A day at an English Farm

All our kids have left home but that doesn't stop us having fun when we visit the UK in the form of our 4 year old niece, who we were lucky enough to borrow for 24 hours from my sister and BIL. We had a meeting at our sons boarding school in Gloucestershire and took O with us for the day, followed by a picnic in the pub in the evening with friends and their 3 year old boy.

Pull Court, Tewkesbury

The old stable block converted into the boarding house

The day we visited the farm was the wettest day we've had in ages, since we are currently living in Dubai, hence why the picnic was moved from lunchtime, which we had in Morrison's, to the pub in the evening.

Despite the rain and unsuitable footwear we saw geese, turkeys and chickens close up and cows, sheep and miniature ponies in the fields.

Our favourites were the pigs and as O called them 'proper, real, pink piggies with curly tails and big noses'

We had a small problem with folding the pushchair, you can see how much use I was in the pouring rain while hubby struggled with it for ages, almost abandoning it in the car park. You'll also notice that we forgot to put O in the car while we fought with the pushchair in the pouring rain. It's been a long time since we've parented anyone that small.

Week 40 - My Sunday Photo and 1000th Blog Post

Today marks my 1000th blog post, which I started in October 2009, my first post was all about 'My week as a Dalek' and has gone on to describe family life as expats living in Africa and Asia and travel to Northern America and Europe.

I wanted something special to photograph today, something that sums up my blog and my life, something that describes my life 6 years on. My week is just as busy but with no kids at home or a job to go to. In many ways not much has changed, I still do daft things as my husband will vouch for.

This week I've been trying to book my flight to South Africa, I have very flexible dates and no preference of which airline I travel with. I have enough Avios with British Airways for the trip, but as BA don't fly directly from Dubai to Johannesburg, I have to fly via Heathrow making it a journey of 19 hours.

The whole purpose of my trip is to work with a couple of charities I was involved with in the 4 years I lived there and of course to catch up with some very dear friends. I've been trying to raise funds to support my charity work, but not my actual personal expenses. I have money saved up to spend in addition to my flight, accommodation, car hire and food, for various equipment and gifts for the places I will be visiting so the cheaper I can get my flight, the more spare cash I will have.

I'm struggling to understand how Emirates can charge me £587 If fly from Heathrow to Johannesburg and back again with the plane stopping over in Dubai. But if I travel from Dubai, getting on the same plane that has come in from Heathrow my flight would cost me £718. 

With other airlines I would have to fly the following return journey.

 Dubai - Seychelles - Johannesburg - Johannesburg - Abu Dhabi - Mumbai - Dubai

It's only 90 minutes by road from Abu Dhabi to Dubai, I would not be able to get off the plane in Abu Dhabi and my case wouldn't be returned to me, due to air regulations for travel.

I gave up trying to book my flight and tackled the house work instead, which took me most of the morning after the cat and dog ran through an open door straight over my still wet mopped lounge, hall, corridor and dining room.....grrrrrrrr.

Suffering with cabin fever and the air con drying out my skin and being extremely noisy, I walked to our local Starbucks and received a very interesting telephone call, which I'll tell you about later this week and one email with a request for more paid writing work.

I like My Sunday Photo to reflect the week I've had or the week ahead, but this today has caused me some confusion, the flights and the phone call. The flights I can work out the phone call will require a lot of thought, starting with do I stay with what I know, where I've finally become comfortable? do I take the plunge into something new? or do I return to what I do best?

Summing up my confusion. Nope, it's not an Ostrich.

Irene - not the hurricane

Irene, pronounced Ireneee, is the neighbouring area to Centurion. In fact the golf estate is right on the edge and our electricity and water supply comes from Ireneee.

When I leave the back gate and turn towards the school the first place I come across is the charity shop.

This place has been a lifesaver to me, picking up bits and bobs, i.e sports equipment, household stuff and mainly books, I've read so many of them, they are so expensive to buy here as they're imported and where a book reads £11.99 it's priced in Rand at 200, which is almost double. I buy book for around £1 and return them, more of a lending library for me.
All funds from sales go to the mentally retarded and handicapped, their words not mine. Behind the shop there are many bungalows for people with learning difficulties to live in, there is little if no government funding, so I like to do my bit.
Next stop Ireneee dairy.

In fact they used to own all the land for miles round here and it is still a working dairy. they have a farm shop (over priced) and a restaurant.

However, in the summer it's not very pleasant eating with the smell of the farm. Local playgroups, mums with toddlers frequent it often as there are many animals and it is outdoor, public space, with grass and you can take picnics. Not many places like that around.
Ireneee dairy is a 'cash free' zone. this is becoming more popular now as the armed robbery risks are very high, so no cash, no robbery.

And then we drive on and we reach Jan Smutts, he was President twice, the same time as Winston Churchill, this place deserves it's own blog post.
Following on from there we reach the boys school, Cornwall Hill College.

The whole area is called Cornwall Hill, after a battle fought by the Duke of Cornwall in whenever. The boys house in school is Truro.
It's an amazing place, check out the cricket pavilion. There are 9 playing fields, put astro, tennis courts, a swimming pool 25ms long and cricket nets. The Italian football team used it as their base in the World cup.

kids aren't too impressed with the summer uniform, short trousers on a 16 year old?

From the school it's a very short drive to The Cornish Kettle and Plantland.

This is where I do my recycling, it is collected by a local charity and sold for funds.
The Cornish Kettle is delightful, there's a large pond, a play area and a couple of goats wandering around.
he staff here have been amazing, they've helped me out with information from buying a car to car tax and introduced me to various people when I've had a question they couldn't answer. They let me sit there for hours and don't mind if I only have coffee, they ask about the UK, the differences between the countries.
Then onto Ireneee Mall.

Yes, if you look closely that is indeed an upside down cow.
Again very similar to all the other Malls, in a security park and outdoors. Some very nice individual shops as well as the chain stores. This is where we go to the cinema, I prefer the kids to go to this mall in the evenings, especially if hubby is away as it's a much safer route for me to drive at night.
Anyway, that's my tour of Ireneee over and done with, just the Jan Smutts blog and market to follow, but I need to take some more pictures first.