Christmas……..

 
 
 
 
….was with cousins Kelly, R.J. and his partner Eduardo…it was fun…their friends are all ‘foreigners’ as well, so we partied without a “Brit” in sight and it was outrageous. It took us a few days in Portugal to recoup!!……..Ahhhh…..Portugal….our new fav place (next to Paris of course)…..it was wonderful. The people are friendly, the food is incredible.
We found restaurants that wanted us to try local food and plied us with all sorts of little treats. We stayed in Faro in the Algarve and after a few days decided that we would like to go up into the hills and explore the villages up there. We checked out the public transport system, it was slightly better than Auckland, but it wasn’t going to get us where we wanted to go AND back, so we decided to hire a car. We have managed up until now to avoid this. The idea of actually driving on the ‘wrong side’ had become a very scary prospect, particulary as we have been passengers in ‘left hand drive cars’ and have spent all our time cringing as we have gone around roundabouts!!!! New Year’s Resolution – “No fear”…..so off we went – first roundabout I screeched at Rod “Watch the left! Watch the left”……we got through and didn’t look back, it was great – so look out Europe – we are taking to the road. More about Portugal when I've edited the photos.
Settling into our new job……snow on the ground…..it’s a “winter wonderland”….more about that later……..much love xxxxxx

Berlin……..

 
 
 
 

.......having a few spare days before Christmas, we decided to spend them with Hattie in Berlin. Those of you who know Hattie will be thrilled to know that she is living her dream. She works regularly with a variety of musicians and has a very bohemian flat in an inner city suburb; the church steeple is the view from her car park. It was great to hang out, go to a few of her pre-Christmas gigs and of course to visit “the wall”. Astonishing to drive through a city with remnants of something that was so ‘huge’ in our lifetime and discover that we really know so little about it. The first big realization for us was that Berlin was actually situated in Eastern Germany and that the wall created a small piece of West Germany (in effect an island) in what was in fact part of the Eastern Bloc. For some reason we had imagined that “the wall” went neatly through a city, tidily dividing East from West, which it sort of did of course, but not in the way we’d envisaged.
We spent a very informative afternoon with a friend of Hattie’s explaining to us, how it
was for Berliners when the wall came down, suddenly, without warning……one friend had been out of the city on a gig – he came home to a totally new way of life….extraordinary……Hope your Christmas was great…..more about ours later…..lots of love xxxxxx

To the “manor borne”……….

 
 
 
 

…….we had to hire a van. Where did all the stuff come from? Seventeen months ago we arrived at Mill Green Park with a suitcase each. 24 hours ago we left with our suitcases and a dozen or so boxes. Since arriving in our new place we have managed to put together at least 3 boxes of gear and deposited them at one of the local charity shops. Our “rubbish” did not fit into our new surroundings. Everything we need is here and is of the most elegant style and best quality. We are now 5* servants with 5* accommodation to match. However, the down side of that (as in the best of hotels) is, we are short of cupboards, we are having trouble controlling the temperature and in every room there is a security system with a flashing light. We went to bed last night, at 11.30pm and I said to Rod “we can’t possibly sleep with that, you’ll have to cover it up”!!! The consequence was, within a few minutes we had triggered the alarm system and of course the accompanying security firm! We have since learned that the light only flashes when there is a lot of movement in the room, once you settle into bed it all slows down (if you’re lucky and seriously restrict late night activity). However, we are very pleased to be here. It is what we said we would do. Although our employers are absent for most of the year, the estate is coming to the end of a 2 year refit and so there are lots of ‘state of the art’ systems to come to terms with, schedules and staffing to be implemented as well as networks to be established and routines to put into place. In the meantime we are off to Berlin to see Hattie for a few days before Christmas and then after spending Christmas with ‘whanau’ in London we’ll head for somewhere warm for a few days before returning to the Cotswolds at the beginning of the year……...have a very happy Christmas and all the very best for 2009………we hope to see you…..much love xxx

Another day in London…….

 
 
 
 

….our next job will see us 1 ½ hours from London instead of ½ hour. We are making the most of our proximity before we leave and yesterday headed up to London to check out the Christmas vibe. Maybe it’s us, maybe it’s the recession, maybe it’s a bit early in the month……but it just wasn’t going “off” like we remembered it last year. London was wearing it’s party clothes, and the while the shops were practically giving away their stock, having “pre” instead of “post” Christmas sales (maybe they’ll do both!), it was unseasonally quiet. We had to see someone in Chelsea, so as we wandered down Sloane St two things stood out for us. The first was the wonderful ‘cabbage trees’ growing on the roof of an apartment block – “yay! we thought…….a Kiwi rooftop garden…brilliant!”
The second thing was…. an unnamed park opposite the said apartment block, a locked unnamed park. This is for the sole use of residents around the area whom we can only assume purchase the rights to ‘hang out’ there. I bet the “Kiwi rooftop garden” people don’t!!!!
We decided to head for Leicester Square and popped out of the tube in Picadilly Circus. With the temperature plummeting to about -2º, there was photo shoot with brave young things trying to look zany and unfreezing….
We gave thanks for our gloves, scarves and warm jackets and headed off to a nice warm supper and show……London is great, one more commute next week before it becomes a mission……..ahhhh! the price one is prepared to pay to live in the Cotswolds………
Loads of love xxxxxxx

As the year draws to an end......

