Seven Seas Crate.....coming in a week.

We decide to use the services of Seven seas shipping for some of our stuff which we somehow believe we cannot live without. We have for example decided to take our Roland £2500 digital piano, why oh why well i love it and i love playing it and well, because we can. We have decide to use the Move Cube that they offer seen below and what you do is load it up, they lock it, store in a bigger box, wait to fill it and then ship to Malaysia video link below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sg0VHAohTuI

The cost for us to drag loads of our Shitte half way across the world is about £900 in total, half paid in here in £'s and the other half paid there in MR's, the risk is customs laying claim that something is worthy of import tax which is theft and can be high....finger crossed.

They will arrive at our house give us 3 hours to load it up its 2 x 2 x 2 (m2) or thereabouts, and then drive off with it, thing is after that's gone we will only be able to leave the house with flight luggage allowance no more, what to take and what to leave that's the issue. Suffice to say after its left everything else in the house has to go......a strange feeling is dawning...and we will still have 5 weeks to live in a house with a blow up mattress and an old settee not much else....

Lets hope that's not my piano on the far right......

Invites for tea would be welcome as we wont have much kitchen equipment either heh he.

The excitement is building for sure.

Basketball Coach or Swimming Coach....mmmmm

It is all very possible that the school will employ me in some capacity, no guarantees of course, but the school seem open to the possibility of helping me out and why not, keeping me the OH (me)  busy is helpful to their cause of securing Stephanie's longevity. And with that unusual ideas are coming forward, like swimming coach or running the basketball team? mmmm, I played basketball when at school something about zone defence and man to man marking  and I was ball handler starting games off deciding the play to go for....look at that sounds like i know what i am doing ha ha .... no not really....could be a fun idea.

Swimming coach well I have always wanted to do this, and they have more importantly an outdoor pool, imagine that teaching something in the sun, oh maybe I am dreaming, but if i can impress them, maybe just maybe something unusual and fun will come out of this trip, let alone of course my potential to teach English to the youngsters (if i ever get the TEFL done).

Of course guitar lessons would be something i could do privately for some beginners out there, and my local contacts could help me in that regard.

so many possibilities are slowly rising out of well nowhere really.....

Only 6 weeks to go, will be living on the floor soon as all furniture has nearly gone!!!!

exciting times...

7 weeks to go...and MR G made contact.

The house gets empty walls look bare and rooms have an erry echo as there is nothing left to soak up the sound, sound great with my guitar amp and looper though. OK ok its not that bad but you can tell we are off  soon and beginning to let go of the house we love so much. I do and have in the past become very attached to buildings i have resided in and i will miss this place esp the garden when i depart, it was my creation after all....sigh.

But last night I was introduced to Mr Neil Page the Tenby International School secondary principle and Stephanie's employer on Skype, it was 11pm in Derby - 6am Ipoh Malaysia, he looked worn out to be honest shattered if being blunt but he could not see me as our camera is broke, he could only hear me....but i got a lot of useful information about the place and lets put it this way he may even offer me a job or certainly do his best to assist where ever possible in that regard....so wow this changes things slightly and if anything was to come of his offer then wed be in the money. interesting points he made were.

• Flights to OZ are super cheap less than £100 return (certain times of year)
• Holidays to Bali and flights super cheap less than £200 for two. 
• Langawi Resort prices dirt cheap. (also tax free haven where you go to buy electrical s etc)
• Food in Ipoh super cheap....
• Train travel £15 to Thailand....!!! (8 hour journey 1st class with aircon)
• Golf membership in private club (through school) £25 a month unlimited golf and use of all facilities including outdoor swimming pool full gym etc etc you can imagine. 
• He explained that you haggle for everything...everything..all is negotiable...
• Cameron Highlands is just like England climate wise, half way up breath in that fresh air....
• Tolls cheap get a pre paid card lasts for ages. 
• Car lease has full insurance and cheap through school. 
• School has full heath insurance for staff and partners (that's me) 
• Bugs not as bad as everyone makes out...
• lastly he was a bloody nice chap actually.....

So after that i feel ready to jump on a plane and bugger off....mind you this heat wave is lush isn't it...let that pass then well go. But to be honest Nepotism seems to be key here as all of these deals and offers all come through the school and their contacts, even some holidays he was saying come form parents who have empty condos all over and as their child resides in the school offers are made for cheap breaks, so networking as we call it is crucial, but even being associated with the school essentially has its benefits. 

We also been in contact with the other new member of staff who is joining the school and they are a childless couple who are well travelled in and around the area and they are happy to share lifts etc....it is all coming together so seamlessly i am awaiting a problem....but none is forth coming as of yet...

7 weeks to go and its all coming together nicely.....i am hoping this will be my view when settled. 

Triple car booters...

Over the last 3 weekends we have done about 6 car boots to get rid of our Quality pucker gear....

It has to be said that these events after a while offer a wonderful insight into human nature and i should say kindness, most people we meet even some you'd expect not to be so kind are so. When we do the car boots we assist our stall by putting up a sign that explains we are moving to Malaysia in August.  This in its self is a cause of discussion some times at length people love to stop and tell their stories and share in their experiences if they have been or even close. We have learned so much.

I also play my guitar, i just plink a bit here and there and the attention is huge (all men i have to agree) at the last one i let 3 kids play on it they really wanted to have a go, and all of this has nothing to do with selling anything, its more about the social event and meeting and greeting people who like to well socialise i guess.

It might be because were not doing it for aggressive profit if you like just a few pounds here and there. We have even been speaking to Asian folk wearing traditional clothing to ask about the materials they are made of as when we go its going to be very very sweaty and we don't want to bring inappropriate clothing if we can avoid, and in so we have learnt that although linen can be good it is cotton which is better, but very thin loose threaded cotton allowing the air to filter through (not the sort of cotton you can buy in England as the use is limited in a temperate climate. The peoples face s light up when we ask about there clothes and are very kind and helpful in sharing there knowledge.

We are in there somewhere...right at the back i think. 

Most car boots are between £8 and £11.....and every time we have had one we have made a profit after all costs and we really only do have normal household things, last week we surpassed all expectations and made £85 clear profit after float and costs.  Mind you there was a couple of electric tools in there so thats probably why.

Anyway car boots are fun for more than just making a few pennies have a go you may be surprised, but i would advise to only got to ones in the countryside and never when raining.

Nine weeks to go..........5 car boots left .....

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.