November 2005
Dear Aunt Agatha,
Canada is a modern technological country, with state-of-the-art electronics, consumer goods, and many public and private organisations embracing the online world.
Nevertheless, since arriving here, we've often commented how in many ways this country is a bit like the UK was several decades ago.
Many of the differences are good. Like the gentler pace of life, uncrowded roads, and returnable bottles (encourages recycling).
Some differences are quaint, like top-loading washing machines. I remember Mum having a top-loader back in Guernsey when I was only a few years old, but I haven't seen one since outside of commercial laundromats. I don't think they're sold for domestic use over there. Ali freaked when she saw one sitting in the corner of our temporary apartment last year.
Then there are the occasional ugly reminders of years gone by. Over the last few weeks we've been hit by industrial action that brought back unpleasant reminders of the 1970's. First the teachers went out on strike, so Megan was at home for a couple of weeks. Then I turned up for work one morning to find a picket line outside the office. This is where the ugliness hit home. They are all highly vocal about the rights of workers to join a union. But the hypocrisy of the union movement showed through very clearly in their outright bullying and threatening attitude to keeping their members toeing the union line. I felt way more intimidated by the shop stewards supposedly looking after my interests than by any employers (unionised or not) that I've worked for. And, of course, they are amazingly tight-lipped on any questions of an individual's right to NOT belong to a union. Closed shops were made illegal in most civilised countries years ago, but union membership is compulsory in BC Government.
On a brighter note, we held a party to celebrate a year in Canada. We had a full house, with friends, neighbours, and a few work colleagues.
Another small landmark...I used my new credit card for groceries last month. Ali was able to get one in her name early on, thanks to her having held a card in Guernsey that the local branch of the company were prepared to recognise for credit check purposes. But it's taken a while to get me on the American credit map. This is a critical catch-22 for newcomers, something which I was able to overcome by talking to our friendly local bank staff.
Then Halloween reminded us once more that we were in North America. In Guernsey we came to dread this time of year, with evening knocks on the door and surly demands for cash, often starting out in mid-October. Over here, we love the family party atmosphere of the evening. And Ali got into pumpkin carving, inspired by the displays at Government House last year.
Showing posts with label Dear Aunt Agatha. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dear Aunt Agatha. Show all posts
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
(2005) Work and school
October 2005
Dear Aunt Agatha,
Life is finally settling into something like a normal routine.
I think I'm starting to get a grip on my new job, even though it's so unlike anything I've ever done before. More differences I've noticed: love of email (I think I now get more in a day than I used to in a month) and endless meetings.
After nearly a year out of the saddle I've finally got my bike back into commission and I'm checking out possible routes into work. The good news is that there's a stunning trail going all the way down the Peninsula and into Victoria, well maintained and well away from busy roads. The bad news is that I haven't figured yet how long it's going to take me to commute, but it'll probably be at least an hour each way. Good job they have changing rooms and showers at work.
Megan and Matthew are enjoying school and pre-school respectively. Megan said once that she wished it wasn't the weekend, because she wanted to be back at school! Wonder how long that'll last. On the flip side, though, she is struggling a bit with the slower pace of schooling here compared to the UK. She went into kindergarten last year writing whole paragraphs in her journal while many of her friends were still learning to form the letters of their names. Now in grade 1, they are starting all over again for the benefit of kids who missed kindergarten. Megan is getting bored and we've asked her teacher to give her assignments to stretch her a bit.
I know that the disparity between the school systems can cause problems the other way, too. When I was 11, a kid from Canada joined my class. He struggled and never really caught up with the more academic subjects. At the time everyone just thought he wasn't too bright, and I think he came to believe it. But I wonder now how much of a different course his life might have taken if he'd stayed at a consistent pace within one single school system.
On the other hand, we reckon the pace will suit Matthew well. He won't be pushed, and he likes to pick things up when he's good and ready, thank you very much.
Ali's been getting involved in the school, working with some of the other parents to organise a "walking school bus". And she volunteered to help set up a Sparks unit in the district. Megan wants to join Sparks, but the nearest unit is full and they have enough girls on the waiting list for another unit. What they were missing was helpers to run it. Well, there's nothing like getting involved in the local community to help settle in.
The whole moving experience was quite an adventure, but now, nearly a year on, it's good to feel that we are all establishing ourselves in this country.
Dear Aunt Agatha,
Life is finally settling into something like a normal routine.
I think I'm starting to get a grip on my new job, even though it's so unlike anything I've ever done before. More differences I've noticed: love of email (I think I now get more in a day than I used to in a month) and endless meetings.
After nearly a year out of the saddle I've finally got my bike back into commission and I'm checking out possible routes into work. The good news is that there's a stunning trail going all the way down the Peninsula and into Victoria, well maintained and well away from busy roads. The bad news is that I haven't figured yet how long it's going to take me to commute, but it'll probably be at least an hour each way. Good job they have changing rooms and showers at work.
