and meringues are in the process of being made ready. The turkey will be delivered tomorrow, prepared by Pauline and then set aside for Thursday morning.

I just sit by quietly and ‘taste’ on command.

It’s still touch and go whether the Greek Government will reach the required 180 votes for their Presidential candidate in the final vote. They need to bribe another dozen and still rely on the mad men of Golden Dawn. Even so, Samaras has had to promise early elections before the end of 2015. Going to be an interesting holiday!

24th December, 2014

Christmas Eve has opened a little grey but mild. Phyllis & Colin are coming round this morning to deliver the turkey. Pauline will dress it and give it back to them along with the Christmas cake and puddings. We are picking them up this afternoon to take the to Valentina’s Italian Restaurant in Weybridge for a family meal. I might have pasta for the first time in two years. We’ll see. Maybe that’s a step too far.

Just been contacted by friends to say that my old school which I left nearly six years ago and which was demolished and reborn as an Academy has just been put in to Special Measures after the injection of something like £6 million. Nothing really changes. No amount of money really redresses inequality. We’ve been trying to do it all of my working life. Happy Christmas!

25th December, 2014

Click to animate the graphic.

Exactly six years ago I wrote:

Welcome to the Hellas Blog on Christmas Day 2008. A particular welcome to all the Sanders Family and those closely associated with them.

We’re still here and will be for as long as there’s breath in our body. Long live the Blog!

Lovely day with lovely company and many nice presents but my favourite was from a little lad who I have called ‘bumface’ since he was two years old. This morning he presented me with a bar of soap which has the word BUM on one side and FACE on the other.

You are supposed to use each side to wash the appropriate part, he tells me.

26th December, 2014

Boxing Day is great when you’ve got everything you need in the world. Everyone else is out struggling for ‘Bargains’ on the High Street while I am stripping the turkey and making stock. Pauline cooked the most wonderful meal for all nine of us yesterday. It really was the best ever. We had:

• Baked cured salmon on a bed of beetroot puree and dressed with parsley and garlic oil.
• Turkey with three stuffings – Sage & Onion, Chestnut and Forcemeat. This was accompanied by pigs in blankets, roast potatoes, baby carrots and green beans and completed by cranberry sauce and apple sauce.
• Sweet was her fantastic Christmas Pudding with custard and clotted cream and/or Lemon Bavois with fresh raspberries and/or Orange Sorbet.

Now in the aftermath of Christmas Day, I’m thinking of Turkey Stock and Turkey Soup. I love it. I think I’ll open another bottle of Champagne.  Well, it is Christmas.

27th December, 2014

We haven’t had the heating on and we stepped out into a lovely, sunny morning to go shopping although it was bitterly cold in the breeze. The news bulletins were full of last night’s snow which hit Wales, the Midlands and the North of England. Liverpool and Leeds airports were closed for a while; motorists were stranded on the M1 in the Midlands.

Phyllis hates shopping so much that she has taken desperately evasive action. She has jumped off the stair and broken a bone in her foot. Not good for an 89 year old. Still, it will save Colin some money! We, in the meantime, are off to the gym and then back to the (Turkey) soup diet. Looking forward to it.

14th December, 2014

This is the final week of the sixth year of the Blog. As a result, I am reviewing everything that has happened in that time and preparing to make resolutions for the next six years which will take us to the brink of 70 years young. Today, has opened with a heavy frost and strong sun. A totally still day. Those leaves still on the trees are static. In fact, this Autumn has been notable for its lack of seasonal winds which usually help to denude the trees and herald winter.

Resolution No.1: Must get back in to Opera. I used to spend all my leisure time listening to it when I was working but, now, with all the time in the world, I’ve left it on the shelf. Pauline’s favourite is Bizet’s The Pearl Fishers. I prefer Puccini anything. Living in an apartment doesn’t help but we’ll have to go to the opera. I’m going to start looking for it. The E.N.O. have Verdi’s La Traviata on in February. That would be a start.

