Settling in

We were met by some of John’s colleagues who drove us the 15 minutes or so to our house. My first impression of the landscape was that it reminds me very much of Cornwall. Narrow twisting lanes are bordered by high banks and subtropical plants. Almost all the houses are single story with corrugated metal roofs but both the walls and the roofs are painted in bright colours. Some have veg and flower gardens and lots have several vehicles in various states of disrepair littered about the drive.

Our house is on an estate of widely spaced bungalows surrounded by lots of grass and the odd bush of geranium, marguerite and hibiscus. It is a pre-fab bungalow with three bedrooms, a big lounge-diner and a pretty 1970s style kitchen with white painted cupboards and blue formica work tops. I love it. It is completely different to our period house at home but it is filled with solid 60s and 70s furniture and the most uncomfy three piece suit imaginable. I can’t wait for all our stuff to arrive so I can make it feel like ours. A few cushions and blankets should sort out the sofa and arm chairs. The kitchen is going to look great with the pretty utensils we have bought in bright candy colours and the nasty dining table will be much improved by the addition of an oilcloth tablecloth.

We have lovely views. In one direction we can see the ocean between the houses and the other we can see two of the island’s land marks – Flagstaff, a cone shaped hill covered in grass and trees, and the Barn, a large rocky hill, sparsely covered in scrub and shaped like a huge dutch barn.

J has had a week at work now and seems to be doing ok, although most of his colleagues are out of the office on study leave at the moment. He has joined a cricket team and played (and won) his first match. The Smalls have started school and are settling in ok. They have been doing lots of fun activities in the lead up to Christmas and are both involved in the Christmas production next week. Giant Baby has started with a gorgeous child minder a couple of mornings a week. She is one of those people who was just born to work with little ones. She has a room set aside at the end of the house full of toys and books and paint, and a garden with ride-ons and a slide.  When I arrived to pick him up today they were both on the trampoline giggling wildly as they pretended to fall over accidentally-on-purpose.

After Christmas I am going to use some of my Small-free time to learn some new crafts. There is a lady on the town who runs a tailoring and upholstery business and also runs craft classes, so I am going to start with flax weaving – making things out of New Zealand flax which used to be cultivated to make mail bags but now is an invasive weed all over the island. Then I think we are going to do some quilting which I have never done and I am very excited about.

We have met some lovely new friends. The expat community is very welcoming and we have been immediately integrated, but we have met lovely locals too through the cricket team and through the Smalls. We have a lady who is going to do some baby sitting and is coming to get to know the Smalls later in the week.

It is amazing, we have been here less than two weeks and have already built the beginnings of a new life for ourselves. Our container of goods and chattels is on the RMS which has just arrived back in port from Capetown. Once we have unpacked everything we will feel like we really belong.

xx