Stuffed

and not just the turkey. I think I've eaten the world in the past week. It was mostly pretty tasty too. We had a marvellous Christmas. It was cold, but it's supposed to be (sorry NZ). We all trotted over to my brother and sister-in-laws. S-i-l did the most amazing dinner. Well delicious. It was washed down with a few bottles of Lindauer - real champagne, not like that French stuff! My Mum had us all in fits of laughter. She is such a hoot. I thought Dad and I were going to die from lack of breath at one point.
Well, hope you all had a lovely time.
Happy New Year to one and all.

Centerparcs

Taf and I met up with our Friends SB and Dickie for a long weekend at Centerparcs. It was as if the years since we've seen each other just melted away. Mind you, none of us are as active as we used to be. The first day we only managed to paint some pottery and have a swim. They have a brilliant pool with rapids. You get thrown around a bit, but it's a great laugh.
We also manged archery and badminton - quite enough for 3 days. The accommodation was great - set in woodland. We saw bunnies, dear and robins. Smashing.
By the way, I'm the craftiest of the 4 of us and my pottery was the worst!

Europe

I haven't blogged for a while as I've been busy. Mumsie and I went to Europe for a long weekend. We were supposed to be going to the Christmas markets. Bruges was nice until it poured down. The one in Valkenberg is in caves. The queues were so long we decided to skip it. So we had a lovely meal instead. We also went to Aachen which was jam-packed. Having said all that we did enjoy ourselves and bought a few souvenirs too. Europe is soooo pretty.

Barmy

That's what this country is becoming. It's political correctness gone wrong. Some shops are putting up 'Happy Holiday' signs instead of 'Happy Christmas'. BA just banned staff from wearing crosses. There's been a big hullabaloo about wearing a niqab. In defence of my country and most sane people of all races and religions, it's complete loonies coming up with these rules. The vast majority of people seem to be happy to live and let live. Why is it always the barking mad ones that have the say in these things?
We're not allowed religious pictures on our stamps, but can someone please tell me exactly what Santa is doing in these?

Torchwood

Just a few gratuitous pictures of where it is filmed. It was good last week.

Deaf

Taf and I went to see the All Blacks play Wales at Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. We decide to catch a train. When we got to the station, all the trains were cancelled due to flooding. So we decided to drive. We also picked up a couple of lads dressed in red and took took them too. It cost the equivalent of $15 to get across the Severn Bridge - wowzer! Then the lads told us a day return ticket on the train would be about $150NZ each (it's only about 50 miles away).
Cardiff totally rocks. It was an absolute sea of red. The stadium is huge. There were 72,000 people there (which is almost 2% of the population of NZ). The stadium has a roof and I nearly went deaf when Wales scored their try. Feisty, the Welsh. Of course, Taf is Welsh and he was full of emotion when they sang their National anthem. We were totally gobsmacked that there was no haka. It really spoilt the match. Having said that, I have never seen the ABs play better.
After the match we went down to the harbour for a feed. A lot of series 1 of Dr Who was filmed there. Also it is where Torchwood is filmed. For those poor people who live in NZ and don't get Torchwood on TV, it is a Dr Who spin off. It is on at 10pm as it definitely has adult content and is by no means suitable for children. Hopefully you will get it in NZ soon. And if you haven't had it yet, series 2 of Dr Who is awesome too. David Tennant is fabulous and the end of the series was a real tearjerker. I just got the DVD box set in a cyberman head box. VERY cool.

Don't mention the Ashes..

..just don't

Chester

I met my sister-in-law today in Chester for a spot of shopping. She is great company. We spent 2 hours in Marks and Spencers without getting bored. We also fitted in 2 coffee breaks, lunch and half a pint of lager. I've got my winter wardrobe sorted. (S-i-l was a bit ashamed of what I was wearing even though it was designer wear from Aussie! Apparently you can't wear light green in autumn in England, especially not with trainers).
Anyway, Chester is BEAUTIFUL. It has a lot of tudor buldings which are beautifully preserved. It has a million shops and they are all lovely. The architecture is magnificent. By the time we left, the Christmas lights were on - pretty. Of course, I forgot my camera, so here is someone elses picture.

