Moontan

Moving stuff

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The lines were drawn, and we had to move from East to West. It wouldn’t be easy, it wouldn’t be quick, but war was afoot, and no price was too small for victory.

We would go on to the end, whatever the cost may be, we would move on the stairs, we would move on the landing, we would move past the fields and in the streets, we would move among the hills, we would move from our village to the next, whatever the cost may be.

Early Saturday morning the troops started moving out. Leon got left his flat in London shortly after 7, Melissa joined forces with Nico and Evita. They all converged on our position shortly after 10.

Nico had a flesh wound in his lower back. Ironically it was friendly fire that hurt him - Evita had forced him to go jogging too much 2 weks previously. I had volunteered the services of our field medic - Leon - which was sorely needed.

At least Nico could contribute to the early skirmishes, bringing don several aggressive boxes and even a baby changing table. After that, however, his old injury saw him sidelined in the field hospital (Evita’s new Audi) for the rest of the day.

Evita was our agent of deception. She arrived dressed to kill, in a smart light brown outfit which could serve double duty as camouflage between the boxes. My heart sank at first, thinking she would never be able to get her hands dirty dressed like that.

My pessimism was soon shot out the window, as Evita proved to be the main impetus of our attack. She took the troops by the proverbial balls, and showed the men what to do. In no time she was shuttling between our current and advanced positions, delving out love and orders where needed. Nico got the Love, Leon and I got the orders.

Not only was the good docter our field medic, Leon also provided the big guns. All the hours, days, months spent in the gym finally paid off and he proved effective in the heavy lifting department. Those guns aren’t just for show, they pack a mighty punch as well.

Meanwhile, Melissa was our undercover agent - a master (mistress?) of diversion. While the rest of us where otherwise engaged, she took charge of the young ones (Liela, Elfie and Katja) and kept them occupied. Without her, we would have been weighed down with this burden, but she annexed them so completely we never even saw the 3.

Kobra acted as the mastermind, commanding everything from our her lair. It also happened to be our advanced position, and she directed the troops where necessary. There were so much traffic coming in, she had her hands full in the new position just making sure everything ran smoothly.

By about 3 o’clock, victory seemed assured. Evita took the injured Nico and the exhausted Melissa back to their base further north-north-east from here. We were left with our main carrier and field medic Leon to mop up the remains.

Finally just before sundown I dropped Leon off at our initial position to catch a troop train home. He almost managed to mask his relief at the relief. I picked up some final little things, and headed back to our established new position.

There still remained a lot of little battles left - mostly with a vacuum and rug cleaner - but the main battle was won. We had moved from our old place into our new home, “Little Warthogs” as Evita mispronounced it.

Last supper

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Kobie has worked herself thinner and lighter. In the last 2 weeks she packed up our entire home - all 5 of us and 3 young children.

I’m certain she lost some weight, so on Friday night I stuffed her with some “slap tjips”. There’s a proper dodgy oily chip store in the village, and Kobie had been in the mod for some salt-and-vinegar-soggy fried chips for a while.

It was the end of an era, as it was our last meal in the old place. Everything was packed in boxes, the children were asleep in their rooms for the last time, and we were ready to move.

We needed all the carbs we could get for the next few days. Not only did we have the move ahead, but we also had to clean the old place and survive 2 weeks of school spring break.

Her wish has finally come true. After years and years of yearning, Liela has at long last fulfilled her biggest dream. She has long, long hair.

Ever since she could walk, she’s desired little else but long hair. OK, perhaps her desire for a Nintendo DS Lite comes close.

She’s always pretended to have long flowing locks, even if it meant wearing a hoody. She used to hook the hood on her head and pretend the rest was her hair hanging down.

Now her real hair is so long, in fact, that she officially has the longest hair in her class. Earlier this week she told us how all the girls in her class regularly measure each other’s hair, and this week she came out tops.

For a long time she’s come in second, but this week it changed. Her main rival obviously had a trim or perhaps even something as devastating as a haircut.

Whatever the reason, we were told in great animation how Liela now holds the record for having the longest hair in her class. It only took about 6 years.

