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At the end of the year, I'll give myself a score out of ten for each objective and review how I've done...
Tuesday, 30 June 2020
2020 plans
Having been somewhat unimpressive with respect to my 2019 plans, I've resolved to do better in the remaining six months of this year. The plans are broadly similar to last years with a couple of small changes. I'm dropping the 'fix the climbing frame' objective. I'd still like to fix it - but it's low priority. Linda has made a specific request - so I've got a new objective added. Here they are:
At the end of the year, I'll give myself a score out of ten for each objective and review how I've done...
At the end of the year, I'll give myself a score out of ten for each objective and review how I've done...
Wednesday, 10 June 2020
Pension Review - One Year Gone
I described my plan for income during retirement with a self invested pension last year. You can see what I wrote here: Further Pension Musings
After a year, let's see how the cunning plan is going. The current investment split looks like this:
The pie chart at first glance looks virtually the same - but the percentage splits are slightly different. The SIPP is now a smaller percentage of the overall stash, with the other three pots all slightly increasing. This is exactly what I would expect to see. I started drawing down from the SIPP in September. This is providing the bulk of my income - topped up by dividends from the VCT and other investments. The ISA remains untouched, with dividends being reinvested.
Overall, the dividend income has more than covered my expenditure, with the excess going towards additional ISA contributions.
However, Covid-19 has happened. Before I retired, I tested my portfolio against a number of 'What if' scenarios. What if the dot com crash of 2000 occurred again? What if the financial crash of 2008 occurred again? What if the UK had a deep recession triggered by Brexit (or some other cause)? And so on. In each of them I was satisfied that the mix of investments I had would be OK overall. I did not consider a world wide pandemic that would have an economic impact across almost every industrial sector and every geography. I think it's fair to say that 12 months ago, no one could have predicted we'd be in the situation we're currently in.
This has impacted me in two ways.
First, the value of my stash has dropped considerably. From 17th January to 23rd March, the stash lost over a third of it's value. Since the 23rd March, stock prices have partially recovered, and as of today, I'm about 14% down from the pre-Covid valuation. But the valuation isn't something that I'm overly worried about. I explain why here: Chickens and Investing
Second, lots of companies have stopped or suspended paying dividends. As an income investor, this is far more worrying and has a very real impact on me. Eleven companies I'm invested in have stopped dividends altogether, a further four have reduced their payouts and I anticipate that as results come out in the months ahead, more will follow. There's not much I can do about this. There is reason to be optimistic that this is temporary and there will be a resumption of profit and dividends as lock down restrictions lift. Many of the companies are still operating profitably and are simply being prudent at this time. On the other hand, some companies are sustaining real economic damage during this period and although they may resume dividends at some point, they may well be at a lower level. There are three things that mitigate my concern: 1) with lockdown, our expenditure has also dropped; 2) Linda is still working and my retirement planning was always that we would be able to afford for her to stop working too, so while she works we have a margin of safety; 3) my portfolio has little direct exposure to some of the most impacted companies (airlines, cruise ships, holidays, travel, restaurants).
I'm sure the year ahead has more surprises in store for us and I'll be paying close attention for potential investment ramifications.
Last year, I introduced a virtual portfolio, that mirrors my core investments. It illustrated how you could invest 100,000 pounds for long term income. This is what it looked like:
During the year the BMO MSCI UK Income Leaders fund shut down and in January the value of the stocks within the fund was returned to shareholders. The settlement price was 2644.57p a share giving me £10,578.29 to invest elsewhere. I decided to split the proceeds 50/50 between Edinburgh Investment Trust, an income focused fund, and Royal London Stirling Income, a commercial bond fund, giving me 867 shares in Edinburgh IT and 4366.5 units in Royal London.
The value of my portfolio didn't really move much, drifting slightly upwards towards the year end. Then, along with pretty much everything else, it dropped dramatically due to Covid-19 and has subsequently partially recovered. The graph below tracks the portfolio over the past 12 months:
It is worth noting that because I'm just plotting the month end valuations, a lot of market volatility has been removed. Specifically, you cannot see the high point in January or the low point in March.
There's been some further recovery in June and right now it looks like this:
Overall, in terms of capital preservation, I'm down 13%, but given the circumstances I'm OK with that.
The other aspect to consider is income. The portfolio as described above delivered £5,140.77 in dividends in the twelve months: 1st June 2019 to 31st May 2020. This was £291.83 more than predicted a year ago. The increase was driven by two things: 1) increased payouts from the two Vanguard funds, Phoenix and Merchants; 2) effect of the closing BMO after having received 3 out of 4 dividend payments for the year and buying investments that had only made 2 out of 4 payments for the year so far.
