It feels right!

Well had another lovely weekend in London with good friends having lunch at one of Gordon Ramsey's restaurants - it was a really incredible experience that I will never ever forget. The food was incredible and the service fantastic. We had a table in the kitchen, the chef's table, so it was something very different. We then went on to a bar and had some cocktails - all very handbag. The next day we did a bit of culture at the British Museum and walked around London a little before coming home. Now although I thoroughly enjoyed myself, I have to say I was wandering around London like some true country bumpkin - it was busy, people rushing everywhere all the time, it was noisy and most of all it was so dirty. Although I liked it I did long for home, I was so looking forward to driving down the lane and seeing our house. So as I sit here with my glass of wine, watching the fire with Hubby, Son, Eric and Esther around me I think WOW how much has changed since last year. This time last year Hubby and I were getting ready to go to New Zealand and we were dreading having to come back home to Oxford and face the daily grind. But we didn;t have to and we came back home to plan our new life in Wales. And as I sit here typing I think yes it does feel so right, it does feel so comfortable and I feel settled. I am looking forward to a lovely Christmas with family and friends and a Happy New Year in our lovely new home.

Eddie and the Big Smoke

Well off we went for a lovely handbag weekend that we had booked when we were still living the handbag life. We had arranged to see Eddie Izzard in Wembley so off we went. We drove up which was not that bad as we basically get on the M4 at the end and get off at the start not that bad but it did take 5 hours! We got in and checked in and then decided to go into the big smoke. On the tube we were watching some young people having a chat about the climate control march that they were going to join - they got chatting to another young person on the tube and after about 10 mins they had arranged to meet up to plan a road trip from Cairo having bought a VW camper van as they are cheap out there! It is only about 4000 miles one of them said, cool the other one said, I have always wanted to go on a road trip, I have got to be back before the end of August as I always go on a family camping trip to Devon!! Oh how the young people live!!
Then we went into the city and had a wander around - I was hoping for a lovely meal with Hubby as Son was left behind for the trip. where did he take me Piggy's cafe for a fry up!!! God he treats me well!!! So I decided to get my own back, off to Harrods for a little drinky I thought. Up to the champagne bar for a glass of fizzz....£15 a glass. When I sat down I did feel guilty, but Hubby must have felt even more guilty as he made me stay!! Then we were in the food hall and I turned around only to come face to face with Christiano Ronaldo!! that made up for the Piggy's breakfast. Then off to see Eddie Izzard who was fantastic. But having had a lovely handbag weekend I really did miss my cheese. It was so busy there, so many people, so dirty, I really wanted to come home to my lovely fresh Pembrokeshire air. It was nice to go away and have a bit of handbag but oh I realised that the cheese was better.

Not What it Said on the TIn

Well not been on for a while. Been busy. Went off to a Christmas Craft Fair the other day in Carew Castle - it was billed as having lots of craft fairs, music, mince pies and lots of present ideas. As I love Carew I thought let's go. Off we went and paid the usual entry fee (a bit steep I thought where is the festive spirit?) and we walked into the castle area. I began to have worries when a/I could not see anything, bearing in mind the castle is a ruin I was expecting some kind of marquee or the like, but no, b/ I could not hear anything, and/ there was hardly anyone to be seen. Well off we went in search of this fantastic fair. As I climbed up some stairs I heard the music, but it was a CD of carols, I walked into the room and just wanted to walk straight back out. I can only describe it as tat! there was a bit of glitter and that was it Oh no I forgot there was a lady making christmas tree shaped welsh cakes which were nice. In total I think there were about 4 stalls, one of which was selling crystals and pagan things like that. Very nice, very interesting but hardly christmas like! Well to top it off it was also bloody freezing and I hate the cold so I was miserable! No retail opportunity and it was cold. What made it even worse was the pagan lady told Peter that he was an Oak tree, the strongest and most powerful tree inthe forest - god how smug was he for the rest of the day!!!

Does it show that much?

