Ready...Aim...Fire!

So there we were my husband and i walking down Chestnut Grove, out for a stroll in the beautiful English sun. Our first t-shirt day in England in fact! We were two people on a mission to PC world. Out to purchase an external dvd writer so that we can hopefully see our recorded ramblings set on dvd, in the mail and inflicted on family on the other side of the world.

Anyway i digress. T'was a beautiful day though and we did have a jolly stroll in the summer sun. So we get about three metres down the road when all of a sudden i see something fast moving out the corner of my eye. In immediate defence mode and fearing for my Ryan's life i pushed him out the way. Yes i would risk my own safety for that of my husband! Wouldn't you?
Before i knew it. SPLAT!, SLAM! SQUISH!, SQUELCH! ......... oooooourgh!??? What the...? (insert audio clip of insane cackle from Ryan). Again... what the?! I knew something had happened that would change my life forever but as of that instant I wasn't entirely sure as to what on earth it was.

Well what on earth it wasn't is more to the point!

High up in the branches of the ....hmm... something tree,
A very fat bird sat awatching me.
Eyes as beady as a snake.
Belied the prey, t'was his to cake
A bit of a squeeze, and aimed to the left
Evacuate the turd from out that cleft
There she blows, watch out below!
But poor mezzymoo too late to know.

Need i say more! Of course!!!

Ladies and Gentlemen... My lesson for you today: Big birds breed big turds!

As horrifying an ordeal as it was... I'm sorry the pictures were too disturbing to publish for general public viewing. I am comforted by the fact that the China man says that bird poo = Good luck is to come your way! YAY for me!!!

ANYWAY....

On a different topic and something for you conservationists to ponder. We often eat dinner these days with candles lit and not much else. Not only does it set a nice ambiance and add a bit to the romantic feel but it saves money too we figure.

Now i'll let you in on a little secret. Ryan has decided that when we start having a family that twins would be a fantastic addition. I have slightly differing thoughts on this topic but we'll leave that for another day. Anyway I've stumbled across some good advice as to how to avoid producing twins again the China man is very wise. He says:

It is not economical to go to bed early to save the candles if the result is twins.

So here's to candlelit dinners and late nights!!

Eggscellent Easter Escapades

Roll on Good Friday... nothing quite like a few more days off when you've got no money and have only been working a month. Needless to say i wasn't feeling particularly inspired about the break after trying (and failing) to book trains, planes and buses to what felt like half of europe and with no success (well not on a budget of under 400 quid!!!). It was with a hint of disdain that i accepted Mez's idea of a weekend at home. So Good Friday was good. We recalled just how many times we'd crucified Jesus in the past day, week, month, whatever. Had a restful day. Was surprisingly good actually. Early night too which was needed. Slept in on Saturday morning only to be woken by the phone. It's something of an excitement when the phone rings. Especially when you don't know anyone in a city. Who would be ringing early (ok, so it wasn't that early...) on a saturday morning.

A familiar and mischevious tone came down the phone at me from a Mr. Jacob Grieve, enquiring about whether we'd like to come riding in the Peak district? WOULD WE EVER!!! So to the Wharncliffe track, Dark Peak went we, after a mad scramble to get up, have breakfast, rent a car, buy some tyres for our bikes (ooo you know how I love bike shops... specialised armadillo tyres - with a one year, puncture free guarantee!!!), put tyres on bikes, and drive there (about an hour up the M1... probably a bit longer than that if you drive at 70mph... but who does that on the M1 really???

Mez re-named the peak district 'the PEAT district'. Says it all really. Great to be married to a witty lady. Great to be out in the fresh air. Great to be in the company of great folk (even when they are much fitter than you and leave you for dead up the hills). Great to be covered in mud. And some great potential for summer riding when the tracks become rideable. Some great technical downhills. Great swelling on Mez's ankle from smashing it repeatedly on her pedals. Ouch! Great that I have a tough wife. We'll be back.

