dgjamison

Rodney, Father Ted was a tongue in cheek comedy about Irish priests, it was very funny, and although the clergy did'nt appreciate it too much, it was a number 1 hit here and in the uk, have to say beware if you come across it as the language can be a bit blue, the movie The Quiet Man was made in Ireland and John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara were the main characters, along with Ward Bond and Barry Fitzgerald, it again was a bit of nonsense about an american returning to his Irish roots, falling for local girl, and the hilarity of small village values, I personally loved it and it was very funny, I suppose it makes us Irish look a bit silly, but we can laugh at ourselves, and enjoy others laughing with us not at us I have tired to see if there are any re-runs but can't see any, will let you know if they come back, but as F&C has said the creator Father Ted himself sadly died suddenly a few years ago, he was not very old and is sadly missed. It has such a cult following, fans flock to the Island it was filmed on every year, by the hundreds, from all over the globe, I hope if you see it you enjoy it as some people don't enjoy it at all and take offence Denise

charleygirl

Irish Denise, although I am half Irish my dad was from County Meath..... i can beleive it, you probably caused those young men to be having a discussion like that for days involving the whole village, i can hear them now in the pub that night, Hey Seamus, now tell me the nearest............
I have 4 weeks today Sept 22nd till I leave for my 8 week trip...... can not wait.
I also got my citizen interview appointment yesterday, guess when for yes Sept 22nd at 11 a.m so i will be able to go to that ....... then I have to figure out wether to come back home here and grab my stuff or go to the airport from there, if it all over quickly i will come home otherwise if it is the 2 hours it says i will go straight to the airport....... in boston mass.

I hope every one is doing well, we have torrential rain and gale force winds, kind of like I am expecting at home........ aw HOME it will always be home......
Rodney you are the man!!!!!! It will take me 4 weeks to get through my basement, and that is conservative estimate.
Hope all the expats who are home are doing okay. JJ are you okay??
Trotty where are you? Must call you today if i can find the number.

charleygirl

Welcome Callowman........ lovely to have a new 50s thinking of going home, how long you been here?
I think renting is quite easy, well not from personal experience but some friends who just went back found they had a choice but you may need 6 months deposit.......good luck and jump on in here with us all. I guess the renting thing depends where you want to live.......any ideas in mind, where are you from?

cheers

I would hope for it to be easy but there is one thing that troubles me. It is customary in the UK for the landlords to require references. How do we do that if we have just come from the US?

sallysimmons

We'll cross over! I leave for my one-week trip on the 17th of September and return on the 24th. I'll wave to you!

How have your family been as the date gets nearer? Are they still OK about it?

aes1

HI EVERYONE - I AM STILL HERE IN MALTA

Now that I have your attention (I hope!), I haven't had a chance to get on this site for sooooooooo long, I am completely out of touch. If anyone can give me a brief summary of the plot and what main characters have been up to (you know, like a soap opera summary!!!), I would appreciate it!!! I tried to find where I had left off, but it must be tens of pages if not more, so I know it's an impossible task! And why have I missed out??? Just living life in Malta, the adventures continue..........briefly, to bring you up to date, in no particular order:

Met a guy (expat)- he moves to Turkey mid September

Finished TEFL course, decided don't really want to teach - too much stress!!!! Might have to do an A level English equivalency test to teach in Malta anyway.

Hotel job finished this week, sad but knew it was coming sooner or later. Now have to re think re teaching.

Cut back on walking and roaming around, tooooooooooooo hot - though not as humid as in Charleston and still mosquito free and beautiful sitting out every evening till 12 or 1 in morning.

Not getting enough sleep, see above.

Making more friends, male and female, visiting new places.

Son (in Oregon) coming to visit me in September on way back from wedding in Turkey.

August is culturally dead in Malta. Government only works in mornings if at all, whole month is one long siesta. Except for festas every weekend at different villages, which means lots of noisy fireworks, local bands playing old tunes, and angels and saints arriving on trucks and then lining the streets (these are giant statues, too weird!!!).

Opened a bank account and transferred dollars - am I really staying in Malta????? Who knows, not me!!

Had a day in Sicily (or did I tell you that already) on the catamaran, 1 and 1/2 hour ride.

Volunteer teaching a Maltese housewife how to speak better English. Supposed to help with English and children in girls' catholic school in October.

Joined Buddhist meditation group but stopped for summer.

Busy, busy, busy, having fun and not having a clue what I am going to do with the rest of my life, and do I really care????

Take care everyone, ciao4now, Anna

charleygirl

Hi sally, thanks for asking , well no one is asking anything much and so far no one has thrown a fit..... have no idea how they are going to be without me here.... maybe they will all grow up , dad included.......
Anna I can give a brief update
Poor ED had to quit the hotel, wasnt being paid all kinds of problems.
Rodney EMPTIED his garage of 12 years of stuff in one day, he worked morning til night.
Denise2 arrived safely on the QE2 and is having a good time so far, she has gotten a car and I think hubby has an interveiw.
Irish Denise, is settling down okay and got her imported car sorted.
Not heard from JJ for awhile,
High speed grandma still in Hong Kong and everything okay.....
These are just the ones who I know of who went back since I have been reading here.
Trotty has her house on the market but no luck yet as far as we know not see her for a while........actually going to call her right now......
Couple of new people have joined us.......

charleygirl

And it sounds like you are having a very good time hmmmmm Turkey eh??
Be great to have your son there to visit.
Dont worry too much about what is going to happen, not yet........just enjoy your new life.

