Team Vallentine update: 13 May 2015

We're all a bit...tired, so here are some photos of things we've been up to over the last couple of months. 

(Looks like Ada is still winning the photography stakes by a factor of 2. Poor Arthur.)

And voila! No hands!

It's done!

We just picked up the key to our new house! A tiny thing. ..

Daily Mark: in a tent.

We recently bought Ada a baby travel bed tent thing, which Mark and I got quite excited about. It's a pretty big one, designed to be used by kids up to at least five years old. I could fit in it fine, so I think it can be used way beyond that age. 

When we had it set up, Mark said that he thought he could fit in it. I said I thought he couldn't. He was right; I was wrong!

Looking for opinions - charcoal grills

Mark and I are in the market for a BBQ grill, now that we have some place outside to put it. Although it would be nice to have the convenience of gas, I think we want to go with charcoal for the flavor. Plus I think I might try smoking meat some time - I found a place here in the UK that sells wood chips, including hickory and others.

But I'm having a hard time deciding what shape to get.

So far the ones I like are:

Weber Traditional (everyone seems to love it; it has a lid; you can buy lots of accessories to go with it; maybe a bit more expensive because of brand - not sure if that's worth it?; no adjustable grill levels, but does have the air vents to regulate temperature; pretty easy to clean, I think)

Barbecook basic or master (it's a Belgian brand, but looks really convenient to use; and it looks pretty; but I'd either have to have smaller cooking space, or it's a bit more expensive; it doesn't have a lid, but it does have adjustable grill levels; really easy to clean; but do Belgians really know about grilling, I mean, really?)

Kingsford bullet smoker (it's a smoker, but can be used as a grill as well; I guess would be better if I was going to smoke more than grill)

Non-brand barrel shape (cheapest option; has lots and lots of grill shape; can either use the lid or not; doesn't have adjustable grill levels and I'm not sure if it has air vents; more difficult to clean)

What kind of grill does everyone have? Do you like it? Thoughts?

Movin' in.

We've now been in our new place for about two weeks. We're pretty much moved in and unpacked. We still have some things that we need to organize and put away and we definitely need more pictures to hang on the walls, but otherwise, we're basically done.

Here are some pictures of the move. I didn't include any from the old place, as they aren't that exciting (not that the ones below are, actually, either).

There is a video of moving in and moving out, which Mark has pulled together, but when I tried to upload it to YouTube I got a warning message about an audio track we had used; I completely forgot about the copyright issue of the music. I'm obviously going to be getting a gazillion hits on our moving in video, which will mean that the artist won't get their fair amount of attention, which wouldn't be right.

I'm not sure what we'll be able to do with it - it's too big to email. We'll work something out.

These are the two living rooms downstairs, during the move:



Our welcome sheep:



The cherry tree and daffodils alongside the driveway - we timed things really well, with the cherry blossoms coming out in full bloom, right when we moved in:


The downstairs rooms, after we got things in order:



The patio, out back, through the living room sliding door:


Our first meal, once we got the dining table (Chinese takeaway, from a nice place about 5 minutes away):


So we're now ready for visitors!

Going offline.

Mark and I have both taken tomorrow off of work. Here in the UK, the Friday before and the Monday after Easter Sunday are Bank Holidays, so no work. We've extended our extended weekend, to complete the move.

Most of our stuff is over there - all that remains are the most important things that we aren't able to live without for more than 30 minutes - i.e. the computers, tv, game consoles and some kitchen stuff. We'll move that over tomorrow and then start cleaning the old place up.

Tomorrow BT (the phone company) switch our line from the old place to the new place - so we will be without internet for a few days until our new ISP can set things up. So we'll be incommunicado, at least via the interweb for a bit.

I think we have survived this in the past, but it's always an unknown to see how long we can make it before we start showing up at random people's houses with our laptops and a glazed, greyish countenance.

Wish us luck - and we'll see you on the other side!

Five days to go.

The flat really looks like we're moving - i.e. very messy.


I took the doors and the back off of our wardrobe today while Mark was working (yes, on the weekend). I didn't go any further with dismantling it, in case it fell on me.


The boxes are multiplying, which is always a sure sign that we're getting closer.


