No, you cant buy that!........... 28th July

A quick trip to Ibstock as we had heard they had a M&S (incorrectly it would seem). so a few minutes spent driving around another of Nic's home towns (its no wonder i call her a Gypo).

We found a little tiny secondhand store full of furniture... and i mean full, it was 2 shopfronts... piled to the ceiling with stuff, so full in fact that the only are to walk was a 5 foot long 1 foot wide path into the shop,from there you peered over/around stuff to see if anything useful.

Surprisingly we saw from outside through the window a little cupboard thing, just what wee needed apparently. Nic goes in and asks "mad old woman" how much... mad old woman says 8 pounds.. ha we think... perfect and cheap. Righto says we, we will take that thanks...

Oh NO! says mad old lady... im not getting that out, its much to dangerous.

Momentarily Nic and i are speechless... well i am... Nic slightly less so, and very politely advises the mad old lady that we wish to buy it and take it... again.. mad old lady says nope... nic asks how she manages to do business if she doesnt actually sell anything... mad old woman tells us she does quite well thanks very much!

We exit shop... confused, and without cupboard...sigh.. i still dont quite understand???

Ok, couple more interviews booked for the next few days so fingers crossed. heres a couple of pics from Ibstock and showing baby fridge under stairs  :)

Aaaah sweet frustration...27th July

remember the Mantra... everything is harder than you expected...
No phone or internet yet coz .. they need a bank account.
No bank account yet... coz... buggered if i know, we applied a month before we left Oz, they told us last tuesday it would be last Thursday... they told us today.. it will be this thursday. Six weeks and still nothing definite!

Didnt get the job... never mind always next time.

Took a walk by the canal which was pleasant, finally got the fridge delivered, so cold milk on cerreal huzzah :)

Not much to ad.. so ill try some pics

What stuff costs

I couldnt come up wiith a clever title.. so thats what you get :) A guide to some of our expenses.

From Tesco's you can buy....
1 litre milk $1.60
10 coat hangers (plaitic) $1.85
Potato masher $0.65
26 piece cutlery set $5.40
can of baked beans (home brand) $0.80
1x glenn of salt $0.47
6x organic free range eggs $3.90
brown onion $1.60 per kg
butternut pumpkin (known here as squash) $1.80 kg
lettuce iceberg $1.30
rolling pin $3.80
Steam iron $7.00

From poundland (cunninghams/neds)
3 (48) packets of paracetemol 1 pound
2x AA batteries 1 pound

From Wilkinson of coalville.. (just off Belvoir or should that be Beaver rd)
Cordless kettle $9.70
2x Dinner trays $5.50

Tims hardwre...
7 litre plastic water can $7.00
secateurs $9.50
hand garden fork $4.60

TV licence 1 for whole house $270.00

Argos order online...delivered next day free...
TV 32inch hdtv $475
Fridge 135 litre $235.00
Radiator clothes hangers 4 for $8.20
Vacumn cleaner $63.00
2x towles, 2x hand towels, 2x flannels $15.00
12 peice dinner set (including warped plate) $9.20


Petrol $2.25 per litre
Football $5.75 per game (1 hour)
Telephone interent approx $78 including free calls, unlimited downloads

Height of summer, daylight until 10pm.. temps about 25 each day.. a couple of drops of rain

Due to the early light mornings, we currently have cardboard shutters at our bedroom window lol.

Not sure it was our fault.. but the day after we moved in.. the ladey next door (the other side, not cec and dor) dropped off the perch, im not taking it personally :)

We got a lovely house warming gift from Keith and Gill of a book of 501 things to do in the UK... thats us sorted for thext few months :)

Will put pics up when ive got better internet. :)

Car Boot bargains

Who wouldve thought it, where could "The Midlands biggest car boot sale" be held every week? you guessed it....MEASHAM!!!

So, now who can guess what Nic was doing at 7.30 am Sunday morning?... yes.. she was annoying me to hurry up and get to the car boot sale. But... to be fair.. WOW... its big and were there bargains?? oh yes indeedy!!

