Well we are still here and I have been assured by the IT people that all is now well and postings can continue as normal, that is if any of them were ever normal. If they suddenly disappear again, not that I don’t have faith in the IT people, remember to switch to www.blackbookofretirement.com for information on what is happening.


So to catch up on what has been happening.


There we were sitting with the family in Barcelona after Christmas when the topic of working in the UK crops up. Dave needs to be in the UK and Alex and the kids seem keen to move in with us. So after fourteen years abroad they put their furniture into store in Barcelona and come back to the UK to live with us until they resolve if this is a long stay or just a medium stay. How long a medium stay is I am not sure but the kids have started the local school and Alex has a job,


I immediately start to think of what retirement means. Sitting in the garden room watching the village folk go off to work. Wandering down to the garden centre mid week and sharing a scone with Christine. Focus with the old folk card on a Tuesday and B&Q on a Wednesday. Pottering down the pub for the pensioners specials at tea time, well not Christine of course she isn’t a pensioner yet or so she says.


All this seems to be a thing of the past now, a cottage that was over adequate for Christine and I to wander about in is now full of the family. Having said that, in the two years I have been retired Christine and I spent five months living with the family in the Bahamas and then over six months of this last year with them in Barcelona. So we are used to all being together. Of course while they lived abroad we could always go home for some peace and quiet but now we have two teenage children permanently around the cottage. Well actually Joe is a teenager and Amber just thinks and acts as if she is. Twelve in a few weeks going on fourteen would sum her up pretty good.


But joking aside it is great to be all together for however long it lasts, I am sure the day will come when Dave announces where he needs to be next and off they will go and Christine and I will be back searching the internet for cheap flights to who knows where.


So now it’s six people for each meal which is causing some issues with quantities when Christine is used to cooking for just the two of us. But in general we are getting there. Just a tip from some one who knows, get down to the local store and stock up on wallpaper paste; there will be a world shortage shortly. Five out of the six of us have wallpaper paste for breakfast and unfortunately I am not the one who doesn’t.


Amber flatly refuses to eat anything that looks that disgusting while I, of course have to eat it so I can have a long and happy retirement with Christine or so she says. To make things worse Joe has a milk allergy and has to have his made with lactose free milk, Christine only has skimmed milk and the rest of us have semi skimmed. So now when I wander into the kitchen in a morning the new Range Cooker is fully utilised with numerous pans all bubbling away containing wall paper paste.


But that’s not really the point of this tale. While I’m trying to empty my bowl of wall paper paste anywhere than in my mouth Amber is merrily chatting away eating her slices of bread dipped in egg then fried to a golden crunch. ‘Eggy bread’ it appears to be called and looks a lot better than my wall paper paste. If a little bacon starts to appear on the side of her eggy bread with maybe a sausage there will be serious problem at breakfast time.


But then again that isn’t even the point of the story. What really worries me is the stick-a-bility of the wallpaper paste. As the breakfast comes to an end Alex goes off to work, Dave goes on his computer, Christine gets the kids ready for school and I am, not surprisingly left to sort out the pots. Most of the debris goes in the dish washer but then I am left with a number of pans with remnants of wall paper paste clinging to them.


I soak them in hot water, attack them with wire wool in the form of Brillo pads, scrape them with wooden spoons all to no effect. The wall paper paste is still there. If it’s this hard to get the stuff off the pans what on earth is doing to your arteries, every one of mine must be almost clogged to the full.


A little bacon with a fried egg and maybe a sausage never seemed to have this problem. Must have a word with Christine.

Times are proving very difficult.


I am not sure if we are staying here or going to www.blackbookofretirement.com but rest assured that you will find me either here or there.


I blame it on the IT people but there again I blame most things on the IT people. It comes as a result of being a project manager for so many years and always needing someone to blame if things went wrong. As of course they often did.


But look for the book. I have spent many hours, working my fingers to the bone, adding more content to items from the Blog to come up with with my first book. Probably will also be my last but I am sure it is worth a read.


Lazing on that beach or sitting in that hotel restaurant trying to decide between the very large fillet steak with the chips, mushrooms and onions rings or the healthy tuna salad with nothing on the side, the book will be a good way to pass the time. It will not cost a fortune and of course the money will go to a good cause. Me!!!


Keep looking it will be on www.amazon.co.uk in the next few weeks. I will keep you informed.


Christine is very pleased to be on Amazon! Not!

Hey everyone - Maybe we are back!


Christine was quite happy while it was off. It stopped me making comments about her.



But just in case it goes off again soon bookmark www.blackbookofretirement.com The blog will be transfered there soon.


But also look out on www.amazon.co.uk I have now published a book based on the blog called the The Black Book of Retirement and it will be available on Amazon in a few weeks time. Maybe three to four weeks.


Keep in touch.



Keith

Well here we are, 2008, a whole new year to go at. Unspoiled so far, mind you it is only ten days old. But with my resolve to become a ‘glass half full’ person I can see this being a very good year.


