Things keep happening

Here I am again but this time not before taking the men so I may keep it short. We'll see, huh.

We'll start off last night as we lay in bed and listened to the noise of an unmuffled, backfiring motorbike or quad. It was so loud it sounded like it was in our garden and I put up with it for about five minutes before snapping and jumping into Thomas to go and find them and tell them to shut up. I drove up the road to the turn off for the next village but didn't see anything however as I drove back and up the hill I stopped, turned the engine off, and could hear them. There were three kids by a garage revving it up so I leant on the horn, swung the truck up towards them, and let out a tirade of Anglo Saxon which I think they understood as they very quickly started packing up. This is not ideal as I really do not want to end in a feud with anyone however I remember my run in with the farmer last year and me shouting at him did no lasting damage to our standing in the village so we'll see. I just hope they don't repeat it tonight; I do not want to have to go down and yell every night and it will obviously only become more angry every occurrence, on both sides.

Just before the sun comes up

Anyway when I got back home (I was only out for about five minutes or so) I lay in bed and eventually managed to fall asleep, even though I was laying there listening hard in case they decided to follow me back (I'm not exactly hard to recognise) and cause trouble. Nothing happened and we woke as usual with Louise making a racket wanting to go out. I decided today to not stay in bed after A got up and I made her coffee while she was out with them and doing the chickens. It was before the sun was up again and I made the effort to grab the camera to get these amazing shots which don't actually do it justice. I love this place!

Not dodgy scaffolding at all

While A was out getting the men I got my backside into gear and actually did some graft for a change. First of all I shifted all the dry hay into the green building and then I moved a load of the fallen wood from around the land, dragging it up (with a close attendance from the girls who were trying to bite it as it moved) to where we've collected it all. I was still on with this, just pulling some quite large branches from thick grass, when they turned up and I followed them up the drive dragging my load. I had worked up a good sweat doing this which is always nice in the morning. I went back to my desk and then chatted through Sally's tasks for the day. First of all he was finishing off putting the curtain rails up in both the guest rooms.

Bekir also gets cracking

Bekir was straight into the bathroom to get on with the tiling on the other main wall. After today that are two more full days of effort available to get this done and ready for my parents and I am now thinking that we may just about be OK, though the vestibule will not be tiled. At least I hope that there will be a working shower fitted and usable for Thursday evening/night.

Curtains hung in the Green Room

We were able to put a washing load on this morning so got the bedding done for the double room, and also washed the covers for the new chairs. I was able to break my day up by doing little tasks like hanging the washing out, emptying the double room of building site stuff and then hoovering it (though this was done over lunch time really) and other stuff which is always good for my mood. Once A was able to help we lifted the scaffold into the double room and I hung the curtains up. It's really awesome to have the room back and finished and the lights in there have worked really well; I know the parents are going to love that room. Also, as it is at the front of the building it doesn't get sun through the day and so it is actually quite cool in the night which is another bonus.

Getting ready

When Sally came down from his lunch break he helped me to lift the mattress and bed frame into the double room (wow they are both heavy items) and then I carried my whisky display cabinet (or the base for the same) in as A had identified it as a suitable bedside table. We just need to get a bulb for the lamp, put the bedding on, and the room will be perfect.

Making the shuttering for the new window sills

The task given to Sally after the curtain rails was to fill in around the windows in the top corridor, specifically underneath where the unnecessary course of bricks had been knocked out. He set to this task with a vim and seemed so much happier than when he was making the doors. It's great to see him smiling and enjoying his work. By the end of the day all the windows have their shuttering and he was outside labouring away to dig out gravel and stones for the cement mix from the scattered remains of old deliveries; so frugal with our money.

I reached the end of my tether with work late afternoon and decided to finish off cleaning the tiles in Room 13, though there is still a task on to get the half-tiles in around the edges and then move all our gear back inside. The puppies are so very amusing while I'm doing this. When I began the job the other day they were in their getting involved trying to pounce on the rag and getting right in the way. They don't half get in the way but are also highly amusing; it is only when they actually bite my hand (not that I find it easy to avoid bopping their noses as I wipe) that it gets a problem.

