Well my month in the UK has come to an end quicker than I thought. I've got most of the jobs done around the house, cleaning, repairs and will order new carpets when I finish the painting in April. Looking forward to the warmer weather to get out into a now empty garden now, we have some lawn, mostly weeds and a new fence. I'm off back to Dubai on Tuesday and will be advertising our garden and fence there for sale, shame I can't just bring it all over here in the container.
UK Garden before
UK garden now, a nice blank canvas to work from, with a new fence.
My MIL arrives today and is house sitting for the next 3 weeks, while I pop back over to Dubai to organise the insurance for the container to send our furniture back to the UK and to apply for my Transfer of Residency so I don't have to pay tax/duty on our personal belongings.
My friend is going to walk Bob for me in the evenings, apart from the week she comes out to Dubai with her husband.
Hope you've all survived the storms and flooding. Although where I live hasn't been directly affected by the floods, I am living in the triangle between the River Severn and the River Wye and major routes have been been cut off. My family in Monmouth, South Wales have been hit the worse, becoming an island for several days.
Stephanie and I would love top know what you've been up to this week.
I left the UK in a storm and arrived home to one in Dubai. The big difference though was it was warm with a high of 24c and a low of 18c.
I arrived home wearing jeans, jumper, boots and carrying my jacket. I was a little warm, but I need my winter gear for my next trip to South Africa in May.
I've also struggled with the 4 hour time difference and still on UK time over the weekend.
69 Sunday Up early to Gloucester to meet Mary and Sarah, it was bloody freezing and blowing a gale. Had a lovely day then drove over to Cirencester to take child 5 out for dinner and then returned to South Wales in a snow storm.
70 Monday Lazy morning, coffee and blogging and spent the rest of the day cleaning the flat and packing. Child 3 is moving in until after his driving test and his return to Australia. Collected spare key from a friend, visited the Things. So happy to report Thing 4 is going to be a girl, due in August. Called in to say bye to friend who flat sits for me, printed flight ticket and TV licence.
71 Tuesday Woke to cold, wet and windy weather. Collected mum and drove north to Blackpool, stopping along the way for coffee and snacks. Cousin and Aunt met us in the afternoon. We started a walk to the beach, got beaten back by the wind after 100yds and retreated to the pub for the evening.
72 Wednesday Breakfast, attempted a walk on the seafront but almost got blown off our feet, then off to the Crematorium for my Uncle's funeral. Took mum back to my aunt's house where she's staying for around a week and I spent the night back in the Premier Inn. So grateful I was able to spend time with my Uncle over recent years and time with my aunt and cousin on my last trip in happier times.
73 Thursday Early start and drive to Birmingham to return car hire and catch my flight back to Dubai. The drive was horrendous, with standing water, speed restrictions and several accidents. The journey took 4 and a half hours.
The flight home was good, no pain, new movies and friendly neighbours.
Bob was pleased to see me, but panicked by the thunder storm.
74 Friday So tired, went to bed at 10pm and was awake between 1am till 5am, back to sleep till midday, popped out for coffee and food shop with Peter, watched TV and bed at 9pm. The rain continued throughout the day.
75 Saturday Awake throughout the night again. Peter went out in the morning while I unpacked and tidied. We then popped out for a late lunch/early tea. Most of the day though was spent like this.
On the blog this week:
Why I don't have Mum Guilt and just what is it anyway?
I hit the ground running this week with work, school trip, parent's evening and an observation, I'm not sleeping well and I'm in a lot of pain with my back and neck. I managed to fit in a visit to the nail bar that I rescheduled twice and as well as having shiny new finger and toe nails in blue, they threw in a free massage.
Last week at work next week and then 2 weeks off for Spring Break. Peter and I have booked a weekend up in the mountains at a spa with natural hot water springs and then the #teen is out to visit for 2 weeks.
Sunday Day 73#onedailypositive#project366four days after the storm, you'd never believe how much rain we had in Dubai last week without photographic evidence, more rain predicted this week then summer will hit full force @debs72_ For My Sunday Photo was just a selfie of ME, shattered.
