We have been in Cornwall for a week now and have been staying in a caravan near Bude and have not yet booked for next week in Devon. Hopefully there are some last minute breaks available.
We have looked at many businesses in Bude, Launceston, Falmouth, Mevagissey, Looe, Truro, St Austell, Padstow, Newquay, Polperro, Bodmin, and many more. We have driven constantly and are shattered. There are however a couple of possibilities and we still have next wek in Devon, assuming we find somewhere to stay.
I will upload some pictures soon but Internet use is almost strictly work time.
In case you are interested the weather is warm but rainy.
Showing posts with label Moving On. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Moving On. Show all posts
Friday, September 9, 2011
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Moving on
A little update for you.
We have had the final inspection on the house, had a leaving party for the kids and around 20 friends at the local pool, we had a little get together at Occys Brewery with our Scouting friends including live music from our very own DJ Macca and his band Soul Survivors which was lovely. Had a great time catching up with people we usually only see for a short time each week.
We had 2 garage sales, on 2 Saturdays, and sold pretty much everything. Just a gas fire and a fridge and freezer and some kids toys left. Most will go to charity shops, the fridge and freezer we will ship if we don't sell them this week and the fire.... I need someone to buy a gas fire. It won't work in England!
Ians Car has gone :o( bye bye A GUNNER he was a nice car. Mine is sold but the buyer is letting us keep it till we are in Perth and ready to leave which is pretty cool, thanks Dan!
Tonight is the last scouts, last night Marisa said goodbye to her Drama Llamas, next weekend we are on our own (yippee) Marisa is in Perth doing YWAM, helping the homeless for her last few days of school and the boys have a final Scout camp. We will be left surrounded by boxes and possessions waiting to be backed by the movers next Monday and then we are off on Tuesday. Or Wednesday. Or Thursday. Depending on when the camel delivers our $$ to the bank!
We have organised a few drinks with friends which should be fun, we have already been out to dinner, again, with 'our' staff we miss them, we have been out to lunch with lovely friends we met as customers in the cafe a long, long time ago :o) a handful of catchups to go and we are done.
I think we need to rename the blog, I'm pretty sure 'There and back again' has already been taken.
We have had the final inspection on the house, had a leaving party for the kids and around 20 friends at the local pool, we had a little get together at Occys Brewery with our Scouting friends including live music from our very own DJ Macca and his band Soul Survivors which was lovely. Had a great time catching up with people we usually only see for a short time each week.
We had 2 garage sales, on 2 Saturdays, and sold pretty much everything. Just a gas fire and a fridge and freezer and some kids toys left. Most will go to charity shops, the fridge and freezer we will ship if we don't sell them this week and the fire.... I need someone to buy a gas fire. It won't work in England!
Ians Car has gone :o( bye bye A GUNNER he was a nice car. Mine is sold but the buyer is letting us keep it till we are in Perth and ready to leave which is pretty cool, thanks Dan!
Tonight is the last scouts, last night Marisa said goodbye to her Drama Llamas, next weekend we are on our own (yippee) Marisa is in Perth doing YWAM, helping the homeless for her last few days of school and the boys have a final Scout camp. We will be left surrounded by boxes and possessions waiting to be backed by the movers next Monday and then we are off on Tuesday. Or Wednesday. Or Thursday. Depending on when the camel delivers our $$ to the bank!
We have organised a few drinks with friends which should be fun, we have already been out to dinner, again, with 'our' staff we miss them, we have been out to lunch with lovely friends we met as customers in the cafe a long, long time ago :o) a handful of catchups to go and we are done.
I think we need to rename the blog, I'm pretty sure 'There and back again' has already been taken.
Saturday, October 16, 2010
As I sit here
typing away on my pc, using valuable electrickery I gaze baffled at my latest bill from the lovely people at Synergy, it is double, actually no, it is more than double the one from this time last year. I know this not because I keep meticulous records filed away carefuly, but because it says so on the bill. Gasp. How did this happen, I suspect it may be the secret teenager syndrome but I am not sure. An ever increasing need to be charging up Nintendo Ds' or playing music on Ipod speakers or Facebook friending could be the reason. I'm fairly sure we are good at switching off lights, perhaps it is time to banish the one light left on in the hall at night, or perhaps not. No one likes tripping over the cat at 3am, no one likes cleaning up the mess of sick children who didn't get to the loo in time and kindly left puke on the floor for Mum to find (actually I did that to my mum once! should have left a light on :o)
I could limit time on the pc, but then they would be in trouble at school for not keeping up their hours on Mathletics, I could ban Ian from his laptop but then how would we work out where to live when we return to the UK?
Where in the world should the HoJos go next?
Surprise me, where do you think we should go next ;o)
I could limit time on the pc, but then they would be in trouble at school for not keeping up their hours on Mathletics, I could ban Ian from his laptop but then how would we work out where to live when we return to the UK?
Where in the world should the HoJos go next?