Looking ahead, if all seven investments were to pay the same dividends in the next year, as they did last year, the income would be £5,042.16. However, this is not going to happen. Both the Vanguard funds are tracker funds and the dividends are a direct reflection of the payments received from the funds investments. I know that many companies are in trouble and have stopped dividend payments. This will, for sure, impact the payments I receive from these two funds. I have absolutely no idea by how much, I will only know when the dividends come in. Phoenix Group looks pretty secure to me and I'm confident that won't be cut. Hendersons, Merchants and Edinburgh are all investment trusts with very long records of not having cut their dividends, even through previous stock market crashes and recessions. They have reserves which they build up during good years, which can be used to maintain the dividend during bad years. This is going to be a bad year, so the question is - will their reserves be enough? I don't know the answer to that - but if there is a cut, hopefully it will be a small one. Finally Royal London Stirling Bond fund - again, I don't really know the impact. The fund is invested in company bonds, so if those companies go bust the fund looses capital and income. I wouldn't be surprised if there's some impact to the dividend, but I wouldn't expect it to be too dramatic. A company can choose to stop paying dividends, but it still has to pay interest on the money it's borrowed.
What ever happens, the year ahead will certainly be interesting from an investing perspective. Will my investments perform well enough for me to continue in the manner to which I've grown accustomed or will I, next year, be looking for part time work at my local supermarket? I'll let you know.
After a year, let's see how the cunning plan is going. The current investment split looks like this:
The pie chart at first glance looks virtually the same - but the percentage splits are slightly different. The SIPP is now a smaller percentage of the overall stash, with the other three pots all slightly increasing. This is exactly what I would expect to see. I started drawing down from the SIPP in September. This is providing the bulk of my income - topped up by dividends from the VCT and other investments. The ISA remains untouched, with dividends being reinvested.
Overall, the dividend income has more than covered my expenditure, with the excess going towards additional ISA contributions.
However, Covid-19 has happened. Before I retired, I tested my portfolio against a number of 'What if' scenarios. What if the dot com crash of 2000 occurred again? What if the financial crash of 2008 occurred again? What if the UK had a deep recession triggered by Brexit (or some other cause)? And so on. In each of them I was satisfied that the mix of investments I had would be OK overall. I did not consider a world wide pandemic that would have an economic impact across almost every industrial sector and every geography. I think it's fair to say that 12 months ago, no one could have predicted we'd be in the situation we're currently in.
This has impacted me in two ways.
First, the value of my stash has dropped considerably. From 17th January to 23rd March, the stash lost over a third of it's value. Since the 23rd March, stock prices have partially recovered, and as of today, I'm about 14% down from the pre-Covid valuation. But the valuation isn't something that I'm overly worried about. I explain why here: Chickens and Investing
Second, lots of companies have stopped or suspended paying dividends. As an income investor, this is far more worrying and has a very real impact on me. Eleven companies I'm invested in have stopped dividends altogether, a further four have reduced their payouts and I anticipate that as results come out in the months ahead, more will follow. There's not much I can do about this. There is reason to be optimistic that this is temporary and there will be a resumption of profit and dividends as lock down restrictions lift. Many of the companies are still operating profitably and are simply being prudent at this time. On the other hand, some companies are sustaining real economic damage during this period and although they may resume dividends at some point, they may well be at a lower level. There are three things that mitigate my concern: 1) with lockdown, our expenditure has also dropped; 2) Linda is still working and my retirement planning was always that we would be able to afford for her to stop working too, so while she works we have a margin of safety; 3) my portfolio has little direct exposure to some of the most impacted companies (airlines, cruise ships, holidays, travel, restaurants).
I'm sure the year ahead has more surprises in store for us and I'll be paying close attention for potential investment ramifications.
The Virtual Portfolio update
Last year, I introduced a virtual portfolio, that mirrors my core investments. It illustrated how you could invest 100,000 pounds for long term income. This is what it looked like:
During the year the BMO MSCI UK Income Leaders fund shut down and in January the value of the stocks within the fund was returned to shareholders. The settlement price was 2644.57p a share giving me £10,578.29 to invest elsewhere. I decided to split the proceeds 50/50 between Edinburgh Investment Trust, an income focused fund, and Royal London Stirling Income, a commercial bond fund, giving me 867 shares in Edinburgh IT and 4366.5 units in Royal London.
The value of my portfolio didn't really move much, drifting slightly upwards towards the year end. Then, along with pretty much everything else, it dropped dramatically due to Covid-19 and has subsequently partially recovered. The graph below tracks the portfolio over the past 12 months:
There's been some further recovery in June and right now it looks like this:
Overall, in terms of capital preservation, I'm down 13%, but given the circumstances I'm OK with that.
The other aspect to consider is income. The portfolio as described above delivered £5,140.77 in dividends in the twelve months: 1st June 2019 to 31st May 2020. This was £291.83 more than predicted a year ago. The increase was driven by two things: 1) increased payouts from the two Vanguard funds, Phoenix and Merchants; 2) effect of the closing BMO after having received 3 out of 4 dividend payments for the year and buying investments that had only made 2 out of 4 payments for the year so far.
