Merry Christmas!

Well - it's Christmas Eve tomorrow so close enough!

I've been busy cooking yesterday and today, only a few things left to sort tomorrow morning and then we're all set! I think I'm ready to feed 28, never mind 8. (Is a choice of 3 puddings overdoing it, or just catering for all possible tastes?!) The home made decorations only sort of came about - we've got lots of holly everywhere, and some lovely dried grasses that have been sprayed shiny colours. None of the garlands or wreaths happened - but I guess that was a little optimistic anyway!

Dad & Lynn turn up tomorrow for a few days, which will be lovely. We've also got Jen & Ray (Anthony's parents) and Sara & Tony (Anthony's sister & partner) coming on Christmas morning. It'll be fun squeezing into the cottage with all 8 of us, plus over-excited puppy and cat...!

Anyway - I probably won't get a chance back on here for a few days now, so wanted to wish you all a very merry christmas.

Sonia xx

Christmas and all that jazz

Well - it's not long to go is it?! Only 3 weeks today. That's come around fast. Having the time to do it properly this year, what with not working still, is making it quite an enjoyable process. We're having christmas here in the cottage - I shall be cooking for 8 which I'm really looking forward to. We're going rustic, home made, and local with everything. So it may not be the prettiest meal, with the mis-matched plates and so on, but my goodness it should taste good! I'm really looking forward to it.

I'm also about to venture into the world of home-made decorations. We've got such an abundance here of natural things that are stunning that it seems wrong to use plastic shiny stuff. Well ok there will probably be some tinsel around cos I've already got some - but I'm making my own wreath and going to try some other stuff as well. Loads of evergreens, holly, ivy and so on round here. If I succeed I'll put some pics up.

Suddenly with only 3 weeks to go there seems an awful lot to do though - I've still got to make my curtains for the living room, and Anthony's going to try and get the new dining table made. I'm sure we'll get there though. It doesn't really matter if we don't - it would just be nice if we could. :-)

Still no landline. BT were due to put up the new pole last week, but got to the day and realised they'd "forgotten to order the temporary traffic lights". So they've had to place a new order. We don't have a new date yet. We're not holding much hope of having it installed by Christmas - it's less than 4 weeks away so on current form (the order was placed a week before we moved in here on 15th September) I reckon we may have a phone line by February. Maybe.

On the other hand this mobile broadband thingy seems quite good. Despite our atrocious signal here in the house (solid granite walls - very pretty but completely useless for phone signals), even just one dot of connection seems to allow us to get online. And it's not as horrifically expensive as I thought it would be. We bought a stick with £15 of credit on it 3 weeks ago now - and we've still got £10 left on it. Not bad really.

The dog is growing!! He's already 7.2 kg and towering over the cat (they were the same size when we brought him home 4 weeks ago). I'm sure he does stretching exercises in the night when we can't see him. He's gone very leggy at the moment. Still - he's wonderful - very well behaved, intelligent and learning quickly. He's already off the lead in fields and walking nicely to heel. Recall is good, and he'll sit, lie down and give a paw nicely. Not bad at only 13 weeks old. I'd prefer it if he didn't chase the cat quite so much, and left the shoes alone - but we're working on those! ;-)

Causing chaos!!

Oh dear. The phone saga continues! It appears not only do we need to have the main road dug up by the house to have a cable installed so we can have a connected phone line - BT also need to put a new pole up as well!!! It had to be us really - we don't like doing normal easy things!! ;-)

Meet Blue

This is our little bundle of chaos!

And this is him playing (sort of) nicely with the cat!

We're back!!

Finally! 2 months of no internet access has been rather strange! Especially when moving house and setting up things like utilities - it's quite staggering how much is now set up to be accessed online. Even things like terms and conditions of new policies and so on - you can phone up and arrange contents insurance, but for the full details they say 'you can see those on our website'. Err - no I can't actually. Quite odd. In a strange (albeit occasionally frustrating) way it's been quite liberating not being tied to such things.

Anyway - there is a ton of stuff to update you on so I'll try and stick to the headlines only.

