Abandoned, upheaval ahead!

I was just getting ready to blog again and catch up with the weeks events when my mam phoned to drop a bombshell. She and my dad have decided to relocate back oooppp north. Gulp .. i've been abandoned. It is all happening in the next 2 months too. Eeekkk, even gulpier! The good news is that the new house is on the sea front, the bad news is that it is a couple of hundred miles away.

It is a strange feeling knowing that mam and dad won't be just around the corner anymore. Even when we leave town for extended periods in the motorhome, their house is still home. Now it won't be ... sob!

Logistically it is now going to be a busy 2 months for us. A lot of our belongings are stored in mam & dad's loft and shed, our vehicles are registered to their address, our washing is done in their laundry room ... wow, it is going to be like moving home ourselves all over again, a huge task ahead. I don't want to think about it tonight, I don't think i'll sleep!

What else do I have to report?

Well, shower's not fixed. We set aside sunday to do it and it hammered it down with rain on a regular basis. Not conducive to having a body half in and half out of the thetford opening trying to dismantle drain hoses. This is now on the urgent list ... our interim shower is also moving north. :(

I know I said it would be fixed at the weekend come rain or shine - well I lied!

We ran out of gas a few days ago, just after the MOT on the motorhome ran out. As we have Gaslow refillable cylinders we have to drive to a pump to refill which is really handy if you are on the road, not so if you van hasn't left the same property in a while and the MOT has expired. It is now booked in for MOT on friday with the gas refill to occur immediately afterwards.

So far we have managed with an electric oven, camping gas burner, deep fat fryer, toaster, electric steamer and disposable bbq's so believe me we haven't starved. It is a good job the shower is not working, no hot water needed there then! We have been boiling the electric kettle to wash up - but we also have a gas one too to use on the camping stove in case of power cuts! Do we sound prepared? ha ha.

Our portable satellite also stopped working at some point about 3 weeks ago. We also have an indoor digital TV ariel so it there was no urgency to get it fixed. (- are you seeing a pattern here?) But with the TV ariel you have to move it around for different channels which really became boring especially if one of the dogs knocked it when you were watching TV. Luckily my brother is an ex satellite engineer and came round to take a look. Turns out the LNB had slipped and was upside down - don't know how that happened. All works now and it was repaired for free too! :)

My London exploring is going well. Last week I walked from Kings Cross to a meeting at Pall Mall and only had 1blister. When will I learn not to wear heels for hiking? I saw lots of places that I had heard of but never seen and am beginning to get a better idea of how London is laid out. I only made one wrong turn on the whole walk and that I only went a couple of minutes past my turning. Christopher Columbus eat your heart out :)

One of the unusual (to me anyway) things I saw was a scientology centre - I didn't know they actually existed. I just thought they were a fad for the rich and famous!

We have spent some more time photographing all our bits and pieces that we have for sale. The motorbike is in one magazine and will be in another this week, the surfboard and psp will hit ebay this week. I suppose there will be lots more on soon when we get in the loft to empty it out. Watch this space.

Finally, we have been spending a bit of time on the computer lately what with looking for a new car and selling what we have. I think Reef got a bit bored!

Birthday boy number 2 and a lazy few days

The end of last week and the beginning of this week were beautiful. Sunny, relaxed and work free for me. Bonus points on every front!

I took part of the week off as my sister in law (who doubles up as our dog sitter as we will not leave the dogs in the van in hot weather) was having work done on her house and didn't fancy the dogs sitting and eyeballing the workmen - as if! As it was so hot Bodie and Reef just didn't want to move anywhere during the day.

Even getting up to drink was an effort. This was good for me, I got to lay in the recliner with my feet up and catch up on some reading ... bliss!

Really I should have been looking at fixing the blooming shower again but the spanish just kept on flooding back as it does quite regularly on hot days ... manana, manana I thought ... as I slathered on more sun cream.

I seem to remember there was one wet day which was just after the grass was cut - happens every single time without fail. Grass gets cut, it rains, grass ends up all over the van. Does anyone else suffer with this or are we just victims? The flippin stuff gets everywhere and the whole episode lasts for a least 2 weeks - by which time the grass needs cutting again. Bummer.

Last sunday, it was Reef's birthday, he was 2. He had an excellent day, walked lots, ate lots (mainly chicken) and took quite a liking to the birthday glasses in which he went exploring. He actually found a cat laying in the long grass and didn't know what to do, i'm not sure who was more shocked, him or the cat. He reverted to type after the cat had moved though and pursued it like a professional. He only wanted to play, not sure the cat saw it like that though. it was probably wondering what the hell type of dog wore glasses.

Just in case you think we routinely humiliate our animals by dressing them up, I would like to assure you we don't, they just wouldn't stand for it and they have a full range of expressions to communicate this - ha ha.

On wednesday it was back to work for me and the start of Mr P's day's off. I had to go to London for a meeting again so I have now decided to treat each trip as a chance to explore - rather than a chore - to see if this affects my willingness to go there. Usually I hit London, jump on the tube and get to the venue as quickly as possible so I never see anything.

This time I decided to walk the length of Oxford Street to see why everyone raves about the shopping there, followed by a walk to the meeting venue. Note to self: don't ever do this in heels again. I was ok, much better than the tube and I did see some great buildings but I didn't want to get the camera out and look like a tourist! ha ha. I did manage one picture of the Mall, that is Buckingham Palace in the distance. It is taken from just behind the meeting venue so I could run and hide afterwards. :)

I'm off to Cambridge tomorrow for a hen do. Treasure hunt, punting, picnic and vodka bar ... sounds like a plan!

Can dogs tell the time?

6am. That is the time I opened my eyes and stared blearily at the clock this morning. During the week the alarm is set for 6am, I get up shortly afterwards. However, at the weekends the alarm is off and I go to sleep dreaming of the long lay in I am going to have the next morning ... woo hoo, no alarm, just acres of warm duvet.

Dreaming is as far as I get now that we have young master Reef in residence.

We have not had Reef for very long, about 10 weeks. 10 weeks ago was the last time I had a lay in at the weekend. He has the most uncanny ability to wait for the time to hit 6am then he starts yawning and stretching. If that does not elicit a response he'll yawn a little louder and add a little whimper. If that fails too, his yawns become operatic (really hits the high notes) and he sits there moving from foot to foot so I can also hear the tapping of his claws on the floor and the shuffle of his butt.

At this point, Bodie joins in. When I peer from under the duvet they are usually sat like a couple of bookends just staring at the bed. If I happen to move at all, 5 minutes of frantic greeting, wiggling and stretching ensues. At this stage I am not allowed to retreat back under the duvet .. it is morning walk time.

Roll on the day I manage to wake up before Reef and launch myself at his sleeping self for a bit of revenge ... I just can't wait. May have to set my alarm for 5am next sunday just to throw his internal clock out. Snigger.