Right, missed a week... Sorry I’m bad! It’s been hectic at work this last week. I heard once that agency life quietened down over the summer months but I’ve never experienced it yet. On a lighter note, the weather has improved again! We’re back up to the mid twenties and it’s sunny, sunny, sunny!
We had Monday off work this week for Victoria Day – good ol’ Queen Vic letting us have the day off work. So as the ‘Purple Bomb’ (AKA PT Cruiser – our very unreliable car) hadn’t caused us any problems over the past week or so (apart from the badge falling off!) we decided to pack her up and go on a road trip.
So, Saturday was mainly spent driving. We decided to do a circle of the Eastern side of Nova Scotia ending up around the South Shore area. We set off nice and early fueled with coffee, muffins and Campino’s and headed off to Yarmouth. Our intentions were to spend the night in Yarmouth and then move on to the South Shore on the Sunday night.
Anyway, we arrived in Yarmouth which is a ferry port for the journey to Maine (the ferry still wasn’t running when we visited) and as it is a place where people arrive and leave Nova Scotia from America, we thought it would be quite a bustling town... Should have learnt from our trip to Amsterdam from Hull (yep... They put ferry ports in towns where there is absolutely nothing to do!)
We wandered around the town for a little while, and then decided to cut our journey down by a day and go straight to the South Shore. The weather wasn’t supposed to be great on Sunday so going back a day early wouldn’t be such a disaster. We arrived at Lunenburg around teatime and immediately thought, yeah we can stop here. Lunenburg is a pretty little coastal town with multi coloured wood houses, it’s like something from a postcard... And Rich spotted a pub on the drive into the town. Something he has been looking for since we moved here.
So we checked into the hotel, a hotel my work did all the design work for, so I had heard that it was quite nice. We quickly got changed and headed out for the night. It was actually quite a lot of fun being in a proper pub, it’s amazing how you miss the atmosphere. As the drinks flowed we got involved in a darts match with a two brothers, two step-sisters, a man in a not only a bandana but a bobble hat over the top and a bobsleigher who competed for Canada. It was a very entertaining night, which involved lots of drinking and shots, a stumble home and a very slow drive home the next day.
But we had a great time and it was nice to see a different town. I bet it is beautiful in the summer. And so, it’s nearly the end of another week!
Thursday 21 May 2009
Friday 8 May 2009
Rain, Rain... Go Away!
This week it has rained, rained... And rained a bit more. I’m still trying to walk to work as much as I can but this week has not been the most pleasant walking I have done. I absolutely love the part of my walk when I get down to the waterfront. The view is so different every day – it’s amazing. I’ve decided to take a picture from the same spot every time I walk past just to get an idea of how the view changes every day.
Rich has finally bought a bike, he’s been off out on it as much as he can, finding new trails and places to go. It’s also the first brand new bike he’s had since he was little so he’s excited about that (and also worried about scratching it!) We did have a slight squealing moment the other night when he got in from a ride. He sat down and ate his tea and when he stood up to get into the shower, the biggest water beetle fell from who knows where – we still don’t know where it was hiding on him while he was sat eating. We were both frozen to the spot, neither one of us wanted to pick it up!
The weekend was quite eventful. On Saturday night we went out to a sports bar in Halifax to watch the Ricky Hatton fight. After a few beers, the suicide chicken wings we orders just didn’t seem hot enough and so the dares started flooding in. ‘If you try the death wings, I will’... Bad idea!
A side note on the death wings. You have to sign a waiver in order to eat them after someone apparently died of a heart attack after eating them. So off Rich went and signed the waiver along with a couple of his mates and then the death wings arrived...
Now, when meal arrives with a drink of milk, you know it’s going to be spicy! Yep, we only managed to nibble at one chicken wing between about 6 of us and we were all rolling on the floor in agony. Honestly it was the hottest thing I have ever tasted! It just didn’t stop burning! Needless to say, we’ve been there, done that and will never, ever order them again. Beer has a lot to answer for!
Our working weeks have been polar opposites. Rich is really quiet at work and it’s mental at my place. We’re both really looking forward to the weekend. The rain is even supposed to stop on Saturday! We don’t know what to do this weekend. I imagine we will be stalking the pet shop again even though we know we can’t get a dog – it passes half an hour!
