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so I guess we are home as our cats are finally with us.  Actually, they've been here about a month but I've just been so lax in writing anything - not just this, can't seem to get out of my own way (again).  I guess I need to look at the idea of 'little and often' rather than having long posts (not that I think this one will be short by any means), then maybe I'll be able to sustain it... maybe.

The cats, having moved from a small room, with a bit of outside space albeit still caged, to a large(ish) house with a big garden and fields to explore, are loving it.  I've not taken any pictures of them as yet but you can check the webshots link in my profile and find pictures of them (in the family album) if you are wondering what they look like.  Of course, now we have to deal with the hunter instincts as it looks like Kanga is single-handedly decimating the local shrew population.  Can't really blame her for doing what comes naturally I guess.  It is lovely to have them around and they have settled in well but have taken to calling for us whenever they come in as they probably want to check that we are still around.

First winter back in the UK was the worst there had been for 18 years - we remember that one well - but hoping that the bad January means we will have a good summer, which would be nice.  I don't seem to have acclimatised as yet so I hope that changes for the summer! 

Getting back into some sort of routine is what is needed - outside work rather than within work as that got back to normal with me working silly hours leading up/around/during/after the festive season, but having been somewhere for three years with not enough to do (by my standards), that was quite a welcome feeling and the fact that my boss appreciated it with words and actions has been good.  There are things that I miss of my old life, and by that, I mean the previous one in the UK because we were pretty happy really and then we decided to move half way around the world... seemed like a good idea at the time.  Hopefully, as things come together here more and more, that feeling will change and I may even start to feel less annoyed/frustrated/disappointed or whatever about the three years spent in South Africa... we'll see.

Other major change since the last entry is that we have moved house again - just five minutes away but somewhere bigger that will accommodate our boxes and allow us to unpack as many of the as we feel comfortable.  Hoping this will be a long term thing as I really don't fancy moving again - especially not with all the unpacking we've done.

Quick round up...
Books - just not read much apart from online stuff, some magazines and the like though I did re-read Watchmen in time for the movie as I wanted to see how much was missing and how much changed. 

Film: various bits and pieces, classic and otherwise but most recently been to the cinema to see Watchmen.  Had to be done as I'd been waiting several years for that movie to be made.  Really enjoyed it, R really enjoyed it too which was great.  Of course, there was stuff changed and left out (so the extended DVD beckons) but overall, thought it was great.

TV: ok, not put this in before but I do watch a lot I guess (years ago I was on the viewers panel for the Independent Television Commission and I don't seem to have lost the habit) and two of my favourite programmes have been on lately: Dexter and Pushing Daisies - couldn't choose more opposite things if I tried probably!  Very sad that Pushing Daisies has been cancelled in the US but heard rumours that there may be a movie to tie up the loose ends which would be great.  Also been using my LoveFilm account to catch up with some series of things that I missed in the transition between South Africa and the UK plus the fact that you can't get Channel 5 in my area of Kent so that means I miss out on some programmes I like.

Stitching: nothing, lost my stitching bug so if anyone sees it off enjoying itself, send it back home as I have stuff to do - mostly birth samplers as I have two friends and two family expecting this year (actually, one little chap has already arrived).  Once those are done then perhaps I can attempt something for myself.

Music: not really bought anything new for a while, downloaded various things on iTunes and been getting reacquainted with things on my iPod since R had a stereo fitted for my birthday that runs my iPod.  Keep meaning to put most of my vinyl onto CD and the iPod, especially now that it's all unpacked but there's rather a lot there...

Well, this is longer than I wanted it to be, so going to stop now but first I have to apologise (yet again) for not having posted stuff about the US trip last year.  It's coming up to a year ago that we went and when life changed immensely and sometimes, we find it hard to believe we were really there.  Maybe posting the journal and getting the pictures sorted will make it all a bit more real... and encourage us to go again sometime.

Well, I've not been around for a while and to say that life has got in the way of living is an understatement!  So much has happened since the last entry back in March that it's been quite a rollercoaster.

We did the holiday, it was great in some places, good in others and amazing in a few others.  Some things will definitely need to be done again.  I will get around to posting the journal on here at some point and I'll use the 'date out of order' option to put things in the right places.  So, anyone who wants to read it can go back to April/May and find things in the right order.

