Sanders Blog

31st March, 2013

I must apologise to regular readers. It is either Alzheimer’s or lack of alcohol but my dates – even years – have been out for a week. My proof reader only spotted the errors yesterday. I will try harder!

There is a joke doing the round of Berlin bars:

St Peter decides he wants a new coat of whitewash on the Pearly Gates. He asks an Albanian for a quote. The man says,  €600: €300 for the materials and €300 for my labour.

He gets a second quote from a German who says, €900: €300 for the materials, €300 for my labour, and €300 for the tax I have to pay on it.

He then asks a Greek who says, €3,000.
Why so much?, St Peter asks in horror.
The Greek replies, Listen, pal, there’s €1,000 for you, €1,000 for me, €300 for the materials, €300 to get the Germans to look the other way, and €400 to hire an Albanian to do the work.

The Sunday Times ran this cartoon today:

1st April, 2013

Happy April to you all. To Greek friends we say, Kalo Mina. We expect sun and blue skies today and are going out for a walk before the big match. It makes a change not to spend an April Fools’ Day walking round the school corridors as every other small child says, Sir, Sir, your shoelaces are undone. Children of today, they have no imagination!

Pauline & I have now done three calendar months without any alcohol or main carbohydrate like bread, potatoes, pasta, or rice. Today we will celebrate with a glass of red wine with our meal. This, in itself will be a break through. For the past forty years, we invariably drank a bottle of wine with our evening meal and, sometimes, with our mid day meal as well. Our meal today will still not include carbohydrates. It will be lamb and vegetables. I have the wine reaching room temperature as I write.

The lamb was wonderful. I would tell you about the wine but I still can’t feel my fingers.

2nd April, 2013

Wonderful blue skies and strong sun this morning but bitterly cold 4C/39F. Pauline went to feed our neighbour’s cat while she is away for a couple of days. The cat is huge and hairy and called Minnie. I call it Maxi but it snarls at me. Out fairly early in to Woking town centre so that Pauline can buy a few essentials. We then drove to a nearby ASDA and bought enough bananas to keep a monkey quiet for six months. They are our snack of choice at the moment.

By the time we had got home, the post had been and Pauline’s new tax code had arrived to take in to account her State Pension but not taking in to account the new tax limits. It is such an expensive methodology. We should all register our emails with Government offices. We’ve been doing that for years with the Bank, the Power Companies, the Water Company, the Local Authority for our Council Tax, the Teachers Pension Agency, the DVLA, etc.. It is no big deal and would save so much time and money.

3rd April, 2013

Really cold day – 3C/37F. We are told that warmer (but wetter) is on the way. My wife is allowed off the leash. She is going shopping with her sister to M&S. She says it could take two or three hours. Can you imagine it? Three hours in a shop? I’d rather have my fingernails pulled out one by one.

Exactly four years ago today, Pauline & I retired. Two years ago we downsized to a duplex apartment. We set ourselves five years here and then we would move on. We have already decided that a two bedroom is not big enough and we prefer a detached house to apartment living. In addition, Pauline has always had a hankering to live by the sea. We are not in a rush to do anything but we have decided that our next move – within the next three years – will be down to the south coast. We will buy a new-build, three or four bedroom house on the Sussex coast. We want to explore areas around Hastings.

Wonderful meal of steak and mushrooms with asparagus. Delicious and very filling.

4th April, 2013

Summer time and the weather is freezing. We arrived in Tesco car park for the weekly shop and were greeted by a blizzard of snow and biting wind. The temperature showed 1C/34F but the wind chill made it -4C/25F. We walked very briskly from the car and I chanted Best Foot Forward, Plan of Campaign, Sucky Sweet, Chilly Pom Pom! None of this will mean much to anyone who is not a member of my family and didn’t grow up with my Mother. It was the lingua franca of her adolescence or war time slang. Whenever she used one of these terms, we would look at each other in vague disbelief. It used to really wind me up just as she could never send for the Doctor – it was always the Doc. – It was never possible to drive a Mercedes of Jaguar car – it was always a Merc. or a Jag. – and I’m sure there were many more like this which I’ve forgotten.

Apparently, March has been the coldest on record bar that of 1962. I think I remember that winter. I went to Grammar School for the first time in 1962 and it was the year before we had central heating installed in our house. Bob, my brother, and I shared a bedroom and woke one morning to find ice on the inside of the windows. We were tough in those days, you know. The blizzards have gone on throughout the day – in Surrey in April. What am I doing here?

Pauline managed to rack up another two hours in M&S today bringing her total there for the week to around five hours. She was being measured for a bra. Fifty years of wearing bras and she finally gets measured. If I have my waist measured, it takes two minutes (and two tape measures). Pauline was the best part of an hour in the fitting room. I began to believe that she was having breast reconstruction surgery rather than being measured for a bra.

To placate me for waiting and buying two bras, she bought me a new Man-Bag for my birthday on Saturday. It replaces one I bought fifteen years ago in Athens which is beginning to show its age. It will carry my iPad, mobile, cheque cards, reading glasses, spare glasses, keys, etc..

5th April, 2013

Still unbearably cold and dark – 3C/37F. However, it is my last day ever being 61 so I am determined to enjoy it. I might have a banana. The Times reports today that scientists say we should eat more bananas to reduce our risk of stroke. Something to do with the potassium although I’ve never been much of a scientist myself. They did think potassium damaged the kidney function but that idea has now been scotched. As Pauline & I get through enough bananas each week to keep a tribe of monkeys happy, we feel totally immune from all strokes. We eat so many bananas, we are becoming experts on types of the fruit, their origins and importers. We completely rejected Dole and found that Fyffe’s Fair Trade were infinitely superior in flavour and, this morning, I found the table below which seems to confirm our refined senses of taste. I’m not surprised. I did The Great British class calculator and found we were in the Elite Group which is a total nonsense but, secretly, I’m not surprised. I always knew we were a cut above the rest and, with bananas, we’ll live for ever as well.

Guess where I took Pauline this afternoon – yes, M&S. She desperately needed a new pair of trousers. I stayed in the car, reading my iPad. Fortunately, she wasn’t more than half an hour but, unfortunately, she likes the trousers so much that she’s ordered another pair to be picked up on Monday. I’ve got M&S on speed dial for my sat.nav. now. It’s second only to Home.

6th April, 2013

Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday to me,
Happy Birthday old bugger………….