We’re both ready for the apartment move now, even though we have a few weeks to go. We can’t wait to get into a place where we are happy and want to stay. It will be nice to unpack properly and settle down.
So, enjoy the weekend and I will be back next week with another update (no mention of stupidly spicy food next week I promise!)
Rich has finally bought a bike, he’s been off out on it as much as he can, finding new trails and places to go. It’s also the first brand new bike he’s had since he was little so he’s excited about that (and also worried about scratching it!) We did have a slight squealing moment the other night when he got in from a ride. He sat down and ate his tea and when he stood up to get into the shower, the biggest water beetle fell from who knows where – we still don’t know where it was hiding on him while he was sat eating. We were both frozen to the spot, neither one of us wanted to pick it up!
The weekend was quite eventful. On Saturday night we went out to a sports bar in Halifax to watch the Ricky Hatton fight. After a few beers, the suicide chicken wings we orders just didn’t seem hot enough and so the dares started flooding in. ‘If you try the death wings, I will’... Bad idea!
A side note on the death wings. You have to sign a waiver in order to eat them after someone apparently died of a heart attack after eating them. So off Rich went and signed the waiver along with a couple of his mates and then the death wings arrived...
Now, when meal arrives with a drink of milk, you know it’s going to be spicy! Yep, we only managed to nibble at one chicken wing between about 6 of us and we were all rolling on the floor in agony. Honestly it was the hottest thing I have ever tasted! It just didn’t stop burning! Needless to say, we’ve been there, done that and will never, ever order them again. Beer has a lot to answer for!
Our working weeks have been polar opposites. Rich is really quiet at work and it’s mental at my place. We’re both really looking forward to the weekend. The rain is even supposed to stop on Saturday! We don’t know what to do this weekend. I imagine we will be stalking the pet shop again even though we know we can’t get a dog – it passes half an hour!
We’re both ready for the apartment move now, even though we have a few weeks to go. We can’t wait to get into a place where we are happy and want to stay. It will be nice to unpack properly and settle down.
So, enjoy the weekend and I will be back next week with another update (no mention of stupidly spicy food next week I promise!)
Wednesday 29 April 2009
Heat Wave!
I really can’t believe the weather... It has gone from snow and torrential rain to glorious sunshine all within a matter of weeks. It is like a real summer, like we used to get in England for one week a year – always when you were just about to get on a plane somewhere hot, so you were like, damn we missed the British summer!
Over the weekend we took a trip to Annapolis Valley and visited Oaklawn Farm Zoo, it was a really lovely day out, but I think the warm weather had shocked all the animals so they were more intent on basking in the sunshine than entertaining us! Sunday gave us the ideal opportunity to take a drive over to Peggy's Cove a lovely little coastal town. We could have spent the whole day just sitting on the rocks watching the waves crash around us, it was absolutely beautiful.
We have good news on the apartment search, we’ve finally found somewhere! Actually we were torn between two places. One was a really big three bedroom place with two decks, and guess what? Yep, you could have dogs! The other one was a lovely two bedroom apartment with two full bathrooms and an amazing sea view. We were really torn about what to do, but it was also quite nice to be able to debate about which place we liked best as we just haven’t really cared about any of the other places we’ve seen.
So... We finally decided on the 2 bedroom place, so yet again no dog for us. Back to lurking around the pet shop on a Sunday afternoon picking out dogs we can’t actually have! Our time will come, I’m sure. My best friend Sarah gets a puppy soon so she can give me my puppy fix via webcam, it will just be like having my own dog, I’m sure! We move into our new place on the 1st June and I'm just hoping that this is it now and we can start to settle down somewhere. We are both so tired of living out of suitcases and are ready to live somewhere longer than two months!
With the weather being so nice, I’ve started walking to and from work, it’s a total of 4.8 miles a day so that should keep me fit! Rich is on the hunt for a bicycle, I’m also tempted to get one but the last bike I rode was emblazoned with Barbie stickers and had Spokie Dokies on the wheels. I might be a little out of practice! We're also itching to try sea kayaking, which would be brilliant to try, I'm just really scared of falling out of the kayak.
Oh, and please someone send us some nice clothes over, we both can't find a thing to buy out here that we like! Where are all the good shops?