Looking ahead, if all seven investments were to pay the same dividends in the next year, as they did last year, the income would be £5,042.16. However, this is not going to happen. Both the Vanguard funds are tracker funds and the dividends are a direct reflection of the payments received from the funds investments. I know that many companies are in trouble and have stopped dividend payments. This will, for sure, impact the payments I receive from these two funds. I have absolutely no idea by how much, I will only know when the dividends come in. Phoenix Group looks pretty secure to me and I'm confident that won't be cut. Hendersons, Merchants and Edinburgh are all investment trusts with very long records of not having cut their dividends, even through previous stock market crashes and recessions. They have reserves which they build up during good years, which can be used to maintain the dividend during bad years. This is going to be a bad year, so the question is - will their reserves be enough? I don't know the answer to that - but if there is a cut, hopefully it will be a small one. Finally Royal London Stirling Bond fund - again, I don't really know the impact. The fund is invested in company bonds, so if those companies go bust the fund looses capital and income. I wouldn't be surprised if there's some impact to the dividend, but I wouldn't expect it to be too dramatic. A company can choose to stop paying dividends, but it still has to pay interest on the money it's borrowed.
What ever happens, the year ahead will certainly be interesting from an investing perspective. Will my investments perform well enough for me to continue in the manner to which I've grown accustomed or will I, next year, be looking for part time work at my local supermarket? I'll let you know.
Monday, 8 June 2020
One Year Gone - Time for an Annual Review!
| I can't believe it's been a year already. It's scary how time seems to accelerate as you get older - I know that's the case, but I'm still surprised when I experience it myself. When I started this blog, I listed six things I'd like to achieve in 2019, with the promise of a review at the end of the year. There were also two unwritten, but implied, objectives - which I'll mention too. You can see my objectives here: Plans for 2019
Before digging into the detailed review, a quick overview of the first year. |
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It has not been as I'd expected. First I seem to be far busier than I thought with far more on my 'to do' list each day and at the end of the day, less done than anticipated. But that's OK, because there is always tomorrow. Overall it's been good. I've spent more time outdoors. I'm living a more laid back existence - always ready to stop what I'm doing when Linda or Cordelia utter the magic incantation of "do you fancy a cup of tea". Any regrets about retiring - absolutely none!
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I've spent far more time in coffee shops than I ever used to pre-retirement. My dad recently moved to Bracknell and previously I met him in town for a coffee on a Saturday. Now we meet two days a week. Plus, of course, I'm often in town with Linda and I'll also slip in for a quick coffee when I'm by myself, for a relaxing break with a newspaper. In fact, if you're ever in Bracknell, there's a reasonable chance you'll find me if you pop into Brown Bag. Of course Covid-19 has bought that activity to an abrupt halt! |
And speaking of Covid-19, it would be impossible to review the past 12 months without a mention. The response to the pandemic has literally changed everything. In a year of significant events, this trumps all else. Brexit becomes a footnote. A new prime minister and a game changing general election seems yesterdays news. My personal plans for travel and completing National Trails have both been put on hold. My finely honed retirement income plan has taken a hit.
Back to the review. First, the two implied objectives. From the first entry of the blog, it's clear that my intent was to make regular updates - however that clearly hasn't happened. I have no excuse - other stuff distracted me and the blog kinda slipped off my radar. Oh well - let's see if I can do better over the next 12 months. The other implication was that my 2019 plans would be reviewed at the end of 2019 - again a clear failure on my part, but better late than never, so here we go....
Objective 1: The Shed
First major failure. Nothing has happened. Well almost nothing - I did get Cordelia to clear the pile of rotting firewood that was leaning against the side of the shed, so the shed looks very slightly neater, but nothing that I can take credit for. Score 0/10
Objective 2: The Climbing Frame
Second major failure. Nothing positive has happened. A few more rotting bits have fallen off and brambles are growing up within the structure. Score 0/10
A success! I've spent a lot of time in the garden over the past year and several significant improvements have been made, including the areas mentioned in my objectives. The gardening enthusiasm has continued on into 2020 and I'm pretty happy with how things are going. For some more photos of garden progress click here: Garden Pics June 2020 Score 10/10
Objective 3: The Garden
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| The orchard, looking neater than usual! |
Objective 4: Walking
Mostly successful. I walked two national trails: Hadrian's Wall Trail and South Downs Way and also completed the Three Castles Path. However, despite walking two less national trails than intended, I also completed some other significant walks including the West Devon Way and the Galilee Trail which I feel slightly mitigates the national trail miss. Walking in 2020 has taken a back seat due to Covid-19, although with lockdown measures being eased, I managed to get in a thirty miler on my birthday. Score 7/10Objective 5: Laser Cutting
Mostly unsuccessful. I've done a few minor projects and some further improvements to the wargaming scenery I'd made, but nowhere near the amount I'd hoped and certainly not to a point of being able to sell anything. Best project of the year - the advent calendar I made for Linda, lot's of brownie points gained from that one. Score 4/10Objective 6: Travel
A success! From June to January, I've been away with Linda to the New Forest, Hereford, Exeter, Weston-super-Mare, Bogner Regis, Bournemouth, the Lake District, Gibraltar and Israel. (I've also been away by myself, LARPing, with Cordelia to Plymouth and with Tazmin to the New Forest - but for the purpose of this objective, it only counts if Linda is with me). Since the target was at least once a month, then I've over achieved in this one. Obviously for 2020 Covid has stepped in. Score 10/10.Summary
So overall that's 31/60, not really very impressive and definite room for improvement. My family were suggesting to me that my objectives were unrealistic but I don't think I agree. What about next years objectives - well let's start with just one objective - come up with a list before the end of June. That'll do for now. My next post will be a one year review of the state of my pension - probably more interesting than I wanted it to be, given the impact that Covid-19 has had.Tuesday, 3 December 2019
October & November - Retirement Novelty Fades
How quickly one adapts to a new normal. Although it's only six months since leaving IBM, it feels like another era. I've also been stunningly delinquent in keeping up with regular blog updates - good intentions and all that...