Invasion!

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Every night when I get home, another little part os taken over by these boxes.

It started with 1 or 2, and they were innocent enough. There was on in the corner, one under a table, and I think I once saw one hiding under the stairs in the hallway.

And suddenly we’re overwhelmed.

When I returned home tonight - our second last night here - an entire section of the sitting room had been taken over.

Even the kitchen cupboards are now empty, and I don’t understand it. We don’t have any crockery left, and I’m carrying my books and my laptop with me before the boxes gobble them up too.

It’s gone so far, even some of my shoes have disappeared off the shoe rack. Luckily I see my stationary bike was too much for the boxes, and they couldn’t gulp down that heavy beast as well.

I haven’t been able to speak to Kobra about our little infestation. For some odd reason she’s so tired every night she passes out shortly after I arrive home. Weird.

Little cruising explorer

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In the last month little Katja has shown some amazing development.

A few short weeks ago she couldn’t handle lying on her stomach. She would cry, and it would turn into a scream rather fast. We were worried because we didn’t think she’d ever crawl.

Then she suddenly started crawling. One day her oldest sister and I just put her on her stomach, put our hands under her feet and showed her how to propel herself forward.

She crawled for almost two weeks, and then she realised she can use her legs for other things. Yes, they were good for kicking her father (at exactly that wrong height on a changing table). Yes, she could splash her mother with water during bathtime.

But she could also pull herself upright!

Suddenly the little crawler is cruising all over the place. She pulls herself up, and then holds on to the furniture as she moves around the house.

Crawling still seems to be very hard work for her. As her mother pointed out: “She makes it look so difficult!”

However, she has no problem pulling herself up - in her cot for example - and then using her legs to shuffle all over the place. And she’s also realising how great it is to get to stuff she’s not supposed to.

She’s suddenly also realised how much fun it is to unpack stuff. While her mother is trying to pack up the house, she’s busy unpacking the house.

Educational

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On Saturday morning Kobra had the first of a series of courses. This was the Introduction, to help her make up her mind whether she’s interested in this or not.

For a while now we’ve talked about her becoming a childminder. This is a regulated industry in the UK, inspected and regulated by the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills, Ofsted. This is the same body that inspects schools in the UK.

Running the church’s crèche and now being deputy head of a toddler group in the village, Kobra clearly has a knack with young children. However, she doesn’t have any formal qualifications, so she’s spent some time during our summer holiday speaking to some of my family who’s involved in teacher training.

The childminding seemed like a natural first step, especially as it means she can still look after our three girls as well. In our area there’s a shortage of good childcare, and it’s prohibitively expensive. In fact, it’s so expensive Kobra had to stop working two years ago because it would work us out cheaper each month!

The idea is to start small, and especially with Katja turning one soon we thought the time is right. This is one of the reasons for the move: we need a garden area for Kobra’s inspection. The training includes modules on caring for children - which we thought could only benefit our own - as well as an intensive child first aid course.

She was bouncing with excitement when she came back. Partly it’s because of the idea of doing something productive again and providing an income for the household. But personally I think there was something else which piqued her interest.

The introductory course and support she receives treats her like a entrepreneur. They provide her with the necessary training and kit to get started, as well as paying her first year’s insurance. It’s like starting a small business, with profits and targets and quotas and customers and contracts.

Summer’s coming

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It’s the last Sunday in March, which means we’re back on British Summer Time!

Last night our clocks moved forward again by an hour. It’s easy to remember: spring forward, fall back. In Spring we move the clocks forward by one hour, in autumn we move it back by one hour.

This has several advantages.

There are the normal ones of getting more daylight out of our days. Because we move the clock forward, it means the sun sets later. As I’m writing this, it’s already past 8PM and it’s still light enough outside to go for a walk.

This also means it will be light when I get home at night from work, which always helps to lift the spirits. For 6 months now we’ll have gloriously long days. From next weekend we’ll also have a garden, meaning we’ll actually be able to enjoy the longer days.

