It has been very wet here over the last couple of days. That might be the understatement of the century.
Apparently the rainy season hasn't got into full swing yet. Last night we had a rain storm that started at 11pm and went on into the wee small hours. This morning, our 'garden' was under water!
This evening, the storm started at 8pm while we were driving back from downtown Balikpapan. Within 30 minutes there was about a foot of water on the road. The rain water was running down the ajoining roads like waterfalls and Mr Pickle was staring out of the car window in a mesmerised state. He asked if we were driving in the river, as the wake from the passing cars washed over his window. He was also very excited by the crashes of thunder and flashes of lightning.
It has stopped raining now, we are hopeful that the storm is over for tonight.
We went swimming today. It was lovely, so there goes my plan to change the name of the blog to 'Will Mr Pickle and his mummy ever make it to the swimming pool'.
The water in the swimming pool was warm and there were just enough people in there that we didn't feel isolated. Mr Pickle even plucked up enough courage to have a go on the slide set into the pool with daddy.
Saturday 30 October 2010
Wednesday 27 October 2010
Call me, don't be afraid and just call me....
Oh, but you can't because we have just discovered that the Internet Speedy technicians, who managed to roll up at 3.15pm yesterday to fix the internet cabling, have cut the telephone line!
What a very strange place we have moved to. By fixing one problem, you create another. It is like a whole industry in itself. No wonder things move so slowly round these parts.
Mr Pickle loved his trial session at the pre school and went back today for his first actual morning session. In his own words, he did dancing, helping, doing and painting a pumpkin.
I spent my 'free' three hours ironing. I do not have the luxury of a maid/helper as many other wives and mothers do in Balikpapan because I have a house boy. That's all I'm going to say on the matter as I have talked about the virtues of said house boy already on this blog.
Although, to be honest, from the accounts of others, the maids/helpers sound like an absolute nightmare. Through genuine or contrived misunderstanding, on their part, it would seem that most wives end up continually showing the helper how to do things. This sounds pointless and time consuming, not to mention frustrating.
We have had a couple of people enquire about whether we have disappeared into a hole created by an earthquake or swept away by a tsunami. Rest assured, we are fine. Jeremy says that Borneo is the most stable island in the archipelago. If you would like a scientific explanation of the recent events please feel free to visit Jeremy's blog:
Jeremy's Blog
Today, Mr Pickle and myself are sitting in the house waiting for the Indo Vision man to come and fix the satellite TV. So once again we will not be visiting the swimming pool. I have started to use the possibility of visiting the pool as a lure to speed up the number two stage of potty training and we had a successful delivery into the potty this afternoon. There is no picture to share with you.
As luck would have it, Mr Pickle will be swimming with his pre-school tomorrow and he thinks it is as a result of his success. All's well that ends well.
I will probably have to spend tomorrow afternoon waiting for the telephone repair man to appear.
What a very strange place we have moved to. By fixing one problem, you create another. It is like a whole industry in itself. No wonder things move so slowly round these parts.
Mr Pickle loved his trial session at the pre school and went back today for his first actual morning session. In his own words, he did dancing, helping, doing and painting a pumpkin.
I spent my 'free' three hours ironing. I do not have the luxury of a maid/helper as many other wives and mothers do in Balikpapan because I have a house boy. That's all I'm going to say on the matter as I have talked about the virtues of said house boy already on this blog.
Although, to be honest, from the accounts of others, the maids/helpers sound like an absolute nightmare. Through genuine or contrived misunderstanding, on their part, it would seem that most wives end up continually showing the helper how to do things. This sounds pointless and time consuming, not to mention frustrating.
We have had a couple of people enquire about whether we have disappeared into a hole created by an earthquake or swept away by a tsunami. Rest assured, we are fine. Jeremy says that Borneo is the most stable island in the archipelago. If you would like a scientific explanation of the recent events please feel free to visit Jeremy's blog:
Jeremy's Blog
Today, Mr Pickle and myself are sitting in the house waiting for the Indo Vision man to come and fix the satellite TV. So once again we will not be visiting the swimming pool. I have started to use the possibility of visiting the pool as a lure to speed up the number two stage of potty training and we had a successful delivery into the potty this afternoon. There is no picture to share with you.
As luck would have it, Mr Pickle will be swimming with his pre-school tomorrow and he thinks it is as a result of his success. All's well that ends well.
I will probably have to spend tomorrow afternoon waiting for the telephone repair man to appear.
Tuesday 26 October 2010
Christmas is coming
Christmas has started to trickle into Balikpapan. We saw three sad looking plastic trees for sale in Ace hardware a couple of days ago. The shops here don’t bother to dress them to sell them, they were bare and pathetic looking. I suppose it is a case of you either want it or you don’t.
It is strange not to be seeing the shops bursting with Christmas stock by this time of the year. There is also a distinct lack of pumpkin related paraphernalia.
I am suffering from serious withdrawl symptoms from the lack of internet. I am dreaming of Facebook and wondering what status updates await me. Sad but true. Along the Christmas theme, I am still going cold turkey!
I have walked Mr Pickle down to the pre-school this morning. I was given a chair to sit next to him for the first part of the morning but he didn’t want to sit next to me. He ran around to the other side of the table and started to sharpen the pencils with one of the helpers. Having sat on the tiny yellow chair for ten minutes, being ignored by my little man, I decided to take my leave and get back to wait for the Internet Speedy man.
