christmas greetings from Wing and a Prayer

Wing and a Prayer
Joy Hughes
Mon 24 Dec 2007 11:31
Hi Folks

Do hope you are all keeping well and ready for the Christmas festive
season.

Thought you may be interested to know where we are, having completed our
five year retirement holiday and returned to Europe.

So what has been happening to us! Well leaving the boat in the Canaries we
returned home (a small town in the
north of Britain near Manchester called Bolton) to find the property having
had five years on the rental market in a sorry state of repair and in need
of a lot of TLC.
With plenty of time on our hands and not a lot of cash we set about
renovating the property.

For the first couple of months the weather was kind to us and we set
too.Graham Boss me Gofer.
To begin we hired two large skips into which we cleared the house of
carpets, curtains and other fixtures and fittings that had long past their
sell by date.
Living on a small boat for five years we were quite happy to live in one
room as we worked through the house. Plus living on a boat makes you a Jack
of all trade, able to turn your hand to most DIY situations. I think Graham
enjoyed having the space to do the work instead of the cramped spaces he had
had to work in on the boat.
He had resumed his trip to the local on a Saturday afternoon where he
could relaxed with other men and put the world to rights over a pint or two
or more of the local beer. Many of the men are tradesmen, they were very
helpful and advised him on various jobs...
Some jobs we had to have professional tradesmen. Health and Safety since we
left has got very strict and some electrical jobs and all Gas work has to be
done by registered tradesmen. However tradesmen are very helpful and Graham
learnt a lot from the Saturday afternoon club.
To date we have stripped walls and woodwork. Repapered and painted walls,
ceilings. Laid floor coverings and made curtains and blinds. We are now
living in most of the house though some rooms still need decorating.
But we are comfortable for the winter.

We have had some laughs. On the boat we thought we were quite in tune with
technology but we have found back home we are dinosaurs. Thankfully at our
age it is excepted and we get it explained slowly.Unfortunately as we come
to grips with one another new
gismo comes on the market.

As the weather changed and the temperature dropped to freezing overnight and
single
figures during the day we decided to take a break, check our the boat and
get some winter sun.
Not so. We choose the week a deep depression spread across the islands.
Heavy rain and strong winds with gusts
up to 40kts raged over the marina for two days whilst we sheltered in the
boat being buffeted about.
Not what we had ordered.

We returned home without the suntans to spend Christmas with family and
friends. Looking forward to continuing
work on the house in the New year with breaks in the sun on the boat. The
weather will be kinder next time I hope.

So all that is left to be said is.

Graham and I wish you all.
A Lovely Christmas and a Healthy and Happy New year
Keep in Touch.