Please come and join me at my new Blog.

http://acoffeeandachat.blogspot.com/

If you have enjoyed catching up with me on here, please bookmark my new blog where you can keep up to date with my world.

If you bookmarked from my earlier link, please use this one - I missed a couple of letters out of the earlier one - Oooops!

Time for an end!

Throughout life things come to a natural end, friendships, relationships, events, hobbies........there are a whole list of things that reach a natural conclusion.

Remember the days at Primary School when you made a new friend. They became your best friend, you were going to be best friends forever. And within a month you hardly spoke anymore and had moved on to your next best friend.

Remember the boyfriend you had in Secondary school, you stared dating just weeks before the end of your school year and the start of college. He was your world and even college wouldn't stop you staying together, but your new life took over and by Christmas you had moved on.

Remember the first holiday you managed to save enough to take your dream trip. You had so much planned and so much fun, but all too soon it was time to come home.

Some things have a natural end because they were planned that way, others reach a natural end because they have run their course.

I feel that my blog has reached a natural end. It was started as a record of our plans to move to Spain. It was continued to cover our new life in Spain, and it became a wonderful way of sharing our toils, our trials and our new found friendships with people we knew and with many we didn't. I felt there was a purpose in continuing after our return to the UK, in how we adapted back to our life here.

But now it feels the adventure is complete and with it, the purpose of this blog is also complete. As such, the time feels right to retire it. To write this last chapter and, in doing so, to leave this record for others to find as they search for that dream in the sun. ]


But I will continue blogging so please come on over to http://acoffeeandachat.blogspot.com/ and enjoy a chat. 

A frosty start.

Today started early. 6am, to be precise when Brinkley woke me to let him outside. Normally, I go out into the garden with him to make sure there's nothing that would start him barking and wake any of the neighbours who may be trying for a Sunday lie-in, or that no-one has tampered with the side gate that would leave Brinkley with a route for escape. Normally, I don't feel the chill in my warm, fleecy dressing gown.

But, this morning was different. This morning the wind was from the north, this morning it was frosty, this morning it was cold. Having checked everything was Ok, I left Brinkley and returned to the warmth of the kitchen.

By 10am we were all in Neil's car. Leather seats are cold on frosty mornings so we decided to make use of a special button on the dash board - it heats up the seats. Within a couple of minutes, there was a gentle heat spreading across my bum. It's an odd sensation, but quite nice on a frosty morning.

Today the temperature guage said 6 degrees, many of the trees are becoming bare at an alarming rate and we plough through large piles of discarded leaves as we wander through the park.

I love cold, frosty mornings. I love walking through the park, snuggled into my big coat and warm boots, watching the dogs explore every new smell that has appeared since their last visit.

I have added to my shopping list this week - a winter car pack for the frosty mornings that we will have many more of over the next few weeks.

On mornings like this, I feel as if I should miss the warm, autumnal Spanish mornings, but I don't.

Now, I wonder where my gloves are?

How to make 3 weeks last 5 months.

Back on the 9th August I started my 1st temping assignment after a break from work of over 2½ years. It was a 3 week assignment which went really well. So well, they asked me back to do a further assignment.

Then they asked me back again.

Now they have asked me to work through until Christmas.

It's an ideal placement. It's less than 5 minutes from home, I don't have any traffic to contend with, I have on-site parking and I get on well with the others in the office.

Shame it can't turn into a permanent role but as my current assignment is to deal with the integration of the role into other areas within the business, by the end of this assignment, the role will no longer exist.

But 5 months from a 3 week assignment - even after 2½ years away - I'm obviously still able to do it!

And at least Christmas is paid for.

Walking in the tracks of Robin Hood

We are only 10 minutes away from Sherwood Forest, the legendary hideout of Robin Hood, and today we decided to take the dogs there for their weekend walk.

These days a lot of places insist in dogs being on their leads but at Sherwood Forest they can still run free, away from the Visitor Centre.

I remember visiting the Major Oak as a child on school day trips, in the days before the tree was fenced off, when we would spend time in school studying about Robin Hood and then re-enact what we had learnt, hiding in the Forest as outlaws, waiting to pounce on the Sherriff's men.

Today the Major Oak is all fenced off and supported by lots of metal posts, tastefully painted green to blend in but it doesn't stop the kids running around, still living the Robin Hood legend.

The sun was shining, the dogs were happily wandering and Neil & I chatted as we strolled around the forest, stopping for a coffee when we reached the visitor centre. Winter may be just around the corner but today, it was a million miles away.

Nature always amazes me.

I saw some fabulous Canadian Fall (autumn, to you and me) photos on a blog I follow yesterday, where the autumnal colours are really vibrant and I realised that, although we are in October, our trees and hedgerows are still green and only just showing signs of turning. http://journeyandadventure.blogspot.com/2010/10/october.html

Last year in Spain, I remember commenting on how the trees there don't seem to go through a colour change but simply seem to drop their leaves over night, and looking out of the window now, all I can see is the heavy gloom of an October morning where the sun has a lot more work to do to burn off the damp clouds.

While out walking with the dogs yesterday I heard a 'thump' as I passed a row of trees and looking around I found this had just fallen. Yesterday, the outer case was still green and overnight it's turned a rich brown and the case has split revealing a shiny new conker. I remember playing conkers as children, getting bruised knuckles and wrists and friends giving all sorts of vinegar related recipes to soak them in, looking for a way to make your conker harder than your competitors. I was never very good but some people would have conkers that were multiple winners, a sixer or more.

