Winter

Winter has definely set in for the southern region of England. It's -10C this morning, roads have been closed, airports closed and reopened, travel disrupted for many people. I'm glad to be home. We had an early Christmas with family in Norway and had plenty of cold temperatures and lots of snow, now they have more. But we were lucky enough to get there and back without too many delays.

This has been an exciting year with visitors, it started with a weeks visit from our son and the grandchildren in May. Which came after we finished our extension, so now we have more room and an extra all important bathroom. Followed by my wife's sister and brother-in-law, whom are retired now, who stayed with us for a month. We traveled to Spain for a week and Wales for a week. So the time flew by, as we were always busy. We look forward to our adventures with them next year.

This was followed by a visit from my sister and brother-in-law who stayed a week of their european vacation. They also visited Paris and Ireland. Hope they have the travel bug now like we have and will come to visit us again soon.

It's been some time now since I've blogged, but a lot of things have happened since my last blog. Most significate being, We now have permanent resident status in the U.K. We've traveled to Norway a couple of times this year, how the time flys. We've put an extension on our house and I've doubled the size of the conservatory. Plus, always a treat for us, the annual visit from our son and grandchildren, they left mom at home this year to study and work, her decision.

We're down to the wire on finishing before company arrives again from the states for their annual visit. We're going to Spain with them and a secret place we haven't told them about yet, so I won't mention it here.

We started our project in April, so we're not doing too bad, but would definately like to get it finished, over, and done with. We have to get ready for full retirement. Brenda's division has been sold and we're not sure what that means for us, as of yet. Should know by the end of the year, so they say.

It's June now and we've had that extension built and moved in. Now we're looking to extend our conservatory across the back of the house to meet up with the new extension. We took a weekend off to go exploring to Land's End. As the name suggests, it is at the end of land and the most westerly tip of England at the very tip of Cornwall. We had a lovely B&B outside Truro and explored from there. The Cathedral was having a concert so we didn't get to see that, but everything else we wonderful.
We also explored St. Micheals Mount which was a place we've always wanted to see. Then Plymouth on the way home which is just over the border in Devon. What an exciting time we had. We took the harbour cruise in Plymouth, seen where the Pilgrims left from, or nearly, now it's the ladies loo of the pub Admiral McBride because the pier has been built out farther. We found a pub of course to have a nice meal.

New Status

A lot has happened these past several months, mainly my wife and I have permanent resident status in the U.K. now. This means all kinds of things for us, mainly that our staying in England no longer depends on our employment status. This is important since we are close to retirement. Now we can see family in Norway whenever we're invited without the fear 'we may have to move back to the U.S. of A.' Which by all accounts is not a bad option, unless you're trying to stay in the U.K. Jobs are not to be taken for granted, but we are happy to not have to depend on that option.

Now, on to happier things, we were happy to get back to Norway to see family again. My, how they've grown and matured since we last seen them. Thank goodness for web-cams so we can stay in touch. But on a different note, we off to see other family in the U.S.A. We are somewhat overdue them a visit. We have been busy seeing Europe instead. We look forward to going to the states for a visit, but now consider ourselves at home in England. After all, someone said 'home is where you hang your hat'. We've made a home in England.

Speaking of homes, since we got permanent status, my wife has seen that as time to redecorate the entire house and buy new furniture. So, I have been busy wallpapering and painting. We've also been talking to builders and architects about an extension. We really do need an extra room and bathroom. We look forward to their completion. Then, just maybe, I can get a big screen TV.