And colder yet

I've been out for the first time since Christmas - I figured I should do my bit as a consumer and visit the post-Christmas sales.

 I came very close to come back home again very quickly. It was incredibly cold out; I don't think that it's stopped snowing for long since Christmas Eve, and at the moment it's coming in from the north on a very bitter wind. I was wearing my nice winter coat, and had dug out my hat. I was wishing I'd brought my gloves, too.

I stopped off on the way back home for a coffee, at a coffee shop that's about ten minutes walk from the apartment. It's cold enough that the foam on the top of the cup had frozen solid by the time I was back. And it's scheduled to get even colder tomorrow, too - I wonder if I can find an excuse to stay in tomorrow....

It's cold outside....

I woke up this morning to find that it has snowed overnight, and that it was indeed still snowing. There's probably around a half inch of snow lying on the ground, and the thermometer is telling me that it's currently -7

The road outside the apartment hasn't been ploughed, and there's not enough traffic to get rid of it otherwise. There are also no pavements on this street (or should I be calling them sidewalks, to fit in with the natives?), so while there's nothing there that I need to keep clear, there's also nothing there to walk on. I assume that I can't get stopped for jaywalking while walking on a road if there's no sidewalk.

The temperature has been floating above and below freezing for the last couple of weeks. The lowest I've seen it was -11, and that was during the day. That said, it was quite a lot warmer during the night - I think it clouded over. But I've been bundled up in my nice warm winter coat, and have scarcely noticed how cold it is - I mean, when there's a Tim Hortons on every corner, you're never far away from a hot cup of coffee.

Hmmmmm

It was my downstairs neighbour's birthday yesterday; I offered to take him out to dinner.

In the end, it was cancelled. He popped up to see me shortly before we were due to go out. He said that he'd gone out for a few drinks with one of his friends on the Friday night, and thought that one of his drinks had been spiked, as he was feeling terrible, and had no memory at all of most of the evening.

He's just popped up again now. Apparently, there are other things that he doesn't have memories of. Specifically, that he'd gone for a meal at one of the restaurants downtown, run up a fairly large bill, and then run out. And how do they know it was him? Because he'd left his wallet behind. Which does rather imply that he wasn't especially rational at the time; it doesn't exactly take a criminal mastermind to realise that leaving your wallet at the scene of the crime is not the wisest thing to do.

He doesn't even remember being there; I've suggested that since they apparently have CCTV of him, he can ask to see it, and see if there's anyone with him. He did try to tell the police when they called him that he'd had his drinks spiked, but of course after this amount of time, there's nothing left in his system that would work as evidence.

I may just spend the next few months safely locked inside the apartment...

Brief update

There's not really much more to report from the last couple of days...

None of the companies I've applied to have replied yet, but it's not been too long as yet; though I'm going to stick my neck out and say that the ones where I applied as temporary Christmas staff are unlikely to get back to me now, as it's definitely cutting it a little fine. Still, I'm in no major hurry to start working again.

The weather remains disappointingly warm, too - it's finally started to drop below freezing during the day, but not for too long, and there's very little snow. I think we've had around three or four snowfalls, but they've all been followed by weather warm enough or rainy enough to melt it again. There's the odd bit of snow dotted around, but really very little. Clearly the reputation of Canada being snowy is just a rumour put around by the Canadian Tourist Board to keep foreigners away so they can enjoy their own country for a few months of the year.

Unemployed....

I managed a little longer than expected; but I've just quit the job; I'd finally had enough.

My team leader was pushing for me to get two signups an hour; after a three hour shift where I got a total of one, I realised that I was just wasting everyone's time.

She took my resignation surprisingly well. On the one hand, I'm a little put out that she didn't even try to talk me out of it, but on the other, I think the last couple of weeks have made it quite clear that I'm not cut out for a career in sales. Curse me and my willingness to take no for an answer!

So tomorrow, I get to start looking for another job. Preferably one that doesn't involve trying to sell things to people who clearly don't want them.

Job update

Well I've been employed now for a couple of weeks. I'm pretty sure that I'm not going to be doing it in a couple more, though.

I got sent a tablet PC last week, so I didn't have to do everything on paper. Except that they didn't send the right power adapter, so I couldn't charge it or use it. When that eventually arrived, it was another few days before I could actually use it, because no one had thought to set me up an account on the server. So it was a week before I could use it.

And this morning, I was asked to fax over my bank details, so they could add me to the system and run payroll. This, in spite of me having provided them with everything they needed when I signed up three weeks back. It turns out that they'd misplaced everything, though naturally they didn't find it until too late.

I'm really, really not impressed right now. I've got one more shift scheduled for tomorrow, and am wondering if I should just quit after that. I feel like it's just a huge waste of time, really.

Bah!

No reply to my email from Demon, so I called them. Apparently, they don't log IP addresses on the POP3 server, which I'll admit to being a little dubious about.

Ah well. It was worth a try. I did get a phonecall from a very nice detective this morning, telling me that they're closing the case; they did arrest someone a couple of weeks back, who he described as "un-cooperative", and since he didn't admit to it, there's nothing they can do.

Now all I need is for Dell to get their finger out and actually send me the new computer I ordered three weks ago.

Snow!

We had our first proper snow overnight - there was about an inch waiting when I woke up this morning.

Sadly, most of it will have melted in the next couple of day - the temperature is going back up to above freezing for the weekend.

But I've been impressed with what I've seen. The sidewalks have been cleared, and the chap my landlord has paid to clear the drive did it quite early in the morning. I assume things will be a little different when the snow keeps on coming, but we'll have to wait another few days for that!

I don't remember packing that....

Well, my goods from the UK arrived today. It was a remarkably painless opertion to sign for them, though it involved going to the Customs building down by the airport. There was a little more paperwork to fill in, and lots of forms were stamped, several times apiece. And that was that, aside from a few questions about what I was bringing in, specifically to make sure I wasn't bringing in anything prohibited.

(On the other hand - if I was bringing in food, I'm pretty sure that after two months in transit, they'd have been able to smell it without me having to ask.)

So my seven cases are here. I've unpacked half, and will sort the rest as and when I get around to them. I've got two cases of pictures which I'm not sure I'll bother unpacking - I'm not sure I'm going to put them up in the apartment, even though I've been given permission from my landlord.

It was fun going through my stuff, and finding all the things that I'd forgotten I'd packed. Many of them were wrapped up very well indeed, and now I'm thinking I should have left a few for Christmas....

The plot thickens

Being quite lazy, I didn't bother to change the passwords on my email account after the PC was stolen, mainly because it's quite hard.

I've been using their webmail client to read emails sent to my demon account; and when I logged on this morning, all the email there had gone. Since I'd not deleted it, the only other option is that the new owner of my PC finally opened up Outlook and downloaded everything.

So I've asked demon if they can access their logs and let me know what the IP address used was; and I can then pass that onto the police here.

I'm pretty sure nothing will come come if (either demon won't or can't provide me with the information, or the police here won't know what to do with it), but I can at least do everything I can to help.

On central heating and smoke alarms

This apartment doesn't have any radiators. I suspect that that's not an unusual choice for Canada - after all, when the temperature outside is regularly below -20 for most of winter, you probably don't want that many pipes full of water running through your property. Each an every one is a potential problem when the freeze starts.

So instead, there are air ducts. When the boiler down in the basement kicks in, it starts sending hot air through the ducts - they're mounted either low in the wall or in the floor, so it's a pretty effective way of heating the house.

However (and didn't you just see that coming?) there's one small issue at the moment. The smoke alarm down in the cellar is beeping; it started around 1am. This being North America, the beep is followed by a badly digitized voice saying "Battery low". This being Canada, that is followed by the same message in French ("Pile faible"). And because the smoke alarm is next to the boiler, why - it's echoing through the hot air ducts and there's not a spot in the house where it doesn't sound like it's right next to you.

I can hear you asking as to why I've not just changed the battery, or even just removed the existing one. Well, the main reason is that it seems to be wired into the mains, rather than having an actual battery. Which does make the message just a tad more confusing.

Weather update

I'm sure you'll all be excited to know that I was snowed on today!

It wasn't exactly a blizzard - it took me a couple of minutes to work out that what was catching my eye was in fact snow, and it definitely didn't stick.

On the other hand, today was the first day that I was wearing my proper winter jacket; I'd been a little concerned about whether I was going to be mocked by Canadians for wearing a winter jacket in November; but that lasted until I felt the first gust of wind. That was the point at which I decided that they could mock all they wanted.