Bath

Tafs and I went to Bath on Sunday. It is a beautiful city. You half expect to see ladies in long dresses and men in top hats strolling around. They have put up very elegant Christmas decorations in the street. Even the normal chainstores look olde worlde. On top of all that, the autumn colours are spectacular. One building was covered in bright red ivy. (of course I didn't take my camera). We had a lovely wander round. Almost made us glad to be back.

By the way, my Pa had to have 4 screws put into his elbow. He has the world's largest plaster cast at the moment. Still he seems to cope (under the watchful eye of my mother).

Poor Daddy - update

I went and saw the olds at the weekend. Dad is looking a lot better, but still couldn't do much with his left arm. Bit of a problem, him being a south-paw. Mum is having to be his left-hand woman. She's doing a sterling job.
They went to hospital for a check up yesterday. The outcome is that Dad has to have an operation to pin his elbow. The doctor said he should have had it done the day after his accident. Bloody national health, leaving a 67 year old man to suffer agony for nearly 3 weeks.
Mind you, my brother broke his elbow about 25 years ago and was treated at the same hospital. They decided it wasn't broken (after waggling the arm up and down to see if he had any movement). They sent him home to spend the night in agony. Next day when Mum marched him back up there, they decided it was broken and needed to be pinned. He now bears the worst scar I've ever seen.
So please can I have your good vibes again, this time for my Pa?

41

I was 41 on Halloween. I had such a lovely day. I had heaps of emails and texts and phone calls. It is lovely that so many people remembered. I also had a couple of voicemail renditions of "Happy Birthday to you". At least Wanda did it in tune!! I also had a homemade card from some dear friends with a poem written especially for me. It was so beautiful, but I didn't cry.
Taf and I went out for a Mexican meal in the evening. It was such fun, that I'm going to do it all again next year.

There'll be bluebirds..

..over the white cliffs of Dover. We went on a trip to France on Staurday. Mainly to buy booze which is half price over there. I did manage to ask for a shopping bag in perfect French (must have been perfect, she gave me a shopping bag).

We went on a coach with people from Taf's work. They were drunk and loud, but good fun.
We stayed overnight in a grand old hotel in Folkestone. I'd forgotten how much old stuff there is in the UK.
I also bought choc and Winnie-the-Pooh shaped pasta.

My poor Daddy

We were going out for a curry Saturday night. Mum was baby sitting JJ. G, K, Taf, Dad and I were going out. We went to the pub for 1 drink and then started to walk to the restaurant. We were walking along a poorly lit road when my Dad tripped. It looked like he was going to be able to save himself, but then he got his foot caught on the kerb and went down really hard. He hit his face on the kerb and landed on his elbow. We helped him up and he insisted we should carry on. Luckily my bruvver is a super cool first aider. We got Dad under a street light and his face was a bit of a mess. He then admitted he couldn't move his left arm. So Taf and G took him off to casualty whilst K and I went back to tell Ma. Poor Dad, he's broken his left elbow. They've put it in a half cast and he has to go back next week for a full one. In the meantime, he can't do much as he's a left hander.
It was horrible watching him fall. It seemed like slow motion, but we couldn't get to him in time.
My baby bro was well impressive. He should have been a medic.
p.s. JJ is now walking and melting the hearts of anyone who sees her.

Wildlife

I'd forgotten there was so much wildlife here. Tafs and I spotted an urban fox the other day. I bet they hate the changeover from plastic bags to plastic bins.
Up at Pops house in the summer, a bat flew into our bedroom.
In Formby last week, we saw 5 RED squirrels. They were busy storing nuts up for winter. They are a lot cuter than their grey rellies. We've also seen badgers, but unfortunately only as road kill. There are a lot of birds. Pigeons are everywhere and give me the creeps (dunno why). We have heaps of magpies in our street and they make an amazing noise.
We had a plague of crane flies (daddy-long-legs) this year and poor Taf had to spend ages catching them before I'd go to bed.

