Sanders Blog

2nd February, 2014

The lovely days keep coming. Sunny and mild today. We should be outside walking but, instead, are reading the Sunday papers – electronically. I’ve just received and email from Jean, our neighbour when we lived in Yorkshire. We are arranging to meet in March which will be nice. Got a couple of football matches to watch as well. Lunch today was celery sticks with humus. Can you believe it?

I am distraught, today, with the news that the apostrophe is being dropped by most Local Authorities in their signage, etc. The reason is that they don’t have enough staff who know how to use it. What have these teacher’s been doing?

3rd February, 2014

Made that trip to WheelWizard in Cobham this morning. My alloy wheel repair will cost about £120.00 next week and take a day and a half. It’s better than £500.00 for a new one.

Watched a fantastic match tonight in which Chelsea beat Man. City by playing them off the park. Early night because we have to be up at 5.00 am and out at 6.00 am to avoid rush hour traffic on the M25 as we head for the M1 and up to Lancashire.

4th February, 2014

Long but wonderful day today. We went to a funeral. Up at 5.00 am and out by 6.00 am. We drove on to the M25 where the ‘rush hour’ was already well under way and then on to the M1 which, miraculously, had no holdups. We did the 220 miles from Surrey to Lancashire in under 4 hours. The night before had been wild and wet and the night following was predicted to be the same. Our trip neatly slotted between the two with dry and fine weather.

The first thing we noticed as we got out of the car in Waterhead was how freezing cold it was. We called in at Haynes’ bread shop to buy Colin some ‘oven bottom muffins’ and then on to the Tesco Superstore to buy him a dozen Hollands meat pies. You can take the boy out of Lancashire but you can’t take Lancashire out of the boy. Colin may have emigrated to Surrey but his tastebuds are still in the North.

We then moved on to the main event of the day and drove to Hollinwood Crematorium for John Woolley’s funeral.

 

It was like, as one person observed, a school reunion. The old school was demolished in the summer while we were away and it, obviously, left a huge feeling of void which this cremation, ironically, filled. John Gillespie at 88, John Fidler at 77, Liz Hardy, Pat & Derek Wild, Mike & Doreen Elwell, Norma Taylor, Lesley Scoble, Val Winkle, Dave Joynes, Lindsay Heneghan, Dave Spencer, Trevor (Sniffer) Parry, Jim Rothwell, Vince Kenny, Jean Lowe, Mary Decelis, Andy Clough, Nelli Wood, Julie Rogers, Pete & Kate Holford, Pat Baxter, Pauline Pichon, Margaret Taylor, Little Viv., John & Carol Bewick, Helen Crowther, Eugene Kirwan, Sarah Bristow, Hilary Nelson, Michael Charlesworth plus us made about 35 ex-staff present so at least a third of the staff. It was stimulating to see them all again.

Afterwards, we drove another 4 hours back to Surrey and I collapsed with a glass of red wine. I had eaten just two bananas all day.

5th February, 2014

Went to bed at midnight as usual last night but the trip had taken its toll on us and we got up almost an hour late this morning. It is 10C/51F but rather grey today.

It is beginning to look like I will have to have a pacemaker/heart-monitor fitted and I read today that the procedure is becoming much easier. The latest innovation means that a small device, the size of two matchsticks can be injected into the chest muscle in the Doctor’s surgery in a matter of minutes. rather than the much larger monitor placed into a cavity prepared by operation.

6th February, 2014

Our one commitment today was top appear before the ophthalmologist at Woking Community Hospital for my Annual Diabetic Eye Test. Pauline has to accompany me because the drops I have to have mean I can’t drive home. The service is fantastic. I arrived at 11.20 am. Within five minutes, I’m called in for the drops to be administered. Twenty minutes later, I have half a dozen photographs taken of my eyeballs and we are off home. On so many occasions we are reminded how wonderful the NHS is whatever common parlance says.

7th February, 2014

Very mild day that reached 13C/56F in the sunshine. It felt like Spring. Workmen appeared on site to install electric car charging points. Nobody who lives here drives an electric car but this condition of the development was put in place by Woking Borough Council.

8th February, 2014

At my advanced age of (nearly) 63, it is no surprise to learn that most of my contemporaries are retired. Certainly, most of those who I met at my Teacher Training College in the late ’60s and early ’70s seem to have hung up their chalk. After all, what was the TPS created for if it isn’t to keep us in the manner to which we have become accustomed?

Some of those retirees are to be found on social media and one this morning reminded me of my first teaching practice in a Northallerton school which didn’t want a long haired, tieless boy wonder in their classrooms. I was reasonably happy to put on a tie for a few hours but not to get my haircut. Bob Barker-Whyatt came up with the answer with a wig he found in the Props Basket. It had seen better days. It was slightly ginger and thinning rapidly for a twenty year old’s head but it did the trick. On my last day there, I took my wig off and all the kids stood up and applauded. What I hadn’t realised was they all knew it was a wig from day one but refrained from commenting. Happy days!

 

26th January, 2014

Apparently last night was one of torrential rain and tornadoes around the country including less than 50 miles away from us but here we slept in an oasis of calm. It is raining lightly here now but nothing to suggest flood-level precipitation.

My job this week is to make a full, backup copy of my Blog because I’m thinking of migrating it to another site and I don’t want any accidents. The Blog is in to its sixth year. It intend to continue it, now, until I die. Whenever that is. However, it would be nice to integrate features that my current platform doesn’t allow so I am looking further afield.

27th January, 2014

A few days ago the European Commission belatedly acknowledged the self-impoverishment threatened by its renewable energy policies, and abandoned its previous insistence on maintaining mandatory targets for each of the 28 member states in the union. By giving massive subsidies to renewables they had been forcing other power
plants out of the market. Of course, satellite records show no land-mass global warming at all for the past 16 years.  We are now being told by experts on solar physics that we are heading into a period of exceptional inactivity on the surface of the sun – and, therefore, one of exceptionally cold temperatures. We now need extra greenhouse effect if we are not to suffer increasingly cold times. Let’s use our the natural resource we all walk on in the UK. Bring back coal!

