Blogs from Solihull, West Midlands, England, United Kingdom, Europe

What a year it has been? Looking back two long holidays affected by bad weather and plans that went awry. The lithium battery tale . The toing and froing to sort it all out . Finally the relief to get something in that worked and enabled us to have a good Christmas away from home. Would we do Christmas away again? Most definately although 2020 being a Leap Year may cause problems. Christmas Day is a non working day as is New Years Day 2021 which means I have to ask for more time off than this year . Do I think it will be problematic ? Most definately . But then a lot of water will go under the bridge before next Christmas. We have a Spring holiday to plan and an Autumn one before ... read more

It is Guy Fawkes Night - November 5th . Remember, remember! The fifth of November, The Gunpowder treason and plot; I know of no reason Why the Gunpowder treason Should ever be forgot! Guy Fawkes and his companions Did the scheme contrive, To blow the King and Parliament All up alive. Threescore barrels, laid below, To prove old England's overthrow. and so the poem goes. It seems quite odd to read this and think of our current parliament which seems in disarray. The will of the people against the members of parliament and the judiciary. Brexit hasn't gone away and many feel the current government require a quick reminder of why they are in power and who they serve. Since we arrived home there has been a new prime minister, a new leader of the Labour ... read more

Roughly two years ago I was sitting in a hot, crowded, and rather small lecture theatre. I was 17 and being told that I had the opportunity to go live and study in another country for 8 months. At that moment in time, this was the first university I'd ever been in, and this was just a visit on an open day. The prospects of living in another part of the country without my parents didn't yet seem real, and so to be honest I wasn't really paying that much attention. Yes it would be nice to live abroad, to find out how other people lived, to be completely independent, to have new experiences and learn new things; but it'd never happen to me. Two years later, I am sitting here finishing off the final part ... read more

Might as well get this blog started... we've got our Visas for Oz sorted out, nice and easy to do online... had to send off a bunch of more complicated forms to the Thai embassy in Hull today. I hope everything works out ok, we've gone for a 90-day multiple entry visa which should mean we don't have to worry about getting our Visa updated every 30 days, but there's more chance of us failing the application and having to apply again for a more basic tourist visa, so fingers crossed. Hull is flooded and underwater at the moment so i'm hoping our passports don't end up swimming off, i don't fancy another rush trip to Liverpool like before (TC!). We will try and keep this updated and upload some photos and vids when we get ... read more