Sanders Blog

15th April, 2012

Big Sunday – Greek Easter – dawned with blustery blue skies. Today, the temperature is forecast to reach 22C and tomorrow 23-24C. It is a lovely day. Our house looks pristine white in the sunshine. The garden is a beautiful, contrasting green with lots of yellow, mauve and red wild flowers amassed across it. Goats and sheep that escaped the Easter cull are munching on wild thyme and oregano on the hillsides and all is well with the world. I read the paper on my iPad while Pauline prepared the lamb for slow cooking and to be eaten tonight.

Later, we went out for a drive up and over the mountain behind our house, past the Monastery – Aghios Simeon – through the isolated village of Troulaki, on to Artemonas and the capital, Apollonia, before descending to the sea and Kamares Port and on to our house. Below is picture of the side of our house as it nestles into the mountainside. After that is a view of the valley from up above our house.

 

16th April, 2012

I think we can drop the adjective ‘Big’ now. It’s Easter Monday and some shops and offices are open. There are three ferries to Piraeus today which signals that festivities are over.

Having been here for a week, our new work and food regime kick in. We went down to Moshca to buy porridge. It was a bit of a long shot but, when Pauline asked if she had it, her face lit up in recognition and she said, ‘Ah, quacker.’ Pauline was delighted to find she meant Quaker Oats but Moshca insisted she was right.

I’ve had my oats and the day has trundled on. Just received a message on Facebook to say that our island – Sifnos in the Cyclades – has been named as one of the Top Ten List of ‘Islands Under the Sun’ in National Geographic Magazine and in Forbes Magazine. Sifnos is characterized as one of the quietest and least discovered islands but simultaneously one of the most chic ones for 2012. Let’s hope they boost the property prices.

The most wonderful thing has happened tonight. I went outside on to the terrace to see a ferry docking and I couldn’t believe my eyes. A cat walked in front of me.  Not strange, you might think, but we recognised each other instantly. It was ‘Mother’ cat who adopted us last summer and who we abandoned to her fate last October. She looked alright. Maybe not as sleek as when we left her but she was obviously a survivor. She had come back. I called Pauline who had saved a tin of tuna just in case. She got out the cats’ bowls, opened the tuna and poured some water. By the time it was ready, Mother cat was in the place we used to feed her. After she gobbled a full tin of tuna in minutes and drank almost all of the water, she sat on the wall and eyed us up as if accusing us of desertion. She had every right of course although we had no choice.

I finished the day by watching Wigan win at Arsenal. It was great and the fitting end of a wonderful day.

17th April, 2012

A delightfully warm day which just got better as it went on.

We went to the sub-Post Office that has recently been established in the port where we live. Because the island can’t afford a Postman, permanent residents are being given their own post box at the back of a sub-Post Office in the village. We are not permanent residents and don’t get a lot of post so don’t merit our own box. We are going to have to share a box with a permanent resident. Our mail address must have the post box number as a prefix or it will be returned to Athens.  A nice lady called Esmereldaa has offered to let us share her box qT 725. So that’s sorted out.

We went to the Clinic to have my blood test. Next we went to our Accountant to enquire where our house status/electricity supply formalisation was up to. The news was fantastic. After six years in the house, after six years of asking, it was now down to one piece of missing paper which we had to go to the Notary’s office to have prepared. We went there immediately and the Notary took ten minutes typing up the form which he photocopied, stamped in fifteen places after we had signed it three times each and then charged us €60.00 for. Nice work if you can get it. We took the paper straight to the accountant’s office. An assistant will take the paper to Milos on Monday next week. We could be fully legal soon. We went to the cafe to celebrate with coffee.

Next we went to the supermarket to buy cat food – dry and meat/fish. We drove home feeling very happy. The sun was shining, the temperature was a lovely 22C and all was well with the world. We broke our diet immediately with a celebratory lunch outside – country pate from France, fish pate made by Pauline, rocket salad, thin toast and a bottle of Italian red. All around us was warm and beautiful countryside. It was good to be alive.

18th April, 2012

Woke up to wild winds and warm (21C) rain.  There are supposed to be three boats in and out to day. There will be none. They are all tied up. We decided to settle for a tucked-up day but, after reading the paper for a while, found the views of the crashing sea too enticing. A tourist sailing yacht has been tied up in Kamares for two or three days. It was clearly going nowhere today. Below is one of my first scenic shots from my iPad followed by shots from my Canon EOS.

   

Pauline is cooking chicken breasts in cream of tarragon sauce with fresh asparagus and then I’m going to enjoy watching Chelsea being taken apart tonight.

19th April, 2012

None stop sun from start to finish today. We got up with plans to do so many things and ended up completing none of them. We read The Times together, tried to complete the crossword which is even more enjoyable to do digitally on the iPad than it ever was on the newspaper, sat out in the sun with peanuts and red wine and talked about the jobs we would have done if we could be bothered. Pauline phoned her sister who has been round to our flat and picked up lots of mail already. We’ve been away for 16 days so I can imagine that there’s quite a bit.

We are heading for lovely warm, sunny days but rather chilly nights according to our latest forecast. The next five days are sunny and 22C/70F. The UK papers seem to be touting visions of a very wet April followed by an unusually cold May – maybe the coldest ever recorded with plenty of snow in the UK. Oh, what a pity to miss it. This evening, it is so clear that I tried to go outside and photograph the stars which were so filling the night sky. I failed miserably but, while I had my tripod outside, I took this shot of the harbour. You can just see the lights and smoke of ferryboat Adamas Korais coming into dock on the extreme right.

20th April, 2012

The reasons that made us decide to return to Sifnos after our first visit in 2004 – beautiful scenery, wonderful food and restaurants, lovely people – have all been recognised in a recent report. The ‘National Geographic’ listed Sifnos in its ‘Top Ten of ‘Islands Under the Sun’. According to the magazine, Sifnos is one of the ten most charming and exotic islands and is included in the list with destinations such as Bahamas, Seychelles, French Polynesia, the Netherlands Antilles, etc..They say, Sifnos has a balance of beautiful beaches, nightlife, white Cycladic villages, low-impact tourism and maybe the best food in the Cyclades. They go on to say, ..it’s just a spot on the ocean that someone could hardly notice on a map. Yet if you find yourselves there, you’ll know there’s no other place of equal beauty in the whole world. In addition, Forbes magazine recently published an article titled “The best of Greece – But should you go?” in which Sifnos is characterized as one of the quietest and least discovered islands but simultaneously one of the most chic ones for 2012. The Forbes journalist can’t help remarking that Sifnos is one of his favourite islands in Greece, while he points out that riots often occurring in big Greek cities are extremely unlikely to take place in Sifnos and other similar peaceful Greek islands.

21st April, 2012

Glorious day with a stiff breeze that has brought the temperature down to 19C. Breakfast of porridge or ‘Quackers’ (Quaker) as it’s known here. Downloaded The Times to my iPad and then got on with the day. I have three matches today:

• Arsenal v Chelsea – 14.45
• Newcastle v Stoke – 17.00
• QPR v Spurs – 19.30

I’m going to be so fit after all that. Also, this weekend, I have to get the presssure washer out of hibernation and clean all the patio tiles of six months of winter dust blown down from the mountains or just dropped by birds. I have to help Pauline clean the windows for the same reason. After that, we will alternate between painting and gardening. It’s going to be fun.

