Category: Expat life

Flying Duck Farm

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I go in fits and starts with this blog,  however not working full time I do need to occupy my head and to stay off social media. So when someone actually turned around and said to me they had read my blog (thanks Marco) I was delighted. I’ve decided to keep updating it, lots has happened since the last post! For one I’ve become a powerlifter!!! No my neck isn’t the same size as my thigh, at least I hope it hasn’t! Anyhoo that’s all to come, first I still need to post about our Australian antics. It’s a good job it was such a memorable holiday all the details are still fresh in my head.

So as you know we visited Australia in March 2018, we spent a week in Sydney before heading out to Lawson in the beautiful Blue Mountains. Again we used a trusty old airbnb and stayed in the the beautiful Flying Duck farm.  This place was absolutely gorgeous, a small little farm in a town set in the Blue Mountains. Ran by the wonderful Zoe, who keeps goats, chickens, ducks and dogs. The house is very environmentally friendly with solar panels for hot water and electricity.

The house itself is beautifully decorated to it’s surroundings, with gorgeous decking area that presents the most  phenomenal sunsets I have ever seen in my life! When I was working out in the morning I was joined by  parrots and cockatoos in the trees above.   You really feel relaxed and grounded in this house, it really was natures therapy. I would go back in an absolute heartbeat.

 

Mainly open plan with lots of windows and doors you could see the fantastic area around, kick the kids out into the garden and be able to keep and eye on them. There was fire pit so we had a campfire and roasted marshmallows and told ghost stories and on our last evening.

The house is in a great location to all the Blue Mountains have to offer too, it was cleaned to the highest standards and clear it was built with love. It is an absolute must for anyone planning a trip to this magnificent country.

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A new arrival

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Well a lot has gone on since I posted last. We’ve had the summer at home in the UK & Ireland, moved house again (I Know) and we now have a new edition to family expat!

Introducing Luna Pug-Good

Yes, she is named after Luna Love-good from Harry potter, Yes I know she’s wearing the wrong house scarf, however she’s a now honorary  Griffyndor now and I think the colours suit her.

we only had her a few weeks and yet we are all totally smitten with her.

So we have adopted Luna from a charity here in the UAE called PARA we only had her a few weeks and yet we are all totally smitten with her. She is absolutely bananas she’s turned our lives completely upside down. She has the biggest tongue I’ve ever since and an attitude to match. Clearly visible when she barks her little toosh of at anything that moves when we’re out walking. Having a dog/puppy is just like having a third child. Trying to establish boundaries, to avoid crapping on the floor and she’ll only do as she’s told if you give her food!! She has a thing for socks, will shout at you when you’ve been out too long and looks at me like I’m insane when I let her out at night.  It’s actually very hard to believe that someone just dumped this cutie and left her to fend for herself in the burning Dubai sun. We were lucky that she didn’t have any serious injuries or skin conditions from being abandoned. Some dogs aren’t as lucky, there are so many wonderful people around Dubai and other emirates doing what they can for these poor animals that are just being discarded.  PARA regularly hold adoption days so if you are in a position to offer a foster or forever home please contact the lovely Sara or Fatima via their Facebook page.

I’m sure there will be several more stories about Luna as living with a dog will not make life boring, especially her doggy training with Dog Tags Dubai. I’ve never seen someone have such a hold over a dog just by holding a piece of duck doggy treats!!

For shits and no giggles

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There was a lot of the first but not many of the giggles for that matter! I was on an absolutely sausage roll with my writing then a plague hit the expat estate!! We had the most horrible D&V bug ever which resulted in both the children in hospital requiring IV fluids. Miss C was only in for a few hours and about 20 minutes after the IV infusion started she was bouncing around like a cocker spaniel. LPV on the other hand wasn’t quite so lucky. He had the same the treatment but didn’t respond as well as she did. Now I don’t tell hospital staff I’m a nurse as our Peadiatrician knows and doesn’t treat me like a normal Mammy, he treats me like a colleague and whilst I respect him for respecting me as a professional I am a Mammy first and I haven’t practiced for 10 years! Now I don’t believe I will ever lose all my skills, they’re etched in my brain, I KNOW for a fact I haven’t lost my instincts and I trust them both the Mammy & nursing ones 100%. After a 6 hour infusion and me nagging them constantly to check this and check that. They come to discharge my lethargic  baby boy. I laugh in their face and pretty much tell them they are bat shit crazy if they think I’m taking my child home. After me throwing my toys out of the pram they take a full set of observations and he is admitted overnight and that is where he stayed for the next 3 days.

People who have access to  the NHS do not know how lucky they are, yes I may have had a room which looked like a hotel room but it’s all flounce and no substance. I would have given all of that up for a team of medical staff that understand the term holistic care, that actually have a bed side manner. At one point I was up to my eyes in shit unpleasantries waiting for help, waiting for wipes, waiting for clean sheets. I found the care to be right up there with my poor baby’s symptoms……..I lost my shit, excuse the pun!  on the day before discharge when I had to ask them to recheck his blood sugar, two nurses stabbing him with a needle, he is crying and instead of comfort they tell him, stop crying don’t be a baby, you’re a big boy!! Well…….red rag to a very exhausted bull, before I told them to get out my room, I offered up a little tit-bit on the fact he is only 7 he’s allowed to cry when someone shoves a needle in your arm and I still hate it at the age of 42 so please DO NOT tell not to cry, he’s allowed to cry if he wants too and it DOES NOT mean he is a big baby. After this ordeal, my saviour messages me and tells me to meet her by the lift. I take one look at my bestie holding a cup of tea and the most epic ham sandwich (they hadn’t fed me at all) and burst into floods of tears.

Things picked up slowly and he’s bloods came back normal, we were told we could go home the next day. It’s not an ordeal I want to ever go through again, Cara was my angel, picking up flossy and taking her on playdates etc. The ham sandwich was amazing but it was the love and concern that got me/us through it! It’s very difficult being away from our support network, don’t get me wrong lots of people send love and well wishes and  offered to help that meant so much but it’s the one’s that see through your “I’m ok I don’t need anything” that stick with you!!