dgjamison

I am really shocked, had this idea it was agreat airline, just goes to show. How are you Keeping yourself? any word about that job? I really have been hoping all will work out for you, as I am in the same boat in a way, we will be staying with my daughters when we go back, but I like my own space and most of all my TV programes!!!! what they like I don't all these stupid reality shows, they are so good to us, but I really like my own privacy, so I know where you are coming from. GW things will work out for you and if you get your job you will be able to come back and visit us all I may be i n a caravan, but a place will be made available Good luck my good wishes are with you, and trust it all works out

Mummy in the foothills

Well add me to the shocked list I thought Virgin were the way to fly if I could afford it too.
I've had great flights with BA and Aer Lingus, good food and lovely cabin crew, and the flights went fast as they have the little TV in the seat and we watched films all the way, Dd watched the kiddie channel and had a wonderful time.

dgjamison

Mummy did you watch the golf today,.. really proud of Graham McDowell for winning, he is only the 5th non Americam to win this championship and him from N. Ireland so proud to get our little land in the news for all the right reasons are you anywhere near pebble beach, it did look cold which surprised me. Am really shocked at Virgin, does Branson still own it?

Mummy in the foothills

We are closer to Lake Tahoe and Nevada that the coast. Golf isn't something we've watched on TV although I did used to have some fun at the golf club at home in Wales.
Every time we've been to Monterey and Pebble Beach area it's been cold even in July, we take our jumpers with us.
Good for Graham McDowell winning

HighSpeedGrandma

Hello everyone.
Thank you for the lovely comments on my update. I am really wondering whether I should stop posting on the MBTUK thread because technically shouldn't I be posting in the Hong Kong thread? But I DO plan on going back to the UK after this trip, so I shall leave it up to you all to decide whether I should continue.

Well today it's June the..... whatever. I have no idea of the date.

The son in law was not working this weekend. That is one good thing for his wife, he is home every weekend. But he works a lot of hours during the week. He needs to support my daughters lifestyle.

She and I were out shopping the other day, buying a new baby buggie and I talked her out of buying an 80 quid baby bag thingie that she liked, just so that she can stick the nappies in it and carry it around with her when she takes little 'un out in his new buggy. I mean come on, 80 quid for a bag that has pockets for nappies and a separate one for lotions?

When I was a young mum and had to take the kids (along with their terry towelling nappies) out anywhere, I was lucky if I had a plastic shopping bag to carry it all in. Now all the mums want special designer baby bags. It's crazy.
Her hubby has now informed me I MUST go shopping every time my daughter goes, because I can reign her in somewhat.

He and I have always got along really, really well. We always have a good laugh. The other night we were in the kitchen doing the dishes. He was washing and I was drying, (they don't have any room for a dishwasher, and it's a rented house so they don't want to buy one), and I was unsure of where some items were meant to be put away.
I had a knife that didn't appear to go in the drawers or anywhere else I could see, so I asked him "Where should I stick this knife?"
He turned around, poked me in my tummy and said "there". Cheeky bugger.

Yesterday we all went out. We caught a different ferry from the one we usually use to get to Central, to go to a tiny town called Mung Woo, or something like that. We were going to buy the eldest grandson a new bike.It was a lovely ferry ride. A very old ferry tug boat. There were not a great deal of people catching it on this particular day, so everything felt very leisurely.
It was extremely hot and humid as usual, but with a lovely cool breeze blowing.
it was so hot your clothes stuck to you. Everyone had red faces and wet shirts. My daughters shorts were sticking to her in places she would much rather not have had them sticking to.

I wear baggy stuff so I was ok. I am getting rather used to everything sticking to me.

We arrived at this tiny town, if that's what it can be called, with ancient shops and locals selling novelties, sunglasses, hats, shorts and the like. Then right on the corner of one street there was a McDonalds and around the corner from that a pub that served a full English breakfast.

We passed lots of tiny fishing villages on the way over, and saw villagers wearing those hats that have nets covering their faces. (To keep the mosquitoes off them. Those things are relentless out here and 90% of us have legs and arms covered in bites). The rest obviously don't taste as good so they are bite free.

There are dozens of bike rental places in the town. The bikes were so old and rusty I am surprised they were even working machines. But biking is a huge industry/past time/mode of transport here. There were literally dozens of these rental places. And it doesn't matter what condition the bikes are in. They will still ride them.

We found a place that was stocked full of new bikes of every size, colour and style you could imagine and grandson found one that he liked. They let him ride up and down the pavement outside the shop to test it and after agreeing that was the one he wanted, we made the purchase. Or I should say son in law did.
He also purchased all the knee pads, elbow pads, helmets and other stuff necessary these days to ride a bike. And he bought a lock chain to lock it all up.

