Made it

One 27 hour flight (including a 4 hour stopover in Singapore) later I have reached New Zealand.
Job starts Sept 1st.
Life is good, jet lag is manageable.

Aotearoa

The time has come, the movers have been and I'm homeless as the keys have been handed in and I'm throwing myself on the mercy of relatives. On Bank Holiday Monday I begin a 27 hour flight to New Zealand arriving about midday (their time, about midnight ours) on Wednesday the 27th.

Not a lot of this in England

Aotearoa means the land of the long white cloud in Maori and is quite the most beautiful place I've visited, beating the tombs of Egypt easily.
My new job starts on the 1st of September and I'll be working in and around Auckland which is the largest city in New Zealand and has well over a quarter of the population of the two islands pretty much living there. Essentially it means if you want to be alone, you don't have far to go to be terribly, terribly alone.

My grandchildren

To me it was the England which ought to be, they're bloody choosy who they let in and if you don't have a skill they want, forget it. The only unskilled they'll allow are Chinese, muslims need not apply.

My new place of work

It's friendly and the leftards are firmly kept in place, that's not to say they don't have moments of lunacy, but frankly compared to this country it's not too bad.
I love England, but I no longer love what it's been allowed to become. I'll miss you all and the blog will stay open for a while to let you know how I'm doing.
Take care.

QM

Parish notice

Another weekend and the last goodbyes. This one will be hard as it's my Mum and it's still less than a year that my Dad passed on.
Blogging will taper off now, too much to do before we fly out a week Monday.
This isn't the last post, but it's getting close now.

Parish notice

There will be no blogging for this weekend or the next one as I have some important goodbyes to take care of, many to people I doubt I'll ever see again.
Blogging will be slowly winding down over the next two weeks as I prepare for my great adventure in Aotearoa, though I'll let you know how it turns out before closing the blog down.

ǝɔᴉʇoN ɥsᴉɹɐԀ

Blogging will probably be a bit sparse to non-existent for the next couple of weeks as I'm off to new Zealand to visit my step-daughter and grandchildren. Oh I also have a few job interviews too, so hopefully...
I have to admit looking forward to seeing some different skies and a new way of life, the big downside for me has been that owing to having to do this quickly Lady QM won't be travelling with me.
Still, I'm off to the land of the Kiwi's, laden with gifts and items the relatives weren't able to take with them and I won't be looking forward to coming back.
The bloody local council had better hurry up with my postal vote too...

Parish Notice

Lady QM and I are inflicting ourselves on my step-daughters in-laws down in Devon.
I expect I'll eat and drink far too much, but hopefully avoid a mass family punch up.
I'll be back blogging on Sunday I expect.
 In the meantime have a happy Christmas (Solstice, Hanukkah, Yule, your life your belief) and may your troubles be minor if any at all.

New phone

New grief, new frustration, nuff said.

Bloody hell why do they make this so bloody difficult!

Parish notice

I'm inflicting myself on relatives over the weekend intending to eat all their best food and drink.
Normal blogging will resume Monday.

Parish Notice

No blogging today or until Thursday I have a funeral to attend and grief to deal with.
Thank you for your support during what has been a most difficult time for me.

Bye Dad

The trip I made on Saturday to say goodbye was well timed, it was my Dad's last lucid day. He passed away yesterday in the arms of my Mum something I believe in the end was a mercy.
He never made the headlines. He never sought fame.
His only pride other than believing he was punching well above his weight in landing my Mum as his wife was his children and eventually his grand-children and great grand-children.
He was a good man, much loved and his only fault... if indeed it was a fault would be to burst out in song at the top of his voice in Tesco's to a song over their tannoy and embarrass the hell out of whoever was with him.
The world for me is a little darker today because part of the light in it has dimmed.
Goodbye Dad, you're in a much better place now.

Parish Notice.

There will be no blogging today as I'm heading back to the North-East with a heavy heart to say goodbye to my Dad. Eighteen months ago he was diagnosed with bone cancer and was told all they could do was slow it down, not stop it. Just last week he was admitted to hospital to try and give him another bout of chemo, but he started having stomach pains and they were unable to dose him up. The pains have grown worse and he is starting to lose the final battle.
Our politics are polar opposites as he's a great believer in socialism and the welfare state, though has little time for socialists or the Labour Party. He believes that those who have should help those who haven't, so long as those who haven't use the help to get past their troubles. He has no time for those who see benefit dependency as a lifestyle choice, he was getting paid for moderating exam results only last year at the age of 75.
I can't say enough how proud I am of my Dad, when I measure myself against him I always come up short, though he was (and is) proud of me for no reason I can see.
So today I say goodbye, I don't shed tears easily, but I suspect today they'll flow easily.

Parish notice.

Going down to Devon to see my stepdaughter (the one I married off) her hubby and the grandchildren. She apparently has a grumbling appendix, I may be a while...

Parish Notice

No political blogging today as I'm off to make sure my step-daughter gets married.
Oh yes, I have to do the father of the bride speech too.
My step-daughter is now apparently dreading it...
Mostly because I know some hilarious secrets she'd rather the world not know about her.
Oh yes...
She's blonde...
That should give you an inkling ;-)

Parish Notice

No blogging over the weekend as I'm off to darkest Essex for a family get together where I'll eat too much and drink too much with a bit of luck.

Parish Notice

The blog will be on hiatus for the next two weeks as Lady QM and I are off on our holidays. She wishes to see Egypt and as a slave to her desires I am taking her there and will take lots of pictures of pyramids, sphinx's temples and lots of other pre-islamic stuff before the loons there decide to blow it up as it is pre-islamic stuff and they have done in other countries.
Blogging should resume on 21st of May.

Parish Notice

No real blogging tonight as I've just gotten back from hospital after my lovely granddaughter slipped off the settee and sliced open her lip on the edge of a coffee table.
She'll be ok, but it looks pretty deep and I suspect the use of superglue might not be enough.
Blogging will hopefully resume tomorrow.

Parish Notice

(Another) New job starts tomorrow and I have no idea how the shift pattern will affect my blogging.
Hopefully it will all work out as there's still a lot of stuff out there that that interests, annoys and makes me angry at times.

Parish Notice

Not sure how blogging is going to go over the next few weeks as I'm starting a new job and haven't a clue as to the availability of internet access either at home or at work.

Parish Notice

Owing to family illness the blog will be on hiatus for the next week or so.

Sorry folks.

Parish Notice

Owing to family issues mostly down to having to child mind a hyperactive two year old, blogging will be intermittent for the next few days as I'm quite exhausted...