Thank you all. Meggie is in what we hope is 'stasis' at the moment, and the medics hope to maintain that to extend her time.
We are moving to Alnwick, 30 miles north of Newcastle -IF EVERYTHING GOES TO PLAN. Sim will be ten mins walk away and Ness a hour north by train; Tim's in Bristol, just a few hours more. The whole point is to remove the extended time-wasting and expense of air travel, to three destinations, and to future-proof things as we age.
Thank you for the invite Roger; I might hold you to that!
Rob, long time no see. We actually compared Met Office charts to check, Alnwick climate is indeed similar to our presently sun-baked piece of green. Mind you, this current stretch of sunshine...I haven't been this colour since I was in the Andes in the summer,10 years ago and above 2000m for most of a month...
Bob, Thank you for the encouragement - as always! I've already been 'retired' (in the sense of not having to get up for work) since last September, but we had a turbulent time when Meggie's resistance to the chemo's toxicity was overcome, shortly afterwards. Between that and some other family fuss, I've been 'on the clock' for three adults since retiring. We hope to slow things down a lot, and in that respect, are trying hard to get a smaller, newer place that avoids the ongoing maintainence our 1903 house and big garden demands. I AM having fun, training in night school to use a metal-working lathe and mill, and - with my left hand - trying to find a mover that doesn't require a mortgage(!) for moving an aged AGS, bandsaw, lathe, P/T etc.etc. Debating hiring a six-tonner with a tail lift and doing myself.
I used to do a similar job for the C.C.F in the summer as a contingent Q.M., so it's a viable option if I'm desperate.
Cheers, All; this is a nice forum to be in.
Sam