Having received as a present from RC’s parents a year membership to the zoo I was obviously very keen to set off in the direction of animals, in particular the baby hippo. Once we arrived I was surprised to find out that it seems the animals of Blijdorp Zoo have been pretty busy…apart from the baby hippo there were also two baby lions, a baby turtle and a baby giraffe…which of course we had to see each one. It was a brilliant day and I have attached some photos for your enjoyment.

Hope you enjoy…

Cloggie In Training

With Play Areas Like This I Can See How Holland Came No.1 in the UNICEF Report for the Best Place to be a Child
The Baby Lions Playing
The Flamingo’s – Have You Ever Watched a Flock of Flamingo’s? They Are Hilarious!
Baby Anton and His Mother

Last week on Wednesday I flew back to London, courtesy of my old employers, to help and recruit my replacement and an additional worker. It was strange departing from Rotterdam airport knowing that I would be returning in only a few days and that once in London I was without a car and a home and left to the mercy of SF.

The flight itself was uneventful minus the the Canadian child who screamed his lungs out when he spilled apple juice all over himself. I got off the airplane and passport control pretty quickly and plotted myself at the baggage return where I began the process of turning on my various mobile phones trying to remember the correct code for each. This meant that when my suitcase did come out I didn’t notice it until it was halfway around the conveyor belt. Thinking that it would be quicker to wait for it to go around again I patiently waited, grabbed it as it came round again and started walking towards the exit all to be stopped by a customs official.

Customs: Could you just come with me please miss.

Me: Yes, sure.

Customs: Where are you coming from today.

Me: Netherlands

Customs: Where do you live?

Me: Well Netherlands, I just moved there on Sunday. My old work has flown me back to help conduct interviews.

Customs: Can I see your passport please, what job are you going to be interviewed for?

Me: Umm, I am part of the interview panel…work paid for me to fly back and be part of the panel.

Customs: Oh, I see…how long are you staying?

Me: I return Saturday morning.

Customs: Can I see your ticket please?

Me: (Handing ticket over)

Customs: Ok, you are here 3 days…did you buy this ticket yourself.

Me: (Nearly ready to kill him by this point) No my work paid for me to fly back.

Customs: You’ll need to open that (pointing to my carry on luggage).

Me: (putting my luggage on the desk) Would you like me to open it now?

Customs: (speaking very slowly) Just wait a minute.

At this point the Customs officer finished looking at my suitcases and just buggered off! Finally I managed to depart from the customs area and went into the terminal expecting to see the gleaming smile of SF, however that was not to be the case as ‘the TomTom took me to Tower Bridge’. SF hasn’t had her TomTom (sat nav) for very long and on all three or four occasions she has used it I believe she has managed to get lost. She did finally arrive and I was forced to enter London City Airport into the sat nav to show how it would also take me to Tower Bridge…so I did and the directions took me to…London City Airport.

The two and a half days in London went by pretty quick with meeting people for lunch, interviewing and hanging out with SF in the evenings. While I enjoyed my time I was at a bit of a loss to not be able to jump straight into my car and I was missing my new bike terribly. Flying back was much less traumatic with no customs visits and RC was waiting at the airport to collect me.

Back to unpacking…

Cloggie In Training

In Holland you have five days to register that you are planning to stay there so this was obviously one of the first stops we had to make after returning the van. City Hall in Rotterdam is beautiful and after filling out a four page form at break neck speed I waited for my number to be called. After showing my papers to a not perticularly jovial Dutch guy I was half registered. Yes only half as I need some documents from the USA all of which have to have an apositl on them. Don’t ask me why or what that it is but it has to be done and I have three months to do it. In the meantime I have to wait two weeks and my registration papers will be sent through to me…as with all governments you just pay your money and wait and wait and sometimes pay a bit more money.

Next stop the postbank, where an account for me was sorted out…in 15 days I should have the card and details.

Then we headed to Keiserswaard (no doubt my spelling is wrong) and got a mobile phone and a dutch number. Not that anyone is calling me yet on it but it is super cool! Did some grocery shopping and headed home to unpack some boxes and make a trip to the recycling boxes (about 2 mins walk away). The weather has been beautiful and the flowers have come out in full bloom. Once I have unpacked my camera I plan to take some pictures and upload them.

