Yays!

Well, it is now Tuesday evening, and the very exciting news of the moment is that we have got ourselves somewhere to live! We have gone for the place in Lower Hutt that we looked round yesterday; we weren't sure whether we would get it as the landlady was actually interviewing for candidates, but we didn't realise this until after we'd had a look round (and not taken our shoes off when we walked in – only realised that this might have been a boo-boo when we realised that she was barefooted...) - it turned out that we were her first choice, so when we called this evening to say that we'd like it, she gave it to us straight away!)

We did look round two flats today – one being right in the Karori area where we would love to live, and it was a very close tie between the two, until we got to the bus stop and realised that the local buses there stopped at 6 in the evening, and didn't run at all at the weekends, which would completely stump us for travel outside of work hours (the house was a long way up a very steep hill - I couldn't see us going up there with heavy bags of shopping, and there were no local shops at all), and the on-street parking was not great either, so we would have difficulties even if we got a car. The other place was very central, and probably about the floor size of the cabin that we are in at the moment (well, maybe a double bed-size bigger...) - just not worth being cramped for $10 less a week!

I also had a very useful chat with a recruitment agent (who is going to see if she can get me in at the Land Information NZ, the equivalent of the Ordnance Survey), and also met up with the lady who has put me forward for the civilian role in the Defence Services (as an administrator); she is also an immigrant to NZ, and it was more of a general meet up chat – she is being absolutely lovely and lending us some things until our furniture arrives from the High Seas.

So, we move in to our new place on Friday, and we just have to hunt for white goods now (they don't come as standard over here, unfortunately). It's a little frustrating to have to spend out on them this early, but as we would have to buy them when we bought our own place anyway, I think that we can live with it.

I've also got my second interview tomorrow for a sales role. I'm not so sure about this one – the more I think about it, the more I think that it is going to be on a stand in a shopping mall trying to get passers by to buy the products, and I'm not sure whether that is something I actually want to be doing. But I don't have to make a decision straight away, even if he offers me the job tomorrow. I can wait to see how the DSNZ job application goes (and whether the LINZ one goes anywhere) – we do have the money for me to wait for another week or so, and I'd rather get this right, as it could shape the next few years in NZ, if not my future career... (not being too melodramatic, am I?)

Update...

Well, we've moved house, scrubbed out the old flat to the point that it stinks of bleach (but, hey, the Dettol Mould and Mildew remover does what it says on the tin, and has (fingers crossed) saved our deposit), and we've got the internet back (through a Vodafone dongle - which is actually nearly as speedy as the broadband, so I'm not going to complain too much!)

The new place is growing on me - I still feel a bit wobbly about being forced to move; every other move we have made in Bristol has been through our choice, I've had a real kick to get out, and the flats stopped feeling like home before we left. This time, I loved our flat (despite the mildew problems...), but the landlady's behaviour, particularly with respect to not paying the mortgage, meant that we had to get out; if we had been evicted in four or five months time, then we would have had real problems in getting a short term let before we emigrated.

Sadly none of the rings turned up in the move, so I now have to accept that they are gone for good. Still waiting for the insurance company to make me an offer...


I'm also starting to get very excited about our holiday to New Zealand - we are flying out on the 21st Sept, so with less than a month to go, I figure I'm allowed to get bouncy, particularly as we are going to be there at the same time as Mikelangelo and the Black Sea Gentlemen, and I have booked tickets to go and see them play. The holiday is a precursor to emigration - we are going round in a campervan scouting out places that we might like to live.

Moving house

John and I have moved, just round the corner, but are having a few issues with connecting at home - BT has the monopoly on the local exchange (won't let Virgin play), and, as it appears that the previous tenant(s) never connected the phone, BT also want to charge us £125 for connecting. Which we don't really have at the moment, given that this time next month we will be in New Zealand for the best part of 3 weeks. So I'm investigating options, probably involving a mobile broadband dongle stuck into the USB port... (slower connection, but at least it will be cheaper!)

Lost...

Once more a long while since my last post - I was going to write all about my visit to Tewkesbury Medieval Fair, and how I ended up holding a carpet python:

(sorry about the fuzziness - this is a photo of a laminated photo...)

However, events have overtaken me, and I wanted to have the opportunity to tell my family (both direct and the in-laws) before I broadcast it on the internet.

I've lost my rings. My wedding ring, my engagement ring, my eternity ring, and the amethyst ring that John's mum gave me (through John) at the wedding. They were looped on my watch (a 21st birthday present from my grandmother), and, as I was rushing out of the door (being late for work), I ended up with one of those horrible mix ups - I thought the bundle was in my hand, then it wasn't, so it had to be in my pocket, then it wasn't, then it had to be left in the flat, so I went back in and it wasn't, so it had to be out on the grass or path outside the house, and it wasn't, so it had to be in my bag, and it wasn't. The whole thing seems to have vanished completely into thin air :-(

And there is nothing I can do now - I've filed a lost report with the police, I've stuck a notice up outside the flat (offering a reward and with my phone number on it - I've not even had drunken idiots call me! The only thing that has happened is that someone stole the plant pot (with a dead gladioli in it) which was holding the notice down), and I have a number of searches up on eBay. The insurance company has been informed, and I had an evaluator out last week; thoroughly professional and nice about it, but I still don't expect them to be very sympathetic!

