Canberra
23.04.2014
So, its 4am and I’m wide awake, I don’t think I’m dealing with the jet-lag very well. I thought it would be a good time to fill you in with what has been happening.
I must admit, things didn’t get off to a great start. The removal people turned up an hour early on Wednesday 9th and we weren’t quite ready for them. They went through the house like machines and I was having to take things apart while they worked around me and I only just managed to get my CV and work bits off my computer before it was packed and disappeared for 3 months. I’m sure there are things that have been packed that we will need but I guess we will just have to wait until they get here.
Then on Friday morning, Danielle went to the local shop to buy cleaning stuff and her card was declined. It turned out that her card had been cloned and her account was empty, which included all our spending money for Hong Kong. Luckily it had only just happened, it took a few hours to sort out as she had just changed addresses on the account but they refunded the money while we were out in Hong Kong. It would have been a disaster if it had happened a couple of days later while we were in transit.
Later on the Friday we went to our friends, Heather and Jamie, for dinner and to stay the night to say goodbye. It was also Jamie’s 50th birthday on Saturday. The plan was for us to drive back from Camden to our house on Saturday morning, give it a final clean, take some things to the tip and hand back the keys to the estate agent. Unfortunately, Danielle had picked up a stomach bug and woke up at 7am on Saturday morning to started throwing up, which she continued to do until 9.30 when I had to leave and leave her behind (to basically spew all over Jamie’s 50th birthday). I managed to get home at 10.30 which gave me a frantic two and a half hours to get the house cleaned and sorted. I then had to drive back to Camden, pick Danielle up and head to Solihull for our farewell dinner with my family. But we got stuck in Saturday traffic and we missed the dinner by 2 hours (I had to drop Danielle at the hotel as she wasn’t well enough) and only made it for a quick drink with them afterwards.
And finally, we had booked train tickets back to London (my Alfa had been donated to my nephew the night before) on Sunday, but they had been booked on Danielle’s card, the one had been cancelled. After a few minutes of heated discussion at the ticket office we eventually managed to get our tickets and head back to London for the last time.
After the trauma of the last few days in England, everything worked out pretty well. The flights were OK and all on schedule, Hong Kong was nice and a nice break (although I did feel like a big, fat, bald giant) and we had a nice day in Sydney catching up with some of Danielle’s friend and family before heading out to Canberra (which turns out is quite cold!)
One thing I did notice on the Hong Kong underground (which kicks the London’s arse) was their logo. At first glance it looks like it could be a Chinese symbol, but if studied a little more closely and manipulated slightly, it looks very familiar!
Interesting things that I’ve seen so far:
3 spiders (none deadly)
Lego Sydney Opera House – $500 AU and amazing!
0 kangaroo
1 folk festival
The southern cross
So, its 4am and I’m wide awake, I don’t think I’m dealing with the jet-lag very well. I thought it would be a good time to fill you in with what has been happening.
I must admit, things didn’t get off to a great start. The removal people turned up an hour early on Wednesday 9th and we weren’t quite ready for them. They went through the house like machines and I was having to take things apart while they worked around me and I only just managed to get my CV and work bits off my computer before it was packed and disappeared for 3 months. I’m sure there are things that have been packed that we will need but I guess we will just have to wait until they get here.
Then on Friday morning, Danielle went to the local shop to buy cleaning stuff and her card was declined. It turned out that her card had been cloned and her account was empty, which included all our spending money for Hong Kong. Luckily it had only just happened, it took a few hours to sort out as she had just changed addresses on the account but they refunded the money while we were out in Hong Kong. It would have been a disaster if it had happened a couple of days later while we were in transit.
Later on the Friday we went to our friends, Heather and Jamie, for dinner and to stay the night to say goodbye. It was also Jamie’s 50th birthday on Saturday. The plan was for us to drive back from Camden to our house on Saturday morning, give it a final clean, take some things to the tip and hand back the keys to the estate agent. Unfortunately, Danielle had picked up a stomach bug and woke up at 7am on Saturday morning to started throwing up, which she continued to do until 9.30 when I had to leave and leave her behind (to basically spew all over Jamie’s 50th birthday). I managed to get home at 10.30 which gave me a frantic two and a half hours to get the house cleaned and sorted. I then had to drive back to Camden, pick Danielle up and head to Solihull for our farewell dinner with my family. But we got stuck in Saturday traffic and we missed the dinner by 2 hours (I had to drop Danielle at the hotel as she wasn’t well enough) and only made it for a quick drink with them afterwards.
And finally, we had booked train tickets back to London (my Alfa had been donated to my nephew the night before) on Sunday, but they had been booked on Danielle’s card, the one had been cancelled. After a few minutes of heated discussion at the ticket office we eventually managed to get our tickets and head back to London for the last time.
After the trauma of the last few days in England, everything worked out pretty well. The flights were OK and all on schedule, Hong Kong was nice and a nice break (although I did feel like a big, fat, bald giant) and we had a nice day in Sydney catching up with some of Danielle’s friend and family before heading out to Canberra (which turns out is quite cold!)
One thing I did notice on the Hong Kong underground (which kicks the London’s arse) was their logo. At first glance it looks like it could be a Chinese symbol, but if studied a little more closely and manipulated slightly, it looks very familiar!
3 spiders (none deadly)
Lego Sydney Opera House – $500 AU and amazing!
0 kangaroo
1 folk festival
The southern cross
 |
| Sunset in Canberra |
posted by Pete Stevens at
10:10 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home