TWO SNAILS (plus a dog and a dragon)

This article first appeared elsewhere on August 17th, 2014. What was true then imay not be true today when I reposted it here.

So, this thing still works then?

 *cough* 

 It has been a while, has it not? 

 I have a confession to make. Mr and Mrs Snail learned to accept that their idea was misguided and let their plan wither on the vine. Time marched on. It was agreed that they could not bear to part with their home on the peedie island. It was also agreed that poor Mr Snail could not long continue a life shackled to his employer’s desk. This is the main reason for the protracted period of quiet. It took a lot of hard thinking and some serious manipulation of numbers but the whole process was greatly aided by the continued low interest rate. 

 To bring us right bang up to date – Mr Snail begins his two years on his company’s pre-retirement plan at the beginning of September. Between now and then he is on leave. When he returns to work, he will be working 4 days a week for 12 months and then 3 days a week for the next 12 months thereafter. The mortgage will be paid off during this period and we hope to keep the house as a home base for as long as possible. 

 Mrs Snail, being Mr Snail’s “older woman” has now formally received both her bus pass and employer’s pension, if not yet the State pension. The lump sum is providing some refurbishment to the house and left a little over, so… 

 …when Mr Snail spotted the listing for a very nice camper van in Caithness on eBay a couple of days ago, he lost his heart to it entirely. An experimental bid in the final two seconds resulted in our sudden and almost entirely unexpected purchase of a fully-winterised 6 berth 21 footer. Sight unseen. Whoops. 

 So – a 4 day week implies a 3 day weekend. Every week. And now we have a home on wheels with which to make the most of our new free time. 

 We are going places. 

 In all frankness, I need a bit of a lie down.