Sleepless in Singapore

It's 7:25am and I'm listening to James snoring as I write this. I've been awake since 2am this morning. I never realised how much of an effect the time difference would have on me. My body clock seems a bit messed up.
It probably didn't help that I slept most of yesterday morning after only getting a couple of hours sleep the night before. That probably rates as my worst night ever in terms of lack of sleep. The garbage truck came around at 2:30am, someones TV was on quite loud and to top it off there was a truck parked on the street with its diesel engine idling from 2am until at least 4am after which I finally managed to fall asleep. James said he kept dreaming he was on a bus that he couldn't get off. Every time he would ring the bell, the driver just revved the engine and drove on. I on the other hand was imagining throwing rocks through the truck window and letting down the guy's tyres. I know I get grumpy when I haven't had enough sleep, but this was ridiculous. We must have been a real sight at breakfast... don't think I've seen James that grumpy before.

Lol... and the bell at the Hindu temple up the road has just started ringing... James will be pleased.

Thoughts on Singapore

We've done it! We have finally started off on our great adventure... moving to Australia. We arrived in Singapore sometime after 2pm local time. I'm feeling quite worn out, so am glad for a couple of days to recover before we carry on to Melbourne. As far as long haul flights go, the flight was not bad. Food was great on Singapore airlines ... only problem I had was a bit of a nose bleed, possibly a result of the air being so dry.

First impressions of Singapore...
An efficient and clean city. Everything seems to run like clockwork. I love the trains being up in the sky and am enjoying the warm humidity. The food has been pretty good so far. There are some strange dishes available on the street. I don't think I'd ever be brave enough to try 'chilli frog', 'chilli pig liver' or 'Thai chicken feet'.

Tomorrow we're going to take it easy and wander around the city. I'm looking forward to just chilling.

Greenwich

On Friday Pa, Lisa and I met up in London for a day out together to celebrate Lisa's birthday (21 plus experience!). We had a wonderful day out and the weather was pretty good too.
We took a ferry from Westminster pier down to Greenwich where we wandered around the market before finding a cafe for lunch.


After refueling, we headed up the hill to the Royal Observatory to have a look around...

We had a look around the National Maritime Museum. I didn't realise navigation and time keeping was such a complicated affair. All in all... an interesting and enjoyable day out.

Guy Fawkes night

We had a great time with friends at Adrian's house for Guy Fawkes night. Good food, good conversation and a good show of fireworks...

Pa arrives in the UK

Pa arrived in the UK near the beginning of October. James and I left at some unearthly hour to fetch him and then popped round to visit Lisa in South Wimbledon.

We went out for a fry up for breakfast ( a much better option than what they could come up with on the plane).

Then it was back to Cheshunt and recovering for the rest of the afternoon.

Lisa's new place

Lisa has moved into her new home down in South Wimbledon. James and I drove my car down with most of her stuff in it and sent her with a suitcase and rucsack by train.

It looks very nice. Its been redecorated, so everything is nice and new and clean. The neighbourhood looks good and her housemates seem very friendly.

We hope she'll be happy there...

... next episode... Pa arrives

Red Tomatoes!!

Finally! My tomatoes are beginning to ripen... I can feel a song coming on...

An evening visitor

We found this friendly little guy wandering around our garden this evening. Hopefully he was after a meal of juicy slugs from my vegetable garden!

Our vegetable patch

I'm really chuffed with our little vegetable garden. We've got 'free-range' spinach and tomatoes. We've been enjoying the spinach which is quite prolific... just as well I like spinach. The tomatoes are looking great! Shouldn't be too long until we have tomatoes galore...

Summer holidays...

James and I went on holiday to the Red Sea for a week towards the end of June. It was a much needed break and we really enjoyed it. We left home early on a Monday morning and arrived at Taba airport (Egypt) about five and a half hours later. After being shouted into queues and eventually making it through passport control, we travelled via coach to our hotel (the Hyatt) in Taba Heights.



The weather was fantastic. Sunny skies the whole week and hot!! The temperature got up to 43 deg C (Ok, we were in the middle of a dessert!).

We did a check dive and 2 other dives at Taba Heights which were really great. I was amazed by how many fish there were. We saw loads of moray eels (Grey, Yellowmouth and Giant) and Lionfish, an octopus, a turtle and various other interesting fish... no sharks unfortunately... sigh! We also did 2 day trips to Israel.

