bozandhelen
30th November 2005, 03:12 PM
Hi to you all!
Just thought I'd give you all a quick update on our situation (and making up for being a total lurker most of the time!!), the main reason is I currently have a 6 hour wait in HK airport and I've found an unattended UK mains socket convieniently next to a free wireless access point, not being one to look a gift horse in the mouth, here goes..
We've not sold the house, not even any viewers, market is definately flat, it is now on the rental market but as yet no takers. Bottom line is Helen and Alex are still in the UK while I fly out to (hopefully!) sort out work, accomodation, etc... - This bit was'nt supposed to happen!!
I Applied for a couple of jobs that finally came up in Nelson that I should have been well qualified for, the first one I got a rejection email an hour before I was due to fly to the airport :wah The second one I should know in the next 7 days. I really think that being in NZ has got to help more than anything else !!!!
The big adventure finally started last week..
I had a real good send off from work on Friday, everyone signed the card (an event in itself!) I got a portable 7 inch LCD dvd thingy as a leaving present and I was in the pub at 4PM with a decent crowd... Unfortunately I was out of my tree at 10PM and sprained my ankle in the pizza place on the way home (dont ask!) then like a prat promptly hobbled 1 mile home on it (without my pizza!)
Saturday was my first day ever being unemployed *and* I couldnt walk, I can tell you I was sh*ting myself that day!
Sunday was the day of my big leaving party, I decided to have an open house during the afternoon from 2PM to 6PM (Luckily I was hobling again by now) I expected most friends would just pop around say goodbye and go (in a staggered orderly manner) as it was everyone came at 2PM and we couldnt move in the house until I started kicking everyone out at 6PM, also we ended up with twice as much booze as we started, as everyone decided that a bottle of wine would be a nice leaving present.
Monday was a mad panic, cleaning remaining sports and outdoor stuff (Helen wanted no part of this bit!) while I did this she did my packing. I only had a 20KG allowance with Cathay but my wife asserted that as long as you stuck it all in the case you would be OK so we ended up with a 26KG monster I could hardly lift, a 12KG hand carry bag and a 7KG laptop bag. The evening was a bit emotional as me and the daughter put up the xmas tree and had a little heart to heart that daddy was going to find a really nice place where she could have a dog and a horse and everything would be much better and Santa comes on a surfboard because he's cooler than the UK Santa (Yes I lied about the horse and Santa but I might be able to pursuade Helen to have a dog at least)
Tuesday the lads from work turned up in a pool car after there last manager conveniently scheduled an IT visit to the Slough office :laugh , and we took a quick detour via terminal 3 (after fighting off the snow in Gloucestershire!)
It started going downhill when the check in girl reluctantly allowed my monster case in without an excess charge but told me to loose 5KG from my carry on for health and safety reasons (thanks Helen!) After an hour panicing which of my 500 underpants, Winter trouser collection, flowery beach towel set or the jumbo marmite was going to get thrown in the bin I came up with a cunning plan of putting everything in a large carrier bag, letting her weigh the case again with the carrier neatly hidden so she couldnt see it and then re-packing everything once I was out of sight.
After carrying said luggage all the way to HK on a completely packed plane, cattle class I can honestly advise people to TRAVEL LIGHT! My lastminute.com booking also completely screwed up my vegi request and there were no spare nosh (Ah well best not being a vegi in NZ anyway!)
And now I'm here with only 3 hours to go writing this drivel and eating my vegi noodles from the cheapest take away in the airport (Kings palace noodle shop HK$38 - I only changed a fiver!). Yes I know I could go and look around HK but I lived here for 4 years and there is no way I'm going to mess around with this luggage without a pet Yak or an anti-gravity machine. A bed or a shower would be really nice at this point and I pity the poor schmuk who gets the seat next to me! :exit
I am just so glad I have somewhere nice to live for the next few months and I am going to SO spend tomorrow in the shower and bed and then spend the next week or two chilling like an eskimos drink cooler before the big push enevitably starts.
Anyway, must go and oggle the electronics duty free shops, just to see what I'll be missing when I'm watching my 3 channels on my gas powered TV... Good luck to all those moving in the coming months, I'll be reading your posts more closely and hopefully they will all start to mean something now!