They are so funny on this slippery floor

With the floor done I put the sheet on the double bed, pulled the covers in for the chairs and put them back on the foam (not as easy a job as you'd expect) and generally pottered about. The girls have been loving the new floor in Room 13 as it is cooler there than out here and they love sitting in the sun with the cool tiles underneath them. It is going to be a challenge to keep this clean while we have so much dust around; this picture was taken after I had hoovered the whole place.

Second to last course

And so the day wound down with Bekir finishing the tiling on the last large wall. This is an important success (though we will need to seal it all the way around with silicon so as to not let water through to the plasterboard behind) and means that tomorrow he can do the floor tiles and Thursday he can work on the plumbing and my mother and father can have a shower when they arrive (and we may be able to before they arrive and therefore not stink too bad). This would be very nice indeed.

Sun behind the new table canopy

The journey to take them back was unremarkable other than I gave some guests in their village a lift back to the village at the bottom of our hill which was nice, if not a little strange as we didn't have much language in common. It is so nice to be able to help people out like that though. A was cooking away when I got back and I got time to make a good start on this blog before we headed outside for our dinner. The sun was shining brightly as it descended and while I waited for her to bring the plates out I got this arty shot with the new table and the sunset.

Two plates of dinner, two glasses of beer

Dinner was really nice, awesome chili with loads of rice, and it was again really nice to sit on the balcony as the road noise was negligible and the kids on their motorbikes had obviously gone for their dinner. I have spoken to my police friend about these and he suggested to talk to the kmet so hopefully we'll do that tomorrow. If not he says he'll come and try and sort it out.

Relaxing on the bean bag, not begging at all

The puppies were being their usual awesome selves while we were eating, fighting away on the beanbag and generally having fun. They do still need to be reminded that they are not allowed to beg and we send them to sit on their "bed" which as A says is generally the closest soft thing on the floor. They're very awesome though and give us lots of laughs.

Golden sunset

I will leave you with this last picture, taken just as we finished eating, of the sun burning golden bright behind a tree on the edge of our land. It is noticeable how the evenings are already drawing in but we are still able to get our dinner finished before the sun disappears. This will only serve to reduce our evenings, though, and soon we will be watering in the dark.

Right, time to join in on the watering round, then place the pictures and publish this update. Thanks, as always, for reading and to the nice man on twitter who today told me he had just started reading the updates, this is how long it has taken you to get even this far through the blog.

Waterworld

I am having to remember what happened from my photos since last time; so much has gone on.

First of all, I saw a lovely sunset last night and thought I would grab a pic. Unfortunately, as my memory is so bad, I almost ended up in traction to get it. The builders have taken the steps away out the back to do the drainage and yes, I forgot completely with my camera stuck to my face I so very nearly fell into the pit at the bottom. Only for the fact I grabbed the door handle I would been a goner. I hope you like the sunset!

Sunset 

Whilst feeding Rambo, the birds were tormenting him by flying in and out to build their nest. It all started yesterday and much as he tries, he cannot quite be there all the time to scare them away.

Stage one

I finished my work for this morning at 10am local time which meant I had an hour before London kicked off at 11am (here). I decided I would take the opportunity to go up and lap up some heat from the morning sun with my coffee. It was beautiful and I played a bit of a game with a spider on the chimney. It was called, find your way back up without your web. He did.  Everything is so green at the moment. Look at the land; it is filled with wild flowers also.

Coffee break

I keep meaning to work out how to ask the neighbours who owns the abandoned house further up the lane. Perhaps I could buy it and have it as a retreat when the I annoy the Mr.

Retreat

 Whilst up on the roof and after having a really good look around I spent some time admiring a couple of the things that have actually grown for me. Spuds (of course) and onions. They really are doing well. My broccoli at the far end has become a little top heavy and collapsed. I will need to look at that at the weekend.

Spuds and onions

 Still within my free hour (no, I can't sit for long) I took a walk around the place to see what was happening. They men were battling against Rambo with the wheelbarrow and laying out a layer of sand to level the way for the pipes.

Levelling

On my travels I saw this!  The men must have found it as I know I would have noticed it before. Maybe a sheep or a goat of days gone by?

Something died

When I got to Rambo's enclosure I stopped dead in my tracks. There was a plethora of poppies which had bloomed majestically. These are the only poppies on the land so far and what a sight!

Rambo's poppies

Further down towards the vehicle entrance is the piece of land we are planning to make into a wet area. This may change however as the fruit trees thrive here. In amongst it all are the flags. More colour explosions.