Surprise me, where do you think we should go next ;o)
Saturday, March 22, 2008
275kms closer to the South Pole
Saturday 15th March 2008
We were all up early today in anticipation of shoehorning all our worldly possessions into the car and to make sure that we say goodbye to Sharon and Malcolm before they went to work.
We managed to leave at 10.00am which was the time we had planned and set off towards the Freeway and beyond. We had been driving for about 10 minutes when Carolyn announces that she couldn’t remember bringing in the washing off the line, so after doing a U-turn and heading back we found ourselves locked out of the house because we had to leave the keys behind and too short to be able to see over the fence, Marisa to the rescue, and delighted to help as usual if only to make sure she is not left out of the loop, Ian picked her up, she looked over the fence and confirmed that the washing line was empty and we were able to start our journey all over again, if only life was always this easy!
So on our way again and looking forward to the 3½ hour drive ahead the kids decide it is time to let us know how much they enjoyed their Indian meal last night, the smell is horrendous but the kids think that the sight of their parents retching in the front of the car is great fun. After the fist ½ hour the mist started to abate (I hate to think what their Easter eggs are going to taste like) and the rest of the journey went by quite peacefully and 275 kms and 3 hours closer to the South Pole we were driving into Busselton, the sun was shining, the air was clean and we felt good to be there and starting the next chapter of our adventure in Australia.
We headed straight for the letting agents to pick up the keys for the house that we are going to be stopping in until our house purchase goes through. The agent Kay was very helpful and 20 minutes later we were outside the house, keys in hand. Unfortunately the keys in hand are not the ones that fit in door, so off to see Kay again, she explained in detail how the owners of the property had mixed the keys up when they stayed last and promptly gave us all the keys associated with the property and asked us to bring back the ones we don’t need. This time we’re in and a nice little house it is, a small 3 bed house on the edge of town but tidy and comfortable, we would need a bit more room to be able to live hear permanently but this is just what the doctor ordered until we move into our own place.
We unloaded the car and while Carolyn, Marisa and Kristian were unpacking Ian and Fraser went shopping to get the essential supplies, remember we are getting rural now and if you don’t get your shopping by 4pm on a Saturday afternoon you are in danger of starving by Monday. It’s not that bad really it just feels like it has got its priorities right, and on a Saturday afternoon everything starts closing up early because the people working in these places have got a life and intend to make the most of it. In truth you can go shopping on a Sunday in Busselton but it doesn’t feel like the sort of place where you should.
After Ian and Fraser had dropped off the spare keys with the agent and had returned with the shopping we went for a walk down to the seafront to stretch our legs, on the way we stopped at a park and let the kids run wild for ½ hour or so before continuing to the front and a route march along the Jetty to build up an appetite. Busselton is famous for its Jetty, at 2000 ish metres long and with an underwater observatory at the end is the longest Jetty in the southern hemisphere and by our reckoning which may or may not be that accurate, must be about as long as Southend Pier.
There are however some major differences, this one doesn’t appear to burn down as often although it does look like it has had a few lumps taken out of it over the years, this one only has railings on one side (and it was probably the Health and Safety Executive that made them put those up), this one wobbles a lot more than the one at Southend but only when people are walking on it or the water underneath is washing against it. And alas some similarities, despite this Jetty being a major part of the tourist attraction to the area it does need
$25 million spent on it to restore it to its former glory and the government appears to be doing everything it can to ensure that it isn’t the one that pays. Perhaps politicians don’t like these things to be too long just in case they are ever made to walk the plank for their sometimes misguided attempts at ruling us poor minions and don’t want to have to swim too far to get back on dry land.
After our stroll we went out for dinner, it had been a long day and we couldn’t be bothered too cook, we went to the only Pub/Restaurant in town and had a lovely meal. Fraser finished his meal first and on the table next to him were a couple out for a meal but with a baby that didn’t want to sleep, so Fraser stood there and pushed the baby back and forth whilst singing to it while the couple enjoyed their meal in peace. When we left to go home they gave him $5 so he was quite chuffed as he hadn’t expected anything.
The walk home was a bit slow because by this time the kids were a bit tired but we got there in the end and they all flaked out very quickly.
We were all up early today in anticipation of shoehorning all our worldly possessions into the car and to make sure that we say goodbye to Sharon and Malcolm before they went to work.
We managed to leave at 10.00am which was the time we had planned and set off towards the Freeway and beyond. We had been driving for about 10 minutes when Carolyn announces that she couldn’t remember bringing in the washing off the line, so after doing a U-turn and heading back we found ourselves locked out of the house because we had to leave the keys behind and too short to be able to see over the fence, Marisa to the rescue, and delighted to help as usual if only to make sure she is not left out of the loop, Ian picked her up, she looked over the fence and confirmed that the washing line was empty and we were able to start our journey all over again, if only life was always this easy!
So on our way again and looking forward to the 3½ hour drive ahead the kids decide it is time to let us know how much they enjoyed their Indian meal last night, the smell is horrendous but the kids think that the sight of their parents retching in the front of the car is great fun. After the fist ½ hour the mist started to abate (I hate to think what their Easter eggs are going to taste like) and the rest of the journey went by quite peacefully and 275 kms and 3 hours closer to the South Pole we were driving into Busselton, the sun was shining, the air was clean and we felt good to be there and starting the next chapter of our adventure in Australia.
