Sanders Blog

16th August 2009

Calamity! The newspapers were late today. High winds may have stopped the Hydrofoils docking. A trip to the Internet Cafe to post the rest of last week’s Blog. Stopped to talk to a man who was growing runner beans. It was an interesting conversation. My Greek is hopeless. He wanted to talk in Spanish. I last learnt Spanish in 1963. The conversation was fairly short. Nice beans, though.

Yesterday my satellite TV showed Chelsea – Hull, Arsenal – Everton and Man. City – Blackburn. Today it was Man. United – Birmingham and Spurs – Liverpool. For very little cash, the Sports Channel provides excellent coverage.

Today we didn’t go swimming for only the second time in exactly four weeks. It was windy and I wanted to watch the football. We have now been here exactly four weeks. We would usually be leaving a week tomorrow. As it is, we leave seven weeks tomorrow.

18th August 2009

You can tell a lot about a place by its cheese. I am a great fan of cheese. Rich and creamy Stilton; mild and crumbly Cheshire or Lancashire, strong flavoured Emmental, Gouda. I love them all. Unfortunately for Sifnos, they produce Feta which is alright in its place – garnishing a Horiatiki (Greek Salad) with plenty of olive oil and oregano over it. I don’t find it travels well though. Eating Greek Feta in Huddersfield just doesn’t do it for me. It’s like drinking Ouzo. The aniseed-flavoured aperitif just doesn’t taste quite right in the rain-swept streets of Yorkshire.

When we first came to Sifnos 25 years ago, there was no bank. There was a money changer who worked from a table in a shop front, He would exchange traveller’s cheques for cash. Do you remember traveller’s cheques? Nowadays, the island has three different Banks – Piraeus Bank, Alpha Bank and ours, The National Bank of Greece. In 1984, there were three public phones in the OTE building and two of them allowed one to dial out of Greece. We queued for ages to use one and then, when we had dialled a UK number, a recorded voice would announce: All lines to Europe are engaged. Nowadays, everyone goes around with a mobile glued to their ear.

Why cheese? Well, when we first came to Sifnos, the only cheese we could buy was produced on the island. We could have Feta or Misretha (a disgusting, soft goat’s cheese that is the consistency of scrambled egg) or Manoura (another very strong and smelly goat’s cheese) with a tough, black rind derived from soaking the cheese in red wine. We would pretend to delight in a piece of Manoura after dinner. Today, we went to the Supermarket 2 (keep up!) and bought Gorgonzola, Brie, Gouda, Camembert and Parmigiana Regiana. Can you believe it. It is quite expensive – about double the cost of UK – but the transport costs here add up. At least we can get it.

Watched Celtic lose comprehensively to Arsenal tonight.

19th August 2009

Pauline looks glorious in the morning.

 

Of course, we pensioners, as Ruth will tell you, have to watch the pennies. Pauline & I don’t get our first pension payment until next month and don’t know, precisely, what it will be but, because of our settlement, we will be paying off our huge mortgage and our income will not really change much from when we were working. That in itself makes us feel bad. Maintaining our income while not working feels reprehensible. Anyway, we have never been profligate. We have always invested in property while not stinting ourselves. Pauline, as I have already written, has kept detailed, electronic accounts for thirty years. We have a £20,000.00 overdraft facility with Nat. West Private Banking but we have never been in the red.

However, we are looking at ways of economising as we deal with our retirement. Our BUPA medical insurance cost us £200.00 per month and that has now gone. I had never used it in 25 years. Our mortgage and mortgage insurances will go in October saving us £3000.00 per month. We have discovered that we are paying £100.00 per month for water whereas our next door neighbours are only paying £14.00 through a water meter. We will switch to a meter and save nearly £1000.00 per year. Every week at work we would fill up our car to the tune of £50.00. Now we are doing that once every 3 weeks. That will save us about £1500.00 per year. With one or two other small changes but without cramping our life style, we will save about £50,000.00 a year.

All of this is very helpful as we run two fully functioning homes. Thank goodness for teachers’ pensions. Mum warned me not to be a teacher. It wouldn’t pay. She wanted me to be an Estate Agent with John German’s! An estate agent?

20th August 2009

I might be a pensioner but I don’t really feel like one and certainly don’t want to sound like one. Do you remember how meat used to taste? Do you remember real meat? Do you Jane BG? On Sifnos all the meat we eat is raised in a field no further that 3Km from our house. The pork is unbelievable! It tastes of pork and cooks like a dream. It is soft, moist and succulent. Yesterday, we bought six massive pork chops (mprizoles coirino) the size of house bricks for €16.00 (£2.38 each). A beautiful 3lb slab of beef (moscari) for €18.00 (£5.35 lb). In preparation for her new Greek Life Cookery Book, Pauline has brought with her a meat mincer, Sausage maker, sausage skins, Burger shaper, pasta machine and a new food processor. If we weren’t on diets, life would be great.

Today Pauline has minced some of the beef and some of the pork. With the beef she is making meat loaf and with the pork she is making sausages. Sausages for tea. Wonderful. In her spare time, I instructed her to paint the base of the house – the water tank – white. She only managed half of it today but she really enjoyed it.

21st August 2009

Pauline was given a day off painting today because it is hot and windy. We had the meat loaf for lunch and it was wonderful with salad. Stavros came up and shared a bottle of wine with us in the evening.

I took a shot early in the morning over our gate over to Kamares. Thought it might brighten the page up.

22nd August 2009

Pauline finished one part of the painting today and then she cooked a lovely meal of Pork and Briam. Washed down with a chilled bottle of claret, it was wonderful.

If you’re interested, the courgettes are coning on well as are the basil plants. The mixed salad is virtually ready for cutting. The flat leafed parsley is planted out and so is the wild rocket. We have this tree fruiting which Stavros put in. Nobody knows what it is. If you have an idea, let us know.

 

I watched Arsenal thrash poor old Portsmouth. I tried to keep up with the Test Match with Ruth’s help and then I watched Man. U. against Wigan.