My weight has just entered a territory that I haven’t seen for more than twenty years. That’s the good news as long as my heart doesn’t give out!

28th January, 2014

Lovely, sunny morning although chilly as I take the rubbish up to the bin store fortified by a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice, and a large cup of Yorkshire Tea. As soon as I’ve unstacked the dishwasher, I reward myself with a cup of freshly brewed coffee. Heaven! Pauline is going to a Pilates class with her sister while I am catching up on correspondence and then we are both off to the Health Club.

29th January, 2014

A grey and wet day. Not warm either at 5C/41F. Apart from a trip to the Health Club, this will be an ‘in’ day. I thought I would share with you an ‘app.’ on my Windows 8 computer which conveniently gives me ten years of meteorological data for each day of the year. It appeals to spreadsheet/research geeks like me.

I am preparing a new, ‘Back Office’ app. for my Blog which will tell me lots of stuff about my readers. It will tell me how many, when and where they are and even who they are through the IP address of their computer so that I can look them up. It’s going to make Blogging a whole lot more interesting.

30th January, 2014

Almost the end of another January. It is certainly going out with a wet flourish. I just hope it brightens up on Tuesday when we do an eight hour round trip to Yorkshire and back. Today we are going to the farm shop in Esher to buy meat.

It is official. This has been the wettest January on record (therefore for at least 100 years).

Few are surprised, least of all those living in Somerset, because they have been marooned since before Christmas.

31st January, 2014

Farewell January. See you next year. Horrible cold, wet, dark day to go out on.

A few days ago I grazed one alloy wheel on a stone curb. Part of the rim was roughed up. I knew it was possible to have a repair done so I phoned a local firm called WheelWizard. When I told them the model of my car they said that the repair would take a full day and cost £120.00. I instinctively thought, I could buy a new wheel for that but, when I looked it up, found that a set of four, replacement wheels would be £2020.00 or £504.00 each. I shall be driving over to The WheelWizard very soon.

1st February, 2014

Happy New Month. The word February is believed to have derived from the name ‘Februa’ taken from the Roman ‘Festival of Purification’.  The root ‘februo’ meaning to I purify by sacrifice. There’s not much purification been going on here recently unless it is by water!

The month has started with a screamingly beautiful day of clear blue skies and strong sun. The temperature is not great but equals the ten year average of 8C/47F. Rain and strong winds are forecast although a respite is promised for Tuesday when we drive up to Yorkshire.

19th January, 2014

We heard today that John Woolley was dead. It was something of a shock. We had known him for more than forty years and worked with him for most of that time and yet he was a couple of years younger than us. His partner, Julie, died of cancer in her early 50s. And now John is dead from a heart attack at the juvenile age of sixty.

He looked older. I think he was a lonely person. He was a Scout Commissioner as well as a Geography teacher but what defined him most of all were his Austro-German origins which made him dogmatic not diplomatic, splenetic, even frenetic not calm and controlled. I didn’t even like him particularly but he was a factor in our lives for almost as long as we can remember. We remember him for that and draw closer in our life.

20th January, 2014

When I searched the web for a photo of our former colleague, John Woolley, who died yesterday, something came up and shocked me. Google brought up a photo with John Woolley in it. Unfortunately, it was not the John Woolley I had known. However, as I scoured the photo, I was flabbergasted to see someone intimate to my past spring out of the page. I will allow members of my family to find him for themselves:

Dad is the tallest at the back in the centre. He was playing for the Burton upon Trent Grammar School rugby 1st team in the season  1930-31. He was sixteen years old and had just thirty three years left before dying of a heart attack. I feel I never really knew him and I regret that.

Further down I found myself staring at myself back in September 1967 as I was appointed Burton upon Trent Grammar School prefect. I am the beautiful one on the back row, second left.

21st January, 2014

A misty, October morning in mid-January. The day has started with disaster. Pauline has gone to a Pilates class with her sister at the Health Club and I was about to settle back with a lovely cup of fresh coffee when my espresso machine spluttered and died mid cup. I am bereft. I must admit that, although it produced good coffee, my Cuisinart has always been a bit flaky.

I’m going to replace it with a Delonghi ESAM04.110.S Magnifica 15 Bar Bean to Cup Espresso/ Cappuccino Machine

It’s double the price at £300.00 but I can’t do without good coffee. Unlike the previous one, this grinds beans and brews fresh coffee with one button touch. It also self cleans each time.

22nd January, 2014

An absolutely gorgeous and sunny day and, although not tropical, it has reached 11-12C/52-53F. The average English temperature in January is, I am told, 3C/37F. This is no ordinary winter.

Yesterday I had an email saying my new coffee maker had been despatched and today – in the second day sentenced to instant mud – I have been told it will be delivered tomorrow. How wonderful!

Our good friend, Margaret, from Huddersfield sent us a Christmas present of Black & Green’s Chocolate and a bottle of Californian red wine. Unfortunately, it was misdelivered and we didn’t receive it until it was re-delivered last night four weeks late. Now, of course, I can’t sample any of it but it will keep.

23rd January, 2014

A day which began with a lovely rising sun which painted the bare limbs of the surrounding trees in a warm glow, soon turned grey and moist. It didn’t matter because we were expecting two, separate deliveries from Amazon. It is quite amazing but, try as I might, all the things I want are at least as cheap on Amazon as they are from the Manufacturer. Take my lovely, new espresso machine which was delivered today. On the Delonghi website, it is possible to buy it for £450.00. From Amazon, it is £300.00 with free delivery.

The final delivery arrived so late in the afternoon that we didn’t go to the Health Club. Anyway, the coffee maker took me so long to work out – to get out of the box never mind to work successfully – that it dominated the evening. I should have read the English half of the manual rather than the Italian.

