Cards and Gifts for Hayzels Birthday

Cards for the birthday girl

Flowers from the Meyer family in SA

Flowers from Andrew, Leigh and Jimmy

First pictures of Peanut Scott

Congratulations again to Leigh and Andrew*   Our little peanut is 10 weeks old today and 3.83cm long.     Aw!   ....

*and me, cos let's be honest if I hadn't had Andrew, then I wouldn't be posting a picture of my new grandchild up here now, would i?  :)  

Happy Birthday Hayzel ...

Hey sweetie,  hope you have a lovely 32nd* (cough) birthday today!  

* Again?

All sledded up with snow-where to go

The sledges arrived, the snow has gone, the kids cried their little eyeballs out and tried to sled on the last remaining piece of ice left in the garden (I didn't tell them this was the rotting remains of Frosty, well in snow person terms that really is what it is).

After telling a little white lie (sorry this post is full of bad puns), that it would snow again this weekend, this is what I got...

I foresee a problem with more than one person adding to the blog, readers might miss other posts, so don't forget to scroll down to check that you have read them all.

And just like that it was gone...

The snow person has left the garden. All that is left is a pile of ice a midst lovely green lawn.

Last night it rained most of the night and after 2 weeks of snow on the ground it has all completely gone, melted away (the garden is now water logged and is a bit marshy, watch the news for more reports of flooding).

This peeves me off a bit as on Saturday I spent 23 pounds ordering 2 sledges off the internets for the kids (Faye practised for her spelling test for 2 weeks and reckons she got all of them correct) and now the snow has gone! I hope it snows again so the kids can go sledding.

My handy man skills are being put to the test, so far I have built:

1 x tv cabinet

2 x small book shelves

1 x dining room table and 4 x chairs (2 were assembled by Hayzel and Janice)

1 x side table for Ewan

4 x side tables for everyone else

Retail therapy

Hayzel and I went into Norwich yesterday morning.  We went to Signatures so Hayzel could have her hair cut (birthday treat from me) and I ended up also having a blowdry.  Nice little salon down one of the cutesy little streets in the city centre (Bridewell Alley).  There are hundreds of hair salons in Norwich!  
Afterwards we went on a shop-till-you-drop walk about, so that Hayzel could also get some clothes.  For once, we were successful shopping and it was a very pleasant morning out.  We had a pie and chocolate brownies at Marmalade's ... set in a lovely old arcade and a couple of shops down from Jamie Oliver's Italian restaurant.      All the time we came out of shops and walked into the street we could hear the bells ringing - per above little video I took with my phone.  
The secret to shopping in Norwich is a) rather go in during the week but if you are forced to go in on a Saturday b) go in early.
I joined Mega - the file-sharing website started by that crazy New Zealand mega-millionaire who keeps getting arrested.   Andrew sent me photos via Mega and I've put them up here (one minimised on the left and a larger sized image below - both will stay here permanently).   These photos were taken at my birthday in October last year in Andrew's garden.  
We had rain last night and this morning, so the snow has virtually gone now ... aw.  

Lost and abandoned in Long Stratton

 We went to take Ewan to school at 12noon in his zooty new uniform (well the embroidered top with Manorfield logo that I ordered online and which was delivered this morning by the nice man from Royal Mail) ...

Ewan in his classroom - I had to ask permission from the teacher to take this shot and no other child could be in it!

 After dropping little man off at Nursery school, I said to Hayzel that we had to go to the post office quickly, so I could post my 'Get Well' card that I got for my Auntie Barbara.  No problem we walked through the pathway to the post office and sorted that out.

There are a couple of these shortcuts/pathways hidden amongst/between the houses

 On  leaving the post office, I said that I wanted to go around the corner to take some pictures of the Swan Inn and Long Stratton main road ... Hayzel says, no problem 'I'm just going into the Co-op ....'
So I walk around the corner, take a couple of pictures and she hot foots it across the road (here she is just before crossing the road - the Co-op parking area is to the right of this picture).

Hayzel on road - Co-Op Pharmacy is at the end on the right with the red walls - this is not relevant to the story at this point*

Swan Inn

Main street with Barclays on the right (the red brick building)

Tattoo parlour

So I take a picture of the Tattoo place and then walk in the Co-op via the side door. Glasses steam up once inside.  Walk around inside. No Hayzel.
Go back out of the Co-op into the Minus 4, stand about looking for her in the street/parking lot ... No Hayzel.
Go back into the Co-op, figuring I might have missed her.  Glasses steam up again. Walk around inside. No Hayzel.
Come out, now with running nose and decide that I've missed her somehow and she's most probably on the way home by now.   So I do the same.
I'm stomping off down the road when I hear, 'Hey Mom!' ... turn around and here she comes moaning that  I left her behind!
Turns out she went into the Co-Op PHARMACY*
Duh.

update from the coal face

Happy birthday, firstly to Carmen ... hope you had an excellent day sweetie.   And Congrats to Justin and his sister for getting their UK citizenship (thanks, of course to yours truly ... cough ... i'm nothing if not modest).

