Padstow Cornwall June 2008

North Cornish coast where we spent two weeks on a surf, seafood fest spending time with family and friends. The light here is amazing - the area is famous for artists.

My good friends from school days who came to stay, play and surf.

Girls ready for some surfing action, with the armbands adding to the look.............

In rock pools, some of which were deep enough to swim in.

My lovely Cornish Cottage that we retreated to rather exhausted after packing up the house.

I've heard of sisterly squabbles, but this was ridiculous!

The Baby Mad Dogs in Cornwall June/08
Happy Memories.

Well hello from India

I feel like one of those characters out of a Jane Austin novel who spends her entire summer travelling from one destination to the other, passing through at least 3 different beds to get there. Since we left our house in June I have literally lost count of how many beds I have slept in. Think it's up in the teens.



Finally our summer travels are over and we arrived in Chennai at 3am this morning from Dubai all bleary eyed and in dire need of a bed. As we trundled across the car park to our cars (summer progresses always have heaps of luggage, don't they?) eldest baby Mad Dog whispered to me " Dubai this isn't". "Yep, welcome to the third world" I replied. "What's that smell?" came the next question. Guess the smell was something we proceeded to play for the rest of the day while fending off baby Mad dogs #2 yelps of "Did you see that?" continuously from the car. With Mummy Mad Dog replying with "Yes, yes, yes, all quite normal, you'll get used to it" trying to sound calm. By 4pm if someone had handed me a ticket back to London I may have quite easily have popped myself and the Baby Mad Dogs back to what is normality to us. Now I know why 'The Company' only gives you a single ticket out.




I know I have been off-air for some time but you see technically I went into the dark ages. When I left London and arrived in Cornwall for the girls 2 week surfing/seafood fest, Internet access became a hunt for the holy grail! No broadband at the cottage I hired, no wifi for miles around, only access was at the Library in the nearest town 5 miles away which was on the slowest speed I have ever seen, 5 mins to load a page, yawn. This was coupled with no mobile signal either, unless you stood on a hill (Cornwall is a tad hilly). When I asked the owner could I get a signal anywhere in the house or garden I was told that if you stood by the kitchen sink you got one there. Technically he was correct. What he failed to say was that you had to stand with your head next to the kitchen tap. So with trying to finish up business with the house and talk to Mr Mad Dog every now and then one ended up with a stoop from always being at 45 degrees simply trying to communicate with the outside world!




We also don't have any photos of Cornwall (yet) as Baby Mad Dog brought her camera and of course....... the cable link to download the shots are, you guessed it, in the sea shipment! So I took some pics on my mobile phone only to lose it out of my back pocket while pulling my trousers up at the M5 motorway services down the loo! Yuk! The phone is a gonner. Plus the cable link to my Dad's camera which had lots of good pics is somewhere in the depths of his study and has no idea when it will get located. IF I manage to get a new phone in next couple of days I may just get a couple of pics loaded up.




Tomorrow another day of smells, trails and automobiles and another bloggy fix with some more stuff of what the Mad Dogs did over the last 6 weeks.

Packing up and learning curves

Good grief I am done in.

Last week we packed our house up and saw our belongings load into a 40ft container bound for the high seas down to India. Not being one of those experienced expats who just sling a few items into a case and lay their hat in wherever their new home happens to be in the world, I on the other hand, the novice expat experienced a huge learning curve in how much C-R-A-P can one ship?

Having spent the best part of the last two months culling the family Mad Dog emporium of dare I say, rubbish? I thought I was ready for my packers, 3 chaps who answered my 'morning!' with some kind of monosyllabic grunt (I initially thought they were Romanian, turned out they were from North London, born and bred.) as they arrived. Oh dear, this will be interesting I thought.

However they got stuck in and it was like a plague of locusts moving through my house, hoovering up the contents and making them disappear into boxes. Needless to say counting on all my fingers and possibly my toes I found myself spotting something going into a box bound for Chennai and musing whether actually that item should be winding it's way to the civic amenity site instead. Oh dear, never mind.

In fact, on the last day watching these guys plus the extra drafted in for the day load our container I peered into it and thought to myself that I may not have anything to sit on but at least we can all play a decent game of Scrabble when we get there. Yes, plenty of toys and books, loo rolls and copious bottles of Mr Mad Dog's beloved HP Sauce, but not much furniture. That all went to the dump after Gus chewed through it and my idea of sneaking in some nice new oak dining room chairs never materialised as I never made it to the shop to get them. But hey, I managed to get the new trampoline delivered in time! So we can all get fit and lose weight eating standing up at the dining room table, which only I need to by the way, the rest of the Mad Dogs are built like whippets.