Over the past couple of months I've been busy: three more trips in the motorhome; a family holiday to Israel; a weekend hotel break with Linda; another long distance path; further gardening efforts; a laser cutter project completed and some regular volunteering started at church.
The motorhome has continued to provide regular use. I've used it for another two LARP (Live Action Role Playing) events - one as a player and the other as part of the crew team. I think I'd now be very unwilling to go back to using a tent. I also went for a short break with Tazmin to the New Forest, which was her first opportunity to experience the motorhome and resulted her achieving her longest walk ever. ( Click Here for walk photos and details. )
Over the autumn half-term break, we went to Israel. Since Linda is still teaching part time, we're limited to school holidays, but she doesn't work Mondays or Fridays. To maximise our time, we left UK on Thursday evening, returning ten days later on a Monday evening.
Linda and I went with my Father, Louise and Cordelia and my son-in-law, Jamie. For more Israel holiday details, some walking madness and photos - click here.
In November Linda and I went on a quick hotel break to Herefordshire, staying in The Pilgrim Hotel about half way between Hereford and Ross-on-Wye. Not much walking as conditions were super wet, but we had a chance to explore both Hereford and Ross-on-Wye over the two days we had. The highlight for me was visiting Hereford cathedral and seeing the Mappa Mundi and the chained library - well worth a visit if ever you get a chance.
Back in September I ticked off another long distance path that's been on my 'to do' list for a while. The Three Castles Path links Windsor to Winchester. I did the walk over two days. Click here if you'd like to see what I got up to and some photos.
On the gardening front, I've simply not kept on top of all the stuff I wanted to do. There have been a couple of areas of improvement. There's a large oak tree that's been increasingly bothering me. It's adjacent to a border with one of our Quelm Park neighbours and given the size, must have completely blocked the sunlight from their garden for most of the day. It had also started to impact the growth of some of the smaller trees in my orchard area. When we moved into our home over twenty years ago the tree was not an issue - time changes that. I'm pleased to say that armed with my trusty Stanley saw, a pile of ropes and a long ladder, the oak tree is no longer an issue. I've also finally got round to clearing the back of the garage as well as clearing the flower bed adjacent to our neighbours garage. As always seems to be the case for gardening, much more to do.
Back inside, I've started playing with the laser cutter again and just completed my latest project: an advent calendar for Linda. What started as, "something I'll quickly knock up" ended up taking me far more time than I anticipated. As these projects always do - and for some reason I'm always surprised! I'm particularly pleased with a latch type mechanism that I implemented that means the draws gently click into place when you insert them and won't fall out even if the whole calendar is shaken whilst holding face down. For scale - the front face you can see is about A3.
Finally, one of my intentions upon retiring was to spend some time helping at church and I'm very pleased to now be helping with some of the office admin on Wednesday afternoons. So far it's interesting and I'm enjoying it - but then I've only just started. Will see how it goes.
Over the past couple of months I've been busy: three more trips in the motorhome; a family holiday to Israel; a weekend hotel break with Linda; another long distance path; further gardening efforts; a laser cutter project completed and some regular volunteering started at church.
The motorhome has continued to provide regular use. I've used it for another two LARP (Live Action Role Playing) events - one as a player and the other as part of the crew team. I think I'd now be very unwilling to go back to using a tent. I also went for a short break with Tazmin to the New Forest, which was her first opportunity to experience the motorhome and resulted her achieving her longest walk ever. ( Click Here for walk photos and details. )
Over the autumn half-term break, we went to Israel. Since Linda is still teaching part time, we're limited to school holidays, but she doesn't work Mondays or Fridays. To maximise our time, we left UK on Thursday evening, returning ten days later on a Monday evening.
 |
| Hanging out in Capernaum |
Linda and I went with my Father, Louise and Cordelia and my son-in-law, Jamie. For more Israel holiday details, some walking madness and photos - click here.