1. We haven't got a landline yet I'm afraid. I've bitten the bullet and gone for pay as you go mobile broadband for now - it was the only option available. They have been to connect the line - but it seems there aren't any spare wires available in the closest exchange box. Which means they need to install more. Which means they need to dig up the road to get at it. It may be some time before this is resolved....!

2. We've settled in really nicely - loving the new house, loving the area, the village is very friendly, we're near friends and Anthony's family here as well - everything is just as we wanted it really. No regrets about leaving St Ives at all - we both grew to loathe the place. Still - this place is great and we're really happy here.

3. We've got a dog! "Blue" is a black and white border collie - currently 11 weeks old - with one traditional dark brown eye and one a piercing blue colour (hence the name). He's gorgeous, very intelligent, incredibly friendly and seems to get on with everything and everyone we've thrown at him so far! He's also appearing to be very easy to train as well, which definitely helps. Once he's had his 2nd vaccination next week we can get out and about with him properly. Lots of long bouncy walks with this one I think! The cat seems to be coping with him as well.

4. I'm still not at work but working through the process of feeling better. It has its ups and downs but I think overall the curve is heading back up again which is a relief.

That's enough waffle for now. I will get pics of the dog up on here soon.

S x

Well - here I am on the eve of the move to the new place! It's very exciting although it's been a pretty exhausting process along with everything else I've got going on as well. We can't wait - it's really our new start together finally.

We were hoping to have exchanged contracts on this place today but unfortunately it's not happened yet - nothing to worry about just not quite everything in place this end. The buyers suddenly announced last Friday morning that they were ready to exchange and complete that day! It was the first time they'd actually given any indication of their preferred dates. Unsurprisingly we weren't quite ready! However in an ideal world we will exchange sometime in the next couple of days and complete on Thursday or Friday (although they may be simultaneous). Fingers crossed! It'll be nice to know I haven't got this silly mortgage to pay any more.

The phone line is ordered but will take a couple of weeks to sort - and broadband can't be organised until that's done so it's likely to be a good 3 weeks or so before we can get back online properly (although I may give in and check emails from my phone once in a while).

So - I've no idea whether I'll get a chance to post anything tomorrow / wednesday. If I don't I'll post again from the new place once we're in and set up again.

Sx

Getting there

We're finally getting somewhere I think. The current tenants of the new place are moving out on Monday next week, so unless they've done something monumentally destructive we'll move in on Tuesday. Yay!

Plus we've also now signed the contracts to sell this box - hoping for a quick exchange and completion now - possibly even the end of next week! Double Yay!

I'm sorting out things like sending out new address details - although sadly there isn't a landline at the new place at the moment. We will get that sorted but it may take a while - there's other stuff to prioritise first. It does mean an impending lack of internet access although I guess we can always use the mobiles if we get desperate!

Still packing. Still sorting. Still getting rid of stuff. It's quite nice though. I'm sort of getting rid of the person I'd artificially become. The person that cared about material "stuff" and matching things in the house, and designer label clothing. That's not really me - I've always been the hippy at heart. The one that didn't even own a hairdryer for a long time, let alone designer brand make-up. It's really really nice getting rid of all that stuff I'd accumulated. It's actually quite scary how much I'm getting rid of! I've got 3 whole large sacks full of clothes - all in good condition and some never worn. I've got another sack full of shoes, boots and bags. Ridiculous really. Some would say I've STILL got too many clothes - even after getting rid of all that lot. Ah well.

We're both really looking forward to the new start the new house will bring. I'm waiting for an email of confirmation today from the agent and then I'll start sending out the new address etc. (I don't want to tempt fate by sending it out until we're absolutely certain of it happening.) But fingers crossed this time next week we'll be moving. We both think it's going to make a massive difference - and for me it's my completely new start with a fresh slate. A new beginning with a new focus on what really matters in life rather than the plastic trappings I became part of before. I can't wait.

Nostalgia

So part of this sorting out the house exercise that we're fully involved in at the moment involves going through old stuff and getting rid where necessary. A rather inevitable result of that is finding things you'd forgotten about - old memories and stuff.