It’s been a hard day!

9th August 2009

Michael & Jane in Spain, Catherine & Caroline in Ireland, Liz in Portugal, Robert & Ruth on a narrow boat, John in Greece. What is the world coming to? No wonder we lost the Test. No one’s watching what’s going on!

10th August 2009

Fruit tree watering for me. Pergola painting for Pauline. It’s Monday so Sunday papers at 11.00 am and then off to the Windmill supermarket.

This is the paper shop. The name of the shop written in red is pronounced vivliopothio which means ‘book and everything shop’.

This is the Windmill supermarket. The white van is parked over the ‘No Parking’ sign.

This is Supermarket 2. We actually managed to buy Brie cheese here today. It came in a tin. The orange car is parked exactly in front of the ‘No Parking’ sign.

11th August 2009

Very quiet day today – painting the pergola, a little bit of gardening and a swim followed by a sloppy film on Nova satellite tv.

12th August 2009

Went up to the hardware store this morning and bought garden shears and loppers for controlling the bushes. We bought more paint for the pergola and a huge tub of external paint for painting the garden walls. It cost €75.00. It was so heavy I could barely carry it. By 9.00 am we were at the internet cafe to post the first half of the week’s Blog. This is what the Internet Cafe looks like:

   

One of the beautiful things about where we live in Greece is the ability to star gaze. In fact I bought a telescope for partly that reason. When we eat out on our patio at night, we can see a skyful of stars. Tonight we were looking for the shooting shower of meteorites – Perseid. We saw two events. One was certainly a Perseid meteorite producing a long trail of light disappearing over the mountain. The other was Pauline’s torch.

13th August 2009

Ten years ago we asked our bank for a £50,000.00 ‘Bridging Loan’ to buy a field on an island in Greece. We were incredibly lucky to ask a bank manager who not only harboured the same ambition as us – to build a house in Greece – but one who knew our island and where the field was. She helped us have the confidence to go ahead with our project and commit some £200,000.00 that we didn’t have. We quickly paid back the bridging loan and now own the house outright. We retired this summer and, fortuitously, so did she. Sue Riding was lovely to us as Manager of our Nat. West branch. Soon after helping us, she visited our island. She then moved on to work for Coutts Bank. Today I wrote to her with pictures of the house and wishing her happy retirement.

14th August 2009

The painting of the Pergola is now complete. Eventually, we may have a solid roof but, for now, we have the traditional bamboo cane covering which filters the sunlight without completely blocking it out. We have a small, electric oven with grill and hot plates that we cook on out there. In fact, in the summer, we cook and eat out there. At the moment my favourite is griddled fish or chicken with vegetables done under the pergola. You can see our wasp-catching pots hanging down.

  

  

15th August 2009

I picked up lovely emails from Bob and Catherine when I logged on at the Internet Cafe on Wednesday. It was nice to hear from them both. It made me very happy.

2nd August 2009

Absolutely exhausted today. Got up early – 7.00 am – to go to the Internet Cafe before the World started to move. Home for coffee and newspaper followed by gardening and swimming. Ruth very kindly sent me the Test Match score. The text arrived about 9.30 pm which was about the time we decided to crawl off to bed. Oh, by the way, at the weigh-in this morning I was 15.25lbs lighter. (Yes, you read it right.) Pauline, almost unbelievably for such a skinny whippet, has lost 6.25lbs. The fight goes on.

3rd August 2009

Interesting day. It was my appointment at Huddersfield Royal infirmary. I did it by mobile phone. I’d had my blood INR tested on the island on Friday. Today at 17.30 (Greek), 3.30 pm (UK) time I had to phone the hospital with the results so that they could prescribe the warfarin (anti-coagulant) level for me to take. Everything was decided to be fine and my medication remains unchanged but it left me feeling very humbled after receiving such a wonderful service. People talk the NHS down but who could receive better treatment than being on a Greek island but getting consultation in Huddersfield? To console myself for failing to win the Test Match and, as it is Monday, I get the Sunday papers.

4th August 2009

Got up early to water the fruit trees. Last year we had one lemon from two trees. This year we have four. We have one orange tree and one tangerine but they are not fruiting yet.On the next level up the field we have about a dozen olive trees and on the level above that we have six peach trees, four apricots and three pears. On the level above that we have another dozen olive trees.Because we only visited eight weeks per year and Stavros is busy most of the time, they have been on an automatic drip-watering system. This has only really kept them alive and not promoted healthy growth and fruiting. We have some peaches and apricots this year but they needed real watering early in the season to full develop. They will get that next season because we will be here from March. The courgettes are ready to be planted out. Stavros thinks we will cut courgettes before we leave in ten weeks time. If we don’t, he will. The Basil, Rocket and Salad Leaves are still too small. The Parsley hasn’t germinated at all.We have employed a little man (an Albanian – pronounced Alvanian by Greeks) to help us clear the weeds from the fruit trees. He works in the Souvlaki Bar from 3.00 pm so he is coming to us at 7.00 am. We really will have to be up early. He will do an eight hour day for us for €55.00 or £49.00 for the day. That’s more than the Minimum Wage.

5th August 2009

Woke at 6.00 am and weighed myself. I have now lost 20.5 lbs. Waited for the Alvanian to arrive. By 8.30 am he hadn’t showed and it was a beautiful morning so we went out to the Internet Cafe to post the first half of the week’s Blog. Got lovely emails from Cal, Liz and Ruth. They made me feel happy. When we got home, the man had been, done half the job and left.

It is a very hot (35/36⁰C), still day. It is not one for doing a lot of work. We decide to relax, read the paper and do extra time swimming. The sea is so warm but, in this heat, still cooling.

Ten years or so ago, I advertised for an Attendance Officer – someone who would visit homes of children who failed to attend school. In the old days when we were at school they were calIed ‘School Board’ men. In modern education they work inside school as well as out, persuading parents and children of the fiction – education is essential to life chances. On this occasion, I appointed an ex-policeman, Brian Robinson. He had spent 30 years in the Murder and Drugs Squads. It seemed a perfect background for counselling errant school children.

