Offer Accepted On UK House

Just a very quick post to say that my estate agent telephoned yesterday to inform me an offer had been made on my UK house & I have accepted the offer.

The purchaser is a first time buyer with a mortgage already agreed in principal so I am keeping all fingers & toes crossed that everything goes through smoothly. This has come at a particulalrly good time as I have looked at a house here this week which is definitely on my list as a potential purchase.

Will keep you updated.

Carnival comes to town

As promised I'm going to post some photos from the main carnival which was held in Zakynthos town yesterday (Sunday)

My own costume can be seen here - 'Black Widow'

It was a big relief that the weather stayed fine with warm sunshine. It was obvious that all those taking part in the main parade had put in so much effort & hard work putting their floats & costumes together so it was great that the weather was in their favour.
It also meant that there was a good turn out of spectators too, many also in costume really getting into the spirit of the day.

I met up with Debbie & her daughter, Simone, & we found a good spot along the main route to get some photos. Debbie & Simone were also dressed up.

Here you can see both myself & Debbie (who's dressed as a cat) with Simone who was a pretty pink princess.

I hope that the following photos will give you all a flavour of the colour & fun of the day.

Carnival week starts

Hi everyone, thought I would post a fairly recent photo of yours truly for anyone who might have forgotten what I look like. I was about to go out with my friend Debbie when this was taken a couple of weeks ago as we had been invited to a party. My daughter Justine took the photo before I left for the evening.

This week sees the start of carnival week and it will all culminate next Sunday 18th Feb with the big carnival parade in town. Today was the children's parade which I didn't get to but Debbie went along & took some photos so I will post a few of hers later hopefully to give you a flavour of the day.

I'm looking forward to the main carnival parade on the Sunday I shall hopefully be in the town in my carnival costume !!!! joining in the fun with all the others. Yes I will certainly be trying to capture a few pictures to post on here including maybe me in my costume, you will have to wait & see :-))

I now have my car which is great, it's good to be independent again. I actually took charge of it on Tuesday last week but had to return to town the following day to try to sort out the change of ownership paperwork. Now this will probably make a few of you laugh, I must say I do see the funny side of it - I parked the car & went about my business in town. On returning to the car, which I had parked along the harbour front, I could see a pink piece of paper tucked under the windscreen - I thought to myself I hope that's an advertising flyer or similar & not what I think it could be. On reaching the car & on closer inspection the paper was obviously something more official. I popped back into town with it to see Stephanie at her work (the friend I'd bought the car from) & with the help of the Greek man that works there too we were able to confirm my worst fear - IT WAS A PARKING TICKET with a fine of 65.50 Euros. Why do I find it amusing - well I've been driving previously for many years in the UK and have never, ever had a ticket in my life & on the first full day I have my car here I get one. As far as I could work out I was very slightly sticking out of the parking space at the side of the road as I was right on the end. Now anyone who has seen Greek parking will know that it is commonplace to see cars double parked here - it is almost the norm & yet they selected little old me to slap their ticket on. Oh well, as with all experiences, it's a lesson learnt & something I hope I won't repeat.

February Already

Where oh where does the time go. A short while ago it was Christmas and the start of a New Year and now we are in February.

I have continued to be busy ensuring that everything is in place for the sale of my UK house. The tenant has now left and the house is being advertised with the first viewing taking place tomorrow. So everyone keep your fingers crossed for me.
It's with a great deal of mixed emotion that I think about the house selling. After all it had been the home I shared with my ex partner for nearly 12 years. I have to keep looking forward to the future though now, I have made such huge changes in my life and continue to surprise even myself sometimes.

I'm hopeful of getting the car on Monday that I'm buying from a friend. That will be a very welcome addition. The moped is fine but I am not that confident on it even now, which many tell me is a good thing because then you don't become complacent. Added to the lack of confidence is the fact that at this time of year it is b****y cold on a moped.

Today I have made arrangements with a local Zakynthos removals company to collect my belongings from storage in the UK and transport them over here. They do a monthly run between Zakynthos and the UK and will collect my belongings at the end of February so they will be here with me during March. It will be a bit strange having my things around me again having last seen them when I was packing them all up in the UK.

I have also today been to look at a little house which is currently being constructed and was able to walk around the inside to gauge it's size and layout. It just has the bare bones of walls at the moment and has it's roof on. It's not too far from where I'm living now and it will have central heating which is definitely an attraction, having felt how cold it can get here during these Winter months. It should be within my budget if my UK house fetches near to the asking price. I will still have to put most of my pension lump sum towards a purchase too as well as borrow a small amount on a short term mortgage, all of which I have looked into doing. It is not just the purchase price of a house to be considered, it is the high purchase taxes too that have to be paid to the revenue and also the fees for lawyer and notary. Additional costs on a new build property are also your electricity and water connection fees. All of this has to be taken into account when budgeting. I've made lots of lists and many pages of financial 'workings out' to keep me on track - hopefully it will all result in my having my own 'Place In The Sun'

Good news also received this week is that my best friend Jan who came out to see me last year has booked to come again in May this year. Really pleased about that. I will be working full time this time around but we will still find lots of time to spend catching up again and having fun. With a bit of luck I think she hopes to get to come again towards the end of the season too so by that time I could well have my own house - that would be nice.