Off to unpack another box…

Cloggie In Training

The Big Event

Saturday
The morning started by arriving at the house to move some items that were too heavy for little ol‘ me to lift by myself. As we were slightly early we loaded my car and headed over to the storage space where the van was parked. Just as we began unloading the car SF rang to say she was sitting in front of my house reading the newspaper. So we rushed back and packed her car and mine. Just in the nick of time my dad arrived, working on about three hours sleep and we packed some stuff in his car as well. Like a small caravan we all drove over to the storage space and unloaded the cars before heading off for a much needed Costa coffee. Now why not just bring the van to the house…I’m sure you are asking…well this would be because of the big a$$ road closure near the house. Bromley council like all councils in the area are in a mad rush to spend the rest of their budget before the end of the financial year and thus road closures are everywhere. This left only three other routes, all of which too small to get a van down, open to get to my house. We then finished our drinks and headed to the house for the last load (apart from the cats). Packing the van was relatively easy, done pretty quickly and everything fit – in fact I probably could have fit another whole house in that van. I said goodbye to storage space N32 and off we went to collect the cats. After a brief farewell to SF we headed up to the hotel near Harwich. After unpacking and settling the cats we headed over to Little Chef where we got some dinner. Due to the lack of staff this took ages but at least the food was relatively decent. My Dad then said his farewell and set off for home (which was about 20 minutes away) and that’s when it finally hit me. I think it was a combination of being bored, tired and the big packing day being over that made me realise I was now officially on my way. Luckily there was a good film on TV to watch and early night was in order due to the 4am start.

Sunday
An early start of catching the cats and loading the cars, then off to the port. We arrived early so had to wait a bit for check-in. I got a special green tag to show that I had animals in the car and got to stay in lane 31. However no-one seemed keen to look at the pet passports which I had forked out about £200 each for. Onboard the ship were supposed to be pet kennels. Ages back when we made the booking for the crossing we asked about booking two kennels. There was only one available we were told and no the two animals could not be put in the same one, one would have to remain in the car. As Amelia is smaller than Anya it was decided she would stay in the car because then I could at least set-up a small make-shift litter tray within the cage. So whilst sitting in lane 31 I set about to re-arranging her cage. Then the StenaLine lady waved me forward. I was to follow the mini-van that was about to appear towards the boat. Suddenly after lots of walky talky secret talk I was ousted from the leader position by a car that had someone who required a wheelchair. I quickly asked the lady about the kennel and she said when I got on they would show me where to go for it and then proceeded to tell me how there were four dogs and two cats (that was Anya and Amelia) on board and one of the dogs had just come back from Crufts with some awards. And then the mini-van was off, at 40 mph we drove like race cars across the roads in squiggly lines where we should have been going 20 and screeched to a halt as the lorries were allowed to load first. As the car in front of me approached the boat there were no staff around to indicate where we should go so the car headed off towards the now loaded lorries. Suddenly out came two men running towards the cars and waving their hands. Indicating we had to go back and go up the ramp one man was telling us to reverse, the other telling us to make a small circle and go up. I chose the small circle route which had Mr. Reverse Man waving and shouting at me. I made it upstairs to a parking spot and RC walked over from the van. Eventually spotting a member of staff I enquired about the kennels.

Staff: You can leave the cat in the car.

Me: Yes I know and one is staying but I have booked a kennel for this cat.

Staff: No, they can both stay in the car.

Me: No they can’t because I have packed this cat as if she is going in a kennel, look the cage is too small for a 6 1/2 hour trip.

Staff: Okay, fine.