So, I 'Googled' conker and discovered that the World Conker Championships are held in the UK, this coming Sunday, close to the ancient town of Oundle, in Northamptonshire. I'm amazed that there is such a thing as a Conker World Champion, but I suppose I shouldn't be - I wonder when it will become an Olympic Sport?

Anyway, here's a link http://www.worldconkerchampionships.com/

And this morning as I opened the blinds in the kitchen my attention was caught by the tree stump we have in the garden. I'm not sure what tree used to grow there but it was just a stump when we moved in. Neil mowed the grass around it only 2 days ago and there was nothing to be seen but this morning, there is a whole village of mushroom houses.

Maybe one of these mornings when I am up early with the dogs, I will be able to see the fairies who live there playing in the garden!

Why can't dogs tell the time?

And no, it's not the start of a joke, although it should be, it's a serious question.

I suppose it should read - Why can't dogs tell the time - discuss!

Just recently, Brandy has started to wake me at 2am, he goes out for a wee, has a drink and then wants to play. He's wide awake and bright as a button.

At 2am!

His brother stays firmly asleep, he loves his bed but Brandy seems to have developed a night time wanderlust.

And once he wakens me I find it very difficult to fall asleep again and so I find myself pottering around the house, tidying & dusting.

Neil is rarely aware that I have been up and I'm sure he thinks we have moved into a house that has cleaning elves that come in at night and make the place all neat & tidy for the morning. Anything left out of place at night is miraculously in it's proper place by morning.

I do wonder whether I should tell him the truth or let him continue to believe we have nightly visitors.

Ah well, it's now 3am - time to chase Brandy back to bed!

Wet weather ruins planned tv day.

Today I should be sat infront of the TV fixed with the tension that is 'The Ryder Cup'.

I was so pleased to only be working 3 days a week as it meant Friday's were free and I could see the opening day for once.

And so, at 7.30am we switched on the TV to start to absorb some of the atmosphere. In Worksop it was a dry day but in Wales it had been raining for some time and the players were all decked out in their waterproofs, umbrellas up and towels everywhere as the caddies tried to keep the clubs dry.

By the time the players were on the 1st tee it was obvious that play was going to be tricky. Puddles were everywhere, on the greens, filling the bunkers and even the fairways were starting to look more like rivers.

It's such a shame. Play was suspended after an hour.

About 5 years ago I went to the Celtic Manor for a conference. I didn't get to play the course as there wasn't enough spare time, but I did have a good look around and it really looked a good course. I could see why a match such as the Ryder Cup would go there.

The trip to the Celtic Manor was my 1st introduction to SatNavs - and I had a moody one. I travelled down with a colleague and we stopped at some services where 2 motorways joined. I had also printed directions from the internet which my colleague was following as neither of us knew that area of the country well.

After a coffee we got back into the car and turned the SatNav back on. It told me I needed to rejoin the motorway and take the next left I knew I needed to go right. We were travelling south and then needed to go across to Wales. I ignored the SatNav and turned right. My colleague said I needed to take the next junction off, I knew we were still some 40 miles before we needed to exit the motorway. I ignored my colleague and carried on. After about 20 minutes both the SatNav and my colleague caught up with me and we were all agreed on the directions once again.

That night we decided we would take a taxi down into Newport and find a nice restaurant for dinner. The hotel sorted a taxi for us and we found a really nice place. At the end of the evening we jumped into a taxi and asked to be taken to the Celtic Manor Hotel.

'Where's that then?' asked the taxi driver.

'Where the Ryder Cup is going to be held in 2010' I said. It was a huge hotel complex, he had to know where it was. It was midnight, it was dark and we had no idea.

'No, never heard of it' the driver replied.

I was vaguely aware of which direction we had driven down to Newport but as a passenger, you don't note every road and roundabout. Eventually I remember a series of roundabouts and knew we were close. We circled a few times like a shark sizing up a kill and then I made a decision which exit the driver should take from the roundabout. We drove up a country lane that didn't look familiar and I began to worry when suddenly we saw the hotel lights ahead. we had somehow found the back entrance to the hotel, but at least we had found it.

I assume over the last few years taxi drivers have made it a priority to know how to get to the Celtic Manor, I would imagine business will be brisk for them this weekend, but back then it wasn't on their radar.

And it was only a 10 minute drive.

And so I'm kicking my heels waiting for play to resume. And I can't even pass time by having a lovely long walk with the dogs because we too have torrential rain now, blowing across from Wales!

Time to browse the Kindle store I think.

My Kindle has arrived.

I like gadgets. I like reading.

I recently had a newsletter from the author of 'Chickens, Mules and Two Old Fools' which included a note to say that 'Chickens' was now available on Kindle.

I'd never heard of Kindle so, needless to say, I was straight on to Google.

About the same time, there suddenly appeared adverts on the tv for the same gadget. A gadget that is lighter than a paperback, that can store upto 3,500 books and you download them straight to the kindle.

I could tell that they were going to be this years 'hot' Christmas gift so, if I was going to have one for Christmas I needed to order one now.

So, we ordered one at the beginning of September with a delivery date of mid-September.

Then delivery was extended a few days more.

And last week I received a message to say shipment was Oct 2nd.

I was beginning to think this would be the pattern until Christmas, but then on Friday I got the e-mail saying it had been despatched.

And it arrived this morning.

It was already set up and linked to my Amazon account so as soon as I had matched it to our wireless internet connection I could download books. I didn't even have to wait for the battery to charge, as soon as I had connected the mains cable I could use it while it was charging up.

All I have to do now is finish the paperback I am halfway through and I can start my next book on my kindle.

I love gadgets.

