Stephen Fothergill

Quite spectacular sights as the Pacific Ocean crashes against rocks at Watsons Bay near Sydney.

Dawn breaking at 36000 feet above the Pacific Ocean as we approach Western Australia on our journey to Sydney.

JFC. Under Trump, the DoD literally includes two long copies of the Russian flag under their "Happy Flag Day!" post.

On brand, Trumpsters. On brand.

What I wasn’t prepared for was the unpacking of almost forty boxes of our ‘stuff’. I say stuff, because a lot of it is clothing that hasn’t been worn for years, and never will be again. Note to self: next time get rid of as much stuff as possible BEFORE moving!

I haven’t posted for a while because we have finally moved into our new home. It’s in Stamford, Lincolnshire. A lovely old town in a beautiful county. I would have liked to return to Yorkshire, but Lincolnshire’s within shouting distance, and the Peak District is just an hour away.

FFS! Can anyone imagine what was in the mind of each of those boys that awful grey morning. I hope they came out of it!

Reflections after 8 weeks in gorgeous Greece. #5 The realities of the UK are stark in an enforced Visit to Peterborough. An ancient city that once must have been beautiful, but now with a centre that stinks of piss, and weed and seems to have more than its fair share of street poverty. Very sad!

Reflections after 8 weeks in gorgeous Greece. #4 I have always loved Greece, and our recent seven week odyssey has only enhanced that love. I miss it so much, and at a farmers market in Stamford today I almost burst into tears at seeing a Greek stall selling souvlakis and other Grecian favorites! 😥

Reflections after 8 weeks in gorgeous Greece. #3 dining out in Greece is an enormously pleasurable, though far from cheap experience. But on the Aegean islands that we visited (except for Santorini) the pleasure was enhanced by restaurants offering desserts and a small carafe of Raki on the house!

Reflections after 8 weeks in gorgeous Greece. #2: traveling extensively on the Athens Metro and Super-tram network with not a single instance of crime or loutishness. When we occasionally became lost we received unfailing courtesy despite our virtual total lack of the Greek language!

Reflections after 8 weeks in gorgeous Greece. #1: we’re back temporarily in lovely Norfolk, and I’ve seen more people using mobility scooters in 8 hours than I did in the whole eight weeks in Greece.

It’s our last night in Greece and we’re back ‘home’ in Athens close-by the Plaka in hotel that has a roof terrace providing this most glorious view of the Acropolis. We just sat there drinking Raki-on-ice and allowing the view to burn into memory. I’m sad to be leaving. I love Greece. I really do!

Tomorrow we say a sad goodbye to Crete. For we’ve really enjoyed our stay in Chania, a compensation for the nightmarish few days spent in Elounda. There is no denying Chania’s reputation as a tourist trap, but there’s more to the ‘Old Town’ than people realise.

I might be wrong, but I never saw it working. There were no queues.

Prior to Crete we stopped off for a couple of days in Santorini. I’m sure most are aware of the gobsmacking beauty of the fabled Atlantis, and it certainly is an astounding island, but two days was enough! Not a place for the traveler on a tight budget!

Our final destination, Chania-Crete, before returning to Athens for the flight home. Fortunately, Chania is a good way to end our ‘odyssey’. It’s a lively and very picturesque town. A mixture of history and modernity, archeology and hedonism! Prior to this we were in Elounda. More on that later!

One of the many nice things I’ve noticed during our time in the Greek islands is that many dogs are free to go about their business unfettered, and without human supervision. It’s like when I grew up. Dogs would be allowed out in the morning to return when it suited them - when they were hungry.

A Bougainvillea blooming very early in Parikia, the lovely main town on the island of Paros.

We just spent a wonderful six days on the island of Paros. Staying at a hotel that was sooo laid back, it was impossible not to chill right out! But on to Santorini, and it is completely the opposite of Paros. Beautiful, stunning, but definitely not relaxing. Here are the last two sunsets.

Departed Athens after three weeks and headed for the Aegean island of Naxos, where the weather is cool but gloriously sunny, the food is deliciously rustic and cheap, and the people are less flashy and more friendly. Chill time, now! Here for a week, and then off to close-by Paros!

I haven’t posted recently because I’ve had severe tonsillitis. Great timing, getting it when we’re supposed to be enjoying Athens. I must say, though, that the pharmacies here are first rate! Which is good, because I’m a miserable patient, and they managed to cure me quickly, with no need of a GP! 😀

That was not rhetoric. Far from it. It was verbal vomit!

We’ve been in Athens a week, and are beginning to chill out, despite the frenetic catch-up on all the sites and sights! No progress on the house, as yet. So, our plan for an eight week Greek sojourn is beginning to stretch, and we’re now checking out additional islands! I’m not complaining, honest!

In Athens after a long, long time. It is better than I remember it. Great transport system, drivers less crazy, less pollution, and the Acropolis/Parthenon is more awe-inspiring than ever. It really is a beautiful sight, particularly when the sun sets and the lights are on. 🥲🥲🥲

No nearer to moving into our new home! Lawyers doing their stuff, or not, whichever! So, we’re sorry to be departing Norfolk in a few days, but happy to be heading off to the wine-dark Aegean for an extended holiday on various islands. I’m really looking forward to posting from there! 😌

Spent a lovely day at Oulton Broad. East Anglia is a beautiful region, and the people who live in it should count themselves very lucky. We will be leaving in two weeks, and I just want to say thank you to all the lovely people who have made us so welcome. I’ll be back! 🤪

Visit to Burgh Castle, a 3rd century Roman Fort, just three miles outside Great Yarmouth. Idyllic countryside. Salt marshes, reed beds and, except for a single train passing in the distance, just the sounds of curlews, peewits and waterfowl. A barn owl skimmed our heads as it headed out on the hunt.

We finally did it! We went back to where we started over a year ago and had an offer accepted on a house in Stamford, Lincolnshire. Sad that we couldn’t find anywhere in rural Cambridgeshire, but such is life. There was nothing in Stamford last year, but now quite a choice. Cant wait to move in! 😀

Many of the Wallington villagers were able to recognise their ‘animal’ characters when Animal Farm was published. In fact one of the neighbouring farms to The Stores was Manor Farm, which coincidentally is the same name in the book.Even the fictitious village is similarly named Willingdon.

Then and now. Orwell and Eileen’s cottage ‘The Stores’ in Wallington, Hertfordshire. Though not born in Hertfordshire, Orwell spent almost a fifth of his life in the county. The figure at the gate in the ‘then’ picture could possibly be Orwell himself. It is hard to tell.