The contract of 'Love'

On the 19th of May 2015 

Stephanie Jukes and Gary Wilson 

 Married 

And became Husband and wife in Derby. 

It was a secretive small private do in a twee office in Derby with some lovely friends to witness the deed, yes it was done because it makes the visa issue for Malaysia much easier of course of course....But my oh my i do love her, anyone that knows me well enough must feel for her somewhat being able to put up with me but alas she does more than likely because she is better than me....as i am reminded...every so often. 

I wanted to marry Stephanie but the issue has been brought to a head with this wonderful opportunity to work abroad and so we tied the knot in our own humble way, away from the expectations and demands of others. It was lovely and fitting for us. 

We even bought some unusual rings made of wood form Pitlocry in Scotland, all very hippy just as we are if honest and so be happy for us, in our simple and humbling of ways. 

Now lets get back to it, 4 car boots have been done we are averaging about £50 clear profit every time and we another tomorrow in Moira its a biggi so the cars been rammed already because trying to load your car at 5:45 am is not a good idea arguments are assured....and we don't want that just married an all, so i hope no one nicks it all as it sits there tonight on our drive. 

We reckon we have about another 5 to do, its a weird one we could dump it in a skip but we are doing our bit for the environment and for others really, more often than not any nice kid that comes along i give em a free gift just for the hell of it. Most of goes for one or two pounds except the big ticket items....which i play hard ball for...

So must go to bed as up early tomorrow until next time. laterz. 

Malaysia is tapped..

I have found out that in Malaysia they only have one tap, one cold feed so one tap on your sink, one tap on your bath, one tap in the kitchen....no hot tap? how do you de grease and clean things properly when you only have a cold tap? they also dont use kettles? they also have lots of external taps in all of the rooms as a lot of the room are wet rooms with drains...?? no wooden flooring just solid concrete and drains. no carpets just tiles cold tiles.

Its also warmer outside that it is inside, and so you make your inside cold not warm, the polar opposite to living here in the UK. how bizzare its all going to be.

how echoee its all going to be, mind you no need for a bloody hoover and we all know how they suck dont we. moping instead, and slipping on my arse as well i imagine. look one tap not two.

Flight dates....yessshhh

We have confirmed flight dates, we fly out on the 19th of August a Sunday UK arriving local time in the afternoon Monday Kuala Lumpur, jet lag mmm very possible and in that heat phew.....i could get grumpy heh heh.

Anyway so that leaves us 3 and a half months and oh how slow they seem to be going, the decorating although hastened is not actually finished and some painting and toilet leak fixing still needs to be done for it all to be ready for occupants, but at the least the boilers been fixed and i have a yearly guaranteed fix contract with D&G (which i can assure was the best deal as i knew what was wrong with the boiler.)

Our living room is still full of un-sold items that have yet to be e bayed some of them have been on e bay twice and still no takers, maybe we do all have the same shit in our homes sigh...eventually it will have to go whether its the skip, car booted or sold. Still sad to see things go though.

I am also trading some share money to try and build up a bit of spending money so i can have some freedom when settled, at the moment i have invested in Eden Research which i expect some profit from in the next few weeks, so far i have turned £300 into £700 in 4 weeks with AFC, i bought at 10p sold at 34.

The Malaysian currency (MR) is still strong at 5.4 so that's a good rate when changing pounds into MR so all good and we may buy some before we depart although reports say its cheaper to buy there and better value for money.

The soon to be new occupiers seem happy enough and committed to the move in August and their parents will be the guarantor for the agreement. The mortgage has been amended on a 10 year fix rate lowering the cost to below the monthly income so all good there, so the plan is coming together nicely but very achingly slowly.

Well more decorating to do so best crack on. laterz.

Moving to Malaysia....update.

So things are moving forward slowly, we are selling stuff bit by bit, some odd stuff too is getting the most cash, i have an old pair of Chainsaw trousers for example and they have got £40 odd quid, been sat in the wardrobe for donkeys years. But i have to say it is sad to see some stuff go, my fire-pit loved that thing and still have loads of wood as well guess ill just have to go to the dump with it all. Our living room looks like a bazaar or a shop....it could be....stuff just waiting to be bought on e bay or gumtree and then sent off.

