Goodbye Richmond!

27 June 2008. Our last day in Richmond--last "morning" actually, since the whole place was packed up and on it's way to Ruislip by 10 am! That's kind of "leading with the punchline", but I just can't help it--I was AMAZED how fast the contents of my life can be loaded onto a truck and moved from one place to another.

This is the view from the front door of the Richmond place at 10am.


At 7:30 am, the Big Freddy, Darren, and Little Freddy arrived. The frenzy started and they had loaded 90% of the stuff by 9am. AMAZING (have I said that already?).

There was absolute chaos for several weeks before then (not to mention the "night" before, which turned into the morning...we packed until 4:30am, before having to be up and ready by 7am. Preparing to pack, actually packing, and just throwing stuff in boxes to be sorted out later!

Here are a couple of shots of the packing fun.




So, since we all know that the stuff is just being put into two bedrooms at the new house, rather than us "properly" moving in...I'm going to keep you in suspense for the pictures of the aftermath.

After Big Freddy, Little Freddy and Darren (more to come on that trio) unloaded all the stuff at the house in Ruislip, I rushed to the kitchen place to order the kitchen...they're going to start installing it next Wednesday!!!, then I rushed to Windsor to check into the temporary housing flat, then I unloaded the GIANT carload of stuff that needed to go to Windsor, then I rushed to Stockley Park (where we work) to give the car to Paulster. He dropped me back in Windsor to take a shower and relax a bit (yeah, right, I unpacked all the junk I'd dropped in earlier), so he could go pick up the Drama and Blondie for the weekend.

Truth-be-told, we'd really like to live in Windsor. It's such a lovely town...if it wasn't for all the tourists! :)

The place we're staying is a newly refurbished, really nice studio flat in the top floor of a terraced house [townhouse] in Windsor. We LOVE being back here. The shops are great, there are great restaurants and pubs, and who can beat the fact that the Queen lives here? The reasons we wouldn't want to live in Windsor follow: the parking is attrocious, the houses are VERY expensive--no way could we have afforded the place like Ruislip in Windsor, and the transport links into London are not the best (no Tube). Oh well. We're more than committed to Ruislip at this point, methinks!!!

As I was settling into the new place, I opened the windows and looked around. Here's what I saw!

Could be worse, for sure...

When Paulster, Drama and Blondie got to the house, we went to have dinner at the Viceroy, a great Indian restaurant in Windsor. We were "shattered" (as they say), but had a nice meal and then "home" to snooze.

After a decent night's sleep, we got moving about 11am and went to have some lunch (and seek out a parking spot that wouldn't result in a £50 contravention [fine]). The pub we found had been taken over about a year and a half ago from a grotty pub that we remembered. It was nicely refurbished and had a GREAT menu. It's now called The Limes.

It's close to the Barracks, and we'd missed the changing of the guard, so we expected a quiet lunch. But, we were pleasantly surprised by a passing marching band of the RTA (Royal Territorial Army)--kind of like a citizen's National Guard. We stopped eating and ran to the door to enjoy the procession.


Tomorrow, we're going swimming and meeting our friends to watch the final game of the Euro 2008 football [soccer] tournament. We're going to love our 2 weeks in Windsor...

Royal Ascot 2008

Last weekend, Paulster and I attended the Royal Ascot horse races with several friends. It was my third trip to the annual event and as ever, a good day out. The rain held off--so no soggy hats/dresses/suits.

The first year, we were in the section called "Silver Ring"--think...the trailer park of Royal Ascot. This is where the dress code is not so stringent--jeans are acceptable and all sorts of other not-so-classy outfits were on display. Definitely good people watching venue. The second year and this year, we upgraded to the "Grandstand"--this is where hats or fascinators (headbands with dangly-sparkly bits on them are "preferred" but not absolutely required). Frankly, you'd feel out of place without a hat or fascinator on. THEN, there's the Royal Enclosure. That's where Queenie and Prince Phil hang out. Men MUST wear Morning Suits (that's basically a tux with tails) AND a Top Hat! And Women MUST wear a "suitable" dress--not too revealing--some Oscar-quality and a hat/fascinator.

Of course, we forgot our camera, so our friends, Budman and Hachie Gal were the designated photographers for the event. This was their first trip to the ultra-British event. For the newbie's perspective, click this link and for photos, you can go to this link on Travels of a Texas Gal blog.
I recycled the outfit from last year--this Princess decided save the £ for the house renovation.

I placed bets on 4 races and my picks won on the last 2! Not bad! My technique for picking horses is generally by just to go with a name that I like...or has some kind of meaning to me. One of the horse I picked to win was called Aeroplane--let's just say he didn't exactly take flight. Oh well! In the last two races, I modified the techinque to pick a horse with good odds--but not the best odds. That obviously proved a better technique that day.

Look Closely

We're less than one week away from saying goodbye to Richmond. We won't quite be able to call Ruislip home yet, but all of our things will be there--jammed into a couple of rooms, hopefully they won't get too dusty...