This also signals the end of two years of retirement which is very hard to believe, it just seems to have gone so quickly, helped I think by us spending 5 months of the first year in The Bahamas and then over six months of this last year in Barcelona. Doesn’t seem a bad life but it’s not all been easy, it hasn’t been a holiday of course we have simply been visiting the family. I have also had to do a lot of work at home in the periods we have been there so maybe this year I should be looking to take things easy for a change!


As usual with each new year comes the new resolutions. The ‘no drinking’ lasted until the afternoon of New Year’s Day. Watching football down at Alfonso’s Bar in Castelldefels didn’t seem right just drinking a lemonade so a bottle of beer was ordered and that was the end of that resolution. But that one was never going to last, every time we see the school bus we open another bottle.


The diet! How can you diet when a ‘menu del dia’ costs around eight euros for three courses and includes a bottle of wine. So the diet resolution lasted just as long as took us to eat all the excess of food we had bought for the holiday period. When I think about it having eaten all the excess food in the few day’s after New Year and then popping out for a ‘Menu del dia’ I think it’s fair to say that this resolution didn’t even get of the ground.


Getting fit! Yes this one is still going well, Christine and I are taking the air walking an hour a day along the promenade. This isn’t really too much of a hardship as the temperature is still around the 18 to 20 degrees in the afternoons and the Mediterranean is calm and blue with even people still sitting on the beach. The down side is that the walks are on the promenade and not the beach. Beach walking seems to have lost some of its appeal since the summer, I am just having a little trouble trying to put my finger on what it is. That’s it, the beach bars have gone, oh yes and maybe the girls sunbathing in next to nothing but I don’t think I used to notice them anyway. So keeping fit is going OK, an hour’s walk a day is better than nothing.


But where the real problem comes is with the ‘glass half full’ resolution. I have decided to rid myself of the Victor Meldrew image that certain people seem to have of me. I really don’t understand where this comes from as I am the most easy going person I know to get on with. I have lived with Christine for over forty years, I must be easy going but I seem to have this reputation.


So here we are ten day’s into the new year with me being even more understanding than usual, not having a raised voice with anyone, being pleasant all day and what happens? The kids are complaining that I am getting at them about the state of their bedrooms and how long they spend on their computers and how two weeks holiday from school at Christmas is far too long. Does this sound like me? I just happen to mention the odd thing now and again and suddenly I am Victor Meldrew.


Christine tells me I am complaining everyday about going for the walk, when all I happen to mention is that it is not like it was on the beach in the summer. On reflection I do seem to mention it most days and just maybe it would be better if I stopped the grumbling and just did the walk. Maybe tomorrow!


It may just be of course that I like being Victor Meldrew so maybe this resolution wont last too long if in fact it has started at all. On the other hand when I ask Christine what resolution she has made for the New Year she simply replies, as she does most years, “To be even more perfect than last year”. Pass the bottle!

The Grandkids have opened their presents, Joe now spends all night starring at the Moon and Stars with a telescope that we were concerned would be mistaken for a rocket launcher when we brought it on the plane to Spain. Amber has roller blades and is hurtling up and down the promenade in a reckless fashion. When she first learned to roller blade in Holland she was very fast but with no idea of how to stop. She hasn’t changed.


These are of course only two of many presents they received. They both now have new watches, computer games, books and various other things, not bad seeing as they no longer believe in Father Christmas. Alex and Christine, who may I add at this point still does believe, also seem to have done quite well. As usual David and myself got the normal handkerchiefs, books, sweets and after shave. But the real bonus this year was the amount of thought that has gone into some of the presents.






Take mine for instance. The new John Grisham book, that’s OK I have read all his books. Lots of chocolates and fudges, I also like them so it’s all going well at the moment. The new Katherine Jenkins CD, brings back fond memories of sitting all night at the Humber Bridge looking at her chest(Just checking her breathing patterns, of course). Must be a good excuse to put the picture back again. Is she better than Kylie in those boots? Close thing!


Then I come to another from Christine. I open it and see that it is a package from Belkin so it must be something for my computer. Is it a new software package? Is it a webcam? That would be useful. I rip the paper off to find............!


It’s a device for playing an Ipod in a car. Not a bad present you may say but think about it! You will of course remember that the Ipod belongs to Christine and is not being classed as a ‘we’ thing, my music is not allowed to be on it. You should also remember that Christine has claimed the car as her own being the replacement for the Clio which was hers before I retired and had my very nice Volvo company car confiscated. So here we have it, a present from Christine to me so she can listen to her Ipod in her car.


The car already has a six change CD multi changer plus one extra in the dashboard so playing any CD I want isn’t really a problem. The Ipod has none of my music on anyway so it is difficult to see how this present is beneficial to me at all, a question that I raise with Christine.


The problem is I just don’t follow the logic. On a long journey, Christine tells me, when her Ipod runs out of battery she starts talking to me which seems to annoy me. With this new device it will never run out of power so there we have the benefit. I try to explain that the only reason I get annoyed with her talking is while I’m listening to a football match or Talksport Radio and now the match won’t be on at all.


“There you are then” says Christine “Told you it would be better”. I pick up the next present to open. Wouldn’t be surprised if it’s a subscription to Homes and Garden!!



Merry Christmas to everyone our wishes for a great new year. Christine and Keith