 
 
 

…….so does our time in Essex. We previously mentioned that our life here is changing and after a stressful few months, right out of the blue, we have secured our “dream job”. Before we left NZ we jokingly said that we were coming to look after some ‘rich dudes’ place in their absence.
We have been lucky enough to be gifted with realizing that dream. We leave here on the 18th to our next job which is situated in the heart of the beautiful Cotswolds.
We are to be looking after a Manor House, set in luxurious gardens in a beautiful little English village. Our employers, Sir M & Lady K, the most gracious and charming of people, live overseas and only come to stay in their completely refurbished country home for about 6-8 weeks of each year. The rest of the year we are responsible for the security, maintenance and staff supervision of this beautiful, gracious 16th century Grade II listed manor and grounds, including a brand new swimming pool and tennis court. Our employers have homes in many other parts of the world and we may be required at various times to travel to and work in these.
We have learned a lot in our current job and it has certainly stood us in very good stead for our next one.
Our employers are very happy for us to have friends and family come to stay, with the proviso that when they are in residence, they have our full and undivided attention…we are happy with that, given that gives you the opportunity to visit and stay for the other 48 weeks of the year!!
In the meantime we are off somewhere exotic for a (we think!) well earned break before we start our new position…..Christmas cards will not be sent from our end, but we are thinking of you all and miss you especially at this time of the year.
Much love and seasons greetings…..xxxxx

“And a time for every purpose under heaven”……….

….”there is a season, turn, turn turn”……we are very much reminded of this Yardbird’s song of the 60’s at the moment. It is nearing the end of autumn and as the days get shorter and the tree’s lose more of their leaves we are forced to again ponder upon life and it’s meaning. We have always known that our job here depended on the extent of “the autumn of our employers lives”…..but we are never quite ready for the eventual outcome. Mr N. passed away suddenly last week in the early hours of the morning. We hadn’t really expected that as the focus was on Mrs N. who now has 24 hour care and is completely bedridden. It seems to have come about very quickly and yet as we look at the rapidly changing season we can’t help make comparisons. The only constant is that nothing ever stays the same and so as we deal with what we have to do here, we are also thinking about what is next for us, not knowing quite when, but in all probability sooner rather than later.
Today we are heading up to London to catch up with darling Kiwi friends Wayne and Eve and looking forward to them coming back here for the night for some good Kiwi conversation, some good French wine and a few laughs. Tomorrow Aunty Patty returns from her adventures in Manchester, Liverpool and Paris before she heads back to NZ on Sunday………much love xxxxx

We went to London…….

…….the other day and decided to go to the Saatchi Art Gallery. We wanted to see the new exhibition, which has been very controversial. I really wanted to try and get my head around Charles Saatchi, who owns the Gallery. The reason….? The man has just been on a diet for 6 months eating nothing but 9 hard boiled eggs a day!!! He lost about 5 stone, ……I imagine he also lost a lot of friends – sulphurous eggs??? And he’s married to none other than the “Domestic Goddess” – Nigella Lawson – now surely if you are a successful foodie………. ???????? Anyway folks, please do NOT try this diet at home.
The new Saatchi Gallery is magnificent and we have nothing but admiration for a man who is so dedicated to art that he makes such fantastic exhibitions available at no charge to the public.
The current exhibition is called “The Revolution Continues” and is a collection of contemporary Chinese works. The first photo is an installation of iconic buildings which form a cityscape made out of ‘dog chews’ (You know, the things you can buy in the pet section of your local super market, usually made out of re-constituted pigs ears and such). We wandered through the galleries for several hours and when we came to the last one – gallery 13 – it was filled with lifelike replicas of notable past world figures in wheelchairs randomly moving slowly around the room, sort of dodgem like but more gently………
For us this created a sense of poignancy…..at the moment we are in a very sad work situation as our aged employers are nearing the end of their lives – the thing that struck me was that the wax figures looked rather too healthy.
The other thing was……. how come such a wealthy philanthropic man can’t find a decent dietician………..?????????