My parents who were helping me through the move kept on lerching from "do you really need to take that?" to "Your not leaving that here, are you, you may need that XYZ, winter quilt, (naff) garden chair etc., etc.," sending me into a spin ,wringing hands and looking into space. Meanwhile the Romanian sounding North London locusts had packed it. Blast.

I'll give the stuff to Charity when I get there I thought, but really, who in God's name needs a 13.5 double winter quilt in Southern India? Still it will make an interesting entry into the local bring and buy sale, dare I say?

Still it was an interesting week and I learnt a lot, like cull the kids toys, and learn to shop more. (But not for toys) We had some fun too, especially when I took the locusts around to the garden shed and said "hoover that up", I got some hard stares. But the youngest baby Mad Dog diffused the moment, found the water guns, the sun came out and we all proceeded to have a huge water pistol fight in our back garden with her clinging to their legs while they packed. Those girls do like a challenge and they succeeded in getting these 3 to laugh and smile. Plus the baby Mad Dogs got lots of rides in the vans and container to boot.

I did have some super pics of our hard working packers and all our boxes etc., But you will have to wait because guess what? Yes, the cable to download them from my phone is steaming it's way down the Atlantic. On dear....

Shopping

Let me explain, I am not good at shopping. Never have been. I walk into a store and if I do not source the item I went in for in less than 5 minutes, or there is a queue, or God forbid, it's crowded then I exit. So not a lot of shopping gets done. In fact it's the standing joke in our family.


Browsing, comparing prices from store to store? No, that's not my bag either. So when I asked around a few ladies on the ground in Chennai what should one bring out with them the list was huge. It appears that you can get a lot of items, however I am reliably informed that the quality is not the same as 'back home' or worse because they are imported they carry a super inflated surcharge.


So thank goodness for Internet grocery delivered to my door as I ordered probably my largest ever home delivery grocery order from Tesco's ready for the packers. A screaming £747.00! Plus an eye smarting £355.00 from Boots. and £159.00 of dog food. In addition I had already visited Costco and departed with over £400.00 for 'stuff'. Ouch, Ouch, Ouch......


For people who are planning to move to Chennai in the near future I was told to bring by expats in Chennai and our doctor:



Sunscreens for the fair skinned such as moi :)

Insect repellents with 50% deet. (difficult to get)

Children's med's (Indian one's taste 'different')

Mosquito nets (for first few months)

Shampoos, Shower gels, soaps, (quality not the same)

Usual skin care products

Laundry care products (quality not the same)

Toilet Paper (very expensive - $1. a roll!)

Dishwasher products (expensive, quality and not easily available)

UV 50+ Swim Suits for Children

Herbs, dried basil, oregano, anything Italian etc.,

Olive Oil (expensive)

Parmesan Cheese (Dried - very expensive)

Vinegars, Balsamic, etc (expensive)

Dried yeast and breadmaking flour, caster sugar, and brown sugar.

Once all this runs out I may have just found out where to source some of it in Chennai. That's if I can do the queues, crowds, heat and haggling!

The packers arrive tomorrow, am I ready? Am I heck!

Moving

The ever ending roller coaster of emotions of moving to India trundles on.

Update - BMD#1 (11 yr old) has jumped from 9th to 4th on the waiting list for AISC! How did that happen?


So The Mad Dogs live in hope of maybe, just maybe walking into AISC on the 4th August and delivering 2 of our kids for lessons. Fingers & toes crossed.


Today we close some doors. The girls leave their school, Gus goes to doggy borstal, last swimming lesson the youngest Baby Mad Dog (teacher has taught her since she was 3 months old).


Suddenly I'm nervous and apprehensive. If one had been asked back in October could I move to India, do the move on my own with 3 kids and a dog, without the guarantee of International schooling, you can guess what my answer would have been. No way! But here I am in May living it.


So my coping mechanism is 'Best of British', in a nutshell, stiff upper lip, "Oh it's fine" during the day. I keep thinking of those old Colonial gals trundling out to India as the trailing spouse, accompanying their Colonel Mustard's and Major-General Farquahars during the days of the British Empire and ponder did they do the same as me? Turn out the light at night and swear profusely to themselves. I bet they bloody did!

Parties, Plans & Padstow......

We have been celebrating some farewell parties for the baby Mad Dogs. First we had a party for BMD#2 and combined it with her 7th birthday. She had a great time with friends, classmates and cousins playing lots of games and dancing organised by the entertainer.

Next it was BMD#1 who wanted a party with a disco as she would miss the yr 6 leavers party at the end of July. She had so much fun and so did I. Our entertainer not only managed to keep them dancing for 2 hours, but also threw in some great games resulting in some extremely humorous scenes! As it was the end of the SAT's exam week they were all ready to let their hair down (literally) and ready to party. Many happy memories to treasure........

