HaPpY NeW YeAr 2007
from MaRtIn!
Well, what a year I’ve had! It began with my father aboard the QE2. We visited Lisbon, Barcelona, Gibraltar, Gran Canaria, Dakar and Tenerife before ending with the New Year’s Eve spectacular firework display in Madeira. I taught a few line dances during some days at sea but ballroom danced most evenings with Betty. We were met back at Southampton by my friend Mike who drove us back to the late Sally’s garage to find my car’s rear brakes had rusted solid! Thankfully, after a lot of hammering, the AA set them free again.
Judy Clarke from the Joint Services Command & Staff College (JSCSC) ran ballroom dance classes in Ashbury School during the spring which I attended with Kerry. We learnt the cha cha, jive, waltz and samba. After my retirement I started going to three ballroom dance classes in Dorset.
On Tuesdays I go to Ann and Ken’s Cosmopolitan class in Christchurch with Jenny from Wimborne. Here we’ve just done the cha cha and waltz. We’ve been to one of their socials at the lovely Priory Hall.
On Wednesdays I go to Karen’s Anglodance class in Charminster with Sue (who used to attend my line dance class at the Queen’s Hall) from Westbourne. Here we’ve done the cha cha, slow rhythm (or smooth[ie]), jive, quickstep and rhumba. We’ve attended one social here with another one planned just before Christmas.
On Thursdays I go to Pauline & Robert’s class at the Broadstone Dance Studio with Julie from Canford Heath. We’ve done the cha cha, slow rhythm, waltz, jive, quickstep and rhumba here. I’ve also been to a couple of their socials. In the New Year I want to register with DanceAfloat in Ipswich in order to become a dance host on the cruise ships.
I attended three celebrity line dances at Kinson with Maggie Gallagher from Coventry, Kate Sala from Nottingham and Rob Fowler from Lancashire. I also danced in Exeter, at “The South Will Rise Again” (TSWRA) at Canford arena, and with three live bands at Milldown in Blandford. I DJed at five line dance discos in the Ellendune community centre in Wroughton, including the final one of all at that venue and at three in the Freshbrook community centre, Swindon: on Good Friday, with Gary Lafferty and finally my retirement bash. At the latter my class gave me a lovely belt buckle inscribed: “Good luck Martin from all your friends at line dancing”.
At the point of my retirement we had three events at work: a graduation buffet arranged by John, a farewell ‘asset stripping’ party for all four of us who were leaving arranged by Denise, and a final lunch out at the True Heart in Bishopstone. In the end I got a GBP 150k tax-free lump sum and a GBP 18k taxable pension per year from the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS).
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I put my house in Ashbury on the market at GBP 250k in May before reducing the asking price to GBP 225k in July. In September I got an initial offer of GBP 215k but I held out for the final sum of GBP 223,500. The survey went through in October and I moved out on the 17th November. I paid GBP 200 to the Ashbury house clearance people to get rid of all my furniture and junk. Unfortunately now I’ve got the contents of my three bedroom house strewn about my two bedroom flat in Poole! I’ve got to live here for at least six months in order to reclaim three years’ worth of capital gains tax. I have been looking at bungalows in Westbourne and/or apartments in Gran Canaria. Yes, I know the price of everything and the value of nothing!
I continue working for the Open University with three students doing MSc theses on course M801. On my first day of retirement my Cranfield email was terminated and I had to notify people of my new address. Immediately Jean Soper, formerly at Leicester University, but now at Loughborough University, offered me a GBP 1000 consultancy contract. I’ve written a short report on her Cost Calculator for Children’s Social Services. On the carpet-bagging front I benefited from both the demutualization of Standard Life (also buying GBP 7.5k extra worth of shares) and from the takeover of the Lambeth building society by the Portman. They in turn have been taken over by the Nationwide so I’m hoping for a double windfall.
During the year I’ve done a lot of dog minding: Kevin’s lurcher Jake, Tank’s staffy Stella and more recently Lewis’ greyhound Charlie. Now that I’m retired I’m not contemplating another dog since I want to keep commitment free so I can sail off at a moment’s notice! I was unable to get to the memorial service for Sir Freddie Laker who had been married to my cousin Jacqueline. However I did get to the funerals of Sally (Mike’s neighbour) in Southampton and James (from my walking group) in Yeovil. Visitors to my flat have included Lewis & Kevin, Sue & Karen, Stephen & Brian, and my father & Renee. I had trips away to Clacton to see my father, to Brighton with Mark who has moved there from Pompey, and to Devon with Ivor and Ron’s walking group. I shall be spending Christmas with my brother David and sister-in-law Pam in Harlow together with my father.