8th April, 2012

Got up at 6.00 am (No Breakfast!) to leave Patras Palace Hotel and drive down to Piraeus. The motorway is still in redevelopment chaos with cones, temporary concrete walls, narrowed or switched lanes for kilometres. Fortunately, on Sunday morning, it was quiet and we managed to do the three hour trip in two hours twenty. Our ferry was in and the wind was only moderate so we were confident of it sailing. We went to a local kafenion for a coffee before boarding SpeedRunner IV.

The boat wasn’t full but it is quite expensive now. £150.00 for two of us plus car might not sound a lot but when you consider some people have to do this at least once a week for their work or for hospital visits, it feels expensive to them. The time to get from Piraeus to Sifnos on the old, ex-British cross Channel ferries which still ply their trade here is five and a half hours. The new, catamarans do it in half that time. The only downside is that, as soon as the wind blows, they stop sailing. Today, the wind reached Bf 6 as we rounded Serifos. This is nearly the limit of comfortable. Bf 7 – 8 makes one want to jump ship and swim for it.

Returning to our house after six months absence, we approach it with some trepidation. We know that the winds have been exceptionally strong this winter – has the new pergola been blown down? We know Greece has been unusually cold this winter – have our newly installed patio tiles cracked in the snow? We know that there has been a great deal of rain in Greece this winter – has the torrent down the mountain sluiced debris through our garden and left damage? We paid an Albanian to build 50 metres of walling at the front of our property this winter. Will he have done it and to our liking? We turned the water off to avoid leaks and floods inside but will the pumps start up when we use them?

As we drove up to the house,  we could see the satellite dish was still on the roof and the new pergola was still standing. The wall – the wall looks magnificent and edges the land just as we wanted.

  

The patio tiles were perfect because the rain had washed them cleaner than usual and, as we opened the front door, it was as if we had never been away. Everything was perfect. We got in about 2.30 pm Greek Time. As I was opening all the shutters and letting in the sunlight, I knew Man. Utd. would be kicking off any minute. I hadn’t unpacked the car but it had to be done. I phoned Nova, the satellite company, and had my TV service switched back on. (Have credit card, get anything instantly.) Within ten minutes, I was watching the game as we all but certainly clinched the title again. What a wonderful start.

Of course, I had managed to unpack a bottle of red wine and a large packet of salt & peppered peanuts to comfort me in case United lost. By the time they had won and little Scholesy had gone off, I noticed I had consumed it all anyway. I must remember not to do that again. A little the worse for wear, I unloaded the car and things were put away by my trusty servant who had already aired the bed with an electric blanket and put the sheets and pillow cases in the tumble drier to air them fully.

We had showers and then went out to eat at Posideon (Pronounced Possi-Don) Restaurant near the quayside. The wind had really whipped up and the waves were crashing over the road outside as we ate the perfect Sunday warmer – Revithia. It is thick, chickpea soup served with a wedge of lemon. Wonderful. We followed that with fried baby squid (Kalamarakia) and chips. You can’t beat fish & chips on a Sunday. (Have I spent too much time in the North?)

Home to a beautifully warm bed and darkness and silence only broken by the jingle of a few goat bells as day is breaking.

9th April, 2012

After tea but no toast because we haven’t been shopping yet, we drove straight to the Post Office to find our four, huge boxes sitting waiting for us. What a fantastic service. Parcelforce is brilliant and cheap. Off to the supermarket (greetings all round) and a huge buy-in. Back with our bounty to unpack the boxes and putting everything in its place – after it has been recorded on Pauline’s inventory. I have a fire in the garden to burn all the boxes and wrapping. We were so busy that we had no lunch. – There has to be a moral somewhere.

We went out to dinner for the second night not because we had no food but because we wanted to see our friends, Panos & Rania, who run a small but very popular restaurant. We talk for hours and then have Caesar Salad as a shared starter followed by Moussaka which is pronounced Moos-aka.

10th April, 2012

In the night, it began to rain heavily. We could hear it landing on the flat roof and gurgling down in to our huge water chamber that runs virtually the full length of the house. When we got up, the sun was out but rain has never been far away today. Our main mission was to go up to the telephone shop to organise our internet connection for the next six months. It is a 3G dongle which turns out to be remarkably robust and reliable. 10GB of usage will cost about €40.00 per month and it will allow me to do everything I want to do. I am delighted.

Back home and grateful because it is pouring down, I am able to download my emails, to update my Blog and to download our Bank Account and Mastercard Account details so Pauline can bring her own records up to date. It is full of petrol sales and Toll charges telling the story of our journey.

I cooked tonight – bacon, mushroom and pea risotto – and wonderful it was. I am finishing the night watching a bizarre match between Blackburn and Liverpool. Liverpool lost their first goalkeeper to suspension last game. Tonight they have lost their second goalkeeper to the same fate and the third choice has also given away a penalty goal. It looks a bit farcical.

11th April, 2012

Got up to cold and rain but the day has developed warm and sunny. We went out after breakfast to see friends in the port village – Kamares. Moshka, who runs the local store which we affectionately call ‘Tescos’ and her two lovely sons George and Nikos. We still think of them as boys because we remember them pre-school and George is still known as Little George (Georgaikis) even though he is 25 years old and six feet two with a huge beard and a loud laugh. They bemoan the fact that there are no (few) eligible girls on the island. I told George I would ship some over from England for him. When I asked him what age he fancied, he said 18 – 56. We ordered half a lamb for Greek Easter. We  delivered our Easter presents – Little bags which contain the jars of pickle and of jam that we bought in the Surrey Farm Shop along with some small, chocolate eggs.

We came home for lunch. Pauline made Waldorf Salad and a Tuna Pate which we ate with thin toast. It was wonderful. I only mention this to demonstrate to my big sister that I am eating healthily. We won’t mention the bottle of white with it. After lunch, I took some photos of the valley in front of our house which is as green as I’ve seen it after all the rain they’ve had.

 

12th April, 2012

Today is what is known on the island as ‘Big Thursday’. The Thursday before Easter. Hot and sunny today. Got up at 7.30 am and, after breakfast, went out to see if there was any post for us. The new, subsidiary post office in our village was supposed to be open at 9.00 am today but wasn’t. Fortunately, we met a delightful couple who spoke perfect English and live further down the village.  She was collecting and delivering post for friends. She immediately offered to do the same for us.

We drove up to Apollonia to buy a new pressure washer from the hardware shop. I asked last year and he still hasn’t got one. We went on to the electrical shop to replace our defunct microwave and to buy a new, outdoor oven with hob. We were eagerly welcomed at the shop and came away with a white, basic microwave to replace the same in which the turntable had failed. (€70.00 / £58.00) and a white, outdoor fan oven with a three ring hot plate to replace the one that rusted after being left out in the rain. (€110.00 / £91.00) We thought £150.000 for the two with a free roasting dish thrown in was a reasonable deal in these austere times.

We drove back down to see Moshka at the supermarket in the hope of taking delivery of half a sheep which we had ordered for Easter. Nikos would be back in an hour. Could we wait in the cafe. We sat and had coffee and read the paper on our iPad. After an hour, a frantic phone call to her son in the farm up the mountain established that the pressure of Easter orders were proving too great and the lamb wouldn’t be ready until this afternoon. No problem. We drove home and made lunch – just ham sandwiches – which we ate outside in the sunshine. No wine today – well at lunchtime – because we have stuff to do this afternoon.