On the Saturday we left our hotel at the unearthly hour of 3:30am. We travelled by coach across the boarder into Israel (where we changed coach) and north to the Dead Sea. We did the floating thing (really strange sensation) and after breakfast headed west to Jerusalem. Jerusalem was not quite what I was expecting and yet I'm not really sure exactly what my expectations were. We had a fantastic tour guide (with a great sense of humour) who was very knowledgeable and informative. We did loads of walking around Jerusalem, passing by a lot of places, both historical and 'traditional' including the Western Wall, Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the Upper Room... I have loads of photos of I don't know what. We had lunch in Jerusalem and then left for the airport to fly to Eilat and back to the border by coach. We arrived at our hotel sometime after 10pm. A very long exhausting day!


The border crossings were quite an experience. The Israeli border was very efficient and organised... standard questions..."Do you have any guns... Do you have anything that looks like a gun... Do you have any ammunition..." and then there was the Egyptian border control where chaos appeared to rule.

On the Sunday we went by coach to Eilat (15min across the Israeli border) where we stopped at the Underwater Observatory Marine Park to look at sharks and rays and other exciting fishies and then on to Dolphin Reef where we had the opportunity to dive with Dolphins (Definitely the highlight of our holiday!) followed by lunch. We then headed into town to check out the mall before heading back to Egypt and our hotel.


Monday was spent relaxing before heading to the airport to fly back to London in the evening.

We were glad to have the following week off work to ease back into things.

Li'l sis comes to stay

Lisa is staying with us at the moment. The place she was staying at was a bit of a nightmare and she had a landlord from hell... well nearly... so one evening I drove over and we piled all her stuff in my car never to return again. She's starting a new job on Monday. More regular hours and better pay. Hopefully it will be a big improvement on her previous job as a trainee vet. nurse. I hope happier days are ahead for her.

... and it's winter again...

Just when we thought Spring had arrived....
It started snowing this morning...

Heathrow Terminal 5

James and I went to fetch my aunt at Heathrow Airport this morning. She arrived at the newly opened Terminal 5 at the unearthly hour of 5:15am. With all the news coverage of the 'disaster' that is Terminal 5, I had visions of seeing road information signs saying 'Terminal 5 - Expect delays'. I could just imagine her luggage ending up in Hong Kong or somewhere like that. Fortunately this was not the case and she had a fairly uneventful arrival.

The terminal building itself is quite impressive, but finding your way around is not so easy. Nothing is well sign-posted from the roads outside to the building inside. But we survived the experience and now... I need to go and catch up on some sleep.

Easter weekend in the New Forest

James and I headed down to the New Forest for the Easter Weekend and a much needed rest.

We left early on the Friday morning to avoid the heavy traffic. After driving through rain, wind, hail and sleet, we arrived at our B&B in Brockenhurst. I've come to the conclusion that most B&B's (in the UK at least) seem to be run by eccentric middle aged women. I soon got used to the heavy smell of Lavender and began to relax.

We did a fair amount of walking and chilling out at coffee shops (cold wet weather is good for business it seems). We took a trip to Beaulieu and spent most of the day looking at vintage cars at the National Car Museum, checking out what's left of the Abbey and wondering through the palace house.
We also took a trip down to Lymington and walked down along the quay. On the way back we got drenched in a hail storm. Rather amusing.
One of the guys at work mentioned that when he thinks of the New Forest, the first thing that comes to mind is ponies and poo. The peace and quiet, beautiful countryside and the distinct lack of any MacDonalds or KFC was wonderful, but I too will always associate the New Forest with ponies and poo.

Tired of the hamster wheel.

What is it with companies these days expecting people to cope with more and more responsibilities and an ever increasing workload with no thought given to recognition or reward for their efforts? Any prospect of promotion is all too often like the carrot dangled in front of the donkey: always just out of reach.

What is wrong with a person wanting a job where they can go to work, they know what is expected of them, they get on and do their job and at the end of the day they go home? No working late to try and meet unrealistic deadlines. No pressure to climb the proverbial ‘corporate ladder’. Just happy to get on with it and forget about the stress of ‘career development’.

Every now and then I think I should pack it up and maybe open a coffee shop... hmm...

Life flies when you're having fun...

It's a cold and grey day today, just north of London, but fortunately the predicted snow has not reached this far south.

A lot has happened since I last wrote, so here goes...

Sandra (my aunt) has moved to a very nice house share in Bush Hill Park (near Enfield Town) and has a job temping for the council in Enfield Town. She seems to have settled in really well.

My Dad flew over to join us for a couple of weeks over Christmas. It was really great to have him stay with us and our little house was quite full on Christmas and New Years Day with Lisa and Sandra joining us.

James' 45^th birthday (21^st Dec)

James finally finished his diving course in November and we put it to good use in January while we were over in South Africa for a 'fly-by' visit/holiday.

