The BIG revamp

Long time no see!!

It has JUST been too busy... for me anyway.. When John was on his trip to Denmark a week or so ago I decided that thinking about the daunting task of making our current house sale ready was almost becoming more daunting than actually getting my finger out. So I did!

You have to understand that our entire house has been taken over by eBay stock.. it got a bit crazy really but that was because it was slowly build by just adding bit by bit until you suddenly feel you are buried by it all. Every nook and cranny was filled with STUFF, amongst other things the guest room was full of it (guests would have to sort of dig their way through the bed). My brother took a picture of a bit of it when he was visiting but even photographing it was almost impossible because there was too much stuff... this is his impression:


In the right hand corner you can sort of see where the bed was squashed in :)

Now.. it took me about 3 days but I did it, I got every last bit of eBay STUFF into the loft, reclaiming our house for the original intended purpose! Today we put laminate in the guest room and as you can see from the photo below.. it is liveable in again!



Wednesday the plumber comes to swap our old (very very awful looking) bathroom for a new shiny one with cute taps (see here) and a matching cloakroom in the same design. Cheap as chips.. the suite that is.. the plumber is a different story, he is probably 2 times as expensive as the price we paid for the sets but.. for under 1500 quid we will have a new cloakroom and a new bathroom.

Wednesday as well the carpetright guy will come to measure the kitchen, bathroom, cloakroom and hall up and give us a quote for pretend laminate vinyl that he will come and lay soon as well and then all we need to do is a lot of cleaning and touch uppering, this process is going so quickly.

All I am doing now is distracting myself with all this since all I can do is wait now until it is the 15th of June!

I'm so proud!

Have a look at this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVxkGIRrN7U

Kevin is crazy about LARPing.. which means Live Action Role Playing, as he explains it, it is like Dungeons and Dragons but then real life.
Well.. since I have no idea what Dungeons and Dragons is I was struggling to understand it but I just assume you all are more in tune with all these things...

So, last week was the Elf Fantasy Fair 2007 where Kevin had a leading role. Literally!

He had only 2 hours to practice on this with his group and people were pretty impressed with him:

These were the best few minutes of the fair, it was great to find out we really could do all those things. Kevin most certainly was the best Centurion we could ever have.

and

Kevin was heading up an excellent Roman legion (nr. 1) that had a lot of discipline and charisma. Off all Roman legions, I think I enjoyed them the most, as they acted the most realistic, and were absolutely loving it.

Bursting with pride, me, of course :)

Oh.. and Kevin is the one that shouts hardest.

So glad he finally found a use for that voice :-)

Wahey!

My mortgage advisor person called me this afternoon to say that all was OK and that there are no issues with getting the mortgage organised.

Absolutely fan-bl**dy-tastic!

What a relief..

And.. finally on the website it shows this:


Which means under offer depending on getting the mortgage sorted :-)

Yay!!

Also.. thinking of the future I wanted to get myself a nice new camera which would allow me to share with John all the exciting things I am going to experience (yeah right, think in the direction of showing a nice salad I made, a new kettle I bought, that sort of things :-))

So.. I bought a little cutie of a camera, the Fuji Finepix V10 Zoom

And what a cutie it is.. it does something that I have always wanted. As you might know I have made masses of pictures of things we then sold on eBay, it is always really hard to decide whether to use flash or not, some things just react really badly to flash where others do a lot better. This camera has a setting 'Natural Light & Flash' which means when you take a picture it takes another one immediately after it, one with and one without flash so you can later decide which version of your picture is best. Absolutely brilliant.

It also has a good quality (640x480) video recorder thingy on it and the ability to show video and pictures on the telly.. very cool I think :)

Oh and as you might have guessed I survived another flight!

4 blissfull days of peace and quiet (erhm.. working my ass off but at least in the same environment for more than 2 days) and then I am off to Sherwood Forest!

Pfff.. May is going to seem so boring!

There

I've arrived....

Phew... it is all go at the moment! Yesterday John dropped me off in Prestwick for yet another flight, this time to Frankfurt Hahn.. Got picked up by a colleague and only managed to go to bed at 01:30 - oh well.. didn't matter.. since I was the last person arriving in the hotel and wanted a non smoking room I got a 1st class room instead of a business class room. Very very nice indeed, 2 chairs, little table and 2 single beds to choose from ;) - No coffee making facility though, very unfair , I have discovered though that that means half hour longer sleep which was nice :)

Nice breakfast, orange juice, white crispy roll with brie with chili (!) and emmenthaler and a muffin, very unexpected in Germany but lovely :) Also.. to my surprise again GOOD coffee!

