BT - PROBABLY THE WORST TELECOMS PROVIDER (?) IN THE WORLD?

Now that the Part 1 move is over, life is starting to settle down a bit here at Shrivenham and, with one exception, this has been a pretty relaxing week.  Ronnie has been away up in London seeing various big-wigs in DFID, the Foreign Office and the MOD so I have been left to get on with the day-to-day 'stuff' of getting ready to move to East Africa.  The one exception has been BT's complete and utter failure to transfer our phone line and broadband from Stafford to Shrivenham - something you would have thought was their bread and butter!  They are now saying that it will take another couple of weeks before they can do it, and quite frankly if that is the case then it will not be worth doing at all.  Then comes the argument about cancelling our contract and why should we pay a cancellation fee when they are the ones who messed up!  I will keep you up to speed with what happens in this soap opera, but so far I think I may have the upper hand - it is with the 'line manager' for a decision at the moment so we will see what next week brings.  Exciting eh?
     Oh, just in case you were thinking that my ego had taken over completely, the reason that I have started every blog so far with a photo of me is just to keep the beard watchers happy.  I notice that Alex Clarke has now joined that fraternity (a worrying prospect I have to admit).  Thank you to everyone who is following the blog by the way - over 60 of you last week which is very pleasing to know.

Bye, bye Kia :-(>

It was a bit of a shock when I finally managed to put the Kia up for sale on Autotrader at about 11pm last Saturday and had sold it by lunchtime the next day!  I had rather hoped that it would take two or three weeks to sell, giving us that extra flexibility of having two vehicles to run around in for longer.  However, I got a good price and it is one thing less to worry about.  

Hello Landcruiser :-)>

At the same time the Rev Charles Okongo, a friend I met during my visit to Uganda back in March, has very kindly arranged everything so that my new vehicle (a somewhat elderly, but very robust series 70 Landcruiser) will be waiting for me in Kampala when I arrive.  The cost of vehicles in Uganda is unbelievable, and of course getting one that you can be sure is safe and reliable is very difficult even when you are in country.  To get one sourced and bought before arrival is nigh on impossible - unless you have wonderful friend like Charles.  Praise the Lord for putting Charles in my path :-)

One thing I have been having to get used to this week is having neighbours again.  Having had the luxury of living in the spacious, splendid isolation of the Station Commander's house in Stafford, here in Shrivenham we are in amongst the people again.  Very good for my socialist leanings and very good for the soul too no doubt.  However, not so good for my Victor Meldrew tendencies.  In fact, we are blessed with very good neighbours either side (although I am not sure that they are saying the same about their new neighbours in their own blogs).  

Neighbour cat Clyde at rest on top of the chicken coop 
next door - what I describe as his 'Clydeaway'.

Both have large pet fraternities in what are fairly small houses - a Weimaraner called Oliver and a black and white cat on one side, and a Labrador called Alfie and a very smart Burmese cat called Clyde (plus an unknown Jack Russell and at least half a dozen chickens) on the other. I have attempted to enlist Clyde as a stand-in Chad, but whilst he is very chatty he has not yet shown any signs of wanting to jump the fence and come and join me for a tuna lunch.

On the social front we had an excellent outing on Wednesday evening.  After a long day trudging up the M6 and back to hand over the old house in Stafford before collecting Ronnie from the station, it was wonderful to be able to spend a very chilled evening with Claudia and Nic Piercy and their two sons Noah and Timon. They are old friends from church when we were in Marlborough many years ago and we haven't seen them for over 3 years.  We had a fantastic supper with Nic barbecuing fresh sea bass over a big wood fire on the patio.  The food was wonderful - apart from the curious appearance of some whelks.  I don't know what possessed Nic to buy these monsters, but I have always had an irrational aversion to them since I was a child and try as I might I could not manage to eat even one.  Pathetic I know, but there you are. Sadly I omitted to take the camera so there are no suitably scary photos of whelks roasting on an open fire.

Ronnie in action

Finally - and it must be finally as I hear the call of 'time for some housework' in the background (I have never understood Ronnie's mania for cleaning; I survived 3 years as a student without ever cleaning anything and I do think that an over-insistence on hygiene can be unhealthy) - we met up with a few of my future colleagues for a picnic lunch in Regent's Park this week.  Although they obviousy were not as lovely as my Smallwood friends, I do think that they all showed potential for becoming so as I get to know them better.  As a result of the meeting, which included my new Head of Primary, I managed to finally get hold of copies of the end of year reports of the Y4 students who will be in my Y5 class next term.  Unfortunately they are clearly a long way behind where I had hoped they might be - most of them read more like Y2 or Y3 end of year reports from Smallwood. I fear that next year is going to be a struggle for all of us! One thing that is clear is that I am going to have to teach myself phonics - something I never really got my head around at college and have steered clear of until now!  If any of you out there know a good place to go for information about ReadWriteInc or synthetic phonics then do let me know.  I am a little concerned that I will not be able to do justice to the needs of my new class next year.  I have always felt that my strengths lay with bringing on and stretching those children who were in the top end of the learning bracket, but have never felt that I was particularly good with those who really struggle with the basics.  On Wednesday Claudia asked if I was going to use this blog for prayer requests - well here is one for any of you praying for us, 'Please Lord, let me be able to teach those who are clearly struggling to learn, as well as I hope that I have managed to teach those who have been doing well'.

