Daddy's Little Helper

Time is tick tick ticking along rather quickly as we wind down our time in the UK... we're firmly into counting in weeks now with only six to go... That being said, Friday the nice men came and picked up all our accumulated possessions from the past 2 years over here to transport them some considerable distance from this somewhat cold place to somewhere somewhat warmer. Which was somehow nice. Summed up, what i'm trying to say, is that in some small way, it's an exciting time presently...

Getting away from this ridiculous fascination with 'some' words (sorry, that just sort of happened... didn't really intend for it to happen, but got a little carried away, as i'm want to do...) It's been fun packing... I always enjoy it. Hmmm that may be a small lie. I enjoy it when there is plenty of time to do it. I guess it brings back reminders of packing to go to boarding school, or packing to come home from boarding school, or to go away to university, or to come home from university (though notably while at university I managed to get packing for a trip home down to a couple of changes of underwear that would fit into my tiny MTBing pack which was all I took with me when hitching the 800ish Km between Dunedin and Wellington. This would seem to indicate that i was either

A: Not as fond of packing as I make out, or

B: Generally a dirty, smelly student that never changed their clothes, or

C: A poor student that couldn't afford more than one change of clothes, or

D: A Student living in a town so damn cold they had to wear all of their clothes, or

E: All of the Above.

Dammit! Sidetracked again!)

So packing has positive connotations for me. In my world, you crank up some feel good songs, and just kinda play at putting stuff into boxes as you feel so inclined. Of course it's a different experience when you have more stuff to pack, that just means more evenings playing at packing. Immensely satisfying when you finally weigh the boxes, and seal them up. Poor buggers who will have to carry those - almost all of the ten boxes were over 30kg... though notably they are also under 35kg, so not too too bad. Still - around 300kg of accumulated stuff in 2 years is not bad going really. Abbey helped a bit too which was nice. She seemed to enjoy the process.

So now we're tenting in a gigantic stone tent for the next six weeks or so. Fortunately this tent is part furnished and has central heating, as well as a fridge and gas cooker. Much like tenting otherwise. We have merely what will fit into our two 20kg suitcases Hmmm, and an extremely large pram. And an extremely large car seat. And our three 7kg pieces of hand luggage.

Digressing for a moment to speak about huge oversized prams (if I may), I kinda feel like we ought to have a big landrover/earthdestroyer type vehicle to match with our pram. One feels almost embarrassed sidling up next to another pram at traffic lights or crossings with such a large contraption, easily twice the size of the average stroller. And yet, ecologically speaking i'd rather drive a hybrid (if I could afford one). It seems a contradiction... I wonder if people look at us when we're out walking and say "Tisk tisk, I bet they drive a big car too!" Maybe I'm paranoid? I've heard it said before that we would worry at lot less about what oher people think of us, if we realised how little they do. True? Maybe i'll feel more at home in NZ and Oz with our generously proportioned Abbey carrier?? I don't know. Anyway must fly... places to go, people to see, things to do (actually can't think of anything to do just at the mo but have run out of (interesting?) things to say.

Ciao