After lunch, I put the old microwave in the car and drive down to the dustbin collection point where I leave it. Going down for lamb later in the afternoon and taking the old oven with us, I notice immediately that only the microwave has gone. Somebody will be busily repairing it in their kitchen somewhere on the island. The old oven still works perfectly, it just looks a bit worse for wear and the bakelite handle is cracked and repaired with superglue. I’m sure they’ll get over that. We will collect our lamb at 10.30 am on ‘Big Friday’.

13th April, 2012

Big Friday has arrived. We went down to collect our half a lamb.  The side of lamb is roughly cut into a shoulder, a leg, and rib joints and then wrapped up in that thick, butcher’s paper we used to see in Britain. It costs €7.40 per kilo which is marginally under British prices. As an Easter present, George gives us a huge, circular, soft white cheese made on his farm. He puts it in my hands with the word – ‘Souvenir’. As we walk back to our car, we see Margarita who has been up to the church to clean and decorate it.

The rest of the day is quiet – reading the downloaded ‘Times’ with Pauline reading her Kindle.

14th April, 2012

Big Saturday is a little disappointing, weather-wise. Strong winds with huge white horses out to sea. Brilliant sunshine tempered by cool winds gives way to heavy rain and then goes back to sun and clouds. The Easter Fever mounts on the island and in the Country with everything on television encouraging excitement about the big day – Big Sunday. The price of lamb is reviewed with a trip to the central Athens Meat Market. It is traditional for Greek families to congregate like we do at Christmas and, instead of a turkey, they spit roast a whole lamb having done without meat for lent. This year it is €7.50 per kilo which makes the average lamb about €120.00 per carcase. This is proving too expensive for some who are turning to chicken instead. Pauline and I have ordered half a lamb to show willing but we can’t eat more lamb than that in a couple of months.

All the films on TV are Biblical Blockbusters and all the cookery programmes are centred around Easter food. Two TV channels are almost exclusively given over to televising the continual religious ceremonies that start on Big Thursday and finish at midnight on Big Sunday.

At midnight, those who were in church spill out on to the harbour street next to the beach and mingle with those who have not gone to church but want to be part of the traditional festival. Greek Easter Bread – a sweet bread is broken and shared and red dyed hard boiled eggs are smashed between friends.

 

They say to each other:  Χριστός Ανέστη! or Christos Anesti – Christ is Risen – whether they mean it or not. Fire crackers are thrown, rockets launched, dynamite is detonated on the beach until the mountains ring round and round with the booms and the windows of shops shake precariously. Finally, they all go off to their family homes for a huge meat meal to make up for the past 40 days of abstinence (or not).

As I think I have written before, Pauline and I always feel more like outsiders now than at any other time in Greece. We are both Agnostic/Atheist and would be uncomfortable in this ceremony anyway as we do at Christmas in our own country but being in a foreign tradition brings outsidedom even more sharply into focus. We watched the most ridiculous biopic on TV about Kate & Wills courtship and engagement, watched the fireworks at midnight and went to bed.

1st April, 2012

Happy April.

What a beautiful day! I thought it was supposed to be cold and dull. The weather knows best. It is warm and sunny.

We have two nights left in our English bed. Today, we liaised with next door neighbour – Vicky Wellington. Although we have been here for about four months, we have rarely seen her because she is constantly jetting off to sunny countries to meet friends and/or play golf. She is in her early to mid fifties and, we understood, a retired army medic. Today was our first serious chat and it turns out that she retired as a Colonel. Anyway, we think we should be able to rely on her to look after our property.

2nd April, 2012

Busy day to day. Far from cold and gloomy. It is warm and sunny. Packing bags. Off for lunch with Phyllis & Colin then the Post Office with 85Kg of parcels which will arrive on the island on Thursday. The cost for all that transportation – £180.00. It is such a good service.

Back at the flat, I phoned my great friend, Brian to find that he had moved house in the past month. He is really happy and I can’t wait to see him in October. Next job was to take a power reading from the Heat Exchanger. The results are quite unbelievable. I know we’ve had a warm winter but the total cost of all hot water for showers, baths, sinks, etc plus all central heating since we bought the flat a year ago – the total cost is £91.29. Since we moved in full time – 4½ months ago – it has cost us just £32.00 or less than £2.00 per week. You can’t say fairer than that.

Great goals for United tonight beating Blackburn 0 – 2.

3rd April, 2012

News this morning that Scotland has heavy snow and that it is moving down to the Pennines. I opened the blinds at 7.00 this morning to be blinded by strong sun from a clear, blue sky.

Packing the car this morning. Pauline is packing up the house. Light lunch and a rest before setting off for Ashford in Kent about an hour away. We will stay there tonight and get up early tomorrow. We will leave the hotel without breakfast around 6.00 am and drive on to the 6.50 am train arriving in Calais at 8.20 am. (30 mins + 1 hr.) We will be in Mulhouse, Alsace by 3.30 pm.I don’t know when I will be able to write my next entry. Goodbye cruel world!

Hello again. I haven’t quite gone. The car is completely packed. It is 11.30 am and I read on my iPad a minute ago that the Greek Seaman’s Union have called a two day strike for Tuesday and Wednesday next week. We will just miss it – travelling on Sunday to the island – but those travelling for Greek Easter will be furious.

4th April, 2012

Actually, it was 4.00 pm before we arrived and checked in to our hotel. We had had a lovely and uneventful journey of 535 miles. The weather was dry and sunny and the traffic light. The only thing of note was when we got to Colmar and went in to buy petrol. Our MasterCard was refused. Before we set off, as I always do, I phoned Mastercard before we left UK as I always do to tell them of our plans. What they didn’t tell us was that they had a Back Office security trigger set on their software. If you try to use the card 10 times in one day, they feeze it. I knew it wasn’t lack of credit. Our card is good for £10,000.00. We used our card to pay our hotel, for petrol 4 times, for coffee once and for tolls 4 times. I phoned and complained and they reset the counter. It is no good having the facility if it doesn’t do the job.

Now at our hotel, we are looking forward to a shower, bottle of wine and dinner. I hope to watch football on my laptop tonight.

5th April, 2012

Set off in rain with horrendous spray on the motorway through Switzerland. I was helped by the Gottard Tunnel (17 km), the Seelisberg Tunnel (9km)  and four or five shorter tunnels where it was dry. Low lying snow was still very obvious – much more so than last year – but as we descended rapidly into Italy and approached Milan, the sun came out and the temperature soared. We arrived at our hotel in Parma by 4.00 pm and celebrated with a bottle of wine and a Parma Ham salad.

6th April, 2012

Up at 6.00 am and a quick breakfast of ham and toast with strong coffee before setting off for Ancona. We got to the supermarket by 10.00 am in boiling, hot sun, filled our car with wine, olive oil and kilos of Parmesan cheese and then drove off to the check-in station. We boarded Superfast VI at 12.30 pm and checked in to our luxury cabin. Off to the restaurant for our first Greek Salad of the season accompanying grilled salmon steaks and chips all washed down with white wine. It’s a lovely way to celebrate your 61st birthday. Happy Birthday to me! Below are images snatched from my iPad of the beauties of Ancona port, the Superfast ferry, our cabin on board, Pauline on deck, the scene around Igoumenitsa:

             

7th April, 2012

After a lovely night’s sailing and in which the ferry called at Igoumenitsa where it dropped most of its passengers, we woke up late – 8.00 am – to sunny skies and a complimentary breakfast of fresh orange juice, bacon & egg with toast followed by chocolate croissants and beautiful, fresh coffee. I downloaded the day’s copy of The Times on my iPad and spent the morning reading and doing the crossword. By 3.30 pm, were were going down to the almost empty garages and prepared to drive off.

