Tuesday, January 24, 2006

Long night before Holiday


It is 0120 and I have decided to ride out the evening and stay up until 0600. That's the time we leave for Gatwick Airport, I think it is better staying awake before a long journey on a plane. The reason behind this is that I know I will sleep for at least half an hour between films and feeding. I did think of a good idea. I am going to make a large sticker I can stick to my forehead to say "WAKE ME FOR FOOD" This way I can sleep in peace and not worry that I will miss the chicken or beef!
I am ready to go, Snowboards packed, Ipods all charged and loaded with relaxing music for sleep and Rock music to get motivated! Shizzel.... I have also packed more or less my whole wadrobe, closet, cupboard, why? I haven't a clue. OK I will leave you with a picture of the actual plane we are going on and also for JAMES benefit a map of where we are going, because he thinks Canada is America! Yes I know he is an Idiot......

DAY BEFORE CANADA TRIP










Today we made a trip to London, and sophie got her first ride in a police car with sirens and everything! In fact we had our very own police taxi service as James DENNIS my chum picked us up and dropped us off whenever we yelled TAXI! Very good service.

We managed to pick up some dollar aswell good swap NOT! exchange rate not so good at the moment however internet browsing and the right company paid off. Picked it up from a dodgy London backstreet. Better than high street banks anyway.

We have received more pictures today from the other side of the pond, they have FINALLY begun framing our house so who knows we may have someting to look at, even though it will probably resemble a B and Q shed. Take a look.

Sunday, January 22, 2006

Late night writing

7th January 2006
Sophie wote this late at night.

Before I continue, this post was carried accross from our other website www.neilandsophie.piczo.com

I've been meaning to say hello to the mystery guestbook signer who left our "first proper guestbook signing", hello! Lovely that you found us and good luck with your Canadian adventure. I know what it's like to sit for hours scouring the internet for any scrap of information from someone else who's going through the move to Canada. Well, firstly let me apologise for the this site being so basic, I honestly didn't expect anyone I didn't know to be interested. Secondly I thought you might be interested in some of the sites that have now become part of my daily routine (I have become obsessed, sorry). By far the best site I can recommend is www.britishexpats.com. There you will find a couple of really good discussion forums about Canada. One is for Immigration issues and the other is about Canadian culture and lifestyle and both are updated regularly by people in the process of immigrating and by those whove already made the move. I've found that the forums can give you a real insight into the process of immigrating and how people actually ajust to their new lives in Canada (good points and bad). www.MLS.ca is another site that will have you gluded to your computer for hours. It lists every house for sale pretty much everywhere in Canada and is a great way of seeing exactly what you can get for your money (lots of photos, just what I like to see). Another useful site is www.escapemate.co.uk on this site you'll find a downloadable magazine called MUCHMOR which is aimed at brits moving to Canada. You can subscribe online and it seems to be monthly although there have only been two issues so far. Both have been full of useful info and ads. Anyway to you my mystery guestbook signer friend and anyone else who has visited I hope this proves to be useful, let us know how you get on. Happy browsing!

Christmas 2005, New Year 2006!

Happy New year!
Bit late with that as it's now 6th January 2006. One year ago today we were wandering around Whistler village and it was Neil's first ever day waking up in Canada. Today's house news.....they have moved some earth. I'm guessing this means they have flattened the big pile seen clearly in the pics below. According to Keith they start framing on Wednesday. By the time we get there on the 26th there might even be a roof, exciting eh?! Meanwhile, here are a few photos taken over Christmas. Enjoy.

SANTA!
Physco Reindeer!!


WE HAVE WALLS!!!




Friday 23rd December 2005,Sophie wrote this mid-evening. Christmas eve eve and My Mummy's birthday.
First and foremost Happy bithday to my lovely mummy!! Hip hip Hooray!!! We had a lovely lunch at a very cute little pub called the Angel in Addington and it was absolutely delicious.We are now oficially moved in with my mum. Despite having made untold trips to the tip and having sold a substantial amount of furniture and other belongings we have managed to stuff her house full to the brim and the garage is practcally overflowing. At first I thought she'd like this new found "cosiness" considering her house was really empty and characterless before. Now though I'm not so sure, having to dodge the dog poo on trips to the garage to collect her dry laundry and having all edible things eaten(including christmas presents she hasn't even seen) by either Neil or Doog means life together is proving to be a little less harmonious than expected.Oh well, she'll miss us more when we've gone to Canada!
Things are progressing on the Canadian front. Neil received THE LETTER from Edmonton Police. It was a little more brief than we'd expected but he has since phoned them and they assured him that his forms are being completed for the provincial nomination so we should receive further instructions on what we are to do shortly. They want him to start in August. In Beaumont Keith and family are very kindly keeping us posted on the progress of the house and it seems we have a basement!! Actual concrete walls with window holes! Hurrah!

OUR HOUSE UK!


12th December 2005
Thought Its about time you had a picture of our house here in the uk...... the only thing is, well see for yourself





Only joking, fortunately we don't live in Hemel Hempstead. Mind you it would probably have been easier to burn it down than pack it all up ourselves, hhhmmm.Well, this is the old house. It has been a good home for the last couple of years, lovely house, river views, nice park opposite. It just wasn't in Canada. Oh well.

The Street


THIS IS OUR STREET IN CANADA, Nice eh? Sound Canadian Already......
You know what, My advice to anyone wishing to move house is DONT. This has to be the most stressful thing I have ever done. Not only do we need to move house, we have to move to another house with some stuff, with the rest we need to Bin, get rid of, give away or sell!, then when this is done get a flight to Canada. Put all belongings that we have left in a suitcase and go. When we finally arrive stressed and bothered we need to buy all the stuff we put in the Bin, got rid of, gave away and sold! sensible.

About to pour the basement, how exciting!
























10th December 2005
Hello, Well I have good news. Another batch of pictures from Canada, Taken by my little cousin, JAMES. We have Walls! Woooow, Looks like a house finally.Well today I am sick, I have a sore throat and feel terrible, I even called in sick to work. Not good really. The last bit of news is I HAVE BEEN FORMALLY ACCEPTED INTO THE EDMONTON POLICE SERVICE. I have only been waiting since August to find that out! Its all getting very real now and I will post some pictures of our house here in the UK. What a weird feeling, My house is empty!

UPDATE ON HOUSE















30th November 2005 Ya Dig!

After months of dreaming about all the possibilities and questioning all the pro's and con's (there are lots of both) and all kinds of other stresses and strains assosiated with trying to move across the planet we finally have something happening in Canada that is OURS! The house has begun WOOWHOO!! Well, to be precise, the house hasn't begun the hole has, and we are the proud owners of a large pile of dirt and some wooden stakes(but I guess they'll remove the dirt shortly). A little wierd to know that this is happening and we're so far away, it doesn't feel real yet. Can't wait to see it with my own eyes in Jan. Hopefully there'll be something more house-like then. Check out the pics, lovely corner lot, only found out the other day that we are the mugs who get to clear the snow from the sidewalk all down the side of the property as well as the front SHEESH! According to the builder Chris it was -20 and feeling a bit cold (!) when they started the dig, looks like a beautiful day in Beaumont to me.

Transfer from Other BLOG

Well I am going to start to transfer all my information which I had on another Blog to this one. This blog site is much better, So ignor the dates for the next entry.

EMAIL ADDRESSES


ralstne@gmail.com