My hands are shaking with excitement as I type this..... after over 2 months of waiting, our Expression of Interest for moving to New Zealand has finally been selected! Hooray! What that means in real terms is that NZ Immigration thinks we are suitable candidates for residency (the fools!) and they are now in the process of checking some of our application information more thoroughly. If that meets with their approval, we will be Invited to Apply for Residency which is when we have to submit medicals and criminal record searches etc. Yippppeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! :-)))))))))))) [View Full Entry]

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It's been a bit of a turbulent week, folks, but at long last I have some good news to share with you all. In fact, there's so much good news that my face is positively aching from all the smiling I've been doing! First off, as the forest fires in Greece have begun to abate, I'm please to report that my parents are both fine and managed to return to their home to find it largely unsinged. Considering all the surrounding garden and trees were totally burnt out, it seems like this was a particularly close call. Yesterday the good news [View Full Entry]

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While I've been busy slaving over a hot computer trying to re-learn my ECDL in time for a job interview on Wednesday, Glynn has been working hard at college and even took Jish in to meet one of his tutors. As you know, Jish has a massive and ever-growing fan club although I'm starting to wonder if he has a girl in every port! He even has his own website now if you want to check it out - www.myspace.com/jishbear. On Friday, Glynn also took a walk around Birmingham city centre after college to capture a few photos so you can [View Full Entry]

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Seeing as we've been back in the UK for well over 2 months now, it seemed it was high time that I got off my unemployed behind and went to visit some of my favourite people. Glynn decided not to come with me and leaving him behind in Birmingham was hard, mainly because we've not spent a day apart for about one and a half years. We said our goodbyes by the gates at the grim and grotty Birmingham New Street station as you can no longer go on to the platforms unless you have a ticket. So much for my [View Full Entry]

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Sitting here trying to think what news I have to tell you makes me realise just how little has been going on in our lives lately - hence the reason I entitled this blog 'Doing Time'. It's not that it feels like a prison sentence in so many words but that being back in England is serving us very little purpose indeed. Since I last wrote, the weather has picked up a bit and we've been able to get out of the house a bit more. Glynn's folks took us to a couple of car boot sales, a great British tradition [View Full Entry]

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Once again I find myself here wanting to share with you all the magical and wonderful things that have been going on with us but I have very little to tell you. I'm sure you will all have heard about the crappy weather we've been having lately - I'm talking virtually non-stop rain for the last fortnight. Thankfully, we aren't living in a flood-risk area so we haven't been too affected by it except for being stuck indoors even more than necessary plus my Hello Kitty umbrella that Glynn bought me in Hong Kong bit the dust after a very wet [View Full Entry]

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Well, after a lovely week in Germany it is back to the grindstone here in wet and windy England. Since returning to England, life has been relaxed with only a couple of job interviews for me to break up the days. The first interview went well but I didn't want the job. I had a similarly positive experience at the second interview and this job is literally 10 minutes up the road. Shame I'm not so interested in that one either. Still, it's a possibility and I'm pleased to say I have been invited to a second interview, so things [View Full Entry]

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When we woke up this morning, it was looking a bit gloomy outside and not at all like the kind of day you might want to go for a boat trip. This was what I had been hoping to do with everyone today and I was greatly cheered when the sun started breaking through the clouds after breakfast. Despite visiting Neustadt and the nearby popular spa resort of Titisee on many occasions, I had never once taken a boat trip on the famous lake so I wasn't about to let the weather scupper my plans. We herded ourselves into the [View Full Entry]

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A few years ago, I started my first job as a teacher at a college in Swindon and I was lucky enough to have a fantastic German assistant called Andrea to help me out in class. Not only was she great fun to work with but she was as bonkers as me so it was inevitable we would quickly become firm friends. Alas, aside from a bit of a chat at our wedding last year (may I add that I was chuffed to bits that she flew over especially), we haven't seen each other since. Until today.... My father had [View Full Entry]

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Despite my recently twisted ankle still feeling a bit dodgy, I couldn't resist the offer to try out Nordic walking today. The weather was lovely and a walk in the local woodland sounded very appealing. My father drove us up to a tower perched on one of the highest hilltops and the view from the top was awesome. The air was so clear that we could see for miles and miles, right across Lake Titisee, the biggest tourist attraction in this region, and across as far as the French border. We then picked up our walking poles and with some [View Full Entry]

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