We're here to stay!

Last night we were very very excited to receive Andre's 5 year residence card in the mail! We weren't expecting it for another month or two so it was a really good surprise. And such a relief! He is now legal and can stay for another 5 years after which we will figure out what he needs to apply for next. I think he will then apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain.

Now we can travel again. As soon as I get my German passport sorted out. I need to do a name declaration next week to be able to have my German passport in my married name. Then apply for the new German one. I have already applied for my SA passport in my married name and it would make things so much simpler to have everything in one name.

Yay! We'll be celebrating this weekend! If we don't get snowed in :-)

A&E

This weekend I had my first hospital experience here in the UK. Nothing serious. Just thought our SA family might find it interesting.

Andre's been having some stomach pains on and off for a very long time now. So far no doctors could really tell him what exactly it is. He was on a course of tablets for a month which relieved the pain a little. Now that's finished and the pain was really bad on Saturday.

So after we did everything we needed to do on Saturday we got home and said, "Let's go to the hospital! We haven't been there yet!" Just kidding. He really didn't feel too good and we need to get this sorted out.

Off we went to the nearest hospital A&E. That's accident & emergency. Neither really applied to us but if you need to see a doctor on the weekend that's where you go. You state your name and pains at the reception desk and then take a seat. It could take hours depending on how many people are waiting. You don't make an appointment. After about 30 minutes we got to see the nurse first who checked Andre out to see what he needs. She offered pain pills which he declined and said he needs to see a doctor and the wait will be about an hour.

We were lucky that after only 15 minutes a doctor came and called us.

Now when you go to see your GP here you get a 10 minute appointment. On Saturday the doctor spent over an hour with Andre. He took multiple vials of blood which they tested right away while we waited. He suspects Andre has some stomach ulcers, but also checked for everything else. We were very impressed. Even more so when we walked out without having to pay anything!

I know how much health insurance (medical aid) can cost in South Africa and often it won't cover everything. And how much a doctors visit can cost. All those tests and an hours time of a doctor on a Saturday afternoon would have cost us a small fortune back in SA. We are fortunate to get it all for free here. It still feels strange to us walking out without paying! But we're not complaining at all!


*Oh, if you're wondering what's happening to Andre and his stomach now: the blood tests came out fine so nothing more serious than possibly ulcers. He's seeing the GP today. (For the maximum 10 minutes appointment!) Who will then probably make another appointment where they will do more tests. If it is ulcers he will get antibiotics which will clear it up. But no more hot curries for Andre!!

Winchester

A few weekends ago Andre and I went for a drive in the MX5. Top down of course. It was a few weekends ago before this cold weather fully arrived.

Andre joined the MX5 owners club. For this he gets a magazine which he enjoys, all about cars, especially MX5s. He also gets discount on things like servicing the car. And then the other owners share scenic routes they've driven.

So that was how we ended up in Winchester. It's not that very far from us, about 40 minutes. But we took the scenic route, through small country lanes which took quite a bit longer. And was way prettier.

Winchester is a lovely town. We had a look around the shops a bit too. We'll be going back there for the Christmas market which starts next week.

These were the only photos I took there but next time I will take some more!

Andre and I are watching The Pillars of the Earth on tv at the moment. It's a mini series based on the book by Ken Follett. I read the book a few years ago. It's really good, you should read it if you come across it. Anyway, Winchester Cathedral is mentioned in the book/ series too. The story is about the building of a cathedral and it's very interesting to see how it was done and what life was like in that time (the 12th century).

Have I told you I love sushi?

Oh I have? Once, twice, three times? Almost missed one, here's another one!

Anyway, I'm gonna tell you again: I love it! But I won't over do it here with another sushi post. Go see the rest of the photos on our All Things Petite blog.

You thought we spend our time only making Sweets? We can do other things too!

River Cottage

Every time before I start writing a new post, I click "View Blog" to well, view my blog. And each time I see the date and think, "Was it that long ago I was on here last?!" Then I look at the calendar to check exactly how long ago that was. This time it's been over two weeks. I am ashamed of myself. Where are the days when I sat thinking up random things to write about here? Oh right, I left those days behind in Switzerland. We have a very busy social life here, not to mention business life now too! Oh and how can I forget the couch-and-TV life. It takes up so much time!

I'm not complaining. Not at all.

Just trying to make excuses for my lack of regular blogging. Sorry.

But I'm here now and will hopefully finish this post in one go.

Andre and I have been following Hugh Fernley Whittingstall's River Cottage cooking shows for a long time now. Andre has some of the DVD's so I've been watching it in SA already. Last week we were watching one of the shows again and saw them at the River Cottage Deli & Canteen. Well we saw it written on the building Hugh was sitting outside of. We were able to rewind the program to find out where this is. With a little extra help from google we found that it's 2 1/2 hours drive from us in a town called Axminster.

So on Sunday Andre and I drove there to go try Hugh Fernley Whittingstalls food. I suppose not really his food, but his restaurant. It's a very casual, homely restaurant with plain tables and chairs and not much decor besides all his books displayed on shelves along the wall.

The deli counter had so many delicious things. Lots of organic and local produce. Cheese, oils, truffles, milk, yoghurt, flour and many many more as you can see from the picture.

The menu changes daily depending on what comes in fresh from the farmers and fishermen. I had fish and mussels. I can't remember when last I had seafood. Andre had roast pork.

On the way to Axminster town centre, we took a wrong turn and (accidentally!) found River Cottage HQ and took some pictures at the entrance to the farm. Maybe one day we'll go to an event there too. You can have dinner there when they have certain events in the evenings but which will be quite a bit more expensive than eating at the canteen we went to on Sunday.