Getting Straight(er)

When we went to bible college in '99 followed by Zimbabwe we had to make some pretty hard choices about what books and stuff we'd take with us and what would be packed and put into storage. At the time we had no thought about the length of time our stuff would be in storage or where we would be when we finally unpacked it all. Well here we are 10 years later with most of it unpacked in South Africa. Who would have guessed that the 'where & when' of unpacking it all would be South Africa ten years on? Not us that's for sure!

Freight Arrived!

Hallelujah! Our freight was delivered this afternoon. Apparently it cleared customs very easily which is a great answer to prayer. We weren't expecting problems but you never know with customs.

The delivery guy was really helpful and thankfully Michael was already with me at the house so he too got stuck in with the unloading. Even the boys had a go at carrying some of the lighter boxes.

Freight

Hooray! The UPS man found me at home today so we finally got the paperwork for our freight, which means we're much clearer about where the freight is right now and when we're likely to receive it.

Presently it's wending its merry way South aboard the MSC Sophie somewhere off the coast of Portugal.

Documentation

Just had a call from UPS to say the documentation for our freight has arrived so they'll deliver it tomorrow. It should give us a clearer idea of when the consignment should arrive.

Brilliant!

Freight

I heard from our freight company today that our shipping consignment has been packed on to two pallets, weighs 800Kgs & measures a little under 3.8 M³. 

It has been shrink wrapped in plastic prior to shipping from Southampton on the 9th of this month, and the estimated arrival date in Cape Town is the 30th so hopefully we'll have it by the end of the first week of December.

Farewell Freight!

Much to my relief our freight was collected at 10.30 this morning by a very cheerful chap from the shipping company. I had estimated that the freight was 4 cubic metres at most and he seemed to agree which is a bit of a relief as it all fitted into his van very easily. I think he was grateful for the extra help in loading up too.

I was up 'til 2am putting the finishing touches on the boxes, packing a couple of pictures and then making sure the boxes were all clearly labelled. Then this morning I finally got the packing lists done. In fact the last sheet was printing just as the van rocked up.

When I started this job I really wasn't sure I would get it done in time but now that it's gone I feel it was a worthwhile exercise.

A Big Day Out - For Joel

Joel has had another fun packed day with Grandad, Lesley & Jo. They all went to Bodiam Castle where they had a picnic lunch before taking a steam train ride on the Kent & East Sussex Railway.

Joel had a lot of fun and was exhausted by the end of the day.

Big thanks to Grandad, Lesley & Jo for looking after my boy!

I managed to get a lot done and have now completed the packing and labeling of the 48 boxes and crates. I estimate it to be about 4 cubic metres in total so I'm interested to see what the actual figure is.

Cracking On

The 'to do' pile has shrunk massively today so I'm feeling very encouraged by the progress I've made. Thankfull Joel was looked after by Lesley & Grandad today and it sounds like they had a lot of fun which included going to see Jo (Paula's little sister) at Burrswood.

That meant I was able to crack on with the task in hand and am quite pleased with the results.

The question now is; do I crack on and finish tonight or have a rest and finish it off in the morning? I guess it'll depend on how many ales are to be found in the fridge!

Packing Nightmare

A sense of foreboding and panic is sweeping over me as I begin to fully comprehend the size of the task facing me and the little amount of time left to complete it. I'm about ¼ of the way through the final packing (see below) but as you can see from the pile of boxes that's not really very far.

Fun At Spier

Paula & Eli joined our dear friend Jo today at Spier for some silly fun.

Given that Joel & I were 6000miles away you'll have to rely on the photos to tell the story.

What is abundantly clear is that Eli had a lot of fun which probably means Paula & Jo did too.

Joel had a lovely morning going shopping with Lisa (Paula's older sister) . He was reluctant to go, just as he was yesterday but he warmed up after a few minutes and really enjoyed the precious time with Lisa.

Great Day!

I managed to complete Phase 1 of the shipping in that I've got everything out of the attic and had a cursory inspection and sorting of each box. I've had one testing but ultimately successful trip to the charity shop and the rest of the stuff now awaits its formal unpacking, sorting and repacking ready for freighting to South Africa.

We had a lovely 'Christmas Dinner' with Lisa and the family which was a lot of fun. Joel adores the prawn starter and did quite well with his main meal. I simply adore Lisa's roast potatoes! Thanks Lisa!!!

Good Day Ahead

Today should be a good and productive day. I'll be cracking on with unpacking, sorting and repacking. It's starting to feel a bit relentless but it will be so worth it. This morning I came across loads of photos from the '80s, Oh the shame!

Productive Day

Today's been a great day for Joel & I.

Joel got to spend the day with Sal which he really enjoyed. He adores Sal and really enjoys time on the farm. Also he had real fun chasing around with Josh after he got home from school, as they were shooting each other and causing chaos running around the house.

Exhausted!

I'm exhausted from the flight, a disturbed sleep and some physical labour this afternoon. I can see that Joel's also desperate to get to bed so hopefully he'll be there shortly.

Having been been back less than a day and having had to hit the ground running I'm quite pleased with what I got done today.. I had planned to get all the boxes down from Brian's attic (he's my father-in-law) ready for sorting over then next few days but in the end I only managed to get 2/3 of them down but was able to sort them in terms of freight, charity shop & bin which was far more than I'd expected to achieve.

Surprise!

The cat is out of the bag on our well guarded secret. Joel came to Blighty with me and was in on the plan to surprise Grandad and the rest of the family. Grandad was at the airport and I'd got Joel to stay behind me until the last moment so that he could jump out on Grandad. Now that we're here I think Joel will be thoroughly spoilt and well cared for which is great.

The flight was great and as there were no personal TV screens Joel actually slept quite well. He also ate the food on the plane so he's definitely growing up.