How things have changed!

Well wouldn't you know it....things have certainly changed...

After getting contract work for a short while, My husband had to move back down to the London area, the contract kept getting extended, but because of him being sent to Germany and the cost of a mortgage, plus his boardings, the flights to come home, the cost of the expenses while he was away, and the dream of emigration to Canada for more land, it worked out so much cheaper for me to give up my dream of the small holding in Scotland, and move back down to Midhurst from where i had once left.

We rented our house out to a lovely friend and her son. My own son came up with his girlfriend and helped paint the outside of the house as well as help me pack up boxes, and he help my friend move into the house from where i was leaving.
We had a fancy dress leaving party in the barn to say goodbye to our friends, there was a few tears, mainly from me, a few giddy heads that night too, again mainly from me, it was a very emotional night.

The following day the storms arrived, some of the hard work we had put into the garden, got destroyed, it was so disheartening, especially as i was leaving Scotland with a very heavy heart.
The archway i had put together and stained, and my husband had bolted to a concrete floor, was destroyed and about five feet away from its original position, that was the Monday night, again i wanted to cry.

The Tuesday we collected the van, collected a mates son and his mate, and loaded up the van ready, only to find, that although it was the biggest van that my husband could drive on his licence, it wasn't big enough, and we would have to leave some of our things behind for a while, we sorted out essentials and packed them, leaving non-essentials behind, later that evening, we said our goodbyes and left for the long journey back down south.....during which, we stopped at regular intervals to let the two dogs out for a pee now and then.

The dogs were brilliant during the journey, even though the space for us all was cramped, they didn't whine, and just settled down under my feet, the cat was beside me in her basket with coats and dog leads on top, in fact my husband had the best seat even though he was driving, he had the most space!

My son helped us move into a little rented mid terrace, town house, in a very neat little close... the garden out the back is the size of a postage stamp in comparison to the house in New Byth, with the front garden being smaller still. Getting used to stairs again was a bit strange at first, and Katie the Spaniel refused to go up at first, until of course she couldn't see me then she changed her mind.

Ghillie had managed to tear his paw at some point, so we had visited the vets within the first few days, and the poor dog is now drugged up to the hilts.

Well this is it, the end of a chapter.....well for now. After the amount of time, effort, and money, let alone the paperwork and events we have had to attend to be able to emigrate, we hope we can, its taken over a year and they can still say 'no'.... so i will write again at the next chapter, whether its in Canada, with a new life.....or back in Scotland with a slightly different life...either way, we will have livestock again, and maybe a small business to go with it, but will tell you about it all next time.

Another Addition

No matter what we do we just cannot seem to give Ghillie the exercise he needs, so we got him a little, very hyper, springer spaniel bitch...and she is gorgeous!

They get on like a house on fire, they constantly play, so much so, i make them have "rest times" when they just sit in their beds and chill out for 15 Min's.

She is not a young pup, more of a young dog, as she is 18month old, but she is lovely natured, quite well trained, great recall and a very amusing personality....hmmmm now there's a thought....can pets have personality's? as they are not persons per say.....oh well....she has it in abundance whatever it is!

So I would like you to meet the newest member of our family...here is Katie!

And here is Katie and Ghillie together

The weather up here of late, is lovely, very spring like, beautiful sunshine now since last Friday, and quite warm at times reaching 10+, although its a bit on the windy side today, and the wind is still cold.I am still not getting to excited over the warmer and sunnier weather as i am sure we will have another bout of winter to come...going by the photos i have taken over the last 3 or 4 years up here, we get more snow in March and April...so we will see.

A few weeks ago, we saw our first lambs in one of the fields nearby, and the Yellow Hammers are back in the garden.So signs of spring is around the corner.

I also took a class of four friends and gave them a watercolour lesson, i thoroughly enjoyed it, we all laughed, and the paintings they came out with were lovely, i might have to do another one sometime soon, but make it a little different somehow, don't know how yet....but i am working on it!!

The mortgage money finally came through, and we have been doing the house up, Living room and spare rooms are now finished, but still plenty more work to do!

We did go and buy each other a nice Christmas present, I got him an E Reader and he got me an SLR Camera...love it to bits... i am getting some wonderful shots....well i think they are wonderful, others might not hahaha

My Husband got offered a job down in Egham, which he took, its contract work, and it pays very well, but does mean i get to see him every other weekend :( I know its something that must be done, but i miss him so much when he has gone.

On a brighter note, we take our English test on the 19th, that's if we can get someone to house sit and look after the cat and birds (dogs are coming with us), getting worried as its getting to a stage when we are running out of time to book anywhere down in Guildford. So fingers crossed this gets sorted asap....and we are going through police checks as i speak, after that its a case of medical checks and a yes or no whether we are accepted or not...fingers crossed.

Well i am off to decide what to do next....do i start painting the kitchen or do i dig the soil for some trees?... or i could repaint the kitchen cupboards? i think i will make a cuppa and see what or if anything inspires me!! hehehe

A New Year...New Start?

Well the new year has started, Happy New Year BTW...

It didn't start off too well, we are broke, and still waiting for the mortgage money... My son came up with his girlfriend, which was lovely, but thanks to them we ended up with the lurgy :( it was not good.

My husband got it first, coughing, temperature, shaking, bones aching, and sore stomach from the coughing, he was in bed for a wee while....so, as i didn't have it at that point, i thought "oh dear, man flu!" and proceeded to treat him as such...you know the thing, "oh you poor dear" and "would you like some lemsip my love".....but he then gave it to me....it completely knocked me off my feet, i had everything he had, and lost a stone in weight in a week! I still have it and he has just a cough now, it hurts! and it aches....he now asks me if i want a lemsip.

It didn't help that we still don't have any heating in the house, apart from the open fire and a small fan heater, and it has been cold!

We had so much snow we had to dig the ducks out of the duck house(we also had to dig ourselves out at one point), we then decided that it was probably better if they lived in the barn and the chickens in the poly tunnel for a month, well, today the ducks went back outside, i fixed the duck house from the winter damage, and gave it a good clean out...the chickens also had a clean out, but are still in the poly tunnel at night, but have the freedom of the garden during the day...soon we will put the hen house outside too.

We started the year with snow, followed by a day when there was ice everywhere, the Canadian cousins would of loved it, because it was like parking the car in the middle of an ice rink, they would probably of played hockey on it!.......... but most of it has gone now.

The paperwork is almost sorted, we were hoping to take our English test next weekend, but as we still haven't got the mortgage through, we cant ... will have to wait till the end of Feb for the next test, and unfortunately it might mean all our paperwork will be out of date by then and we will have to start again :( Not sure if i really want to start again though, will just have to wait and see i guess.

Well its late again, the cat has curled up beside me, and the dog is hinting....he will have to wait as i am also watching CSi New York....soon Ghillie, soon

Night night all