"He didn't speak much English"

Today while we were out walking a guy in a van stopped next to us to ask for directions. Before he could ask Andre said "Don't have a clue." Because we just got here and really only know the way to the shops in town and home again. 

So not far from us he stopped a guy on a bicycle coming towards us. They talked for a while and then he drove on. When we got to the guy on the bike -an elderly man- he said, "I just spoke to someone who could hardly speak any English!" He obviously had never come across such a person and could not believe it!

We didn't know WHAT to say. We just smiled thinking, we just came from a country where many people didn't speak much English. Try leaving your English speaking country and see what happens! We didn't say this of course. Just smiled and shook our heads and said good bye to the friendly (English) man on the bicycle.

Our goods arrived from Switzerland

Our furniture left Switzerland on Tuesday the 16th. On Friday of that same week we got a call to say our things have arrived here in the UK and they want to come and deliver the following week. That was the fastest move I've ever experienced! We agreed for them to deliver on Wednesday. Everything was there- I checked it all off a list see!

We were happy with the company who did the move for us - Over's International. I got six quotes and this one was the cheapest along with another British company, Bishops. The others as far as I know were Swiss companies (or just charging Swiss prices) and were charging double as much as those who quoted in pounds. A list of the others I received quotes for: Crown, Packimpex, Pelichet and (the most expensive) Interdean. These all got good reviews on the English Forum. 

We are very lucky that we are able to store everything in our friends garage until we have our own apartment. I really did not think it would fit but it did!

Oh and these guys actually helped carry everything into the garage and stacked it neatly so it would all fit. Unlike the guy who delivered our things to Switzerland and wanted to leave me alone with everything on the street in front of our apartment on the second floor.

Even my plants survived very well. Both my orchid and yukka arrived in one piece and didn't look too stressed out.

Windsor Castle video

A little video of our visit to Windsor Castle on Monday.
If the video won't play here on the blog, click here to see it on vimeo.


Windsor Castle from Anneliese Mostert on Vimeo.

A visit to Windsor Castle

Yesterday it was one of our friends birthday. She is also from South Africa but have been living here in England with her husband for a while now. They took the day off work and invited us to spend it with them. 

Since arriving we've been quite focused on finding jobs so I have not felt like I'm here on holiday. So it was really nice yesterday to go sight seeing and feel like tourists for a day. It was also so good to meet up again with our friends. We used to have regular BBQ's back in SA and we really missed spending time with them. 

So yesterday morning these friends came to pick us up and we drove to Windsor Castle. We first had lunch at a pub and then went on a walk through the castle. You can get an audio guide for free which makes it really interesting. The guide gives sooo much information that occasionally you have to just switch it off to have a break from listening. But it was really interesting. I would advise you to take the earpiece offered with the audio guide. We didn't because we didn't think we'd have it stuck to our ear the whole time! My arm got tired holding it up!

We had all kinds of weather yesterday. It started out lovely and sunny. I got excited when I saw some shadows outside because that meant the sun was really out! Then on our way there it got cloudy and a but windy. When we came out the castle it was raining and even more windy. 

I would definitely go there again and do it all again. And if it's a nice day I'd like to walk around more outside and see the town of Windsor. It was just too cold and rainy when we got out and it was getting late. You can spend quite a few hours in the castle.

It was amazing to see the inside of the castle and to imagine that it is still used today. I've been to a few castles in Europe but then the kings or who ever it belonged to died a long time ago and it is basically just a museum. Not this one. Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take pictures or video inside so you'll have to come and visit us and then well take you there!

We visited St George's Chapel and the State Apartments where the dining rooms and ball rooms etc are. We also saw Queen Mary's doll house which is like a miniature castle showing all the insides of the rooms with so much detail.

On the way back to the car we went past The Crooked House. You can't see it so clearly on the picture but this house is really crooked and to top is shifted to one side. It's leaning to your left as you're looking at the picture.

I fantastic day out!

Today it's back to organising and seeing what we still need to get done. I have decided to now actually keep my maiden name and not change everything to my married name. In a way I'm sad about this because initially I decided I will take my husband's surname. But in a way it's also nice to keep my own surname and not lose it as there aren't that many people with my surname. The reason behind this decision: I need to renew my German passport. It's expiring quite soon. And it's still on my maiden name so I planned to change it over when I renew it. (I should have done this before leaving SA but I didn't..) 

