Streupflicht und Schneeschaufel

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Thanks Gabster for the inspiration for the thread!

Add your resolutions here & I can slip alongside and pretend I'll make some too.
Still too fragile - my sleep patterns go haywire when I'm home, stay up till 1 or 2am, then awake at 5am (6 here, usual flipping school time) then I come back & keep crashing on the sofa at 10pm and wake up at 4 bright & breezy.

We have snow, very pretty and h is off till Weds so am pushing him out for Streupflicht, bartered it for a fry-up with real English bacon, hmmmmmm.
Forecast is for -12C to -14C tonight - and when the children go back to school on Thursday. Yikes.

Well done for starting this fn.

My New Years Resolutions (copied from last) are

• lose 10kg/ improve whole family's diet

• do more exercise & be outside more

• keep house visitor clean

• improve communication with DH

• do stuff with kids

• be more patient

• improve my German

• learn keyboard

• read more & less tv

Happy new thread everyone

D'oh - missed the new thread. Thanks for rescuing me Ernest.

DH and I realised we have been together 10yrs this Xmas!!!

Resolutions:

• Get back down to pre-meeting DH weight

• keep house tider (had similar experience yesterday where people wanted to view house on 24hrs notice - nightmare - never being that stressed again!)

• try to just generally be happier with my lot i.e. not getting stressed and impatient (especially with DS) and accept things the way they are.

Think this last one is more a survival tactic with the impending move but also necessary as DS is getting v. frustrated (still not crawling) and need to patiently and calmly encourage him instead of "rescuing" him or get aggravated by the winging.

toodlepip G

Great thread title. Will be back later when I gave time.

Good morning everyone. Warning, this wil be a long one.

I can't wait any longer, have to share my news - we have decided to move back to UK!

I am shocked really. We'll have been out of UK for about 10 years when we return. We plan to stay here for 1 more year, so ds3 can complete 1 year of his GHT, and we can have a clearer idea of what's going on with him, but we'll be back in UK for ds1 to start secondary school.

It all came about rather strangely. As you know I was fed up before Christmas. It's not that I don't like Germany, but we haven't settled here - our set up, with kids in IS, but not living near IS just means it doesn't work. It isn't working & ds1 especially not happy. We were just chatting on the long drive back and what turned into a chat about the UK gradually evolved, and before we'd hit the German border we were asking, so , er, is that decided then? really? It was all so strange & we didn't plan to discuss it or anything, we just decided out of the blue like that, but we both agree that now the time is right.

I have got so many questions, I don't know where to start. Can you lot help me, or do I start (several) threads?

Questions are - unsure of area - Kent or Surrey, how do we decide?

To clarify - dh will be working in London. Our 2 criteria are - max 40 minute train journey into London (Waterloo) and good local state schools.

Once we've decided on area, how on earth do you house hunt & choose schools etc from afar?

Is it true you can't apply for a school place till you own/rent (and are resident) in a place in the school catchment area. ie we could decide tomorrow on a place, but not be living there till next summer, and we can't apply till next summer, then ds doesn't get a place.....? Gah, seems so complicated.

Ds1 is 1 year out of his English year group. Would he be forced to go to the 'proper' year group, or will he be able to stick to 1 year under?

How does it work in terms of me possible moving over 1st (but to temporary area, eg with fil in Kent while we look for house in Surrey) Do we just not declare it, or do we have to inform everyone, then the tax, child support & goodness know what gets really complicated.

My head is spinning. I t all seems so complicated. How do you do it? Gab, are you def going back? It's easier I geuss if you know where you'd go back to and don't have school age children.

Anyway, no doubt you'll see a zillion threads started by me it just seems so difficult.

Anyway, boys finally back at school/Kindergarten, thank goodness. They were really missing the routine & structure. Now I'm faced with scary amounts of housework.

Have a good day everyone

Wow, Ernest congratulations! You are going to have alot of work but stay calm as you have plenty of time.

The only question I can help with (abit) is the schools. I was on the verge of packing up and leaving h at the end of last year, partly because of the crap schooling situation here and I want my dc to love going to school not hate it as they do now. Anyway, I asked the county council, education authority and they wrote back that I had to apply for a place in October/November for the next September - online applications possible, however I would not have been able to apply from abroad with no address in UK and they needed proof too - so either council tax payments, utility bills and I think even a phone connection registered to the address in your name etc meaning you can't reserve a place unless you already live there. So I gave up...still atleast you know the secondary places are all sent in ages before September so you can prepare. My sister said if you suddenly moved in August you would still get your dc into secondary but not first choice or nearest maybe. Sigh, they have it so easy, when their dc are in primary school in UK it's all sorted through school anyway.
if this helps, I asked on mn too

Ooooh - how exciting.

