Marshall

Marshall unexpectedly came to live with us on Friday, when Dave came across a dilemma at work. A rabbit had been brought in to the vets to see one of his colleagues and despite only having a sore eye and an upset stomach, which were easily cured, his owners wanted him to be put down. They didn't want to try rehoming him as they didn't think he would be suitable.

He's a big gentle softie with a funny character, and we're enjoying getting to know him. I love having someone at home when I come back in the evenings and it's fun to have him visit us in the living room to have a peek at the Christmas tree! He lives in the kitchen and seems to make the house more homely.

I'm glad we can give him a good home.

New House

Hooray! We have moved into the new house and - more importantly - finally got an internet connection again!!

So as promised, here are some photos of the place. The decor is great, very 60s, but I think it's time for a change so our first task is to start wallpaper stripping. We also have lots of projects to get on with, including rewiring the lighting, redoing the central heating, insulating the loft and walls, network wiring the house, changing the boiler and updating the bathroom and kitchen.

As if that wasn't enough - we are thinking of extending the house backwards a bit!

So unfortunately it may turn into a bit of a house renovation blog this winter!

To give you a quick tour:

Garden (complete with goldfish) -

Very 60s Kitchen -

And a close up of the amazing wallpaper

Dining Area

Lounge

Crazy wallpaper in the lounge!

And quite cool wallpaper in our study...

Our dreaded shower - freezing cold in the mornings!  

And very floral wallpaper in the toilet!

So here we go - first steps towards redecorating

Ok, so most of the 'interesting' wallpaper will go, and we'll be left with white and neutrals on the walls. Are we boring for doing this? Perhaps I shouldn't ask!

Change

Sorry it's been so quiet here the last few weeks, there's been a lot of change in our lives. The last fortnight has been busy with moving out, cleaning out the old flat and moving in to our new home. There's been lots of work to make it more homely as it used to belong to a lady who lived in it from when it was new in the 60s and didn't update very much. Loads of old carpet have been pulled up and Dave and I have been learning some new skills. It is a steep learning curve. Life's also different without wireless internet, we are depending on the 'dongle' and watching our usage in case we run out.

It's been and exciting but hard time too with looking for my next job, it is the uncertainty of being a locum. Permanent jobs in my field of work are scarce and difficult to achieve locally, and will full time hours. The last two weeks have been a mad rush of locum agency calls, and an interview. Then from no job offers to two job offers on Tuesday in a funny twist of fate. So I'm glad to say that I'll be starting work again on Monday, not too far away from home, for the next 3-6 months.

Thank you for all the kind words of support.

Dave's taken some photos but we'll have to wait until we have sufficient internet to upload the pics and do a proper blog post!

Afternoon Tea

My colleagues threw me an afternoon tea party as my farewell 'do last Thursday, so we had some fancy cakes and a cuppa in the physio gym amongst the walking frames and parallel bars. They gave me the daintiest pink tea cup and saucer as a leaving gift, it reminds me of Alice in Wonderland.

I'm back on the job hunt for my next adventure.

Christmas in Covent Garden

Christmas has come early to Covent Garden - there are giant baubles in the Apple Market, a giant topiary reindeer in the courtyard and a pair of real ones too! I was there on Saturday, seeing Sleeping Beauty performed by the Royal Ballet.

Tomorrow's an exciting day as we potentially get the keys to our house in the afternoon! We have returned to life amongst the boxes...

Late Autumn Colour

We've been having a lovely warm autumn here. So much so that the tree's have only just decided it's time to drop their leaves. Its hard to believe we had snow in November last year!

To celebrate Dad's birthday we went to Stourhead Country Park. The changing colours were spectacular, although many trees still haven't got the message that winter is coming!

Landscaped by a wealthy 18th century banker, it was one of the first of the great British landscape gardens, designed to look pretty and scenic in a very artificial way...

Little cottages built on the estate just for the look of things...

And even temples and grottos...

Still, the autumn colours were amazing.

There was a real church at least. The villagers could apparently count themselves lucky - most landowners levelled any villages on their land, as it spoilt their view!

And here is one tree, with many trunks:

Happy Halloween!

A little belatedly - here's our halloween pumpkin:

We also have a very exciting time ahead of us, as we've just exchanged contracts to buy a house! If all goes to plan, we should be moving in in just 2 weeks. Our first place of our own, and our first house rather than flat. It feels very grown up.

Details are sure to follow soon...