Interesting that things are slightly different here.. for instance.. in the drink machines there are glass bottles instead of cans and plastic bottles, and special holes in the wall to put your empties, very cool :)

Canteen cheap as chips as well.. apparently that is subsidised (I approve) and tonight we are going to a nice place for dinner...

With 13 men and 2 women (including me :-)) and it is summer here, so much better than the 13/14 degrees and rain in Wemyss Bay!

Home

or is it?

:-)

Things do feel a bit weird at the moment, I must admit.

I am home in Wemyss Bay for one day which is lovely, there is nothing like your own bed is there, pity I can't take it with me! Or at least the mattress.. We were advised a Sealy Posturepedic 5 years ago and I must say it is absolutely brilliant! It was expensive, can't remember how much exactly but something like £250 at least. So I thought I would go and check in Holland what it would cost me there to get the same one... so... calling the only shop who advertised them in Holland I asked for a quote ...... he called me back and said 'Are you sitting down?' :) €2355

WHAT!

Dear me.. well.. that is as much money as my lovely little Peugeot so no way am I going to spend that amount of money!

Anyway, for now I am letting it all go for a little while, I am concentrating now on my workshop in Germany, creating presentations that will hopefully dazzle the audience. Then, when coming back on Thursday evening I have a whopping 4 whole days of stability before I drive off into the sunset again...

May will be such a boring month comparing ;)

The deed is done

Well... all documents signed, sealed and delivered, there is nothing more I can do now but wait if the bank agrees with all the documents presented and put their money where their quote was!

If *all* goes well I will be able to move in from the 15th of June but I must admit I am terrified that we run into big obstructions, don't know why but these things seem to go like building a new kitchen or bathroom, you just KNOW it never goes as planned and that it will always be more expensive than planned. So.. I am prepared to get a mail or phone call saying that something is missing, it is ALL very exciting.

We only have until 1st of May to get the OK from the bank, from that moment we are bound to go through with it or else we have to pay 14750 euro penalty. Brrrr!

Upside of course is that after that date I should know for sure if the bank accepted me as a customer, well, they should do considering how much money they are going to make by taking me in.

So... today was all about re-acquainting myself with city infrastructure.. man... did I enjoy that or what?? I was in the city (where all shops are hehe) at 9 in the morning and the weather was gorgeous, I nicely browsed, bought nothing but logged loads of things and then decided to walk home (erhm.. this means about 10 miles - 3 hour walk, hope you're proud).

My body now hurts in places I didn't know were there but it was fantastic to put down footsteps again in MY bit of the world...

Coming to a close

So..back in Holland again... for the last time before the move I hope!

This time is about signing the mortgage quote for the bank, the purchase contract and some other very official documents. The file with the guy who takes care of all of this for me is absolutely HUGE, like, it could be used as a stool to sit on by now!

Today I need to go to the notary, I am a bit scared of people like him, he told me off severely for the way John and I dealt with our finances (now WHY did he think that had anything at all to do with him?) but in the end he was willing to help me with what I needed but I must admit because he reacted in that irritating way I am a bit apprehensive on what he will throw at me today.

Oh well.. as long as I get out of the visit what I want it will be OK, if that is 'ticked' as well I so think a bottle of red wine is in order tonight because...

That is it.. it is out of my hands.. all I can do now is WAIT (oh boy, I am so not good at that) until the bank decides if they dare take me on as a customer and give me that mortgage I need. If I see the pile of STUFF they need to dig through to decide yes or no I don't think it will be quick!

Having said that, in my purchase contract it says that it has to be done before 1st of May so I hope that my agent can push it forward a bit so we don't have to go for extensions and things.

It is very nice that 'Eric' (remember him) made sure that the rest of April is absolutely manic for me. Sunday I arrive back in Wemyss Bay then the day after I fly to Frankfurt to attend this workshop and come back Thursday. Only 5 days later I need to leave again to this Centre Parcs thing. Haven't heard yet if the SPA day is going to happen (oh I so hope, I could do with one!)

During Easter we went on a boat trip on the broads in Norfolk.. that was so brilliant, the weather was great, the company magnificent (John and his dodo, her partner and dog :-)) and the picnic lovely!



This is Guinness (guess who chose that name for the dog) driving the boat.

So.. quiz... what do you do with a boat with a motor? Drive? Ride? Sail? Pilot?

:-)

Goodness

It is Good Friday and I don't have to work!

So WHY do I wake up at 06:35?

Yes, because the bloody mortgage quote still didn't arrive and I am stressed out of my skull! Today is it's last chance but to be honest I am not holding out a lot of hope, my fear is that the Dutch people sending this didn't address it properly so the Scottish (if it came that far!) postal people are still scratching their heads trying to work out where it is supposed to go.