This is home

I can't see that I have ever posted photos of our new home, despite LL asking me to, so apologies LL, here are a few especially for you:

And so, we start with the lounge - as you can see, the dogs don't do tidy.



This is my study:


I love the dining area:


And the kitchen



And this is a great place to relax in, a great place for conversation away from the TV.


The guest room has a bit of a colour clash - but hey, you're there to sleep and it does come with it's own bathroom!


And the garden is great for the dogs and totally safe!







And don't they just love it?

Fun and Games

The company I have been temping at had asked me back to do some holiday cover. It's a completely new accounting system to me, I am well versed in Sage, this is Coda. I'd never even heard of Coda before I started here. I've spent 20 years working in the property sector, this company is in logisitics - lorries and stuff.

And so it was decided I would have 2 weeks training before covering the work myself - plenty of time to pick up all the necessary routines to process the weekly accounts info......

..... except nothing ever goes to plan, does it?

The first week I should have been training I was taken back to do more work on the Year End in preparation for the audit, so I missed seeing any of the weekly processes which take place Mon-Wed.

On Thursday!!!! I had a few hours being shown what to do, making copious amounts of notes of which spreadsheet to use and how to upload info to the system, but not actually able to actually do any of it because it had all been done for the week.

Not to worry, we had Mon & Tues of this week for me to actually do the routines before the guy I'm covering for finished for 2 weeks and I'm on my own.

So, Monday morning I arrive at work bright and early, all set for an intense couple of days training when......

....... the said guy is a no-show! And no-one has heard from him. By 10am it is obvious he isn't coming in although no-one knows why?

Once again I am side-tracked onto Year End work while people decide what to do.

Tuesday morning, and still no sign of the chap that should be training me and now the weekly work is getting seriously urgent. I'm told he has a cold!

And I am asked the question I had been expecting............'Do you think you can do it from your notes?'

'Errrrrr....well, I can give it a go.'

And so that is how I spent my Tuesday. I have had good support from the people around me and I have managed to process the main items but whether or not the figures will look as they should when everything is run tonight, who knows.

All I can say is 'I did my best'.

Temping can certainly be a challenge!

Pipped at the post? or stolen from under my nose?

You decide!

I have been applying for a number of jobs and most of them are through agencies, which can be an added difficulty in itself. If you don't gel with the staff at the agency they aren't going to put you forward for any jobs.

I have a couple of agencies that are working well with me and, through one of them, I had an interview for a fulltime role.

There were 5 candidates and we had all been asked to keep the details of the job to ourselves as the agencies are all desperate to find out what vacancies other agencies are handling and trying to get in on the act. The nature of this company's business was so specialised it wouldn't take anyone very long to find out who was recruiting and get in there.

My interview went very well and the feedback was good. The MD liked me and it was looking positive that I would be asked back for a 2nd interview.

And then it all went quiet. The agency wasn't getting any contact and they were having trouble finding out what was going on.

Then this week I had a 'Bad News' phone call from them. The role had been filled...... but not by one of the candidates from the agency.

It turns out that one of the candidates had told another agency where they had been for an interview and that agency had made a phone call at exactly the right time. Someone at the company had unfortunately gone off ill unexpectedly and it was probable they would be off for sometime, leaving the MD with some serious concerns - pick up phone call from said agency who just happened to have someone who could start immediately - and said person walked straight into the role.

How frustrating is that?

So, I have to be grown up about this and believe there is a better job waiting for me elsewhere, but this job really did tick all the boxes in a very exciting company. I'd been honest with them at the interview and told them I had a 3 week assignment and would be able to start on completion of the assignment. I can only assume they decided they couldn't wait.

Hey Ho, back to trawling through the e-mail notifications I get of new vacancy updates!

When was your last pyjama day?

It's not something I do very often but sometimes you just need a pyjama day.

Mine turned out to be on Saturday.

Neil was up and out for golf at some ridiculously early hour and once he's gone I went back to bed, finally emerging to start my day at a much more sensible hour.
I decided I would do my bits and bobs around the house before having a shower and so rather than dressing, I simply donned a large T-shirt dress that I would never venture out of the house wearing or even open the door to a caller.

Normally PJ days and dogs don't go together but on Saturday the pups also seemed disinterested in going out the front door, happy enough to wander about the garden when they would normally be in the entrance hall trying their hardest to show me where their leads are kept.

And so the day progressed.

I pottered about, read my book for a while and then began to tackle the re-arrangement of my books back into some semblance of order so I knew where to find things. (To Do List - item 6).

Before I knew it Neil was home from golf. Now, he's a good hubby, he can spot a PJ day a mile off, and normally before I realise that one has developed and so, having just got back from rising at 5am and walking for 4 hours, he offered to take the pups out for their walk.

I still had no reason to leave our front door.

While sorting out the piles of books I had come across this.

This is a box I have had for more than 20 years. It's a Harrod's stationery box and originally contained 40 sheets of paper and 30 envelopes, and no, my memory isn't that good, the label is still on the underside.

I remember it was too pretty a box to throw away when all the paper had been used and it seemed an ideal box to keep letters I received in.

And that's what I did. It seems to cover a time before we kept in touch with friends by e-mail and is full of letters from friends who lived too far away to see regularly. Reading through them again brings so many memories back, some good, some not so good but all of them to be cherished.