24th January, 2014

I am currently something of a ‘Demic’. I know I whinge on about my health in the Blog. Actually, over my sixty two years, it is only in the last five or six that I have troubled my doctor. For more than ten years before I was forty I didn’t see a GP once. Last night my upper arm was agony as if I have damaged a tendon/muscle – possibly rowing in the gym. I found it very difficult to sleep and this morning’s supermarket shop was very painful. Pauline had to drive and took over trolley pushing duties. I’m hoping three days out of the gym will allow it to settle down.

We are in the learning/experimental stage with the new coffee maker. I have mastered the ground coffee method and the milk frother. Now I am trying to get the correct strength and taste direct from beans. I bought these this morning and they seem to be pleasant after a couple of attempts:

25th January, 2014

In the past few days a fox has crossed my path twice. At 6.30 in the morning at the end of last week, I was walking to my car in the hospital car park and a beautiful fox walked slowly across my path some three metres away. It stopped and looked at me before walking on without panic or alarm. I was shocked by its confidence. Yesterday, on the grass outside our apartment, a mature fox with magnificent bush tail walked slowly up the banking and into the woods. Once again, he/she stopped and stared at me as if to say, What are you looking at? and was in no urgency to move on.

We do hear foxes ‘barking’ outside at night time but it is an absolute delight to see them in such close proximity.

It is a dry day here today. Weak, winter sunshine is filtering through. The temperature has reached 11C/52F. Interestingly, the average for this day over the past ten years is 8C/46F and, in 2007, it fell to -7C/19F. It is quite amazing but I think we’ve had the heating on for a total of four hours since we got back at the beginning of October.

 

12th January, 2014

A sharp frost and a bright start to the day gave way to grey darkness and light rain. We understand that it will be a wet week.

Pauline and I have spent the day discussing our plans for 2014. You may think this is a few days late but we have both been thinking it through and are now ready to negotiate and agree the way forward. Of course some aims are contingent on the achievement of others but the direction of travel is clear. Health and wealth figure highly in our continuing journey to joint happiness. I have set myself a weight target for this time next year and it will be near to my wedding weight. The one problem neither of us can see our way past at the moment is that identified with my heart and subsequent drug intake but we will try not to let that unduly cramp our style.

13th January, 2014

Another day that started cold and bright but soon went pitch black, with thunder and lightning followed by torrential rain. The gutters here have proved to be inadequate for heavy rain and will all have to be upgraded. The last attempt was not good enough because the joints leak.

14th January, 2014

Gloriously sunny day. A little cool but strong sun in blue skies is a tonic.

I swore I would never do it but I found an ‘App.’ on my iPad, tried it out and got hooked. I’m rather ashamed. Pauline is amused because she advised it many times over the years but I rejected her advice. I’m counting CALORIES! It started because all the gym equipment tells me how many calories I’ve used after each exercise. I was then just browsing the iPad App Store when I came across the MyFitnessPal app that records calories in and calories out in terms of meals broken down into their constituent parts with calorific values and exercise calories used on the other side of the balance.

The record on the right is not mine but you will notice that their logo was modelled on me which particularly drew me to them. A male of my height and weight and generally sedentary nature is advised to limit calorie intake to 2170. In the past week and a half I have always managed with half of that allowance given that I use 350 – 400 calories in the gym.

15th January, 2014

Heavy rain over night has given way to another beautiful, mild day. After the warmest winter for twenty five years, wildlife not normally seen until spring has been tricked into making an early appearance by mild temperatures. Butterflies have been reported in Cambridgeshire and Pembrokeshire, ladybirds in Devon and Co Durham, and swallows in several places in Southern England.  There has been  a surge in sightings of birds nesting and shrubs coming into bud. There are reports also of snowdrops flowering in Kent, Suffolk and Anglesey, hazel flowering in Devon, Lincolnshire and Cheshire, and elder budburst in Hampshire, Essex and Somerset.

Apparently, the Met. Office has said that the average UK temperature last month was almost 2C above the average. The heavy rain seems to fall over night but the Surrey days are sunny and mild.

16th January, 2014

I (we) are worried about my heart rate and about my INR. At the same time, I am trying to lose weight. The food that would help me lose weight – green leaf things – counteracts the warfarin I take to control my INR. The exercise I need to supplement my diet in burning calories, raises my heart rate – sometimes dangerously. It has been decided that I must monitor my heart rate more closely and regularly, particularly when exercising. I am having to wear a heart monitor across my chest which communicates with my watch by Bluetooth to inform me of my fluctuating heart rate.

17th January, 2014

I understand that scientists are saying the Sun is in a phase of “solar lull” – meaning that it has fallen asleep – and it is baffling them. History suggests that periods of unusual “solar lull” coincide with bitterly cold winters.

The most extreme solar minimum on record was the Maunder Minimum. This lasted from 1645 to 1715 and corresponded to a minor Ice Age. What price Global Warming?

18th January, 2014

The day has started off grey and dull but the sun was out by ten and it has developed in to quite a pleasant day. We have been planning travel arrangements. Eurotunnel, once again, have advertised a £20.00 day return just in time for us to do some shopping. Probably Wednesday, February 19th. We have also booked the Holiday Inn in Brighouse, just outside Huddersfield for three nights in March to visit friends. We were members of the Health Club there for a number of years.

Next we are going to arrange some more trips to the South Coast for house hunting. Pauline has gone out to a Zumba class at the Health Club. She’ll be shattered when she gets back.

 

5th January, 2014

The day started off sunny with a frost but soon clouded over and rained. I think I’m depressed. England lose the Ashes 5-0 and then Man. Utd. get kicked out of the FA Cup by Swansea. What is there to live for?

