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Then tomorrow, JD and I are off to London to see "Abba Voyager". 
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Chippenham's oldest building - Neelde Hall- was open the other day for a free art exhibition. Up a small flight of stairs at the back there is this odd recreation of 19th century life in Chippenham. When you press buttons the mannequins introduce themselves one by one and then have a little argument about local taxes. What a fun find! 
Some folk make more of an effort than others though. This Christmas Tree in JD Sports looked very drab (I've had a word with JD about "his" shop!). But this garden in nearby Trenchard Close is a burst of gaudy colour! Hope they have a good electricity tariff...
We're having heavy wind and rain here in Chippenham. Some roads have been flooded [like our High Street, see below] and JD's school closed for two days (much to his delight - nobody likes playing rugby in a pond!). Strange times.  Our move to Chippenham, and indeed to the UK, 6 months ago would have been sooooo much harder were it not for our good friends, Krista and Stuart who previously helped us purchase a couple of properties whilst we were in China, and then furnished our temporary house in preparation for us moving in.  In our first half-year here, they have been invaluable friends - showing us the Chippenham ropes, taking a real interest in our lives and making us feel so welcome. We attended their church last weekend (it's 50m from our house!) to see Stuart leading the service and preaching. And we are hosting them for a meal on Christmas day.
Free pumpkins were being given away in Chippenham High Street this morning. So, this afternoon, JD had a lot of fun carving his first one.
Work has begun on our garden - repaired fence posts, new seating area, railway sleeper borders, planter boxes, power-hosed patio slabs, shingle centre ...it's all happening (slowly!) 
JD gave his R/C boat an outing on the River Avon that runs through Chippenham today, scaring fish, ducks and paddle boarders alike!
 Twenty packages arrived from China yesterday; boxes we sent three months ago (by sea). So now begins the slow task of opening them and deciding where everything goes. Thankfully, we got our attic boarded last month - just in time - so at least we have somewhere to store the boxes whose contents we don't need right away. It's a timely reminder of our past life, and how far we have come over the last couple of months! Six more boxes to come sometime later...
Chippenham's greatest claim to fame? Possibly the site of a 1960 car crash which took the life of 50s/60s heartthrob Eddie Cochran. The :Summertime Blues" and "Cmon Everybody!" singer was only 21 years old when a taxi taking him to Bath for a concert, lost control and crashed, ending his life. There is a memorial to Eddie Cochran not too far from where we live.   Now that the rain has stopped and the temperature has risen, we are enjoying our new home town, Chippenham, a lot more!
 Yesterday was a day of many frustrations, but today was a little better. We now have a working TV, an updated driving license (allowing me to apply to open a new bank account) and, most importantly, our boiler was fixed, allowing us to have hot showers at last.
We now have to find a way to get an official document which has Jiajia's name and our address on it. Everyone says they need one from someone else first to provide one!? Yesterday we checked out the route to JD's new school, passing through woods, by streams and to the sound of birdsong. Today he went on an induction morning there and thoroughly enjoyed himself, including making a "new friend"! JD then spent this afternoon attacking our overgrown garden, managing to leave it as "just soil" by the end.
My brother Dave drove us from Hereford to Chippenham yesterday and we saw out new little house for the first time. It's in Gabriel Mews, a 2-bed with a small (overgrown) garden. Our good friends Krista and Stuart live in Chippenham and have been buying furniture, decorating and repairing our house over recent months to make our move there as smooth and homely as possible. They've done such a great job - we were gobsmacked when we arrived at how "ready" it was for us to move into.  Tomorrow we plan to go hunting for a washing machine, a car, a TV and a hoover!
 JD's new Secondary School in Chippenham was finalised yesterday when we accepted an offer of a place at "Sheldon School" (our first choice). Another small step towards our relocation to the UK.
 We've also visited half a dozen other properties during our time in Chippenham with a view to buying another one to rent out. As we drove back to Sidcup yesterday we decided to make an offer on this ground floor flat in West End Close. Our initial offer wasn't accepted but we think we might be close to an agreement. Watch this space.... [23rd July: Our revised offer was accepted. Let the paperwork begin!]
 One of our main aims for this year's visit to the UK was to view the flat we purchased earlier this year (sight unseen, but on the recommendation of trusted friends!). It's the one behind the white car. We were very impressed by the repairs and decoration that had been done for us by a handyman and our friends. A tenant is already in.
My brother Dave (plus wife Sarah and daughter Esme) visited us in Chippenham yesterday [top left] and it was really lovely to see them all. JD still has a few memories of when Dave and Esme visited us in China. Their visit coincided with Chippenham's annual festival which, this year, was themed around space and sci-fi. I was dead excited to see a phalanx of stormtroopers [top right].
 I drove us down to Chippenham in Wiltshire today in a hire car. Earlier this year we bought a small buy-to-let flat here and we hope to move to the town permanently sometime in the 2020s. We'll spend a week here getting to know the area better and looking at more flats with a view to invest again later if we can. But first things first - a slow puncture to deal with!
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 AuthorPaul Hider started this blog to share his rather odd life living in China for over 20 years. Since returning to the UK in 2024, the blog now records his more "normal" lifestyle! Past blog entries
December 2024
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