New tree for Garden makeover.

The garden Maker-over has begun with the shed convertion and a new tree or two actually, we went to Majestic trees near the M1 J9, they sell mature trees, ranging from £200 - £20,000, and in varying sizes from 6 Metres to 20 Metres....

Its a lush place to go if you love trees and I love trees, of course what i hate about trees is there slow growth so we bought somthing already 5 years old, it was hard to choose in such a place as they all looked suitable, and when your out of your garden you forget the scale when somewhere else, some of the trees we liked would have drowned our little house.



The one we bought....happy daze...

we actually bought one that was £260 pounds look at picture below,it is a Indian Bean Tree with big leaves and sweet smelling flowers during summer, it has won awards etc but well have to wait a year or two for it to fully show its self, but to be fair others that had been trimmed and were older were costing over £1000 each...we grabbed at the chance and bought it, a short walk through the nursery later we came across the buyer and he was walking around checking prices...we spoke with him and he said that one had been missed out and would be re priced later, but if we wanted it today it would hold the price as shown he said it was there error and one which he regretted...he said we should take our chance and we did.

The shed has been converted too as in we are trying to make it a bit nicer by cladding it, making it all wooden looking instead of all asbestos looking...





Looks better than before



So weve been busy and of course it will continue through the winter, ya gotta have a project or two going right...

Tree Arrival...

It arrives on Thursday the 12.11.09...on that day i had a skip on the drive - what a pratt, only a mini skip but still what a pratt, the guy were just laughing at me, anyway the loory pulled up and the neighbours nets started to twitch, whats this hes having a bloody tree now eh...nosey sods. The side of the lorry was pulled back to reveal two very dead looking tress with no greenery at all on them, a sadness roled over me, when in the tree nursery they were full of life and leaves and now in the winter they looked well sad and dead to be fair, the driver noticed my expression and explained that the trees all look like this at this time of year (unless evergreen) and that Nov is the best time when the tree is dormant to place in a new home, he said within the year the difference will be very obvious, to add to the dead look the trees were strapped down and all the branches are group and tied down.



Anyway they had to move the Skip a bit and then put the tree on a roller trolley, which had go over Brian the neighbours drive, he was out making sure nothing was damaged ha ha lol...bless him., the tree was so heavy but only at the base, we rolled it into the garden and the guys plonked it in the hole....



.....now the hole, i dug it right in fact perfect, but then in my panic thinking it was to deep, i filled it in a bit - TOO MUCH - and now the tree is to high, shit shit!!!! now all the gardens levels have to work to the tree base height....





The guys from the company - Majestic Trees - were not even supposed to help me get in the hole the delivery price was for dropping at the side of the road so i was very lucky in deed.

So its in the hole and it looks a bit well crap really, youll see form the picture at the top that it will be all green etc..but for now it looks a bit as said crap.

27 - 12 - 2009....

Things have changed some what in the garden, over the last few weeks we ordered the sleepers from a local company called 'Gemstone' who were very competitive on price as long as we paid cash,



I bought 36 sleepers...measuring 250mm x 125mm x 2.4M. you can buy longer but they only did that length, they cost £20 each...yeh work it out is costs....anyway what did we do with all...well take a look..........Not bad.

Cutting sleepers is a major pain in the arse you can do it with hand saw and a chainsaw and other types of saw, but if you want them dead straight for a nice finish you need to use a mitre saw and hire one that can do the depth, we did whislt cutting we still had to turn the sleeper over to get completely through it but for the straight edges finish it was required......

The plan is put some grass in there and the garden will hold small trees and ground cover stuff, all to be bought when we have filled the raised beds.

The area with the tubes will all be decking and we plan at present to get some cool deck chairs as garden furniture is so over priced.

Anyway thats it for now. laterz.

where the pipes are will be decking and there is about 1.5 metres of land from the house to the edge of the picture which cannot be seen so the decking will be about 4M x 3M plus the side bit. lush...