Sunday decided to drive the two hours or so to York for the day. Because we could. Cool old, walled city. Went for a walk on the wall, did the bus tour, polished off a bottle of NZ wine over lunch in an old pub then walked down the oldest (and most photographed) street in York, called little shambles (quite apt after a bottle of wine too!!! - Note the relaxed grin ;-) ), finished off with a boat cruise in a crude attempt to re-visit our very tasty lunch. (well that was mez's feeling anyway - i forget too easily she's not got sea legs. Nor has she river legs it would seem. But she has got nice legs. Which is a subject for an entirely different blog. This is a family show!!) When that didn't work we just went to McDonalds and got greasies to enable the two and a bit hour drive back home in a completely sober fashion...

So just a little shambles really! Interesting learning point. Check out the wee door (about a metre tall) on the side of the church (which Mez expertly captured while i sat and thought: 'man that's a cool bit of history' - for a change!!!) Apparently it's called the devils door, and it was opened during medieval baptisms so that when the child got dunked, the devil (cast out of the child... along with original sin i guess) could escape quickly out the door!!! Amazing how faith inspires different people in different ages to act I guess. Thus far the history of our faith is somewhat unglamourous. Chocabloc full of very human interpretations and errors. I wonder which of the faith practices future generations will look back on in our generation and shake their heads at in (almost) disbelief??? On the other hand it's a beautiful thing to know that throughout all generations God has been held up and esteemed as being an important fella to know. I guess all I know, is that what i do know is probably very very little. Certainly when it comes to God. Likely when it comes to understanding humanity and human history. i'll leave it at that.

So this was once a benedictine monastery, in the centre of York, which is symbolic for where the church once stood in public life (not necessarily for the right reasons mind you...) Desecrated by Henry VIII when the reformation came about... In the name of God eh?


So Monday then. Got up pretty early for a holiday, but with due cause... drove to North Wales to a place called Dolgellau (have marked home and the appropriate destinations on this beautiful map i found... won't tell you how long it took me to do that... but you better appreciate it's technologically advanced and adapted wonderfulness... or else!) Actually we went to a park called Coed-Y-Brenin which is a bit out of Dolgellau, but you get the idea. Interestingly enough Dolgellau sounds nothing like it is written. I thought welsh was about as widely spoken in wales as Maori is in NZ, but apparently this is not so, with somewhere over 60% of the population speaking it in some counties there. But we heard none of it. And wouldn't have understood it anyway if we had.

Again went biking with Jake and Justine, who again proved very enjoyable company, despite a fitness gap firmly in favour of the Grieve faction. Have to say that was probably the best biking track i've done - or at least on a par with some of the best stuff in the best conditions in NZ. Some pretty cool scenery, Great uphills, some technical, some chat-worthy on metal roads, all great technical downhills, rocky, without any ruts, but great fun. Met a cool couple with a great toy... a handlebar mounted camera that took short movies too... you know what i'm thinking... Nah, think i'd break such toys exceedingly fast.

Great day though that was capped off with actually making it back to Nottingham (despite the easter traffic) by just after 7 (left at 3pm). This meant we could go to the show we had bought tickets to which was cool. Show was called Carmina Burana, a spanish show playing at the local theatre royal. Spanish Flamenco Dancing, Operatic style singing, Flamenco guitars (x3 - Skip you'd have loved it), Some midgets, and a couple of dancing white stallions. Sounds pretty cool and it was but couldn't tell you for the life of me just what it was about.

There was a crying doll statue of the Virgin Mary which they sang and danced at very passionately, then that was winched up up and away to be replaced by an empty cross, which one of the female dancers then crucified herself on, and was lifted up, then lowered, crowned with thorns, then dragged away dead. Was all very interesting, theatrical - Ho! (clap, clap) Hey! (clap) Hey! (clap, clap) Ho! etc etc, but i haven't the foggiest what they were actually trying to say. Carmina Burana is a cool piece of music though. Previous cultural experience of that particular piece was in a movie about the doors and Jim Morrison. Very different.

But fun anyway. So that was our weekend. Hope yours was as SNAZZY!! Till next time, ciao.

What's the Buzz?

So what have we been up to of late?

Well today we've had a breakthrough! We registered this morning with our local NHS General Practitioner and it's the first process we have undertaken since being here that has been painfree and quick!!! Let's hope it continues in this way! It looks like a nice wee practice, an easy 10min walk down the road. And the best part is it's free! Hopefully we won't being making use of it too often though.