We headed straight for the letting agents to pick up the keys for the house that we are going to be stopping in until our house purchase goes through. The agent Kay was very helpful and 20 minutes later we were outside the house, keys in hand. Unfortunately the keys in hand are not the ones that fit in door, so off to see Kay again, she explained in detail how the owners of the property had mixed the keys up when they stayed last and promptly gave us all the keys associated with the property and asked us to bring back the ones we don’t need. This time we’re in and a nice little house it is, a small 3 bed house on the edge of town but tidy and comfortable, we would need a bit more room to be able to live hear permanently but this is just what the doctor ordered until we move into our own place.
We unloaded the car and while Carolyn, Marisa and Kristian were unpacking Ian and Fraser went shopping to get the essential supplies, remember we are getting rural now and if you don’t get your shopping by 4pm on a Saturday afternoon you are in danger of starving by Monday. It’s not that bad really it just feels like it has got its priorities right, and on a Saturday afternoon everything starts closing up early because the people working in these places have got a life and intend to make the most of it. In truth you can go shopping on a Sunday in Busselton but it doesn’t feel like the sort of place where you should.
After Ian and Fraser had dropped off the spare keys with the agent and had returned with the shopping we went for a walk down to the seafront to stretch our legs, on the way we stopped at a park and let the kids run wild for ½ hour or so before continuing to the front and a route march along the Jetty to build up an appetite. Busselton is famous for its Jetty, at 2000 ish metres long and with an underwater observatory at the end is the longest Jetty in the southern hemisphere and by our reckoning which may or may not be that accurate, must be about as long as Southend Pier.
There are however some major differences, this one doesn’t appear to burn down as often although it does look like it has had a few lumps taken out of it over the years, this one only has railings on one side (and it was probably the Health and Safety Executive that made them put those up), this one wobbles a lot more than the one at Southend but only when people are walking on it or the water underneath is washing against it. And alas some similarities, despite this Jetty being a major part of the tourist attraction to the area it does need
$25 million spent on it to restore it to its former glory and the government appears to be doing everything it can to ensure that it isn’t the one that pays. Perhaps politicians don’t like these things to be too long just in case they are ever made to walk the plank for their sometimes misguided attempts at ruling us poor minions and don’t want to have to swim too far to get back on dry land.
After our stroll we went out for dinner, it had been a long day and we couldn’t be bothered too cook, we went to the only Pub/Restaurant in town and had a lovely meal. Fraser finished his meal first and on the table next to him were a couple out for a meal but with a baby that didn’t want to sleep, so Fraser stood there and pushed the baby back and forth whilst singing to it while the couple enjoyed their meal in peace. When we left to go home they gave him $5 so he was quite chuffed as he hadn’t expected anything.
The walk home was a bit slow because by this time the kids were a bit tired but we got there in the end and they all flaked out very quickly.
A Curry to go
Friday 14th March 2008
We met Ron, the guy who wrote our business plan for lunch today, I dare say we will meet him again but it is a sort of thank you lunch before we go to Busselton. We had a lovely meal and a chat, he gave us lots of encouraging feedback and said thinks that we are doing the right thing. Unfortunately his other half, Margot was unable to join us but she sent along some chocolate bunnies to keep the kids happy over Easter, assuming we can keep them from melting in the car on the way to Busselton tomorrow.
We have started packing ready for an early start tomorrow, fortunately we don’t seem to have too much more than we arrived with so hopefully it will all fit in the car.
We took Sharon and Malcolm out for a thank you meal tonight, we went to the local Indian Restaurant where they have a running Buffet, it was very good and the kids were very adventurous trying lots of different things, no doubt we’ll find out in the car tomorrow how much they really enjoyed it.
Sharon keeps saying she is going to miss us but we think she means the kids really, while Malcolm will just be glad to have a bit of peace and quite again.
We met Ron, the guy who wrote our business plan for lunch today, I dare say we will meet him again but it is a sort of thank you lunch before we go to Busselton. We had a lovely meal and a chat, he gave us lots of encouraging feedback and said thinks that we are doing the right thing. Unfortunately his other half, Margot was unable to join us but she sent along some chocolate bunnies to keep the kids happy over Easter, assuming we can keep them from melting in the car on the way to Busselton tomorrow.
We have started packing ready for an early start tomorrow, fortunately we don’t seem to have too much more than we arrived with so hopefully it will all fit in the car.
We took Sharon and Malcolm out for a thank you meal tonight, we went to the local Indian Restaurant where they have a running Buffet, it was very good and the kids were very adventurous trying lots of different things, no doubt we’ll find out in the car tomorrow how much they really enjoyed it.
Sharon keeps saying she is going to miss us but we think she means the kids really, while Malcolm will just be glad to have a bit of peace and quite again.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)