Christmas Message 2015

The main theme of this year for us has been the work on the house. Construction work on the extension started early in February and continued for about 10 weeks. Then the builders returned after the summer holidays and made the external modifications to the south end of the house including new double glass doors and a patio/steps out to the garden. We have had an architect prepare a fully updated set of drawings that will transform the house inside and out. It's going to take a good few years to complete this work, and we'll be living in a half finished house for that time, but at least we now know exactly where we're going and so far we are super happy with the results.

We did a lot of the stripping and tidying ourselves and the periods when the builders where here were quite intense. There was a little bit too much "musical rooms" at times as we had to empty most of the rooms we were living in.

It's a lot less finished on the inside than the outside, we're doing most of the inside work ourselves so, as ever, we are not short of things to keep ourselves amused! I can at least say that it is insulated, so the house is no colder than it has been.

Une finished his 1st year of school and started 2nd class after the summer. He is doing well and enjoying school. He is also playing football and attending hip hop dancing. Just this evening he has been to a "dance off" where his group had made the finals in the category of best improvers!

Liam still has one more year after this at kindergarten, but all the same has been in the oldest group since the summer. He manages fine with the older kids and really has a good time and gets involved in all the activities.

We had a long weekend with Mormor (grandmother) in Beitestølen during easter and it was great to be able to get out for a couple of proper skiing trips with the boys. Une and Mari had a trip of well over 10km and we all had a 6 km trip back to the chalet from the top of the ski lift in absolutely fantastic conditions.

This summer we all visited "Uncle Stephen" in London and the boys enjoyed a trip to Legoland in
Windsor (as did their Dad and Uncle). After this we enjoyed a week in a Norwegian mountain chalet together with Grandma and Granddad (and Mormor for a couple of days).

We were very lucky to have a weekend away on our own for my mates wedding on the Wirral, thanks to good friends that were looking after Une and Liam from Sunday to Tuesday. This was the 2nd time in the last 7 years that we have had a night alone together, so three whole days in a different country was something very special. We had a great time!

I still have some travelling with my job and this year trips included South Africa, Argentina, Columbia and Saudi. Whilst there is an awful lot to do at home with the kids and the building work it is still exciting and a privilege to be able to see the world and experience different cultures. All being well there should be a trip to Adelaide early in the new year.

In addition to travelling with work I found time to travel to Sweden for the 90km Vasaloppet (cross country skiing race), which I completed in a little under 11 hours and to England for Bacchus Marathon which I just managed to cross the line under 4 hours (but only by 8 seconds!). In addition I also ran two Ultra Marathons, 52km and 50km. Next year it will be Konig Ludvik Lauf in the German Alps!

Mari is still with the Fylkeskommune (County Council) and a lot of her efforts have focused on a pilot public health survey for the inhabitants of Vestfold and 3 other counties. Mari has also been heavily involved in setting up a "beredskapsvakt" (civil response group) with Red Cross in the municipality.

We both turned 40 this year and enjoyed a great garden party with friends and family in August.

We took the hard decision to have Peggy put to sleep in February. She was a very old lady of around 14 years and we have very fond memories of our time with her.

Our 3 remaining Bengals now have free access to the garden via a cat flap and we now enjoy deliveries of dead mice at frequent intervals. Most likely it's Asia who is terrorising the rodent population, but we have yet to confirm this.

The final "little" bit of news is that Mari is expecting, and all being well, I will get even less done on the house from the end of March on. We've be for a few scans and everything looks good with the baby and the Mum. No, it's not two and we don't know if it is a girl or a boy"

So, here's wishing all our friends and family a Very Merry Christmas and All the best for 2016!!

All our love, Andy, Mari, Une and Liam.

Kris-Kindle 2015

So, definitely time to get this malarkey underway for another year. It's €100 per couple again this year and each couple can choose if they will have individual presents or 1 joint one.

Get posting, we've only got a few weeks before things need to be sent. Creativity and hilarity is desired.

The other thing that is desired is wishes for the smalls and clothes sizes if appropriate.

House Improvements #30. Taking shape.

As ever, I've fallen behind in my blogging. Now, however, as I look out of a 19th floor window over the beautiful Colombian city of Medellin high up in the Andes, I have a couple of hours to kill before bed so what better to do!

Things moved on quickly and by the end of the second week the roof construction was in place and the extension was really taking shape.

 

It was real thrill to come home from work each day and see the house dramatically changed from the day before.



 

In what will be the new office, we decided to have the room open all the way up to the roof joists. The original house does not have particularly high ceilings so we decided this was worth the extra effort and cost to add a feeling of "roominess". The office is well used, with all the bills to pay, e-mails to send and Mari working from home up to one day a week.

 

We were both surprised by the depth of the beam required to hold the weight of the roof (even though it is dimensioned for snow). Even after we've put in an air gap and 30cm of insulation this is going to be a great feature.

During the second week, the windows and balcony doors also arrived. We've organised all the materials ourselves and surprisingly enough had to ask to have these delayed and stored in the factory so we didn't have to store them for weeks ourselves.

 

We'd have to wait another 2 weeks before we saw these installed, but it was good to know they were here and would not delay the job.

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House Improvements #29. Main Construction Week 1

With the delays in the foundations, it was decided to start construction immediately in the new year instead of a week or 2 before the holiday. With the start of construction imminent I put in the order for the first load of materials. Primarily the 1 1/2" x 6" that would be used for the frame and some 2"x4" and 2"x6". 2 days later this was outside.

 

As agreed, construction on the frame of the extension started last week on Monday the 12th of January. We had a meeting with the builders on Monday morning early and as we set off to work, they set of to fetch all there equipment.

Arriving home on Monday and Tuesday was a slight disappointment with apparently very little visible progress (although they had fetched a lot of equipment on Monday and put down the bottom support on Tuesday and measured all the relative heights, so they had been working hard).

Coming home on Wednesday was a different story. Suddenly most of the wall frames for the ground floor were in place. I travelled to Germany on Thursday morning and when I came home on Saturday this is the site I saw.

 

 

Here's a view of the new "library" with it's large windows and high ceiling.

 

and here's the new entrance/porch.

Only issue this week was the telephone cable which did not survive a meeting with the chainsaw the used for removing the old cladding. This did not take long for me to fix and we had phone/internet again on Saturday evening.

With the frames of the first floor complete, week 2 was due to start with flooring for the 1st floor.

Summer Holiday Rota System (SHRS), a suggestion.

We discussed this briefly during the summer holiday in Cumbria and would like to go further on this idea, please discuss in the comments.

 

Why have a SHRS?

It will make it easier to reach a common decision each year, and it is good to be able to plan ahead. The Nicholls family is growing and communication about holiday plans can take a lot of time and effort.

What are the obligations?

It is great if as many as possible are able to join in on the common holiday, but it is entirely voluntary for an individual or a family. There should be a good reason for diverting from the rota one year, for example, somebody arranging a wedding with a desire for a common holiday in connection with this.

Specific responsibilities:

Those that live in a host country take the first initiative for arrangements that year. Those that do not live in neither Ireland, Finland or Norway are responsible for the “Other country” year (see below).

Here is the system:

It is based on the pattern since 2011 and we shall call it BISON.

B= Break year (2011)

I= Ireland (2012)

S= Finland (Soumi, since it makes a nice word!) (2013)

O= Other country (2014)

N= Norway

 

This means that it is Norway in 2015, and ahead the years will be like this:

2016 =B

2017= I

2018= S

2019= O

2020 = N

 

What now?

Comments and discussion please. Agree, Disagree, Don't know....