I assume we'll be in for a little more snow over the next few days - I wonder how long before it'll stay?

Another day, another supermarket

This one, conveniently situated just a few minutes up the road from the apartment here - it was faster to walk there than wait for the bus. The suburb I'm in is called Vanier, which is a very French part of town; there are a lot of people who use French as their first, if not their only, language.

Which meant that more than once, I was met with polite incomprehension when I launched into my spiel. I have discovered, though, that I speak good enough French that I can discuss the store card with someone, and explain the benefits; though apparently not well enough to convince a francophone to actually sign up for it.

I'm back there on Saturday and Sunday, so I can try again then; I should probably learn some vocab in the meantime....

My first full shift

So I'm just in, after six hours of signing people up to the store card. All on my lonesome - my trainer was at a supermarket a few miles away.

I think I did alright. I didn't offend anyone - well, there's no angry messages waiting for me telling me not to come back tomorrow - and managed to get ten sales. That's just marginally more than minimum wage, so I'm quite happy with that. I don't think I'll ever be rich, but I do seem to be getting better.

Though to give credit where it's due - the new promotion started today is for a large box of chocolate biscuits (sorry - "cookies"). It bears a suspicious resemblence to the Marks and Spencer Belgian biscuit selection, as a matter of fact. And it's a pretty impressive incentive to sign up - every person who signed up today took a voucher for one.

As a side note, I currently have around twenty or thirty more vouchers, in theory waiting for me to pass out to punters. So if I do go bad, I can probably survive off those for quite some time.

So in brief - I enjoyed today more than I was expecting to; and while I may never be very good at it, I was at least less bad than I feared.

My first day in work!

Well, I guess technically it was the second - I was there for a couple of hours yesterday for my training. Today, I was dropped right into it.

I slowly improved over the course of the day, but I still found it incredibly difficult. I know it'll come as a surprise to you, but I'm not the most outgoing of people, and walking up to people and starting a conversation - even though I'm literally being paid to do so - is so far outside my comfort zone that I can't even see it from here.

But it did get easier, and I managed to avoid dropping myself in it too badly. I got a total of four signups in the three hours I was there, though since two of them did't have ID, my trainer got to sign them up. I suspect she'll do a lot better than I did, too - she's pretty darned good at what she does.

But I'm signed up for shifts for the rest of the week, where I'll be all on my lonesome. I'll see how those go before I make any decisions. At the very least, I'll be earning minimum wage while I'm out working, and that's more than I earn otherwise. And who knows? I may actually get better at the whole thing!

Apartment update

My landlord has just left, once again. I now have an actual back door, which both closes and locks; though the frame needs some work.

And by some work, I mean that there's an inch gap at the top of the frame, and the door isn't especially flush. On the other hand, did I mention that I have a working door?

Her contractor will hopefully be coming in the next week to make it pretty.

She's been supportive about the whole, though perhaps less decisive than I'd like. I may be old fashioned, but I'd have preferred to have a professional round in a day or two to secure it; instead, she tried her regular contractor, and when he was unable to do it quickly, she got her uncle to make a start. I don't know whether he's got any actual training, but my landlord seemed a little disappointed with what he'd done, and she's been round here a couple of times in the last couple of days to get things in a workable state. To the point where her daughter, when they were leaving, asked if they were going to the hardware store for more parts. Bless.

And also....

I heard from my putative employers, and I start on Monday; I think I get one day's training, and then it's time to go solo.

I'm quite excited - it'll be almost a year since I've actually worked; and I'll still be able to work the rest of my job hunting around my work schedule, too.

Quick update

It's now Thursday afternoon, and I've finally gotten the home network back online. Rogers were as helpful as they could be, but in the end it needed me to connect to the hub with an actual cable and make a few changes. While it may seem that having MAC filtering set up works wonderfully, it's going to give you Issues if - say - all the PCs whose MAC addresses are permitted suddenly disappear.

Other than that - the carpenter has just left for the day - at least, I assume he has; he's walked out of the apartment with a vague grunt, and the car is no longer outside. I assume he's coming back, though, as the door is still nailed shut - with a different, larger, piece of wood.

I suspect I'll be continuing to keep the back door closed by having the fridge against it for the immediate future, just for peace of mind. But I've still not gotten anything like the amount of stress I would expect to get from having things stolen. I wonder if having such a major clearout as part of the move made me slightly less attached to Stuff?

Well, that sucked

I came back from a pub quiz at one of the bars downtown, to discover that in my absence, someone had broken into the apartment.

They'd kicked the back door down - my neighbour downstairs had gone for a walk and then taken a sleeping pill when he got back, so he was out for the count and didn't hear a thing. Luckily, I think they decided that they'd made too much noise as it was, so all they took was the netbook and the PC - they walked past a few bits I was surprised they didn't take, like my mobile phone (admittedly, they don't make a cheaper phone, but even so), a little cash, and the Kindle.

The police were excellent - a very nice policewoman was round in about ten minutes, which
I thought was excellent considering there was no one there they could catch. She took a statement, was impressed by the amount of damage they'd managed to do to the door (the metal bolt is bent - they'd kicked it through an inch of wood); I was naturally disappointed that CSI Ottawa wouldn't be visiting, but that's unsurprising considering how little they actually touched. And then she said that there was practically no chance of them being caught and headed out.

I'm surprisingly alright about the whole thing. I know I'm supposed to be worried about someone coming into my space uninvited, but I'm wondering if I've not been there for long enough for it to feel like a home; and they didn't take anything that was especially personally important - as far as I can tell, they came in through the backdoor, saw the PC, grabbed that and the laptop, and were gone - it wouldn't have been more than a minute or two.

I'm annoyed about a couple of things; mainly that I've not been able to speak to my beloved for a couple of days and let her know that I'm OK. Other than that, I've changed the passwords on a couple of accounts, just in case whoever ends up with the kit decides to have a little fun with my Facebook account; and the only thing I'm annoyed they took is the adapter I had on the netbook, so I could plug it into a North American socket. I was intending replacing the netbook anyway, in the next couple of weeks, as it's pretty much stopped working - I wish them luck rehoming a three year old netbook with a UK keyboard, no working wireless card, and which needs to warm up for five minutes before the left side of the keyboard starts working. I've got a couple more bits to add, but I'm currently in Starbucks abusing their free internet policy, so it might have to wait til I've figured out how to reconfigure the home wireless hub.

Live sports

So I spent this afternoon at a live sporting event - I can't remember the last time I watched live sport, in fact.

It was very impressive - two teams of people waving wooden objects, running around in the freezing cold after an oddly shaped ball. It was rather violent, and the rules were somewhat incomprehensible, but I think I figured out what was going on by the end.

That's right; I spent the afternoon spectating at the Canadian Quidditch Cup.

I'm impressed that someone's come up with rules for a fictional sport that involves flying, and actually managed to design something that works quite well. There were a few crunching tackles - as I left, one player was busy having a couple of fingers splinted, and I think the first aid people had had a fairly busy day - but it was very good natured, and the teams had clearly spent a goodly amount of time practising.

They did keep the broomsticks; the players get to run around the pitch clutching the broomstick between their legs, which adds an extra layer of difficulty. It does mean that substitutions are easy, as the player coming off just passes the broomstick to the one coming on.

There are four soccer-size balls in the field, one of which is the quaffle used to score, and the rest are bludgers, which are hurled with great force at players on the opposing team; if you're hit by a bludger, you need to head back to your goal and start again.

But the genius is the snitch. This is a human, dressed in yellow, with a tennis ball inside a sock tucked into his or her waistband. The game ends when the snitch is caught, so the snitch spent the first fifteen minutes of each game hiding off the field (one apparently spent the time driving round, just to be sure of not being caught.)

So it was a thoroughly entertaining day. Just a shame that Carleton lost in the final to McGill, 80 to 140, if memory serves.

Daylight Saving Time

For those of you keeping track... Canada - well, Ontario, as that's the relevant province - changed the dates on daylight saving time to match the US. I guess that that makes sense, what with it being so close and all.

That means that the clocks change on the first Sunday of November and again on the second Sunday in March. So for a week in autumn and two weeks in spring, I think the time difference is 4 hours rather than 5. So bear that in mind if you're phoning.

*sigh*

I had an appointment with the chap who's in charge of the people who push the loyalty cards, at 8pm. I was getting ready to head out at 7pm, and discovered that there was a message on there - I've not been dealing with him directly, but through one of his current employees, and it was her who'd messaged me.