Try to be positive

Although we really want to go home, we both still want to try and make a go of it in the UK. We have only given it 4 months, so it's early days yet. We're trying to be positive. So, one positive thing about Britain. It's autumn now and all the roads where I work are lined with trees. I love shuffling through the leaves and the conkers.
mmm not a bad start.

Nightmare commuting

We only live a couple of miles from where I work. My home and my work are both a short distance off the same A-road. However, it takes me longer to catch the bus to work than it does for Taffy to drive 22 miles to his. The major problem is the bus. It is supposed to come every 10 minutes. However I regularly wait half an hour for it. Usually 3 turn up at the same time. I was phoning up the bus company to complain until I realised they were charging me for the phone calls. It'll be worse next week - the students are back and I work in the middle of the uni campus. Rumour has it that I may not even be able to get on the bus home.
Remind me again, why did we come back here?

Little boxes

Everywhere you look in Britain, they are building flats. They are an environmental & health nightmare. We have a garden flat, but the body corporate rules prevent you from hanging washing out. So you either tumble dry it (waste of power), or leave it hanging around the flat (water, water everywhere). Also none of the bathrooms have windows and extractor fans still aren't that good. We will be breeding a nation of asthmatics. I can't see where it will all end.
A few comments on our flat. There is one small storage cupboard. There are no towel rails or toilet roll holders. There are 4 small kitchen cupboards. For some reason, there are 2 bathrooms. I'd swap one for a storage cupboard. The lounge, kitchen dining room are all one room. Lovely sitting listening to the washing machine whilst you eat your dinner or watch TV. I can live with it for a short while, but I pity families who live like this permanently.

Fore!

A couple of weekend ago we were awakened by golfers shouting 'Fore'. We live across the road from a golf course. I never realised before what a loud noise is made by hitting a ball with a club.
Luckily we haven't had any broken windows yet. Here is the view.

Busy busy busy

Haven't posted for a while as we've been seriously shifting boxes around. Then we went to Soton for the weekend. My niece has taken her first few steps - what a clever girl.
Apart from that we're still trying to adjust to life in England.

Lost in the woods

R and I went for a walk on Thursday to look at a house. On the way back, we walked through the local woods. It was spectacular, with streams, ponds, rustic bridges and craggy bluffs. I couldn't believe it was walking distance from home. It was getting dark and we were navigating using an A to Z (not very detailed in the woods). We eventually got a bit lost. Luckily a dogwalker took pity on us and guided us safely to the road.

Lovely weekend

It's been a beautiful sunny weekend. I went for a potter round the local village on Saturday. I bought all the plugs in the hardware store. (Rob has replaced about 12 plugs so far and we've still loads to go.) It also has a lovely craft shop with lots of card making supplies. Not that I need any more. I have spent ages this weekend unpacking boxes, sorting stuff and repacking to go into storage. This flat seems a lot smaller now it has stuff in it. There is also only one small cupboard, and hardly any in the kitchen. Still, for all that, it's lovely to have a home again.
The picture was taken in the village. It's just one of the side streets. England has so many fascinating old buildings. Unfortunately it has a LOT of cars too.

Stuff

Our stuff arrived yesterday from New Zealand. If you are ever moving, I can recommend NZ vanlines. Great service. The movers this end had the most huge lorry. Our whole household fit into a 3rd of it.
We now have an absolutely chocca flat. The spare room is full floor to ceiling with boxes.
Our lounge is lovely - sofas to relax on. Our NZ TV works here too - much to Rob's relief.
We also have our bed. I slept like a 100 year old log last night - bliss!
I have someone to have a bit of a laugh with at work - big relief. Also the manager got around to helping me. Do you think he reads my blog?

Miserable Monday

Well, it was my 5th Monday at work today and I still have only talked to one person. I'm getting a real complex about it now and I'm struggling to even ask for help when I need it. I knew I'd have problems as I'm not good with strangers, but nobody has made any effort to make me feel welcome. I didn't even get introduced around the office when I started. HR did send me a 'Welcome' email though - how heartwarming.
Oh well, here is a gratuitous photo of a card I made.