New Zealand Trip...2009

During August of 2009 we ventured to NZ to holiday but also as a test bed to see if emigration was all it was cracked up to be, we had been considering emigrating for some time but were concerned about some key issues. One being Housing and the quality of and wages. The trip I am glad to say answered all needed questions and has given us so much to consider.

This is about NZ in realation to emigration not as a holiday, I mean just to list a few things we did whilst there -

Freefall Skydive over Mount Cook
Helicopter trip and landing on volcano
The Aybss, caverns waitamo
Canyon swing
Shotover Jet
wild camping
Full day kayacking in the Milford sound
Full day Glacier trip
Driving all over both islands
slept in a bomber
slept in train
private Horse riding session - waitamo (dont ask)....etc etc etc.

there was so muh done and so much missed as we had no time left...we need to go back and we will...but this review is in relation to the emigration possibilities not NZ as a tourist destination. So to start....

Landscape....

I will start with best bit regarding NZ, it is stunning as in the landscape, the reason why so many millions of people tour around the country is because it is breathtaking, you feel you want to stop the van at every turn for a picture and just when you get back in to the van a better view shows itself forcing on you another stop, this does get irritating but is testimount to the scenery and you just cant help yourself...It is as if a proffesional award winning landscape gardener has personaly created the country side. NZ by its nature is very hilly and a tourist map lies to you constantly with its straight roads...yeh whatever.....it is constantly undulating and so the roads are constantly winding through this hilly and mountainous country, the hills are mowed to perfection by the millions of sheep so it looks like the country side has had a hover mower over it, gorgeous, the trees and the variety is just delightful and leaves you stunned as you drive passed, Palms mixed with giant ferns mixed with british and american classics. We were there in the winter but the weather was stunning but what this meant was that the low sunlight casting shadows through the valleys and hills just makes your mouth water, the camera needed to give this place justification was not on my person, my point and shot did not stand a chance bless, but we tried ohh we tried we clicked and clicked...but what the camera saw and what the eye saw were so so so different...

Of course when you drive through the Islands you move through all its seasonal areas and micro climates these changing for you as you go, the types of trees and foliage change the hills change the mountains enter, its a constant feast of scenery it seems to never end, your eyes most of time dont seem wide enough as you struggle to get it all in one view neck stretching out of van windows becomes the norm. Its a rustic untamed country some ares have never been stood on by man, the bush at the side of road is thick, not like english forests, you would struggle to get more than 30 metres into it and you would get lost in a heartbeat and many people have.

The roads are empty most of the time although not completely vacant of vehicles, even in the winter there were people on the roads even on the wilds of the West Coast, but when you drive off the Highways and onto rural roads as we did (unsealed roads) you did feel rather alone for hours on end...

The beaches were golden and mostly empty, we strolled along so many alone and they were un-managed so full of drift wood, so lush.

The montainous areas are fascinating and so suddenly upon you, not as high as the Alps but stunning in the way they just raise up on you like a wall of rock and the fact that in the south Island you can get a peak of them as a constant backdrop is lush, we had a flyby of Mount Cook and on the way back they threw us out of the plane a free fall with a stunning view..

Money talk...

Average housing costs are about NZ$300,000 - $500,000 the exchange rate when we were there was 2.4, so if you have £100,000 youll get $240,000 in NZ, we dont have that money.

We earn as a houshold approximatly £55,000 a year gross here in UK, from what we saw in NZ and we asked alot of people as well as approaching the unemployment bureau and asking everyone we met what they earned including kids in petrol stations (minimum wage mostly $12.50 P/hour)we saw crap wages....really really poor and a high lack of non full time hours being offered, and more often than not very bad contracts being negotiated, our income converts to $124,000 per year gross but in NZ wed earn no more than $80,000 between us...a tough call to consider. We understand you cant compare like for like that but it helps. It seems unfair maybe to mention this but we found of all the Brits (and tourists) making money through buisness ideas that were all linked to getting money out of Brits like us either coming on holiday or throught the emigration process, this spells trouble to me as it means that most people cant earn a good wage working for NZ companies, for example we stayed in Hostal in the South Island where this British guy had basically given up his home and called it a hostal, he with his wife stayed at the back of the garden in a shed type out house, and they made there money from US tourists (non taxable as well)...as it was the winter there were workers staying in the hostal who were getting up at 5am to go and work in a fish factory!! earning shitte money, one irish guy said he could not earn enough to get out of the country, he couldnt wait to leave to tell everyone he could what a rip off NZ wages were.