Do i sell the Roland Piano? Do i sell my Haro BMX? its been hard enough losing my amps and guitars...tearful nearly but hey ho that's the price of moving half way across the globe to another country. We will have some small cargo going on the boat the job pays about £350 to help but that's no a lot, most people will spend about £1500 to move serious stuff across but we wont have the budget and not only that were not sure of we want to live a life of things any more we are hoping that we will be living more for experiences and friendships than ownership of things like we have here in the UK.

So its 4 months to go and counting....and we are not ready at all, half of the house has been decorated but still some more to go, and i hate wallpapering really hate it, esp in this sun were getting at present, but then its is only for the renters so it should be ok.

Its gonna be tough moving and letting go of everything we created and love....weird in fact.

apparently this will be the welcoming party when we arrive in 4 months time.............glad they hug..

These monitor lizards can be found in the storm drains at the end of your street ...!!! but from this image they look friendly enough...

Moving to Ipoh Malaysia..wow....

I have not written on the blog for many years, but i will need to start writing as another amazing and epic journey will take shape and it needs to be documented as it happens.

A brief catch up.....as I've been away a while.....

We have been fostering for the last two years with Barnardos 2012 - 2014, looking after the young boy was an amazing period in our lives and we feel that we helped him and inspired him in many ways and we still miss him. the placement for various reasons came to an end last November 2014 and our lives were yet again thrown into uncertainty, life became very boring very quiet very quick and for fun Stephanie my OH applied for jobs abroad teaching Drama which is her speciality, expecting nothing to come of it at all, we dreamed of living in the sun and laughed at our folly....but then two schools showed interest and all of a sudden we realised it might actually come off....two interviews went by and then another, and then a period of waiting and then BOOOOMMMM...



Tenby International School in Ipoh Malaysia would like to offer you a two year contract as Head of Drama from September 2015....!!!!! WTF.....

Dont be silly we thought....not us no way...must be a cone a joke....then the salary and package arrived and the hard copy contract.....NOT a JOKE now...and the salary was very good indeed....

she actually got two job offers, one in Tenerife and the Malaysian one, Tenerife does sound nice eh, but the head mistress there was a tough old Irish boot and not to Stephanies nature also Spain are bastards at ripping teachers off with contracts that dont pay in the summer breaks, what a cone....so T was a no.

A period of shock and stunned silence fell on the house as we realised the upheaval our lives are now to take and that in 5 months time we will be leaving derby and the house we love so much for ever...da da daaaa..

So presently March 2015, we are selling stuff on E bay to try and get as much savings as we can muster, the house need to be prepared for rent, we have already found a couple to rent and they are friends of peeps across the road so that should work out ok, no need to use an agency. we have a timeline plan set out in the lounge and slowly putting this epic plan into motion....there is so much more than we thought wed need to do. we sold the caravan last week, so that was  relief....and the rst must go over the next few months, basically we are house stripping so it can be rented, the renters already have most things they simply wont need ours.

We have been gorging on research about the country and the area, and there is so much to see and do, the country and surrounding areas and countries have so much to offer, its crazy, the island are stunning, its warm all year.....phew really warm actually...i fact most of the year it is on average about 35c during the day and a constant 25c during the night....that could be a worry. But as we understand it all building and accommodation have aircon and so there's lots of escape routes should it get too hot.

Interestingly expats who usually live there for a period rent out apartments or land housing but always it seems in gated community and these gated communities have facilities which include wading pool, swimming pool, tennis courts, gymnasium and mini park area as well as a clubhouse to socialise...how cool is that to us it will feel like were basically on holiday? the cost for all of this well most good well sized apartments cost around MR1500, sometimes less sometimes more depending on what you want. presently at the time of writing £1 = 5.5 MR so MR 1500 is about £270 per month with all of extras...so not bad at all. i could be swimming all day in some like this...

sweet as ...every morning taking a dip in there, this pool is on a complex we are considering and the rental here would be £250 per month for a two bed semi detached house.