We are now esconced in our room in The Patras Palace Hotel, watching BBC News and bringing my Blog and Website up to date. Tomorrow we leave at 7.30 am for Piraeus – a three hour drive – and our final ferry journey to Sifnos.

25th March, 2012

Summer in Surrey – in March. The weather has officially announced it.

Pauline is packing boxes for posting to Greece.

26th March, 2012

6.50 am INR test this morning. Hopefully, the last in Woking for some while. A trip this afternoon to see the little girl, Ria – my dentist. The sun is so hot she and her Polish assistant are clearly itching to get out in it like all young things. I make her feel better by reminding her that in another 45 years she will be retiring and free to enjoy all the sun she can get. My mouth was pronounced fine.

We went to the local Post Office to check we would be alright with four, big, heavy boxes for delivery to Greece on Monday next week. We were assured that there would be no problem.

27th March, 2012

The warmest, sunniest day of the year so far. We were off to Honda in Weybridge for 10.30 am for our Holiday Check. When they heard that we were driving across Europe next week, they left a Honda bag containing all the things one requires by law in the various countries – warning triangle, aluminium blanket, first aid kit, spare bulb kit, etc..

Sat out in the sun for a bit to discuss events coming up. We decided that we would have to leave Surrey at 4.00 am to make our tunnel crossing. To have a better sleep, we decided to book a hotel down in Ashford for the evening before. We booked the Holiday Inn which is 10 minutes away from the tunnel and only costs £50.00.

   

This evening, after watching Chelsea beat Benfica, we sat outside at 10.00 pm in March to drink our coffee.

28th March, 2012

We won’t need to go to Greece at this rate. The weather just keeps heating up. Shopping at Waitrose felt like shopping in Italy without the pushing. We had lunch outside on the patio and then hurried in doors to escape the sun.

Jane’s birthday today. She is 58. I sent her an email and received a nice reply.

 

Pauline finished packing the boxes although she’s worried about the total weight – it’s creeping over 200 kg. I produced contact sheets for our keyholders – two neighbours plus Phyllis & Colin. I contacted the burglar alarm company, Custom Security Services so they know the altered priority of contact over the next six months.

Watched quite a good match between AC Milan – Barcelona which ended 0-0 and then laughed away the evening listening to ‘Call me Dave’ Cameron deciding whether or not I should panic buy petrol and hoard it ‘illegally’ in my garage. Did he eat a pasty and, if so, was it from Leeds or Liverpool station? Was he simplifying the tax system or robbing the poor pensioners to reward the rich, top 1%? You can just tell he is a man of the people and that we are all in this together!

29th March, 2012

Hot and sunny – I can’t stand it. Phyllis & Colin are coming for lunch – Pauline is making Fish Pie with Trout, Cod and Prawns dressed with a Mornay Sauce and soft mash potatoes. I’m providing a wonderful, ice cold Pinot Grigiot to drink with it. For Afters we are having Tarte Citron dressed with fresh raspberries and cream. My job is to tidy the lounge and then stay out of the way. I do that quite well.

After a lovely meal, I spend some time teaching Phyllis how to use her new iPad. When they leave, we sit out in the sun for an hour. I phoned Ruth and was shocked to hear her voice. She sounded dreadful and said she had had heavy ‘flu’ for a fortnight and couldn’t shake it off. She told me about Liz having Lunch with the Queen in Manchester last week and how proud Mum would have been of her. Liz was supposed to visit Ruth today but had to be put off because of her illness. I hope she gets better soon. Things can get a hold if you’re not careful – especially at her age.

Still tinkering with things before we go away. Phoned Credit Card companies to tell them. Phoned Sky with whom I have a TV/Phone/Broadband contract and tried to get my bill mitigated for the duration. Found I will save £50.00 per month which will pay for my Nova satellite contract in Greece.

30th March, 2012

Perhaps the last of the lovely weather before we get to Greece. Today is going to be another scorcher. We are off to the Woking Peacock Centre this morning so Pauline can have her hair cut at Toni&Guy. It isn’t ideal but she’ll risk it today. We will then go on to Santander to take out ISAs for the new, financial year. We have to forward buy because we will be away.

En route to town, we spied a garage with no more than ten people queuing. We ‘topped up’ our tank. We have 320 miles in the tank and France is only 80 miles away. It’s not going to be a problem.

Jobs done. Pauline looks spruce as a goose. ISAs bought, we set off for Tescos. We had to fight our way round those queuing for petrol to do our last bit of shopping. By the time we came out, the queues had gone and so had the petrol. The garage was closed.

With four days to go, we feel smugly ready. I can’t stop thinking about Ruth. Two weeks of thick ‘flu has gone on for too long. She needs to see a doctor before it degenerates into pneumonia. I’ll have to tell her myself. Oh, I just have.

31st March, 2012

A day in today – conserving petrol. Joke! We have spent the day tidying up loose ends. The boxes have been labelled and weighed. They go as a ‘consignment’ and, in total, weigh in at 82Kg. I have been uploading everything I can’t do without – filewise – to ‘the cloud’. I have been packing laptop bags plus software, camera bags plus chargers and additional technology that I can’t do without. Pauline has been ironing clothes for the trip. At least these days we only have to take clothes that we need for travelling. Everything else is in the house.

I was so pleased for Ruth that Bolton won today and pulled out of the relegation zone. I hope it boosts her up. I was almost as pleased to hear City couldn’t beat Sunderland.

 

18th March, 2012

Happy Mothers Day.

 

Pauline made a huge, cream-filled Victoria Sponge while I read the Sunday Times and then watched Man. U. humiliate Wolves 5-0. While I was still singing songs of celebration, we drove over to have a late lunch with Mandy and her boys, Phyllis & Colin.

19th March, 2012

The day of the year so far. Clear blue skies and brilliant, strong sun all day. The newspapers are full of the Tories and the Liberal Democrats shooting themselves in the foot/feet. It is reported that 50 doctors are preparing to stand for parliament against government MPs who vote in favour of the Health Service Reform Bill. Now the Coalition is threatening to cut income tax for the richest while foisting Road Pricing, cuts in Pensions, frozen Wage rates and reduced social benefits on the Majority. In my view, this really is The Longest Suicide Note in History.

It was rumoured that sales of the New iPad would be oversubscribed as prospective buyers camped out on the streets to get their hands on those that were available last Friday. I’m not that desperate and, with two weeks left in UK, I though I would have to wait until October. I rang round, speculatively, this morning and found there was no problem. Currys told me they had ‘loads’ in the warehouse and would deliver one to my door tomorrow morning. I ordered a black, 32Gb Wi-Fi one for £479.00.

 

This afternoon we went into town to speak to Santander Bank about ISAs. We have one full cash one each maturing on April 5th – the day after we have left UK. We want to transfer it into Santanders 2 yr fix at 4.00%. We also want to take out another full cash ISA each on April 6th – as we board a ship for Greece. Fortunately, Santander are desperate and are prepared to let us do all the paperwork in advance. On March 30th, Pauline has an appointment at the hairdressers in preparation for travelling. She is going to risk Toni&Guy this time which just happens to be next to Santander. We have made an appointment to tie the investment ends up.