15th December, 2014

The beautiful days just keep coming. Sharp temperature under blue sky and strong sun this morning. The sun is so strong, even next door’s cat is squinting. Pauline is busy curing salmon in preparation for Christmas while I’m reading and writing.

The Bank Deposit Protection Scheme guarantees finances only up to £85,000.00 per person. Although it is not a major amount or really likely to crash about our ears, as soon as the interest takes us over the limit, I transfer it to another account. I was just musing on the changes that have taken place with this in such a short time. In the past, one would have gone to a bank in the High Street, filled out multiple forms, gone home and waited for a week or so before a letter arrived informing one of the completion of the process. Now, in a couple of clicks, the procedure is completed and seen to be completed on screen. There is still the scary thing of losing thousands – in our Greek sale terms hundreds of thousands – by entering a wrong digit for the receiving account but it is wonderfully easy.

Resolution No.2: Must get on with reading around the subject – The History of Political Ideas. It formed the basis of my Masters Degree some thirty years ago and I was about to return to it this Summer when events took over. I was looking forward to discussing it with that arch Machiavellian and intellectual – The Poison Dwarf – but other things intervened.

16th December, 2014

Because it is the most wonderful morning of bright blue skies and strong, low sun, we have decided to drive down to Sussex to view a house. The builder has not yet finished but it will be available from early Spring 2015. We drive down the M23 and A23 through Pease Pottage and Handcross to Sayers Common and Hurstpierpoint.

The location was lovely with facilities close by in Brighton (south) and Burgess Hill (east). The house was well built but the rooms were just too small. We weren’t deflated at all. At lest we had found an area that really appealed and where we will continue to look.

Resolution No.3: Must find a new house and sell this Duplex within the next, twelve months.

17th December, 2014

We have taken our property off the market over Christmas and will re-launch it with a new agent in the Spring. We can’t face inviting viewings which may be extremely speculative over the Christmas Holidays. We contacted the Estate Agent requesting the return of our house keys and received this considered reply.

Dear Pauline and John

I hope your well. We have drop the keys back to the house at 12.20 today. 
Have a wounderfully christmas

I, for one, expect to have a really wounderfully christmas! What are English teachers doing these days?

Resolution No.4: Must proof read my Blog before pressing Publish whatever time of night it is.

18th December, 2014

Resolution 4 doesn’t come in to force until January 1st. Perhaps I’ll get the dates right by then. Picked up a free prescription from my wonderful doctor for 24 INR testing strips which would otherwise have cost me £85.00. Did a supermarket shop. Around 9.30 am, Tesco was pleasingly quiet so close to Christmas. Filled up with petrol at £1.13 / €1.44 per litre, had the car cleaned for £10.00. Called in to see Phyllis and Colin and then returned home in time to thank the gardeners for their excellent work on the grounds over the past twelve months.

Pauline took at least three phone calls from Developers who are getting increasingly desperate at this time of year. I had a long phone call from Dave Beasley in North Wales. He is an old friend from my home village, Repton in Derbyshire. I haven’t seen him in the flesh since 1972. That reminds me of

Resolution No. 5: Must reacquaint myself with long lost friends in 2015.

19th December, 2014

When one is given the time to reflect on one’s existence (and if you think that sounds pompous, maybe it is) one can oscillate between two diametrically opposed states. One of my ex-colleagues reported recently her little daughter asking, Mummy, are we in a story or are we real? It is far more profound a question than it first appears. On the one hand, we have that old aphorism about life not being a rehearsal. On the other we have the Live for the Moment philosophy – Carpe Diem. I have a real problem with doing things for their own sake as opposed to doing them to get to somewhere else in the future.

I am constantly asking myself what I will achieve or gain by doing something. How am I growing, developing, gaining by doing something? While enjoying a beautiful sunset or a wonderful opera, I am asking myself whether I am deriving personal profit or human capital from the experience. When I was younger, I justified ephemeral experiences by a belief in the cultural capital I was accruing and the belief that it would inform and deepen future events in my life. In the final third of my life, I find that increasingly spurious but I still have to tell myself that so many of these experiences are my only chance.

