Home sweet home

Today we woke in what will be our home for six months at least.

Yesterday we went to J's interview for a school Financial Manager's role (they rang this morning and offered her the job), and then on to see where my first supply teaching will be. Both are rather further out than we'd planned, being in Portishead and Weston-super-Mare respectively, but the pay is good and I can drop J on the way to mine. I have 6 days and J isn't sure of how long hers may last, but possibly the term or longer.

Then it was back into town to pick up keys, and pay the large amounts of money required. J has transferred all our savings over and it arrived just in time to pay for the rent. We popped back to M&Cs and loaded up the boxes and bags, then moved into our central city converted warehouse apartment. It was much cleaner than last time we visited and after some reshuffling of furniture it is now looking very cosy. There is a sofa bed for all the visitors we'll be getting (that's a hint for everyone 8-) ), but not enough drawers or other forms of storage for all our clothes. We now have a shopping list for things we require, and it gets longer by the minute...
I tried to steal some bandwidth but everyone's wireless is well secured, unlike back in NZ. One priority will be to get wired up for Internet. The flat has a cable connection, so we might possibly go for a package but then again, that's a luxury...

This morning's wee human drama is playing out outside our window. There is an unofficial carpark (currently one big puddle after last night's rain) and a car is trying to get out. Sadly some selfish git has parked in the exit and gone to work, blocking in 13 other cars! The person trying to leave has given up and presumably caught a bus or taxi, since they would have no right to tow the offender, but has left a note. I don't expect it to be particularly polite... We are now waiting for the git to turn up and were greatly excited when a woman came to the car. She read the note and walked on so she doesn't appear to be the culprit.

J will take some pics of the flat so you'll see what a nice spot we have. They don't show the creaky floorboards though...

OK, it's now 7:pm. We've been out shopping for bits and pieces for the flat. The git's car is still in place and appears now to have a flat tire. Fortunately someone else has moved so most of the cars can get out. We're both exhausted and have to be up early for work, so I'll log off now.

Job stuff

We checked in at the letting agent and they said the credit checks had all gone through so tomorrow afternoon we move in (unless there is any wierdness in the contract). J had an interview with Coca Cola which seemed to go well although the conditions were less than perfect so she may not take it. She has another interview tomorrow at a school which may be better.

I will be available from Thursday on, so I hope some supply teaching work starts coming in from then. It pays well but may send me all over Gloucs. We are struggling to get our heads around the distances sometimes. I may have to commute for an hour each way for some positions!

I also signed up for IT positions and turned down a job today because it was a permanent position (and paid far less than teaching).

Tonight we offered to babysit M and let C&M have a night out. They've gone to the movies and M settled well, so as soon as I finish here J & I can relax. There probably won't be as many photos for a while, except of the new flat and surrounds I guess, and the entries are guaranteed to become more mundane, perhaps even banal. Let me know if that happens and I'll do a ram-raid or something to liven things up again.

Please feel free to comment. It's nice to know who is reading this thing, and to keep connected to home. And if you'd like links to your own pages, or perhaps to any start-up B&B businesses that you know of just let me know.

Bristol again...

No full English brekky this morning, but a good sleep in instead. For a change we had nothing to do. C&M had visitors for lunch, a nice couple and their sons. They had been in England for 4 1/2 years, coming originally from Singapore, and were soon to be transferred to Guangzhou in China. It was a pleasant afternoon.

The evening has been spent writing these blog entries and trying unsuccessfully to get online on Mike's wireless. That is why I haven't uploaded the photos as yet, so please come again to check them out. J has a few interviews over the next two days, and I have to check in with the agents tomorrow. The flat handover has been put off to Wednesday which is annoying, but soon enough.

In the space of 2 weeks we will have travelled half a world, got a flat, a car, insurance, phones, bank account, and possibly jobs. That's quite something I reckon...

Seaton to Land's End

I had stopped to look at a coastal defence construction which a passing local identified as a searchlight position. I had a chat to him and his wife and they told me that a ship (the Napoli) had run aground on a beach around the corner and that containers had washed up all along the coast. We had seen this on TV in NZ. There was a diving ship out in front of Seaton that was salvaging sunken containers, and we saw a barge go by loaded with them. This couple had been part of the community that picked up hypodermics that had washed up on the shore. Next day after another full English breakfast, we drove to Branscombe beach to see the wreck, but I'm afraid something happened to the photos. This is a rocky and dangerous coast and we were to see more evidence of this later.

We continued along the coast, stopping in at a picturesque port village called, of all things, Beer. I could have had a beer in Beer but it would set a bad precedent for Puddlebottom. Plymouth had a memorial to Scott (of the Antarctic) so a nice connection to Port Chalmers and home, but we didn't stay long there. We had lunch at a medieval castle/manor called Cotehele, another National Trust one. I'm sure that we'll soon be saying "Not another bloody picturesque village/manor/castle/church!" so we'd better take the photos now while it's all new.

