Sanders Blog

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!

 

24th November, 2013

Apparently, a calendar year consists of 52.1775 weeks. On that basis, five years is 260.8875 weeks. As a result, the Blog will start its sixth year on Sunday, December 15th. I’m sure all readers will want to put out the flags – or something. I suggest something like this could be flown for the week:

Still, you’ve got a couple of weeks to prepare.

25th November, 2013

Lovely, sunny morning through the autumn leaves of the oaks around the property. Pauline is refreshing the kitchen by re-painting the walls. It will take about an hour. Then, she will move on to the hall and stairs where furniture moving in created a few scrapes and re-settlement has left a few cracks. This sort of thing is an absolute joy for Pauline who thrives on it. She intends it to look perfect if and when we put it on the market. Someone else who lives in the Development dropped in for coffee on Sunday and confirmed our recent property valuation which had seemed so optimistic to us. A number of tenants had commissioned valuations and were thinking of cashing in on huge increases.

My job this morning is to find a new home for various ISAs which mature over the next few months – We have a number of 2-year fixes at 3.7% with Halifax coming towards conclusion in January and February and 4% ISAs with Santander maturing in April. These are rates one can only dream of today. The longest I’m prepared to fix for is two years and I don’t even want to do that. The best rate for a two year fix currently is 2.0%. With CPI currently running at 2.2% and RPI at 2.6%, they will lose us money. We also use an instant access, on-line savings account which our own bank, NatWest offers a generous 0.5% on. We use a Post Office account which at least offers 1.5% and we will still be losing money.

26th November, 2013

This is a week of high pressure bring settled weather with lots of clear, blue skies, strong, low sun and chilly nights and mornings. We are in the last days of November but the Autumn trees are still glorious and very slow to relinquish their leaves.

We went to shop in a newly extended Sainsburys in Knaphill. It is bigger than a number of football pitches put together and really could do with its own taxi service to get around the shelves. Certainly, I lost a few pounds in weight shopping there.

Later, we went on to the gym to lose a few more pounds. I’m aiming for a look-alike competition with Jane B.G..

27th November, 2013

I have spent the day working as an IT technician for Phyllis. Her ancient laptop has been in need of overhaul for some time. Hard drive clean-up, software tighten-up, virus protection, internet speed-up. Four hours later, things don’t look too bad and she is back on track. Part of the problem is that she is still on Vista .

The work took so long, we forwent swimming which we had intended to do. The evening ended well with United’s 0-5 demolition of Bayer Leverkusen.

28th November, 2013

It is remarkably mild for the dog days of November. This morning I have been instructed to prepare and print address labels for all our Christmas cards – about 60 in all. The Greek ones will be posted soon. Pauline is touching up the paintwork in the hall, stairs and landing. We are going to squeeze in an hour at the gym before the Burglar Alarm man returns to complete the renewal of our system.

29th November, 2013

At 10.30 am, the temperature here was 11C/5F which was exactly the same as Skiathan Man was reporting. I was driving Pauline to the dentist for a replacement (£700.00) front tooth veneer. She has needed since we were in Greece and, at last, it is ready. She is going off to London tomorrow with her sister Christmas shopping and needs to look her best.

So far this year we haven’t even seen any frost although the North has even seen a bit of snow. This picture appeared in the papers this morning:

It accompanied reports of a terrible three month winter on the way. This is the headline in the Daily Express:

100 DAYS OF HEAVY SNOW: Britain now facing worst winter in 60 YEARS 

and they accompany their article with a back copy of the newspaper from winter 1947 which is always cited as the worst winter of ‘modern times’ although, presumably, not as bad as the last Ice Age. Even so, it’s bound to all be blamed on Global Warming.

These forecasts are accompanied by those of airports closing for weeks on end and the lights going out because of demands made on the National Grid. And it all begins next week! Amusingly, we received our Winter Fuel Payment from the Government. The £200.00/€240.00 is just slightly more than the whole of our heating and hot water bill came to last year.

30th November, 2013

The last day of November and my wife has left me. Well, for a day. She has gone to London to do clothes shopping with her sister. They have booked a table at a lovely restaurant – The Opera Tavern which is just opposite the Drury Lane theatre and near Covent Garden. She will be able top eat with gay abandon without worrying about my diet. It will do her good.

It’s funny but I feel quite lost. Pauline and I are rarely more than a room away even when we were at work. We have only spent one night apart since 1978 and that was when she was in hospital. I’ve got to make my own coffee.