He isn’t here yet. Maybe we will have the internet fixed for Christmas.
Fingers crossed Mr Pickle will love his trial at the pre-school and I will be able to plan mornings where I don’t need to have eyes in the back of my head and six hands.
Still no speedy internet man!
Monday 25 October 2010
We don’t need no education
This morning Mr Pickle and I managed to visit the pre-school.
Thankfully we were right about the half term closure last week and there was a session in full swing when we rolled up to the door. We got inside and Mr Pickle nearly burst with excitement as he ran over to another little boy and started to play with him and the puzzle he had spread out around him. Then he spotted the ride-on toys and I thought I would never manage to winkle him out. We caused chaos because his squeals of delight drew the rest of the class away from their quiet activity into the play area.
He is going to have a trial morning tomorrow but I think he will be very happy there as there are only six other children in the school with three staff members, which means lots of attention for him. Not sure how much learning he will actually do, who needs formal education at the age of nearly three anyway.
After a quick snack back at the ranch we went out for a walk to the club, where the swimming pool can be found. We had a look through the gates and had every intention in going for a swim after lunch.
On the way back from the swimming pool area we found the park from Lost! It is a bit scary looking but actually quite fun to play on. Jeremy thinks it looks aged because of the weather here. Me, not so much.
We never made it to the pool, we rearranged the furniture instead. This activity was not by design, we were waiting in for the Internet Speedy technician, we are still without internet. Check out the name of the internet company. Quite clearly there is no such thing as the Trade Descriptions Act here. When the Speedy man arrived, he couldn’t do anything and has said he will return tomorrow morning at 9am to look at the phone lines outside.
We will definitely go to the pool tomorrow afternoon. I feel a theme to this blog arising, I might have to rename it.
This evening we went to the Balikpapan Super Block, known in our house as the Super Plop. I managed to pick up three pairs of shorts for Mr Pickle for £9, bargain, in a shop called Matahari. These are needed as there is still no sign of the shipping boxes, with the rest of our clothes, and potty training requires more pairs of shorts than we have in the wardrobe. After that we went to Dunkin Donuts for pudding and coffee.
As far as I can tell, you can shop until late every day of the week, including Sundays.
Sunday 24 October 2010
We’re not in Kansas anymore Mr Pickle
We have now been two days without the internet! I feel like a part of me is missing. I’m not sure how I functioned as a human being before it was rolled out into our homes. How did our parents manage?
All of the recipes that I use are on the internet, I download my emails using the internet and Mr Pickle and I play games from the CBeebies website. Jeremy has just used the phrase ‘the next time we have internet...’ We are losing all hope that it will ever return into our lives.
One obvious concern about this situation is whether I will ever manage to see Strictly ever again whilst living in the back of beyond, never mind the fact that we can’t use Skype to talk to our nearest and dearest!
And another thing......No TV! You know what that means.....No MTV! We lost the satellite system days ago and still haven’t managed to get that sorted out either. Thank goodness for Peppa Pig and Charlie and Lola on the computer.
The three of us, as a family which it is very nice to be again, went to a local market this morning (although by the time I manage to post this it will probably be three weeks ago). We bought lots of fruit and veg for very little money, experienced the smell of the fish stalls and went to a funny little shop called C V Central where we bought a HUGE bin for the kitchen. It looks a bit like a red darlek and has ‘push’ written on the swing lid which makes me think it was designed for a public place. All other bins that are to be found in Balikpapan are teeny weeny.
We also bought some blue Fanta, not yet sampled but very exciting.
Driving back from the shops the realisation hit that we are now living in a very world! Quite clearly, we are not in Kansas anymore.
Anyway, the plan was to go to the swimming pool in the afternoon but once we had eaten lunch and sat down, Sunday lethargy hit and we didn’t manage to leave the house again. That obviously doesn’t change from place to place in the world, the only thing missing was Antiques Roadshow.
Saturday 23 October 2010
Alot of dough
Mr Pickle appeared beside my head this morning with his a very informative greeting 'mummy it's light out and it is morning'. As it was 7.30 am, I couldn't really argue so we made our way into the kitchen to make breakfast.
Awaiting me was a great big wobbly, blobby and bubbly mass in a saucepan on the work top. I started to make french bread the night before and it is a two day process! As I do not have many kitchen implements, a mixing bowl being one of the missing items, I had to improvise by using a saucepan instead. Last night I mixed up a batch of lukewarm water, flour and yeast and left it on the side in the kitchen to 'grow'. My science experiment was a success and my mixture had tripled in size.
While Mr Pickle ate a very exotic breakfast of a cup of milk, three baby bananas, a yoghurt, two pieces of toast and a handful of cocoa pops, I got on with making the dough. Having read the rest of the instructions, there was more waiting to follow. I mixed up the full batch, kneaded the big bubbly ball for eight minutes and then let it sit in the saucepan for a further two hours.
Mr Pickle asked 'is it play doh?' Bless him and his one track mind.
The dough doubled in size again! You don't get to see this happening in a bread maker. After a further knead and stretching into shape I had two french loaves.
