Frozen!

Hi everyone, well we're freezing our asses off as we have been without heating or hot water for a very long day now. The plumber is at present trying to sort it out. I don't have much faith in him,because yesterday he was meant to merely change a part and next thing he had boken the whole thing and told me it was a bomb waitng to go off. I just could not believe it and my heart sank when I realised he was just going to go off and leave us heatless. I don't know what we'd do if we didn't have a fire. Now I've had no sleep, but I'm feeling OK, maybe I'll get a chance to nap later. I hate being cold. I like watching the flames of the fire as they dance and curl around the coal, it is very hypnotising, even in the daytime, makes you just want to fall asleep. Gerald finally finished painting the living room and I must admit that it looks fabulous now that we have put it all together. Nyo is getting frustrated because she can't come out of her cage at the moment and I am frustrated because I just want this bloke to hurry up and fix it, it's horrible when you can't relax in your own home. I am trying to think powerful , positive thoughts about being warm!

Gerald is a thin stick

Hi everyone, apologies for the silence over the past few days. I was struck down with a migraine and then last night the Internet was mysteriously not working. I think it was sabotaged to prevent me from going on Facebook. On Facebook now , we have virtual pets that require feeding etc and I suppose my time could be better spent doing other things. Look what computers have turned us into! But it's not as if I swan around all day doing frivolous things. Yesterday I painted all the skirting in the living room and I also scraped all the dirt out from the runners on the patio doors, plus cleared out my Mum's room and tried to get some order into the place. Plus the oven is not working properly and Nyo had such a bad turn that I actually thought she was dying in my hands. Gerald is so worn that he has turned into a long, thin stick, and now a month after moving things I reckon we are only 60% of the way to having everything sorted out. I'm sure it will be great once we are finished. We seem to be really busy all the time, but not doing the things that we normally used to do. Adjusting, that's all it is. I am currently waiting for my Mum's bed to be delivered. She send me about 8 parcels a week from Zimbabwe, full of little odds and ends. Instead of being pleased to see all my old stuff, I just think, oh no, not another box! Anyway, hope you are all having a more relaxing time than us!

Help, it's cold!

Wow, it's really cold, apparently tonight it's going to be -5! Better watch out when I'm driving home through the dark forest. Might even see some snow. I though it was a bit nippy when we went up the road earlier, even had to wear gloves, I was horrified to see someone wearing a short sleeved T Shirt, they're tough in the country!
The coldest weekend I ever spent was in York when i went to visit my cousin. She had no central heating in her flat and there was a big gaping hole in the window which we had to cover up with a thick blanket, which didn't stop the cold getting through at all. It snowed like anything, it was a couple of feet deep outside. The first night was fine because we were out clubbing and so wrecked anyway, but the remainder of the time I spent swathed from head to foot in a thick blanket, it wasn't even funny after a while, because it was impossible to get warm. Really put me off going up North in the winter I can tell you. i don't know how anyone can live without central heating, it's beyond me, but people do, they just have those big gas fires. One thing's for sure, Gerald will be building a fire tonight.

The perils of living in Africa

Hi again everyone, I just woke up, slowly getting back into some sort of routine, I suppose it all takes time. Today I am going to go and meet Gerald for lunch because he has an awkward appointment and doesn't have time to come home,then I would not see him until tomorrow. Also there are a few things I need to get which I haven't been able to find here. One of my sisters asked me what on earth we wanted to move out here for, I was a bit surprised, I thought it was obvious, I felt like saying if she actually came to visit us oneday she would find out.
Well it's less than a month now before my Mum gets here and I bet she can't wait. The banks in Zimbabwe are now running out of money, you are only allowed to withdraw a small amount of cash per person and that is barely enough to buy a few groceries. Even though she is leaving , the situation is still getting her down. I suppose she sees all her friends struggling , and the battle to survive has just become too much.
At least Zimbabwe is not as violent as South Africa. Apparently the other day my 65 year old uncle disturbed an armed intruder inside his home, this guy had managed to scale an 8ft wall and even had a wheelbarrow to load up all the booty. My uncle was not strong enough to overpower him and began to scream for help. Fortunately the neighbours came to his assistance and managed to restrain the burglar, but my uncle is in a real state, couldn't stop shaking. He's lucky to be alive I think.
Must get ready now, Nyo and I are enjoying the sunshine today!

Gerald's potential clingmobile

Greetings, it's a beautiful sunny day here and at last the house is getting a bit warmer. I spent the whole afternoon yesterday hanging up curtains, only to find at the end that I didn't have enough hooks anyway, but it does make a big difference to have something covering the windows. The only 2 rooms left to sort out now are my Mum's room and the yoga / therapy room. I have decided that since we have so much space in the house, I am going to start doing Reiki from home again, I might as well use everything that I have and at least I will be helping people. By the way, I can also do distance healing, so if anyone's interested....
So Gerald and I have our little peaks and troughs. He gets tired because he has to travel so much further everyday and then we feel like we never get anything done because we always have to sort out something in the house, but we are getting there.. Good job I don't park my car in the garage either, because the roof has a leak and there is about 2 inches of water in there now. We called up the management company and they were like, oh no, what's happened now?!!
Gerald is looking to buy a car and one of his clients knows of someone who is selling a London taxi really cheap. I want Gerald to buy it as we could turn it into the Clingmobile, you know, spray our logo on the side, and it would be great for carting all our equipment round. Only problem is that we know nothing about cars and don't want another white elephant, or in this case a black elephant. It would be hilarious though to be driven around in it, people would be constantly trying to flag us down !