The main thing that's struck me this morning is finding a box full of old letters from people (remember those?!?!). Predominantly from 3 people - my cousin, my grandfather and my great-grandmother. What things they bring back! The tales of my cousin's experiences of Americans while spending time out there, followed by various tribulations of starting university and the new experiences that brings. My grandfather's mission to convert the village horticultural society (of which he had become chairman despite an utter lack of interest in anything plant-based) into a wine club! My great-grandmother's general insights into life.

It's amazing what you can find when you start opening boxes and thinking 'gosh I wonder what's in this one' - 2 hours later you're still reading!

It's quite fun though! :-)

On a lighter note

This is where we're hoping to move to! (Pending paperwork etc). Looking at w/c 14th Sept which ties in just right with the house sale as well. It's got it's own garage (sorry - workshop for Ant!), wood store, walled garden (small but enough for us) and it's exactly where we wanted to be, just outside Helston. (As a reference point for those that have been this way - it's only about a mile and a half from Gweek where the seal sanctury is.)

We're definitely downsizing so getting rid of furniture now but that's all part of the plan anyway. We can't wait - we've really got something to work towards now. :-)

Sx

Philosophical Ramblings

Mental Ill Health. Now there's a trio of words that make people scurry for cover. People (I am of course generalising here - there are always exceptions) seem terrified of them. A trio of words that mustn't be talked about. Or if they are its in hushed voices not quite acknowledging the person it's related to. Why is that? It's just yet another health thing, surely?

I was lying awake at some time this morning (one of those where you're afraid to look at the clock because those numbers really just shouldn't be allowed to exist) and started thinking about it all. Why does society have such a fear of mental ill health? Is it a fear of the unknown? Is it social conditioning that people who are 'funny in the head' are somewhat inferior or compromised? I don't know. I suspect a bit of both. Secondly why are we generally so reticent to disclose a bout of mental ill health? What's wrong with it? Why is it such a taboo that as individuals we are scared to admit to?

I remembered something that Tom said to me when he'd enrolled at Bristol to do a degree in Philosophy after retiring. The brain is just as much a muscle as the rest of your body - if you stop using it, it wastes away and eventually you won't be able to use it at all. That makes a lot of sense. Therefore the reverse must also be true. Like any other muscle if you overuse it, it gets strained and needs a break. Some time to recuperate.

So if I was to say I'd been out running (don't laugh!), and had damaged a muscle in my leg, the following would be true.
Cause: Overuse of muscle
Symptom: Inability to walk further than 3 steps outside the front door without problems.
Solution: Stay inside the house, try not to use it more than absolutely necessary until healed, talk to GP, signed off work for a bit, take referral to specialist.
Specialist treatment: Questioning to understand whether this is an underlying problem or a result of a specific action to trigger the injury, leading to gentle massage, stimulating some pressure points, and giving you some stretches and exercises to do at home to speed up the healing process, and stop it recurring.

Actually this description is exactly the same if it's a brain thing. In my case (apparently) severe stress and anxiety. Same cause - overuse of brain. Same symptom - inability to walk further than 3 steps from front door without turning into quivering wreck. Solution etc etc exactly as above. You get the point.

My point is - why is it such an issue (in society I mean)? Why is it different? I've overused my brain by bombarding it with too much to cope with, and now it needs a rest. Exactly the same as if I'd run too much and done it to my leg. So why is society predisposed to 'not want to talk about it'. To stigmatise. To assume and judge. Why are we generally reticent to admit to having problems relating to one specific muscle where we'd admit if it was others? (You will notice the part of me that automatically wishes to flout society's views and quite happily declare my own situation here! Those that know me well will not be surprised by this...)

