I referred in my last post to having "man flu". In truth, Tom first caught a heavy cold about two and half weeks ago and, whilst cheerful throughout it all in that Tom way, he was laid pretty low by it. Inevitably, Hels and I both caught it – it’s one of the worst colds I’ve had for years, causing aching muscles and particularly high levels of discomfort.

On Saturday, it took a new and more unpleasant turn for me. Neither of us had been sleeping well for several nights, so we were pretty run down. During Friday night, I got acute discomfort in my jaw which I guessed (correctly as it turns out) was down the the virus shifting around in my sinuses. Very early on Saturday morning, I started to get severe pain in my left ear which got worse and worse as the morning went on, with pressure building ever higher. As I found out later, what had happened was that the virus had got into the Eustachian tube causing it to swell up and close. Consequently (turn away now if you are squeamish) there was a mucus build up in my inner ear (hence the pain). In these circumstances, something has to give and, at around lunchtime on Saturday, that something was my ear drum. My ear has been oozing unpleasantness ever since, and I’ve lost most of my hearing in my left ear.

Thankfully, my parents came to our aid and took Tom for a couple of days. Hels took me to casualty and we were seen promptly by an excellent doctor who explained it all clearly (and spoke into my good ear!), and prescribed some painkillers and antibiotics.

I can assure you that this experience is really quite distressing.

On the plus side, most perforations of the ear drum heal well and quite quickly, with normal hearing usually restored. Let’s hope that that is the case. I’ve made an appointment with my GP for next Monday (as advised by the doctor in casualty) who will check the progress of the healing and will either send me on my way if things are going well or refer me to the ENT clinic if there is a problem. If I get to ENT then, depending on the severity of the problem, I might have to have surgery ranging from a graft to repair the ear drum through to more invasive surgery if there is damage to the inner ear. These are not prospects that I particularly look forward to.

Can I be honest? I hate the fact that my hearing is gone. I’m filled with dread at the notion that Tom might grow up and I might not be able to hear him properly. I’m also scared about what this means for me in my business (I need to be able to communicate). I am not a happy bunny at the moment. And I still haven’t shifted the cold, which is adding to my woes.

• funda.nl
  Netherlands property search engine. Pools several major estate agents.
  (tags: Netherlands property)
• Expatica NL
  English language news and information on NL. Includes guides to living in NL, including a guide to buying and owning property.
  (tags: Netherlands news property)

Ryanair. Bless ‘em. Don’t they just love to fly you to airports that they name after an attractive city that are actually located miles and miles away?

This week, they’ve announced that, instead of making Eindhoven airport their hub for the lower Rhine area (which is an airport close to a major city, handily convenient for much of central and southern Netherlands and not too far from the Ruhr conurbation – and useful for PSV supporters, I’d expect), they plan to make Weeze their hub instead.

Weeze? Where? I had to look it up on my (very good) road atlas of the lower Rhine and it took me a while to spot. The airport is so small that it isn’t even marked.

And, in true Ryanair fashion, they will call this airport Düsseldorf (Weeze). Bear in mind that it is nearly 80km away from Düsseldorf city (75 minutes by bus), is closer to Arnhem, Venlo and Den Bosch and could easily be confused with Düsseldorf Flughafen, which is actually right next door to the city.

And from which London airport will they fly to their new “Düsseldorf” base? Why, Stansted! Clearly this is aimed to directly compete with Air Berlin, one of their major competitors, which is fair enough in itself but for one thing – Air Berlin fly to Düsseldorf, the real thing. I’ll bet there will be some cheesed-off Ryanair passengers when they discover they have landed in the middle of nowhere.

• iBlue Makelaars
  Netherlands estate agent.
  (tags: Netherlands property)
• Crossroads
  Online English-language magazine for expats living in Maastricht
  (tags: Maastricht Netherlands expat)
• Maastricht International Playgroup
  English language playgroup for expats
  (tags: Maastricht Netherlands playgroup)

You know you’ve hit the big time when you make it on to the UK Plant Health Interception and Outbreak Chart. That’s me at the bottom of page three, due to an official in California doing his paperwork incorrectly.

All I need to do now is start handling dead turkeys and then I’ll hit the international media scene.

I’m not sure that I agree with some of the political nonsense about the nutritionist project being a “manifesto for rightwing individualism”. However, worth reading. via Tom.

• Say It Like It Is
  Charlie’s copywriting business.
  (tags: copywriting work)

I’ve got some strange issues with this site, but I can’t fathom if they are WP or 34SP problems, or even a problem with the database.

Whenever I try to edit the recent posts, I get a 404 after hitting “save”. Sometimes I get a 404 when trying to view the site or the wp-admin pages (which sounds like a 34SP problem, although they promise me that there is no known issue with the server – I’m on Holly, for those who are also on 34SP). The RSS feed works only intermittently. And del.icio.us (I hate those dots!) is having problems with the automatic daily posting of links, sometimes getting a 500 error and sometimes not posting to the correct category (27). I’ve disabled and uninstalled Bad Behavior. I’m running WP 2.02. I’m confused.

