Oh do come in....

We recieved some photos of the inside of our house today (thanks Keith!) , how exciting!
This one shows the staircase going up from the living room. This is the room with the vaulted ceiling... see! Where the pile of windows are is roughly where our fireplce will eventually go and the doorway on the far left leads to the hallway, den and front door. You can just see the den window on the left. The other photos are going on the gallery but it just looks like lots of wood framing really, still it's exciting to us!

Neil's back! Medicals done!

Neil returned from his Italian adventure on Sunday but it's been all go since then so he hasn't had time to update the blog. I thought I'd post a few pics from his Cervinia trip just in case he never gets around to it. Check out the gallery for some more.
In other news......we did our medicals today! Had to have chest x-rays first at a different clinic, these were delayed meaning we ended up having to sprint over to Harley Street to get there in time to be prodded and poked and questioned. After all the trauma of the morning we decided to go to Covent Garden for lunch and a Moosehead lager in The Maple Leaf Pub....eeeerrr,yes.....that is where Neil made friends with this bear.

Like clockwork!

We received our medical request today exactly as per our calculations! WooooHooooooo!

Waiting.....and waiting....

Still waiting for medical requests from Canada House, heard last night that Jon whose also a PNP applicant with the EPS recieved his passport requests yesterday so he's on the home straight now and can book his flight out to Edmonton. Comparing our timelines he's been about a month ahead of us in his application for permanent residence which means we should get our med requests right about NOW!

I can't wait for Neil to get back from Italy. He arrives home on sunday. It sounds as if he's had the best time in Cervinia, it's been snowing at night and bright sunshine in the day and he reckons his snowboarding abilities have tripled!! I tried to tell him that we just had bad conditions in Whistler and Jasper and that they could both be just as good as Italy but I think he's got he idea in his head now that Cervinia can't be beaten. We'll see about that!

In our latest update from Beaumont Jo said that our windows are in. The windows that were put in a while back were the wrong ones so I'll be pleased to see how it looks now.

Katarina and Paulo on the move

So Kate (my banana loaf telepathy sister) and Paul have been thinking of moving out of Canterbury for a while now and have just found a lovely little house in Upnor, a two minute walk from my Mums house ( and our temporary home). It is tiny but beautiful. A little Georgian terrace in the cobbled High Street that runs down to the river called the Boat House. We went over to see it today, it was Kate's second viewing. The sun came out just as we reached the top of the high street and as we walked down towards the house smoke drifted from a nearby chimney and the smell of woodsmoke seemed to fill the air. Honestly it's like going back in time, the High Street is narrow and cobbled and it stops abruptly where the river cuts its path so no one ever drives down there. The houses are mix of Victorian and Georgian cottages, whitewashed or clapperboard with sash windows and uneven roofs. Inside, the Boat house has a woodburning stove and wide old wooden floorboards. Upstairs are two tiny bedrooms, the biggest has a delicate little cast iron fire place and a large sash window. As we walked into the room the sunlight was streaming through the glass and gave the room a really mellow glow. I had to leave before the others so that I could get ready for work but as I walked back to my Mums down the footpath through the trees and past the castle walls I thought about how I've always taken for granted the beautiful old buildings and pretty little villages that are dotted all around here. I 've only just begun to think about how I'll really miss all that in Canada.

Canterbury Cathedral for Jo

Here is a photo I came across of Canterbury Cathedral,I'm posting it here as it reminded me of conversation we had with Jo in Beaumont, so... da-daaah! Canterbury Cathedral at it's finest!

Bored and lonely

crazy dog

Since Neil's been swooshing around the Italian Alps in perfect powder and sunshine I've either been at work or sitting in front of the computer with Doog getting slightly more envious of Neil every minute. In my boredom I decided there aren't enough pictures of Doog on this blog so I decided to post a few more. I've deliberately chosen these pictures as he doesn't look as crazy as usual.

Neil goes skiing again!

Today Neil went to Italy. He's off to Cervinia for a week skiing. He's gone with Gordon, his stepdad, and his brothers Dale, Andrew and Philip and they've arrived to record snow. I'm seriously jealous! Never mind, Neil needs the practise so he can keep up with me next time!