We took some stuff over yesterday, and I've packed up the car again to take another load on my way to work tomorrow morning. We've booked the moving van for all day Saturday. We think we can do all the big stuff, plus a lot of the little stuff in one day, and then the rest we can do in cars.

It was great to visit the house again yesterday. We both really like it and it was much brighter than I remember, so I obviously must have been in a mood when I did that last blog post. I'm already planning my first plant projects...it's going to be great!

We got the keys!

Mark picked up the keys from the agent today. So we're in - though we probably won't start moving stuff over until the weekend at least. I still haven't had a chance to pack any more boxes!

More house.

Sorry, Dad - still no garage pictures, unfortunately (but some garage-related info below). We forgot to take some when we were over there taking the pictures you saw in the previous post and the video below.

Mark took this video mostly for our own purposes - i.e. to help us remember the size of the rooms, placement of sockets, that kind of thing - rather than to show people what the house looks like, but hopefully it will give you a bit of an idea of the layout.

The video was small enough to upload direct into the blog - but it's the first time I've done that, so hopefully it will work.



The garage is just a single (double garages seem to be really rare over here - I think I've only seen one that I can remember), so we probably won't put a car in it - just the bike and other stuff we want to store. Possibly we'll put the stationary bicycle out there, it depends on how we use the rooms in the house. It has light and power, so Mark can sit and look lovingly at the motorcycle day and night.

The house has a name - though it still has a number as well, which is kind of different. I don't know if that means that it's still transitioning from a number to a name - I don't know how the crazy house naming system works over here. Anyway, it's called "The Wicket" (which is a cricket reference for those who don't know that already).

And we've officially started packing. Look - boxes!

We're moving! Again.

Because of a multitude of factors (which I will enumerate upon request), we are moving again. It will have only been eight months since our last move, but there you go.

We have found a nice detached house in our price range (which to me seems rare for this small island nation). It's not back in Clevedon, which was one of the things we were trying for, but it is closer to where we work, and in a nice area.

I won't give the address out here because I think a little part of Dad would die if I gave out my address publicly on the interweb. I almost resisted including this first picture of the front of the house, since it would probably be easy enough for someone who lived in the area to work out where it was and then track the blog to see when we're off on holiday and then come and steal all of our stuff, if they really wanted to, but it's the only picture I took that has Mark in it.

It's not perfect, and it isn't a new as the place we're in now, in terms of the insides. It also is probably pretty much as bad as you can get in terms of capturing any of the meager sun we get over here because everything is north-facing. But the amount of space we're getting, the lack of immediate neighbors, having a patio in the back and the garage make it really worth it. And we did a great deal with the agent - and how can you pass up a great deal?

This is the view from the upstairs front bedroom, which we'll probably use as our study, since it's going to be the sunniest room. Though I've just noticed that once that tree across the road is in bloom we're really not going to be getting much sun at all.

I wasn't paying attention when I took the photo, so you can see the reflection of the camera in the shot - that's what is making it look like it's one of those weird windows with the curved effect.

Sheep live across the road, and then there's a cricket pitch beyond that. Our Englishness goes to eleven.

This is the living room, with a door directly out to the back, which has a raised area with a trellis thing, then a couple of steps down to the rest of the backyard area. The back is all paved over with slabs, which is fine for me since all I want is a BBQ grill and lots of potted plants and it would be silly to have to mow a small square of grass throughout the summer. Though I guess the plants I find are going to have to really like cloud and shade so I might be a bit limited in my selection.

These are actually right next to the driveway - I just like how over here you know Spring is coming because first the snow drops come out everywhere and then all the daffodils.

Looking back over the post I kind of sound down on the place, but we really like it and it does everything we want it to do. I'm very excited and I think Mark is getting there. He still doesn't quite have enough excitement left over from his new motorcycle (did I tell you all about that? Why do you think we need a garage all of a sudden? ;) ) to be all that excited about the new place, but I think we'll both be really pleased when we've moved in.

We get the keys in a week's time and we'll start to move small stuff over in stages, and then move all the big stuff on the Thursday before Easter (we're taking the day off because over here Good Friday and Easter Monday are bank holidays) and be completely out of the place then. It's all very exciting!

I got a puzzle for Christmas.

Here I am, doing the puzzle.


The puzzle is progressing:


It is nearly done:

And this is the finished product:


I think you got a feel for what it was like putting it together.