Well so much rain I was concerned would not be able to have my handbag weekend at the spa. Had a visitor who had kindly bought a supply of Percy Pigs having read my dismay at M&S not moving to Haverfordwest. When I arrived home the Percy Pigs had been eaten by visitor (you know who you are!!) and son. What kind of pressie was that?!!!!
Off to spa in the morning and it was lovely - had a few treatments and then went to check in. Hair had got wet and it had dried naturally so for all those who know me well that did not look pretty! When we asked the receptionist about our dinner reservation she looked at us and said the restaurant does have a dress code you know!! What the hell did she mean - we both looked at her, again she repeated "it does have a dress code you know", well we said we do have posh frocks you know. She did not look convinced. We scrubbed up rather well and managed to demolish a bottle of wine and two kir royals (£12 each!!!!!), but how does it show that I have stepped into the cheese world? Will it be harder for me to have handbag moments the longer I spend in the cheese? only time will tell.....

Relax and Recharge

Well looking forward to a handbag weekend in a spa with my bestest chum. An overnight trip due to the fact that we have missed out on our usual two nighter at Ragdale due to the move West. Bestest Chum rang Celtic Manor to see when we could get there, 9am they said so cheesey me making the most of the money has decided to arrive at 9.30am! Thought 9am would look a little desparate!! Having lots of treatment and then will come home on Sunday ready for the development of the things to do. things to buy and christmas spreadsheets - I know but every girl needs a spreadsheet if she is to be organised (or sad depending on how you look at it!!). Rental sitting room now looking good, sofas are in, fire is on and we are almost ready for the photos to be taken. Quite excited now. Anyway must ignore all that at the moment and enjoy the weekend. Things kick off tomorrow with a bacon sandwich which is my way of coping with the fact that I now have to work on a Friday!
Hubby still busy with house etc, getting quite good at the cleaning although still needs a little improvement on the cobweb removal technique. Cats - catching vermin very well although more of the sweet little rodents as opposed to the big horrible rats. Eric ( yes I know stupid name for a cat) caught a bat the other day - OMG - but managed to do a Greenpeace rescue, put it on the roof out of harms way. It had gone in the morning which I thought was a good thing but Son said Eric had probably jumped on the roof and ate it!!

Darkness like never before

Well I am feeling a little fed up, winter is setting in, so much to do, so little time, Christmas around the corner. I feel the need for a spreadsheet!! We are progressing well on the DIY list, one room left to floor downstairs and then the interior designer (me) can get going and finish that. The rental cottage people are being particularly slow although I do need to wind down to the Pembrokeshire way of life- they call it the Pembrokeshire Promise! Saying they will do something and either not doing it or taking ages to do it. Now that really does not fit with highligh organised way of life!! But I need to slow down that is what we moved here for and I need to remember that when I am stressing out about the huge list of things to do! Work is going well although I am not finding it a struggle to work five days, I am finding it a struggle to acutally be in work for five days if that makes sense?! Actually getting up on a friday morning to go to work is something that is still alien to me after eight years of having Friday off. But I will have to try and use my HR post and write a new flexible working policy!
The one thing that is amazing here is how dark the nights are, like nothing I have seen before. No light polution at all it is incredible especially when it is a clear night with the stars out - Fabulous. But it is also quite depressing driving home in the dark - I do like the sun.
Anyway off to watch Wales v NZ at the weekend which we are really looking forward to so must get back to work!

Polish that Halo!

Had a lovely weekend, down the beach the boys surfing, a great reminder as to why we moved. 25 mins and down at Newgale fantastic! Drank a bit too much on Friday night and the chickens needed cleaning out so I cleaned them out at 8.30am with a headache. Particularly smug I was!! How times have changed, would have spent longer in bed but the lure of the my little chooks needing me forced me up and out. Get that halo polished I am such an angel!!

I don't love you M&S

Not good enough for you are we? Not the right kind of clientele? M&S have pulled out of Haverfordwest as they feel we are not the right kind of shopper! They should have thought of that before they announced their arrival and built my hopes up! I think I will sue for emotional distress! Costa coffee came and we all know that they only come to up and coming areas, which shortly benefit from a house price increase, but NO, not for M&S. Half tempted to boycott them and stop my Mum bringing her food parcel down with her but Percy Pigs are soooooo tempting it is hard to do that!

I Love You John Lewis

Well I am so glad that all the business planners forsaw my move to Wales before I even knew I was coming. Costa and M&S head offices agreed to move to Haverfordwest and John Lewis's agreed to open the second largest store in the UK in Cardiff! Hubby and I dropped son off in grandparents and went to have a nose with a big shopping list. Spending the money we have at the moment on essentials like new sofas and christmas pressies. We stuck to our budget and did well. We got up at 6.30 as it is a two hour journey and we had to drop son off!!! Arrived at JL at 10.00 and left at 17.00 a great achievement with Hubby I think! We are now well and truly shopped out for some considerable time. We felt that we should go up and have a handbag fix every quarter so that is what we are planning to. I have changed however as I did not carried away with little boxes, and tins the "essentials" that I always used to think I needed. Instead I was practical and stuck to my list, my list did happen to have two large leather sofas, a new laptop and an Ipod Nano, but hey, make hay while the sun shines........