We decided to go and have a bite to eat and a drink at the pub that sold English food. While we were there son in law asked me if I would teach grandson how to work the combination to undo the bike lock.
The numbers were 1655. I spent a while teaching grandson how to work the combination and line the numbers up to unlock it.
Then son in law said to grandson, "You shouldn't have a problem remembering those numbers Alex. It is the year Nanny was born. 1655".

There was a British man sharing our table and he burst out laughing hearing that comment.
Son in law said "It's ok, it's the mother in law, I am allowed to say that".

The gentleman laughed and said "I gathered that". And they got chatting.

Son in law is hilarious and always coming out with cracks like that.

It was so nice at the end of the day to come back on the ferry, knowing that I didn't have to race around getting everything done because of work the next day. It is an amazing feeling to know that you don't have to go to work and the day is pretty much yours to do whatever you like with. I am not used to this.

Daughter has a new friend around this morning, who has brought her 2 young children over to play with Alex. I have come down to my room to give them some time to chat without me hanging around. I know I have only been here just under a week, and it still feels like I am on holiday. But that is part of the joy. Knowing that I DON"T have to leave in a couple of weeks and that I have many more weeks before I have to start worrying about work.

I had a lovely Skype date with hubby last night too. I miss him tons and he misses me too, but he is doing fine and said he is very happy that he can give me the chance to do this. And without him covering all the costs at home while I am unemployed I would not have been able to do this as easily as I am.

I will sign off now. Don't want to make Trotty tired again when she attempts (or not) to read this.

I really must start taking my camera out and getting some pics of the surroundings. I will do that if anyone is interested. I think you can post pics here right?

Bye for now.

trottytrue

HighSpeedGrandma..... Course you have to keep posting on here. We need to know how you are doing and like you said you will eventually go back to the UK. Love to read your post and not nearly as tired as working the garage sale yesterday.

Lestergirl... I will be out tomorrow, hubby going to Manchester for a proceedure. Nothing bag. Enough if I say he spent today on the loo......

The garage sale got me to thinking..... I was getting rid of lots of junk I have bought over the past few years and earlier. But I kept wondering if the fact that I kept on buying things made my husband think I was not serious about going home. When buy if you want to leave a place. I have bought furniture and household items and lots of knicks and knacks.

When our son came back from University and moved back in with us that was a big mistake. Then we waited for him to get settled and get his own place and that took him forever. 5 years to be exact. Always waiting for the right moment is wrong there never is the right moment. And do you think we hear from No.1 son very often. No..... So the moral of this story is make choices and do not go out and spend money make sure those around you know you have a plan in mind. Wish I had done that. Life goes on with or without us. I think if I had been more determined my family might have taken me more seriously. Not just my pie in the sky dreams.....

On a brighter note I have now cleaned out the attic have all my boxes marked down to 10. Today I cleared out all the ornaments I have put out as it looked like I was settling in again. They are all now boxed and labeled and those I dont want are either in my daughters pile or boxed ready for the Salvation Army. I took a look a the house our last realter sold, which was his own. He had hardly any personal items around just very crisp and clean. So thats what I am heading for. Its hard to get rid of some things but I figure if i take them back to the Uk who will want them when something happens to me. I have my favourite china and bits and pieces but thats it.

Drinks I can remember Gin and tonic..... I had a few too many and ended up really sick. I still cannot stand the smell of gin.....
Cherry B and cider. Made me really sick. My mother thought I was really ill throwing up blood. I left the basin in the bathroom before dropping onto my bed and the ceiling coming down and hitting me in the face I never got to the point of passing out just that awful feeling of the room going round and round, closing my eyes made it worse...... Never again. Oh to be young and foolish. Always got a taxi home and never made a habit of it.

DDL

Well done on the garage sale, trottytrue! Gosh, it is so much WORK, innit?

We'll be having what we hope is our LAST this week-end (will be our third). I don't think we'll "net" much, but it should be ridding us of the last-of-the-last.

I have become an expert in "piles" .... this pile gets shipped to England; this pile goes to Jennifer; this pile goes to J.B.; this pile goes to Goodwill; this pile goes to the road; etc. etc. etc.

Kids! In May 2009, my youngest daughter and her partner moved back to S.C. from Alaska. (This was before we made our decision to return to England.) The idea was they would live in the little apartment out back RENT FREE until they could get jobs, their own place, etc. Did any of that ever happen? NO! It was wonderful having her back for this past year (I had not seen her in 4 years) and getting to know her partner, but they flew back to Alaska last Sunday. That was a tough good-bye, but really, they brought it on themselves. They know what a great opportunity we gave them and they also know that they blew it. Ah well. "Youth is wasted on the young."

Hope everything turns out okay with your hubby today.