Any ideas?

UPDATE: see the comment thread for more.

• A history of Carnival in Maastricht on Expatica
  The Carnival is held every year and appears to be completely bonkers.
  (tags: carnival Maastricht Netherlands)
• De Tempeleers Mestreech – Carnival 2007
  Full programme for Maastricht Carnival 2007 – in English, Dutch and Mestreechs
  (tags: carnival Maastricht Netherlands)

For those following the saga of my burst eardrum (it’s edge-of-your-seat stuff!), my hearing is slowly coming back and the pain has mostly subsided. It’s actually quite remarkable that your eardrum can burst and then fix itself- it’s one of those parts of the body that ranks up there with eyes as being perceived as very delicate and irreplaceable, but it seems to be quite capable of looking after itself.

The doctors have told me that it could be up to another week or so before my hearing gets back to normal. As it is, I find it hard to pick out speech over background noise and I also have a little tinnitus. I tend to get more "foggy" as I get tired. They’ve prescribed a nasal decongestant, which is a little like snorting Pledge, but seems to help. The occasional ibuprofen knocks any pain on the head, but I’ve not had to take anything for a couple of days.

If things don’t return to normal, then I’ve to go back to the doctor and they will likely then refer me to an ENT clinic. But at the moment, progress is good. Either way, it’s not something I want to go through again or would recommend to others.

• This is Iran, but not as you know it – TimesOnline
  Rageh Omaar on life for ordinary people living in Tehran – Times article to accompany BBC Four programme shown Thursday evening. Very revealing and flying in the face of many preconceptions that we see in the main media.
  (tags: Iran Rageh Omaar Tehran)
• Rent Service og
  Property to rent in Zuid Limburg
  (tags: property Maastricht Limburg Netherlands)

• Sale Service og
  Property for sale in Zuid Limburg and Maastricht, mostly high-end.
  (tags: property Maastricht Limburg Netherlands)
• Rots-Vast Groep
  Property to let and to buy across the Netherlands. Have an office in Maastricht. Search function does not provide extended details of properties which are only available on request.
  (tags: property Netherlands)
• Residence Housing
  Letting and sales agent in Maastricht. Small selection only.
  (tags: property Maastricht Netherlands)
• La Bergère Housing
  Property to let in Maastricht and Zuid Limburg from the boutique hotel to boutique bike hire to boutique restaurant to boutique beauty salon empire.
  (tags: property Maastricht Limburg Netherlands)
• Immobilière Vanesse
  Belgian property to let and to buy in Belgian Limburg (Flanders) and Liège.
  (tags: property Limburg Belgium Netherlands)
• Nicolai Makelaardij bv
  Property to buy (and a few to let) in and around Maastricht on both sides of the border with Belgium.
  (tags: property Limburg Maastricht Netherlands)
• Wilson Makelaardij
  Property for sale in and around Maastricht.
  (tags: property Maastricht Netherlands)

Two things.

• Today I planted a tree – a belated monument to Tom’s first birthday. It’s a Carpinus betulus Fastigiata, probably better known to you as a Columnar Hornbeam. It’ll be here long after we move away (whenever that may be) and will, I hope, add something to our part of Ruralville. Credit to our friend and neighbour Simon for helping to source some poo (of the well-rotten, bovine variety).
• I note that Brighton and Hove Albion players seem suddenly to have remembered that the purpose of the game of football is to direct the muddy sphere into your opponents’ goal whilst doing all that you can to prevent your opponents from directing the same muddy sphere into your own goal. Wonders will never cease.

I understand that following some of the links that I’ve posted recently on this site, people are wondering what is going on in our lives. So I’d like to clear up a few things.

• yes, we’re thinking about moving.
• no, we will not be moving for some time, at least two years.
• yes, we are looking at the Netherlands. Why? Because houses are considerably cheaper there and we want to reduce the amount of our income that we spend on our mortgage each month. In addition, a lot of my work is in the Netherlands (at least as much as is in the UK), we like it there and it was recently ranked the best industrialized nation in which to bring up a child by the UN (compared to the UK which was ranked the worst nation).
• BUT, it is not a certainty that we will move there. At the moment, we are deeply involved in research which includes:

1. working out where to live
2. deciding what we can afford
3. looking at what mortgage we could get
4. investigating employment options for Hels
5. sussing out education and childcare facilities
6. language, running a business, mortgage system, property law, tax system – everything! There are lots of hidden factors to consider.