I have reached an age I never thought I would and I am grateful. I owe it almost entirely to my wonderful wife, Pauline, who has put up with my bizarre idiosyncrasies for 35 years, humouring me with calm and patience. How she has managed it, I will never know but I owe my life to her. We have stopped buying eacher other cards or presents. A joint bank account since our marriage has rather obviated those. There’s nothing worse than handing over the present followed by the receipt.

I received some lovely cards from others and most notably from my wonderful sister, Ruth, who I know I can always rely on. She sent this:

I also had a considerable number of electronic wishes including from ex-pupils, teaching colleagues and students from my old College. The latter, of course, understand what I am experiencing because we are all of a similar age.

Glorious, warm, sunny day today. We are going out for a walk to get the blood pumping.

24th March, 2013

Strange, dark day with very light and wet snow flurries. Nothing settled but only a few miles away we are told things were very different and, in Yorkshire, one young man died last night. The newspapers tonight are reporting record low temperatures of -15C/5F to be reached by Easter. The trans-Pennine M62 was closed last night and this is Northumbria:

25th March, 2013

Light but ineffective snow again this morning. Busy day – Diabetic Review, Visit Santander to discuss April’s ISA, Swimming at the Health Club, Prepare for Residents Management Committee Meeting.

There was something quite wretched about seeing the Greek Cypriots marching to celebrate Greek Independence Day on a day when the palpably were not independent. They were mortgaged to the hilt to the Germans. I have a horrible feeling that this kernel of Euro failure may grow to destroy the whole Euro plan as bank accounts plundered freely by politicians pull the rug from depositors confidence across the whole Union.

The weather was fine but the financial and political climate was definitely not.

26th March, 2013

A grey day. We had a pre-management meeting prior to this evening’s Housing Development Meeting. Pauline & I have done a lot of work for the residents but will not be at the evening meeting so we briefed our neighbour, Vicky. The electric gates at the entrance are an issue and it needs urgently addressing. External lighting needs reviewing. We should be considering appointing a new Management Company.

Just received the Minutes of the Management Meeting and all our hard work has paid off. The representatives siezed the day and brought the Management Company to see our requirements. Our Service Charge payments will be used as we intend them. I’m pleased that Pauline & I took control and drove the Agenda.

27th March, 2013

Finally got the date right. Sorry about that. I’ve been a bit preoccupied with other things this week. It’s been a really good day.

One of the things about leaving employment and embracing retirement has been the lack of ‘targets to achieve’. Every day in Education there was something to achieve. In the early days it was learning to cope with a difficult class in a large inner city school. Climbing the slippery pole of career was always there. In later life it may have been managing a difficult meeting or cajoling funding out of somebody but there was always something to aim for.

Retirement means setting your own targets. I have done that in a number of ways by setting writing projects to complete, financial targets to achieve, health targets to work towards. I am someone who needs to think as he gets up in the morning, What am I going to get through today? I need to have an aim. Pauline & I have a To Do List and today felt really satisfied by reducing it.

• The Development we live on had some items to be addressed. We were able to lay that to rest today.
• My contribution to the Family History research has left me using Derbyshire Records Office to find information about Mabel Lilian Sanders née Flook, the Grandmother non of us ever met because she was taken in to the Pastures Hospital in Mickleover in 1930 never to be seen again although she didn’t die until 1962. I phoned the Records Office again today and they assured me I would receive papers next week.
• Fixed an appointment in early April to open two new ISAs and switched the money – £11520.00 which is the maximum for 2013/14 – electronically from a savings account ready for that. We will now have each invested our maximum ISA each year for five years.
• Spoke to our mobile phone provider – EE (T-Mobile+Orange) about our tariff and adjusted it to make it more useful. Excellent Company who gave exactly what I wanted even though I had to phone India and speak to someone who spoke only broken English.
• Did our 30 lengths swimming and got home feeling good if a little tired.

We are down, now, to one meal a day and, even then, as soon as we start to eat we are full. We had freshly squeezed orange juice and tea for breakfast. Just before we went swimming, we had a banana and a couple of dried figs. For Dinner, we had Duck Breast with a red currant sauce and some pea shoot salad. It was wonderful. On Monday, we will have done three calendar months of our new regime and we will celebrate with a glass of wine.

28th March, 2013

A bitterly cold day:  4C/39F (Feels -4/25F). Today is Tesco day. We had some phone calls to deal with before we go out. Taylor Wimpey representatives phone to find out whether we are happy. We have been making quite a few waves recently but it has paid off. Now, they phone us rather than the other way round.

When we got to Tesco, at about 10.00 am, it was packed. The huge car park had virtually no spaces left. I thought I had got it wrong and it was Christmas Eve. There was a time when one went to a supermarket to buy things. In exchange for groceries, one paid money. Nowadays, the supermarkets pay us to shop there. We continually have money off vouchers posted to us through the mail, by email, etc. Then there are the in store offers – spend £40.00 and get £5.00 off, two bundles of asparagus for the price of one – and the comparison promises – We will refund the difference with other supermarkets. We spent just £65.00 today and paid only £48.00 – a 26% saving. Soon it will be free.

Our meal today was smoked salmon, prawns lightly dressed with garlic mayonaise and Waldorf salad. On Monday, I shall have a glass of claret.

Happy Birthday to sister, Mary Jane.  59 years old today.

29th March, 2013

A beautiful morning. Delightful, strong sun. Everyone here from the thrusting, striving, achieving community are still in bed. No walking urgently down to Woking station for the 6.30 am commuter train to the City.They feel they have earned a holiday. Pauline & I are up with the larks as usual having earned nothing but enjoying everything.

Pauline is making Lemon Marmalade. I love it but when will we eat it. We’ve given up bread. Actually, Monday will be three calendar months without carbohydrates. Might celebrate with a piece of toast.

I had a lovely suit made about 10 years ago now. Cost me about £350.00. By the time I was ready to wear it, I had piled weight on and it was already uncomfortable. I had to have another made immediately. I never slimmed in to the initial suit. My aim is to get in to it in the Autumn when we go on holiday. I will report my success or failure honestly.

30th March, 2013

Clocks go forward tonight (well 1.00 am tomorrow actually but who is going to stay up for that?) although it really doesn’t matter any more. I remember when we were working that clocks forward meant an hour less in bed and clocks back meant more sleep. In retirement, who cares? You can’t waste your time in bed. There’s too much living to do!

We used to spend the first hour of the Summer time adjusting all our clocks. Not now. They all adjust themselves with the exception of the oven and our watches. Time has moved on.

Ruth has just phoned to tell me that Liz has fallen at work and badly broken her wrist. Today she is having an operation under general anaesthetic to repair the damage. We wish her luck.