Thank goodness the gas supply was fixed yesterday! I baked then in the oven for 30 minutes and we had two, not quite as golden as I would have liked, french bread loaves.
Might try and make pizza dough next.
This afternoon we were taken shopping into one of the many shopping centres in town. In preparation for tomorrow's trip to the pool I have bought a new swimsuit. There was a wide choice on sale if you were looking to be covered from neck to ankle! I didn't mind, it was just nice to be out and about taking in the sights and smells of Balikpapan. This particular shopping centre is situated on a waterfront that smells a bit like Angle beach on a hot day.
We ate the bread with a homemade lasagne and some Balikpapan friends.
Awaiting me was a great big wobbly, blobby and bubbly mass in a saucepan on the work top. I started to make french bread the night before and it is a two day process! As I do not have many kitchen implements, a mixing bowl being one of the missing items, I had to improvise by using a saucepan instead. Last night I mixed up a batch of lukewarm water, flour and yeast and left it on the side in the kitchen to 'grow'. My science experiment was a success and my mixture had tripled in size.
While Mr Pickle ate a very exotic breakfast of a cup of milk, three baby bananas, a yoghurt, two pieces of toast and a handful of cocoa pops, I got on with making the dough. Having read the rest of the instructions, there was more waiting to follow. I mixed up the full batch, kneaded the big bubbly ball for eight minutes and then let it sit in the saucepan for a further two hours.
Mr Pickle asked 'is it play doh?' Bless him and his one track mind.
The dough doubled in size again! You don't get to see this happening in a bread maker. After a further knead and stretching into shape I had two french loaves.
Thank goodness the gas supply was fixed yesterday! I baked then in the oven for 30 minutes and we had two, not quite as golden as I would have liked, french bread loaves.
Might try and make pizza dough next.
This afternoon we were taken shopping into one of the many shopping centres in town. In preparation for tomorrow's trip to the pool I have bought a new swimsuit. There was a wide choice on sale if you were looking to be covered from neck to ankle! I didn't mind, it was just nice to be out and about taking in the sights and smells of Balikpapan. This particular shopping centre is situated on a waterfront that smells a bit like Angle beach on a hot day.
We ate the bread with a homemade lasagne and some Balikpapan friends.
Friday 22 October 2010
Wave a chicken in the air
Yesterday Mr Pickle and I took a whole chicken and cut it up into it's component meaty parts to freeze. He had a great time watching me disect it, whilst pointing out the various body parts to him.
After I had cleared away the mess and put the bones, skin and cast off bits into a pot to make stock, we set up the play doh on the dining table. Instead of making the usual worms, spaghetti and cut out shapes, Mr Pickle made a chicken carcass out of the doh and proceeded to cut off wings, legs and breast from the little shape with his plastic knife. I wish I had thought to take some photographs before he cut it up!
You may have noticed that I haven't talked about many other people other than just us. That is because we have not met many other people yet. We have spent most of our first week in the house amusing ourselves with lego, colouring pens, play doh, activity books and Dora the Explorer.
I have had three failed attempts, over the last couple of days, at visiting the local kindergarten. It appears that we have managed to coincide our arrival with half term here. This also means that the ex pat mothers have taken their ex pat children away to places, like Bali, for the break. Mr Pickle reached the point of desperation to play with children of his own age today.
Thankfully I had a sticker book and stickers in reserve for such an occasion. Apparently everyone should return from their holidays over the weekend, Mr Pickle will be able to enrol in kindy and make some friends to play with.
The challenge thrown at us today was to get the gas supply fixed. The failure of the hob to light this morning, to boil the kettle for a cup of tea, was a lovely surprise.
Jeremy was going off to a rig this morning for an overnighter so this kind of happenstance was expected on my part. Thankfully, Jeremy's company have a multitude of helpful people on the payroll who dutifully trooped through our house trying to fix the problem. As it turned out, it wasn't the regulator, as the house boy had thought (who had trecked to the shop to buy a new one before disappearing off to work), it was a blocked pipe. All sorted now. At 3pm I had my first cup of tea from the kettle.
While we had no hot water to shower, we scrubbed the bathrooms so that they are now shining and smell inviting. I flushed out a family of milipedes from one and enough hair in another to make a toupe. Nice.
You may have noticed that I haven't talked about many other people other than just us. That is because we have not met many other people yet. We have spent most of our first week in the house amusing ourselves with lego, colouring pens, play doh, activity books and Dora the Explorer.
I have had three failed attempts, over the last couple of days, at visiting the local kindergarten. It appears that we have managed to coincide our arrival with half term here. This also means that the ex pat mothers have taken their ex pat children away to places, like Bali, for the break. Mr Pickle reached the point of desperation to play with children of his own age today.
Thankfully I had a sticker book and stickers in reserve for such an occasion. Apparently everyone should return from their holidays over the weekend, Mr Pickle will be able to enrol in kindy and make some friends to play with.
The challenge thrown at us today was to get the gas supply fixed. The failure of the hob to light this morning, to boil the kettle for a cup of tea, was a lovely surprise.
Jeremy was going off to a rig this morning for an overnighter so this kind of happenstance was expected on my part. Thankfully, Jeremy's company have a multitude of helpful people on the payroll who dutifully trooped through our house trying to fix the problem. As it turned out, it wasn't the regulator, as the house boy had thought (who had trecked to the shop to buy a new one before disappearing off to work), it was a blocked pipe. All sorted now. At 3pm I had my first cup of tea from the kettle.
