It was Friday afternoon and Matt was at school.   He texted to say our friends Bob and Simon were getting together that night at the Jackalope Pub in Marylebone, and asked if we should go. "Sure," I replied immediately. "I’d love to see them." I took a train from our village five stops and then switched to the Tube up to Oxford Circus. It was just a 15-minute walk from there to the Jackalope, a charming old pub with a new name and all the character you would want.   It was quite busy that night and the crowd spilled out into the cobblestoned mews, where stables have been converted into homes selling for over $2 million.  Sipping a nice decaf coffee and Irish cream at the Brown Dog. When we first arrived in England for our 2-year stay, we had a goal of hitting as many pubs in London as possible.  We even bought a book to assist us. W e  search out the more unique ones like where Shakespeare drank, most haunted, oldest and hidden ones. We love the pubs here...

I’m feeling as old as the hills and, at times, graveyard dead.   I’m not under the weather, so I will step up to the plate and hope I don’t go down in flames with this post. Matt and I are spending January in (on?) the Iberian Peninsula with my brother, Tom. It’s once in a blue moon that we can travel this far because of Matt’s school.   I’m going to spill the beans: Spain is the best thing since sliced bread. Sunrise in Estepona.                                                                    “You can say that again,” says Matt.  I’m not going to beat around the bush: you will miss the boat if you don’t discover this wonderful area for yourselves.   The ball is in your court. We spent last September in the northern Spain town of   Llançà  (Yahn-sah).  It may be the best kept se...

We are taking full advantage of being in London for the holidays. Last year I got back here Dec. 23 after spending a month in California over Thanksgiving.    There was no time to experience all the things the city offered, so we are trying to do a lot this time. Last night, we saw a live orchestra play the soundtrack for The Muppet Christmas Carol  (starring Michael Caine as Ebeneezer Scrooge) as the movie played on a screen above it. The audience, made up mostly of adults, was enthusiastic and gave the musicians a standing ovation at the end. The night before, we toured a light show at a wetland park in our village, Barnes. Matt has a surprise set for me tomorrow. We got a live Christmas tree, instead of the slightly massacred fake one we found in a closet in our former flat in Islington. That one I decorated with a few ornaments representing England, including a crown, bobbies (police), a red double-decker bus and a Big Ben clock tower.   I added a  few ...

I was curious about the National Health Service, the  United Kingdom's publicly funded healthcare system,  before we even moved to London. Our pal Bob here praised it, and I  had conversations about it with a doctor friend here who recently retired.   Matt and I didn’t know we would get NHS coverage with our visas. We paid a fee as part of his university application. The NHS core principles are: * That it meets the needs of everyone * That it be free at the point of delivery * That it is based on clinical need and not ability to pay Imagine medical care without the fear of going bankrupt. During our real estate sales careers,  Matt and I paid $800 per month for years to purchase health insurance. We were technically self-employed independent contractors. The policy  didn’t cover everything.   It was mostly for a catastrophic situation that could wipe us out if one occurred.  The kids were insured under their Dad's work policy, or it would have bee...