This set starts on Christmas Eve.

I’ve been adding to it since lunchtime yesterday  Enjoy!

Thanks for all the lovely pressies  We’re having lots of fun with them all

Merry Christmas!

Hannah Grace Ruthven! There! I’ve said it! No longer Miss Davis – You’re a Mrs now!!! EXCITING!

You looked absolutely stunning my lovely.  How relieved we all were that you  loved your dress (after months of typical daft, Davis style stressing) You really were soooo Beautiful.  Everyone was so proud of you, of both of you.

You’ve achieved so much together already and, in the 22 years (eik!) that i’ve had the pleasure of being your friend and confidant, we’ve shared a lot of “growing up” time and quite a lot of successes too

Did you know readers that, for example,  she was co-host of her own radio show (SHAK FM), that she’s starred in her own productions of several hit musicals, as well as being a joint front woman for an awesome pop band?  It had a repertoire of two songs – “Manic Monday” by the Bangles and “Together Forever” by Rick Astley – Awesome dance moves included! Thank god X-factor wasn’t around in the early 90s!

Naturally, singing songs with lyrics like “Together forever and never to part” brought about plenty of early conversations about who that “dream of a man” might be. But… it wasn’t until 4/5 years a go that we had actual grown-up conversations about what marriage might actually mean.  She hadn’t met John then and, at the time, when ever I discussed how I had found “the one” her response would usually involve the phrase “pass me a bucket” whilst she pulled a very un-bride like face and pretended to gag.

Then she met John, Things changed,  very quickly.  Now I get to laugh at her soppiness and cheesey wedding suggestions. One of these suggestions even managed to make it to the actual wedding! “I” on the left foot “Do” on the right, in blue rhinestones.  Not only had she mutilated actual shoes she did it to spell actual words of LOVE.  A very similar concept to the flip flops a friend bought which printed the words “Just Married” as she and her new husband strolled along the beach.  At the time, unsurprisingly, she laughed at that. Thought it was hilarious! See… things change when you have the right person… If you asked her now, i’m absolutely sure that she would  “move heaven and earth to be together for ever with you”, John. Even whilst wearing those flip flops! ;P

Now to you Johnny boy….  since dating you my lovely, Hannah has found much more than the dream man to be “together forever {with} and never to part”. She’s found someone with whom she can build and share new dreams. You’ve already helped each other to achieve so much and I know that your support and love means a lot to Hannah.  It’s this love and support that shows how much you really were meant for each other and.. I hope she won’t request another bucket if I say… you clearly are made for each other.  You must be “the one”!

I’m so happy for you both   I hope you’re having lots of fun in Italy – 5 weeks until I see you both again! I will look forward to dinner with Mr and Mrs Ruthven of Crouch End

Mr and Mrs Ruthven - El Far, Tamariu

Dagwood Dog

As you can probably tell from “Captain’s” post below we’ve been off to the Adelaide show.  Well… actually, to be honest, we went last weekend and I decided to let “Captain” be chief blogger on the subject.  Look where that left us! Pigeons with brains on their beaks, bums on their chests… honestly!

In actual fact, shockingly, we did not spend the entire day looking at and being mean to pigeons… NO we did not. We walked around, saw lots of animals, drank some wine and relaxed and ate. Apparently, large sausages on sticks are excellent. Dag wood dogs are their official title!

We met with new pals that Matt has made at his new job. They have a little girl and it was good fun taking her to see the baby ducklings.

When they left we got to watch the sheep dog trials too. No pigs replacing the dogs in their traditional roles this time but plenty of piglets to go “ahh” at in the stalls

mmm.. Nice and warm!

We had a good drive around the streets (which didn’t take us long – not many there) and had a walk along the beach (which is gorgeous). It’s a very lovely spot and it seems to be being developed at the moment. Devine homes are building there and I the whole town is obviously going to tripple in size very quickly. This could mean that once it’s more developed the houses will raise in value and so it would be a good investment… or… it could mean what is currently a quiet and beautiful spot becomes crowded and we’d feel penned in. I guess it depends on the plot of land you choose to purchase for your home.

As you can see from the piccies above it’s a very beautiful place.

We also popped down to the next beach “Silver Sands” which is even smaller and the houses seem to be a bit more spaced out. There was one property with 14Hectares for sale… That’s way tooo big!! lol It’s way to early to be actually putting down a deposit but we fancied a drive and had a good time wandering around on the beach and having a think about where we might be this time next year. It gave us plenty to think about and consider. We’re going to need to think about what our priorities are in the future. We chose Adelaide because we liked being near the city and the beach and moving down there would mean an extra hours journey both to and from work. We’d need to weigh up whether that’s worth it or not. We are soppy gits and we hate it if we can’t hang out as much as possible.