In November Linda and I went on a quick hotel break to Herefordshire, staying in The Pilgrim Hotel about half way between Hereford and Ross-on-Wye. Not much walking as conditions were super wet, but we had a chance to explore both Hereford and Ross-on-Wye over the two days we had. The highlight for me was visiting Hereford cathedral and seeing the Mappa Mundi and the chained library - well worth a visit if ever you get a chance.
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| The Mappa Mundi - about 700 years old, largest medieval map known to exist |
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| And that's what the UK looks like on the map! |
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| The Chained Library - so many really old books! |
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| Hereford Cathedral |
Back in September I ticked off another long distance path that's been on my 'to do' list for a while. The Three Castles Path links Windsor to Winchester. I did the walk over two days. Click here if you'd like to see what I got up to and some photos.
On the gardening front, I've simply not kept on top of all the stuff I wanted to do. There have been a couple of areas of improvement. There's a large oak tree that's been increasingly bothering me. It's adjacent to a border with one of our Quelm Park neighbours and given the size, must have completely blocked the sunlight from their garden for most of the day. It had also started to impact the growth of some of the smaller trees in my orchard area. When we moved into our home over twenty years ago the tree was not an issue - time changes that. I'm pleased to say that armed with my trusty Stanley saw, a pile of ropes and a long ladder, the oak tree is no longer an issue. I've also finally got round to clearing the back of the garage as well as clearing the flower bed adjacent to our neighbours garage. As always seems to be the case for gardening, much more to do.
Before
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After
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| A dramatic difference to the skyline. It must have significantly improved the light in my neighbours garden! |  |  |
| A rampant kiwi vine along with brambles had been left to fester for too long. Now we can see our neighbour's garage. |  |  |
| More clearance work at the back of our garage. I don't think I've ever seen that concrete path before. |  |  |
Back inside, I've started playing with the laser cutter again and just completed my latest project: an advent calendar for Linda. What started as, "something I'll quickly knock up" ended up taking me far more time than I anticipated. As these projects always do - and for some reason I'm always surprised! I'm particularly pleased with a latch type mechanism that I implemented that means the draws gently click into place when you insert them and won't fall out even if the whole calendar is shaken whilst holding face down. For scale - the front face you can see is about A3.
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| The contents of draw 1 after Linda opened it on Sunday |
Finally, one of my intentions upon retiring was to spend some time helping at church and I'm very pleased to now be helping with some of the office admin on Wednesday afternoons. So far it's interesting and I'm enjoying it - but then I've only just started. Will see how it goes.
Tuesday, 17 September 2019
A Summer Quickly Over
The summer seems to have positively zipped by and I'm at a loss as to where all the time went. In the month since my previous post it's become clear to me that some of my plans for retirement are not going to come to fruition as swiftly as I'd hoped. The summer holidays are now over, Linda is back to school and a new term has begun.
I've done some gardening - but not as much as I should have done. DIY projects are still in the "to be started" bucket. However, I have been making good use of the motorhome.
Linda and I joined with our church family at Westpoint Showground, along with many other churches, for a long weekend of teaching, celebration and worship. The weather was fantastic, dramatically better than last year, and we had a great time, enjoying the opportunity to spend time with other members of our church and getting to know one another better.
Westpoint was followed by a few days near Weston-Super-Mare, where Linda and I were joined by our daughter, Cordelia. This resulted in more walking than Cordelia would have liked, but less than I wanted. Seaside cafe lunches. Evening pub meals. In all, another enjoyable break.
Then I was off by myself in the moterhome to Frylands Wood Scout Centre near Croyden, where I was helping crew a Live Action Role Playing event. An adult version of running around in the woods, playing "let's pretend".
After six trips in the motorhome so far, both Linda and I are very happy. It's certainly met our expectations and we've no regrets. Still need to take it over the channel at some point - but I guess that's unlikely to happen until next year.
With summer 2019 behind me, I need to knuckle down and be a bit more constructive. Let's see how that goes.....
I've done some gardening - but not as much as I should have done. DIY projects are still in the "to be started" bucket. However, I have been making good use of the motorhome.
Linda and I joined with our church family at Westpoint Showground, along with many other churches, for a long weekend of teaching, celebration and worship. The weather was fantastic, dramatically better than last year, and we had a great time, enjoying the opportunity to spend time with other members of our church and getting to know one another better.
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| Ascot Life Church camping area |
Westpoint was followed by a few days near Weston-Super-Mare, where Linda and I were joined by our daughter, Cordelia. This resulted in more walking than Cordelia would have liked, but less than I wanted. Seaside cafe lunches. Evening pub meals. In all, another enjoyable break.