Sally hope you have a good trip...... is hubby going with you?

Cigi

Yup, quote from wikipedia

"After the recording of the third series had been completed, Morgan intended to work on a new comedy series, based around two retired football players living in a small flat together. However, 24 hours after finishing the recording of the last episode of Father Ted, while hosting a dinner party at his south west London home, Morgan had a heart attack and died soon after in Hounslow, London, one month before his 46th birthday"

If you are into P2P you can download plenty of Father Ted. It's funny that I found out about "TheBox" (super P2P site) when I first came to this site a couple of years ago. I can now download as much sooper dooper British TV that I want. :-)

9 days to go before I fly to the UK for my vacation.

trottytrue

Hello everyone thanks for the kind thoughts. I have been sick my dear husband gave me some old cake that he found in the pantry. I have no idea how old it was. I knew when I ate it something was wrong with it but I am cheap and thought I cannot waste it I should have.. for a week I have been off colour. Dizzy and just not feeling right. Plenty of visits to the loo.... Off course when your not well everything seems worse. The estate agent paid a visit and the news was awful the housing market is not going to get any better and they think this Government is just making matters worse. Especially if they higher taxes in January. So will just have to hang in but as I said when your not well that news knocks you for six and you just want to throw the towel in but glad to say feeling better today and will just carry on as usual.

Charleygirl the reason I didnt call is because I cannot find your phone number. Glad you got your interview. If you get there early they might take you in sooner depending on who is in front of you. Make sure to let them know you are going to be away for 2 months as they might schedule you citizenship for while you are away.

ED..Glad to hear you are doing alright. Do you know where you are going to live in November and have you heard anything about the money the hotel owes you and hows your hubby.

Aces1.... Can understand why you havn't posted to busy for that. Just remember to pop in and keep us informed on how things are going.

Rodney.. glad you finished the garage now you can move on to the next job. Your Mum must be getting excited. I have been sitting with 20 boxes of books and decided which to keep and which to get rid of they where the ones I brought down from the attic. Trouble is I want to read each one. I have the number for a bookseller and I am going to call her tomorrow. I could sell them on Ebay but I really dont have the time with all the rest of the sfuff I have to do.

DDL..Hows it going back home how do you feel about it. Would love to know your thoughts. Once you are more settled. I loved your information on the boat. Sounded wonderful. Really gave plenty of information.

sallysimmons

Only the wealthy will pay higher taxes come January (guess your realtor falls in that bracket!). Unless your house is in the bracket likely to be bought by the very rich, the expiration of the Bush tax cuts won't make any difference to anything.

What is true is that the Obama administration created a tax incentive for people to buy houses and that helped to revive the housing market, but it expired a few months ago and the Republicans won't renew it.

So without government intervention, prices will fall until they reach their natural bottom. The only way to sell a house for the next few years will be to price it well below the other houses in your area.

Derrygal

Yes - we Irish can (and do) make fun of ourselves!! Father Ted is an extremely funny show but can be a little irreverent!! It is available on DVD from Amazon (and I assume other retailers). Another Irish show I loved was Ballykissangel (although it was a mixture of drama and comedy) I saw it on my local PBS station here in Ohio. I liked it so much I bought the DVDs to watch it again!

cheers

It is all relative.........sell your house below market and turn around and buy below market. Property taxes will be lower as a result.

aes1

Thank you so much for this update. I am going to try and at least read posts so I don't fall behind again! I hope to get back to sharing in October. Think things will have calmed down by them. I have had more fun and more adventures in the last 3 months here than I had in the last 5 years in the States! Just goes to show what a change of environment and resulting attitude can make!!

BTW How is Barb doing in Australia, anyone know? I did hear that Relocateme (left Canada, back to England, tried Australia) has returned to Canada to live!!! Bought a house and resettled there! Good to know she is finally happy, but what a stressful time to get to that stage. Do we 'pingpongers' ever know what we really want, or does what we want change with time and circumstance? Or is it our nomadic life that just confuses us because it offers so many choices? There is something to be said for being a 'hometown' girl/boy your whole life - must be much simpler!!!

So on to my day here in Malta: Off to Valletta this morning, returning German books/DVDs to the German/Maltese Circle. Trip to my local healthfood store ran by a man from New Zealand, then a cappuccino with a British expat and a local Maltese friend, followed by dinner with some South Africans. All on this small island!!!

Everyone take care, keep dreaming and wishing your dreams come true!

Easterndawn

Good Morning Trottytrue, Yes, I have a lovely flat with a balcony that looks onto the River Ayr. It is vacant now but they are leaving it that way until I finish my agreement with my present landlord. I did hear from ACAS yesterday they will take up my cause as there are actaully 6 others who are in the same boat as I. Hubby is doing okay, getting fustrated in regards to the house, we have had a few viewings but nothing has come of them.