Brian Robinson turned out to be the most wonderful man I had ever met. If you ever wanted to rely on one person for your life, Brian would be that person. He was absolutely dependable. We became firm, personal friends and I don’t do that easily. While we were building our Greek home, Brian was buying a run down cottage in the Dordogne. It came with a field which he was always trying to persuade me to build on. I must admit, I was tempted but it was a step too far.

Although about seven years older than me, Brian has retired at exactly the same time and in the week that we retired he finally plucked up the courage to go to the doctor about his ‘waterworks’ problem. An initial x-ray showed his prostate to be twice its normal size. A biopsy was ordered just as we were going away. Cancer was the fear. I phoned him today as he got his results. A urinary infection the fool. He has had it since March but daren’t go to the doctor. At least he’s alright.

6th August 2009

Up early this morning. Heard digging outside. It was the Alvanian. He was clearing another part of the land around the fruit trees. The sun hadn’t quite got up but it would be impossibly hot out there so I took him a large bottle of iced water. He was a youngish lad dressed in shorts and t-shirt. He had no socks and was wearing sandals. He bent down and lifted up a huge, dead snake. It was about two feet long and sandy coloured. It had run through his legs and he had stamped on its head to kill it. He held it proudly aloft. I don’t know if he realised but a bite from that snake would have made him seriously ill. Stavros confirmed for me that it was poisonous and that he had been trying to trap it only weeks before.All the scorched vegetation here is sandy brown just like the snake. In future, Pauline and I will wear wellington boots to garden.

7th August 2009

I looked at Pauline today. She is wonderful. I adore her. It is 31 years this summer that Pauline arrived in her battered, old, white Mini, knocked on the door of my flat and said, “Let’s get your things together. You’re coming to live with me.” I’ve been obeying her ever since. It’s interesting, now I think about it, that everything I owned would fit in a Mini but it did. We have come a long way in the last 31 years. Literally, we have come a long way to a small dot of rock in the Aegean.

My Courgette seedlings and Salad Leaves have been potted up and are romping away. The Rocket and Basil is still too small to move. Suddenly, after two weeks, the Parsley has germinated. I am using this as a learning process. Everything has to be shaded and watered at least three times a day. I’m really enjoying learning this all over again.

8th August 2009

Saturday should be a day of rest but, when you’re retired, you just have to push yourself on. I have to water the fruit trees, weed round the Bougainvillea (We have two just ready to climb up the new pergola. One is a pale peach flower and the other is a double graft of white flowering and crimson flowering. ) I then have to water all my plants and help Pauline clean the windows. The Test Match is going badly and, trust Yorkshire, the weather is fine. Ruth has texted me to give me the score and to tell me she is off on her swimming holiday tomorrow. Only this week, The Times reported a woman dying when she was opening or closing a lock gate. She fell in, hitting her head and drowned, (in Stoke, off all places.) Is this the sort of holiday a pensioner should be going on?

26th July, 2009

I will not tell you again but the day is cloudless and super hot. At the zenith of the day, the temperature reached 37⁰C. In the concrete of Athens it was 42⁰C. I got up this morning knowing that there would be no Breakfast apart from a glass of fresh orange juice and a cup of tea. Usually, at work, I would get through the day on that. In retirement, I am doing less and eating more. Breakfast has come to mean toast of Pauline’s bread liberally spread with Pauline’s homemade jam all washed down with a cup of freshly brewed coffee and a copy of The Times. It cannot go on. I will get even fatter if it is possible. The diet starts today and I will keep you informed of its progress.

After no Breakfast, I went up to Apollonia to the internet cafe to post the remainder of last week’s Blog. As we stepped out of the front door we realised that it was ‘Wasp Emergence Day’. These wasps are not your normal, waspish wasps but long, thin, rather benign beasts that would probably only give you a sting if you insisted. As soon as we got back from the internet cafe, we set about putting up our new wasp-pots that we had bought through the ‘Temps’ catalogue. They are beautiful, multi-coloured glass creations which one fills with a sugar and water solution and then hang up. If you want to avoid catching bees, you add a little vinegar as well. As you will see from the photo, we hung ours from the rafters of our new pergola.

  

 

It was so hot today that we didn’t feel like doing much other than swimming. I did manage to sow my seeds, finally. I had brought peat pots from England and a bag of sowing compost from the island’s plant shop. I sowed 36 peat pots with:

Courgettes
Italian Rocket
Wild Rocket
Mixed Salad Leaves
Sweet Basil
Italian Flat-leafed Parsley

This was a token gesture because we now have less than three months between sowing and harvesting. It will, however, give me some idea about growing conditions when I plant them out.

27th July, 2009

Day two of the diet and I am already used to orange juice and tea. At least in this heat I don’t have to go to the toilet much. Monday is my favourite day of the week in Greece. I get the Sunday papers. Mind you, they are not cheap. The Sunday Times & The Telegraph cost €10.20 or £9.10 but they are well worth it. I get almost two days full reading and thinking out of them. While I was reading, I was doing Man’s work. I was filling the water tank.

Most Greeks on islands – which have a tendency to be dry – have water tanks. We also have our own 35 metre deep well which supplies us with constant clean water even when the island sends out for water ships. A pump at the bottom of the well sends it up to the water tank above which our house is built. A pump in the water tank pulls it through the filtration unit in our garage which then pumps it on demand into the house. It sounds all very complicated and Heath Robinson but it works wonderfully and is the envy of people like Stavros who have to pay a fortune for their water. It also means that we can water all our fruit trees and plants as often as we want. We can clean our car even in the summer – something frowned on by islanders as a waste of a scarce, natural resource.

The water tank needs to be topped up once a week by opening a valve and reading the Sunday papers. Since time immemorial, this has been assigned as Men’s work.