Life is Good!

What a lovely weekend with good friends and Godson. It was truely handbag with the only cheese being me!! Went to a HSBC launch party for some premier account in Anna Ryder Richardson (a designer from Changing Rooms - remember than programme?) new Manor House Park - I think it was called a safari park but I think that a couple of monkeys and some lamas is pushing it a bit! Anyway free afternoon tea and the offer of free fizz and I was there like a shot. They must have known Latte Queen was coming as the fizz was in very short supply.....one glass and then gone...... Trying not to look too desparate I frantically searched around for some more of the handbag nectar but alas no... then as we were walking out the waiter came in carrying SIX bottles of the stuff. Now had I been on my own I would have casuallly pretended that I was leaving to find the loo, then I would have stalked him to check out where he was hiding his loot and casually happen to be there when the cork went pop! but as I had guests I left.

But life is still good as today I had a massive skinny latte from Costa in my local town... MY LIFE IS COMPLETE ONCE MORE!!

Pembrokeshire Night Life!

I have been invited to the WI Fun Night next Monday - will keep you posted. Can you stand the suspense?!!

Morals

Well had the best breakfast ever on Saturday, went down to the quay, £5 for a full fried, mug of tea and a bread roll. YUMMY! The sun was shining on the water, it was absolutely stunning. Met our neighbours down there. It was lovely and met some new people and also saw some familiar faces which was great. One problem ..... the hunt were meeting there after their little outing. Plus side it was great to see the horses, Son loved them, it was lovely to see all those male thighs in jodhpurs (ladies thighs for the hubby!), there was a fantastic sense of community with people chatting away, very friendly. Negative side I really can't stand hunting..... Moral dilemma. Now although I have been know by the name Swampy in the past, (not for bed wetting I will have you know) I am not one to stand in front of diggers chained to a tree shouting at people, BUT I really don;t like the fox killing side of things. Fine if you want to thunder along the fields and put yourself in danger of being whacked off your horse by a branch, but don't kill the little fox. (My view may change if foxy gets one of my chooks). I was asked do I hunt and I said no don't really agree with the killing side of it. I was told they hardly ever kill anything now as they scent drag..... still not too sure. But although in part it was a bit like a Jilly Cooper novel, there were some local farmers there who hunted for the sense of community and to get rid of any foxes that happen to stray their way. Almost everyone and I am not exaggerating, hunts around us, so moral dilemma mingle with the hunters and make new friends or stay at home and become a recluse?!!!!

Am I getting old or is the country way of life?

Not updated for a while, having new floor laid and am now painting the dining room - would have someone in to do it when in handbag life but cheese life DIY - it does take soooo much longer!

Things are good here and The Decision is still viewed as a good one. Son was invited over to play with a friend and met his parents who were nice and had done a similar thing to us, seems we are not alone in this quest for a better life in the country.

Hubby busy with business side of things, getting all the paperwork sorted, nights getting darker so time will tell....

Neighbourly love showed itself again yesterday when we had another delivery this time ducks!! Came home from work yesterday to find Hubby outside with a knife and two dead ducks!! This time Hugh Fearnly Whittingwhatever could not shed any light on how to turn a dead duck into something you find in clingfilm in Waitrose so Hubby had to DIY! - not bad dead duck now in portions in the freezer!

Well the title of the post is all down to this .... had a visitor tonight did I want to join the ........WI!!!! Now I didn;t know whether to be pleased that they wanted me to join in with the community or completely distressed that at a young 40 year old (just gone!) I had been asked to join the WI, the WI for goodness sake.... Then had call from new friend up the road who is also 40 and a bit who had suggested me in the first place. She said it was nice and good to get out once a month and have a gossip. There are 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's there and they meet once a month in the evening. As the winter is coming the 70 year olds are thinking of meeting during the day as it a bit dark at night!!! I am going to have to go I have images of Vicar of Dibley committe meetings.....