Wild flags

On the top bank, I went to visit Mo's grave (the tortoise with the dodgy legs). I had planted some seeds up there and wanted to see how they were doing. As far as I remember I planted three different types, but only one lot have sprung up. I have no photo of them as they were both blurred, so will have to make do with this.

Two acres

 All around me there were loads of fluttering creatures and as I passed a rather tall dandelion (of sorts) I spotted this beauty. You could be forgiven for thinking that this is photoshopped, but I assure you, I don't know how to use photoshop, except for the automatic levels, which is what is applied to this photo. It really was as beautiful in real life!

Amazing moth!

 I worked pretty much solid from then until about 2pm, not even stopping for lunch as I had become so busy. I had a banana, which is all I have had (it is 9pm) all day. Anyway, I got a knock at the door behind me to say there was a problem. One of the men had dug through a water pipe. What joy!

Sprung a leak

 So they were nattering away at me and I was staring blankly at them trying to pick any word I can out so I could maybe understand. Nothing came to me. I had no idea what to do but gathered that they would obviously try to repair it. I messaged the Mr and went for a look at the back of the school on my way round to the tap to see that they have actually started on the membrane along the back. Exciting.

Membrane

 When I got to the manhole, it seemed the men were not actually doing anything about the leak, so I pulled open the manhole cover to have a look and flick the stopcock. It didn't work. However Bekir has set it up (which has been amazing and I am not blaming him at all), the stop valve has no function, so the water flowed out of the standpipe anyway And there was merely a drip coming to the inside taps, presumably down to pressure issues). This was not the reason the pipe was still leaking however, the reason for that was that it was the continuation pipe (apparently serving a lot of the village) and not affecting our supply except for a lack of pressure. What fun.

Pointless stopcock

 I came in to speak to the Mr who had very little idea exactly what was going on to be fair as I was getting a bit flustered with the men talking and me not understanding and he was asking me questions and water was squirting everywhere. Gah!  I came back downstairs to find one of the men looking around for something obviously. So I found some hose, nope, wasn't that. I worked ot that he was looking for some form of connection. I went to the box of leftover plumbing bits. Nothing there. I racked my brains and them remembered there were bits from the garden hose in the garage and bottle room from when I was clearing! Bingo; that was what he wanted.

Pipe cutting

 ....or was it? It seemed there was a bit of a problem. He had cut the pipe and it turned out that the attachment wouldn''t attach. So, in true Bulgarian style, he stuck a stick in it!

Hmmm

I went back to work again having neglected to get much done since lunchtime obviously and I was over one of my deadlines, just to add more pressure to the day! I heard a van approaching at around 4.30 and there was a man standing very hesitantly at the side gate. I went to the roof and called Rambo off and was able to direct him to the porch, get him to sit and also to stay without being anywhere near him. Even I am impressed and I am his biggest fan! The new arrival was wielding the connection we needed to fix the pipe issue! Yay!

Ooops

 They still couldn't get it to work though, could they? It had rolled past 5.15 and beyond clocking off time. One of the men went off, got changed and came back with his bag in his hand and was trying to slip off. The pipe was still leaking. My blood pressure started to rise. Was he just going to go off and let the others fix the problem he caused? I couldn't believe my eyes. If they left the pipe leaking all night a) I would have no water inside due to lack of pressure and b) it would flood the garden completely. Thankfully, the part man had an idea and held up the garden hose asking if he could cut the end off it. I of course agreed and bravo, the pipe was now flowing as it should! For how long? Ten minutes after they left I went to get a photo of what they had managed to do so that I could show the Mr and I found this!

Did not last long

 I fiddled around with the pipe and watched and it seemed that the pipe rose with the pressure inside and just separated from the ends. Ok, easy. Lay something heavy ish on top of it to stop the pipe from moving. Common sense that, yes?

Bodge

 Apparently not. I got slightly wet when it came away some more.

Wet!

I secured it again as much as I could without those little metal pipe grips I have seen my Dad using in the past. I did go out to inspect before dark and unfortunately the trench is full. There will have to be some repairs done tomorrow, or this lady will lose her rag!

Leka nosht.

A x

1000 miles short

This blog follows on from the previous one. Well, they all do, but this one is particularly closely coupled as I am sat typing it right after finishing the "We're off" post... So, here goes.