Resolution No. 6: Carpe Diem – Sieze the Day!

20th December, 2014

Lovely day. We drove over to Godalming – only about 12 miles away – to meet Jill Storey née Fisher. She was Pauline’s best friend 35 years ago and taught in the same school back in Lancashire. Jill moved south and so have we. We met at her brother’s house in Godalming. He is a Patents Lawyer and his wife is a City Banker. It is a huge old house which was previously owned by Rick Parfitt of  Status Quo. It has a tennis court and a Gertrude Jekyll garden. The reunion was absolutely delightful.

Must do Resolution 5. It’s great!

Tomorrow will start Week 313 of the Blog or Year 7. The final resolution of this year is:

Resolution No. 7: Complete Year 7 of the Blog culminating in Week 364.

7th December, 2014

A lovely, sunny day today and much warmer in spite of the red-top newspapers bleating about ‘Arctic Blasts’ and ‘Eight Feet of Snow’. Pauline has gone shopping with her sister while I am completing my Christmas Newsletter. All communications with Greece have to be posted today if we wish them to arrive before Christmas. I’ve just been checking Superfast Ferries 2015 prices and, even though oil prices are down by 30%, their ticket prices will cost us 15% more. I predict that will change as the season starts.

8th December, 2014

A quiet day finishing off and printing my Christmas newsletter. The North of the country, where we used to live, had its first taste of snow overnight and the trans Pennine routes were being cleared, salted and gritted. Certainly, it is nice to be more comfortable down here in relative warmth.  Did a good hour at the Health Club and dined on Pauline’s wonderful Fish Bisque. The evening was enhanced by a United win away to Southampton. Life is so good!

9th December, 2014

Quite a cold but bright and sunny day. Even Sifnos was cold today we were told. We were out shopping. I went to M&S and overdosed on socks. I couldn’t resist them.

Nineteen pairs for £30.00? You can’t say fairer than that! Clothing is so cheap in Britain at the moment. And they gave us a £5.00 voucher for use in the Food Hall. Filled up with petrol in Tesco on the way home. The cheapest I can remember for a long time. We paid £1.05/€1.33  per litre. I forced the car to take fifty litres.

For our meal today Pauline cooked Braised Pheasant with fennel and shallots. It was out of this world. They could have done with it up in our old haunt of Yorkshire where snow clearing was the order of last night.

We definitely don’t miss it at this time of year although we are getting close to starting the heating up.

10th December, 2014

On Monday night going into Tuesday, gale force winds and torrential rain hit Sifnos but it is nothing to what is about to break over their heads. International observers are talking about snatching defeat from the jaws of victory as they watch the Greek Coalition as good as invite Tsipras and his left wing alliance to take over the government of the country. All the pain and all the gain could be for nothing if Tsipras follows his rhetoric through. Indeed, many believe that this is a Samaras calculation to give the left wingers a hot potato to juggle and drop before the Right take over again. It is typical Greek duplicity. We feel so fortunate to be out of it!

Britain is just beautiful at the moment – well, Surrey is. This morning is still and clear with blue skies and bright sun. This glorious sunrise featured in The Times this morning is worth being alive to wake up to.

Pauline is icing the Christmas cake and, although I won’t be eating any, all is well with the world. Just before we left for the Gym, the postman delivered an unordered parcel. It was from our friends, Margaret & Tony in Huddersfield who also have a property in Murcia, Spain.

It was a lovely present and a gentle hint that we agreed to go to Spain for the first time.

11th December, 2014

Beautifully bright, sunny day today. The gardeners have arrived and are mowing the grass, sweeping up leaves and clearing moss from the paths. If you are a weather geek like me – and I know one or two of you have weather stations – I have some stats. for you this morning.

