And still it goes on...

So busy have I been meeting up with people and organising things that I haven't had time to write the blog. Not good time management I hear you say but its the only excuse I have. I will have to improve though as there will be so much to write during our travels that strict adherance to the blog is necessary. It will take me all day to write things up if I skip a few days then.

So let me recap to fill in the gaps. Last Sunday we met up with Dean and Linda and they brought along Linda's son Matthew as well. We went to the Fox and Hounds in Englefield Green which is a lovely location near to Great Windsor Park and the food is lovely there too. We had a lovely time, ate lots AGAIN and said our personal goodbyes to them. They will come to our leaving do on Friday but this was our last meal in the UK with them for a while. Pictures above.

On Monday I had a day of shopping, sorting out at home - scanning more documents and catching up on emails. Then on Tuesday I had the pleasure of a mammogram (at least thats another thing out of the way) after which I visited Ann and we went out to lunch together. Ann and I go back to 1997 when we both arrived in St. Peters Hospital to work for the Home from Hospital team. We both have Irish mad mothers and English fathers, we are the same age and have birthdays in the same month. We have always remained friends as well as colleagues and I sincerely hope that will continue to be the case. Ann has had a rotten few years receiving treatment for cancer but she remains strong willed, positive and with a healthy sense of humour. I am in awe of her strength of character and really want her and her husband John to come out to Cyprus and stay so that she can have a chance to relax and enjoy for a change. We went to the Red Lion Pub in Chobham and had another practice Cypriot lunch that lasted over 4 hours.

I got home just in time to change and go to my yoga class after which Pat and I tried out the Cricketers Pub for a bar meal and the pub quiz. The meal filled us was all I can say and I hope the cold buffet that they are laying on for our leaving do is more appetising. The pub quiz was entertaining but we performed miserably - too many football and celebrity questions for our liking. Thats when you need a larger team, including men, to answer some of the questions that we can't. So what a full day I had on Tuesday and ate out twice! Please don't make me eat any more food!!

On Wednesday I rode Steves bike (the one he kept at work) to a bike repair shop in Chertsey so that they could attempt to repair the gears. I walked back so that was my exercise for the day. The bike will be put on ebay to sell after we get it back. Then I put our VERY important documents (birth certs, marriage certs, divorce papers etc) in an envelope to post out by recorded delivery to Ruth and Lionel - our Cyprus next door neighbours and now good friends. They will take good care of them until we arrive. I also completed a redirection of mail form to take along to the post office, giving Pats details as a "care of" address in the UK. They require all sorts of proof of identity for that process so I took passports, utility bills etc in a plastic wallet to the post office.

I parked in Chertsey and walked round the corner to the post office where I stood in the obligatory dream in the queue. At one point I rechecked the plastic wallet and realised there were no passports in it. Silently cursing to myself thinking I had left them at home my mobile phone suddenly rang. It was Steve jokingly accusing me of trying to sabotage our planned trip by cunningly disposing of our passports. He then went on to say a passerby had found them on the pavement and handed them into Barclays Bank!!! - round the corner form the post office. I don't need to tell you about that awful hot and faint feeling you get when you see your life flashing before you do I?

So I hastily legged it around the corner to the bank and saw the teller who had the passports. He grilled me with lots of personal questions to ensure they were ours. Luckily Steve and I purchased ISAs from Barclays last week and so they had our personal details on their system - how lucky was that?? After I started breathing properly again I returned to the post office and continued with my task. I can't bear to think of the extra hassle it would have caused if that kind passerby had been anything other than honest. I don't know who he was but thank you my friend!

On my return home I got changed again and went to meet Judith for lunch at Fego's in Sunningdale where we met up a couple of weeks ago. We had a lovely lunch again and a long chat. I really like her and we have a lot in common. She will also visit us in Cyprus and is looking forward to it.

The car started playing up a bit on the way there - and it isn't the first time either. It will have to be looked into before we leave - we can't afford to leave anything to chance. It seems to be an electrics problem - lights flashing on the computerised dashboard system and various pings along the way for no apparent reason. Over the last few weeks it has been a bit temperamental - windscreen wipers not working at times and the doors not locking. Then it will suddenly pass and be ok. Yesterday was the last straw though - to the garage it goes.

That brings me to today. I have had a morning of housework. The letting agents are showing a prospective tenant around the bungalow this afternoon and I don't want them thinking we are messy and dirty - I have my pride. I will make myself scarce during that time and I hope the bungalow gets a nice new tenant to look after it when we have gone. So - better get changed again!