I will probably need my passport to open a bank account so I don't want to have to wait to long for the passport. I will need it to change my SA driving license to a British one very soon too as this is also expiring in a few months. And if I change the name on my German passport I will also have to change my name on my South African passport. So I have decided it's all to complicated and much easier to just keep my surname as it is.

Cold and damp

This morning on our way out I asked Andre if he wants me to put his sunglasses in my handbag. He just laughed and asked me if I was joking.

It's been grey outside the whole day yesterday and today. The light outside doesn't change. It's a very different cold. In Switzerland I was never really cold. You had the icy cold in your face when you went outside but my body always felt warm. I didn't ever wear layers of clothing. A thin long sleeve top with my winter coat over plus hat, scarf, gloves and boots and I was warm enough. But here I feel like I did when I lived in Cape Town. The cold goes under your skin and you can't get it out. At the moment I'm wearing three long sleeve tops with a vest underneath. Jeans and thermal underwear. And two pairs of socks. I've got permanent goose bumps. I guess I'll get used to it. I hope. 

I'm not complaining, I will like it here. Saying 'will' because I haven't seen or experienced much yet. But this weather is making my hair terribly frizzy again!! Also a problem I had in Cape Town's damp winters. The dry air in Switzerland made my hair smooth and pretty and shiny. Bad hair does not make me feel good. I don't think any amount of anti-frizz products will make much of a difference. And I do use a straightener. It doesn't last long when you go outside.

Ok, I just had to tell you about that. I know I will be comparing a lot of things with the way things were in Switzerland. I think living a year in a country is just long enough to start getting used to that way of living. But comparing makes it interesting. We compared SA to Switz. when we got there too.

Also, I am surprised at how few pedestrian crossings there are here. There will be a bus stop and then no crossing. And on a busy road too. How do you get across? You just have to risk your life and run? I will find out and let you know. Speaking of buses, we passed a bus stop on our walk yesterday. Guess how many times a day you can catch the bus? Five times! Not every ten minutes or so like in der Schweiz. So plan your journey well. No just walking and getting the next bus. It might take a few hours. But then I must add, we are not in London. But then I must add too, we were also not in Zurich. You can get public transport anywhere any time in Switzerland.

I am looking forward to having a car again :-)

So enough of that. Let me see what pictures I have to show you.

Yesterday Andre and I took a walk in to Wokingham. It was about a 40 minute walk from where we're staying with our friends. And a lovely town.

Today we drove to Marlow and walked around there. It's on the river and also beautiful.

We had coffee (hot chocolate for me) at a coffee shop and afterwards I was looking at the front of the menu lying on the table and saw this:

We can't get away from it!

You will never believe what my husband just did

He just deleted ALL, every single one, of the blogs I was subscribed to. I cannot believe he did that! 

Ok, he didn't mean to. He will never do it intentionally. Here's how it happened: Yesterday my laptop's battery was dead so I was using his laptop to read the blogs I follow. So I was logged in on his laptop. This morning he wanted to check the blogs he follows and I was still logged in but he didn't realise it. So he thought by some weird way a whole bunch of blogs he doesn't know was added to his list and so he just removed them. Arghhh!!! It was mine! I was still logged in and it was my list he saw! 

I thought he was joking because that's what he does. But he didn't start laughing and I got scared. Really scared that this is true. I opened my beloved pink laptop and you were all gone! I have no blogs I'm following. I feel so alone. Like he has deleted all my friends. 

Please leave me a comment if you know I follow your blog so I can add you again. Please please. I don't want to miss any of my favourite blogs I followed.



*Update* When I checked my blog this afternoon it seems as though Andre (luckily) didn't save the changes he made when he removed all my blogs from the reading list. So I have them all back! Yay!

We have arrived in England!

I will actually write something soon. I've just been so tired the past two nights. Can't blame it on jet lag since this was probably the shortest flight we've ever been on. I think I'm still recovering from all the work of packing and cleaning! 

But here's our first photo in the UK. Well the first one when we arrived now. At the airport waiting for our luggage.