Neo is a conehead!

Well August also started as a tired and lazy month; although we have been doing jobs on the house…..Ian tried his hand at plastering outside – which worked out wonderfully. We therefore need to paint the front of the house. We are hoping to paint only the bottom ½ of the house, so there is no need for scaffolding.

Neo went back to vets for another check-up, and unfortunately the herpes on his eye has not cleared up, so back to the vets for another operation. This time some of his cornea was removed and then his inner eye lid was sewn shut so it could heal…urghhhh. He also has to wear a cone round his neck to stop him attempting to scratch his eye for 2 weeks…..poor guy doesn’t like his cone head! He tends to just sleep, and moan! I swear he even plays dead...I woke in the night and thought he was dead. I prodded him, lifted him, tickled him and no responce...panic was setting in...I starred into his eyes and they were open (well one of them) looking at me..still no responce. Finally his tail moved slightly...OMG. Anyway he was alive when I awoke in the morning.
So after a weekend mainly spent asleep (we even didn’t get out of bed on Saturday), we are going to try and get our energy back and sell the house, book various appointments, ring our family and stop being lazy….I’m still going to test the house for carbon monoxide poisoning…..Trying to think of an excuse for our extreme laziness!

I end with a photo of a local co-op in the Czech Republic....not quite the same as the UK!

July went so fast

Apologies for not blogging last month. July seems to have passed in a blur. Ian and I have been super busy at work, and we have tended to sleep a lot…not sure if it is the weather or lack of it. Most of July turned out to be like the UK….raining and cold, well I mean 18-22c (which is cold for Austria). We did manage to have the odd BBQ. The first with Mollie, Andraz and Vinnie. Vinnie was introduced to our cats, and he couldn’t stop giggling and grabbing their fur…..obviously the cats then realised it was best to hide.

The second was with Brigitte, Gunther and Denise (our adoptive Austrian family). Let’s just say the jumpers came out as we sat outside eating sausages. We also managed to squeeze one in another weekend.
As I mentioned work has been crazy, and unfortunately we do not have a proper holiday until October, where we have taken 2 weeks off (some of this will be visiting the UK and the rest relaxing). For the first time in history I have managed to build up 18 hours in overtime in July, so finished early last week to visit Mollie at home, where we had a quick chat and a quick fix of playing with cute Vinnie.

I nearly forgot, a little bit of news - Ian received an award from work, for being fabulous (although I am not sure that was the exact term used). He received a pat on the back and a voucher to spend (or forhis wife to spend).
Oh yeah...forgot to mention, we finished the patio...

Limp Bizkit rock!

After much moaning (it was a school night), we went to see Limp Bizkit in Vienna. It was slightly annoying at first with a 2 hour wait after the warm up band finished....but it was worth it in the end....They were fantastic. We positioned ourselves near the front on the right side, as Ian wanted a good view of Wes (his hero). During the concert Fred decided to jump down and climb on top of the bar to sing, which was right next to us. There was much jumping, waving (keep rolLin' rollin') and singing!

Catch up time.....

Yes it is true; I had another 4 day weekend a couple of weeks ago.
To start the holidays we drove home to the find the following storms hanging over Retz.

The Thursday was an Austrian national holiday, so I took the day off from the UN to join Ian at home (The UN has its own set dates – doesn’t follow Austrian holidays). As it was a lovely day, we decided to cycle up to the windmill and beyond. It turned out to be a very sweaty, uphill battle with the bikes. I obviously complained a lot, stopped a lot, and moaned, but had the fun of gliding back down the hills later.
When we got home we found Neo sheltering from the imaginary rain. Poor guy must be confused and think he is outside.

I was also at home on Friday, so after watching many episodes of Masterchef Australia, I made some fresh homemade pitta breads and humus…..and they were lush.

Saturday, still in Masterchef mode, I also made a baby strawberry pavalova, but forgot to buy some cream, so it was basically meringue and strawberries. I also made homemade minestrone soup and marks and spencer’s fresh bread (just add water), and my goodness it was lovely to have soft fresh white bread, and not Austrian nutty dense brown bread.

Sunday was mountain biking part 2. This time we ventured through the Vineyards and fields for about an hour over farmers tracks and cycle paths, much nicer than struggling up big hills. Still energetic from the bike ride, I made Ian walk around Retz with a 10 minute stop at the Retz wine week festival, where we had one quick glass of wine, before going home to bed.

Monday was the start of a busy week for both Ian and I. Ian had 2 training events at the local Hilton to organise and attend, so basically we would set off every morning at 6am and return late at night. Luckily for me he had to attend a dinner on Monday and Thursday, so I could catch the train home a bit earlier.
I got a tad bit excited at work on Monday with the arrival of some British frozen food in our commissary…..frozen pies, toad in the hole and desserts.
So with Ian eating out, I had a frozen toad in the hole with marks and spencer’s lemonade….ok so the toad in the hole was pretty bad, but the lemonade was lovely.