I suspect part of my way of thinking comes from my job where I actually sit on the county's mental health commissioning steering group - where we get to look at what services are out there and how we can make them better / fill gaps. (My GP laughed when I told him that as he was writing out the referral form to the counselling service.) I suppose I get to see the other side of it. ( Service user instead of service commissioner. How strange!) My job is all about treating everyone as individuals rather than boxing them into the labels society often gives people - I've never been a fan of labels for people though - people are just people. I suppose I've also got that side of me that tries to look at the bigger picture rather than just what's immediately in front of me as well. Always seeking understanding beyond what's obvious. My aforementioned grandfather has a lot to answer for! ;-)

I just think it's ridiculous that because it's my brain that's not well / damaged / worn out, there will be a 'hushed voice' when discussing what's wrong with me - if it's discussed at all. If it was my leg people would be even laughing about me being daft enough to overuse it like that and throwing me the occasional grape. That won't happen here. I'm personally not ashamed of it - I don't really care who knows - it's just something that needs fixing that's all. Until it's fixed I'm off work and will soon be getting treatment from a specialist. No big deal really. (Although I will admit not being able to leave the house is a complete pain in the bum! But then it would be whatever my injury.) I'd just like it not to be a bigger deal than if it was my leg - philosophically it should be just the same.

Gosh I've rambled a lot. Well done if you've actually read all this lot! Just for the record my declaring this isn't a blatant scream for sympathy (although I'll never turn down a grape - especially in the bottled variety!) - I'm doing OK as long as I don't go out! I probably even know and understand where this has all come from but I'm going to sit back and let the professionals do what they've been commissioned to do (!) and help me rather than trying to unravel it all by myself (which, I suspect, is one of the reasons I'm like this at the moment...). I've taken up sewing to keep me occupied in the meantime - I'm starting on a new skirt today. Pictures may follow if it's not a complete disaster!

S xx

Really had enough now

This is getting silly. I want to state officially here that I have had enough of living in this bloody house with the stupid narrow minded neighbours who have nothing better to do with their time than judge other people's lives.

The neighbours are second home owners. This is their 'holiday residence'. He apparently hasn't worked for 18 months. She gave up her job in June so they could come down here for the summer. Along with their little rat-like yappy dog thing. Nice.

So basically this week I'm off work anyway, and Anthony has the week as leave. We haven't gone away, so he's been trying to take the opportunity to do lots of 'shed' stuff. The bit where he sits and follows his hobby and also tries to develop his fledgling business. So this morning he goes out there and they complained. Apparently it's inconsiderate of us to use the garden as a workshop, and it's noisy and inconsiderate for us to be using tools when they want to sit in their garden all day. They then threatened us with making the house sale as difficult as possible for us if we carry on making a noise at all.

I wouldn't mind so much if it was like he was out there at all hours making a racket. He tends mostly to be sitting in the shed (with the door shut so as not to create dust for the neighbours) just tinkering. The power tools are very intermittent. And most of the time he's at work during the day so may do an hour or so a couple of evenings a week and one day at weekends. Damned inconsiderate of us when they have put so much effort into sitting round topping up their tans I know. Unfortunately some of us work for a living but no - it's not fair of us to want to pursue a hobby while on holiday.

I've had enough. I should be angry with them - particularly the threatening bit - but to be honest I don't want to waste that much of my limited energy supplies on narrow minded people like that.

So that's it for now - no more wood working until we move (hopefully sooner rather than later!). I have a sneaking suspicion Anthony is planning on making as much noise as humanly possible once we've exchanged contracts though (any legal pointers on the options they have to make trouble after that point would be appreciated!!).

Still - my time off and strange head things mean I've taken up a new hobby as well - sewing! I'm having fun making a skirt at the moment and made a really nice bag at the weekend. It keeps me occupied without having to do much actual thinking and without having to actually go out of the house (both of which I seem to be struggling with at the moment).

S.

Apparently the car IS an economic write off (we were expecting that) but they will give me the value of the car as THEY have assessed it less 10% for keeping it. Their valuation of the car is double what I paid for it so I'm not complaining! They've also said as the damage is non structural it's not a problem keeping it on the road. It needs an MOT in August anyway, so fingers crossed will all be good.

I'm not at work at the moment though. Following a chiro recommendation I went back to the GP on Monday and have been signed off for another couple of weeks at least at the moment. We had been planning to go away next week anyway so Anthony's got the week booked off as well. Not sure at the moment whether we actually will go anywhere - we'd been planning to go camping - but it's nice to have the time off anyway.