By the time I had looked through and read most of the box's contents the day was almost gone and I started to move my thoughts back to the present day. I realised I has spent a couple of hours transported back to the mid-90's. I had been cast back to the days when friends were popping children as if there was a population shortage, where relationships were changing after many years of stability and one friend was battling cancer treatment, a battle she was ultimately to lose. I have a wonderful letter from my Grandma telling me of a ball she had gone to with her neighbour who was a councillor and that they had a 4 course meal which is why, she deduced, the local rates were so high! That she had worn a red dress to give her colour and that she had still been dancing at 1am when the ball ended - and she must have been in her 80's at the time.

I don't live in the past but I do like to visit now and then.

I just wished I'd been dressed for the occasion!

To-do list update

Earlier than expected, I have an update on my to-do list as any more progress on it this week has come to an abrupt halt.

I had a good couple of days and have completed items 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5.

I was making good progress........

and then today I received a phone call............

from the company I had been working at for the last few weeks............

'Is it possible you could work tomorrow and Friday and all next week instead of 3 days?' 'Please?'

They have another exercise they are struggling with and need my expertise - how good is that?

And so, my bookcase is still in disarray, my hair is now under serious threat of my fringe being chopped by me if I want to be able to see (but this isn't for the first time) and the nearest I have got to registering with the doctors is to complete our medical cards ready to take with us and to print the directions from Google Maps!

And my Friday game of golf is postponed yet again!

Hey ho!

A week to catch up on all those little jobs.

I find myself with a week of being unemployed and have just been making my 'to do' list for the week.

1. Cleaning
2. Laundry
3. Grocery shopping
4. Recycling
5. Clothes shopping for work
6. Sort bookcase
7. Register with Doctor
8. Find hairdresser

And if all this is done by Thursday

9. Play golf.

First priority is to get the housework done to keep the rest of the week free for me, and so I am about to start on 3 bathrooms!

Then I will do the shopping and take the recycling that they don't collect from the house and later today we are going clothes shopping as I need to add to my winter wardrobe. At the moment all I have are jeans & jumpers, not exactly appropriate work attire for the roles I am applying for.

Once that is all done it leaves me free to book coffee with friends, find a hairdresser and get my hair cut as it hasn't seen any scissors since June, when I was still in Spain. Finding a new hairdresser is always a daunting task so wish me luck.

I also want to sort out my bookshelves as Neil unpacked all my books so they are all muddled up and I cannot find anything, and I have bought some new ones which need to be allocated an appropriate space.

And the final task on my list is registering with the local Doctors. So a busy week but by Friday I hope to have everything crossed off and have a free day to play golf.

And why am I planning to do it all this week?

Well, I start work again on Monday for another 4 weeks. The company I have just done an assignment for have asked me to go back and do some holiday cover. As my brother said, it's always nice to be asked back!

So, I'm off to tackle the bathrooms. I'll be back at the end of the week to show you how much of my 'to do' list is done.

Have a good week.

I'll show you what I've bought.......but don't tell Neil!

Tomorrow is our 5th Wedding Anniversary - our Wooden Anniversary.

We already have a wooden loving spoon

which would have been a perfect present and so I have been on a mission at our local shopping centre. I wanted something a little quirky but useful.

And I think I've found it.

It was handcarved in India by people who are part of a scheme to get people off the streets. The chap did tell me more but I've forgotten what else he said, as I knew I would. I did tell him it would be useful to have a little card or flyer to include and he did agree and may do something in the future, but for now you have to be content with minimal info - sorry. I can't even remember the type of wood!

Anyway, this is the little character.

Any ideas what it is?

Well, see if this photo gives you any hints?

Don't know?,

Well, take a look at this!

Isn't it brilliant? Now that Neil has to have reading glasses he's for ever leaving them lying around, this will stop them getting lost or damaged and is quite an attractive little ornament.

I hope he likes it as much as I do!

But don't tell him about it, I don't want to spoil the surprise!

For the story of our Californian Wedding, read here:

http://relocatetospain.blogspot.com/2009/09/todays-our-wedding-anniversary.html

Sleeping in Swimming Goggles.

As well as the Jag, there was one other item on Neil's wish list for moving back to the UK. He had always talked about having laser surgery on his eyes but while he was working, he had never got round to having it done. He wore contacts lenses and had glasses which used to cost about £350 each time he changed them.

Just before moving to Spain we both got new glasses with reactalite lenses and prescription sunglasses and even with discounts the bill was not much short of £1,000!

By the end of the first year in Spain, Neil's glasses were showing signs of scratching - even with an anti-scratch coating, because there is just so much dry dust there. You have to be really careful how you wipe your glasses to minimise the scratches.

As time progressed we noticed the reactalite coating seemed to be peeling off and eventually he reverted to an older pair of glasses as he was having difficulty seeing properly. By now 2 years had passed and any warranties were no longer relevant.

We did price up replacements in Spain but they were no cheaper there than here. All the adverts offering cheap glasses were the same in Spain as in the UK, not applicable to Neil's prescription.

We looked into laser surgery in Spain which is just as expensive as in the UK, and despite the adverts saying from £395 - for Neil you could multiply this by 10.

Before we had decided what to do in Spain about the surgery we had decided to move back and that finalised Neil's thoughts on what he wanted to do. The fact that he would be playing golf in rain more often here meant he wanted rid of his glasses. He had taken to wearing his contacts when playing golf but with his vision it meant he couldn't read small print, including texts on his mobile. The frustration over his sight was obvious. Just marking he scorecard was difficult.

Within a week of being back we had an appointment at a clinic in Sheffield. They did all the tests and confirmed he was suitable for surgery. He was scheduled for the following week.

The clinic were very keen that all his questions were answered and, while I wasn't too keen on knowing the details of the actual operation, they always included me in the discussions.