Anyway... tomorrow morning we leave at sparrowfart to go to Norwich and then I can't do anything about it anymore, it is out of my hands then. If it doesn't arrive this afternoon I will call my estate agent type contact for advice, see what options we still have open.

In any case from Norwich I will fly to Holland on Tuesday morning and have an appointment to sign a few papers at the notary office and at the estate agent.

I only realised today that I fly back on the Sunday and then have to leave again on the Monday for a workshop in Germany until the 19th.

That serves me right for thinking my life wasn't exciting enough, all excitement in one month now.. ridiculous!

Because did I tell you that I got rewarded by the BAC for my hard work last year? Well.. rightfully so but it is nice that they agreed with that sentiment ;)

So... when I am back from Germany I have exactly 4 days at home before I drive off to Sherwood Forest (an English Centre Parcs venue) where apart from a business update we will do all sorts of 'fun' things.

Now... 'fun' of course is relative... and different for everybody... so.. they done this really nice actually.. part of the gettogether is of course official presentation type stuff but 1 big part of it is 'team activities' as could be expected of any self respecting BAC of course!

So I could choose from...

1. High Ropes (EEKS, me, HEIGHTS?)
2. Jacobs Ladder (something high as well so that is out)
3. Gladiator Challenge (test skills and aptitude? No way, inapt, me)
4. Abseiling (Sounds pretty high to me again, so NO)
5. Rock Climbing (Yep, why all so high?)
6. Tree Trek and Zip Wire (Tree, danger of being high so better not)
7. Laser Combat (My, how agressive!)
8. Back to school (Well.. I went through that nightmare first time so why revisit!)
9. Low Ropes (Not so high, still high danger of severly hurting myself so NO)
   
10. Waterworld (If it was in a pool, OK, but this is the rafts things and stuff, NO)
    
11. Venture hunt (Hmm.. now this COULD be fun-ish)
    
12. Ten pin bowling (No eye-hand coordination)
    
13. Golf Driving Range (Same problem, different sport)
    
14. Quiz (Hmm.. generally very geared to cultural questions, no chance)
    
15. Spa (now... THAT is better BUT do I really want to parade in a bathing suit looking bluish white with my cellulite bubbling out everywhere?)

See.... 'fun' is relative.

I am sure that masses of people would start to get really excited from a list like that whereas I think 'Oh MY GOD' what is the least worst one out of this list?

It *has* to be the Spa day because even though I don't like all this exposing myself to my colleagues (in Holland I very regularly run naked amongst perfect strangers in the sauna but that is so much easier since they wouldn't even recognise me all dressed ;-)) I *do* like sauna's and steambaths and generally being in nice warm water all day long, so I said BRING IT ON.

I thought it would be a good way of really getting to terms with the body I have created. So okay.. I don't think it is a work of art but it is mine and it is about time that I am standing proud and say 'this is it, deal with it'.

I might be the only one brave enough though which might mean the activity doesn't happen so for seconds I put down the Venture Hunt and I think the quiz... fingers crossed!

So confused...

Well.. no mail again today.. feeling a bit anxious BUT I have booked my flights so this quote better arrive before we leave for Norwich!

Yesterday I was talking to another person who moves back to Holland after spending YEARS here in Scotland.. she said that in her new job she got only a tiny small remark in her review about her grammar in Dutch and the way she builds sentences. Couldn't believe that... but it was true..according to her she now feels that she isn't very good in 2 languages.

Scary!

Because I have noticed.. that my melody has changed..you know how in English the melody changes dramatically when you ask a question? Somehow the melody is so different from the Dutch way of asking a question that I heard myself how strange I sound when talking Dutch. Only the first few days thank goodness but I see people look at me a bit like 'oh look how she tries to be interesting'. Since in Holland you are never allowed to be or do anything that is not normal in a 'be normal that is crazy enough' sort of fashion.

Mind you.. I always felt that the Dutch 'normal' was considered to be totally over the top compared to the British normal :-)

Anyway, today again I noticed how screwed up I am....

Made a list of days of the week since I wanted to plan what sort of clothes I need to take since I am going first to Norwich where I have to be sort of sporty since we are going to do 'green' things (like exploring islands in a boat and things) and then I am going to Holland where I have to visit the notary and want to look sort of presentable.

So... there I had my list of days. In Dutch.

Then behind the first day I noticed I filled in the activity of the days in English :-)

Quite funny actually.. I have become more English than I realised.

I remember so well when I first started to live here that I got so frustrated with reading magazines and books (after I ran out of Dutch ones) because there were so many words that I didn't know and it stopped my flow. Also English television was hard to follow, always had to ramp the sound right up before I could understand what they were saying.

And now.. last time I was in Holland I found the subtitling REALLY weird and quite irritating since they don't always translate properly :-)

When in Holland I keep on throwing English words into the equation because I am not patient enough to find them in Dutch in my mind.