In Birmingham after eating out dinner with my parents

We drove away from the house at about 3pm and made our way towards the M6. Harrison was going really well and I was up to our 50mph cruising speed with ease; he was pulling much better than when I moved Cjc and this made us feel more confident; obviously I had put more weight into him with all those books than I realised. We chose to go via the toll to avoid all the traffic on the normal M6/M5 junction and this was a good idea as we arrived at my parents at 5pm which was a little ahead of schedule. They had prepared a wonderful Spanish chicken casserole type thing which was very tasty and chased by some lovely baked apples with custard; all in all it was a very quick stop but really welcomed and it was so good to see my parents one final time before the off. They came out to Harrison where we had parked him and took a picture of the two of us stood in front of him. So far, so good....

Harrison only just fitting onto the boat!

.... until my phone rang about ten minutes later and it was my parents as A had left her phone at their house! My dad said that my mum was on her way out of the door with it and which services should she meet us in. What a star! We got to Warwick services and parked up and I had time to go to the toilet and buy a coffee for A and then she pulled up and got a few huge hugs for her efforts and we were off down the M40 towards the ferry. We arrived in Dover about 11pm which would give us, we thought, time to have a bit of a doze before getting on the boat. We were in the back, just starting to doze off, when a port employee banged on the side and roused us and we were up and on the earlier ferry, pretty much the last vehicle to go on! What a bonus, a two hour head start to the continental crossing. I wasn't hungry but A was so she got herself some food and then when she sat down I was hungry so went and bought some as well. After that I put my head down and I must have slept as before I knew it we were near Dunkirk and I had to try and wake myself as I was doing the first bit of the drive over here.

Sunrise in Belgium

Super duper driver

It did not take long to get unloaded and then we were following the loooong trail of trucks from the boat out through the feeder roads and onto the motorway and away. A put her head down for a bit and I set myself the task of driving until the sun came up; it was about 3am local time by this time. Harrison was making a slightly louder noise from his drive train than he had, and on the drive down we had realised there was a clonking coming from somewhere which, after investigation, we realised was the FRONT left suspension; it looked like the arm had come loose and was banging a bit as we went over bumps so we had to be really careful when we drove and try to avoid any and all potholes, and slow down for bridges when we went over the expansion joints. I worked out a speed that stopped it from making the bad noise and settled down, but I couldn't avoid everything unfortunately. Slowly the sky lightened and then just as I was getting tired A woke up and we were able to stop and swap drivers.

A making up wraps

I had made it to Belgium by this time, having crossed France with no problems, and so A was told the little tips I had worked out while she slept and then we were off again. I stayed awake for a little bit but then put my head down and against the odds, with the sounds of Harrison wailing when he was at a slightly wrong speed and clunking when the inevitable bump was not quite avoided, I fell asleep and didn't wake up until we were all the way into Germany. One of the few bits that we had actually completely forgotten was the frying pan so we made up wraps for a breakfast / lunch type thing when we stopped to swap drivers. They were really really nice and filled a hole very suitably.

A picture of a bridge for my dad

I then took over the driving for a bit and A settled down and dozed; this routine was really working well as we had both been able to catch cat naps. Harrison was still making the noises and the clonking, while not worse, was certainly not any better either. Our original target had been to get to Germany and stop for the night somewhere around Frankfurt which is where, on the way back, we had driven from originally to get to Manchester on the last day of travelling. With the excellent luck of making the earlier ferry, and the fact that Harrison was going so well and making such good speed even on the hills, we were well ahead of this schedule and pushing on for Austria maybe.

A traffic jam in Germany. Again.

It was around 4pm local time, and near Frankfurt, when we hit the first traffic of the journey. This was caused by some roadworks and was not a very long queue but the one benefit we found was that we could actually hear the music as we crawled along; the noise was definitely getting worse from the drive train and, when A had been driving, I had felt that there was movement in the wheelarch on the left side from which the clonking was coming; it seemed the problem there was not just a slightly loose suspension arm but maybe more serious.