It seems when I'd asked her on the phone yesterday about how I'd recognise Jean-Louis (for such is his name) when I got to the supermarket at 8pm, and she'd said to call him; what she actually meant was that I should call him during the day to arrange things. I figured she meant to call him when I got there.... I'm sure you're well familiar with my attitude to mobile phones, so it'll come as no surprise that it's been sat ignored on the kitchen table for most of the last day; and when I came to pick it up there was a message asking me to confirm things.

So naturally he wasn't there when I arrived, though I did manage to speak to him (and apologise for not getting the message until less than an hour earlier). I've re-arranged to meet up with him on Tuesday instead.

Keep your fingers crossed. I expect I'll end up phoning again on Tuesday, just to make utterly sure this time.

Weather update

It's almost the end of October; we've not had any snow yet - I know, how disappointing, right? - but it's starting to get cold outside. The temperatures for the last few nights have dipped below freezing, and it's warmed up a little during the day, but only relatively.

I've got a proper winter coat, that I bought during the cold snap at the start of the month, but it's not been quite cold enough to need it yet (I'm managing with a light coat and a jumper at the moment). I'm sure it'll only be a matter of a couple of weeks before it's needed.

You might also want to keep an eye out for upcoming blog posts:
Yay! It's snowing!
More snow!!
How can there be this much snow!!!

A job offer!

I'm a little conflicted by it, too.

It's for one of the local supermarkets, working in store to try and sign people up for a loyalty card. My main objection is that it's commission based, which means the more people I sign up, the more money I earn. I've never been the greatest fan of commission based work, though. On the other hand, thanks to the minimum wage legislation, even if I don't convince anyone to sign up, I'm still going to get paid something.

It's somewhat different from what I want to do (now there's an understatement); but I suspect I might accept it. If nothing else, I won't be stuck doing it forever, and I can arrange my shifts so I can carry on job hunting for a web developer role; and it'll be some money coming in, too.

And I'm also quite curious to see whether an English accent will help sell loyalty cards to North Americans.

My residency card

Has finally arrived, some two and a half months since I officially immigrated. It's valid until October 2016, and has the least flattering photo of me since my first passport.

On the other hand, I think that this is the first official photographic ID I've gotten from the government of Canada, and it does mean I don't need to keep carrying round my UK passport as a proof of ID - the card is credit card sized, so it'll fit into my wallet.

Wandering around town

As I might have said, Ottawa is the capital of Canada. One of the things I didn't quite realise is that this means that this is where all the embassies are. The UK and the US Embassies are pretty large, for reasons that I suspect are obvious - they're both located right in the middle of downtown, a couple of blocks from Parliament.

But of course practically every country in the world has a presence here, too. It's very strange to be wandering round what seems a regular suburb when you suddenly realise that one of the houses you're walking past is in fact the embassy for Afghanistan.

I've seen a good couple of dozens on my travels. I should download a list of all the embassies here, and see if I can check them all off - it'll be just like a game of Pokemon. And I'm sure there will be no issues at all with an obvious foreigner standing outside random embassy buildings taking photographs and notes.

Fall has arrived

It seems that without me even noticing, we've slipped into autumn. Or as they insist on calling it over here, fall.

Quite a lot of the leaves have turned to lovely shades of red, orange, and yellow (and quite a few have already fallen off, too). One of the things I've noticed when I got here is just how much greenery there is here - just about every house has a garden, with trees, and that extends even to downtown, where you'll see plenty of small parks, trees, and just plain space dotted around, even around the downtown area.

Also, I've had a waitress by the name of Autumn. Would it be wrong to spend the entire meal referring to her by the name of Fall, instead?

We've also got a few more weeks before the snow starts, too. It's normally towards Halloween, apparently.

Happy Thanksgiving

Apparently, the second Monday in October (as opposed to the American one, which is in November). Which means that everything is currently closed, and the buses are running on a Sunday schedule. I think I'm also supposed to be eating turkey - the Canadians claim that they have their Thanksgiving so early so that they're ready for turkey again when Christmas rolls around.

I've had a moderately busy couple of days. I popped over to Montreal for the evening on Friday, where I met up with a friend and had a very nice dinner (and about six hours of gossiping); it's around two hours on the train, and I got to see some of the lovely scenery on offer this time of year. The leaves are starting to turn, and the landscape is increasingly spectacular. I think another week or so before it hits its peak.

Then when I got back on Saturday, my neighbour invited me out for a quick drink. It was around 3am by the time I got back on Sunday, so it was less quick than I was expecting. It was a very pleasant evening - and thanks to the very impressive weather we're having at the moment, I'm still wandering around in a tshirt.

Though when it starts to get cold in a couple of weeks, I suspect it's going to be just a tad colder than it gets in the UK....

Ikea, revisited

Quite literally, in this case.

I popped out there yesterday to pick up the rest of the furniture - all the bits I'd either not realised I was going to need, or had just plain forgotten the first time around. I'm making excellent use of my new bus pass, I should say - by my reckoning, I've already a recouped around a fifth of the cost, and I've not even been out today.

The delivery has just been; once again, it's missing something, though at least we figured it out before I signed anything this time (it's missing a wastebin, which I can live without). I'm also not quite sure what happened with the missing chest of drawers from last time - I called on Friday, and they said they were chasing it up with the delivery company, and if they'd not heard anything by Monday, they'd send me a new one. I assume I should hear something soon, but their communication skills are terrible.

So now I get another day or so of putting more furniture together. And another half-ton of packaging to dispose of....

Walmart

The main reason for my exploring on the buses was that I wanted to get to Walmart, and while it's walkable, it's a little further than I'd have liked.

I've never been to a Walmart before, so obviously I was quite excited. It's a lot bigger than the other supermarkets I've been to, but that's to be expected, as it's further out from the city center and so there's more space.

It definitely felt more like the supermarkets I'm used to, I suspect mainly because of the size. There's a much wider variety of departments there, though none of them seemed especially large - the food ranges for example didn't seem much larger than the ones in the closer supermarkets, and the prices were a lot higher than I'd been expecting from Walmart. I suspect I'm not going to become a regular.

On the buses, revisited

It's the start of the month, so I've been out and about using my shiny new bus pass. For those who are curious - you can indeed buy a monthly bus pass after the start of the month, but the price doesn't come down, at all. Which seems odd to me, but what do I know?

What I've discovered is that Ottawa is riddled with bus Transitways - they're streets set aside specifically for buses. Sometimes, it's a couple of lanes of a regular highway, using concrete dividers to make the point; but more commonly, it's an entire separate road system, set aside just for buses. If you want to get from one side of the city to the other, find the nearest Transitway station, and pop on a bus - you don't get traffic, and the stations are a couple of miles apart, so it's a lot faster; faster even than driving, I suspect.

I don't know if the Transitway system is new since I was here in 1991-2, or if I just didn't notice it then - knowing me, either eventuality is equally likely - but boy, I'm impressed. It's just the sort of thing that would make getting the bus around Manchester considerably easier; and the sort of thing that couldn't be done, because there's either no space, or not enough money to build the whole thing underground.

In the supermarket

I'm back from what I think is my fourth visit to various supermarkets. It seems that my strategy of wandering round randomly and buying things I see there that I fancy is perhaps not the most optimized.

I think I've probably been spoiled by Tesco - you don't realise just how convenient it is to have one of their aircraft hangar-sized supermarkets a couple of minutes drive away. There are a couple fairly close to the apartment, ranging from a Shoppers Drug Mart (think Boots) to a Loblaws (which reminds me of a small Morrisons in their range of products).

Looking round is weird. There are a number of brands I'm familiar with from the UK, though I may never get used to seeing "HP Sauce - L'Originale" on a bottle. There's a few that look strangely familiar, too - I'm pretty sure that Lays Potato Chips are related to Walkers. If they're not, someone's going to get sued....

The oddest part so far, I think, has been trying to find what I assumed were fairly generic products; though to be fair, there's a good chance that this is because I'm not looking in the right place. I'm also surprised that the staff members I've spoken to when wandering around looking lost haven't been much help - again, I guess I'm spoiled from Tesco staff members actually having a good working knowledge of the whole store. I've either got a blank look, or been directed off to Customer Services (who to their credit have been very helpful.)