And suddenly I realised.. hang about.. soon I will be living in Holland which should help with talking and writing proper Dutch again because I will read Dutch papers, books, magazines, listen to TV but at the same time I will still work for an English department and converse with my colleagues and of course my English lover.

Poor poor brain....now.. 2 things can happen.. I will either become totally fluent again in both languages or totally screwed up in both.

Answers on a postcard :-D

Tummy Aches

OK.. I must admit.. Eric or not... I so wish the mortgage quote would arrive!

They sent it to me last week but Holland to Scotland apparently is quite a long way away since the Dutch equivalent of the Royal Mail says it can take 5 days to arrive.

Everything is dependant on the quote arriving soon because when it does John needs to sign, then I need to take the proof of employment forms and all sorts of other stuff and go to Holland.

Since it is almost Easter and we are going to visit Johns daughter in Norfolk (8 hour drive) I thought it would be great to fly from there to Amsterdam so I only have to do this huge drive once.

Then in Holland I need to sign some papers to get the mortgage going, the purchase contract signed so it can all be finished by the time I want to go into the house.

So ... I am so willing this to arrive now... 3 more days to go and Friday is a holiday in some parts of the UK so I have all my bits crossed but djeez.. it makes me feel SO uncomfortable!

Then of course I go back to basics, this is MY house.. anything that is difficult has just been sent to test me and then I go back to the pictures I took and start planning what sort of furniture I will buy.

Like.. do you like my bedroom? :) Note the blue glass blocks (which I love so much!) and it is so sexy, they have lights inside!



It will all be OK

Excitement galore!

Goodness me.....

It is a good thing I have learned to trust in 'eric'.

Did I tell you about 'Eric'?

Well.... when John and I met eachother we felt that all the roadsigns seem to be pointing us to get together and it was almost like the process went all on its own. We didn't have to 'do' anything, it almost got 'reveiled' to us. We constantly referred to this as 'it', 'it' is showing us where to go, what to do next etc.

'It' as a name was chosen so we could keep it out of any religious box. 'It' was our spiritual guidance and has been since we have met and to this day. Doesn't mean, mind you, that we always understand 'it's' ways or that we don't get frustrated :-).

Anyway, John's sister at some point said 'All this talk about 'it', can't we at least give 'it' a name, say 'Eric'' ... so.. it has been a running joke in my family now for years that Eric knows best. If something is taken away it is only because Eric has something better in store and.. he always has!

Like.. I saw this other house before I saw 'mine' and I fell in love with it instantly because it had such a great kitchen and bathroom and everything, ok, it only had 1 bedroom but I was very quick to organise in my mind a sleepingcouch sothat any visitors would still have a nice place to crash.

When I informed about the house and they told me it was sold I was gutted and going to Holland was a bit more scary because the houses I saw weren't really lighting my candle, they were nice-ish but none of them sparked anything in me. I was terrified of not being able to find anything suitable.

Until the moment that my mum and I walked past that estate agent right outside the door of my best friends house, like it had been planted for me. And it was clear why I never saw it advertised before, it was JUST out of my budget but of course after a bit of haggling it got into the budget again.

So.. Eric is still guiding us and it feels so good, even when things get scary, like today when our 'proof of employment' letters got rejected by the bank I just know that Eric will provide, I go through the motions and I just know that from the 15th of June I will live in MY house.

:-)

Can't wait!

Hooray! Me, Home Owner!

Well.... the deed is done.

I have bought a house for €147.500 with a transfer date of 15th of June 2007

WOW

Of course I should say 'we' :-) but still.... it is quite... massive!

I never thought this would happen and it has been a scary process BUT thinking about it... I arrived on the 13th of March which means that in 10 days I have been able to not only find a nice house, I found a house to LOVE and bought it!

Yesterday I drove back from dropping my mum off at her house and drove past the flat, my house stood out from all the other ones with lights on because of that lovely starry heaven. (Because there are little lights in all ceilings, the current owner is an electricien :-))

And did I tell you about the mural in the extra bedroom? Well... unfortunately I didn't take the picture from the same place so it doesn't quite fit but I think you can get a good idea. It is absolutely massive and so beautiful.. even though I can't *yet* think of a use for it, I can't take it away either. Maybe in a few years. The tree on the right is really three dimensional, under it is the heating pipe that always runs through this flat.. what an idea to get rid of it :-)



This house feels like a playground.. it so suits me!

So..next step is to wait until the mortgage quote is ready, for John and me to sign, then I need to fly over again to get the contract signed and then 15th of June I should be in!

Exciting times!

