Deborah & William Hillyard
Deborah & William Hillyard
Deborah & William Hillyard
Deborah & William Hillyard
Deborah & William Hillyard
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In August 2000, Deborah and I married. 9/11 was very traumatic for us, especially Deborah who was on her way to work in a cab on the FDR, and saw the second plane fly into the tower. I arrived in my office after the first plane hit, and was trying to find out what had happened. First reports were of a light aircraft hitting the tower. The second plane flew over our office building; the sound and feel of the crash was incredible. Our offices were next to the NY Stock Exchange only a few blocks from the World Trade Center. We evacuated, and, with a colleague, I managed to get onto what was probably the last subway home. Deborah was caught in the debris from the explosions and had to walk home. Because the Wall Street area was closed, we were stuck at home for a week afterwards, unable to get to our office, and could see the plumes of smoke rising from Ground Zero. This was a part of the reason we decided to buy a house in the country north of NYC and get a little peace and quiet at the weekends. I was also becoming unhappy with the noise, bustle and pressures of the City. Finally, in November of 2002, having seen approximately 60 properties, we closed on our house which you can read all about on this site!
During the WSS years, I traveled extensively in Europe, the Far East, Australasia and within the U.S. Our favorite was the "around the world" trip that took in London, then via Hong Kong to Manila in the Philippines, Sydney, Melbourne and Los Angeles before returning to New York. I also particularly enjoyed going to Milan and Madrid, and many of the US trips, especially entertaining my friends at our Cincinnati client; you know who you are!.
Early in 2005, I started, again, to feel the need for more free time, but was not quite ready to retire. Being up at the house for weekends was great, but driving up through heavy traffic on a Friday afternoon and then back on Sunday was tiring. It also gave us very little time to work on the renovations to the house. Thus, I negotiated a deal with WSS whereby I worked every other week. Of course, this halved my income, but was part of my plan to move towards early retirement. In 2006, the company having been bought out earlier by private equity firm Warburg Pincus, I was "let go". I decided that this was an appropriate time fully to retire. Of course, the massive reduction in income means a much simpler lifestyle, but we have put quality above quantity! Then the collapse in the economy has not helped, but we manage to keep it together; just.
We sold the NYC apartment in early 2007, thankfully before the housing bust, and now live in the house. I had already become comfortable with village life, so this move was not traumatic, even though I had been a city boy all my life. I even bought my first pair of blue jeans since I was a teenager, and some plaid shirts like my hero Norm Abram. I have the tool belt too. This year (2012) I plan to start the process of getting my U.S. Citizenship. Having permanent residence (the "Green Card", which is not green at all) is fine, but has to be renewed every ten years, and does not allow me to vote. I have yet to decide on whether to keep my UK citizenship or not as it costs a lot of money to give it up.
We have reduced the amount of time we spend working on the house, and spend a lot more time in leisure pursuits. This web site takes up a lot of my time, as does recording in the studio, and we have a huge number of books to read, LPs and CDs to listen to, and DVDs to watch. We also like to travel, and go regularly to our favorite haunts. Last year, 2011, we visited Newport, RI a few times, Cape Cod, MA, Bar Harbor in Maine and cruised to Alaska, which was awesome. Particularly now that her father has died, we spend a lot more time with Deborah's mother who lives further up state in NY. My fitness program is working pretty well and I am pushing towards walking eight miles each day. I also have a very basic stationary bicycle for those days when the snow is just so deep, I cannot get out. No longer being a smoker helps as does the somewhat healthier diet regime, though I still have to control my love affair with wine and cheese. Particularly Stilton and Port or Madeira!
During the WSS years, I traveled extensively in Europe, the Far East, Australasia and within the U.S. Our favorite was the "around the world" trip that took in London, then via Hong Kong to Manila in the Philippines, Sydney, Melbourne and Los Angeles before returning to New York. I also particularly enjoyed going to Milan and Madrid, and many of the US trips, especially entertaining my friends at our Cincinnati client; you know who you are!.
Early in 2005, I started, again, to feel the need for more free time, but was not quite ready to retire. Being up at the house for weekends was great, but driving up through heavy traffic on a Friday afternoon and then back on Sunday was tiring. It also gave us very little time to work on the renovations to the house. Thus, I negotiated a deal with WSS whereby I worked every other week. Of course, this halved my income, but was part of my plan to move towards early retirement. In 2006, the company having been bought out earlier by private equity firm Warburg Pincus, I was "let go". I decided that this was an appropriate time fully to retire. Of course, the massive reduction in income means a much simpler lifestyle, but we have put quality above quantity! Then the collapse in the economy has not helped, but we manage to keep it together; just.
We sold the NYC apartment in early 2007, thankfully before the housing bust, and now live in the house. I had already become comfortable with village life, so this move was not traumatic, even though I had been a city boy all my life. I even bought my first pair of blue jeans since I was a teenager, and some plaid shirts like my hero Norm Abram. I have the tool belt too. This year (2012) I plan to start the process of getting my U.S. Citizenship. Having permanent residence (the "Green Card", which is not green at all) is fine, but has to be renewed every ten years, and does not allow me to vote. I have yet to decide on whether to keep my UK citizenship or not as it costs a lot of money to give it up.
We have reduced the amount of time we spend working on the house, and spend a lot more time in leisure pursuits. This web site takes up a lot of my time, as does recording in the studio, and we have a huge number of books to read, LPs and CDs to listen to, and DVDs to watch. We also like to travel, and go regularly to our favorite haunts. Last year, 2011, we visited Newport, RI a few times, Cape Cod, MA, Bar Harbor in Maine and cruised to Alaska, which was awesome. Particularly now that her father has died, we spend a lot more time with Deborah's mother who lives further up state in NY. My fitness program is working pretty well and I am pushing towards walking eight miles each day. I also have a very basic stationary bicycle for those days when the snow is just so deep, I cannot get out. No longer being a smoker helps as does the somewhat healthier diet regime, though I still have to control my love affair with wine and cheese. Particularly Stilton and Port or Madeira!
Our Tale
My current transport. An aging 1995 Nissan 4WD pickup-truck. Very reliable, though I had a few clutch problems in 2011, and rather a lot of fun, although a little lacking in performance, particularly when loaded up! Deborah has an all wheel drive SUV. AWD is essential with all the snow we get up here, otherwise, we are dependent on someone coming to plough the drive. We used to do this, and sometimes had to wait more than 24 hours after a particularly bad storm. Then we could still be stuck because of ice on the very steep hill in the road leading up to the house. This happened several times in the days when we drove normal sedans, and once I was two days late getting back to work after Christmas. The truck happily flattens nearly two feet of snow!
So here we are at the beginning of 2012. Having had an operation to fix my thumb, and done all the physiotherapy, we are back to working on the house. We were unable to have the exterior painting finished before the Winter set in, so will now get to this in the Spring of 2012. I have manage to get all the new windows done that I planned, leaving just one for the Spring. Looking to finish a number of interior projects over the Winter as it is unlikely that we can do too much more outside. Normally, however, we would see high temperatures around freezing and lows around -10ºC (14ºF) just now, but we are getting much warmer days with highs up around 7ºC (45ºF) and lows around freezing. Quite balmy for up here.
We definitely plan to move next year, and have found a few places around the Utica, NY area that look really nice; Whitestown and Clinton in particular. Insistence on municipal water and sewerage limits our choices dramatically.
To be continued................
We definitely plan to move next year, and have found a few places around the Utica, NY area that look really nice; Whitestown and Clinton in particular. Insistence on municipal water and sewerage limits our choices dramatically.
To be continued................