I am surprised how many large supermarkets there are here and every mall I have found has a Safeway. Almost everything has English and French on it so it feels that you are learning to read French by osmosis. Most basic things I have looked for, to eat, can be found. Still looking for the lemon juice, but I guess they put it in a different place than I am looking. Pate has now been found but Chris suggested it needed pepper and the kids will have to put up with chedder rather than Red Leicester cheese.

I am used to going to the market for my fruit and vegetables and so think they are expensive and it is not always clear which are in season. The seafood in the stores have been much better although their smoked salmon is different from the English version. As this is cattle country, beef is much cheaper than I was expecting with whole chickens and lamb being harder to find.

As expected I am finding I have to read the backs of packets, to check what I think I am getting, is what I am getting. Although I am surprised how many products have peanuts or hydrogenated fats in, the UK must be more label conscious or we just need to send Jamie Oliver over here.

We visited two places to rent today. Both were the main floor, the first on main and the second on Argyle. Both would mean we would not be able to walk to the kids present school but Chris would be able to walk to work if necessary. The first house the kids (and I) instantly felt at home being greeted by a well fed cat the second was trying to sleep in the kitchen. It also has wooden floors, skirting board height heating rather than floor heating and a Ceramic or Induction hob rather than a Radiant coil which I am trying to use at the moment. The second had thick carpet and a patio back garden so no where for the climbing frame.

Tomorrow we have two more to look at both on Eastview. One is another main floor and the other we think is the whole semi-detached. Both would be close enough for the kids to get to school but Chris would have to drive to work (or catch a bus!!)

We received a parcel today. Inside were two books and a message:
"Welcome to Canada all of you. Stay warm and beware the mighty Moose's.
Malcolm."
Thank you and brilliant timing as I was beginning to really miss my friends back in England.

Prince Philip School had Spirit Day today, which basically meant everyone dresses up. I had paid the $5 in advance and so it was all sorted so I thought. My oldest seemed to think dressing up in pajamas was not a cool thing to do, and so basically got dressed and then put his pajamas on top. (Apparently the only one in his class that did not dress up got into trouble so he was pleased he did in the end.)

It had snowed last night and so the powdery snow made it easier to walk and scoot to school (unlike yesterday where we seemed to skate and scoot). On the way home from pre-school there were seven untouched slides. My girl had to be the first to go down all of them all, sending snow everywhere. There were also two snow angels and a very small snowman by the time we reached our door,

Year 4 of St Richard's with St Andrew's school sent an email out asking how we were all doing and saying our postcards have finally started to arrive. I feel confident to write some more now I know they take just over two weeks to arrive in England.

Chris went shopping with Aidan to buy a car. In he end, Aidan bought a car, and Chris ended up borrowing his original car Mavis, as her part exchange value was likely to be negligable. Mavis is a 1994 Dodge Caravan, and she has a definite personality. Now that Chris has insured her, we have learnt a few things about car ownership in Saskatchewan.

The number plate on a car is registered to a person. Chris went in to insure Mavis. Insurance is state regulated, and the basic insurance is a standard, state regulated price. When you get a car, you have to register it in your name. This includes fully comprehensive insurance, with a $700 excess. Having registered the car, Chris was given a new number plate which has stickers on it showing when it (and the insurance) expires. So yesterday afternoon, Chris was outside unscrewing the existing number plate from Mavis, and putting on the new one.

You can't register a car in Saskatchewan unless you have a Saskatchewan issued drivers license. The person who bought Mavis didn't have a local license, so having bought Mavis, sold her to a friend for a dollar so he could get her insured. Another interesting fact is that it is only the first time that a car is registered in Saskatchewan that it gets inspected (MOT style). You can drive round in a rusty bucket of bolts with no brakes for years, just so long as it was originally inspected the very first time it was registered in the province. That could explain why there are so many cars going around that are falling apart here!

Now we just have to get used to driving an automatic, on the wrong side of the road, turning right on red lights in a city that only has one roundabout. Other than that, we are all set!

On my test I had to do stars I learnt a lot another name for the north star is polaris. The twins are called the Gemini twins are galaxy is the milky way ( it doesn't look like it.) The north star is on the little dipper. the big dipper is the saddle on Taurus the bull.

Today was the first day at school for both kids. The older one went into grade 3/4 first and looked so nervous after not sleeping properly the night before. The two bags of stationary (required list) and his packed lunch did not help. (If you think I am joking see http://www.spsd.sk.ca/files/schools/PPS/Supplylist/Supply%20List%202008-2009.pdf). Most canadian schools seem to send the children home for lunch but Prince Philip School seem to be happy to have them stay for packed lunch until grade 6.

The younger one joined the pre-school across the corridor. Where she just joined straight in and then after completing a backyardigans jigsaw said good bye. I returned an hour and a half later to find her coming out to greet me with a big smile on her face having really enjoyed herself. It had started snowing and she was loving it.

We walked back for three-thirty and discovered I was one of the few parents that seemed to appear to collect my eight-year-old. Children far smaller were walking past me to go home. My older one had, had a hard day, throwing snowballs are not allowed here and without a proper nights sleep he did not look as it he had enjoyed himself. Although he did say he had chatted to a couple of friends.

For those of you who haven't heard, we are now in Movember. This is the month dedicated to honing ones manly mustache, in the name of a good cause. So, as with all good causes, there is a cost attached. I'm raising money for prostate cancer research, and would like your donations please. You can find details of my efforts so far here. To donate in the UK, you need to go to http://uk.movember.com and choose the donate to Movember link. Anything you can manage will be greatly appreciated. Close family will know just how much cancer has affected us, having lost my Nan and Grandad to it, and my mum having survived breast cancer. If you do donate, please send me an email with how much you gave so I can update my progress as you will be donating in pounds and my team efforts only show canadian dollars.

The one question that everyone seems to ask is about snow. Well yesterday we had more than a small flurry, we had the first snow of the winter season. We are about to go out and take photos. It coincided with our first trip downtown in Mavis (our friends car). On the way home it was clear that the first snow takes everyone by surprise as a car a couple in front spun and the next two collided and the car after us went into the barrier. Luckily Mavis was not in any accident but Chris looks frazzled by the time we got home.