Here we are after 15 weeks of Covid-19 lockdown in Thetford Forest and then five weeks at Kate and Vernon’s Saffron Walden farm.  Although the lockdown was significantly eased on July 4, when we headed south to the farm, for us it was mainly a change of scenery, only getting out for morning walks and the click and collect visit to Sainsbury’s supermarket every week or so.  Still too early to visit public places and certainly to use public transport.

But it was good to be within an hour’s drive of the children in London, so we had a number of socially-distanced catch-ups with them here and also at parks in between.   We also, after researching the risks, had Oscar stay with us for a couple of nights.  It’s wonderful to see how rapidly a four year old develops linguistic skills although he does insist on calling our motorhome a taxi!

We took the opportunity of being stuck in one place again to make some more modifications to our motorhome environment, including some extensive sewing by Rosemarie of a protective front screen for the van;  to insulate from both heat and cold..  And we survived the UK’s worst heat wave since records began.  

We depart in two days for the Broomfield Park Caravan & Motorhome Club site in Sussex, within easy reach of St Leonards-on-Sea where Amy and Bjon are concluding their purchase of an apartment in a street of 19th century terrace houses.

JFG  August 18, 2020

Here’s an update on our 2020 retirement travels, heavily impacted by Covid-19 and Brexit.  The pandemic is obviously having a major impact this year, but that has been exacerbated by an incompetent and corrupt British government.  We have here as prime minister a narcissistic clown who takes orders from an unelected self-proclaimed genius with strong Russian links.   And thanks to a constitution that badly needs reform 43% of voters have given the Conservatives a thumping 80 seat majority until 2024.

Add to Covid the debacle that is Brexit and you have just about the ultimate double whammy.  Read Chris Grey’s excellent blog for the latest update on the only country ever to impose economic sanctions on itself.

One of 2020’s few bits of good news is that Amy and Bjon have bought an apartment in St Leonards-on-Sea near Hastings on the south coast.  With our travelling lifestyle severely disrupted by Covid-19 and feeling the stress of being tied down in the motorhome watching the news each night about Covid, Brexit and Trump we have started to contemplate a more permanent lifestyle arrangement.  So during the last month or so, as well as giving Amy and Bjon a hand with moving, making curtains etc, we’ve been learning about the possibility of finding a little bit of real estate in this very amenable part of the UK.

We’ve also been lucky to find Gary and Jane’s alpaca farm about 15 minutes away from Amy where we can - if need be - park the van to see out the winter and the virus.  And of course we’ve very thankful that everyone in the family has avoided the virus thus far.

More photos of our 2020 coronavirus lockdown can be found here.

JFG  October 8, 2020

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Well, the good news is that the world is about to free itself from the dangers of a leader suffering from severe narcissistic personality disorder and we, and especially our American friends, can feel a bit more confident about the future.

In stark contrast to the resilience of American democracy, the UK suffers from a non-codified constitution that relies on everyone being “good chaps” so that two Eton schoolboys between them changed what was promised as an advisory referendum into a disastrous Brexit (Cameron) and can lie to the Queen (Johnson) in the process.  It’s a great shame that Britain, which signed off over a century ago on a perfectly good written constitution for Australian federation, didn’t apply it to themselves.  So the UK is set to continue with outdated first past the post voting and an unelected crony-filled House of Lords.  And with great embarrassment we note that Rupert Murdoch, a former Australian responsible for degrading British media - in particular with the phone hacking scandal - appears to be now trying to replicate his disastrous Fox News and Trump impact on this side of the Atlantic.

Despite the UK government’s corruption (click here for an American viewpoint) and Covid mismanagement (click here and here for a couple of  perspectives on that) we do enjoy the history and culture of our mother country and the nearby continent and of course our proximity to the family.  Perhaps our Covid/Brexit-restricted travels can resume later this year.  Enough of politics;  I’ll try to turn over a new leaf for 2021 (but please contact me to engage in an off-line discussion should you feel so motivated!).  

I’ve already mentioned how lucky we have been to find a bolt-hole to shelter from Covid and remain near Amy and Bjon.  Jane and Gary are perfect hosts and a really interesting couple as well;  they’ve travelled and enjoy hobbies which resonate with us.

There’s only one downside - and I had been duly warned by Gary, so no excuses - and that is that their beautiful camping field gets very muddy in winter.  Of course then, we have started off with a very wet winter and so the van is now quite solidly bogged until spring.  Fingers crossed we’ll be vaccinated by then and able to resume our travels.

Essentially that will make over a year of lockdown or isolation in Norfolk, Essex and Sussex and we’d be lying if we said we’d just relaxed and indulged ourselves in reading and other hobbies.  While our motorhome is relatively luxurious, with a range of cooking and other appliances when stuck in the one spot for months at a time it can be quite stressful, especially for Rosemarie with a tiny kitchen and both of us with the incessant stream of bad news from around the world.  Walking, cycling and general tourist activities are quite restricted of course and it’s often a challenge just to get out for a brief walk/run.  But it’s very comforting that the children have been closely monitoring our movements to help keep us Covid-safe.  Louisa continues on the NHS front line delivering speech pathology services to badly afflicted Covid 19 patients.

Click here for photos.  Also here for a photo gallery from Amy about her new location.

January 8, 2021