That is all that has been on TV, the news etc here the Royal Wedding or the election. Yes we have another election here in Canada on Monday. I think this is the third since we have been here and it has always ended in a minority conservative government. This time though it looks like the NDP are creeping up and will give Harper a run for his money.

A lot of people are saying the election is a waste of time and money and that they cannot be bothered to vote. I agree it is probably a waste but it is happening so everyone who is able to vote should. Because we are relative newcomers we are yet to get citizenship and so cannot vote yet. I find this very frustrating as I live here and pay my taxes but have no say on how my money is spent. This is why I feel that those who do have a voting option should use it. If you don’t vote you have no right to moan about the government after.  There, I have had my say, end of subject.

We have both recently had reminder cards to renew our driving licences which expire in July. They are valid 5 years and we will have been here 5 years on July 7th, so have to get new ones. On the website it says renewals are $75, but mine says it will cost me $90 and Chris’s says $62.50, so no idea what that all means. No doubt we will find out when we renew.

Also up for renewal is our PR cards which again expire in July. There is a waiting list so we sent the applications off in February with all the relevant paperwork. Yesterday I got a letter saying I hadn’t included a copy of the reverse of my driving licence as requested and had sent a copy of a passport that was expired. This is very strange as my passport is brand new – I haven’t even used it yet and the driving licence was copied front and back on the same sheet of paper so if they have the front, they also have the back. I phoned to check all this but was told that I need to recopy all these and send again. Very frustrating, but not worth arguing about.

On Wednesday a big storm passed over both the eastern US and Canada including us. We were under a tornado warning as well as large hail and heavy rain warnings. The day started out lovely with blue skies and sun, but later in the afternoon it got darker and windier – then this cloud arrived.

We then had a thunder storm with rain, lightening etc. We lost electric momentarily, but thankfully not for long. We lost internet and TV and the rain hammered down and the winds were horrendous. We lost a few tree branches on some of our trees but overall came out unscathed. This morning we went into town and noticed that just along one road half a dozen houses had quite bad roof damage, many trees had been either knocked down or damaged. Our neighbours house had some of the siding blown off, so we got off very lightly it seems. In the US they suffered very badly with over 100 tornadoes and around 200 people being killed, very sad.

On a happier note: Only three weeks now till our daughter Stacey arrives with her girlfriend. We are very excited and have a lot planned whilst they are here, so we are going to be very busy.

I feel so bloody useless. I am trying to offer as much support as I can to Chris whilst coping with my own feelings, neither of which I appear to be doing very well. Neither of us knows really how we feel or how we should be coping. This is so different to loosing a parent or grandparent and it seems so senseless. One minute you feel reasonably okay, then bam it hits you all over again.

The autopsy did not reveal a cause of death and so far it is looking like she simply went to sleep and never woke up. The best possible way for anyone to leave this world, but all the more devastating to those left behind as we cannot see a reason for it. A few more tests are going to be carried out which might shed some light, but who knows.

It is at times like this though when friends and family really show their true colours and ours have been wonderful. We have had so many people expressing their sympathy and support  in many different ways. It doesn’t make anything better but it certainly helps.

There have been lots and lots of phone calls to and from the UK and to make everything worse a volcano erupted in Iceland spewing out volcanic ash and grounding all air traffic to and from the UK, so we cannot get there at all. More than anything we want to be able to give support to Stacey, Chris’s other daughter who is suffering badly. Hopefully she will be able to come over to us for a couple of weeks in the future. She is being amazingly strong for her mum and we are very proud of her and love her to bits. All in all this is a really bad time for us all.

OMG, perhaps they want to send us back to the UK – but it was only addressed to him, so I replied in a loving wifely way “Well if they are sending you back, you are on your own.” I’m known for my compassionate nature! “Perhaps they are letting us know that we will soon be able to apply for citizenship” I offered

Anyway, we stared at the envelope, neither of us daring to open it. Eventually OH built up the courage and read the contents – a survey! A SURVEY – Don’t the realize that by now both of us felt sick with worry and they send us a bloody SURVEY!!!!!!

Apparently they are conducting a survey of people who emigrated using the skilled worker program so that they can “improve future programs.” It states that although the survey is confidential it will be cross-referenced to info we previously submitted. Seems like they are checking up on people – or am I being paranoid?

Anyway the survey is voluntary, so I think we will give it a miss.

Heart rate is now returning to normal and life goes on….

The weather is getting steadily colder although yesterday it was 12C, but the rest of the week is forecast as around 5C with possible snow flurries at the end of the week – we will see.

We are getting more rain now, which is very welcome. Lots of homes around the area are suffering from dried up wells, so far we have been lucky and have not been affected, but you can never be too sure.

Recently we have managed to meet up with several people around our area who we met online on mymuchmor.com. It has been really interesting as some are born and bred Canadians and others immigrants like ourselves, although they have been here longer than us. Because we work from home we do not meet as many people as we would under normal circumstances, so it is really nice to get out and meet a few locals. We love to hear the stories and advice they can offer.

Yesterday because it was a little warmer, Chris did some gardening. He tided up all the flower beds and cut back all the shrubs etc. It looks a little bare now, but there is no use planting anything else as it will probably all be covered in snow in the next month or so!

We are also starting to wonder if we should move again. When we purchased our house, we did so on a two week trip a few months before we landed and although the house has pretty much everything we wanted, we also know that our perfect house is still out there. So, don’t be surprised if sometime in the future I announce that we are moving.

We have looked at a few properties over the last couple of weeks (only from the outside) and have ruled most out, however yesterday we saw a house which on paper (or MLS) looks great and perfect for us, but we will have to actually view it to see if it lives up to expectations.