On the day of surgery Neil was obviously nervous and I tried to keep his mind of what was happening later in the day. We arrived for the appointment in plenty of time and joined a few others in a very quiet waiting room. There were a couple of large TV screens on the wall showing the golf tournament which helped pass the time, but made us chuckle as they were not tuned in very well so the picture was quite blurred. Considering we were in an optical clinic, I wondered how many people looked at the screen and thought their eyes needed more work!

Finally we heard them call Neil's name and I then began my lonely wait while they carried out the surgery. It seemed to take longer than others but after about 20 minutes he came out wearing his sunglasses.

The anaesthetic was still working so he wasn't in any pain and he had a bag full of drops to use. One of the main problems after surgery is dryness which will affect the healing so he had drops to help fight infection, drops to keep the eye moist and drops to encourage healing. He also needed to wear his sunglasses for 24 hours as his eyes would be more sensitive to light.

They had suggested the best thing to do when he got home was to sleep. As I don't think he had slept much the night before, it didn't take him long to fall asleep and he slept for a couple of hours. I had told him to take painkillers before he went to sleep so that as the anaesthetic wore off the painkillers would keep the pain at bay. It seemed to work.

Everything seemed to have gone Ok. One of the biggest no-no's is rubbing your eyes after surgery, yet there is a massive urge to do just that. During the day it's easy to control the urge but at night it's not.

And that's where the swimming goggles come in. They stop any attempt to rub or scratch the eyes while asleep - and they work very well. They just look really odd.

To be fair, they must be reasonably comfortable as they didn't stop Neil sleeping and by the time he woke the following morning his vision was starting to settle. He saw an immediate improvement in one eye, the other was slower to heal but now, a few weeks after surgery he is finding he doesn't have any problems at all. He still uses drops at night and he now needs reading glasses for small print but he can read his texts without his glasses.

There is an advert on TV where Podraig Harrington says how much laser surgery has helped his golf. Well, I'm sorry to say Neil cannot say the same - but it has improved his enjoyment of the game. And when it does rain, he doesn't have the problem of trying to keep the rain of his glasses.

Would I have it done?

No way.

And how do I cope on the golf course when it rains?

I stop playing and go into the club house for a coffee. It's so much cheaper than surgery!

For Dianne

Hi Dianne,

You kindly left a comment for me on my post 'A quick 9 holes'. Could you please drop me a quick e-mail to the address on my profile as I would like to e-mail you with more information.

Thanks

Work Update.

I completed my assignment yesterday. I did a 3rd week at the same firm but apart from going in on Tuesday to go through all the figures I am back to being unemployed until the agency can find me another assignment.

One thing I have become very aware of is that my Excel skills while competent, are not at the level that a lot of the companies are wanting, and it is stopping me from taking some assignments, so my task while I wait for the next placement is to teach myself about filters and pivot tables. I have a couple of websites to try (courtesy of my brother's research) and my husband has bought me a large book on Excel so, rather than sitting in queues of traffic on Bank Holiday Monday I shall be sitting infront of my laptop with columns of figures hopefully transforming themselves into the required pivot charts.

Wish me luck!

Visiting the local farm shop.

One of the things I used to love in Spain was my weekly wander around the local street market. The fresh produce always looked so fresh and tasty and somehow our shops just don't get the same effect with the prepacked produce. Whether it is the produce, the volume of stalls, the obligatory Namibian Pan Pipe group or the atmosphere or a combination of all I'm not sure but wandering around the fresh produce area of Tesco or Sainsbury's doesn't quite have the same effect.

We have a large area of allotments across the road from our house but I have been unable to find whether there is an allotment shop so I was quite pleased to see we have a Farm Shop less than 10 minutes from us. Each time I drive past I remind myself I should stop and have a look to see what the shop is like and today I made a deliberate effort to go and take a look.

From the road it was difficult to assess how big the shop was but once we were inside we were pleasantly surprised. There was a large meat counter with very good looking meat so we treated ourselves to a couple of Rib Eye steaks. The lamb also looked good. I don't often buy lamb but as it looked so good I decided we would treat ourselves to a leg, but as there are only 2 of us I asked for a little leg from a little lamb!

They have a veritable array of deli stuff plus a a fine display of in-season fruit and veg. By the time we had finished I had a trolley full of (hopefully) good quality foods.

http://arrowfarmshop.co.uk/aboutus.html


And now, a few hours later, the Rib Eye steak has been consumed and was really good quality meat. Very tender and lots of flavour. Definitely worth the extra £1 it cost us and definitely means we will be back to the Farm Shop in the not too distant future.

I love finding new places that are as good as you hope they will be.

Unfortunately, the same couldn't be said for the Garden Centre a couple of minutes away from the Farm Shop. The entrance looks very impressive but the plants and coffee shop left a lot for improvement. Still, we are not short of good Garden centres with quality coffee shops nearby, so I shan't struggle when I want to buy my rhubarb plant.

I have a Bank Holiday to look forward to.

One thing that did seem odd when we weren't working was that Bank Holidays and Weekends meant less. Most of the time we didn't even realise it was a holiday day unless we called at the shops and found them closed.

Now that I am working again I can look forward to my weekends. And this week I have the joy of a 3 day weekend to look forward to, as Monday is a Bank Holiday. For this week at least, I am still working in the same place. Tomorrow I should find out whether I will still be there next week.

3 hours with a 3 year old.

One of the joys of being back in the UK is that we can get to know our granddaughter. She is 3 and a half now and although she has only seen us a few times she is starting to be quite settled when she visits us. Today she was looking forward to coming through to see the pups.

Unfortunately, the feeling is not reciprocated by the pups.

