Sanders Blog

16th November, 2014

A chilly and wet day which we mainly spent reading newspapers. We did nip out to Tesco to find the acres of car park full of happy shoppers. It is amazing how Sunday shopping has gone from the odd-soul-who-has-forgotten-something-from-their-weekly-shop to a Main Shopping Day for so many busy workers. This superstore was packed. It was harder to find a parking space than on a Saturday. I’m all in favour of it. Mum would have hated it. In fact, she said she didn’t think it would ever happen.

17th November, 2014

A warmer but just as wet day. Half way through the morning, I noticed our broadband service had dropped. I checked the phone and found we had no line. Just as I began to use my phone to search for my provider’s help line, Pauline spotted a Bt Openreach engineer walking back to his van. I spoke to him. He had been working nearby but denied any connection to my problem. Later his office suggested it was an error by him which disconnected us. It will take up to 72 hrs to fix. Three days without the internet! Went to the Health Centre for an hour’s exercise.

18th November, 2014

We were up and preparing to drive down to Costa Coffee for access to their Wi-Fi when a telephone engineer arrived. Within an hour, it was fixed and I was getting my internet-withdrawls out of my system by downloading emails and newspapers.

Good Morning to Richard. Got your email a few minutes ago and will reply very soon. Don’t set off on your cruise before you hear from us. Lovely to know that you’re still following the Blog. Nice to hear from Ruth and her worries for me even if half the Facebook community responded with concern for my health and requests for links to my Blog. The only person I didn’t hear from was the Poison Dwarf but I’ll cope.

It’s been a lovely, sunny and fairly mild day here. We’ve done our regular hour at the Health Club and then returned for Cassoulet Lapin (aka Rabbit Stew) which I made yesterday.

I’m in a no-alcohol phase again because my INR has dipped for a couple of months and because I want to skimp on the calories. It’s nice to know I don’t need it and can do without it when I choose. Off to France in a fortnight. That will be a tester.

Pauline has received so many phone calls again today. It has become a standard thing. Estate Agents wanting to market our home or developers wanting to sell us a new home. She has become quite blasé about their blandishments. She has done so much research, she often knows more about their activities than they do themselves.

England made Scotland look very second rate this evening in their ‘friendly’. England won 1 – 3 in a fairly one sided game. Nice to see.

19th November, 2014

Felt cool in the sunshine today. The temperature didn’t get above 14C/57F. We did a big session at the Health Club. I upped my targets – increasing the incline and speed on the running machine and increasing the resistance level and calories burned on the bike. I could barely walk by the time I’d driven home but I know it will pay off when I speed past Jane BG in the road race next Spring.

The remainder of the Cassoulet Lapin was liquidized with Passata and milk to make a lovely cream of rabbit soup. Rabbit is so cheap to buy and low in fat. I’m amazed more people don’t buy it. The reason is, I suppose, not enough people sell it. We buy ours in France where it is widely available and eaten. A rabbit carcass costs about £3.50/4.37€. Less than a chicken.

In the next few days, we are going to buy pheasants –  another low fat meat packed with flavour – from a farm shop nearby.

We have changed our eating so much over the past fifteen years with fish and game dominating our diet.

20th November, 2014

It’s been a difficult I.T. week in the Sanders household. First, our phone line went down and we had no internet for 24 hrs. Can you imagine it? Today, we’ve both had problems with our email accounts. Who knows why. Mine has largely sorted itself out by this evening but Pauline’s account is still rather flaky. It would happen on INR reporting day. My Hospital is fantastic.

I self test (although I occasionally get the Hospital to check my results) and email my result to the INR team at St Peter’s. Within an hour, I have dosing advice and a next test date. My range is INR 2.0 – 3.0. Today it was 2.6 – perfect. That’s because I’m not drinking alcohol which tends to inhibit the Warfarin’s action.

21st November, 2014

Wet this morning. We drove out fairly early to make a journey of nine miles to Esher. We were visiting Garson’s Farm Shop which contains a wonderful Butcher’s Stall and they have five pheasants for us.

 

The Butcher’s is Bevans – family firm dating back 85 years. They are opening their own branch in Woking in January next door to a wonderfully stocked wet fish shop. That will save us a journey. Esher is quite a ‘posh’ place where footballers stash their cash. People who live there include Frank Lampard, Damien Duff, Joe Cole and Glenn Johnson but also Chris Tarrant, Kid Jensen, Ronan Keating.

Fascinating to see that the Greeks are lifting the Parliamentary Immunity of Golden Dawn members so that they can be prosecuted while UK is electing its second UKIP MP. Who is bonkers now?

22nd November, 2014

I don’t usually do things like this but I voted in the Tree of the Year competition featured on the Woodland Trust’s website. I voted for The Major Oak in Sherwood Forest mainly because we were taken to see it a number of times as children some 50 – 60 years ago.

According to local folklore, it was Robin Hood’s shelter where he and his merry men slept when they were hiding from the Sheriff of Nottingham. It weighs an estimated 23 tons, has a girth of 33 feet (10 metres), and is about 800–1000 years old and, for a second time, it has won the UK Tree of the Year going forward to the wider European competition.

Relations of Pauline’s Family, who I found on the internet while researching her ancestry, have found a photograph of a family member they can’t identify.

Looks a bit like Phyllis so we hope she recognises her.

 

9th November, 2014

Because of the midweek date of Bonfire Night, we have experienced Firework Parties for what seems like a week of nights. Hopefully, last night was the last. The gardener will spend all his time sweeping up autumn leaves liberally sprinkled with spent rockets this week.

Pauline is packing for Greece. We set off on Tuesday with an early start. I’m watching the football like all dutiful husbands do. Newcastle look to continue their recent revival with a 0-2 win over West Brom..

The Blog only has six weeks to go to until it’s completed six years. Just forward warning to The Poison Dwarf. Send us a card!

10th November, 2014

We’re going back to Greece. It pains me to say so but Greece is in danger of spiralling back down in to Europe’s basket case. Greek industrial output fell 5.1 percent year-on-year in September. September’s drop was the seventh consecutive contraction in industrial output since February this year. Greek consumer prices fell 1.7 percent in October, with the annual pace of deflation accelerating from a 0.8 percent drop in September. Greece has been in deflation mode for the last 20 months as cuts in wages and pensions and a deep recession exert downward pressures. Like rats deserting a sinking ship, Greeks have been leaving their Homeland. Kalymnos has seen its population reduced by 30% to emigration – preferring Europe, the US and Australia.

