Thursday, 30 January 2003
We had a big day today.* The majority of the day was spent making our car tidy for sale. Having carefully washed the car on Monday, we started out using Polyglaze Bug and Tar Remover on some particularly stubborn spots today. Turned out to be so good we cleaned every square inch of the car with the stuff. Imagine our surprise to discover that our car is actually white, not smog grey! After quite a few hours of meticulous cleaning I have to say it looks amazing. We're thinking about buying it ourselves, actually.
We've had a few nibbles on various items we have for sale, with a (somewhat) more reasonable offer on our lounge suite from some Taiwanese people who first saw it on Sunday. We also showed it to some Egyptian people today, who will ring tomorrow to say if they wish to make an offer. This couple, who are Egyptian Christians, were giving us some tips on how to (not) deal with Muslim terrorists! Either the Egyptians or the Taiwanese people will end up with the lounge suite I guess. We've also had a fairly low offer on the washing machine (from some Chinese people!), so it's just the un-sold fridge and the car that are feeling completely unloved. The car is clearly just too demanding considering the attention it's had today. Meanwhile, although most member states of the UN have sent representatives to look at our stuff, we're yet to see anyone from the South Pacific!
Considering the importance of the news, I really shouldn't have left it to the third paragraph to say that not just one, but two British High Commission staff rang this afternoon to tell us first that the visa had been issued and was going to be printed, and then later that the passports were ready and could be picked up! Excellent news, thus overcoming the final major hurdle to departure (despite my stressing about selling stuff). So it is now official: we fly out on Friday the 7th. We're hoping the High Commission will let my brother Tim pick up the passports on Monday, to save us an extra trip down before we fly out from Wellington next Friday.
* In-joke for Lauren Downs. : )
Wednesday, 29 January 2003
Driving out the front gate at about 9.30am this morning I reached out the driver's window of the car and grabbed the mail from the letterbox. A UK frank mark on the envelope raised my hopes and not in vain: my work permit had arrived! I shot downtown to settle a couple of things with the travel agent and the medical centre, then we went into a final frenzy to ensure we had everything we needed for the visa application (which we'd carefully prepared last night). Before we left we filled the back seat and boot with packed boxes to drop off at the storage container in Waikanae.
We departed Palmy around 11.20am and arrived at the High Commission in Wellington at 1.15pm; the consular services close at 2pm. After rigorous security we made it into the building and were able to talk to a friendly and helpful visa officer who took all our documents, checked them, and had Bronwyn fill out one further form. We discussed with her our flights which are currently booked for a departure on Friday next week. She gave the official line, "5 to 10 working days to process", with encouraging hints that it might be faster. This is complicated by the fact that Thursday is a public holiday, Waitangi Day. She seemed sympathetic to our cause.
If it seemed like the visa would be processed overnight (as happened to Nick and Hayley) we'd have stayed (with them) in Wellington and picked up the visas tomorrow morning. However there was no guarantee that the visas would be ready tomorrow, and certainly not before 4pm. As we don't have that kind of time to spare we decided to head home and we thus find ourselves back in Palmy again tonight. At this stage the hope is the visa will be ready by the end of tomorrow, in which case we'll make a trip to Wellington on Friday to pick up the passports and documents. In any case, the visa officer undertook to contact us with an update so we'll know whether we've got a green light or whether we need to re-book our flights. Hopefully this will be clear by Friday.
Tuesday, 28 January 2003
An unforeseen side benefit of listing the day of the week at the top of these entries is that it orients me (albeit fairly late in the day usually) to what day it is! I see we've been enjoying a Tuesday, but not as we know it. Or at least, knew it. In some ways, every night feels like a Sunday evening where you have that slightly sinking sensation that tomorrow you'll be going to work... but no! I'm liking that right now. : )
Today we pulled off the unusual feat of un-selling our fridge. The woman who had bought it has pulled out as her husband was unhappy with the purchase decision. She had given a fairly substantial deposit which we decided to return to her. She was a Muslim woman and when she returned to pick up the cash I mentioned that we'd decided to return the cash to her because we felt that was the Christian thing to do. Hope it was seen as a positive bridge-building if not outright evangelistic statement. We certainly weren't wanting to give her a hard time over the decision to pull out of the purchase, since it seemed like she'd had enough of that elsewhere.