20th March, 2012

Bought a cover for my new iPad today. There seems to be only one style available at the moment because iPad3 is larger than the older and much inferior model. I’ve order it from Amazon, like most things.

     

My iPad has arrived fully charged. I love it. I am writing this sentence on it now.

Spring has also officially arrived. Today is the Spring Equinox – a word that means equal night – when day and night are of equal length. For most of us in UK (& USA for that matter) Spring arrived just after Autumn. We didn’t have a Winter this year. I didn’t miss it either.

21st March, 2012

Lovely day again. Budget Day today. Three years ago, today, we were approaching our last fortnight of teaching. This year will see a pay freeze for teachers and regional pay bargaining for those where we were working. For us, we get a 5.2% increase in our pensions. Can’t be bad! Of course, we are no longer Higher Rate Tax payers and we don’t pay National Insurance which is something we hadn’t anticipated. National Insurance is 14% of earnings so it is a significant amount. The tax band is being raised increasingly to £10,000.00 per year over the next two years which is also rather nice.

The Chancellor has attacked Pensioners although I did think that age-related tax bands were something of an anomaly. I wouldn’t have benefited for another four years and, with my memory, I’ll have forgotten the whole thing. I think that I have lost out on £200.00 per year. I’ll cope.

22nd March, 2012

The morning started off sunny at 7.00 am but has rather clouded over by 9.00 am. After doing some office work, we are going over to see Phyllis & Colin. Phyllis wants to buy an iPad and would like some help in the process. When I phoned Currys on Monday, they said they had lots in their central store so I will advise her to get it from there.

The weather just got better and the temperature reached 22C just after mid day. We sat outside for a while and fought hard to avoid opening a bottle of wine. Had a lovely meal of smoked salmon & scrambled eggs with toasted home made bread.

23rd March, 2012

Glorious day reaching 22C today. I subscribed to The Times with Pauline’s Kindle but found it a disappointing experience. All text and no graphics or graphical layout somehow destroyed the newspaper experience. It was better than two day old newspapers on a remote Greek island but not in UK. I’ve now taken on The Times on the iPad and it is a different experience altogether. I’ve only really been buying paper news at the weekends recently and reading the on-line version of The Telegraph but I’m really getting in to The Times on the iPad. I expect to enjoy it even more on a rock in the middle of the Aegean.

 

24th March, 2012

Perhaps an even hotter day today although Greece is forging ahead with wonderful weather now.

We have spent the day speaking to our neighbours about where we will be and when over the next six months in case of emergencies. Across the courtyard from us is a Probation Officer. She will have a set of keys in case the burglar alarm goes off. Vicky, an ex-army medic, who lives behind us will be an emergency call too. We have our alarm linked to a Call Centre monitoring system and Pauline’s sister is the first person they call but we could do with some back up if they go on holiday.

My iPad has a lovely self-photo gimmic. These are my favourites:

     

11th March 2012

A day of tooth ache and painkillers was lightened by an excellent England win in France at Rugby Union and then the defeat of City by Swansea followed by the victory of United over West Brom.

12th March 2012

After a week of agony, we went off to the hospital to get an INR test. They were extremely efficient and I had a result within an hour. It was satisfactory for my operation to go ahead in the afternoon.

We turned up half an hour early at the surgery and went straight in for a process which took nearly an hour. The little girl dentist did her best and she was ably assisted by a polish girl who was designated to hold me down. Three or four injections and she was underway with a pair of pliers – pulling and levering and twisting – until the top of my tooth cracked and fell in my mouth. She was struggling, she told me, to get the roots out. After half an hour, the injections were starting to wear off and she turned to drilling the bone to release the roots. The pain became intense and action had to be halted for another round of injections. My little girl dentist was showing visible signs of tiredness and stress. She had used all her strength to lever out this tooth and was failing. The Polish assistant holding me down was amazed how strongly anchored the tooth was. I said, I told you how good that tooth was. Shall we cap it instead? They didn’t really see the funny side. In fact, it was the first sign of stress that I had seen on their faces. Another twenty minutes struggling produced two, long and bloody roots which clinked into the ceramic bowl. The third refused to come and is still inside the cavity. The little dentist said it was probably dead and would could to the surface itself later. I hope to hell she’s right. I’m going back for a review in a couple of weeks and just before we leave.

An hour after we got home, the injections were wearing off and the pain became excruciating. I was climbing the walls and trying to pull my face off. The problem is that I can only take Paracetamol because of my warfarin and it wasn’t strong enough. Pauline phoned the Doctor who kindly found something stronger I can take and wrote a quick prescription which we picked up and took to the chemist. Within an hour, I was out of pain – until I saw Arsenal score a late winner against Newastle.

13th March 2012

A remarkably good night without pain but a pillow covered in blood in the morning. I was made, by Pauline, to mouth wash with tepid salt solution but, after twelve hours without pain killers, my only discomfort was bruising and aching down one side of my face. I have been told to rest for 48 hrs and I am taking it seriously.

The new iPad (3?) goes on sale on Friday. I want one to take to Greece with me but, when I phoned up to order one, they told me that delivery would be two or three weeks and even that could not be guaranteed. This takes us so close to leaving day that I may have to wait until October.

The new iPad has retina display which makes the screen resolution so good that pixels are not seen by the naked eye. Apple say the processor is twice as fast as that in iPad2. The screen is coated with finger print resistant coating. Voice typing will be a new addition allowing one to dictate to the word processor and multiple languages and characters simultaneously which will be helpful in Greek. The new iPad comes with much better 5mp cameras and lots of new apps including high-end photo editing software. I look forward to it.

14th March 2012

We leave for Greece three weeks today. It is a beautiful, warm and sunny day. Pauline & I have sat outside with our coffee and reviewed all our arrangements but particularly:

• Greek House Insurance from Intasure
• Travel & Medical Insurance from Insure&Go
• Our Travel Plan with all Dates and Booking References
• All Hotel Confirmations
• All Ferry Confirmations

Our apartment development really is in a delightful oasis of calm. It was, after all, originally chosen for a convent. Our front door and windows are bathed in sun most of the day and our patio takes full advantage. Most surprising of all is the bird song – it seems much more than in rural Yorkshire. Blackbirds and song thrushes compete throughout the day from the tops of the towering spruce and Scots pine trees fringing the property. They perform from dawn till dusk at the moment only disturbed by energetic squirrels.

15th March 2012

I know I have left it late and I will be hard pushed to get a new iPad before I go but, if I do, I will want wi-fi to put through it. I pay €40.00 for a 10Gb Cosmote broadband USB dongle which is alright but it won’t allow Pauline on at the same time with her laptop nor will it communicate with an iPad. I have finally found a company on line who will sell me a USB dongle dock which will create a wi-fi hotspot and allow me to connect other things. I phoned up the entrepreneur selling these things in Scotland and ordered one. The GoBaby Dongle Dock seems to fit the bill.

Just a few minutes sitting outside in the sun brought my face colour up to what it was when we left Greece last October. Apparently, South East England was warmer than Greece and Spain yesterday.

16th March 2012

Decidedly cooler and greyer today – only about 10C. We bought our last tranche of euros today and again got £1.00 = €1.174. It will make things feel more reasonable as we purchase in Greece.

