new job

The first few weeks of being back felt like a holiday and we were able to enjoy catching up with friends and family and the nice things about life here. Now that we're back to school and both of us working real life is beginning to start. 

I began work for a small museum design and consultancy company based just outside Chester. I am working three days a week which is enough to feel like I can achieve something while still have time to hang out with our youngest (whose not at school yet). We certainly appreciate the more leisurely start to the day the two mornings that I'm not working. The link below shows the news page for my new job & shows me at work! (my mum's comment on this photo will prob be "shoulders back"). 

http://www.headlanddesign.co.uk/pages/news 

Living in our wee cottage again is lovely and it feels ok size wise, except that we have limited space for visitors, we hope to squeeze a futon in somewhere! I'm enjoying having the run of the house, without staff to organise or worry about. The girls love having bunk beds and all their toys in their room. In fact most of their toys have only just arrived, our boxes got delayed coming from Malawi. The boxes left Blantyre before we did but apparently sat at the airport in London for a few weeks while we were chasing around trying to find someone who knew where they were. There wasn't much left of some of the boxes, they had been so badly bashed they were held together with plastic wrapping! 

same but different

Life back in our house is the same but different. The nursery where the girls went when they were babies is just as lovely with lots of the same staff who remember them. The house is full of different furniture but the kitchen is the same and I have even put things back in the cupboards they were in before.  I understand that wear and tear is to be expected when our house was rented out for 3 years but it doesn't stop me bemoaning the damage to the following – wood burning stove, vacuum cleaner, fridge and boiler. The floods, which happened during our first winter away, mean that there was quite a bit of re-decoration and some bubbly plaster! 

New school for our biggest girl, she started today and enjoyed being the main topic of conversation in the Reception class. New job for me, which will start the week after next, I have worked for the company before as a freelancer so it won't be too different but it might be a strange being based in an office. 

I have lovely (old) friends and it's fun making coffee dates to catch up. There are new shops which has made the essential purchases easier to get and moving stairs, deliveries that arrive and well stocked shelves have not lost their novelty (yet). We're also excited about the well supplied petrol stations!