Letter from Royal Leamington Spa: 3 of 2009

My dear family & friends

We’re in our new home and we’ve mostly settled where everything must go. Although the house is much bigger than our previous home, there isn’t that much more packing and hanging space. Indeed, there never seems to be enough packing space wherever we go. I think architects should be trained to draw in the cupboards first whenever they design a new home. And no salmon pink carpets either; they are entirely impractical highlighting every last speck of dust, lint or dog paw. I know it’s more difficult in winter, given that everything is wet and muddy, but I have to wipe the dogs' paws off every time they’ve been outside. It was easier at our old home where the entire downstairs floor area was covered with wood and tiles; no such luck here.

Apart from those minor gripes, we really like the house. It feels so much more spacious and it gets plenty of light as it is directly south facing. There’s a school playing field on the other side of the fence which enhances the feeling of spaciousness.

The move went off without a hitch. Well, mostly. I dropped a chair on my face. I don’t quite know how I managed it, so I clearly wasn’t concentrating. The sitting chair in question belonged to Lucia’s grandparents, I think, and is trimmed with heavy carved wood. It was this carved wood at the top of the backrest that came directly down on the bridge of my nose, skinning it and leaving a fairly deep gash (for a nose) down about half the length of my nose. I was not happy. Suffice to say though that it is healing very quickly. I would have liked to take a picture of it to put up on the web as proof of the seriousness of the injury, but our camera had been playing up and finally stopped working. What I mean to say is that I bought a new camera yesterday; it’s a Canon Digital Ixus 82IS.

That the move went so smoothly though (apart from the nose incident), was entirely due to Richard’s help. (Richard’s partner Ann worked with Lucia at MillwardBrown in SA.) I hired an extra-long wheelbase Mercedes panel van for the day and employed a burly Portuguese labourer through Helder at the Pastelaria Portuguesa. Richard came to help, but quickly assumed the role of director of operations. His expert direction in packing the van and manhandling and moving furniture made the difference. I was, for instance, expecting that the sleeper-couch would present a problem because the “professional” movers had struggled with it when we moved into the house last March. Richard and Lino (the Portuguese helper) had it out of the house and into the van in a matter of minutes when I wasn’t looking. We moved the house in three trips.

That was Friday. Lucia and I spent most of Saturday cleaning the old house, and Sunday fitting in to our new house. On Monday morning I hired a Rug Doctor carpet cleaning machine and cleaned the carpets at the old house. The landlord came to inspect the house at lunchtime, pronounced his satisfaction and called the estate agents to release our deposit.

As you can imagine, the move has dominated our time over the past two weeks and we haven’t done much else. I think I’ve managed to change all the services we need and register our change of address with the people that need to know: there’s Warwick District Council for council tax; Severn Trent for the water supply; NPower to cancel our gas and electricity account at our old address, and Scottish Power to open accounts for our new home; then BT for the phone line and broadband service; SKY of our satellite TV; HSBC for banking and our credit cards and home insurance (still to do); Royal Mail to forward our post; Honda for car insurance (still to do).

Changing the address for SKY was enlightening. I discovered that apart from all the electronics to decode the satellite signal in decoder box, there is also a global positioning (GPS) device so the box will only work where it’s registered to work. So when you move and you plug your box in, it recognises the change of position and stops working. You have to call SKY, register the new address and wait for instructions to come via satellite to “unlock” the box. That’s sneaky. What’s it to them where I’m watching so long as I pay my monthly bill?

In between times, Lucia and I have really enjoyed watching Oz Clarke and James May’s “Big Wine Adventures” in France and California which I downloaded from the internet. It’s not often that our viewing tastes merge, so it’s been an extra pleasure. They’re informative and funny; I would certainly recommend them if you enjoy a glass of wine.

Let me also note that another milestone in this adventure of ours passed today; we’ve been here exactly a year. It’s hasn’t been the easiest year, but it has been interesting. I know it’s a cliché but I have to say that the time has spun by so fast my head feels dizzy.

That’s it for now
Love, light & peace
Llewellyn

Letter from Warwick: 2 of 2009

My dear family & friends

We’ve found a place to stay, and we’re moving this Friday. (Surprised? I thought that might give you a bit of a jolt!) Well, that’s if we can get the lease signed in the next day or two. I’ve just been on the phone to the estate agent who is apparently ill today; the boss is away on holiday and there’s nobody else available to take care of the lettings department. After a couple of phone calls the “Temp” assistant assured that it will all be sorted out tomorrow morning and I’m sure it will be, but I still find the apparent lack of urgency to seal the deal and get the contract signed really rather strange. I come from a different environment.