While we had no hot water to shower, we scrubbed the bathrooms so that they are now shining and smell inviting. I flushed out a family of milipedes from one and enough hair in another to make a toupe. Nice.
Tuesday 19 October 2010
I've got the power
It has been a funny old day today! Mostly funny peculiar and a little bit ha ha.
Jeremy went off this morning to Jakarta for a meeting leaving me and Mr Pickle to amuse ourselves. Mr Pickle started his day by having a lovely swim in our paddling pool sized bath tub with his bath toys and a cup of milk on the side of the bath. It looked a bit like the baby version of the Club Tropicana video (that would be a song by Wham for those of you who are too young to know what I am referring to, have a look on Wiki).
I was making toast in the kitchen when the power went out. My initial thoughts were that I had fused the house by using the toaster. No such luck, we were having a power outage. We waited 10 minutes, at which point I decided that we needed the air conditioning back on. I managed to start our generator and flick the power across to it first time. Go me! I had to do this myself because the house boy works elsewhere in the day.
Meanwhile, I am getting myself and Mr Pickle ready to go out with one of the members of the Balikpapan International Women's Association (BIWA) for a drive around the locale when there is a knock on the side door. Who should it be, not the lady from BIWA but the house boy, who should be elsewhere, working.
He proceeds to tell me (with gestures, etc.) that the gardener is here to do the front and the back garden. That is funny ha ha because the garden is comprised of two strips of manky looking grass, which is so coarse you could mistake it for astroturf, and a few potted palms. It was such a hard job that the house boy stayed to 'assist' the gardener in his efforts.
I was a bit confused as I thought Jeremy had told me the house boy was going to do the garden. I was then railroaded into paying the gardener for his 'services'. Jeremy will be on the case to find out what is going on there.
Having rung Jeremy about the issue above, we realised he had gone off with my means of purchasing anything worthwhile, e.g. shoes in the mall. I am sure this was an oversight.
Due to all the shenanigans with power, gardeners, house boys and phonecalls to Jakarta, my hair dried all on it's own without the assistance of a hair dryer (which definately would have fused the house) and I looked a right mess for meeting someone for the first time.
The lady from BIWA was very nice (and didn't comment on my appearance) and we visited the afore mentioned mall, the Balikpapan Super Block. I would like to share photos of this on the blog but I haven't worked out how to do it yet so I will save a detailed account of shopping there for a day when I actually manage to shop.
I tracked down some bread flour with the help of a shop assistant who was gone so long we think he was actually milling the flour himself. Jeremy thinks he ran to another shop! I will be sharing my bread making escapades in future blogs. That's like a cliff hanger right there!
After lunch we went on a play date and Mr Pickle managed to fall off a tricycle three times, eat two chocolate biscuits, drink two glasses of water, develop a sweat rash on his forehead and have a thouroughly enjoyable and tiring time. When we came home he ate all his tea, watched a bit of Dora the Explorer, had a story and fell asleep with a huge electrical storm raging around us.
As I shut his bedroom door, everything went black. Hooray, another powercut! Luckily the house boy is here and before I could find the torch, the lights came back on and I didn't have to lift a finger. I did have to reconnect the internet to post this blog.
Jeremy went off this morning to Jakarta for a meeting leaving me and Mr Pickle to amuse ourselves. Mr Pickle started his day by having a lovely swim in our paddling pool sized bath tub with his bath toys and a cup of milk on the side of the bath. It looked a bit like the baby version of the Club Tropicana video (that would be a song by Wham for those of you who are too young to know what I am referring to, have a look on Wiki).
I was making toast in the kitchen when the power went out. My initial thoughts were that I had fused the house by using the toaster. No such luck, we were having a power outage. We waited 10 minutes, at which point I decided that we needed the air conditioning back on. I managed to start our generator and flick the power across to it first time. Go me! I had to do this myself because the house boy works elsewhere in the day.
Meanwhile, I am getting myself and Mr Pickle ready to go out with one of the members of the Balikpapan International Women's Association (BIWA) for a drive around the locale when there is a knock on the side door. Who should it be, not the lady from BIWA but the house boy, who should be elsewhere, working.
He proceeds to tell me (with gestures, etc.) that the gardener is here to do the front and the back garden. That is funny ha ha because the garden is comprised of two strips of manky looking grass, which is so coarse you could mistake it for astroturf, and a few potted palms. It was such a hard job that the house boy stayed to 'assist' the gardener in his efforts.
I was a bit confused as I thought Jeremy had told me the house boy was going to do the garden. I was then railroaded into paying the gardener for his 'services'. Jeremy will be on the case to find out what is going on there.
Having rung Jeremy about the issue above, we realised he had gone off with my means of purchasing anything worthwhile, e.g. shoes in the mall. I am sure this was an oversight.
Due to all the shenanigans with power, gardeners, house boys and phonecalls to Jakarta, my hair dried all on it's own without the assistance of a hair dryer (which definately would have fused the house) and I looked a right mess for meeting someone for the first time.
