August 2010

Parting is such sweet sorrow

by vix 18 August 2010

Monday 18th August 2008

The last snapshot of my home - St Helier's Bay, Auckland

The last few days have been interesting. Like ‘chinese curse’, interesting. The High Commission couldn’t grant entry clearance without seeing the work permit. Bit of a problem as the work permit was in Sheffield and the immigration wankers wouldn’t pass it over until my Englishman had paid the final bill.

Sigh.  Read more... (992 words, 1 image, estimated 3:58 mins reading time)

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Who Do I Have to Fukka to Get Attention?

by vix 17 August 2010

I cannot hold it in any longer. I MUST say something. Who do I have to fark to get attention as a blogger? Or more importantly why should I have to say ‘fark’ and ‘cocke’ and all those other nawty words?

Does it make it funnier?

Cos I’m not sure I can.

Those who know me in real life can stop rolling on the floor in laughter now. I am not known -ahem- for my polite speech. In fact au contraire. I think most people are aware that I call a bloody spade a bloody spade, if not a forking spade.  Read more... (715 words, estimated 2:52 mins reading time)

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Behind Glass

by vix 17 August 2010

I am behind glass.

There’s layers of glass  between me and the world I see. I am struggling to see clearly through the smudges on the lenses and the scratches. These glasses have served me faithfully for over 14 years.

And I hate them.

They distort.

They bend light.

They bend the truth.

They hide me from you.

I hate them.

I hate feeling like the geeky four-eyes. I hate looking intelligent. It reminds me of being different. Always on the outer.

I broke my contact lens yesterday.  Read more... (498 words, 1 image, estimated 2:0 mins reading time)

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Can You Keep A Secret?

by vix 16 August 2010

Nah, neither can I!

The very gorgeous London City Mum has bestowed upon me the glory of an award that came to her from a Land Downunder (where women glow and men chunder!) so as I am indeed a follower of the Southern Cross I happily accept, whilst of cause fatuously thanking my Mum and Dad, and other Vegemitevixens (a very exclusive club!), and of course The Academy.

And genuinely thanking the lovely London City Mum (cheque’s in the mail hun!)

Now howsabout ten secrets that I cannot keep, about me?  Read more... (604 words, 1 image, estimated 2:25 mins reading time)

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Haunted Castles

by vix 15 August 2010

Well I’ve been all over the place in the past week – Stratford Upon Avon, Luton, and Kent. I know I know, it’s not the Costa Brava or Cyprus but hey, at least they let me out of Hampshire for a week!

One of the brilliant things about being an expat in England is that you can easily go somewhere new (to you) without travelling very far at all. Even better is the feeling of smug superiority when you can say to the natives ‘Oh you mean you haven’t been to Stratford Upon Avon or Scotney Castle..’ and you can then shake your head whilst tut-tutting vigourously.  Read more... (1265 words, 2 images, estimated 5:04 mins reading time)

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Before The Blog Began – Moving Worlds Two

by vix 11 August 2010

The second part of the immigration story. From bad to worse before it started to get better. Writers would call this the insurmountable obstacle that the heroine needs to overcome before she can reap the reward of her trials. I wrote this post in December 2009.

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“A journey of one thousand miles begins with a sin­gle step”
My 2009 Black Fri­day hap­pened early in Jan­u­ary. Happy New Year! It wasn’t Fri­day, and it wasn’t the 13th but it was very black indeed. I arrived into work at the PR firm after a hell­ish com­mute in. When wasn’t it a hell­ish com­mute down the M3? About twice I think, in six months. I switched on the jug for cof­fee and waited for my email to fire up. In it was a snake of an email.  Read more... (1424 words, 1 image, estimated 5:42 mins reading time)

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Before The Blog Began – Moving Worlds

by vix 11 August 2010

Another post from the archives about life before the blog. This was written in December 2009 after we finally received our papers and I felt it was safe to tell our story. On August 2010 we will have been here in England for two years. Many times I’ve looked back on the sheer expense of our immigration and wonder if I’d made the wrong decision. The jury’s still out on that, to be fair. It would have been a whole lot cheaper and perhaps financially more prudent to move my Englishman to NZ.  Read more... (1678 words, 1 image, estimated 6:43 mins reading time)

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Before The Blog Began

by vix 9 August 2010

As I’m galla­vant­ing around Strat­ford upon Avon I’m delv­ing into the archives to pull out some of the ear­li­est blog posts I wrote about our story.

I hope you enjoy them -

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Orig­i­nally posted Sep­tem­ber 2009

I should prob­a­bly explain how I ended up on this late OE aged 40 with three chil­dren, dog, cat and every­thing we own. I think a quick brief back story is required. So here tis.…..  Read more... (754 words, estimated 3:01 mins reading time)

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Gone Fishing

by vix 9 August 2010

Never thought I’d put that sign out! But I’m off for a couple of days to Shakespeare country! In the meantime I’ll schedule some posts from the archives to keep you interested.

See you on Thursday!!

Image:

Flickr Creative Commons anujrai

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In the Church of Pulp Fiction

by vix 8 August 2010

‘I bet you don’t know where that’s from’ I goaded Son. Quentin Tarantino classic Pulp Fiction

He looked back up at the TV screen, as if for a clue.

And then looked confused.

‘Yea, though I walk through the valley of darkness, I shall fear no ill…’

‘Er, Pulp Fiction?’ he volunteered quizzically.

An important film in modern culture, it’s true. Close but no cigar.

It made think. How much religion do kids get these days?And is that a good thing or a bad thing? After all one of the most devastating wars in our lifetime is currently being waged because of (arguably) religion. Is it a good thing or a bad thing that our state is so secular?  Read more... (633 words, 1 image, estimated 2:32 mins reading time)

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