So, what has stopped me from being on here and keeping this writing promise?  Good question.  We got back from the holiday around 7 May and things were hectic with post-holiday things.  Sometimes it seems unbelievable that we've actually done the trip as it's been overshadowed somewhat since then - I don't mean to sound so mysterious!  We've been trying to work out what to do about life, the universe and everything and that was discussed on and off, a lot, on holiday - quite often at meals when we were waiting for food to arrive or when driving from place to place.  It's just something that's been hanging over us and although we weren't going to make any decisions until we came back, it kept coming up for discussion.  Then when we got back to South Africa, a few things happened to make us feel that maybe it's time to move on from here and the major of these was me securing a job in the UK, back in the same environment I left but in a different part of the country, though not far from where we used to be so friends and family are pleased at that.

So, it's all change and if you've ever moved house, let alone country/continent, you'll understand how stressful and hassled things must be right now.  Having to sort shippers, source accommodation, finishing bits and pieces on our house here and finding someone to rent it, set things up to leave here and arrive there, put things together for a new job, finish the ones here... all taking a heck of a lot of time, effort and organisation which help to put the stress level through the roof at times.  It's not been an easy decision, telling people here has been hard but they do understand - especially if you believe that everything's for a reason and can see the signs - but it's still upsetting for them and us.  Telling people we're coming back has been easier of course, they are pleased about it and having that 'network' will be nice and probably very necessary!  At least we are going somewhere where we understand how everything works as things haven't changed that much since we've been gone!

I start work on 14 July, R will be over in the UK with me for a while to help sort accommodation, transport etc, before heading back here to finalise things, supervise the shipping, sort out his parents and bits and pieces.  Hopefully he'll be back with me in the UK by the end of August.  So, I'm going to have a lonely six weeks or so without him and with no access to all our stuff until, probably, the middle of September!  I hope to sort out a laptop and get internet access while I'm there or I'll go bonkers!  If I do, then maybe I'll sort out the travel journal as I'll probably have time on my hands (for once).

Just a quick round-up of recent things in other departments:

Film:  Been to see the latest blockbuster things: Iron Man - really enjoyed it though a bit of the storyline reminded me of Batman Begins.  Thought Robert Downey Jr was excellent in the part, believable as Tony Stark (been there, done that with all the privileges) and funny as well; Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls - was ok as an Indiana Jones romp, liked the references to the previous films but the whole thing really spoke of resolution and closure.  Liked Shia LaBeouf, he seems to be quite the sought after actor of his generation for things like this but I felt Cate Blanchet was wasted.  The storyline though reminded me a lot of the first one (mysterious artefact wanted by evil people who do not understand its power) and the ending/destruction reminded me of The Mummy Returns when something similar happens to the temple...; Prince Caspian - second of the Narnia chronicles to be filmed, even though it's the fourth book.  It was a good adaptation and really, what's not to like in the gentle classic stories that are still so popular today fifty years after they were published.  I did see some films while travelling but I'll put those into the travel journal (eventually).

Books: Still The Time Traveller's Wife - I just don't seem to have a lot of time for reading at the moment, always feel that there's something else to do.  So, I end up thinking I'm bored of the book but then I pick it up, read a bit and I'm hooked again which I take to be a good sign.

Stitching: Finished the birth sampler for my friend in the UK, gave it to her when I was there and it was well received, which is great.  He's a lovely little boy and took quite a shine to R, who always seems to be popular with children!  So, now working on the sampler for my cousin, which won't be finished before I leave but it gives me something to do when I'm in the UK alone!  I'm sorting out something to take with me in case I finish it before my stuff arrives.

Music: Been putting additional discs on my iTunes to upload onto the iPod which will come with me of course.  So been listening to a few things that I'd not quite forgotten about, but haven't been on my 'a-list' so to speak.  Current favourites at the moment, for some reason, are The Waterboys and The Eurythmics - you can see which one is winning today at the top of the page.  One day, when I really have time, I must get around to putting our vinyl on CD and uploading that... one day... when I have time...

Ok, long entry again.  Apologies for not doing what I'd promised, I will get around to it...

