Quarterly review

It's been 3 months since we departed Sydney; time for the Quarterly Review.

Things achieved:
1. relocation to England and the successful transit, via container ship, of (a) things we own, to (b) where we are living
2. perpetuation of the myth that all Australians have kangaroos as pets (and if you're wondering where ours is, British readers, Skippy is in prolonged quarantine...)
3. local purchase of Milo, Vegemite and Anzac biccies
4. utter confusion as to why one can rewire a house in the UK without need of an electrical licence, but can't have a power point in a bathroom
5. moderate intrigue as to why the English do their washing up in little plastic tubs that rest INSIDE their kitchen sink
6. marginal frustration at not knowing what the correct name is for the "flap in the door that the mail is pushed through". It can't be a 'letter box' (as it's not a box) and 'mail hole' sounds so wrong in sooo many ways...
7. an indeterminable amount of clay and mud accumulated onto footwear from the fields outside our house
8. a love of the following BBC panel shows: "Q.I.", "Never mind the buzzcocks", "Have I got news for you", "A question of sport", "Top Gear" (amongst others)
9. a total of 5 streaming head-colds between us-more than we would normally get in a couple of years
10. a desire to own a real log fire.

Things not achieved:
1. the adaptation of our accent to allow for the word 'holy' to sound like 'hoe-lee' (as is the case with Hampshire folk)
2. the painting of our house despite 23 zillion paint charts collected in the first week of arriving here
3. an understanding of why some English folk like to drink 'Hot squash", that is, heated-up orange or other fruit-based cordial. Yes, you read this correctly...
4. the successful location of Tim Tams in any supermarket despite being available in, of all places, Oakham Tesco's two years ago
5. a consistent, reliable, decent coffee from a Cafe. Give us a moment while we reminisce...and a moment's silence for all that burnt latte milk and mega-oversized cups that we've had along the way.

*Sigh*