The Samaras/Venizelos coalition government have been trying to persuade the electorate and, maybe, themselves that they can exit Troika control early and still get the support they need. It was never going to happen. Tsipras has spent the past twelve months telling a gullible and desperate electorate that he will cut taxes, raise pensions, raise salaries and all without EU help. It was never going to happen although some Greeks are so desperate that they’re prepared to believe anything.

We checked in for our flight this morning on our iPads. We haven’t flown for over four years and things have advanced so much. We have downloaded our Boarding Passes on our mobile phones to show at the gate.i

Early night and early start for the 20 minute drive to the airport tomorrow.

11th November, 2014

Left the house at 5.00 am and had a quick drive to the Long Stay car park at Heathrow Terminal 5. With on-line Check in, we swiped our mobile phones on the Check in readers and handed over our bags. We were in the air by 8.00 am and in Athens by 13.30. A wonderful B.A. flight. Before we could get down to Baggage Collect, our bags were there and waiting. We took the train to Syndagma. Soon we were in our favourite hotel – The Electra Palace. We have a three person room which has a sofa and plenty of room.

A welcome cup of tea and the newspapers, a shower and a snooze. Out into the busy streets of Athens to our favourite, street corner taverna for a meal of salad and fish. We drank too much wine and went back for coffee and a snooze. At 8.00 pm, we re-engage our struggle with the language of the evening news on Mega Channel.

12th November, 2014

Leisurely up this morning – not until 7.30 am. Standards are slipping! Cup of tea in our room and then a wonderful breakfast in the Breakfast Room. We are going out to do some business this morning. I’ve downloaded Google Maps App to our iPads and our mobiles so we can easily locate the offices we need. They are not far away. The weather is pleasant and mild. We will enjoy the walking. After that breakfast, we need the walking !

Spent all morning visiting various offices. Business fully completed. Feels good. The weather, however, feels distinctly humid. I find walking through city streets extremely tiring and, after four hours walking around in a busy Athens, I am depleted and perspiring in the moist air. We return to the hotel for a big cup of tea and the newspapers. Later, we will have a swim in the indoor pool.

Lovely, long swim in the spa pool followed by a jacuzzi session and a sauna. After our swim, our arms ached. We returned to our room and snacked on some salted peanuts we bought while out and washed them down with a lovely bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon (Greek). We won’t eat again today. Must have an early night.

13th November, 2014

A really enjoyable day – especially for Pauline. It is a warm and sunny morning here and we are up at 7.00 am for a cup of tea. By 8.30 am, we go down for Breakfast. Unfortunately, we can no longer do it justice but it is nice trying. This morning is shopping. Last time we were here in July, Pauline bought three pairs of shoes. Today, after touring every leather manufacturer in Athens, she bought three handbags.

 

I am delighted. Pauline is happy and the prices in Athens are so cheap that I am happy too.

We were out shopping for about four hours – nearly more than a real man can take. Back at the hotel, I was allowed to drink coffee and read my paper before heading off to the Spa downstairs for a long swim,  jacuzzi and sauna. After that, I needed a beer in our room. Later, around 5.00 pm, we went out to eat at Taverna Paradosiako. We’ve been going there for years but only noticed Matt Barratt’s recommendation recently.

It is a delightful and reliable taverna on the corner of Voulis and Nikodimou where pedestrians jostle past tables spilling out on the the walkway. Immediately across the road is a car park and vehicles jostle for space with stray cats. Sophisticated? Not! In fact, no one in their right mind would give it a second glance – unless they were experienced in Greek tradition. This taverna is wonderful. It is family run with lovely serving girls and really excellent food. It is just on the corner from our hotel – The Electra Palace. Here we ate the sweet flesh of grilled Sea Bream, with skordallia (garlic sauce) and fava (bean dip). The whole experience of eating, people watching and cold, white wine is intoxicating and one I will never tire of.

14th November, 2014

A prolonged and violent thunder storm circled Athens in the early hours. Everything feels and smells fresher. I really can’t take much more BREAKFAST! However, I have tried for Pauline’s sake. After breakfast, we went out to the Post Office in Syndagma to buy some stamps and post some letters.

The Post Office in Greece encapsulates all that is wrong with the country. Sloppily run on old world principles of ‘the customer is usually wrong’ and should be kept waiting while I get my coffee. Who do they think they are. They’re only customers. We get a ticket with number 112 on it. A lady with 111 stands in front. Nobody comes to the window. We wait ten minutes. The Greek Lady – 111 – gets increasingly exasperated. Eventually, I get a second ticket from a second machine and wait another ten minutes to speak to another operative by which time the first window begins to serve Lady 111 with steam coming out of her ears. What is amazing is that nothing seems to change. Nobody in the organisation seems bothered or proactive. No wonder Greeks are hardened, cynical people.

Check Out at 12.00 Noon and off to the Airport by train. The Airport trip is quick, comfortable and easy and costs 7.00€ as opposed to a taxi journey of 50.00€. Why would you do it? At the airport, we had already checked in on-line and got our boarding passes on our mobiles. We have Business Class Lounge entry from our bank account. At Landside, we went to the Gold Air Lounge where we had free services of wi-fi, wine and food in comfort.

After going through Passport Control to Airside, we went to the Aristotle Onassis Lounge which was even more relaxing.

It did provide a pleasant atmosphere to while away a few hours with free drink and food in peace and comfort. As we sat in the Lounges, we watched the rain clouds move in and envelop the airport. We had read of torrential rain on the M25 in UK causing subsidence already.

Our flight was on time, comfortable and quick. London was dry when we landed and we were soon driving the 20 minutes to our home. It was as if we had never been away!

15th November, 2014

A lovely, sunny but, initially, sharp morning. We had both slept well and don’t seem to be suffering from the two hour Time Zone shift. We had to be up at 7.00 am because Pauline has a hospital appointment for a scan. St Peter’s Hospital is delightful, smart and bright. All the people we come in to contact with are pleasant and helpful. Pauline’s scan immediately confirmed what she already suspected that she is full of gallstones. The next question is how they will be dealt with.

On the way home, we stopped at Addlestone Tesco and bought lots of fish – fresh trout and mackerel. Whenever we return from Greece these days we seem to buy more fish. Talking about Greece, it is astonishing at the level of interest the media has put in John Major’s words to European Leaders about his belief that the chances of UK leaving the EEC were 50%/50%. I was surprised to find him so optimistic. Indeed, a leading financial house remarked today that there was a chance that Europe would cease to exist before UK got round to leaving it.

 2nd November, 2014

I’m writing this at 7.30 pm after having a short walk outside. The temperature is extremely mild although the night is very dark. We walked in short sleeved shirts as Firework Displays lit up the night sky. Once again, Sifnos and Athens are cooler than us. We are looking for the reverse in a week or two when we return to Greece.

