i was wondering about u you too! Glad all is going well for you
Does anyone know about crispyuk too?
My dog is happier too
best wishes
c

pmsl

How can you tell your dog is happier. Is it wearing a silly grin like this

No, she is rolling in dead animals and horse poop.

there ain't nothing better than a roll in horse pooh to start the day off

I can see my dog getting excited at the prospect. She find eating posspom pooh a little boring now

Are you using a guide book that show's you the foot paths. I have to say that I am looking forward to going out for a walk without seeing the No Dogs or Cats Permited signs! They seem to be everywhere here

Dont we just really cheers me up.

pmsl too (but couldnt think of a comeback quick enough!)
seriuosly though, its one of the funny things you will notice. its true what they say about it being a nation of doglovers. he plays with other dogs without them trying to beat him up all the time cos theyre properly walked and socialised here.
also, to stop him being bored if i go to tesco or something i leave him in the car in the carpark for a change of scenery/bit of company so he has more things going on in the day. i could never do that a lot in oz as the car wouldve got too hot and been cruel.
mind you, i do spoil him
c

dunroving,
good to read that everything went well. we're counting the days ... plane goes sept 2nd.
all the best,
ralph.

dunroving

glad to hear you have settled into the valleys! shame this wasnt this time last year - would have let my place go to you for an excellent price

ps the golden dragon (think thats what its called) in nelson does the best chips ever. seriously, ive had chips all over the place and they are yum. and a good pub (so long as you dont mind mixing with your students) is the pick and shovel in treforest (by dominos pizza) - they do yummy veggie food and great pub quizzes tuesday night...

still don't miss it though...

(ok only the chips... and the pub quizzes )

Pleased to read that things are going okay for you.
I can't wait to get home with my dog and beable to let her off the lead without worrying whether there is something nasty in the grass that will bite her.

We are now going through the process of selling the business. We have accepted an offer and the date for everything to go through will be the 16th October.
As most of you know, my husband and I are splitting up, and quite honestly the time for the final curtain can't come quickly enough now. I have over the past 18 months been a free agent anyway.
I have bought a beautiful 38 ft mobile home and having it put on my daughters farm back in Lincolnshire.
So, hopefully by November I and my dog are going to be a lot closer to that flight back home.

Whisky

Well, sorry all that I reappeared only to disappear again! Turned out the wireless signal I tuned into was less than reliable, as were BT, who realy dragged their heels. But anyway, this evening I started receiving service and have just finished setting it all up. Due to the fact my phone jacks and power points are in weird places (in particular, there is no power point anywhere near the phone jack!), my phone cord is currently jerry-rigged over the kitchen door. Suzy (dog) was looking at me as if to say what the heck are you up to now?

It's now about 5 weeks into everything and going through a bit of a lull, it's easy to let all those niggly little things add up and get you down. Stupid stuff like where the heck do I go to buy a newspaper on a Sunday morning and why do the shops seem to close down just as I get there (duh, now I get it - I'm no longer in the land of 24-7-365 shopping). And why do I have to pay 55 quid a month for unmetered water when I know I don't use more than a couple of gallons a day?

Still stacks of things in boxes and so many things left to tie up over in the US. Now that I have internet however I can actually make some phone calls. And now I have a printer I can actually send some letters. I feel like I've been in limbo for 5 weeks, like my life has been on hold. My bikes are still in boxes becaseu I have nowhere to store them if I take them out and build them up. Plus Human Resources at my new place are killing me, they are so crap and so frigging stubborn. First they tell me I have to complete a probationary year which is complete bullshit as I've been teaching for 20 years, have multiple teaching awards, have already completed TWO probationary periods for teaching in the UK, have come from a senior teaching position, blah blah. Now they are telling me I can't stick with my old pension scheme, which again is BS because there are several people here on the same scheme, I was told at interview I could stay with them, blah, blah. They seem to be jumped up little jobsworth twerps. And to cap it all, they have the "Investor in People" designation. Amazing!

Do I sound bitter?

