Is There Anybody There ?

I am sure we have totally lost any faithful readers that we had with our shameful lack of posts, but what can I say - apart from "sorry". So here we are again - bright and shiny and ready to start over !

Well how can I update you on all that has happened since the computer has been on the fritz - well I don't think I can. All I can do is give you a quick run down.

Christmas was nice, but quiet and we are looking forward to coming back to the UK next year - Christmas just isn't Christmas when it's 30 degrees outside. It all seems a little pointless ! Still Jacob loved his presents and thank you so much to everyone that took the trouble to send him presents and cards - he was very chuffed indeed with everything.

New year was very quiet indeed. Anyone that knows me, knows that I don't hold with all this new year stuff. Being forced to go out and be jolly is just not my scene. So we just stayed at home and relaxed and it was very nice indeed.

January was very busy we had James' family over (Ma, Pa, Sister, Brother in Law, one niece and one nephew) and a very lovely time was had by one and all. We went to the Desert and stayed in a bedouin camp, we saw camels wandering the sand dunes, we rode some ( some sore bums resulted), and we went Dune bashing in my Kensington school bus and James' Hummer! Mark had a whale of a time abusing my vehicle and I nearly passed out at what the guide was doing in James' car with James, Jacob, Seb and Ernie in it - I was sure it was going to turn over. The height and steepness of the dunes was amazing, and it was frightening to watch the cars go over the top and with the guide at the wheel of James' car some death defying feats were carried out (Becky couldn't watch) such as driving down the dune sideways. What was more worrying was our guides admission that he would have attempted more had the boys not been in the back. But all was well and everyone came away safe and sound and with sand in our socks. That Desert sand is so fine it goes through your shoes and socks and nestles in your toes - very strange. Unfortunately during the Desert trip we managed to get sand in our camera, which meant that it was out of action for much of the visit. Still we are hoping that Margaret and Ernine and Kate and Mark will avail us of their pictures soon and we'll be able to post some.

On the subject of pictures since the pooter crashed we have not been able to re-install Painshop Pro yet, so I'm not able to post any pictures yet - hopefully all will be resolved next week - more on that later.

So what else did we do with the esteemed Smith/Evans party ? We had a belated Christmas lunch on Seefa beach - which was great fun, a picnic lunch with roast potatoes, roasted butternut squash and roasted chicken, followed by christmas pudding with cream and christmas presents - it was a real laugh. We took a lovely trip down to Nizwa, which was very interesting - a very nice fort and facinating souk with lots of dead, very large fish all over the place - still the dates were good and so was the buffet lunch ! We took a couple of trips to the Souk in Muttrah, which was lovely - numerous scarves were bought and hopefully gratefully received by those back in the UK. We went to lots of lovely restaurants and to the ODC (Oman Dive Centre), where there is an excellent beach, more times that I can remember - I haven't done so much sunbathing in years ! Mark got to experience his first taste of scuba diving in our communial swimming pool with James' kit but they both had wetsuits on and they were still cold!

Anyway - hopefully everyone had a lovely time and we are looking forward to more of you coming over as soon as possible - so get saving !

The next thing to happen was that we found out that Muscat Oasis, where we had reserved an apartment was not going to be finished until May - aghhhh - we decided that we didn't want to wait that long and so the search for a new house began. It was hard, and it was disappointing and we saw some real dives that were being rented for far too much money, but finally we found our new pad. It is in North Gubrah and it is lovely. It is newly built and being finished off as we speak. It has three floors and four bedrooms and is much bigger than we needed, but we fell in love with it and you can't beat that. Best of all, it's not all painted white, there is actual colour on the walls in lots of the room - that is a real boon to me ! Anyway we paid our deposit and we move in at the beginning of March. So all our effects from the UK are being delivered on 28 Feb, along with our cooker, our Fridge (a nice big double doored American one) and our washing machine. The new sofas are already in and looking lovely - the curtains are ordered and I cannot wait to get back on my Tempur matress - oh matress of mine how much you have been missed - I love you so, please forgive me any harsh words I may have spoken towards you in the past.

So as of next week, we will have our proper computer back - well that's the theory anyway - the shipping company delivering our stuff here - have informed me that two packages seem to be "missing" although they are sure it's just a numbering error - IT HAD BETTER BE. If our computer or anything important is missing I am going to be gutted - but I'm reserving judgement until it all arrives, then I'll exploed !

So next week is going to be busy, busy, busy. We need to sort out Satellite TV - we can't be without TV any longer the rubbish we have been living with is driving me mad - it was bad enough when it was just Polish, French or Arabic - at least there was one Italian music station that was worth listening to, but now the whole thing has collapsed and nothing is working at all. Anyway we also need to sort out a Broadband connection - which hopefully won't take too long - but we are talking an Omani not too long here - so a week or two might do it ! No really I have no idea how long it's going to take, so we may be off line again for a little while while we get it sorted, but once we are back, it will be for good and we''ll have all the bells and whistles too - hopefully we'll even be able to post pictures too !

Well, that's all from us - we are all well - Jacob is doing excellently, having a fab time at nursery and just enjoying himself - it's so lovely to see him on the beach entertaining himself finding stones - why is it that every other child that goes to the beach wants to find shells, with Jacob it's stones - I have such a collection of them I can't tell you !

Oh and we have had the most amazing weather the last couple of days, thunder storms like I have never seen - yesterday at 2.00pm it was dark enough to be 7.00pm at night and did it rain - I have never heard thunder that doesn't stop - it just kept on going and going and going, then again another storm in the night and rain for most of today - it's rather nice. This morning it was almost drizzle - I said to James that all we needed was radio 2 on in the car and we'd b back in the UK - still the nice thing is you know that once it's all over the sun will be back to full strength and we won't have grey skys and drizzle for weeks to come - sorry everyone, but that's the way it is - wall to wall sun ! Oh poor us.

Well ta ta for now and I will try to make sure that there is not such an enormous gap between posts next time.

See ya !