Wednesday 26 January 2011

So I have 2 days left at work and for the first time I have started to get the butterflies of excitement fluttering away. Don't get me wrong I am really looking forward to the upcoming adventure but I'm just not a particularly excitable person.

The last time I was properly excited was for my 30th birthday. I got so excited that I actually made myself feel sick the night before and had to go home from drinks with the girls! I then woke up at 5.30am on my birthday and was awake from that point on!

I can't wait to get out to Oz and spend a year of fun and frivolity and have all the new experiences that I am going to have....yay!!!

2 days of work, skiing holiday, packing up the house, spending time with Dad, a bit more packing, a few mornings training my replacement at work and then leaving Buckingham and heading up to London before travelling to my Mum's to get a lift to the airport and then Brisbane here I come!

WOOHOO!!

Friday 14 January 2011

Bloody boiler

So I have had this whole different blog in my head to day but that all changed when I got home tonight.

For the last three days I have been rudely awoken for the last three days at 6am by a noise that sounds as if the hot water tank in my airing cupboard was about to take off so I knew something needed to be done! Not funny because 1) I am not really a morning person and am especially not good when I get woken up before my alarm and 2) I knew that the radiators needed to be bled but I lost the key (which I found approximately 5 mins before the plumber turned up!)

So I called a plumber earlier today and arranged for him to come round after work and see what could be done. I had the vague hope that he would just need to bleed the radiators but noooooooo why on earth would life be that simple 6 weeks before I leave the country. No, instead the stupid pump has gone, there is a blockage in the system, the water isn't running properly through the radiators and one of the radiators just won't warm up! Typical!

So now instead of a nice and simple quick 5 minute sorting out for free I now have to try and limit the use of my hot water and central heating over the weekend until Monday when I get the pleasure of paying £150 to get a new pump and keep everyting crossed that it will fix the other problems in the system and it isn't going to cost a small fortune.

Bloody plumbing!

Wednesday 12 January 2011

Devastating!

So its been a while and things are ticking along, 12 days left at work, just under 7 weeks until I go and Queensland appears to be under water!

Its absolutely heartbreaking to hear all the terrible stories of the people who have lost their lives or had them ruined by the terrible floods that have hit all over Queensland.

The centre of Brisbane is under water but very luckily Macgregor where I am going, which is in the southern suburbs of Brisbane, is currently ok. The DG flew back and arrived to a dry house and fingers crossed it will stay that way.

My thoughts are with all the people who have lost everything in this natural disaster and here's hoping that things start to get better soon!

Tuesday 4 January 2011

Flight....booked!

So it is official I am leaving the UK on February 28th for my Australian adventure! 29 hrs of travelling and I will arrive in Brisbane just in time for a quick glass of wine in the new abode and then I am 100% certain my (well ok the one I will be sleeping in) bed will be calling....sooooo exciting!!

Now I just have 18 working days left before I finish work, 1 week skiing with Mr and Mrs M, spending time with Dad who will be over from Greece and then it is all about closing up the house and boxing everything away before saying goodbye to family and friends and then off I go! Hurrah!

Monday 3 January 2011

wibble wobble...here I go!

It was strange today, I was walking to get my car (dinner at a friends last night) and had a little bit of a wobble about the big changes coming. Don't get me wrong, I am not debating the choices I have made and I am really looking forwarding to everything that is coming but the realisation of the decisions I have made is quite overwhelming sometimes!

I had the first wobble when Mrs M was here to help with the sorting of the house where I threw a mini (or not so mini if you speak to Mrs M) strop about getting rid of things. I am a control freak anyway and my mind was running away from me with ideas of permanent moves and not coming back. Glad Mrs M was there as she gave me the reality check I needed and reminded me that I am only packing up the house for a year at the moment, if things change then I will have to come back but I needed to keep in the now and not be looking past the next 12 mths....see what happens!

The one today was pretty minor and was more "is this change going to be that bigger change or are things just going to be the same but in another country"...all is good though as put myself into place and have again reminded myself that this trip is about taking the pressure off, its not meant to be the same and without a FT job then things will be different, plus the travelling round a different country will be fab.

I am sure this is going to happen quite a few times in the next 8 weeks or so before I leave - and probably when I am there, sorry DG! There seem to be triggers (1st - packing up the house, 2nd - festive celebrations with family and friends) so just need to keep in mind they are bound to happen and that it might not be plain sailing over the next few months but hey at least for once I am grabbing life by the short and curlies and making it what I want rather than coasting which I had been doing for the last couple of years.

Change is a coming and I am really pleased that it is, just have to remember to embrace it rather than shy away from it!