With winter approaching I need to take stock of how I am doing…relative to how I hoped to be doing at the start of the year. Traditionally my mid-year appraisal covers successes, surprises and failures…and from an analysis of the failures emerges a revised strategy for the rest of the year. My score stands at 8 successes, 2 surprises and 4 failures.

Number One on my Success List is my blogging. At the start of the year I had little idea whether it would be possible to deliver 365 daily 1000 word blogs of an acceptable quality. With over 70% completed…261/365…I am now confident that I can complete the task…and that the task was worthwhile.

At No.2 and No.3 on my success list come Heidi and John Papworth. This One Man and His Work is better off for having withdrawn from their suffocating embrace. At No.4 is my financial retrenchment. Mr McCawber would be proud of me. My regular outgoings no longer exceed my income. My financial foundations are secure. My two thousand pound private loan from Mr Burt for the third Magpie Sagas book has been repaid and my five hundred pound Good Yacht Guide balance on my Neame Designs account has been paid off…and the account closed down.

At No.5 is the transfer of ownership of the good ship Vemara into my name which took place this week…as well as the good relations established with Mssrs David & Martin Hutchings. At No.6 is resolving the dispute with Mr Roud and the re-mooring of Vemara on the River Rother. At No.7 is agreeing with Berni Fiddimore to reopen dialogue on the Magpie Sagas Project after a 12 month dispute. At No.8 is re-establishing good relations with Cynthia Battersby which allows progress to recommence on the Connie Lindqvist Project.

There are two items on my Surprise List. No.1 is Climate Change…at the start of the year I had no idea that I would be devoting time to this subject during 2006. No.2 is Summer in Stockholm which was not on my agenda at the start of the year…warmest thanks to my son Nicholas John. But now let me turn to the year’s failures.

There are four items on my Failure List. At No.1 is my failure to secure the forty thousand kronor…£3000…funding I wanted before moving to Lund University for six months to complete my Fil.Kand degree.

At No.2 is my failure to find acceptable storage arrangements for my stuff…and Connie’s stuff and Academic Inn Books...stocks stored at Rye Harbour, Vemara, Wittersham and Winchelsea Road.

At No.3 is the fact that I no longer wish to live on Vemara but have yet to move to an apartment. At No.4 is my failure to start trading in Swedish Kronor and European Industrial Shares. These four failures are related…because they were predicated upon receiving the money promised by JAK.

JAK’s failure to deliver on their February 2006 promise to provide an unsecured loan of SEK 75 000 in April 2006 lies behind my failures not only under No.1 but also 2, 3 and 4. However a promise has now been made to provide the unsecured funds requested once I am resident in Sweden.

Storage under No.2 was to be paid for from the JAK funding. The financial risk of moving to Lund under No.3 was to be met by six months of Forward Living Capability on account or in pre-paid rent. Work on No.4 was deemed to be dependent on stable and efficient working conditions.

My revised strategy is to seek an apartment in Rye immediately to meet my winter needs…October to March…and permit me to consolidate my stuff so that subsequent moves into commercial storage becomes much easier. My apartment rent will be met from Housing Benefit and the savings on storage costs offset by the loss of Housing Benefit for Mooring Fees. Last week I set the Ryesingers network to work on my behalf by letting Lesley Brownbill know that I was giving serious consideration to wintering in Rye…if I could find a suitable apartment.

It then makes sense for me to formally apply for a place at Lund University for the Spring Term 2007…applications are due in by mid-October 2006...once registered I will have access to the University Housing lists. I have also decided to explore the possibility of grants for my Economic History Studies in Lund. At year end after four months of Cultura income I will see how things stand…and tithe a portion of any wealth to my IG-Index Fund for 2007.