We have decided that we are going to spend some time in Venice this Spring. It’s quite a long time since we were there and I’ve longed to return. I’m already researching hotels to stay in. They have to be close to San Marco where we stayed last time. It will be expensive!

Back on Planet Earth, it looks more and more as if UKIP will be power brokers in the next UK Government instead of the Lib.Dems.. This is going to make Brexit increasingly likely. Indeed, it is rumoured on Tory Blogs that Cameron is prepared to sell his soul and advocate Britain’s exit from the E.U. if it keeps him in power. In the end, of course, he’s only a here today gone tomorrow politician so why should he care?

3rd November, 2014

I’m afraid my wife is falling apart from the inside. Took her to the doctor this morning. The doctor is a woman of the same age as Pauline and she delivered the withering diagnosis that women of a similar age as them find their bones and joints, organs and skin degenerating with the accompanying symptoms. Makes a nonsense of extending the retirement age. Pauline has been suffering with what she thinks is a trapped nerve in her neck/shoulder for a month. The doctor thinks it might be early on-set Arthur (aka arthr-itis). She also thinks she might be developing nascent gallstones. She’s being sent to a ‘specialist’ for investigations. I’m going to need a new model soon.

4th November, 2014

Glorious, glorious day with clear blue skies and bright sunshine. Not warm at 11C/52F but Autumnal and ‘Glad-to-be-Alive’ weather. Contact with Elerania and Georgia on Sifnos this morning. All is very well. Pauline has cut my hair and soon we will be off to the Health Club but not until I’ve watched the politics programme on BBC2. It is prescribed viewing!

Made Moules Mariniere for our meal today.

Haven’t had that for months and it was wonderful. Rabbit is marinating for tomorrow when it will be slow cooked. Looking forward to that.

5th November, 2014

A bright and sunny but seriously cool day. Just right, I suppose, for Bonfire Night. Spent the day planning a trip out to the south coast tomorrow to look at three or four houses (something we were doing exactly four years ago today) and I’ve been finalising the set up of new, on-line savings accounts and ISA accounts. Because of European Money Laundering Regulations, setting up an account to store one’s own money is absolutely tortuous.

There is a by-election in Kent which is almost certain to be won by UKIP for their second MP in a month. It would be laughable if it wasn’t so serious. The net effect will be to tempt other Tory MPs to defect and for Cameron to firm up an intention, that was never really there until now, to take the UK out of the EU. There can be little more short sighted than this but it is the ultimate aim of unprincipled politicians – to stay in power.

6th November, 2014

Clear blue skies, strong sun but freezing this morning. At 6.50 am, I went to the Woking Walk-in Hospital for a blood test – the first since August – and the temperature was 0C/32F. There was a hint of frost on the ground. We are setting out for Sussex after rush hour traffic dies down at about 9.30 am.

Had a lovely letter/email  from Elerania last night with news of Sifnos. We fly back to Greece next week. Looking forward to it.

7th November, 2014

Yesterday, we found a house we both really liked at a price we liked in Felpham, and another at Angmering/Littlehampton both in West Sussex less than five miles from where my sister, Catherine, has lived for the last 35 years. We drove home quite hopefully. We’ve done a little research to find that there is a Health Club – a Virgin Active – within reach and a Sainsburys. It is only a fifteen minute drive to the beach and has good, superfast broadband.

Watched a documentary about two, West African men trying to dupe an undercover reporter into giving them £25,000.00/32,000.00€ on the understanding that they have original negatives from a Swiss bank allowing them to duplicate the notes and double the investor’s money. Of course the whole thing was a scam and they were revealed on camera as was their blindingly audacious naivety. Fast forward three or four hours and up pops the Chancellor of the Exchequer crowing about how he’s forced the EU to back down and halve the £1.7 billion bill they had been landed with. Unfortunately, just as the money copiers over reached themselves, so did the Chancellor. Just like with the money copiers, the smoke and mirrors scam began to unravel before the bank notes were dry. Soon we learned that a rebate which had already been expected was being written off against the extra bill. It leaves the Coaltion government in general and Osborne in particular looking like West African con men.

8th November, 2014

Yesterday we filled the car and couldn’t believe how cheap it was. Our petrol at Sainsburys (with a 7p off discount) cost us £1.14 / 1.45€ per litre. This is the lowest it has been for five years. The Daily Telegraph this morning is suggesting British fuel prices could well fall to £1.00 / 1.27€ per litre. Every little helps. Today has been intermittently sunny and then wet. It’s not warm either at 13/56F. We are due for a windy and wet week in Britain which is fine because we will be in Greece.

26th October, 2014

Our daily routine of bed at midnight and up at 7.00 am was not interrupted by the clock changes last night. The only thing that was notable was the fact that all our clocks now change automatically with the exception of the one on the oven. It is a pity to have darker evenings now but it is lovely to acknowledge the seasons. We are deep in to Autumn. Three days ago, the gardener swept up and bagged huge amounts of leaves yet, already, the grounds are obscured by more. This morning, I looked out at 7.00 am to see squirrels tunnelling under heavy layers of crisp, brown leaves to hide their winter food store and next door’s cat using leaf fall as cover to stalk three foraging magpies.

This week we are thinking of another south coast trip to view new houses. We know persistence will produce results. This time we have properties in the Battle, Hastings, Brighton areas.

27th October, 2014

A beautiful day of blue skies and sunshine and temperatures above Sifnos and Athens. It would have been a good day to go out house hunting but tomorrow is forecast to be similar so we will set off reasonably early for Sussex and Kent. Pauline has identified properties to look at and the round trip will take most of the day. This one looks interesting outside Hastings:

Today has been a frustrating one of trying to set up two on-line managed ISAs, putting our allowance for this year into them and transferring a poorly performing Santander into them as well. Completing this task has been far from on-line and has involved two supplementary phone calls and now leaves us waiting for confirmation letters by post. It is certainly not very digital.

28th October, 2014

The day has been one of Summer in Autumn with fiery coloured trees glowing under blue skies with strong sun. We left for a 200 mile round, house-hunting trip stopping first in Hastings, Sussex and then moving on to Adlington (nr. Ashford), Sellindge and Staplehurst in Kent. We saw four developments but only one appealed to us and that was the Hastings one featured in yesterday’s Blog.

29th October, 2014

Continuing our weather obsession, today has started, in complete contrast to recent days, damp and grey although still very mild. The newspapers are equally obsessed with weather related stories and The Times this morning reports that:

British strawberries will be available in December for the first time because warm weather and the use of polytunnels have given growers a nine-month season.