We've had a few nibbles on other things, including a fairly low offer on our washing machine; we didn't accept it but have taken a name and phone number. Not feeling desperate yet about selling these things but it will be good when we've moved them. We've done some major organising today of the many packed boxes, stacking them in a 2.2m tall pile up to our kitchen ceiling to help in estimating the total volume. In terms of moving stuff, we booked a 14 cubic metre truck today, which seems about right based on current piling estimates! We move it all to storage on Saturday, down the coast to Waikanae...
We're flying Thai Airlines to London, and they are very reasonably priced. Turns out not quite as reasonably priced as our bank balance thought however, since the travel agent had accidentally transposed digits on the EFT-POS machine and undercharged us by $540! We haven't been paying enough attention to actually have picked up on this one way or the other so no real problem. Tomorrow we settle our debts.
Monday, 27 January 2003
A quick update only, cause it's 10:55pm and I'm munted. We had a productive day, ticking off lots of things from the To Do list: passport photos, new sunglasses for Duncan, bought and installed new hub caps for the car and cleaned it extensively... it looks great now! Did further research to get a more realistic view of the value of the stuff we were selling, and managed to sell Bronwyn's desk and the fridge. We've agreed to deliver both to the separate buyers on Saturday when we have our moving truck.
On that note, went and looked at the moving truck we booked and decided it was far too small. Have cancelled that order and will be going to another firm tomorrow morning who can rent us one that is about 60% bigger. We're a little concerned however that there may not be space in our storage for all our stuff. Time will tell I guess. Still to sell: the now much nicer looking car, the washing machine, and the lounge suite. Tomorrow we get real organised with the stuff that's already packed.
Had dinner with Brendan and Ingrid. Brendan is the youth and young families pastor at St Albans where we attend church, and we've both been closely working with him in different roles over the last years. Had a nice time with them, and have been reminded again that this is the end of an era for us in many ways. We will miss them, and many other things here in Palmerston North, when we leave next week.
Sunday, 26 January 2003
Well, I can now officially say that the study is packed, which is a pretty big thing for a male in my family to be able to say! It was our biggest packing job probably, and I've had to compromise and pack a couple of boxes of un-sorted journal articles, rather than filing them into the filing cabinets. However, since either way they are staying here, it hardly matters.
We have had advertisements in local papers yesterday and today, attempting to sell our fridge, washing machine, dryer, lounge suite, and Bronwyn's desk. Yesterday we sold the dryer, but haven't sold anything else. We're now realising we may have been a bit unrealistic with what we could get for some of the others. I'm going to visit a couple of second-hand agents tomorrow to do some further price scouting.
Tomorrow will also see us working hard to get our car ready for sale, possibly with a view to putting it in the auction here in Palmy this Tuesday night. We'll certainly be taking it in for an appraisal in any case, which will help give us a more realistic idea of current market value. The auctions would take quite a scoop of the value of the car (about $350 of a suspected value of $2000) but at least it will be sold. We'll certainly be taking it to the auction next week if we fail to sell it in the interim. We'll be sad to part with this car, like the other things actually, but it's not worth storing or lending...
Friday, 24 January 2003 Happy Birthday Hayley!
Today was my final day of work at CAFS, having had my final day at ElderHealth on Tuesday. I had heaps of ends to tie up, but basically finished all the things that I wanted to do before I left. It is strange to think I've finished there. Again, like most things associated with this move, it hasn't sunk in. I think I feel like I'm about to head off on a holiday, maybe a slightly longer one like six weeks. It certainly doesn't feel like I'm leaving these jobs, this house, this city for a couple of years or for ever. In many ways we're leaving well; I'd still quite happily work in these places and do these things. However, I'm also ready to move on.
Meanwhile, as I was finishing at work Bronwyn's been going hard doing our preparations. This included today paying the full amount for our tickets. We'll pick them up next week sometime. I've also been printing forms for our tax returns which we plan to file to the date of our departure. Things are complicated as I'm owed 13 months of backpay for a long overdue revision to our contract which was settled at the end of the year. This money is taxable so we can't file a return until that has been paid. It seems likely this'll be after our departure now.
Thursday, 23 January 2003 Happy Birthday Mum!