6th January, 2014

This is Finance Day. The first of our ISAs matures and has to be moved from 3.7% to a gut-wrenching 1.5%. We have more that will do the same diminishing act in February and then more dropping from 4.0% in April. Unlike those with mortgages, we can’t wait for interest rates to go up … and up… and up! The problem with doing any financial transactions nowadays is that everyone is treated like a potential money launderer. Today, we are attempting to open our fourth on-line savings account through the Post Office Bank. Even though we have done this three years running, they still demand passports and driving licences as proof of identity and address. It is becoming like Greece.

I’m a bit worried about Skiathan Man. He hasn’t blogged for three days. I hope he hasn’t got lost under a pile of wood.

Had to drive through two ‘Road Closed’ signs and a ‘Traffic Diversion’ to get to the Health Club today. Our 4-wheel drive vehicle could manage the floods that I wouldn’t have attempted in a saloon. Our next door neighbour, The General, phoned from a weather-torn queue on the M1 to say we wouldn’t be able to share Afternoon Tea. However, it was coastal towns that were taking the brunt of it.

I am suffering with Low Blood Pressure now rather than Hypertension. It is inducing dizzy, fainting spells and short blackouts. It is a little disconcerting and I am having to seek advice about it. Fortunately, through the haze, I see the epiphany of Skiathan Man. Give Thanks!

7th January, 2014

We had thunder and lightning and torrential rain during the night. Around the South Coast, high tide storm sirens were sounded. This picture is one of many in The Times this morning. This one is taken in Blackpool.

Not feeling well this morning but I’m still going to the gym. I started using a food intake/exercise output app on my iPad yesterday. It told me that a man of my age/height/weight and relatively sedentary disposition should be eating 2137 calories per day to lose 5lbs per month. I logged everything I ate and drank yesterday and offset it against my workout and I had used less than half my allowance for the day. Perhaps that’s why I’m not feeling well.

I’m a bit worried about The Skiathan. He seems to be celebrating Easter two weeks earlier than everyone else. Perhaps he knows something we don’t. According to my information, both Western and Orthodox Easter Sunday are on April 20th this year

8th January, 2014

Another very mild day. We suddenly realised today that we’ve only used our heating for one hour since Christmas. However, we are told that cold weather is on the way next week – in the North at least.

While I’m working out in the gym, my pulse rate is acting very strangely. It starts of about 80 – 90 bpm and then, suddenly, starts escalating wildly in blocks of 10 bpm up to 200 and then, just as suddenly it falls again in just the same way to 140-150 bpm. Next minute it is repeating the journey. I don’t feel unwell but it is rather disconcerting.

9th January, 2014

Another mild and beautifully sunny day. This time in 2009, temperatures were in minus territory with a great deal of snow to follow although we were in Yorkshire and we had an Ofsted Inspection coming up.

The biggest and certainly most dominant holiday advert on television this winter offers two distinct choices – Turkey or Spain, Spain or Turkey! What about Greece? It is not mentioned. There has not been a single advert for a Greek holiday this winter in my viewing. I had one email from a Corfu Villa – based company but nothing else. What is the GNTO doing?

10th January, 2014

Lovely and sunny and mild again. Although we are in our third consecutive day without  rain, all the multi-million pound, Surrey – on – Thames properties are continuing to be engulfed in (still rising) flood water mixed with effluent. We saw an aerial shot of the magician, Paul Daniels’ house totally surrounded by waist high water in the television news …. and he’s not very tall.

Did our exercise walking around Tesco and Asda this morning but followed that with a trip to the Health Club. We had a swim today for the first time this year.

11th January, 2014

Gorgeous blue skies and strong sun today. Feels incredibly mild for mid-January. I checked the temperature at only 8C/47F but it feels much warmer.

Skiathos is double that and it’s got wonderful fish. This day four years ago we were stuck in a temporary ‘shoebox’ in Yorkshire, surrounded by snow and feeling rather gloomy.

I nearly blacked out in Tescos yesterday and this morning I found that my weight has reached a level I haven’t see for over twenty years. It’s possible the two are linked. Anyway, we’ve got a relaxing and quiet weekend ahead.

 

29th December, 2013

A surprisingly sharp frost this morning followed by a wonderfully sunny day. Our next door neighbour came round with a bunch of flowers. They are lovely. I really love cut flowers in the house. The General is very generous and they brighten up the table.

We are having a fairly quiet day in today. Pauline is making fresh cream ice cream for our anniversary meal tomorrow. I am hard at work with The Sunday Times and a couple of football matches.

At this time 35 years ago, we were both exhausted having done everything we could to prepare for our wedding. We lived on the edge of the Pennines – on the Yorkshire side – and it had begun to snow heavily. To make matters worse, the Council workers and particularly the Gritting Team, had gone on strike. Paulines’s family would be trying to get to us across the treacherous Pennines from Lancashire and my family were arriving from Derbyshire and all other points around the country.

30th December, 2013

At this time (9.30 am) on this day in 1978 I was nervous. I was getting married at 11.30 am but it wasn’t that. Pauline’s family who only lived 15 miles away but over the Pennines had just phoned to say they were struggling to get to us. I hadn’t heard from members of mine at all who were driving from points all over the country.

 

You have to remember that fashions were different in 1978! Suffice it to say, we had an absolutely magical day. Everybody DID manage to arrive and the day was a joy but not as wonderful as the ensuing 35 years. It is hard to believe, now, that it was so long ago.

31st December, 2013

Having spent the past twelve months denying myself carbohydrates, I celebrated our Wedding Anniversary by cooking Risotto for Dinner which we ate with a bottle of Champagne. Pauline’s contribution was chocolate soufflé with melting middle and delicious, homemade, double cream ice cream. Anyway, we’re back on the waggon on Wednesday.

Today we’ve done an hour at the gym which was busy with workers on holiday. Disgraceful! They should all be back at work by now.