They also feature people sunbathing on deckchairs in London yesterday. While I write, Elerania has contacted us and we will speak on the phone later today. She is such a good friend and I bitterly regret not engaging her when I first moved to Sifnos – in line with one or two other regrets.

30th October, 2014

Long and involved shopping trip this morning that left us both tired. This afternoon, I am tidying the Study out while Pauline turns two pairs of new trousers up for me. She is convinced I’m shrinking. Wouldn’t you just love a dynamic life like this?

Honda contacted us to say they were ready to replace our brakes. It is set to be a lovely day tomorrow – probably the warmest last day of October day since records began is being forecast at 21C/70F – so we are setting off at 5.00 am for Huddersfield. We will be there around 8.30 am  for a couple of hours only and then off back home. We intend to be back in Huddersfield for 2.00 pm. Let’s hope the M25 and M1 motorways are kind.

Pauline has been discussing properties with developers and we are planning trips out next week. A trip to West Sussex – Hampshire for one day and another to East Sussex – Kent. Life can really be fun. We are flying to Greece in a couple of weeks and have a trip back to France at the beginning of December. We haven’t done so much varied travelling for years.

31st October, 2014

We began our valediction for October at 4.00 am and were on the empty M25 soon after 5.00 am. The darkness of early morning gave way to warm sunshine as we arrived in Yorkshire by 8.30 am. The temperature, as news bulletins kept informing us, reached an all time high for Halloween’s Night. In Surrey,it was 24C/75F. Tonight, as I write at 11.30 pm, the temperature outside is 16C/61F. In Sifnos, it is 14C/57F and in Athens it is 13C/55F. However, I don’t think this summer can last much longer.

We had returned to our Honda Dealership to have our brakes renewed. It was in Greece that they first started squeaking and we thought it was a consequence of the dry atmosphere.

The regular service identified the need for their replacement – a job that would have cost £600.00 but came free with our three year maintenance agreement. The job took two hours during which we drank coffee and read our iPad newspapers.

By 11.30 am, under a beautiful, summer sky, we set off back on our seven hour round trip. After a fairly problem-free journey up the M1, the M25 on a Friday afternoon was horrible. Instead of 3.00 pm, it was 4.30 pm by the time we got home and we were tired.

1st November, 2014

Happy November!

Happy anything really. Time, day, month, year matter little – until you run out! Even so, we are entering the end stages of a momentous year for us.

Today is yet another beautiful, sunny and mild one. 18C/65F in Surrey and exactly the same on Sifnos. Only 16C/61F in Athens. To celebrate the new month, I’m watching football and Pauline’s sewing. We are still rather tired after our exertions of yesterday.

19th October, 2014

Up early to a beautiful, sunny day which reached 20C/69F by lunchtime. Hotel breakfast of bacon & scrambled eggs and then off to Repton to say ‘Hello’ to Mum. We always go at the most poignant time of year when the signs of natural decay drift across the wonderfully peaceful and isolated graveyard.

We were there by 11.30 am and did our duty. She rebuked me as usual, pointing out that I visited more often in death than in life. I took it on the chin and we set off for Surrey.

Throughout our journey, the sun shone and the trees burned with Autumn. It was blustery but warm. Showers of leaves carpeted the roads as we drove. Little Viv phoned us in the car as we drove and, as soon as we got home, we picked up a message from friends on Sifnos. We have had a delightful four days away and now have to get back on with the fitness campaign.

20th October, 2014

A glorious, sunny and warm morning. Autumn is in full flow as our garden shows.

Back from Yorkshire, we are catching up with business. I’m transferring money into new, savings accounts while Pauline is phoning friends on Sifnos. She has also made tomato soup in her spare time while I’m still trying hard to finish The Sunday Times.

21st October, 2014

A lovely, bright and sunny day but a bit breezy. Only 20 miles away, in central London, a woman was killed when a huge tree was blown down on top of her. We have been busy catching up with correspondence – emails and letters. Pauline cooked a delicious meal of roast salmon with broad beans and onions. I should add that we have embarked on a ‘dry’ month or until we fly to Greece at least. So our meals are accompanied by sparkling water.

The ‘no wine’ rule gave me a dilemma this afternoon because I was preparing Beef Bourguignon. It requires a bottle of red wine but I salved my conscience in the knowledge that all the alcohol is driven off in the cooking.

I’ve been trying to arrange a new joint account with a Savings Bank to deposit money but ‘money laundering’ concerns mean one has to go to ridiculous lengths to prove one’s identity. It’s worse than Greece (almost). Tomorrow, we have to take copies of our passports and driver’s licences to the Post Office to have them ‘officially’ verified by some spotty youth. They then have to go off in the snail mail post to be checked before we can open an ‘on-line’ account. Bonkers!

Pauline was checking the Heathrow Long Stay car park to book it for our Greek trip next month. Up on her computer accounts came the last time we booked that car park. It was in 1998 when we flew to Greece and stayed in Sifnos over Easter for the first time. I can picture it so well. Nikos had just been born and the weather was freezing. We sat huddled around an oil-filled radiator in Hotel Stavros and shivered.

22nd October, 2014

Happy Birthday to the twins,  Liz & Mike. 57 today.

Beautiful, bright and breezy but chilly start to the day. We’ve been out to our bank to get copies of documents certified to comply with EU money laundering legislation in setting up savings bank and ISA accounts. We have been with bank for forty years, have a ‘Private’ Black Account and pay £300.00/380.00€ per year to service it. We have a Personal Banking Manager. We ask to have our documents certified and are told that will only be done to help us buy their financial products. Disgusted, we go off, confidently, to the Post Office where we’ve had this service before only to get the same response as our trusted bank. Apparently, some main Post Office branches will provide the service for £15.00/19.00€ but we will have to drive miles to get to one. It really does feel rather Third World-ish in a Greek way!

23rd October, 2014

Outside, the gardener is blowing the carpets of leaves into a sack. It’s a bit like herding eels in the breeze. We are setting out on a tour of the south coast today, house hunting.

We have had a very pleasant trip which took us to Upper Froyle in Hampshire – only 25 miles from our house – Brackenwood in West Sussex – a further 20 miles on and then Pulborough in West Sussex just 10 miles from Worthing where my sister, Catherine, lives. The journey back to our house from there was 40 miles. We went to see this house amongst others:

We have specific requirements for our new house:

• Laundry
• Study with fast broadband
• Large kitchen
• Dining Room
• Downstairs Cloakroom
• 4 Double Bedrooms with at least 1 En Suite
• Multiple satellite TV points
• Garage – preferably double.
• It must be new build
• It will be preferably under the 3% stamp duty at £500,000.00

This house style is £500,000 in one area and £560,000 in another. We are prepared to go higher in price to buy in a better location. It must have good supermarkets and a Health Club within easy reach and it would be nice to get to the coast quickly.