Life changing moves

Well... there you go.. how things can sometimes happen QUICK

Tuesday I arrived in Holland (about 21:30) and I said to my brother that it was such a pity I didn't have a car for a few weeks so I could cart myself around in search for the perfect house and browse furniture.

Well.. that same night we drove past a few houses I had picked from the net but none of them looked very cosy in the dark so a few of them got discarded instantly.,.. then my brother called one of his friends who has a garage who said he had a car for me to use while I was here, a blue peugeot 205, lovely little car.

So, Wednesday morning I first went to view a house which was not what I wanted, then had coffee with my mum and at 11 went to the notary to get him to draw up a 'living together' contract which he almost didn't want to do because he claimed we would not live together :-)

The guy was like one of those old fashioned doctors, horrible, telling me off for having my money shared with John, that it wasn't safe and that we should change that and each have our own account and one combined. I so was tempted to scream 'get out of my life' but I needed him for the document that will allow us to buy this house together. :-)

Anyway after I convinced him that we shared all our accounts and houses and a lot of love he reluctantly agreed to drawing up the contract as well as allowing John to sign a power of attorney so John doesn't have to fly over. (John does NOT like flying :-))

Then Jacco called and said he had 'my' car and would you believe the license plate starts with TG? ;-) That sounds like meant to be or what? So I am now the proud owner of my own blue Peugeot 205 from 1998, over the moon I am!

Then my mum and I went to a place to have something to eat and we passed an estate agent and saw a flat in the window which was JUST over budget but looked nice enough to check out so I went in and got the particulars... well.. the pictures alone made me fall in love at first sight and my mum loved them too.. so .. made an appointment for a viewing, went there with Karin and my mum to view at 15:30 and it was IT - it is as quirky as I am, very different and strange but still big and plenty of room for me and John AND a proper room for someone to stay over!

The kitchen is gorgeous, all tiled from top to bottom as well as the bathroom and.. wait for it... it has a jacuzzi bath!!! How great is that! The extra 'box, dressing, laundry, visitorsroom' is a bit warped though. It was a childs room and some artist has drawn a fantastic mural on the wall - it is just too beautiful to take off but it did make me wonder if anyone could sleep there and not get nightmares :)

I have a few pictures here but I must say you can't really see the quirkyness, that only becomes apparent when you are in the place....

So.. picture 1 is the flat itself, the apartment building I should say... you need to scroll to the right a bit and then you see the view... then on the 2nd row you see a few pictures of the lounge..the blue glass blocks are my absolute favorite... very beautiful as they are but they also have lights in them for nighttime.. great stuff...

On the 2nd row the picture on the far right you can see a door to the left, that leads to the little room where you can sleep if you dare and that then leads again (with a glass door) to the bathroom, mind you, the toilet is still separate, they didn't put an extra one in :)

In the ceiling in the bedroom and livingroom there are tiny little lights which look like stars in the dark, very romantic :)

I am so glad I found something that I absolutely love, I was a lot scared! I do feel guided because.. who manages to get a car with their name on it AND a house they adore in ONE day? Unbelievable.. I am reeling!

Next step now is to have a 2nd viewing on Tuesday with the mortgage guy and my brother to get the more objective view (not that they can ever change my mind but they might be helpful in the negotiations since all I want to scream is YES YES YES anything you want I'll pay which is totally ridiculous since the house has been on the market for 2 years since it is just TOO personal, they are just lucky they found someone from their planet to love it :-)

John and I do realise that we will probably not be able to resell again but came to the conclusion that I will always want to have a pad to go to in Holland instead of staying with family, I so need my own bombshelter where I can pretend that I am still Dutch :-)

And it is fun here I must say, very confrontational, like.. of course it is great that I know where everything is, it feels very cosy but if I am in our version of Tesco which is about a third of the size of the one I am used to I get a bit irritated because they only have expensive brands and not the nice cheap tesco value stuff which we always buy. John will just have to take truckloads of stuff with him ;-)

The BAC is still working really hard on moving me to Holland, I must say they are really coming through for me, how great is it that you can move country and take your job with you? It *has* advantages to work for a Big American Company!

Big City Girl revisited

Well... it had to happen sometime I suppose..

As in.. you can take the girl out of the city but you can't take the city out of the girl!

I miss the people, the infrastructure, the metro to the city, the 3 big supermarkets to choose from in walking distance, cycling to and from the city or the green pastures close by, my family, mixer taps, tiled bathrooms, Spa days, dinner out with friends, theatre visits, the weekly market, my social circle, my old job, did I mention my family? :-)

Anyway.. the more it rains here the more I miss Holland, the more I work from home (even though that is lovely) the more I feel claustrofaubic, even though it is gorgeous here, that is for sure.

But I need to find myself back, and myself starts in Holland, I didn't realise that 'being Dutch' was such a HUGE part of my personality but it is...

