Roast Guineapig

 The St Andrews dinner season concluded last night at Heswall. It was a very pleasant evening with all main guests sitting around an oval table. Only problem was there were thirteen of us and I know some people who would not have entertained sitting on a table with such a number, but we all seemed to survive.

The Address to the Haggis was conducted in due style with actions which would give Wallasey's Tom Blackstock a run for his money in the Address to the Haggis stakes. All in all a great night made all the better by being able to drink London Pride all night, a rare opportunity on the Wirral but Heswall golf club always seems to have it on draught and it was lovely.

The penultimate dinner was at Woolton where they always schedule their dinner on St Andrews Day. This year it was a Tuesday and I was thankful that Wednesday was a Wintery day which meant golf was cancelled.

The rest of this week has been involved with storm damage repairs. We had a large limb come down off one tree, but the main problems were the eight fence sections which were lost. The debris was scattered over a large area  to such an extent  that neighbours came round with armfulls of wood,,,,I think these are yours!!

So the exterior is secured once more, I just have the boundary sections to fix, a door to the store room to repair and then all the old wood and branches to dispose of. In the day that would have been a big bonfire, but it seems those days are long gone. There is one leek in the room which I might have to put through the insurance people, but I am holding off on that just at the moment to check no other leeks appear this weekend, when the rain is forecast to be heavy, but the wind less so.

One of the granddaughters has a birthday tomorrow so there is a pool party going on as I type, Then we are hopefully off to a woodland light trail. The Harry Potter experience last weekend was postponed because of the storm, hopefully we will have better luck tonight. Both Ava and Nell have had an early Christmas present of a guinea-pig each. They are a delicacy in Peru but we did not have the nerve to try them when we were in Cousco. Maybe we can eat one of the new ones when nobody is looking!!!

 

Going, going, gone......

I started this blog in May 2007 to chart the path I would follow as i put my house on the market. little did I know it would be two and a half years later that I would be reporting the conclusion of the journey.

Yes, I have finally exchanged on the sale and vacate the property on 6th November. I will be leaving London to live away for the first time in nearly 40 years, and will need to locate the nearest source of London Pride or Youngs Ordinary to avoid my liver going into shutdown.

Thanks goodness for the internet which will allow me to follow the local issues and sporting prowess of the team which i have followed for much of that time.

A lot of things have happened in the time the house has been on the market. Maxine and I have become grandparents, our oldest son, Tim has married, and our oldest daughter is engaged. A few friends have passed away, and we have mourned their loss.

We have travelled a fair bit it has to be said. Peru, Brazil, Egypt, Portugal, Chicago, Edinburgh, Rome. Paris and Cyprus have been on our schedule, as well as a cruise around the islands of the Mediterranean. At that should stand us in good stead now that my Company has cast me adrift by making draconian changes to its final salary pension scheme.

I met the CEO yesterday and asked him outright why I should stay in his Company. His reply was hopeless, and as a colleague of mine once said, 'when the lunatics start running the asylum, its time to leave' . I think they are, and I am. ETD is scheduled for 5th February at the moment which will make the England v Wales game at Twickenham the next day a bit of a blinder.

So the blog has fulfilled one role, and now it takes on a new one as it tracks my progress through early retirement, life in Scouserland and potentially a few entrepreneurial projects. Watch this space one may come to a road near you........