Food, food and more food!!

On Friday lunch time I met up with Kim, my oppo at work for lunch at the Kingfisher in Chertsey. It was great to see her and catch up on all the news. That news had little to impress me as regards the work environment though. Poor Kim is even working on Sundays to try to maintain her workload. She must be a glutton for punishment though as she says she is still enjoying it! Kim - you like a challenge - you certainly have one - and long may you be able to cope. I wonder where and when it will all stop though - how much work can an organisation load onto one person before they break. She looked well though so it can't be that bad.

The weather was glorious - temperatures of 18 - 19 degrees celsius - so we sat outside soaking it up watching the Thames flow past as we ate a lovely sweet potato and spinach curry each - not a bad life I suppose. Kim even paid for my meal as a leaving treat. I forgot my camera (again) so can't support this blog with a photo of Kim - but she is coming to our leaving do next Friday so I will make sure I capture her there.

Steve and I have indulged ourselves and bought tempur mattresses for the caravan. We considered it and dismissed the idea at first due to the cost - they are expensive. But since then we have both had back pain due to one thing or another and reconsidered the idea. When we did the maths we worked out that they would actually cost us about £1.50 per night of our trip - and that for a good nights sleep and the ability to enjoy our days - not a lot when you look at it that way. These were delivered on Friday too - so we decided to try them out in Esmerelda before we leave. Well - we have to see if we have got our money's worth don't we?

Yesterday we drove down to Southampton to visit Steve's dad Fred and his sister Deborah with her daughter Hope (pictures above). Before we left though we had to load one of our 2 seater sofas into the car to take down to her. She was in need of a new sofa and we have two of these - only one of which is needed in Cyprus - so we agreed to take the other one to her. Now these sofas are the bees knees - they have a very supportive squab to support our backs and they are recliners as well - ultra comfortable. Ultra heavy as well as we found out when we tried to pack them into the car. Steve had to remove the car seats first then we moved the sofa, in two parts, through the patio window as it was easier to negotiate them out that way. The metal action for the recliners weighed a ton and although we struggled with the first one we both failed to get the second one in place as it was difficult to fit them both in anyway and I didn't have the strength to lift the second one higher up. Our neighbour, Steve, came to the rescue and enabled the second one to be packed into the car. When we arrived at Southampton Debs had arranged for her and a friend to carry them into her flat - on the fourth floor! They did it too - with much huffing and puffing!

First though we went for lunch together- yet another goodbye meal - at a lovely restaurant by the river. The weather was cold though so we sat inside this time. It was a carvery meal which we all thoroughly enjoyed. It was Grand National day so we stopped off first at the bookies and all put on our pennies and crossed our fingers. After dinner we heard the race on the car radio and found to our surprise that Steve's horse, Snowy Morning had come third and mine, Slim Pickings had come fourth. So back to the bookies on the way home to collect our winnings - we made 100% profit from that so a good day all in. And Fred paid for all our lunches too - all this eating and not paying for it!

We stayed with them all until early evening before heading back home. Although colder weather and even snow had been forecast we decided to bite the bullet and sleep in Esmerelda to test the mattresses. Steve put a heater on in the caravan for an hour before we took ourselves out there with mattresses, pillows and duvet. The night was very cold - took me back to my childhood when we had no central heating and I had to put my head under the duvet (blankets in those days) to breathe in warm air. It was really comfortable though so the nights sleep was an overall success. We were very surprised when we woke up to look out of the window and see snow that any Christmas would be proud of. I had to capture that on camera - April 6th!! how unpredictable can the weather get?

As I write it is still snowing and shows no sign of melting. Looks very pretty though.

Yet more food today - we are meeting Dean and Linda at the Fox and Hounds in Englefield Green for lunch - another goodbye meal. At this rate I won't even be able to get into Esmerelda by the time we leave!

Steve also bid on an awning/sunshade for Esmerelda yesterday and we won! Brilliant price too but it is in High Wycombe - I have emailed the seller and asked if we can collect it this afternoon after lunch as we are heading in that direction - we hope he replies with a yes before we leave for the pub restaurant at 12.15pm - keep your fingers crossed. It won't be the snow that bothers us on our travels (we don't think so anyway) it will be the sun - so the shade will enable us to sit outside the caravan in comfort.

Family time

Well last week I had some special family time in Derbyshire and it was lovely - special memory making time for me. I took Caleb, my grandson, back to Derbyshire after he had spent a few days with me and Steve, then I stayed for a few days while Steve went to work.