Well it’s certainly given us food for thought …

OK… so if this continues for much longer I’m going to need to rename the blog to rockincath (welsh for cat).  I know you all love seeing the ‘big moments’ lol so here’s the next one It’s probably the last one… At least I hope it is!

I've found lemons!

They won't see me here SHhhhh.

They’ve had a wander about and those squeaky birds that you can hear keep dive bombing Henny when he gets to close to the back of the garden. They must have a nest somewhere over that way; or they’ve been employed as hit men by the mice… not sure. It’s very strange to see though. They’re not that much bigger than a sparrow! Hen keeps pushing his luck though (as you would expect) I’ve seen him hiding in the long grass (weeds really… should buy a lawn mower!) and them swooping at him until he runs in. Stan doesn’t like them and just runs in as soon as they start! They were the ones who kept sitting on the pergola and squawking at them when they could see them in the window. Matt reckons it won’t be long before Henny eats one of them and then they’ll shut up! I’m not so sure!! Poor little things (birds or cats.. you can choose sides!)

I’ve brought them both in now (it’s midday) as Henny kept going out, getting hot, coming in and flopping on the cold floor and then willing himself back out into the heat. Stan, bless him, kept trying to find a cool spot under something. I don’t think he’s worked out that the sun’s beams are not the problem. It’s not that much cooler under the car, patio chairs, bushes today.. It’s just 35 degrees and that’s that! There’s supposed to be a storm tomorrow at some point though so that should cool it all down.

oh and I have to show you this… how cool! Cat pod! fun! You can follow the links to his blog… he made it! I think Matt’s getting his tools out

I saw some cute things today on my walk !

Koalie!

I tried to trace the walk on runkeeper but my Iphone’s battery died in my pocket as we wandered. When I plugged it in at the house it decided that I’d completed a 12mile walk with an average speed of 30mph. LMAO!! ooops. It’s a shame though because I’d love to know how long it is and how high up you go as you wander around the top of the canyon. It’s really very pretty!
Here’s todays piccies…

We’ve been in the house for two days now.  We went shopping yesterday and replaced a lot of the horrible brooms and mops they left here.  I now have exactly the same mop I had in the UK (Such a domestic loser!) and new cleaning things.  I spent $300 in the supermarket (and the fridge freezer still looks empty!) and then returned the hire car.

We’ve discovered that there’s a short cut across the creek which gets you to the local train station in about a 5 min walk and that the beach is only 10 mins stroll away.  There’s  a lot more on the beach front here than there was in West Beach.  There’s no SLSC but there is a beach front cafe, a pub (hotel), a Thai take away and chippie and some beauty salons.  So that means that I might get to spend longer at the beach because when Matt gets bored he can be sent for iced coffee, beer, cakes, chips, Thai food and a hair cut.   It’s all very nice.

At the moment the house feels like a great big echoey place.  It really is huge for two of us.  We’ll need lots of visitors to justify the rent   (Start booking yourself in!) I’ve taken some pictures of the house and the surrounds to give you an idea of the standard of accommodation you can expect.  Of course, there should be some furniture in it by the time you arrive.  I’ll keep adding pictures to the collection so if you’re feeling nosy keep checking

A Bientot!

First of all, apologies to anyone who can actually speak french and thereby notice the (probably) horrific grammatical and spelling errors!

Whilst I was sleeping this evening my kitties were being driven down to London in the general direction of the airport.  They don’t actually fly until 10pm (UK time) on Tuesday but as it was a teacher training day today for the mother we planned it all so that they could come and get them whilst she was in.

Apparently, the most stressful part for them that morning was at the vets where poor ol Stan was out of his box for so long ( about 45 mins) whilst the vet apparently faffed about a bit that he decided to growl at him! (Well done that cat!)  The wooden box that they’ve been sent off in has their names on it (Cute) and apparently was big enough for my Mum to squeeze in ( not sure how literally to take that).  It was covered in straw at the bottom and had a nice bowl of water for in transit drinking.  Excellent.  Of course, they were also allowed to take their blankies from their beds so they can have the stinky stink of home up their nostrils all the way.

So, about now they should be in a cattery watching the aeroplanes fly off into the distance and wondering what on earth we’re up to.  I imagine Stan has gone to sleep, resigning himself to the fact that what ever it is is going to happen anyway and Hendrix is plotting a plan of revenge or at least a long grumble when we sees me again in 4 weeks.  I must remember to email the quarantine station and give them my new Aussie mobile number!

They’ve been recovered!  Here is us in Abu Dhabi and Melbourne

Xmas 09