28th July, 2009

Off to the Medical Testing Centre (manned by the island’s Baker) this morning. I have to have my blood anticoagulant quality tested because of the warfarin I take to treat my occasional atrial fibrillation. I am given an INR number (hopefully between 2 – 3) and I have to phone a technician at Huddersfield Royal Infirmary with that result so he can tell me the warfarin dosage to take over the next month or so. As my blood is almost always neat claret, I can tell you that the INR of Bordeaux Rouge is about 2.3.

The Baker has a roomful of patients this morning. Pauline makes an appointment for me on Friday. Meanwhile, at the internet cafe, I find an email from Ruth which is lovely and one from Jane B.G.. Jane’s tells me that she has added me to her friends list on Facebook. I’ve joined Facebook but never contributed. However, this week alone, I have been added to the ‘Friends’ list of four separate people so I had better take it seriously. Currently, Pauline & I are picking up our emails through live.co.uk.

On the seed sowing front, Mixed Salad Leaves and Courgettes are already through. I have to pay careful attention to watering and shading in this climate.

29th July, 2009

Pauline looked at my face today and was really annoyed. She said I had no wrinkles which, for a man of 58, was just plain wrong. She is obsessed with wrinkles which she is developing from her nose to her bottom. When she called at the Farmakia (chemist’s shop) today, she was delighted to be offered a free, anti-wrinkle cream. I pointed out that it was only free because it was useless but she will try it all the same. The seedlings up now include Mixed Salad Leaves and Courgettes, Italian Basil and Italian Rocket. The peat pots have been moved outside to stop the seedlings getting leggy.

As you probably know, I read the The Times avidly. In Greece and in Retirement I have the time to read it much more closely than before. I wouldn’t normally read *******’s column because she annoys me so much but we must be of the same ilk because I couldn’t help laughing at our similar reactions to ‘texting’ on our phones. Like me, she cannot bring herself to ‘text’ in anything other than perfect sentences. That is exactly how I feel. The punctuation and the grammar both have to be right.

30th July, 2009

As we got out of the sea today, Pauline said, It’s a bit cool today, isn’t it? I agreed. We walked back to the car and it told us that the temperature was 33⁰C / 91⁰F but it felt cool. We have been here for ten days and yet we are so acclimatised that 91⁰F feels cool. I was a bit frustrated this morning that our satellite TV service, Nova, hadn’t bought the Test Cricket from Sky until the BBC News told me it was rained off. I was just going to text Ruth for the score. I had to water all the trees instead and tomorrow we will clear and prepare a bit of ground for the courgettes, etc

31st July, 2009

Up at 7.00 am today and off to the Blood Testing Lab.. It was surprisingly modern and well equipped. I had to give an armful of blood as opposed to a finger-full in Huddersfield but the result came out alright. For aficionados, my INR was 2.6. It should be in the range of 2 – 3 so that’s ok.. The diet is hard but being stuck to. I haven’t had any alcohol for a week. By October Jane BG and I will be barely distinguishable. I weigh myself on Sunday so I will record the up to date position then although it probably won’t go on-line until Wednesday.

The germination of seeds is a little disappointing. Courgettes are powering away and should be planted out in the next few days. Some Mixed Salad Leaves and Sweet Basil seedlings are up but still tiny. Only three or four Rocket seedlings are through and the Parsley, which is notorious for slow germination, is not showing at all. Having cleared all the weeds and competing rubbish away from our young citrus trees, we do at least have some fruit ripening.

1st August, 2009

White Rabbit!

So tired this morning we slept until 9.00 am. Even when we got up, we were too tired to do much when we got up. Lots of cups of tea, BBC News and finishing two day old ‘Times’ later, we went out shopping to the windmill supermarket up in Apollonia. You wouldn’t call it a supermarket. Nowadays it does stock most of the products we need to survive but it will never be more than a good, corner shop. Pick up Friday’s ‘Times’ on the way home. It’s always available about 11.00 am because the hydrofoil service – Aegean Speedlines – arrives about 10.30 am in the summer months when it’s not too windy.

Back home for coffee. BBC tells me that the Test has been delayed because of rain. Pauline and I put big hats on to go out and water the Fruit trees. We have young peaches, apricots, pears, lemons, oranges and tangerines plus three fig trees. We also water the young olive trees. It takes about two hours to do all that. I get back to find my seedlings in their peat pots are rapidly drying out and are in need of emergency watering. That done, we collapse.

One of the lessons Ruth has been urging me to learn is that Retirement is all about pacing yourself. I think I’m learning it

19 July, 2009

We were a couple of hours before Ancona so we snatched a few hours sleep and then drove on to the port as the sun rose. We boarded ‘Superfast V’ and went to our cabin for a much needed shower. Out for lunch and then a long sleep in our cabin.

20th July, 2009

We got up at 6.30 am (4.30 am UK time).  Tea in our cabin and then out for Breakfast of Bacon, Sausage, Egg and crusty rolls followed by coffee. Then straight to the Internet Cafe to do this Blog. Meant to say that I received a text from Mike in the middle of the night saying he was sitting under a tree in 37 C temperatures. Strange lad!

We get off this ferry in Patras – a Greek port and University town at 11.30 am although it is bound to be late.

21st July, 2009

Woke to our first morning of brilliant blue skies and searing sun. It will be a big day. We have to unpack the car and assemble, attach, store everything we brought. First things first. I phone Nova TV (Greek Sky) to get our satellite reception switched on. This is vital. We get perfect reception Greek channels + BBC News + CNN and many other Sky channels + 6 Sports channels which will give me the Test matches + all the premier league matches from England. It is my life line. Next we go out to order The Times for each morning – 1 day late.

22nd July, 2009

Can you believe it – another sunny day. Bowl of fresh fruit – peaches, apricots and apples chopped up. Had my hair cut outside – at minimal cost – by Pauline. Eventually get out to the internet cafe (a shed with four networked computers) to do this Blog.

