Doing my bit....

The Portugese economy seems to be the next one to require an EU bail-out. It would appear that they are unable to produce enough product to be able to service their debt, rather than be suffering any major banking crisis. Consequently twenty of us decided to pop over for a bit of golf and see if that helped them out!!

It was the 20th year of the Algarve Cup, and one member of the party, 'Yorkshire', had attended all of them. I was a mere novice with thirteen years behind me, however, I was unable to attend last year due to family commitments, and have also served a one year ban after receiving a red card, sometime in the past.

So with twenty participants being an apt number to have on tour, we had to think up villa themes and thought the terrible twenties would be as good as any. Consequently I was a member of the Charles Lindberg villa and others included the Flappers, the Louis Armstrongs, the Charlie Chaplins and the Al Capones.

We also had some additional tour guests this year and so we had to provide nicknames for them. Its a tradition in the City where most of the boys work, to have a nickname, as it is in the fire service, in which none of them work!!

Now the footballer mentality of adding ie on the end of a name gave us our first . One of the chaps had a surname of Tait and was called Taitie by his friends when he arrived. We soon changed that to call him Neeps. There was a father and son combination with surname of Simpson so they quickly became Bart and Homer. Bit of a no brainer really.

Mark Hurley became Liz, and John Kendall became Mintie. One of the group was fairly nondescript, and a name was proving difficult until he shot 17 points one day in the stableford. Now as 17 is the Boots own range cosmetics, he became bootsie, and unless he reads this blog he will still be wondering why!

Our final newcomer looked just like Dobby the house elf from Harry Potter so he was tasked with collecting the fines on the final night, using a sock as a collection vehicle. Quite good I thought!

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........

I'm Mandy, Fly Me

I have just returned from Portugal after the annual 'Algarve Cup' tournament. I avoided winning the parrot for last place, and with two good and two bad rounds, I came mid-table.

I travelled over and back on EasyJet, but for some reason from Liverpool, John Lennon International Airport, they only fly one flight on the Monday, so whereas most of the team got back Monday night, I had to wait until Tuesday.

EasyJet are fine as long as they fly on time, I don't have a problem paying for baggage or golf clubs, and the staff are generally friendly and helpful. I was interested though to read about the extra charges being introduced at their hub in Luton, while travelling back.

I had already noticed that people are charged 50p for the clear plastic bag they put their make-up in, at Liverpool, and there is the lounge charge, the priority boarding charge and the fast track security charge which seem to be accepted these days. The announcement that people were to be charged £1 to drop people off at the airport though is a bit cheeky. Air travel is designed to be quicker than other modes of transport, so encouraging people to use the park and ride so way away is only going to erode the differential. I know its only £1 , but judging by the RyanAir announcement to their staff that theyneed to think of new ways of charging passengers, it could be the tip of the iceberg.

So, what are the suggestions; charging people to eat their own food on the plane ( food corkage equivalent), making fat people pay more money, or including your weight as part of your baggage allowance, and what else?

Well here are a few things for you if any RyanAir people read this.

Its 30p to spend a penny at Paddington Station in London, although you can slide in past the turnstiles if you know the trick!! So lets have a toilet usage charge on aircraft. What about paying so that the seat in front of you cannot be reclined, although a reclining passenger may need to be re-imbursed for not being able to be selfish and inconsiderate. Short haul don't have movies or entertainment, but that is an obvious one to charge for, if they do not already.

They could also sell papers and magazines, wet wipes and serviettes but they would all contribute to total takeoff weight and may not therefore be viable.

Alternatively of course they could just make everything inclusive and put the base price up, I am sure it will happen, but then don't Virgin and BA do that already?

They swim in the sea, we eat them for tea.......

Interesting weekend just past. Our oldest, Tim and his girlfriend Lili, used the house for an engagement party. Interesting guest list which included my present and past wife, and her two ex-husbands!!

Tim, as an only child, seems to have masses of siblings, and all were present for the big event. It all went off well, I think. I behaved myself and got to bed about 2am......not too bad.

They are planning to get married twice, bit like me really! The first will be in Brazil in February 2009, the second in England later in the same year. There seems to be huge interest in going to Sao Paulo so i think they will be surprised by the turnout. It will be Summer there so the combination of a wedding and holiday seems spot on to me.

Talking of holidays, I am just off to St Lucia, to defend my 'Sir Vivian Richards Pro-Am' title around the tricky but very picturesque St Lucia Golf Course. I won it last time with Jeff Crowe, the New Zealand cricketer, and two local members. Jeff is a cousin of Russell, and had just come back form seeing him get married. Jeff plays of 2 so we were quids in really compared with some of the team members. Ian Botham, Sir Gary Sobers, Tony Greig and Chris Cowdrey were playing, as well as the host, and it was a sound day out all round......I am told there is a fair bit of development going on at the moment around the course, and Jack Nicklaus is building a second 18 holes nearby. It will be interesting to see the new club house as well.

I am also playing in the 'Todgers Trophy' overseas edition when I return. This year it is in Portugal, and it is the annual tournament for Twickenham Rugby Club. In true rugger tradition, we have to go as famous Englishmen. That should irritate the Welsh amongst us.

They got knocked out of the Rugby World Cup on Saturday didn't they? To Fiji of all people. The QFstage is now quite interesting. I would take Argentina and South Africa to go through and meet in the semi, which then conjures up potentially four games in which anybody could win. On their day England can beat Aus, and France can turn over NZ. An E v F semi could go either way, as could the SA v Argie one. So we are suddenly looking at an Argie v England final! Who would have thought it a week or so ago?