A camping chef

After a few failed attempts to find an open mechanic at a Motorway service station (they have Spanner icons on the signs but when we get to the service station there is nothing like a proper garage; never mind) we decided to just rock on and cross our fingers. So far, so good and all that. I drove while A slept and then I got so tired that I pulled over and we both went to the bed in the back and slept for an hour. I woke up feeling so much better from that, and it was good to know that our nest in the back would be comfortable. I drove on for a bit more then we found a place to stop for dinner so pulled over. There was a Lidl just by the service station so I went looking for a frying pan but only found scissors, some toothpaste and animal shaped baking trays as a gifty for A. Sadly at the till they wouldn't take VISA(what kind of third world country IS Germany anyway?) so I had to leave it all behind. Dinner was macaroni cheese from a tin and baked beans and it was a bit rubbish but filled a hole very nicely. We also refilled the thermos flasks so we could keep making coffee for ourselves then A took over the driving and we headed onwards to Austria.

Harrison where he rested up over night

It was about 10pm (and 980 miles on the clock from home) when we pulled up in a dark layby just inside Austria where we could park up and sleep; there was not much faffing around we just locked the van and climbed in the back and I fell mostly straight asleep. At some point in the night I was woken by the feeling of the van moving slightly and then A woke as well and we listened; someone was messing around with the front doors. I opened the shutter and jumped out and the sound of us moving must have scared the scrotes as a BMW shot off as I appeared and screamed out onto the motorway. We had been worried about the Romanians attempting to steal stuff but it turns out Austria has its share too. After this it took a little while to sleep; another car pulled up behind us at one point and I peeked out to check but they were fine, but eventually I slept and slept so well we got an accidental two hour lay in and woke at 6am to the sounds of the birds singing.

Red sky in the morning part 1

Red sky in the morning part 2

I drove first this day and A was in charge of the camera and was able to capture some stunning photographs of the sky as the sun rose. The feared for snow-geddon had failed to materialise so far though there was a bit of snow still in evidence in shaded areas by the road, and the sun had been a pretty much constant companion all the way which certainly was helping our mood. The roads were not great however and this was quite stressful making for very active driving; we had to make a call as to whether turning to avoid the bump was better than going over it as the creaking sound was happening when the wheels were turning as well. However, so far so good...

Lovely bacon butties

At a service station further up the road we pulled over and I fried up bacon in the saucepan as we were still without a frying pan. A had disappeared to the toilet and came back amazed at the self cleaning loo and how spacious and clean it was. I'd put the kettle on again so we had more hot water for the flasks and so I drove off after breakfast to give A a little more time to doze which she did. Our plan was for me to drive across Austria, A across Hungary, and then we would sleep for a few hours before entering Romania and driving over night to arrive at Ken's in the morning to collect Rambo and be back at home by the end of the day.

The Alps seen over the sound baffle

Harrison did really well with the huge hills in Austria and with being so much higher above the road than when I did this in Julian we were able to see over the sound fences and admire the Alps in the distance, glinting in the sun. A did fall asleep as I say and she missed the stork that was flying along (this is NOT a sign of Bulgarian spring, however, as we are clearly not in Bulgaria) and also a load of eagles floating near the road. Eventually we crossed the border into Hungary where we were stopped twice by two different police checkpoints for our passports but waved through quickly with a smile at both. The lady at the vignette office couldn't have cracked a smile if she had tried, however, and would not take card so we drove on a bit and got the vignette, and a full tank of diesel, at that point when A took over.

A monument to a dragon; Hungarian culture

Hungary is the most boring of countries and I really don't like it very much; A even complained that she would have to drive through the boring country but I pointed out it just meant she would have the pleasure of  looking at the scenery in the not boring countries so she quieted up. The journey was going well and as always we were getting on famously; there are few people I can spend this long cooped up with and not get annoyed but I was not even slightly feeling that at all so far. After a boring drive over the plains we started into some ripples you could possibly call hills and spotted a huge dragon statue on a hill. I had time to change to the zoom lens and snap a load of pictures as we proceeded past and I think this may be the only redeeming feature of Hungary.

The wheel doesn't look right.. No, THAT isn't right either!

It was as we were going up one of those inclines that it happened. There was no bang that I heard but suddenly Harrison started juddering and grinding really badly. We immediately pulled onto the hard shoulder and I jumped out and looked underneath but couldn't see anything; one thing which distracted me was some rumble strips just where it had happened and I thought it might just have been going over them; we were not far from our change over point before Romania by this point anyway so I said I'd give him a drive and we got back in but as soon as we got up to 20mph the sound started again and it was clear something quite serious had occurred; maybe even the drivetrain which had been making terrible sounds had finally seized up. The crown of the hill was just ahead of us so I laboured up to that and then, amazingly, we saw a service station a few hundred metres further on so I coaxed Harrison down and pulled up next to the SOS phone. When we got out and looked again it was suddenly clear what had happened; the front left wheel was at a very strange angle and inside, where the clonking and vibrating had been happening, the metal had torn and the suspension was protruding through. This did not look good.