Yes we are definitely going back.

Surrey I don't know so well, but I like St Albans which is in ...erm...Hertfordshire, is it? Not sure!

Will read your replies with interest but am fairly sure that you can't go on list for school until resident in catchment area, but don't worry too much. Fate will have a hand - you will find a school place for the DCs somewhere. Going back is the main worry to start with.

We have been looking at houses online and have sent some requests to removal companies.

DH is looking for a car in the UK to bring over so we can sell our DE car, and is now officially looking for a job.

Sadly, most houses and agents seem to be dogist but we kinda saw that one coming.

TheGabster, tell your dh to ask on MyHammer.de about a removal company, you don't have to accept an offer but you could save a fortune. We sent off for offers from big removal companies in Berlin to move us to Hannover (3 hours away) and we got quotes between 1200 and 2400 Euro. Then on MyHammer I found a small company who did it all for 600!

Good to know, thanks Ad. Might like their for painting help too. Have so much to do and only about 2mnths to do it in now

Have found local container/removal company which look good too - will give you details a bit later if you want them Ernest. Just off out with the dog - first day at home without DH today so determined to get everything done so he comes home to nice tiday/clean house with sleeping baby and dinner ready instead of normal disaster zone.

By the way do you all do your own Steuererklärung or do you get help? I can't face it but I should try and do it. It just seems to be another thing that I take off h's hands. He should do it really.

My dc are depressed at the price of everything! we went with their Christmas money to Saturn. They had a list of things they would like but everything was so expensive. Ds bought himself a nintendo ds game but kept the rest of his money. He wanted to get himself a new mobile or maybe an mp3 player but there wern't any nice ones he could afford. Dd wanted to buy herself a cd-player but again, to get a decent one it would have taken all her money and she decided to wait.

Ernest - congratulations, you must be so pleased. I know it´s alot to organise, but at least you´ve got plenty of time to sort things out. The only question I can really answer is that I´m pretty sure ds1 will have to enter his correct year group. I know most LEAs are very hot on this, but maybe you will be lucky and find a school that is prepared to make an exception.

I like both Kent and Surrey, but it´s probaly best asking around on mumsnet for towns with good commutes/secondary schools etc. You could look on rightmove.co.uk to get an idea of house prices in various areas.

My only resolution is to do more exercise this year. I´ve been ill since the new year, so I haven´t put it into practice yet. Ds and dd are now suffering, so I´ve put the tv on for them while I mumsnet.

admylin - sorry can´t help with the Steuererklärung, somebody does ours for us. I don´t envy you - will it be more complicated because dh changed jobs during the year ?

Well, one bit of good news is that after h started in new job with nearly 700Euro less per month pay they have agreed to match his old wage and added 200 so we're 900 better off than the last few months. We should try and do out tax returns because of having to finance teh whole move ourselves we should atleast get some of that back (agent fee, double rent, travel costs and removal company etc)

Phew, Ernest now I think about it, I don't envy you - it sounds like a lot of time to organise things but it isn't really is it? I think you'll have to send your dh off to UK to hunt for best place to live and you'll be sitting online checking out school websites. Send them emails asking for info about the age group and such like. Atleast that's something you could be doing to start the ball rolling.

TheGabster, you've got alot on your hands too. Definately get someone from MyHammer to do the painting etc. In Berlin I saw alot of offers for renovating and Schlüsselübergabe everything done for you.

ein Frohes Neues everybody!!!! (bit late I know - ah hem)

So Ernest are you really moving, I mean dh hasn't yet announced his decision at work has he? Things may still swing back?

If you want a specific school, call them and see what they say. If you don't know which school, I wouldn't panic too much. There are plenty of good schools in Surrey and Kent. I shouldn't think there would be huge problems. I knew a woman in Germany who took her dc to a local school in Kent whenever she went there on holiday and there was never any problem with that. Since the shcool holidays are different in Germany/UK they'd end up attending school there for about 3-4 weeks a year and that (which would never have crossed my mind frankly) was no problem at all. She didn't have an official address there.

The problem will be if you want to get your dc into a specific, highly sought after school I'd imagine.

How do you feel about going back to London/the environs? I know your dh has wanted to go there for a long time now

Glad to see that you are a woman of wealth now admylin! Great news, hope some of that extra money gets filtered down to you and the kids eh?!

OK my resolutions are not really thought out yet but one of them will have to be giving up coffee (again) sigh. Cannot contemplate embarking on that yet though, still feeling a bit crook (ghastly bug over Christmas/New Year)

GOod news about the pay resolution Admylin!