MOVING TO AFRICA STEP 1 - SQUEEZING INTO SHRIVENHAM

I would have to admit to this having been a slightly stressful week - the stress mainly being caused by my concern that we would not manage to fit everything into our new, much smaller house. Ronnie, as always, remained calm and sanguine throughout, wisely leaving the fretting to me (and me to the fretting).  In the end, however, we are now finally squeezed into our new 'home away from home' - in some areas quite literally.  The beautiful weather made the move much easier, if a little too sweaty for my liking, but I guess that it is all good acclimatisation for Kampala/Juba.  Having said that, according to the online weather sites it has been hotter in UK this week than in either Uganda or even parts of South Sudan!

Our move out of the quarter at Stafford was made much easier by a friend from Smallwood (Kathy Emmerson-Friend to be precise) kindly feeding us and putting us up for the night on Tuesday, whilst we waited for the final elements of the house to be packed the following day.  Even better Kathy, in true Smallwood spirit, turned the evening into a final, final Smallwood farewell and we had a brilliant supper party outside with Sally Moseley and Sally MacKenzie, two other great friends from school.

Arriving down at Shrivenham on Wednesday night I just could not envisage how all of our things were going to fit into this much smaller house, even given the fact that we didn't intend to unpack anything apart from that which is going to Africa, plus our 'survival kit' for 4 weeks in Shrivenham. 

The dining room - we are hoping that the good weather
will continue so that we can eat outside!

Our spare bedroom - fortunately we are not anticipating
guests in the next 4 weeks.

However, we made a plan and surprisingly, despite a few moments of concern, by Thursday afternoon everything was stored somewhere.  A big thank you must go to both the removal team who were brilliant, and my in-laws, Nick and Sue, who turned up and just got on with whatever needed doing (including supplying a fantastic picnic lunch).  Even Charley and Isabella paid us a short visit - just in time to witness an overhead display by the Red Arrows (who were "too loud" according to Bella!).  Sadly I think they were not actually there to welcome us in, but were probably part of a graduation ceremony or some such at the Defence Academy, but you never know ...

One great team watching another great team - The Red Arrows!

We have now made a list of things to do over the next few weeks - and perhaps inevitably I have been left to get on with it today whilst Ronnie helps Holly to move house herself.  It is quite daunting, not only because of the length of it, but also because it appears to include such tasks as National Optics, Train toilet and Bingo Moo.  In retrospect I fear that it may have been a mistake to allow Ronnie to write it out.  Brilliant though she might be at things military, in fact I often feel that given her handwriting skills she should really have been a doctor, or at least married a cryptologist.  Never mind, I am sure that I will manage to sort it out.  Now, I wonder what she wanted me to train the toilet to do?

FAREWELL TO ST JOHN'S

Today was our last Sunday at St John's in Stafford - our home church for the last 3 years.  It was another very emotional farewell and we were overwhelmed by the messages of love and support that we received from everyone.  Our home group's prayers were well received, and the music group's sung blessing was extremely moving. We are really going to miss all of the friends that we have made at St John's, and we will have to go a long way before we find another church like this (although of course that is just what we are doing, so you never know!). 

After the service the most amazing surprise of all was a truly fantastic cake baked by Cathy our youth and children's worker.  It was made in the shape of a suitcase with all the flags of the places we have been over the years for me, and an army kit bag for Ronnie!  I can honestly say I don't think that I have ever seen a cake as beautifully decorated, and for it to be so personalised for us was unbelievable. Thank you Cathy!

On top of all of that, the actual cake tasted wonderful as well - as many people can testify.  The whole service was a joy, and was made even more special by a rare appearance by Dave from our old home group.  Let's hope that Adrian's sermon on how God speaks to us is the start of his recognising the place that Holy Spirit plays in his life.

This weekend has been a joyful respite from packing, and frustratingly trying to sort out admin details for our move(s) to Africa.  Yesterday we went with Graham and Barbara, friends from church, to watch the 4th day of the England v India Test Match at Trent Bridge.  It was the first time either of us had been to Trent Bridge (a really lovely ground by the way) and it proved to be a brilliant day as not only did the sun shine throughout, we also saw at least two records set.  To be able to say that 'I was there' when Root and Anderson scored the highest ever 10th wicket partnership in a test match, and when Jimmy Anderson scored 81 to become the highest scoring number 11 in an England test innings is something special indeed.  (I apologise to non-cricket fans, but all I can say is - get into cricket!).