The girls will also be able to enjoy long days on the village green with their friends, as they’ll have hours of light even after school finishes at 3:15 in the afternoon. Or they can spend the longer days in our own garden, where I plan to have at least on or two braais this summer.

It does have it’s downside as well. This evening the sun was still shining brightly into the girls’ room when I put them to bed. Elfie had to hide under her duvet just to get away from the sunshine.

Night owls like me also have less time to ourselves, as we have only about 4 hours of darkness during the peak of the summer. But even this night owl is delighted with the long days laying ahead.

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Spring sunshine

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We arrived on this island 2 and a half years ago with seven suitcases and big ideas. For some time, my priority was to get a bigger family car. This happened in the second half of last year, when we took in Rosie.

This year my plan was to start looking for a new home. The idea was to have space outside both for Rosie as well as the girls.

We started out looking at a place higher up in the village, away from our friends and the station. At first Kobra an I were very excited, but that didn’t last. The more I thought about it, the more I realised even that 3 bedroom terraced house is not ideal for us.

Obviously my family runs an industrious prayer engine, and it paid off. Big time.

At our youngest’s baptism, my mother-in-law had a chat with one of the other ladies in the congregation. Word also got around our fellow villagers in the church that we were looking for a place. A few weeks later this same lady contacted us, saying she had a house to rent very close to the girls’ school.

We went to have a look, not daring to hope that it would suit both our needs as well as our budget. They had had the place in the market for a while, and would be happy to rent it to us at a reduced price because we’re all in the same church.

Then word got around the parish that we’re moving from a furnished to an unfurnished place. Within a few days we’ve received so much furniture we have to turn down offers! All this from people at church wishing to help us out.

In addition to the wonderful home, and the offers of furniture, we’ve also received several offers of help. Of course, no one seems interested in helping out the father - they all want to help babysit our charming little angels.

All of this came about because of a few kind words by several kind people in our church. Suddenly we’re moving into a lovely little named house, within sight of the school and almost on top of some of our best friends.

New home

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As I’ve noted recently, it’s been a busy few weeks for us. Not only am I taking on a new job - which I’m told puts strain on a family - we’re also taking on a new home.

This past weekend Kobra and I signed the lease for our new place. It’s a lovely little semi-detached home in the village where we currently live.

It has it’s downsides. For one it’s smaller than what we’re used to, as it’s not a true three bedroom house. We’ll have to see if we can convert the study into a bedroom for Liela.

It’s also further from the station than we are currently. However, almost every house in the village is further from the station, and the 1km is a glorious walk.

However, it has so many advantages we just can’t wait to move in. Our front gate is about 50 metres from the village green, and about 100 metres from the girls’ school.

We have several friends who live around the green, across from us or just down the road. The girls will not only be able to walk to school, they’ll be able to walk to their friends, and spend the long summer days playing on the green. Three of my girls each have a best friend who lives on the green!

It’s a private road as well, with no through traffic. It’s more quiet, and we might finally spend some time learning to ride bicycles.

The house has a garden, and the fence running down the middle of it will be moved soon. Rosie’s nose can be seen poking out, which is the gravel driveway on the other side of the house. We don’t want to take down the fence completely, as it keeps little crawling princesses safely inside.

The kitchen is huge - even larger than our current one. The appliances are all built in, and the kitchen is almost brand new. We’ll be able to use it as a dining room as well, and I reckon we’ll spend most of our time in that room.

The kitchen door leads on to a very small courtyard, and the sitting room doors lead out onto the garden.The front door exits to the driveway, where there are enough room for a rockstar’s car collection.

The house has a name, as all places do around here. I have to admit I thought it would be years and years before we’d be fortunate enough to live in a named house. Soon I’ll email details of our new address to family.

Our two biggest reasons for moving was to get a garden (especially for Elfie) and a parking space. Although our current flat is great, these two issues were really driving Kobra insane. Now she has both, and much sooner than we had anticipated.

Treating mother

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Sunday was Mother’s Day in the UK. As I’ve explained about Mother’s Day before, it’s held much earlier in this part of the world, because it has religious significance.

