Olga and Lara went to London on Wednesday last week, to apply for Olga's visa for Cyprus; however, it turns out that as the spouse of a British citizen, she won't need a visa! After all the form filling and two visits to the Embassy. We had a feeling there was a rule like this for some EEA countries, but it was good to hear it from an official at the Embassy, so Olga knows for sure that there won't be a problem on arrival.
The downside of the trip was that Lara picked up a cold, and has been snotty and with a night-time cough since Thursday. During the day she's fine, and she's gone to nursery as normal today, but it did mean she had some restless nights, including deciding that 4.45am was a good time to get up on Saturday morning, and that Papa should keep her company downstairs.... that was a long Saturday! It might have helped my cricket though, I nutured a season-best innings of 24 in the middle order, albeit in a losing cause.
Lara's learning to cope with colds now, she can go and get herself a tissue from a box and wipe her nose, although this normally just smears the gloop over her cheek, but the intention is good!
Yesterday was spent doing some shopping, tidying up, and building some things that we'll need at home after next weekend... watch this space!
Monday, 27 July 2009
Tuesday, 21 July 2009
Latest news from the family
Lara is back to being fighting fit again. In fact yesterday we thought she was entering a growth spurt, as no matter how much food we offered her, she ate it all without stopping. Today has been more normal, so maybe she was just extra hungry for some reason yesterday, but certainly she has a healthy appetite!
It was great to see how she played with Elizabeth on Sunday, once initial shyness was overcome. Elizabeth was really friendly towards "Baby Lara", offering lots of hugs and kisses, and once Lara stopped being shy, there were many occasions for "ooohs" and "aaahhs" from the parents as hugs and kisses were initiated and reciprocated. Too much oohing and aahing from Papa meant none were recorded on video or film, sadly.
Olga's been filling out more forms than a German bureaucrat recently, but for good reason. On Monday morning she submitted her application for Indefinite Leave to Remain in the UK, which was successful (of course!). This means she no longer has any time limit on her stay in the UK, which is the next step towards gaining British Citizenship and ultimately a British Passport. The forms for citizenship are being filled in now, and with fingers firmly crossed, Olga should be belting out the national anthem at a Citizenship ceremony in Wycombe well before the end of the year.
Tonight's form-filling exercise has been for a tourist visa to Cyprus - Olga loves her beach holidays, and we have friends living there who have said we can visit anytime. With jobs to be done at home and money tight, we've decided that Olga and Lara should go, and I'll hold the fort here with Mishka. The friend Olga will stay with is Ukrainian, so they can gossip together in Russian, and she has two small children that Lara can play with. I'm godfather to the elder one - Christina - so I'll hear about it if Lara starts trying to throw her weight around!
Anyway, that's for the middle of August, a few weeks away.. a few weeks of shopping for holiday outfits for both girls!!
It was great to see how she played with Elizabeth on Sunday, once initial shyness was overcome. Elizabeth was really friendly towards "Baby Lara", offering lots of hugs and kisses, and once Lara stopped being shy, there were many occasions for "ooohs" and "aaahhs" from the parents as hugs and kisses were initiated and reciprocated. Too much oohing and aahing from Papa meant none were recorded on video or film, sadly.
Olga's been filling out more forms than a German bureaucrat recently, but for good reason. On Monday morning she submitted her application for Indefinite Leave to Remain in the UK, which was successful (of course!). This means she no longer has any time limit on her stay in the UK, which is the next step towards gaining British Citizenship and ultimately a British Passport. The forms for citizenship are being filled in now, and with fingers firmly crossed, Olga should be belting out the national anthem at a Citizenship ceremony in Wycombe well before the end of the year.
Tonight's form-filling exercise has been for a tourist visa to Cyprus - Olga loves her beach holidays, and we have friends living there who have said we can visit anytime. With jobs to be done at home and money tight, we've decided that Olga and Lara should go, and I'll hold the fort here with Mishka. The friend Olga will stay with is Ukrainian, so they can gossip together in Russian, and she has two small children that Lara can play with. I'm godfather to the elder one - Christina - so I'll hear about it if Lara starts trying to throw her weight around!
Anyway, that's for the middle of August, a few weeks away.. a few weeks of shopping for holiday outfits for both girls!!
A Sunday walk
Catherine, Nick and Elizabeth came to visit on Saturday night, and on Sunday we went for a walk around the village of Turville, only a 10 minute drive from us, as we found out. The BBC comedy The Vicar of Dibley had many of its scenes filmed here, and one of the photos below is taken outside the vicarage. Elizabeth really enjoyed running in the long grass.
Nick was adventurous enough to climb the nearby hill where you'll find the windmill from the opening scenes of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang:
The girls did play together very nicely while the grown-ups had a drink in the pub afterwards:
Nick was adventurous enough to climb the nearby hill where you'll find the windmill from the opening scenes of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang:
The girls did play together very nicely while the grown-ups had a drink in the pub afterwards:
Cricket locations - one of the best
On Saturday I played cricket for the first eleven at a place I've not been to before - Englefield Cricket Club, on the outskirts of Reading. It's in a country estate, as you can see from the photographs. The local MP lives there - research shows he's not claimed a penny in expenses since he was elected (when told he could claim £400 a month in food allowances, his response was allegedly "Why would I do that?").
We won the game by 97 runs, none of which were my contribution - run out for 0. Oh well, there's always next week, and it was a lovely place to play, made all the more special because Olga and Lara were there too!
We won the game by 97 runs, none of which were my contribution - run out for 0. Oh well, there's always next week, and it was a lovely place to play, made all the more special because Olga and Lara were there too!
More produce from the vegetable patch
Last week it was time to harvest the first of the (many!) courgettes. One in particular was a giant! The problem now is to find enough recipes involving courgettes to use them all up. Any suggestions gratefully received!
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