Kite Festival

There was a kite festival in Ashton Gate today. The wind was really strong. People can be so clever - have you ever seen 5 kites flying in sync? Very impressive.

This mermaid was about 5 meters long. They couldn't fly her as it was too windy (ah, just like Wellington).

I particularly liked this kite:

Weston-Super-Mare

R and I went for a look in W-S-M yesterday to see if we fancied living there. We had a long walk along beach and ended up in Uphill. We also had a yummy portion of British chips - wicked!
It was really windy and there were loads of windsurfers out. In spite of that (or because of it?) we decided WSM was not for us. Did get a great shot of a sandcastle though. Well, actually, it's King Kong eating the pier.

Friday night tradition

Yes, you guessed it - curry and beer. (Apologies to Violet for reminding her of lost Friday nights). We went into W-o-T for a pint in the White Lion and the Queen Vic. We then had a wicked curry in the British Raj.
Woke up in the night feeling dreadful and didn't get up to 10:30 today. Still, it is raining, so who cares?

The Race

I walk home along a back alley. Today a squirrel raced me all the way. He won.

Clifton

I work in Clifton. It's a lovely part of Bristol. The streets are tree-lined. (Unfortunately they are car-lined too.) I like to go and explore at lunchtime. Today I walked across the suspension bridge. It was designed by Brunel who never lived to see it finished. It's 200 years this year since he was born and there are loads of celebratory events. Yesterday a baby was born on the bridge!
Here are my photos - I couldn't get the whole thing in one shot.

Long Weekend

Lytham St. Annes.
We've just had a long weekend, so R and I headed up north to visit his sister and brother. They have 3 kids each. His sisters are all teenagers (well, G is 12). His brother's are all under 4. They all have interesting personalities, but are all lovely kids. G likes to do creative things, so we went to Lytham St. Annes on Saturday to paint pottery. R came with us and planned to go for a walk. We ended up with G painting a pencil pot, me doing a piggy bank and R actually painted a tile. He painted windsurfers, but he doesn't normally do creative things, so we were very impressed. Can't wait to get them back (they've gone off to be fired).
We had a lovely day with the little kids on Sunday. They are pretty full on, especially D who decided to make coffee from plant pot dirt and pee on the floor. Very hard to keep a straight face when he's being told off.
We spent our bank holiday helping R's sister strip wallpaper. I like doing that sort of thing, but I think R was bored.

Our Flat

Our flat is nice apart from the fact you can hear upstairs moving around. Our stuff hasn't arrived from NZ yet, so we're camping out. Here is R in our living room and our airbed bedroom.

New Forest

R and I took my parents out for a drive in the New Forest on Saturday. I had it in mind to visit Burley as I'd been camping there when I was a Guide. The drive through the forest was lovely. It is such a tranquil place. The ponies really do run wild. I snapped these just outside a tea shop in Burley. We stopped for a cuppa in the garden of the tea shop. The next people in forgot to shut the gate. The large pony came in and nicked the sugar from the bowl on the table next to us. It was a bit surreal. I couldn't get my brain around a pony in the tea garden. Glad he didn't fancy my teacake!
Burley was a bit of a disappointment. It was full of shops selling trinkets and ornaments and absolute rubbish. There seems to be some link with witchcraft. I'd never heard of witches in the forest - probably just a gimmick.
Still, Mum and Dad enjoyed the trip.

What's new?

Hello dear friends,
I have created this blog so I can keep in touch with all the lovely people I have sadly had to leave on the other side of the world.
First of all, for Wanda and Flipper, my show and tell is below.















I don't have all my card making gear yet, so these aren't too flash. Still, it's nice to start crafting again.
R and I are living in a nice (if noisy) flat in W-o-T. I have been at work for 2.5 weeks. Rob starts a week on Tuesday. He's looking forward to it as he's been a bit bored.
My job is odd. No-one really seems to chat to each other. There are mainly men in the office, but there are 5 other women. Not one of them has spoken to me yet. Ah, England!
I have 2 screens on my computer. It's very handy when multi tasking.
I love being back amongst family. Didn't realise I'd missed out on so much. I still miss NZ and all the friends I have there.