This evening’s meal will be barbecued spare ribs with a really good bottle of red wine and then Champagne at midnight. When (if) we wake up in 2014, the discipline starts again for another twelve months. Pauline’s already got the clothes catalogues out – but no Boden!

1st January, 2014

We wish you all a wonderful New Year. Of course, we remember welcoming in 1960 and the ‘white hot revolution of Technology; 1984 with excitement and trepidation of ‘Big Brother’s’ visit; 2000 and the ‘Millennium Bug’ that failed to materialise. What will 2014 bring? Let’s hope it brings our family and friends what they would wish for themselves and Skiathan Man more fish than he can eat. Maybe we will meet sometime soon. Happy New Year to Bart Simpson, to the Skopelos team , to those at Simi Dream and to Simon Baddeley at Democracy Street.

2nd January, 2014

Up at 6.00 am and down to the hospital by 6.40 am. Urgent blood test and home by 7.00 am.. The darkness at 7.00 am gave way to a beautifully sunny morning with bright, clear blue skies. After some ‘Office’ work, we went off to the gym for an hour or so. It was reasonably quiet although not all have gone back to work yet. Workers are just being too indulged by those soft employers these days.

Beginning of the new year is always software renewal time for me. My strongest I.T. advice to anyone on the internet is to purchase and install a good virus checker. I wouldn’t advise freeware for this. I use Norton 360 for my machines. It has dug me out of lots of problems.

It can be expensive. A standard price from Norton is around £59.99 for 12 months cover for three machines. Norton flag up the date for renewal constantly and it is easy to click and pay. Two minutes search on the net reveals the same product half price from Total Computing – £29.99. We use a desktop and two laptops so the cover is very economical.

3rd January, 2014

Up a bit later today after a long day yesterday but we were out at the supermarket for weekly shopping by 9.30 am. Television news was full of flooding, high tides and strong winds but there is no sign of any at the moment. Apparently, Cobham, which is less than nine miles away, is cut off by floods.

Now 12.30 pm and the skies have gone black and we have thunder & lightning and heavy rain. Neighbours are just in the middle of having a satellite dish erected on the roof. What fun!

Although I can hardly believe what I am writing and the old me would never have done so, our only meal today has been a fish salad with a glass of sparkling water and I’ve loved it. Cold cured salmon and smoked salmon dressed with olive oil and lemon on a bed of mixed leaves. All this fish I’m eating, I’ll turn into Skiathan Man soon! I also opened a pack of coffee I received for Christmas. It was a revelation.

I must say thank you to Mandy. I shall certainly buy some more of this.

4th January, 2014

An unpleasant day outside today – wet, cold and windy. Unfortunately, I have to take Pauline to the Nuffield Hospital in Runnymede to see a Specialist about a little cyst on the joint of her toe.

The newspapers are headlining runaway house prices across the UK over the past year. The area we left three years ago is still showing a negative figure – of minus 1.5% whereas our area is galloping away with +11.5%. All our lives in the North of England we have been watching this disparity grow. Now we are hitching a ride on it although we don’t know for how long.

When I had my blood test at the hospital on Monday, I came straight home and tested it myself with my new machine. The home test produced INR = 3.7. Today, my hospital result arrived by post. It said INR = 3.7. Although the result is outside my 2.0 – 3.0 range, it was reassuring to know that my machine and process was accurate. I have just got to stop eating green leaf vegetables because the vitamin K decreases my coagulant capacity. What does one eat to lose weight?

22nd December, 2013

A beautiful, warm and sunny Spring day in the middle of December. Yesterday was mid-Winter and the Shortest Day or Winter Solstice. It produced tranquil, evening colours on the landscape.

Today starts the march towards the Summer. Once again, we are warmer than Athens.

Unfortunately, I’m celebrating Christmas with a stinking head cold. It is the first bug I have suffered from since I finished work four years ago when I would expect to get two or three of these each year as the pupils passed it round the institution.

23rd December, 2013

A bad night and the heavy head cold persists. We’ve had to cancel a trip to the Health Club. The day outside is extremely warm but has turned very wet and windy as we approach lunchtime. (What am I talking about? I don’t eat lunch.)

Pauline is cooking for Christmas – preparing two kinds of stuffing: sausage meat & chestnut and sage & onion , two sauces: cranberry and apple. She is preparing pigs in blankets, finishing the Christmas cake decoration and checking on the pudding. She made meringues and double cream, vanilla ice cream. One thing’s for certain, there will be no shortage of food.

24th December, 2013

It was a wild night of gale force winds and torrential rain but the morning dawned still and dry and very mild. The television news this morning, however, and the newspapers were dominated by the effects of the storm. The Surrey/Sussex border seemed to be particularly bad along with the South Coast. These are pictures from the morning papers:

Hundreds of trains weren’t running because of trees across the line. There were reports of thousands of people without power. Phyllis & Colin arrived to say they were without power and had been since midnight. A terminal at Gatwick was packed with people trying to get home for Christmas but going nowhere because of persistent power cuts.

The sun is out here and we are preparing for a family trip to the best, local Italian restaurant for a late afternoon meal. All diets are off when we step through the doors of Amore.

25th December, 2013

In spite of terrible floods and power outrages, Christmas morning has opened up bright and sunny if rather ‘crisp’. We had a lovely Italian meal with the family last night. We drank wine but still managed to rise around 7.00 am. The news was all about towns and villages not far from us being flooded and cut off, thousands of houses without power for Christmas Day. We feel fortunate and we hope you do too.

It was on this day five years ago that the Blog actually started and it was with this picture of Pauline’s Mum out on the fields of West Yorkshire. Sadly, neither are still with us

although both are in our minds and hearts.

Pauline cooked the most magnificent meal. The trouble was that trying to eat two days running was too much for me. Everybody enjoyed the day and we went to bed tired and stuffed.