Baby Mad Dog #1(center) with her dearest friends

A fun time was had by all

I think she will miss this lot

All been together since they were 4 years old

We are going to really miss them too, they are a great bunch of kids

BMD#2 Birthday and Farewell party - having a good time!

Some of her best friends

Baby Mad Dog #2 ready to blow the candles out on the cake

PLANS

Despite our schooling problems for BMD#1 plans for our departure are in full swing. Our itinerary is set, so here goes:

Gus leaves 23rd May for 3 weeks correctional behaviour training. Otherwise known as doggy borstal, don't ask.

Packers 1st week of June,

Clear house 2nd week,

Collect Gus and spend a day learning what a lovely calm dog he's become from his trainer.

3rd and some of the 4th, Padstow, Cornwall, for some surfing, sand and seafood with friends plus Gus who will show his mummy all his newly learned commands and behaviours. Like not chasing vacuum cleaners, brooms, mops, tearing my washing off the line, pulling on his lead any more. He's a lovely boy, honest.

Then on the way back from Cornwall, drop Gus back to the trainers for more doggy borstal until he flies out to Chennai.

After that, fly to Edinburgh and meet up with Mr Mad Dog who would have flown in from Chennai the same day. Say goodbye to Mr Mad Dogs clan over 4 days. Try and find some haggis to take for Burns Night Supper (25th Jan), and additional items in our clan Lamont tartan for India. Where I hear all Scots break out into a fever of nationalism and clansmanship when abroad. Och Aye!

Then fly back to London to spend our last week tying up loose ends and throw a farewell party for our friends and family.

Then departure day to and fly to Chennai? Well, not exactly.

We thought we would have a little stop-over, you know, for the children.

In Dubai, for...... well, 9 days actually. A little R & R. Mrs Mad Dog will really, really need it after doing the 'move' all by herself and playing single parent for goodness knows how long. She just needs a visit to the spa, maybe once. No, make that 9 times.

Also, we want to do lots, and lots of sailing. (just to make sure the manicurist at the spa earns her money!) Not sure how much sailing we will be able to do in Chennai. We have a date set with the Royal Madras Yacht Club to have a mooch around and see if they like us. It will all depend on boats. We were unable to ship ours over so it will be a case of buy some or try and rent a yacht for the duration of our posting. Fingers crossed.

Right, mooning over boats and Dubai finished. Back to sorting, packing and shopping. More on shopping later.

Toodle pip fellow bloggers.

.

Room for one, but not the other.

Well since my last post a flurry of emails have been dashing across the globe in search of a solution to our schooling (or lack of) situation in Chennai. So the good news first, baby mad dog #2 has a school place in grade 2 of the AISC! Yay!

The bad news is baby mad dog #1 there does not appear to be a school place for the foreseeable future.


We have discovered through well connected sources (thank you) that baby mad dog #1 has slipped back down the waiting list. This was created by the kids who were already on the waiting list for a place in the year 07/08 (most never got a place) are now on the list for 08/09, subsequently pushing our daughter further down.


Enquiries about going onto the grade 7 waiting list came to nothing as she would be 8th.


In addition, there are now 240 kids on the waiting list for the school and the situation is deteriorating as number of ever increasing multi-national companies are expanding their operations in Chennai and in India in general. Only 23 kids are leaving the school this June the smallest number ever.


So my family are not the only one's who are struggling to find continuity in education, it appears there are many other families in the same boat. I'm probably not the only mother in the world having sleepless nights about how are their children are going to be educated while in Chennai!


If businesses are going to expand in India then they (the multi-national Companies) need to look at the schooling situation, fast.


Senior management in companies (of a certain age range) generally have kids in tow when doing an International Assignment and if decent International schooling cannot be offered, this will in time have a detrimental effect on the business as employees will be unable to take up postings or worse, Assignments will fail costing Companies.


HR managers in all these multi-national companies need to look at their demographics, establish predictions of where the most pressure will be for International Schooling and throw money at solutions. Fast.


In the meantime Mr Mad Dog is looking at other alternatives.


The emotional impact has been tears from my 11 yr old daughter this week as she struggled to come to terms with knowing she will not be going to school with her sister and has no idea where she will end up. The 7 yr old let this fact slip out (by genuine accident when she learned she had a place) during the week which is unfortunately SAT's week. Subsequently it all got too much for bmd#1 resulting flunking one of her papers this week, she's been teary ever since.


At the moment I question what I'm putting my children through.

I know one is bleating - but one still has steam coming out of ones ears!

Mrs Mad Dog.