House sale is progressing - we've done all the initial solicitor bits now and the redemption figure on the mortgage is better than I was expecting so fingers crossed it'll all go smoothly. We're aiming for 6 weeks max - given it's a cash buyer it might actually be realistic! I'll keep you posted.

What a week!

It's been quite a strange week this week, I think it's fair to say. Firstly, on my way home from work on tuesday, some idiot decided it would be fun to not notice that I'd stopped because the person in front of me had also stopped, and went into the back of my car. The short version is that I'm ok - just mild concussion and severe whiplash. Oh and the car I've had for 5 whole weeks is probably going to cost more to repair than it's actually worth. Not entirely sure what the insurance company will let me have as options on that yet - it's all fun though.

The really entertaining bit is that while sitting at the doctors surgery on Wednesday afternoon (having decided I really wasn't feeling that well after all - the concussion apparently) and before being carted off to A&E for a proper check of my neck - I was also bouncing phone calls from the estate agent. The end result being ... drum roll appropriate here ... I'VE SOLD MY HOUSE!!!!!!!

Not only have I sold it - but it's to a cash buyer who wants to move a.s.a.p., and I've settled on a price that's only £2,500 less than I'd decided I would accept. Given the current market and the price he started offering me that's pretty good going really. I can, at least, pay off the mortgage (just!) with that.

Given how I was feeling on Wednesday while all this was going on - it didn't really sink in for a while! Assuming the solicitors get on with it we could realistically be out of here by the end of August! Of course I was utterly prepared to sacrifice all principles to get out of here, but it is sort of nice knowing it's going to a local guy who works for the lifeboat station in St Ives and needed somewhere closer than he's renting at the moment. No more second home owners here thank you! ;-)

That'll do for now - I'm not really supposed to be on the PC or sitting for too long at the moment. Hope all is well with the rest of you.

Sx

Well - I've had to bite the bullet and reduce the house price today. Apparently loads and loads of details are being sent out, but no-one is following them up. I don't mind about the price - I'm certainly not doing this to make money! - it's just now getting towards the territory of negative equity. Hmmm. Current thinking is you don't get your asking price - you get £5 - £10 - £15 thousand below that. Oops. When you consider fees as well, this could be quite an unpleasant exercise. Never mind. We're both going completley insane stuck here though - it's just not what we want out of life. Modern suburbia with it's close neighbours and curtain twitchers, and people who want to do the consumerist lifestyle - it's just not us.

If you've been reading our other blog (must update that as well) - you'll know Anthony's doing loads of wood stuff at the moment - I'm typing this surrounded by boxes, candlesticks, trugs, chopping boards etc etc - well the neighbours have complained about the noise of him using his tools in the garden now. What fun. I guess we're living surrounded by people who won't understand our desire to get away from all this and the fact that we actively hate being here. It's got to the point where we both have a rubbish day at work, come home and feel more stressed because we have to walk through that front door into our suburban box. We're seriously looking into alternatives - I've seen a cheap caravan locally that we could grab and live in for the summer. Just leave this house (looking nice obviously) and escape for a while. We also know someone who has some fields they don't use so we're thinking about asking them to rent a field for a while to put a caravan on, in exchange for doing work round the place for them. We'll see. We'd be so much happier living like that - even if we still have to do the day job - it would just be nice knowing we were coming home to somewhere we actually wanted to be rather than at the moment where we actively hate coming home.

Enough of that. I had a lovely birthday - we went up and sat in a lovely quiet spot on Dartmoor for the day. It was lovely. No people around, just peace and quiet and a lovely home made picnic in a home made picnic basket. Then we came home and had a BBQ in the garden and drank far too much! A perfect day really.

This kind of goes against everything I'm trying to do at the moment, but hey - I'm not perfect!!

A few people now have asked what I would like for my birthday. Apart from the 5 acre smallholding with assorted animals (!) which I understand may be just slightly optimistic, what I'd really like is jewellery (Day to day stuff - not 'occasion' pieces).