I would say probably the biggest thing I have had to get used to is the price of frigging houses. I mean, I knew it all along, but the reality of looking at houses that are half the size, on a plot that is one quarter of the size, for about 3 times the price in the US is killing me. I have to work really hard not to get angry that prices have gone up so much and so quickly since I was here last, while prices where I was in the US have done nothing. I've really had to bite my tongue a couple of times recently when people here were bitching about their mortgage (I'm talking about people living in 400,000 pound houses with a 10-year old mortgage for maybe 80,000 pounds). Get a clue, people! Be thankful you are not starting out!

All right, bitching session over for now. I'll submit this and then post something a bit more positive.

hey good to hear from you....if you're renting then this wont apply however if you've bought then i think the water companies will change you over to a meter for free, they are still doing that in our area anyway (surrey).

hopefully you're feeling better now you've had a good old moan, works wonders

sounds like you and suzy need to set off for one of those good long walks you've talked about, cheers and take care

OK, got that out of my system.

I must say it's been a bit difficult lately. I think it can be harder when you are by yourself, as there's no-one else to take up the slack occasionally and do some of the jobs that seem to take forever to sort out.

On a more positive note .... it is great to walk the dog off-leash in the fields twice a day, watch good documentaries on TV (though I can't get cable here - not even Freeview - oops there I go complaining again). And the weather has been wonderful. I mean, it has been raining and all, but the temperatures are so much more bearable than NC this time of year.

Have to reply to some posts from since I was last here:

Scout - would love to catch up for a beer sometime. I was in Bargoed a few weeks ago, stopped in there on a tour of the valleys to use the internet in the local library, and my sister-in-law had her hair done there. She said they were so friendly, but so nosy! That was hilarious. I think they were asking her about kids (she has none, which is a bit of a sore point). I have been looking at houses not far away - Nelson, Ystrad Mynach, Quaker's Yard, etc.

Woody - I bought several Ordnance Survey maps to find walking routes (Landranger or Explorer are good enough for general exploring, with Explorer having more detail). Pathfinder are even better (though you'd probably have to order them online), for fantastic detail of a small area. I'm going to get one for the Caerphilly area as I'll be doing most of convenience dog walking here for at least the next 6 months.

Zoe13 - thanks for the tip. I'll definitely head up to Nelson for those luvverly chips!

Heart of Gold - thanks for the PM, I'll respond either tonight if I can stay awake, or tomorrow a.m. Coincidentally, I was in the Pemberton area a few weeks ago, some gorgeous little villages around there.

I must say that knowing I'd be going through ups and downs (I've moved enough times to know how it is) makes it easier to rationalize. I remember being pretty miserable in Scotland during about months 2 through 4, but I absolutely loved it there eventually and would go back there tom orrow - if the houses weren't ridiculously expensive!

OK, night all ...

Dunroving........the further up the valley you head from Caerphilly the cheaper the houses........but stay on the train line.

55 pounds a month for water is too high for Caerphilly Council. Call and check on that. Ours is only £30.64 a month. Tell your sister to avoid the Tesco in Ystrad Mynach........cause they want your life story at check out......also Valley Vets in Ystrad Mynach is great if your furbaby needs a check up and they have Emergency Vet services 24/7 for the nights and weekends (it's pricey though for the Emergency Services).

I can only get better mate.
As for Investor in People awards - the hr depts are allowed to submit their own entry on paper - if they get through that stage they can chose people who the award people will come out and interview - my old place got them for training and i never attended one training class there in 3 years despite repeated requests - to be honest i see IIP as a bad sign - if they put the effort in to get the award its most likely to cover up deficiencies in the work they actually get paid to do.

Enjoy those dog walks.

I'd echo the IIP comments - my old UK workplace used to make a big thing about job appraisals every 6 months and training commitments for all staff, but in the end as long as they could tick the boxes on the IIp sheets, that was as far as most things went. If anyone did get training as a result of IIP, it was usually someone from an "ethnic minority" (god I hate that phrase - I used to argue that my Welsh heritage made me eligible!!) or similar so-called "disadvantaged part of the community"