Even the owner told us of how when he arrived in NZ he to got a job and got screwed, he knew the law and had to take the company to court through a long winded process which tainted his rosy view of NZ, and now he makes cash in hand money (nontaxable) from US the rich Europeans and Brits... - he claims hed never go back to the UK, but I would hazard at a guess and say he couldnt afford it now, hes stuck, trapped in a highly taxed lowly populated badly paid country miles from anywhere, it makes you think eh.

Lifestyle basics...

But as everyone seemed to tell us its not about the money its the lifestyle, but if you cant afford to ski and surf and take long tramping holidays.....? is it so good? - but then its not about the poverty or the struggle neither is it, from all the success stories weve come across it seems that there are two camps - either people already have serious amounts of money in the bank before they go and set themselves up nicely on the exchange rate or people go before having set up in the UK, i.e they marry someone or go there when they are young with nothing and know no different building a life in NZ on its terms and accepting them, but if you have something to lose, is it worth it? in our opinion at present NO.

NZ is only a better life if you have money, i.e enough money to buy a house outright in NZ, due to the housing boom over the last few years alot of people in the UK have been able to do just that and if you can do it its worth it, as youll get alot more for your money in NZ. At present we cannot do that and we do not have the spare equity that would allow us to do it, we have some but not enough to buy outright and this means we would be burdening ourselves with debt (Mortgage) and in NZ we dont think this is a good move, the salaries are very questionable and in no way would we earn as we do here in the UK. To add to that the cost of living in relation to earnings is higher than in the uk, but of course it depends on where you live and how much you earn, but to use averages you would lose out.

The People

Nearly all people we met were very freindly, especially when your paying them for something, but if i am really honest, some of the politest people were the Briish that we met over there, the Kiwis can be a bit dry and blunt and abrubt in a way that can seem say unessary and cold, of course I understand it to be a different culture and thats all good but sometimes you felt like a walking wallet as the whole country is praying on your tourist dollars, sad to say but thats how it felt sometimes. The people are very hardy and are by there very nature harder working, they have to be and they have it seems to be more resourcful in regard to all aspects of there daily lives something we have kind of forgotten here in the consumer capital of the world...so i liked there authenicity and rawness. The Maori people we only ever saw when managing very dodgy roadworks, we never met any, but the ones we saw in poor areas just looked like very poor scum, chavs with shell suits adults looking the same, it simply didnt impress, in the poor areas in shops and stuff it was obvious that education was lacking throughout...the culture and history was interesting, and it was clear there was a divide between the Maoris and the whites.

We did meet some great people though and were treted very well in most situations.

Houses....(swanky sheds sorry)

Some of the houses are shitte in no uncertain terms, all the swanky places you see and visit are well out of most peoples price ranges, but down in the back roads of most towns you get to see the real NZ not shown in the brochures, down trodden and very very poor looking, some of the smaller towns reminded me of the inner states, middle america redneck country and did not impress in the slightest if honest, some of the areas outside of brochure country looked dead as, unless you wanted to work in a cheese factory or a dairy youd be unemployed, skint and bored. sorry but thats the truth.

We approached a new house bulider just up the hill from Lake Taupo, we went into the show house and he was happy to chat to us and explain how they build in NZ new and what the differences are, it was great as he had worked in Reading in the uk and was honest with us, he said compared to the UK the houses in NZ were way way behind (his words), he said improvments are being made but they are slow and expensive, we both agreed that it was the land that was of attraction to many who come over and that is nice, most houses in NZ are single story which at first is odd, but then when youve been in a few i became a fan of them and they are built like that due to the available land around them.

