IT'S BEEN A WHILE!

Well it has been a while since the last blog and it is not because we have been hibernating. Durin the time that has elapsed we have had a visit from David and Nancy (neighbours from Toowoomba) a visit from Graeme and Dianna (riends from Hervey Bay) and my brother Peter and his wife Mary spent four days here which enable us to show them the Fens.

In addition we have been up and down to Basildon in Essex where Carol will take on a new teaching post starting September 4th. While we are sorry to leave Ramsey, the school really has been unbearable for Carol and we did not come here for her to pursue a career in education anyway!!! Basildon is 25 miles east of London, which of course puts it in the category of commuting country for people working there.While the proximity will be very nice for day trips up to the Big City, it has the downside of making accomodation expensive. We were lucky to find a 2 bedroomed fully furnished modern apartment for monthly rent of L650 plus council and water rates which will probably be another L100 a month!! But as Carol will be a contract teacher she will now get paid for holidays and the school has promised to expedite her becoming a Qualified Teacher which brings with it an increase in salary.
The newly refurbished Vauxhall -new muffler/new dampers/new shockers/new tyres has thrown up a new problem. When we purchased the car last year Carol took the Registration papers into the Hartley Wintney Post Office to get the Registration Disc, paid the rego and duly got a disc to show the rego expiring 31/7/06. When we did not get any renewal advice from DVLA- I rang them, and on quoting the Registration Number was informed that the car was not ours as it was registered in the name of the previous owner. All we think is that the HW Post Office (which closed for building alterations the day after Carol paid the Rego) somehow did not send the transfer details to DVLA. Horror - officially we have to fill in a special form which will take 6 weeks to process and in the meantime we are not allowed to drive the car after 31/7. Stiff cheese mate - we are moving to Essex on the 1st August and have a cottage in Yorkshire booked for a week, followed by a week in a cottage on the Isle of Mull in Scotland during the Summer holiday period.
So this week we are busy cleaning and packing to make our move next weekend. We made a last weekend trip to see one of the famous country houses last weekend - photos above. This pile is in fact still occupied by the descendants of the family who constructed it starting in the 16th century. The only remaining parts from that period are the original kitchen and a staircase used by the servants to deliver food from the kitchen. Various other residents have had their way with alterations and rstoration, but the main feature of the house is the enormous number of paintings which adorn the walls. Unfortunately photos were not allowed inside, but each room that we visited had it's walls completely covered with paintings. And in addition the cielings were painted with frescos. Incredibly we were told that the original ceiling paintings had not been retouched since being done 300 years ago. The property, Burleigh House is surrounded by magnificent gardens designed originally by the famous Capability Brown. There is a Statuary Garden with various works of art displayed including the one shown above (3 copies came out for some reason!!!!)