The Latte Queen Lives on

Have a few bits and bobs to update but had to do a quick post today because...........

A COSTA COFFEE SHOP IS OPENING IN HAVERFORDWEST!!

I can hardly contain myself, not just any coffee shop but my absolute favourite. It surely is our year as M&S is opening at Christmas and John Lewis has moved to Wales!! Well I am overcome with emotion and must go and have a latte!

Handbag and Cheese Weekend

Had a lovely weekend with friends. Handbag moments on the beach with a latte and Hello Bliss! Came back and Son and friend sat on Hubby's lap and took it in turns to drive the Landy around the field. Little things that make you smile. I really do feel that we have been so lucky and have so made the right decision. Went back to Oxford last weekend and drove up the road paralell to our old house and just did not feel the need to go past the house. That is an old chapter in the book and we are on to a new one. Good to know a decision is a right one - it would have been a bloody nightmare if it had felt wrong!! Had a cheesey day today picking sloes to make sloe vodka for friends and family for Xmas, Need to keep the costs down.


Cats have now arrived Eric and Esther(did not choose the names!) they are so sweet. The rescue lady said we have to keep them in their cages for three weeks - I feel so cruel. They appear to be handbag cats as they are not liking the cheap cat food I have bought them!



Interesting bird at the bird feeder today - Good old Meg not as stupid as she looks!


Latest score on the rat wars - Humans 2 (1 rat and 1 mouse) Rats 1 (took peanut butter from the trap)

Busy Busy Busy

Haven't updated for a while, been a bit busy. Had a handbag weekend off to Wembley to see Coldplay supported by Girls Aloud (not bad) and Jay Z (shite! noisy shite to be precise). Funny the journeys home used to be quite depressing but now we look forward to coming home. The war against rats is well and truly on - I have put all manner of bits of wood etc around the edges of the chook house, but the little (well quite big) buggers still get in there. Went down in the dusk and saw one running across the lawn and Hubby went down today and saw them half way up the garden.......now that is starting to get serious, at the bottom of the garden I can just about cope with, but in view of the house NO WAY! So purchase two rat traps and gave Son a stiff talking to that these things are not like the cartoon ones where you are not hurt they could hurt real bad. First morning went down sheepishly to see if had dead rats and traps sprung but no rats! So it is intelligent rats that we are fighting so it is peanut butter and bread tonight will that work. If all else fails we took delivery of Eric and Esther today - two outdoor cats about 15 months old. (need to change the names). Had more trouble and paperwork getting them than we did when we had Son!! They have to stay in for three weeks until they get used to us and then it will be "on my command unleash hell"

I am a country girl!

Popped down to the chooks to lock them up tonight - picture the scene. red crocks, tracky bottoms and a head torch. It is dark, actually very dark in the country you know. I heard a noise as I was approaching the hen house and I thought OH MY GOD a rat........ As I walked up to the run I saw it scampering away from me. First thoughts S**T, second thought MY CHOOKS - do rats eat chooks?! Could I put my hand in the run and lock them up for the night and run the risk of the RAT coming within ten feet of my hands. Well I didn;t have to worry the RAT was more frightened of me - it scampered about trying to find a way out of the run and then climbed up the side of the run and out through the top. It sat there long enough for me to see how big the thing was. I have been spending the last week or so trying to stop the bloody thing dug under the run and the cheekly little bugger has been climbing up the side! Well throughout all this I did not scream which just goes to show that I am now a country girl, it is official. I have passed the first test. I went back in the house to tell Hubby and Son and we all decided it was time for a trap!

Reminding ourselves

Had a funny old day today - missed home today well not Oxford, but my friends. Popping out for a coffee with them etc. Keeping up to date with e-mails, calls and texts but not quite the same. So on my home I thought, sun is shining (about bloody time), let's remind ourselves why we have made this big life changing decision. So I rang Hubby and said stop making tea we are going out. We all jumped into the Land Rover and drove to Pembroke, picked up fish and chips x 3 and drove to the beach. We all sat on the headland looking over the beach, watching the sun setting over the cliffs with a beautiful calm blue sea. Son said "if we were in Oxford now we would see cars, houses and hear the ambulances", but we weren't in Oxford and we could see sand, sea, sun and hear the crickets. We said to each other Now that is why we moved here!

Wrinkles or grey hair?