The house needs about 3 more weeks of work before it's inhabitable. We have managed to secure 2 weeks in a corporate apartment in Windsor. So, that's where we'll be temporarily until the house is ready for us.

Here are a few pictures of some of the "noticeable" progress...look closely, do you see the changes?






Nah, I didn't think so. One major change that is visually small, but will make the house more cozy is changing the windows. We've replaced all of the windows that were left. Only the large sliding glass door in the dining room stays as is. The budget just wouldn't bear changing that one out, and the dining room is not going to be in it's final state for a while...

The electrical outlets are marked and wired, some of the pipes are in place in the bathroom, the drainage has passed the building inspection. Plastering will begin (and hopefully end) this coming week. Then the bathroom will be ready for the fittings and tile. And the following week, the kitchen will be put in and viola, we'll be living in our new house full time!

So, that's the plan. Wish us luck!

Oh, an update on the garden. Paul mowed the back garden [yard] this evening. This time, the frog managed to hop out of the way of the mower this time! (We're going to be optimistic and say that it was the same frog).

And, if my allergy symptoms weren't a big enough clue, summer's here and stuff's still blooming in London. Thanks to the new house, I'm a proud owner of a cooking apple tree and a regular apple tree. What's the difference you ask? For the uneducated (as I was until recently), cooking apples are not good to eat straight from the tree, but are great when cooked...that's the basic difference.

I'm not sure which tree is which, but here's a picture of my first apples! Apple cake, apple sauce, apple juice, apple cobbler/crumble--all on the menu coming right up! When they're ripe, of course.

Big Daddy

On Father's Day, I am especially reminded of my father, Henry Thomas Pye III, who passed away about two and a half years ago, on 28th October 2005.

It's an emotional day for me--I set aside some time today to watch the DVD that was created for his funeral and as a keepsake photo album for us. It always makes me laugh and cry at the same time. It takes us through his entire life, from when he was a baby, to a boy scout (he achieve Eagle Scout status), to his wedding, various trips to Red River, and on to special times with his 4 grandsons. In the later years, picture of him NOT sitting in that La-Z-Boy recliner were scarce!

My siblings and I called him "Tom" most of the time, rather than Dad. At first, it was probably designed to be a disrespectful label--as children, we were taught it was impolite to call an adult by their first name. As we grew into adults, and he grew wider--it became Big Tom--then my nephews came along and his name morphed into Big Daddy.

I am very thankful that I had the father I had. He was generous (to a fault, it has been said), loving, honest, faithful, fun, and affectionate...all the things that a father is supposed to be. One of my fondest general memories as a young child was waiting in anticipation for him to get home from work when he'd quickly change out of his suit and tie into "play clothes" and he and My Evil Twin and I would "waller" on the den floor. One of my not-so-favourite memories as a child was waiting in anticipation for him to get home from work--but those times, it was because I had done something to deserve a spanking. Sitting on my bed, I would hear the door close as he came in the house, the muffled talking of mom and dad and his knees would pop as he came striding down the hallway, snapping his belt out of every beltloop as he walked. He'd step into my room, double over the belt, snap a couple of times for effect and give me a few swats across the bottom with it. A bit of a stern talking to, some remorseful tears and a hug made it all forgiven. Trust me, this was far better a fate than having O doing the paddling.

O gets some of the credit--but Big Tom had significant influence on my life, especially the practical skills that are generally expected of men. He taught me how to check the oil in my car (and change it--but I never actually use that skill), how to shoot a shotgun (among other guns) [that skill will not be put to use here in the UK], how to use a drill and do other DIY-type stuff [definitely draw on those skills quite a lot]. I was always a bit of a Tomboy--but I guess this makes it more of a pun than a general label, when you think about it in the context of the stuff he taught me.

I could go on forever, but if you knew him, you know most of the stories and have some of your own about what a great man he was--and about how you miss him, too.

I never thought that the 28th of June 2005 would be the last time I saw him...as we sat eating Chik-fil-A before I boarded a flight back to the UK. I never thought that the 27th of October 2005 would be the last time I'd speak to him--when I called to say Hi from a hotel room in Rotterdam. I never doubted his love for me. He was definitely my hero. And I miss him everyday.

Two Weeks to Go

...in Richmond, that is. We still don't know exactly how long it will be beyond that time when we can move into the house for good, but it definitely won't be that day.

This morning, I went to look at a 1 bedroom house that would have been a decent option for temporary housing--if it hadn't been a dump, that is! Oh well. Cross your fingers that the corporate housing folks in Windsor still have a place for us. If so, we'll just spend two weeks in Windsor and play any residual time by ear. Surely, in 4 weeks time we'll have a working toilet!?

On Friday morning, the removal company [movers] brought me a lots of boxes, tape and wrapping paper. After a quick look around, the Rock-N-Roll Mover Guy brought in more boxes and wrapping paper--oh dear!