Over the weekend we took a trip to Annapolis Valley and visited Oaklawn Farm Zoo, it was a really lovely day out, but I think the warm weather had shocked all the animals so they were more intent on basking in the sunshine than entertaining us! Sunday gave us the ideal opportunity to take a drive over to Peggy's Cove a lovely little coastal town. We could have spent the whole day just sitting on the rocks watching the waves crash around us, it was absolutely beautiful.
We have good news on the apartment search, we’ve finally found somewhere! Actually we were torn between two places. One was a really big three bedroom place with two decks, and guess what? Yep, you could have dogs! The other one was a lovely two bedroom apartment with two full bathrooms and an amazing sea view. We were really torn about what to do, but it was also quite nice to be able to debate about which place we liked best as we just haven’t really cared about any of the other places we’ve seen.
So... We finally decided on the 2 bedroom place, so yet again no dog for us. Back to lurking around the pet shop on a Sunday afternoon picking out dogs we can’t actually have! Our time will come, I’m sure. My best friend Sarah gets a puppy soon so she can give me my puppy fix via webcam, it will just be like having my own dog, I’m sure! We move into our new place on the 1st June and I'm just hoping that this is it now and we can start to settle down somewhere. We are both so tired of living out of suitcases and are ready to live somewhere longer than two months!
With the weather being so nice, I’ve started walking to and from work, it’s a total of 4.8 miles a day so that should keep me fit! Rich is on the hunt for a bicycle, I’m also tempted to get one but the last bike I rode was emblazoned with Barbie stickers and had Spokie Dokies on the wheels. I might be a little out of practice! We're also itching to try sea kayaking, which would be brilliant to try, I'm just really scared of falling out of the kayak.
Oh, and please someone send us some nice clothes over, we both can't find a thing to buy out here that we like! Where are all the good shops?
Thursday 23 April 2009
3 Months... Are you Sure?
Yep, believe it or not we've now been in Nova Scotia for 3 whole months. It's weird it seems like we've been here for ever! Monday marked our 3 month anniversary of our stint in Canada and Tuesday also marked 6 months of marriage for us too! Oh and two months of working in Nova Scotia too! - what a busy time!
So, yes we have gone through some changes whilst we have been here. When we arrived, it was so cold that we had to wear thermals under our clothes. I wore a ski jacket for two months solid! I think the coldest it got was when we were driving up to Ski Martock to 'attempt' to ski. The temperature gauge on the car sunk to -18 Celsius at one point. Now we are ending the month of April and although we have had many, many April showers (more on that later!) the weekends have been glorious. We are really excited about this weekend as the weather is predicted to go into the high 20s! Warm weather at last!
This warm weather is confusing us a little. It's like we've just woken up from hibernation and are realising that there is something other than ski jackets and snow to content with here. We have time at the weekends to explore, but we have no idea what to do or where to go. We're like little lost sheep wandering the streets, waiting for someone to take us under their wing and give us a tour of the 'real' Halifax.
Oh the rain? Yes the rain seems to be the worst part of our stay so far. This winter was the worst Nova Scotian's had seen in many years. I could stand in front of snow drifts that were easily taller than me, so at some point all this snow has to go somewhere, right? What do you get when you team torrential rain with melting snow, yep, you've got it, tonnes of water pouring straight into our apartment totally flooding us out! This resulted in an early morning evacuation a few weeks back. We were moved into temporary accommodation but are now on the hunt for a bigger, better apartment.
So May will be our apartment search/moving month in preparation for my parents visiting us in June. I really hope we find somewhere nice, somewhere that allows dogs would be fantastic so I can stop being that strange person in the pet shop every weekend with her nose pressed to the glass cooing at small dogs and finally own one of my own! Only, once we agree on getting a dog, we have to decide the breed, and then a name... Oh it would be great though. Please someone, advertise a gorgeous dog friendly apartment just for us!
So, yes we have gone through some changes whilst we have been here. When we arrived, it was so cold that we had to wear thermals under our clothes. I wore a ski jacket for two months solid! I think the coldest it got was when we were driving up to Ski Martock to 'attempt' to ski. The temperature gauge on the car sunk to -18 Celsius at one point. Now we are ending the month of April and although we have had many, many April showers (more on that later!) the weekends have been glorious. We are really excited about this weekend as the weather is predicted to go into the high 20s! Warm weather at last!