Some of the farmstays we stayed in had back boiler systems set up, and of course the wood burner in the main lounge, now dont get me wrong the heat off those babies is intense albiet hard to control the tempreture - we had this sytem in place in the 70's... mostly wood built homes as well. To be honest did we feel the cold?, mmm only in one or two places if honest so the houses are not that cold, we were never chilly in bed or anything so not a major concern. Most of the homes you will like if you visit are the swanky ones between $400,000 to 1 million dollars, all the others are questionable for sure.

If we had £100,000 equity in our home we would move there yes, but we dont...that for us is the bottom line and the one thing that forces us at present to stay put.

To summerise -

We would if we could afford it move to any of the tourist places, as they are stunning Queenstown, Wanaka, Arrowtown, Picton, Turuanga, Mount Manganui, Christchurch, plus many more then we would, but we cant so we wont be....

We had a great holiday and we wholeheartedly recommend anyone to visit we are even planning on returning over the next few years so please go and check it out its lush, but with the reccession and the limited equity in our home we will not be emigrating for the next few years, the situation may be very different then so well never say never but not at present, itsa shame but thats the reality, we felt that the lower population, one of the main attractions was also one of the main problems as well, sometimes in some places it seemed too quite, and with being so far from the culture and fascination of Europe it seems silly to leave our own country when we are doing very well here.

We think NZ has a long way to go and it needs at least another 10 million people to get its economy going, and another thing that puts us off is the cos of the emigration its all money money money, take take take and no give back...if they wanted skilled people so bad why the high costs involved...

And so thats that............

Just before I go though I will leave the address of the website thats helped us most along the way, its not a popular sight as it tells the truth something thats rare these days.

http://www.expatexposed.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=19



Pictures to follow...

Skoda Rally - Sherwood Pines....

The Skoda Rally - June 2009



I work near Sherwood Forest and found out about this weekend Rally from Matt at work, seemed a good idea at the time and so we headed out hoping to get close to the cars...



we were not dissapointed, we walked a part of the course along its edge, cars screaming past at minute intervals, we saw the action from different view points, straights, corners, and jumps...



there were some old cars, classics and up-to-date World class rally cars...



the starngest thing was that you could get within inches of the cars, there were no barriers at all and within the woods MTB'ers were still riding across the track sometimes without any what seemed self interest...



Health and safty was definatly lacking...



But that made it more exciting for us.

I tried so hard to get some good shots, but my little click and shoot wasnt really up to the challenege but i tried.....

Crib Goch....with the Terrified Other Half..heh heh

The Victim

Well, It's bank Holiday isnt it, you gotta get out in the country on a BH Monday, so we decided, well I decided actually that we would do Snowdon via Crib Goch, something I had done 4 times previous in various conditions but wanted to test the other halfs nerves....silly really as the most testing place that Stephanie has walked before was Dovedale in Derbyshire, oh and a tad in Aviemore and Galway.



Holy F**K....no way...

Anyway if my memory would serve me right shed be fine on Crib Goch it was easy wasnt it!!...my memory did not serve me right, it was hell on legs, and half the time Stephanie struggled to stay on the two she owned to be honest, all the more entertaining for me though as she crawled along like a crab... the butress as you raise up was the first problem, she had already lost her nerve at this point and the ridge wasnt even in sight, the weather was stunning though and the only other main risk was sunburn at this stage, in the end we managed the butress and she crawled up to the top to then see the way forward across the ridge...



Come on...'' I think I have wet myself...''



Its interesting because at this point I was put in a weird situation (as she refused to go on) because going back down may of been worse for her than going forward she didnt want to do it and I didnt know what to do, either way it was awkward and it was a lesson to me in other peoples ability in regard to your own.



In the end we met another couple in the same situation, one fine with it and the other bricking it...Steph and Moa (the brickers) stayed together and made it across the first part by which time some confidence and understanding had been gained about the routes technical elements.



In fact for a brief moment I even saw her smile as she moved forward, straight after she'd stuck her finger up at me of course. The drive home wasnt going to be too much fun I could see it now.