So I've eventually managed to find some bacon and some sausages. The bacon is what would be back bacon in the UK - I think what I wanted is actually called Canadian bacon here, but there was no sign of it on the shelves. And the sausages are - and I swear I'm not making this up - pork sausages flavoured with maple. I couldn't see any that were unflavoured, and I ended up going for the one that seemed the least adventurous. They're also described as breakfast sausages, though I intend to eat them for lunch; please don't tell anyone, as it may be a deportation offense.

Finally - don't expect to see a couple of aisles of assorted beers and wines. Loblaws has a separate little room with wines in (apparently there are a number of Canadian wines - who knew?), but if you want alcohol, you're quite limited as to where you can get it. There's a store called The Beer Store (which sells exactly what you'd think); and LCBO, which seems to sell a variety of beers and wines. And also, luckily for me, a small range of girly alcopops. Yay!

My first piece of mail

Unlike the first call to my mobile and to the landline - both telemarketing calls for the previous owner of the number - my first piece of mail was actually welcome.

CIBC have recklessly approved me for a credit card (PIN to be delivered in a couple of days). Now, all I need to do is start building up a credit history, by buying things with it and then paying it off on time.

Time log on to amazon.ca and start buying....

Paperwork time

I need to get a Social Insurance Number before I can work - this is the equivalent of the UK's National Insurance Number. I also need to register for the provincial health coverage programme. The immigration consultants have kindly provided me with the paperwork I need to make the applications, and a couple of minutes searching on google tells me that I can apply for both at City Hall.

The one downside is that I need my immigration paperwork. You know, the paperwork that I put in my safe deposit box yesterday because I didn't need it any more? So my first visit was to the bank, where I asked the same teller if I could access my safe deposit box again, please. This time, I waited for her to leave the room, though it was amusing yesterday to see the indecent haste with which she vacated the vault when she realised I was opening the box.

I'd come prepared for City Hall - well, I'd brought a book and the rest of the paperwork that I needed. What I wasn't prepared for was the haste with which everything worked out. I think I was in there for less than a half hour, all told, and that involved waiting in no less than three queues. I had all the paperwork ready to go, and I was most impressed that they managed to find the details of my previous Ontario health insurance - which I applied for just about twenty years ago.

So I've got a health insurance card and a Social Insurance card on their way in the next couple of weeks; I've also got a printout giving me my actual Social Insurance number, which I apparently need to memorize and then never tell anyone.

Buses in Ottawa

After having taken the bus a good half dozen times, I'm clearly a veteran.

It's very different from the way it works in the UK. Here, your ticket covers your whole journey - if you need to get off one bus and onto another, you can ask for a transfer, which you can then show to the driver on the second bus. You'll also see that buses on some routes have a rack at the front, so you can put your bike on it while you ride the bus - that's a nice piece of joined up thinking.

Slightly less impressively, you can buy passes that are valid for a month. Not like in the UK - these are valid for a calendar month, so if you want to buy one on, say, the 26th of the month, you should probably have planned a little better. I assume that it'd be charged pro-rata, but I'm not sure I'd like to ask. It seems that the surliness of public transport employees is international.

Finally - it's exact change only, please. I don't know if they don't have access to the change box, or just don't like it, but if you've not got the right money, I shouldn't expect any change. That's proved slightly frustrating, but I've planned ahead where I can.

You can buy bus tickets in advance - it's a booklet of tickets, really, and you need to stamp them when you get on the bus to validate them. This is where I get a little confused - I think most buses need you to validate two tickets, but some (express services) need three, and others (rural routes) four. I assume there's some way of working out what's what, but I've yet to figure it out.

So I think in October, I'll be using a bus pass; it will pay for itself in a couple of weeks, and it'll mean I no longer need to worry if I've got $3.25 in change hanging round.

Move update

The good news is that all the furniture has been assembled. The bad news is that Ikea didn't deliver everything, so I'm missing the chest of drawers from the bedroom.

I have also put out all the packaging, so it's no longer filling half the apartment. I've got space again!

I spent the morning downtown. As well as using my safe deposit box for the first time (highlight: watching the teller scurry out of the vault, because she's not actually allowed to see what I've put in there), I've bought some curtains (for the first time ever), and some pans. It did involve me getting a taxi back, too, as there was no way I was getting everything back on the bus. And to think I'd made sure I had the $3.25 for the bus, too!

So the apartment is looking a little more habitable, and I can cook things - I'm toying with the idea of soup for dinner tonight. Life on the edge!

The plan for tomorrow is to do the admin stuff I've been putting off until I had an address. So tomorrow will involve a trip to City Hall to register for a health card and a social insurance number. Which will involve retrieving some of the paperwork I've only just put in the safe deposit box. And then putting it back again later that afternoon.

Chez Andrew

We're pleased to announce the opening of Chez Andrew, Ottawa's newest and most exclusive boutique hotel. Book early; we're sure there's going to be plenty of demand.

(For what it's worth, today's been in the low 20s all day, and it looks like the snow won't arrive for another couple of months, if you fancy a quick trip before the end of the autumn)

Please note that early guests may have to make their own beds.

And it's done

The move went pleasantly well.

I arrived about 10 this morning - the landlord was still here, putting a few more last minute bits in place, such as getting a new fridge and oven installed.

I got a phonecall from Ikea, asking whether I'd like the furniture delivering early, which was a very pleasant surprise. It was scheduled to arrive between 5 and 9pm, and actually turned up just about noon. I've had a very pleasant afternoon putting bits together, and figuring out what I still need.

And the cable installation was done quickly and efficiently, too. I now have a TV and internet connection; and a phoneline, though there's no actual phone to plug into it yet.

So the plan for tomorrow is to head to the nearest mall and get a few more of the outstanding bits.

Moving day

I'll be moving into my new apartment later this morning.

It's all terribly exciting.

I've arranged for the furniture to be delivered this evening; and have prepared myself with a few tools (a set of allen keys, and some screwdrivers). I've also arranged for the cable box to be hooked up this afternoon, too - that should be done between 2 and 5pm. I've just realised that at the point the cable installation is done, there'll be no furniture in the house; and while they'll be supplying TV, internet, and a phone line, I'll not have a working TV (as the one my landlady has loaned me is lacking a remote) nor a phone. I think that that says something about me, but I'm not quite sure what.

I'm also figuring out slowly what else I need to buy. I know that I need a few bits for the kitchen - how am I going to be able to cook without a microwave, for example? And a kettle is also very high on the list of things to do. I could probably do with a few more items of furniture, too but I'll wait til the furniture I've already bought arrives and is set up before I decide what else to get.

Hopefully, the internet should be working by this evening; otherwise, this might be the last update for a little while. In which case, I shall start blaming Rogers for providing lousy service - see? I'm sounding like a proper Canadian already!

Mmmmmmm, Ikea

That was a surprisingly painless morning; $1500 or so, and I think I've gotten all the furniture I'll need for the short term, all arranged to be delivered on Friday evening. I bought one, six foot bookcase - shall we start a sweepstake on how long it'll take me to fill it?

I'd also forgotten that Ikea do a wide range of household goods, so I've also picked up almost everything I need for the kitchen, too. I'll still need to pick up a couple of bits, like a microwave, and I'm pretty sure I'm not going to survive for long without a kettle.

So I'm getting there; come Friday, the apartment should be pretty much furnished, though I'll also still need to pick up curtains, I think - I'd've bought them already, but I don't know what sizes to buy (and it doesn't help that I've never bought curtains before, so this will be yet another learning experience for me.)

Finally, I'd like to apologize to the two women who got on the bus at the same stop as me; got off the bus at the same stop; walked over to Ikea from the bus stop; bumped into me about a half dozen times walking around the showroom part; arrived at the Home Delivery desk about a minute before I did; and then got on the same bus back downtown as I did. I really, really wasn't stalking you.

A hectic day

Phew. That was a busy day!

I popped by the British High Commission; I apparently don't need to let them know I'm in the country. I guess I'm assuming that the government is more joined up than I was expecting, really. And I am wondering what happens if there is a crisis that's going to require British citizens to be evacuated from the country - perhaps they'll shine some sort of signal into the sky that will attract Brits. I'll be sure to keep an eye out for the Crumpet Signal.

After that, I popped into the main library and registered there, and then had a quick browse of the shelves. If nothing else, I thought it was an excellent idea that the books on the bottom shelf were all on their sides with the spines pointing upwards, so I could read what they were without having to bend down.

