In to store

The last few days have been very busy, sorting through everything we own, deciding what to take, ship, store, chuck or give away. Today was storage day. At 8.45 the big van pulled up and it took 3 men the best part of 5 hours to wrap, box and pack into 3 large crates almost everything we own. I thought I might be a bit sad about it all, but actually it is nice to know it should be safe in Bedford or wherever it will be living and it will be like Christmas gone crazy whenever we come back and un wrap it all. When I am sure we will wonder why on earth we bothered to store most of it.

Good bye… piles of stuff… shelves of books, lovely sewing box, huge pans, photos of fun places, garage of junk… so long… farewell

Hello huge removal van with 3 empty crates. Actually not so empty in this photo as the top of our dining table seems to already be wedged in.

Hils and I pretended to be packers for a while. Until we were told off for placing plates flat in the box. Apparently the professionals place them on their side, thus reducing the risk of breakage in transit. Now we know. As the packing continued Ant busied himself paying the parking ticket he got after parking his car in front of a one hour parking sign for 2 days in an attempt to sell it. I suspect perhaps the parking fine was greater than the cost of putting an add on line.

All boxed up and ready to go… but ooops the pew doesn't fit in a crate. Apparently this means it gets to spend a couple of years with other oversized furniture. Lucky pew.

Off it all goes… all that remains are the white goods, Ant, me, and by the looks of the photo half a giant Nutella pretzel I bought him to cheer him up.

oh yes… that and a room upstairs that looks like a bomb hit it. Next task is to sort that out before the shippers come on Tuesday.

Here’s to minimalist living.

Paperwork

There seems to be a lot of paperwork involved in deconstructing ones life in the UK. Paperwork and endless hours spent in telephone queues listening to rubbish music.

Myanmar Burma

The countdown is on.

On the 3rd August the 2 of us will be moving to a city with 2 names in a country with 2 names on a contract of 2 years. I thought a map might be a helpful place to start as apparently not everyone knows exactly where this land can be found.

Actually I think the 2 name thing depends on who you are… and perhaps some politics too (which I think wise to steer well clear of here). So, we have bought a one way ticket (yikes) to Yangon, Myanmar… but it is perhaps more commonly referred to as Rangoon, Burma in the UK.

I have not written on this blog for some time, and so some effort on my part may be required to get back into it… especially as I am possibly going to one of the worst places in the world for internet connectivity. However, as I am not on the book of face it seems as good a place as any to jot down any (non politically contentious) rambles and keep anyone who might be vaguely interested up to date with the life and travels of the telford-geers as we head off on our little adventure in the tropics.

Anthony sent me this photo today, entitled "My arrangement - the poppies didn't like it inside"
Love it that he is doing a bit of flower arranging in my absence
Very sad to be missing our little garden at this time of year

African Renaissance

Another Dakar outing was to the African Renaissance monument. Here are some facts according to wikipedia:

• It is 49m tall, making it the largest statue in the world outside Asia and the former Soviet Union.
• It was built by the North Koreans (random... more on that below).
• It cost over $27 million (USD)... one could very well question why money is being spent on this when there are malnourished munchkins and people dying of malaria... but I suppose that question can be asked of all governments. UK included (we don't have malaria... but there are hungry kids).
• It is located on top one of the twin hills in Dakar known as Collines Des Mamelles (or Hills of Breasts as they would be referred to in English).
  

As you can see it really is quite something.

Just in case we needed proof that the North Koreans were involved... we actually met one. This was SO exciting. We saw some Asian types operating a large crane and cleaning/ painting the statue. Hilary the brave/ mad went and spoke to one of them. He seemed not to really speak English but did confirm he was from Pyongyang. It was SO exciting we just had to take photographs to prove our 1st meeting with a real life North Korean. It would be interesting to know what he makes of Senegal... and the big statue... and the breast like hills... and whether he still loves the dear and great leaders... and whether he would rather North Korea or Senegal... oh the questions...
This is the list of Heads of State attending the (most likely lavish) opening ceremony... DRC, Zimbabwe, Cote D'Ivore, Gabon... mmm something seems a bit wrong about all of this...

Big Fish

Before Spearsy's wedding we enjoyed a trip to the big fish restaurant in Dakar.
The attached photos amuse me. Mostly because the plates were actually shared between lots of people... but the photos tell a different story!

Wedding Day!

At the hotel... all ready for the Spearsy-Sophie wedding
The best men - Pete and Arthur

The church at 4pm (official start of wedding ceremony). The people on the left hand side are the amazing choir... so as you can see very few guests were on time! Of course us pasty faces arrived far too early... I think it all got going properly around 4.45!

I didn't do a good job of photographing the bride and groom. This is coming out of the church, where they were surrounded by a fantabulous brass band... a real celebration. Spearsy was draped in traditional necklaces at this point (I think).

After the church ceremony there was obligatory attendance for the Bride, Groom and A list guests at the B list reception. The 2 tiered reception approach is an interesting one. Basically Bride and Goom show up there for about 30min and then leave the B listers to celebrate all night whilst the A listers headed for the fancy restaurant!