We saw two accidents en route, both within minutes of our arrival. One involved a car pulling out from a restaurant, and the other at a round-about. Sadly the second seemed to be car on child as there was a small bike wedged under front of the car. Surpisingly neither of them were on the narrow roads.

We spent that night in Penzance, but didn't see a single pirate. (Although we saw the police called to a ferry on which a fight had broken out.) It was surprisingly quiet for a Bank Holiday we thought, but it is a long way from London I guess.

We drove past St Austell where CH lives. I worked and played indoor cricket with him in London all those years ago and then he visited a few years after that and we drove around the South Island. Sadly as close as we were we could not coordinate a catchup.

Sunday morning and I tried to lay off the full Brekky, with only partial success. We can't afford more B&Bs from either a financial or health point of view it seems. Our goal was to get to Land's End, and that's what we did, arriving before almost anyone else and also before the shops were open. Why you would want to go to Land's End to see a Dr Who exhibition I'm not sure but obviously many people do. It was suitably rugged and I guess we may one day get to John o'Groats (to see Land's Start?)

The next stop was Mount St Michael, back near Penzance. This castle and stately home was on an island but connected by a causeway at low tide. It was still covered when we arrived so we went for a ferry. By the time we got into the ferry the causeway was uncovered so we could watch several others apparently walk on water. It was a lovely castle on a site that had been used defensively for a thousand years or more. The family - St Aubyn - was a military one and had members in several wars. One was at Arnhem in the paras, for example.

Lunch was at another NT manor, Godolphin, but this time there was a 'Good Food' festival. It was pretty average but we did get to see some Morris Dancers, although for some reason J wouldn't volunteer when calls were made. And she could have got on TV too!

The rest of the day was a charge for Bristol, stopping only at Newquay, a strange town that was long a surfers' hangout but has morphed to be a Stag & Hen party town, complete with strip bars and nightclubs, etc. The beach was OK but there was no surf to speak of. Apparently the pommy surfing champs had just finished, but fortunately we saw none of the possible traffic. We got into C&Ms at 7-ish, rather tired.

For more shots of Devon and Cornwall, click here.

London to Seaton

We were so excited about having a car that we decided to load it up and use it straight away on a road trip. So on Thursday morning we navigated our way south through the crowded streets of London and burst into the rolling countryside to the south. Well, burst is not quite right - more like squeezed given the extremely narrow roads. There was some beautiful, if stereotypical, English countryside all around. Stone buildings and walls, small meadows surrounded by hedgerows, the odd sheep, cow or bunny. Lovely. The downside of the small country lanes is the stress on the driver of course. There's always the chance that around that next bend is another car or van...

We really had no plans (sound familiar?) so headed for Brighton. The pier was as seen in many movies and TV shows, but most of the rides had not yet opened for the spring. The beach was everything I ever thought a British beach would be like - stony, cold and nearly empty. The famous Pavillion was curious and photographable, but we didn't fork out the L7.70 each to enter.
It turns out that this weekend was a Bank Holiday, as the Poms call them. For us this meant that the roads were full and so was the accommodation. We found a B&B in Bournemouth at about 9:00-ish, run by a biker chick who told us everything including that her husband had committed suicide 28 years earlier, and that she had two guys on the go at the same time. We ended up buying a T-Shirt for her son's Goth band, Texas Drag Queen Massacre, which may become a present for O. (Check their website at http://www.texasdragqueenmassacre.com/ for their hit song 'Dead Girls'.)

Next morning I had a big, greasy English breakfast then we headed off westward. We drove semi-randomly around Poole until we found a chain ferry that took us over the estuary to Studland. Of course, being my home town I knew exactly where we were... Close to Corfe Castle it turns out. This pile of stone is still impressive even as ruins so when complete must have been awesome! It looms over a quaint village with house doors small enough to crack even J on the forehead. Better still, it was National Trust so with our Historic Places Trust membership it cost nothing. Sweet.

Half an hour later we were at Bovington Tank Museum. J showed remarkable loyalty in following me around for about two hours looking at all sorts of tanks. Must be love... Turns out you can have too much of a good thing though, so we headed on. We tried Lyme Regis but it was a tad expensive and very full, so we drove to Seaton which was neither for some reason. Another B&B, this time with a couple who offered to sell us CDs of the bloke doing Lounge songs like Sinatra. We didn't take up their offer.

I've decided not to put all the photos directly on the blog, but rather to post them to an album and link to them.

For photos of Bovington Tank Museum, click here.

For general photos of London to Bournemouth click here.

Bristol and back to London

Where did we leave off? Ah yes, children, we were deep in Dingly Dell when Flopsy Mopsy.... hmmm, perhaps not.

On Tuesday morning we had two viewings, both harbourside (that is, in the centre of the city). The first was in Buchanan's Wharf and was a converted warehouse. The walls were about a metre of brick, and there were cast iron columns supporting 30cm square beams. It was OK, had some sun, a glimpse of the harbour and the great advantage of a carpark. The current tenants had some cleaning to do but we could see past that. It was also reasonably cheap - L595 pcm, + council tax. Yes, that's right folks, a mere NZ$1900pcm for a 1 bedroom apartment!