And THANK GOD that I am in a relationship with someone who fully understands and accomodates that need.

Now.. how are we going to source that €134000 I need for that apartment I've seen? :-)

And how many houses can one own before one thinks 'this is enough' :-D

Can't help thinking - even though it might be slightly impractical - that it is so nice to decide which country we will pick to live each season. And have one for each :-)

Winter in Spain, spring in Scotland, summer in Holland, autumn.... Norwich?

Who knows... never a dull moment, that is for sure.. watch this space!

Lang zal ik leven in de gloria

Well....I have to say... that was (and is) a huge success!

My brother and I were able to keep my presence a secret until the unveiling moment so that was nice. I told my (now 4 year old niece) that when grandma came in the door she first had to open her presents and only then could come and get me (because I ran upstairs). Very cute to hear her say after every present 'you can't go upstairs Oma' hehe... anyway finally when the ordeal of opening presents was over she came and got me and that did surprise my mother as much as we expected. 'Oh I feel all tearful' she said... bless.. it was cute...

Then a few days later, my birthday..... remember when I bought that watch a few weeks ago? I love it, it is ever so cute but it does clash with my pink/purplish clothes a lot sooooo.. when I said that I wanted another watch to be able to swap according to what I am wearing, my bestest friend in the world immediately said 'I want to give that for your birthday'. WOW!! So now I am the proud owner of a proper Swatch Bubblehop!

Then... I went to the lenses people.. turns out that even though my lenses were so old that the right one is all deformed (oops) my eyesight didn't deteriorate as much at all as B&L had said. I am SO happy I only ordered a weaker pair of glasses, they now happen to be about just right. He explained that even if I could see sharper with the prescription they gave me that I would have problems since my eyesight would be distorted and I would see everything smaller than it actually is. And to be honest I already noticed that with my glasses, everything looks a lot different but still workable. So glad I made this decision!

So.. long story short, I can pick them up on Friday!! How smooth is that!

A few days ago I went to see Kevin and his dad and of course his squeeze was there as well, made a nice picture:
And now.. lots and lots of proper snow here in Rotterdam after having a few days of wet snow! Wemyss Bay has been gorgeous all week, now... WHY? ;-)

Secrets and lies

Well... after I got over my anger about my lenses I got an idea...

'Why don't I call my old contacts providor in Holland and check what they charge me?'

Would you believe that it is less EVEN if I calculate in my flight to Holland?

So guess where I am going Friday afternoon?

Yay!!

I am going to stay another 9 days like last time, that seems to work really well, arriving Friday evening, going back the Sunday a week later so I have 2 weekends in Holland and can fit in seeing everybody.

and... added bonus this time.. my little niece celebrates her birthday the 3rd and it will be lovely to actually be there for a change.

and here is where the secrets and lies come in...

Is it considered a lie when one omits facts from ones communication?

Coz... my brother and I thought it would be great to surprise my mum, who will be on that particular birthday as well.. we did think about her having a heartattack but she is not that kind of person really :-) (she says full of hope)

So.. this will be fun for her... expecting only my brother and his kids she will get me thrown in as well as Kevin who takes the opportunity to see his mum and eat nice 'Disney Princess' cake baked in a tin that I ordered on eBay. ;-)

I do feel a bit guilty though when I write her mails and she says 'going to Michelle's birthday Saturday' and instead of saying 'Yeah, me too, I see you there', I say 'have fun!' which of course is perfectly allright except for that big void where I should come clean ;-)

Can't wait ;-)

Oh and.. my birthday is the 5th, so that will be different as well (since we normally don't even acknowledge the fact really ;-))

So, to celebrate that day I made the appointment with the contacts people, they are going to check my eyes, order my lenses and send them to the UK registered mail. How international.

I feel like such a foreigner running back home but come on.. they only charge me 175 euro in total which is about 120 pounds which is 130 pound cheaper than here! Tsk...

AND... I can fill my suitcase upto the limit with cheap red wine to take home! Getting better all the time. :-)

Anyway, hope y'all can keep a secret, 3 more days I need to sit on this before I can shout SURPRISE! ;-)

An eye for an eye

Well... when I was 16 I looked absolutely horrific... you know that part of adolescence where you are not quite 'finished'? I was very chubby (fat of course in my eyes) and I wore glasses that made me look SO ugly it is a good thing I don't have any pictures anymore of that time.

Anyway...... I think my father agreed so he forced me to a contactlens specialist to get contacts, it took me forever to get used to them since the only lenses I could have were the 'hard' ones that let some oxygen through, called Rigid Gas Permeable lenses in English apparently. I must say though, after I got used to them they have done me proud until at some point soft lenses were the vogue and I got to try those. They screwed my eyes up so badly that I wasn't allowed to wear any lenses for over a year and was told that I could never ever have soft lenses again. (bum!)

