You know your becoming Canadian when
14/12/08 11:09
We thought it was about time we wrote a entry with
how we were settling in.
So here it is ... You know your becoming Canadian when
You're looking forward to the weather warming up to -16C next week!
So here it is ... You know your becoming Canadian when
You're looking forward to the weather warming up to -16C next week!
Found a house!
29/11/08 17:27
We will be moving on the 1st of January, to heir new
house at East View, Saskatoon ... we don't have a
postcode yet, but we'll find that out shortly. (Found
it S7J 3J2).
We saw the house a couple of weeks ago. It's a semi detached house, with 3 bedrooms, a family room, and a basement. It has a good sized back garden (back yard), and it looks as if it has had several families in it over the years. It looks like a fabulous place, and it's in a really nice area, close to Callum's school. Chris already has a corner of the basement picked out for starting his next homebrew project.
Eda and Sam will be over when we get the keys, so hopefully between all of us, it shouldn't take long to get moved in. With the size of the rooms, there will be space enough for us to have a space for guests, which is exactly what we were after.
So, if you want to come over to sunny Saskatoon, we've got the space starting from the New Year, so just let us know when you're coming. We're all really looking forward to seeing you!
We saw the house a couple of weeks ago. It's a semi detached house, with 3 bedrooms, a family room, and a basement. It has a good sized back garden (back yard), and it looks as if it has had several families in it over the years. It looks like a fabulous place, and it's in a really nice area, close to Callum's school. Chris already has a corner of the basement picked out for starting his next homebrew project.
Eda and Sam will be over when we get the keys, so hopefully between all of us, it shouldn't take long to get moved in. With the size of the rooms, there will be space enough for us to have a space for guests, which is exactly what we were after.
So, if you want to come over to sunny Saskatoon, we've got the space starting from the New Year, so just let us know when you're coming. We're all really looking forward to seeing you!
Stuff
29/11/08 17:27
Our stuff has arrived! It only took 5 weeks, which
puts it about 3 weeks ahead of the expected arrival
date. At the moment, we are still living in Cameron's
house, so we have put it all in storage. The kids are
delighted to be able to get to their books and toys
again. We should be able to move all of our stuff
into our new house at the beginning of January. At
the moment, we are really looking forward to having
our own space and our own beds. All we need now is
some warm winter douvets!
Going up the wall
29/11/08 17:25
Chris has discovered a few people at work who go
climbing at a local climbing gym. He has been several
times now, and took Callum with him the last time.
Callum is a little unsure of heights, but was doing
really well. They have a variety of routes, from
incredibly easy, to far too hard for Chris.
Chris has been playing a game with some other climbers in the bouldering room, called 'Add a hold'. This involves the first person getting on the wall, and moving one hand to a new hold. The next person then gets on and follows the same holds as he previous person, then adds another hold, so each time the next person adds one more hold. When no-one can repeat what the last successful person did, then you have a winner.
Like everything else in Saskatoon, it only takes about 10 to 15 minutes to get to the gym after work, so Chris can go straight form the office, climb for an hour or so, and still be home earlier than when he was working in London.
The CTO in Chris' company also goes climbing, and he has an 8 year old that likes climbing too, so we are hoping they can get together on a weekend soon and go as a group.
Chris has been playing a game with some other climbers in the bouldering room, called 'Add a hold'. This involves the first person getting on the wall, and moving one hand to a new hold. The next person then gets on and follows the same holds as he previous person, then adds another hold, so each time the next person adds one more hold. When no-one can repeat what the last successful person did, then you have a winner.
Like everything else in Saskatoon, it only takes about 10 to 15 minutes to get to the gym after work, so Chris can go straight form the office, climb for an hour or so, and still be home earlier than when he was working in London.
The CTO in Chris' company also goes climbing, and he has an 8 year old that likes climbing too, so we are hoping they can get together on a weekend soon and go as a group.
Wheels
13/11/08 22:55
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!
Movember
11/11/08 20:40
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.