Hello family and friends. It's been a year since we last did a blog update. By our standard things have calmed down a bit, hence nothing for a year. We're probably 18 to 20 months away from Dawn becoming a British Citizen, she still has to take the exam to show that she speaks and understands English and knows the answers to some difficult questions about the UK (glad it's not me). This means another 9 month stint in UK from when we return from NZ at the end of March. But what did we do in UK for 9 months before leaving for the worst of the winter???
In March 2013 we moved into the flat in Marshfield, a fairly typical old English village, and Dawn looked at ways to integrate into this very unique society. Having ruled out the Women's Institute with knitting on Wed mornings (members a bit ancient) and the Church (not something we do) it left the 3 pubs, each having their own clique. Not ones for pubbing every night we settled on Sunday lunchtime, not best for social gatherings. So Pilates and Yoga became Dawn's main activity in the village. Brian escaped to golf.
We soon needed a break from such a frantic lifestyle so we slipped out of the village and went to Cornwall. Rugged coastline!
When we got back it wasn't long before the Bath Music Festival started. Dick and Gitte visited for a week and some friends from USA dropped in for an overnight stay. Their stay co-insided with the great Georgie Fame playing at the Spiegel Tent for one night, supported by his two sons. Everyone declared it a success. (Hands up those who have not heard of Georgie, Yeah Yeah??).
We also had a trip along the Kennet and Avon canal with Dick and Gitte.
Summer came and went, a nice one:). We fitted in a trip up to Aviemore, Scotland in Sept, stopping at Chester on the way up. Chester is now one of our favourite English towns. When in Scotland we toured some lakes, walked up some mountains and through some forests and found a great pub that had live music.
Of course, we went to see Nessie while we were there.
Sue and Dave visited in Oct so we fitted in a trip down Devon, golfing for Brian and Dave; sight seeing and gossiping for Dawn and Sue. Dave learned that in links golf it can be sunny, still and warm one day, horizontal rain, high winds and cold the next. Not sure if Dave has the desire to experience links golf again. We all went to Tintagel, where the legend of King Arthur comes from.
By now Dawn was spending more and more time in Bath, a city she truly loves, along with most other people who have been.
Consequently some discussion on what we want from life (English village vs vibrant Bath) led us to start looking for a flat in Bath. Once we got over the shock at the prices and one false start when the Estate Agent messed up, we found a place that was affordable and close to the centre of town. It was also in one of Bath's famous Crescents (Norfolk), of which there are four.
By this time it was getting close to Christmas and our time of departure for NZ, but we like a challenge so we decided to get the Kitchen and Bathroom competely ripped out and replaced before we moved in. Ha, ha you might think and you'd be right.
We managed to get most of the kitchen fitted and importantly one sink and the toilet connected the day before we moved in. By this time we were frazzled and stressed so we closed the door, gave the builder the key and disappeared off to the sun in Lanzarote for a week.
Most of the work on the bathroom and kitchen in the flat is now done, they worked while we were away and we now have shower etc. Still lots to do decorating, but we will have oodles of time when we get back.
Arriving in NZ was a relief and life has been fun since we got here. Weather fabulous, kayaking great, golf frustrating (but it's such a beautiful course), street theatre invigorating, community life refreshing and friends kind.
Brian started the second year of Nearly Old Codgers Quintathlon on the 3rd Feb with a third more entrants, defending the Old Crab Trophy he won last year. We're also looking forward to some friends visiting during Feb and March.
We still spend lots of time chatting about what to do with the rest of our lives, then revert to just enjoying the now. But plans must be made so we'll talk some more over a glass of wine on the balcony watching the sun go down. As ever, love to receive comments from our readers, but no cussing from those in UK (we see the weather reports).
Brian and Dawn
