Move Complete - Cats on their BA flight waiting to take off.

Well we have moved out of the house. It was staggering to see how much stuff we still had to move once the furniture was moved out. Pets en Transit came to fetch the boys at 1pm. It was terribly hard to put them in their cages and feed them some water before sending them off. Jinx immediately started hissing at the poor kitty who was already in the van. Sam and I were shattered after they left, but with a lot of work to do, we had to get on it. No boring details, just to say that there are now 8 suitcases in our room at Nat's house, and two very tired guests to go with them. Sam still has a car FULL to the brim with assorted junk/itemsforsale/who knows. She will whittle that down over the next few days. I will be feverishly tracking the cats status as they fly out of OR Tambo just now. We miss them already, but we are also grateful that we are not saying goodbye, only farewell for two weeks.

Some Credits

Before I/We get too involved to remember, I would like to note that the style of the blog, and even the way we may write some of our posts do carry influences of other bloggers out there. We are in no way copying or plagiarizing anyone or their work. Some of my best chirping and layout come from Seth at 2oceansvibe.com and Baglett. Links to their pages on here too. And with that out the way, look out for some updates on the move and the cats soon. Rich

He's a beauty

Ahem, some people just send a simple RSVP when invited to a do. Others a text. And then there is Glenn

Dear Richard and Samantha,

Lord and Lady Inglesby Cartwright are pleased to dutifully accept your kind invitation, having turned down several other more important and enticing engagements on the day.

Kindly make arrangements to accommodate our gleaming Rolls Royce, personal security detail and our butler.

We record that we will not entertain any press interviews or suffer the presence of paparazzi photographers.

Kindly also take note that we have exquisite palates and sensitive stomachs arising from our recent and tedious sojourn in the tropical colonies.

That will unfortunately mean that any home brewed/concocted and non pre-sanctioned ‘sauces/marinades/hidden agendas’ etc. emanating from the dreaded Firmin-Thomas Clan will be totally unacceptable.

While we will (with regret and a fair degree of inconvenience) arrive with appropriate and suitably regal seating, we would appreciate you arranging sufficient space (approx 50 sq. metres should suffice) for our entourage, air conditioning and/or servants with fans, a Wilton wool red carpet (alternatively hand weaved Turkish rugs will suffice) – and of course crystal glasses and an endless supply of spring water ice for our favourite tipple.

It is ignominious enough to have to have our personal staff cater for such beverages in any event.

With regard to your odious and appalling suggestion of bringing ‘costumes’, we regret that we will not be partaking is such childish and frivolous activities under any circumstances. The thought of such scurrilous and close quarter interactions with mere commoners is quite revolting.

Finally, you will need to provide copious quantities of triple-ply white (with little blue doggies) toilet paper in the private facilities that you will be making available for our exclusive use – in order to assist in getting rid of all the BS that we have included in this missive.

We will deliver a short 20 page/200 point check-list for your completion, signature and confirmation prior to the event – to ensure that our simple needs are accommodated.

No doubt our mere presence at your humble gathering will elevate the tone and standing of said event immeasurably and we look forward to engaging some of the more cerebral and pedigreed attendees in scintillating verbal intercourse and our rapier-like wit...

Your Regal Consorts,

Lord & Lady Inglesby Cartwright (aka Lord & Lady Muck)

So ya.....gotta love him!! (oh and he left the party at 2am mumbling something in Swahili and walking in circles)

Breaking News - We are on Facebook

So I have just published our Blog address on Facebook, so our friends and family can follow what we are up to. Great!

Packing is not for Sissies

Pictures of the family farewell are not yet downloaded, so more on that a little later, but save to say that today was a pretty challenging day. Not satisfied with the total challenge of the day, I decided it would be much more fun to do all the packing and moving with a raging hangover and too little sleep. Up early it was at least a blessing that we had chosen paper plates to serve our food on last night, so cleaning up was easy. The day was pretty much what you would expect from there. A minor blip arriving at our storage unit, we started unpacking the trailer one building down from the storage facility, because I mistook the people moving out of the next facility as moving in. Luckily we didn't get too far before sheepishly packing the chairs back onto the trailer and driving one door down.


Sam had a long day packing furiously, sorting out trash and selling everything she could. Given her takings for the day, I think she has a future in sales if she ever chose to give up psychology. Luckily for me the hangover started to dissipate after several thousand hundred kilograms of furniture had been shifted, stored, given away or sold. That and a well earned Steers King Steer burger and chips to help me along. We also went to drop off a pile of goodies at Ipi Tombi Guest House, where Barbara (Sam's mom) works. As we were nearing the guest house I asked Sam if Barbara knew we were bringing a trailer full of bits and pieces. Sam said Barbara knew about the toy box, the rest was a surprise! We had a good laugh, not loud enough to wake up Nhlanhla who was catching flies asleep in the back seat. I have never been to the guest house for one reason or another, so it was good to see that Barbara works at a very nice place, and has a really comfortable cottage of her own to stay in. It is nicely furnished too, or it was before we arrived. Now now it is erm, a bit cramped, due to the arrival of the surprise items from us this afternoon. Still, its a good place to live and we are happy that she is comfortable as we leave the country.

So our final move is tomorrow, only a few things to put in the storage unit, a lot of suitcases to take to Natalie, my sister, where we are staying for a week. The pets travel service is due to collect our babies between 12 and 2pm tomorrow. Schoo, had to take a deep breath after typing that. We will miss them so very much, but we will see them the minute we land, and every weekend after that. Six months is a very long time.

Welcome to our blog!

So here we are, on our third last Friday night, all four of us lying on our bed upstairs. Tigger and Jinx went to the vet today to get their pre-flights done, and it is as if they know something is up, because they are very homely tonight. I guess we should say welcome to our blog. Inspired by an old cycling friend of mine who has documented her new life in Kenya, Sam and I thought this would be a good and fun way to update everyone on what is happening with us, and to share our adventure with us as we move to England. So if you are reading this then you remember that we told you at our farewell (which is tomorrow night of course), that we had started this blog and to come along and visit anytime. If you read this later, it probably means you had too much to drink and forgot, and had to be reminded at a later stage. No matter, enjoy it for what it is, and will be. A journal for our friends and family to share some of our adventures along the way. Love always Sam and Rich