Not sure if anyones mentioned this yet, but I thought I would, given McCain's fitlthy visage is below me as I write...

Nice to know theres no bills comimg in the mail, isn't it? God bless the NHS.

After three years in the states, I love the idea of getting sick in the UK. yes, you may die on a hospital bed, but at least teh buggers won't charge you for it...

I've been blessing the NHS since I got back (not that I have any complaints about the Canadian system). We had to take my little girl to the hospital again yesterday after she had more seizures and I must say she has been very well looked after. She's at home now and back to normal again.

Sorry to hear about the ongoing medical issues with your daughter, hopefully things will turnaround for her very soon. Best wishesxxx

Congratulations Elaine - you made it! I'm so sorry to hear about your sick little ones - what a terrible worry right as you were just getting your head together too after the flight etc.... It's been a while since i've been on here and I jsut spotted yor post and wanted to say Hi and congrats on your move back. Enjoy and let us know how it all goes/feels as time goes on xx

HI Elaine,

I was reading through this thread, it's great to hear how people get on once they're back in the UK, however, I'm really sorry to hear about your daughter. It's a frightening experience...my daughter had her first seizure at 9months and we had no clue what was happening to her, so I can totally relate, it's an awful thing to see your child endure. Is it 'fever' that is triggering them off. Please let me know how she is doing?
Regards Audrey

Blimey that sounds awful. Did you kids catch the bugs from the plane i wonder.

We've been in Dublin for 2 weeks now and we had similar probs with tax numbers and opening bank accounts. My aunt wrote a letter saying we were staying with her so thats how we got our PPS numbers. Once they arrived, 5 days later, we opened the bank accounts. We're currently waiting for them to arrive. My car salesman cousin has got me a great car for 2k off, trade price. We've found a quality duplex in Greystones we're just waiting for a reply as to when the couple in there are moving. They own it. All in all its quite smooth. Like you say the weather is brutal, especially up there but the quality of life here is superb. being able to buy food from butchers and grocers is excellent. The veg is amazingly fresh aswell. Forgotten how carrots were supposed to taste like.

Hope your kids recover quickly.

What is PPS numbers? Wondering if you're car salesman cousin has some contacts in the motor vehicle industry for my hubby, he's in that line of work, although has never worked for a boss, but will probably have too once we arrive in the UK?

Sorry not in UK im in the Republic. PPS numbers are tax numbers here in Ireland. My cousin is local here in Dublin. He wouldnt know anyone over there. Sure he'll get plenty of work, people loves their cars in UK.

I just read that your daughter had another seizure - I really hope everything is okay and that it's all temporary because of the bug she has. My eldest used to convulse and hallucinate when he had a high temp - every single time he got a high temp we had to go to casualty because we couldn't lower it ourselves and believe me we tried everything short of putting him in an ice bath - frightening when you can't 'fix' things without help from the hospital. Glad you are getting good care. BTW my eldest did grow out of it thankfully. I wonder if the seizures your daughter is experiencing are high temp related? Hopefully things are getting better now. Keep us posted xx

WELCOME HOME!!!!

Wow, you have had a rough start, haven't you? sorry to hear about your little ones being unwell...v.scarey!

What a lovely surprise for you at the airport with your OH being there.

Glad you found a new build and the rent sounds v.reasonable...I was thinking it would be more expensive to rent, but it seems not? I quess i've been thinking its 800+pounds to rent a house per month....

Look forward to the next update...and how the driving bit goes....good luck. and so glad you are back where u want to be

I've been following the rent prices for 3 bed homes since last year and the kind of prices I am finding for parts of Hertfordshire and Essex with a reasonable London commute are nothng below 1000.00 gbp
I was looking at parts of Sussex too and they were coming up a bit cheaper but then by the time we add on the expense of travelling to see family on the weekends we may as well spend it on a higher rent and live closer to them (not too close though!!! )

Do you look on rightmove.co.uk? I don't really know any other sites to check Rentals.

Hi Audrey

Well the little woman is doing pretty good right now but we had to start giving her a daily anti-seizure medication. Her seizures weren't related to fever so it looks like she has some kind of epilepsy. We've been through this before with our little boy, he's 5 now and was diagnosed with developmental epilepsy when he was 18 months. Luckily he seems to have grown out of. So just as he's due to stop taking his daily medication baby girl has to start.

So other than that things are going pretty well we are still unpacking our stuff and trying to convince our little guy that he really needs to get rid of some toys.

Good luck with the rest of the move - hope you managed to dodge the rain at the weekend.
The rent sounds pretty reasonable - the property bubble burst bug time at the beginning of the year, so house prices have been plummeting, but in some areas rentals have held up pretty well. Another 6 months or so is well worth the wait if you are going to buy - south east antrim slumped quite a bit I think.

Hi Elaine,
I've never heard of developmental epilepsy, if you have any links to any info. on it I'll be interested to read up on it. My daughter (now 6) is on Lamictin daily, and we hope and pray that she will outgrow her seizures - I can't stand seeing her have one! Her last one was in June last year. I'm happy to hear your son seems to have grown out of his seizures.
Good luck with the unpacking, before we make the move, I'll also be convincing my two to donate some toys......it's amazing how many toys they hold on too, and surprising they all fit into their bedrooms!!

hi jackie

love the weneth low aswell, not been there for years though. I am off to stockport on thursday for 5 days, going to try and get tickets for citys first home game but the way things are at city at the moment i dont think it will be a good day. Hows the house sale going?