So.. not a problem, swapped to hard lenses again and have been happy with them ever since. I am a horrible lens wearer though, I have been told from my 16th that I should take them out a few hours before going to bed and a few hours after waking up. Well.. of course when my glasses were still alive I did that, sometimes. When those broke 20 years ago (yep...) I gave up on any glasses on the side. So.. it goes like this: Wake up, open eyes, have wee and insert lenses. (Sorry for that mental picture but wanted to make sure you realise how efficient I am). Same again when I go to bed but then the other way around. Suffice to say I am not very nice to my eyes.

Since it is 6 years or so ago that I got a new pair of lenses (right before we left Holland) they have become more and more difficult to look through comfortably. They are supposed to have 2/3 year lifetime. I also got told off by my brother when I dropped him off at the busstop last time he visited because I mistook a truck for the bus coming, then when I needed the bus myself later I could only see the number when it nearly drove over me. Not so good.

So, I went to Black and Lizars in Greenock for an eyetest which, would you believe, is free! All eye tests in Scotland are free. But wait for it, I understand why now! Pfah...

Anyway, I had to come to my appointment without my lenses in (had to officially not have worn them for 24 hours but Celebrity Big Brother eviction was on so, come on, surely 11 hours will do!) they gave me the once over, tested every eye disease under the sun and it turned out that my eyes had deteriorated with 2 points... I now have 8.50 and 8.25 (minus, for short sightedness). I never really noticed this change myself in daily life (unless trying to read the busnumber) since due to old age I need reading glasses as well and apparently those two factors have levelled eachother out quite nicely as long as I stay inside.

Luckily (in retrospect) I ran out of time so I asked them to call me with a price for the lenses. Now.. when I left Holland I got the pair I have now for about 100 quid including all tests.

So today, the call. And suddenly it became clear how they get the money for that free eyetest back! The pair of lenses would cost me £150 so I thought oh, that is not too bad, even though I have seen them on the internet for £60 including postage, I know that when you buy them in a shop and you had a test and all that it will be more expensive. JUST when I wanted to open my mouth and say 'oh ok then, that is not too bad' she said 'and on top of that there will be £100 for fitting them.'

'Oh', I said all optimistic that would not be for me since I have been wearing lenses for 30 years, I just need a new pair with higher prescription. 'Oh no, you will have to be tested what sort of lenses you need'. 'Huh? I have had to come without my lenses on a special day to meet the contact lens specialist? Who has written it all down? Checked my Curve, axis and everything?' ,'No, that was something different, if you want to buy these you have to be tested all over again'.

WHAT!!! Anyway, I was being British and I said 'OK, I will get back to you'. And that is quite funny about communicating in British. Both of us knowing I was totally pissed off and would never contact them ever again. Ever.

Pfah!

I did a good thing though (since this was my only new year resolution; to take care of my eyes), I ordered with the prescription I got from them (hehe, they are obliged to give you the basic info) a pair of glasses online for only 20 quid. I am sure they will be obnoxious because of their jamjarbottom properties since I of course was too mean to pay for the sexy 'flatter than flat' lenses and because I have ordered minus 7.75 (they didn't have any higher, or lower depends on how you look at it for that price) the jamjarbottom factor will be quite high.

Bought these, but then in black.











Got painfully clear again that I have a huge head. Already knew of course that I have the tendency to be big headed and I had already noticed that hats in general do not fit. And I have had enormous embarrassing moments at the hairdressers in the time that I wanted highlights and the plastic hat didn't want to stay on my head! Got the solution as far as glasses go though, I just check for gents or unisex glasses and pick the one with the biggest bridge, widest frame and longest arm.

I can't wait.... do you know what having glasses on the side again means? That means that if I wake up in the middle of the night I can grab my lenses and read the clock projected on the ceiling, when I then waddle to the kitchen I can see that Johns slippers are in the middle of the hall and prevent tripping and all those scary shadows in the night will suddenly be recognisable as things!

Note to self when wearing glasses: 'Avoid mirrors!'

Jurification

Well.....

I didn't even make a point of it but on Christmas Eve this year it was my 5 year anniversary of living in this country. The 8th of January was my 5 year anniversary of working for BAC. I didn't make a lot of that at all, I don't do birthdays and celebrations like that and anniversaries in general have never meant anything at all to me (which makes remembering other people's birthdays and special dates REALLY hard!)

Anyway... I have this feeling that it was no coincidence that Saturday I suddenly got a letter which said that because I was on the electoral role I was asked to be a potential juror and that I had to return the letter within 7 days (or otherwise get a fine of upto 250 pounds) saying when I was going on holiday so they would know not to invite me then.