But on a more serious side I need to crack on with my TEFL course i started and get it done within the year so i can start (hopefully) teaching English to ickle people out there when i am settled. At first i imagine i will support Stephanie in her role and seek out volunteering nearby if available.
So as said above we are preparing the house for rent, we have found suitable tenants and they are friends of people we know and it should be fine. we have lowered the mortgage costs to below the rental charge and so will cover our costs when out thee and so far by selling thing we have made £2000 already with more to go.

problem is do we sell our piano, i cant i just cant, we need to ship it out there, shipping if interested is very expensive i think, especially when you consider most things you ship can probably be bought out there for less when you arrive, the school has offered some money in regard to this costs of £350 and we pay the rest but it still comes in at £7/800 in total!!! and thats being shipped taking four weeks. so lots to think about.

Finding an Expat who lives there. 

This is the best bit, I went on an expat forum site and searched for anybody that might be living in Ipoh Malaysia, and it took a while and most people seem to love living in Panang i the north or KL down south, but the we found a Scotsman and his Malaysian wife Mei, these two have been so helpful and open with us it is magical, they will never know how important and valued their in sights have been and they i am sure will continue to support us when we arrive, we owe them big style. if your reading this at some point you know who you are....Thanks a million.

They sent a video of what it looks like in Ipoh from a drone and here it is.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfSu6dFwJGk

As of March 2015, we are decorating, we have to do the bedroom and the bathroom to make sure all is well with the house and of course sell everything, so that's what were doing right now getting covered in poaint and glue.

Im a lumber jack and im all right...

I have been working in offices for the last 10 years, some of it good when the people are a laugh but some times depressing when your surounded by utter PC Corporate drone wankers....as it was in my last employment - When there I spent as much time doing my work as I did staring out the window wishing I was doing something more outdoorsy....

I'd stare outside regardless of the weather and ponder doing something more satisfying than just staring at these fucking screens in my office breathing the stuffy shitty air con air....

I have just completed two Courses CS30 and CS31, there will be more in the future but these courses have taken me outside, in the end I was cutting down 70ft Scotch Pine trees in a private woodland to learn the cuts. My assessment is due soon, as well as this i have been given a job contracted to at least 3 days a week, although I will get more i am sure as time goes on.

After a few months, I will get into the trees and do the courses which allow me to cut within the canopy and I intend to do an arial rescue course. all in the future of course.

Now the comeddy of it all, its hard fucking work, I am so unfit that its embarrising they at 42 i need to get runing again or this will kill me within a year or two.

I will be handing my notice in, in due course at my current employer taking a massive pay cut, but its the only way to take on a new career. I like it at present but its hard so so hard...

Cheers.

New Year 2011.

Happy New Year to all....

I have not posted for some time, but as FB is depressing me a tad and I thought id return to the old blog.

Alot has happened in 2010 mostly good if honest, travels have taken me back to Tignes (Summer) this trip allowed me to try paragliding and I also climbed the highest peak so far Mnt Pourrie 3779M and i did some via ferrata a trip to remember for sure - and we have also been to Paris, saving has gifted me with an stunning camera a Canon EOS 7D, which will satisfy my photographic desire well into this year i am sure. I have also had a horrible job which has nearly damaged me due to hours and shifts worked but it has paid me so well that I have been able to pay off all debts some long term for the first time in years. I don't expect to be in that job long though as I have been off sick with stress for the last two months and expect to be unemployed in February. I hope that 2011 will allow me to do something more satisfying but much lower paid, possibly working outside with trees either in a nursery or with some tree surgeons, but jobs in the UK at present are very thin on the ground so i may end up being unemployed for some time.

2011 also made me a home owner me a Steph now both own the house So 2011 has the potential to be great. ....I own a new car, well a year old...and the opportunity to find a more satisfying role work wise allowing me a steph to grow more in our free time as a couple. I may even ask for her hand on her birthday of this year....if i can afford the ring, well shall see.



Here she is....

So I walk into 2011 with a car a home and a solid loving partner now all i need is a job....one I enjoy.

How I look as a 42 year old man

So roll on 2011...I am ready...paragliding here I come.