Trying to rescue Harrison

We went into the cafe and I tried to explain to the waiter who spoke a little English that we didn't want SOS but would prefer a friend of his who may be a mechanic however he didn't understand or didn't have any friends but he was helpful and rang SOS for us and explained what had happened. The rescue guy would be there in ten minutes, we were told, but it was 200EU for the callout. We ordered a beer, sat in the sun, and waited and sure enough very quickly a friendly long haired guy who spoke English as well arrived and took a look. He was also not very impressed with the situation and called for a recovery vehicle to tow us to their Service Station, a service for which an additional 100EU was tacked onto the fee. He sat and talked to us while we waited for the tow truck to arrive and after half an hour it was there and, with some little trouble, Harrison was attached to the back and we got into the car with the first guy and followed as we were pulled at slow speed towards Budapest.

Back at the Service, taking a closer look

There were a few interesting moments round some of the corners where the tow yoke actually grounded and then, as we turned down into the service yard the back of Harrison was also scraped a bit, but largely it was an easy and uneventful trip. When we pulled up the boss guy took a look and one of the other mechanics, who looked like a horse warrior and spoke good English, explained that they needed a specialist to look but he would not be able to get to see if Harrison was even fixable until Tuesday. Not good news but that is life. We had already spoken to Ken who said he was ready and able to come and collect us in his van if we needed so at this point A called him to explain while I went with the first guy to a cash point to pay the rescue charge. It turns out that 300EU is about 90,000 Hungarian so I felt rich pulling that much cash from the hole in the wall.

When we got back we were settled in the waiting room to wait for a lift to a hotel to spend the night as Ken couldn't get to us until the day after. The horse warrior guy came in after a while and told us that the specialist would, after all, be able to get past this evening and so we would know the price and time it would take by about 5pm local. I rang Ken back and explained and told him to hold off setting off until we had the news. And so we sat and sat and waited and then the news came and it was not good at all; the specialist had looked and not only was the wheel arch rusted through, the bit it attached to was pretty much gone as well and it was not a fixable breakdown. What a nightmare! I was back on the phone to Ken to tell him and he promised to be with us by the day after and then I set in motion the scrapping of Harrison which the garage was able to do.

Dinner; and it wasn't great

There wasn't much more to be done and so we were told that we would be taken to the hotel soon but it took ages, and the waiting room wasn't heated, before the boss turned up with paperwork for scrapping and then finally we were in his car and being taken to the mythical hotel. It was around this time that the day finally started to look up. We pulled up by a nice looking place and the man at the counter spoke good enough English to sell us some beers, order a pizza for delivery, and give us a room which was clean and tidy and had a bed that was sleepable on so what more could you want. The pizza turned up after quite a while and was cold and not great but the beer was cold and great and it all filled the hole so we were quite happy when the light was turned off and we both slept pretty well.

Inside the hotel

Outside the hotel

And so this morning we woke without any alarm call and with no sense of rush. There was no kettle in the room however we had brought tea, coffee, milk, and cups with us so A was able to get hot water and that urgent requirement was satisfied quickly. Breakfast, however, was not on the cards and her exploration turned up no cafe anywhere within easy walking distance. No matter, we had a banana each. Ken was running early as well so as I type this we have already called for our return lift to the garage to start the process of unloading again (I'm just glad we have no scaffold!) before he gets there so we can put as much as possible into his van. I am going to publish this, get a shower, then go and join A in the garden where she is reading and getting air. The hotel has been a lovely place as you can see from the pictures but I just can't wait to get home.

From here we go to Ken's and then unload and put the stuff into another van, maybe, or wait there for Ken to be available to take us on down to our place. It may be a good thing as reports of over a metre of snow near where we live and being cut off so being in a rush may be pointless however the feeling of just wanting to get there is pretty strong. Anyway, I'll leave this here and maybe next time I blog we will be home at last!