Not long now.....

Well, our boxes have been packed up and sent on their way so everything we have left will have to be fitted into our suitcases (somehow!). We're trying to organise a party but so far it's proving difficult to arrange, can't find a day when all the people we want to come will be able to make it at the same time. The house is very nearly finished now and looks really good. Every day I feel different....some days I'm excited and can't wait to go, then other days I feel so sad to be leaving and I get a bit of a tight, nervous feeling in my chest, sheesh.... who ever thought it'd feel like this? All part of the adventure though eh?


Here's a photo of the house across the street from ours, can't believe how quickly they go up!



And here's the latest view of our house....

Garage Doors.....

Latest house pics....

We have a deck out the back of the house now.....



And bannister rails on the staircase.

Today Douglas got his passport...

We picked it up from the vets today and sure enough it actually looks like a passport! It even had a space for a photo so we dressed Doog up all smart and took his picture against a white background. It only took a couple of Bonio to keep him still. The trouble is he doesn't much like the photo, mind you nobody likes their passport photo....

HAVE A LOOK AT THE LINKS TO THE RIGHT

There is a list of links on the right hand side you may find interesting.
Have a look at our new neighborhood, make sure you have sound on before you click it though.

Canada Day Stroll...

Yesterday was Canada Day and it is only right that we should celebrate the birthday of our (soon to be) new home country. I took a Canadian flag to work and stuck it on the front desk expecting to be asked all day why it was there. In fact I only received a couple of quizical looks, mostly from people telling me off for not flying the St Georges cross on the day of an England world cup match (England lost and we are out but I will not be held responsible!). So my maple leaf flag sailed unnoticed, on the way home I held it out the car window to flap in the wind amoungst the sea of St Georges stuck to what seems to be every other car window and then I stuck it into a plant pot in my mums garden where it still flies now, O Canada! Happy Birthday!

Other than my bit of flag-waving the day would have passed without further a-do. That is if it weren't for Doogie.....who had apparently been harbouring a rather unfriendly parasite under his front leg for some time. We found it and had great fun trying to pin Doog down and remove the icky tick with a pair of tweezers. To try and cheer him up after the trauma we took him down to the beach for a stroll. It was a realy nice warm evening so I grabed the camera to take few photos. We were having a great time until Doog decided to have a little sprint through the mud and ended up covered in thick Medway tar. When we got home we remembered that the garden hose doesn't work and Neil had the bright idea of trying to get the dirty dog all the way up to the third floor bathroom....needless to say it took us a long time to clean up. Thank goodness my Mum wasn't home at he time.

Picnic at the castle

On Friday we took Neil's mum for a surprise picnic lunch at Leeds castle. It was an absolutely scorching day and we found a nice cool spot in the shade of a beautiful old cedar tree. We tucked into our lunch as a peacock perched above us and black swans drifted about elegantly on the pond just down the lawn.
The peacocks came to eat our blueberries and it wasn't long before the entire bird population of the castle grounds realised there were snacks to had and decided to join us.

We missed the boat.

Today a ship set sail for Vancouver and it had none of our belonging onboard (big sigh), yes we missed the boat! Our belongings are still in a state of semi-packed chaos in various rooms (including the garage) of my mum's house. Packing is HORRIBLE! Eugh! I don't like it! And we don't even have that much stuff left to pack! Our once cosy and cluttered three bedroom home has been whittled away to a few piles of books and clothes and DVD's ( which I keep telling Neil probably won't even play in Canada). I don't know what has happened to both of us but we both seem too lethargic to do anything constructive towards our move. I just want to go to sleep and not wake up until it's time for a big and happy farewell party knowing that all the silly and sentimental possesions are well on their way and all we have left to do is catch a plane. Oh well, we better find out when the next ship leaves.....

Inside 5202.....

This is the hallway with the door to the basement first on the right and then the closet door. The den is just around the corner if you turn right instead of going out the front door.

You've seen this view before, yep its the living room again.

Here's a new view, from the stairs loking through to the kitchen.

Now this is our bathroom.

And finally our bedroom.

Little Rufie is a cutie!

Meet Rufus! This new addition to the family is Kate and Paul's newly adopted little kitten. Aaaww!

And here are the proud parents outside their lovely new home in Upnor.

Packing

We started packing our boxes ready to ship sometime this week. It was a scorcher of a day and the only place with enough room to see what we were packing was the weeny little garden of my mums house. We got pretty hot and bothered and eventually gave up and went to the pub but here is some evidence of the absolute and utter chaos that is currently our lives....