Currently it is 8C/46F but will reach a magnificent peak of 9C/48F. The average high in Surrey on this day over the past 30 years is 7.8C/46F. The record high is 14.3C/58F (in 19945) and the record low -8.9C/16F (in 1991).

Did my INR this morning and was really pleased to find it back on track at 2.7 (2.0 – 3.0 range). I only have 3 test strips left. They are quite expensive at £160.00 for 48 but I managed to persuade the doctor to prescribe them last time so they were free.

I’ll be off to see the lovely doctor again soon!

I’m arranging the movement of ISAs that have matured at 4.0% into this year’s ISA pot at 1.45%. Thank goodness I don’t have to pay for prescriptions! Pauline is busily marinating pork ribs Chinese-style for our meal after our exercise.

Don’t drool. You wouldn’t like them. What a lucky man I am and no weird tourists to consider. Now writing at 10.30 pm it is 10C/50F. Sifnos is 11C/51F.

12th December, 2014

Damp but very mild start to the day but it had dried up by we ventured out at 9.00 am. Sainsbury’s was busy but manageable. Pauline had a Christmas Lunch Needs list and there were a lot of old and very doddery shoppers to negotiate but we were home before mid day. Rabbit soup for lunch followed by smoked salmon and garlic prawns accompanied by the ubiquitous Waldorf Salad.

All the Christmas cards have gone out now and ours are featuring robins – a traditionally pagan scene. That’s what Christmas means to us.Let’s hope the snow stays oop North.

Meanwhile, Greece is well on the way to imploding. Credit rating agency Moody’s has warned it might downgrade Greece in case of snap polls, while investment firm Goldman Sachs said there is a possibility that a cap will be set on bank withdrawals in Greece, as was the case in Cyprus. Thank goodness we got all our cash out in time! According to the Tourist Organisation, Hotels are already reporting a slowdown in the rate of bookings, while the representatives of foreign tour operators are expressing concern to Greek hoteliers regarding the deposits they have paid in case the Greek banking system is affected by developments in the country. Happy Days!

13th December, 2014

The week is ending on the most glorious day of clear blue skies and strong, low sun. A bit of a frost sparkled the lawns at 7.00 am but was soon burnt off by the sun. Greece has continued to be hit by storms and strong winds – meteorologically, economically and politically. We have spent the whole week thanking our lucky stars.

One of our relatives has complained that we are exhausting their ‘S’ in the address book by moving too often. They’re going to have to buy a new book or go digital. We have about three more moves in us yet – not to mention a little place in Europe!

30th November, 2014

November closes with the news that Autumn 2014 has been the third warmest on record. Monday sees the official start of Winter and we are warned that, temporarily at least, we can expect some seasonal weather. There is a lot to say for Seasons. They give life enjoyable variety. It is still very mild in Surrey. We went out today in short sleeved shirts quite happily. The one thing I am not particularly keen on is  dark early mornings and dark early evenings. One thing Winter does provide is an excuse to eat soup. Pauline made the most wonderful celeriac soup today.

I survive on six or so hours of sleep each night and we get up unwaveringly at 7.00 am. I would like to see the sun when I rise but, currently, we are waiting around for a couple of hours for true daylight to arrive. Admittedly we are surrounded by trees but the sun was already well on its way down by 3.00 pm. The shortest day is still three weeks away.

1st December, 2014

Happy December 2014. Let’s hope we don’t see any snow again this year. The Blog has 24 days until its 6th birthday. Let’s hope it lives that long.

Our grounds are host to dozens of Mahonias which are coming into full bloom right now. The are a delightful, even majestic shrub and put on a great display against a woodland backdrop.