17th November, 2013

A day in huddled round the iPad and the PC. After reading the newspapers, I am researching new-build properties in Kent and Sussex. Looking back across the Blog, this time four years ago we were doing the same thing. How far we feel we have travelled in that time. We are going to do another research trip in the next couple of weeks. It will either be West Sussex or South Kent. We will have to keep our eye on the weather because snow is forecast – in Surrey?

18th November, 2013

New clothes seem to be delivered every day at the moment. Because of my changing figure, my clothes are looking increasingly baggy. Pauline is filling bin liners with my old clothes and preparing to take them to the charity shop in Byfleet.

Who would want them after I’ve done with them goodness only knows but they will soon be getting nearly-new garments as I move on again. It’s an expensive business losing weight.

Although my blood pressure is now excellent, my pulse rate is still too high. My resting rate can be over 100 and, when I’m exercising, it can be double that. Official advice is that exercising pulse rate should be no more than 220 minus one’s age so I should be 220 – 62 = 158. If I do thirty minutes on a jogging machine, my heart rate is 190 – 200 in the first ten minutes but then falls to around 110 after the half way stage. That is exactly what happened today. My aim is to get that down – and still be alive.

19th November, 2013

I love these autumn days – clear blue sky, strong, low sun, crisp temperatures – and today was no disappointment. The trees are still rioting with colour.

Had a really enjoyable session at the gym today and then came back for homemade asparagus & pea soup. Wonderful! Let’s hope I am as happy after the England v Germany match tonight.

20th November, 2013

Grey, cold – 3C/37F – and raining this morning. It feels dark and uninviting. Not the sort of day one would choose to go out to work – oh, I’m not! We have a team of men round this morning to service the guttering and downpipes. Tomorrow we have ADT Alarms upgrading our house alarm system. This morning I used my last ESE (Easy Serving Espresso) coffee pod. It is a vital tool when I’m hungry. Fortunately, my new order arrived ten minutes ago. A huge box of 300 pods direct from Italy.

After a poor display by England against Germany last night, I am hoping for better things from the England cricket team at the start of the Ashes Test series in Australia tonight. It has been lovely to watch a couple of hours review this afternoon of last summer’s Ashes win which I could only listen to on the radio while in Greece.

21st November, 2013

Couldn’t face staying up to watch the cricket last night although I wonder if Ruth did. Watched the highlights this morning and it was lovely to see Stuart Broad rubbing the Aussies faces in it.

Let’s hope he can keep it up.

I wasn’t too brilliant this morning so we have given the gym a miss today We have quite a few things to do anyway. As senior citizens we are absolutely wonderfully treated by our NHS. Our doctors, the Practice, the local Community Hospital, the District Hospital as well as free ‘flu’ jabs, free prescriptions – we just couldn’t ask for more. We just wish the dental practices were on the same footing. However, (and if you’re eating, look away now.) we have just been contacted by the National Bowel Screening Service to submit tests just two years after we first did it. I think this is a fabulous service – particularly as Mum suffered from bowel cancer – and, however squeamish I am, I shall do it. Apparently, they will continue to offer this service to us every two years until we no longer have or need bowels. And it’s all free! This is what you get in the post

along with a pack of cardboard spatulas. The rest I will leave to your imagination. After six samples over three days, the card is posted off to the University of Surrey in Guildford. We could pop it over in the car.

22nd November, 2013

Don’t even talk about the cricket! Took Pauline for a doctor’s appointment at Goldsworth Park and then off to Tesco. It was 11.00 am by the time we drove in to the car park. It was immediately obvious that the park and the store were packed. With nowhere to park in this megastore at mid-morning on a Friday, we tried to drive straight out but found ourselves stuck in a jam for 30 minutes just to get out of the car park. Christmas certainly seems to have come early here this year!

We went for a session in the gym and then spent the afternoon catching up on correspondence.

23rd November, 2013

Strong, low, winter sun this morning although fairly cold at 5C/41F. Went at 8.00 am to do the Tesco shop. Quiet and pleasant. Home by 9.15 am. Our car insurance renewal had arrived. Because we are abroad so long, we have a non-typical policy. It has to include European driving and breakdown for 180 days. LV have offered it for Pauline & I for £440.00 a year. It’s not cheap but neither is it exorbitant. I was listening to the young lads at the Health Club the other day vying for who could get Third Party insurance for their mini for under £2000.00. I was thinking of offering to chauffeur them for that.

 10th November, 2013

It is now seven weeks since we left our Greek home and six since we arrived back in Surrey. The time has flown by. We have spent time in Yorkshire, had a trip to East Sussex and, this week, we are off on a shopping trip to France followed by another drive to Tonbridge on the River Medway in Kent. Pauline has to see a dental technician who will be making a veneer for one of her front teeth and the colour match is crucial.