And then I spent a good ninety minutes in the bank. I wonder if they're regretting letting me open an account yet? In no particular order, I now have a savings account (it seems that my checking account doesn't pay any interest); I've applied for a credit card; I've upped the daily spending limit on my debit card to $5,000 in anticipation of my upcoming trip to Ikea; and most excitingly, I've rented a safe deposit box. All that paperwork that I've been told I need to keep securely for the rest of my life? Well, I now have somewhere to put it.

A full week in Ottawa

I arrived at the train station just about a week ago. I guess it's time to have a little look back over the last seven days.

Most importantly, I've found somewhere to live, which is a huge relief. I'll be moving in next Friday, and will be buying furniture in the meantime to be delivered then. I'll be the first tenant since the house was turned into apartments, so the kitchen is furnished (well, there's a stove and fridge / freezer), but nothing else is there. That seems to be the way that things work over here for unfurnished properties. But because I'm the first tenant, I'm also going to have to provide things like curtains, too - I've never bought curtains before, so that will be exciting.

I'm settling in quite well to the new routine now. I can't believe quite how much I've slept over the last couple of days - I napped a little yesterday afternoon, and then fell asleep at around 10:30, sleeping in til almost 8am this morning. I hope that that was me catching up on the sleep I've been missing for the last few days - I guess I'll find out tonight and tomorrow, really.

I've owned a bike for almost a week, too, and am still really quite sore from all the pedalling. Luckily, Ottawa is quite a flat city - though quite flat doesn't mean that there aren't hills. I think, for example, that I've almost got the hang of the gears. I've only been yelled at once by a passing motorist, which I put down to a general anti-cyclist attitude. I've not seen anything in the papers about a cyclist causing chaos on the roads, so I'm pretty sure I've not caused any crashes. I do know that there have been a couple of incidents, mainly due to me not knowing that I have priority at junctions, but I think I've got the hang of those now.

Otherwise.... I still think Ottawa's beautiful. The weather has been mostly fine - I've been fine in my tshirt for most of the week, aside from the one day where the wind made it feel like the arctic; and there was one evening where there was a thunderstorm I mostly slept through.

A couple of things that have surprised me - there are a lot more homeless people on the streets here than I remember, and it's not unusual to be stopped a couple of times every block to be asked for change. I guess at least in part it's because these are the tourist-y areas, so they'll tend to accumulate there.

Also, remember what I said about how as part of the preparations for winter, Canadian cities have tunnels and bridges between buildings so you don't need to step outside for months at a time? Guess which city that doesn't apply to? There's no tunnel system that I've managed to find - well, aside from the one at Carleton University, and that's not exactly a shopping area - and the only bridges are between the downtown Rideau Mall, and the Bay store on the other side of the street. Other than that, it's time to put on your thermals and wander through the snow.

Apartment update

Thanks to the bank being very efficient, I managed to get a banker's draft there and then (hear that, Halifax? No need for me to come back the next business day); so I've paid the deposit for the apartment, and signed the contract.

I'm going to be moving in on Friday 23rd - I'll hopefully be picking the keys up the day before, and am intending too visit Ikea Ottawa in the next couple of days to start buying furniture, and getting it delivered on the Friday.

I can also make a start on the administrative paperwork I need to get sorted for the Ontario bureaucracy, too - I need to apply for a Social Security Number as well as the health insurance. All much easier with an actual address.

I'll also pop to the British Embassy next week, too - I suspect that I'm supposed to let them know that I'm over here.

Things I wish I'd Known Before I Came Here

Number one in what I'm sure will be a rather long series of posts.

Rental leases over here generally start on the first of the month; it's possible to find leases that start at other times - as I've done - but they seem to be very much the majority. So, for example, if you want to come over on, say, the 10th of September, you might want to plan ahead and book three weeks in a hotel. Or possibly not come over til later in the month.

Brrrrrrr

The wind's swung round so that it's coming round from the north, and it's started to cloud over a little. While it's lovely and warm in the sunlight, once you step into the shade, it's bitterly cold; cold enough that I've actually had to wear my jacket for the first time since I arrived.

I'm sure it's only a foretaste of what winter's going to be like, but I hope we've got another few weeks of warm weather before the snow starts.

My new apartment

Well, I've still to sign the lease. And pay for it. But I've agreed with the landlord that I'll take it, and she's happy to have me.

I was a little disappointed that I was a little too slow for the first one I saw - the landlord there had shown another group round the day before, and they decided to take it. But the second apartment is just as nice - really, the only real difference is that the first one was in a part of Ottawa I know.

I've asked to move in next Friday (which is, I think, two days before I need to move out of the hotel - I wonder if I'll get a refund?); and now I need to think about furniture. Luckily, Ikea Ottawa is a bus ride away (or a cycle ride, if I'm feeling especially energetic), and they do deliver, so I suspect that once again, I may be furnishing a house pretty much entirely using Ikea furniture. But hey, it's good enough and cheap enough.

Now to pop to the bank to get a banker's draft for my deposit and first month's rate. That's because my checking account apparently doesn't come with an actual chequebook unless I ask for one.

Three more apartments viewed!

And all in the space of two and a half hours!

I did a little exploration of the city this morning using the bus, with the help of a day pass. I made it out to Westboro, which someone suggested was worth a look. And he was definitely right - it's a lovely suburb, marred only by the lack of properties to rent.

The afternoon was filled with three more apartment viewings, taking me to a total of five in the last two days (there's another one set for lunchtime tomorrow, too). Yesterday's apartments were a little disappointing - the first was a lot further away that I was expecting, and since I was cycling there, I got there quite sore. The apartment was quite nice, but I talked to a couple of the neighbours, and got mixed results (also, one of the other apartments had a pile of tyres on their balcony. Seriously?); and the landlord didn't inspire any confidence.

That was the problem with the second one yesterday, too - he seemed a little too sleazy, really; plus the apartment wouldn't be available until the start of November; that would mean finding alternate accommodation for five weeks, and while I could pay for that long in the hotel, I really don't want to.

So I was feeling a little disheartened when I set out today. Plus my subconscious is busy telling me that I've been here for three whole days now, and really, aren't I cutting it fine to find an apartment?

I shouldn't have been so worried.

I saw three; I told the chap at the first one there and then that I'd take it. It's just round the corner from Carleton University, which means it's in one of the very few parts of Ottawa I know well; the apartment was great, and the landlord really friendly. However, he'd been showing someone else round yesterday, and has given them first refusal.

If that doesn't work out, then I'd be more than happy with the third one I saw. It's a house that the owner has split into two apartments - I think it's called a duplex, but didn't want to ask - with someone else living in the basement. It's a nice street a little further out than I've been looking, and plenty of space for all the stuff I no longer have.

So fingers crossed, this time tomorrow I'll have an apartment sorted!

I've also got another viewing in the morning, but at this point, it'd probably have to be free to change my mind.

Jet lag - bah!

By my calcuations, I've been in the country for four days now. I am, however, still waking up at 5am, though last night I did manage to stay awake til 10:30pm. I know it'll change, but it's still incredibly frustrating until it does.

My first incoming call

I am now the proud owner of a bike (though no helmet yet; it's been added to my list) and a mobile phone. The manual is lying next to the laptop, daring me to read it.

And I've just had my first incoming call. I thought it might have been from one of the people I've been contacting with regards to renting, but no - it was just silent, and then hung up on me.

That's not the most useful of things, considering that this is a mobile phone I've literally just bought and hence have little idea how to use. A little googling shows that the number is for a bank who use it to make telesales calls.

I feel almost like a proper Canadian resident now I've had my first teleselling call!

My first full day in Ottawa

I used the bank card (sorry, the "Convenience Card") for my Canadian bank account for the first time this morning, to pay for breakfast - pancakes, in case you're wondering, but I don't think you really needed to ask, did you? I only had a $50 note, and the waitress didn't yet have change, what with me arriving there five minutes after they opened.

So that was exciting. And also reassuring to know that it does actually work.

The plan for the morning involves buying a bike and a mobile phone, and then seeing how many apartment viewings I can manage in the next few days. I've had a couple of really useful sites suggested to me, and now that I've found where I packed the plug adapter, I can actually use the netbook for more than a couple of minutes at a time without worrying about the battery dying.

If it's Sunday, this must be Ottawa

I'm not quite sure what timezone my body thinks it's in. The one thing I can say with certainty is that it's not this one.