Fascinating to see the Greeks up in arms about the most basic, economic changes that still don’t even bring them in to line with the rest of Europe. Raising the retirement age to 62. People in Britain would kill for such an achievement. The British have to work to 67 now and many can’t conceive of retiring at all. Putting up the VAT on hotel bills from 6.5% to 13%. Let them live in the real world! It should go up to the full rate. Anyone who can make an annual living on ten or twelve weeks occupancy a year is profiteering and shouldn’t be given concessions like this. This is why the coalition is struggling. The Greeks need to embrace reality.

2nd December, 2014

Up to a grey and damp start although not cold. Off to the Channel Tunnel just after 9.00 am for a short stay in France. We wait for all those poor people going to work to free up the roads before we leave. It takes just over an hour to Folkestone and half an hour checking in and driving on followed by half an hour crossing under the sea. Certainly much better than going by ferry. The train leaves at 11.30 am and, with time difference, we drive off at 1.00 pm. We will check in at our hotel before going out to do some shopping.

Lovely journey and crossing. Checked in, dropped off our bags and went shopping to Citè Europe. We decided to have a picnic meal in our room and bought various cheeses, cooked meats, salads and wines. It was a delightful indulgence. Back to the diet tomorrow! We bought white wine for Phyllis & Colin, red Bordeaux for us along with cases of champagne for Christmas.

3rd December, 2014

A hearty breakfast, check out of our hotel and off to Auchan in Coquelles.

We bought rabbit, duck, pork, huge loins of cabillaud (aka Cod), the biggest atlantic salmon in the fish market which will now feature in our Christmas meal starter. We stocked up on onions, shallots, garlic and salad vegetables.

Off to the Tunnel and an early afternoon crossing. We boarded at about 11.50 am and left at 12.20 pm.

We entered England about 11.50 am and the drive back of just over an hour was a delight. To hear the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement massively cutting Stamp Duty on house sales was a real welcome home.

4th December, 2014

An article quoted in Keep Talking Greece today reports that Italy, Greece, Romania and Bulgaria are seen as equally corrupt among EU countries as if that almost absolves the Greeks of duplicity. We certainly saw massive corruption at first hand in our time living there but it has become so endemic that those involved see it as normal and acceptable. No wonder the Germans insist on maintaining a boot on their throats until they really straighten up.

Off to the Health Club to straighten ourselves up this morning, delivering wine to our relatives on the way. Got to get out of the house without next door’s cat sneaking in and out of the chilly, damp air. Poor old Minnie. She should have been born in the Mediterranean.

She’s cunning enough for it!

5th December, 2014

Spoke to my big sister yesterday. She keeps up with the Blog and observed that for someone intent on losing weight, I certainly feature food a lot. It’s true. The difference is that nowadays all my consumption is ‘costed’ against my daily allowance and any exercise I take. Today, after an hour’s vigorous exercise at the Health Club, our only meal of the day was salad and cold pork followed by fruit and yoghurt. I eat a lot less and much more healthily. It is really working and much less effort than it used to be.

The Director of the British Museum said today that he hoped the Greeks would be happy that he was loaning out the Elgin Marbles to the Hermitage Museum in Russia. I don’t think so!

 

23rd November, 2014

We move into the last week of November on a cool and wet day although The Woodland Trust are predicting Oaks will keep their leaves until well into December because of the mild and windless Autumn this year. It has felt depressingly dark all day and yet we are still four weeks away from the year’s shortest day.

Pauline has spent the day making and baking the Christmas Cake and steaming two Christmas Puddings. One is for this year and one will be set aside for Christmas 2015.

 

There’s nothing like planning ahead.

24th November, 2014

Bright and sunny but cold and slightly frosty this morning – a good, old fashioned, early winter’s morning. We spent an hour at the Health Club and came out sweating.

Heard from Martin yesterday. Haven’t spoken to him for a couple of months. Nice to know he’s alright. Interesting to see that Greece ambles on in its own, contrary way. Thursday will be a General Strike which will isolate the country and the islands with Air Traffic Controllers and Ferry services being disrupted. At the same time and because of the European Troika’s foot on their neck, the Greek Government ‘say’ they are scrapping operating permits for almost 900 professions. In other words, they are dismantling closed-shops which limit business freedom in the Greek economy. The measure of how far they go with this will indicate how far the country has moved in the past seven years. If the Coalition falls this Spring over the issue of a new President then all bets are off and they will certainly fall back into the primordial slime. Still, the goldfish will feel at home there!