26th December, 2013

We woke at 6.30 am still tired and stuffed but to the Radio 4 news telling us that Byfleet – a village about two miles down the road – was virtually cut off by flood waters and that the giant retail park, which houses M&S and the Tesco hyperstore where they were expecting Boxing Day sales to start at 9.00 am, had a totally flooded car park and sewers erupting like fountains. The story had been similar all around us on Christmas Day with floods and electricity outrages at Guildford, Bournemouth, Leatherhead, Epsom, etc.. The photo below shows Debenhams in Guildford:

Unfortunately, I’ve passed my cold to Pauline and she has become a fellow sufferer. The difference is that she doesn’t mention it.

27th December, 2013

A lovely, bright morning. Took Pauline out early to M&S to pick up an order she had made on-line. Apparently, ‘click & collect’ is fast becoming the shopping method of choice although I prefer ‘click & receive’. Whatever floods there were have disappeared and life is back to normal in our area anyway.

The post brought a card from Greek friends with lovely wishes for the New Year along with the inevitable Bills – electricity, satellite TV (OTE), etc.. I also took a call from my old friend, Brian, who has just completed the sale of his French property in Bordeaux and is happy about that. We will go up to Yorkshire/Lancashire in March to visit him.

I used my new INR testing machine for the first time and produced an almost optimum result of 2.6 which was very pleasing. I must admit, though, that neither of us is feeling brilliant at the moment. I still haven’t thrown my cold off and Pauline’s continues to develop.

28th December, 2013

A beautifully sunny and relatively warm day. An early trip to the supermarket to avoid the crowds was completely unnecessary. There were hardly any shoppers and this morning’s Times reported footfall down 10% in High Street Sales although they suggest it may have been partially compensated for by on-line shopping. They were probably all reading The Skiathan instead. Intriguingly, they also reported a large rise in people doing their on-line tax returns on Christmas Day between 12.00 – 1.00 pm..

These are the cash-rich-time-poor people who wait for such a moment of free time to pay their tax.

15th December, 2013

Happy Birthday to you.
Happy Birthday to you.
Happy Birthday Dear Blo-og.
Happy Birthday to you.

Hurray!

Actually, the Blog began on Christmas Day, 2008 but, arithmetically, it has now been going for the equivalent of five, whole years. It has come a long way in that time along with our lives, making some laugh, some cry and some spit blood and feathers. Long may it continue!

16th December, 2013

Thank you to all those readers of the Blog who sent their congratulations and best wishes for the future.

Another mild day here – 14C/57F – although there was a little, light rain early on. We were out early to do a bit of shopping. All the hype about booming sales for Christmas has been punctured by the reality which is poor sales. The Times carries a headline today: Retailers cut prices by half after sharp drop in footfall. Certainly, advertising through all media has intensified until it borders on the ridiculous. It is as if retailers are in the middle of an absolute panic. Of course, if one’s got money, one’s in the driving seat.

When we got to the Peacock Shopping Centre, it was certainly quiet for a week before Christmas. I was going to one of my favourite shops – Maplin. Basically, it is an electrical store majoring in computing. I bought a Broadband Delivery Extender which connects to my router and uses the apartment’s electrical sockets to transmit broadband round the property. It can be accessed via wireless or Ethernet cable which will improve the service to Pauline’s laptop and to our mobiles and iPads.

I’ve set it up and the performance is absolutely excellent. Broadband speed downstairs is just as good as connected to the hub upstairs in the Study.

17th December, 2013

Did a really hard session in the gym yesterday and I’ve been absolutely knackered ever since. Even this morning I’m still feeling it. However, I told Pauline that I want her to force me, however reluctant, to go every day this week because I know we will have a couple of days off next week. Why did I say that to her?

18th December, 2013

Went out early to beat the rush hour traffic and ran straight in to a thirty minute jam. Eventually got to the Surgery to pick up my prescription and then to Tesco Pharmacy to pick up a shopping trolley of drugs. Haven’t been feeling well for a couple of days. I have had all the symptoms of low blood pressure without the statistics. Chose to miss the gym after all and spend the day analysing the Development’s end of year Accounts and Projections for 2014. You can’t get more riveting than that.

Even though we are in the second half of December, we still aren’t using the heating at all. It really justifies buying new-build with the most up to date insulation. We have had heavy rain and strong winds today and a football match in Stoke was temporarily abandoned because of a white out hail storm.

19th December, 2013

Up and out by 6.30 am to be first in the queue for a blood test at the Woking ‘walk-in’ Hospital. Arrived at 6.45 am and was second. Beautiful morning with bird song greeting the light of a nearly full moon in a cloudless sky. Even so, at that time, it wasn’t especially cold.

The nurse took three goes stabbing the crook of my arm with a javelin before she go enough blood to test. I will get my result by post on Saturday. I have more or less decided that I will buy my own testing kit. The can be expensive but the price has come down considerably since I first looked. There are many machines available for Home use but the best seems to be made by Coaguchek.

If you buy it through Amazon, it will cost £585.00. If you buy it from Coaguchek, it will cost £358.00 and to me it will be only £299.00 because I don’t pay VAT. Those on long term warfarin are VAT exempt. The test strips are also quite expensive (particularly if you make a mistake) but from Amazon they cost £2.91 each whereas the Coaguchek price is £2.75 each.

It’s turned out to be a beautiful, sunny day and relatively mild at 10C/50F – almost exactly the same as Athens. Squirrels are chasing round the oak trees outside and the birds seem to think it is Spring. Their songs are gorgeous! Am I beginning to sound old?

20th December, 2013

I will always think of this as Pay Day. For forty years our salary was paid into the Bank on the 20th of each month. Unfortunately, not any more. Not that I’m complaining. We are incredibly lucky but I still have that ‘institutionalised’ streak in me. I’m waiting for the Lunch Bell to ring!

We think we know why I’ve been feeling strange recently – I’ve dropped half a stone in weight over the past few days and my body has been telling me.