After lunch the house is looking tidy and we go off to collect the three huge boxes we sent by Parcelforce. They have arrived intact. One contains kitchen gadgets – a food processor, a meat mincer with sausage maker attachment, a potato ricer, a mandolin, etc. Another box contains new clothes and shoes + sun tan lotion, shampoo, toothpaste, etc, – all things we can’t get or are much more expensive. The third box contains gardening items, baking items – dried yeast for bread, baking powder, + lots of films on cds. We go for a swim, cook steak and jacket potato with salad for tea and sit outside in the warm breeze, watching the stars and the boats before bed.

23rd July, 2009

Hot but windy day. Got up at 7.30 am and drove up to Apollonia an hour later to visit the hardware store. I bought a pressure washer for cleaning the car and the patio areas. In this hot, dry, dusty climate everything needs washing regularly. We then went on to the Garden shop and bought a bag of compost for growing seedlings – although we are only here for three months this year, I intend to grow rocket, salad leaves, radishes, courgettes and some herbs. We bought a ‘sweet basil’ plant in a pot in case I fail.

Coming home by 10.30 am, the temperature was already 28⁰C. We had breakfast of fresh fruit and coffee. The rest of the morning was spent by me unpacking my new desktop computer, installing the printer and the new scanner.

I had put all the software on it before I left home. School kindly bought it for me.

Office 2007 Professional
Macromedia Dreamweaver
Fireworks
Flash
AuthorwareAdobe Photoshop
Illustrator
Acrobat

The whole lot would have cost me £1500.00 so I feel truly grateful. They were a wonderfully charitable institution.We went out for The Times which I had ordered. Today is Thursday so I picked up the Wednesday edition. I read it over coffee. Trust Mum to miss the top story – a second report of 450 new cases of child abuse by priests in the Dublin Diocese alone. This, added to the early cases unearthed two years ago, brings the total to over 500. They kept getting away with it because the Bishops made them say a few ‘Hail Mary’s and reallocated them to another parish where they could start abusing all over again. Blood Catholics!I then moved on to the second gadget of the day. I bought a CD Player and Digital Radio from Comet in Huddersfield and some wireless speakers so I could play the machine in the house and listen to it outside under the pergola. Pavarotti invaded the Greek countryside this afternoon before a trip down to the beach and a long swim in gloriously warm water.

24th July, 2009

7.30 am seems to be the time for getting up nowadays. We have the air conditioning on freezing for an hour before we go to bed and then turn it off and just use the central ceiling fan all night. We close the bedroom shutters at night because Pauline prefers to sleep in pitch black so she can’t see me. Opening them up at 7.30 am, one is met with a blinding light which renders one groggy for some time.

After breakfast of homemade bread toasted with homemade raspberry jam, I built my new pressure washer with Pauline’s help – well she did it really – and proceeded to clean the patio. While she tried out her new food processor, I went for a walk in our grounds to check on the fig trees which are coming on well and baring fruit.

   

We went out for a swim and picked the paper up at the same time. The water was so warm I nearly complained. We had a long swim across the bay and drove home absolutely shattered. We finished the day by griddling Pork Steaks on our outdoor oven under the pergola. Pauline did baked potatoes and Greek salad to go with it and it was all washed down by a cool bottle of claret. Life cannot get much better than this.

25th July, 2009

The BBC tells me it is Saturday. It could be any day apart from the fact that a few more working Greeks find time to go down to the beach at the weekend. We awake to about 28⁰C and it will get to about 33 – 34⁰C by the middle of the day. In Athens it will be 42⁰C today. The beauty of being on a island is that the temperatures are moderated at both ends.

Jobs today include: sowings seeds in peat pots
swimming
finishing the cleaning of the patio
swimming
cleaning the car

Well I might go swimming at least.

12th July, 2009

The Ashes Series has got off to a flying start. England manage a Draw.

13th July, 2009

All the big news. Had the car valeted today in preparation for Friday and THE OFF. It looks wonderful. The perlescent, black paint, the glass, the alloy wheels shone in the sun. The carpets looked pristine, the leather upholstery smelt like new. Only £45.00 for 4 hours work – a bargain.

Had to drive home fast before it rained!

14th July, 2009

We are in the final throes of preparation for departure. Unfortunately, one of the important ones for me is making sure I have the necessary medication with me. A trip to the doctor for a three month mountain of pills – all free – and this can be ticked off the list.

I should have told you that I had to lovely phone conversations with Ruth & Cal.  The more I learn about the relationships in our family, past and present, the more they appear dysfunctional to me. Haven’t heard from Mike. I texted him this morning.

10.00pm – Just got a text from Mike saying he’s on his way to Spain for a fortnight. He blames Angela for not telling him about my emails. The little sod!

15th July, 2009

Up early this morning. Out of the house by 8.00 am and off to Honda for our pre-holiday check. Every year Hepworth Honda of Huddersfield do a free, pre-holiday service before we go on our long journey. They check and top up the fluids, etc and always Bill it as ‘Long Standing Customer Bonus – £0.00. That’s why we always buy our cars from them.

 

Bought £1000.00 of Euros to get us through the journey. Arranged for neighbours, Margaret & Graham, to have a key and check the house until the middle of August when they go away and other neighbours, Perry & Jean, return from Spain and take over caretaker duties.

16th July, 2009

Cal sent me a photo of her next door neighbour.

17th July, 2009

House closed up for three months. Grey, wet day to set off to King George’s Dock, Hull. Goodbye cruel world!

18 July, 2009

Very rough crossing last night. Pauline was even feeling a bit sea sick. A strong gale and lashing rain lead to a mountainous sea and a rolling, crashing boat. Unfortunately, I slept right through it and even snored heavily which didn’t go down well with my fellow traveller!

After a hearty breakfast – for me, we set off in Zeebrugge at 9.30 am. The drive across Europe was brilliant and we were in Switzerland for 6.30 pm. This was a record. We were around Milano and past Bologna before it was midnight.

Did you know that Kevin Butcher’s changed his name to Kevan? Is he Welsh?

6th July, 2009

Last appearance at the anti-coagulant clinic this morning. I have arranged to be tested on Sifnos and to phone the results back to Huddersfield for dosage prescription. It is the baker on Sifnos who will do the testing. He is a trained chemist who worked in Brussels for a few years before returning to his native island to take over the family bakery.