Pete and Misty were not quite sure what to do with themselves...
Anthony on the other hand enjoyed playing with the orange "jewel" table decorations...
Me and Marthe
Then it was off to the A-list party... Mr Geer was very pleased with himself
The MOST incredible wedding cake ever...
Deserts to end all deserts
Me and Anthony with the most lovely Habib and Habib's deuxième wife. Habib is Alex's loyal driver and is super nice, and actually I was quite distressed he had taken a 2nd wide since seeing him last. The 1st wife has 7 or 9 children... poor thing... left at home whilst wife number 2 gets to go out to the fancy parteeee.

Heathrow - Lisbon

The adventure begins at Heathrow... Ant and I travelling with more bags than ever before. Laden with sugar almonds and solar lamps for Spearsy's nuptuals...

Striking it lucky on arrival in Lisbon... as we were delayed by multiple hours we were given boarding passes... for the next day... and then vouchers for a night in Lisbon! The excitement was overwhealming.



Anthony tries to escape me... but of course failed


Hils and "Orange" enjoying Sangria in the town... how civilised

Executive Suite

Am currently residing in the "Executive Suite" at the Family Kingdom.

As you can see it is highly executive. I don't think it actually qualifies as a suite tho, as I am sure that implies there is more than one room, and unless there is a secret door somewhere to the rest of the suite... then it is just a normal bedroom + bathroom (en suite as opposed to executive suite?)

Floral sink + kids shower curtain

Large bed with mirror inset into the head board (nice touch)... and the lamps... well they are most exciting

disco/ bondage elephants????

Poor elephants... what were they thinking with these costumes???

Two of the hundreds of elephants we saw parading through Colombo this evening, along with many singers and dancers and people in an incredible range of outfits - boys with "3 legs", men with fake beards, people dressed with grannie masks, traditional looking dancers, people twirling plates on sticks high in the air, people dressed as monkeys, people dressed as bears... twas incredible. Think the festival has something to do with Shiva... much like one I went to in Nepal on this day 4 years ago (where did that time go???)... but then that doesn't necessarily make a load of sense as the elephants all belonged to a very very rich Buddhist temple and they were followed by 4 large Buddhas on trucks... wikipedia has failed me on this one... but perhaps I need to search harder.

Happy Valentines day

Happy Valentines day!

The hotel where I am (ahem) working decided to decorate the beach for Valentines day... so almost every tree has a big wooden heart nailed to it. Hopefully the non-working clientele of mostly middle aged European tourists on valentines minibreaks will enjoy it!

dum de dum

I have been bad at updating this... indeed I have a file of photos to upload at some point... but I haven't yet got around to it yet.

Instead... here are a couple from today...

First it was oven of glory... now it is PAN of glory... we got this beauty in the sales... it's built to last... and is red (for some reason this meant it was cheap... perhaps red is so last year)... looking forward to many a good stew stewed in here. mmmmm


Finally sorted out an album for our wedding photos. Was all a bit annoying with the first version having splodges on thus needing to be returned and then the 2nd version getting delivered to the wrong store, and they didn't take any contact details and so just sat on it etc. etc.
Anyway, in honour of the fact that today is Tsagaan Sar (Mongolian New Year) the photo of the page below has our Mongolian Toast written on it... and photos of the toast itself... which reminds me to get out the Chinggis tonight.
Bunting by HRH the Nadj. Toast Courtesy of Munson Whites.


Indeed perhaps Tsagaan Sar deserves a blast from the past. So here is me -8 years, sitting in my ger, wearing a del, in front of my most wondrous fire that kept me varying degrees of toastyness all winter. Those were the days!

Little House

Munson Whites and Telford Geers do Little House in the Big Woods

Pepin, Wisconsin, USA

Sadie and myself reverently paid homage, taking our much loved books with us, my copy having belonged to my mum at one point. As you can see the men did not seem to comprehend the significance of the pilgrimage, despite having been read to from the books... so sad.

Sadie and I also enjoyed pretending to be Laura at the only tourist facility that was actually open in the darkest winter. Definitely worth a repeat visit in summer (along with a visit to PEI for an Anne of Green Gables minibreak)... but the blue mongol sky and white white snow were beautifulbeautiful.

Surnames

The post arrived today and we got lots of Christmas cards... and interestingly they were all addressed somewhat differently... I suspect this is all my fault for not being a straightforward Mrs Geer (although as you will see I am called this... which is fine btw) ... I find it all quite amusing, but hope the seeming ambiguity of our names does not cause anyone too much distress...

• Mr and Mrs A. Geer: This would be the traditional approach...
• Auntie Sarah Telford-Geer: Our niece is very developed for a 2 month old and can write envelopes... genius child!
  
• Mr and Mrs Telfy Geer: Nice twist on our names...
• Telford Geer: Like it... no faffing around with mr/mrs/ms etc...
• Tony and Sarah: Nice and simple... avoids any embarrassment over what we may or may not like to be called...
  
• The Family Fowler: mmm well I believe they lived here before us...
  

Snow...