My daughters are very different - thank goodness. It would be a very boring world if all our children were alike - or the same as their parents. I celebrate the differences in them and their children too and recognise similarities and differences to me as well. Of course they are grown adults in their own world at the ages of 34 and nearly 33(sorry to publish that on the world wide web girls) and have created their own lifestyles. There is also the obvious generation gap which I am pleased about most of the time. I think the music, the fashions, the lifestyles and the opportunities were better in the 60s and 70s when I was growing and nesting and they have a lot more pressure than we did. Steve and I are now benefiting from the good times being at the latter end of the post war baby boom - having more money, better pensions, more freedom and being fitter than our parents were. God help my grandchildren who have little hope of a Great Britain any more, poor job prospects, mega expensive living costs and next to no pension prospects. I will come off my political bandwagon now.

I stayed with Lisa, Caleb and Teyha for the first night and had the joy of being woken by a smiling toddler face at 6.40am who got into my bed, switched the cartoons on and generally indicated that the night time was over. I was sleeping on a mattress on the living room floor I hasten to add so I was invading their territory. I walked Caleb to school - he was very reluctant to go knowing he was going to miss a day out with the rest of us - but hey ho. Teyha came along too for some exercise and time with me. Afterwards I took Lisa and Teyha to Mansfield for a look round - the weather was awful - very cold, wet at times and bleak.It was good to spend time with them and Lisa and I did a lot of talking - as we do. After collecting Caleb from school and taking them home I went to Louise's for dinner (or tea in Derbyshire - the north/south divide has its issues). Mark, Louise's husband was at home, being on the night shift this week poor soul. We had a lovely dinner/tea and sat and chatted. I used Skype to call Steve and catch up with his day too.

That night I had a bedroom to myself as Aiden was bunking in with Neev so I had his room. After walking Aiden and Neev to school, I took Louise to the dentist - she had a gum infection and wanted to make sure it wasn't an abscess - which it wasn't thankfully but antibiotics were prescribed. Then we went off to Chesterfield for the day. We all used to live there so there was a lot of reminiscing and surprise at the new shops that have emerged. The day was much sunnier and bright which made it a lot more enjoyable. I bought pastry steak slices from an award winning butchers for our dinner and we got back in time to collect Aiden from school. The food was really gorgeous when we sat down to devour the lot - too much but everyone loved it. I then popped back to Lisa's to see the children again before they went to bed. I was staying at Louise's again and would therefore not be seeing Caleb the following morning as he would be at school. After another good nights sleep I took Aiden and Neev to school in the car as the weather had returned to cold, wet and windy and then left Louise to go to work after saying our goodbyes. After popping round to see Lisa and Teyha again I set off on the journey home.

The pictures above are of Louise with her children Aiden and Neev, then one of Lisa on her own and another of Caleb. I couldn't manage to get a picture of Lisa with the children as they didn't seem to be together or in a suitable mood when I was ready with the camera. There will be time ahead for those I hope.

The weather was atrocious by now - driving rain and strong winds - just what you need for a drive down the M1 and M25. The spray on the motorways prevented fast driving and the water was standing on the roads making the journey even worse. I think this must have put off a lot of travellers because at least the traffic kept moving. I was very relieved to arrive home in one piece.

I'm really pleased to have spent the few days with my family and although we will not be in the country with them in future years we will come back for holidays and be able to spend longer periods of time with them than before hopefully as we will not have work to interfere with our plans. We also hope that they will come out to visit us in Cyprus so that we can share time with them there too.

Another episode over - next weekend we are going to visit Steve's dad, sister and niece in Southampton. More photos to come of them. Today is April 1st - the month of our departure - it feels more real somehow entering into this month and we are growing more excited all the time. Steve is doubly excited as he is anticipating his leaving work with glee.

Meet the family...

Steve and I have been to Derbyshire over the start of the Easter weekend to see my family. Good old Travelodge put us up again for 2 nights. You can't really beat them at £29 per night for the room - and although it is basic the rooms are comfortable, clean and equipped with everything we need. And no I'm not being paid to say that (good idea though). We drove up on Thursday morning on hassle free roads and dry weather - even though the forecast promised rain and snow. We were obviously being smiled upon. First we went to Lisa's and offloaded all her stuff - some things that we don't need to take to Cyprus and she does need eg a patio table and chairs, a food processor, cookery books, a camera. We also took clothes and bits and pieces for the children and their birthday presents for later on in the year. It is actually Lisa's birthday today as I write and she is sharing the day with Louise, Mark and the children at Louise's house. After Steve and I walked to collect Caleb from school and brought him back home we got ready and met up with Louise, Mark, Neev and Aiden at The Castlewood pub for a meal together. That was lovely and the kids were able to play in their indoor madhouse as I call it so everyone was happy.

