Where am I today?

So, it's now September and I'm occupying the sofa at Nic's place rather than the office in Germany for the morning before I continue on my trek around the UK tidying things up after completing my move. Yep! I've moved! I now officially live in Germany! Well semi officially as I'm not entirely sure I've sorted out my tax position or informed everybody that I've gone but I'm sure I'll get there eventually. That said, some things have to stay UK registered so I have officially moved back to my sisters place too. It's no wonder I don't know where I am or what day it is!

So, this week is run around week. Today it's Peterborough and Norwich, tomorrow it's Barnsley and Rawtenstall, Thursday it's Oxford and Bournemouth, Friday it's Poole and Brigend. And finally, on Sunday, it's back to Peterborough before hopefully Norwich (again) and then a ferry back to Germany with the garden loaded in the back on Tuesday at the latest. Phew. I'm worn out looking at the list of places and driving I'm doing this week let alone the work I have to do at each place!

The good news is that pretty much everything has now moved across the water (except the herb garden, some tomatoes and a few odds and ends) so all that remains is to finish sorting stuff out and finding places for things to live in my new home. This is not an easy task, to say the least - (a) because I have quite a bit and (b) because Inga is already moved in and settled so the arrival of another complete house has rather an impact on things. I'm sure we'll find a balance somewhere along the way that doesn't involve a skip and my possessions but I had better make sure I'm home a bit more often just to make sure! :-)

I'm also hoping that having all this finally sorted and the fact we're living in one house in one country will mean life becomes a tad calmer and I'll have more time to blog both personally and work related (the list of outstanding Gina entries is quite long) so you may well see an increase in the number of inane ramblings on this blog (not that many people read them but I quite like writing them so who cares). Things on the agenda are An Introduction to Wallace, Say Hello to Sam, A tour of the new house and no doubt alot of entries about life in a different country and how I'm coping or not as the case may be.

In the meantime you get the normal rubbish! :-)

Other news is that Rachael is now settling into her Gap Year in Thailand at the college with Clem (her teaching buddy/partner) and is actually managing to post pictures and the occasional blog entry (get her to add you as a friend on facebook if you want to keep up to date or add her blog) She seems to be enjoying herself immensely and I do hope it stays that way. It's not yet hit home that she's gone away for a year as I've been too busy with work and the move but no doubt I'll start to miss her at some point. Probably.

The family have all buggered off to Australia too to see Jason, Dani, Rex and the growing bump in their new house. Would have been nice to have been invited even if I couldn't afford the time or money to go, but I am the black sheep of the family and so quite low on the list of considerations when anything family is being discussed (poor me!) so it's not that surprising I suppose. If Inga and I ever get some time off for holidays then maybe we'll go but for now I'm looking forwards to less travel (especially driving!) and exploring my new home country and the areas around it.

Enough waffling about nothing, time to do some real work and sort out my last appointments for the week. With luck, there'll be more rubbish from me in the near future. Tschuss!

All change!

My attempt to blog on a regular basis has failed somewhat in the last few months due entirely to work, pressure and maybe a little bit of stress over all the happenings that have been going on. Thankfully they are mostly coming to an end now and a more relaxing way of life is beckoning (I am being a tad optimistic there it has to be said!)

So, the news. First, in just 5 days, Rachael finally flies off to Thailand to begin her year of teaching English in a vocational college. This is a great opportunity for her and I hope she grasps it with both hands and wrings every last drop of opportunity from it. Being a teenager (yes, she finally succumbed to that brainless, listless state where she can't be bothered with much) I have my doubts she'll get everything she could out of it but I still have hope. We shall see.

Secondly, I'm into the last month of wrapping stuff up prior to moving out to Germany. The house is mostly empty and indeed looks like we've been burgled. The worst thing is that you can now clearly see how bad your cleaning skills have been over the years! The final trailer load is going early Sept and then I have a week to ten days of 'camping' in the house before the final professional clean and handing the keys back. I'm both excited and nervous about moving to another country - not because it's foreign but because I'll be living with Inga again :-)

Thirdly, the house is finished! I was supposed to have done alot of small jobs but everytime I was there for anything more than a couple of days we were at an event and I always had to rush back so Inga got the handyman to finish all the bits off. I'm a bit disappointed to be honest as I was looking forwards to doing something of the renovation (other than ripping stuff out) but she hated living in a building site and patience has never been one of her strong points so it's not really surprising she wasn't willing to wait until late September for me to arrive and start.

So, three bits of news that hide a whole six months of running around screaming like a bunch of headless chickens. All I have to do now is sell more tents so we can pay for the house renovation and adjust/adapt to living in a new country. Which means finally pulling my finger out and learning the language at the very least - after four years I may have just run out of excuses :-) Maybe we'll take a short holiday first, no doubt in a tent.

Breaking the silence

Well, it's been quite a while since either of us entered anything in this blog so it's probably about time that changed. Hello again! It's been quite a 10/11 months since we, well I, last blogged so here is a quick catch up on everything that is going on.



Family first. Yes, Inga and I are still together despite the fact that we're now in different countries (or should that be because we're in different countries?) but this September I will be moving to Germany to live. Rachael on the other hand is off to Thailand to teach English for a year with an organisation called Project Trust and after that she hasn't got a clue but I'm hoping she'll realise that the world is her workplace, not just the UK.



We'll be moving into the family house in Bochum, Steffi having moved next door into the refurbished flat - not that she's there much anyway as she gads about the world (currently in Cyprus and probably not that bothered about being stuck due to flight chaos) - so it has been gutted. Seriously. We tore down pretty much everything; walls, ceilings, light fittings. The Kitchen has gone and the bathrooms are due to be smashed and replaced in May. I don't think there's a single room that isn't being pulled apart and redone unless you count the basement. All this is supposed to be finished by June which is when Inga and I are hosting a joint 30th birthday (she's so young!) and house warming party. Should be fun even if we are still crying over the expense of it all.



Work. I am now working full time for Tortuga Tents Ltd! Yay! I've quit the contracting rat race and now just sell tents for a living but, I have to say, it's tough at times. Costs just seem to keep going up whilst everyone and their granny wants high quality tents for cheap Chinese prices. It's a tough balancing act but the company is standing on its own two feet so far this year so that's a good sign of things to come.



What else? Well, not a lot really. Apart from some trips back and forth we've been very quiet. No holidays, no more trips to exotic places. the most exciting we managed was a couple of days in Galloway and Dumfries just before Easter and even then we had a meeting and did work before we went to Andrew and Fiona's wedding reception but I'll blog about that separately.



So, I at least am back and I'm going to try and write something at least once a week from now on even if it's just dull rubbish as I need to get back into the habit of writing again. I'm doing more work related blogs which if the site ever gets finished will be published but I need to get back into the writing habit in general so I can get some of the stories stuck in my head out and onto paper as it were.



I'll try and nab some of the house destruction pics from Inga and post them too, just so you can see the scale of the renovation!