Megan and Matthew are enjoying school and pre-school respectively. Megan said once that she wished it wasn't the weekend, because she wanted to be back at school! Wonder how long that'll last. On the flip side, though, she is struggling a bit with the slower pace of schooling here compared to the UK. She went into kindergarten last year writing whole paragraphs in her journal while many of her friends were still learning to form the letters of their names. Now in grade 1, they are starting all over again for the benefit of kids who missed kindergarten. Megan is getting bored and we've asked her teacher to give her assignments to stretch her a bit.
I know that the disparity between the school systems can cause problems the other way, too. When I was 11, a kid from Canada joined my class. He struggled and never really caught up with the more academic subjects. At the time everyone just thought he wasn't too bright, and I think he came to believe it. But I wonder now how much of a different course his life might have taken if he'd stayed at a consistent pace within one single school system.
On the other hand, we reckon the pace will suit Matthew well. He won't be pushed, and he likes to pick things up when he's good and ready, thank you very much.
Ali's been getting involved in the school, working with some of the other parents to organise a "walking school bus". And she volunteered to help set up a Sparks unit in the district. Megan wants to join Sparks, but the nearest unit is full and they have enough girls on the waiting list for another unit. What they were missing was helpers to run it. Well, there's nothing like getting involved in the local community to help settle in.
The whole moving experience was quite an adventure, but now, nearly a year on, it's good to feel that we are all establishing ourselves in this country.
Thursday, September 9, 2010
(2005) Confusion rules!
September 2005
Dear Aunt Agatha,
It is wonderful to see a regular pay cheque going into the bank account again after all those months, but - man! - what I'm having to do to earn it! It's such a huge adjustment after my previous work experiences, on so many fronts.
First of all, the organisation itself is vast compared to what I'm used to. This is only my third employer (not counting fill-in jobs here & there), but the previous two were at least sizeable by Guernsey standards. Guernsey Electricity at 250, and Barings at 500. Both were part of larger organisations, one belonging to the public service and the other a company within the ginormous ING Group, but those wider organisations barely made themselves felt. A memo here and there, an intellectual awareness of the parent organisation, but very little practical impact on day-to-day life.
Here, I'm in a division, 500-strong, which is just a small part of a ministry, just one of many in the BC Public Service. And I can feel the weight of the org structure above and around me.
To compound matters, the organisational detail is way more granular. Both Guernsey Electricity and Barings had a relatively small number of departments and I knew the function of each of them. I could go to (for example) any one of maybe 20 people in the custody department and ask a question, and get a consistent answer. They worked as a coherent and robust team. Here, there is so much specialisation that the number of distinct functions is vastly greater for the same number of people. Often there is only one person in the whole organisation with a particular set of knowledge. I keep asking about things, and instead of being told "you need to speak to someone in department X", I get "you need to speak to Joe Bloggs." And if Joe Bloggs isn't there, hard luck! I've spent ages trying to map out the working relationships of the many individuals I need to deal with, and just listing out the departments is mind-boggling.
My head is spinning trying to take it all in.
Then there is the process - and/or lack of it. On the one hand, we know that Canadians love their paperwork. We'd heard about that any number of times during the immigration process, and we've seen it in action since.
My first few days at work were largely spent alone at my desk ploughing through a two-inch stack of forms.
I jest not!
And yet, bizarrely enough, I've also found an astonishing lack of standards and processes that I've taken for granted for so many years. I'm losing count of how many times I've asked "how do I do X?" and then spent a merry few hours like an amateur sleuth tracking down the answer. Because nobody really knows for sure, and you can be sure it's not written down anywhere in a readily accessible way. And every department will have evolved their own unique way of doing things, so any advice you get may not hold true for your own situation.
Even something as simple as an up-to-date org chart, an invaluable atlas for a newcomer, is not available. Not, at least, for the use of us hoi polloi.
This, I've discovered, is where it really pays to make friends with a good admin assistant. They usually know the answer, or where to start looking for it.
Finally, there are the many cultural differences to cope with. I suppose we've been relatively insulated from it so far. Yes, we've dealt with all sorts of new things these past few months, but they have all been individual instances and short-lived. Now I'm fully immersed in it throughout the day. The biggest and most widespread difference I've found is that people are a lot more open and forthright than I'm used to. If someone doesn't like something, they'll say so. None of the British reserve here! I've seen personal dislikes coming up in meetings, sniping, bullying, and I've heard many anecdotes of outright shouting matches, tears, and door-slamming. Maybe I've not experienced a wide enough sample of British workplaces, but in the settings I do know, behaviours like that would have been almost impossible to imagine. I've come to the realisation that diplomacy and people-management is going to be a much larger part of my job than anything remotely technical.
But, as I keep reminding myself, I'm happy to put up with a lot for the benefits it brings us.
Dear Aunt Agatha,
It is wonderful to see a regular pay cheque going into the bank account again after all those months, but - man! - what I'm having to do to earn it! It's such a huge adjustment after my previous work experiences, on so many fronts.
First of all, the organisation itself is vast compared to what I'm used to. This is only my third employer (not counting fill-in jobs here & there), but the previous two were at least sizeable by Guernsey standards. Guernsey Electricity at 250, and Barings at 500. Both were part of larger organisations, one belonging to the public service and the other a company within the ginormous ING Group, but those wider organisations barely made themselves felt. A memo here and there, an intellectual awareness of the parent organisation, but very little practical impact on day-to-day life.