The flight yesterday was competant; the in-flight entertainment was lacking (I guess having my own touchscreen has spoiled me a little), but aside from that, it was as good as it's going to get. We arrived on time, and I had few problems getting through Customs. I wish I knew what to put on the forms, though - I explained that I'm a permanent resident, though currently without the card to back that up; and I ticked the 'I have goods following' box because, well, I have goods following. Apparently, that's only if you're going to be handing over your form B4, though.

My one night in Toronto was alright, considering the jetlag. I got a free transfer to downtown from the airport, once I'd found where the coach went from; though it dropped me off a good mile from the hotel. The downtown part of "Comfort Inn Downtown" is a little misleading, I should say. So I cheated this morning and got a taxi to the station.

I managed to stay awake til 7:30 last night, and woke up at 5:30 - I consider that a pretty good night, actually, considering what I'm normally like with jetlag when heading west.

And now, after a train journey that took about two thirds the time of my flight, I'm in Ottawa. I'm on the nineteenth floor of the hotel, with a view that takes in the historic Byward Market (I don't believe I've ever seen it referred to without the adjective historic, so I assume it's a part of the name) and beyond that to Quebec.

I'm booked in here for two weeks. I'm intending tonight to find myself something to eat - oh, if only there was some sort of historic market area just a stone's throw from the hotel! - and then relax for a couple of hours. If I can stay up past 8pm, that would be lovely, too.

I think that that might have to be it for the time being. This netbook is running on battery power, as I'm not sure where the adapter is; and I don't want to open the large suitcase, as I'm quite sure I'll never be able to close it again.

Travel day

I guess it's not the best sign when I woke up at 5:30 and considered it as a bit of a lie in....

I've been waking up at silly times in the morning for most of the last week - it's almost as though I've got a very important change happening in my life imminently, and that I deal poorly with stress.

On the other hand, it does mean that I've practically finished with the packing, and it's not yet 6am. Practically finished here means that I've still got a couple of things left to add - most notably the netbook I'm typing this on - and that I've yet to try to actually close my cases.

I'm also quite curious to see if I've exceeded the weight allowance, too. I've got an allowance of 20kg, and in my recent jaunts, I've not yet managed to pack more than about 8kg of stuff. Though this time, I'm taking considerably more - enough to fill two suitcases - so I suspect I'll be over.

And now, I think I'm going to try and relax a little. I've got a few hours before the taxi arrives, so I shall put the kettle on and put my feet up for a little while.

Bah!

The chap's just been to take away my cable set-top box.

I was ten minutes from the end of Torchwood. I blame Virgin for not getting it onto their iPlayer sooner.

32 minutes

That's how long the removal men were here for.

I'm impressed; though slightly disturbed that they managed to take quite a large chunk of my life, pack it up and cart it off in just over a half hour.

They didn't even stop for a cuppa.

I was scheduled for 39 boxes. They used 7. I wonder what that will do to my invoice?

Moving day

It's now 10am. So far today, I've
* sorted everything that I want moving (well, everything that I've not packed already - basically some clothing and my favourite mugs)
* dropped the last stuff off at the charity shops (five cases and a extras)
* stocked up for the moves (milk, semi-skilled; bacon; and barm cakes)

And now I'm settling down to watch the final episode of the fourth season of Ice Road Truckers.

About the only thing that would make the day better would be if my long-awaited parcel arrived in the next couple of hours. Yes, ParcelForce, I'm looking at you.

Picking up the tickets

There was much muttering behind the counter in the travel agents

"We can't give him these; they've forgotten the return ticket. How could they have forgotten the return ticket?"

I suspect I thought it funnier than they did.

One week to go

It's quite an odd feeling; I'm flying out to Canada in just about a week (and my stuff will be heading off a few days earlier). So there's a good chance that all the routine things I've been doing over the last couple of days will in fact have been done for the last time - while the electrician was in on Thursday, for example, I trimmed the hedge for the last time.

(And while the hedge can grow at a pretty impressive rate, I'm sure it won't get to the point where it needs properly trimming again inside a week. This is, I should say, not a challenge for it)

The house is looking increasingly bare, too. At the moment, the single biggest issue I have is with my books, but I've gotten to the point now where there are six crates left in the cellar - down from a dozen - and all the crates that had been dotted around the house have been emptied onto the shelves. So there are considerably fewer than there were, and I shall be getting rid of what's left as a priority over the next couple of days (charity shop, or Freecycle, I wonder?)

Otherwise - packing seems under control, and I'm now estimating I'll be sending off about six cartons, as opposed to the initial estimate of twenty-some; and my to-do list is almost finished. Even if I've recklessly not done anything on it for some days now.

A couple of minor niggles - a couple of things I've bought online in the last couple of weeks may or may not arrive in time for the cases to go off on Wednesday, and that would annoy me; I wonder if there's room in my suitcases for them?

Moving Day

Well, the movers are booked; they'll be arriving at midday on the 7th. That gives me a week to get everything sorted - they will, apparently, pack everything, but at the rate I'm going, I suspect they won't have anything left to do but load boxes.

I took a load of stuff to the charity shop (four boxes of stuff); and a similar amount to the tip, which was a challenge - I used the local one, and was a little annoyed to find that the signs telling me where it was fizzled out after a while, leaving me to figure out where it was using intuition.

The local tip has been re-branded as an eco-center; there are around fourteen skips, each designated for a specific kind of waste. So I was a little disheartened to be told to just throw everything into one skip.... I've no idea if there's some magic recycling technology that will sort it for me, or if the system doesn't work yet. But I have my suspicious.

Another week closer

I'm down to just two weeks left. I'm starting to see progress around the house, too - boxes of books that have been lying around for, well, quite a while have been emptied, and there are more than a few empty shelves, too.

I've had a few friends round to help themselves to the contents of the bookshelves. Anything that's left in a week or so will be going off to the charity shops, so I'm quite happy that these books are going to people who'll appreciate them. And if you want to grab some free books for yourself, feel free to drop me an email before the 2nd of September.

It's been a busy week, though not necessarily with moving related items. The party last weekend went well - the pub's catering was excellent, and almost everyone who'd said they'd come made it. And they all found plenty to talk about, so I didn't spend the whole evening being stared at by sixty people.

I took a couple of days off to go visiting, seeing a friend (and his family) who I don't get to see often enough. I'd arranged for the electrician to come in while I was away, to get the certification done on the house. Unfortunately, he discovered that there's an issue with the sockets and the circuit breaker not coming on when it's supposed to; so I'm going to get him to re-wire what's needed once I'm out of the way. It's worth doing anyway, I think - it's not going to make the house less easy to sell.

More items gone

I'm starting to feel like I've forgotten something major, because things are going very well indeed.

I've contacted most of the companies I have direct debits with to inform them that I'm moving; there are a couple that can't cope with things too far in advance, so I've made a note to call them back later (the TV Licensing people, for example, can only deal with things two weeks in advance). I've also arranged insurance for me, and as a landlord.

I think I'm down to about a half dozen things left to do; but I'm still left with a few bits that need getting rid of; basically a vast amount of books and the car (plus a couple of old games consoles). I've got a few people coming round to grab what they want from the bookshelves, and after that, it'll be Freecycle, I think.

And tomorrow is my farewell party (yes, it's three weeks before I actually go, but really, just try to get on people's schedules....); my current nightmare is that I'll be sat in a room full of forty or so people, and no one's saying anything.

And as to moving... I've had a good look, and found about three dozen books that I want to take with me. That's a lot less than I was expecting, really - there's a few more I might want, but most of them I've not read for years. And apparently they have these things called Libraries in Canada, in case I get a hankering for a re-read.

And if yesterday was productive.....

I've definitely managed to be pretty productive today.

Mainly because I've booked by flight back out; I'm heading to Canada on the 10th September.

And now I have an actual date, I can go through the rest of my to-do list and start crossing things off there much more quickly - I can do things like tell the TV Licensing people that I'm going to be moving out and cancel my TV license from that date.

Wooo. I can hopefully get a good half dozen things ticked off my list tomorrow.

A productive morning

At least, it feels like it.

I've managed to cross a few things off my list this morning - I'm currently awaiting a visit from the British Gas engineer, and I'm hoping we can finally get the boiler fixed (I think this will be the third attempt); I suspect that leaving a house to be let out with a dodgy boiler won't be the most well received.

I've also spoken to the electrician, and arranged for him to come by next week; I'm off to visit a friend for a couple of days, and suggested that he can pop in while I'm away to get done what needs sorting without me being under his feet. I just need to get his money sorted - luckily, all my cheques from last week should be clearing tomorrow, so that won't be a problem.