10th March, 2013

Happy Mothers’ Day!

11th March, 2013

The temperature is 0C/32F in Surrey with light snow falling. Skiathos reached 23.5C/ 74F yesterday. It really isn’t fair. I’m going swimming in spite of the weather.

I am a fairly grounded sort of  person to the point of being boring. I don’t believe in gods, angels, fairies, astrology or anything else so intangible. Occasionally, inexplicable things hit me. A friend we met on our Greek island and who five years or so ago relocated to Cheltenham where he works in a Bookshop, was in my thoughts all day yesterday. We had intended visiting him over the winter but didn’t make it. We haven’t met for those five years although we do keep in touch by email. We haven’t written since Christmas. Suddenly, having though so much of him yesterday, an email pops up from him this morning. Exactly the same thing happened with my friend, Jonathan, in America last week. Coincidences can be uncanny and a little unnerving.

I love fresh coffee and have a wonderful espresso machine which provides perfect coffee everytime with ese coffee pods. I use a mail order company to supply the pods which cost £0.17 each – a far cry from the £2.00 or so for a coffee in one of the chains in town. My favourites are Cafe Toscano (Tradizione con gusto) an arabica-robusta blend and another arabica – Caffe Bravi (Roma). I’ve order 300. Should get me through the week.

12th March, 2013

A bitingly cold day. The media is full of people sleeping in their cars all night stuck in deep snow less than an hour away from here. We have none. A tiring and expensive morning. Shopping! Need I say more? Well, I bought new shoes – at M&S of all places. Can you believe paying so much for a pair of casual shoes. I can remember when you could buy a house for that price! Well, not quite but it’s a lot. They were made in China.

On to Specsavers to collect and pay for my glasses plus two pairs of reading glasses for Pauline. Another £300.00 or so. For glasses. I remember when you could buy a monocle and still have change for new buttons! I had rimless specs with reaction lenses. Pauline had two pairs of reading glasses – one tinted for reading outside in the sun and one for doing computer work. How decadent is that? I remember when we could only afford one candle to read by and that had to be shared.

By this stage, Pauline was well in to her shopping mode and I was exhausted. Superdrug, Boots, etc.. I saw my life ebbing away. Shopping Centres are an abomination and the Peacock Centre in Woking is no exception.

13th March, 2013

Had to go for my 6 monthly diabetic blood test this morning. The traffic was terrible. The surgery car park was full. My appointment was for 10.00 am but I was called early. The nurse had writing on the back of her hand. I asked what it was. She told me it said “toga”. It was to remind her to hire one for her daughter who has to have one for school because it is ‘Greek’ week. I suggested it would be more appropriate to dress as a pauper but she didn’t see the funny side.

A childhood friend of mine who has lived in Boston, Masachussetts for the past 40 years wrote to me recently. Although he is older than me, he can’t afford to retire yet because the safety net state services we in UK are afforded are not a available in the US. He has to pay his own medical fees when he retires. Can you imagine it. His wife, a teacher, doesn’t get a State pension to supplement her teaching pension. It’s not all bad here.

14th March, 2013

Out for the Dentist this morning. We joined an NHS Dentistry Practice about five miles from our home as soon as we moved to Surrey. We were delighted with the young, Indian girl dentist that we were allocated to but, by the time we had been to Greece and back, she had moved on to a ‘more permanent position’. It turned out that she had recently qualified when we met her. Our next dentist was a young West Indian girl who had just qualified. She was quite good but, by the time we had been to Greece and returned, she had moved on to something more permanent and we were allocated a young, Chinese girl who has just qualified. We are tired of being used as classroom resources by young trainees and we have decided that we will find a private dentistry practice with a little more stability.

We spent the afternoon trimming the hedging bushes outside our Duplex, weeding the surrounding beds and sweeping up. The early morning rain had gone and given way to blue skies and strong sunshine. The quadrangle in which we were working was positively warm. Rather than a fortnight’s work on an acre of garden as we have had to do in the past, nowadays it feels good to get it all done in an afternoon.

Pauline cooked cod loin with oven roasted tomatoes and sugar snap peas. It was a lovely meal for Dinner but I am struggling to eat anything at the moment. A wonderful cup of fresh coffee to finish. It so completely rounds off the tastes of a meal and there was news today of its health benefits. A recent Japanese study has confirmed the findings of an earlier, European study which found that those drinking between one and three cups of fresh coffee per day were 15% less likely to suffer strokes. Oh good!

15th March, 2013

Grey day but not cold – about 12C/54F – as we set off for the weekly supermarket shop. Not a lot to buy today but it still took an hour to get through. Every aisle had some spotty youth with a huge trolley taking things off the shelves for an internet customer. The incidence of this has expanded exponentially since we moved down here amongst the cash-rich but time-poor people of Surrey. There is no axiom of ‘Customers First’ amongst these characters. They are part of a ‘spotty youth internet shoppers union’ which is forced to spend part of its time discussing last night’s party, part of its time discussing tonight’s party and the rest of its time blocking every shelf on every aisle while it substitues items you ordered on the internet for far less appropriate but much more expensive ones that you didn’t order.

Called in on Phyllis & Colin on the way back. Did a bit of work on Phyllis’s iPad to help her buy something on line and Colin wanted to review a rail trip to Scotland so they didn’t have to do the lengthy drive. Back home we had received mail. Ours included our Council Tax demand which had gone up by 50% on last year. Even I know that no Local Authority has been bold enough to go above 2% – 3% increases. It turns out that they think our property is empty which allows them to levy 150% tax. We have written to them to put them straight.

Lovely swim today although the pool was quite busy which always puts us off. We don’t go at the weekend because a lot of chldren like to swim and, as you know, we hate children. I, certainly, couldn’t eat a whole one.

16th March, 2013

Raining again. Today is a home day. Reading the paper, watching football and rugby – I have to get fit somehow – and getting up to date with correspondence. My friend in America has finally been made redundant. Government spending on defence procurement is significantly down and his work in research and development is equally being rolled back. Add to that fact that he is 64 years old and he was expecting it. His wife retired from teaching last summer so they can embrace retirement together. I wish him well.

Everton v Man City football and Wales v England rugby this afternoon with a bowl of home made vegetable soup. Have I got the energy?

Nice to see Everton humble Manchester City 2 – 0 in spite of losing a man. What on earth England were thinking nobody knows. The were utterly humiliated by Wales.

3rd March, 2013

Strangely quiet and overcast day. Not cold but not inviting outside. The Sunday Times is the focus of the morning.