Here, I'm in a division, 500-strong, which is just a small part of a ministry, just one of many in the BC Public Service. And I can feel the weight of the org structure above and around me.
To compound matters, the organisational detail is way more granular. Both Guernsey Electricity and Barings had a relatively small number of departments and I knew the function of each of them. I could go to (for example) any one of maybe 20 people in the custody department and ask a question, and get a consistent answer. They worked as a coherent and robust team. Here, there is so much specialisation that the number of distinct functions is vastly greater for the same number of people. Often there is only one person in the whole organisation with a particular set of knowledge. I keep asking about things, and instead of being told "you need to speak to someone in department X", I get "you need to speak to Joe Bloggs." And if Joe Bloggs isn't there, hard luck! I've spent ages trying to map out the working relationships of the many individuals I need to deal with, and just listing out the departments is mind-boggling.
My head is spinning trying to take it all in.
Then there is the process - and/or lack of it. On the one hand, we know that Canadians love their paperwork. We'd heard about that any number of times during the immigration process, and we've seen it in action since.
My first few days at work were largely spent alone at my desk ploughing through a two-inch stack of forms.
I jest not!
And yet, bizarrely enough, I've also found an astonishing lack of standards and processes that I've taken for granted for so many years. I'm losing count of how many times I've asked "how do I do X?" and then spent a merry few hours like an amateur sleuth tracking down the answer. Because nobody really knows for sure, and you can be sure it's not written down anywhere in a readily accessible way. And every department will have evolved their own unique way of doing things, so any advice you get may not hold true for your own situation.
Even something as simple as an up-to-date org chart, an invaluable atlas for a newcomer, is not available. Not, at least, for the use of us hoi polloi.
This, I've discovered, is where it really pays to make friends with a good admin assistant. They usually know the answer, or where to start looking for it.
Finally, there are the many cultural differences to cope with. I suppose we've been relatively insulated from it so far. Yes, we've dealt with all sorts of new things these past few months, but they have all been individual instances and short-lived. Now I'm fully immersed in it throughout the day. The biggest and most widespread difference I've found is that people are a lot more open and forthright than I'm used to. If someone doesn't like something, they'll say so. None of the British reserve here! I've seen personal dislikes coming up in meetings, sniping, bullying, and I've heard many anecdotes of outright shouting matches, tears, and door-slamming. Maybe I've not experienced a wide enough sample of British workplaces, but in the settings I do know, behaviours like that would have been almost impossible to imagine. I've come to the realisation that diplomacy and people-management is going to be a much larger part of my job than anything remotely technical.
But, as I keep reminding myself, I'm happy to put up with a lot for the benefits it brings us.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
(2005) The last piece of the jigsaw?
July 2005
Dear Aunt Agatha,
At last, after nine months in Canada, I've finally got a job!
Whew! What a long haul that was. And not at all what I expected. After all the immigration press about how the country is crying out for professionals, including IT people, landing employment in Victoria has been a nightmare.
Last time I wrote, I mentioned how different the hiring process is here compared to what I was used to in Guernsey. Another thing I've learned is how insular much of the private sector is. Time and again I heard how it's not what you know, it's who you know. Many people I spoke to along the way were quite open about the fact that most of their new hires are youngsters they've already met through co-op placements from UVic or Camosun College. And in the one or two interviews I had I got the uncomfortable feeling that they were just "going through the motions" to satisfy anti-discrimination laws with no serious intention of actually hiring a foreigner.
Government seems a lot more receptive to new blood. Luckily Government in Victoria is a big employer, and that's where I've landed up. Won't be starting for a few weeks, we have friends visiting from Guernsey soon so I'm waiting until we get back from a camping trip with them up-island.
Back to the dearth of professionals, though, something that has puzzled us and Canadians alike is the mountain of obstacles the country puts in the way of newcomers. Any qualification you might hold in your home country is effectively worthless here. All the immigration press is full of pleas for professionals such as tradesmen and healthcare workers. What they don't say so loudly is that you need to retrain before you can actually work. I am fortunate that IT has not yet matured to the point where you need formal qualifications to work. And an Oxford University degree seems to transcend borders.
Meanwhile the city keeps on reminding us why it was worth the risk and all the anxiety. We spent a wonderful day at the tall ships festival which took over the harbour last month. And we saw a whole family of barred owls while walking Gypsy in the woods at Centennial Park.
Dear Aunt Agatha,
At last, after nine months in Canada, I've finally got a job!
Whew! What a long haul that was. And not at all what I expected. After all the immigration press about how the country is crying out for professionals, including IT people, landing employment in Victoria has been a nightmare.
Last time I wrote, I mentioned how different the hiring process is here compared to what I was used to in Guernsey. Another thing I've learned is how insular much of the private sector is. Time and again I heard how it's not what you know, it's who you know. Many people I spoke to along the way were quite open about the fact that most of their new hires are youngsters they've already met through co-op placements from UVic or Camosun College. And in the one or two interviews I had I got the uncomfortable feeling that they were just "going through the motions" to satisfy anti-discrimination laws with no serious intention of actually hiring a foreigner.