7th July, 2009

Received a lovely email from Cal and one from Ruth. Cal sent me some great photos.

     

  

Cal has also sent me a mystery photo which will be featured on the front of the web this weekend.

8th July, 2009

Lovely day today. Pauline spent most of the morning packing huge boxes to be despatched by Parcelforce to our island. 60 kg of goods spread over three boxes costs £150.00 to get there in ten working days. It is the quickest and most effective way if they won’t fit in the car and they won’t.

Cal has sent me some wonderful photos again. One is of Grandad Coghlan’s early home area in Brighton. It led me to an account by a former resident who was there in 1917 – not much after Grandad. Cal has actually been there. She has also sent me a fantastic photo taken in Ireland in 2001 when Mum, Ruth & Kev went over to visit Cal .

9th July, 2009

Great swim today. Must have lost pounds. It was too wet to go Blackcurrant picking. The forecast is fine for tomorrow so we will go then. Our next door neighbours are going to Spain for five weeks tomorrow so I will also be cutting their lawns.

Caroline sent me this photo.The couple in the photo are Peter and Janet our second cousins. Peter is Grandad’s brother, William Michael Coghlan’s  son. Grandad was very fond of Peter and started to train him up in the antiques business but Peter went off all over the world to be a professional ice skater, Janet was a professional ice skater also. Janet and Peter live in Peacehaven.

July 10th, 2009

Raining again this morning. We’ve run out of time for any more fruit picking. It will have to wait for next year. Appointment at our Doctors. We have the most fantastic doctor in the world. She is so supportive. We are away for three months. I need three months medication. It all comes free and fills two shopping bags. It includes:

Amlodipine
Atorvastatin
Doxazosin Mesilate
Lossartan Potassium
Metformin Hydrochloride
Piogliatzone Hydrochloride
Warfarin

I have to have my blood cogulation index measured and phoned back to the Lab in Huddersfield Royal Infirmary.

11th July, 2009

Trip to Leeds this morning. Took us about 20 minutes. On a work day it could be nearer an hour. Pauline went to Vidal Sassoons to have her hair done before we go away. She has had it cut short in the hope it might last three months. Short or long, it still costs £70.00. To compensate she saves on mine. I haven’t been to a Barber since 1969. After leaving home, I have always had mine cut by girlfriends and, for the past 31 years, by Pauline herself. Forty years of free hair cuts every five weeks – 10 per year – 400 hair cuts at an average of £10.00 per time. I have saved about £4000.00. On the same basis, Pauline’s had about 5 hair cuts a year over the past 31 years at, say an average of £50.00 costing me £7,750.00. If Pauline had let me cut her hair – which I would have done happily – I could have saved nearly £12,000.00 which would have bought me some lovely bottles of red wine.

   

28th June, 2009

Quiet day in the sunshine with the Sunday papers. Absolute bliss!

29th June, 2009

Lovely swim this morning. Bowl of porridge and checked email. Had one from Liz – we all did – making the same point Bob & Jane had done before that she was enjoying work and couldn’t envisage retiring. I am pleased for them all but my reply to Liz sums up my view:

“I’m afraid there is too much I want to do to go on working. I definitely did not want to die working. Mum had been trying to get me to retire almost since I was 50. She feared a repeat of Dad. I have no intention of dying young but, when I go, I would like to die picking peaches in my garden, sipping ouzo in a Peloponnese Ouzerie, meandering down the Grand Canal in Venice or sipping Espresso in Bologna or exploring the fish market in Marseille or touring the vineyards of the Dordogne or on my book signing tour of Great Britain or ……………. I may only have twenty five years left. Can I fit it all in?”

I hope my adventure will continue for years to come. I might go raspberry picking tomorrow.

June 3oth, 2009

Raspberry picking was off today because of rain. Inspite of this, the rain was very welcome. We have had no rain for about a fortnight and the Hostas are beginning to look distressed. Ruth told me she was celebrating her 37th wedding anniversary at the Rendevous Hotel in the beautiful market town of Skipton. I sent the hotel an email telling them about her wedding anniversary and asked them to pass on my best wishes. I was hoping they might give her a bunch of flowers or a bottle of champagne.

    

I was shocked to get an immediate reply from a worried Receptionist saying she had no record of the booking. I phoned Ruth on her mobile. She told me the website she had booked it through. I phoned the hotel receptionist who turned out to be a lovely girl. I gave her the details and she said she would sort them out with the website. I passed the hotel phone number on to Ruth & Kev who were travelling by bus ‘for an adventure’. I must admit I’ve had all the bus ‘adventures’ to satisfy me for a life time and the only ones I can tolerate now are airport shuttle buses.

1st July, 2009

White Rabbit! July began with a steamy 28C. A trip to Oldham to have Pauline’s Mum’s pacemaker checked, a lovely long swim at the Health Club and a spot of Wimbledon watching. All being well, tomorrow will be raspberry picking.

2nd July, 2009

True to our word, the wonderfully hot and sunny morning found us in Emley at 9.30 picking raspberries – about 8 kilos. It was an enjoyable experience which cost us £3.50 per kilo. Sainsburys charges £8.64 per kilo without the sunny field and sense of satisfaction.

Home for coffee and The Times. I did the Hoovering. (I know I should say vacuuming but I can’t get out of the habit). It even annoys me. It always used to drive me insane that Mum never went to see a doctor; it was always the ‘Doc’.. People didn’t drive a Mercedes; it was always a ‘Merc’.. And she always had a ‘spot’ of lunch. Don’t get me started on this because I could write a book on it. Even now I have only known two people describe cold weather as ‘chilly pom pom’ – Mum and a girl I once met who I ditched the moment she said it.

3rd July, 2009

Can you believe the date? I leave for Greece two weeks today. Next year, I will have been there for more than three months already.

