Bring on the weekend

This week’s seems to have gone on forever.  On Monday we went over to Overstone Lakes to do some more work.  I painted the first coat of white in the second bedroom whilst Phil finished off insulating his new shed.  We got back home around 1’ish, had a shower and then walked down to The Giffard for some lunch.  There was stuff in the fridge to eat but it was mainly leftovers and Phil didn’t really fancy any of these.   We both and the tipsy steak pie at the pub on the 2-4-1 deal, it was alright I suppose for the money.   Just before teatime we went over to meet Sue at her house at Green Park.  Her tenants had vacated and she wanted us to advice on decoration works. 

When we arrived, Sue told us that the ‘tenants from hell’ had vacated the property but they had also taken all of her stuff in the process.  We were really shocked as never in our 13 years of being landlords have we ever experienced this.   The TFH took Sue’s plasma screen TV with surrounding sound system, fridge/freezer, tumble dryer, garden furniture, mirrors, bedding, dining room chairs, lawnmower et etc.  And so the list goes on.   The one thing that they did take which was the most valuable to Sue, was a canvas painting that she and Alan had done together.   This is something that can never be replaced.    Phil got Sue to phone her agent so that he could talk to them on her behalf but they refused.  We really couldn’t understand their attitude and we certainly will be avoiding this agent in the future.  Sue phoned the police and after a lengthy conversation with a constable, came away with a crime number and a promise to be in contact within a couple of days.

On Tuesday morning we packed up my car with ladders, paints, drills and other various maintenance paraphernalia and went to Sue’s house  in Green Park.  The first job Phil did was to change the locks which was pretty straight forward.  The TFH had left Sue’s house fairly clean, not my kind of clean or Sue’s for that matter, but the house needed a bit of a makeover and just some TLC.  After the locks, Phil filled holes, I painted bedroom no 3 and Sue got stuck into cleaning the PVC in the conservatory.   By the end of the day, progress had been made but as always, with a start of any project, things look worse before they begin to look better.

Wednesday was the start of our removals.  I drove to Overstone to finish off the painting in the second bedroom and Phil hired a van from somewhere in Bletchley and then went over to pick up Steve from Westcoft.   Originally Phil was going to book a SWB van but they didn’t have any so he ended up with a LWB van, and a good job he did, because otherwise he wouldn’t have got all our stuff in.  Phil & Steve loaded up our garden stuff and then drove over to the caravan to unload.  It was quite hot work unloading because the midday sun was out in full.  It didn’t take too long to unpack and reassemble and the caravan is already beginning to feel a little like home.  The aerial man turned up to fit a new aerial, I didn’t really get involved with this but Phil said they overcharged us.  Still, television means the world to Phil and is something that he cannot live without, so I guess the cost is immaterial. 

When the aerial men finished, we locked up and went to Overstone Manor for a quick bite to eat. Thanks very much to Steve for helping with the removals.  Certainly saved my back.  It was gone 2 o’clock by the time I got over to Sue’s and I only had time to help her get the first coat in her main bedroom.  Not much of a help really, small steps I guess, it all takes time.   Afterwards I popped over to Willen to see Vanessa.  I hadn’t seen her since her amazing trek in Peru and it was interesting to see some of photographs.  I was sneezing and coughing my guts up when I was there so I really hope that I haven’t spread my germs.

 
Thursday was a day lost at sea. We did a few jobs but after lunch I was really feeling so rough that I decided to put on my pyjamas and rest on the sofa.  I did think about getting the sun lounger out and sunning myself in the garden because I’m sure my body could do with some extra vitamin D but it was all too much effort.  Phil who hasn’t been sleeping well joined me on the sofa, and we caught up with TV recordings. 

And so we come to Friday; I am still full of cold, still coughing and spluttering and my sinuses are killing me but I feel a little better today.  At least I think I do.  I won’t lie, this cold virus has really got me down and its hard not to feel sorry for myself but hopefully the sunshine blow it all away. Be positive Claire, the forecast is wall-to-wall sunshine and tomorrow we are planning to spend our first weekend in our caravan.

Feeling sorry for myself...........

I am really feeling fed up, not just a little fed up, but big time fed up.  It’s not because we are back home after our holiday, no it’s not that, I am very happy to be back, it’s this horrible cold-cough-cum virus that’s getting me down. I have been suffering for 7 days now and I don’t really seem to be getting any better.  You won’t believe the amount of snot and flem that I have been eliminating from my mouth and nose, arggggh it’s disgusting.  And it’s not only the hacking cough, or being blocked and bunged up one minute then streaming the next, what really gets me, is the overwhelming lethargy.  This could also be due to daily 4am wake-ups but my lack of energy is the worst.  Also it’s not just me, poor Phil is still suffering and he started with the cold 2 days before me so today will be his 9^th day. 