Had my hair dyed today - as I was waiting for the grey hairs to vanish I thought to myself - can I afford to have my hair done and a facial every six weeks - the answer to that question was not at the moment.... so wrinkles or grey hair that is the question.
My face is OK at the moment, pretty good skin with not too many wrinkles for my age, that can't be said about my hair - too many grey for my liking and I am not going to turn into a grey frizzy haired country hippy!! so I have the answer. Bye bye grey hairs

Better Delivery than Tesco!

Had friends down this weekend so took them to the local where we met our neighbour with the boat. "Do you want any rabbits?" he said. "Oh yes please" I said. " Dead ones" he said. Still I said yes please not wanting to sound too much of a towny. The next morning son came running into the bedroom saying we had to get up and have a look out of the window - we did and found two fluffy rabbits, hanging from the porch! What a nice sight that was for our visitors!, little pool of blood forming on the floor. So I rushed to get the Hugh Fernley-Whittingstall cook book for instructions and read them out to Hubby as he skinned it and chopped it up for the freezer. Very proud of Hubby not sure I could have done it. Better delivery than Tesco - order and delivery within 12 hours, free and no carrier bags! How green is that!

Disappointing Handbag

Well I had been VERY excited about the Bank Holiday weekend as we were going on a trip to a shopping centre without son. Not just any shopping centre but one with John Lewis in it! I could hardly contain myself! Started off well managed to squeeze a little facial in on Friday and then balanced that with a session cleaning out the chicken house! The left over facial oil managed to mask the smell of the poo - it isn't that bad really.

Up at 6.30am the next morning to make the most of the shopping - had to drive 5 hours as picking son up after his holiday so didn't want to have a short shopping trip. Hubby and I had vouchers to burn in our pockets. M&S, JL and Blacks how very exciting. Alas it was not to be - purchased a new phone from JL( hardly handbag material) but could not find anything to buy with other vouchers - I was desperate to part with them - I mean when would I get this opportunity again?! But no the boxes of "things that I need" still unopened in the sheds were telling me not to be too hasty, and the people everywhere were beginning to annoy me....... so vouchers went back in purse/wallet for another day or perhaps a internet shop. Now 6 months ago I would have spent spent spent - but now? is the cheese beginning to take over?!

Aston Martin Landy

Oh I had fun today.. Hubby was taking MIL back home so used my car. I had to use the LR. I was slightly nervous as I have only driven short distances, it was blowing a gale and pouring with rain but I did it. I must admit my teeth were clenched the entire way but I drove into work with a sense of satisfaction. I had managed to get there in a reasonable time and had even managed to cope with the clunky 2nd gear. On the way home slightly more relaxed although I did plan my route so as to limit the number of times I would have to use 2nd!! I came down the lane praying that nobody would be coming the other way... God was looking down on me!

Family Cynicism

Well had a visit from family from the city, not just any familly but BIL who likes the better things in life. Now I have to say in my dim and distant past I would admit that I had some things in common with BIL, but life moves on. During visit not sure BIL could quite understand this downsizing lark - after all the natural progression is to move up and up that corporate ladder. So with a little smirk they said "What are you going to do when you need things?" Well having only recently felt guilt pangs due to large amount of boxes containing the "things I needed" I was able to answer "What exactly do we need? Food, Drink, we have enough money for the essentials in life" Yes they answered, but "When that double income stops and you pick up that £12 bottle of wine in Tesco and have to put it down then you will realise what you have done" I replied that I never buy a bottle of £12 wine unless it is fizz (not that often) or in a restaurant. It was at this point that I realised that this change may not be so bad, I must have always had a little bit of cheese in me after all!

A fine day out!

Well the boys dropped me off at work and went to the Pembrokeshire County Show today - I thought they would last an hour or so but they left at 8.30 and picked me up at 5!!! they saw the pig show, horses, gun dogs, and tractors....they even gave me a gift or two - a cheesy gift of bulbs for the garden and a handbag gift of a new pair of red Croc wellies which I can put on very easily and quickly to feed the chooks!! I have a pair of green Hunters (you are not a true country person without a pair of these!) but you can't just get in and out of those. So I found myself walking down the garden with red Crocs on, my trug and my pink spotty gloves on (what a picture of domestic bliss )to clean the chicken poo out of the chook house...nice eh. I must admit I sat in the garden for a while thinking that even I find it hard to believe that I am quite content cleaning the poo out. To top the day off we finally managed to get a pie at the local pub pie night, last week we were too late and the pies had all gone, tonight we were early but the grumpy landlord told us we could have one if we were gone within the hour - was it the smell of chicken poo that made him say this?! Left Hubby his cleaning instructions for tomorrow as we have guests - will he come up to my standards....