We have been getting more and more dissatisfied with our Tesco supermarket – a hypermarket built in the grounds of the old Brooklands motor racing track. The track, with its sloped sides to cope with the speed, was hand dug in 1906.  Malcolm Campbell and John Cobb drove here and set records. The colour photo shows part of the track as it is now on the fringe of the Tesco carpark.

   

Tesco has become grubbier, less attractive and less well stocked. It is not the pleasant experience it should be. Strangely, that is what national surveys are saying too and that is why the UK Chief – Richard Brasher – has stepped down.

Today, we went back to Sainsburys which was our supermarket of choice in Huddersfield but is four miles further away here. It was immediately cleaner and more welcoming. When we came to pay the £100.00 bill, Pauline found she still had about £25.00 points credit on her Sainsburys card and cashed them in. It was worth going.

17th March 2012

Love Saturdays. Early breakfast and out for the papers. Discuss current tasks with Pauline. Postman calls with a package of €2350.00 which I bought from ICE (International Currency Exchange) yesterday. We have now bought £10,000.00 of euros at excellent rates over the past couple of months and it will easily get us through the next six months including paying about £4000.00 for building and maintenance work and possible ‘house owners’ tax. We are a careful couple and we bought in tranches to avoid losing out to surprise fluctuations. Fortunately, the rate has stayed quite stable. Tourists have been getting around €1.13 – 1.14 = £1.00. We have been getting about €1.175 which will do at the moment.

As many will know, Pauline records every financial transaction that we make from Sainsburys shopping to petrol purchases. It is impossible to escape her records however small and she has done this since we married in 1978. We wanted to interrogate our computer accounting system. How much are we spending on petrol nowadays? Answer – £25.00 per week. How much were we spending in our last weeks of teaching? Answer – £50.00 per week. Currently, because our outgoings are so much reduced, we worked out that we have 10% additional disposable income than in our final months of teaching. Next month, we get a 5.2% increase in our pensions. Next March, Pauline gets an additional £5000.00 State Pension. We should have retired long ago!

4th March, 2012

We have four weeks until we leave for Greece. The time is rushing away. In our planning for the time away, we service the car and we service ourselves. Dentist appointments for both of us and an haircut for Pauline are planned for the end of March. Neither services are well supplied on the island and would mean a time consuming and costly trip to Athens. Unfortunately, my teeth have decided to anticipate the treatment. For a week now, one of my teeth has been giving me a nagging ache after eating or drinking hot or cold things. I’ve tried to manage the pain like the truly stalwart man I am but it has got worse and more persistent and I can’t see myself holding out until my appointment. Pauline will phone for an emergency appointment tomorrow morning.

We have actually seen rain today. I’m surprised to find myself pleased to see it. Enjoyed a day in with the Sunday papers and the pain in my tooth didn’t stop me enjoying Man. United’s humiliation of Harry Redknapp.

5th March, 2012

9.00 am and Pauline is phoning the Dentist for me. They will see me at 3.00 pm today. En route, we call in at Sainsburys and, when we get to the Dentist, the news isn’t good. I have developed an infection by trying to hold out until my booked appointment and will now have to have a course of anti-biotics. There are two possible approaches to the tooth which is at the upper, back right and is already more filling than tooth. I could have extensive and expensive root canal surgery followed by a crown but that would take three months to complete – three one hour appointments for the root and then a two month wait before the crown is fitted. Unfortunately, we leave in four weeks and it couldn’t be fitted in. The other possibility is to have the tooth removed which would make eating on that side difficult without a denture. You really know you are old when it gets to this stage! The other problem with having serious dental work is that I am on Warfarin – the anti clotting drug. The dentist is insisting that I have an INR test and reach 2.0 – 2.5 on the morning of my treatment. The treatment will be on March 15th in the afternoon. We go home to phone the hospital. They are not pleased about it but say turn up in the morning and we will do it. So far so good!

6th March, 2012

Quite a grey day this morning. I am catching up on correspondence. I have done the research on biomass safety, put together a quick report and sent it off to the Management Company with our concerns. I have also sent a copy to the Doctorate student from London University who I had been cooperating with in her research.

Did a bit more Greek shopping – building up our first aid kit with plasters and bandages, insect repellent and bite soother, pain relief tablets. Crazy that you can only buy two packs of Paracetamol at a time from a supermarket in case you want to overdose on it. On that basis, they ought to restrict half the food stuffs they sell. Pharmacies are on strike in Greece at the moment.

 

7th March, 2012

Remembered to send an e-card to Catherine for her Birthday on Friday. Managed to use an old photo I had.

I was surprised to find an almost instant and lovely reply in my email box which was nice. It is just amazing to have a little sister of 57. In a moment of nostalgia, I went back to the village of our birth – to Repton High Street – virtually by Google Maps and walked up the street from The Square to The Cross, pausing at our village Primary School and thought of Mum and all the time she invested in us. I really do have too much time on my hands.

8th March, 2012

My tooth is giving my terrible trouble. I am in agony and still have a week to wait, officially, until I have it is to be extracted and then only if my INR is acceptable. Pauline, who is good at these things, phoned them this morning and demanded an earlier appointment. I will now have it out on Monday afternoon, thank goodness.

I was embarrassed to watch United lose to Bilbao at home. It was very poor.

9th March, 2012

Woke up to news that Greece had crossed the magic line in its ‘haircut’ or bond swap initiative. At least 85% of creditors had agreed to take a cut and be repaid the rest a long time off. This mean that the Greek government will now receive the rest of the bail-out money. The great worry, as the black lining to this silver cloud is the fact that growth isn’t happening. The vested interests, pharmacists, doctors, lawyers,  taxi drivers, train drivers, electricity workers, air traffic controllers are all still agitating against the government’s policies. Unemployment is ridiculously high with youth enemployment approaching 50% and yet retail prices are remaining stubbornly high. The only area that we have found sensitive to the recession is in hotel prices. They are decidedly lower this year and news is that many hotels are closing and/or being sold off.

10th March, 2012

A beautiful, sunny, warm Spring day today. We are registering 16C this afternoon. Not working, we don’t get ‘that Friday feeling’ but Saturday is still a special day. Saturday paper, bacon sandwiches and fooball on television. Pauline is going out shopping with her sister and her niece for underwear. That’s outside my expertise so I’m staying at home. I think they are going to Walton on Thames. Had a text message exchange with Ruth as we watched Bolton beat Queens Park. A really important but badly officiated match. Ruth was in the pub watching with her friends.

This goal snatched from a Sky broadcast shows QPR clearly scoring with the ball well over the line as the goalkeeper clawed it back but it was disallowed:

26th February, 2012

Pauline & I sat outside to read The Sunday Times. It was delightful. The sun was surprisingly hot and my face and arms are instantly recognising the signs. In fact, they are both surprised to hear me still speaking English. The temperature was a pleasant 17C but soon chilled as cloud came over.

Quite an enjoyable football afternoon. It was a joy to watch Arsenal humble Redknap and that was elevated to another level when I saw Scholes and Giggs bring United three points although I felt sorry for Ruth whern I heard of Bolton’s battering.