4th June, 2009

On Monday we have to post boxes to Greece containing all the things we cannot fit in the car. We bear in mind the fact that, when we come back in October, we will only have four months until we return in March. So things that can be left until then will be. For example, I want to take a pressure washer but it will wait until next year. Essentials for this year include:

• Kitchen gadgets ( Food Processor, mandolin, potato ricer, meat mincer & sausage maker),
• Standard Lamp,
• Cases of wine,
• Gardening implements (spade, fork, etc.),
• Computer with monitor and scanner,
• Additional crockery,
• Food stuffs better bought in England (Breakfast & Assam tea, Columbian coffee, etc.)
• Additional clothes to refresh wardrobe
• Toiletries better or cheaper in England (soap, tissues, sun cream, tooth paste, etc..)

So today, we are preparing to have a practice pack of the car.

21st June, 2009

Had a couple of emails from Ruth today. She is a lovely sister to have. So understanding. She sent me a couple of photos which I will feature on the website this coming weekend but I will store here immediately.

 

This is Ruth, Joanne & Brandon. I can remember Joanne shuffling round the carpet on her bottom making a row aged about 18 months. How did she turn out so beautiful? Brandon looks a bit impish but Declan, eating crisps, looks a real hooligan. Thank goodness he wasn’t in my class. I would have retired even earlier.

22nd June, 2009

Quiet day – trip to Health Club for swimming, etc.. Buying trip for things we want to take to Greece: a food processor, a meat mincer and sausage maker, a blue flourescent tube insect killer, some wasp traps. We are beginning to worry about what we can get in the car this time. We will have to use Parcelforce again.

Spent some time developing a new page for the Website. This is just a ‘Favourites’ page away from home. It will sustain me in Sifnos.

23rd June, 2009

Got up at 2.00 am because our neighbour’s alarm was going off. They are in Greece. At any other time, Pauline & I would really have resented the break in our sleep but we suddenly realised as we walked round the outside of the house what a beautifully balmy night it was. The heady scent of honeysuckle wafting on the warm night air and the feeling that we could sleep in this morning without a problem. What freedom. The burglar alarm just stopped of its own volition. It must have sensed our contented and calming presence.

Had to give the pool a miss this morning because we don’t want to over train. Went out to buy more stuff for Greece. We needed a good CD player. We needed a new computer. PCWorld supplied both today.Massive shop – 2 customers.

24th June, 2009

Lovely day today. Went to see the Ophthalmologist. Got there right on time – 9.15 am. Unfortunately, I was a day early. Got to go back tomorrow. Went swimming. Pool completely to ourselves. It was lovely. Swam for half an hour followed by jacuzzi and steam room. Did another fifteen minutes swimming and then rushed off to Oldham. Pauline’s Mum had to go for a check-up. She got the all clear which is more than can be said for my friend, Brian, who looks as if he has Prostate Cancer. He is waiting for the results of his biopsy.

25th June, 2009

Went back to the Ophthalmologist today. Pauline and I were going to do a 10k run this morning but the specialist put drops in my eyes and it completely incapacitated me for the rest of the day. We went swimming instead. I’ll have to do the run next year.  Managed to mow the lawns later in the evening.

26th June, 2009

Strawberry picking on a beautiful sunny morning. We went to Bentley Grange Farm near Emley Moor mast.

This is a farm on land the history of which goes back to the 11th century and the Cistercian Monks of Byland Abbey, North Yorkshire. Their interest in the land was purely commercial – for iron ore. When the iron was spent, the land was turned over to agriculture and Bentley Grange derives from the Anglo Saxon description  – wild grass becoming grain. Nowadays it is fruit. This week – strawberries grown in long, grape vine type constructions with grow bags on waist high platforms and strawberry plants cascading huge ripe and clean berries straight to hand. We picked 20 lb in 20 minutes. Next week the raspberries will be ripe enough to pick and shortly after, we will go for blackcurrants. Pauline’s bread and homemade jam – just perfick!

27th June, 2009

Quiet day today – recovering from fruit picking.

This Blog is moving in to completion of half a year. I’ve never managed half a week of a diary before. With only five weeks to go until we leave for our Greek house – we will be away for circa 90 days this summer – this week will be spent making insurance arrangements.

• Our current house insurance only allows an absence of 60 days – need to renegotiate that.
• Our car insurance, has to be expanded to provide fully comp for three months abroad.
• Our travel insurance has to have the necessary health cover for this extended period.
• Car must be valeted and serviced.

We will send another box of items ahead of us by Parcelforce. We will take a few cases of white wine and pick up some more of red wine. Stavros is feeling rather down at the moment and he will need lifting. We are also taking a lot of gardening equipment with us this time.

17th June, 2009

Took Pauline’s Mum out for a meal at lunch time. We all ate too much but she was happy and vibrant as this photo shows:

 

Her cancer operation has really healed well. Pauline will kill me if she sees this photo because she’s not at her best but I think she looks happy and lovely.

Just 30 days until we set off on our trip across Europe to Sifnos. Nowadays we largely use our Sat. Nav. which comes with our car but this is the sort of route we follow:

