Home Sweet Home

We are picking up the keys to our new house this week.

It's a beautiful double fronted terrace, built in 1908 - purposefully for senior engineers in the local shipbuilders. Very appropriate as my husband is now a senior comissioning engineer there.

I went for a good look round today with the agent. Big plans are forming in my head. The current owners have done a great job of decorating whilst keeping some original features. They have replaced the two fires, but have gone for Edwardian style replacements like this one:

I am wondering how my existing furniture, pictures, ornaments and .... cultural artefacts will fit (eg:

didgeridoo and Jack Johnson autographed hand painted

surfboard - I KNOW!)

I am thinking that we turn our guest room into a kind of travellers respite. I'd like to keep the TV in there too. We got used to not having one in NZ, but I want one here to watch movies on, and I can picture a nice 42" flat screen hanging on the wall with the surfboard hanging from the ceiling above. Although I may need to rethink this idea, as I am discovering the merits of letting my little girl veg in front of In the Night Garden while I get our bags and coats ready.

I do want to keep to tradition in the bathroom though. This is a true Edwardian bathroom

And this is a modern version which I love.

I am thinking I am going to be busy busy busy for the next year! And I am going to love every minute.

A taste of New Zealand in Cumbria

Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born.

I had such a lovely weekend. I met these friends in New Zealand and I realised this weekend that they played a big part of shaping who I was over there, and knowing that I can be that person here is great.

I showed them round my home town. Its always nice to see your own back yard through a tourists eyes. I remember now why I moved back to the UK. I really do live in a beautiful part of the country. My home town centre is not the nicest - especially with the credit crunch causing many more shops to close - but a 5 minute drive takes me to some amazing places.

Furness Abbey

Piel Castle

And, of course the beautiful Lake District.

We also found a little of NZ in a quaint village called Broughton. Its a small little market town, that dates back to the 11th century. There is a beautiful little cafe/bakery there, where you are guaranteed to get a good cup of coffee, and amazingly they had a sculpture of a NZ tiki on display.

We felt at home.

Sharing

I am touched that my friend shared this with me...

TODAY
Today, I will delete from my journal two days: yesterday and tomorrow. Yesterday was to learn from and tomorrow... well that will be the consequence of what I can do today.

Today, I will face life with the sure knowledge that this day will never return

Today, is the last opportunity I have to live intensely, as no one can assume that I will see tomorrows sunrise

Today, I will be brave enough not to let any opportunity pass me by, my only alternative is to succeed

Today I will invest my most valuable resource, my time in the most transcendental work, my life

Today I will spend each minute passionately, to make today a different and unique day in my life

Today I will defy every obstacle that appears on my way, trusting I will succeed

Today, I will resist pessimism and will conquer the world with a smile and a positive attitude of always expecting the best

Today, I will make of every ordinary task a sublime expression

Today I will take the time to be happy and will leave my footprints and my presence in the hearts of others, not just in the sands of time

Today, I invite you to begin a new season where we can dream that everything we undertake is possible and we fulfil that dream with joy and dignity

Today, why not perform a random act of kindness...?

And if there are those that you love, tell them, you don't know when it might be your last opportunity

Tell them, as I have just done.... today.

Kiwi pals

What a great day!
Old kiwi pals have come to stay - unfortunately due to sad circumtances, but it is lovely to see them. And so strange for them to be in Blighty!
We were all getting very excited about going to Asda, having curries and Englsh crisps. Then we got depressed at not being able to get decent coffee, and of course no surf. But, ah well - we all have to make sacrifices.
So tomorrow we are going to head out to the country (go bush) We are going to have a wee outing to Broughton, a beautiful market town with the best substitute Kiwi cafe we have found. Then its off to Swallows and Amazons country - better known as Coniston. Hopefully the weather will be fine so we can have a little paddle.

Seeing my pals has raised the big question - 'have we done the right thing, coming back?' There is no right answer. We have done the right thing now.

And thats probably the best answer.