Beautiful sunny, blue sky day today. We should have gone out but it has been a stay at home with the Sunday Papers and no less than three football matches day which culminated in United beating Arsenal. During the match which was won by a van Persie goal, Rooney ran eleven kilometres.

Pauline cooked pheasant with asparagus for our evening meal. It was glorious!

11th November, 2013

It is a warmer day reaching 12C/54F but grey and a bit wet. A phone call this morning told us that there are people interested in viewing our apartment even though it is not yet on the market. In fact, we are not going to be rushed in to it at all. Pauline wants to look at properties in West Sussex next. We don’t want to worry Cathy yet but we are going to look around Horsham just north of Worthing next. It is an historic, West Sussex market town with beautiful surrounding countryside.

  

Had an excellent work-out in the gym today. Half an hour on a jogging machine, ten minutes on a rowing machine and ten on a cycle. I was really aware of my body after that lot. Can’t do any tomorrow because we are off to Boulogne to the fish market, to Philippe Olivier cheese shop and to Auchan.

12th November, 2013

Up early and out into the misty, wet morning. An hour later, we were crossing the channel through the tunnel. A 25 mins journey costing £11.50 each way for the car an both of us. Leaving Calais behind today, we drove straight to Boulogne and the docks where fishermen set up fish sales to sell that morning’s catch.

Unfortunately, the catch wasn’t too exciting today and we decided not to buy. A trip round Boulogne shows how little is left of the tourist infrastructure now the ferries no longer call here. There are still so lovely, little ‘eateries’ but a man on a diet has to have discipline in such a situation. By the way, this is the first time in the last forty years that I’ve found myself in France and bought no wine at all. What would I do with it? We went on to Auchan and bought lots of food applicable to our current eating pattern – salad, vegetables, duck breasts, quails, pork joints, cooked meats and some cheese.

We were back in Surrey for 4.30 pm as a weak sun was going down in these dark days of winter. The forecast suggests we might get our first frost of the winter tonight.

13th November, 2013

Lovely blue sky and strong sun this morning. We needed this weather for our trip yesterday. Had my annual diabetic review this morning and passed with flying colours. All my readings are excellent – low cholesterol, low blood pressure, good blood sugar, etc. – and my medication is being greatly reduced. Much of this is due to weight loss and being alcohol free for an extended period. We both had ‘flu jabs. Mine is free. Pauline has to pay for hers.

To celebrate, we went to the Health Club and did thirty minutes on the treadmill. We went home for a meal of endive, crevettes  and French garlic saucisson washed down with sparkling water. There’s nothing quite like tearing the head of a shellfish and downing it in one when you’re sober!

14th November, 2013

A comparatively mild day – 14C/57F – with weak winter sun. Pauline is experiencing a dental marathon today. I delivered her to the Dentist at 10.00 am for a visit to the hygienist to have her teeth professionally cleaned. She will then be seen by the Dentist for work which will take two hours. She will have two fillings and then have a sub-standard front tooth veneer removed. I then have to drive her down towards the south coast to Tonbridge to visit the Dental Technician who will make the new veneer. The intention is to help him get the best possible colour match. This trip will be about an hour each way with a thirty minute appointment.

We should get home for around 4.00 pm. We’ll have time for something to eat and then, later this evening, we are off to Gatwick to meet P&C arriving back from Tenerife. Quite a day with about four hours driving.

15th November, 2013

In my younger days I would work on University material until four or five in the morning, catch an hour’s sleep, shower and walk to school to teach a full day without any real difficulty. As I’ve got older, this has become completely out of the question. Even late nights set me back the next day. So it is this morning. Home from Gatwick just after midnight, we weren’t in bed until 1.00 am. This morning I feel like death warmed up.

It is the most glorious, sunny day with a clear blue, Mediterranean sky although it isn’t warm at 10C/50F. We went out at 9.30 am to do the weekly shop at Tesco. To be honest, we didn’t need much after our trip to France during the week but we have to keep Tesco afloat. There was a Save the Children Christmas Card stall at the Tesco/M&S entrance and, although we both hate children, the cards looked quite nice so we bought our requirement. We only need 70 these days now we are not in work. I’m obsessed with robins because of the feisty, aggressive nature. It drives Pauline mad but we’ve majored on that again. Look away now if you don’t want to see your Christmas card six weeks early.

 

There is no rush to write them but I’m beginning to think out my Christmas Newsletter which will accompany many. We will have to be posting to Greece in a couple of weeks.

Usually, this is a night to leave the television turned off – the annual Children in Need nonsense. Fortunately, this year there is an England match on so there is something equally dire to watch.