Doog, as usual, was doing his best to get in on the action or just plain get in the way!

Eeerrr... as you can see, our worldly goods don't amount to much anymore. Mostly books that we'll probably never read again and photos that we won't want to look at in Canada for fear of blubbing uncontrolably.

Neil getting stuck to some tape.

Doog in a fetching bubble-wrap jacket.

Doog steals some tape.........

and won't give it back!

When we couldn't take any more we took a stroll across the green down to the pub. "The Ship Inn" is one of four pubs in the village of Upnor. Not bad for a pretty tiny little villiage! The ship is on the river front and does the best food out of the four.

This is me sitting on the wall opposite "The Ship". In the background is the river Medway and in the distance the other shore is St Mary's Island where we lived up until we decided to sell everything we own and move in with my mum until we move accross the planet (why are we doing that again??) Our old house is the white blob on the right. We can see it from my Mum's house but up until now haven't really missed the place. We kind of miss it now though, it was a nice place to be in the summer.

Arthroscopy 2006

Here are some very blue photos from the day of my knee operation. They were taken on Neils phone and haven't come out too well but I thought I'd post them on here anyway.

The arrow helpfully points to the bad knee, I guess it's so that I didn't accidently get a Kidney transplant.

What a beautiful gown!

Drip.

This lady took some of my blood. I think she thought I was a little weird for asking Neil to photograph it.

RECAP.

Well I thought I would add a few quick photos on here so you can view all the sequence instead off scrolling down the never ending blog!

Just a quick update.

7 weeks and 6 Days to go ;)

Letter of resignation is DONE and ready to be handed in.

Bank accounts all set up in Canada.

Packing all boxes for shipment today.

dog all ready to go, Cage all set up, rabies done, passport done.

House almonst complete, sort of......

Level of nervousness is hitting 7 on the Nervousness scale and this scale only goes to 10!

Sophies Knee healing well. :)




Sooooooooooooooooo we will keep updating more often now as things start to happen.....

Dont forget there is a photo gallery which will also be updated with more photos.

8 WEEKS TO GO!

I cannot Belive that the house is almost ready, It feels like it was yesterday that I was in Canada sitting all my interviews and tests! It is not long until we leave, well to be precise it is 8 Weeks 1 day! Oh my god. There is very little to do now, I think we have done quiet well.

I have put some house interiour pics on here so you guys can see... I hope its not to boring for you all.



These two pics are looking at the staircase from the living room.

My what lovely concrete!

Our driveway has been poured and seems to be setting nicely. The cream coloured boarding has been completed on the front and it looks like we're just waiting for some shutters around the windows and the railings on the front porch. Oh and the proper front door which will be solid wood with four windows. Is it just me or is it always sunny in Beaumont?

Shcnitzel, Wine, Wedding and Rain....

Simon and Anne get married, Mosel region, Germany, 20th May 2006

My cousin Simon married his lovely girlfriend Anne in Traben-Trabach in the Mosel Valley in Germany on the 20th May. I went over for the weekend to join in the festivities with my Mum and Dad, my brother Dan and his girlfriend Mary-Jo. Neil, unforgivabley stood me up at the last minute due to work commitments(!?). He really missed a good weekend and he knows it! It was a beautiful place, a very quaint German town set astride the Mosel river and surrounded by vineyards. We did our best to sample the local wine and managed to taste quite a few varieties in the short time we were there! Due to my current knee problem I was struggling around on crutches which proved to be pretty difficult when wearing heals, trying to look elegant and trying to cope with rather steep, cobbled streets. It was a very mixed gathering, Anne is German and so most of her family were from Germany, my cousin Ben, Simons brother, lives in Luxembourg and he and his Portuguese wife traveled over by car. My Aunt and Uncle and other cousins and of course our little group all flew over from England, there was a lady from Canada and Anne's mother and step father who flew in from Nashville, Tennessee. The ceremony was carried out half in German and half in English as were most of the speeches! Just after the ceremony a large loaf of bread shaped like a figure of 8 was placed over the heads of the bride and groom (one head in each hole!) and they had to eat their way through the middle and then kiss eachother...Bizarre but really quite an entertaining addition to any wedding I'd say! Anyway here are a selection of piccies from the weekend, I'll try to post some more on the gallery when I get a chance......

Mr and Mrs Lyon(x3) and families

Rainbow over Traben-Trabach

Simon and Anne getting married.......Actually I think they were already married by this point.

Bride and Groom during the giant pretzel-eating competition!

Me and my Pa.

My mummy and those wretched cobbles!