I'm back in the world of blogging

I took a recent sabatical from blogging.
Firstly I was doing the hippie thing in a camper in Aus, then I moved back to England, and I didn't think it was 'the done thing.'
However, I missed it. Not that I really got into it. I kept on following other bloggers and wished I had the creativity to carry on.
So I decided tonight to really go for it.
I am not currently 'working' in the paid sense, although am discovering the hardest job in the world is also the most rewarding/fascinating/fun... So this can be my intellectual outlet of sorts. Thats the plan anyway.

Watch this space...

Milk, toxic chemicals and consumer choice gone mad.

I have been so stressed out recently.

Firstly the Chinese Baby milk situation has totally freaked me out, and I am so thankful that I have stuck with the breastfeeding (for so many reasons)

Secondly, I have just discovered the atrocity that is BPA. How I never knew about this, I don't know. There is a chemical in baby bottles (amongst other things) that is immensely toxic to humans, causing disturbances in hormones and increasing chances of diabetes and cancer.

Thirdly, I went to the supermarket to buy some milk last week and could not believe the choice. I normally buy from the organic store, but I was after hours so had to go to the "pretend market" (the type where all the apples are the same shape, size and colour, but don't actually smell like apples). Why is there a whole aisle dedicated to milk? Blue top, yellow top, pale blue top, red top, mans milk, extra calcium, calcitrim, protein enriched, energy milk, womans diet milk... not to mention the flavoured soy, rice and almond milks. I remember when my milk was delivered in the morning by the milkman, in a bottle with a silver top - totally ecofriendly as it was easily recycled, it was local ( I could see the cows that it came from out of my bedroom window), and my milkman drove an electric van. I just don't get it?

I am too tired to lead a great debate on this subject... but need to get it off my chest. You see, I just don't get it.

The great unknown...

Well, the house has sold!
So, there is definitely no going back now.

Settlement date is 10 October, and we depart the land of the long white cloud on 11 October - heading to Brisbane. The plan is to have 6 weeks in Australia slowly making our way from Brisbane to Sydney in a camper van (with a 5 1/2 month old baby? - yes, thats right!) We are getting excited, but at the same time I feel sick, nervous, confused, scared, sad.. is it possible to feel all those things at once? Of course it is - I am a woman.

NZ has been fabulous to me. I am eternally grateful for the opportunities and experiences I have had here. I have surfed, hiked, off roaded, SCUBA-d...eaten scallops caught fresh 2 minutes ago, caught and cooked my own snapper, grown delicious veggies and made beautiful pasta.
I have fallen in love again and again with my adventurous hubby who never ceases to amaze me - he is the most caring person in the world and I am so proud to have him as a best friend. And of course, NZ has given me my gorgeous wee girl.

Career wise, I would never had had the opportunities in UK that I have had here. Who would have imagined that when I left school with no idea of what to do, that I would end up being a bank manager...? A manager that broke the rules injecting creativity and care into the mundane world of finance. While other managers focussed on stats in their Monday meetings, I ran riot creating "service murals," "brand portraits," and watching Timon and Pumba. And it paid off (phew!)

NZ has been a grand adventure to us. We have made it work by truly "living for the moment." We used the FISH philosophy and have had fun everyday. If it wasn't fun, we changed it. If we couldn't control it we didn't worry about it. The plan is to continue like this in UK.... I can't help but worry about how this may go down. Will we be eventually 'voted off the island"? The big brother culture over there may not be able to cope with 3 born again free spirits.

My greatest fear is that we conform to the norm. Especially when it comes to raising Maya. In NZ it is fine to be a barefooted, baby wearing, breast feeding mother. I am what I consider to be a "balanced attached parent." Will this attitude be frowned on? Will I be told to wean? Will I be made to feel like I am spoiling my girl?
Remember, Kiwi, no one can make you feel anything, unless you give them your permission! I must be staunch, stand tall and ride on the wave of my mana (that's maori for power). I must envision the haka if I start to "feel" something other than ok. I must remember that although I am a Brit (and a proud one at that) I have had 6 years developing my kiwi spirit. No one can take that away from me.