Well, that's being a bit of a tall order at the moment.  We had a terrible year last year and were determined to have a better one now but as soon as we start thinking that things have to get better, fate seems to take great pleasure in proving us wrong.  But, I'm not going to dwell on that too much it's too depressing and it doesn't make good reading.  I've decided to find something to write about despite the situation as if I wait for something really nice to say, well, it could be a while before there's anything new to read on here!

So, onto nicer things... holiday!  Yay!  All booked now, just making some final plans to meet up with people in the States and the UK.  Most people in the world will be aware by now of the problems at Heathrow's new Terminal 5, the new home of British Airways and guess who we are flying with?  Yep, BA, so we really hope that they get things sorted before we fly into there on 13 April as it could put a real damper on the holiday if they a) lose the luggage, b) tell us we can't take any luggage (bit tough to do a three week trip without any clothes) or c) simply don't put the luggage on the plane!  We have to fly from here to London, then London to San Francisco so we're hoping to book our luggage right through so we don't have to check it all in again but let's hope they can do that!

So, from San Francisco we drive down to San Diego mostly down the coast road, though we're taking a slight detour to go to the Sequoia National Park to see the trees.  We spend a couple of days in LA to see what we want to see but really we're spending more time in San Francisco and San Diego.  From there we fly to Las Vegas for a couple of days and we have a trip to the Grand Canyon booked and after that we fly to Seattle for a couple of days, then to London for a few days to catch up with friends.  Lots of flying around so lots of time to stitch, read or watch any good movies!  I'll be keeping some sort of diary about the trip so I can post things on here though it may not be until I get back as we may not have time come on here while we're away.

So, what else?  Weather is still good over here though I think the season will really change when we're away and we'll probably come back to true autumn.  At the moment we still have lovely days, some very hot (should be 30C today) but it does get colder when the sun goes down, overnight and can be cooler in the mornings which tells us that autumn is on its way. 

We started an ex-pats group over here to meet up with people in similar positions to our own and we've had a few get togethers.  We have one next week (the weekend before we leave) and there should be some new people at that which will be great.  We're going to have 'afternoon tea' at a fabulous patissiere in Cape Town so no one will be on a diet that day!

Film: Not been to the cinema for ages - things just seem to get in the way so I am looking forward to catching a couple that I've missed during the flights for the holiday, though knowing my luck, I'll have seen everything.  Have watched a couple of things on tv - Junebug, which I really enjoyed, loved Amy Adams performance; Cry Wolf because it just happened to be on and a few classic repeats that I'd not seen for ages: The Odessa File; North by Northwest (which I always seem to watch when it's on, despite owning it on DVD); Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey (ditto); Jagged Edge (great film up until the point she finds the typewriter).   There are lots of things I'm looking forward to seeing but I have no idea when they come out over here so... may have to spend a couple of evenings or something at the movies when we are in the States.

Books: Still reading The Time Traveller's Wife and I am enjoying it.  It's quirky, interesting and the timeline thing keeps things fresh, it's a different take on a people story.  One thing I have thought about is how it's been filmed as I think some people will find it confusing, others annoying because it jumps about and it's not a straight timeline story.  I mean, I know people who found Memento difficult to watch, follow or understand because it was done in little backwards snapshots!  Guess I'll have to wait and see.

Stitching: Finished the RR piece, sent it to its owner and it's arrived safely!  Now working on finishing the birth sampler for a friend in the UK so I can give it to her when I'm over.  After that, I'll work on the other birth sampler I have for a cousin here and then something for me - yay!  Think I'll have to do some sort of lucky dip to decide what to stitch for myself first though as I have quite a stash.

Music: Stress level has been through the roof in recent weeks and I've had a lot of work to do finishing a web content project for a university over here.  So music has alternated between loud and raucous and very mellow.  At the moment I'm in the mellow mood and music of choice is Ella Fitzgerald singing all those wonderful standards that I love.  People who have worked with me will remember well the times like that as, for some of them, it was an introduction to this wonderful singer and fabulous songs.  For some, my wide music taste was rather surprising and it was just another aspect of me that didn't seem to fit 'in the box provided/created'.

Well, that's all for now...