Monday Day 74#onedailypositive#project366home alone tonight for the first time in ages (6 weeks) so I popped to the local 'pork shop' to buy some ham to go with my non halal chicken soup and picked up a packet of Frazzles. Not foods I'd normally eat, but when you live as an expat every little reminder of home is welcomed. I blogged today about why I don't drive a Ferrari.
Tuesday Day 75#onedailypositive#project366apart from a screen shot of the weather in Dubai and my sunrise photo, this is the only other picture I've taken today. You can discount the 100+ I took on a school trip to a farm. This was taken at 9.30pm as I'm preparing for teacher-parent meetings tomorrow. As I left work at 5pm I checked my emails to discover I'm being observed on Thursday. What a week????? On a positive though, I am up to date with my learning journeys, the observation is taking place during registration and phonics which I've got covered and I blitzed the classroom (again) on Monday so no stress. This week's Animal Tales is Bob avoiding a bath.
Wednesday Day 76#onedailypositive#project366I arrived at work in the dark and I left work in the dark. Somewhere in between there was parent's evening. My first ever as a teacher rather than a parent and it rained sand. This is the only photo taken today. Would like to go straight to bed now but as I'm being observed first thing in the morning, that's unlikely to happen for a couple of hours yet.
Thursday Day 77 #onedailypositive#project366 honestly what do you think? Trying out the Arabic way of doing my eyebrows. Not really, it's an eyebrow tint, you don't reach 44 without a few grey hairs. I finished this week at work only 20 minutes behind schedule, all planning, resources and classroom up to date. Was observed this week, think it went well. Will find out next week. Having nails done as a reward for getting through the week and dinner out with Peter later. For HDYGG it's another visit to The Miracle Gardens.
Friday Day 78 #onedailypositive#project366 the only photo I took today of Bob in the desert. We had planned lunch at @tribesgrill and a stroll along @jbr_official and @thebeachdubai but all I managed when we got back from walking Bob was to do the washing before spending the rest of the day in bed sleeping. We'll try again tomorrow. It has always alarmed me how much stuff some people post about their children and ex partners, so I wrote about how your social media can damage your children.
Saturday Day 79 #onedailypositive#project366 bacon butty at 5am. I haven't managed more than a 3 hour block of sleep for over a week now and it's getting me down. It didn't help that I spent most of yesterday in bed but I was struggling to stay awake, I feel run down, have a bad cough and my neck and back have been playing up. On a positive I've caught up with my tv shows, blogging and letter writing.
I've spent the morning filing and sorting, we're off to The Beach now at Jumeriah Beach Residences for a walk round and to spend the last of the meal vouchers I won last year with Instagram and this evening we'll be taking part in Earth Hour.
No one was expecting this. The weather app indicated rain and thunder but no where near this level. Roads were flooded, cars were floating, schools were closed and buildings damaged.
We are now the proud owners of a new sculpture (aka) the gazebo, that hubby cut up and removed this morning, I had to wash the curtains, cushions and rugs and by lunch time everything was dry, the sky yesterday and today was bright blue and not a cloud in sight.
I'm now having to re think my outdoor shade area and will be investing in a swinging hammock as it's replacement, I have all the cushions, rugs and curtains from the gazebo, which are drying nicely.
I was worried the plants would've taken a beating with the rain and wind, especially when I saw the the damage from the rain in the sand, but everything seems to be doing ok. I had to drain a few pots out, but otherwise all is good and even the flowers remained on the plants.
It would also seem I've been wrongly blaming the birds for the lack of tomatoes, I saw Bob actually taking one off the plant and he snaffled it up as quick as he could.
I've visited Dubai Miracle Gardens this week and had a trip out into the desert 4 x 4 driving which I'll link up with over the next 2 weeks for HDYGG and Animal Tales.
You can see more of the storms in Dubai on youtube.
