In late November we had our first conventional holiday for years when we got a cheap Ryanair flight to Lisbon and stayed for a week in a pleasant city centre hotel.  It was the first time for both of us in mainland Portugal and our days were occupied by leisurely breakfasts, sightseeing and big dinners.  I became an instant convert to Pastel de Nata, the delicious Portuguese custard tarts and we both really enjoyed the food in general. We navigated the city by tram and underground and on foot.  We've both always enjoyed pavement pounding as it's down the backstreets and byways that you really to get to know somewhere, sometimes too well.  Of the several museums we visited the one that left the most lasting impression was the Museu do Aljube Resistência e Liberdade.  Located in a former Bastille-like prison and at one time a home for the secret police, it's dedicated to the history of the Salazar regime, which had many similarities to Franco's Spain. Looking back...

Apart from anything else our recent property sales and purchases have essentially sorted out my lifetime finances, leaving me with a lump of cash and, when I start to get my old age pension in July 2021, a decent income stream.  I had no idea when we gave up our jobs and left the UK in 2002 that it would be this simple and I have to touch wood that there will be no down the line economic and/or personal catastrophes that render this conclusion hopelessly misguided.  Anyway, it seemed like the time to acquire a new motorbike and here it is - a Motoguzzi V9 bobber.  My first brand new motorbike, well almost, it had zero miles on the clock when I picked it up from the dealers in Peterborough, though it had been pre-registered the previous November and came with a stonking discount.  It's actually very similar to the Motoguzzi Nevada I used to have in Puglia and it suits me very well as it's really pleasant to ride, has some useful modern improvements like ABS and a gear...

The New Year saw Sue and I begin our new lives as a UK-based retired couple and life quickly settled into a relaxed swing of shopping, TV, outings, house hunting and eating out.  Frankly, even in January we were still good for little else, having exhausted ourselves over the move from Italy.  We spent New Year’s Eve with our old friends Carole and Kevin in their newly adopted town of Chester-le-Street and in late January Sue’s friend Sheila came to visit us in Newark. In March we went to Dorset to visit Sue’s friend Cathy and as Spring arrived we began to seriously start looking for a new house.  This was given momentum when we also put the apartment in Newark on the market.  As a result of having the apartment since 2016 Sue and I had grown comfortable with living in an English market town and decided that a town with an attractive centre, decent shops and good connections with London would be our ideal.  We checked out Melton Mowbray, Oakham and several other ...