Well truly, the title and feeling are not quite right for now but it's the main reason for this post.  Thanks to Telkom (bunch of w@%$ers) I've pretty much been offline since the afternoon of 27 Feb - today was my first day back with access because it's a new month and everything 'resets'.  Starting from the beginning, ADSL here is expensive mainly because Telkom have a monopoly on the telephone things and they charge what they want.  Several people don't even bother with landlines because of that and rely solely on mobile phones.  It is also slow (though they don't think so) and very unreliable at times.  Facts to back this up are... it costs us per month here what we were paying per quarter in the UK for a 10th of the access (3GB as opposed to 30GB) plus they charge you for your phone line and the ADSL line, even though it's only one line!; they can barely manage 1MB here when were were on 4MB in the UK and heading to 8MB speed; even though you are supposed to be connected all the time with ADSL, there are times you just cannot get on.

Anyway, we reached our monthly limit on the afternoon of 27 Feb.  As there were a couple more days to go in the month, I decided we needed to buy a top up gig which you can do online... well, you could if it was working - which it wasn't.  So, had to buy it on the phone which meant I was given a new user name and password temporarily to access this extra space but the person on the phone couldn't tell me how to do this, I had to speak to someone in the technical department.  Hmm, I wondered, are those the same technical experts who run the site and can't make sure that you can top up online towards the end of a month?

To cut a long story short... a very long time on hold, several phone calls, cut off a couple of times, technical not being able to make this user name and password work, sales being unhelpful again, someone else in technical giving us instructions that screwed with our machine... in total FIVE HOURS on the phone and the upshot was we couldn't get the new user name and password to work - and now the old one wasn't working either.  R had some very interesting things to say to the technical 'expert' on the phone!  I finally got our proper user name and password to be accepted and we've been holding our breath until this morning, hoping that everything would reset, which thankfully it has.  To add insult to injury, we had to remember to call them yesterday to tell them to cancel the extra gig for next month or we'd automatically be allocated it and charged! Grrr.

So, I've not been a happy bunny.  One of the things we checked before moving here was broadband/ADSL access - R actually asked my dad about it and said, "if you don't, she won't move!"  There were other things that we should have really checked out before moving here but that's another post for another time.  Not having access to the real internet (ie sites outside of South Africa) has just been horrible.  Not only could I not go to my favourite places, I couldn't talk to my friends on messenger, couldn't call them on Skype, couldn't access my email on Gmail and couldn't do anything for our hobby business or other bits of work as they need to be accessed online!  Add to that the fact that we wanted to book bits for the holiday but couldn't and the things just pile up on you.  All of this may seem very melodramatic but it brought so many frustrations and disappointments to the fore that I have to say that it was some of the worst time we've had here.  Decisions are going to have to be made and I'm sure they will appear in here as and when.  I said in the last entry that things would wear me down soon enough though I'd rather have been proved wrong about that...

Film:  haven't really watched anything recently.  Have to admit though, two of my favourite tv programmes are back on this weekend - Supernatural and Dexter.  I'm going to try not to miss those so I don't end up with loads of them on tape and having to catch up... or trying to catch up and just not succeeding!  So much to do, so little time!

Books:  Finished Velocity.  Hmm.  Not much to say really, disappointed, all a bit pat for my liking, tried for the twist ending but I'd seen that coming and the 'ordinary hero', well, he despatched the baddies far too easily for me.  Sorry, Mr Koontz, not your best but that's just my opinion.  Now I have a confession... I have read a lot, R built me a library in the attic of our old house to take the books that I had read - some of which didn't look read because I'm so careful with them (the main reason why I won't lend out my books) - and downstairs I had a bookshelf filled with those I had yet to read.  I'm an avid book buyer as well as reader, so there are a lot of things on that shelf but the stack is going down because books are so damned expensive over here that I just don't buy that many anymore and that's another frustration over here!  Things that we like - books, games, films/dvds are really expensive.  Books, well, it works out cheaper to buy from Amazon UK, pay for the shipping and duty into the country than to buy books over here!  There are exceptions as there are some good cut price bookshops but they don't always have what I want or need.  So, the confession is that I have stacks to read and what I read isn't necessarily that new but rather what grabs me at the time I choose my new tome.  So, my current pick is The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger.  I bought it ages ago, when it first appeared in paperback, from Amazon actually and it's sat on the shelf waiting to be chosen.  Okay, I admit, one reason I'm reading it now is before the film comes out because sometimes I like to see what they get right, what they get wrong and what they just change (eg Neil Gaiman's Stardust).  I'll leave commenting about it until I'm a bit further in...