I can’t get Mum’s voice out of my head today. For so many years we argued about Catholicism and the iniquity of the priesthood. I bated her about the prevalence of homosexuality in an organisation which preached so vehemently against it. Her response was that stock RC answer – The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. – We all carry original sin around with us and must fight it all the time. There’s always one bad apple but don’t judge us all by that. What would she be thinking now? Cardinal Keith O’Brien, head of the Catholic Church in Scotland and the most senior figure in the church in the UK, a man who has condemned homosexuality from the pulpit has admitted to that cardinal sin himself. And this can be set against a backdrop of sexual abuse by clergy across the country and the world. There is only one thing sinking faster than christianity and that is the Lib. Dems..

4th March, 2013

Frost on Skiathos but Spring in Surrey. Glorious morning of riotous sunshine out of crystal clear blue skies. Not warm yet but 10C/50F and warmer, we are told, is on the way.

I am no supporter of the Greens or of Environmentalism. I hate wind turbines with a passion. I would convert them to Roman Catholicism and dump them in the sea – off Australia. The Times this morning runs an article which has done more to raise my blood pressure than anything for a long time. Not only are these ugly scars on the landscape useless when the wind isn’t blowing but, when it blows too strongly and too much electricity is generated – more than is required – we are paying huge amopunts of money for the turbines to be turned off. Whatever the weather and whatever the demand, we are paying unnecessarily. Any party that offers to end this iniquity will get my vote.

5th March, 2013

Oh, what a perfect day. Glorious blue sky, strong, warm sun – 16C/61F – birds singing and darting everywhere. We had a number of trips on our agenda. First was a trip to Woking. The Peacock Centre – Specsavers. New distance glasses for me and reading glasses for Pauline. Pauline likes reading sun glasses for reading outside. I wanted glasses I can’t break if I sit on. We both achieved our ideal for about £300.00.

Home for coffee and to do a few jobs then off through the sunfilled streets lined with trees in full blossom to Weybridge and then Walton on Thames. Not exciting shopping but a delicious bounce of Spring everywhere.

The big match tonight – Man U. vs Real Madrid. Another chance to put the ‘Chosen One’ in his place – hopefully.

6th March, 2013

Lazy morning after a day out yesterday. The big match didn’t go the way I and many others hoped but life goes on. Did my 30 lengths at the pool this morning and felt better in doing it than at any other time since we started it at the beginning of November last year. We have started the tenth week of denial – no alcohol and no carbohydrate. Today is a fish day in honour of Jane Bennett. She’s not dead but can’t have long because she is a vegetarian. Do they eat fish? It all gets too intricately political for me to understand. Pauline is making smoked haddock chowder for lunch and I am cooking salmon fillets with oven-dried tomato topping accompanied by garlic mushrooms. It is the sort of thing that I would serve with a chilled bottle of Sauvignon Blanc but not today. Maybe when I celebrate my 81st birthday. Apparently then I will have exceeded the National Average. Unfortunately, by then the National Average will have moved to 120. Anyway, the longer I live, the more I claw back from the Teachers’ Pension Scheme which makes life all the more worth living.

It has consistently been warmer here than Athens throughout the day. Certainly, Surrey can be delightful in the Spring. Our previous home in Huddersfield today registered less than one third of the Surrery temperature throughout the day. T-shirts here and top coats there. The difference – 200 miles.

7th March, 2013

Rain this morning. It was rather nice to see it. Warm but wet. Tesco shop this morning. An hour and a half of misery and then we call at Phyllis & Colin’s house for a cup of coffee before making our way home.

Letter from our friends on Sifnos today. Puts us to shame. Our Greek friend has written it in faultless English. Lovely to get though. In Greek Orthodox, Easter isn’t until May 5th. Lent starts soon so today is Tsiknopempti or Charred Thursday which is a celebration of meat. I have to say that there is still plenty of meat available and consumed by Greeks during Lent, in my experience, but not so conspicuously. The name of the day is based on the custom of roasting meat. According to the tradition the meat has to be barbecued, and as a result it’s smell ” the tsikna” overwhelms every neighborhood. The smell marks the name of this Pempti (Thursday in Greek) and it is called Tsiknopempti.I’m very glad I have no religion or I would be giving up alcohol and bread and rice and pasta and potatoes ……………oh I have for 66 days already! What a godly boy!

8th March, 2013

Wet, wet, wet today. Actually rather nice. We have had so little of it recently. Outside, tarmacers are redoing the surface of our lane which was only resurfaced a month or so ago. Almost as soon as we had a beautiful and smooth new surface, yellow markings appeared to highlight small areas. Now, the road surfacing team are back. It will soon be dug up again. It is the Lib. Dem. approach to road maintenance – piecemeal, illogical and amateurish!

9th March, 2013

Happy 58th Birthday to Cathy, my younger sister.

She has changed careers in later life and is clearly making a success of it. She offers a counselling service and works in a swish new School Academy. It is nice to see her blossoming in later life.

24th February, 2013

I haven’t been ill since April 2009 until today. I seem to have caught a stomach bug which has totally incapacitated me. I am a typical man about all illness. I ignore all signs until I can face it no more and then I complain until my wife takes over. Couldn’t get out of bed this morning. My limbs were stiff, shivering and sweating. Without going into detail, my body was completely empty. In fact I had lost half a stone over last night. My head was banging and I was constantly falling into sleep mode. By mid day I was up and drinking a cup of tea which I retained for less than half an hour and I slept through the rest of the day. What more can you want from a blog?

25th February, 2013

Didn’t wake until 9.00 am. Managed to keep my orange juice and tea inside me although it all feels rather uncertain. No energy to do anything. Sorry.

26th February, 2013

Up and almost back to normal this morning. Managed to retain my orange juice and tea. Might eat later. We received a letter from the Welsh MP, Ann Clwyd, who we wrote to a couple of months ago after she had made a dramatically emotional speech in Parliament shortly after the unnecessary death of her husband in hospital. She spoke to the House about the criminal neglect meted out by nurses who thought they were too educated to care and offer the simple patient support that they are paid for and the mismanagement of hospitals which seem to be organised for the welfare of staff rather than patients. When Pauline’s Mum died in hospital, part of the problem was that she was ill at the weekend. (How could she be so careless?) Part of the problem was that nurses were too interested in their files in their offices than the humans on the Ward and part of the problem was that inexperienced Doctors were left floundering without support from seniors. We wrote to the Hospital and met the Senior Management who acknowledged failings and promised imminent changes. We left it at that. What we didn’t realise was the nationwide prevalence of this iniquity. As soon as we witnessed Ann Clywd’s intervention did we speak to anyone else. It is now clear, from, what she tells us, that there are thousands of people across the country prepared to bear witness to the failing NHS. She is planning submissions to the Health Minister. One of the certain outcomes of this movement will be 24/7 hospitals. Another will be a look at Ward Management. A third will be addressing the amount of time Specialists spend on site.