Big ups to Allyson on getting a shot at a second interview tomorrow - take it easy doll and ask them lots of questions too!

It's quite chilly today - well, er let me rephrase that ...  Nige (the &*$# legend*) came round yesterday evening to check out the vinyl flooring in our Utility room (which is lifting because it was somewhat under the weather when it flooded in there) ... he said that the horse stables behind us registered minus 17 on Tuesday night ... what?   Crikey, I like the cold but that would freeze my face off.


*I realised last night that some people who read this Blog occasionally might not have a clue who I am referring to ... well Nige is a character created by Australian comic Kevin Bloody Wilson
who we saw a while back when he came to South Africa to do some gigs at Carnival City.

Ewan's latest adaptation of a well-known nursery rhyme

Two little dicky birds sitting on a wall

One named Pizza the other named Paul

Fly away Pizza, Fly away Paul

Come back Pizza, come back Paul

Update from Kevin - 

Yes my hair is getting long, I feel like hippy scum (that is my profile pic for linkedin, so if you on linkedin then please search for me and add me as a contact. I only got 2 at the moment my old boss and my mum in law, I need more to look popular)...

So I got meself some larnie 18" Seeland wellies today, first pair I bought size 12 were a bit to big (bought over the internet) so we headed in the car to the shop in Eye to get a size 11 which are now the right size.

I am one more step to being Anglecised now, as an owner of sparkling new wellies. Ready to crunch through the deep snow of winter and squelch my way through the mud all other times (ah, old Blighty)!

I will post a pic or 2 of me modelling them in the snow soon when Hayzel has charged her camera battery (for the nudes of me in my wellies you gotta pay), along with some other interesting stuff of manly interest.

Do they have Snow person making lessons at the school? Faye's attempt last week of building a snow person was a sorry affair and never really got off the ground. I don't think these African princesses have the right stuff to build snow persons (they can fight off lions and elephants, but snow people). She only got as far as making a small body, in a week it hasn't progressed very much. She did say that she will try and finish it today after school.

** News Flash - News Flash **
And in breaking news, the snow person was finished by Faye!

Here is another pic or 2 of the rally car and some icicles and stuff from Hayzel's camera. If you look closely everything is starting to melt at the moment and you can see the dripping water off the icicles, however later this week we will be getting another big freeze).

And a special shout out to my wing-man and tail gunner Dave - "Whazzzuuup?"

Odds and ends

Faye and Ewan went back to school today - they had a day off yesterday due to the snow.   It's not been snowing much today but it is still cold and we've had a light smattering of rain, so it's quite icy underfoot.    Have to go to the library later on, so might try and get some photos to put up on here - haven't used the camera much because of the sicky poo. Feeling better today,  though I keep going deaf. 

We have regular visits from couriers and delivery vans in our little cul-de-sac - if it's not us, then it's our neighbours.   And really, what a joy it is shopping online (most of the time).   Hayzel and I don't really enjoy shopping in Norwich at all, it's a very difficult place to shop in - all the little shops on the high street and side streets may look lovely but when you end up with a bag from each shop, you soon get really bogged down and there are some serious hills in that town!    We are used to the lazy South African way of shopping - i.e. drive into the mall car park, grab a trolley, walk around for two hours, put all your stuff in your trolley, walk back to car, load stuff into boot and there you go.  No sweat at all really.   It's very tiring shopping in the UK, specially when there are so many shops and we don't know what half of them stock!   So online purchasing is the answer and sadly, the reason why so many small shops in the villages (and even towns) are closing at a rate of knots. 

Ewan's bedside table - assembled by dad

More DIY for Kevin to tackle later on

Kevin bought wellington boots online (he got a free pair of really thick socks nog al) but the wellies are a bit big, so after dropping Ewan off at school today, he and Hayzel are going into Diss to swap them for a smaller size.   We've also bought bedside tables and lamps this past week online and Kevin is getting right good at assembling furniture!


Speaking of funny names for things in the UK (was I?) ... well as us Sarfeffricans know Diss is actually a verb ... but I was in Tesco's yesterday and bought some liquid floor and tile cleaner with the rather unfortunate name of  'CIF' ... you Saffers can all LOL now.

I hope the floors don't smell Siff when i've finished using this stuff

 

National Insurance phoned and cancelled the appointment I had with them on Monday (due to the snow), so my meeting has been rescheduled for the 30th at 1000am  (I got the letter through the door this morning - still can't get used to how fast Royal Mail is!)     