So, as you've guessed by now, this Princess will be packing everything myself. I'm very spoilt [spoiled] from the move from Texas to London. I sat back and watched 3 people pack up EVERYTHING in my house and load it on a truck. Then, when it all got here from across the pond, I sat back and directed 4 guys as they did the unloading and UNPACKING!!! Heaven!
...Not so this time. It's worth the trade off. If I paid the removers [movers] to do just the packing bit, never mind the unpacking, it would cost me as much as a washing machine! I'd rather have a washing machine!

So, on the 27th (Friday) bright and early, the removers will show up to load the truck. We toyed with the idea (got a price quote) of moving the stuff into storage and then into the house later--when it was ready. Surprisingly (to me, anyway), the cost of them loading our stuff into a container and driving it to a storage warehouse, to then deliver the same container from the warehouse to Ruislip at a date to be determined, was roughly equivalent to the cost of my new "American-style" fridge AND a tumble dryer. You can spot the trend...I'll have the new fridge and dryer, thank you very much.
Needless to say, I decided that it can't possibly be as dusty at the new place as I was afraid of (well, it is, but I'm going to live with it!). We'll just pile everything into the new house--most of it upstairs in our bedroom and the guest bedroom until we're ready to settle in.

That's not the greatest setup for carpeting, decorating [painting], but we'll deal with it.

In all the chaos, there is some good news. My landlord in Richmond called on Friday to say that I'd been such a lovely tennant, that she's happy to pay for a professional cleaner to come in and clean up after we move out--that takes one thing off my To-Do list! HALLELUJAH!

Also, the new tennants coming in don't want the guest bed or any of the 3 wardrobes--so she also said we could have those for free! Again, quite a coup, because I was just about to push the "buy online" button at the IKEA website to order 3 very similar wardrobes...

Not to let the moss grow on us, we decided to spend today taking two of the three wardrobes over to the new house. I'll save you the gory details, but both wardrobes and most of their contents are safe and sound (enough) in the guest room at the new house. There's a reason that IKEA flat pack wardrobes have the reputation they do...they're not designed to be taken apart, moved and reassembled. But, they're standing at the new place, and that's what matters for now.

Paul's girls (for privacy purposes, we'll call them Drama and Blondie) are here this weekend, so they entertained themselves in the back garden [backyard] and hiding in the boxes of new stuff that has arrived in the living room while we were reassembling wardrobes. This week, the shower unit, range, vent hood, vanity unit & basin [sink] and Blondie's bed (complete with futon mattress and regular mattress) arrived. It's all piled in the living room for now--so it makes for great hide and seek.

As I was packing up the DVDs and CDs last night (the first official packing), Blondie decided that she wanted to help. She did such a great job of helping me load up 3 boxes, I wish she could stay all week and help me pack! This is the same child that thinks it's fun to cook and sweep. Ah, isn't that sweet!?

If it sounds like Paul's leaving all the packing to me--you're hearing me correctly. Conveniently, he has to be in Brussels, Belgium for a training course all next week. He'll get home in time for us to spend next Saturday at the horse races at Royal Ascot (hat and all)--stay tuned for that posting!

Over and out for now!

And the Wall Came Tumbling Down

There's been more progress at the house. The steel supports for the new kitchen are in, and therefore, the wall that separated the kitchen and former utility room has been knocked down. So, we've got the space for the kitchen we were after.

And more good news, those sexy steel supports passed muster with the building inspector first time round. Excellent!

Here are a couple of pictures of the new space and the steel supports.




I have also gotten the kitchen plans drawn up with cool 3D photos. Very exciting!
Here's the arial picture of the kitchen layout.


There's a little re-working that must go on with the right-hand side of the kitchen, but this is nearly what it'll look like.

We spent some time over there last night marking the cabinets, range, fridge, sink, dishwasher, etc. on the walls so that the electrician could put the cables in the right spot today. To make double sure we'd gotten everything in the right place, the chief builder called for us to come over this afternoon and walk through everything and RE-marked the walls (this time in purple Sharpie marker). Better safe than sorry (sorry will cost us more time and £)!

The house was a hive of activity--with 3 door/window guys, 2 electricians, and the builder and his helper. The new windows and door went in today as well. They look really good compared to the old aluminium [aluminum] windows that were there. In theory, they should be more energy efficient, too! How very green of us. If only the old frames and glass were going to be recycled instead of to the landfill...

It's not all good news and sunshine, though. This week, we were informed that there was NO WAY that the place is going to be ready in 3 weeks time. This, of course, is unfortunate timing, since that's when we are giving up the place in Richmond...which has already been leased to someone new! OOPS! By Monday we should know if the delay will be 2, 3, or 4 weeks. It all comes down the availability of the plumber. If only Uncle Ken lived in London, I wouldn't be having this problem!

So, we're looking into a short-term let [lease] on a furnished 1-bedroom apartment for the time that we're going to be "homeless". Wish us luck!

Oh, and while I'm thinking of it, an update on our eco-system of a back garden [yard]. The frog appears to have hopped on his merry way...there wasn't a decaying frog carcass in the yard. Either that, or a cat carried off the dead frog. I prefer to think that we'll see him again helping to keep the bug population in the garden in check. :)