The pups are terrified of her and cling to either Neil or I the whole time she is in the house. She is very gentle with them and doesn't grab at them but they cannot work out what this little person is all about.

Last time she was here it was obvious how child unfriendly our house is. The only thing that was remotely suitable for her to play with were the dogs toys - and that made them totally unsuitable for her to play with.

And so, in preparation of her visit today I bought a colouring set. One that she can keep here. Uncle Glen brought her through and we opened up the colouring set in the kitchen. She dragged a dining chair across so she could reach the centre island and happily settled herself to turning Snow White into a Smurf as she preferred the blue crayon to the pink one.

Once Neil arrived back from golf we were off to McDonald's for tea. Cadey decided she wanted to go in Grandad Neil's big car so we swapped her car seat over and clambered aboard.

McNuggets and chips WITH red sauce and a purple fruit shoot. There's no dithering when she's at the counter. As for us 3 adults, plenty of dithering.

Once we were back at the house, we settled in the conservatory and Cadey kept us entertained with her never ending stream of chatter.

3 hours after she arrived, she left. It was a lovely but very tiring 3 hours. As she left it was hugs all round, Brandy & Brinkley included, much to their dismay.

In expectation of her next visit, I need to find a really good story book. I love shopping for books but this will be a whole new section of the store for me.

I'm enjoying being a Grandma.

A quick 9 holes.

Today is warm and sunny and a perfect day for golf, and so I am having a couple of hours with my husband playing 9 holes at his new golf club. This is only the 2nd time I've played golf this year and I am really looking forward to it.

I've just got back from walking the dogs along the canal to live rock music. There is Dub Odyssey 2010 going on, which is some sort of festival at the Rugby Club and there are hundreds of camper vans there - the local events page describes it as:

A small, local, chilled out VW show. With traders, caterers, live bands playing throughout both days, a fancy dress disco in the club house on Saturday evening (theme On The Farm), a bouncy castle, prize winning quiz and Show & Shine event (on Sunday only).

It’s like a throw back to the Hippy Days! Maybe it's thanks to them that the sun is shining. Whatever the reason, I am taking full advantage to go and swing a club.

Job Hunting

One of my main goals on returning to the Uk was to start working again.

I have been an Accountant all my life and I love it. So, I have been bugging agencies on every vacancy I think I can do, knowing it will not be easy to get a job. After all, I have been out of the job scene for over 2 years, I am the wrong side of 50 (and no, I don't include my age on my CV but anyone with half a brain can work out an approximate), my last role was in senior management not hands on accounts and I'm job hunting on the back of the worst recession so I have a battle on my hands.

The biggest hurdle I have found so far is getting the agency staff to accept that I am capable of doing a proper job again. Fortunately, I have a couple of agencies that have taken to me and are working hard to find me a permanent position. In the meantime I am working on a temporary assignment for 3 weeks.

Tomorrow will be the end of week 2 and so it was with some puzzlement tonight when the HR Manager came to speak to me and commented that tomorrow would be my last day. I showed her my paperwork that confirms it's a 3 week assignment and that I was expecting to be working there again next week.

According to her they have only approved funding for 2 weeks!

I rang the agency to tell them of this latest piece of information and they will sort it out for me. In the meantime, if I am finishing tomorrow the agency have another assignment for me that would take me through to Christmas and beyond, starting Monday.

So, it looks as if I will be working next week, I just don't know where. The work experience can only help my CV and in the meantime I am able to go in, do my job and come home and switch off.

Well, time to go and trawl through the latest vacancies published on the various websites. Last time I was job hunting it was a case of buying the local paper on a Thursday night and working your way through the Situations Vacant pages with a biro and a notepad. Now it's as easy as search, sort, click apply and attach CV.

And no matter how many you apply for the one thing that hasn't changed - you rarely get an acknowledgement or letter advising you have been unacceptable - and how difficult would that be with e-mail?

How much more furniture won't fit?

We always expected to store the hot tub in the garage until we decided if we wanted it putting in the back garden, as wewill need a crane to lift it over the house! Not a simple process.

We then had to put 3 wardrobes in there as they wouldn't go through an arch in the hallway and turn 90 degrees to get up the stairs!

The 3 seater sofa was already in pieces to get it out of the last house, so that went on ok.

When I viewed the house I asked about the main bedroom and was told the bed in there was a King size, as is ours, so that was ok.

Or so we thought.

What I hadn't realised is that because we have a large bedhead and footer as well as the bed being King sized, when we put it altogether - the head would be against one wall and the foot would be against the other. If I wanted to nip to the loo in the night I would have to clamber over Neil.

Not ideal.

We decided to dismantle the bed and move ourselves to another room. It meant we weren't in the main bedroom with the built in wardrobes and en-suite, but hey, it will make a great guest room and they will have their own facilities.

Finally, we had the bed in place. Tomorrow we would dismantle the wardrobes, carry them upstairs and re-assemble them.

Time to charge up the screwdriver!

Moving In.

We were so busy sorting out the cars that we were almost too late for our appointment to get the keys for the house. When we arrived, 15 minutes late, having telephoned the office to ask them to let the guy know we were on our way, we were met by a very unhappy chap. He was busy checking the house, making notes of it's condition, taking photos of areas that were a problem, so it's not as if he'd been hanging about waiting for us but he was determined to be grumpy with us.

Finally, having agreed meter readings with him, he left and we looked around our new home. The pups quickly inspected every room and ran outside. It took Neil and I a little longer to go through all the rooms talking about what furniture would go where, when our furniture eventually arrives.

And then my mobile rang.