The sickening thing is that someone had to have picked it up in just a few minutes between me going into the flat and coming back out again. There are only a few people who walk past in the mornings; commuters and dog walkers. And they do it every day. So I have probably met the person who took it, and they've seen my reward notice, but still not contacted me.

At the moment, I keep on flashing between the unsentimental "It's just jewellery - whilst it has huge sentimental value, particularly the wedding ring which John made, the vows we made haven't been broken, we are both still alive and well(brought home with a thump by these two stories - the second of these happened at the building site opposite our offices), and everything I have lost is replaceable," to wanting to curl up in a ball, scream and hit things. And I think that I will still have that sick feeling at the bottom of my stomach until the day that I die.

But - hey - now that I've told the entire globe (or the miniscule portion of it that still reads my blog!), I'll probably find the bundle hidden in plain view when we move flat at the end of the week....

Good News / Bad News

Well - it has been a busy week or so - again...!

On Saturday, I took part in a Tae-Kwon Do tournament. I had been given the impression that it was going to be a 'local' event - i.e. for the three clubs in our area, so I was in for a bit of a shock when I spotted teams from Paignton and London! This was a team event, so three of us competing per team. (There were only four teams in our category!) We came away with a silver in the patterns - these are synchronised patterns, so each member of the team has to perform at the same time and with the same pacing. We didn't get anything in the sparring, but then we were a bit unlucky - I went up first (and lost, though I was later told that both my fights were close things), and the lady from our team who went up second withdrew halfway through the match (she hadn't wanted to spar in the first place and panicked!). So (as it was a knockout tournament, and each round was best 2 out of 3), we were down to the third/fourth play off. I went up first again, lost again, and then the final member of our team went up. She was winning the bout, and then jumped and landed wrongly on her knee, ending up not being able to put any weight on it, and having to go to hospital! (Fortunately, x-rays have shown that it was just badly twisted, and no major damage was done; given that our instructor is out for the best part of a year after possibly snapping a tendon, we do know what problems can come up!!) But I still enjoyed it, so much so that I'm going to put myself up for a single competition (i.e. not relying on anyone else...!) in Cornwall on the 7th June. Overall, our club did really well, winning 56 medals overall.

We also had a fun evening yesterday - Paul Merton is touring with an improv comedy show, and by some fluke we managed to get tickets (it sold out very quickly); I hadn't realised who else was going to be appearing in it; Richard Vranch (who is actually a talented comedian in his own right - he was wasted hiding behind the piano) - and Mike McShane (who has lost a lot of weight since appearing in Whose Line is it Anyway - he is half the man he used to be, but no less funny!). Great fun :-D

We've also had a few less fun things - our poor Skoda is now pretty much broken to the point where it is going to cost more to fix it than it will to buy a new car, so we are off out to get another one with my company bonus this year (huzzah for the change of company financial year which means that I get it 6 months earlier than normal!!). Hopefully this one will last more than a few months.... We are also definitely now on the move again (when we've found somewhere to go...), as our landlady has failed on the mortgage again, and the bank has informed us that they are taking her to court to gain possession of the property (though we still have until August to get out, and she may still pay the overdue balance (though as this is the third time in 6 months, I'm not holding my breath!)).

But I'm confident that we will get both of the above sorted out, and in the meantime, we have so many cinema things coming up! We've already been to see Iron Man (very silly, but great fun as well), are going to Indiana Jones this weekend, and then have films such as Batman, Prince Caspian and Hellboy 2 to look forward to - it's going to be a fab summer!

Where has the year gone?

Once more, nearly three weeks since I last posted, and the usual excuses apply (though I think they are very poor ones when I consider the blogs that I read, usually medical people who work silly shifts, study, and still seem to manage to post every couple of days... But then, they have more interesting lives than I do, as well!)

I'm hoping that my posts will pick up after the beginning of May - the Fforde Ffiesta will be over, and I will have some spare time again. Will try not to spend all my time playing Scrabble on Facebook and actually post properly...

We might be on the move again - the shower and bath are both on the blink, and the landlady didn't pay the electrician's bill from the last time it broke (October -> February - 4 months without a shower...), so I am not hopeful that she will pay out for it to be fixed again. We have the same electrician coming in this week (I've promised to pay up front and claim back from the landlady by deducting from the ), but if it can't be fixed straight away, we are just going to hand in our notice...

On a more positive note, I'm going in for a Tae Kwon Do competition in the middle of May - getting to test my sparring skills properly against someone. I'm not expecting to get very far, but I'm really looking forward to it!

I'm also hoping that I'll be able to get more creative writing in after the beginning of May - I'm trying to write every day on the train to and from work, and I've got a couple of pieces that I'm willing to show to the world :-)