Easterndawn

I never even went into a bar until I was married to my first husband, my mom and dad were rather strict and my mom was a stickler for being prim and proper all the time. After my first marriage fell apart, I do remember one New Years when I had gone out with some friends, my daughter had returned home after a relationship break-up and because myself and my three boys were in a 3 bedroom house she slept with me in my room, on my water bed, this was the middle 80's. The New Years Eve Party was in a Country and Western pub in Saskatchewan and the drink of the house was a Prairie Fire, straight Vodka with hot sauce and then lite on fire. I remember getting home and and getting into bed, I remember telling my daughter to stay still, I remember the room spining and the the next thing I remember was waking up on the floor head down in the shag carpet, (I told you it was the 80's) with both my hands holding on to the carpet for dear life. I still had to cook for 10 people that day, oh my splitting head and my rolling tummy. Till this day can't stand the smell of Vodka

jasper123

Add me to that list too, I've used Virgin for my last 4 flights back to UK and I have booked with them to go home this time for good, and I have always had a very comfortable trip and the food was always great and the wine & booze just kept coming any time you asked for it, (economy class)
Very nice and helpful flight attendants,
leg room adequate, tv screen in front of seat/can choose any movie or program you want to watch,
And I like it too cause they fly non stop 6,000 miles from Las Vegas to Gatwick
Rodney.

jasper123

Hello High speed Grandma,
I have just been reading your old posts on your Naturalization thread,
WoW i had no idea that you went through so much stress to get your US citizenship,
My goodness it looks like from the time you mailed in your N400 application to the date of your Oath ceremony ------ it was one whole year!

That is shocking to say the least,
But I think that processing times vary so much depending on what part of the US you live,

I did post in February that mine was very fast, from date N400 mailed to date of oath ceremony ---- 9 weeks total, --- I live in Las Vegas, and I was so surprised that it took such a very short time, I consider myself very lucky,
No stress at all,

But anyway Grandma you have been a US citizen for a while now about 9 months I think, and you are right even if you did go through a long stressful wait, ---- it is sure a fantastic feeling when you take the Oath and you know you are finally a US Citizen, ---- even if we (ARE) moving back to UK and maybe not ever live in US permanently again, ---- good feeling just to have the US Passport you know ---- just in case!
Rodney.

Marmalade

Okay add me to the list of people...no, not the Virgin list, the other one...

The vodka list, of who will not be drinking vodka again. When I was a teenager I used to drink vodka and blackcurrant juice. One night I had one too many to say the least and threw up. What a sight, dark red colour everywhere. I will never touch vodka again, but still love the blackcurrant juice

trottytrue

The worst for me was boredom with drinks. I liked variety so I would jump from one to another, I learned my lesson on that one.
My Mum was also very strict even though I was in my twenties she would wait up till I got home. My boyfriend now my husband thought I was joking when I told him my Mother would be waiting for me to get in. He laughed and was about to walk into the house till he heard this voice from the deep shouting "Is that you, your late' Never seen someone move so quickly down the garden path

My boxes are all back up in the attic nicely marked and the kitchen and dining room look very bare but clean and neat. Dont know what its going to take to sell this place but I will do anything to get it sold apart from giving it away.

Everything went well with hubbys procedure. The nurse looked at me and said isnt it time you came in for yours. I thought to myself, not on your nellie.

Easterndawn...I laughed at you hanging on to the shag carpet

Easterndawn

Well, I can even laugh at it now, but for some reason if I were to see harvest gold shag carpet I think the room would start spinning again

HighSpeedGrandma

Hi Rodney.
Yes it was very stressful going the the citizenship app. I am positive they lost my file. Other people in my area went through the whole process in less than 3 months.
Still, it's done now. I don't have to deal with the INS any more thank goodness!
9 weeks is incredibly fast to get citizenship! I know AES1 went through the process fast too.

It IS good having the 2 passports. I have used both of mine. Interestingly, for me anyway, when I was leaving the US on this last trip they said I should use my British passport. Even though I had booked the flight with my American passport number.
That is because I was entering England but didn't have a return date to the US booked.
I do get confused occasionally on which one to use. I used the Brit one for Hong Kong because you can stay 6 months without a visa, but on a US passport you can only stay 3 months.

dgjamison

what a fantastic post, Ilove it, and so humourous You seem to be having the time of your life there, enjoy enjoy enjoy, you really seem to deserve it, and how great is it that you get on with your son in law, that must be so lovely for your daughter I get on with mine too thank god, but yours seems so natural, mine are lovely. but a little reserved when I'm there, maybe because I'm old fashioned, but I would love mine to be just as relaxed, going to definately work on that when I get homeI know what you mean, when I had my first 2 it was towelling nappies, washed everyday, and a plastic bag to carry them in, now the kids are buying all this stuff that to me is just a money making thing. Keep posting loving it Denise