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Happy 15th Anniversary

Posted in around the UK, family and relationships, Fun Stuff, It's my life, Travel, tagged becoming a citizen of the uk, happy 15th anniversary, life and living in the uk, relocating to the uk, seeing the queen at windsor, travelling in the uk on October 8, 2016| Leave a Comment »

15 years ago today I left South Africa…..never to look back as it turns out.

the current South African flag; no longer a colony but still part of the Commonwealth

My departure came about in quite a convoluted way and as they say; ‘the planets were aligned’. A number of major life events occurred within a short space of a few months and I then found myself on a plane heading to the northern hemisphere.

Travel to make something happen

June (sometime) 2001: the company I was working for went into liquidation because the two owners had a falling out. The liquidators kept me on to help collect outstanding monies (after all that was my job), besides which I turned up at the offices every day even though the company was in liquidation; so seeing my determination….I had another 3 months of work.

July 2001: sometime round about now my sister who was living in Ireland at the time said she’d love for someone to fly over and join her and hubby to celebrate a milestone birthday ; 30 years of age!! Of course I volunteered….for sure! 🙂

August 15th 2001: my daughter attained her ‘coming of age’ – 21 years and you get the ‘Key of Life’ in SA and officially; your freedom! Technically you’re an adult from 18 when you qualify for a drivers license. We had a wonderful party for her on a boat in Cape Town harbour with bells, balloons, a band (her Dad who is a musician sang to her) and a smashing meal.

September 30th 2001: the liquidators signed off on the rest of the debt and I was free to go.

October 2nd 2001: Ailing carrier Swissair has run out of cash and suspended all its flights “indefinitely”. wtf???? I’m due to fly on the 8th!!! So began the fight to get on a plane to Europe regardless.

October 8th 2001: passport to freedom in my hand, I bounced my way through customs, thrilled, excited and terrified in equal measure to be flying to Europe….with SA Airways!

October 9th 2001: I landed first in Zurich in-transit to London, then after flying and crying across Europe I landed at London City Airport at which stage the terror set in – how would I get to Heathrow? But I did….first a bus and then tube on the Piccadilly Line to Heathrow and thus to Dublin Airport – happy birthday to Caroline….it was awesome that I could arrive in Ireland on her special day 🙂

Caroline and Ewart

The timeline of events and what happened first and which decisions were made when are lost in the mists of time….but from a date perspective….the above is more or less what happened when. In the meanwhile, between being retrenched from my job, making the decision to fly to Ireland and wondering what to do with my house, I scurried about collecting the necessary paperwork for my visitors visa, sold my car to my daughter, started sorting out my belongings and getting rid of much stuff, making the heartbreaking decision to have my kitties adopted (a friend took 4 of them, one had to be put to sleep due to a nasty virus that was eating her up 😦 ), making my flight bookings with SwissAir, only for them to go run out of cash at the time, subsequently visiting the airport and refusing to leave till they booked me onto another flight (finally after much persistence they got me onto SA Airways), then deciding what to take and what not…..I was heading into the NH winter (and it was as cold and wet as they said it would be),

having fun in the snow in London

going into work everyday for three months knowing that once I finished for the liquidators that was it…no job to come back to. Finally it was all systems go and my daughter took over the house and car, moved all my belongings lock stock and barrel into storage (and it was still there till May this year hahaha)

a household reduced to a few boxes

all my possessions…

kitties settled into new home, job finished, suitcase packed, visa entered, passport stamped…I was on my way.

irish blessing st patrick jonathan swift gullivers travels

may the sun shine warm on your face, may the wind be always at your back

I cannot tell you how excited I was.

The flight was as full as it could be. I’m sure they had some folks stacked in the hold!!! LOL

After a long flight we landed safe and sound in Zurich. I bought a pastry and hot chocolate, sent a postcard and made my way to the boarding gate for the next leg of my journey.