27th February, 2012

A grey day. Heavy cloud but mild. In Greece, it is Clean Monday – a National Holiday marking the start of Orthodox Lent – when believers are meant to start the cleansing of their bodies and souls by denying themselves meat and meat products. Traditionally, cooks devise ever more clever ways of using fish and shellfish with vegetables. On this day, which is usually blessed with warm, Spring sun, the landscape is carpeted in a blaze of Spring flowers and Greek families take a picnic up on to a high point where they fly kites.

Unfortunately for the Greeks, it is not their year. Today, snow has carpeted Northern Greece. Torrential rain has drenched much of Greece. Gale force winds have kept all ferries in harbour. Happy holiday. May your God go with you!

28th February, 2012

Today is box day. Regular readers will be sick of hearing that, each year, our journey to Greece is preceded by boxes of items we can’t fit in the car being despatched by Parcelforce. In the past few days, Pauline has reviewed more box sites than I knew existed. It is time to buy them. After all the research, we order them from Amazon. They were the cheapest and certainly the easiest to oder from. That is happening so much now. Amazon are beginning to beat the High Street even on price. Delivery is free and the wait is less than three days. The High Street are going to have to beat that or die. Pauline has forward bought most of the things that we need to send – bulk buying when they are on special offer. We use a supermarket comparison site and savings are quite incredible. The boxes, totalling 60 – 80Kg, will be despatched on the Tueday as we set off on the Wednesday morning. We arrive on the Sunday and the parcels will be waiting for us in the island Post Office on the Monday morning. It is a fantastic service.

29th February, 2012

Big day today. We gave the garden its Spring clear-up prior to leaving it for six months. In Slade House our acre of garden would have taken the whole of March to tidy. In Quarry Court, it would have taken two or three days. In our new property where we own a patio and a strip of garden bordering it, two hours was all it took us to prune back and clear. Everything else is taken care of under the Service Agreement which pays for cleaning gutters, sweeping paths, cutting lawns, etc.. It was soon all finished and we were sitting outside with a cup of tea in the sunshine.

Watched the England match – interesting but, ultimately, depressing.

1st March, 2012

Happy first day of March.

Up before 6.00 am this morning. By 6.45 am, we were standing outside Woking Walk-in Hospital entrance for yet another blood test. It is incredibly light, suddenly. Clear blue sky and early sun promise a beautiful day. Usually there are a couple of commuters and a dog waiting for the doors to open at 7.00 am. Today, I was 10th and there were at least another 20 behind me. What is happening in Woking? There must be too much blood around. Last week was the first that my INR was almost correct – 2.7. Now I have to keep it there. Pauline finally persuaded me to like salads, green vegetables, lots of fruit berries. She thought it would help me lose weight. Shortly after the breakthrough, we were instructed not to eat them because the are high in vitamin K which mitigates Warfarin. What a nightmare – a life condemned to meat and roasted root vegetables!

A lovely, mild, sunny day in Surrey. Greece, on the other hand, is suffering a terrible winter. A blogger on the Greek island of Skiathos writes this morning: March has arrived like the months before it, Cold Grey and very wet …In fact it’s tipping it down once again. They had snow two days ago. Greece is really going through it, hence the gallows humour below:

2nd March, 2012

Another absolutely beautiful day that started off a little foggy but soon saw the sun breaking through and the temperature rising to 16C by the time we went out shopping after lunch.

Found this wonderful photo in the paper today.

Thought of pretending it was mine but no one would believe me.

Our development is supposed to be heated by Biomass. This was a condition that the eco-warriors of Woking placed on our builders. Of course, the builders were only bothered about profits and factored in the instalment of this technology. Running costs were worked out on the back of a fag packet and put in the literature as fact. As soon as we moved in, the Management Company told us that the builders had grossly underestimated the costings which would be at least double. A Residents meeting immediately decided to drop use of the Biomass but it remains as a back up. This week, a huge fire broke out in a power station in Tilbury, Essex.

The biomass fuel is usually pellets made from waste sawdust. It is poured down a hopper into the burning chamber. Obviously, a large store of such material is required but it is, by definition, highly combustible. Some say it is even prone to spontaneous combustion like a compost heap if it gets a little moisture in it. Our biomass store and burner is in the undercroft carpark. Pauline & I think that is a bit too close for comfort and we’ve begun to agitate for its removal.

2nd March, 2012

Pauline is leaving me. Well for a couple of hours. We have hardly ever been apart for that long over the past two or three years. She is going ‘girl-shopping’ with her sister and her niece. It will do her good. I am going to watch Liverpool v Arsenal.

19th February, 2012

Happy 60th Birthday, Bob. Received a nice email reply from Bob and I have suggested Pauline & I will take him & Jane out for dinner when we come back from Greece in October.

20th February, 2012

One of the things that exercised us when we decided to spend 6 months of the year in our Greek house was Health cover. We both have EHIC (European Health Insurance Cards) which, nominally, entitle us to treatment under the National Health Service of the country we are in. Greece has some fantastic Hospitals to rival many UK facilities but they are not in the Public Service. They are privately owned and funded. Here, for example, is the Onasseio Cardio-surgical Centre in Athens. As its name suggests, it was initially financed by Aristotle Onassis but now charges big fees paid by medical insurance companies.

Most wealthy Greeks take out insurance policies. We enquired about the cost. It would have been £5,000.00 per year which is rather steep for six months each year particularly when we are entitled to free treatment. We don’t want to become American, do we? As a compromise, we take out six months travel insurance which will cover us in a private hospital if anything serious happens and repatriates us if that is appropriate. The cost for two of us over 180 days in Europe is just under £300.00.

21st February, 2012

It is getting warmer – 12C today with 16C predicted for Thursday. The lady across the way with the fat, black cat, moved out today. I will miss the cat!

I tied up the rest of our Greek trip today. I booked the Tunnel crossing for early morning April 4th. I booked the Holiday Inn, Mulhouse, Alsace for that evening. I booked the Holiday Inn Express in Parma, Italy for the next night and the next day we board Superfast Ferries.

22nd February, 2012

After breakfast, we looked through our accounts for the last six months in Greece. Apart from extraordinary items like building work and a trip to Athens which we accounted for separately, living at the Greek house, cost us just £4000.00 for the six months. Even though the Euro settlement has been signed, we don’t trust the probity of Greek Banks and will carry all the cash we will need with us. I ordered another £3000.00 of euros from the International Currency Exchange and got them at £1.00 = €1.175. An hour later, the rate dropped to €1.16. This would have provided us with €45.00 less. I expect the rate to fall more in the next few days.

23rd February, 2012

After Breakfast, we drove to the Farm Shop in Chobham. Pauline and I had discussed the importance of reinforcing and forwardly oiling the wheels of the people who provide us with services in Sifnos. Panos & Rania at our favourite restaurant, Nikos & Chrissopigi our electrician and his wife, Giannis & Poppi, our plumber and his wife, Kostas & Maria, the woodman and his wife, Moshka & Apostolis who own the supermarket and the ladies in the Accountant’s office. We had discussed the possibility of Pauline making some jam and some chutney but time has run out so quickly that she’s not going to manage it. Instead, we resorted to farm shop produce. We hope to give each couple a little bag with one sweet and one savoury jar. Victoria Plum, Raspberry, Rhubarb & Ginger are the sweet offerings. Beetroot, Apple and Rhubarb & Chilli are the savoury choice all badged with an English Farmshop label.