Hello to Kelly and Mandy

Just wanted to say hello to Kelly and Mandy who live on the other side of the show home over in Beaumont. Thank you for leaving a comment and introducing yourselves. Glad to hear that you are enjoying your new home, it looks beautiful. We're looking forward to meeting you both when we come over. With luck we'll be there by the beginning of August.

Banana Loaf Telepathy

I have never baked a Banana loaf before. My sister has never baked a Banana Loaf before. As children we never ate Banana Loaf. I can safely say that I'm 99% certain that neither one of us has ever eaten Banana loaf, EVER! Now, given our apparent disassociation with banana loaves, not to mention my usually total disassociation with cooking in general, isn't it odd that on the same day, in two different towns, miles apart both of us decided we wanted to go out and buy a loaf tin for the single and same aim of baking a banana loaf? Twighlight zone or...... a simple case of sisterly banana loaf telepathy?

Photos from Jo

I'm sure everyone's bored senseless with seeing endless pictures of our unfinished house so Jo has kindly sent us some pictures of the two Orca show homes. Gives you a bit more of an idea of how the finished article will look.

Our house (I think it looks really good from this angle!) and the current show home.
This is currently the show home but soon Jo will be moving to the red house up the street.

This is the new show home. Not finished just yet though. Nice colour eh!

The Red House

More pictures from Beaumont (thanks to Keith and Mary and to Jo), the house is really coming along nicely now and looks amazing! The porch roof is on at the front which makes a real difference and from the back the joists for the roof over the living room are all in place. This room will eventually have a vaulted ceiling with an open staircase. As you can probably tell we're getting pretty excited now and can't wait to see the finished house!

This is not our house, its the new Orca show home just up the street from ours but this is the colour that our house will be once it is complete, nice eh?

Hello everybody!

This is doog by the way, posing as usual.

It seems that people are actually reading this blog. This comes as a bit of a surprise to us having set up the blog so that we could keep family updated with our move to Canada. Really just thought that a few people we know would have a look now and then. Well as you can see we received a comment from a fellow blogger in New Zealand, hi Kelvin! You couldn't really get any further away than that! Then the next thing we know we are getting an email from our friend Jo at Orca homes (hi Jo!) telling us that the new owner of the Orca spec house out in Beaumont found our blog too. Hi-de-ho neighbour! If you visit again please leave a comment and don't forget to check out our picture gallery for more photos of the house etc. The link is up on the right.

Roof!

front

Back



And we have lift-off! Sheesh!




Check the gallery for more...

LEAVE A COMMENT

I decided to add this post for anyone who wishes to leave a comment. At the bottom of each post is a comment button, if you press this button a comment can be left, this is automatically emailed to us. So go ahead leave a comment! I would like to hear from the people who view this Blog.

Fat pigs and glumness

Wee Piggy's at Ulster Folk Museum

Today and yesterday I've been feeling a little glum, the feeling's been hanging over me like a damp towel and I don't even know why. Perhaps it's because I've eaten so much food recently that I actually did burst (refering to Tuesday's trouser splitting incident) and I feel like a big, fat piggy! Or it could be that our month of holiday's has finally come to an end, oh actually thats just me, I forgot that Neils got another trip to go yet, off to Italy skiing next week, lucky so and so! Well, there's only one thing for it, I have packed my bag and am forcing myself into the gym after work tomorrow wether I like it or not. Also in an attempt to cheer myself up I've been going through our photos from the Northern Ireland trip and have posted a few more on our picture gallery, go on, have a wee peek!

Land of the Giants

This past weekend Neil and I traveled to Northern Ireland with the Savages (that's their name I'm not being rude). It was a really amazing place and we had a truly action-packed weekend. We visited the Giant's causeway, Tollymore Forest, Belfast, The Ulster Folk Museum, Portoferry, Bushmills etc, etc. We ate so much food that my trousers actually split yesterday at work! Hhhmmm...Ulster Fry! Actually I particularly enjoyed champ, an Ulster specialty consisting of creamed mash potato and scallions, really good served with steak and Guinness pie, yum! The scenery was beautiful as you can see from the pics ( check out our gallery) and the Savages families made us feel most at home.