My Auntie Barbara is having a knee replacement op this week Thursday (24th) - so I hope all goes well and it doesn't get cancelled again because of the snow!

Wotupp
Oh and I have a complaint, Toni.   Why did you only give us three seasons of 'How I Met Your Mother' hmm? Where do we get seasons 4 to 8 hey?     We are now completely addicted, thanks very much.

Birthday alert
It's the lady of the house's birthday on the 29th - so don't forget to wish her happy thirty-something ... you were warned.


Hope you are feeling okay now Andrew, take it easy and chillax a bit more. 

I got a cowd

We've been out of the house in Bushwillow Park for 3 months and this is the first time I've got a case of the sniffums ... considering we were sick almost every three weeks when we lived in Edenvale, I don't think that's too bad.  No, not been to the NHS yet and don't intend to at this point in time.

Well snow is upon us - although we haven't had any so far this weekend to speak of but the wind has picked up and weather reports are threatening that we should get more snow between now and middle of next week.   

The water pipes in the utility room froze (well it is generally about minus 2 in that room, even when the sun is shining)  and then broke, so we ended up with a leak.  Let me rephrase that.  The utility room floor was a water bed ... the vinyl covering the concrete floor was all squishy and floating on top of a lake.   We got hold of the managing agents (Nige ... he's a *%$# legend), said legend called the plumbers and they came this morning at 8am (when they said they would).   About an hour later, all was fixed.  So now we can do washing, which Hayzel is busy doing with a vengeance,  as I type up this blog post from my sick bed in ward 1. (Send donations in lieu of flowers)

Allyson has moved into her new flat/apartment with Ronnie and judging by the pictures she's sent me on Whatsapp it looks really cute - you are spoiled missy :)  Good luck and congratulations on having your own place to play housey housey.  After living on the balcony at our house in Kingfisher Crescent for years and dossing on sofas since we left for the UK ...  you deserve it Sweetie, so make the most of your new pozzy  - now you can try your hand at some unbelievable chuckun in your new oven! 

Sorry you didn't get to play cricket today, Dave.  Sounds like you have a hell of a strenuous time of it ahead of you next weekend though, dude.   How can you play 4 games in two days?   God, even the pros wouldn't be able to do that!   Anyway, I look forward to updates and seeing your ranking rise on Last Man Stands website. 

I took some pictures the other day but couldn't post them as the Nikon battery (not batteries, duh) died.  Of course, it's rechargeable and me like a twit went and bought a line of A++ batteries from Tescos ... duh again.   So four hours later and voila!  camera is charged and ready to go again.   (I'm such a tosser sometimes).   Tesco's delivered the monopod, I have used it with the Fuji camera and it seems like a cool toy but I agree, Toni  - think that I may need to bow down and buy a real tripod at some stage, as I doubt the monopod will be up to the challenge.  It's a nifty walking stick and it has a compass ...    

I also bought some lickle bookcases for our office and thanks to our Handyman, these were assembled in no time and seem reasonably sturdy.   I'm finding that buying stuff online is the bees armpits - it's so cool to press 'send' after checking out at the till and a couple of days later a nice chap arrives with your parcel right to your door.    Hayzel isn't finding it so easy - she also ordered some stuff from Tesco's but I think we have to go and collect it from the superstore next week.  

On Monday I'm supposed to be going to JobCentrePlus to apply for my National Insurance number. Kevin, who applied after Hayzel and me, got his number on Saturday morning with the mail.  

We don't know, at this stage, whether the schools will be closed again tomorrow - I hope not but will keep you updated if this is the case.

Same as previous, if you click on the photo it will take you to the full size image/s:

I was fiddling about with the 'effects' mode in this shot.

Happy Birthday, Leigh

Hope you are having a lovely day and that you like the flowers!  
Lots of love from all of us here in Norfolk.

Update

Well it hasn't snowed again today but we are bracing ourselves for a lot more over the weekend.   It's still thick (the snow coverage) and hasn't really melted much at all, very icy underfoot - despite the absolutely beautiful blue skies and sunshine that we've had all day today!
I think road conditions are actually worse today than they were yesterday but Faye went back to school this morning.

The hairdressing practical 'test' that Hayzel was supposed to do in Diss yesterday evening, was moved to the Long Stratton salon.  So we were quite relieved about that because the salon is only a couple of blocks from our house and we weren't looking forward to driving all the way into Diss in the snow and ice.    Hayzel did a great practical, I got a free haircut and blowdry, plus Redken products for a change on my hair ... then ...

Well, turns out the owners (people who were giving Hayzel the interview) have decided that they want to sell the Long Stratton salon because their stylists keep leaving. So they threw a complete wobbly at us and asked if Hayzel would be interested in buying it for .... wait for it ...  £50,000 ... (or a reasonably close offer) ....  hey, no problem! 