24th October, 2014

Barty aka Paros Man wonders whether we are missing Sifnos as he flies back from his holidays.

Since leaving the island, we have been so busy that we haven’t thought about it much although a phone call from friends there does leave one reliving the world that is a Greek island. We have had two such calls today while we were out and our imaginations immediately recreate the place our callers sit in, walk in, shop in, live their lives. Even this morning, we have spoken by phone to two friends on the island and had email contact with two others. To be honest, when we reflect, we do not miss the claustrophobia that was Sifnos and relish the expansive challenge not being a Greek home owner presents. The rest of the world is such a big place to explore.

As our media reports huge rebates for Germany and France and a huge supplementary payment of £1.7 Billion as a result of our surging economy, the Get Out of Europe Campaign receives a major boost. This is from Guido Fawkes this morning:

The EU this morning orders Britain to pay a £1.7 billion “prosperity tax” within weeks, while France and Germany receive massive rebates. A continental source gloats to the Telegraph: “there is nothing Britain can do about it”. That isn’t true: Dave can refuse to pay, tell Brussels to deal with it and then see what they do. It’s our money, the PM has to say “no, no, no”.

They just can’t let Thatcher go.

25th October, 2014

The British newspapers are screaming for us to get out of the E.U. The huge additional payment is today’s trigger although it has actually been know about since last May. The newspapers are full of stories about Calais being a lawless town with immigrants who have made their way right across Europe with the sole intention of getting in to Britain. There is some truth in that in our recent experience. It is certainly worse than what we have seen over the years in Patras port.

Separatism abounds. Scotland voted to stay – just – but all those bugbears of keeping them are being paraded. The Barnett Formula used to decide the central grant has long been thought over generous to those north of the border. There are calls to re-formulate. Topical for today is the GMT. Many would like England to remain on permanent European Time – maximising the evening light. A strong argument against this has always been put up by the Scots who would live in longer hours of darkness. This old chestnut is coming out now with differential time zones suggested. All the mood music points to an exit.

12th October, 2014

On Tuesday, we are going to visit a long lost, distant relative of Pauline’s family who I found researching the same material on a website. I contacted them only to be invited over for coffee at their home in East Molsey near Hampton Court Palace. It’s only about 13 miles away from us and will be an interesting visit. Pauline has been trawling through her huge archive of family photos and selecting out ones to take with us.

Not to be left out, I’ve been going through my store and came across this one which I’d forgotten. This was taken some time in 1952.

My brother, Bob is on the left and I’m on the right. There is only 9 months between us. I’ve know idea where our pram was parked. I don’t recognise it at all.

13th October, 2014

A day of heavy rain. We have been working on projects in the house. Pauline’s phone has been going non-stop with calls from Developers and Estate Agents trying to interest her in their latest wares.

While Skiathan Man was making and cooking sausage, I was making tomato, garlic and basil sauce and cooking pieces of Ling fish in it.

Like his SWMBO, we are not keen on spicy and prefer the more traditional Mediterranean flavours of olive oil, tomato and garlic.

14th October, 2014

We drove over to East Molsey near Hampton Court Palace this morning to meet two of Pauline’s relatives who we weren’t even aware existed until a couple of weeks ago.

I contacted them via an ancestry research site. Patrick & Beth proved to be lovely, welcoming people.

Patrick is a High Court Judge and Beth is a Barrister and professional Opera Singer. They have children away at public school. They gave Pauline & Phyllis cake and coffee and we exchanged information and photographs.

15th October, 2014

My Dad was born on 15th October, 1915 which would have made him 99 today. Instead, he died at the cruel age of 49. This is him aged 9 months pictured in July 1916 during the white heat of World War One when his father was away in the Royal Navy Air Service.

It may even have been taken for his father to take away as a keepsake to get him through the war. This is him in 1963, the year before he died.

I was so saddened talking to my sister, Ruth, last night. I had intended visiting her but can’t this time. More upsetting were the ‘network’ of distant relationships we all seem to have adopted. I woke at 3.00 am thinking about it. I know I am as much to blame as any and it looks as if it is irretrievable which is really regrettable.

Tomorrow morning early – 6.00 am to beat the rush hour on the M25 – we are setting off for Yorkshire. First stop will be the Honda garage to have our car serviced. We are staying for three nights and driving home via Mum & Dad’s grave in Repton on Sunday morning.

16th October, 2014

Up at 5.00 am and on the road by 6.00 am driving to Yorkshire. We were there by 9.45 am despite two lots of M1 roadworks slowing us down. We drove straight to Hepworth Honda, our Dealership of 30 years, to have the car serviced and to chat to our friend, Chris Woods, who has sold us twenty new cars over the years. We sat around with our iPad newspapers while the work was done.

Just after 11.00 am, we revisited some Huddersfield sights and then drove to our hotel – the Holiday Inn at Brighouse – to check in. We had booked a Suite which cost little more than an Executive Room and it is perfect for our needs. We have a bedroom with a TV,  a lounge with a dining table, fridge, TV, settee and armchairs, Bathroom with bath and shower. The gardens are beautiful and rabbits run round the lawns.

17th October,2014

Woken up early to a beautiful, sunny morning. Blue sky and Autumnal sun; don’t have to go to work; time to enjoy the moment. This morning, after a leisurely breakfast of orange juice and tea, we are driving over to Oldham to visit my old colleague and friend, Brian and his wife, Val.

We drove back to Huddersfield and prepared to meet friends – Viv, Margaret & Tony – for Dinner. We had chosen to go to a restaurant near our old house. Erics was called something else when we last went there. So many restaurants have struggled during the recession. We met at 7.00 pm and it was lovely to meet up again. It is nice to meet good, honest friends. The restaurant was packed and noisy but the food was brilliant. I had sea bass fillet with scallop for my starter. Chicken and pancetta filled me up and I didn’t need a sweet although some of our group had one. Pauline had confit duck followed by cheesecake. It was a good evening.

18th October, 2014

Up a bit later this morning – 7.15 am – after our activities yesterday. Our normal days are spent quietly together and yesterday was spent in hours of talking in social situations. It was very draining. Goodness knows how I would feel going back to teaching now. This morning we are going in to town so Pauline can do some shopping and then over to Oldham to the crematorium to remember her Mum’s death 4 years ago today.