In one way we want to view it, but are also afraid that we will love it and that will start off a whole chain of events that I’m not sure we are ready for. So, watch this space!

Over the last few weeks we have been trying to get some of our wildlife eating from our hands and we have succeeded with the chipmunks. We sit outside for an hour most days with a pile of monkey nuts feeding the chipmunks.

At first they were taking them at arms length, then running off a few feet to open and eat (or rather store in their mouths) them. Now they just come over and take the nut and sit by our sides eating.

The other day when Chris went to the mailbox to get the mail one of the chips followed him and he nearly trod on him. Also, on Saturday he was doing some weeding in the garden and the chips were following him about waiting to be fed. He ended up carrying a bag of nuts around with him so he could feed as he weeded.

Last night we had the thunderstorm from hell. We went to bed at about 11pm and the skies were rumbling gently in the background, but within half an hour the thunder was crashing down with lightening so bright and frequent it was like midday not midnight. The rain coming down was torrential and the storm continued till about 4am. We could not sleep with the noise and they forecast more today and tonight.

I am off to the hospital today for another ultrasound, so hopefully my cyst has gone and I then just have to wait for the MRI appointment for the other things that are amiss with my insides!

This new blog gives me more options and a bigger storage space to put all my pictures etc. I hope you will continue to read my blog and look forward to your comments..

Yesterday we had another power outage for about 2.5 hours as it was very windy. Apparently 30,000 people were off with us and some had been off for many more hours.

Today we have great news – our house sale has gone through in the UK. After several offers falling through and this one dragging on for months it is finally over. We no longer have to pay our UK mortgage and we get some equity, although you will remember we released a lot of the equity in order to purchase our Canadian home.

It is such a relief to know it is over. In the UK you can never be totally sure the sale has gone through until the money is in the bank – in our case the solicitor still has it but it cannot fail now. Why the system cannot be more like Canada, I don’t know.

It is a glorious day here, sun is shining and no rain is forecast, although there is some forecast in the coming days, there is even a mention of snow.

Hubby’s daughter is coming over with a friend in December and we are hoping that the weather is going to be ok and not too much snow so we can take them places. They really want to go to New York, so we are hoping we can drive down there for a couple of days, but it all depends on the weather.

Saw a huge deer wandering across one of the major roads here yesterday. He was huge and just sauntered across. If a car had hit it would have done some severe damage – to both parties!

When I worry that something hasn’t yet been done, or we are waiting for something to be processed, I have to remember that we have only been here a short time in reality.

We are really starting to feel at home now and are looking to renovate the basement over the coming winter months. Our fish tank is maturing and makes the living room more homely. We always had fish in the UK, so it is nice to have them here. We are also considering getting a dog. We have both had dogs in the past and always said that when we moved to Canada we would get one.

Hubby’s daughter was hoping to come over next month but she has just started a new job, so doesn’t want to book a holiday as soon as she starts so will probably wait until Christmas time.

Just phoned my aunt and uncle in Spain, as it is their wedding anniversary. We have to be careful when we phone, as they are six hours in front of us. They are coming over in the summer next year which will be great as we won’t have seen them since October last year when we went to Spain to see them.

The weather is definitely starting to change now. The first six or seven weeks were always hot and sunny. Now we have to check the weather before venturing out as some days like today are cooler with rain.

The trees are changing colour and are starting to look beautiful, so fall is definitely here! Although we have noticed that Home Depot and other similar shops are advertising snowploughs and other such wintry items, so winter is on its way!

We are starting to look at things we should get in for the winter such as decent clothing and footwear and snow shifting gear. Not sure exactly what we will need, or how much it will cost, but will keep checking the stores to see what is on offer and what everyone else seems to have.

Hubby ordered a tractor mower from Sears which is being delivered next week and I shocked our pool which will hopefully cure our cloudy water problem. Got a good book about pool care so most of it makes sense now.

Hubby got his SIN card, nothing for me though, but at least one of us is official!

Getting concerned about the pool, as although I am adding the stuff I am advised to do on various websites I have visited it is starting to get cloudy. Although we did have a lot of rain this morning, so this may have caused it. I am going to get a book tomorrow and get all this pool business sorted once and for all.

Monday

This morning we went hunting for a tractor mower. Chris originally didn’t want to buy one and only use a good petrol mower but we have so much land that if he does that he will be mowing for hours. It seems you need to spend a minimum of $1,500 to get a decent one that will not fall apart. Still not sure which to buy so will do some research before committing.

We also went to Service Canada to register our business this morning. We were expecting this to be a troublesome task, but it was very quick and easy. You can register everything yourself on their computers. It asks a series of questions and then prints out all the info for you including your business certificate. Cost $60. So far everything we have done via the Government has been very quick and simple. Shame the same cannot be said for the actual immigration process!

We also went to pick up a fire permit so we can burn some of our rubbish. Yes, you need a permit ($15) in order to have a bonfire in your own garden. You can get a permit for a one-of fire ($5) or buy an annual one. Even then, you have to phone the fire station to notify them of your intention to have a fire, when and what you are burning! It seems you need a permit for lots of things here.

We also found out that there is no actual garbage pick-up here. You can take your rubbish to the local garbage dump and get charged $2 per bag of rubbish dumped. There is a guy who picks stuff up for you if you call him and he charges the $2 per bag plus a dollar for the service. Most rubbish however can be recycled and we are supposed to put everything in a blue box for collection. Other items such as cardboard, bags etc can also be left – this service is free.

Got our first Canadian post today – exciting! We actually had something other than crap in our mailbox. You think you have junk mail in the UK – you haven’t seen anything till you get to Canada. Every shop and service provider within 50 miles puts a mailer in your box!