At least we’ve found a place that we like though. It happened like this: we went around to a couple of estate agents just after New Year and found one place that we quite liked the look of in our price bracket. Originally the agent said we would only be able to view the house in the new week, but we drove past it the next day and noticed that it was empty; moreover, it looked rather nice. So we went back to the agent and asked if we could view it right away. It’s in north Leamington (which is a really nice area), it’s got four bedrooms and is quite a bit larger than the house we’re in now. There is a school sports field next door and the main living areas are directly south facing which means that it’s got lots of light. Even better though is that rental prices have been dropping quite sharply amid the Credit Crisis, and we’ll be paying less rent than we are now. We‘re quite excited and looking forward to the move.Lucia spent most of the weekend packing the kitchen while it was my turn to get ill with a tummy bug.

We intend to do the move ourselves. There really isn’t that much to move; it’s a couple of beds, sofas, tables, chairs, desks and lots of boxes. I’ve found a place to hire a big van here in Leamington Spa, and I’ve arranged to get a burly Portuguese helper through Helder at the Pastelaria Portuguesa. We’ve also received a few offers of help which I may well be calling on. Certainly by this time next week we expect to be firmly ensconced in our new abode although I will have to spend a day or two cleaning carpets and touching up around our current house.

Otherwise, as I noted last week, it’s been really cold. Let me put this in terms that I know that my South African compatriots will understand; the beers were colder outside than they were inside the fridge in the garage. The INSIDE of my car’s windscreen was frozen over with ice. Our neighbour’s car door was frozen closed and needed boiling water to persuade it to open. The more water I poured on my car, the more ice I made. The canal froze over with a layer of ice thick enough to sustain the weight of school children playing chicken with each other. And I have to assume that it was the same schoolchildren who tossed the logs, bricks, flower pots, fencing, shopping trolleys, to let signs, for sale signs, a microwave oven, an old television set, other assorted electronics, the remains of a moped and other crap onto the canal. One of our neighbours tells me that someone inadvertently left a lounge suite behind on the ice under similar conditions a couple of years ago. Fucking heathen.

Pathways became skating rinks. The pond in St Nicholas Park, near the lair of the vicious vermin swans, also froze over. I cautiously followed other footsteps out onto the ice dragging Edgar behind me. He was really, really not keen on the idea; Hazel, on the other hand, thought it was an absolute lark and was happy to chase smells across the ice. I got a really beautiful picture of her on the ice which you can see in the usual spot at http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/llewellynijones. The light looks like it’s late afternoon. It’s actually just after lunch.

I also had an unfortunate accident de-icing my car. While I was trying to get the ice off the inside of my windscreen, my knee must have recklessly pressed the button to open the sunroof. I only discovered this after I had thrown six or seven buckets of water at the car. Well, to be honest, I only discovered it when I sat in the water and started the engine. I looked around me in that sort of puzzled way and wondered why trousers felt so wet. It took me a while to look up at the clear blue sky when I should have been looking at a sunroof.

Of course driving in these conditions can get quite interesting, particularly after the lightest dusting of snow; everything turns to ice. You can feel the ABS toggling the brakes every time you touch the brake pedal.

We haven’t had many adventures between illness and looking for a place to stay. We did, however, go down to Broadway in the Cotswolds last weekend specifically because Lucia wanted to see what was on sale at shop there called the Edinburgh Woollen Mill. And it was just as well that we did; Lucia managed to pick up a waterproof winter jacket at a giveaway price. (We really should have bought more winter wear at Cape Union Mart before we left South Africa. I’m sure Lucia has to bite her tongue not to say “I told you so.”) Although it was freezing, the sky was clear and we basked in the sunshine over lunch on the terrace at the Swan Hotel. We took a long, looping drive home through the Cotswolds via Stow-on-the-Wold, Chipping Norton and Banbury.

Let me leave it there
Love, light & peace
Llewellyn

Letter from Warwick: 1 of 2009

My dear family & friends, 1 January 2009

Lucia and I celebrated the New Year fast asleep. The dearly beloved is recovering from pinkeye and a bout of flu and was disinclined to go out on the razzle to welcome in 2009. I concurred; I really don’t like being around large crowds of people. I saw on the news that 180 000 people gathered on The Embankment and around the London Eye for a party and to watch the fireworks at midnight, and in Edinburgh over 100 000 people gathered to celebrate Hogmanay. I’m glad I wasn’t in either place. We drove down to London on Tuesday evening to see the city’s Xmas lights, and dodging the crowds down Oxford and Regent Streets was enough for me. The assault course at Infantry School in Oudtshoorn was easier and a lot more pleasant. And London’s lights were crap. If you really want to see fantastic Christmas lights, go to Lisbon. We did that two years ago and it was like strolling around in Wonderland at night; Lisbon puts on the most amazing yuletide show. (See Flikr) To add insult to injury, parking for the afternoon and evening in London cost us £33, not to mention the £8 Congestion Charge for straying into central London. Taking the train would have been cheaper, but that always holds the evening hostage to the train timetable.