For the second half of October, it is incredibly warm. We’ve come away to Northern England and I’ve only brought short sleeved shirts. I was out in one until late last night and wearing one to go out this morning. If this is Global Warming, let me have more of it! We went to Oldham to say ‘Hello’ to Pauline’s Mum. And then – from the sublime to the ridiculous – we visited Tesco to buy up all its Holland’s pies for homesick Colin. We do it every time we come up. We went on to buy a couple of suitcases for our November trip to Greece. When you’re not driving, you need suitable luggage.

Now, back at our hotel, we are sitting in glorious sunshine, surrounded by wonderful grounds of trees and bushes on fire with Autumnal colours. It is a lovely place to relax and read the newspaper.

 

5th October, 2014

Wonderfully sunny day for Pauline’s Birthday. She is 63 today. Happy Birthday Darling.

We went out to an Italian restaurant with family to celebrate it. Interesting meal.

6th October, 2014

A cool, windy and wet day. We dedicated it to financial management work. Pauline prepared dressed crab for our meal and it was absolutely delicious.

Felt a bit under the weather so we didn’t go out to exercise. We did visit the new, Asda Megastore – out of interest and to do a bit of shopping. Our big shop this week will be in France.

7th October, 2014

A lovely, sunny day. I have to go out for a blood test. Life’s full of fun. I had my free ‘flu jab as well.

Apparently, middle-aged people with heart trouble could halve their risk of a heart attack by getting a flu jab, research suggests. Usually, after a ‘flu jab, I feel under the weather for a couple of days. As we are going to France tomorrow, I hope that isn’t repeated this year.

We’ve had a flurry of communications with Sifnos in the past 24hrs. It feels strange now we don’t live there. Under normal circumstances, we would have been back in Surrey for a month anyway but speaking to people we know in situations we picture in our mind’s eye is strangely unsettling.

8th October, 2014

A damp and rather dull, autumnal morning. Off to France for a couple of days shopping. First, I had to do some urgent communications with people on Sifnos.

Leave at 10.00 am for the Folkestone Tunnel. We will be in France by mid day. Pauline has written a shopping list as long as two men’s arms so the car is full of refrigerators, cool bags, shopping bags, etc.. Let’s hope the back axle survives!

The rain was heavy as we drove down to the Tunnel but the sun shone over Calais and Coquelle as we drove off the Shuttle and to our hotel. Coffee and a banana and then off to Cite Europe to do some shopping.

9th October, 2014

Heavy rain and strong winds over night but the morning has dawned bright, mild and blustery. After Breakfast, we set of for the Calais Wine Superstore. As we drove the five miles there, we noticed numerous, small knots of Asylum Seekers dotted around the area.

As we approached the Wine Store, a large bunch of these people were being ‘monitored’ by French police in a white van. This is where the immediate problem lies. Dozens, maybe hundreds of people cross from Africa and Asia through Greece and Italy to France with one intention – get to Britain, the Land of Milk & Honey. They destroy their documents of origin and cannot be made stateless so the French police do nothing more than harass them. There is no mileage in picking them up. They merely roam the countryside constantly trying to board a vehicle to get across the Channel.

We are the lucky ones. We live in Britain. We spent the morning indulging ourselves in a splurge of shopping on things that Asylum Seekers could only dream of. After buying 150 bottles of wine, we moved on to Auchan in Coquelles.

There we bought packs of Duck Legs, Duck Breasts, joints Pork and Beef. On to Carrefour in Cité Europe where we bought a week’s fruit and vegetables, cold meats, cheese and lots of fish. We bought a side of salmon, loins of cod, fillets of ling and two, huge, live crabs.

We filled our car fridge, cool boxes and cool bags and set off for the Tunnel. Two hours later, the crabs were swimming in the sink at home in Surrey, staring and waving at Pauline. They didn’t swim for long in a stock pot of boiling, salted water. They will be on the menu tomorrow.

10th October, 2014

A relaxing day. We ‘dressed’ the crabs – a time-consuming process but great fun. Next door’s cat got very excited and was rewarded with some scraps. Our reward was a lovely, crab meal. We’ll probably have to repaint the kitchen having scraped the walls clean of shell fragments but – no pain no gain.

Looks like Europe is heading for a triple dip recession which will be disastrous for Greece, killing off its nascent recovery. Samaras is struggling to maintain equilibrium as it is. If the German economy is wobbling as it appears to be currently then the Greek situation must be parlous. It seems that we just got out in time!

11th October, 2014

Went to the EE Shop in Woking for some technical help with our SIM cards. A lovely, little girl who has just graduated as an architect served us and sorted out the problem within half an hour.

We drove home delighted because an hour of our attempts through the phone’s settings had achieved nothing. It turns out that the SIM card settings could only be edited from within an iPhone and not our Sony Xperia.

Next, I have turned to financial matters – moving an ISA that had lost its Bonus %age and investing in a new one for each of us under this year’s allowance and regulations. Now we can each invest £15,000.00 each tax year in a tax-free ISA wrapper. We have always invested our maximum allowable since we retired and this year will be no different although the rate is appalling. We can get 1.4 – 1.5% for an easy access ISA at the moment so for £30,000.00 over a year we will just earn £450.00. We will try to avoid using ISA money but we don’t want to tie it up at the moment so we have accepted that position. If we can put a lot of money into property, we are likely to make 9 – 12% p.a. around here so that is a much better bet.

28th September, 2014

It would be hard to distinguish today from mid-Summer. The weather has been so warm – 25C/77F at peak with lovely sunshine that, if it wasn’t for the golf which we won easily for the tenth time in twelve competitions, we would have sat outside all day. As it was, we luxuriated in the day on our trip to the Health Club for a good hour’s workout.

The newspapers and broadcast reports are all about Tory troubles. MPs defecting to Golden Dawn (sorry UKIP) and another photocopying his genitals and sending the results to on-line girls (sorry Sunday Mirror reporters).

You can’t start a party conference much better than that. Looks like it’s going to be another great week!

29th September, 2014

As we see out September over the next couple of days, the warm weather holds although today was rather overcast and steamy. Apart from our daily exercise routine, I’ve been monitoring the Tory Part Conference where pensioners were guaranteed inflation-proofed pensions. That will do for me. I also wrote to my friend, Caroline, who sends me cards from all her globe-trotting expeditions and spoke to Ruth to agree a visit to sunny Bolton in just over a fortnight.

Booked a shopping trip to France for next week we will stay in our favourite hotel in Coquelles that we have been using for about twenty years now.