It was the removal guys.

Now remember, this was Tuesday. They weren't supposed to be leaving Southern France until Wednesday so I was a little surprised to get a call from them.

The call went something like this:

We're just leaving London heading north and should be in Sheffield by 6ish. Are you able to take delivery of your furniture tonight?

What? When? How.....? Doesn't matter. Yes, yes, yes.

It turns out that the pick-up in France had cancelled so they had been able to travel through the last few days and rather than take the furniture to the depot to be unloaded, only to be re-loaded onto another van another day, they wanted to bring it straight to us.

By 9pm we had all our furniture in the house, the hot tub was in the garage along with 3 wardrobes that wouldn't go up the stairs and the guys had parked their van on our drive for the night. We had a final night in the hotel and early the following morning we would be able to start unpacking.

It could not have worked out better if we'd used a bespoke removal company.

It meant we would have chairs to sit on and a bed to sleep in as well as all our clothes again, not that we had any wardrobes to put them in unless we wanted a trip into the garage every morning.

The overall removal experience had taken less than 4 weeks and looking back I have no idea how we planned it, organised it and then did it in such a short time.

Amazing what you can achieve when you put your mind to it!

And here they are.

His

And hers

More car shopping

Having sorted Neil's car we now needed to sort one for me. I have much lower ambitions as far as cars are concerned as I do not like driving big cars. All I wanted was a little hatchback that was good for getting the dogs about, getting the shopping in and reliable.

On my trips back to the UK over the last couple of years I have had a variety of hire cars and the one I had particularly enjoyed driving was the Kia Rio and so that was top of my shopping list, well to be honest - it was my entire shopping list.

Again, we spent time on the internet to find cars to go and see on the Tuesday morning while we were waiting for the the 2pm time to arrive when we would get the keys to the house. It was good to keep occupied as I was aware that we were getting the keys to move into a house that Neil hadn't actually seen and so I was a little apprehensive about what he would think about the house when he finally got to see it.

2nd hand Kia Rio's were not in abundance but there was one in a garage close by and it was red. Would it look a bit excessive to have 2 red cars sitting side by side on the drive? Would it be like a couple who go out in matching sweatshirts? No, we didn't think so - so we set off to have a look at the car.

Now, I'm not sure whether we looked like time wasters or what, but the garage decided to give us the trainee to practise his selling skills on. This is a rough translation of our conversation:

Us: We've come to have a look at the Kia Rio you have for sale.

Trainee: Ok, let me check where it is for you........Oh, I'm sorry we have sold that one.

Us: Do you have any others.

Trainee: No, but we have mobility cars coming in all the time.

(Neil and I exchange glances as we weren't aware we looked as if we had a disability that would need a mobility vehicle)

Us: So do you have any Rio's due in?

Trainee: No.

(So that was a rather useless bit of info then)

Trainee: We could arrange 0% finance for you.

Us: Why? We're paying cash.

Trainee: Well then you could buy a more expensive car.

Us: Why, do you have a Rio that is more expensive?

Trainee: No.

Us: (Big sigh)

Trainee: Would you be interested in a Kia Cee'd?

Us: Don't know, what does a Cee'd look like.

(Trainee takes us over to look at a New Cee'd in the showroom and it was fine)

Us: Yes, that would be ok, do you have one for our budget?

Trainee: No.

Us: (Another big sigh)

Us: Thanks for your help

And we left.

Now, this wasn't a Kia dealer and there was a carpark full of 2nd hand cars but we had lost the will to start trying to discuss other cars.

Then we went on to a garage we had bought from previously. They are a 2nd hand car supermarket and always have hundreds of cars in stock.

Us: We're looking for a Kia Rio, our budget is this, do you have anything?

Salesman: No, but what does your car need to have?

Us: Smallish, diesel, hatchback.

Salesman: Well, we have just received a Seat Altea that is a nice car.

Us: What's a Seat Altea look like.

Salesman: It's in our valeting suite, come and have a look.

And so, I found my car. it was smallish, it was a hatchback with 5 doors, it was a diesel, it was sparkly black and had a 6 CD changer. It was for our budget.

We took it for a test drive. It has a 1.9TDI sport engine and zips around the lanes. The rear seats move forward so there is no gap between them and the front seats for the dogs to fall down. There are lots of compartments in the boot (that's the trunk for my American readers) to stop the shopping bags sliding everywhere.

And that was it. I had found my car. I could collect it on Thursday. Neil could collect his on Friday, so within the week we would both be mobile again.

And all this before we'd picked up the keys for the house.

Not a bad couple of days shopping.

Crepes for tea!

Neil loves to cook new dishes and he knows one of my favourites is a stack of American Pancakes with fresh fruit and cream. A few years ago we visited Calgary in winter (and it was nothing to do with skiing - but that's a whole different story) and stayed in a guest house near town. The Lady of the house was away for the weekend and had left us in the very capable hands of her parents. They were a lovely couple and rather than leaving us in the breakfast room, they invited us into the very large kitchen so we could chat while they prepared our breakfast.

A stack of Pancakes with lashings of maple syrup.

Neil got talking about finding a good pancake batter mix and they told us the secret was a mix of flours. Since then we have used their recipe and have good American pancakes frequently.

For a change tonight, Neil decided to have a go at Crepes Suzettes. Completely different to our normal pancakes, crepes are incredibly thin and delicate. We had plenty of fruit in the house as Sainsbury's have started doing a multipack of strawberries, raspberries and blueberries and I'd picked a pack up earlier this week.

