Back online finally!

This morning the postman delivered our stuff from BT to hook up the internet. ( I say ’stuff’ because I honestly don’t know exactly what it was…just that it meant that I’d have internet at home again ) Dave managed to catch him before he went off with our parcel and got us all hooked up again in record time.  I’m not sure what I’d do if I had to sort this kind of thing out myself. Ask Spencer, most likely.

Dave has given a good overview of the time since we left Maida Vale but I’ll add some more deets and some pics as well.

The day we left the flats ( Dec 22 I guess that was)  we stopped by the house before we headed off to Wales and it was really good to see the place again.  When we came to see it with the agent I instantly loved it but oddly didn’t give it a really thorough looking over because somewhere inside me I thought it was too perfect and so kind of just wrote it off.  Silly me…I should know better by now.  It was perfect and meant to be!    I had been mentally planning where all our stuff would go and it was good to compare my very inaccurate memory of the rooms with the real thing so I could think about it over the Christmas holiday and be ready to start telling movers where to dump stuff when they arrived.

The trip to Wales was uneventful.  Our new Purple People Mover got us the distance with no problems.  The exhaust system issue does give it a distinctive sound  though and Dave will need to get busy replacing it soon.  ( It has a very “Slagathror-ish” sound for those of you who might remember the big car  we had back in ‘90…Slaggy was a good car but the noise it made lived up to its name)   Dave’s printed googlemaps directions  were good right up until we got to Carmarthen and nearish to the cottage and then it all went kind of wonky.  I’m not the best navigator and somehow I tend to get worse when the turns on the road don’t match up with those on the map.  After a bit of driving back and forth on very narrow Welsh dirt roads in the dark we found the cottage.  This was our first ” self catering” rental and it was a fabulous experience and something I’ll defintely do again.  The farm was fantastic. Really everything I wanted for Christmas.  Quaint, old, charming and cozy with animals to check out and country roads to walk and explore and then a roaring fire to snuggle up by on chilly evenings.

Packing up to leave Washington it was in my mind that we’d be spending the holidays without our stuff but somehow that didn’t translate to the idea that I should at least pack up the stockings and things.  Dave and I ended up finding the mankiest looking cheapo-cheapo stockings at Woolies at their big close out sale for 77p.  They are ugly but they did the trick! The kids and I had sort of feebly made an attempt at making some homemade tree decorations when we were in Maida Vale but posh flats aren’t the place for messy crafting and besides, we didn’t have our craft stuff either.  We settled on buying some baubles and lights when we got our tree at the B&Q in Carmarthen and decided that while it wasn’t like our usual tree, it was lovely in it’s own way.

We had a fun Christmas and a nice big feast on Boxing Day and then decided to head out and see some of Carmarthenshire the next day.  It turned out to be the coldest day since we’d arrived but we bundled up in coats and boots and braved the wind. We had a blast reading all the signs in Welsh and Jess and I put our love and knowledge of language to use trying to figure out words and pronunciations.   Wales is just littered up with Castles all over the place so we ventured to check out a few of them.  Our first stop was Dryslwyn Castle which was built c1250. Only a portion of a few walls still stands but it was well worth the cold, windy climb up the steps to see it.

We warmed up a bit while we drove the winding country roads of Carmarthenshire to get to Paxton’s Tower.  We all bundled up again and braved the freezing walk up to the tower.  The tower was built circa 1808-1815 and was dedicated to Lord Nelson.

At this point all the little kids were feeling done with ” old boring buildings” and were cold and Spencer had twisted his ankle when he fell in a frozen deer track on the way back to the car but Dave and Jess and I were feeling adventurous, wanting to see more of the beautiful countryside and we like old, boring buildings ( even ruins of buildings) so we ventured on a little further to Talley Abbey.  This abbey was founded for the Premonstratensian order by the Lord Rhys, between 1184 and 1189.  We had a laugh at the sign on the gate directing us  that if we wanted brochures we could get them ” at the house opposite”.

There was no convincing anyone to brave the cold any further so we headed back home for cocoa and dinner and board games and telly.

The next day I decided ( despite some protests) to venture out again and try to check out Dinefwr Castle but when we got there we found that the centre was closed for Christmas and the Castle itself was situated so far back from the car park that none of us had it in us to do the big walk in the cold again and at that point even I had to agree with the littles that one stone ruin is much like the next.  We opted instead for pints and cocoa at a 600 year old pub.   The White Hart Inn and Brewery was warm and welcoming and just what we needed.  Dave and I are lovers of a good pub and a good pint and this was just the place to be on our last afternoon in Wales.

The next day Dave had us all up and organised bright and early  and on the road.  We got a teeny bit lost making our way back into London but still made it back in time to meet the movers.  All in all the move in went well.  There was only damage to a few items which we’re still waiting on getting  settled up but otherwise it was all good.  In just 2 weeks ( and a long trip to Ikea) we’re pretty well moved in and unpacked.  We’re still without a few items like a telly and a microwave which Taija is lost without.  You’d think I was asking her to build fire in the hearth with nothing but flint and steel to heat her food the way she carries on about the inconvenience of warming things without microwave technology.  How did we ever survive in the days when we had to reheat leftover mac and cheese without one??  This brings to mind the time when Spencer was young and asked me one day ” Mom, did they have toast when you were a kid”?…sheesh!

All the rooms are in order but we have accomplished this by filling the back garden under the pergola with all the crap that we don’t want or which needs to go in the shed which was full of stuff when got here and currently looks like someone picked it up and shook it upside down so none of our stuff is going in there just now.  We’ll get to that when we get to it though.  When the movers were here I told Dave ( in a moment of craziness!) that I’d be happy if we were all settled in by next January so I guess we’re well ahead of schedule.

Dave had a birthday on Saturday. I would say he celebrated it but he refused any celebration or acknowledgment of it .  Yesterday we had a nice Sunday family outing to Brockwell Park which is just a short walk from the house.  It’s a great little park for the kids to ride scooters in and will be good for walking our dog ( when we finally get one).

Our thoughts now turn to Robbie Burns suppers at the local pub, Spencer’s upcoming birthday and a trip to Paris for Jesse’s birthday next month.

Now that I’m back online and pretty settled in I must get better at updating more often so I can spare  you, dear reader ( and myself!)  the these mondo-posts.