Our dear friend from Sifnos  phoned us today to tell us about out electricity bill which is quite nice. They owe us €57.00. She was surprised to find that we didn’t have to pay the House Tax. I wasn’t but I’m pleased it has been confirmed. Our previous island ‘friend’ may have left our affairs in a mess but it has a rewarding side to it.

27th February, 2013

The day brightened up to a lovely one with some pleasant sunshine. We had a wonderful swim in a fairly quiet Health Club and then decided to do some Office Work. Phone calls and emails afternoon after homemade asparagus soup. Pauline did a full audit of the accounts and a redesigned Teachers Pension Website Membership was announced. It carries our P60s, our earnings and tax payments. Pauline has received a radically revised Tax Code following the payment of her first State Pension in three weeks time.

28th February, 2013

Last day of February. Spring won’t be to long now. Weak sunshine here and still cold. The thermometer says 8C/47F but it feels much colder. Only 10C/50F in Greece today but a bit sunnier. For some reason, Greek cold weather always seems that much more biting. Perhaps because it doesn’t meet expectations.

Interesting news from Greek newspapers about the new Greek identity papers/passport. This is particularly unfortunate for those EU citizens with dual Nationalities. The Greek Government is going to force all its citizens to re-register, give up their passport(s) and identity papers and be issued with a new, EU passport in which all will become naturalised Greeks with no dual nationality allowed. This will be difficult for some who have traded on dual identity particularly for Healthcare. In UK, the Coalition Government are looking to restrict access even for EU citizens to Social Welfare services including NHS.

1st March, 2013

Happy March to you all. Happy March to the Tory Party who now know they are going to crash and burn in a couple of years not to be seen again for quite some time. What is worrying is the success of the British edition of Greece’s Golden Dawn – sort of Golden Dawn with Manners. If CallmeDave tracks to the right we find ourselves on the European brink, we will all regret it.

2nd March, 2013

Pauline and I are not intrepid travellers on any level. We love travelling but every step is planned with the intention of removing as much risk as possible. This is as much the case on our journey through life as our travels through Europe. As soon as our Greek house was built, we looked for insurance. It wasn’t the easiest thing to do. The Greeks we asked looked at us with some bemusement. When we said it must include ‘earthquake cover’, they thought we were bonkers. Eventually, we did find a Greek chap who represented an American Insurance company who would sell us cover but it was very expensive. We found a good company who would insure our UK and our Greek property at a discount and have been with them for a year or two. Intasure has really put our minds at rest. I wouldn’t mind betting, however, that a poll of islanders would show a large majority not insured. These are poor people who stand to lose everything in the event of a disaster. At which point, they would have to turn to the State for help.

Now, the Government is legislating for the problem. They estimate that there are no more than 15% of properties with insurance policy against an earthquake across the country. The Greek finance ministry is going to make property insurance against earthquake and floods obligatory according to the excellent Greek Blog, Keep Talking Greece. The argument behind the property insurance is that the Greek state is unable to compensate victims when an unexpected event such as an earthquake occurs. This is an attempt to forestall the possibility of widespread economic damage from an unexpected event such as an earthquake or flood. The insurance policy will be compulsory for every act that has to do with the property like sale, rent etc. What was most interesting to me was that the first, grassroots Greek response I read was to view this measure as yet another tax on the part of a heartless government. Sometimes, you just can’t win.

18th February, 2013

An absolutely wonderful day with clear, blue skies and birds singing all around. It makes one glad to be alive. I must admit, I didn’t use it well. I read the newspaper and watched Huddersfield lose. I had been entertaining hopes of an Oldham v Huddersfield Cup Final after Saturday’s wonderful 94th minute escape but it wasn’t to be. At least I got to speak to Ruth.

19th February, 2013

I’m always happier when Bob is the same age as me and for a few weeks now he is.

On April 22nd, 1950, Mum & Dad were married at Ss Mary and Modwen Catholic Church in Guild Street in Burton-on-Trent. Ten weeks later, I was conceived. I was born on 6th April, 1951 and,  seven weeks later, Bob was conceived. I don’t know what was in the Repton water.

An early start today. Shopping trip to France. Tunnel crossing just before 9.00 am. The car will be full of fruit and vegetables, lots of lovely cuts of meat, a small amount of cheese and wine for future drinking.

At 6.30 am, the frost was heavy and the temperature was 3C/37F with a light mist. As we drove towards the tunnel, the sun rose – a huge, orange disc rebounding from the sky line. It gave way to the most beautiful, sunny day with clear blue skies – not hot at 12C/54F but it felt like Summer. Quick trip to our favourite wine suppliers on Rue Marcel Doret to buy 160 litres of wine and then on to Auchan. We have a fridge for the boot of the car and it took the meat – duck breasts, corn fed chicken, beef steaks, beef medallions, joint of pork, pork loins, a large, jointed rabbit. The coolbox took the fish and cooked meat – two sides of fresh salmon, two large loins of cabillaud (cod), some smoked salmon, smoked pork, smoked sausage and a couple of boxes of Brie. Bags took packs of puntarelle and radicchio endives, garlics, onions plus a few, large jars of Dijon mustard.

Got home in time to watch Arsenal being humiliated.

20th February, 2013

The day has taken some time to find the sun but, as I write around 11.00 am, it is starting to shine through the trees. The Pound Sterling is definitely in the shade this morning having fallen from what was a steady £1.00 = €1.20 to about £1.00 = €1.14 this morning.

Pheasant & Celery with Tarragon soup for Lunch. Pauline knocked it up in half an hour and it was delicious. Our Dinner was Endive drizzled with Walnut oil, thin slices of smoked pork loin that we bought in France.

A General Strike across Greece today. The old dragon continues to flail its tail and yet economic data is genuinely showing signs of recovery. Kathimerini reports that Greece’s current account deficit narrowed last year to its lowest level since the country joined the euro, adding to evidence that the economy is slowly responding to harsh austerity measures.