Received an email tonight to say that my work permit had been received by St George's, the hospital I'll be working for. It's been issued for 60 months! That's right, we'll be able to stay for five years if we wish, without re-applying for a work permit. Considering you only have to stay for four years to get permanent residency, they are obviously quite willing to have us there! They have airmailed this off to me today, so hopefully we'll receive it next Thursday. That'll give us a week for the High Commission to process Bronwyn's visa application, if we're to be able to fly out on the 7th. We reckon it's do-able. : )
Monday, 20 January 2003 Wellington Anniversary Day
Well, the last five days have seen us doing a lot of packing, and getting to the point of making do without some things that we've already packed. It's also been a time of learning about ourselves and our personalities through the pressure of a move. We've discovered that Bronwyn tends to be happy pottering around from task to task, while I am much more focussed on completing whole tasks. The differences in styles mean that Bronwyn's work can appear to me to be increasing chaos rather than reducing it. As we've discussed this, I've seen the house transformed as we've together focussed on completing a number of jobs where Bronwyn had done most of the work already. A long weekend to work on things has helped too. I'm feeling a lot more comfortable now that we're on track for a February 7th departure, paperwork pending.
I've got four days of work left now; my last day at ElderHealth tomorrow, followed by three days at CAFS. I'm fairly well organised to finish, which is good. I'm looking forward to being able to focus solely on departure preparations after Friday. To take a leaf from Hopi Indian philosophy, I can now actually believe our move to the UK may change from simply "coming into being" to one day "having come into being".
To celebrate the wonderful people we know here in Palmerston North, we'll be having a shindig next Friday 31st: an Ambrose 9 Hole Golf Tournament, followed by getting together at the Loaded Hog. We're looking forward to catching up with as many Palmerston friends as can make it. Contact us for more info if you can come to either or both...
Wednesday, 15 January 2003
Schroedinger the cat has been seen, and is alive and well!
To cut to the chase: I have accepted the position offered to me at the Wolfson and Queen Mary's! This has been challenging time for us as we've balanced what seemed at times like conflicting advice and guidance. A couple of late night calls to Australia last night were very helpful in assisting us in sorting out our decision however. It's nice also to now be able to focus on working towards actual departure, now that a work permit application is underway.
All this means that we're back to my point from Saturday, that a February 7th departure may be on the cards still. Amongst everything else, we're in the process of re-considering our itinerary, partly while we follow up a tip that Thai Airlines may have even less leg room than other airlines we could otherwise consider. I'm not one-size-fits-all!
Sunday, 12 January 2003
A brief entry: Suffice it to say, for those who are interested, that things seem murkier, rather than clearer, than yesterday. As noted yesterday, I've been offered a position in Wimbledon. The job itself is great; we're continuing to have queries about whether to be based in London, even though in terms of friends and in some other aspects we'd like to live there. I'm also considering applying for a position that is being advertised in Southampton. Unfortunately, I'll need to give a final answer to the Wimbledon job in the next day or so, whereas applications for any other positions won't even have been considered by then. We're feeling a bit squished at the moment.
Saturday, 11 January 2003
Well, to cut to the chase, the head of the Neuropsychology Department at the Wolfson arranged to ring me last night, at which time he offered me a permanent full time position in their department! The conditions of the offer he outlined are all quite acceptable to me. I'm waiting on an offer in writing, and have yet to give a formal response. However, after much thinking, talking, and praying about this whole situation, I think Bronwyn and I are moving towards accepting the position.
If we do go ahead with this, it's likely that we'll be able to travel on our currently booked dates, which would have us leaving New Zealand on February 7th. The Wolfson are willing to wait until April 1st for me to start there, but no later. We're currently booked to arrive in London on March 28th, which I feel is probably cutting things too fine. I think we'll see if we can re-arrange things to get us there even just a few days earlier.
Trying to determine the best course of action around this shift to London has actually been a difficult and quite stressful time for Bronwyn and me. It has also been an interesting experience, with Psalm 91 being quite significant to us, in addition to other things I'll probably write about in coming days.
Thursday, 9 January 2003
First up, still no news regarding the job in Wimbledon, which is fortunate really because I'm still not sure whether I actually want the position! Both our thinking and the position will most probably have to be resolved over the next couple of days though...
I am actually getting to the point of winding things up at work, and am in the process of working with my replacements at both my jobs, orienting them to the task ahead and beginning to hand some tasks over as well. It's starting to dawn on me that as I get on and finish things, I won't find them replaced by another task! Hopefully this will help to overcome some of the lack of motivation that can set in when you're near the finish line. I'm down to 7 days left at CAFS, and only 3 days left at ElderHealth now. Meanwhile, Bronwyn is in the process tonight of packing up the final things in her old classroom at school, and will be handing the keys over tomorrow.
Concerns regarding the risk of terrorism in London continue to give us pause for thought about our final destination in the UK. The news this week has not lessened that, with what appear to be another group of terrorists arrested in London, only two months after a previous plot was discovered. Our bible reading last night, which happened to be Psalm 91, seemed startlingly relevant though:
Live under the protection of God Most High
and stay in the shadow of God All-Powerful.