Km	Set off Saturday 8.30 am
0.0	Turn right at Heiststraat
0.3	Turn left at Meeuwenstraat
0.5	Turn right at Isabellalaan/N34 Continue to follow N34
1.9	Turn left at Baron de Maerelaan
1.9	Take the ramp onto Baron de Maerelaan/N31 Continue to follow N31
18.9	Slight left at E403/Expresweg/N31 (signs for A10/E40/N31/E403/Kortrijk/Veurne/Brussel/Oostende) Continue to follow E403/N31
21.2	Take the E40 exit toward Gent/Brussel
21.3	Keep left at the fork to continue toward A10/E40
21.7	Keep right at the fork, follow signs for E40/Gent/Brussel and merge onto A10/E40
103.5	Take the exit toward E40/E19/Luik/Namen/E411/Antwerpen
105.0	Merge onto R0
130.5	Take the exit onto A4/E411 toward Namen/Luxembourg Continue to follow A4Entering Luxembourg
313.9	Continue on E25
333.7	Take the exit toward Luxembourg-Ville (Sud)/Saarbrücken/Metz
334.8	Merge onto E25
345.5	Slight right toward E25
345.9	Slight right at E25 Entering France
346.3	Continue on A31
371.9	Take the exit onto A31
381.6	Take the exit toward Strasbourg/Metz-Est
382.9	Merge onto A4 Partial toll road
394.5	Take the exit onto A4 Partial toll road
547.2	Continue on A35 (signs for Colmar/Mulhouse/Offenburg/A35)
562.9	Take exit 10 toward Duttlenheim/Duppigheim
563.3	At the roundabout, take the 3rd exit onto D1422 heading to Strasbourg/Blaesheim/Innenheim/Obernai Go through 1 roundabout
565.8	At the roundabout, take the 2nd exit onto A35
604.5	Continue on N83
615.9	Continue on A35 Entering Switzerland
682.0	Continue on A3 Toll road
698.0	Take exit 9 toward Arisdorf/Bern/Luzern/Gotthard Toll road
698.8	Merge onto A2 Toll road
726.1	Take exit 45-Härkingen to merge onto A1/A2/E35 toward  Rothrist/Zürich/Luzern/Gotthard Toll road   We always reach here in time for Dinner around 7.00 pm – 8.00 pm
734.9	Take exit 47-Wiggertal toward Reiden/Luzern/Gotthard Toll road
735.7	Merge onto A2 Toll roadEntering Italy
971.7	Continue on A9 Partial toll road
1002.7	Take the exit onto A8/E62 toward Milano Partial toll road
1007.9	Take the exit onto A50/Tangenziale Ovest toward A4/Bologna/Genova/A7/A1/E66/Torino Partial toll road
1038.4	Continue on E35 (signs for Bologna/Melegnano/A1) Toll road
1039.3	Take the exit onto A1 Toll road
1222.6	Take the exit onto A14 toward Bologna Borgo Time for a snooze usually 1.00 am – 6.00amPanigale/Bologna/Padova/Bari/A13/Ravenna/Ancona Toll road
1453.2	Take exit Ancona Sud-Osimo toward Ancona Sud/Osimo Toll road
1453.7	Continue straight Partial toll road
1454.3	Continue straight onto SS16
1458.4	Take exit Ancona Centro toward Ancona
1458.8	Merge onto Asse Nord-Sud
1463.5	Slight left at Via Alessandro Bocconi
1463.9	At Piazzale della Libertà, take the 2nd exit onto Galleria del Risorgimento
1464.6	Continue on Via Antonio Giannelli
1464.7	Arrive at Ancona, Italy – Sunday, 9.00 am.
	Section time: 13:51, Total time: 13:51

As you can see it is 1464.7 Kilometres or 910.1 miles and, if driven continuously, should take 13 hrs 51 mins.. Because we stop to sleep and eat, it takes us 24hrs. Then we have to get a boat down the Adriatic which takes 20 hrs. Then we drive to Piraeus from Patras which takes another 3 hrs. Then we take a ferry to our island for another 6hrs. It is quite a journey and costs about £2000.00 return.

18th June, 2009

Today, we signed papers for our redundancy settlements and filled out Pension forms to take effect from August 31st. Although we are not working, we have three more salary cheques to receive. We have been very lucky to have spent the last five months of our service on fully paid gardening leave as well as another year’s salary in redundancy. To cap it all, we were told that we could have 35 year long service awards in cash – enough to buy a new desktop computer to take to Greece. We feel quite uncomfortably mischievous as we plan the next few years out.

Jane B.G. has got to me. Probably because she is so skinny. We have a month before we leave for Greece where we will swim twice a day for three months. We calculate that we will do 170 swims before we come back to England. We will go on one set walk every day – 85 walks – and then we will be developing our vegetable garden. Because of Jane B.G., we thought we would use our last four weeks here profitably so we have rejoined our local Spirit Health Club. We had been members for years but, in recent times, we found ourselves not getting there. I calculated last year that the swim we had in June had cost us nearly £800.00 we had used it so little. We decided to stop kidding ourselves and cancel our subscription. We became lapsed members. Today we joined just for 4 weeks, because that is all we have left, for an amazing price of £75.00 for the two of us. We went off for our first swim of the year. I did thirty minutes non-stop followed by a Jacuzzi and a Steam Room. I felt wonderful. About an hour after arriving back home the phone went and I panicked when I realised my legs wouldn’t work. Probably I’d brought my resting pulse down too much. I think I’ll have to pace my return to peak fitness.

19th June, 2009

40 years ago this Summer, I went to Training College. I shared an upstairs flat of a four storey house with two other lads who were Freshers as well. My College was for all girls – 650 of them – and the College had only just decided to take men – all 20 of them – a few weeks before I applied. On one of the few occasions Mum took me anywhere, we went up to Ripon in her car – I can’t remember which one now but it was the one after the Austin A40. She got Nellie Deacon to go with us because she didn’t want to drive home alone. She was still fairly inexperienced as a driver. I was the first one there because Mum was keen to get back before nightfall. There were two bedrooms, a single and a double. Guess who got the single bedroom! Later in the day the prospective occupants of the shared room arrived. Nigel Faulds from St Albans and John Ridley from Whitley Bay.

  

In the group photo, Nigel Faulds – who is now a Buddhist Monk by the way – is  standing back, extreme left with his arms folded. I am back, third from the right with my old friend, Kevin Dagg second from the right. For some reason, John Ridley didn’t get on this photo. Next to it is a recent one of him as Headteacher of a Primary School in North Yorkshire.

Leonard Cohen spent ten or more years as a Buddhist Monk – I think during the 80s and early 90s. I would never have heard from him if it wasn’t for Nigel who dragged me away from Cliff Richard and introduced me to sitting under the table, drunk as a skunk on red wine and howling to Leonard Cohen’s:

Like a Bird on the wire,
Like a drunk in a midnight choir,
I have tried in my way to be free….

The Leonard Cohen concert on TV last night transported me back 40 years. I had a tear in my eye for lost youth.