Hopefully getting a litter tray, some more food and other essentials this weekend, so once the kittens are ready, we’ll be taking ours home…
Oct 12 2006
Few More Recent Kitten Piccies
First we have the photos I promised a while back, and secondly some photos from last night. They’re still growing really quickly, and are now more adventurous
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Oct 07 2006
Another Gem – Driving in Almaty
For those of you that have been reading this since the start, you’ll know I’ve made occasional reference to the interesting ‘system’ drivers use over here. Since then I’ve discovered someone who has put a lot more information, more concisely, than I could hope to. It is based on the drivers in Almaty, not Astana (ask ChrisD for help on that subject), but well worth a read.
Oh, and ChrisD, when you going to get round to posting on here about your trip?
Ah, just noticed I haven’t actually linked to the blog itself, apologies – you can find it here…
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Oct 03 2006
Personal Posts Have Been Slowing Down Recently
Due to ChrisD coming over. A slight increase in my alcohol intake may also account for the lowering of posts per week. Chris came over for a week, and I hope we’ll both be writing more about his visit soon.
We just dropped him off at the airport, and despite the authorities restarting the scheme where you have to declare everything with you, on your exit of the country, he eventually got through all the steps required, and is, hopefully, by now on a plane to Istanbul, then on to Heathrow.
Also meant to say, we all met up with a nice man who runs the KZBlog , and his wife, over at the Chelsea ‘pub’ last Saturday. The company was good, the prices were high, but not heart stopping, and good news for John – they sell Guiness !!
Anyway, more info to come soon…
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Sep 30 2006
ChrisD Has Arrived
Well he did last Tuesday morning actually, but then we had a few drinks, and it turned out to be Saturday already.
Enough of me, over to him….
hurumph…. complaining he isn’t awake enough yet, he’ll do it later.
Well, we’ll just have to wait and see…
Sep 24 2006
This Is An Official Invitation
as requested by EmmaF and Ramon
Please consider yourself officially invited to come and visit us here in Kazakhstan anytime.
Winter is cold and snowy and pretty
Summer is hot and ummm hot
Sep 24 2006
Jumping On A Bandwagon
Found this article today on Richard Hammond and Top Gear, obviously inspired by the aformentioned’s crash. Couldn’t stand the guy’s attitude to be honest, but have a read and see what you think.
Also checked, and this site is now back down to #2 on Google, when searching for Chris Merriman. Not sure what went wrong, I’ve not lost any links to this site, I guess I’ll just have to live with the shame somehow ;>
I now have a Kazakh SIM card for my phone, msg me if you need the #. Got GPRS working for both of our phones, and can use them as bluetooth modems for the PC, which should keep me happy, and Irina happy, at least on my behalf…
Couple of days, and ChrisD will be over here; the weather has actually improved a little, but I’ve not told him yet, want to make sure he actually buys a coat (his first in over a decade!) and packs some warm clothes. I thought about not posting the weather info yet, but then remembered that he never reads this bloody thing anyway, so think we’re safe. Also Ira said the forecast is for the weather to get chilly again next week. Just hope the sunshine lasts long enough for him to experience it.
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Sep 22 2006
One For The Milk Drinkers Out There
You need to be so careful buying milk here in Kazakhstan. If you put it in tea/coffee, or cooking food, it might not be so apparent, but for any drinkers of milk, or breakfast cereal lovers, the milk takes a while to get used to.
I might just be hypersensitive to the smells/tastes (I worked in a dairy for a while), but a lot of milk tastes like it has gone off, the minute you open the carton/bag. (Who the hell thought a bag was a sensible container for milk!) As an example, I went shopping yesterday, and thought I’d try a couple different brands of milk, as the only ‘good’ source of milk was out of stock, again. I got a bag of normal milk, and a carton of UHT (long life), thinking it would be a safe bet. I don’t like the taste of UHT so much, but I thought of the two, at least one would be usable.
So, I got home, and thought about making a milk shake, and tested the ‘normal’ milk. Euuuuuurgh! It tasted like it had been left open in the sun for a few days. Oh well, no loss, threw it down the loo, and went to the UHT – best before date had 4 months to go, and it stated it could be stored at 0 – 30 degrees centigrade, prior to opening. It was worse, far worse – the milk had completely separated into a watery liquid, and some clotted fat floating around.
So, the moral of the story is, ummmm, well not sure – either don’t ever work in a dairy prior to visiting Kazakhstan, or maybe it is try to hold your nose whilst drinking milk over here, or maybe just give it up for a while :>
=-=–=
UPDATE: Irina bought some more milk from a different shop on the way home, same brand, same type, and it tastes fine. Corn flakes, milk shakes and Angel Delights (mum bought some over for us) are now back on the menu :> :>
Sep 19 2006
One week until ChrisD Arrives
and the weather over here has been rapidly degrading to UK standards, in readiness for his appearance.
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Sep 16 2006
My UK Mobile # Stopped
OK, the original plan was to convert my contract, pay-monthly account to a simple Pay As You Go account. After a lot of calls from Mum, and a few expensive international ones from me, I received the SIM card, registered my details, swapped the numbers over, and started the activation process.
Then Orange got round to informing me that PAYG SIM cards don’t work in Kazakhstan – there is no roaming agreement. Quite why this didn’t become apparent previously is a mystery, but there you go. The new plan is for me to get a Kazakh SIM card, and when I return to the UK, hopefully this Xmas, use the Orange PAYG SIM card there.
Summary is, my phone number won’t work until mid-December, and then only whilst I’m in the UK…
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