Tehya HAD to take her green goblin with her (she is heavily into Spiderman and has to watch it daily. Lisa calls it her nanny as it watches over Tehya while she does her domestic goddess bit). Teyha calls it her geen gobbin and loves it - although she refuses to take it to bed with her as its scary - she is only 2 after all. Caleb is the eldest of the grandchildren and the most hyper. He is a labrador that needs to be exercised to work off his surplus energy. Saying that he is a very sensitive boy and loves affection. I have a wonderful family.

Steve and I returned to Lisa's for a while before leaving her to a peaceful evening while we retreated to the Travelodge for the night.

The following morning we breakfasted at Lisa's and we took her shopping to a frantically busy Tesco's after which Steve and I went to visit Louise and family at her house. We offloaded Louise's goodies and their birthday presents for later in the year and she cooked us a lovely meal. Neev, Aiden and I played some board games which was great fun. They are lovely children and play very well together. Neev is a real little lady and acts very grown up compared to the others. She is heavily into fashion and the fashionable film and TV things - High School Musical etc. Aiden is heavily into cars same as Caleb - boys will be boys. They are a very close knit family and a joy to be with.

After another night in the Travelodge Steve and I visited Lisa again and took her and the children round to Louise's where we stayed for a while before heading home on the M1. We have brought Caleb back to Surrey with us for a few days and I will take him back to Derbyshire on Tuesday and stay with the girls until Friday. This will give us some time together before we leave these grey, cold shores. It was a lovely weekend and one to remember.... A selection of pics is attached from the weekend. The one of me with the two girls is one for me to treasure. I can't remember the last time we had a photo taken together so it is particularly precious to me.

And more meals...

During the week I met up with some former work colleagues that are now friends and we had a Thai meal together as the "famous five". That is what I called us when we met up periodically to put the world to rights. We were all managers with Social Services and understood what that meant - enough said I think before I begin to rant on political issues. Thats not where I want to go on here. Anyway - four of us met up - Patsy where were you? Diane - who worked with me at St. Peters Hospital and was a great mentor and ally of mine, Carey - who used to be my manager then moved on with her role until she saw sense and left to open up a care Home in Bognor Regis. She is thriving there thankfully. And then there is Barbara - the only one of us still working for Social Services and biding her time. We had a lovely evening catching up with all the news and putting the world to rights as usual. They are a great group of ladies and I hope they all come out to Cyprus to visit. Their picture is here for all to see - much to their embarrassment.

Before we met up Steve and I stacked the car to the roof with all the things for the girls as we were leaving for Derbyshire the next morning - more of that to come later. Thankfully Diane, as organised and helpful as ever, agreed to collect me from home and take me to meet the others. Steve needed the car to attend his Pilates class in the evening. We went to The White Hart pub in Addlestone and ate a very enjoyable Thai meal - that was until later when my stomach suffered - I haven't had the time or inclination to find out if the others suffered yet - I hope not ladies. never mind - that is the last meal we will have together as a group - that sounds very final and it is. Unless you all want to come out as a holiday party and we can have another meal out there.

Meals galore!!

Time is really passing quickly now and we are on course to say goodbye to everyone and have our final meetings with them all. Last Saturday Steve and I went to Winchester to meet up with Chris and Lynne for a farewell meal. Steve and I stayed at a Travelodge, preferring to keep the pennies for our future travels and life, but Chris and Lynne splashed out on a town centre hotel. They have recently bought a beautiful new home in Poole, including games room and swimming pool and are really living the life. They look really happy and long may it last. Unfortunately we do not appear to have a photo of them together - shame on us all. We have pics of them seperately and so this is how I have decided to represent them on this blog - sorry Chris and Lynne but we really must address this issue and take some pics of you as a loving couple. Sadly we forgot to take the camera to Winchester - I prefer to think its because there is so much to think of these days. The alternate view of early onset dementia is not to be considered at this stage - no matter how accurate it may be.

Anyway we had a lovely drive to Winchester, shopped in some "boutiques" aka charity shops - bought some lovely things too. Then we retreated to our hotel room with the newspaper for a sit down before the evening meal. We met up with Chris and Lynne in a wine bar and had an apperitif before going to a Nepalese restaurant where we nearly took up residence. The food was very good and the service was great. The bill was even more acceptable - I still think they must have forgotten to charge us for something but then again we won't argue the point. We left as the waiters were setting up camp for the night (they must have thought we were going to stay for breakfast). After a nights sleep at the Travelodge and a breakfast in the Little Chef (we know how to live) we set off home again.