I’m very interested in and keen on WW2 history. As we flew from Zurich to London I looked out at the blue skies and remembered all the air-battles that had taken place in that airspace, of all the people who died in the skies and countries below…of the people who fought for their freedom from all parties involved…and cried and cried, just about all the way to London….I was overwhelmed!

Finally we landed at City of London airport and after making my way to the tube as we came out of the underground at Hounslow I looked out the window of the train and very clearly in my head I said “Oh! I could live here!”. The chimney pots reminded me of Mary Poppins…only my most favourite film of all time…..I fell in love with a city.

Keep Calm and Rule Britannia

Next leg of the journey was finding my way to Aer Lingus for the flight to Ireland. By now I was exhausted and so excited I could barely contain myself.

St Patrick's Day cupcakes...Guiness flavour!!

St Patricks’s Day cupcakes – Guinness flavour!!!

Finally we lifted off and I had my first real glimpse of London and the River Thames. Little did I realise that just on 9 years later I would be totally besotted with the city and the river that runs through it.

London from the air

A passion that has taken me into nooks and crannies, along streets so full of history you can barely walk 3 steps without being amazed and participating in historical events the like of which I had never even imagined; I’ve spent more than 3 Days in London 😉

And then finally we flew over the Irish sea and so to Dublin. Seeing my sister and her hubby at the airport was thrilling, and so emotional…we cried enough tears of joy to refill the River Liffey should it ever run dry.

river liffey penny farthing bridge dublin ireland

the Penny Farthing Bridge and River Liffey, Dublin, Ireland

And thereafter history was made. I adored Ireland. I stayed with my sister and her husband and we had the most amazing time, travelling everywhere.

having fun with Caroline & Ewart – in those days I could still climb walls!!

I swear we visited just about every county in the south of Ireland bar a few which I visited on the next 8 trips to Ireland over the next few years….till they eventually went back to South Africa.

a trip up Table Mountain South Africa – me and the kid sister

a trip up Table Mountain South Africa – me and the outlaw

Winter was as cold and wet as they had said it would be, and as miserable as I had not imagined. I was due to fly back to South Africa on the 4th December. We went for dinner at BLT in Dublin. I cried and cried and said “I don’t want to go back! I don’t want to leave!” IMG-20141203-WA0005

So I didn’t 🙂 I just didn’t go back. Instead I spent another two months loving Ireland and making the decision that I wanted to live forever and ever in the Northern Hemisphere. I wasn’t able to work in Ireland so instead just before my visa ran out I flew back across the pond to London, acquired the necessary paperwork to apply for my ancestral visa and after two weeks flew back to South Africa, finalised the sale of my house, and flew back to Ireland on the 22nd April 2002.

And I’m still here!!! I’m now a British Citizen, settled more than happily into my new persona and celebrating still my freedom.

at my citizenship ceremony in Maidstone 25.02.2016

I love this country, I could never live anywhere else. I’ve achieved three of my dreams; visiting Venice, a birthday in Paris and seeing the White Cliffs of Dover (once I got my UK Passport). I’ve celebrated my 50th (Paris) and my 60th since I’ve been here (helicopter flight over London – gift from my daughter), travelled to the USA 3 times and Europe a great number of times, attended the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, seen the Queen in Windsor on her 90th birthday and for the last 6 years at Trooping the Colour in London, attended Kate & William’s wedding (as a spectator), been to the London 2012 Olympics, flown over London in a helicopter, travelled the length and breadth of the UK, been to more villages, towns and cities and castles than I can remember, attended numerous traditional and annual events in the city, and thanks to my friend Joe been a passenger on the Trinity Tide

me on the Trinity Tide for the Green man event in January

and amongst all of that…..my daughter joined me here in 2003! Best gift ever.

me and Cémanthe

Happy 15th anniversary to me!

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The Universe was having a laugh….