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| View south from Brean Down (Weston-Super-Mare is behind me) |
Then I was off by myself in the moterhome to Frylands Wood Scout Centre near Croyden, where I was helping crew a Live Action Role Playing event. An adult version of running around in the woods, playing "let's pretend".
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| In costume, in the woods, awaiting an encounter with the players |
After six trips in the motorhome so far, both Linda and I are very happy. It's certainly met our expectations and we've no regrets. Still need to take it over the channel at some point - but I guess that's unlikely to happen until next year.
With summer 2019 behind me, I need to knuckle down and be a bit more constructive. Let's see how that goes.....
Monday, 19 August 2019
Bognor, Brighton and Arcade Antics
So last weekend Linda and I went on our second break away in the motorhome (I really need to come up with a cool name for it - suggestions welcome). This time for three nights rather than just one. My mother-in-law, Ann, joined us in her caravan and Cordelia came too.
Since it was all rather last minute, unsurprisingly during the summer school holidays the majority of camp sites we called were full! Eventually we found a camp site that had vacancies for a motorhome and a caravan - so to Bognor Regis we went. Since we'd left pretty late on the Saturday, having had to wait for Cordelia to finish work, we didn't really have much time in the evening other than setting up and preparing some food. All in the motorhome was working as expected and a good nights sleep was had.
Sunday was an opportunity to explore the quaint holiday destination that is Bognor Regis. It didn't disappoint. Heading into town, on route to the beach, it proved impossible for the ladies not to be distracted by the shops. I bought a newspaper and camped in a coffee shop, awaiting further developments. Eventually we made it to the sea front and ended up at the Pier.
The beach was pretty empty, but given the typical British summer weather of cold drizzle, not really surprising. It turned out that the Amusement Arcade on the pier was the place to be. Lured by the bright lights and the promise of prizes to be won, we wandered in. After a brief look round, I left to have a coffee in the cafe at the entrance to the arcade, anticipating that I'd be swiftly joined. I was wrong. It turned out that the lure of easy money had been too strong. Investigating, I found all three of them...
It was one of those coin waterfall type games where you slot in a 2p coin in the hope it will settle on the sliding shelf and result in displacing more coins for you to collect. Attention was fixated on a five pound note, tantalisingly close to falling off the edge to be collected by the lucky punter who happened to insert a timely coin.
Surely it wouldn't take £5 worth of coins to displace it. This must be worth a punt. And so another set of suckers were reeled in. 250 2p coins later, the note was still sitting stubbornly on the edge - still looking like one more go would push it over. Defeat was accepted and that was that. Time to go - or so I thought. While Linda and Ann had had enough, Cordelia wanted more. You see, not only did the pusher game give the chance of untold riches, but through some impenetrable algorithm also dispensed tickets during play. The result of feeding in many many coins into the slot had given us a couple of hundred tickets. And tickets can be exchanged for prizes. Cordelia reasoned that having started collecting tickets, we should continue to do so until we had enough to claim a prize, so our five pounds would not have been wasted. She had set her heart on a mug that cost 1500 tickets!!!
And that's how I ended up playing various games for tickets on Bognor Regis pier. Having played a fish shooting game, a basket ball throwing game, a Willy Wonka game and I think there may have been something else, it became clear that at the rate we were winning tickets, this was going to be a really expensive mug. I'm guessing that so far we'd probably spent about £15 to win about 1000 tickets. We then had a go at a duel player space invaders game. A pound each to play and we sat next to each other on a bench with a gun that we aimed at a large screen. This was fun. We didn't do great on the ticket front, but I was convinced we could do better if we had another go. Two more pound coins in the slot and we played again. We played a blinder, beautifully coordinated, picking off the aliens, hitting the bonus ships, manic mayhem, they came faster and faster and we blasted them. And then it was over. But a new high score and a mega ticket bonus!
This was great! This was the highlight of my holiday. The screen flashed! The colours cycled through. It flashed more! People were looking round to see what had happened. And the tickets, the tickets they kept on coming, the space invaders machine spitting them out, on and on and on. And onlookers stopped in their tracks to see what was happening. And the tickets kept coming. That mug was gonna be coming home.
Not only would Cordelia be taking home a hard won mug, but I would be taking one too. Let me tell you, life doesn't get much better than this. I admit I was wrong and Cordelia was right. It was fun. It will be a great memory.
After that excitement it's all downhill from here. More shops, chips from a seaside chippy and Weatherspoons for supper.
During a drink or two in Weatherspoons, discussion flowed on tomorrows activities. I was suggesting we could go for a more ambitious walk than "one mile into town". However, there was little support for this notion and the winning notion was "driving to Brighton and spending the day shopping". I was outvoted three to one. As a throw away comment, Ann said, "You could always walk and meet us there." Ha! Challenge accepted.
