Jo

Well, the packers are coming tomorrow so this will be my last post from this PC until Australia! I will try to update things from other sources as and when I can.
We had the family leaving party near Bath yesterday. It was lovely to see everyone and a bit emotional but we had a good send off and lots of promises to come and visit (oh no! )
Just rushing around in a frenzy now trying to finish off everything (including my tax returns!).
Must go – cleaning to do!
BTW, many thanks for all your comments – I really appreciate them…

This is the most stressful time of my life! I tell you what, once we are in Australia – we are NOT coming back!! I couldn’t do this again. One minute I’m fine and the next, sobbing my heart out. It’s not because I don’t want to go, it’s just the stress and I’m so tired, I’ve just run out of energy for it all.
That’s not a very positive note to start on so how about this; Ed accepted a job with a company in Mount Waverley yesterday They sound like a really good bunch of people and to quote “are very excited about you joining our team” unquote! He has asked to start on 26th March to give us some time to recover from the flight and find somewhere to live etc. We move out of our house here on 28th Feb (next Tuesday ) and fly from London on Sat 10th March, arriving in Melbourne on 12th March We managed to blag a couple of airmile seats with Virgin to Sydney so just have to pay the taxes and flights from SYD to MEL. Ed also managed to get some relocation costs paid by his new company which is quite a relief – this moving lark is expensive
We had the first of our leaving parties at the weekend (which is why I’ve been a bit quiet on the blog, ahem ) Bit of a knees up in the Rising Sun, Swanmore with our friends from the south coast (and a few Londoners thrown in too!) It was a very good evening although it’s a very long time since I felt that terrible the next day! I was trying to persuade Karen that she really needed to do a 10 mile run with me the next morning. I’m very glad she said no as it was all I could do to get to the kitchen Oh dear, not very mature but you only immigrate once. We have a few incriminating photos and a special thank you goes to Dr Corky for the use of his house (and bed!) – shame he couldn’t make it. And congrats to Karen and Tim
The next party is for family and should be (although not guaranteed!) more subdued. I can’t envisage any bed hopping going on at Ed’s parents That’s next weekend…..
Oh and running, starting to get a bit sporadic and unstructured which is annoying as I was just starting to get fit again. Hey, these things happen
Oh, and if anyone wants to buy either a 2001 Ford Focus or a 2001 Astra estate, get in touch!
Overuse of smilies today

We actually going!!! Ed’s been offered a job (officially) and we have let the house out to a couple that want it for 12 months and are moving in on 1st March!!!
I think we will stay with Libby and Ian for about a week before flying off to Australia (on the cheapest possible flight) Nothing booked yet but I’m sure it will be before the week is out. I’m now in a complete tail spin rushing around the house panicking, cleaning everything and throwing stuff out! Ed had better not stand still for too long otherwise I will shout at him in a panic, clean him and then take him to the tip!! So much to do but it’s finally happening!! Yikes…………….
Sorry about the overuse of !!! but that’s just how I’m feeling! – oops there’s another one

We were supposed to have a viewing for our house today but he didn’t turn up! First of all the agent sent their representative who is a kindly middle aged woman who doesn’t seem to be remotely interested in doing any business – just likes looking around peoples houses and chatting about her daughter!! She annoyed me and then the bloke coming to view the place was stuck in traffic so the agent bu88ered off and we waited for this guy, and waited, and waited…………….we decided after 3 hours he wasn’t going to show!!
Then, I checked the phone on the off chance that someone had rung while it was busy and there was a message from Ed’s potential new employer last night! BT have a great free system where they provide a message service when the line is busy but they haven’t devised a way of letting you know you have a message other than the dialling tone is slightly different when you dial out! Aaarrrghhhhhhhhh
So all in all a frustrating day. At least I eventually got out for run

Ed had his interview in Cambridge with a guy from an Australian based company yesterday afternoon. He met him at 3.00pm and rang me at 6.20pm to say they were still chatting and did I want to join them for dinner!! Well never one to turn down a good feed, I put my glad rags on and whizzed off to meet them. Ed said the afternoon went really well and the guy he was meeting was really nice and friendly and even paid for dinner Good indications??? Hope so
Britain awoke this morning to “Traffic chaos!!!” “15 inches of snow!” “Don’t travel unless you absolutley have to!!” type of headlines on the news. Well, the reality is a few inches of rapidly melting snow and it’s a bit cold! Honestly, the bl00dy media always hype everything out of proportion (although I didn’t fancy a run in the snow so it’s turbo again).

And I’m not obsessed with churchyards! It’s just that it’s behind our house and a good place to take photos.

In reply to Jaykay, no we haven’t decided on a location in Melbourne yet. Going on recent developments, Ed will be working in either the CBD or Mount Waverley so that will influence things. We are hoping to stay with some friends in Hampton for the first couple of weeks until we can find a rental. We’re torn between being near the bay or being closer to the hills!! The ‘prospective boss’ gave us a few tips about some areas last night so I’ll have to check out some houses online (and see if they are near any running clubs)!