Posted in It's my life, tagged living in london, london emergency services, travelling in the uk, visiting museums in the uk, working in the uk on September 5, 2014| 1 Comment »

So yes, indeed the Universe had a laugh on me!

For the last few years I have constantly asked the agency for work in London, mostly so that I can be close to home and especially so that I could be in the city and explore…. but it seldom came my way and I have been sent off in different directions to all corners of this little island!

high tide in Richmond – home 🙂

But now, now that I have closed down the business of 3 Days in London, suddenly I get a job slap bang in the center of Kensington…almost next door to The Natural History Museum to be precise….is the Universe having a laugh or what?

So laugh over, off I went and settled in for the duration….glad for the opportunity to have a fling in London. The flat where I was working was literally a 5 minute walk from the NHM and the marvellous V&A Museum….and that is where I spent a lot of my break times, if I wasn’t sleeping. It was also a treat to see the magical roof of the NHM from the kitchen window each morning. I was staying in one of those amazing looking apartments in Queensway Gardens on the 4th floor and view was terrific albeit limited.

the roof of the Natural History Museum

The V&A is so enormous that it’s impossible to see everything in one or even two visits so there are a lot of the galleries I have not yet explored. It was great!!! I discovered some wonderful galleries of 15th-19th century England where I saw David Garrick’s bed, a model of the Queen’s State Coach and a model of the 1861 Crystal Palace exhibition hall as well as a number of terrific Victorian items and treasures. I entered the museum via the Exhibition Road entrance and then turned immediately right and up the stairs….three floors of galleries filled to the brim with fabulous items.

I also had the chance to meet up with my wonderful friend Valy from Belgium who was on a quick 2 day visit over the Bank Holiday weekend and we managed to catch up for coffee at a little café in Gloucester Road.

: a little cafe on Gloucester Road

: roller-skaters roll by

I discovered that London is quite noisy at night with a constant flow of traffic, albeit not anywhere near as noisy as Richmond where my bedroom is but 30 feet away from the dual carriage way that is never quiet and rumbles with traffic all day and most of the night….with an occasional lull at about 3am.

I had been scheduled to be there for 2.5 weeks but suddenly and without any warning after just one week the lady up and died. She was 98 so I suppose it shouldn’t have come as any surprise, but she seemed well enough and was quite alert and all in the morning…but within 45 minutes of the London ambulance services being called she took her last breath and gracefully slipped away.

As for the London Emergency Services, I was most impressed. I had barely put the phone down and there was a ring at the front door…..and there they were. A lovely trio who were so sweet and caring with my patient and just lovely after she passed away. This is not the first time I have lost a patient while working as most of the people I care for are either very, very old or at end of life, so although it came as a shock that it was so unexpected it wasn’t a surprise.

I spent the next two days at the flat tidying up and sorting stuff out for her daughter who was flying in from South Africa and then after handing over to her I was on my way home again…..I never complain about being on my way home.

I so enjoyed seeing my daughter again, albeit just for a few hours as I got more work almost immediately and Thursday saw me on the train and on my way to East Sussex for 1 week. Down on the farm……….

on my way to the farm in East Sussex

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off again…….or not!!

Posted in It's my life, photography, tagged looking for work in london, travelling in the uk on August 31, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Blimey! What a week it’s been. As I write I am sitting at Sweetie Pies in Twickenham.

I only had one cupcake 🙂

Having just enjoyed a pot of tea and a yummy chocolate cupcake I thought I would kill time while waiting for CJ to finish work by writing my next blog. As mentioned before I am staying at a friends flat while she is away in South Africa, which is great, except she has a flat-mate who is, if not from hell, then certainly close enough to!!! geez, it never ceases to amaze me that people feel they can be rude with no reason. Ok, so it is her flat but seriously is that a reason to be so rude and speak to me like I crawled out the trash? I have been hard-pressed to keep my mouth shut and not retaliate coz I know there is no point in that and achieves nothing. It would be no fun if I did retaliate and she decided to kick me out….so needs must and I keep my mouth shut. I leave tomorrow anyhow so thankfully I won’t be seeing her again. She also works during the day so peace reigns supreme till 7pm…at which stage I make myself scarce and head to the bedroom.

