Not much going on at the moment, just waiting for the keys to our new house. Ooooh, can't wait. We spend a lot of our time in or around Nelson so it will be great not to have to get in the car each day. There are mountain bike trails straight out of the back door and tonnes for us to do with Buster in the area. We move in on the 21 May so its not long now. I have posted some pictures on Flickr if your interested - they are only off the estate agency's website so they aren't the best but should satisfy any interest you have.
Should be heading back to Christchurch next week to pick up the car - Mrs J has been a huge help getting the certificates we need to get it registered - I'll be flying down on my own and driving the little A2 back so another stop at Hanmer is on the cards I think!
The less forward thinking of you will also be glad to hear I have a job interview of sorts next week. I'll tell you more about it if anything comes of it but its for a media/design agency who want to expand into PR. The days of living life like god intended are coming to an end I fear.
Commiserations to any Labour voters out there as well - seems like the country has finally woken up to the parties gross incompetence and theft of our national wealth. Vive la revolution.

 


Comments

Copley

Fri, 02 May 2008 14:31:14

House looks really nice. Is it just one floor, or is there a basement?

Sleep-out seems ideal for Buster when he's older and bringing his ner-do-well friends back for an alco-pop or two.

"...I have a job interview of sorts next week." - Only the one year off from work then? I'd have thought you'd have found a few more reasons to prolong the vacation with a new house to decorate and all... come on Paul, use your imagination!


 

Roy and Celia

Sat, 03 May 2008 11:32:52


This house reminds me so much of the house that Pat and Ken had built when they first emigrated to Australia in 1960.....in fact where they then lived for 40 years, with their 3 lads growing up there. What a change it was for them, from a Council house in England.
It's on such a nice block of land, I like the way that the house is built towards the back of the block, and I love the outdoor space on the front and back verandahs. I can imagine sitting outside on a warm night looking at the night sky...without so much light pollution it should be magnificent. I wonder if you get many mosquitoes and flies there?
Good luck with the job search!

 

JP

Sat, 03 May 2008 14:50:20

The house looks mint! I am quite jealous.

"Commiserations to any Labour voters out there as well - seems like the country has finally woken up to the parties gross incompetence and theft of our national wealth" - Do you think if it was actually a general election people would have voted cockweasal Cameron in??? I doubt it

As to our national wealth, Thatcher sold that off years ago, all any subsequent government can do is paper over the gaping cracks her government left. Where did all that money go? British Gas, BT,North Sea oil etc.

Lets privatise the Royal Family, we've privatised everything else! Vive la Republique!


JPxxxxx

 

PJ

Sun, 04 May 2008 13:33:15

There will be no agreeing John - lefties have nothing good to be said about the Thatcher years but ask anyone from other first world countries and they see that period as as the time Britain moved from the shadows of being an overweight, ineffective machine on a downward spiral to a World power again that encouraged and rewarded enterprise, hard work and innovation (ask your Dad!). As for privatisation - tell me when you start getting the bill for Northern Rock added to your tax bill if you still yearn for those days of keeping companies alive through taxpayers contributions rather than by their own commercial merits. I doubt it.
On the final note - I cant believe that you even pretend that Brown, or Blair, have done anything that you can be proud of as a British citizen - the only thing I can think of is the hunting ban, which unfortunately cant be policed effectively through lack of resources so is being flaunted all over the country. Ask the poorest in the UK and I am sure they wouldn't feel like 'their' government' had been in power for 10yrs.

Anyway - yeah, the house is cool. The MTB'ing is crazy, and literally right out of the back door. Cant wait to get the keys.

Ciao for now comrade.

 

PJ

Sun, 04 May 2008 14:02:49

I refer you to the heated debate going on on Copleys website under the Sandstorm story JP. My views are clear. The current Labour government are an embarrassment, stole 25% of our countries wealth and sold it at the lowest gold market value (just before it went to its highest value) to spend on ineffective policies to make themselves look good, sent us to a war because the USA asked (costing billions and far too many lives), mismanaged the economy massively during a boom, so we entered the recession with higher national debt than 10yrs earlier, have demolished our health service and have left our police with too few resources and not enough power. Thats before I even get onto immigration (ouch) and the abolishment of the 10% tax band for the poorest.

