2010, an illustrated reflection.

So 2010, a good year! We saw the New Year in, in Cyprus which was a new part of the world for us both.




Easter saw us back in Portugal based in Alvor



and having a holiday within a holiday as we did our three day road trip north to Obidos



and Tomar.





In July I quit my job and I have to say I miss a few people but do not miss the job or the students, I didn't realise how much stress I was under until at least three months after I quit! A week later saw us in Rhodes



soaking up the heat with friends, revisiting old haunts, discovering new and catching up with a couple of good folks we know.

August saw us in Wales for my birthday week, first staying with our wonderful friends



for their big party then off to 5 star luxury at a country house hotel




followed by a night at Portmeirion,



which knocked another thing off the bucket list.

At the end of October after me making my grand purchase of the year, a Canon 5D MKII, we flew off for a long weekend in Barcelona for Phil's birthday



(and oh yes, another destination off the bucket list). We gazed with wonder at the Gaudi architecture



and Barcelona in general, discovered new foods and wines to try, I'd love to go back one day!

A quiet Christmas with family which tonight will be followed by our first NYE in the UK for three years, so we're off to our local pub.

Sadly the house sale hasn't gone through yet due to a problem with Japanese Knot Weed and a buyer who thinks he can take the p**s. The removal of said weed will begin next month with follow up treatments. We do have our eye on a property in Portugal and are hoping it will still be available when we have the money, if not there will be others. I will be looking for a job in the new year, hopefully something suited to my talents. I will also be tidying my website, http://www.sarahgaddphotography.co.uk/ adding more pictures and generally trying to punt myself out as a photographer.

All in all we've have a lovely year, a good year, a kind year, who knows what 2011 will hold for us but fingers crossed it will involve the former and a house sale, a house purchase, a move to warmer climes.

Wishing you all a Happy New Year, hoping you get all that you need and some of what you want!

Brief update...

Well, I've had a birthday, we've had a week in Wales with 3 nights of pure luxury now I'm back to the art of procrastination.

I've signed the contract for the house sale, just waiting for my lovely solicitor to get back from her hols and hopefully I'll have news on a completion date!

One journey ends and another begins...

Well it's over now, leaving do done, keys handed over, I am no longer an employee at a university.

I must say the do was much fun, just nine of us but they were all people I wanted to spend time with before I left The food was good, there was much laughter and the sun even managed to come out, which was good as the pub was so busy we had to sit outside. I admit I nearly cried at the final goodbyes, but then pulled myself back together again because they are all people I know I will see again. The job? Well it was no longer giving me the satisfaction it used to, it morphed into something else and frankly students are not what they used to be, (there are of course exceptions to the rule) so many just want you to do it for them, some have no interest in learning, it makes you wonder just what they are doing in a university.

It's Sunday now and every now and then I think oh I must do this when I get back, ooops silly me there is no going back. Right now everything is geared towards our holiday next week, house to be cleaned, packing to be done, camera kit to go through.

Once we are back I will have a website to build, photos to sort as to which ones I want to offer for sale and which ones to send to the RPS to see if I can get accreditation for them. Below is one I am considering as part of my portfolio.





Lots of planning to be done for our move, a trip to Wales for a friends party and to go and see a local sustainability centre, a trip to look at properties…

Life will be busy but oh so very satisfying!

And so it begins...

Am I mad? Have I taken complete leave of my senses? Just a couple of sentences that had run through my head on a loop this last week or two.

I'm sure this is a sane decision, tomorrow I leave the job I have worked in for the last fifteen years, no more will I have the security of the monthly wage packet. I will add that I am not pot-less and have enough money to support myself. More to the point, no more students, no more pointless requests, no more the forty mile each way journey and no more workplace politics, freedom! Though I have to admit last week when I was taking some leave I was bored within two days, wondering what to do with myself, I may have to find a part time job just to keep my brain ticking over until we depart these fair shores for a new life.

And the big adventure? The new life?

We are moving to Portugal before the end of the year, this blog will be a record of our journey from here to there, the trials and tribulations of buying a property and setting up some kind of accommodation.

The idea was conceived in a perfectly dreadful little bed and breakfast in a perfectly dreadful little town in Dorset back in 2006, which I shall not name in case you either live there or have holidayed there all your life and think it's wonderful.



Not having been told the B and B was a no smoking establishment we were duly given a very public dressing down by the landlady (a woman of a certain age with certain aspirations), in front of the other guests over breakfast. We looked at the ground and shuffled our feet like a pair of five year olds and made sure we only smoked out of the window, like teenagers, after that. This was incident that led to a late night probably inebriated chat about how differently we would run a B and B, rule one being no curtain twitching when the paying guests return. Out of this conversation our alter egos were also formed, the Major and Lady Truly Barking Madstock, I mention this as they are sure to pop up from time to time. The Major had what one would call a rather blemished military record in that a series of unfortunate incidents befell those around him. The Lady Truly comes to us from a family whose wealth and reputation have faded but the gentility still remains.

The idea for the B and B was tossed around for quite sometime, and will in all likelihood be purely accommodation allowing guests to cater entirely for themselves, though homemade 'ready' meals will be available for purchase from us if wanted, as will be homemade ice cream and fresh juice, fruit trees permitting. Firstly Wales was favoured and then Devon or Cornwall, finally we decided that we would set up somewhere in Europe, Phil had a preference for France, I, for Southern Italy, we even toyed with Turkey for a while but on a return visit to Portugal we both realised we had fallen in love with not only the country but the people too. Other advantages are it's wonderful climate and it only being a two hour flight so that our families and friends will be able to visit us, oh and the property prices are exceptionally favourable especially if you want be a little more off track, as we would like to be. As to the location we are interested in the Algarve



but not right on the coast in the land of egg and chips, the other option is more central some where around the town of Tomar (pronounced Tom-are).