It’s a shame really because Friday was potentially a big day for us but it turned out to be a bit of an anti-climax.  First up, we were at the MacMillan Unit at MK for a 9am appointment with the consultant.   We were seen by the consultant’s registrar and the appointment was a complete waste of time.   Phil & I thought that they would at least take bloods to test his PSA levels but no tests; it was just a case of “how are you feeling Mr Krause” and a “well that’s normal after radiotherapy”.  Apparently they won’t be testing PSA for 6 months and we came away with an appointment in March 2012.  But they can sod off; I will be making sure Phil gets tested before that, just to get an idea of how his prostrate has reacted to the radiotherapy. 

After hospital we nipped home for a Lemsip and then drove to Overstone Lakes as we had an appointment to pay the final balance on the caravan.  Unfortunately our loan application was turned down but luckily Phil had applied for some more credit cards before we went away so we used these.  We were a little worried that it would have to be hard cash but it was fine, the plastic was accepted, no problem.  Julie in the office, produced contracts, which we signed without reading and Dave the resident maintenance man, showed us ‘caravan’ ropes and handed us the keys.  In normal circumstances, we would have been excited, but not so on Friday because we both felt like absolute shit.   We unloaded a few boxes; we had a bar snack at the pub at the end of the road, called The Worlds End www.theworldsend.org.   It was okay, bit poncey and slightly overpriced but maybe we just weren’t in the right frame of mind.

In the afternoon, Phil reclined on the sofa and caught up with TV and I chopped up meat and vegetables and threw them all in the slow cooker to cook for 5 hours.  I saw Sandy’s car on the drive so I popped across the road to say hello.  She was in the midst of packing boxes.  Poor Sandy is being repossessed and will be moving out in the next week.   Sandy has lived in the cul-de-sac for a long time and I can’t imagine how difficult it will be to leave. She is moving into her friend’s house in Bancroft with Kevin.   Dave, her son, is renting a room from the Co-Op in Giffard Park and Becky her daughter is staying in a friend’s flat.  I do so hope everything works out for them all. So WHEN and IF our sale ever goes through, then it will be all change in our little cul-de-sac.

Sue came over on Friday evening which was great because we had loads to catch up on.  I did worry before she came, that I wouldn’t be very good company and would at the very worst, pass on our germs but it was fine.  We had a lovely time, and I don’t know whether it was the hearty beef casserole that I cooked, or the red wine that we consumed (probably the latter) but I managed to stay up until 10.30pm and sleep until 6am.  Actually I did think I felt a little better on Saturday morning but not so, I deteriorated as the day went on.  Phil picked up G from Northampton and went to his mum and dad’s for the day.  I had great plans for my ‘home alone’ day but they didn’t materialise.  I managed some washing and ironing and I did pop out to Dunne Elmes to buy a fur mattress protector and paint for the caravan but that was about it.  The rest of the afternoon was dressing gown, blanket, hot water bottle and 4 weeks of back episodes of Coronation Street, Emmerdale and Eastenders.  All of the TV programmes that Phil hates.

Yesterday was a little more productive.  We loaded both cars and drove over to the caravan.  We were there before 9am so couldn’t really start making too much noise.  I painted the main bedroom.  Phil wasn’t sure it needed painting but even he agreed it looked so much better when I’d finished.  It wasn’t easy though, normally I can get a first coat on in an hour but it took me nearly 4 hours to do the bedroom, lots of cutting in around the built-in furniture and I had to second coat.  I decided against painting the storage cupboards but I will end up doing these next spring.  I will also be revamping the bathroom, on closer inspection it’s looking a little tired and weary in places.  I can live with it for now, but again, it’s another project for spring 2012.  

Dave the site Maintenance man managed to get us a second hand shed for just 70 quid. It’s okay, all bar the size.  The site allows you to have one 6 x 6 shed but the shed that Dave got was only 6 x 4.  You may think that doesn’t matter, but believe me, when you are downsizing from a 3 bed detached house to a 35ft x 12ft caravan, size, or is that space is very important. We didn’t want to upset Dave so we decided that the shed could stay and we would make do.  While I painted, Phil put down wood flooring in the shed base. After he got the wood floor done, he then cut to size sheets of polystyrene and fitted these on to the shed walls. Dave told us that we needed to insulate to cut down on condensation and to stop the pipes from freezing in the winter.  Joy!  We got home around 2pm and then the rest of the day was chicken curry for lunch and the Singapore Grand Prix.  I fell asleep on the sofa and then guess what; we were both wide awake this morning before 4am.

Not sure of the plans for this week, with no exchange date in site, it’s so frustrating and we are beginning to think this sale is never going to happen.  But the caravan still needs sorting so at least we can get going on this project in the meantime.  Today we’re going over to paint the second bedroom and to sort out wiring and on Wednesday we’re hoping to hire a van and move a couple of sofas and the garden furniture.   I just wish that I felt better.  Right now all I feel like doing is crawling under the duvet and staying there forever.