The lady from BIWA was very nice (and didn't comment on my appearance) and we visited the afore mentioned mall, the Balikpapan Super Block. I would like to share photos of this on the blog but I haven't worked out how to do it yet so I will save a detailed account of shopping there for a day when I actually manage to shop.
I tracked down some bread flour with the help of a shop assistant who was gone so long we think he was actually milling the flour himself. Jeremy thinks he ran to another shop! I will be sharing my bread making escapades in future blogs. That's like a cliff hanger right there!
After lunch we went on a play date and Mr Pickle managed to fall off a tricycle three times, eat two chocolate biscuits, drink two glasses of water, develop a sweat rash on his forehead and have a thouroughly enjoyable and tiring time. When we came home he ate all his tea, watched a bit of Dora the Explorer, had a story and fell asleep with a huge electrical storm raging around us.
As I shut his bedroom door, everything went black. Hooray, another powercut! Luckily the house boy is here and before I could find the torch, the lights came back on and I didn't have to lift a finger. I did have to reconnect the internet to post this blog.
Sunday 17 October 2010
In the jungle, the mighty jungle
We visited an area of Balikpapan called the Beach House today. It is a little piece of the jungle that has been developed into a resort type area. In amongst the banana trees, palm fronds and birds of paradise flowers tables and chairs have been dropped to form a restaurant area with fountains and little paths down to the beach.
There were also some very odd four poster beds dotted around for sitting in to watch the waves rolling in.
The beach was not particularly nice but there were a large number of shells for Mr Pickle to pick up and throw into the sea.
I am going to take Mr Pickle down to the Kindergarden tomorrow for a look. Hopefully we will be able to get him a place quickly so that he can have a change in company from me!
There were also some very odd four poster beds dotted around for sitting in to watch the waves rolling in.
The beach was not particularly nice but there were a large number of shells for Mr Pickle to pick up and throw into the sea.
I am going to take Mr Pickle down to the Kindergarden tomorrow for a look. Hopefully we will be able to get him a place quickly so that he can have a change in company from me!
Friday 15 October 2010
We're here
We arrived in Balikpapan a couple of days ago now. I have been much to tired to even think about posting until today.
We were allowed to take the buggy onto the plane free of charge. Hooray!
We had a tearful farewell at Heathrow with mum and dad and we ventured through the security area where I asked the a member of staff if there was anyone who could assist me through. I had already asked the check in desk who said I would have to ask for help at each point.
This is the response I received:
'No. You should have brought a bigger buggy to hang everything on or travelled with someone to help you. Maybe you can find another passenger to help you.' Like that was going to happen!!
Nice! This stopped me feeling quite so upset because I was so annoyed. Despite her comment, as soon as I got to the end of the scanning queue, the staff there came up to me, asked me if I was travelling alone with my toddler and prmoptly provided two members of staff to assist me through and I got to queue jump into the bargain. Quite clearly the first woman was a complete jobsworth and on a power trip.
At the gate the ground crew helped us onto the plane. So I thought all would be well.
We settled into our seats in our little bank of two, watched some telly and waited for the in flight meal to be served. When the air stewardess reached us she asked whether we wanted the chicken or the beef. I opted for the chicken and asked whether Oscar (aka Mr Pickle) would be having the child's meal. I was met with a long stare and a request to see our boarding passes. 'You haven't booked a child's meal, he can have an adulats meal, chicken or beef?' Fabulous, i had even checked the online check in screen for a place to book a child's meal and couldn't see one.
The chicken was very spicy so I opted for the beef meal. He ate the breadroll.
Considering the posters and banners around Heathrow proclaiming that 'It's official. Ethiad are the best airline in the world', I find this very hard to believe from a cattle class customer's perspective. They crew seemed overworked and understaffed. They did not seem interested in making our flight as painless as possible and it felt like we were flying the long haul equivalent of Ryan Air. Kirst - they needed you there to show them what customer service in the air means!
All the stewards and stewardesses were in business class as much as they could manage and our cries of 'stewardess, we know we are ugly and you are beautiful but please help us' fell on deaf ears.
We changed at Abu Dhabi and got onto the next flight under our own steam. There were people in our seats, a young couple with a screaming toddler, with a stewardess asking them to move. They vacated our seats and I thought phew, they are going to go and sit somewhere else, unfortunately the somewhere else was the row in front of ours. The child screamed the entire flight. All eight hours without stopping for breath. I think there is an opera singer in the making there.
Oscar managed to sleep for about two hours on and off and kept asking me to stop the noise. If only I could have! I managed to sleep for about an hour. I have nothing further to add about this flight other than the fact that the service was worse than the first flight and the food was terrifying. I ate a croissant and Oscar ate nothing.
Jeremy met up at Jakarta, which was a very nice surprise and a huge relief. It would have been a nightmare getting across from arrivals to departures on our own with all the baggage.Mr Pickle was very pleased to see him.
We boarded our flight and Mr Pickle was asleep within about five minutes. This was a Garuda flight and the service and meals were streets ahead of Ethiad.
It was very late when we arrived at the house so we all went to bed and woke up late the next morning. On the bright side, the lack of sleep on the Ethiad flight has meant that we got over jet lag quite quickly as we had no problem sleeping all night. Mr Pickle is struggling a bit with his stomach's request to eat dinner at around two in the morning (about seven pm in the UK). Hopefully tonight he will sleep through this as I am packing him full of food today.
