Ramblings in Retirement
September 2008

This month started with a continuation of good weather, temperatures in the mid 30s and clear blue skies. However, in the last week we experienced a deluge of rain over the week and kept us fairly housebound. Hopefully, this is the last of the serious rain (which is early this year) and with the temperatures dropping to the mid 20s it looks as we are set now for the oncoming autumn and winter.


I have been encouraged by the members of my Video Editing Group at the computer club who have risen to the challenge of producing a short summer video, which we will show to the club members in November. Currently there are 10 entries with more in the pipeline. I have posted one of my entries on the weblog for your entertainment.


September saw the majority of the holidaymakers go home and this makes for easier access to the town and getting about in general.

We had a very nice reunion with some friends from the UK who inspired us last year to go on our Indo-China Adventure. We all met up at the same restaurant on the same month as last year and recounted all our experiences. I still have to edit the massive amount of videotapes I have of the adventure and intend to do this over the next few months.

Stuart (our eldest son) and his family have moved into our home in Gildersome as he had sold his property and had not as yet found anything suitable. Looking at the current economic climate, his timing has been great and with house prices falling he should be able to get more for his money. It is with deep regret that we will be unable to return to the UK in October as planned (ha, ha) and will have to stick it out here instead.

We have had problems leaving the NHS, Penny requested the appropriate forms which never arrived, then called the office again and was told she would not get them as she was not drawing a pension! (A pension forecast done in year 2000 showed that any pension would be minimal, so we didn’t bother). Penny was told that she would have to wait until I reached retirement age before the forms could be sent. It just seems ludicrous that when we try to do the right thing, bureaucracy kicks in.

Watching TV recently has brought out my cynicism, for the following reasons:
· We see a nice advert for the latest model of car but the actual model shown in the ad is almost 50% more than the headline price.
· We see products, which have voice-overs with American actors.
· We apparently can smell “white diamonds.”
· We can still save with confidence with the Bradford and Bingley Building Society!

Never being technically minded I always find electronics difficult to comprehend. I am fearful of changing any of the DVD/Video/ Sky box connections, as it is most likely to cause me several hours of frustration to get things to work again! Stephen our youngest son bought me a new mobile phone which takes photos, and yes, it does do as described in the handbook. But.. nowhere can I find out how to download them to my PC. I then tried something called “bluetooth” and bought a USB dongle for the PC which after an hour or so I worked out how to download the photos (some of which had been there since February)! For those like me, “bluetooth” is a kind of infrared signal, which can link two pieces of equipment. So here are a couple of recovered photos.


























During the rainy period we went to Valencia for the day to do some shopping and bought a new rug for the lounge. It should be delivered towards the end of October but one never knows. I am always amazed just how beautiful Valencia is as a city, and made a mental note to go sightseeing/photographing (preferably on a Sunday when the shops are closed)!

Anyway that’s all for September………..