Still loving it!

Hi everyone, I'm just sitting at the kitchen table waiting for yet another workman to come around, this time for the boiler, it doesn't seem to end. Anyway, isn't it cold in the UK, I thought it was just because we had moved out of town, but everyone is complaining! I must admit that I'm glad we can have a proper fire every night, we need it out here in such a big house.
Did I tell you about where I run these days? I step out of the house and go a little way up the main road, then I turn onto a quiet country road that takes me past all these interesting houses and cottages, then a little way after that there is nothing, I'm just running next to open fields. Shortly after, I actually turn off into the fields and follow a path that runs parallel to the forest, I pass through two huge fields and run up a hill towards a farm. When I reach the farm, I turn back and at the bottom of the hill, I go off into the forest itself and follow a little path through the trees, it is so rejuvenating. It's as if your mind is cleared of all negative rubbish, and I just love the peacefulness and the energy that surrounds me. I just feel so glad to be alive and to be here right now!
Anyway our studio is all set up now and everything is working fine with the Internet again so look out for some creativity that is now being brewed in Hollybush House!

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger

Hi everyone, last night we played at Cafe de Paris, I have been left scarred and mortified by my performance, although for some strange reason the audience seemed to like it. I had to rise like the proverbial phoenix after my throat seized up with dryness on the second song which I had to choke my way through. Did I want to cry or what, especially since some of my friends had made a special effort to get there. I suppose we will laugh about it one day. Gerald says it is just nerves, at least he didn't yell at me. I don't even remember driving home, I was in such a state of shock. Welcome to the world of live performance. I just have to make sure I learn my lessons from this because we do deserve to sound good, we put a lot of effort into this and that's why it's frustrating when it goes pear shaped.
Anyway, we came home and Gerald got the fire going, it's so cold that he has been lighting one every night, it's so relaxing to sit there in the cosy warmth, listening to the wood crackle. Chilled us right out to where we passed out. Went to bed and I awoke in the early hours, remembering every detail of last night, how awful !!

Still here!

Hi there everyone, things are hotting up now for Friday night. Slowly starting to get some order into our lives, although the latest thing is that I have thoroughly messed up my laptop and even though I complain bitterly about it, I need it! I hope that Gerald will be able to sort it out for me,shame he has so many other things to do.
We have a lot of visitors to our new home, lots of birds come because I leave seed out for them and there is a very cheeky squirrel who actually comes up to the patio doors and demands nuts! There's something very therapeutic about looking out the window and just being transported into the peace of the garden. I definitely feel more chilled living out here, even driving into London doesn't seem so stressful.
Still a lot of unpacking to do and things to sort out before the arrival of my mother. So pleased she is coming as this place is so big that I will need her to help me otherwise I will just be bogged down with rancid housework!!

Greetings from Hollybush House

Hi everyone , at last I feel a bit more settled and ready to resume some sort of normality in my life. I love where we're now living, it is like a dream and I am just blown away by everything. In fact the whole experience of moving felt like being catapulted into another universe. We really thought we'd just unpack all our stuff the next day and then everything would just be normal, ha ha. We have had endless unpacking, deliverymen, workmen, DIY, Internet problems, waiting, severe colds and been unable to do any music, but guess what? There's no place I'd rather be at this precise moment because it just feels like home. We have space and a garden at last, complete with a squirrel that comes to the door for nuts. At the bottom of our road is just fields, forest and countryside, and living in a small town like this really feels like being in England, it is just so different from London. You can't even hear any traffic really and at night you can actually see amazing skies full of stars and it's so quiet and peaceful. So once we have everything sorted out, it will be a hive of creativity for it is the perfect environment. Well next week will be very exciting as well because we are playing at Cafe De Paris, with so much going on I haven't really had a chance to get nervous about it, I'm sure I will on the day though. So if you live in the London area, come and see us, all details on our profile page. will be back with more stories, missed you all and missed writing!

Loving country life

Hi everyone, just to let you all know that we haven't forgotten about you ,it's just that we are still waiting for our broad band connection in our new place. Moving has been crazy, but well worth it to live somewhere so beautiful, and to have a lovely house to go with it, well.. Sometimes I have to pinch myself to make sure that I'm not dreaming, I actually am stunned that we have been so lucky, but I guess it was just meant to be. So we are currently in the internet cafe trying to catch up on loads of stuff, the amount of messages is unbelievable, but we are still here, and by the way we are definitely still playing at the Cafe de Paris on Friday 16 November. Just going home now to light a real fire mmmm