Government seems a lot more receptive to new blood. Luckily Government in Victoria is a big employer, and that's where I've landed up. Won't be starting for a few weeks, we have friends visiting from Guernsey soon so I'm waiting until we get back from a camping trip with them up-island.
Back to the dearth of professionals, though, something that has puzzled us and Canadians alike is the mountain of obstacles the country puts in the way of newcomers. Any qualification you might hold in your home country is effectively worthless here. All the immigration press is full of pleas for professionals such as tradesmen and healthcare workers. What they don't say so loudly is that you need to retrain before you can actually work. I am fortunate that IT has not yet matured to the point where you need formal qualifications to work. And an Oxford University degree seems to transcend borders.
Meanwhile the city keeps on reminding us why it was worth the risk and all the anxiety. We spent a wonderful day at the tall ships festival which took over the harbour last month. And we saw a whole family of barred owls while walking Gypsy in the woods at Centennial Park.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
(2005) Loose ends
June 2005
Dear Aunt Agatha,
The tidying continues. Cleared out more junk from the yard, and it is good to know there are loads of places to dump and recycle stuff around here. Any metal items we can drop off for free at a salvage depot. Tin shed - RIP.
I've been working out where to put a cat flap. The cats have always been used to an indoor/outdoor life, and we don't intend to confine them to the house for the rest of their lives. We've been warned that things can get messy if they try tangling with raccoons, but those midnight visitors haven't been back since we got Gyspy. Now the main worry is making a meal for one of the eagles that occasionally pass by our way.
My first instinct was to cut a hole in the back door into the playroom. It is the only suitable door in the house. Apart from the front door, everything else is glass sliders. Luckily I inspected the door carefully before I started work, because I discovered that it is actually lined with metal. Would have made a real mess if I'd tried to cut it.
Eventually had another thought that it would be easier to go through a wall instead. We are so used to brick and (thick) stone walls that it just didn't occur to me before how easy a job that might be. I wasn't going to tackle that myself, but we got the guys round who did the kids' bedrooms. In the end it was only a couple of hours work. Who'd have thought? We've got to keep remembering the differences between here and the UK.
The biggest thing this month has been concentrating on job applications. Of all the arrangements in moving over here, this is the one remaining (and rather important) item that has not yet fallen into place.
One thing I've learned is that things can move very slowly over here. And, at least in Government, the interview process is a whole lot more formalised than I've been used to. I've hired a number of people over the years in Guernsey, and the process was very lightweight. Place an ad in the paper, with a closing date. Sort through the replies looking for possible fits. Invite the top runners for interview, which will often be driven by filling in gaps or following up interesting points in their CV's (oh, and they are called resumes over here), then decide and make an offer. The whole process can easily be over within a few days of the closing date. Here, I'm often waiting weeks to hear anything, and I've learned that some of the hiring processes are very rigidly constrained, asking all the candidates identical questions and scoring them, and many of them involve written assignments too! Not convinced that will always give the right result, but those are the ground rules here.
Other than that, we've been enjoying lots of sunshine and living a fairly outdoor life. Walks and picnics, and discovering loads of parks and trails within easy distance of home. I like this place.
I have to finish with some worrying news. We've discovered that Rufus has diabetes. We are consulting with the vet to see if there's any prospect of controlling it through diet before we resort to insulin, but it is not looking good.
Dear Aunt Agatha,
The tidying continues. Cleared out more junk from the yard, and it is good to know there are loads of places to dump and recycle stuff around here. Any metal items we can drop off for free at a salvage depot. Tin shed - RIP.
I've been working out where to put a cat flap. The cats have always been used to an indoor/outdoor life, and we don't intend to confine them to the house for the rest of their lives. We've been warned that things can get messy if they try tangling with raccoons, but those midnight visitors haven't been back since we got Gyspy. Now the main worry is making a meal for one of the eagles that occasionally pass by our way.
My first instinct was to cut a hole in the back door into the playroom. It is the only suitable door in the house. Apart from the front door, everything else is glass sliders. Luckily I inspected the door carefully before I started work, because I discovered that it is actually lined with metal. Would have made a real mess if I'd tried to cut it.
Eventually had another thought that it would be easier to go through a wall instead. We are so used to brick and (thick) stone walls that it just didn't occur to me before how easy a job that might be. I wasn't going to tackle that myself, but we got the guys round who did the kids' bedrooms. In the end it was only a couple of hours work. Who'd have thought? We've got to keep remembering the differences between here and the UK.
The biggest thing this month has been concentrating on job applications. Of all the arrangements in moving over here, this is the one remaining (and rather important) item that has not yet fallen into place.
One thing I've learned is that things can move very slowly over here. And, at least in Government, the interview process is a whole lot more formalised than I've been used to. I've hired a number of people over the years in Guernsey, and the process was very lightweight. Place an ad in the paper, with a closing date. Sort through the replies looking for possible fits. Invite the top runners for interview, which will often be driven by filling in gaps or following up interesting points in their CV's (oh, and they are called resumes over here), then decide and make an offer. The whole process can easily be over within a few days of the closing date. Here, I'm often waiting weeks to hear anything, and I've learned that some of the hiring processes are very rigidly constrained, asking all the candidates identical questions and scoring them, and many of them involve written assignments too! Not convinced that will always give the right result, but those are the ground rules here.