Gone off cheese!

Update on the roof - seems OK well the official consultant aka my Dad jumped up and down a lot on the roof and said those boards are not holding that up it looks ok, Well convinced me to divert funds into nice curtains and the like!
Cheese life is beginning to frustrate the hell out of me at the moment - the walls are so bloody thick on the house that my so called WiFi anywhere system will not work unless I have the hub at full extension around the corner, and then my dingle dongle or whatever you call it stretched at full capacity, then whilst standing on one leg with my arm in the air (ok a bit of exaggeration here) I can just about get it to work. Then bloody digital - we have switched over here or switched off in our case. ITV, C4 and all the other decent channels are like a nun;s knickers, on and off depending on what the weather is like!! So that buggers up my series link..... oh for those handbag tv days.
Anyway getting really excited as going off on a shopping expedition soon, without Owen to a big shopping centre with a JOHN LEWIS!!! 10 sleeps to go..

Rose Tinted Specs

Well these are beginning to fall off for me at the moment - came home to find that Hubby has started to pull down the roof of the outbuildings which are supporting our terrace well I am no expert but my god it does not look safe to me and it looks like lots of money to me, money that I would rather spend on fluffy cushions and the like!! We will wait to see what the official opinion is but I am nervous.........

Most expensive eggs

Well a late night last night at the village get together - we seem to know more of our neighbours than we did in the city! Egg total is now up to 7 which is good, can't quite see which hen is doing the business. So far each egg is probably costing us about £7 with the start up costs, never mind i love my chooks they are so funny. Logan is letting me stroke his back, the others are not playing. Even Meg the deviant one is coming closer and tried to eat my engagement ring today now that would have made an interesting egg..

A new type of handcream!

Well we have had another egg although the chooks stood on it so no breakfast for us! Since then no more eggs. The chooks are beginning to get used to me and all stand in the run looking at me and making cute little noises when I go down with food. Hubby is not so popular as I think they only see him as the nasty man who pounced on them when they arrived. He needs to start feeding them I think. We are letting them out on Wednesday and hope that they will come home easily. I have to say when I have gone down the last few nights they are all tucked up in bed. Quite sweet really. What isn't so sweet is the huge amount of poo that they produce. Thank God we have a big garden as their poo has burnt the grass, you can almost see the smoke! I have even had it on my hands can you believe it.... in order to change their water I have to pick up their water bottles and trays and wash them out. Hands that in Handbag days were smothered in Molton Brown hand cream, now find themselves in cheese days smothered in chicken poo. I am secretly hoping that it is an undiscovered miracle cure for wrinkles .......

Reality kicks in!

Well the company car has gone! 17 years of free petrol etc etc and it has gone...... Hubby drove it off into the sunset while I stayed behind to feed the chickens! Oh and yes I had to take the smug lok off my face I hadn't fixed the Landy door... have to wait until Dad comes around to stay - will add it to the list.

Self Sufficiency at last

The chickens are doing well, everyone told us with a knowing smile that we should have left the chooks in the hen house for a few days before letting them out. Anyway they have personalities for sure, Logan is the bravest, Meg a little mad, Chamy seems to be a bit fiesty and Orla well she is greedy! Son went down to see them this afternoon and we have our FIRST EGG! The fight is on.....a/ who is going to have it b/ how we are going to cook it. We came to the conclusion that it should be boiled and that we will share it equally. Is this the future of self sufficiency one egg between three of us - god we would save money and certainley loose weight what a bonus!

Broken LandRover

The company car goes back on Monday and then the consequences of our new life will hit home..no more free petrol, services, car. So I thought I would take the Land Rover out to practice using it. I drove it around the lanes, it went quite well. Storming up the hill in 4th. Put the radio on it made lots of noise but I didn't have time to sort that out as I could not shut the door properly and I ad to make emergency repairs. I got out tried for ages and could not shut it so I had to drive up the hill with my arm casually resting out the window - in reality I was pressing my arm down with all my strength so the door would not fly open around the corners. Came back and Son dobbed me in straight away to Hubby who cursed a few times and pretented he knew what he was doing but nothing. Oh I thought lets consult that lovely clean and shiny "How to rebuild your Land Rover " book we bought off Amazon. I found the door latch page and it could have been written in Welsh - it made absolutely no sense to me at all. So determined not to let this first obstacle trip me up I went out and examined the good door and went back and fore for several minutes. I got my hands oily and well I hate to boast but I FIXED IT! So with a smug little look on my oil stained face I went off to tell Hubby!