16th November, 2013

Another glorious, autumnal day with squirrels playing chase around the base of the trees outside our front door and huge, black crows cawing at the tops of the wonderful oaks.

 

3rd November, 2013

Glorious day! Sunny, bright blue skies and warm. Unfortunately, the papers are full of doom about freezing temperatures to come soon in November. This Global Warming. It’s so complicated isn’t it.

We don’t hear from the island for a month and then, suddenly, three different friends phone us all in a weekend. Yesterday it was our special friend asking how we were and then, this morning two more good friends were moved to contact us. It must be something in the water – or the sky. One this morning was telling us a funny story about an islander who has his boat moored in Kamares harbour – like so many others – and all the birds of Sifnos seem to be targeting this one boat to dump on. So much so that he has installed bird scaring equipment on the boat but all it is doing is amusing residents and further attracting the birds. Spooky! Bird Dumping Comes from Within. Could be a title for a book.

4th November, 2013

As everyone else trudged to the Station to go up to the City to WORK on this wonderfully sunny morning, Pauline and I undertook our one commitment of the day – 8.50 am Routine mammogram at Woking Walk-in Hospital. By 9.00 am, we have the rest of the day FREE.

Today, I am struggling to get to grips with Windows 8 after twenty years of growing up and through Windows 1 – 7 plus Vista. It’s rather fun to be really challenged.

I then have to research new-build property on the South Coast in case we do decide to market our apartment. I am looking at four bedroomed, detached houses. Back to the future!

5th November, 2013

A bit chilly and damp today. Hasn’t risen above 13C/55F today but tomorrow should be warmer. The only trouble with colder weather is that it increases the appetite. Not good when one is on a diet although my weight is still going down. I’ve lost a stone and a half since leaving Greece.

Pauline is in ‘Decorating Mode’! If we are going to sell our Apartment and that is not decided yet, she will want it to look perrrffect, Not that it needs it but, if we ever market a property, she has STANDARDS! Off to Homebase for some paint, rollers and brushes.

We had to be back for a burglar alarm adviser. We were unhappy with our current company, Custom Security Alarms, who just didn’t provide a good service for £250.00 per year. We are swapping to ADT , a much bigger company with a better reputation.

6th November, 2013

A spectacularly uneventful and grey day. I spent it researching new build properties on the Sussex coast. They are still less than an hour from central London but prices are so much cheaper. We are retreating to a four bedroomed detached. We have established that we are just not ready for apartment living.

7th November, 2013

An early start on a mild, bright and dry day. By 6.45 am, I was at Woking Community Hospital to have my INR tested for the first time for three months. Last time, it was on Sifnos. It takes minutes and then we return for tea and (for Pauline) toast. At 9.00 am, we are picking up Phyllis & Colin and setting off for Gatwick Airport. They are spending ten days in Tenerife. We were supposed to be flying to Bologna for a long weekend but we have changed our minds and are now going to look at property areas on the South Coast.

Stories from Greece this morning are all about the Government’s ejection of occupying workers at the ERT building in Athens.

8th November, 2013

Pauline used to make all our bread every week. We never bought any. In fact, it was hard to buy edible, shop-bought bread. Since January 1st, however, I haven’t been eating carbohydrates so my wife’s lovely bread has been redundant. Skiathan Man is proudly showcasing his homemade Tomato and Herb bread while I am in the gym trying to dispose of all traces of its pernicious effects.

We have decided that the time is right to switch away from swimming and to do some hard work in the gym. The last couple of sessions have been half an hour of intensive gym work. We are trying to get it up to an hour by Christmas.

9th November, 2013

Nice, bright but cold morning. We are off to the south coast – East Sussex – to look at new-build properties. We have a number to look at but this one has particularly attracted Pauline.

It will take us about an hour to drive which is fine on a lovely day. A walk by the seaside and a look at a few houses – what could be nicer?

It poured with rain the whole way. We got stuck in a traffic jam for three quarters of an hour but we did see some interesting places. We found a house we liked in Hailsham which is about ten miles outside Eastbourne.

It’s a bit ridiculous after having downsized to two bedrooms to return to five but it felt so much more relaxing. It is also ridiculous that a new property with five bedrooms, three bathrooms, a study, two sitting rooms and a large dining room in Sussex should cost less than a two bedroomed apartment in Surrey. It is all to do with accessibility to central London.

We ended up in Bexhill on Sea where the beach was packed with holiday makers.

We travelled back through Hastings (which looked very seedy and down-at-heel.) and Battle, Tunbridge Wells (where we saw a few ‘disgusted’.), Sevenoaks, Leatherhead (where the Great Train Robbers met fifty years ago.) and then back to Byfleet. The temperature didn’t rise above 8C/46F all day.