So, this week will see our last few days in Stafford, which will mark the end of an era for both of us in many ways. However, it will also see our new adventure really begin to take off. Watch this space ...

IT'S HARD WORK THIS MOVING LARK

It has been a long week so far, and today has been particularly exhausting - I do feel that I have earned a wee dram before settling down for the night.   Having driven down to Shrivenham and back yesterday to take over the new quarter (which is tiny compared to the grand house we have been in for the last 3 years and I am not convinced that everything will fit in, even if it is left in the packer's boxes) I was already tired before I made the foolish decision to get up early this morning and do some exercise.  I thought an early run would avoid the heat of the day and would also ensure that I didn't lose the enthusiasm that I had managed to muster to do it at all.  Well, all that was probably true, however, unfortunately it left me feeling worn out before the day had really begun.  After my shower I felt that I had earned a proper breakfast so decided to take all the rubbish that I had collected during the sort out of the house during the week down to the dump, and then to have a decent scoff in town.  Sadly, having loaded up the van, when I arrived at the dump I discovered that it doesn't open on Thursdays!  Oh well, breakfast still awaited me - until I parked up and went to get my rucksack with my wallet and my Kindle from the passenger seat, only to discover that I had left them on the kitchen table!  I did eventually get the breakfast I had earned by jogging 6 Km around Stafford at 6:30 in the morning, but not until about 10:30! The rest of the day was then spent 'harrumphing' at England's inability to bowl India out, and cleaning out the 'ute' ready to move out next week.  

Just as well we don't need to put the car in the garage!

The good news is that I have finally managed to get everything ticked off from my list of things to do before Ronnie gets back on Friday night (or at least I will have done when I get to the dump tomorrow morning) - but the house does look like we have been ransacked by a bunch of drunken baboons.  At least I should be able to go to the fourth day of the test at Trent Bridge on Saturday with my conscience clear.

Although this is the time I could do with Chad around to help me unwind, I must admit that today would have been a nightmare with him trying to 'help' with the clearing up and the packing!  In fact we visited him at his new home with the Faulders last Saturday and he seemed particularly well settled.  It was pleasing that he came out to say hello, and clearly knew who we were.  However, the fact that he showed no signs of wishing to leave his palatial surroundings and come back with us when it was time to leave, whilst a comfort, was a little hurtful!  Oh well, he was always a smart cat and he knows when he is well off. Besides, I don't think he fancied the African life - too much much competition from his bigger cousins!

So, I will set off for the dump again tomorrow morning, this time without the burden of an early morning run beforehand, but with a greater confidence of being admitted this time.  Hmm, perhaps I might also manage a coffee in the the Gallery whilst I am there ...

PARTING IS SUCH SWEET SORROW

So today the moment of leaving Smallwood finally arrived.  As I always anticipated it was very emotional leaving a school at which almost every moment has been fun, and where the children have been such a pleasure to teach, the parents so positive and encouraging, and my colleagues such an inspiring and supportive group of friends. However, the floods of Year 6 tears that almost swept away their final Eucharist this morning did not help - if any of you are reading this, thanks a bunch, you didn't help me stay composed!  In the end think I just about managed to get away with my decorum intact.

This week has not been a roller-coaster.  I am sorry if I am supposed to say that it has been, but it really hasn't; there have been very few, if any, lows, just a series of highs!  A few that stand out must be:-

• Our Year 4 assembly on Wednesday which featured Dorothy the goat (what a star).
• Jayne Lea's and Kathy Emmerson-Friend's generous words of farewell yesterday and today.
• Being mobbed by Year 6 shortly before they got into their limos to depart.

I have posted a photo of Dorothy, but the other moments I'm afraid I failed to capture.

Sadly, now the real work begins.  I have to knuckle down to packing up the house, and also to chase up a few details about the move to Kampala, most particularly those things that are out of my hands and are being dealt with by the school on my behalf - minor details like dates of departure, flights, accommodation, health insurance etc etc.  I am never particularly good when having to rely on others to do things for me, but it is proving to be even worse when everything is being arranged several thousand miles away.  Ah well, it is all good practice for 'the African way' I suspect!

I will try to blog at least weekly but will check for posts from readers daily, so do feel free to let me know what you are all up to - just remember that whatever you post can be read by everyone, children and adults!  Of course if there is anything that I feel should not have such a broad readership then I can always remove it!

Finally, I would just like to say thank you to all the children, parents and staff who kindly gave me such wonderful presents today.  Where possible, I will write or email to say thank you personally, but I fear that many of you may have to make do with just this 'blog thank you'!