Finally, I've spoken to Endsleigh about landlord insurance. It was a surprisingly lengthy process and quite odd questions - can I guarantee that the house won't be unoccupied for 60 days? Well, no, I can't; I mean, what happens in the event of the upcoming zombie apocalypse? I'll be distracted enough running for my life from the brain-eating monsters, and I really won't need the additional stress from knowing my landlord insurance is now invalid.

Somewhere to live

And after the parts that went well....

I contacted a number of realtors before I flew over; a grand total of one bothered to get in touch. He started out telling me that he had a number of properties that would be suitable (before I left) to two (just after I landed) to one (when I actually managed to look around).

He was showing another three people round at the same time, and it was the only two bedroom apartment on their books. Apparently, it's the busy season for apartments - I expect it's because the academic year is due to start shortly.

But even then... I rather think that most of the realtors just can't be bothered with immigrants. The one I did speak to had a series of forms to fill in, and clearly was going to have issues with someone from outside the country. Specifically:

- A police check (sure - I've been in Canada two days now, so there probably won't be too much on it)
- A credit check (well, I opened my bank account yesterday, so I expect it'll be spotless)
- References (I've owned my own house for eight years)
- A guarantor (I've been in the country two days; how many people do you think I'll have met who'll guarantee my rent?)

So the whole finding an apartment thing failed miserably.

What I'm intending to do now is head back to Canada when I was going to anyway, and book myself into a cheap hotel. Then, buy a cheap bike and a mobile, and travel to areas a little further away from downtown. There must be a private landlord out there who'll be happy to take me on, especially since I'm happy to pay a year's rent upfront. In cash.

Opening a Bank Account

I did this on my first full day in the country. I was armed with my passport, and my copy of the Permanent Resident form, and again, it went wonderfully. I think it took about half an hour from end to end.

I opted for the CIBC, for a couple of reasons. The main one was that I remembered them being willing to cash my £UK traveller's cheques when I was travelling in Canada a couple of years back; and the other is that, well, it was there.

They offer free banking for the first year, which is nice; and I'm more than happy to move to a different bank further down the line if required - I think a credit union is probably the way to go - but that will have to wait til I'm settled, and I can figure out what branches there are in the neighbourhood.

The banking system in Canada does seem a little backwards compared to the UK, I should say. You pay for each transaction, though you get a certain number free; and you also get to pay if you use a different bank's ATM - I don't think that's been the case in the UK for what? A decade?

I'm also intending to get a safe deposit box; some of the paperwork I've got, I'm going to have to keep for life (!), and really, who wouldn't want a safe deposit box?

Immigration

I was very, very impressed with the immigration service. Compared to some countries I've been to, which shall remain nameless as I expect to be visiting them again in the future, the attitude of the staff was wonderful. They were friendly, and quite incredibly helpful. They even took pity on my attempts to speak French.

There were no real issues - I was pointed in the right direction for the immigration center, and there were perhaps a dozen people waiting there, mostly in family groups. I was waiting for maybe half an hour. Then I was called over to finish off the paperwork.

It turns out that my last minute collection of bank statements wasn't needed, and I'd messed up one of the Goods Following forms (if you're using the B4a form, you need a B4 as a cover sheet - you don't list any of your items on the B4 form). Aside from that, it was a fairly smooth and practiced process, and it was definitely a lot less stressful than I'd feared.

And I'm back

Well, I've been back in the country for a couple of days. But I really, really don't deal well with jetlag, so it's taken me a little while to get compos mentis again.

The trip was mostly successful. I'm going to break it down into separate posts, otherwise this will be a stunningly long post. Plus this way, I can get four posts done instead of just one.

Gulp

As I write this, it's 4pm on Monday afternoon. I have a train down to London tomorrow afternoon, where I get to spend the afternoon with my brother and his family; they have a young daughter, so it may be the last time I get to see them for quite some time.

Then it's off to Heathrow, where I'm booked into a hotel, and then at 11am Wednesday morning, I'll be off to Canada, to start off my visa.

I'm not scared.

I was scared last week. By now, I'm pretty much running on pure terror.

I think I've got almost all the paperwork I need; I spent a little while this morning wandering around my banks, getting ministatements from them (a total of six accounts - I think that that might possibly count as too any savings accounts). On the plus side, though, I can demonstrate that I have comfortably more than the minimum they require for immigration.

The only thing that remains is the forms listing the possessions I have when I come into the country, and the stuff that will follow on. Since it's going to be a brief flying visit, I'm going to have comparatively little with me, and I've been told that the follow on stuff that I'll be getting shipped over can be quite vague - there's no need to list every book I'm taking, just how many boxes they are. So that will be the plan for the evening - I've got the list from the movers about what I said I'd take, and I'll essentially use that as a template.

So I think I've got everything under control. Though I'll admit that I spent most of this morning panicking, and there's been a couple of fairly stress-filled calls to Canada so far today, too.

Mmmmmm

Thanks to one bank being very on the ball, and the second being a tad slow, I've had the forms to close down both shares ISAs this morning.

I'll be posting them back imminently. It's quite a good feeling, knowing that I'll shortly be having checks well into five figures winging their way to me.

One week and counting

This time next week, I'll have just taken off, and be heading Canada-wards.

Gulp.

More financial preparations

I've just arranged to close down another ISA; it's not one I've thought about much, really - I set it up around ten years ago, I think, and I've not done anything with it since then. Still, the money in there should be enough to keep me going for a couple of months. And that's definitely worth doing.

On a related note, I've also set up my currency trading account, and made arrangements to send over a few thousand pounds. Once I've got an account set up in Canada, they can then transfer the money in, and I'll have something to live off. Though given what I'm going to need to organise in my first weeks in the country, I suspect that I'll be burning through it in next to no time - if nothing else, two months of rent as a deposit will take a good chunk out of that.

And finally... I've ordered my spending money for my imminent visit next week. I'll need to pick it up in a couple of days; I must say I'm surprised that they don't keep much money in stock for Canada - surely it can't be that unpopular a tourist destination? I'm also quite impressed that the rate from the currency traders is about three percent higher than the tourist rate; that will definitely make quite a difference, considering the amount of money I'm going to be transferring.

Shifting money around

I've also just closed down my Cash ISA (twenty five minutes in the bank, including a number of questions for security); I've already started spending the money, too. There's a form coming about my Shares ISA, too.

I'm quite tempted to shut down all the other little accounts I've got, and just consolidate them into two. Well, three - there's the current account, too, for which the card arrived this morning. I keep thinking of having one account which I'll use to fund proper money transfers, and one I use to top up my cash passport card. Just because I can.

It's surprisingly hard to access my own money; it's almost like the bank wants to keep it.

One step forwards....

I'm starting to wonder if I've bitten off more than I can chew. I know it's not really an issue, but try telling that to my subconscious.

It's been a fairly productive week. I've made contact with a friend I was at university with in the way back when, who's living fairly close to where I will be, so we're hopefully meeting up while I'm on my flying visit. I've also picked up my tickets, too; though they were a little less helpful at the travel agents when it came time to get holiday money. I'm pretty sure there won't be many people wanting to travel to Canada with just $30 in cash.

On the downside... It's finding somewhere to live that's preying on my mind right now. I know that it's not an issue really - I've got enough savings that I could stay in a hotel for, well, quite a while. I think it's somewhere around three years.

But finding an apartment? Hmmm... I've found a couple of property websites, which have helped, and at least one of the rental agents there is proving helpful. Admittedly, their first suggestions for an apartment had me wondering if the rent they suggested was quarterly, so I've asked if they have anything in a more sane price range (that said - the price, I think, was about the same as staying in a hotel for the same amount of time....)

I think my big issue right now is getting around while I'm there. The whole driving thing scares me a little, and it's something I'm putting off for a little while. I can get used to driving on the wrong side of the road, but it's the stuff that everyone knows about and so never thinks to discuss that gets me; like being able to go through a red light if you're turning right.

So I need to figure out how I'm going to be visiting apartments without driving;it'd be lovely to get something a good way out in the suburbs, but getting around will be a pain.

Ah well; maybe whining about it online will help.

Another week down....

It's been a pretty busy week, which is the main reason I've not updated here for a while. On the one hand, I've gotten a lot of things done; on the other, I still don't feel like I've made much actual progress....