A long waffling meeting then followed, whilst these two tried to convince Hayzel (and me, by extension) to have a go.  The chap who started the salons (they have one in Diss, one in Bury St Edmunds and this one in Long Stratton) does Liz Hurley's hair, also Joanna Lumley's hair (she of Absolutely Fabulous fame). 

The deal-breaker for me was when they said that we don't have to pay for electricity ... what?   .... turns out they haven't received a power bill since 2002.   So, of course you know what would happen to us, right?   We would move in and one month later get a bill from British Gas for power usage since 2002 and for a hair salon, that could be many thousands of pounds.    So no, we won't be falling for that one.  Nice try, Cyril.    

It was disappointing, for Hayzel but in the long run, we both think these two have done us a favour and forced us to look at the bigger picture.

We (Hayzel and I) have decided to refocus and have another look at the prospects of continuing with IIA - I've already signed up a new client (yesterday) who is based in Durban - so us being based in the UK doesn't put clients off - and there is still a very good earnings base for us within the migration industry; specially from the UK side.     Anyhow, will keep you posted if anything else interesting develops.

Not much else to report, cheers for now.

Schools, roads closed! Britain in state of mayhem. :)

Hayzel was on her way with Faye this morning to Primary School, when out of a house nearby, a woman shouted out at them:

"Oi!   Oi!   There's no school t'day!  I checked on t'council website"

And here is the list of schools closed, due to 'treacherous road conditions' or other thingies.  Cool. :)


                                                            *****

Kevin was going to go to Gt. Yarmouth to see Tim this morning - but the traffic is backed up for miles and miles, so he gave it up as a bad job and has just come back home.   Dammit and we were holding thumbs.   

So weird, the things that stop people going to work in S'Africa are public holidays (2 a month almost), taxi / bus/train strikes and adjoined violence and maybe the occasional flash flood/pot holes. 
                                                            *****

Speaking of thumbs, I crushed mine in the conservatory door yesterday coming in from looking at the snow.   This house is trying to kill me.  I hadn't been drinking, Steve.  :)

                                                            *****

Batteries in my camera are kaput, so I can't take anymore photos just yet to post up here  (grumble, grumble).  I suppose that's not bad, considering I've been taking movies as well with the Nikon - they lasted quite a long time.     I want to get a tripod and when I was looking on Tesco's website, saw that they have 'monopod's'  ... has anyone ever used a Monopod and is it a good idea to get one, or not?
Tripod's can be a right pain lugging about but this Monopod is basically a walking stick and a support to take photos on ... what do you guys think?

Kevin's first post...

Hello, my name is Kevin and I am an alc... Ooops sorry this is the Meyer/Scott family blog.

Thanks Janice, I hereby take the blogger oath just to write about the Meyer/Scotts life in the UK and not get side tracked.

This is a huge responsibility that has been bestowed upon me and for my first post I post a video of the blizzard we had about 15 minutes ago and a pic of Ewan with red cheeks after a snowball fight with his mum outside (I hope it's not frostbite, best check this up on the internet as I have no knowledge of this snow stuff being an Effrican).

Winter wonderland

So now we have a whole load of people posting to the Blog, this is going to get weird, I just know it!
David, you can't post crap videos of me up here!  Grrr.
This was taken with the Nokia camera a few minutes ago.   I think Kevin is working on a huge production with his video camera, so be prepared to be amazed.

In other news, it's going to be interesting walking to school with Ewan to go and fetch Faye at around 3.15 today!   The flakes of snow are coming down in sheets now, flakes of snow are 1/2 to one inch across in some cases.

I see it is snowing a lot their  I though i would put up some photos of the only snow i have ever seen in South Africa from last year.

Panoramic shot by Kevin of the playing grounds

Click on photo to get full screen version

I've made Kevin a co-author, so he will be posting things as well from now on.

Snow games

We had about four inches of snow last night.   Whilst Kevin and Hayzel went with Faye to school this morning, Ewan and I had a go at a snowman ... which turned into a snowbaby.  The snow is a bit powdery!  Oh well, I'm sure his sister will do a much better job when she gets home from school.

  

Pre-Snowbaby

He's now lying on the couch in the lounge, whilst I type this ... almost asleep ... (Ewan silly, not the Snowbaby!) ... I think this Snow stuff kinda pooped my grandson out!

Update
Mum and Dad came back a bit later, with news that Faye is doing really well at school - they had an appointment with her teacher, who said she has a large vocabulary, is very confident and doing great ... if you came into the class you wouldn't notice that she's only been at the school a week.   So well done Faye.
Mum and Ewan decided to sort out Snowbaby, give him a scarf and Mike the Knight hat, because he was cold.   He's also now got some arms.