Category: Main Blog Posts
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Beat the bulge.
27th September 2024 This journey usually seems so easy, a 5am start, non-stop to Heathrow, breakfast, board the plane, a couple of movies and 8.5 hrs later we are there. However this time the start is different. We rock up, confident and a bit elated to check in. A little chat and preamble, “where are…
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Radio Cymru
25th September 2024 While the boss was writing the last blog post I was being interviewed in the language of heaven on the BBC about our Caribbean adventure. It was probably more Radio Ga Ga by the time I’d finished, but it was fun – and fantastic to get the opportunity. A huge shout out…
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“Packed my bags last night, pre-flight…”
19th September 2024 Hmmm – will I have to pay royalties to Elton and Bernie for using that line? If their lawyers get in touch this blog will be reaching more people than we expected. I used to be a last-minute kind of guy with packing. My career didn’t help – my record late finish…
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Scratch and sniff
15th September 2024 They are back! It’s this time of year, nights getting colder and they think they are better off in our eaves. How they get in is a mystery? Their presence is made known by a rustle and scratching in the eaves and little black gifts in and among the suitcases. We know…
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The countdown begins
15th September 2024 It’s now less than 2 weeks before we fly. In just over two weeks the property will be ours all bar the signing, the final payment and the line marking (more of that in a later blog) Holy yikes!! I’m still a little in denial and get rushes of excitement when I…
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Goodbye West Wales/hwyl fawr Sir Benfro
5th September 2024 It will be obvious to you all dear readers who is writing which bit of this post!! To all those non Welsh speakers don’t worry I don’t know what he is saying either. You could cut and paste into google translate. I did try to learn, we were hoping to have a…
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Bills, bureaucracy and banking
22nd May 2024 “I think we need a local bank account” it seems obvious. Actual logistics, practicalities and day to day things, how do we pay the gardener, the pool man, the utilities? We both have banked with the same bank since we were 18, things have changed. Money laundering, scamming, identity fraud, generally nicking…
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If something seems too good to be true…is it?
March/April 2024 We never thought we’d be the kind of people who could ever own an amazing historic property like this, let alone in beautiful Barbados, so we set about our due diligence before we’re committed. That means a survey, right? Our attorney says “Well, usually here in Barbados property is sold as seen”. Our…
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We need to talk about money!
March/April 2024 Indeed. It’s all very well making a flippant jovial comment “let’s just sell up and move here” but it quite another thing contemplating selling our beautiful home. Conversely we had already 90% decided to sell the small cottage we had in Pembrokeshire. The council decision to increase second home premiums council tax to…