E-bay Purchase

Well yet another purchase for our new life - a poly tunnel! Oh there was a time when I bought Boden clothes or handbags off e-bay, now I am using e-bay to buy a polytunnel - can't wear it, can't carry my lippy in it, but Hubby assures me it is good for growing things in........ we will wait to see what it is like when it arrives. To me it looks like something the Teletubbies live in.

Chickens came out of the house today and were still speaking to us after the trauma of yesterday. A friend texted me and told me I could have called them after Take That so a bit gutted that I did not think about that at the time! They certainly have personalities Orla and Logan appear to be the conformers, Chamy seems to do as she pleases but Meg she is trouble! Wish we had bought them years ago as we would have saved so much money in electricity and Wi games, son just sat and watched them for most of the morning.

Chicken Run

A cheese day. Our new chickens arrived today! The next step in the life in the country. We opened the box and waited for them to come out - first we called Logan aka Wolverine as he(she) was the bravest! Then came Orla (Orla Kierly handbag theme here), then Chamy after the Chamoix Express in La Plagne and last Meg. We all lay there ex townies with Country Life smiles watching as they came out and pecked around the garden. Of course when we called them they would all trot into their new home for the night, happy little hens in their new home. Then reality dawned as we chased the buggers around the garden. God did you know chickens were so fast and could jump so high! We got the first two, the third Meg was a little bit challenging, but Chamy.....she hid in the hedge. So I had my rubber gloves on, and a thick fleece to stop the stinging nettles - and with the help of the boys we got her in... not a very handbag moment at all but very good fun!

Wobbly Cheese

Having a wobble at the moment. One more week for Hubby to be officially in work and then he is off the books and unemployed! Well there will be more than enough for him to do! Also came home to see what I thought were damp marks in our bedroom - they seem to have appeared over night! Panic panic, worry worry. God should have stuck with the handbags would have had the money to sort everything out, it is going to cost millions, that is why they painted everything etc etc. So my paranoia ran away again. Then Hubby brought me back to reality with a bump and reminded me that his redundancy was rather large, our savings were not insignificant and it is an old house and more importantly that I always had to worry about something. That my dear is so very true.....

Handbag Weekend

Just returned from a lovely handbag weekend! Our friends were married at the weekend in a very stylish wedding on the Thames, so meal out on Friday, Hotel du Vin on saturday along with fizz, lovely food, river cruise, fantastic wedding and posh frocks and bling! Fantastic. Drove back home to Pembrokeshire wondering when the next chance for handbags would be!

Rant Day

Well give me back the city! Tried to register for a dentist today - no NHS dentists at all anywhere in Pembrokeshire. Rant Rant Rant. When I rang the NHS help line up she calmly said oh I can put you on the waiting list - 12 months to wait for a dentist to have the good grace to put little old NHS patients onto their lists. What if I have an emergency I said Oh don;t worry you can ring me up and I will let you know the name of a dentist that will treat you - so they won;t treat you as a preventative measure, but when you have an abcess because you haven't been able to get into a dentist, they will treat you. I just can't believe it!!!

Rainy Day

Today it rained and I had the blues. Hubby's last pay check arrived and I realised for the first time in black and white what we have done. It was quite a lot of money to say goodbye to for no real reason. However saying that we will be getting a large chunk of redundancy and our outgoings are a lot less here. Having to open hundreds of boxes I have come to realise how much tat a handbag lifestyle can lead to - where or where we are going to put all this tat I have no idea. We are clearing the cottage we have so that we can rent that out and there is tat coming out of our ears. Never mind there may be a chance to sell some of that tat on e-bay and make a bit of money. Had friends around in the evening and then went for a walk to the estuary and actually rainy day and less money still made me think WOW how lucky and I to live in a beautiful place like this. Walked home to see the sun setting.

Life's a Beach

Today was the day that made me realise why we moved here. Sun, blue sky and a beautiful beach. No need for money apart from a latte opportunity! Hubby surfing with a friend and Son in the sea. Just having a glass of red wine and looking at all the lovely brown beach faces. Bliss!