We then set off on a huge trip throughout the ship with him talking about the boat being new and half a dozen other things I couldn’t understand. We then arrived at what was supposed to be the kennels. Two kennel like cages on top of each other on wheels in the middle of where cars would have been parked and very near to the closing ramp…full beeping noises included. On auto-pilot I stuck Anya inside and began to walk away very unhappy. I turned round and glanced at her and saw how awful and scary it was for her and shouted at the staff member that I was going back to get her and she could stay in the car. I ran back grabbed her and her stuff and took her back to the car. I placed her in the cage with Amelia, removing the make-shift litter tray and decided even if they went to the toilet everywhere it would be better then that horrible cage in the middle of nowhere (complaint to StenaLine in progress!). The cabins onboard were very nice and breakfast and lunch were provided free due to the change in departure time. I slept well for a little bit but my sleep was disrupted several times by the shouting mother in the room next door. Eventually the ship docked and we went to our cars where both cats while extremely pissed off were okay. Through passport control (again no-one wishing to look at the pet passports) and into the car park as I waited for RC and the van. I then followed him to the house which was uneventful apart from the massive rock which hit my windscreen causing five small marks, which will have to be looked at later. Later several people came to unload the van which went super quick and not once did I feel like people were wondering why I had brought so much stuff. A beautifully packed van by my Dad no doubt helped as well (grin). That evening we got a take-away and then I fell asleep pretty early exhausted by the day’s events.

And now it begins…

Cloggie In Training

Well, I made it. Apologies for the lateness in providing an update but all waking minutes have been filled with things to do. So here we go…

The Run Up

Wednesday
Wednesday was my last day with my two fantastic students so we updated each other on things, had last minute questions and then headed off to Nando’s for a farewell lunch. It was very yummy and great to spend time with them. Wednesday night was spent in an alcohol induced haze after consuming several varieties of TGI Friday’s ultimate cocktails with SF (well it was me consuming and SF driving).

Thursday
The morning was spent packing away last minute items at work and clearing off documents on the work computer that were mine and work documents off my computer that were works. My manager arrived at one-ish and we had a final handover before heading back to the main office for some food and farewells. I got loads of book vouchers as a leaving gift so headed off to the bookshop after my last farewell to spend, spend, spend. I don’t know how many people have had the opportunity to just spend £100 in one go on books but it is a brilliant feeling and took me around one hour to do. That evening I did very little packing and instead sat around talking to people online and going ‘wow, I can’t believe its this weekend I go’.

Friday
As predicted this was pack, pack, pack day. I had till five to pack and then I had to head up to Harwich to pick up RC and ‘the van’. Early Friday morning I had been informed that ‘the van’ was huge…no gigantic even and that it would definitely fit all my stuff. We had been given a bigger van than displayed on the booking form as you only get to choose the group of van and ours was considerably bigger. I managed to drive up to Harwich in record time with no traffic or accidents along the way. However this left me sitting in the car park for ages as I was early and the boat was late. Finally, RC arrived with ‘the van’ which was indeed HUGE…I believe it was bigger than my front room (length wise). RC was amazing driving the huge monster and made no mistakes at all.

Off to unpack another box…

Cloggie In Training

Okay, I was wrong….very, very, very wrong. This week is not going to go by slow. It is already Tuesday night and I am running round like a headless chicken already. Work is busy, saying goodbye to people is busy, washing clothes is busy, packing things up is busy and the hours are just flying by….and now of all things we have lost two hours!!

RC sent a message today to say that the ferry which was due to depart on Sunday at 9am is now leaving at 7am. Why? Maintenance work or something. So now not only do we get little sleep, have to catch two grumpy cats and make it to the port but we have to do so 2 hours earlier than planned!!

The good news however is that I saw the van we have rented. And not just once but twice…once on the way to work and once on the way back. It looks large…yes…will it hold all my stuff…still not sure.

Well off to do one of the thousand and one things I have left to do…

Cloggie In Training

Assignment Two was submitted today. Anya got her pet passport this morning and once again things remain on schedule. This afternoon I am off to have my haircut (don’t fancy attempting to do that my first few months in Holland) and to spend all my reward points, vouchers and discounts for the last time at Bluewater (a big shopping centre). This will be my last trip to Bluewater as far as I can see it so while excited I am also a bit sad…its nice knowing where to go when you want something.

I’m hoping this week will go superfast but am sure it will be just like your last week in school where you try every tactic to make it seem quicker.

Well off to gather up my things…

Cloggie In Training