Christmas is coming.....

Well it's almost that time of year again and all the prezzies have been bought and wrapped. Sandra had the grand kids in York at the weekend to get them all measured up for new shoes and coats etc. so the old bank account is now at an all time low, well nothing changes there then!

Saw 3 of the grand kids in their Christmas plays last week and they were brilliant but nothing more than you would expect from their lineage, OK perhaps not, but in truth it was the best pair of Christmas plays I have ever seen put on so congratulations to Gilberdyke Primary School and of course all the children.

I went out with a few of the OLD guys from work last Friday night organised by Graham Copley, I had a great night out, it's nice to see good friends from a former life and we didn't talk shop all night (well nearly).
Back Row: Dave Bryce, Rob Watson, Neil Collingwood, Graham Copley, Paul Boocock
Me and Alan Cochrane at the front.
There was one absentee from the usual crowd, Ron Spence who I really missed seeing, probably because he's the only one to go for a ciggy break with!! Although Rob did oblige by bumming one in order to have the excuse to go outside and shiver. Anyway a great night had by all I think and good food and drink at a reasonable price.
We are now within four weeks of returning to Greece and I'm looking forward to it immensely. We have decided that to make the journey back a little more comfortable time wise we are going down to Gatwick the night before we fly and having a night in a travel lodge, this also has the advantage that we can hire the car for one day instead of two. We fly on a Monday morning and we were having to hire the car on Saturday, the hire company not opening on Sundays, and although they could deliver the car to us on Saturday for Sunday hire this would have cost us nearly as much again as the hire. So we are hiring from Saturday afternoon until Sunday afternoon and will deliver the car to their office at Gatwick airport and stop overnight and thus be refreshed for our 7am booking in time. We still don't expect getting back to Assos until around midnight local time so it'll be another long day.

We have someone coming tomorrow to have a look at our house here to assess what may be needed to put it on the rental market and also to give us some idea of what we expect to get for it. It just seems pointless having to pay Council Tax, Water Rates and Electricity DD's when you are not in the place. The electricity board won't take your word for it that the power is turned off and thus nothing being used so they keep sending you estimated bills which you have to pay albeit that you'll get reimbursed at some point in the future. The rates won't be reduced unless the house is not lived in and furniture removed and then I think they are stopped for six months and there after it is a reduced single occupancy charge which seems a bit strange when you aren't using any of the council services, but hey ho I don't make the rules.

In Greece the situation is much better if you have an electricity supply you pay all your local taxes as part of the bill, if you can get your supply via a generator or telegraph pole you get it free!!

Anyway Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year (in Greek Kalo Christouyena & Hronia Polla)