The evening was rescued by an excellent dinner with Johan and Linda at an Italian restaurant just off Brompton Road in Knightsbridge. Our conversation focussed largely on the financial markets and the difficulties of settling in a foreign culture. We didn’t solve either of these conundrums. Our satnav took us home the same way it brought us into London through Knightsbridge and Hammersmith, although by that time in the evening the roads were clear unlike the journey into London. What the satnav couldn’t foresee was the fog which beset much of our journey home. I actually find driving in fog and at night quite easy; my theory is this – just wait for a car to come past you that is going at the speed you want to go, and then follow his tail lights from 50 to 100 metres away and do whatever he does. Let him drive the road; you should be able to avoid all hazards so long as you keep a reasonable following distance.

We spent Xmas with Andreas, Michelle and (daughter) Natasha in Peterborough who surpassed themselves both in their generosity and with a magnificent roast turkey spread. (You can see pictures in the usual place at http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/llewellynijones.) We chatted on late into the evening gathered around a couple of bottles of wine and roast turkey sandwiches until retiring to bed. Edgar let the family name down a bit , first by being rather unfriendly to Oscar (Andreas and Michelle’s Tibetan terrier), and then by barking at the cat in the night.

We haven’t really done much other than that because Lucia fell ill, though we have started going around the estate agents looking for a new place to stay. We found one house that we like the look of so far and I’m going to view next Tuesday. Our landlord’s brother said that they won’t hold us to the end of the lease if we find another place to stay. It seems that he’s going to be moving in. Well, so long as they have sorted out what they want among themselves, that’s fine by me. We had him around here on Monday when the water pump on the washing machine stopped working. He asked me several times if it was just blocked, and I assured him that it wasn’t. So you can imagine that I felt a touch embarrassed when his handyman pulled a plastic dog poo bag out of the pump. (This was after he had already bought another water pump for the machine.) The machine now works as it should again and I’ve learned how to disassemble and reassemble a washing machine water pump, so I definitely gained something from the experience.

On the Sunday before Xmas we went to a midday drinks party with Rodger and Judith Foster at their home in the country near Ludlow in Herefordshire. The Foster’s are parents to Charles Foster who is the MD of MillwardBrown in South Africa and was Lucia’s boss. It’s one of those twists of fate that they also knew Lucia’s parents through a neighbour who used to go to school with Lucia’s mother. Lucia’s parents showed them some hospitality a number of years ago and they were eager to return to the favour. They live on a hill on 30 acres of land with a gorgeous view south. We stayed on for lunch afterwards to talk about old times, new times, South Africa and resettling.

The only Xmas entertaining we did was having one of Lucia’s colleagues, Rebecca, and her partner, David, over for dinner just before Xmas. The event was quite memorable in that I managed to burn the rice although we were able to save enough to join the chicken stirfry I cooked. The dogs ate the burnt bits. The pot was a real bitch to clean though and took plenty of scouring with lemon and vinegar (an old trick that our maid, Gloria, taught me in Cape Town.)

The days are getting appreciably longer now that we’ve past the solstice, thank goodness; it’s a bit depressing when it gets pitch dark by 16h15 in the afternoon. That said, the weather had been particularly mild until a couple of days ago; I was walking the dogs wearing a thin jersey. But an arctic wind ended that just after Xmas and the birdbath has frozen over again. Walking the dogs requires several layers of clothes to keep warm. I was thus very disappointed when one of my favourite jerseys (British: pullover) came out of the wash several sizes smaller than when it went in. Lucia, on the other hand, is thrilled because it fits her now. Reading the cleaning label after we’d washed the jersey we noted that it did have a strict “Dry clean only” instruction. If we’d noticed that when we bought it, we wouldn’t have bought it.

And talking of buying things, we bought a new television. That’s the royal “we” as I’m sure Lucia would hasten to point out. It was a really good price on sale at the Sony shop, plus it came with a five year warranty. It’s a 32inch LCD which looks a lot bigger in our sitting room than it did in the shop. In fact, it’s bigger than the mirror. Lucia said the big screen was much nicer when she traipsed downstairs from her sick bed to admire our new purchase, but seemed to retract the sentiment this afternoon when she said that she said that so that I wouldn’t feel bad. Our next home has to have a big living room to fit the TV set. I’m consoling myself with the fact that it’s bigger, better and smarter than our previous TV (which I bought at Audiolens at Canal Walk in Cape Town), but at half the price. South Africans really do get screwed by the import duties on electronic goods.

Now that Lucia is feeling better we can comb the sales for her Christmas present.

And talking of bargains, a new Lidl supermarket has opened around the corner from us. Lidl is one of the German super discounter supermarkets. Nearly all the contractors on the project were German and it took them just over two months to build the store from when they started digging the foundations till the day the doors opened for business. I’ve been there a few times now to test their goods, and I have to say that I’m really impressed. The sort of quality they’re offering at the price they’re offering is a real bargain. No wonder Tesco, ASDA and Sainsbury’s are running scared; they should be particularly given the current economic climate.

Wishing you all a glorious 2009
Love, light & peace
Llewellyn & Lucia