30th September, 2014

It has been announced today that the month of September in 2014 in England has been the warmest and driest for over a hundred years. Certainly, today,  the last before October found a temperature of 24C/75F by mid-afternoon. It felt even warmer as we left the Health Club having upped our regime, doing an hour/500 calories of cardio exercise.

We received the latest colour magazine from our estate agent and were amused to find our property highlighted.

In Greece, it is pay the first instalment of you Property Tax day and banks are seeing long queues. We always paid ours off in one go but not this year. We shall spend ours in France next week on frivolous luxuries.

1st October, 2014

Happy October!

The month opened at 7.00 am with warm rain. It was a lovely change from the most dry September for a Century.

Interesting to see the Greek political scene is starting to crack prior to imploding. Kathimerini says:

The way things are going, the administration will find itself in a process of decay and go down in a blaze of insignificance.

Certainly, if Syriza take power, Europe will disown them, the Greek Balance of Payments will spiral out of control, Pensions and property values will be devalued far more than they have been currently, the country’s infrastructure will fall apart. Already the Public Power Corporation (PPC) is heading for a financial blackout as unpaid electricity bills are growing at an annual rate of 30 percent, having reached 1.7 billion euros at the end of July from 1.3 billion euros last year. It really is not a place to live and work at the moment and, without solid infrastructure, their golden geese – tourists – will look elsewhere.

In Britain, Road Fund Licences (Tax Discs) became obsolete this morning. It will all be recorded digitally. Who will pay it now? I was taking mine out of the car at 7.00 am. Was I beaten by anyone else? I’ve still got a series of Swiss vignettes on the windscreen. I might sell them all as a memento job lot on Ebay.

 

2nd October, 2014

Up early on a warm and sunny morning. The temperature only reached 22C/70F but it felt lovely in the sunshine. Out of the house by 8.30 am and in to town for our annual eye checks. Everyone over 60 gets them free and everyone over 60 gets a 20% discount on the price of glasses at Specsavers. Neither of us needed new ones. I’ve got so many pairs, I don’t know what to do with them.

We went on to Headmasters for Pauline to have her hair cut. We’d thought of waiting until we were in Athens but it is just too long until we go. I went to a coffee shop and read my iPad  newspaper. A new market walkway has opened up with wonderful fresh fish, meat & game, fruit and vegetables, coffee beans and tea supplies sold all along it. We bought baby hake and trout, huge corn cobs, juicy raspberries and great bunches of fresh herbs all at very low prices.

In the afternoon, we did a Sainsbury’s shop. Of course, Sainsbury’s have reported dire trading data hard on the heels of an atrocious mis-accounting scandal and a continuing slump at Tesco. Morrisons has been dragged into a price-match war with the discounters – Aldi and Lidl. Every shop till receipt tells us how much ‘cash back’ we have been awarded because of Price Comparison. To cap it all, the petrol price has fallen to 124.9p/1.59€ per litre. Our shopping bills are falling. This week, we only spent £45.00 and received a Price Comparison discount of £2.40.

3rd October, 2014

Lovely, warm, early Autumnal day reaching 22C/70F. A quiet one for us. We put in an extra effort at the Health Club. A really hard hour and just over 500 calories later, I staggered to the car. We heard from relatives of Pauline’s family who we found while researching her ancestors. By coincidence, they are also living in Surrey, close to Hampton Court. We have agreed to go over and meet them next week for coffee.

4th October, 2014

The morning started off sunny but soon turned pitch black and rain began. It’s nice to see rain It’s still warm. There is a sense of change in the air. As tourists desert the Greek Islands and look for warmer climes so we explore new destinations for the Winter. How about Siena?

We are considering calling in there on our drive across Europe next Spring.

21st September, 2014

The morning has opened fresh but sunny with a temperature of 16C/60F. The Blog is 300 not out! Can’t believe it. We have just 12 weeks to go before completing 6 years. You have to admit that it shows stamina if nothing else.

Sunday is special. In my childhood, it was the enforced attendance at Mass. For the past 40 or so years, it has been the enthusiastic attention to the Sunday papers and political journalism. It couldn’t be more exciting this weekend post-Scotland poll and the great Constitutional Debate. The West Lothian Question is being used by Cameron and Lynton Crosby to attempt to skewer Miliboots and the Labour Party. Should Scottish MPs be barred from voting on purely English matters thus depriving the Labour Party of 40 Scottish Labour MPs? Suddenly, the country is galvanised by things they know nothing about like The Barnett Formula. I remember Joel Barnett well. He was the MP for Heywood & Royton in Oldham between 1964 – 1983. He was also Secretary to the Treasury under Wilson and Callaghan.

Barnett devised a formula which could be used to devolve public spending to the regions of the UK. This process from the early 1970s persists in devolving higher per capita public spending in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland than it gives to English citizens and has been a source of discontent amongst those who realise this for a long time. Not only has Cameron appeared to entrench the persistence of this Formula but pile additional, political bribes into the equation as well. It doesn’t bode well for the United Kingdom.

22nd September, 2014

Lovely sunny morning. We drove down to Caterham, a quaint, market town, on the Surrey border to look at a property

and then on to Longfield, just over the border into Kent, to look at another. Both were interesting but neither made us leap with joy. The search continues.

23rd September, 2014

Cool start to a lovely, sunny day. Got a bit of a bug that comes and goes. Went out to see Phyllis & Colin and then on to the Health Club. We did 45 minutes and 425 calories by which time I felt much better.

I am trying to renew my downward trend in weigh loss by limiting myself to 1520 calories per day. That’s why earning an extra 400 a day through exercise is so worthwhile. Today I have consumed

• a large cup of tea
• 3 cups of fresh coffee with skimmed milk
• a banana
• 250g of fruit yoghurt
• 60g of smoked salmon
• 77g of kipper fillet
• 2 x sticks of celery
• 4 x cherry tomatoes
• 2 large glasses of red wine

and I still have 60 calories left because of my exercise contribution.

As an out and out politics geek, I luxuriated in the speech of the Leader of the Labour Party this afternoon.

Fascinating stuff which is rolling the Blairite world of New Labour back and resounding with echoes of Gas & Water Socialism.

Fascinating ‘Love in the Sun’ documentary on British television which featured women who had married Greeks and lived on their islands. With one exception, all the marriages had failed. The men had exhibited liberalism and multiculturalism for a period but, ultimately reverted to type and the marriages had broken down. The island of Symi featured heavily and reminded us how pleased we were to find it in the early 1990s when we were getting so fed up of all the noise outside Hotel Kamari on Sifnos. Traffic on the road was making it impossible to sleep. We rented a lovely, quiet house up the Kalistrata and got really fit walking up and down the steps each day.