I also went down to Job Centre Plus which seems to be like WINZ (if that's what they're called these days!). I had to sort out my National Insurance number so that the government can get their tax. And i have to say that was a pleasant and straightforward process too!! Praise the Lord!


On Fri 7th I got up at 5am and took the 7am train down to London. I had to go there to start the ONP or Overseas Nurses Program. This is what is holding me back from working as an RN. It's a requirement by the Nursing Council here that all overseas nurses do this course. It involves completing a workbook which has activites based on getting to know the British Health system and British culture. Involves quite a bit of reading and internet research but i'm rather looking forward to it actually. I need to have that done by May 9th when i'll return to London (probably by train again) to sit a test and have my book marked. All going well I will send off my certificate to the British Nursing Council who will process it as quick as they can..HAHA (well here's hoping anyway...we've been warned 3-4weeks...i haven't told Ryan this yet...). Only then will I be able to work as an RN!

It was nice to meet other nurses in the same boat as me. There were 4 kiwis and about 10 aussies there. So it felt like home =) It's so nice to hear the familiar accent! Was interesting to hear their stories about the NHS. Many of them were already working as HCAs and said nurses here don't seem to do much other than hand out drugs with the HCAs able to do BPs, blood sugar levels, wounds, washes, dishing out dinner... It will be interesting once i get into the system and see first hand.


PULSE (the nursing recruitment agency i'm 'working' for has said i have to do a CPR, manual handling and health and safety course this thursday before i can work as a health care assisstant. So hopefully, God willing by NEXT week i will be working and starting to bring home the bacon! YAY

Although i'm registered with an agency i'm thinking of flicking off my CV to the Private Hospital just down the road from Ryan's work. Although there are benefits to agency work there's also benefits to being hospital employed such as further education, professional development and advancing skills. We'll see how that goes. I'll be able to work as an RN as of mid May so i'll let them know and see if they have anything on offer. Hopefully they'll grab me knowing that all we kiwi nurses are hard workers =)

Entertainment Tonight at The House of Mo

Hello everybody.

Well feedback thus far has been nice and positive so we'll keep this blogging up aye? I've not long kicked Ryan off the computer. He has become addicted to the new rage...yes you guessed it SUDOKU! He may take over the computer more now as i discovered an online version this morning.. I left the house twice this morning and each time i returned he was in the same position though on another puzzle. On the weekend i introduced him to the game and he was hooked. He spent 3 hrs (i kid you not) yesterday engrossed in puzzles from various papers we had lying around the house determined to solve them. Oh well i hear it's great for the mind so no complaints here...


He's a funny boy my Ryan. Some of you will know his crazy ways more intimately than others. But the other day we were holding hands as we said grace (cute i know) and when we'd finished he wouldn't let go of mine and said to me matter-of-factly. "Mez i think it would be really nice if tonight we hold hands while we eat dinner." - that's "hands" both of his and both of mine- and this being the case he wouldn't let go and proceeded to ...well... slurp at his meal! hehe Thankfully it didn't take too long for me to talk him round convincing him that utensils were indeed a marvelous invention and it would be disrespectful to those who invented them to partake in this meal without using them.

(For those of you that do not find this amusing or feel that it was more a "i guess you had to be there" kind of moment, i do apologise. It was -in my opinion- very funny)

We continue to fill our evenings with reading and scrabble. No TV is jolly good. You should all try it. You'll realise how much time you used to waste in front of the box and how much mindless junk you fill your head with. Although i enjoy playing scrabble i think i may need to invest in another board game as i don't appear to be too good at it. Don't go thinking for a minute it's because i'm not intelligent because I AM! it's just that Ryan has this knack of finding ways to use all the triple word scores available and the uncanny ability coming up with 7- letter words for which you apparently get 50 bonus points! (once he does this I know m game is over) I may have to re-read the rules though because i've recently been informed that some of his tactics may in fact be against the rules!

The scores say it all really:

Ryan vs Mez

304 - 179

342 - 197

205 - 99

I'll stop there before i start to cry...

Any pointers? i'm all ears!

More of the Beauty of Spring

As each day passes we see more and more trees blossoming and more flowers blooming.

Absolutely gorgeous!