I'm thinking mainly of necklaces, bracelets and ankle chains. (No earrings, and I have no idea what my ring sizes are!) Any colour apart from dark / sludgy oranges or greens. I do wear gold now as well as silver, although still not as often as silver / colours. I don't really have anything specific in mind about what I'd like.

Basically all the stuff I've currently got I've had for years, and am utterly bored by it all - not to mention a different person now. I've been selling off bits that are worth selling, so my stock is gradually diminishing anyway. It's time for some new things.

Feel free to utterly ignore this post - and don't feel obliged to get me anything! I just thought for the benefit of people who are now asking this may be useful.

:-)

Hi everyone.

Firstly I want to say thank you for all the comments I received after my last post! I appreciate the supportive messages and understanding from others' experiences about the frustrations of daily life! ;-)

I feel I ought to explain a little though - that rant posted a couple of weeks ago was probably taken slightly out of context! Don't worry about my stress levels - I am actually less stressed with life now than I've ever been before. It's not all getting to me as such - I was just pointing out how ridiculous the system we live in has become.

If you want to see the wider context of what we're doing have a read of our new blog - going stress free - which I've linked on here.

Stella - thanks for your comments - I'm sure Kirsty would love to see you all. And Ken yes Risk Assessments are ridiculous!! :-)

Enough for now on here but I thought I'd do a quick update from my last one in case any of you were worrying about me!

S x

Had enough

I'm in a bit of a philosophical mood today. Various things have happened over the last few days that have made me think that Orwell wasn't so much a writer as a prophet. Honestly - society is getting so ridiculous and controlled it's not true. I'm not going into a political diatribe here but really - it's all so STUPID! We are controlled and controlled and so many people (although if I'm honest I can't really include the people that are likely to actually read my blog!) are sucked into it without thinking. People don't question. I mean - Europe has decided that sheep aren't sufficiently controlled and labelled (because plastic tags degrade and ears fall off, obviously!) so they are going to make farmers use a new electronic tag system (at a cost of £1.50 per sheep plus a few thousand in equipment costs). Which will cripple their industry completely. It's already almost impossible to keep cows due to the obscene levels of paperwork. The fishing industry is on its knees due to quotas. And school children will soon be banned from wearing anything other than clip on ties because of ... it could only be ... health and safety. So we are getting to a point where unless you grow synthetic food that government can control, (or the organic stuff which is actually almost as bad in regulations), our country won't be able to feed itself. Plus we'll all be scruffy because no-one will know how to tie a tie. (Lets be honest - if you don't learn that one at school when the heck are you going to?!) It's too dangerous to go outside - all that pollution, traffic, murderers etc and you might trip over a kerb which is a health and safety risk. You can't just stay in bed - it's bad for you. You can't drink the water because of the chemicals in it. You can't drink bottled water because the plastic bottles contaminate it. I'll stop that one there but you get the idea...

Now all I really want out of life is quite simple. I want a piece of land (I don't care what it looks like or what condition its in). I want to put a static caravan or log cabin on it. I want to use wind and solar energy, dig a borehole for water, and use real fire for heat. That's all. Not much to ask is it? I'll grow my own food, keep my own animals (and feed them as well) and not bother anyone. My carbon footprint will be tiny. I will reuse and recycle everything. I'll respect the land that feeds me. I'll sell my surplus to get those little extras we'd like to have. We'll build everything ourselves, feed ourselves, make our own clothes from the alpacas and crops, and just drop out of the system. It's really not that difficult a concept - lets get back to what's real in life. Forget your banks and credit cards, your mobile phones and internet connections, your corporate targets and government objectives, your fancy clothes and worrying about what brand of make-up to use. At the end of the day they just don't matter. What matters is having a roof over your head, food to eat and time to enjoy it. Work for yourself rather than benefiting those corporate B*****s in control and reap your own benefits of your labour. It may be old fashioned, but lets get back to living off the land and working for real things like eating rather than corporate objectives and disposable gadgets.

Frustrated with this plastic consumerist centrally controlled life we're in? Me? Hell yes. And I'm growing to hate it more each day.

