My Sunday Photo - Week 144. O is for October

I didn't think October would be a month I would see in the UK in 2017. The purpose of my trip apart from visiting family and friends was to help the teen transit from school to working life. I had planned to be back in Dubai by now.

October marks the 1st anniversary of the death of my Fathers youngest brother and my Mothers eldest brother and the 12th anniversary since my Grandma (Fathers Mother) died.

October is also my husbands 60th Birthday. We had a party with family and friends in the UK earlier in September while he was visiting. We will have a belated party when I return home also.

October also marks the change of seasons, from summer into autumn and the passing of time since my Father died in July.

When I arrived in the UK for a month in March this year, I commented on how lovely Spring was, I returned in June in the middle of a heat wave. I've watched the leaves and flowers blossom, I've enjoyed the long summer evenings, I've embraced the rain although I'm now tiring of it and the evenings are getting darker earlier and the mornings are colder. The leaves are changing colour and falling to the ground, there are spider webs glistening in the morning sun and a mist over the river outside the flat in the mornings as well as a chill in the air.

I hope not to see winter this year in the UK. I hope that my winter photos are taken from the beach in Dubai at the bottom of the road from where we live before we move further in land, but I suspect I'll see the end of winter and the start of spring as I will probably return to the UK in February 2018.

One Daily Positive - Week 39

Another week that has raced by, only 2 weeks until my planned return to Dubai, although I don't have flights booked yet, the teen still isn't employed, but there are a few interviews lined up, but it doesn't leave much time to find him somewhere to live and get him moved in. I guess the best thing to do is go back home and come back to the UK when I'm next needed over here, I sort of feel I'm just hanging around at the moment, achieving nothing and getting under peoples feet.

I think the tenant has moved out, all has been quiet the past week. I joined Mumsnet and eBay and posted a couple of items for sale for the first time in ages and already reached over £140 on a 1978 World Cup Panini Football Sticker Album. Sheer madness, Dad has loads of stuff like this I will be selling.

267 Sunday So Cute
Last day for Peter in the UK, we returned the car hire and said goodbye at the airport. I drove back to South Wales in the new car hire a Fiat 500. The evening was spent tidying the flat, cleaning and doing the washing.

268 Monday Blurred
Spent the morning organising the sale of Dad's car and lining up more properties for Mum to view. We visited a couple of houses in the afternoon. I'd forgotten just how many spiders there were in the UK, I'd been walking through spiders webs all day as we explored lots of different gardens. Popped out to hand over keys for the Jag, new owner just happens to own a pub, I got home 4 hours later a bit worse for wear.

269 Tuesday I'm eating
Met Mum in town for a coffee, I was late as I picked up the guy who bought the car and took him round to collect it off the drive while Mum waited for me in the coffee shop. I've been buying prepared, fresh meat dishes for 2 from Waitrose, but I'd put them in the freezer so I've been eating the same meal 2 days in a row. It's getting a bit boring.

270 Wednesday Organised
Hair cut first thing, more house hunting and the afternoon spent in the flat making some space to store some more of my Dad's stuff that's left to sell. I collected my niece from school, we went for ice cream and in the evening I popped in to see a friend.

271 Thursday Friends
Mum car needed to go for an MOT, back to the flat for a couple of hours then the teen and I went to visit my ex MIL, his Granny at home, who isn't very well. The District Nurse came and she was really good. Over the past few weeks, grab rails and ramps etc have been installed in the house to help her get a round much more easily. Peter and I skype every evening, it's a bit of a rush to get home to a wifi connection with the time difference between the UK and Dubai, but as a rule, once I'm home between 3pm & 5pm I rarely go back out.

272 Friday BML17

No blogging conference for me, I hadn't anticipated being in the UK this long. Was initially slightly disappointed that they'd changed the date from June, as I had originally planned on going and booked my UK visit to allow for the usual date. Britmums published there SnapHappyBritMums Photo Prompts for October today, I replied to their tweet saying I'd been using their prompts every day for almost 3 years with little interaction from them and still no response.

