Finally......

Woo hoo, we are in....  Finally after 5 months of living out of suitcases and turning my sister’s life and house upside down we are finally in our own place.  Okay, perhaps at this stage it is more the banks then ours but nonetheless we now have a place to call home.

All our stuff survived the boat trip out from the UK, all 202 boxes with nothing broken or damaged.  It is utterly amazing how much junk you accumulate and then pay to get shipped across the other side of the world!  Of course there has to be a reason why the broken laptop made its way out here!  Or why the movers thought we would want the broken door handles from our old kitchen or keys to the back door?  Then there are the heavy duty winter coats and boots we have.  Not really needed where the average winter temperature in this city is 11 degrees (Celsius).  We could make use of them and go skiing but since I have a pure hatred of snow brought on by the last five winters in London I don’t think that will be happening any time sort.  Mr P is yet to explain why he thought we would need the snow shovel and sled!

Also I am absolutely sure I cleaned everything before we left but apparently the yoghurt stains on the sofas (don’t worry they are leather) have proven me to be a lair.  The only thing that seems to be missing is a broom and feather duster but I can and have lived without them before.  The boys are ecstatic of course to have all their toys, not to mention their own bedrooms again.

Some things are a bit weird, like seeing all our furniture from London in totally new surroundings.  Going to redial a number on our phone and seeing all our London friends’ numbers or the number to our old local Chinese.  Where once I would be typing this and looking out at a magnolia tree in full spring bloom I am now looking out at palm trees and listening to the noisy sound of cicadas.  It may sound tropical but it is still suburbia... 

I still do not have the settled feeling and still have many decisions to make for myself but at least now I can do it knowing we have a place of our own and that the boys are happy. 

I still wish that we had settled back in Wellington not Auckland as that is where we are from but hey shit happens.  As they say “Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth”, we were lucky enough to get out here as quick as we did with a job for Mr P. 

So chin chin, here’s to the next 10 or so years in Auckland.  Lets hope they are as good to us as the years in London were...

"Walking thru an empty house, tears in my eyes...... This is where the story ends"

My dearest London,

The time has finally come to say goodbye. Our home is no more, all it's content packed up and ready to be shipped. Every room empty now, filled only with echoey silence, no sign that it used to be our home.

What can I say, its been a blast my old friend. From being a gateway to Europe for all our travels. To the dodgy pubs and clubs I have crawl out of at some ungodly hour. From fine dining to the old faithful local greasy spoon. To the great shopping on the High street, from cheap as chips, designer stuff, M&S food and underwear. I will miss all of this. To providing me with the excellent care to allow me to have our two gorgeous boys. To, of course, all the great people I have met and the good friends I have made, I will miss you all so much.

So thank you London for making the last decade, my thirties a truly memorable time.

Of course it hasn't always been good, there will be things that I will definitely not miss. From the snow, god how I hate the snow. How the whole city, no country, grounds to a halt is
beyond me! To the endless football coverage, dodgy summers, overcrowded tubes, tourist packed streets. No I won't miss them at all.

So yes I will miss you dear old London but as the song goes "this is where our story ends".

So now on to the next chapter and to whatever it may bring.


Yours truly



Frankie P xx

Agreeing with Boris....??

Now is fair to say that I am not a Boris Johnson fan (Mr P is which sums him up really) and I generally do not agree with him or his policies.  But I have to say his latest legislation proposal in that there should be a strike vote threshold before industrial action can take place makes absolute sense.  This of course centers on the RMT and their threat of a weeklong strike next week which thankfully now has been called off.

Figures were released yesterday that only 11% of the London Underground’s 3429 drivers voted for the strike action.  In an additional ballot of Bob Crow’s members only 46% turned out to vote!  Of the 46% only 379 voted for strike action.  Now you don’t have to be a mathematically genius to work out that this strike action was not agreed upon by the majority of the union members.  Therefore, why should a small number of members hold such power over the other union members plus the people of London?

David Cameron does not seem to keen to back Boris up either as he has not given any indication whether he is going to do something about it.  Perhaps he is trying to appease the Lib Dems who do not what to see changes made.   Surely with all the infighting within the coalition someone can see that Boris has got a good point here.  Especially with the London Mayoral elections next year can they not see how advantageous legislation like this would be for their campaign?  

It has been estimated that the last tube strike cost London £50 million a day, affecting well over 1 million users, surely in this hard economic times the government should be trying to do what they can to stop militant unionists from holding the city and its people to ransom.

A Tory mayor, a Tory lead government, a chance to begin to break the most militant unions in the country, a chance to back Ed Miliband into an uncomfortable position to support the unions (who got him the leadership) or not… what would Maggie T do?

Disclaimer: I don't vote Tory...