We have a Steuerberatung but it doesn't cost a packet. DH is emplyed but I am self-employed so I think that costs extra and although it is usually about 450 for the nice man to do it all for us, we always get back at least 800euros a year so it works out. This year he has asked me for a whole lot of new things which we can apparently claim for too!

Hi all. my had is hurting more!

We are definitely moving, and definitely wanrt to be in situ for ds1 starting secondary school September 2010 ( wish could change that but general concensus is not).

Only Q is when, in order to get schools sorted, due to dealine being October this year. That is unachievable I think.

Tho DH seesm to think we can turn up mid August and all will be well, oh and house and job hunting can wait till next spring .

Was excited at move, now it all seems so complicated (even leaving here - we have to find someone to take over house if we leave early, problem is, it's only a short fixed lease anyway. Who would want an unfurnished house for only a year or less?.

ANd while say easter 2010 seems ages away, or even October this year, it all seems desperately nightmarey.

sorry. forgot to say, good news on job Admylin.
hope you're feeling better sooon zzen

I know your head is aching already ernest but I think there was a thread not long ago, wasn't there, with a MNer wanting to return to the UK and it seemed since she had not been in the UK for a year (dunno exactly) prior to secondary they would have had to pay school fees for their dc to attend a bog standard state secondary.

Now that's scarey isn't it? So if a move back is on the cards, now does seem the time to do it.

I am with you on the GAAAAAAADDDDDDD thing though. How do you know where to buy a home if you don't know about the schools etc.

Heck.

Shame there aren't clever people you can pay to investigate this kind of thing for you and give you concrete solutions. Is it viable to contemplate returning earlier to rented accomm in one of those areas and home schooling (ye gods with a number of kids) but as an emergency measure whilst the house/school hunting goes on?

Thanks ernest feeling heaps better these days. Just a bit headachey and blah. Felt like DEATH over Christmas. Joy to the world etc not in my home!

Well, remember you were thinking of training for a different type of job and I wondered if you could be a bit selfish here and find out where there would be good training facilities for a job with some realistic future to it you would be really interested in doing. Then look at what areas near there offer the kind of recreational activities you and your family might enjoy and could compensate for not being on the continent. Then look at schools/homes near to those places. What can you afford near the best schools you can afford?

Blimey Ernest, wow! Sure if you post threads on Overseas & Other Subjects/Chat etc. someone will have done similar. MN is Supreme Fount of Knowledge.I am currently laughing myself silly at the "crap presents" thread from which I learnt the existence of cheese markers.

Apols if you have posted elsewhere, am feeling rather fragile. Was on the phone till 3am with a friend catching up on several months of drama, eating Cadbury's Dairy Milk & drinking whiskey. Good thing school starts tomorrow - it'll force me to go to bed early.
Absolutely bloody freezing here, hate it. More painfully chilling than crisply cold, and the house is like Piccadilly Circus with boys in & out so have put out a mop in the hall & shout at them to wipe up the salty slush, it sticks to everything.

Still no resolutions, am in official holiday mode till the alarm goes off tomorrow morning.
God I sound grumpy! Must go and read about more crap presents.

Zzzen - "Shame there aren't clever people you can pay to investigate this kind of thing for you and give you concrete solutions."

There are! Looked at the 'Location location location' website & there is a list of these agents like Kirsty & Phil who do all that for you. It costs mega tho - maybe 5 - 10 k!!! we were all for it till we saw the price. I even filled out an application form for the show, but I doubt they'd have us (desperate clutching at straws!)

" Is it viable to contemplate returning earlier to rented accomm in one of those areas and home schooling (ye gods with a number of kids) but as an emergency measure whilst the house/school hunting goes on?"

We have considered bunking down at fil in Kent. Still an option.
Cos another complication (like there aren't enough already) is getting a mortgage when not in UK or not having job in UK or dh just having changed jobs. Oh I think I'm going to have to take the ostrich approach and forget about it.

Wotcha, Zzzen, you OK?

Is it too early for wine? Think I need a Haar of the Hund.

what on earth is a cheese marker?

Think everyone can feel grumpy when the temperatures sink too much finks. I hate the cold

Mind you I hate the heat too when it's really hot so I am difficult to please

Think those shows always look for new angles, Ernest. There are moves abroad shows, and what was it that Deb in A did? Surely worth a try.

cheese marker?

Bedding down at Ils is a good back-up, at least roof over head (abandons article in desolate physical condition)
Priority: job
determines location
then schools
then house

sorted

am in denial of reality p'raps but cn be counted upon for relentless optimism.