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a read if you have 5 minutes and potentially save yourself some serious angst phuket was a great base for a week we did an island hopping tour by speedboat that took in the main sights and we all enjoyed snorkelling in crystal clear water we got stung by jellyfish but even that didn t dampen our spirits everything about thailand made us happy the climate friendly people the ice cold beer and the delicious cheap food oh and the massages 6 for an hour long foot leg massage i ve never thought i could ever live anywhere outside of london until i went here we stayed at the movenpick resort in karon beach and had a family suite which was a standalone building made up of two enormous double rooms adjoined with a living area and another bunk bedroom surplus to our requirements the outside area was big enough for 10 people and we had four showers to choose from two indoor and two outdoor the hotel spa was a 30 second stroll away and we had the choice of going to the crazy wild street out the back for cheap and cheerful massages food and nightlife or out the front for the more picturesque and touristy stretch it s the best family holiday we ve ever had i m counting down to the next time we can afford to go to thailand again it s hard to top posted by kaybar007 at 3 09 pm 3 comments labels thailand travel saturday 28 december 2013 christmas 2013 in new zealand it had been four years since we d been back to new zealand so december 2013 was designated the time to go christmas holidays aren t ideal in the uk the schools are only shut for 2 weeks vs 6 or so in new zealand and we didn t want to spend 5 800 on flights for a two week stint in the end we went for 3 weeks and got fined for taking the girls out of school for the extra time the fine was 120 per child but in my view that last week of school is spent cleaning up the classroom and watching dvds so the benefit from seeing friends and family and experiencing a new culture is worth the grief it s also a lot cheaper to pay the fine than amend the flights in hindsight i wish we d played the health card as one of the grandparents had suffered a heart attack earlier this year as a friend did this with her kids who were out for an entire month an didn t get fined our kids go to different schools but are run by the same council which is the body that issues the fines i d grown up in christchurch which was unrecognisable after the massive earthquake of 2011 it was quite disorientating being in the centre of town and not seeing the skyline i was used to almost three years on and the place still looked empty and desolate there were empty lots carparks where huge buildings used to be and scaffolding and boarded up windows everywhere i can t say i was ever affectionate for this town but i felt emotional walking around it christmas day was spent picnicking next to this river and the girls and their cousins braved the cold water to swim in here quite a contrast from our uk christmases here we are with rob s parents and his brother s family gwen wasn t very happy about having to sit on opa s knee so this photo will haunt her forever at least she enjoyed sitting on her poppa s knee below and hanging with a variety of small animals on his farm which is called mini haven as most of the animals are miniature or teeny meanwhile back in london our house sitters emailed to say that alas the temporary fix on the glass roof hadn t worked as there were some new leaks in the house joy posted by kaybar007 at 12 33 pm 2 comments labels leaks saturday 7 december 2013 temporary fix apparently sunfold systems came around this week and we had a different engineer this time this chap decided that the only place the water could get in was via a couple of screw holes in the vents so his plan was to cover them with a rubber skirt and see if that kept the water out this was a temporary measure with the outcome being that no leaks means it works so he d know what to remedy to make it a permanent fix as we re off for three weeks over christmas we re keeping everything crossed again that the rubber skirt keeps the rain out otherwise we re back to square one photo above of marlo december 2013 posted by kaybar007 at 12 07 pm 2 comments labels leaks sunfold systems monday 25 november 2013 leds tourist tip for london the humble incandescent light bulb started to get phased out in 2009 and ours hadn t quite given up the ghost until now we had a bit of a struggle finding led replacements that worked with the dimmers the first pair to arrive wouldn t dim at all and cast a cold blue tinted light across the kitchen we replaced them with some philips ecoclassics which happily dim and have a warmer yellow glow they also have the added side effect of making our kitchen ceiling look like a light show as per above photo these bulbs last for 2 000 hours so we ll be with them for a while they re economical too currently around 1 99 on amazon and they use 80 less energy than our original incandescent bulbs on a side note went up to duck waffle in heron tower for an early dinner missed the sunset but had the most breathtaking view of london regardless this shot is from the toilet so you can imagine how spectacular it is walking around the space the restaurant is open 24 hours and there s lots to try on the menu if you live in london and you haven t been yet get a date in asap if you re coming to london make a booking and enjoy at least one meal or a cocktail up here we took the girls up but check what time kids are welcome usually it s ok before 7pm in most places posted by kaybar007 at 8 30 pm 2 comments labels lights restaurant monday 11 november 2013 sunfold leaks continue the wet splodge on the sofa is from the leak we seem to go for weeks with no sign of a leak then out of the blue drip drip drip it doesn t even have to be raining i imagine the insides of the metal frames are slowly filling up and then spilling when they eventually get full i have no idea if this is why but then neither do sunfold by the looks of it on the upside at least we re here and can put down towels saucepans etc and attempt to contain the water hate to think how much damage would have been caused if we d gone on holiday without leaving out our collection of drip trays in other news we were very excited about the alexandra palace back with a bang fireworks display a group of us met in the afternoon with the intention of hanging out in the beer hall for a couple of hours before the fireworks started the old saying about not being able to organise a piss up in a brewery springs to mind the queues to get in to the beer hall then wait to get served were an hour each time we gave up which is just as well as the beer ran out and yet there was still hours before the fireworks kicked off after huddling around outside and drinking surprisingly not cold beer from another vendor and queuing for some mediocre food we gave up i watched the fireworks display on youtube and thought meh was far happier in front of my pal s open fire while the kids drank hot chocolate in the next room the security team had a difficult time controlling the large and annoyed crowd and the whole event was farcical hopefully victoria park will resurrect the fireworks display in 2014 posted by kaybar007 at 8 31 pm 1 comments labels leaks sunfold systems wednesday 16 october 2013 mid century modern show in haggerston if you re a fan of mid century design and you haven t had an excuse to visit haggerston high