By the time wed got to the first summit, she was beaming I guess because there was no more ridges to scramble across and because she was alive and had done it. The final stroll up to Snowdon was all the more enjoyable (lunch at last) and the stroll down was a pleasure in itself.



She learned about assumed fear and its affects on your performance when in a sticky situation - I learned to respect other peoples ability on what for most is a technical peice of rock....



The drive home was fine and from the amount of texts and e mails shes been sending out she is so proud of her scramble, even so I think well stroll around the Peaks for this summer and break her in a tad gentler...



But then there is Sharp Edge to consider...heh heh

Enjoy the pictures...Ma..

Making Bread.....and stuff.

I feel so sad...or do I, I must be getting old and sad...

But recently as we have had a new kitchen we decided instead of using it for cheese on toast we'd actually learn something useful in it, over the last few weeks I am happy to (sad I know) say I have learnt how to make bread!!! Yes bread....



It happened because one day I went to the local ASDA to get some basics including bread and due to the traffic it actually took me 45 minutes to get home....I thought sod this I could of made my own bread in that time.



So when I got back me and Steph looked into a kids book (we are kids) to find out how to make a loaf, and my god its easy so so so easy (except for the dam kneeding)...since that day we have made about 9 loaves, learnt about the history of wheat and the methods used over the centuries, Im not going to give you a recipe but I will tell of a few mini secrets that helped us -



1) kneed for at least 10 minutes twice (wholemeal needs more) and then kneed a third time while you proof the shape, let it rise before you put in the oven...

2) Put the salt in the mixture last..

3) And let the water and yeast react alone before entering the rest of the ingredients...

4) Put the water in warm water alone first, or if mixed with the floor use warm water to mix with...

We have also been making soups and stews which are stunning as well as cakes....

God I feel so sad coming out with this crap, not to mention the fact that we are growing our own herbs (basil and Coriander) in the garden..as well...



But let me tell ya I have never tasted bread so good, even the fruit cakes are better than the shops...sod the shops for the 3o minutes of effort its well worth it.



This lasted about 20 minutes..with lashings of tea..

weve worked out that our loaves cost us £0.42p but we were buying loaves for £1.30..

And here is the last batch look at the size of that baby...lets eat !!!



cheers all....munch munch...

Connermarathon completed...Ireland 2009

Stunning running location without doubt....



Last week in the stunning location of Galway in Ireland we attempted to run the Connermarathon, the third marathon within 10 months for me but more importantly the very first for my girlfriend Stephanie, who would end up being the true star in the end...



We were based in leenane on the edge of Ireland's only Fjord, famous for clams and the harvesting of them, Leenane its self is tiny, having 3 pubs a shop and not much else to be fair... But surrounded by stunning mountains and fells reaching heights of up to 700m rising steeply up from the waters edge.



The weather was awesome not usual at this time of year or for this area so we were lucky, and it held through for the Marathon thankfully.



We drove the Marathon route as always and realised how long drawn out and hilly it was, as our training had been limited (as in close to none) I was concerned that Steph may not finish, I mean people in the know say that you should add 40min to your standard marathon time when running the hills of Connermarathon, I Could see why and we were a tad concerned. I worried that she may not be able to complete her dream..

Registration and chip pick up was in Galway, we headed off and got that sorted on the Saturday before and found out that we could met the buses at Cliften which also offered us free parking - sweet.



There we were as always, the first to arrive at the Cliften station hotel trying to find a public toilet. there was one, but it didn't matter how desperate you were, you wouldn't have wanted to do it in there...

The crowds slowly gathered and I could see the fear on Stephanie's face grow, or was she still desperate for the loo, not sure... even so she was getting nervous....its funny at moments like this when your there at the start of a big challenge and you realise how lazy you've been sat on your fat arse at home for the last 4 months not training when you should have been out there giving it some....but here and now that realisation for both of us was becoming very very apparent....everyone else looked so thin and fit, sounded ready and up for it, excited even, chatting about times and PB's whilst we were contemplating nothing but survival..... we had nothing but fear and concern blatantly confirmed by the look of dread on our faces why hadn't we trained properly... ha ha ha .....