25th November, 2014

Cool and damp morning without sun. Pauline is researching our trip to Kent on Friday. House hunting is really turning out to be an education. I know so little about my own country! This week, we are heading towards the Maidstone area. We are hoping to look at a number of houses but this one in particular.

Looks alright but you never know until you see it in the brick. The top temperature here today has been a steamy but dark 9C/48F without the steam.

26th November, 2014

The negotiations failed. The Troika saw a fiscal gap of 2.5 billion euro for 2015 and demanded further reduction in pensions, increase by 10% to 13% Value Added Tax as being applied on the islands and additional taxes.UK continues to be blanketed by grey, damp cloud and looks like it will remain so in to next week. We struggled to 10C/50F but things are forecast to get warmer towards the weekend and beyond. I hope so. We are driving down to Kent on Friday and then over to France next Tuesday for a couple of days.

27th November, 2014

Dark & Damp Again! We were out early for Pauline to have her hair cut at Headmasters.

We had toyed with the idea of her having it cut in Athens a couple of weeks ago but didn’t find the time. Bought a book in The Works – the bookshop where my friend from Sifnos, Martin Reynolds, works.

Haven’t bought a physical book for quite some time. They are incredibly cheap. Pauline & I received our £200.00 Winter Heating subsidy from the Government today. It almost pays our total heating bill for the year which is nice.

In Greece, in spite of a General Strike, reality hits. The negotiations of the Coalition and all their hopeful bluster has failed. The Troika saw a fiscal gap of 2.5 billion euro for 2015 and demanded further reduction in pensions, and an increase by 10% to 13% on Value Added Tax to being applied on the islands and additional taxes. Samaras has tried to remain buoyant. He must feel very deflated.

My INR has been rather erratic recently which has led to me eschewing alcohol. It hasn’t made any difference. I dropped from 2.6 – 2.0 in a week in which my diet was exemplary. I don’t know if this has any significance but I found this afternoon that my weight has dropped by half a stone in quite a short spell. You lose some and you gain some.

28th November, 2014

Must learn to check the calendar! Today, we visited two developments on the outskirts of Maidstone, Kent.

The town isn’t particularly prepossessing but, strategically, it is well placed for us. It doesn’t take long to drive or take the train up to London and it is a quick & easy journey to the Channel Tunnel for our drives across Europe. It has good provision of Health & Fitness Clubs including David Lloyds and reasonable distribution of good supermarkets, Farmers’ Markets as well as Hospitals and Dr Surgeries. There are lots of restaurants and visitor attractions in the surrounding area. Unfortunately, property developers had all but shut up shop for Christmas and things we would be interested in are not on stream until next year. Looks like we’ll have to be patient.

29th November, 2014

Warm and sunny today and predicted to reach 15C/60F. We are going to the Health Club for an hour or so of exercise before settling in to the weekend. Actually, weekends really don’t mean anything any more when one’s not working. Days are days are days. As Larkin said, Days are where we live. As we got up this morning, like every morning, at 7.00 am, I did muse on the fact that, irrespective of which time zone we have been in, the past six years of retirement have seen us rise at 7.00 am unflinchingly  to meet and greet the day. When you don’t have to go to work, getting up is a joy and the world is your lobster.

Talking about lobsters, we’re off to France on Tuesday and might pick some up. While the Troika looks like forcing the Greek coalition to cut pensions more and increase some areas of VAT, our government insists on giving us money that, to be honest, we don’t need. In the past week, Pauline & I have both received Winter Fuel Allowances of £100.00 each and now the Christmas Bonus of £10.00 arrives. What will we do with it? I like lobster!