Cheese Moment

Peter's car is due to go back very soon and we had to buy him some wheels, some cheap wheels. So number two on our dream list, a Land Rover Defender, was purchased. Once again the handbag cheese scale was slightly different for Peter and I, my dream was very handbag, a model 2 or 3 years old, royal blue with checkerboard detailing, shiny shiny, and clean, Peter bought a K reg, battleship grey model, with lots of dents, not very shiny, more matt finish, with a Ifor Williams cab on the back.... wouldn't risk taking my handbag in there!

Moonlight Boat Trip

Well this is the first real weekend here in Pembrokeshire and what a weekend!
We had our first friends visiting us and we could not have planned things better...just after they arrived one of our neighbours popped in and offered us a lift back from the pub if we were going that evening. We thought it would be a nice thing to do so off we went to the pub, had a fantastic evening with the kids paddling in the high tide. Then home time, i was looking for a car but oh no we were having a lift home in a boat! Yes a boat! Not being known for my love of boats those close to me were amused at the thought of me on a boat. Well I shocked them all and actually enjoyed the 35 min trip. The moon and stars were out and I even saw a shooting star. We stepped off the quay onto the boat at the start and I didn't give a second thought as to how I was going to get off at the other end. The boat stopped MILES AWAY from the edge of the water and all lovely thoughts went out of my head very quickly. Then the boatman got into a rowing boat and paddled off - mmm I thought I have only met this man once before and here I am marooned in the middle of the estuary on a boat, literally up a creek without a paddle...but he came back with a bigger boat and rescued us.

Final Days

Well we are all exchanged now and it is the last weekend that I will be in Oxford. I have to say I think in my mind I have already moved. Everytime I drive back to Oxford I think yep made the right decision. It is so busy, so crowded etc. Our new neighbours have moved in and they are noisy, and there will be more noise to come! I am a great believer in Karma and our buyer deserves all she gets for trying to beat us down on price the day before we exchanged!! Ha Ha or as our estate agent said Tough Titty! I have a few little worries about Owen settling in and making friends as he has lots of friends who are close by here but he is a popular little boy. The Handbag Demon is also niggling away at me saying are you sure? there are not many shops! but well the practical side of me says there is always the internet!
May take me a while to get back on as I will be offline until the new service is up and running!

1st July

Well it has been ages since I last posted mainly because I have already started my job in Wales and I have no internet access at the moment!! So a lot has happened. Moved down to our cottage at the moment while the house purchasing system is dragging on and on. I really miss the boys it is so strange without them but in a good way also very relaxing! I have been listening to what I want to listen to, watching my DVD's or "ChickFlicks" as Peter calls them - bliss really. It has been incredibly hard leaving them on a Sunday night though. Very hard indeed.

Anyway new job is great, people are lovely although I do miss my old colleagues, well some of them anyway! The pace of life in Pembrokeshire is really much slower than Oxford which will be great - every time I drive back to Oxford it just seems busier and busier and really crowded. Aaagh I am turning into a country bumpkin already!

I may be able to cling onto the handbag for a little while as there is a beauty salon right next door to my work, although I have yet to find anywhere that sells a latte!!! I had to stop off in the service station on my way back to Oxford as I had been without a latte for over a week! Goodness me indeed.

Anyway just signed the paperwork for our house so that should go through and then I am going to have a nice glass of fizz to celebrate - keep hanging onto those handbag moments!!

Off now may not be on line for some time again as moving etc.

Decision Made

Well for years my husband has tried to persuade me to give it all up, get out of the rat race and move to West Wales for a new life. For years I have resisted as the lure of city treats has been too great. I even developed a phrase to sum up these discussions which is the title of my blog Handbag or Cheese? I love my handbags and although i like cheese the opportunities to use and purchase my handbags are limited in West Wales! The little latte stops, facials and massage meant a lot to me and the thought of "downsizing" which would result in a lower income would mean fewer opportunities to indulge. The HC scale was always pointing over to the Handbag side, however in the last six months I have slowly seen the pointer move away from H towards C. Seeing hubby coming in after hours spent on the lovely M25 made me realise there is to more to life than handbags! and cheese isn't so bad after all! So the Cheese moment has finally arrived and I have a new job in West Wales, the family are moving and hubby is leaving his job. Last day in work tomorrow - what will happen?....