The Big Adventure

Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS

Evening Goldie, if you use a small amount of tahini with oil/vinegar it makes a lovely salad dressing without being too powerful.

Tilly x x

Karmacat

Goldiegirl wrote: »

It's not actual Greenwich, but the London Borough of Greenwich. The nearest train station is Mottingham (only a short walk away) and I think that's on the Charing Cross and Cannon Street lines. Eltham Palace is worth a visit if you can get there, as there's a lot to see. Hope you are enjoying your visit to Wakehurst Place. I went there some years ago, but remember liking it there.

Thanks for the Mottingham tip - if I go to anywhere in London with my sister, we go by train, she won't drive up there unless she absolutely has to, so that's a good'un

Wakehurst was disappointing I knew the atmosphere had changed in the last year because of profit - the car park charging changes, much less stock in the shop, and now they only do snacks in the entrance cafe, to have a meal you have to pay the entry fee too. That's okay for me, because I have my annual pass, but it wasn't convenient for us as a group. So they lost out on our money - and we used my pass for my sister to exit the car park without paying, so they lost out double. I'll go there until my pass runs out, but after that we won't bother again. It's very sad to see.

Goldiegirl wrote: »

(You can collect your brandy from the off licence!)

:T:T:T

Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS wrote: »

Evening Goldie, if you use a small amount of tahini with oil/vinegar it makes a lovely salad dressing without being too powerful.

Tahini always seems overpowering to me, but this is a good tip, thanks Tilly

Goldiegirl

Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS wrote: »

Evening Goldie, if you use a small amount of tahini with oil/vinegar it makes a lovely salad dressing without being too powerful.

Tilly x x

Ah. that'll be where I went wrong. I had a teaspoonful as a taster, which is far too much at one go!


I'd like to say I'll try the salad dressing, but the jar has now gone in the bin I rarely throw food away, but after my mouthful, I felt like I couldn't face it again:(

Karmacat wrote: »

Wakehurst was disappointing I knew the atmosphere had changed in the last year because of profit - the car park charging changes, much less stock in the shop, and now they only do snacks in the entrance cafe, to have a meal you have to pay the entry fee too. That's okay for me, because I have my annual pass, but it wasn't convenient for us as a group. So they lost out on our money - and we used my pass for my sister to exit the car park without paying, so they lost out double. I'll go there until my pass runs out, but after that we won't bother again. It's very sad to see.

That's a shame about Wakehurst. For us, it's one of those places that is within driving distance, but would be a longish drive. So we probably wouldn't make a special trip there now.


A new pay month has started. In spite of all my angst a few weeks ago about spending, we were well within our budgets, so it seems it is possible to let ourselves go occasionally without too much damage.


The start of this month is rather spendy, though. I've been to the hairdressers this afternoon, and I'm going out for a meal this evening with some of the people I worked with before we were al made redundant. It'll be great to have a catch up


I've mentioned Mr Goldie's tax codes before.......they still haven't got it right:mad:


One of the codes is now correct, and he's got a tax rebate on that portion of his income.


But they've given him a random code on the other annuity, which means he's paid £52.20 tax on this month, when he shouldn't pay any tax at all.:mad:


This time, I knew a letter wasn't good enough, so I endured a 45 minute wait on the phone to speak to someone about it.


So they've amended to codes and will write to confirm. But I won't believe it's correct until he actually gets the right amount of money!


After all that I'm going to put my feet up until it's time to get ready to go out

BookWorm

Hi Goldie - just stopped by to say hello. Hope you had a good evening out

Karmacat

Goldiegirl wrote: »

That's a shame about Wakehurst. For us, it's one of those places that is within driving distance, but would be a longish drive. So we probably wouldn't make a special trip there now.

Oops ... if you hadn't been before, you wouldn't see anything wrong, honestly. And if you just focus on the grounds, and the parts of the House that you have access to, then it's still wonderful (even the Millenium Seedbank is interesting). If you've got National Trust tickets that allow you free entry, its still worth the drive if you do it on a day when you're going to the South of England Showground, which is literally 90 seconds drive away (the properties border one another).

After all that I'm going to put my feet up until it's time to get ready to go out

Hope you had a lovely time :j and I'm so glad your finances are working out so well :j

Goldiegirl

Hi BW and KC:)

Yes, I had a good time on Friday night. I haven't seen some of the 'girls' for several years, so it was good to catch up.

The restaurant was one that I used to go to in the 80's and 90's, and it's changed a lot, and wasn't as good as I remember. The menu used to be a bit different, but now it's like a chain restaurant. Maybe I was a bit biased, as out of about 40 main courses, only 2 were ok for me!