school in east london then make sure you keep an eye out for the next modern shows event here october 12th 2014 fyi i ve lived in the area for 14 years and am ashamed to admit this was my first visit to the erno goldfinger designed building the show itself was worth a look but because it was hosted in this iconic space made it all the more jaw dropping the kids who attend this school probably don t have a clue how lucky they are to be surrounded by such beautiful architecture we loved the design of the school so much we put it on the list of six shortlisted for marlo s high school without really looking at its academic success as it happens she got into mossbourne academy the victoria park branch will update once i ve seen their building when it opens in september 2014 we didn t buy any furniture though if we had the space i would ve loved this table for games nights imagine poker and whiskies around this beauty the hog roast sandwich was pretty spectacular at the end of the show located in the school s playground very likely to attend the 2014 show on the strength of the building and the sandwich posted by kaybar007 at 8 03 pm 1 comments labels furniture mid century monday 14 october 2013 a dual passport holder at last 7 or 8 years ago i was eligible to apply for british citizenship having held the indefinite leave to remain status for the required time period at the time the cost was a few hundred pounds so i put it off this year i decided to finally get on with it this meant studying and passing the life in the uk test attending a surprisingly emotional citizenship ceremony to swear allegiance to the queen and get interrogated by someone at the passport office i did these things in order to finally receive my british passport all up it cost me around 1 000 the difference of 600 700 is what you could call procrastination tax the passport office chap asked why i wanted a british passport and i d replied because the queues are shorter in hindsight i think i should have said something more ingratiating but it didn t matter because i received my passport a few days later photo above is from our first trip to ibiza in august which was the last time i flew to europe on my new zealand passport the light is natural and we loved it there definitely going back posted by kaybar007 at 8 35 pm 1 comments saturday 28 september 2013 shut the front door so here s the door from the outside looking in the glass has enough of a texture that it allows in plenty of light but you can t make out what s going when you peer through it nice to have the furniture where we wanted it though i regret not getting the door knocker that came with the door bell is stuck on with double sided sellotape but hey ho it seems to work ok the door is sealed in properly so there s no draft update our heating bill dropped by about 30 40 a month since getting this door installed also in previous winters we d need a little fan heater to warm up the room quicker as the radiators didn t seem up to the job this year we ve retired the fan heater to the attic posted by kaybar007 at 3 19 pm 1 comments labels door monday 2 september 2013 new front door earlier this year i blogged about getting a quote from the anglian home door company long story short it was the sort of sales technique that makes my skin crawl the opposite of that experience was dealing with the aptly named composite door shop you could fill out a virtual door designer stating all your preferences for a bespoke service and even with the addition of a letterbox that anglian couldn t manage and swapping the location of the handle around again anglian weren t sure about doing this we got the door exactly as we wanted it for 1 000 our builders installed it in less than a day i ll update with a picture of the outside of it when i remember to take a snap fyi it s navy blue with silver furniture here are a couple of shots taken early evening showing how much light comes through now the glass is opaque enough to let the light in but not enough to see any detail on the other side when i have my face up to the glass i can just make out colours but no shapes the door itself has multi point locking mechanism and if looked after should last for more than 30 years posted by kaybar007 at 7 10 pm 8 comments labels door tuesday 13 august 2013 camp bestival 2013 i go to a lot of festivals last summer i clocked up five or six and so far this year i ve been more fussy and only made it to three not counting the five depeche mode gigs i ve been to around europe camp bestival is the one festival that we as a family enjoy going to it was our third year pictured above team moroder we used to be regulars at the big chill but after four years of doing that with very young kids we thought we d try camp bestival and now unfortunately the big chill is no more we always go with good friends and have figured out the best strategy for getting the best spot stay at a b b the night before in the immediate vicinity and pre book a festaxi pictured at bottom to move all your gear from car to camping spot in around 15 minutes camp bestival for us is a long weekend holiday with great music good friends reliable food and a way to stimulate the kids while doing stuff we actually enjoy so it s with some trepidation that i have to say we ll probably be giving camp bestival a miss in 2014 there were some great aspects to our trip this year again our friends and the primo spot we got which was a 20 second stroll from the sauna and hot showers of the soul park area and for 20 we had unlimited access all weekend but there were two issues that were really irritating firstly the line up was generally pretty dire the djs outshone the live acts with the exception of the cuban brothers the highlight by a long shot was the nextmen who did two sets in quick succession double the fun as an aside we were looking forward to seeing horrible histories pictured above but couldn t see a thing as so many people were standing despite it being a play performance rather than a band it took 25 minutes before the tv screens politely asked people to sit down which caused an almighty cheer from the 9 000 people who couldn t see up til that point i had high hopes for grandmaster flash but his set was no better than the sort you d hear at a bad suburban nightclub chorus after chorus of hits and yabbering about putting your hands up if you know this one soulless with no depth the headliners were poor the levellers richard hawley kid creole and nik kershaw these names work at rewind but not for camp bestival and the sunday night headliner labrinth not exactly in the same league as primal scream or the happy mondays who headlined the previous two years i was particularly disappointed by nik kershaw who i first saw live as a teenager in new zealand in the years that have passed he hasn t developed how to do good banter with his audience fortunately some of those who d pitched up to see him were fast asleep so they wouldn t have heard his witless song introductions annoyingly we were actually excited about seeing craig charles do his funk soul set as per his show on bbb s 6music but he was a no show turns out he d tried driving across south london and couldn t get very far due to the ridelondon cycling event amazingly he was unaware of this despite the rest of london being up to speed and for some reason was unable to get on a train to wareham in time shows a lack of initiative really the second issue was the portaloos we know loos and festi...