One Life, Live It

Today I picked up my new station car, I could not resist the temptation and got a 1996 Land Rover Discovery. Exactly the same colour as the one we had previously only this time I went for the Diesel and not the V8. 

I have bought this as a bit of an ongoing project. It runs perfectly well as it is but I will be looking to set it up to be out green laning on the weekends which the girls are looking forward to doing again. From the chat I had with our friends form the club they have been all over the UK on all kinds of holidays seeing parts of the UK very few people get to.

A Busy Week

Last week was busy but some good results came out of it. I all but have work secured (just have contracts to sign yet), the garden is coming along, the BBQ is in the garden, the girls have a school and I should be picking up my station car today after sorting it last week. 

I'll write more on this soon but wanted to post a quick update...

Life in the Garden

We got back to a very overgrown and tired looking garden but there was definite signs of life there. After clearing an awful lot of thistles and a few still to go it is already looking a bit fresher and we found some pretty clear signs of life. The Kiwifruit vine that we planted about a year before we left for Hong Kong has kept growing well and we actually have the first signs of it bearing fruit, this is actually very exciting...(sad but true)

I also notice a nest in our Honeysuckle that is growing on the Trellis. I expected that this was an old nest but several times I saw an adult bird fly to the fence with worms in it's mouth and then on to climb into the honey suckle. I lifted the girls up on my shoulders and they both said that they could see small birds in the nest. I got one of our patio chairs and stood on it to get a view. There were indeed some birds in there. This caused a lot of excitement amongst our younger family members.

Back from Wales

The video below was taken from inside the house at 4:30am this morning. Why am I up? Who knows..but I could not get back to sleep so decided to go mad.

We got back from Wales on Wednesday. We had planned around me coming back first and Catherine and the girls following but Catherine managed to chase up a few schools and it all made sense for us to come back together. I was happy with that as it meant I did not have to fight my way home on public transport from dropping off the rental car.

I played a round of golf on Wednesday at Machynys which ended up being a much to real UK Links golf experience. The forecast had been bad and getting to the club there was a definite darkening cloud cover but no rain. 

It started on the first tee, a few drops but it was not going to stop us. I had my waterproofs out after they had enjoyed a much earned rest over the last 2 years so a bit of rain was not going to bother me. It got worse and worse and never really go any better. I was reminded how cold it can be in the summer when it rains here. 

The golf was really enjoyable though and although we came off after 15 holes when the wind and rain all just got a bit much I had my 30 points in the bag and had just missed 2 birdie opportunities, one of which include 2 unbelievably fantastic shots playing across and into the gale. I manage to reach the green side bunker in 2 and the shot out of the bunker was just about perfect. Unfortunately the 4 foot putt for Birdie proved a little too much!

I am out on the course again today at my old club playing in the guest day. If I can play anywhere near as well as I have the last few rounds I should be able to put together a decent score but this is golf and we will have to wait and see.

Next week the holiday is over and the Job Search starts in earnest. I have a couple of appointments set up in London and will be trawling the net for anything that looks suitable. I am still confident I will find something even in the short term and that things will just work out. They always have for the last 15 years so why should it change now.

Golf in Sensible Temperatures

I played in my first competitive round of golf in over 2 years today at Coed Y Mwstwr Golf Club in Bridgend, Wales. It was a great day for golf with temperature in the Mid 20's and a nice gentle breeze blowing the entire round. 

The golf was not so good but playing off my previous 13 handicap on a course I had never played before and probably totalling less than 10 rounds of golf in the last 2 1/2 years I was pretty happy coming in with 25 points and I am pretty comfortable that if i play on a course I do know I should be able to score relatively well if I can perform like today. 

Catherine and the Girls walked through the farmers fields to the river where Alys was keen to go for a swim but that will have to wait. It sounds like they had a great time and the excitement for the cows coming into the fields tomorrow has been growing for a while. The girls can't wait to see the field full of cows.

Better Weather

The weather has improved. Yesterday I was sitting outside watching the girls play in the garden in glorious sunshine. I had forgotten what it feels like to sit outside in the sunshine and not have sweat pouring out of your pores soaking your clothes.