Other than that, we've been enjoying lots of sunshine and living a fairly outdoor life. Walks and picnics, and discovering loads of parks and trails within easy distance of home. I like this place.
I have to finish with some worrying news. We've discovered that Rufus has diabetes. We are consulting with the vet to see if there's any prospect of controlling it through diet before we resort to insulin, but it is not looking good.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
(2005) Good times
May 2005
Dear Aunt Agatha,
Watch out! I think we are starting to embrace the Canadian lifestyle!
Ali went out and bought a monster barbecue. Propane powered and big enough to cater for half the neighbourhood.
Great idea! Only problem was getting the darned thing up onto the deck. Between the two of us we struggled to lift it just a couple of inches to free it from its packaging. How the heck were we going to get it up those stairs?
After a lot of head-scratching, and stripping off any removable weight, we unearthed a flat wooden door from the heap of junk in the carport and laid it on the stairs to make a ramp. With a lot of puffing and swearing we managed to roll it up the first flight to the front door, then a pause for breath before tackling the second flight inside up to the living room. From there, getting it onto the deck was easy, but I don't relish the thought of ever having to take it out again.
Since then we have been avidly barbecuing at every opportunity.
And we are now the proud owners of a coffee percolator. We've never had a problem with instant, but folks over here take their coffee very seriously.
And we have got the hot tub into commission. A lot of work clearing the surrounding jungle, laying a gravel surround with some beautiful stones inset, repairing even more rot in the decking, and painting the timber. This isn't an item that we'd ever have gone out of our way to acquire, but I guess we'll make use of it. The kids are enjoying it at least.
Hmm. How long before we start watching hockey, I wonder?
Dear Aunt Agatha,
Watch out! I think we are starting to embrace the Canadian lifestyle!
Ali went out and bought a monster barbecue. Propane powered and big enough to cater for half the neighbourhood.
Great idea! Only problem was getting the darned thing up onto the deck. Between the two of us we struggled to lift it just a couple of inches to free it from its packaging. How the heck were we going to get it up those stairs?
After a lot of head-scratching, and stripping off any removable weight, we unearthed a flat wooden door from the heap of junk in the carport and laid it on the stairs to make a ramp. With a lot of puffing and swearing we managed to roll it up the first flight to the front door, then a pause for breath before tackling the second flight inside up to the living room. From there, getting it onto the deck was easy, but I don't relish the thought of ever having to take it out again.
Since then we have been avidly barbecuing at every opportunity.
And we are now the proud owners of a coffee percolator. We've never had a problem with instant, but folks over here take their coffee very seriously.
And we have got the hot tub into commission. A lot of work clearing the surrounding jungle, laying a gravel surround with some beautiful stones inset, repairing even more rot in the decking, and painting the timber. This isn't an item that we'd ever have gone out of our way to acquire, but I guess we'll make use of it. The kids are enjoying it at least.
Hmm. How long before we start watching hockey, I wonder?
Thursday, April 15, 2010
(2005) Light at the end of the tunnel
April 2005
Dear Aunt Agatha,
Many apologies for the longer-than-usual gap since my last missive. Correspondence has taken a bit of a back seat recently, but we've finally got on top of a load of things.
The yard is now officially husky-proof, with a smart stretch of cedar fencing visible through the trees at the back, and chain link behind the hedges at the sides. Before that could go in, though, I had fun & games demolishing a tin shed that had been built right alongside a big cedar, and which was now leaning at an alarming angle. And out of that shed I now have three decades worth of old, half-empty paint pots to dispose of somehow.
The house now has a new roof. Would you believe that the previous owner tried to clean it with a pressure washer, and stripped off much of the surface? And whoever put in the skylight in the kitchen used ordinary glass instead of strengthened. Scary. That has been fixed too, and we have a useable amount of workspace and storage in the kitchen, and the kids have moved into their new rooms downstairs.
I think that's probably all we need to do on the house for now. Luckily, indoors had been pretty well cared for, but there's still years of work to do on the neglected yard.
Back in the wide outdoors, we are trying to breathe some life into the poor old hot tub. It seems to work OK, but my carpentry skills - and patience - were tested repairing rotten decking here and there. And Ali attacked the sad and muddy beds surrounding it that made it almost inaccessible. We now have neatly-edged gravel and stone all around that corner and down the side of the house to the gate.
When we cleared the rampant undergrowth behind the hot tub, we unearthed a heap of huge cedar logs from where previous owners had taken out one of the trees some years ago. They are now stacked in the carport. One day, I'll get around to splitting them for the wood stove.
Pauses for breath! And those are just the highlights, not to mention a thousand-and-one smaller jobs all over the place. This business of settling in to a new property is unbelievably hard work.
And in between all this, we've had picnics, taken Gypsy for walks, and celebrated our first birthday in Canada. Matthew was four last month. We gave him a big, pedal-powered tractor which I had to assemble in secret and hide in the other shed (the one that wasn't falling over quite as much).