And so it happened. (Click here for walk details and photos) I met up with Linda, Cordelia and Ann in Brighton in time for a couple of beers and an evening meal. We ate at Bon Appetit - an 'all you can eat' buffet restaurant in the town centre. A big plus from me on quantity and value - however the food was pretty bland and distinctly underwhelming. I don't think we'll be back.
Tuesday morning saw Cordelia and I heading back to sunny Bracknell with Linda staying on with Ann in the Caravan for a few more days. It turned out to be a fun weekend break and the motorhome continued to please. I think I'm done with Bognor, OK for one trip, but I can't see myself longing to go back.
 |
| Convoy Ready to Roll |
Since it was all rather last minute, unsurprisingly during the summer school holidays the majority of camp sites we called were full! Eventually we found a camp site that had vacancies for a motorhome and a caravan - so to Bognor Regis we went. Since we'd left pretty late on the Saturday, having had to wait for Cordelia to finish work, we didn't really have much time in the evening other than setting up and preparing some food. All in the motorhome was working as expected and a good nights sleep was had.
Sunday was an opportunity to explore the quaint holiday destination that is Bognor Regis. It didn't disappoint. Heading into town, on route to the beach, it proved impossible for the ladies not to be distracted by the shops. I bought a newspaper and camped in a coffee shop, awaiting further developments. Eventually we made it to the sea front and ended up at the Pier.
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| Bognor Sea Front |
The beach was pretty empty, but given the typical British summer weather of cold drizzle, not really surprising. It turned out that the Amusement Arcade on the pier was the place to be. Lured by the bright lights and the promise of prizes to be won, we wandered in. After a brief look round, I left to have a coffee in the cafe at the entrance to the arcade, anticipating that I'd be swiftly joined. I was wrong. It turned out that the lure of easy money had been too strong. Investigating, I found all three of them...
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| Absorbed by a 'pusher game' |
It was one of those coin waterfall type games where you slot in a 2p coin in the hope it will settle on the sliding shelf and result in displacing more coins for you to collect. Attention was fixated on a five pound note, tantalisingly close to falling off the edge to be collected by the lucky punter who happened to insert a timely coin.
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| So close to falling |
Surely it wouldn't take £5 worth of coins to displace it. This must be worth a punt. And so another set of suckers were reeled in. 250 2p coins later, the note was still sitting stubbornly on the edge - still looking like one more go would push it over. Defeat was accepted and that was that. Time to go - or so I thought. While Linda and Ann had had enough, Cordelia wanted more. You see, not only did the pusher game give the chance of untold riches, but through some impenetrable algorithm also dispensed tickets during play. The result of feeding in many many coins into the slot had given us a couple of hundred tickets. And tickets can be exchanged for prizes. Cordelia reasoned that having started collecting tickets, we should continue to do so until we had enough to claim a prize, so our five pounds would not have been wasted. She had set her heart on a mug that cost 1500 tickets!!!
Cordelia:
| Do you wanna stay and play more games to try win a mug. | |
Me:
| No, that's stupid. | |
Cordelia:
| Oh please, it will be fun! | |
Me:
| No - it's a waste of money. | |
Cordelia:
| The money will be spent on the good time and memories we'll have together. | |
Me:
| Give the tickets to a kid. | |
Cordelia:
| But I earned them. | |
Me:
| No - I don't want to. | |
Cordelia:
| Yes you do | |
Me:
| No, I'm not going to do it. | |
Cordelia:
| Pleeeeease | |
Me:
| No. | |
Cordelia:
| Just to get the mug. | |
Me:
| No. | |
Cordelia:
| Yes, go on. | |
Me:
| OK |
And that's how I ended up playing various games for tickets on Bognor Regis pier. Having played a fish shooting game, a basket ball throwing game, a Willy Wonka game and I think there may have been something else, it became clear that at the rate we were winning tickets, this was going to be a really expensive mug. I'm guessing that so far we'd probably spent about £15 to win about 1000 tickets. We then had a go at a duel player space invaders game. A pound each to play and we sat next to each other on a bench with a gun that we aimed at a large screen. This was fun. We didn't do great on the ticket front, but I was convinced we could do better if we had another go. Two more pound coins in the slot and we played again. We played a blinder, beautifully coordinated, picking off the aliens, hitting the bonus ships, manic mayhem, they came faster and faster and we blasted them. And then it was over. But a new high score and a mega ticket bonus!
 |
| We both got an additional 1000 tickets! |
This was great! This was the highlight of my holiday. The screen flashed! The colours cycled through. It flashed more! People were looking round to see what had happened. And the tickets, the tickets they kept on coming, the space invaders machine spitting them out, on and on and on. And onlookers stopped in their tracks to see what was happening. And the tickets kept coming. That mug was gonna be coming home.
 |
| Those tickets are still coming.... |
Not only would Cordelia be taking home a hard won mug, but I would be taking one too. Let me tell you, life doesn't get much better than this. I admit I was wrong and Cordelia was right. It was fun. It will be a great memory.
 |
| The Coveted Mug |
After that excitement it's all downhill from here. More shops, chips from a seaside chippy and Weatherspoons for supper.
