How much is that bubbly in the window?

So, I've done 3 supermarkets so far, well I think the only 3 big players as it were, probably equal to Lidl, Sainsburys and Waitrose, sort of. Well, Waitrose today (IGA) was really impressive as it was air conditioned too. I went round, put in my sausages, bacon and Dairy Milk Fruit & Nut. I then went round and replaced them all back on the shelves after a quick calculation (and Andy muttering in my ear 'wait until we're really desperate') but I still enjoyed the experience - maybe it'll be part of my ritual until I move on in my mental shopping lists, what a worry, they'll think I'm some compulsive shopper nutter - watch out, here comes the blonde - make sure she replaces everything in the same place. Anyway, they were swiftly replaced with local chicken, local eggs, and ok, not so impressive, Schweppes Tonic Water (to go with our Tanqueray Ten from St Lucia). Two bottles were $18EC so our G&T's might be limited. However, the other option is to buy something called Quenchi's which when opened could either be soda, lemonade OR tonic. There's no clue on the bottles which make the process a sort of Gin & Tonic lotto with both of us pretending it tastes just the same as neither of us want to be the first to crack. But, get this, in the booze aisle there was a bottle of Dom Perignon 1999. Guess how much. EC$238/US90. All I can think is they put it on the shelf in 1999 and haven't changed the price since. So, to sum up, when I do get really desperate I can get my Dairy Milk and my DP. Sorted.

Yes We Are!

Arrived 2 days ago. Saw the house for the first time on Tuesday afternoon - it's great! The Guest House is nearly completed too - in Estate Agent's terms I guess it would be called 'cosy' or 'bijou'. The rain has been full on but it's warm so who cares. Got our phone line installed at home (filled out the form, paid and got it done in less than 6 hours). Wonder if everything else will be so speedy. Looking for a car now. Been to the market, bought all my fruit & veg. Kids are happy. So far, so good.

Final night in Blighty

Well, tomorrow is our flight to St Lucia - all checked in online and we merely have the little baggage drop off to do tomorrow at 7am, should be easy. 23 kilos each from Brussels, can't have added that much in 3 days apart from the cricket set, 2 x Nintendo DS Lites (it isn't with all the accessories), Earl Grey teabags, hair conditioner (3 girls remember), Chloe's new black school shoes (which she is still in a rage about) and yes, OK & Hello. LGW to SLU should be ok, it's just SLU to DOM which may be a bit dodgey. Clearly the cricket set will have to be the first to go. It's the land of cricket for goodness sake - coconuts, palm tree branches and a beach and away you go, why we have to get the Asda sponsored (but no you can't buy them in Asda) official Kwik (stolen from the car tyre folks) Cricket set I don't know. Well, you'd think I really should know by now wouldn't you. However, when I mentioned I wanted an Estee Lauder specific lipstick, code 384 from the airport, I was met with a brusque, no time for shopping retort. Clearly my lipstick will tip us into the 100+ kilos mark.

I'm thinking I should be all philosophical tonight but to be honest It's so long since I've lived in the UK that I'm not. However, today was beautiful, the sun was shining, the local pub had perfect landscaped gardens and the Pimms was ice cold and sparking in the sunlight (briefly - the contents that is, not the sun) so I did have a wistful moment. I say moment as then Wayne & Stacey on the next table became rather vocal and for the 10th time at least I had to explain to Chloe that people bled a lot in England.

So, I'm nearly excited. I know, I should be really excited. Two days chilling in St Lucia with our friends will be great but there will still be a part of me itching to get on and arrive and be there and yes, to see our house.

Going to cheat a bit now and change my blog location to Dominica 3 days early. Well, I'm there in spirit already. Cheers!

Eek!

We flew out of Belgium today, 5 suitcases and 3 'Trunki's' (www.trunki.co.uk) in tow. Ollie led the way on his, down the ramp, full speed ahead, bumping people's legs on the way and finally grinding to a reluctant halt at the top of an escalator, which was luckily out of service otherwise he would have ended up head to toe in plaster - what's new hey. The girls of course let me pull them along at a gentle pace, no stress. They got the 'aren't they lovely glances' - or maybe it was me.

Now in England until Sunday.

Now, unemployed.

Now, no salary until the end of September.

Now, what have we done?

White with a green roof

We're nearly there.

Thanks a lot, as usual, Celia

Identity Parade

So, Andy has this great idea, fake security cameras from Argos (where else). The fencing is going to cost $15,000, I don't want a dog (because I still haven't recovered from dog walking duties from 30 years ago) and we need to secure the property and improve our insurance quote. Great idea I said, let's get the kids to make them - a few kitchen rolls, black paint, clingfilm, a red dot or two and sticky back plastic. And hey presto, here's one I made earlier. He didn't find that very funny. Sometimes I think we're clearly not on the same wave length. Years ago, when I was in student digs in Paddington, we had a break-in. To add insult to injury they must have worked their way from the bottom of the house to the top (I was in the attic, much cheaper and a nice view of the roof tops - always thought Dick Van Dyke might Chim Chim-eny through my window at any moment). Anyway, they left their spoils (cheap plastic Walkman) from the lower floors on my bed and completely cleared (trendy Silver Sony Walkman) me out. Anyway, the point of all this is that whilst I was in flood of tears my Dad told me that it was only possessions at the end of the day and I guess I've kept this thought with me. However, I am a tad nervous on the pool and would like to teach people to swim first (Bronze Medallion trained you know) before they embark on a midnight dip laden down with the flatscreen....anyway, what's mine's yours.....you can't take it with you afterall.....

Get out of jail free card

We had the report from the house inspection today. The 'Judge' deems we need to pay 2,600 Euros to our landlord in repairs. Yeah right. I won't bore you with the details suffice to say the first item was to pay 500 Euros for a missing (net) curtain - we actually paid our landlord for the curtains (which are straight off Coronation Street with flying ducks to match) when we moved in. Our appointed Relocation Agent (from Andy's work) has said he will try and get a sensible quote from him otherwise we should just leave and forget it. Fugitives on the run. He said there would be one major problem though with this plan, in that we may not be able to return to Belgium - gosh, that is a dilemma......