In slight contrast to the last photo on this blog.
Our garden looked like this this last week.
My advent calendar for Anthony...
Spot our house? Ant had his first flying lesson in over a year and flew over the house and managed to get in a bit of areal photography too.

Sunday Sunshine, Sweet Salone

Perfect.
No more words needed.

House owners for 1 year

Nice how the estate agents remembered... perhaps they want to remind us they are there and ready to sell our house should we wish to upgrade.
Looking back we have done a lot to this house in the last year... still not finished but it is looking better - I think :)

Crafts

The arrival of Freya Grace - niece numero uno - has been an excuse for various crafts! I never seem to have enough time to do these things... but was inspired by some of Ant's friends to create a "taggy blanket"... the idea being that the baby has fun rubbing the different bits of ribbon around the edge, something that small babies can do before they develop bigger hands/ grabbing abilities. It was really easy to make, and I was pleased how it turned out!
I also made one for Sophie with some different bits of ribbon given to me by my groosome (grannie). Hopefully she will also be able to enjoy the different textures.




The Geer joined me in the 2nd craft activity. Creation of a nappy cake for Freya. Nappy cakes seem to me to be a random idea, but Hils and I got roped into making one for a friend at work, and they are quite entertaining to make, so we thought we would make one for the new niece. The whole thing is very amereeeekan, and a rather alien concept to us Brits. I was amused by a colleague from across the pond who said they made "great baby shower centre pieces". I don't think baby showers have totally caught on here... and having "centre pieces" for such things seems slightly OTT to say the least... I guess the whole idea is all a bit too over consumeristic for my liking.
Anyway, I shall explain "nappy cakes" for those who have not experienced such wonders: You put some nice baby lotion/ bubbles in the middle of a board and then role up lots of nappies (fastening with elastic bands) and arrange them around the central bottles, pulling them tightly together with some pretty ribbon. You then tuck in different gifts like bibs, rattles, taggy blankets, colour changing bath ducks, and of course, the obligatory "I love Ware Bib" - a must for every Ware-ish baby. Not sure how much Freya will enjoy wearing it, but Anthony is amused that it matches his "I love Ware" t-shirt... and I am just generally amused by his love for his home-town! So a fun thing to make... but only really useful if you are not using washable nappies.

PS - Freya is of course very lovely, very cute and very small, but she isn't an online baby... so no photos :O(

books

I love books... and I have quite a few, although alas there is never enough time to read them all! Indeed I have a small library when compared to my husband, who basically seems to own a few FACT books, a couple of novels, quite a few books relating to learning how to fly, and more bibles than me (and he's the atheist round here). However, it should be noted that I have considerably fewer books than some people in my family - Clari that would be you... and the rest of your family too :)

So our books have been sitting on the floor in the lounge for about 6 months... since we moved them out of the spare bedroom so my auntie and cousin could sleep in it in the summer. The pile looked like this... and was becoming more precarious by the day
A couple of weeks ago we ordered some wood from a timber yard (an enlightening experience... they knew their wood... and their page 3 girls). We took delivery on Friday, so we now have a garage full of wood for a dining table that we plan to make at some point... and the shelves. So on Sunday, whilst Ant set to in constructing these shelves (clearly a manly job), I got to work on a cupboard to go under the shelves.

Small aside about the cupboard:
We live near an "Age" (formally known as "age concern") furniture warehouse. We go there reasonably often in search of a great bargain. Normally we fail to find anything remotely nice. We do however have some friends that seem to have stylishly furnished most of their house from there... clearly they have more luck than us. Anyway we needed to go and see these friends so thought perhaps if we went to Age before hand we would get lucky... and we did to a certain extent... the pine cupboard below cost £40 which I think is a leeetle overpriced, but then you can't really bargain with a charity for grannies... it would just be wrong. Note the space above the cupboard... all ready for Ant's shelves.

So yes... after a weekend of shelf putting up and cupboard renovating we came up with 4 nice shelves and a cupboard that with a few coats of paint and some cheap wooden Homebase handles looks really quite nice (I am of course biased on this one).


I was happy dappy dooo da. Ant was slightly distressed, because we were left with a reasonable pile of books that don't fit on the shelves - even with optimal stacking of books in piles and putting them on the shelves 2 deep (some would say this is a crime in itself... it was a big concession on my part - particularly as it makes access to the Anne of Green Gables series difficult... and who knows when I might need to refer to what Anne and Gilbert did in Avonlea?) Such was his distress that he uttered terrible, sacrilegious words - "you have to get rid of some books". How could he say such a thing about my lovely lovely books? I was in shock... and refused point blank to get rid of any... and called him illiterate several times... which is possibly an over statement... but is reflective of my strength of feeling about my books. Anyway all is not lost as we have the wood to construct more shelves on the other side of the chimney so all will be well and I am sure I will be able to add to the collection. Disobedient wife that I am - I have been given a moratorium on all amazon purchases until I can say I have read every single book I own.

No room on the shelves for these books... and bizarrely a gong. nice. Please note that their location close to the fire does not in any way indicate that they shall be burnt.

holiday...

Crab trails, Langkawi, Malaysia

Will write more soon xxx