We viewed a Park Home today. I will confess it met all the criteria for Mum, however I really had my reservations about spending all that money without further research and the ground rent was high, for little to nothing in return, but the final decision isn't mine, all I can do is present my research, based on time spent, experience and knowledge of buying and owning property, being a landlord and paying ground rent. 

Drove up to Tewkesbury in the afternoon with the teen to colelct his girlfriend from school who is staying for the weekend. Dinner with a friend and her kids, then popped to the pub and had a early night.

273 Saturday BIBs Brilliance in Bogging (not blogging) A photo from yesterday's visit to the school farm.

Dropped a suit off with a mate, then met mum, sister and niece in town for breakfast, went for a coffee afterwards, ran a few errands and went to Newport with the teen and his girlfriend, they wandered round the shops and went to Nando's for lunch while I met up with friends for coffee. The Park Home is a no go, there's a 10% charge on the re sale of the property, which is payable to the land owners. This is common practice, along with the £133.50 per month ground rent and still having to maintain the property, garden and having your own insurance, the buying highlights of no stamp duty, low water costs and council tax band A aren't actually that much of a saving over a potential 10-15 year period.

I spent the evening making up boxes, sorting more stuff, watching TV and had a bath.

On the blog this week:

My Sunday Photo - Q is for Quirky. Malvern Autumn Show

PoCoLo - #eBaySellingMN Working with eBay and Mumsnet - If you don't love it someone else will

TriumpantTales and TweensTeensBeyond - A visit to Wookey Hole. Days out WITHOUT kids

If you don't love it, someone else will. How much stuff do we really need? Selling with eBay.

My Dad died suddenly in July this year. I was over from Dubai where I divide my year with my husband and his job and the adult children and my parents and family in the UK.

Like a lot of people his age, my father had collected a lot of stuff. He was from a generation where you reused things, kept things in case they came in handy and from an age where things grew in value and weren't disposable or easily replaced. You saved up and bought good quality items that would last for years.

So when Mumsnet offered me the opportunity to work with them and eBay, I decided to give eBay a go. I'm not sure I've ever sold through there, but I had an account which I'd purchased one or two items from, mainly for the children many years ago. Mum and I started selling the specialist items such as the train set and toy cars and some sports gear and made a few successful sales. We sold the fishing gear at a loss, but we needed the space in the garage to sort through other items. We've arranged for an auction house to collect some of the bulkier stuff and a couple of items have been sold on local face book groups. Several car boot sales have been done also. Next was selling the house and finding somewhere else for Mum to live and getting rid of Dad's 13 year old Jag which all took it's toll on me, but I finally succeeded this morning and decided I now had time to enter the world of researching some interesting finds from around the house to sell on eBay.

Once I reset my password and found my pay pal account details, it was a really simple process using my laptop. As soon as I started to type a description I was offered suggestions of similar items to choose from for listing, I could add photos and a further description, select from drop down boxes and choose a reserve price, length of time to sell, 'buy it now' option and there were suggestions for recommend sale prices. I found several helpful 'tips' as I proceeded on fees and free listings and P&P costs and alternative methods of shipping and collections and eBay saved my preferences for future sales.

I had a few issues with my laptop transferring pictures so I switched to the app on my mobile phone, which made my life a lot easier and a lot quicker and I'll be listing as much stuff as I can over the remaining few weeks before I return to Dubai. I've taken items to the post office, weighed them and checked postal costs so it'll be easy for Mum to post them out once they sell.

So far the money from everything we've sold has gone towards funeral expenses, bills, moving etc so it will be nice to raise some funds to do something nice for Mum and maybe she can have a break to Dubai over the winter months while she waits for the contracts to exchange on her house.

Below are a couple of items I've already listed on eBay.

 Bruce Forsyth Tram

 Golf Balls from Las Vegas

 1st Edition TV Times

Panini 1978 World Cup Sticker Album Complete.

https://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/PANINI-ARGENTINA-WORLD-CUP-78-1978-STICKER-ALBUM-Complete-/132342045405

I had an offer via the message system, within 20 minutes of listing, for the Panini Sticker Album, it would appear I didn't do my research thoroughly enough, so I'm taking my chances on people bidding on it and will see if I can get a higher offer, nearer the end of the listing period.