Boz
Just thought I'd give you all a quick update on our situation (and making up for being a total lurker most of the time!!), the main reason is I currently have a 6 hour wait in HK airport and I've found an unattended UK mains socket convieniently next to a free wireless access point, not being one to look a gift horse in the mouth, here goes..
We've not sold the house, not even any viewers, market is definately flat, it is now on the rental market but as yet no takers. Bottom line is Helen and Alex are still in the UK while I fly out to (hopefully!) sort out work, accomodation, etc... - This bit was'nt supposed to happen!!
I Applied for a couple of jobs that finally came up in Nelson that I should have been well qualified for, the first one I got a rejection email an hour before I was due to fly to the airport :wah The second one I should know in the next 7 days. I really think that being in NZ has got to help more than anything else !!!!
The big adventure finally started last week..
I had a real good send off from work on Friday, everyone signed the card (an event in itself!) I got a portable 7 inch LCD dvd thingy as a leaving present and I was in the pub at 4PM with a decent crowd... Unfortunately I was out of my tree at 10PM and sprained my ankle in the pizza place on the way home (dont ask!) then like a prat promptly hobbled 1 mile home on it (without my pizza!)
Saturday was my first day ever being unemployed *and* I couldnt walk, I can tell you I was sh*ting myself that day!
Sunday was the day of my big leaving party, I decided to have an open house during the afternoon from 2PM to 6PM (Luckily I was hobling again by now) I expected most friends would just pop around say goodbye and go (in a staggered orderly manner) as it was everyone came at 2PM and we couldnt move in the house until I started kicking everyone out at 6PM, also we ended up with twice as much booze as we started, as everyone decided that a bottle of wine would be a nice leaving present.
Monday was a mad panic, cleaning remaining sports and outdoor stuff (Helen wanted no part of this bit!) while I did this she did my packing. I only had a 20KG allowance with Cathay but my wife asserted that as long as you stuck it all in the case you would be OK so we ended up with a 26KG monster I could hardly lift, a 12KG hand carry bag and a 7KG laptop bag. The evening was a bit emotional as me and the daughter put up the xmas tree and had a little heart to heart that daddy was going to find a really nice place where she could have a dog and a horse and everything would be much better and Santa comes on a surfboard because he's cooler than the UK Santa (Yes I lied about the horse and Santa but I might be able to pursuade Helen to have a dog at least)
Tuesday the lads from work turned up in a pool car after there last manager conveniently scheduled an IT visit to the Slough office :laugh , and we took a quick detour via terminal 3 (after fighting off the snow in Gloucestershire!)
It started going downhill when the check in girl reluctantly allowed my monster case in without an excess charge but told me to loose 5KG from my carry on for health and safety reasons (thanks Helen!) After an hour panicing which of my 500 underpants, Winter trouser collection, flowery beach towel set or the jumbo marmite was going to get thrown in the bin I came up with a cunning plan of putting everything in a large carrier bag, letting her weigh the case again with the carrier neatly hidden so she couldnt see it and then re-packing everything once I was out of sight.
After carrying said luggage all the way to HK on a completely packed plane, cattle class I can honestly advise people to TRAVEL LIGHT! My lastminute.com booking also completely screwed up my vegi request and there were no spare nosh (Ah well best not being a vegi in NZ anyway!)
And now I'm here with only 3 hours to go writing this drivel and eating my vegi noodles from the cheapest take away in the airport (Kings palace noodle shop HK$38 - I only changed a fiver!). Yes I know I could go and look around HK but I lived here for 4 years and there is no way I'm going to mess around with this luggage without a pet Yak or an anti-gravity machine. A bed or a shower would be really nice at this point and I pity the poor schmuk who gets the seat next to me! :exit
I am just so glad I have somewhere nice to live for the next few months and I am going to SO spend tomorrow in the shower and bed and then spend the next week or two chilling like an eskimos drink cooler before the big push enevitably starts.
Anyway, must go and oggle the electronics duty free shops, just to see what I'll be missing when I'm watching my 3 channels on my gas powered TV... Good luck to all those moving in the coming months, I'll be reading your posts more closely and hopefully they will all start to mean something now!
Boz