We went to dinner at a pub in Felinfoel which is close to Catherine's parents house for Joyce's 70th. It was a good night and Joyce had not expected everyone to be there that was there. It was great to see the surprise on her face and it really was a nice night out.

I am out golfing today with a family friend. He used to work for Ford so I we are attending the Ford Golf day at a golf club in Bridge end. I am looking forward to my first round of competitive golf in a couple of years.

I am back on with pictures you will notice. There are also some updates in the gallery. Click Here to see.

A Decent Drive

Firstly, sorry for the lack of pictures recently, just got a couple of hardware issues that need sorting and we will be back in action, soon!

We decided we would head out to Wales on Thursday after our white goods had been delivered to us. It was an interesting day as we also found out that there would be very little chance of getting a car in our budget in Wales which we had hoped for so we decided to speed the process of buying a car through.

We did a lot of searching, we were tempted by a very nice SAAB which was over budget but only 2 years old. We did some research and it was a good price but I was a little uncomfortable with the price. The guy would not move on it much so I looked at other options. We ended up going for a Volvo V70 which was a fair bit under budget and although very high mileage it had a good service history and looks to have been cared for. With a Volvo it is a risk I decided was worth taking. We are now the proud owners of yet another Volvo.

The drive to Wales was great from all aspects. Traffic was pretty quiet most of the way and just being able to drive for 4+ hours in one go was excellent. There was the most incredible red sky sunset I have seen in a long time and considering we were driving west we really got the best view. It blew me away that at 10pm there was still enough daylight to see rolling green country side for miles.

Being in Wales I really notice the good side of being back in the UK. The air is so fresh (although a little crisp) and the kids can run riot on open fields and in big gardens everywhere we visit. Alys has never really experienced this and she is just loving it. She spends most of her time by the door say "side". They made 2 trips to the playground today and have just been running around non stop...hopefully they sleep well when the time comes.

The Jet lag is gone, a good effort but we are all back into a normal sleeping routine. The only thing still missing is the car seat and we have been told by Cathay Pacific that we can buy a replacement and they will reimburse this for us as well as refunding the expense of renting a car seat. It's a good thing as the Car seat was not the smallest investment ever made!

I'm off to get a Curry from the India tonight....must start running again soon!!

Back in the UK

We made it. After a dinner at Jaspas in Sai Kung and a very wet trip to the airport we were ready to go. The flight although long was smooth and the kids behaved and slept like angels.

We landed in London and to the great British rain and it was COLD. 12.5 degrees according to the car which after Hong Kong feels pretty cold.

We got back to the house and were actually pretty happy with how things looked other than the Garden. Our first day was pretty productive, by the end of it we had a washing machine, fridge, dishwasher and sorted a few other bits and pieces.

The sleep routine is still pretty much back in order for all of us although the daylight after 9pm and before 5am is something we have to get used to all over again.

We are off to Wales today for a 70th Birthday, hopefully I will have a bit more time to catch up and finally switch this to the new blog.....

It's Getting Closer

Well and truly counting down the days now. With less than a week to go and million still things to do I can hardly afford the time to be sitting in front of a PC typing up blog entries. But I am doing just that mainly because it is one of the few things that is keeping me sane at the moment.

I have been to places in Hong Kong in the last few days that I never thought I would see and don't mind if I don't see them again. The paperwork is now all done and we can leave knowing that nothing official will be missing for us and we won't be tracked down by the HKSAR Government in the UK.

We now have a home for Frankie and we have committed to taking Ci back to the UK with us. After getting her back it was just too much for us not to take her. She will follow after 6 months so if things change in the meantime at least she does not have to move twice. We have a great place for her to stay in the meantime with a loving family who already have a dog that Ci enjoys the company of.

The car is still the one thing that is annoying me. We have a solution and will not have to sell it at the massive discount I was worried we would have to sell it at which is good, all we need now is a buyer to come in a relatively short space of time, fingers crossed on that one.

Nothing else to update really, the girls are enjoying their last week at school, we are running around like mad people and still have acres of clothing, toys and other 'stuff' to go through over the next few days.....wish us luck.

DON'T MENTION THE CHIEFS!