I dont care though, really, so thats my last word on it. I will be ensuring the Labour government over here doesn't get my vote though - they have screwed things up nearly as badly as the UK's has by all acounts. Birds of a feather and all that.

Shalom

 

JP

Mon, 05 May 2008 03:25:30

Shutup with your Daily Mail editorial ranting.

I never said I was a fan of New Labour and there are so many things I agree with you on about the NHS and the police. I doubt a Tory government would have done anything different and would have merrily followed Bush to war as well.

But the rot really set in with Thatcher. If I asked my Dad, he nearly went bankrupt three times in the 80's thanks to her governments boom and bust economy. Her preaching that the individual is paramount:

"There's no such thing as society," Margaret Thatcher once declared. Its precisely this attitude that has brought us to where we are today with a benefit frauding lawless underclass who have no respect for teachers, police and the medical profession. Then we have the super rich who pay little or no tax and put nothing back into this country and whose children look down on this nation.

New Labour has been in many ways a farce, but all that money the Tories got in revenue from selling off the Nationalised Industries went to tax cuts, not investment and thats one of the main reason why the UK is where its at today. Its now too late to undo it all without crazy levels of investment.


Bahh, I'm off to tidy the house.







 

JP

Mon, 05 May 2008 03:52:38

I've also never voted Labour in my life.

 

PJ

Mon, 05 May 2008 12:55:01

Good points John - I've done an immediate u-turn. Its UKIP all the way for me from now on - its the only sane choice

 

Kay

Tue, 06 May 2008 07:14:18

OH MY GOD.....I'm VERY wound up here - how can people blame the Thatcher Government for the mess Labour have got us into over the last 10 years...I for one am fed up with handing over so much money to a corrupt government to give to the lazy arse english people who cant be bothered to get a job and to keep our MP's living the high life and to fund an illegal war. I'd rather have Maggie any day than Fat Prescott, Blair and Brown...our unelected Scottish Prime Minister. Why do children from wealthy families look down their nose at the english?? and why have the english got such a hang up about people working hard and making money??

Labours days are numbered and it will take a Tory government to come in and clean up the mess like they had to after Labours last stab of running the country.

Boris for Prime Minister!!! Right I'm off to take my blood pressure pills.

 

PJ

Tue, 06 May 2008 13:07:12

If any of you wondered Kay is my lovely big sister. As you might be able to tell our parents are also keen Maggie supporters - its a family tradition. Rah Rah

 

Kay

Wed, 07 May 2008 01:18:07

Forgot to say Paul...fab house, bet you cant wait to get in there xx

 

JK

Thu, 08 May 2008 12:45:08

Nice house. How much?
for what it's worth to the former politics debate has anyone considered that it's the politicians not the party that are the problems. Politicians seem to be people largely on political power trips with many pay masters having kissed a**e all the way up that are unable to enforce any effective positive change for fear of upsetting the kissed, fear of those who know about their dirty little secrets, fear of being labelled 'soft' on anything and bending to political whim without really knowing their ground and effective solutions as they are put in positions that are not their specialist subject (because nothing is). eg Prisons: no government has ever made prisons effective. they largely remain draconian institutions where the illiterate, vulnerbale, addicted criminals with mental health issues are put away with no way to resolve their personal issues that caused crime in the first place, setting them back out on the public a worse criminal than before. no effective resolution strategy is implemented inside such as real job training packages, counselling, addiction plans, facing up to the consequences of their actions as it costs too much and that is seen as 'soft'. the public want a hard line as they suffer from criminals and the politicians answer is lock 'em up more and for longer so they get a vote and be seen as tough on crime. result? more crowded prisons and more hardened criminals on release no better and often worse than before. conservatives do it, Labour do it. would the lib dems do it? probably.
maybe it's just the price we have to pay for living in stable democracy that's not Sudan, Burma, Israel, China, Equitorial Guinea...politicians the world over aren't public servants but power trippers. Berlusconi, Hillary Clinton, Burmese generals, Sepp Blatter .... me, me, me, me and wasting billions on it.
Phew. rant over. it's nice and hot in Leeds today.

 



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