Different is tiring

One of the things we’re told about Bloem is that everyone disappears in the holidays – more on this another day. When our first school holiday rolled around in March we were therefore… Continue reading →

A cheeky Brexit story

The word “Brexit” conjures up a lot of different images for different people. We sat open-mouthed in bed in our ‘camping out flat’ glued to the TV for hours that morning. Eventually I… Continue reading →

Mental maths

You know those inane maths problems? “9 people got on a bus. They had 3 cakes each. 2 people got off at the first stop, but 1 person left his cake behind on… Continue reading →

Battling for land

We Nichols are still battling for our own little patch in the new homeland. We never could have foreseen what a battle it would be, but here we are – involved in our… Continue reading →

An overdue Moan-fest.

OK it’s getting on for late February and we packed up our stuff into a container in mid-October. We’ve had Christmas and two birthdays. People say it’s liberating living out of a suitcase.… Continue reading →

Carrying bricks

This is a brick. His name is Jack Foord. We created him as part of last night’s homework as Isaac has to carry him round for 3 weeks at school. If Jack gets… Continue reading →

“Turn and face the strange”

(Lyrics from “Changes” – my own little tribute to David Bowie – when I was in a pub band I used to love his songs the most as they had the best basslines… Continue reading →

Advent Eye

My body has a knack of telling me I’m overloaded in life via the gift of an eye twitch. It is like having a toddler on a space hopper bouncing in your face… Continue reading →

Bloem in June

So where are we going? It’s about time we discussed this. I’d only been for a day or so before deciding to move there during a traumatic week in February. Of course I… Continue reading →

You are the boss of you

The Doom. The Doom… Those thoughts that come in the night, when there’s nobody to talk to and no distractions. “What if it all goes wrong and we don’t get visas, what if… Continue reading →