We haven't seen much of Balikpapan so far but I am sure with the weekend coming we will get to visit some sights.
We were allowed to take the buggy onto the plane free of charge. Hooray!
We had a tearful farewell at Heathrow with mum and dad and we ventured through the security area where I asked the a member of staff if there was anyone who could assist me through. I had already asked the check in desk who said I would have to ask for help at each point.
This is the response I received:
'No. You should have brought a bigger buggy to hang everything on or travelled with someone to help you. Maybe you can find another passenger to help you.' Like that was going to happen!!
Nice! This stopped me feeling quite so upset because I was so annoyed. Despite her comment, as soon as I got to the end of the scanning queue, the staff there came up to me, asked me if I was travelling alone with my toddler and prmoptly provided two members of staff to assist me through and I got to queue jump into the bargain. Quite clearly the first woman was a complete jobsworth and on a power trip.
At the gate the ground crew helped us onto the plane. So I thought all would be well.
We settled into our seats in our little bank of two, watched some telly and waited for the in flight meal to be served. When the air stewardess reached us she asked whether we wanted the chicken or the beef. I opted for the chicken and asked whether Oscar (aka Mr Pickle) would be having the child's meal. I was met with a long stare and a request to see our boarding passes. 'You haven't booked a child's meal, he can have an adulats meal, chicken or beef?' Fabulous, i had even checked the online check in screen for a place to book a child's meal and couldn't see one.
The chicken was very spicy so I opted for the beef meal. He ate the breadroll.
Considering the posters and banners around Heathrow proclaiming that 'It's official. Ethiad are the best airline in the world', I find this very hard to believe from a cattle class customer's perspective. They crew seemed overworked and understaffed. They did not seem interested in making our flight as painless as possible and it felt like we were flying the long haul equivalent of Ryan Air. Kirst - they needed you there to show them what customer service in the air means!
All the stewards and stewardesses were in business class as much as they could manage and our cries of 'stewardess, we know we are ugly and you are beautiful but please help us' fell on deaf ears.
We changed at Abu Dhabi and got onto the next flight under our own steam. There were people in our seats, a young couple with a screaming toddler, with a stewardess asking them to move. They vacated our seats and I thought phew, they are going to go and sit somewhere else, unfortunately the somewhere else was the row in front of ours. The child screamed the entire flight. All eight hours without stopping for breath. I think there is an opera singer in the making there.
Oscar managed to sleep for about two hours on and off and kept asking me to stop the noise. If only I could have! I managed to sleep for about an hour. I have nothing further to add about this flight other than the fact that the service was worse than the first flight and the food was terrifying. I ate a croissant and Oscar ate nothing.
Jeremy met up at Jakarta, which was a very nice surprise and a huge relief. It would have been a nightmare getting across from arrivals to departures on our own with all the baggage.Mr Pickle was very pleased to see him.
We boarded our flight and Mr Pickle was asleep within about five minutes. This was a Garuda flight and the service and meals were streets ahead of Ethiad.
It was very late when we arrived at the house so we all went to bed and woke up late the next morning. On the bright side, the lack of sleep on the Ethiad flight has meant that we got over jet lag quite quickly as we had no problem sleeping all night. Mr Pickle is struggling a bit with his stomach's request to eat dinner at around two in the morning (about seven pm in the UK). Hopefully tonight he will sleep through this as I am packing him full of food today.
We haven't seen much of Balikpapan so far but I am sure with the weekend coming we will get to visit some sights.
Monday 11 October 2010
It's the final countdown, da-da-da da, da da-da-da da.....
Just a quick one.
The bags are packed and dad's car boot has been filled to capacity with our cases, including the much debated buggy.
I checked in at lunch time and we have two seats together, one window and one aisle seat. Luckily it is a two seat block and we won't have someone between us!
Said sad goodbyes to Deb, Fred and the boys today. We were too busy with the wee ones to get too upset thankfully.
We will keep you posted on our adevntures.
The bags are packed and dad's car boot has been filled to capacity with our cases, including the much debated buggy.
I checked in at lunch time and we have two seats together, one window and one aisle seat. Luckily it is a two seat block and we won't have someone between us!
Said sad goodbyes to Deb, Fred and the boys today. We were too busy with the wee ones to get too upset thankfully.
We will keep you posted on our adevntures.
Sunday 10 October 2010
Two more sleeps
We will be able to check into our seats on Mr Pickle's aeroplane tomorrow lunch time! It has been months in the planning and the day is very nearly here when we will be chauffered to Heathrow by my mum and dad to venture to the wilds of Borneo (hopefully not too wild) and back into the arms of the Daddy.
The postman came to the house at the crack of dawn this morning to drop off a guaranteed next day special delivery package for Mr Pickle from his Nana 'in Wales with Gramp'. With lots of little numbered packages for him to search through on the plane and get excited about opening. The plan is to hold them in reserve for desperate times and to prevent Mr Pickle from high-tailing it up the aisle and disappearing under people's legs.
Mum, Mr Pickle and I visited Netta this afternoon to say our sad farewells. While we were having a chat, mum was testing the new toaster she had purchased for the flat. I was worried about getting upset but I needn't have because after a couple of minutes the flat was filled with acrid smoke and there were alarms blaring from one corner of the building to the other! Mum had managed to set the toaster on fire.