A list of our purchases...
4 Lamps
1 Side table
1 TV stand
2 cushions
1 torch
2 sets of new sheets and bedding
1 picture frame
1 Very Stylish Duffel coat
1 stylish hat
1 cordless mouse
2 vases
1 Clock radio
Assorted fruit and Vegetables

and im sure a few other things that i have forgetten, im sure Nic will inform me of all i missed.
and all of this was completed before 10.30am :)

Cos for 24 hours ive been living next door to Cec (and Dor)

Ahh where to start,

Today, friday 23rd we moved into the house, not a bad effort, we collected the keys exactly one week after we arrived. We met our neighbours Cec and Dor (Cecil and Doreen) who have lived in the house for 44 years :), now if we can just get them to turn their damn music down.. lol, no, they are lovely old folk who have beautiful flowers.

Interview part 2 today went very well and i have to go back on Monday, spend half a day with one of their sales reps, then do a 10 minute powerpoint presentation about my sales process and then a role play interview/test... oh what fun... i dislike role play with a passion, however, with any luck all will go well and i will be employed by the end of next week.

The lounge suite fits perfectly.. lol, assuming that perfectly is.. it, the TV and the 2 of us can fit in the lounge all at once... but no breathing out is allowed lolol.. not really.. the suite fits and suits the house just perfectly... as my beautiful wife told me it would :)

Now... interesting Friday facts... stairs... tiny rooms...chimney breasts and King size Divan beds do not a perfect match make!!! You cannot imagine the difficulty and amount of struggling and swearing that was required to get the bed up stairs... oh.. and the removal of the hand rail from the stairs... but.. somehow (i dont really know exactly how) we got it up there and it looks lovely, plenty of room in the bedroom and the "Duvet" etc look delightful.

Another game of football tonght and yet more fun, relaxing with Nic and finally really taking a breath... ahhh, indeed life is good :)

Slack blogger............... 21st July

Ok sorry, been slack with the whole blog business, I blame Nic... not her fault, but ill blame her anyway
:)

So... here it is wednesday.. 6 days from arrival what do we know...

Its summer here and the weather is surprisingly good, mid 20s, just ideal i think.

Keith and Gill et all are lovely people.. (dont tell them that though, just get big headed :)

Houses in England are tiny

All the stuff we gave to op shops in Perth... we are now buying from op shops in England.

Theres a most unusual way to pronounce the town Uttoexeter, in fact to any non english natives... i challenge you to pronounce it "correctly"
Heres some pics of us and stuff.. cars.. houses, 80s lounge suits...castles etc.

Things ive learnt.................17th July

The internet and anything technological is a pain.
We have tried two different sim cards and three trips to Burton and still we have no internet.

I now can find my way to and from Burton with ease.
Thanks to need of sim cards etc, ive learnt the way to and from burton with ease.

It is more than a "quick trip" to leicester on a friday afternoon during a peak hour.
At 4.45 on Friday, we (in our wisdom) decided to "nip down" to Leicester to have a look at a car, Keith had organised a game of 5 aside for 7pm so, there should be no problem right? Oh yes but, it was peak hour wasnt it and hmmm rain... yes.. in England... who wouldve thought it.

You can buy a car, in the pouring rain, from a dealer in a back street, in under 15 minutes.
so we arrive at this little back yard dealer, wheres the car?... oh yes, the car.. its "round the corner", we dive into this fellas little car and get taken to a disused warehouse where the car is parked... still its pouring, we glance at the oitside of the car as we dive inside to get out of the rain... ok yes.. it goes... it doesnt appear to burst into flames... and it is lovely... SOLD!!


5 a side football on fake grass in a cage is loads of fun.
Football is due to kick off at 7pm... it has taken us until 6.25 to get to Leicester and put the deposit on the car, the sat Nav tells us its a 40 minute trip to Ashby... and... the football is 7-8 minutes from there... this doesnt really sound to good, we make great time however and arrive at Ashby at 6.59, Gill ever so kindly leads me to the football and a wonderful time was had.

ooh ya bod! ... 15th July (in truth.. i wrote it on the 16th)

Wow, what a few days.... the moral of the story is... "It's harder than you thought."

The flight from bangkok was fine, if 12 hours folded like a piece of origami can be fine :). We arrived on time, headed to the car hire and all was smooth as silk.