21st February, 2013

My Grandmother came from Gloucestershire. My Grandfather was rooted in the heart of the Midlands – in  Repton. She was living in her family home with her parents and siblings on Station Road, Wickwar in 1911. The road, as it suggests, was in parallel with the railway line which bounded and fed industrial expansion. Particularly, it brought materials to Yate Airfield where aircraft were, initially, repaired but, eventually, built by Parnall Aircraft Company, amongst others. Now, my Grandfather, a journeyman joiner in Repton, Derbyshire met this girl from Station Road and married her in 1914 – the outset of the war. My Mother had always told me that Granddad had been a pilot in WW1 and there are photos of him in uniform which suggests that.

However, cousin David found that Granddad was RNAS and brought up his war record. He found that he didn’t join up until 1916 by which time he had met Mabel and married her, brought her back to Repton and my Dad had been born. So the question still remains – Why did a stable young man from an established Repton family and with a half completed skill set suddenly up sticks and travel over 100 miles down to Bristol area? I’m looking at websites about Yate Airfield. It was on Station Road. Mabel lived on Station Road. Aircraft were repaired there. Granddad was a carpenter. Suddenly, I read “Demands of wartime aircraft production meant that many woodworking companies were contracted to build aircraft.” The penny dropped.

22nd February, 2013

Snowing here. Seriously wet in Greece. The new ‘Athens News’ replacement, EnetEnglish, is reporting massive flooding across Attica; there has been torrential rain over Skiathos over night and Symi Dream reports heavy rain also. This photo is posted by Reuters and shows a woman rescued from flood waters by a resident standing on top of her car during heavy rain in Halandri, northern Athens.

Turkey & Vegetable soup for lunch and Dinner was Rabbit Stifado with Broccoli. Lovely.

23rd February, 2013

Light snow flurries this morning. Bitterly cold – My Weather app on my iPad says -1C (feels like -6C). We stay tucked up. It’s a weekend of getting fit watching sport. Looking forward to England beating France at Twickenham and Bradford beating Swansea at Wembley.

France have already taken a battering this weekend as Germany’s President yesterday called for English to become the common language of the European Union. The Times report this morning says:

Joachim Gauck braved the wrath of the French to appeal to all EU nations to put more effort into teaching English so that everyone in Europe could better understand each other. The head of the German state, a popular former Lutheran pastor, said that better communication in English would lead to greater integration and the united Europe of his dreams. He also wanted a common European TV channel in English to cover the concerns of all the member countries in order to break down suspicions and misunderstandings.

I can only say, Absolutely old chap!

10th February, 2013

As regular readers will have noticed, I’ve been dabbling in a bit of family tree research along with my much older cousin, David. I get very easily distracted and often follow quite aimless connections. For example, I was told recently that one member of the family, my Great Grandfather Edwin Thomas Sanders, who had lived in the Repton Mill, moved to a large split property call Gordan Villas. Below is a picture of Gordan Villas today.

It really looks very little different to what I remember fifty years ago. Two girls who were in my class at the local school lived in the property – Elizabeth McDonald on the left and Patricia Adams on the right. ‘Tricia Adams was my first girlfriend at the ripe old age of ten. I bought her a small, pink plastic case of hair grips as an enticement. She was sent over later, I suspect by her Mother, to give me a box of sweets. I know who got the best deal! Elizabeth’s mother was Dorothy McDonald née Adams. She had been born in Gordan Villas in August of 1922. She had an older brother, Reginald, who was the father of Patricia. He and his wife (who I think was called Stella) were rather trendy. They had a brand new open top Triumph Herald with white wall tyres and they parked it on the pavement outside their part of the building.

The Adams family was related to many of the older village families; Dorothy’s great, great grandfather was the Rev’d John Pattinson, vicar of Repton from 1804 to 1843, and her grandmother, Stella Pattinson, owned the post office. This is her around 1900.

The Pattinson family owned the Post Office for a hundred years until 1953. What I have established is that the Adams family occupied Gordan Villas at least from 1922. We lived at 81 High Street aka Ingle Nook. The space where the land was purchasef for the house and the building firm was still enclosed and used for Council storage just after 1900 as this photograph shows. The land is immediately after the white walled house.

Mum eventually sold the house in 1976 for the princely sum of £31,000.00 and the newspaper advertisement, in 1976, referred to the building of the house being in 1933 by Sanders & Son.

11th February, 2013

Skiathan Man has got his tea bags exactly two weeks after we posted them. The parcel took two days to get to Athens and then twelve to get to the island because of a strike. Skiathos is bathed in sun today. We have woken up to light snow. It didn’t stop us going for our swim. Today we start our seventh week without alcohol. I haven’t done that since 1969.

12th February, 2013

It was a cold night and this morning has broken grey and 1C/34F. The horsemeat scandal gallops on. This morning, Tesco have announced that their Bolgnese sauce was up to 100% horsemeat and nobody had noticed. Pauline has always ensured that we shun any ready-made meal on the grounds that, if we saw what it was made of – mechanically recovered meat and ground up bonemeal and cartilage – we would certainly never touch it. She has been completely vindicated. Last night we ate a starter of homemade Waldorf Salad followed by homemade stuffed tomatoes in which the tomato stuffing was just minced beef and herbs. The beef was minced by Pauline from beef steak bought at the butchers. We scoffed our meal with a self-satisfied smile as the news came in.

Instead of swimming, today we went in to the running machine room. About thirty or forty running machines lined the walls. Each one has a television screen set into the front with multiple Sky Channels or one could choose to plug in an iPod or listen to the radio. At the same time one could monitor one’s speed, distance, incline, duration and heart beat. If one entered one’s height and weight prior to starting, the machine calculated and continually announced how many calories one was burning off. By the time I had understood all the displays and the settings, I was exhausted.

13th February, 2013

No pancakes for us yesterday. We are starting our seventh week without carbohydrates. I hate to say it but it has almost become a way of life now. I do miss a glass/bottle of wine but not as much as I thought I would. I have a series of half yearly diabetic checks coming up over the next few weeks and it will be interesting to see what changes are reported. Tomorrow it will be eye check. Next week is blood test. Two weeks later will be full check. What it is to be a ‘demic!

14th February, 2013

My Love & I went to the eye clinic this morning. She drove. I had to have drops in my eyes in readiness for my annual diabetic eye check up. Very romantic it was too. After an hour, she led me by the hand out into the sunshine which immediately burned into my widely dilated pupils as I shuffled across the carpark. It was six hours before I could read my newspaper on the iPad and, when I did, I found it had been delivered in a different and more difficult to read format.

