59 days
Only 59 days until Olivia heads back to Australia. Today we started packing. Are we perhaps a bit too keen?
Within the next 2 weeks I should be finding out when I’ll be coming home. Exciting, yet all a bit nerve wracking.
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Have found an awesome cheese shop, which happens to be 2 doors down from an equally awesome wine shop.
Am very excited at the possibilities. So many cheeses, so little time… Monty Python were right when they said “Blessed are the cheesemakers” in the Life of Brian.
More from the English Countryside
Here are some photos from another weekend trip out to some beautiful National Trust type places.
Firstly we have some lovely pics from Bodiam Castle, a beautiful medieval castle in East Sussex. It was a very cloudy day so some of the shots came up a little dull - but great all the same.
Then whilst driving around we randomly came across this church and adjoining cemetary in a little town which turned out to be called Etchington. Very pretty.
Last stop for the day was indeed the highlight. An estate called Batemans which was once upon a time the home of Rudyard Kipling of The Jungle Book fame. The house was stunning - one of the most beautiful I’ve seen in our UK travels. Worth taking a minute to look at some of these photos. Yes, we bought a copy of The Jungle Book as a keepsake.
Aside from seeing all these beautiful places (yes, even if this has been one of the lousiest UK summers on record) we’re really enjoying just getting out and going for a drive. Very therapeutic. And the afternoon tea with scones, jam and clotted cream add nothing to my enjoyment at all - hee hee…
Mamma Mia
Last week we went to see the musical version of MAMMA MIA with some relatives from Italy.
For what the tickets cost I thought it was a bit crap. I didn’t think the performers sang particularly well, and the staging was a little amateur. Kind of watching an overpriced high school production.
They were right in naming this musical after an Italian exclamation. However in this context an exclamation of disappointment like Porco Cane might have been more appropriate. Having said that, I’d definitely go see any musical called Porco Cane (literally translates to “pig dog” but is used in the same context as “damn” or “bloody hell”).
More changes to the plan
It’s amazing how many significant things can change in the space of a week.
About 7 days ago we were DEFINITELY both coming back to Australia in late January after a 1 week stopover in Thailand.
Then we decided that we could go to Thailand any time, and so shelved the above plan and that we’d take the most direct route back to Melbourne, BUT that we’d go to New York for Christmas-New Year. So, we booked our flights home - arriving Melbourne 21st January.
We did all the necessary research for flights and hotels to New York…. Found an awesome and suitably pricey hotel in New York… We were ready to follow-through and make the bookings.. but decided that it was too late in the evening and that we should sleep on it and we’d sort it out the next day.
Just as well..
Next day Olivia finds out that she needs to get some additional hospital work under belt as a last step before starting the GP training program in February. Panic, panic - deadline for postings had already closed. She might have to wait a year before the next round of placements… Crap.. Next day we find out a place had opened up starting in November (as in - two months from now)… only thing is - it’s in Mildura.
We’ve seen this as a blessing.. Olivia will head home in the first week of November for three months in the country. What an interesting homecoming that will be…
I will remain in the UK for an as yet undetermined time. Latest I’ll be home is 21st January 09 - but I get a sneaking suspicion it will be earlier.
Such significant changes to what to us are fairly significant things are frankly making for a stressful time. It will be good when a few more pieces of the puzzle have fallen into place.
Watch this space.
The power of the internet? A More Th>n adequate outcome…
Less than a week after my initial post complaining about the mountains of junk mail from MORE THAN Insurance - I’ve received a letter of apology in the mail, along with a cheque for £50.
?!? Go figure.
The letter started with “thank-you for your recent letter”. My letter and phone calls all happened several months ago. Perhaps it’s a coincidence, but a google search on “MORE THAN INSURANCE JUNK MAIL” produced the following result:
I suppose no company likes negative press - even if it’s from a website with a readership of 5 people. Perhaps it’s just the power of the internet..?
Perhaps I’m reading too much into this.. But my convoluted theory is that: MORE THAN Insurance have people trawling the web for anything potentially negative. They found my post, looked through their records and found my letter from last year which they had previously ignored and chose to respond immediately. Seems a bit far fetched, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it were the truth. Alternatively - maybe they just took 9 months to respond to my complaint?
A couple of days after the cheque arrived I got NINE pieces of junk mail from them.. How anyone would think that it’s effective to send three letters in one day trying to sell me pet insurance when we don’t have a pet defies any logic.
MORE THAN have promised that the junk mail will stop, there might be a cross over period of a few weeks given that they setup these mail outs ages in advance. Let’s see how we go. I feel some sense of a moral victory here. I hope this is the end of it.
Tonight we’re going to spend the £50 - going to see the new Batman movie everyone is raving about, followed by dinner at Villa Rosa in Egham - the Italian Restaurant which serves as a pseudo canteen for many of the blokes in my office. Excellent pizza! Thanks for shouting MORE THAN - I’ll think of you as I tuck into my Calabrese with extra mushrooms.. and perhaps some of their delightful Tiramisu..
