2018 – Half Year Review

2018 is halfway through. Time to do a half year review. When I started this blog I thought I would focus on this quarterly. By default I do a quarter review on 5th April, because it is that tax year end in the UK, although I don’t always a September one – last year – I was far too busy enjoying myself on a Slow Travel Trip to Madrid

At the start of the year I posted a summary of what 2017 had been like and what I hoped for in 2018.

Family Gathering

We are meeting with our two boys, their wives in Amsterdam in August. Everything is organised, so we are really looking forward to that. We will have everyone in the same room for the first time in nearly 5 years. Yippee.

Health

I continue to fight with my weight. It definitely is a work in progress! However, I have been very disciplined over the last 8 weeks, and the weight is slowly coming down. I can’t say it has been easy, but I don’t mind too much when I see some benefit, not only with a lower weight, but also losing a few inches.

This Blog

I aimed to produce a post every 7-10 days. I broadly managed that in the first few months, but the last couple of months, I have let it slide a bit. Two reasons, sometimes I don’t think I have anything to say, and secondly the weather in June and July has been delightful here. I would far rather be outside boosting my Vitamin D levels, than sitting working on a PC. Work/life balance is necessary even though I am retired. I confess Pinterest is still a bit of a mystery.

Net Worth

I measure our overall net worth. In the last six months, it has risen by a fairly pathetic 1.69%, a long way from the 10% that I am hoping for, by year end. The good thing is it is still positive. As long as we don’t have to start dipping into our savings for a year or two yet. Our major investments are showing a decrease at the minute, so it is dragging our overall statistics down. We continue to save a decent amount each month, but I am not so good as focusing on it as I was, this time last year. It has been a ‘spendy’ year so far. A couple of short trips to N Ireland, a trip to the Western Isles, our forthcoming trip to Amsterdam to meet up with our whole family is already paid for (hotels and flights that is), and our slow travel trip to Rome has had the deposit paid, but nothing else yet. I ended up getting new glasses the other day. Altogether it has added up to £750! Ouch. On the other hand my last pair have lasted me 4 years, so averaged out, it isn’t so bad.

As I am expecting to use Euros a lot this year, I have set up a bank account with a new entrant into the UK banking arena. Transferwise. (Note : I do not have an affiliate link to them, I am not paid in any way to recommend them, this is from my own personal experience.) I have been using this company for a couple of years to transfer money to Europe and NZ. The transfer arrives pretty promptly, the rate of exchange is better than my bank, and the fees are pretty small, so I save money. However this year, they have also started issuing a debit card available in 4 currencies, USD, GBP, AUD and EUR. I am looking forward to trying it out in Amsterdam, ahead of our long trip to Rome. It will be so much easier than having to use cash. (UK banks often give you a poor exchange rate and then charge you a foreign currency transaction fee, so it can prove expensive!) The other hidden benefit, is that I can transfer money in, when the exchange rates are good, ahead of any trip. So far, I have found their system very easy to use, and their app is very clear.

Learning Spanish

I have made quite a bit of progress with this. While I am far from fluent, it is getting easier to have basic conversations. I am continuing with Duolingo, I go to a 2 hour class, and a 1 hour conversation class every week. A long slow process… However, I haven’t managed to book a wee trip yet. Given we also have a trip coming up to Rome, I have been trying to learning some basic Italian – Work in Progress!

Metal Work

A friend and I have organised a gallery show for November. I am quite hesitant about it, however it will be a learning experience. Like the blogging, this has been hit a little by the lovely weather. Even with the garage door wide open, I want to be outside. However, over the next week, I need to focus, and get all the things ready for the exhibition. I have a meeting to discuss on 14th August. We are away 1 week, so I only have a few days to get organised!

Travel

Our next Slow Travel Trip is organised. We are going to Rome for 6 weeks. We are starting the final preparations, the plane tickets are bought, the apartment is booked, we have arranged travel insurance and bought our Euros (see Transferwise above). Now we are working on a schedule with our friends to arrange who comes, when and for how long! Our passports are in date. We are taking fewer clothes this time. Our learning from last year is that we packed too many clothes. There is a washing machine in teh apartment, a terrace to dry the clothes on, it will be warm, so we don’t need 7-10 days of clothes! There’ll be few posh meals out, so maybe one smart(ish) outfit…

We have also been to Ireland twice, been up to the Hebrides , we’re off to Amsterdam next week to meet up with both our sons. The younger one has already started his travels. He and his wife left Christchurch yesterday.

So travel still forms a major part of our lives. Long may it be that we are fit and healthy and able to travel for years to come.

We woke up to a different sort of travelling the other day. This was parked across the way from us, one day last week. Only for a few hours though.

Have Fun

We are definitely having fun. Some days/ weeks things are quiet. We enjoy that, just as we enjoy when things are busy. We still wake up on a Monday morning and say – yeah, we don’t have to get up for work! As my half year review shows,  we don’t have any money worries yet, 7 years in, long may it continue to be the case. Our health is good (long may it continue). We treat every day as a new adventure, although tomorrow we are picking berries, not so much an adventure, as a chore, but we will enjoy them come the winter… What are your views?

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