• IF we go there, then we would rent for at least one year to test the water – and if it didn’t work out, we could move back to England or to another place.
• we are also investigating other alternatives – in every town we visit, in the UK and abroad, we always look through estate agent windows, partly out of unbridled noseyness and curiosity and partly out of serious research to see what property we could afford if we moved to that area. So far our research has shown that moving within the south east of England would not improve our lot – either we’d still have a vast mortgage or we’d be in Ramsgate.
• in any case, whatever we decide, we have a whole bunch of factors to consider. These include but are not limited to (and in no particular order):

1. Tom – particularly the environment and education/childcare
2. us – we want a nice house in a relatively green neighbourhood (i.e. not a concrete neighbourhood) with a little garden and enough room for us to not be under each other’s feet
3. work – both for me and for Hels as, without work that we enjoy and which pays reasonably, our life would be poorer in terms of quality or money or both
4. family – we are close to both sides of the family and we want to be somewhere that is relatively easy for them to access, including by public transport
5. cats – they’re important too! So no main road homes for us and always at least a little garden, even if/when we rent.

So you see that nothing is certain. Well, almost nothing. The only thing that is certain is that the current fixed rate period on our mortgage expires on 31 December 2008, which is why there is a window of opportunity for moving around that time and into early 2009 (if we move before then, we have to pay a heavy penalty to our lender when we redeem the mortgage) – and we don’t want to leave it much later than that as we want to get Tom settled in a new home before he starts school. The reason for moving is also fairly certain - we want to move in order to achieve either a reduction in our mortgage liability and/or an increase in our living space.

Even the “when” is not guaranteed. As we all know, events have a habit of overtaking one’s plans, so we have no idea what might happen over the next two years. I think the only thing that is likely to remain constant is the “why”. The “what”, “where” and even the “how” are all still to be decided.

At the moment, the mission is research. And with a life-change of this magnitude, I think anyone would agree that we need to be thorough and use all the time available to our advantage.

• Nantes chateau
  Recently re-opened after three years closure and fifteen years of restoration work.
  (tags: Nantes chateau)

It looks like Monkey Radio has ceased to be. This is a great shame, as it is through listening to Monkey Radio that I got into all sorts of music, including Visit Venus amongst others.

• Chateau de Montriou
  Splendidly old-fashioned place to stay (don’t expect wi-fi or a telephone in your room!) with lovely gardens and park. Having sat in the kitchen, I can confirm that Régis is the Jam Master and makes excellent melon jam.
  (tags: chateau Montriou France accomodation)
• ImmoSpotter
  Belgian property website, with search function.
  (tags: property Belgium)
• NV Machon
  Estate agent based in Lanaken, Belgium with properties in the Lanaken, Maasmechelen and Zutendaal areas.
  (tags: Lanaken Belgium property)
• Jemar & Co
  Estate agent in Maasmechelen, Belgium, with woefully badly-designed website.
  (tags: Maasmechelen Belgium property)
• Luc Vangronsveld Vastgoed
  Belgian estate agent with property mainly around Hasselt.
  (tags: Belgium property)
• Façade Vastgoed
  Belgian estate agent with property around Bilzen, Maasmechelen and Lanaken.
  (tags: Belgium property Lanaken Maasmechelen)
• van Eerdt & Cuypers
  Belgian estate agent with properties around Dilsen and Maaseik.
  (tags: Belgium property)
• Limburgs Vastgoed
  Belgian estate agent with property around Genk, Hesselt, Lanaken and Maasmechelen. Mainly apartments.
  (tags: Belgium property Lanaken Maasmechelen)

I think I’ve made clear here in previous writings about the arrangement of my work facilities. My office is a converted summer house that stands in the garden of our home – and, on a sunny day like this, with a view out of the window of the plants that are starting to do spring things, it isn’t a bad place to be.

I hook up to the Webternet via an 802.11b/g wireless connection. The router sits near the phone socket which is in the conservatory, roughly 25 feet from the Global Headquarters. As I’ve mentioned before, the signal sometimes degrades (we have evil cordless phones, microwave oven and wireless doorbell in the house – all of which could be causing interference) and occasionally drops completely, particularly during wet weather (the summer house is of timber construction and, in spite of a water-repellant coating, the boards do get wet). I’ve added an external antenna to the router so that it is in an elevated position (dangling attractively from a light fitting) which has helped but not solved the problem.

I’m getting a bit fed up with the signal dropping out or degrading – it only ever seems to happen at the most inconvenient moment (when I’m using Skype or printing a big document – such is life), so I’m considering a physical connection between the router and the Global Headquarters. I don’t think it would be too difficult to run a cable from there to here – I can take it through the cat flap housing to get into the conservatory, route it around the edges of the decking so that it isn’t a trip hazard and easily make a small hole in the wall of the HQ to get it into here without using the same duct as the power supply cable.

The question is this: what sort of cable should I use? I’m not an expert on this sort of thing. I’ve seen standard Cat5 cable and also cable rated for outdoor use. I’ve also seen fibre-optic cable. Will these cables resist being in an environment exposed to sun, wind and rain? Can these cables be easily routed (there may be a few 90° turns)? How easy is it to put the connectors on the end of these cables?

Anybody got any experience of this sort of thing? Or should I just look at further uprating my wireless network?