Home Sweet Home

And so I have managed to survive another ‘Phil’ adventure.  Did I have a good time, I hear you ask?  Well yes in the main; the monsoon rain at the start was a bit of a disappointment but things got better.  We stayed in some really great hotels, saw some breath-taking sights and ate some great food.  Thailand always does it for me and Koh Phi Phi and Koh Lanta were my highlights.  It was lovely to see Phil back on form and just great to forget about cancer, which seems to have dominated our year. I don’t think I’d go back to Malaysia, I found it to be too polluted, too high-rise, too busy and damn expensive and besides there are plenty of other places in the world that I want to visit.

The journey home though was a nightmare.  Long haul is never pleasant but Tuesday seemed a never ending day.  We left our hotel at 6.30am and headed to the airport in KL, traffic wasn’t heavy at the time of the day so it took less than an hour.  The check-in queue at the Sri Lankan airways desk was long and it took ages to check in our bag, leaving us only enough time for a rather expensive coffee and a scone.  Phil hates hanging around in airports so I suppose the time frame was good, as for me, even though it was early I would have liked a little more time to shop!

It took around 3 hours to fly to Colombo which wasn’t a big deal and at least we were able to get off for an hour and a half.  We went in search of drugs because Phil was really suffering with his cold and I was beginning to come down with it.   We couldn’t find any, in fact there wasn’t really much at Colombo airport, we’d been before and remembered that it had little to offer.   When we got on the plane it was announced that our flight was stopping off at the Maldives.  I seemed to remember Phil mentioning this when he booked our ticket because he tried to booked us a stop-over; but they wanted ridiculously money so we didn’t go for it.  It was interesting to land on the mainland of the Maldives, it truly looked beautiful but I do wonder if there would be enough for us to do and I fear we would be bored.  Lots of people got off the plan and I was rather pissed off to find that we were not allowed to disembark.  I was even more pissed off when we ended up sitting in the plane with no cold air for almost 2 hours.  Finally people boarded and we took off. Flight was okay, food was good, the drinks flowed but film choice was pretty poor and I was glad I was able to go to sleep.

By the time we landed, cleared customs and collected our bag it was after 9pm.   We were met with a sign by our driver and boy was I glad that we hadn’t chosen to get home by public transport.  A driver and car sounds extravagant but you know what, it was only 20 quid more than the national coach and we saved ourselves hours.  Emma next door had kindly whacked up our central heating so we arrived home to a toasty house.  I don’t think I have ever been so pleased to walk through my front door.  Phil watched telly for a bit but I went straight to bed, normally I’d unpack and get the washing started but I just didn’t have the energy.  Unfortunately I was in the wide awake world at half three.

I am still not in UK time, it’s been 3 mornings in a row that I’ve been wide awake at half three.  It’s not good.  I had all kinds of plans for Wednesday but they didn’t really happen.  Not only was I jet lagged but I was full of cold and totally bunged up.  I went to Asda to get supplies at 6am and had all the washing and ironing done by 10am.  I sorted the paperwork, cooked a chicken casserole and by tea time I was knackered.  Steve drove up from Leicester to go out with Phil and the Wednesday night boys. When they left, it was pyjamas, hot water bottle, Coronation Street then bed at 8pm.

I had hoped to feel a bit better yesterday but in fact I felt worse.  Phil was not feeling too great which I think was due a combination of jet lag, his cold and too much beer.  He cooked sausage sandwiches and when Steve left, we went to the gym for a steam thinking it might clear our noses and throats.  I think it helped a bit.  There was no way we were up for a workout although we should have done.   Curry for breakfast, curry for lunch and curry for dinner and lots of beer and well I have put on 10 pounds.  Phil has put on a stone.  It’s not good, when we get rid of these horrible cold bugs then it is back to the gym and diet big time!

I am happy to be home but when Phil found out that we hadn’t exchanged contracts on the house he said he wishes we’ stayed for another week.  But I don’t, 4 weeks away was long enough for me.  It’s very frustrating that we haven’t exchanged contract because until we do there is nothing much we can do.  I am tempted to get things going but I know from previous experience this isn’t wise; my lists are all done and all I can do now is sit and wait.  Not easy for a girl who has zero patience.

Well done to Phil for doing the blog, I think he did a brilliant job.  Some really great writing, not too many of his usual weird and wonderful postings, some fabulous photographs and lots of time and effort.  Unfortunately now folks though, it is back to normal and you’re stuck with my boring moans and groans.  Sorry!

Island Hopping 2011

We started out this journey by squeezing in four weeks around Malaysia and Thailand between the end of my cancer treatment and moving house.  This is a brief summary of our journey which includes some photographs that you have seen and some that you haven't.