For all the hard work, there is a lot of good times and relaxation here, and it is good to see some light at the end of the tunnel.
Dear Aunt Agatha,
Many apologies for the longer-than-usual gap since my last missive. Correspondence has taken a bit of a back seat recently, but we've finally got on top of a load of things.
The yard is now officially husky-proof, with a smart stretch of cedar fencing visible through the trees at the back, and chain link behind the hedges at the sides. Before that could go in, though, I had fun & games demolishing a tin shed that had been built right alongside a big cedar, and which was now leaning at an alarming angle. And out of that shed I now have three decades worth of old, half-empty paint pots to dispose of somehow.
The house now has a new roof. Would you believe that the previous owner tried to clean it with a pressure washer, and stripped off much of the surface? And whoever put in the skylight in the kitchen used ordinary glass instead of strengthened. Scary. That has been fixed too, and we have a useable amount of workspace and storage in the kitchen, and the kids have moved into their new rooms downstairs.
I think that's probably all we need to do on the house for now. Luckily, indoors had been pretty well cared for, but there's still years of work to do on the neglected yard.
Back in the wide outdoors, we are trying to breathe some life into the poor old hot tub. It seems to work OK, but my carpentry skills - and patience - were tested repairing rotten decking here and there. And Ali attacked the sad and muddy beds surrounding it that made it almost inaccessible. We now have neatly-edged gravel and stone all around that corner and down the side of the house to the gate.
When we cleared the rampant undergrowth behind the hot tub, we unearthed a heap of huge cedar logs from where previous owners had taken out one of the trees some years ago. They are now stacked in the carport. One day, I'll get around to splitting them for the wood stove.
Pauses for breath! And those are just the highlights, not to mention a thousand-and-one smaller jobs all over the place. This business of settling in to a new property is unbelievably hard work.
And in between all this, we've had picnics, taken Gypsy for walks, and celebrated our first birthday in Canada. Matthew was four last month. We gave him a big, pedal-powered tractor which I had to assemble in secret and hide in the other shed (the one that wasn't falling over quite as much).
For all the hard work, there is a lot of good times and relaxation here, and it is good to see some light at the end of the tunnel.
Sunday, March 7, 2010
(2005) Busy, busy, busy!
March 2005
Dear Aunt Agatha,
The job hunt is still ongoing. I had my first interview last month, for an IT Director position, which I had to put in a lot of preparation for. Didn't get it, but at least it was a positive sign to be under consideration.
However it is probably just as well that I'm not working yet, because there is more than enough to do at home.
There's all the kinds of stuff that you'd expect, of course. Loads of boxes to unpack, things to find homes for, and still more things to buy. And all the packaging and garbage to dispose of. Luckily they recycle a whole lot more here than Guernsey, and kerbside pickup too. The playroom is finally useable, but the garage still resembles a warehouse.
But then there's all the unlooked-for projects that reared their heads as we took stock of our new environment. We've had endless phone calls and visits by a stream of tradesmen to quote on various pieces of work that need doing. I sometimes think we need a revolving door at the front of the house to cope with the traffic.
Our property is surrounded by hedges that have been untended for a few years. A big enough job to get quotes for. In the end, a whole gang of men spent all day cutting rampant vegetation back to a manageable height, and shredding the offcuts. Wow! What a difference. The back yard has opened out considerably and gets a lot more light now.
And we need quotes to re-roof the house (which we knew about from the building inspector's report), to put more units and worktops into the kitchen, and to remodel the bedrooms downstairs for the kids to move into. This north American penchant for built-in closets is great when they are properly designed, but when they are added as an afterthought they can really mess up a space. So we want them gone, and the kids will use the standalone furniture we brought with us.
Ali and I both spent many long hours clearing a huge patch of ivy choking two trees and about thirty feet of one of the back borders. In doing so, we uncovered a pile of stones the size of a small car, and a big open compost bin that was completely hidden from view. When this is all cleared, there'll be a fantastic space for a children's play area.
The cats have been exploring their new back yard, and getting used to a new arrival. Ali always said that when we had the space she wanted a dog. So now we have a dog! A husky-plus-goodness-knows-what puppy from one of the local rescue societies. Very cute, though. As a result I've had an endless stream of small jobs around the place making the fence and gates puppy-proof. And trying to keep the cat bowls and litter tray out of harm's way.
And, yes, another stream of people to quote for fencing the back of the yard properly. For huskies, the recommendation is six feet! So that means I've got to go around the boundary making sure it is accessible. Stones, soil, and logs to shift out of the way. And a rickety tin shed to demolish.
We learned more about practices for marking out properties along the way. Property lines over here are marked by boundary pins, actually long metal stakes, sunk into the earth at the corners. We managed to locate the one at the far corner so we know our new fence is within our property.
Even that isn't the whole picture. There are many more smaller jobs to get the junk-heap that is our back yard under some sort of control. So, yes, we've been busy this month and there's a lot still to go. But it is good to see signs of progress around the place.
Dear Aunt Agatha,
The job hunt is still ongoing. I had my first interview last month, for an IT Director position, which I had to put in a lot of preparation for. Didn't get it, but at least it was a positive sign to be under consideration.