We spent a couple of nights in New Germany at Lyn & Clive's (my aunt & uncle). We did some shopping for cool summer clothes (as we don't really have those, living here in the UK!), had breakfast with some friends and met up with my Dad on his return from the UK before heading up to the 'Metropolis' of Richards Bay.

We spent some time visiting old friends and went to Denise's 40^th birthday celebrations (We're glad you decided to go ahead with the party, my friend!).

Lunch with friends in Richards Bay.

The following morning after church we headed off to Sodwana Bay.

Sodwana Bay was great. Overcast, but warm and we enjoyed the diving... although James 'fed the fish' a couple of times and we didn't get to see any sharks. We did see a couple of Moray eels ('Honeycomb' and 'Salt and Pepper'), a Loggerhead turtle, a large potatoe bass, a Lionfish and some exciting smaller creatures like a paper fish and a nudibranch (sea slug). It was a good oportunity to try out my new birthday pressie... an underwater camera. You can check out some of our photos at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamesandjules

We still need to do a bit of work on the photo's and upload the rest, so please bear with us.

Some of the fishies at 2mile - Sodwana

After a few days up at Sodwana Bay, we drove through to Brett and Chantal's in New Germany for one night, where we had a braai by candlelight.... well sort of... thanks Eskom!! And then it was up to my Dad's place in Pietermaritzburg for one night before heading back to the UK.

Well, we're back into the swing of things here after recovering from a week or two of a combination of bad airline food and 'post holiday blues'. One of the things that's very noticeable on coming back to the UK is just how much faster the pace of life is here, especially in the greater London area. I could quite easily get used to a slower pace of life.

Holidays are coming...

Well, it's been a very busy few months since I last updated my blog.

James has started a new job, closer to home and nicer hours, which means no more having to wake up at 5:30am. He seems to be enjoying it. I certainly am (sleeping in later, that is).

The diving course is finally over which means we have our Sunday afternoons back. James had to go and do his 4 qualifying dives on 2 separate days up at Stoney Cove in rather cold weather. We're now looking forward to doing some diving at Sodwana while we're on holiday in South Africa in January.

My aunt, Sandra was staying with us for a few weeks. She has moved out to the UK from South Africa and we have been helping her out until she finds her feet, so to speak. She moved into a nice place, sharing with 2 other ladies, last weekend. It's quite near where she's working in Enfield which is convenient. Hopefully she'll be happy there.

My Dad arrives in a couple of weeks time. He's coming over to join us for Christmas. It'll be great to have him here.

Well I guess it's time I started some Christmas shopping!

Scuba diving course

James and I started a scuba diving course last Sunday… James is doing his PADI Open Water One and I’m doing a refresher because it’s been over 2 years since I last went diving.
The course is down at our local Leisure Centre (gym) every Sunday afternoon for approximately 5 weeks. The guy who runs it is South African and was apparently one of the founders of Coral Divers in Sodwana Bay (where I did my course). It’s a small world…

Career changes

It seems quite a few people I know are changing careers, or looking into it. Lisa (my sister) is starting a new job on 10th September as a trainee Veterinery Nurse.

James is looking into doing a Web Design course (part time) at the moment, with the aim of changing career down the line. He’s tired of the service industry and wants to do something that he enjoys and will allow him to be creative.

A friend is on maternity leave at the moment and is thinking of starting her own business from home instead of going back to work...

... it's all got me thinking...

The bank holiday weekend...

Last weekend was a bank holiday weekend, so James and I (along with half of the UK) headed for the beach. Well sort of… We went down to Newton Abbot (in Devon) to visit James’ younger brother, Matt, and family and to just chill out.

We left home on Saturday morning just after 4:30am (madness!) to avoid the traffic on the way down. We met up with Matt & family at their place and they took us into Torquay for lunch. After wandering around the ‘English Riviera’ for a few hours, James and I went and ‘crashed’ at the B&B where we were staying. Later in the evening we met up with Matt and family and headed back into Torquay for fish & chips.

On Sunday James and I headed off armed with maps and brochures and did some site-seeing.

We stopped off at Canonteign Falls , Britain’s highest waterfall.

After climbing to the top of the falls, we headed back down to the café at the bottom for some cream tea to the tunes of ‘hogwash’, a local ‘folk’ band (for want of a better description).


We spent most of the afternoon driving around and ended up back in Torquay where we stopped off and walked
down to Babbacombe beach.


Monday morning we headed for home, stopping off at Stonehenge on the way back. Maybe I’m just stingy, but I refused to pay nearly £7 each to go a few meters closer (it’s all been fenced off, so no-one can get really close) and look at a bunch of rocks, so we took photos from outside.