Well, still blinkin' unpacking the house, for a start. Half a dozen cardboard boxes still in the garage, making me wonder why we brought them over in the first place. It's all the memorabilia - you know, the photo albums that no one looks at. My mother has the right idea, she puts hers all on shelves and every time there's a family reunion, out they come and everyone has a right old laff. It would help if I had any shelves, but that's part of the problem, we have nowhere to put them
I'm also doing untold amounts of laundry for some reason. I'm down two kids and yet the washer is on every day. Probably because it's a very small washer and I have very big people, plus a school uniform for the first time. Perhaps foolishly, I didn't buy five sets of everything so we never get to the end of the week without something having to be washed. Quick question on that - does every British washing machine take almost two hours per cycle? Seriously, I have one mini, 20 minute cycle and then everything else takes at least an hour, and that's when I go for the "saver" option. I have a few cycles that are over two hours! I mean who has clothes that need to be washed for two hours?
But - me and the Ball & Chain did manage to have our first ever kid-free holiday since 1992. Unbelievable. While most of my friends and a few relatives (I'm looking at you Trish, otherwise known as Mum's Gone To....) are empty-nesters and therefore swanning around the globe, we're still tied to the old school schedule. We were supposed to go on a mini-break last year but I opted for the delights of back surgery instead. As you do. This year, Man-Child Mark 2 had a half term trip to Portugal (sparking cries from the older two that they "only went to Indiana"), so I thought "Why not?" After much dithering over the huge array of possibilities (Seville, Lisbon, Prague, Vienna, Rome), we plumped for Krakow and off we went.
I tell you, going on holiday with the Ball & Chain is no, well, holiday. We walked for miles! But what a fabulous city. Highly recommended.
Washing machines: Oh, how I yearn for an American one! When we bought our house in France the (English) washing machine came with it. It has ONE quicky-cold-water-small-load cycle and EVERY SINGLE ONE of the other cycles takes 2 1/2 hours or longer!
ReplyDeleteVacation/holiday: For your next trip go to Sevilla! It is exotic and fabulous! Good luck with being English again ;)
Thanks. Yes, Seville definitely on the list.
DeleteI would lose my ever loving mind if I had a washing machine like that! Jeez, it would almost be faster to take the clothes down to the river and pound them with rocks.
ReplyDeleteBelieve it or not, we've been in this house a little over a year and a half now. The garage is still not unpacked, there are two boxes of books and two boxes of pictures still floating around because I don't know where to put them and aren't ready to part with them.
Well that makes me feel better!
DeleteOur dryer is even worse. It took me 3 x 60 minute cycles yesterday to get three towels dry.
UK washing machines are the most uneconomical non-environmental machines we've had (we've lived in 3 countries, 5 cities). They are small, which means you wash more often than you should, and take hours to wash.
ReplyDeleteAs far as unpacking is concerned, each to their own. I used to burn bridges and get it all done within a week of moving into a new place ....... we have been known to eat a home cooked meal on the first night but the more moves we make, the more 'here we go again' attitude adopted, the slacker I've become which doesn't bode well for anyone.
The good news is, you've obviously been too busy out'n'about with old and new friends to have time to be home unpacking boxes.
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Well that's true. Half the stuff in the remaining boxes is effectively staying in storage, just inside the house.
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