Driving Tests, Craft Fairs, Doctor Who and New Bathrooms!

Ooh...so much to catch up on since I wrote the last blog...serves me right really for not having prioritised!

Well first came my driving test, I realise that as you are reading this you are thinking that I must be incredibly young as I am not yet driving...well I'm thirty four and I realise that most people will have gone through this rite of passage that most experience in their teens but not me. I never got round to it as a teenager, then came uni when I never had the money for the lessons and then I worked on cruise ships for 7 years. There is very little use for the ability to drive when you are sailing round the world and on my leave there was never enough time for lessons. Then I met my husband (soon to become long suffering husband, LSH) who tried to teach me to drive and discovered the new manoeuvre ' the foetal position' which involved me panicking, and lifting my hands and feet up until I was in the foetal position...strangely LSH decided not to continue our lessons! Then we moved to NZ and I promised LSH that I would learn to drive but there was a train station at the bottom of the hill where we lived in Ngaio and train fares were so low it was silly not to use it!

Anyway, we come back to the UK and suddenly I realise I can't put it off any longer and start lessons with Sabreena from Relax Driving School (who I would like to say I would recommend to everyone), she is brilliant but unfortunately unable to give me the magic words that will create calm and tranquillity in my head and I failed, have I mentioned I hate roundabouts?

So next came the New Milton Craft Fair, it was quieter than the one in May that we did but still a good day, what was wonderful was a lady who had bought a dress for her daughter, Esther, had returned and bought a second dress from me. For all of the rain that fell that day though I have to say it is always a delight to meet the other stallholders, especially Michelle from MW Jewellery, her mum was helping out that day and her wit and sarcasm knew no bounds which was highly entertaining especially when she was revealing Michelle's secrets!

...and so we reach this morning, I had the Baby and Children's market this afternoon but yesterday I had started playing about with new fabrics for the baby booties we make. When LSH returned from work they were thrust under his nose as he walked in from work! I had expected a placatory 'very nice' but instead got a 'wow, they're fantastic'.

And so began a frantic Bootie session!

I have now learned the lesson that you do not leave things until the last minute because unfortunately life doesn't take into account that you are busy. My son felt it was of utmost importance that his Doctor Who Monster Invasion cards had to be logged into his account this morning, so he sat next to me while I sewed and he typed in his cards. Then the phone rang to say our new bathroom suite was arriving in 20 minutes, my daughter wanted a drink, LSH asked if I could possibly get him a plaster, I got up from my sewing machine to find large amounts of blood dripping from LSH's finger. The doorbell went, it was the bathroom suite and I burst in to flames...oh no I didn't...just felt like it!

Anyway, booties were finished, LSH made the Sprogs their lunch and I got to the market on time...oh and did I mention I hate roundabouts?

Why New Zealand Is Good For Your Health!

Well, it's been an interesting week, Simon was disappearing off for three weeks to Sydney for work, the house was calm and then the following morning I was ill. Nothing major but five days later I was so ill that I ended up being admitted to hospital. Fortunately I was able to call my mum (an advantage of moving back from New Zealand, I think a 24hr flight may have been a little beyond the call of motherly duty!) and she looked after the sprogs for me (Thank you Mum!).

I am heading in the right direction health wise now but of course my mum has returned home and Simon is still away.

This is the reason for why New Zealand is good for your health.  We moved to NZ in 2006, and lived in a suburb called Ngaio in Wellington. Having moved from the UK where we didn't speak to our neighbours and didn't really know anybody in the area we lived I found I had to completely change my attitudes or lead a very lonely life!

I made wonderful friends in Ngaio.  Paula, Pip, Jemma, Ali, Jo....in fact too many to mention. They all showed unconditional friendship and never hesitated to help when they could (and there was always a least one of them in Cafe Villa getting a coffee!). In fact I nicknamed Pip, 'Pip of Ngaio' because there wasn't a person she didn't know or who didn't know her.

When we made the decision to return to the UK I said I wanted to emulate my life in Ngaio back in the UK, I wanted to be Toni of Southampton. Now to be fair I had forgotten quite how big the whole of Southampton is but I made it my mission to knock on all of my neighbours doors (no matter how peculiar they thought I was!) and to talk to every parent at my son's school and basically 'network'.

It worked because during this last week I have been overwhelmed by the support I have received from neighbours and friends, from phonecalls telling me they're going to the supermarket and do I need anything, walking my sprogs to school, driving my sprogs back from school, knocking on my door to check that I am still upright and generally looking out for me.

So New Zealand (or at least the way of life) is most definitely good for your health!