During a drink or two in Weatherspoons, discussion flowed on tomorrows activities. I was suggesting we could go for a more ambitious walk than "one mile into town". However, there was little support for this notion and the winning notion was "driving to Brighton and spending the day shopping". I was outvoted three to one. As a throw away comment, Ann said, "You could always walk and meet us there." Ha! Challenge accepted.
And so it happened. (Click here for walk details and photos) I met up with Linda, Cordelia and Ann in Brighton in time for a couple of beers and an evening meal. We ate at Bon Appetit - an 'all you can eat' buffet restaurant in the town centre. A big plus from me on quantity and value - however the food was pretty bland and distinctly underwhelming. I don't think we'll be back.
Tuesday morning saw Cordelia and I heading back to sunny Bracknell with Linda staying on with Ann in the Caravan for a few more days. It turned out to be a fun weekend break and the motorhome continued to please. I think I'm done with Bognor, OK for one trip, but I can't see myself longing to go back.
Wednesday, 7 August 2019
Gibraltar: Thoughts and Photos
A last minute decision a week ago saw Linda and I on a flight to Gibraltar on Thursday - resulting in a significantly more exciting celebration of our wedding anniversary than our normal efforts.
As it turns out, Gibraltar is an excellent destination for a long weekend break. My list of positives includes: Everything is in English; You can use the Pound - so no currency exchange rip-offs; No jabs required; Sunny; Small enough to walk everywhere (the total ground area of Gibraltar is about half the area of Heathrow Airport!); Reasonable prices - costs seemed similar, or less, than Bracknell; and multiple sites of historic interest.
We were staying in a 'yacht' hotel, moored in the harbour, close to the main town centre and just 15 minutes walk from the airport terminal. An interesting walk, in that it sees you crossing the airport runway. Gibraltar is the only international airport where it's runway is crossed by a main road.
Our time consisted of walking and exploring punctuated by multiple bar and cafe stops for refreshment. Highlights for me were the tour of the World War 2 tunnels in the rock, climbing the Mediterranean Steps to the top of the rock, the stunning views and meeting the monkeys (Barbary Macaques) on the rock. For Linda it was the monkeys and the views when climbing the rock.
So a great weekend away that I'd thoroughly recommend as a short break, with enough to engage both of us. If we'd have had more time, we'd have probably spent a day at one of the beaches, maybe taken a dolphin viewing tour or a day trip to Morocco.
I found the history of Gibraltar fascinating and it's easy to see why strategically this small peninsular has been so important to the British military and indeed continues to be so. The defences around the rock are formidable and the ongoing British sovereignty provides a delightful metaphorical two fingers up at the Spanish.
Makes you proud to be a Brit! 😊
 |
| View of Gibraltar from the Airport |
As it turns out, Gibraltar is an excellent destination for a long weekend break. My list of positives includes: Everything is in English; You can use the Pound - so no currency exchange rip-offs; No jabs required; Sunny; Small enough to walk everywhere (the total ground area of Gibraltar is about half the area of Heathrow Airport!); Reasonable prices - costs seemed similar, or less, than Bracknell; and multiple sites of historic interest.
We were staying in a 'yacht' hotel, moored in the harbour, close to the main town centre and just 15 minutes walk from the airport terminal. An interesting walk, in that it sees you crossing the airport runway. Gibraltar is the only international airport where it's runway is crossed by a main road.
 |
| Our base for four nights |
Our time consisted of walking and exploring punctuated by multiple bar and cafe stops for refreshment. Highlights for me were the tour of the World War 2 tunnels in the rock, climbing the Mediterranean Steps to the top of the rock, the stunning views and meeting the monkeys (Barbary Macaques) on the rock. For Linda it was the monkeys and the views when climbing the rock.
 |
| One of many pints of San Miguel Consumed |
 |
| Europa Point, with view of Africa across the Straits |
 |
| Looking North, from Europa Point |
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| The Mediterranean Steps - a tougher path to the top! |
 |
| View to the east, about half way up |
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| View to the north, pretty much at the top |
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| The obligatory monkey photo |
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| Inside one of the rock's tunnels (there are 35 miles of tunnels!) |
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| Circled point is location of guns in previous photo |
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| Crossing the runway, heading back home |
So a great weekend away that I'd thoroughly recommend as a short break, with enough to engage both of us. If we'd have had more time, we'd have probably spent a day at one of the beaches, maybe taken a dolphin viewing tour or a day trip to Morocco.
I found the history of Gibraltar fascinating and it's easy to see why strategically this small peninsular has been so important to the British military and indeed continues to be so. The defences around the rock are formidable and the ongoing British sovereignty provides a delightful metaphorical two fingers up at the Spanish.
Makes you proud to be a Brit! 😊
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