The M25 was.. as expected and slow, then onto the M1 and again all pretty smooth, we then stopped in Northampton to arrange 2 new sim cards for the phones and a top up for internet, and the silk begins to develop some wrinkles.
An hour later we rolled into Ashby to as always a lovely warm welcomewe settled briefly and began with the phones... one worked fine... the other... didnt at all, also the internet dongle was playing a VERY unusual game, where it loaded up software that bore no relation to it and the required connection, after 1 and a half hours on the phone to the mobile company... we progressed no further, but at least the beginnng of my new life in the UK wasnt to disimilar to OZ.. me being angry about poor service and spending far to long on the phone complaining about it :(

A drive to burton on trent to get new sim cards etc allowed us to see some of the beauty of England as it was "Burton in Bloom" just beuatiful with the flowers out all over and the swans on the trent, all in all was just gorgeous, sadly no pics coz we were enjoying the whole buying a sim card experience.

Live from Bangkok

Edit.. Photos Added





We are at the stopover in bangkok, its 1 am perth time and we fly out at about 2.30 perth time.
Flight was superb, (tvs in seats woohooo) plane was less than half full so fingers crossed for the next leg.

Nic is trying to sleep on the chjairs next to me, the airport is massive, was a bus ride from the plane to the temrinal.

Ok guess not much mopre excitmement to share will advise when we arrive at Heathrow.

xx Glenn

Oh.. and god i ,love free internet at aiports.. yes indeedy :)

Monday 12th July

Okeley Dokely... the apartment is pretty much empty the bags are pretty much packed.. its all pretty much go!!!
After 40+ years of living and loving OZ, its time to go back to the UK...see the world and experience all we can. :)

Its the journey not the destination
Success is measured in experiences had.

blah blah.. filling space and time at the moment :)

In case i forget before we leave, thank you... and our love to everyone who has been part of our lives over the past 40+ years. Of course i cannot adequately say thanks enough.. or express our love and gratitude to each and everyone of you... that has enabled us to be who we are and be able to live this incredible life. THANK YOU ALL








Yesterday was a march through Perth to support the fight to "end deaths in custody"

The next exciting game

After the fantastic response to our first exciting game (see the coments in the original post for results), I have decided to launch yet another, thrill a minute game.

With less than a week until we leave...

What wont we see or do...?

1) We will miss the winner of Masterchef. (yes i know... horrifying thought isnt it :) )

2) Wont play another game of 5 a side.

3) Wont see another episode or Spicks and Specks

4) Wont get annoyed by loud drunk neighbours through paper thin walls at 2 in the morning (i hope)

5) ???

Meh... that was a lot less interesting than i expected... i blame Nic as she has given me virtually no input (even though she will tell you shes come up with all the good ideas).

Feel free to list your thoughts on what we will or wont do again :)

A pic of our practice pack... yes... we have got rid of virtually everything and all we own will be in 2 x 20kg suitcases.

Glenn's exciting countdown game

You were waiting for the excitment to begin and your patience has been rewarded.... yes the game is.... dah dahhhhh....

Will it last?
Tomato Sauce.... (1 inch in the bottom of the bottle)
Mayonaise...... (nearly full bottle)
Toilet Rolls.....( 9 rolls)
Honey............. (2 inches in bottle)
Tea Bags........ (box of 100 opened today)
Mushroooms. ( 1/2 bag)

Yes... thanks to this exciting game.... you can enjoy all the excitment of wondering if..... i will have to go without sauce? or will i reduce my tea bag usage to 1 per cup?

feel free to join in with your predictions. :)

EDIT!!! - UPDATE

DISASTER...
The Tom Sauce is no more :(
The Honey has run out...

The Toilet rolls were on special, so weve bought more anyway... Gill asked us to bring them... is she suggesting we give them the sh*ts??? :)

Bored... Bored... borzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Yes, well, its now 10 days till we leave and things are getting a little boring, heres a quick rundown on Fridays excitment.... .... yup thats about it :).. lol.. not quite that bad but anyway.

The apartment is getting ever emptier, weve moved most of the stuff to be stored to Freedoms roof and her friends are arriving today to take away some more :)


hahaha.. pic from 198?? 5 maybe?