Fifty years ago today, Harold Wilson became Leader of the Labour Party. He matched the ‘never had it so good’ complacency of Macmillan with a desire to embrace the ‘white heat’ of techological advancement. I was in Grammar School with the whole of my life before me. White hot technolgy excited me. I wanted some of that and became a Labour supporter from then. My parents were Conservative voters. They read The Telegraph. They were socially established and in business. It was understandable. It was written that I should go in a different direction and I did. I went to Huddersfield and there I found Harold – outside the station.

15th February, 2013

It is now completely established – There is something wrong with me. Today took receipt of a ‘sports’ watch. What am I doing? Well, I need to time my swimming exercise period and my own, thirty three year old watch isn’t waterproof. I love it because Pauline bought it for me after our car accident but it won’t do the job in the pool or the sea. The thing about watches nowadays is that, if you are not looking for investment or prestige, it is impossible to pay any money for them. My new, waterproof, sports watch with backlight, alarm, stopwatch, day/date/time display is a black, digital Casio from The Watch Shop and cost £15.60 including postage. I ordered it yesterday evening and it arrived this morning. How do they do it for that money? It better not turn out to be horsemeat.

I bought a bag of mussels in Tesco yesterday and just checked with the Fishmonger – “They don’t contain horsemeat do they?” He looked genuinely hurt. “We’re not allowed to sell it anymore”, he said with a mournful fall in his voice. I felt quite sorry for him.

After Cousin David totally destroyed my retirement this week by completing the research on the Sanders Family History in a few days – something which I was going to spin out over a few years. Now, instead of comfortably pretending I am researching on my computer, I have to go swimming wearing a ‘stopwatch’!

16th February, 2013

It’s not east constructing meals without carbohydrate. It means we eat a lot of salad. Unfortunately, I take warfarin which is negated by too much green leaf. Breakfast is two, freshly squeezed oranges followed by a huge cup of Yorkshire tea. Mid morning is a cup of freshly brewed Americano coffee. Lunch is homemade soup or fish and a small amount of salad. The fish is most often smoked salmon but smoked mackerel is also a favourite. The salad is pea shoots and rocket or endive with a bit of crumbled blue cheese. Evening meal – if we feel like it at all – is meat/fish and a single vegetable. Tonight Dinner will be Fillet of Lamb  slow cooked with onions and mushrooms and served with cauliflower.

Since 1980, we have taken delivery of 24 new Honda cars. Since 1999, we’ve had 8 CRVs in three different models. Driving to Greece each year, this has been an ideal car for the journey and the island terrain. We took delivery of our latest CRV at the beginning of November and today, Honda contacted us to ask if we would be prepared to attend a ‘review’ of the latest model at their offices in Slough. The car is made just down the road in Swindon. It might be nice to have some personal input to our next model.

This evening live football is Oldham Athletic v Everton in the Cup. Having taught in Oldham for nearly forty years makes this a must watch. Actually, we will be constantly scanning the crowd for faces of ex-pupils and colleagues. Tomorrow, live football is Huddersfield v Wigan also in the cup. It will again be a must watch – scanning the crowd for ex-neighbours and friends.

3rd February, 2013

Poor old Skiathan Man. His parcel of tea is so near and yet so far. We have tracked the parcel all the way to Greece but a 48 hr ferry strike was followed by another and now…. another. Let’s hope he can hold out. I have visions of him crawling down the harbour road with pictures of strong and flavoursome,Yorkshire Tea dancing before him, drawing him on and finally fading into a yellow, Liptons tea bag of tepid, cat wee and here we are in Surrey almost bathing in tea it’s that plentiful.

4th February, 2013

Drove Pauline to town to have her haircut at Headmasters. I spent a pleasant hour with a small Americano (£1.60) and my newspaper. When we got home, the post had arrived. There was one for Pauline from HM Revenue & Customs. They are definitely not good news. Last time we got one, it cost us £4000.00. This time it was just announcing her new tax code in the light of her State Pension which is payable from March. Shame but it has to be paid.

Roast tomato & Red Pepper soup topped with grated Gruyere cheese for lunch and roast pheasant for Dinner this evening. We have now done 35 days without carbohydrates or alcohol. I can’t believe it myself. However, I have dismissed Pauline’s taunt that I was alcohol dependent. There was some truth in the argument that I was addicted to the routine of nice meal must mean nice bottle of wine. It was the routine expectation that I was addicted to rather than the wine itself. I do have an addictive personality. I remember that in my post-student days I found myself addicted to sugary, fizzy drinks. I wouldn’t touch them now. I replaced that addiction with cigarettes. I wouldn’t touch them now. Set against that, I looking forward to a nice bottle of Barolo at the beginning of April.

5th February, 2013

Glorious day in Surrey – clear blue skies and strong sunshine although cold at 3C/37F compared with 15C/59F in Athens. I was reading an article in a Greek Blog – Keep Talking Greece – this morning that said the Greek Health Ministry had decreed that all non-Greek citizens, including EU members, should pay double the Greek Citizen price for Health Care. If it is true and I rather doubt it, it must be urgently challenged in the European Courts. It has to be illegal.

I wrote recently about hearing from friends we have not seen for over thirty years. It set me thinking about the passage of time. As I was going through my bookcase, I came across my Masters Degree Dissertation. It had to be submitted as a bound edition – one copy for the University and one for me.

I can remember writing it and Pauline typing it. I can remember her slaving over a steaming hot Amstrad PCW and I can’t believe how far we have travelled since then. I can’t believe that it is 25 years since I published that thesis.

6th February, 2013

The British Media today is dominated by the parliamentary vote last night in favour of ‘Gay Marriage’. It is hard to see why the Tories are getting so exercised. As someone pointed out yesterday, they really are ‘on the wrong side of History’. It is interesting to see the Tories – in Government for less than three years – tearing themselves apart over so many issues. They hate Gay Europeans!

It is impossible to run a computer without antivirus protection. Five minutes on the internet would almost certainly bring infection. I have use ‘Norton 360’ for a long time now but it can be expensive. We need to cover three computers here in UK. A warning message came up to tell us it was time to renew our subscription. The price for 3 PCs was £54.00 and I nearly fell in to it. A few minutes searching found me the same product for immediate download on 3 PCs for £23.00. They are their own worst enemies these shyster software companies.

7th February, 2013

Beautiful sunny day but cold. A day off from the Health Club – two hours walking round Tesco is all I can manage in one morning without needing a long lie down.