Then you will say to the Lord,
"You are my fortress, my place of safety;
your are my God, and I trust you."
The Lord will keep you safe
from secret traps and deadly diseases.
He will spread his wings over you and keep you secure.
His faithfulness is like a shield or a city wall.
You won't need to worry
about dangers at night or arrows during the day.
And you won't fear diseases that strike in the dark
or sudden disaster at noon.
You will not be harmed,
though thousands fall all around you.
And with your own eyes
you will see the punishment of the wicked.
The Lord Most High is your fortress.
Run to him for safety,
and no terrible disasters will strike you or your home.
God will command his angels
to protect you wherever you go.
They will carry you in their arms,
and you won't hurt your feet on the stones.
You will overpower
the strongest lions and the most deadly snakes.
The Lord says, "If you love me and truly know who I am,
I will rescue you and keep you safe.
When you are in trouble, call out to me.
I will answer and be there to protect and honour you.
You will live a long life and see my saving power."
Monday, 6 January 2003
A productive day, travel-plans wise... Today after Bronwyn and I had sketched out our preferred travel route and dates, she went back and visited our travel agent Nicki. Looking at our dates, Nicki was worried there wouldn't be any spaces on flights. However, as she worked through them one by one, we were able to get seats on flights on the exact days we wanted for all legs of the journey, and generally at approximately the time we wanted. Taking a leaf out of Nick and Hayley's book, a full itinerary will be posted eventually. Most challenging leg of the plan will no doubt be the flight from Melbourne to Bangkok: check in 11:15pm in Melbourne, plane takes off at 1:15am, arriving 9 hours 10 minutes later in Bangkok at 6:25am local time... We did specify we wanted to arrive in Bangkok in the morning if possible, but... well... : )
All of this still hinges, however, on getting visas for the UK, which is contingent on a work permit, which requires at least one job. The Wimbledon hospital I've applied to is waiting on a referee's report... I'm hoping this will be sorted soon. Since they are checking references after the interview, I presume they are planning on offering me a position. If I was to get offered this position and accept it, the timing would be tight for processing work permits and visas to allow us to leave for Sydney as planned (nay, booked!) on February 7th. If I don't end up with this job, then who knows... Almost certainly a delayed departure, I would hazard.
Met tonight Andy and Rachel, the brother and sister-in-law of some friends here in Palmy, Mike and Lauren. They are over from London, about to return soon. Nice to have another contact over there, and a vague but possible lead on a music teaching job in the school Andy teaches in. Perhaps a possibility for Bronwyn?
Saturday, 4 January 2003
We have entered into a new mode in our preparations over the last couple of days, shifting from just tidying to behaviours that could legitimately be described as packing. There is a long way to go though, and only five weeks to do everything. It's good Bronwyn has finished work, but I've got another three weeks yet. If we were able to, I think we could make productive use of all our time for the five weeks for both of us!
Since yesterday we've been down in Wellington, visiting friends and last night having the 10th Annual Great Uncle Pete June 31st Tour. A grand tradition... Today Carey and Robyn generously hosted a BBQ where we were able to catch up with a few more Wellington friends we haven't seen for a bit. Departing like this focuses the mind on what friendship is about. Reality incrementally sinks in as we had some further final goodbyes, including a few tears. It will be tough to be so far away from the people we love.
Plan for the week: tickets finally booked, apply for further positions, hope to hear outcome of Wimbledon application, investigate shipping companies for sending our additional gear, continue packing and cleaning the house. Oh, and Duncan will still be working full time!
Wednesday, 1 January 2003 New Year's Day
Had a good long talk this afternoon to my parents in Melbourne, around the issues we're considering about where we'll end up in the UK. It's been a significant issue for Bronwyn and me over recent weeks, but we've been unsure about how to come to some clarity. I think we're finally moving in the direction of some clarity now, which is good.
Tonight we finally got around to renting the DVD of Monsters Inc., the Pixar movie. It was cool! A definite recommend for those who haven't seen it yet. Other than that, rather than waste time being productive today, I've done some fairly major work re-writing the style sheet which underlies this site. It will be interesting to see whether this fixes problems some people have been experiencing with older browsers and other platforms (ie. other than Macintosh, which may only be 5% of computers, but which are certainly the top 5%).
I'll be archiving this blog month by month. December entries can be found here.