Mum and I frantically threw all of the windows and the door open which probably made things worse as the smoke then started pouring down the corridor with Mr Pickle shouting 'what's that noise mummy, it's hurting my eyes'.
The sound was deafening but did eventually stop after the warden and mum had flapped tea towels furiously at the smoke alarm for about 20 minutes. We had no time to get maudlin and the moment will live in Mr Pickle's little mind for a long time to come.
Hopefully we will see Netta on Skype very soon as her sheltered flats now have a computer room!
The postman came to the house at the crack of dawn this morning to drop off a guaranteed next day special delivery package for Mr Pickle from his Nana 'in Wales with Gramp'. With lots of little numbered packages for him to search through on the plane and get excited about opening. The plan is to hold them in reserve for desperate times and to prevent Mr Pickle from high-tailing it up the aisle and disappearing under people's legs.
Mum, Mr Pickle and I visited Netta this afternoon to say our sad farewells. While we were having a chat, mum was testing the new toaster she had purchased for the flat. I was worried about getting upset but I needn't have because after a couple of minutes the flat was filled with acrid smoke and there were alarms blaring from one corner of the building to the other! Mum had managed to set the toaster on fire.
Mum and I frantically threw all of the windows and the door open which probably made things worse as the smoke then started pouring down the corridor with Mr Pickle shouting 'what's that noise mummy, it's hurting my eyes'.
The sound was deafening but did eventually stop after the warden and mum had flapped tea towels furiously at the smoke alarm for about 20 minutes. We had no time to get maudlin and the moment will live in Mr Pickle's little mind for a long time to come.
Hopefully we will see Netta on Skype very soon as her sheltered flats now have a computer room!
Friday 8 October 2010
Mr Pickle has fallen between two stools and I may have to pinch him
He hasn't literally fallen between two stools, that would be both dangerous and neglectful!
I have been trying to find out about assistance for a lone mother travelling with a child who is two and nine months. Not under two (an infant) and not yet three (a fully fledged child), hence the two stools he has now fallen between.
My first attempt at gaining the information from the airline by email failed as the response sent to me instructed me to talk to the agent who I have booked my tickets through. As this is an Indonesian booking agent through the Daddy's work I didn't hold out much hope of gaining anything that way.
Today I rang the airline to ask if we could have some assistance at the airport.
My first attempt put me into a sprial of automated responses that I was unable to escape from. I had to hang up and start again.
I finally got through to a human who's response to my query was that I would have to ask this question of the ground staff on the day. I asked what kind of assistance this might be and the very unhelpful person on the other end of the line ignored my question and repeated his first answer. Maybe he too was an automated response and was stuck in a loop!
I then asked him to confirm whether we could take the buggy to the gate and he said that we would have to include the buggy weight in the baggage allowance as the child was under two and started to go on about basinettes for under 10 month olds, etc. At this point I wanted to scream so I thanked him and hung up as this confirmed that he was an automoton and I would gain no further knowledge.
Having considered my options, I am going to wing it and bring the buggy anyway. We have never had to weigh the buggy before.
I would put money on Mr Pickle sleeping at Abu Dhabi airport and I cannot imagine being able to keep him awake at Jakarta for four hours and lugging him plus baggage through the airport. He needs to be on wheels, like the cases.
At check in I may have to pinch him to make him cry, that will put the staff off taking him out of the buggy to weigh it! It might just work.
I have been trying to find out about assistance for a lone mother travelling with a child who is two and nine months. Not under two (an infant) and not yet three (a fully fledged child), hence the two stools he has now fallen between.
My first attempt at gaining the information from the airline by email failed as the response sent to me instructed me to talk to the agent who I have booked my tickets through. As this is an Indonesian booking agent through the Daddy's work I didn't hold out much hope of gaining anything that way.
Today I rang the airline to ask if we could have some assistance at the airport.
My first attempt put me into a sprial of automated responses that I was unable to escape from. I had to hang up and start again.
I finally got through to a human who's response to my query was that I would have to ask this question of the ground staff on the day. I asked what kind of assistance this might be and the very unhelpful person on the other end of the line ignored my question and repeated his first answer. Maybe he too was an automated response and was stuck in a loop!
I then asked him to confirm whether we could take the buggy to the gate and he said that we would have to include the buggy weight in the baggage allowance as the child was under two and started to go on about basinettes for under 10 month olds, etc. At this point I wanted to scream so I thanked him and hung up as this confirmed that he was an automoton and I would gain no further knowledge.
Having considered my options, I am going to wing it and bring the buggy anyway. We have never had to weigh the buggy before.
I would put money on Mr Pickle sleeping at Abu Dhabi airport and I cannot imagine being able to keep him awake at Jakarta for four hours and lugging him plus baggage through the airport. He needs to be on wheels, like the cases.
At check in I may have to pinch him to make him cry, that will put the staff off taking him out of the buggy to weigh it! It might just work.
Thursday 7 October 2010
Have tickets will travel
All I need to do is print the e tickets out and we are set. Heathrow to Abu Dhabi (7 hours), Abu Dhabi to Jakarta (8 hours) and Jakarta to Balikpapan (2 hours).
On an email it looks very straight forward!