The mother in our house was allowed to sleep in (and through the night). As per her un-subtle hints she was awoken at 8:45 with coffee, presents and flowers.

She demanded the coffee and timing, we demanded the flowers and presents.

We had a combined church service at the village hall this morning - both the Life service (with all the families and children) as well as the earlier service (older people without children). The theme was obviously “Mothering Sunday”, and the children made cards and wrote poems.

Lia was inspired by this. She composed her own poem for her mother, with some obvious influences from her peers.

My mum is fantastic!

My mum is fantastic!
She can cycle one-hundred miles in just one Day.
She can dance Better than a balete Dancer.
She makes my Birthday the Best Because she gives me the Best hugs.
She can Sprint through a hole Race.
She is the Best Dancer I can think of.

She is even more sparkly then eneyone on Strictly-come Dancing.
And She could win a medal in the olimpix Races.
We have fun when she chases me in the garden.
She could cook for the Queen!
She is good at baking lemon tart.
I love you

its nice to have a mum like mine
its fantastic!

Today’s view

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There are several advantages to working at the BBC. Not only do I get wonderful internal opportunities, I also have the chance to do some good in the community.

The work supports my work as a School Governor for the girls’ primary school. In addition to this, I’ve also consulted a trust called Ai-Khameli. They hand out two bursaries each year to journalism students from East Timor to study further in the UK.

Then there was the work I did for Westminster Abbey. Their online editor (the person in marketing who does all their web based stuff) is a friend and former BBC colleague. I helped her a bit with her strategy for their site, and I also ran a training session to get their staff to publish to the web.

Through this I met the Dean of the Abbey, a very impressive man with whom I got along very well.

Most recently I’ve been consulting another charity called the MediaTrust. Their office is in Millbank, right on the river Thames, next to Vauxhall Bridge and across from MI6.

I work with them for half a day a month, and this month I led a workshop on communities and social media. The view from our room was spectacular, and I positioned myself so I could see the river, the Town Hall, the London Eye and all the other sites on the South Bank.

The last 10 days have een a roller coaster ride for Kobra and me. Both at home and at work things have been moving very fast. More about the home front in a next post.

On the work front I’ve been given a wonderful opportunity. I’ve been entrusted with another team to manage, and I am beyond excited about it. They’re a good bunch of guys (and a girl), and I’ve worked with them over the last couple of months.

Even though it’s only an acting position until the structure is sorted out, I’m taking it as seriously as if it’s a long term thing - and it might even turn out to be longer term.

I’m not dropping any of my current responsibilities - I’m taking up this new team in addition to what I’m already doing. So it’s going to be a busy month or two while we sort out everything.

Things moved very fast at work, and within a day or two the acting position was sorted out and my directs have been doubled. I’m now running around trying to catch up in the two weeks before the current manager leaves.

Every silver lining has a dark cloud though. I’m helping out in this position because a friend’s contract is not being renewed, which is very sad for me. At least I can jump in and guide his team after his departure.

Lots of excitement and lots of challenges, which equates to a lot of fun!

It’s been such a hectic week in our lives, that I haven’t even had time to feel guilty about not writing. I’ve almost had time to think about feeling guilty, but not quite.

After looking at a possible new home on Saturday, Kobra and I were excited beyond belief. Those of you who know us will remember we’re not the most patient of people. So we want to move now.

We didn’t see the actual house we would be able to rent, but rather the one next door. Both are built on the same lines, so we knew what to expect. And we were very, very excited.

On Tuesday morning we had the opportunity to meet up with the landlord to have a look at the actual property. Which was a complete and utter let down.

It wasn’t nearly as neat or as well presented as the first house we saw. The old lad who lived there recently lost her husband, and he had been ill for four years. Unfortunately the place had been badly neglected.

It was a stark reality check. There is no way we could move into the house, and I’m not sure if the landlord is prepared to spend the money to get the place in shape. He might do, but then he could conceivably push the rent up - beyond our reach.

We have now entered into negotiations with him, so we’ll see where it leads.