Wednesday, August 23, 2006

The Car Boot Sale...





Sunday marked the first of many car boot sales as we try to get rid of some of the stuff we have collected over the years. With a 5am start we were up bright and early along with Lou who very kindly came along to help and more importantly transport the stuff that wouldn't fit inside the van! We sold quite a bit making £155!... although Beth's earmuffs are still for sale if you are interested.

We've also managed to sell some furniture as Beth had the brilliant idea of taking pictures of some of the items and displaying them on the van! Ebay sales are also going well with winter wetsuits and ski gear bringing in the pounds... I even managed to sell some Argyle programmes!

Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Veedubbing at the Beach 2006






A short trip down to Paignton sea front took us along to Veedubbing at the Beach 2006. We started off with about nine of us in Exeter and considering only one of us broke down it was a good trip! Still a litle worse for wear 48 hours after the wedding of Sian and Pete we had a pretty chilled out day laying out on the grass looking at Volkswagens. Neil and Kim found a willing mechanic who happened to have a large roll along suitcase full of tools to repair their van and got home safely! Stan stayed at home as he was still loaded up with all the Dj-ing equipment from the wedding. A walk onto the pier saw Beth and Helen trying to get their fortunes told by a dummy in a glass case while Jon and I pretended we were truck drivers in the Gold Ole US of A before tackling the drum machine! We even bunched into a photo booth to get some mug shot stickers!! Just one more VW event for us and Stan now!

Monday, August 14, 2006

The Hamilton Trust





Here are a few of pictures of the office so that you can get an idea of where I'm working. As you can see it's quite small but gets very busy (when there are people in it ... and its not 7pm!) For those that don't know the teachers become Friends of the Hamilton Trust by making various donations, in return we provide resources and planning that they can use in the classroom.

I'm really enjoying my work up here, although it is really hard to be away from Beth. Still it's only for a few months before we move and I'm sure the experience will be a valuable one.

Iffley Lock... Oxford.






Most of you know that I'm spending much of my week in Oxford working for the Hamilton Trust, an educational charity. I stumbled across this lock while out on a run a couple of weeks ago on a run and thought I would come back and take some pictures for the ole Bloggy! What I didn't manage to capture on film were the Geese chasing me along the river bank.

Saturday, August 12, 2006

The Wedding of Sian and Pete


A summer of Weddings that we would have missed if we had gone to Australia in April continued on Friday with the Wedding of Sian and Pete. It was a fantastic day and Sian and Pete looked so happy, we wish them every happiness together. The ceremony took place in a lovely little church accessed through a field. Come 2pm there was standing room only as Pete entered closely followed by Sian. The "teachers" amused ourselves with singing in the style of the kids at school adding additional words where they were not needed just like the kids! Which raised a smile!

The reception was held in the grounds of Killerton House a National Trust property just outside Exeter. The setting was stunning as was the inside of the marquee, everything had been thought of. The afternoon followed the usual Wedding reception format with drinking, food, drinking, speeches followed by drinking and the wearing of mint leaves as eyebrows... nice one Dan! The band took us off into the night before I brought things to a close on the decks. We all had a great time and I could remember most of it still in the morning... including the odd embarrassing conversation! Ooopps! Beth and I slept in Stan before packing the rest of the stuff in the morning and loosing the electronic key to Lou and Lloyd's car. It turned out that it had fallen out of Stan when I drove to the main entrance.... we returned later to find it on the grass... phew!

The Wedding of Sian and Pete





The Wedding of Sian and Pete





Thursday, August 10, 2006

South West Splits






Jon and I paid a short visit to South West Splits a company that imports aircooled Volkswagens from Australia. While we were there another couple arrived and we had a good mooch around the warehouse. We hope that Gav might be able to use his contacts to sort us out with something aircooled in Australia.

Beth's Mums Birthday


It was Beth's mums bithday on Wednesday. Beth spent a lovely couple of days with her mum doing mother and daughter things as well as time spent stripping the Walker house of its assets! We took a large chest and a bookcase home to Exeter with us in the van so that they can start their longer journey in September!

In other Walker news we are delighted that Jean and John will be travelling to Australia for three months from December. The Walkers in Oz will have a very busy household over the new year!

Keep yer hair on!


Lou brought Toby and Hannah around to the flat which looks more like a warehouse and less like a home with every day. Hannah had a fantastic time playing amongst all the boxes and assorted junk. We stumbled across a box of wigs (don't ask!) with hilarious consequences.

Saturday, August 05, 2006

Friday afternoon in the sun...





We took the opportunity to catch up with some friends on the Quay today. Lou brought Toby and Hannah along for entertainment. We enjoyed pasing them around so much that Lou was able to sneak off before Lloyd came down to take over ;0) Hannah was entertaintained no end by Simon and Eloise's dog and repeatedly asked "What's that?" We haven't seen Eloise and Simon since our wedding so it was good to catch up, although we'll see them again next week! Which brings us on nicely to the blushing bride Sian who gets married to Pete on Friday (He didn't join us for drinks due to having a proper job!) Annie and Dan were out too which was great because it was very much like old times with the school crowd all back together. Beth and I really enjoyed today.. and kinda made us feel sad about leaving such good friends behind!

Friday afternoon in the sun...




Friday, August 04, 2006

Pickfords man states the obvious...

The Pickfords man came to take a look around at the piles of stuff we are creating around the flat to give us a price for shipping it half way around the world.

It's basically going to cost about £2000 which is about what we expected I guess, although we have made some tough decisions about things over the last couple of months.

When looking in the bedroom at Beth's clothes he said "You've got a lot of clothes!".... genius!

I think if we lashed Beth's numerous pairs of flip flops together we could float our stuff to Australia!

Van for sale ;0(





We gave Stan a little love and attention today before the time comes and we need to sell him. Jon and I had already treated him to a new starter motor on Wednesday night (hammer and picnic blanket no longer needed... just a key!) Thursday was a wash and polish session.

We'd obviously like as much as we can get... but realistically looking for what we paid for him in the first place. We've had great fun with him and made some life long friends to which you can't attach a price!

Tuesday, August 01, 2006

Another Wedding... Martin and Ria.







The five weeks of fantastic weather broke just in time for the much anticipated wedding of our Aircooled Chums Martin and Ria. At the beautiful setting of Watergate Bay (home of Jamie Olivers new 15 Resturant!) four of us sat sheltering from the rain to play Monopoly... that was not only travel sized but also magnetic!!! After three hours I'd had enough and luckily the weather improved enough to escape! The Wedding reception was enjoyed by all and a good time was to be had on the dancefloor or just simply watching me on the dancefloor (so I'm told!). Sunday morning was the usual camp breakfast of bacon and egg butties followed on this occasion by a prolonged conversation about us all being characters in a 70's American Cop Show!!!!

We spent the Sunday chilling at the beach. After being scared off by the surf (I better get used to it!) Jon, Neil and I spent about an hour floating around a very large rock pool! Then the cruise back from Newquay to Exeter in convoy...