2009
Still reeling from the financial crisis, the world got a foretaste of what a pandemic feels like with the outbreak of Swine flu. Better news came from the States with the inauguration of President Obama, drawing a line under the awful W Bush era.
This was the year we firmed up our sabbatical plans. A March trip to Barbados with our friend Gerald proved to be a catalyst, inciting us to start looking into long term gîte rentals in the Dordogne.
An April visit from Chuck saw us head off for a long weekend in Copenhagen where among other things, we got to split a Danish.
The following month we returned to the Dordogne to check out some of the gîtes we had identified. We also took in the lovely Jardins du Manoir d’Eyrignac. Two gîtes were ruled out in short order but the third one, near Brantôme in the northern Dordogne, ticked all the boxes and we reserved it there and then. Preparations soon got underway for our move.
Matt’s employer Dresdner got taken over by Commerce Bank, a company he had no desire to work for. At first they wanted to keep him, but he managed to persuade them to let him go, which was serendipitous as the redundancy money helped hugely with the funding of our year off.
In July, Blur played a concert at Hyde park and we scored tickets to that – a lovely way to begin saying our goodbyes to the city that had been home for the last decade.
In August, we took the train down to Brighton for Pride- the last time we have had occasion to celebrate it. We were joined by Gavin, his boyfriend at the time, Graham, and Little David. It’s often a hot, sunny weekend but unfortunately this one was a complete washout.
We made another Greek pilgrimage in September, our last Kefalonia trip for some years. We were joined by Will’s brother Dave, Dave’s girlfriend Rosie, and Jan. We hired boats to explore the coastline.
We decided we needed camping equipment for our year off (in hindsight, we did not at all) and in September, took it for a test drive with a trip to the Wye Valley with the parents.
The following month was our last one in London, and also the month of Matt’s 40th birthday. This obviously called for a big celebration. Friends and family came from all over and we rented out a restaurant and cocktail bar on Essex Road, Islington. Hedonism and hilarity ensued.
We spent the rest of the month saying goodbye to friends, and to London. Gerald, Matt’s sister Suzy and her husband Steve ended up staying with us for a few days after the party. We went to Primrose Hill and Greenwich, the latter of which treated us to a magnificent sunset. Then we hired cars and went down to Kent to see the white cliffs of Dover, Deal, Sandwich and, because we didn’t know better, the Isle of Sheppey.
And then, we moved to the Dordogne.