Stitching: finishing the RR piece and then moving on to finish the two birth samplers. I'm also sorting out patterns and materials for my really good friend L who visited me recently and who I taught to stitch when she was here.  I actually stitched her a piece as a gift a few years back before we left the UK as a little something to remember me by before we moved.  I can't believe that she's stitching now and actually enjoying it, which is great.  I've actually taught half a dozen people to stitch since I moved here which is nice and eventually I'd like to have a stitching group here as I did back in the UK.  People are always surprised when they find out I stitch.  They tell me that I don't look like 'the type', though when questioned, they can't actually tell me what 'the type' is.

Music:  been sorting out my iTunes categories and looking at putting some of my vinyl onto CD, then onto iTunes and ultimately my iPod - especially for the California road trip... next month, oh my, it will be next month!  Wow!  The only vinyl album I've put onto iTunes at the moment is Colourbox by Colourbox and I transferred this ages ago but I've listened to it a few times over the past few days while I've been working and I still love it, still believe it was ahead of its time - a true classic of the 80s.

Holiday: so far we've booked flights there and back with our stop in London on the way back to catch up with people; booked the flight from San Diego to Las Vegas; the hotel in Vegas; and the Grand Canyon trip.  Now that the internet is back at our fingertips, we can book the rest soon!

Well, time to end another long entry...

Well, I've finally decided to start a journal after talking about it for so long.  Now I'll just need to keep it up as so many of these things have been started and then cease to be updated. 

So, why now?  Why not?  It's sort of still quite close to the start of the year and I'm determined to have a better one than the last.  Perhaps keeping this will make me find the positives and try not to dwell on the negatives too much - though I can't promise that there won't be some of that!

There have been a couple of positive starts to the year: I've started writing again - out of the blue a new lyric came bounding into my head and i had to get it down on paper (ok, on screen) and that made me realise how much I've missed my music since moving here. 

Oh yeah, better explain that - moved here to Cape Town, South Africa back in Sept 2005.  Came with husband and in-laws, all my family actually live here already.  Bit of a wrench after being born and bred in London, England and pretty much living in the same house for most of my life (was the family home then inherited).  Seemed like a good idea at the time, at other times I wonder what the hell we've done but as I always say, "this is real life, not a dress rehearsal", we will work at making the best of it (for the moment).  Sometimes it's wonderful, sometimes it's just not - a bit like life really.

Another positive was finding my 'stitchy bug' (seemed to have been on a long holiday and was reluctant to return) and getting the first piece finished for the year - for someone else of course - and so I need to get other things done so I can do something for me.  I'm a SABLE stitcher - Stash Acquired Beyond Life Expectancy - and I know that's not going to change in the near future!

Fun event - is planning our trip to the Grand Canyon/Las Vegas/California due to take place in April with a few days stop over in London to see friends.  All to celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary, our being together for 20 years and best friends for 21 years.

What else?  Work isn't too bad - still doing some freelance editing for a university over here and just taken on some transcription work for a UK company over here to fill in the gaps.  Plus, the hobby business R and I have started is moving to the next level and will require more attention and work.  Then there's the house to still renovate, the cats to look after and of course the in-laws who live in a 'granny flat' attached to the house.  I'm in the habit of saying that I don't need children, I have parents - his two and my father - they are enough to handle!

Couple more bits of general information, areas that I'll probably expand on as entries progress.

Film: last film seen - 13 Ghosts on TV last night, seen it before but stayed up to watch it again for the house and the unusual cast.  Actually a bit hooked on some TV programmes at the moment!  Need to organise a day at the movies soon to catch up with stuff on release.  Love horror films but have no one to go with.

Music:  see above.  Current Foo Fighters album is playing, really getting into this quite easily.  Never really got into In Your Honour that much, maybe it was the feel of two totally separate albums.  This fits more with me, like One By One and Nothing Left To Lose (my fave I think).

Books: Anthony Kiedis' Scar Tissue and Velocity by Dean Koontz.

Stitching: Last bit of a Honeypot Bears round robin, birth sampler for a friend, birth sampler for a cousin.

Well, I think that will do for the first bit of insight into the world of Z.