Glorious morning with strong sun although a little cool at 5C/41F. We were out early again today. First to Waitrose at Goldsworth Park to buy all the final elements of the Christmas meal – fresh cranberries, vegetables, Pancetta lardons, bacon, sausages and sausage meat, a lobster, chocolate, fresh, double and clotted cream, etc. With all the shopping done by 9.30 am, we escaped a rapidly filling car park.

By 10.00 am we are back home, unpacked and drinking delicious, fresh cups of freshly made cappuccino in Humbug Towers. I managed to phone Ruth at last. It was nice to hear her voice but I don’t think she really wanted to talk. She was busy and about to go out. She has her life to lead just as I have mine.

21st December, 2013

A wet day today. Most of the working world will be out shopping so it feels wonderful to have done all ours during the week. I’m settling down to an excellent match between Liverpool & Cardiff where the sun is out. I’m also catching up on correspondence. Heard from my old Assistant at school this morning with lots of news about ex-colleagues. I am hungry to hear such news.

8th December, 2013

Pauline is becoming terribly profligate. We had to dash out and buy her a third Kenwood Chef food mixer in forty years. What is the woman doing with them?  Actually, the first one in the 1970s cost around £200.00, the second one came ‘free’ courtesy of an insurance company after the first one twerked itself off the kitchen work-surface in the throes of kneeding dough and smashed on the floor.

This one, selling in hard economic times, is back to the 1970s price. Normally now, of course, I would be extracting my own price – sponge cakes with whipped cream centres, speciality breads, meringues, etc.. Unfortunately, they are all useless to me now. All I can do sit and gaze on this ‘useless’, gleaming machine. Why did we buy it?

9th December, 2013

Lovely, sunny day and not cold – 11C/52F. Christmas cards are starting to arrive and we haven’t posted ours yet. It is interesting that we find 11C acceptably mild for December in England. Skiathan Man has gone native and describes 12C as cold enough for a log burner in Greece. We have put our heating on for an hour in the past fortnight.

Having said that, I notice we are eating more soup at the moment and salad has virtually disappeared from our table. Anyway, tonight I am cooking – casseroled quails. It is a favourite of ours. We buy the quails in France – usually still with the heads on – and I end up with a plastic bag full of little birds’ heads to dispose of. Below you can see how delightful the live bird can be but taste it in a casserole with lots of green peas and you won’t worry about its life.

 

 

The flavour is wonderful.

10th December, 2013

Wonderful, wonderful day which reached 14C/57F. Clear blue sky and strong, low sun. It made one glad to be alive! It hadn’t started that way. We set off for the Tunnel at 6.15 am – semi-dark, swirling mists and 0C/32F on the road. You can’t beat the M25 for enjoyment. By 7.30 am, we were drinking coffee and waiting to drive on to the train. Thirty minutes later, we were in France. It’s so easy nowadays like going to Waitrose.

I associate going to France with piling case after case of wine in to the boot of the car. It was strange not to be doing that. I don’t have a great need for wine at the moment. We did go to the wine store to buy some for Phyllis but not for ourselves. P&C like Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Grigio. She pays around £6.00 per bottle in Tesco who will be advertising that as half price. I can buy it for her at £2.49 per bottle like for like.

We went on to Auchan to do our monthly shop. A large salmon, filleted on site for us plus cod loins, Duck Breasts, cheeses, meat terrines, chestnuts, salad vegetables, sacks of onions and bags of oranges.

11th December, 2013

A misty morning but not very cold as we are up and out early again. Pauline has to be at the hairdressers for 9.00 am. The traffic is horrendous at this time and a ten minute journey took over half an hour. Christmas cards being posted today exactly two weeks before Christmas Day. It is, of course, a portentous day being 11/12/13. I won’t be able to write that again until I am 152!

12th December, 2013

A trip to the Farm shop in Esher this morning. It was chilly but without frost. We were warmer than Greece when I checked. Even as I write at 11.00 pm in UK / 1.00 am in Greece, we are warmer than Athens.

Pauline wanted to buy some specialist sausages to trial for the Christmas meal that we are cooking. We bought,

• Gloucester Old Spot Pork sausages
• Wild Boar & Apple sausages
• Venison sausages

along with a large joint of Belly Pork and some huge Pork Chops.

There is a fascinating article about the terrible quality of the Greek education system in the Irish Times today. It is entitled: Why Greece’s schools are a shambles and its universities are chaotic. It argues that the system is chaotic from school right through university and suggests  that the system’s problems currently appear intractable.

13th December, 2013

Goodness knows where that threat of weeks of snow and cold came from at the end of November. It now looks as though we will be settled and mild for the foreseeable days and, probably, through Christmas.

Posting of Christmas Cards and Newsletters had waited for today because Pauline wanted her haircut before she had her photo taken. It happened this morning and here is the result:

14th December, 2013

Well, Friday 13th went alright. Pauline even ordered a Christmas present for me. I know what it is.

Malvolio would be really jealous! Actually, although we cook for everyone else, Pauline & I have never really done Christmas. We would quite happily chant, Bah Humbug! and sleep until Boxing Day. Unfortunately, the world demands that we mark the day. Actually, the arrangement is that we will meet family for Lunch on Christmas Eve at our favourite Italian restaurant in Byfleet. On Christmas Day we will all gather at Mandy & Kieron’s and Pauline & I will cook. Boxing Day will be spent in the tranquillity of our apartment.

 

1st December, 2013

Last month of the year. We wish all our readers a happy December.