Ed has been offered a job in Melbourne and he has an interview with another company this afternoon!! Hooray……………. Things are starting to move along now!!

I took some photos of the church and views in the frost this morning.

Nothing else to say at the moment!

My training partner for the day (aka Nurse Wendy) texted this morning to say she had a cold so couldn’t train with me after all. I tried Leesa but she’d already been out so I resigned myself to 4 x 1000m on my own. I thought the ground would be so frozen that I could get away jogging cross country to Balsham to do the k’s around the playing field there. WRONG!! The ground was either frozen solid in the shade or really claggy in the sun. Don’t get me wrong, I love mud when it’s a cross country race and I’ve got some nice sensible spikes strapped to my feet but I don’t like the ice skating feeling while my feet weigh more than I do! Anyway, I did a terrible session (the cold made it very hard and times were slow. It was below freezing). When I’d finished I started jogging towards home and came eyeball to eyeball with a man with a shotgun!! They were shooting in the fields but it didn’t half give me a fright
Ed got the results of his MRI scan on his back today and the good news is that it’s nothing serious. He has some deformation of the lower vertebrae which is causing pain into his hip and leg but can be sorted out with some physio and core stability work. Shame they couldn’t have taken the trouble to find this out 2 years ago and saved him a lot of pain. I think he is quite relieved as he was worried about it being more serious.
My foot is kinda the same. I’m wearing trainers around the house instead of slippers and that seems to help along with icing and wearing a support thingy. I get PF periodically and it usually just goes away so hopefully it will this time too.
I was in the pool yesterday when an old lady I have got to know a little asked me if I could give her some swimming lessons and teach her the front crawl! She’s 80!! She really lovely though so I said would give her a lesson tomorrow. I must remember I’m teaching a grown up and not ask her to look for Nemo and Ed said I mustn’t put paddles and fins on her on the first lesson Spoilsport!

A drunk that smelled like a brewery got on a bus one day. He sat down next to a priest. The drunk’s shirt was stained, his face was covered in bright red lipstick and he had a half-empty bottle of wine sticking out of his pocket. He opened his newspaper and started reading. A couple minutes later, he asked the priest, ”Father, what causes arthritis?”
”Mister, it’s caused by loose living, being with cheap, wicked women, too much alcohol, and contempt for your fellow man,” the priest replied. ”Imagine that,” the drunk muttered. He returned to reading his paper.
The priest, thinking about what he had said, turned to the man and apologized: ”I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to come on so strong. How long have you had arthritis?” ”I don’t have arthritis, Father,” the drunk said, ”but I just read in the paper that the Pope does.”

Nice run today in Thetford/Kings Forest again. No huskies this time but lots of those really annoying and yappy little dogs that will bite you as soon as look at you! One guy had 6, unleashed and had no control over them, so I stopped and said in a rather pointed manner “I’ll just wait until you round them all up” He just looked at me a bit funny and strolled off! As my friend Steph’s brother says “They should be fazed out!” (at least the owners of out of control dogs should be) Maybe they should be replaced by Meerkats! I’ve just seen Meerkat Manor on TV. Can I have a small colony of them?? They are the best little things!! Here are some from Sydney Zoo

The French lady didn’t want to rent our house. It was too small for her furniture. Oh well, it’s not even been marketed yet so all is not lost yet.

Just when you thought it was safe to come back here without seeing any more house photos……………

I’ve just finished off the sole plate with some linseed oil and it’s good to go!! And by the way, that’s not some dodgy plastering, it’s rustic!!

We’ve got our first prospective tenants coming tomorrow, hence getting the lounge finished once and for all. Hope they like it

I’ve got a niggle in my foot which feels suspiciously like plantar faciitis but I’m hoping it’s not. I need to find a decent sports massage bod in Melbourne seeing as Nurse Wendy won’t come with us!

Today I appointed an agent to market the house for rental! He came round and took a lot of photos (asked me to move our stuff – what’s wrong with it??!?) and now we just have to sit back and hope someone wants to come and live in this corner of the world. It’s all starting to feel a bit real now and I’m kinda getting cold feet. I’m sure it’s normal and everyone goes through the same feelings of doubt and apprehension but I feel quite worried. What if…..no one wants to rent our house………we can’t get jobs…………we run out of money (a very real possibility at the moment!) etc etc!
Anyway, pushing these weird feelings aside I polished my mountain bike to within an inch of it’s life today and it now looks like new (apart from the dings gained by a spectacular crash in Coed y Brenin last Easter – oops!!) I even scrubbed the poop off the tyres (I hate to think what it was). Wo betide any customs official who questions whether it’s clean enough to grace the trails of Australia!! Ed’s bike is still lurking in the shed and I’m trying to pretend it’s not there. It’s covered in cr*p and mud which has probably dried like cement by now. Maybe I should leave that one for customs to clean?
I then trundled off to training with the club tonight and had a great session I was so pleased with myself. The times aren’t anything to write home about but I felt good and strong and the reps were consistent. Can’t really go by the times very much as we did 800’s on the road around a slightly undulating loop so the distance is probably not too accurate but, hey, a felt almost like a runner again