However it is probably just as well that I'm not working yet, because there is more than enough to do at home.
There's all the kinds of stuff that you'd expect, of course. Loads of boxes to unpack, things to find homes for, and still more things to buy. And all the packaging and garbage to dispose of. Luckily they recycle a whole lot more here than Guernsey, and kerbside pickup too. The playroom is finally useable, but the garage still resembles a warehouse.
But then there's all the unlooked-for projects that reared their heads as we took stock of our new environment. We've had endless phone calls and visits by a stream of tradesmen to quote on various pieces of work that need doing. I sometimes think we need a revolving door at the front of the house to cope with the traffic.
Our property is surrounded by hedges that have been untended for a few years. A big enough job to get quotes for. In the end, a whole gang of men spent all day cutting rampant vegetation back to a manageable height, and shredding the offcuts. Wow! What a difference. The back yard has opened out considerably and gets a lot more light now.
And we need quotes to re-roof the house (which we knew about from the building inspector's report), to put more units and worktops into the kitchen, and to remodel the bedrooms downstairs for the kids to move into. This north American penchant for built-in closets is great when they are properly designed, but when they are added as an afterthought they can really mess up a space. So we want them gone, and the kids will use the standalone furniture we brought with us.
Ali and I both spent many long hours clearing a huge patch of ivy choking two trees and about thirty feet of one of the back borders. In doing so, we uncovered a pile of stones the size of a small car, and a big open compost bin that was completely hidden from view. When this is all cleared, there'll be a fantastic space for a children's play area.
The cats have been exploring their new back yard, and getting used to a new arrival. Ali always said that when we had the space she wanted a dog. So now we have a dog! A husky-plus-goodness-knows-what puppy from one of the local rescue societies. Very cute, though. As a result I've had an endless stream of small jobs around the place making the fence and gates puppy-proof. And trying to keep the cat bowls and litter tray out of harm's way.
And, yes, another stream of people to quote for fencing the back of the yard properly. For huskies, the recommendation is six feet! So that means I've got to go around the boundary making sure it is accessible. Stones, soil, and logs to shift out of the way. And a rickety tin shed to demolish.
We learned more about practices for marking out properties along the way. Property lines over here are marked by boundary pins, actually long metal stakes, sunk into the earth at the corners. We managed to locate the one at the far corner so we know our new fence is within our property.
Even that isn't the whole picture. There are many more smaller jobs to get the junk-heap that is our back yard under some sort of control. So, yes, we've been busy this month and there's a lot still to go. But it is good to see signs of progress around the place.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
(2005) We have a home
February 2005
Dear Aunt Agatha,
We are finally in! After nearly three months waiting, we picked up the keys to our house and took possession. It all felt a bit unreal at first, but we have very quickly found ourselves settling in.
After a few false starts we got the customs paperwork signed and back to the shipping company. Very relieved when it cleared customs OK, we had to be out of the apartment mid-February so had very little leeway for any delays. But the container delivery could not be arranged for a few days, so we had a big empty house at first.
All the utility arrangements worked out OK though, so we had power and water and phones. We started shuttling things up from downtown, like toys for the kids to keep themselves amused with, and picnics to eat while we pottered around. Ali quickly attacked the garden. The previous owners had done a lot of work inside, but the yard is still a huge mess. I've got months of work ahead of me to clear the heaps of stuff littering the back. There were two conifers at the front growing up through the deck and obscuring the bedroom windows downstairs. They are now gone.
By the way, the house is "upside down", with bedrooms downstairs and kitchen & living room upstairs. We both love the arrangement.
We were up at the house early on the day arranged to meet our container, only to get a phone call saying that the driver had had an accident and was in hospital! So, another day of pottering and buying yet more stuff.
Next day, more deliveries that Ali had arranged the previous month. Washer, dryer, microwave, and bedroom furniture. And Shaw connected up our cable and internet. Most of the apartment is now empty, other than what we need to cook and sleep.
Finally, the next day, the container arrived. That 40' container reversing into the driveway was the most welcome sight in the world. The three delivery men unloaded the whole thing in under four hours. Only a couple of minor breakages to report, and it was so, so good to see all our things again. All the furniture looks great in place and we can now start to turn the house into a home.
The kids completely burned themselves out that day. As soon as the outdoor toy box surfaced, they dived straight in and were soon running around the garage and garden all excited. It was a weird feeling for us, too, seeing all those familiar everyday things again that have been out of our lives for three life-changing months. A bit like coming home after a very long vacation.
Well, the place is habitable, and we've cleaned out the apartment. There is still a vast amount of unpacking and sorting out still to do, but we are getting on top of it.
And we finally feel we can look forward to some stability in this new country that we call home.
Dear Aunt Agatha,
We are finally in! After nearly three months waiting, we picked up the keys to our house and took possession. It all felt a bit unreal at first, but we have very quickly found ourselves settling in.
After a few false starts we got the customs paperwork signed and back to the shipping company. Very relieved when it cleared customs OK, we had to be out of the apartment mid-February so had very little leeway for any delays. But the container delivery could not be arranged for a few days, so we had a big empty house at first.
