We're going on a car hunt...

... this weekend. Because we absolutely need one. The bus/train/bus combo only works for Brendan if the train is perfectly on time and the bus is late. And I need a car for client meetings.

I'm really enjoying my new job, although it's super-super busy. I get to do lots of writing and work with cool people.

The other "interesting" thing is that we are currently sitting in our room surrounded by candles, because our flatmates didn't pay the power bill. And we didn't realise until Tuesday, when the lights didn't work. Tymek is on his way home from holiday in Poland, so hopefully that's sorted soon.

A quick update....

Still no car. It's a bit awkward, since the buses become a bit sporadic after dark. I walked home an hour in the dusk the other day rather than wait 1.5 hours for a 10-min bus. However I did get to see a tiny deer in the forest by our house, so it wasn't all wasted.  

Brendan is enjoying the sights of Las Vegas this week for a work conference. Or more accurately, he's in conference rooms during the day and hearing the sights of Las Vegas rumble as he tries to get early nights. (Comment from him today during our talk on Skype: "I get to bed much earlier without you!"*) I, on the other hand, have been revelling in late nights and a lack of socks on the floor. ;)

But all this is about to change - on Monday, I start a new job in marketing/communications! I'm really excited since I worked really hard to get it. I'll be doing a lot of creative work (and hopefully use my filmmaking/writing/design skills) as well as learning to have my own clients, which is awesome.  

In other news, here are some gratuitous pictures of the countryside/woodland park next to our house. Enjoy. 

Here are some bluebells next to the path I walk through the woods to get to Tescos/the bus stop. The forest is filled with them, and occasionally I'll get a whiff of the most gorgeous smell coming from the flowers. 

(What you can't see is that to the left of this image, people have been dumping their rubbish as the path opens out into the corner of the car park. Disgusting. Before I took this shot I removed all the plastic bags scattered over this area, and put them in the communal bins downstairs. And then a spider jumped out of one onto my hand!)

I also discovered this pretty cluster hidden inside the tree belt between the houses and the field next door. 

The fields are lush with dark green barley at the moment. I think a lot of people walk their dogs here, because this is a right-of-way footpath.

*It's not that he's inherently an early bird, because he most definitely is not. It's because he needs more sleep than me, and takes longer to get to that point.

RIP little car....

Our car is dead. The past few weeks it's been steadily worsening: loud rattling noises in low gears, clutch deteriorating to the point of being unable to get it into 1st or Reverse without turning the car off first, struggles to get it into any other gear.... We'd worked out how to get around these "quirks", but we didn't expect it to completely die tonight from another issue!

When we drove to Paris in November, Geoff said he thought the clutch would die in about a years' time, and that it would take a few months to fully die at that point. Um, not even 6 months.  

Brendan had just dropped off his carpoolers at the railway station when it died, so it didn't need to be towed too far home. Thank you insurance company!! The tow truck driver said it was the starter motor. (He also said, "Your clutch must be really ****ed if we can't hill-start it.")

The unfortunate thing is that it chose to die tonight. I have two meetings on Wednesday afternoon, in different parts of the country. I can't make it between them by train. So I immediately jumped online and booked a rental car. Between the cost of trains for me, and Brendan needing to take a bus/train/bus down to Winchester, the price actually works out to about the same. 

As soon as our flatmate gets back from Poland, he promises to help us find a new car. He has some sort of Polish car mafia contacts. Or something. 

Domesticity

Today Brendan was home sick for the second day running, so he felt the need to go to the supermarket and buy junk food from Iceland. Like neopolitan icecream bars for 75p. (It's kinda funny when he tries to talk, and only a whisper comes out.)

Presenting: Kia Ora orange squash. Not orange juice; orange squash. It's quite bitter. The name, though, is hilarious: for non-NZers, "kia ora" is Maori for "hello". So it's "hello orange squash"? Also, I feel as if it contravenes some indigenous copyright laws. Much like the Lego Technics debacle a few years ago.

(Here's a photo of a walkway near our house. Our new house in Chineham is much nicer than our last one.) 

Spring has arrived!

After losing our internet for a month, and then regaining it, we've been a little slack on the updates front recently. Also, trying to upload photos from our small camera is not a happy thing, because it eats batteries. 

We're enjoying our new flat in Chineham, which we're sharing with two crazy Polish guys. We do occasionally manage to escape Basingstoke (once you get a few miles out, it becomes much more interesting!) so here is a list of posts which are currently under construction, either in draft form or in my head:

• The British Pub Experience (with Tony)
• Winchester/ Hursley (with Martha)
  
• The search for Watership Down
  
• The Forest of Dean Half-Marathon (plus road trip!)
• The Welsh Border and Cardiff
• Newbury with Gareth and Elizabeth
• The 'Inas do Bristol
• Vyne walk

The weather here has improved significantly. It's raining today, but we had a solid run of about two weeks of sunshine. Amazing! On roadsides everywhere, the trees are starting to green (or pink, or white) and there are daffodils. Mmmm.*

*Not that Brendan notices, since he is currently obsessed with the Playstation. ;) 

Top Gear goes to my work!

In November, the car show Top Gear filmed an episode featuring cars racing inside Basingstoke Mall... where one of my jobs happens to be. Awesomeness. Click the link to see a jazzed-up version of something I see a few days a week... without the cars and spectacular carnage, of course.

Enjoy!

Moving.... again

If it seems like we're moving all the time, that's because we are. For various reasons. Like stir-crazy landladies.

So we have moved to Chineham, a village tacked onto the back of Basingstoke. Our new house is much nicer. It's 5 minutes' walk to the supermarket, which is either good or dangerous, depending on how you look at it.

Photos to come... our internet is very limited at present.