We have always travelled to Sifnos in the best cabin available on the 24hr ferries down the Adriatic from Ancona – Patras – Ancona. It is called a LUX cabin and is quite pleasant. Over the past ten years or so, this is how the prices have fluctuated for two people in a Luxury cabin plus car:

2000	Blue Star	£691.83
2001	Minoan	£488.80
2003	Anek	£785.00
2004	Anek	£696.00
2005	Superfast	£782.00
2006	Superfast	£662.00
2007	Superfast	£731.00
2008	Superfast	£558.00
2009	Superfast	£691.00
2010	Anek	£357.48
2011	Anek	£493.29
2012	Superfast	£967.59
2013	Superfast	£713.96
2014	Superfast	£810.00

The only caveat to this is that we ceased to travel at peak times from 2010. What the prices illustrate is the ferry companies uncertainty about the economy and what it will bear. As you can see, they believe that 2014 will be a stronger year. We suspend judgement. What we are thinking of doing is flying to Athens and on to Sifnos in the first couple of weeks of December to see our house and our friends.

2nd December, 2013

Pleasant, comparatively mild although rather dull morning sky. In our usual role reversal, Pauline is painting skirting boards while I am reading the paper, writing emails and blogging. Actually, I’m also cooking anti-pasti. Yesterday I roasted about fifteen bulbs of garlic. Today I’ve squeezed the soft, garlic paste into a bowl and mixed it with olive oil, salt, pepper and oregano. I’ve lined a baking tray with large, halved tomatoes then spread the garlic mixture over the top and roasted them for an hour. We will eat them cold with salad or topped with parmesan cheese and grilled to accompany roast loin of cod. Who said dieting can’t be fun?

3rd December, 2013

Went round early this morning to help Phyllis with her laptop but I fear it is too late. The machine is old and beyond real redemption. She will need a new one. I will help her choose after Christmas. Until then, she will make do with her iPad. She doesn’t use her laptop much anyway so a cheap replacement will do.

I remember the time when laptops cost twice as much as desktops. Not anymore! PCWorld have an excellent Toshiba for just £259.00. It’s ridiculous.

Gave the gym a miss today. Pauline is painting and I am writing. Thank goodness we don’t have the terrible Greek storms. I found this photo of seas around Skopelos on a blog this morning. I doubt ferry connections are too punctual today.

4th December, 2013

Remarkably mild and pleasant here this morning. We have not needed the heating at all this week.

After sending us the cost of our annual heating bill unsolicited, another small sum of money appeared in the Bank Account courtesy of the Department for Work & Pensions – a £10.00 Christmas Bonus. It really is going a bit far. However, our generation is beginning to realise just how lucky we are and have been. Tomorrow, the Chancellor is touted as being about to raise the State Pension Age to 69/70 years of age for the next cohorts. The same will happen with inflation-proofed pensions like those of teachers and civil servants.

With most Christmas Cards written, enveloped, addressed, stamped and ready to post, a few of the special or unusual ones are still to wrap up. This one started in 1994 but the process began ten years before that. The card below is one of a pair that we have been cross shuttling between friends in Edinburgh and ourselves. Each posting contains a written note or a printed newsletter and it is delightful and/or frightening to review the years inside. Nearly thirty years are enclosed within the two cards. Ours will go next week and I look forward to reading through history in the card coming to us this year.

5th December, 2013

This morning I had to be at the Community Hospital by 6.45 am to beat the commuter rush. I was there at 6.30 am and freezing it was too. Almost our first sign of frost this year. The large fig tree on our street has lost all its leaves over night. I had my INR tested but the result will arrive in the post on Saturday.

Today, Pauline and her sister are buying up Marks & Spencer. I don’t care where she buys her clothes as long as it’s not from Boden! I expect her to have better taste than that.

I’m writing a Christmas letter to Caroline – a lady who worked for me for quite a few years but has been retired for at least ten. She is single and an inveterate traveller. South America, North America, Africa, Europe. There are few continents that she hasn’t visited in the past decade and everywhere she stays, she sends me a postcard. I have received scores of them. It is a delight to get them. In addition to cards, Caroline scrutinizes the local media for ex-pupil highs and lows. Those appearing in court cases and those celebrating achievements. A few months ago, it was news of a couple of murderers. This month, it is an ex-pupil who left in the 1980s and is becoming know as a writer of stage, radio and television plays.

6th December, 2013

Absolutely glorious morning with blue skies and bright sunshine. The overnight news of gales and floods on the coastline have not been replicated here. These are shots from Norfolk and Tyneside:

   

The window cleaners are doing their job, Pauline is painting the front door and I’m writing. Soon we will go and spend a couple of hours at the Health Club in the Gym and then in the Pool and Jacuzzi.

Had to take Pauline’s laptop in for repair yesterday. I think the fan has stopped working because it was reporting an ‘overheat’ problem. It will cost us £50.00 but it is an excellent laptop so well worth it.

Pheasant for Dinner tonight and I’m cooking.

Actually, it turned out wonderfully. I braised the pheasant in turkey stock with a couple of onions, a bulb of garlic,  a couple of carrots and a punnet of button mushrooms. It was moist and succulent. I served it with Brussel Sprouts. Pauline will make a soup out of the sauce and vegetables that remain.

7th December, 2013

We have high pressure across the south of England and the weather in Surrey is very settled. Really quite mild for December.

My INR result arrived this morning. It coincided with a number of dizzy spells over the past couple of weeks. They can be quite scary particularly if I’m out in the world. We had thought that maybe I was losing weight a bit too quickly but I don’t think it’s that. My blood pressure is low and, I suspect, that is the main cause. Many things affect warfarin. Alcohol increases the blood thinning effect whilst the vitamin K in green vegetables decreases it. To aid my diet, I have cut out alcohol and increased intake of green vegetables. As a result, my INR is 1.9. The therapeutic range is 2.0 – 3.0. Not far off but no cigar. Looks like I’ll have to go on a bender to get my reading up a bit. Could help me watch the cricket as well.

Serious computer glitches at the country’s main air traffic control centre left thousands of passengers stranded today after hundreds of flights were grounded at airports following a technical fault. Thank goodness we didn’t choose this weekend to fly.

At least they won’t be able to watch the cricket highlights!