Disclaimer:
“I am a member of the Mumsnet Bloggers Panel, a group of parent bloggers who have volunteered to review products, services, events and brands for Mumsnet. I have not paid for the product or to attend an event. I have editorial control and retain full editorial integrity. [I have received a voucher as a token of thanks for this post].

Days out, WITHOUT kids - Wookey Hole

Peter and I spent a few days in Lyme Regis in September, we have friends who own a fishing boat there and while the men go fishing, the women go shopping, drink tea and visit craft shops and local markets.

We've done this on and off for the past 17 years, more off then on since moving abroad, but something we'd like to do more of when we move back to the UK in the next 2-3 years.

We visit outside of school holidays, when it's quieter, cheaper, roads are less busy and there are more options for accommodation, plus it's cheaper for Peter and I to visit the UK at these times of the year.

On our way home and on a whim we decided to call in at Wookey Hole, somewhere neither of us have been since the children were small, we booked tickets online in the car park and saved 20%.

The grounds are lovely, with the River Axe bursting out from under the rocks, yet inside the caves the water is so deep it seems that it isn't flowing. Fairy gardens and picnic areas and ice cream huts are dotted around and life sized dinosaurs and Unicorns as well as King Kong decorate the path to the paper mill.

We arrived in time for a tour of the caves and only waited 15 minutes in a queue with lots of other middle aged couples looking for something to do on a wet day in Somerset. The tour guide was very informative but I felt the pitch was still aimed at families with children.

The caves aren't suitable for anyone with mobility issues and pushchairs and wheelcahirs can't be used inside. If you're claustrophobic, acrophobic (have a fear of heights) or suffer with vertigo or unable to bend to avoid low hanging rocks, I really wouldn't recommend it

Either due to the weather or the fact it was out of school time a lot of what was advertised on the website was unavailable such as the cheese tasting, panning for gold, paper making demonstration, clown show and most importantly there was no appearance from the Witch of Wookey Hole. This is something that should be on the front page of the website.

Despite this we had a great time and were able to wander in and out the attractions at our own speed after the tour of the cave finished, we stopped for lunch, before having fun in the hall of mirrors. It's quite disorientating to be able to see Peter in front of me, but to hear and know that he is behind me.

The clown museum was fun to visit. I know some people find them creepy and scary, but that's how the horror movies have portrayed them.

We spent our pennies wisely in the Victorian arcade and I actually laughed along with the some of the displays. There was no queuing or waiting for any of the attractions which was nice and we didn't have to give way to parents pushing their kids forward to make sure they got a turn, despite the fact we'd paid the same price to enter, which is a big bug bear of mine.

I've no idea what these 'wonky' mirrors are called, but we had a lot of fun with them at the entrance to the obligatory walk through the gift shop before we could exit, stopping to buy a couple of gifts for our 6 year old niece.

Before returning to the car park we collected putters and balls for a round of crazy golf, normally priced at £4 which was included free on the day of our visit. We started off quite competitively, then relaxed and even scored a hole in one. I declared myself the winner, when on the last hole, Peter put his ball out of play in the water and we couldn't retrieve it.

With a bit more planning for our trip (if we'd had any clean clothes with us) we'd have stopped over in the hotel where prices started from £39 and could've explored near by Glastonbury, Cheddar Gorge or shopped at Street the following day.

We enjoyed our day so much that we're planning to more of this tourist stuff next time we're both in the UK together, let me know if you've got a favourite place you think we'd like to visit.

My Sunday Photo - Week 143 Q is for Quirky, Queer and Quality

Peter and I visited the Autumn Show at the 3 Counties Show Ground in Malvern on Saturday. We lived in Malvern prior to emigrating and attended all the shows there every year, usually with kids, parents and friends. 

This year, our first time back in 7 years, it was just the 2 of us and we had great fun exploring without having to meet the needs of others and spent way too much time in the wonky and giant veg tent wondering if any of this when grown to this size actually tastes as good as the normal sized ones and who the hell has the patience or the tools needed to peel and cook it all.