We brought some cointreau(ish) drink back from Spain with us which had cost us about 7euros for a litre from a local Bodega near Pulpí and Neil made a tasty sauce to pour over the crepes.

And so tonight, this was on our dinner table.

And they were absolutely delicious - 3 of our 5-a-day and weeks worth of calories!

And that's before we've poured the fresh cream on.

Car shopping

We phoned up about the first 2 cars on the list before driving out to see them only to find the first one had been sold and the 2nd one had very high milage. A little down hearted I logged onto the internet one last time before leaving the hotel for the day, just to see if there were any new listings.

And there was. Half an hours drive away was a car that ticked all the boxes PLUS, it was red!

It rapidly rose to the top of the shopping list and we telephoned the garage to ensure it was still for sale and it wasn't a mistake.

Yes, it was new into them that morning, so much so that they hadn't even started to clean it ready for the forecourt but we could go and have a look if we accepted that it needed a valet.

As we drove to the garage it was difficult for Neil not to have high hopes he had found his perfect car. I so didn't want him to be disappointed when we got there.

As we pulled up at the garage we looked around for it but there seemed to be everything except the red Jaguar. We spoke to a sales guy and he told us it was parked in the carpark around the back and he would bring it round.

As it drove into view I knew there would have to be something really wrong with it for us not to be buying it. Neil looked at the car in the same way that he used to look at me when we first met. He was smitten from that first glance.

And why not, it was a beautiful car. A wonderful rich red, cream leather and wood trim interior. It was an automatic with satnav and just so much luxury.

'Would you like to take it for a test drive?'

Would we? Rather!

It purred, as a big cat should as Neil drove it onto the country lanes. I sat in the back with the pups and felt like Lady Penelope with Neil as my Parker.

There was no doubt we had found the car of Neil's dreams. He was a very happy boy.

When we got back to the showroom we started to talk the deal. It became very interesting when they asked us whether we had anything to Part Exchange. Neil jokingly said we had, and pointed to the Kia. We expected them to laugh at us and continue on with the deal, but they didn't. They told us they had a contact that dealt in LHD cars and could they take a look and then phone him to see what he would offer us. Within half an hour not only had we done the deal on the Jaguar but we had also agreed a deal on the Kia and got an extra £500 for it.

All we had to do now was wait for the phone call later in the week to tell us the car was fully valeted and ready to be collected.

Neil was like a child waiting for Christmas Day to arrive.

Bless!

New Girl.

A bit of a leap forward - just a few weeks, to this morning.

I went to work this morning. The first time in over 2 and a half years.

I was the new girl, I didn't know where anything was, I didn't who anyone was and I didn't know what I was supposed to be doing.

It was quite amusing.

One of the reasons I wanted to move back to the UK was to go back to work. Although I had needed a break, I wasn't ready to retire ..... not yet. I missed going to work. I missed the buzz of work. I missed the challenge of work. I've always enjoyed going to work and I wanted to go back into a work environment.

And today I did.

And I'm going back tomorrow!

Last leg of the journey.

It was nice getting up knowing that we had a shorter day of driving. In total it would take us just over 3 hours to do our final leg of the trip but we were having a short stop to meet up with my brother first.

As we headed for the M25 to start our journey North I offered to drive the last couple of hours so that Neil could relax and listen to the World Cup match between England and Germany. We stopped at services, as we joined the M1, and swapped over just as the match was about to kick off. Which ever way the match went, it was likely to cause some distraction for Neil from his driving, not a good idea when you're travelling at 70+ mph.

The match started well enough, but soon began to go down hill and the frustration for Neil finally peaked when at 4-1 he switched the radio off in disgust. England were out of the World Cup to our archive rivals. We would be arriving at our new home in England just as the euphoria of the World Cup came to an abrupt end. I hoped this wasn't an omen.

And so, by 5pm we were settled into our hotel, which would be home for the next couple of days. It was Sunday and we would be getting the keys to the house on Tuesday. The pups were used to living in hotel rooms by now and soon made themselves at home while we went for some dinner. We could only leave the pups in the room providing we were somewhere in the hotel, if we left the hotel, the pups had to go out with us. It meant that we were a little restricted in where we could go as the weather was too warm for us to leave them in the car for very long but, we had decided our first job would be to sort a UK car out as driving the left hand drive Spanish car was not ideal on the English roads and we could certainly take the dogs with us while we car hunted.

Before leaving Spain we had contacted some companies in the UK that dealt in LHD cars, so we had an idea how much we would be able to sell it for. Not as much as we would if we'd sold it in Spain, but we needed something to drive back in and decided we would use a LHD company over here to sell it on for us.

After dinner I settled down with my laptop to start searching for cars for us to look at, that was something that could easily be done while we waited for Tuesday to arrive.

Neil had been really good in agreeing to move back to the UK, as he had been really well settled in Spain but, he had attached a couple of conditions. The main one involved the car he wanted. His dream was to own a Jaguar, S-type. Always had been as long as I have known him, almost 13 years. I'd agreed with him that IF he could find one for the same amount as we would get for selling the Spanish car - he could have one.

His shopping list was:

Jaguar S-type
Diesel
Sat Nav
Red

After an hour on the internet we had a list of garages to visit, the first 3 wishes were no problem, the colour was a little trickier. I had always been told when buying a 2nd hand car you can choose almost anything but the colour. Red was not a common colour so Neil had resigned himself to the fact he may have to have a green one, or a silver one. We planned our route for Monday to visit the various garages which had cars that fitted the wish list and then we settled down for the evening, knowing tomorrow would not be another long distance drive.

After 2,500km we had finally arrived.

Our Spanish adventure was over.