In no particular order.... I've booked a quick reconnaissance visit to Canada, for five nights. The main purpose of that will be to go through the last of the paperwork and get my proper Permanent Resident card. Well, to start the process of getting the card; it'll be posted to me in a couple of months. Though while I'm there, I'm also going to get a little apartment hunting in, as well as opening up my bank account. I may also use it to visit a few employment agencies and give out copies of my CV (sorry, resume), though if they're anything like the ones over here, they won't be interested in anything that isn't sent electronically. I'm not too worried if I don't manage to do the agencies this time around, though; I've got enough savings that I can live for a while without a job.

Secondly, I've added my mother to my bank account. Well, I say added - they insisted we open a new account, and then proceded to try and sell us additional products. I was very unimpressed... It seems that if you go through things the right way, then you get to jump through all sorts of hoops - if I'd just left my bank card and PIN with my mother, we'd've avoided all this.

Thirdly, the decorator has been round to look at the house; I'm expecting a quote from him next week

Fourthly, the electrician's also been (at 8pm on a Friday night - now that's a level of service I've not seen for a long time.) He's given me a quote already - he didn't go pale when he saw the house, so I'm taking that as a good sign.

I wish someone had told me how expensive moving internationally was likely to be. Alternatively, if someone did tell me, I wish I'd listened.

Renting the house

The gentleman from the letting agency has just left, and it was considerably more optimistic than I'd thought.

His first impression was that the house needs redecorating - hpmf I say - but aside from that.... I'll need to get the gas and electricity tested, and a bannister installed on the stairs upstairs, but his company has contacts that can deal with all of these. Rent in this area is a little higher than I was expecting, and so it's probably worth getting the various bits of work done first - it should pay for itself.

I was quite surprised that he said not to leave electrical appliances. For one thing, they'll need to be tested to make sure that they're not lethal; for another, if they're on the inventory, then there's an onus on the landlord to provide a new one if the existing one breaks. That does make sense, now that I've thought about it, but it wouldn't have occured to me otherwise.

I wonder if I can talk him into leaving all the electrical appliances off the inventory... Failing that - anyone want a well-used microwave?

International Removals

I'm intending to take as little as I can - the furniture here is mainly Ikea stuff, and I'm not especially attached to any of it. So I'm pretty sure that the cost of replacing it in Canada will be cheaper than sending it abroad.

I've just been visited by a rep from a removal company, and I'll be getting a quote through in the next few days. It's quite scary, looking at the amount of stuff I've accumulated, and realising just how little of it I actually need, and how little I'll miss most of it. I've got quite a lot of books - I've not counted, but it'll be well over a thousand - and I want to rehome as many as I can. At the very least, there are a number of charity shops on the local high street who I could swamp with extra stock; but I'm hoping various friends will be interested in taking a few.

It was quite scary to stand in the back bedroom and realise that all I really want to take with me are some of the books; the lego; and the portable harddrive, once I've done a backup from the PC. We didn't even bother looking in the cellar ("Yeah, there's more books down there" - I think it's around 10 crates)

So now all I need is somewhere to send them.

A bad night

I managed to wake up a good couple of hours early this morning; I think it's mainly to do with worrying about a bank account.

I'm quite extraordinarily good at making myself fret about things like that. It's not really an issue - it's just me being prepared - as I can quite easily load up a card with enough cash to tide me over from when I arrive in Canada to when I've opened an account and can start transferring money over.

But that doesn't stop my subconscious from sticking its metaphorical oar in, telling me that it's clearly a sign and that I should just forget the whole thing.

On the other hand... It does suggest that it might be worth flying over for a few days in a couple of weeks to get things like that sorted out (I know, how petty of me - spending the best part of a thousand pounds, to avoid paying HSBC £100 to set up an account); but it will also help me get accomodation sorted, too, so that would be one fewer issue to worry me.

A bank account

Well, today has proved surprisingly frustrating.

I've got details on a handful of banks in Canada, all of whom are supposed to offer packages for immigrants that you can apply for before you leave. I recklessly decided to try and open a bank account before I leave, so I can transfer cash now and have it waiting when I visit the branch in person.

Now, that sounded simple. If only it was that simple in practice....

CRB - I need to put my phone number in. Except I'm in the UK, and my phone number as a different format. So the whole three-digit city code? Not going to work. I phoned them (thanks, Skype!) and was told to type as much as I could. So on the second attempt, I tried that, and then fell down again. I need two forms of ID - I added my passport as one, and the rest are either things I'll need to be in Canada for, or that I'd need to be a US citizen for. Hmpf.

ScotiaBank - apparently not interested unless I'm coming from China or India

HSBC - they've emailed me a form to fill in. I did try the local branch here, who said they coul take me through the process, and there's a nominal fee of £100.

So I'm not particularly impressed so far.

How I went about it

Just in case you're wondering how I went about it....

I used an immigration lawyer to help out. I'm torn about how useful this actually was - they did help immensely with advice and re-writing the paperwork, but I do wonder if I'd have managed by myself. On the one hand, they knew what they were doing; on the other, every piece of paperwork ended up being submitted via them, which meant that it was posted to Canada and then to its final destination, quite often in the UK - I suspect that if I'd done it direct, I could have shaved a month or so off the overall length of time.

I applied under the Quebec Skilled Workers programme. I studied French while I was at University, but let it drop afterwards, because I wasn't using it. Getting in on that program means that you don't have to have a job ready for you; on the other hand, you are expected to live and work in Quebec.

You need to be able to speak French to a reasonably good level, too - I've been taking night school classes for the last eighteen months, as well as getting one on one tuition every week. So I have a nice certificate proving that I can speak French; though I shall be quite interested to see how I manage to cope with the Quebec dialect.

A new beginning

It's been a little over fifteen months, and more forms than you can shake a very large stick at, but my visa for Canada arrived this morning.

And the first thing I did? Start a new blog. I'm not entirely sure what that says about me.

The postman actually tried to deliver it yesterday, but I was out, so I had to pick it up from the sorting office this morning. Quite a shame really - not only was yesterday fifteen months to the day since I first sent my application off, but it was also Canada day. Shucks.

I've got until April 2012 to move, and I've set an admittedly arbitrary deadline of the end of August to actually make the move. I figure that that should give me a little motivation to actually get things moving.

I'm currently a gentleman of leisure; I was made redundant from my last job towards the end of 2010. I'd applied for voluntary redundancy in the expectation that I'd get my visa quite a lot sooner than I actually did, so I've been cooling my heels for the last few months. On the other hand, the redundancy money will come in quite useful in helping me settle in. I've not got a job to go to, and have yet to organise anything quite so necessary as accommodation, but these don't seem too important just yet.

The plan.... Well, I (practically) own a house here; and I've got a fair amount of savings. I intend to let the house out in this country, and in the short term, rent in Canada - find an apartment with a six or twelve month lease, and use that time to find somewhere to buy. Then sell the house here and use it as a deposit.

I'm intending taking a bare minimum of stuff with me; true, the house is fully furnished, but I have no great attachment to any of it (my main criteria for shopping for furniture was "cheap"), so I shall be leaving as much as I can. This does mean I'll need a furnished apartment in Canada, but it also means the house here can be let as furnished.

(Things to do: get landlord insurance; find a letting company; prepare the house for letting - I think I need to get the electricals checked, at a minimum; organise removal of the belongings I'm taking with me)

I also need to get a bank account sorted (I can do this from the UK), and transfer a little money over so it's waiting for me. I just this morning got a pre-paid currency card in $CND, which I can add cash too here and use as a cashcard in Canada; I think adding a couple of hundred pounds to that will help a little.

(Things to do: get bank account opened, and start transfering money to it)

And then I need to figure out how to dispose of the rest of my stuff. I've got quite a lot of it - you know how stuff accumulates - and I'll be disposing of as much as I can. I think it'll be a combination of eBay, Freecycles, and charity shops. I do have a few bits that I'd like to find proper homes for - I suspect that I'll be leaving quite a lot of books behind, for example, and I hope to find a good home for some of them. Especially the good 'uns.

(Things to do: figure out what books I can bear to part with; eBay the ones that are likely to be worth something)

Other than that - it's a case of find accommodation (I'm paying an immigration consultancy, so they should be able to help with that), and book a flight. And the arrange a bit of a do to say goodbye to everyone (Would it be wrong to call it an "... and don't come back!" party?)

That's all I can think of at the moment, actually. I'm sure there's plenty more stuff I'll need to do, but right now I'm a little too distracted to actually think straight. I'll add more here as and when they occur to me.