24th September, 2014

If you want to buy an Sony Xperia M2 Smart phone, PC World will sell you one for £200.00.

This morning, EE gave me two for free – which was nice of them. One is for Pauline and the other for me. We both have unlimited calls and unlimited texts plus 2Gb of data. In addition, our allowance is fully usable in any EU country so driving through Europe, staying in Greece will be much more comfortable next year. The whole package for the two of us costs just £55.00 per month. How things have improved recently.

25th September, 2014

Lovely, lovely day! Sunny and wonderful. Shopping at Sainsbury’s, hard work at the Health Club and then Elerania contacted us to keep us up with events. What fun!

Life is so much fun. It is only a three weeks until we go to Yorkshire and I visit my sister and acquaintances from a previous life. In an extra three weeks we are going back to Greece. Who knows what will happen there.

26th September, 2014

A lovely, warm day that registered 24F/75C although with only weak sunshine. Did a really hard workout at the Health Club after going round to sort Phyllis’s iPad out. Pauline phoned Elerania back. I spent the day wrestling with apps on new smartphones, apps on iPads and apps on PCs so that our calendars are common to all platforms and all update each other. It was nice to hear the confirming ‘dings’ as entries on one machine began to populate all the others. In just the same way, I have ensured our exercise and diet app is available across platforms and the same with internet banking and email. The next integration will be contacts.

In spite of the warm, dry weather, Autumn is increasingly showing itself and evening darkness comes quickly and takes us by surprise. As Pauline perceptibly observed this morning, the trees sound very different now.

The breeze which once fluttered leaves is now producing dry and spiky sounds of old leaves breaking away and falling in a death spiral to the ground. Only the failing vestiges of Summer maintain their hold and Winter cannot be too far away. How lucky are we in Britain to experience these distinct and qualitatively different seasons in our lives.

27th September, 2014

A calm and warm morning was disturbed by the realisation that we had no hot water. A trip to the ‘engine room’ of the Development revealed that there had been a momentary power service blip over night and the boilers had gone off. The room is huge and houses the woodchip Biomass, three gas turbines and a CHP unit but resetting is easy and Pauline can soon have her shower.

The newspapers are dominated by emergency Parliamentary proceedings yesterday rubber stamping bombing raids on Iraq and, probably, Syria to drive back those who would establish an Islamic Caliphate on the shores of the Mediterranean. I am writing to my MP to ask for the total annihilation of Golden Dawn in Greece to be included in forward plans. Talking about Greece, it looks as if the coalition’s attempts to loosen the economic reform programme’s fiscal targets and to shed EU control allowing lower taxes and higher pensions will fail. The Troika, quite rightly, just won’t allow it as ekathimerini reports.

It would be folly to go back to old ways after all the suffering people have been put through.

14th September, 2014

A new week starts and marks mid-September. I start to look around and as myself what I’ve achieved so far this month. Achievement is not as easy in retirement as in one’s working life. On this occasion, I’ve decided to re-launch the weight loss programme with renewed vigour. I have 4 stones/25 kilos still to lose so I won’t manage it by the end of the year as I’d hoped but it does get much harder as I get closer to my target weight. I now hope/expect to make it by May 2015. To that end, we did an hour at the Health Club this morning and re-launched our iPad app, MyFitnessPal which monitors weight/height/age/ plus calories in and calories out via exercise. I just find it a real motivator.

15th September, 2014

If we had stayed the full time, we would have arrived back from Greece today. As it was, we arrived back eight weeks ago. Actually, we are expecting a phone call from Sifnos this morning and are returning to Greece in about eight more weeks. Today started under leaden skies but has very quickly given way to sunshine and blue sky. The week ahead is forecast to bump along at 24-25C/75-77F.

Just got back from an hour at the Gym and 400 calories burnt off. The day is now so beautiful that we are going to sit out in the sun. Our meal today is tuna & mackerel with tomato and cucumber salad. We are so healthy we squeak!

16th September, 2014

A fortnight ago today we were snoring. I was Great and my wife was Little. I won’t go into who was Fakenham.

Two weeks later, we are hard on the fitness trail. An hour at the Health Club and 400 calories burned off later, we are both feeling holier than thou.

17th September, 2014

It looks like I may have to send Skiathan Man some galoshes or a boat because his weather is turning difficult.

Ours, on the other hand is becoming Mediterranean. We have 24-25C/75-77F forecast for today and 26-27C/79-80F tomorrow.

Although we keep being told that the Scottish vote is too close to call, it looks as if the markets have already accepted and factored in a ‘No’ vote. The Pound Sterling has been strengthening since the weekend.

Had a long call from Elerania this afternoon. We’ve asked her to rope our Special Friend in to advise the Scots in their voting tomorrow. I think they’ll see sense.

18th September, 2014

You won’t be interested but, in researching Pauline’s Barnes Family tree, I found someone else doing the same. I contacted them and found a couple – lawyer and doctor by profession – distantly related to Pauline who are researching the same tree. I emailed them and got a long reply by return.

A warm day today reaching 26C/79F at its height – muggy and sweaty. Back to sleeping on top of the bedclothes while the Skiathan is still swimming home. At 2.00 am we were woken by the most enormous lightning flashes and thunder cracks followed by a monsoon downpour although it only lasted half an hour.

19th September, 2014

Today has started off very warm as well and we understand that will continue for quite a while. Shopping at Sainsbury’s. We have started using their Fast Track process. You pick up one of their barcode readers as you enter the shop.

You swipe each item in as you pick it up and put it into a bag in your trolley. When you get to the checkout, you just hand over the reader which shows what you have recorded. You are trusted to be honest which we are. The barcode reader shows how much you owe and a receipt is generated accordingly. It is so quick. I must suggest it to Moshka next summer.

20th September, 2014

The day has rather a muggy feel to it but the overcast sky is not forecast to reveal the sun until later. We have decreed today as a rest day which means Pauline is cleaning and cooking and I am reading and writing. Because of the warmth, we opened doors and windows as soon as we got up at 7.00 am. Within a few minutes, next door’s cat, Minnie, had called in to say good morning and then strolled casually out to go big game hunting under the trees.

Phone rang at 11.00 am. The estate agent asked if they could bring a prospective buyer round in fifteen minutes. Pauline had just finished cleaning. Everywhere looked perfect. When the buyer is escorted round the property, we make ourselves scarce. We will be told on Monday morning how it went. I hope we haven’t sold. We could be out on the streets soon!