Of course, my initial reaction was 'oh this is not for me' since I am not even allowed to vote for this countries government. Strangely enough I am allowed to vote for the local government but I am ashamed to say that I can't care enough to actually get to the voting place so I let my vote pass. I even wondered if I still wanted to be on the electoral role last time they asked us (they always send a letter to confirm you are still alive, kicking and want to participate in the voting). Since I didn't have a clue if that would have any effect on my status in this country I thought I'd better...

So, I thought I would have a good look at the back of the letter which stated lists with ineligible people (like policemen, lawyers and people who have ever had a more negative run in with the law) and other reasons why you couldn't partake but 'being Dutch' was not one of them! It did say that you can only partake if you have been in this country for more than 5 years.

Now... can it be coincidence that 5 years after starting my job with the Big American Company I suddenly get this letter with this invitation? I wonder how that all works!

Anyway.... for a Dutch (and very curious) person like me this is SO exciting.. I mean.. in Holland we don't have juries, we have a judge or 3 judges if it is serious stuff but that is it. As I understand it in Scotland there are 15 jurors in each case (dear me) which are chosen by the lawyers of the prosecutor and defender I think. If this is really going to happen I do have to read up on it a bit more!

Apparently this entire process is normally considered by normal people to be a 'drag'. Something that if it happens you are not happy because you need to travel to the court, be off work and... well sorry.. for the life of me I can't think of any negatives about it. To me it all sounds like good fun, something to look forward to, a new experience.

So.. now it is waiting for the invitation.. listening to people who have had experiences with this (= read blogs) when you get one of these letters, the invitation is imminent. All that then needs to happen is that somebody actually wants you on their jury.

I will keep you informed! :-)

Storm

Received a bit of a disturbing mail from my brother saying:

'We are going to get a WF 9 storm and it is all your fault'

Huh????

Luckily he pasted the link to an article which said that due to a depression over Scotland a storm is developing which will hit Holland on Thursday :-)

Told you he was funny!

Now all we have to hope for is that what they get is the offspring of the big daddy that starts here, so far it sounds REALLY ominous - it makes us think at a regular basis if it was a good idea to be perched on a cliff.. John reckons that if a roof tile or other projectile hits our window the roof will come off because of the air pressure....

Watch this space, that is what I say, fingers crossed those roof tiles stay were they belong!

Happy New Year!

It was an eventful end of the year indeed! My job got manic since we had to finish a big job before the 21st (and I was flying to Holland the 22nd!)
But.. of course we DID it....I still feel elated, this has been really good for our PR.

Anyway feeling like I earned a present I bought myself a new watch on Schiphol right on arrival in Amsterdam. I always want a swatch because they are all plastic and anything that even remotely looks like any kind of metal on my skin makes me break out in a mega rash, not nice. So.. a swatch.. the way to go. I also like the way they go mental with their watch designs so I bought one that so far only *I* like.. everybody looked at it and sort of politely hummed hehe..

Meet Funky Red Tie:


Well I love him anyway, he is my special friend!

Then onto Rotterdam Central where Karin (bless her) picked me up and took me to Dordrecht to a cafe where a friend was performing, very nice jazzy Norah Jonesie type music. Lovely.. Had a Shoarma (doner kebab I think they call that in the UK) at 0200 in the morning which is a must on a night out and.. I didn't faint once! :-)

Saturday was about doing shopping with THE family which was great, all of course to prepare for Christmas. Can't even for the life of me remember what I did Sunday, old age is a horrible thing. Probably tonight in bed I will suddenly remember!

Anyway, Christmas was great, Kevin has a girlfriend now (which of course immediately pushes me into the next generation, funny :-)) They were adorable together all over eachother like a rash all day :-) An impression:


And now it is 2007... my resolution for this year is to get my lenses sorted out, I have had this pair since end of 2001, worrying really, problem is I don't have any glasses anymore, I am so used to wearing them it gives me no problems. But.. when I took the bus to the airport I couldn't read the number on it and it was a guess if I was halting the right bus which was a bit embarrassing so I reckon my eyesight has deteriorated quite dramatically. Exciting.. I have an appointment on the 20th and need to be without lenses for 24 hours (yeah right as if that is going to happen!! ;-))

Still playing with my iPod, what a great little thing, totally discovered Christina Aguilera, I feel she brushed up and grew up and is now making grown up music which touches my heart, listen to 'The Right Man', 'Hurt', 'Oh Mother' but also 'Still Dirrty' :-)

Preferably REALLY loud with a lot of BASS which I can now do because we - very decadent - bought yet another Logitech Z2300 PC speaker set, now for in the lounge (we already had one in the room John always works in) so we can alternate our music sessions, love it!