I will be writing Mr Pickle's Padington Bear style 'if found' information on his forearms in biro and praying to all the travel gods to let this be the simplest and uneventful journey in the history of the world.
Today I have packed, weighed and repacked our cases about six times. I expect that this will be my main pastime for the next couple of days.
I roped my dad in to assist with the weighing of the aforementioned luggage with a scale purchased from ebay. It is actually a scale for weighing fish! You can imagine how hard it is to lift a 23 kilo suitcase with it when you are only 5 foot 3 inches tall.
He didn't really understand my concern with the weights until I explained that I needed to 'create' at least two kilos of space to fit my (technically not just mine) beloved Wii into the cases. I didn't explain that it cannot be packed yet as I am still attempting to get past World 2 and Mr Pickle would be very sad if he couldn't see 'little running man', as he calls Mario. Not that I have much time to play, which probably explains why I am still only in World 2!
It wasn't just a packing filled day, we also managed to have a lovely time at the playground with Alison, Zozzle and Jen, which was rounded off nicely with a swift hot chocolate (accompanied by smuggled in treats) in Costa. We then went for a very tasty scampi and chips with Nana and Bampa because time is too precious to spend it cooking.
I managed to purchase a genuine copy of Civ V for the Daddy and completely forgot to pick up my currency at the bank. Doh!
A job for the morning now. I am not expecting an early alarm call tomorrow!
On an email it looks very straight forward!
I will be writing Mr Pickle's Padington Bear style 'if found' information on his forearms in biro and praying to all the travel gods to let this be the simplest and uneventful journey in the history of the world.
Today I have packed, weighed and repacked our cases about six times. I expect that this will be my main pastime for the next couple of days.
I roped my dad in to assist with the weighing of the aforementioned luggage with a scale purchased from ebay. It is actually a scale for weighing fish! You can imagine how hard it is to lift a 23 kilo suitcase with it when you are only 5 foot 3 inches tall.
He didn't really understand my concern with the weights until I explained that I needed to 'create' at least two kilos of space to fit my (technically not just mine) beloved Wii into the cases. I didn't explain that it cannot be packed yet as I am still attempting to get past World 2 and Mr Pickle would be very sad if he couldn't see 'little running man', as he calls Mario. Not that I have much time to play, which probably explains why I am still only in World 2!
It wasn't just a packing filled day, we also managed to have a lovely time at the playground with Alison, Zozzle and Jen, which was rounded off nicely with a swift hot chocolate (accompanied by smuggled in treats) in Costa. We then went for a very tasty scampi and chips with Nana and Bampa because time is too precious to spend it cooking.
I managed to purchase a genuine copy of Civ V for the Daddy and completely forgot to pick up my currency at the bank. Doh!
A job for the morning now. I am not expecting an early alarm call tomorrow!
Wednesday 6 October 2010
Except on Wednesdays, when I get rudely awakened by the dustmen.......
This sprang to mind this morning! The person in question knows who he his.
Mum kndly got up with Mr Pickle this morning, to give me a lie in, when I had to leap out of bed to answer the phone. Nevermind, best laid plans and all that.
Going into the office today with Mr Pickle to say final goodbyes, for now, to my friends at work. As I have no car I am being chauffered.
Mum kndly got up with Mr Pickle this morning, to give me a lie in, when I had to leap out of bed to answer the phone. Nevermind, best laid plans and all that.
Going into the office today with Mr Pickle to say final goodbyes, for now, to my friends at work. As I have no car I am being chauffered.
Date of travel
We have our confirmed date of travel! Mr Pickle and I will be off to Borneo to join Daddy on the 11th October, arriving on the 12th.
With a combined baggage allowance of 46 kilos in the hold and 14 kilos in the cabin, I am currently attempting to squash our worldly belongings into two large cases, two tiny cases and a car seat bag. Having read the 'additional free items' list published by the airline I am wondering if I can convince the check in clerk that bunny-one-one is an umbrella and cubey is a gentleman's overcoat to gain a bit of extra baggage allowance.
I have come to the conclusion that all of my effects would fit into one tiny case and that Mr Pickle needs to undertake life laundry. I floated the idea of leaving lamby and one of the blankets behind for the cousins but that was met with a cold hard stare. It basically told me that if I so much as suggested this again I could forget potty training or any other co-operation with this latest venture of ours.
Hopefully the dinosaur duplo sets, purchased from ebay and now hidden in the cases, will buy me and the daddy brownie points upon arrival at our destination!
With a combined baggage allowance of 46 kilos in the hold and 14 kilos in the cabin, I am currently attempting to squash our worldly belongings into two large cases, two tiny cases and a car seat bag. Having read the 'additional free items' list published by the airline I am wondering if I can convince the check in clerk that bunny-one-one is an umbrella and cubey is a gentleman's overcoat to gain a bit of extra baggage allowance.
I have come to the conclusion that all of my effects would fit into one tiny case and that Mr Pickle needs to undertake life laundry. I floated the idea of leaving lamby and one of the blankets behind for the cousins but that was met with a cold hard stare. It basically told me that if I so much as suggested this again I could forget potty training or any other co-operation with this latest venture of ours.
Hopefully the dinosaur duplo sets, purchased from ebay and now hidden in the cases, will buy me and the daddy brownie points upon arrival at our destination!
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