Day 158 - Glorious Autumn

Monday September 21st

Week 3 in school and what a glorious day to walk in. Warm, sunny and that unique English autumnal smell. Today was a good day as my lesson planning paid off and my two new classes, 10.2.2 and 9.2.2 seemed to go well. I paid for it with a far too cavalier afternoon, sitting around drinking tea rather than planning the next few days but I enjoyed a bit of basking.

Helped out with football practice and then helped clear out the final few things from Nightingale. It was like we were never there.

Day 122 - Tattoos and Fags

Sunday August 16th

Long run this morning, first 5.5 at pace (managed 6:40 at one stage). Then Mrs N joined us and we have a lovely early morning jog. I then took Alice to her first practice with Winchester City Flyers. This was a little more concerning as I walked into a group of parents with large tattoos and smoking up a storm in front of the kids. Shouldn't have worried as Coach Tony was great and they loved Alice who, like her brother, did brilliantly. Here I did notice a big change in skill and game savvy. This is a good thing. Alice will get a training top with her initials on (nice) and AC Milan strip (nice). Adapt, adapt, tattoo parlour here we come. Only other thing of note is that Ted pegged me in the nuts with a tennis ball at point blank range. Two occasions in his life now that I've almost throttled him.

So, a weekend of getting Ted and Alice into football over here. Pretty successful I would say. Unfortunately, it was accompanied by a continual deterioration in Ellen's behaviour resulting in a massive row on Sat night. Cleared the air a little by the morning but not much although she came to Nightingale Close to help me cut the grass. Met another Mum from Kings' and promised to look out for her son.

Day 92 - Can You Recycle All This?

Friday July 16th

The amount of packing material is phenomenal. I think our 2 British movers (the 3rd called in sick much to the 2 others' derision) are not impressed with the amount of paper and board they have to get through. It is an unfair contest - on the US side 7 packers + a foreman and on the UK side 2 unpackers. We all ended up pitching in as it was painful to watch at times. Mrs N declared herself dissatisfied with the storage space in the kitchen so a trip to Ikea is imminent.

Ted and I unpacked the garage and managed a sneaky game of ping pong to check the table was in working order. By 4pm the job was pretty much done and we sent the lads on their way with sore bodies and 20 quid for their hard labour.

We have been invited out by the neighbours in Nightingale Close for fajitas. A lovely family, with Ellen and Ted getting on well with their two kids. A little awkward as we have not told them about our parallel life in the new house. We will have to tell them soon

Day 79 - 13 Nightingale Close

Saturday July 4th

Independence Day and we are moving into our new rental today. Early morning run to get rid of some cobwebs. 6 miles around the New Forest was just the ticket.

Finally headed out after packing our cases up again. We have a garden table, 6 chairs, 3 air beds, 1 mattress, 6 plates, 4 cups, 2 pans and that's about it. I got myself a mobile phone in town while Mrs N made the big leap from Tesco to J Sainsbury. All was satisfactory so we headed off and bought a car. All by 530

No fireworks tonight