I'm back in the UK, and arrived to lovely weather, unlike the wet, damp and windy Dubai. I had thought it would be the other way round, it is however a little cold.
Apologies for not having read and commented on last weeks posts, I will get round to that on Sunday as well as a million and one other things I've fallen behind with this week.
Finally 36 hours before I flew Turkish Airlines issued information on their website for flying to the UK with electronic items.
I opted to leave my laptop at home and have purchased another one to leave here, I'm in the UK till Wednesday then off to the Rugby 7's in Hong Kong, back to the UK till the end of April and back again mid June for 8-12 weeks, I can watch TV on it as I've purchased a UK TV licence for the apartment and I carried a hard drive with me with my pictures and things I'm working on at the moment.
Sunday I went onto the desert with Bob at 7am, stopping for a coffee on route, we got home at 10am and I took my papers for my Police Clearance Certificate from South Africa Police to the post office to courier to a friend who will submit and collect papers for me. I had to pick up cat food and bought a new pole for an indoor climber plant and re potted it. I then hoovered and mopped and spent the afternoon on the laptop and reading. We went out for dinner and I was at the airport at 11pm ready for my 2am flight, allowing additional time for the extra security measures.
Monday and the flight to Istanbul went well. I may have had some sleep in-between watching movies and reading my book. My flight to the UK was cancelled and I spent 8 hours at Istanbul airport. On arrival in the UK at 4pm and after collecting my luggage, I collected car hire and drove down to South Wales, meeting my sister to collect the keys for our apartment. I dropped my case off, had coffee. I stayed at my parents for the night.
Tuesday morning I unpacked all the Ikea furniture. In the afternoon I picked up some bedding and did a basic shop. I spent the 2nd night at my parents. I sorted out issues with the solicitors and estate agents.
Wednesday I took my parents to see the apartment and met my twitter friend Pat at her house and we took the dogs for a long walk around the fields. I unpacked everything in the apartment, my nephew in law came round and assembled the bed for me.
Thursday morning with my sister and mother we visited Newport retail park and purchased a mirror, clothes horse and a photo frame. I collected the teen from boarding school for the Easter holidays, and after enlisting my sister's help to move a table from my mums to the apartment at 9pm, the teen and I assembled the Ikea sofa bed, which I'll be sleeping till he goes back to school, end of April.
Friday morning the teen and I went to Gloucester to collect Stephanie and took her out for lunch and to do some shopping, she battered the pair of us black and blue in the car, refused to eat her lunch, it was lovely to see her, despite it being hard work, I don't think I could manage her on my own anymore. We went round my parents house in the evening for my sister's birthday tea with all the little ones and we had dinner out and a few drinks, once the oldies and the little ones had gone to bed.
Saturday I woke up and walked the short distance (90 seconds) into town for a coffee and wifi, finally set up the utility accounts online, purchased a TV licence, paid the management committee, collected recycling bags and took a walk along the river and watched a dog agility event from afar. The teen and I assembled the last piece of Ikea furniture a chest of drawers and finally managed to get everything tidied away. My sister and niece visited for an hour and I went to see my friend and her children for tea.
85/365 Mum
86/365 Relax
87/365 Food
88/365 Amaze
89/365 Lesson
90/365 Spring
91/365 You Got Me
On the blog this week:
My Sunday Photo - E is for Earth Hour
Parenting and PoCoLo - How practical is practical parenting advice?
Animal Tales - John's Giraffe
How Does Your Garden Grow? - In The Night Garden
Travel and Monday Escapes - New travel regulations to the UK with Turkish Airlines
I've also linked up with:
Spectrum Sunday - Planning a trip with a disabled young adult
Triumphant Tales - Supporting Adults and Vulnerable Children in South Africa
Tween, Teens and Beyond - Despite the kids leaving home I still do these things
What a busy week! Glad you have managed to get a bit settled in the new apartment.
ReplyDeletethanks, it makes a big difference being able to unpack and just have our own space
DeleteOh my goodness! What a week you've had! You must be exhausted! It must be so nice to have the apartment sorted and to know you've got lots of time with the teen over the coming weeks.
ReplyDeleteyes it's been lovely spending time with the teen, although he has taken over the bedroom
DeleteWhat a week! It sounds like it has been non stop. I hope you have found some time to relax x
ReplyDeletenope not yet, hopefully this weekend
DeleteSounds exhausting but I like the cuppa and chocolates on the side to help you through!
ReplyDeletei rewarded myself with beer
DeleteGlad you got here in one piece even if you then have faced flat pack hell! Good that you got to spend some time with Stephanie, it must be good to see her, even if challenging. Have an amazing time in Hong Kong #365
ReplyDeletethe teen was very good with the assembly, it was great doing something together
DeleteThere's nothing better than having things sorted and a home where you know where things are!
ReplyDeleteWhat an amazing week you've had - very busy - ad well done on assembling that furniture. Npt sure my hubby would be quite so happy to do that DIY!!
hubby not involved at all with the DIY, that was me and the teen
Deletewould have hated the 8 hr delay, I dont cope with things like that well.
ReplyDeleteNice to see you are managing to get things sorted out, should make coming back easier with somewhere to stay etc.
i booked the flights i did to avoid a long stop over which cost a bit more money only to have flight cancelled without notice, very annoyed
DeleteGosh you had a busy week, hope this week has been good too :) You must be pleased to have the apartment sorted out!
ReplyDeleteoh it makes a huge difference to have somewhere to unpack and relax in
Deletethe quality streets were the only thing to keep me going
ReplyDelete