I just spent an age writing a long blog and poooof it has disappeared into the ether! 

I guess you may have wondered where I have been for the last wee while, well on my travels and off line would be the answer to all of that.

We left a very rainy France in the middle of the afternoon of 16 March and drove to Calais in the rain.  It did stop for a while but then it doesn't rain when you are in the Tunnel sous le Manche!!  Started raining again as soon as we came out the other side and rained all the way to Lincolnshire!!  Deep joy!

We arrived absolutely knackered but the adrenalin rush of being in our new home kept us going all day.  Although I do admit that our productivity level was very low and we kept going round in circles and couldn't remember where anything was or what we were supposed to be doing.

Next day our broadband connection failed to arrive and we were left wondering what had gone wrong.  But it appears that the saga of our address and its recent changes were just too much for them to comprehend.  Firstly the post code was changed by the post office, the road was changed by the council and the house name was changed by the previous owners back to its original Eastview from the twee and nauseating Bear Lodge.  So tryng to get it registered that we had a new house name, road and post code was too confusing by far. They thought we had moved house, which indeed we had but not the move they thought we had made.  I think that after two weeks we have got it sorted out but we are still registed in the phone book as at Bear Lodge and I have now discoverd that there is no point in roaring down the phone.  I did find that calmly saying I wish to make a complaint worked a bit and when I said I wished to cancel all my services as I had been treated so badly worked even better and I have even managed to get some compensation!!  Mark spent a lot of time talking to a man in India who he couldn't understand and who couldn't understand him.  Welcome back to the UK!

Well I have got a doctor so now I can get a referal back to Stoke for check up and MOT and for my botox jabs.  Wouldn't want the old bladder to get all wrinkly again!!!

I would add that moving house, death of a partner and divorce are supposed to be the most stressfull things that can happen to you in your life, and last week we nearly had all three, as I was just about ready to either divorce or kill Mark who until now has been my hero!!  But all is calm now.

I always fancied living in one of those appartments in a warehouse and now I know what it is like, except they forgot to take away the package cases.  I am camping in the spare room that smells of teenage boy (very disturbing) in addition to the doggy stink that fills the whole house.  There are some decidedly worrying stains on the carpet and on the walls but it is best not to think too hard about them or I would not go into the room at all.

I will fill you in on more details just as soon as my new laptop arrives and I can sit in front of the fire to write.

But it is good to be back.

Fifi