Nice to hear the Greek Ferry Strike is off for now although there is a General Strike to come. Today I’m turning my thoughts to Personal Financial Investment. Each year since we retired, we have each taken out our full ISA allowance for cash investment. This year the new ISA limit allows us to invest £11,520.00 between us. The problem is that, although we have four years worth still at 4.1% for another year, this time the best I can get is 2.0%. I’m beginning to wonder whether to go into Equities and take a little risk. The best cash ISAs currently on the market are Barclays (2.04%), Halifax (2.05%). At least our Barclays shares have returned to near the £3.00 level. I took a call from our ‘personal’ banking manager this afternoon. It is a waste of time. The Bank can no longer give independent financial advice. They are just intent on pushing their own products.

8th February, 2013

Gloriously sunny day but very cold at 2C/35F whereas Athens is 12C/54F. The pound/euro level is returning from its lows to a more respectable level. I think the right price would be £1.00 = €1.20. It also makes the mental arithmetic much easier.

9th February, 2013

What is wrong with horsemeat? I’d eat it. Well, what is wrong is that people aren’t getting what they bought. It could be dog meat or minced rat. Uncontrolled Suppliers may be sourcing the cheapest protein they can. What is scandalous is that the Government and the end suppliers sat on the information for days before going public – compounding the felony. How did it get past the authorities? What authorities? The cutbacks have decimated them. When disease was found in Ash trees, a fungus called Chalara Fraxinius, the Government knew months before they released information and allowed the fungus to take an untreatable hold. Maybe it would have been untreatable anyway but Government had to find a ‘spin’ for the information before they released it. Who are we to understand?

The scandal in the NHS has been developing for years. Anecdotally, there has been plenty of evidence. Empirically, the Government had mortality rate tables indicating serious problems for three years before opening up pandora’s box. How many people died unnecessarily in that time? Who are we to understand?

Nice photo doing the rounds:

Sterling is strenthening against the Euro to €1.18 today. That’s better.

27th January, 2013

This time four years ago, we were preparing for our latest and last Ofsted inspection. Pauline & I were checking that all our policy documents were current and available and staff were asked to hand in Lesson Plans prior to the inspection days. How far away those days feel now. Almost immediately after Ofsted had found us Satisfactory (the new fail) than I came down with an horrendous bout of flu. The next week I went for a heart scan and they confirmed atrial fibrilliation. Half term holiday was just two weeks away and I was longing for it.

28th January, 2013

Skiathan Man is running out of tea bags. When an English man is reduced to drying tea bags on the wood burner, something has to be done. We have gone on a mercy dash to our local supermarket to buy him some. I found a suitable box and printed off some address labels. We went swimming. It was excellent and we both felt good after it. On to the Post Office to despatch the teabags. He will soon be able to breathe easily again.

29th January, 2013

We are driving back to our much missed Yorkshire tomorrow. Because of our diets, Pauline is preparing a picnic to be eaten with a flask of fresh coffee sitting in the car high up on the moors between Huddersfield and Oldham. I’m really looking forward to it. We are taking Pauline’s sister, Phyllis, who is going to visit her friend who is in the final stages of terminal cancer. It will be a harrowing visit for her. This afternoon, Pauline is cooking Chicken drumsticks, sausages, asparagus and we will eat it with some salad. We had to pop down to Waitrose to buy our supplies. Amazingly warm out today – 15C/59F. In Athens it is 8C/46F.

Booked a couple of trips to France this afternoon – in February and in April. I had received a £23.00 return trip for car and occupants offer. How could we refuse?

30th January, 2013

Up at 5.00 am – dark wet but warm and clear morning. Out by 6.15 am and off to pick up Phyllis. On to a static M25 brought to a halt by an accident. Three and a half hours later, we were entering Oldham. One of our intentions was to take Pauline’s sister, Phyllis, to visit her friend who is in the final stages of terminal cancer. We arrived at her friend’s front door at about 10.30 am to be told we were half an hour too late. She had just passed away. It was a sad and difficult time for Phyllis saying goodbye to her friend. Pauline & I spent an hour visiting old haunts and then picked Phyllis up. We drove on to the moors where a gale was blowing heavy rain against our car. We parked up and ate the picnic that Pauline had prepared: sausages, chicken drumsticks, salad and hot, fresh coffee. It was lovely and so was the scenery.

After lunch, we drove to Huddersfield to visit our old neighbour, Jean. It was lovely to see her. I had asked if I could have a few framed photographs back that we had given her when we left. She kindly agreed and after a very brief visit, we left for our drive back to Surrey. All the time, we carried in our heads the thought of another human being – someone I didn’t even know – having left the world today. It both saddens the mind but sharpens the senses. As we move through our sixties, we become only too aware of our mortality.

We were home for around 5.30 pm.. I was tired after 500 miles of almost continuous driving.

31st January, 2013

January going already and February is so short. It’s scarey! This morning, we’ve had an email from a couple who we haven’t seen for thirty years. I remember going to dinner with them in their first home – love’s young dream – as he trained as an accountant. They are younger than us. They look old! What does that tell us about ourselves?

At least the last day of January has opened with clear blue sky and sun. We are told, however, that the colder weather is returning this weekend. We will see. I’ve just read that we chose the best time to be in Yorkshire and Lancashire this week. Both the Oldham Chronicle and Huddersfield Examiner have told stories of damage done by strong winds which were rising while we were there but became distructive and caused damage and injury later as we left.

1st February, 2013

Happy New February. White Rabbit.

Unlike Skiathos, the month has started with dark clouds and a bit of rain. We don’t care. There is so much to do indoors today and we are going swimming later. It always makes me laugh that Pauline has a raincoat and umbrella to get to the swimming pool. Clearly, she has appropriate wet and inappropriate wet. We are now completing the fifth week of our self-denial. My clothes are beginning to feel a bit too big. My face is changing. I’m losing my fifth chin. Only another year of this and I might have done the job.

2nd February, 2013

We had a chat with friends from the island today. They rang us because they had picked up our electricity bill which we had already paid through the bank. They were shocked to find we hadn’t been charged the property tax like everybody else. I wasn’t. The final stages of our authorisation were just too late to be registered for this year’s charge. That’s saved a bit of cash. I was shocked and saddened to hear that their pensions had been reduced again. Originally, they had amounted to €2800.00 and now are exactly half that. They are really going to feel it. We would love to help them but they are proud people. To compound their misery, the ferries which are poor enough at this time of the year are on strike for four days.

Today – a beautiful, sunny day – Pauline is going out for a pedicure with her sister while I watch the 6 Nations rugby matches. It is the Calcutta Cup today.