We got on a bus where we met some great people, got off in the middle of nowhere, on a tiny road full of runners and sheep a couple of portaloos and a truck with our bags in, the road itself was struggling with the size of the buses it was single lane to be fair. The organisation at this point seemed all over the place...even so we got to see the leader of the Ultra Marathon come through, man he looked like a machine...making me feel more like a sloath...why didnt we train...



It became apparent that most of the high numbers of runners entering this years event were not marathon runners they were half marathon runners as there wasn't that many of us about 1400 I'd say at a guess. It was also at this point that I wondered where all my 70 Euros entry fee had gone, there was no start gate just an old van, and some bloke shouting down an old microphone, pretty crap really..I mean my mate could have done that for a tenner....in his old pimped ford escort van....!!



Anyway after freezing my arse off for 30 minutes we gathered to the front and started well wishers called on Stephanie and hoped she enjoyed her first and then preceded to vanish off at speed into the distance, and let me assure you that was some distance within minutes they were dots...the open valley allowing you to be constanly reminded of how far back you are and how far youve got to go as well as how few are behind you......heh heh...

The weather was good and the location was awesome, there were no crowds just sheep and other runners this turned out to be a very unique event for sure in the world of Marathon running purely by its awesome and isolated location, you event felt isolated especially when the runners thinned out a bit.



I was OK for the first 15 miles as we were running at Stephs pace (11 min mile) so a cruise for me but she looked sort of OK i guess, but the distance was now taking a hold.....



All pictures on here I took on route, I actually took food with me this time as well due the lack of corner shops and the isolation factor...Steph completed the Half Marathon distance in 2:15:40 so not bad at all, but then the second stage was the actual official Half route, and it was a killer the hills started straight away and there were 4 nasty hills on this second part which was too much at times for Steph, we stopped a fair few times to take on food etc...and the infamous 26.2 Miles was taking its toll, but would it get another victim.....?



I'm proud to say not, Stephanie just kept going showing such determination and human spirit, even though she was clearly in pain, I was stunned and at some points she was unable to run at all..but her dream since childhood of completing a Marathon and the 20 mile marker sign approaching helped here move through into the final stages, oh by the way if anyone wants there black cap back that we took off the fence about mile 17 we have it...we needed it as in parts the sun was high and hot and we ere exposed in the valley.



And to think we even asked an Ambulance man whether he had 1)suntan lotion or 2)Vaseline...the answer was no??? once again in the run i wondered where my 70 Euros had actually gone...what incompetence...

The right turn at mile 22, was the finishing straight if you like, what we did not need at this stage was exactly what we got given a mighty hill ... oh bless the look on Stephs face, brought a tear and smirk to me eye....she was paying now, running no faster than I'd walk in bits...I was a bit worried at this point but I knew and she knew that somehow it was in the bag!!! To be fair this belief she had was all she had to crawl home with...



The hill was completed and the final flat straight to the finish line beckoned, it was even downhill at the start but by this stage that meant nothing to Stephanie the pain she was in hurt whether you were running up down or flat...it made no difference now...



We crossed the line together I held her hand as we approached the line, cameras clicking, nice comments about us from the man on the speaker system and then over the line she had done it....!!!!

Stephanie Jukes - First Marathon in 05:15:30....

Well done Steph, there was a tear, a Medal, a photo, the pasta, the bus then car and lastly hostel....where we sat in silence, licking out wounds...trying to figure why we had attempted one of the hardest Marathons in the Marathon Calender with no training...!!!!!

Oh and I have just realised where our 70 Euros money went, .... on all the organisers swanky Apple Macs at the registration Bloody B**tards....

This Marathon is stunning, but the organisation is rubbish and it is extremely over priced as is the whole of Ireland and Galway (Pint of Guinness 3.90 Euros (£3.54)

Enough Said....