This warm weather is confusing us a little. It's like we've just woken up from hibernation and are realising that there is something other than ski jackets and snow to content with here. We have time at the weekends to explore, but we have no idea what to do or where to go. We're like little lost sheep wandering the streets, waiting for someone to take us under their wing and give us a tour of the 'real' Halifax.
Oh the rain? Yes the rain seems to be the worst part of our stay so far. This winter was the worst Nova Scotian's had seen in many years. I could stand in front of snow drifts that were easily taller than me, so at some point all this snow has to go somewhere, right? What do you get when you team torrential rain with melting snow, yep, you've got it, tonnes of water pouring straight into our apartment totally flooding us out! This resulted in an early morning evacuation a few weeks back. We were moved into temporary accommodation but are now on the hunt for a bigger, better apartment.
So May will be our apartment search/moving month in preparation for my parents visiting us in June. I really hope we find somewhere nice, somewhere that allows dogs would be fantastic so I can stop being that strange person in the pet shop every weekend with her nose pressed to the glass cooing at small dogs and finally own one of my own! Only, once we agree on getting a dog, we have to decide the breed, and then a name... Oh it would be great though. Please someone, advertise a gorgeous dog friendly apartment just for us!
Saturday 21 March 2009
A little while later...
Ok, I know... I haven't updated this for ages. But honestly, now I'm going to start.
A few things we've done.
1. Both passed our Nova Scotia driving tests
2. Both been working for a few weeks, Rich at IMP (which is why we came over here, so you all probably now that anyway!) and me at Revolve, a design agency.
3. We have been sitting on a crappy sofa bed that seemed a good idea at the time (hey, we don't need a sofa, we'll have this - it'll be great!) Mmm, well it wasn't so great so we've gone and bought the daddy of all sofas. Check out the pic and video, we are never ever going to get anything done now!
A few things we've done.
1. Both passed our Nova Scotia driving tests
2. Both been working for a few weeks, Rich at IMP (which is why we came over here, so you all probably now that anyway!) and me at Revolve, a design agency.
3. We have been sitting on a crappy sofa bed that seemed a good idea at the time (hey, we don't need a sofa, we'll have this - it'll be great!) Mmm, well it wasn't so great so we've gone and bought the daddy of all sofas. Check out the pic and video, we are never ever going to get anything done now!
Saturday 31 January 2009
10 Days Later...
Well, we've been here a while now, have lots to update you on...
We have a flat. It's a lovely 2 bed (apparently but it actually has 3???) flat. We just have a problem filling it have we have absolutely nothing with us. We are now officially Wallmart's best customers - the woman on the checkout knows Rich by name (OMG 'checkout' it's happening already!)
We have a group of deer that come and visit us in the morning and at night. They like apples and bread (as Rich found out today!)
We were going to venture into Halifax tonight for our first night out but the snow was quite bad so we have decided to stop in.
We also have a car...
So we just need to pass our driving tests (our theory tests were passed on Thursday) and I need to find a job...
We have a flat. It's a lovely 2 bed (apparently but it actually has 3???) flat. We just have a problem filling it have we have absolutely nothing with us. We are now officially Wallmart's best customers - the woman on the checkout knows Rich by name (OMG 'checkout' it's happening already!)
We have a group of deer that come and visit us in the morning and at night. They like apples and bread (as Rich found out today!)
We were going to venture into Halifax tonight for our first night out but the snow was quite bad so we have decided to stop in.
We also have a car...
So we just need to pass our driving tests (our theory tests were passed on Thursday) and I need to find a job...
Wednesday 21 January 2009
We're Here!!!
Finally, we've landed in Canada!
Work permits - check! (what a relief!)
We're sat in our hotel room, absolutely shattered from the last week of mayhem, packing the house up, lugging 5 suitcases and a tool box down to London and then onto a plane, and then into a car!
Not seen much of the place yet but will update tomorrow and try to get some pictures put up here when we start exploring.
It's only 8 pm here as I'm writing this, but it's midnight at home so and early night tonight I think!
Work permits - check! (what a relief!)
We're sat in our hotel room, absolutely shattered from the last week of mayhem, packing the house up, lugging 5 suitcases and a tool box down to London and then onto a plane, and then into a car!
Not seen much of the place yet but will update tomorrow and try to get some pictures put up here when we start exploring.
It's only 8 pm here as I'm writing this, but it's midnight at home so and early night tonight I think!
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