I also forgot to mention that I had a long lunch with Judith as well. She used to be Dean's partner until last August when they parted company. They had spent a week with us in Cyprus in July and I really got to know Judith better and grew to like her a lot. She is a very open, intelligent, confident lady with a great sense of humour - and this despite her having drawn out treatment for breast cancer throughout the previous year. Unfortunately for Judith and Dean their relationship did not prove as successful as her treatment - but thats life and they are still friends which is great. Judith and I met up in Fego's in Sunningdale for a lunch. I must have been practising for future Cyprus lunches as we stayed there for nearly 5 hours!! We did have a lot to catch up on. I have added a picture of Judith too for posterity.

More meals to come yet - watch this space.......

Time is flying by

We have achieved so much and that is really satisfying and reassuring. The last thing we want is last minute problems and pressures. Where do I start?

Well the garage has been cleared which may seem a short sentence in itself but goes no way to describe the work involved. As we live in rented, furnished accommodation the owners have some of their belongings in the garage and we have gradually added ours as time went on - as you do. So not only did we have to sort through all our stuff we had to identify the owners stuff too and restack it again in the garage. Then we divided the things into those we will keep and take with us, things that are sellable on ebay and others that we could offer on the freecycle network. Then there were things that we could offer to our families of course. We have been very productive with our sales on ebay thankfully and the local residents have benefited from other things that we have given them via freecycle. The car was packed with things for the dump and dutifully disposed of and the spare bedroom contains lots of things to give to family. Now the garage is neat and tidy and there is room to move in there at last.

Steve acted on impulse one evening and placed a wanted ad on the freecycle network for a caravan awning. I thought that was an impossible request but lo and behold someone gave us one - and as a bonus gave us a caravan cover as well. We spent a sunny but windy Saturday trying to make a frame from the poles provided for the awning and get it erected. It was in lovely condition and would have been great to provide extra space and sunshade for us but I am sad to say it was too small for Esmerelda. As the cover was the same size that was useless to us too. The previous owner did not want it returned to him so it went for sale on ebay and we got £45 for them both - more money for the meze funds. Well - it was a good idea while it lasted.

We have no free weekends between now and when we depart these cold shores on May 1st. Each one is booked with visits to family and friends to say our fond farewells and leave our forwarding details in the hope that they will come over to see us. This coming weekend we are going to Winchester - which is roughly half way between us and Chris and Lynne who have recently moved down to Poole in Dorset. Chris is an old police colleague of Steve's as well as his dear friend. Lynne, his partner is of course also a friend and they both came out to Cyprus for our wedding. We will have a meal with them on Saturday evening and mark the occasion on this blog no doubt. The following weekend, Easter, we are travelling to Derbyshire for two nights to visit my daughters and grandchildren. We are taking them for a meal too and no doubt tiring ourselves out with them all - but we love it. Then we are bringing Caleb, my eldest grandson, back to Surrey with us for a few days before I take him back home and spend a few days with them all while Steve goes back to work. As we won't see them again this year we shall take birthday cards and presents with us - how organised are we?? After that we are going to Southampton to see Steve's father, sister and niece and then we have times booked with friends before we set off. Its all go but at least we are ticking all of the boxes of things to do.

Paperwork - driving licences, birth and marriage certs, bank and wage slips, utility bills etc etc are being scanned to the computer and stored on a datastick. That is very boring work but at least they will be safe. That datastick will go everywhere with us because the papers will go one the container - we hope to survive to the other end of the journey. The laptop is stored with our favourite music and we have some great Skype headphones and a webcam to keep in touch with family.

We have moved on with the planning of the journey and are well into the third month of travelling now. So far we are going to the Netherlands, then to Germany, on to Austria and into Chech Rep as Steve wants to see Prague. After that we are coming back through Austria and into Switzerland, then down through the Italian lakes to Venice and on down the leg of Italy to catch a ferry to Greece. We have decided against the Adriatic coast as it would involve driving though Serbia - with the problems between them and Kosovo our relaxing journey may take on a different atmosphere - so we decided against it. A shame as it is supposed to be very beautiful. Maybe another time.

So our time has been used very effectively as you can see - not long now thankfully as Steve is wilting and more than ready for a break. At least he has six days off over Easter - that will give him the rest he needs to take him through the final weeks of work.
And so it goes on......