The weather was so warm for mid – late February that we went out and bought a garden table and chairs. I opened a chilled bottle of Pinot Grigio and we drank it outside with a bowl of peanuts in 17 – 18C. We have forecasts in the papers today that we will reach 28C in the next few days. Thank goodness for global warming!

24th February, 2012

More shopping today. We managed to secure the last leg of our journey out to the island. April 8th, 11.00 am we will have driven down to Piraeus harbour and boarded a catamaran ferry which will do the journey in 3 hrs 15 mins. Aegean Speedlines will charge €159.00 for the privilege.

Later in the day, we went to transfer two cash ISAs from Santander to the Halifax. They matured a couple of days ago and were being downgraded to about 2%. It’s still not great but 3.5% at the Halifax may look quite good soon as inflation falls rapidly.

25th February, 2012

Wonderful sunshine again today and our courtyard reached 24C (in February!). We read the papers outside as the sun shone. Lunch – salmon and smoked haddock fishcakes with haricot bean salad and garlic bread – with a delicate bottle of white wine. At this time of year, the sun is low and, by 3.00 pm had started to go behind the trees. We went inside and I watched England narrowly lose to Wales at Twickenham and then flicked between Man. City thrashing Blackburn and England thrashing Pakistan. I only watched the cricket at all because Ruth kept texting me about it.

   

While I was lazing around watching sport and reading the paper, Pauline was researching box sizes on the internet. In the days before we set off, Pauline will pack two, large boxes full of things that we don’t have room to carry and we will take them down to the Post Office for shipping by Parcelforce. We have been doing this for about the past seven years and this is by far the cheapest carrier. We have never lost a parcel and they are in our local island post office almost before we are.

12th February, 2012

It was -4C in the garage when I went down to the car at 8.00 am. to go and get the papers. The air took my breath away as I go out of the car to buy the papers. I bought the Sunday Times and The Sunday Telegraph but I’m not going to do that any more. They just take too long to read. I will buy the Telegraph on Saturday and the Times on Sunday.

Watched Wolves destroyed by West Brom and felt sorry for Mick McCarthy. Felt really miffed that City managed to nick a goal against Villa.

Spent the day listening to Greece and the decision in parliament. The nonsense by a few anarchists was predictable but will still put tourists off this summer which is exactly the opposite of what Greece needs and wants. The decision will be at midnight, our time, and will almost certainly be in favour.

13th February, 2012

It is mild Monday and the temperatures are due to get warmer as the week continues. As we are off to France, that is pleasing.

For some insane reason, Nat. West have always put us on the highest category bank account. It has a qualification of earnings way above our pension but it has numerous benefits that are helpful to us. We get free:

• European Green Flag Breakdown Cover
• Annual Travel Insurance
• Worldwide VIP Airport Lounge Access
• Mobile Phone Insurance for 4 phones
• Card & Document (i.e. Passport) Protection
• Identity Theft Protection
• Home Emergency Cover – burst pipe, boiler breakdown, etc.
• Automatic £10,000.00 overdraft facilities

I spent the day bringing these things up to date, registering our mobiles, our changed credit and charge cards, our new passports, etc.. It’s amazing how time consuming it is. How did I do these things when I was working? Well, I neglected them most of the time and then jammed it all into a weekend.

14th February, 2012

Positively balmy 6C today. The sun is even trying to break through. In Athens it is 16C. I might pop over for a coffee. I could afford the flight but €5.50 seems a bit steep for a capuccino and that’s what they’re charging in Athens currently.

The foreign currency arrived this morning in three, small, 1st class Parcelforce packages. We immediately counted it out and everything was perfect. £5,000.00 bought €5875.00. We will use them again and buy another £5,000.00 now we know it works.

Just remembered that it’s Valentine’s Day. After 34 years together, we really are past all that and that is a nice, warm feeling!

15th February, 2012

We heard last night that the Greek deal was unravelling. Other Europeans were making bellicose remarks about preparing for Greece to leave the Euro. We think that they are negotiating positions but it is all taking too long for us.

By 6.45 am, we were standing outside Woking Walk-in Hospital waiting for a blood test. The lady who did mine, turned out to have lived and trained about a mile from where we used to live in Huddersfield. No wonder she did such a good job.

Decided to book our Ancona Patras return ferry tickets today. Last year we go a 50% reduction for booking early. This year it’s only 10%. We get an extra 10% for being over 60 and we always save 30% for booking the return journey at the same time. I’ve written before that we always treat ourselves to a Luxury cabin for the 20hr crossing from Ancona to Igoumenitsa (in Greece) to Patras on the Peloponnese. Last year, the return trip cost £493.00. This year it will cost £967.00. Thank goodness Pauline’s rich. The boat is lovely with excellent cabins, swimming pools, shops, restaurants, etc. but it is still a huge price hike which I think they will come to regret.

    

16th February, 2012

Up even earlier today – 5.00 am. We want to beat rush hour traffic because we are off to the tunel. Out of the house by just after 6.00 am, we were checking in by 7.15 am. It is all done automatically by numberplate recognition these days. The return trip for the car and up to nine passengers cost £22.00. We rolled on at 7.50 am and off at 8.20 am – (France 9.20 am). We went to our wine store and bought 200 bottles. That is 18 bottles  for Phyllis and Colin and 182 for us. Sounds reasonable really. Ours will be packed in the car and taken to Greece – one bottle for each day we are there. We went to Auchan in Coquelle to buy some groceries – smoked and garlic sausage, packs of rabbit joints, duck joints, duck breasts, jars of Dijon mustard, some wonderful cheese, etc.. We had a coffee and ham & cheese sandwich in a little cafe and then set off back to the tunnel. We were back home and unloaded by 2.00 pm.

17th February, 2012

After breakfast, Pauline cut my hair as she has done exclusively since 1978. I wouldn’t know what to do at a barber’s now or how much it costs. Signs of grey are increasingly threatening to break in. If Pauline cuts it short and controls my tendency to bushiness, then she maintains what she endearingly calls ‘pepper & salt’ colouring. Even so, I don’t think I’m doing badly for my age and I haven’t gone bald like Dad which has always been my greatest fear. I will be 61 in seven weeks which means Bob is coming up to the big celebration of 60. Always makes me feel better! As you can see, he may be a year younger and a few pounds lighter but he’s had to resort to a comb over. Perhaps if he did’t drink so much…Happy birthday for Sunday, Bob.

 

18th February, 2012

The morning started beautifully in full sun and blue skies but soon greyed over and started to rain. Anyway, after getting the paper, it’s a day in for us. I’m doing slow-cooked rabbit with shallots, carrots and celery. It is braising in a bottle of red wine along with some chicken stock, fresh rosemary and flat-leaved parsley. Towards the end it will have harricot beans stirred in which will help to thicken the sauce. It is already smelling great. I’ve even put the head in to the slow cooker for flavour but I will take it out towards the end.

Now I’ve fixed the dates for going through the tunnel – April 4th, the date for getting the Ancona ferry, April 6th, I can book two hotels – one in France and one in Italy – for the journey down. The distances haven’t changed so we are going to structure the journey in the same way as last year:

• Day 1 – 7 hrs driving to Mulhouse in Alsace.
• Day 2 – 5 hrs driving to Parma in Italy.
• Day 3 – 3 hrs driving to Ancona in Italy to get on the boat.

This is a job for Saturday or Sunday. I will use Booking.com.

It is Bob’s 60th birthday tomorrow. We are the same age for a month and a half. I sent him this: