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
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