On the job front I have had some small measure of success and applied for a position that looks great and something I could really get my teeth into! I submitted my CV yesterday and today they called me to come in for an interview asap! Hooray. I would love to get this job as it plays to all my strengths and involves a certain amount of Social Media expertise as well…. which is brilliant! The salary is ok, and it will also mean that I have my weekends free to persue my own interests and then I can start planning my itineraries and start advertising them. I do have to know my schedule and with the care work, it is just not possible to plan anything in advance coz I never know where I am gonna be. Have to keep my time free and clear in case a job comes in.

On that front, I leave tomorrow for Kent. I am quite excited about this job as the lady sounds really nice and of course there is the village to explore. 🙂 I have been doing some research and it seems that the area has some tenuous links to the Pilgrims Way and that is definitely worth exploring. As well as which there are some woods nearby that definitely need to be explored.
I have been playing catchup on my twitter accounts and it’s really cool to be back online. I’m not sure if I mentioned previously, but I joined a photography page on facebook and they have a different theme everday. This has been great fun and a real challenge to see if I can find a photo that matches the relevant theme. This has also given me loads of ideas for future photos. Through the page I have also discovered two websites where I can upload my photos for sale. I am of course really not sure if they will be of the right quality, but hey, if you don’t try……you don’t succeed.

I have also registered on a really lovely site called ‘women like us’ that caters for women who want to get back into the work environment. Not that I have been without work, but I really do want to get back into the office environment asap.

Okay, so just had a phone call…bad news on tomorrow’s job. The lady just called to say she has to cancel the job as she is not going home for a while. Urgh!!!! this is exactly why I simply cannot do this anymore. I have to get a settled job. This is now very inconvenient and that means I dont get a salary for the next 10 days! They just have no idea. Urgh, it also means that I don’t get to explore the village! 😦 ah well. I will have to go there with my campervan when I get the contract from the BBC to do a programme on the UK villages of the Domesday Book! 🙂 🙂 and that of course is a message to the universe that is taking it’s own sweet time on this.
Anyhow that is my stressed gripe out the way……moving on.

I guess now I can carry on with my internet stuff and also get to go and sort out my storage stuff in preparation for moving next week. I dicovered that it’s way cheaper to store stuff out of London than in. No suprise really but I just never thought to check that out. Needs must hey!
We are still awaiting my niece’s arrival and I keep checking my brother’s profile to see if there is any announcement…but nothing so far. Eeee….can’t wait to meet the new baba.

While I was waiting for CJ to finish work I took a stroll down to the river…..whoa!!! high tide, and I mean HIGH tide. The river was way up the road and cars were again under water. The folks on Eel Pie Island were waiting patiently for the water to receed so they could get off the bridge. The swans were swimming along the promenade and the ducks took a stroll along the sidewalk through the water. It looks so awesome. I found out the other day that the river level rises up to 7 feet twice a day. The Thames is of course a tidal river so this is a phenomenon that can be seen every day. Some days it rises so high that motorists who have parked in the bays along the river front sometimes have their cars covered in water up to and over the chassis. Eeewww!!!

tides in....you can see the people on the bridge waiting to get off and the car on the right where the water is receeding

So after work my daughter took me for dinner at her favourite restaurant in Twickenham; Pincho. Love their food. We had aubergine bake, hallumi, houmous, pattas bravas. Hmmm. Yummy. Then a brisk walk back to her place, and here I am. Still stressing big time about the sudden job cancellation and the lack of income that goes with that….but I have high hopes for the job interview tomorrow. I would really love to get this position….the job description sounds fab! 🙂 Hold thumbs.

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