This weekend was spent recovering from the week at work. Saturday we ventured back to Vienna to meet up with friends from the VSCR (in fact none of them work there anymore). We had a 3 hour brunch catching up and meeting Ben the 6 month old. The remainder of the weekend was spent sleeping, with Ian working and we didn’t get chance to the go to the wine festival due to the crappy weather.

This week, we will be re-living our youth and going to see Limp Bizkit in Vienna.

Long weekends.....

First long weekend
Well the weekend was a well-deserved 4 days, but unfortunately mainly spent doing the usual DIY. The patio was grouted, although there a few white shades of concrete, which adds to the aged effect. Most of Friday was spent on the roof, with both Ian and I balancing over the remaining 10 glass windows sticking film to stop the sun from heating our house up to above 30c. A lot of cursing, and a few squirts of water at each other took place, but a successful job done. New plants were potted in the window boxes and our house plants are making a miraculous recovery after moving them outside and spraying them with the hose pipe.

Second long weekend
A three-day weekend, this time. Saturday was spent searching Vienna’s outlet village for bargains. But much to our disappointment there wasn’t any. I should learn my lesson and firstly never go there on a Saturday, and secondly don’t bother and wait until I go to the UK for shopping. We then proceeded to explore Vienna woods. We drove to a town and then got a bit lost, and ended up using Ian’s hidden ability to find a small road to park on and take a walk in the woods. We did start to follow the marked trees (saying what colour trail you were on), but soon got bored and went onto to different paths. Luckily as it was getting late, we made it back to our car with just our skills of ‘let’s go left, and then take this path, then right….’.

Sunday was spent relaxing – me reading, and Ian shooting Xboxers online. Oh and with what was supposed to be a little nap, I fell asleep for 3 hours in the afternoon. Sunday was also a belated chat with my nephew, Sam, to say happy 7th birthday. He had been on holiday and opened his presents late. I must admit I love buying him presents (Ian can vouch for that too), plus I love putting play Mobil together as well.

Monday was a national holiday in Austria, and so we took the opportunity to venture into the Czech Republic. The perks of living in central Europe and in Retz, is that one country has a national holiday, so we drive 10 minutes and you are in another country that doesn’t. We drove to the city of Brno, and went to the 2 large shopping malls. Fortunately for our bank account there was nothing exciting to buy, apart from a pair of jeans for Ian (his clothes are too big for him now after losing so much weight). We did have a quick look in Marks and Spencer’s and managed to spend 40 Euros on food. They only have a small corner with non-perishables – but we bought some biscuits, canned food and sweets, and a bottle of bucks fizz (I know I can make it myself, but there is nothing like a glass of M&S bucks fizz). We also went to the Czech Tesco’s, and bought a few things they don’t have in Austria.
I love the way this shop isn't prejudice with its shop display.

And guess what? Yes next week is another 4 day weekend. It helps to explain that at the UN our daily hours drop 30 minutes in summer, from 8 hours to 7.5 hours excluding lunch. With that in mind and the fact that I have opted for 30 minute lunch breaks, I am gaining far too many hours (we have flexi-time), and so keep taking days off using my spare hours (it’s ace!)
And finally it was bedtime…..with the addition of Morpheus!
PS – For the English people – the weather is usually hot, sunny and in the late 20’s to 30’s……Hahahahaha

I want a crisp!

Neo wants a crisp!

Don’t Dremel my cat!….

After a four day week last, last week, I decided to take Friday off just because I could, although a vet’s trip was planned, and after a fantastic week of weather, it decided to rain on Friday. So my day was spent watching TV, a quick trip to the Czech Republic, and trying to be quiet when Ian had a teleconference (he worked from home). Later in the afternoon, we took a trip to the vets, where we saw the eye specialist with Neo. He still has herpes in his eye, so another supply of pills, and cream. What shocked us the most, and I wished I had my IPhone with me, was she put some numbing drops in his eye, and then started to tweeze a bit of ‘skin’ from his eyeball. So that’s not bad…I am fine with poking my eye with contact lenses etc., but then came the miniature instrument, which I can only describe as a baby Dremel, and she started it up and started filing his eye ball with it…..blurghhhhh. Ian and I were obviously shocked by this, and by the fact Neo was tolerating it!

Anyway on our way out we saw the other 2 vets, that we have seemed to struck a friendship with (seen them so many times), who wanted a quick stroke with Neo, and with that we see them all in 3 weeks’ time. A nice welcomed break for Neo.

Saturday was another lazy day, but with a little accident – I had folded the large rug over and managed to trip over the folded edge and catch my toe, which we presume is broken with an awful purple colour. A few tears came and went, and to be honest it only hurts if I walk in heels, or go onto tiptoes. As you can see I am very proud of my toe, and have been posting photos everywhere!

Sunday was hiking day – we started hiking uphill past the windmill and beyond, until my legs started to hurt, and then turned around and walked back down the hill (just under 2 hours). It was a beautiful day and I managed to get a little red patch on my neck from the sun. Needless to say, my legs are now aching.