The second was a purpose built apartment and it was beautiful but we decided a little beyond our budget at L750 + council tax. It had no park either, although for another L20-34 per week, we could have got a space in a neighbouring carparking building.

We put down a deposit on the first and are now waiting for credit checks, etc to be done. The agents couldn't seem to believe that we wanted to move in "tomorrow".

That done we went to the pub for lunch - a British Ale, locally brewed and suitably room-temperature in a pub that was built in 1606. The Maori population at the

time would just about all have fit inside, and not a single European had been seen.

We hadn't heard anything from the bank, so went into the local branch. It seemed that nothing had happened since we went into the Tooting branch, so the friendly bank dude set everything up for us then and there. Bloody marvelous. We could then take that piece of info back to the letting agent to help with the credit check.

Later that day we returned to London. Lovely countryside en-route, when you can see over fences, etc. Fields of yellow rape contrasting with the normal lush greens and brown of fallow land, and the odd 'Ye Olde Englishe Village', but for real.

This morning our mission was to buy a car. We did some internet searching and eventually found a possibility just down the road. We popped down to an insurance broker to arrange (compulsory) insurance and arranged the household insurance while we were there (as it's also compulsory when renting), then headed off to see the car. It is a Nissan Primera 1.6l and is in reasonable nick. It has some rust which may be a problem next MoT (WoF), but otherwise is OK, although we have to take the radio out because it has some loose wires. We paid L500 for it so fingers crossed it lasts. That means that today alone we spent or committed to L1400 and if the flat comes through we'll need another L1400 odd. That's half our money gone already, so it's time to start earning!

Tomorrow we are going to load all our gear into the car and head to Bristol by a rather roundabout route, taking a short trip around the south coast. Tonight we'll watch Milan v Man U as Brian's a keen football (never "soccer") fan.

I finished reading Crosby's book. His basic argument is that had infantry support been planned for the attack on the 19th March 1944, OR if Freyberg had been flexible enough to provide this infantry support once the attack progressed, then the attack could have cut the Germans on Pt 593/Pt 569 off and forced a withdrawal from the town as well. The book is rather repetitive as if stating this argument enough times will make it true. I'm not entirely convinced. Even if support had been given, it would still have been a difficult job to winkle the paratroops out of their positions on the ridges. Jeff tells me that a gunner told him that they struggled to elevate their guns to fire on the ridges at all. Enemy artillery fire would only have intensified, and infantry support or not, the road to the Monastery would have been a choke point. However, an attack from the valley onto the slopes of Pt 593/569, with support from tanks and perhaps from Snakeshead Ridge may have been successful given the extra space to move. A company or two on each side of the valley may have at least cleared these slopes to the point of the bottleneck. From there on they would be under observation from many points so progress may have been more difficult. Given direct fire from tanks (particularly if reinforced), this may still have succeeded, although Crosby may underestimate the effectiveness and numbers of the German personal AT weapons. There are also a few minor errors in detail. A Schu mine is not the same as an S mine; the PIAT differs from bazooka or Panzerschreck in that it is a mortar not a rocket propelled warhead; the number of vehicles is debatable.

So much to say...

Jeez, where do I start? We bused (bussed?) off to Bristol on Sunday, getting there around mid-day. It was a beautiful sunny day that showed the city at its best. Our first impressions were very good. It was bright, open, clean and lively and had a really good vibe to it. It's a two University town which means there are heaps of students, much like Dunedin, but overall I thought it felt like Christchurch (if these comparisons mean anything at all.)

C came to meet us, bringing her daughter M straight from a party. M was dressed as Snow White so cut quite a figure in town. M and C haven't changed in the 9 odd years from W&R's wedding and are still easy get on with. Their circumstances have changed of course and they now have a lovely house in north central Bristol. The ride out was through parks and avenues so our first impressions were reinforced. There were the usual terrace houses but also many beautiful semi-detacheds and huge numbers of old stone Gerogian style houses. We did learn that we'd been driving through the 'Fendaltons' of Bristol though.

We discovered that the first of our boxes had arrived, unfortunately the one with the least useful contents just yet. Very good service however, as that was about a week from NZ instead of the 3-5 they had said would be likely.

We had a nice catch-up with M&C although there was lots of 'business' talk - where to stay, how to find work, what the schools were like, etc. I'm still slightly jet-lagged, or maybe it's the hay-fever which unhappily is kicking in, so I have to go beddy-byes relatively early.

Next day we headed off to see if work was likely. We went into half a dozen agencies but signed up with only two each I think. We were both offered potential positions straight away which is a good sign, if a little precipitate. On the basis that there seemed to be enough work available we made the decision that this would be our base, at least for 6 months.

After lunch we hit the letting agencies. We looked at two flats that afternoon, one of which may have suited us OK. We also jacked up two viewings for the next morning.Since we had by then walked 500 miles we called it a day and headed back to M&Cs.