About ten days ago we got a letter through from our mortgage company saying that now our mortgage was out of the fixed rate period, and because our house was on a letting rate our mortgage was going up to 8.09% from the december payment. Even if our house was being rented out on top of agency fees that did not leave anything really for wear and tear let alone the work we had just done to make it acceptable to be rented. We got conformation today that we had managed to get a new morgage about 3% lower, which is a major relief.

On the attempt to make our house look more inviting my sister had kindly organised new carpets to be laid upstairs. When they came round and quoted they said the wardrobes would be not hassle, but when they came to lay the carpet they said they were fitted wardrobes and so fitted round them. Well they now are, and when we return home we can get new carpets like Grandpa's. The kind where you drop something and spend the next five minutes trying to find it.

Things are still going slowly on renting out our house. Pity the first person who saw it failed the credit check, so everyone else has seen it empty after we moved out. But if you want to see our house tidy for once / without boxes see the links below. Yes it is a new kitchen. Callum was upset that they did not take a photo of his room. Jessica is sad as she left her winnie wallpaper behind, I hope no-one paints over it.
http://www.webpropertylist.co.uk/cgi-bin/clients/mervynsmith/details.pl?propertyID=40250#
http://classic.findaproperty.com/agent.aspx?agentid=0094&opt=prop&pid=2700329

Everyone has been so kind to us, helping us get the last parts packed, bits binned, etc. Pity the morning after the shippers came we spotted the little bed room's window has a crack in it. Luckily our neighbour Martin is a glazer and kindly said don't worry about it. Jane and her mother just kept us sane and did not seem to mind anything we asked them. I felt guilty after we left to stay over-night at Kerrie's that we had not got time to say good-bye properly to everyone else. Kerrie very kindly had food ready for us and the kids asleep in bed when we arrived. (Well pretending in the case of our older one). It meant we could finally relax a bit. But it was a bit like the disney land adverts - 'we too excited'.

Yesterday we had almost the whole house sorted into areas of : what was to be shipped; what was going to fly with us; what was going to the Scouts or St Richard's with St Andrew's for the car boot; and what was needed for the last week and then junked. When the packers arrived it was more organised than I am usually. Everything to be shipped was packed in boxes by the packers and mostly placed in the living room or our girls bed room. Even the two single beds were wrapped leaving the mattresses out overnight. After they left we played guess what is in this white package. Today the packers arrived early and packed the rest of the beds and the bikes. All 132 items got stickers on them and then everyone waited for the container to arrive. At about 11.30 it almost arrived, they discovered they could not drive, two 2ft containers and the lorry cab, down from the Duke's Avenue end. Only one container was ours. Then they drove via Broughton into Lock and so after about five or ten minutes it somehow (past all the parked cars) managed to park outside our house (the ally-way, the neighbours and their neighbours houses). It was all packed and had left by the time we got back from tumble tots just after 2pm.

See Moving to Canada and http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=37957&l=359eb&id=573408733 for photos.

As I went to collect Jessica from Nursery, Chris gave me a call at about Watermill Close to say a letter had arrived. It took till Mariner Gardens to discover we had the work visa and study permit papers. The first person who officially knew our news was Carole in the school office. They turned out to be two pieces of A4 paper with one name on each.

Chris landed back in England at 8.25. Since he boarded the flight yesterday the three of us left in England watched the flights progress on the Air Canada's website. It was set to land half an hour early, but due to circling it only arrived ten minutes early. As it was a school day we did not meet him at the airport, but chatted to him before leaving for school.

Chris flew off to Saskatoon via Toronto. We dropped him off at terminal three of Heathrow airport at 6.30am. He is hoping to spend the week meeting people, from Point 2 (the company that has offered him a job) and discovering about Canada from a Saskatoon perspective.