But the company made up for it, and it was a good evening (although isn't strange that everyone has to have their mobile phones on the table with them at all times!)

Jigsaw news. My two remaining new jigsaws sold at my aspirational amounts of £7 and £7.55. There's no rhyme or reason to eBay prices - it's just luck.

I have one task today, but that is a challenging one. To take the jigsaws down to the parcel shop, when it's not raining. we've had some really heavy rain so far, so I'm not confident about this.

Apart from that, I think we'll just be staying in, reading and doing a jigsaw.

Goldiegirl

It's raining again, so another afternoon at home!


This is probably a 'first world problem post' but I'm thinking about this round Australia cruise idea of Mr Goldie's.


They are currently booking until Feb 2017, and seem to do two sailings on this route each year, in Oct and Feb


I would prefer to wait until 2018.... Mr Goldie is pushing for Feb 2017, 'in case they stop sailing round Australia in future'


So


PROs


We've wanted to go to Australia for our whole lives


We would see loads of places in one trip, plus New Zealand


We have the money saved to do this


We are fit and healthy enough for long haul travel






CON's


Length of time away from home -38 nights. We are already away for 35 nights in Feb 2016, plus another 12 nights in Aug 2016. Is another 38 nights away in a 12 month period too much? ( I say YES)


Do we even know if we would like being away from home for so long - why not wait and see how we get on in Feb 2016, first. And then decide what to do


We would be going on a cruise line new to us - is 38 nights too much for an unknown quantity?


Money - this will be expensive, nearly twice as much as the cruise we are doing in Feb 2016. Plus, things like drinks on board are more expensive on this cruise line


Also Money. We get an increase in household income in OCT 2016 when Mr Goldie is 65. Would be nice to save some extra money towards Australia cruise. so we don't have to raid our savings too much


House Security - My friend will be coming in each week to check house when we are away in Feb 2016. It's a bit much to ask her to do the same just a year later.


Health - If we delay until 2018 will we still be healthy enough to cope with the long haul travel (I say yes)


What if, when 2018 brochure comes out, they aren't doing this itinerary after all? (they do it every year, why would 2018 be different)

---

Everything tells me Feb 2018 is better - for me Feb 2017 is 'too soon' after going away for 5 weeks just 12 months earlier.


I don't want to have so many experiences in just a 12 month period - to just seems too much too soon - I'd rather spread it out over time.


But Mr Goldie wants Feb 2017, and I'm uncomfortable with this for most of the CONs that I listed.


Thoughts anyone?

Goldiegirl

It's the third consecutive day of rain.


Have been going slightly stir crazy, although the rain has stopped for a while


Just wondering whether to go for a walk or not - but as soon as we get out it's bound to start again.


Tomorrow should be better, so we'll make sure we get out and about tomorrow


On the long haul holiday front...... we have tentatively agreed for Oct 2017. This means we could save the spending money for the holiday and wouldn't have to take it from savings. This would make me feel happier about the financial aspect.


I know it's something we've always wanted to do..... but it's such a BIG thing to do, to fly to the other side of world. It'd be a once in a lifetime thing, so I want to get it right.


I've already said we're away for 5 weeks next year. But I feel very comfortable about that holiday. We're sailing from Southampton, and come back to Southampton, and we'll be on a ship we've sailed on before, so we'll feel at home.


Anyhow, I can put long haul flying to the back of my mind for the time being, and just bring it out from time to time to get used to the idea!


Yesterday we had paella for dinner, using another new recipe. The recipe included bacon and prawns, , which I omitted, because bacon is off my menus, and I'm not keen on prawns.


I enjoyed it, and we have enough left over for two more meals, so the rest has gone in the freezer.


Tonight I'm doing beef, chickpea and apricot tagine, which I've done before.

Watty1

love that you made a decision. I'm so looking forward to your hols :rotfl: I'm living the retirement dream via your diary!

Karmacat

Watty1 wrote: »

love that you made a decision. I'm so looking forward to your hols :rotfl: I'm living the retirement dream via your diary!

There's that to it :rotfl:

Goldie, sorry I didn't give any feedback when you asked for thoughts. I read it, but I wasnt at a stage where I could sit with it and think it through properly. Sounds like you've reached the compromise you're happy with, though, which is lovely.

I suppose if you've got two really long ones close together, you might feel there'll be a terrible gap before you can have another long one ... I don't think that was an issue for *you*, but its something I think about even with ordinary time off, spacing it so I don't get it all bunched up. Not such an issue when you're retired, even though you still need a break and whatnot!

Both the holidays sound gorgeous