(You may have spotted the obvious paradox in this blog - well done if you have! And the answer is - yes the facebook page will soon disappear as will this blog. Not immediately - I'm breaking my own social conditioning here which isn't as easy as it should be - but I'm definitely heading in that direction, and sooner rather than later.)

Meet Mr Bobbins.

I forgot - if you want a nosey at my house (or even want to make me an offer!!) click here which will take you to the website.

Life is a little busy at the moment - I feel like I've got headless chicken syndrome right now! Never mind. nothing bad happening - just lots on. No news on the house yet. The market seems to be a bit stop-start down here. A flurry then nothing then another flurry etc. Fingers crossed someone will come and buy it soon!

Work is manic at the moment - waaaay too many politics going on down here - people treading on whoever they can to try and jockey for position in a new structure. It's hard just trying to keep your head down and get on with the day job when all around are trying to sink you. I just have to sit back and have faith that it'll all come right in the end. There's not much more I can do really. But it doesn't make for pleasant working conditions. **sigh**

I had a long weekend last weekend up in Stafford for my friend Zoe's hen do. It was fun seeing everyone although slightly wearing! We had an awful lot of 'activities' to do - including 'Go Ape'. Have you ever tried it? If not - don't! Hanging from a bit of wire while trying to balance on a rope that's swinging around at 70 ft up in the air between 2 trees isn't that much fun - trust me on this.

We've got a new cat - Mr Bobbins - he's a year old, grey, and really quite cute. When I eventually get round to it i'll upload some pictures. (Need to co-ordinate wires, camera and laptop in the same place at hte same time for that - it'll happen eventually!) He seems to be fine with George (the rabbit) as well - to be honest I think in a fight my money would be on George anyway!

What else? Mum came down for easter and we had a really nice time. It was good to spend some proper time together and I think she enjoyed the lack of pace of life here in Cornwall! We'll do everything dreckly. ;-)

We popped up to Kirsty's a couple of weekends ago as well - I had to co-ordinate taking over the caravan business from Dad while he & Lynn are sunning themselves in the Carribean (you really can go off some people...) and it was a good excuse to go and see her as well. Fabulous food and relaxing company all round!

Not sure what else I can report on - this is probably enough waffle for now.

Sx

Moving on

Well - what a long time since I last updated this! I hadn't actually realised how long it is since I was on here. So what's new in my world?

Well - I finally put the house on the market today. It's quite liberating knowing I can finally move on properly. It's been a long time coming. Anthony and I are looking to move to Helston - we've got friends over there and it'll be nice for us to get somewhere together properly. We're going to rent for now - but just to give us time to work out exactly where we want to be. Fingers crossed it sells nice and quickly! At least the agents all think the market here in St Ives is fairly lively at the moment which is lucky.

Work is a little hectic at the moment - we change organisation tomorrow - the county and six district councils cease to exist at midnight tonight and as of tomorrow we're all one big Cornwall Council covering the whole county. It's OK at the moment, but when the key people you work with have been applying for their own jobs it creates certain tensions and mean that people aren't necessarily focussed on getting things done (understandably!). Hopefully it will start to settle down soon.

No other real news really - Mum's coming down for easter weekend so it'll be nice to see her, and we're in stratford at the end of May for my friend Zoe's wedding. Not much else going on really!

Hope everyone's doing OK.

Sx

A certain sense of freedom

Well - that's all folks! It's all done. I'm officially a divorcee. I'm going to be gradually changing my name back on official things - although that may take a while. So if you're sending anything I am once again Miss Moore from today. Which is quite exciting.

The other part of this is that we're now on a mission to get this house on the market - aiming for mid March at the latest once we've done various cosmetic things to the house.

So I'm typing this today with a certain sense of freedom, a new start, and moving forward into a new phase in my life. (and obviously the odd glass of suitable alcoholic beverage to accompany such an occasion!)

:-))

Happy New Year!

Hi everyone. Just a quick note to say I hope you have a great 2009, and had a good christmas and all that milarky. Ours was good - pretty chilled out - we didn't do a lot. It's been nice having a week and a half off work though - much needed!

Anyway - Happy New Year and I hope it's a good one for you.

Sx