We started our journey in KL on my birthday with the hospitality of Tom and Youngja where they treated us to a great night of chinese food, beer and trying strange fruits.

The following day we flew to Phuket but we had an aborted landing and it rained for our entire five day stay.

We moved to the really nice Nap Patong.  If we were going to be cabin bound then we may as well do it in style.  They had beautifully presented food and the best roof terrace that we have never used.

We moved onto Koh Phi Phi and the weather changed.  Our hotel left a little to be desired but it doesn’t matter when the sun is shining; you are out all day.

We had a wonderful boat trip around Koh Phi Phi Lay, “The Beach”.

You can see spectacular views on boat trips from these island; photos don’t do the justice because of the scale.

We caught the ferry to our favorite Thai Island, Koh Lanta and by chance ended up at the Escape Cabins which is our perfect retreat.

We were lucky as the good weather continued for our entire stay so we could enjoy the pool at the end of a hot day on the bike.  Escape to our cabin and watch complimentary DVD’s on our complimentary DVD player whilst sampling the local brew.

We had a ride on two ferries over to the other Lanta island and the mainland where we saw a bull fight.

And an elephant.

Alas, this was the end of our Thai experience this time, we were off by ferry and road to Langkawi in Malaysia.  Yuko, our host showed us the most popular Escape Cabin.

Langkawi turned out to be a great escape duty free island with wonderful sunsets,

Spectacular value for money boat trips,

with monkeys.

Plenty of them.

Next came the ferry to Penang; but alas it wasn’t the island for us, far too city like and commercial.  It didn’t help that our bad weather returned.

We did what we could and had a trip around Gorgetown in the rain and were “King of the Road” for a while.

And of course Bobo was there.

A change in weather when we flew to Borneo, first stop Kota Kinabalu in Sabah.  The sunsets got even better.

And better!

With beautiful Islands.  Sod the Tiger!

Next stop Sandakan with a lovely room, toilet water jets (don't turn it on before you've finished),

and naughty monkeys everywhere.

Last stop Kuala Lumpur; I get a stinking cold and feel dreadful for traveling home, but we still managed to have a great night out with Tom.  Next time we will go out for a little longer Tom, see you at Christmas!

Last Day in KL

The more I see of this pace, the more I like it.  We had a quiet night in with a dvd last night but first we went to check out the infinity pool on the roof.  The led picture is taken from our lounge window on the 11th floor.

We even have an i-phone docking station; what more could a man ask?

Trouble was, it was absolutely chucking it down this morning and I had a bad night as my cold is maturing and now includes a sore throat.

We had no choice with the rain, other than to get a taxi from our hotel to galaxy Mall Ampang where Tom’s friend sells the software.  We had the usual trouble with the taxi driver not knowing where he was going.  He swore blind that Galaxy Ampang was just a small supermarket but it was exactly as Tom described it, “A crappy shopping mall full of massage places”.

Unfortunately, he was all closed up; we waited until after 11am as some of the shops said tats when they opened.  Some others said that they were open between Tuesday to Sunday.  Today’s a Monday; just my luck.

We got another taxi to Times Square and they had some kick boxing fights going on.  We headed for the donut shop for a coffee and wifi so I could try and find out where else to get software from.  Most of them came up as Plaza Low Yat but some said China town.  Either way, everything was near to Bukit Bintang so we got the monorail their.

We visited every floor and asked a few people without much luck, other than one guy walking us to the end of a row and taking us i this dodgy shop.  The guy in there said he didn’t sell software, he just installed it but he wanted 250 Ringitts to install Apple Office.  A little above the normal 10 Ringitts they normally charge.  In the end we gave up in there and went back to China town but couldn’t see anything there either.

By this time it had stopped raining but I felt dreadful and we headed back to our hotel for a spot of lunch and to book our early morning taxi and print off our flight checkin details.  I tried the dragonfly mock-tail but Claire stuck with the dreaded Tiger.

We met Tom at Ampang Point at 7pm; our doorman told us it would take at least 30 minutes to get there so we left before 6.30pm, the traffic was horrendous.  Once we got past the two policemen controlling the traffic it went back to normal and we were there in 10 minutes.

It was only a short walk to the best Korean Restaurant in KL and Tom ordered for us.  Beers and a funny clear moonshine (can't remember the name; it was strong) was the order of the day.  Claire seemed to like it very much.  The food started coming and didn't stop; we must have had 20 dishes on the table at the same time.  I think Claire took more pictures than me so maybe on her blog when we get back we will all see them.

I perked up a little once I started to get some booze down me but I still wasn't right, and I guess that it will be a long journey for me tomorrow.  At this part of your holiday, I always wish that I could magic myself home rather than having to actually travel.  Its not so bad on the way out; but I always feel a little depressed going home.  See you when we get back folks!