All the utility arrangements worked out OK though, so we had power and water and phones. We started shuttling things up from downtown, like toys for the kids to keep themselves amused with, and picnics to eat while we pottered around. Ali quickly attacked the garden. The previous owners had done a lot of work inside, but the yard is still a huge mess. I've got months of work ahead of me to clear the heaps of stuff littering the back. There were two conifers at the front growing up through the deck and obscuring the bedroom windows downstairs. They are now gone.
By the way, the house is "upside down", with bedrooms downstairs and kitchen & living room upstairs. We both love the arrangement.
We were up at the house early on the day arranged to meet our container, only to get a phone call saying that the driver had had an accident and was in hospital! So, another day of pottering and buying yet more stuff.
Next day, more deliveries that Ali had arranged the previous month. Washer, dryer, microwave, and bedroom furniture. And Shaw connected up our cable and internet. Most of the apartment is now empty, other than what we need to cook and sleep.
Finally, the next day, the container arrived. That 40' container reversing into the driveway was the most welcome sight in the world. The three delivery men unloaded the whole thing in under four hours. Only a couple of minor breakages to report, and it was so, so good to see all our things again. All the furniture looks great in place and we can now start to turn the house into a home.
The kids completely burned themselves out that day. As soon as the outdoor toy box surfaced, they dived straight in and were soon running around the garage and garden all excited. It was a weird feeling for us, too, seeing all those familiar everyday things again that have been out of our lives for three life-changing months. A bit like coming home after a very long vacation.
Well, the place is habitable, and we've cleaned out the apartment. There is still a vast amount of unpacking and sorting out still to do, but we are getting on top of it.
And we finally feel we can look forward to some stability in this new country that we call home.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
(2005) Getting ready to move in
January 2005
Dear Aunt Agatha,
After all the excitement of Christmas, and some brilliantly sunny unwintery days, we had our first taste of snow. Only a couple of inches, but kids v. excited! I walked Megan to school in it, I think I might have a photo somewhere to send you. Apparently this is a rarity for Victoria. They seem to see the white stuff about as often as Guernsey.
We are in the habit, on our frequent visits up the Peninsula, to drive past and say 'hello' to our new house. They were under a foot or so of snow long after downtown had cleared up. Something for the kids to look forward to in future years maybe?
We're busy planning the logistics for our move next month. Loads of people to contact, utilities to arrange, home insurance, and various change of address notifications. The biggest headache was picking through the options for phones, cable TV, and internet. There are various providers to choose from who provide some or all services, and all sorts of combinations and discounts for combining services. We ended up choosing Telus for our landlines, and Shaw for cable and high speed internet.
Seems American companies are fond of using technology in place of human beings when it comes to customer service. Trying to get help from Telus was one of the most frustrating exercises imaginable. We want to open a new account. "Please enter your account number" the recorded voice insisted. We don't have one. That is what we are trying to obtain. And don't get me started on their voice recognition system that I guess can't cope with anything not in an American accent.
Then again, other things were remarkably painless. Like dealing with the lawyers to sign papers and arrange for payment. So much easier than Guernsey, especially with our realtor still steering us through the process.
Of course, we called our shipping agents in England ages ago to let them know when we wanted our container delivered. We contacted the Vancouver office this month to find out whether or not it had reached them yet. Apparently we were extremely lucky. It set off by road from Montreal the day before severe weather hit them. Most other containers from that shipment are still stuck there! Now all we need to do is receive the customs paperwork, sign and return it, and arrange a date when they have a driver available.
And to round things off, we've been busy buying things for the house. Yes, we'll have all our furniture and other things from Guernsey (so relieved it didn't end up floating around in the Atlantic!) but our old bed will go into the guest room so we need a new one big enough not to look silly in the huge master bedroom, and of course we couldn't bring over any appliances so we need things like washing machine, dryer, TV, and DVD.
And, very importantly, we did pack all our UK videos, so Ali had to find a video recorder with international settings so we can play them.
The last three months have gone in a complete whirl, but now we are so close, we are looking forward to finally having a house of our own over here.
Dear Aunt Agatha,
After all the excitement of Christmas, and some brilliantly sunny unwintery days, we had our first taste of snow. Only a couple of inches, but kids v. excited! I walked Megan to school in it, I think I might have a photo somewhere to send you. Apparently this is a rarity for Victoria. They seem to see the white stuff about as often as Guernsey.
We are in the habit, on our frequent visits up the Peninsula, to drive past and say 'hello' to our new house. They were under a foot or so of snow long after downtown had cleared up. Something for the kids to look forward to in future years maybe?
We're busy planning the logistics for our move next month. Loads of people to contact, utilities to arrange, home insurance, and various change of address notifications. The biggest headache was picking through the options for phones, cable TV, and internet. There are various providers to choose from who provide some or all services, and all sorts of combinations and discounts for combining services. We ended up choosing Telus for our landlines, and Shaw for cable and high speed internet.
Seems American companies are fond of using technology in place of human beings when it comes to customer service. Trying to get help from Telus was one of the most frustrating exercises imaginable. We want to open a new account. "Please enter your account number" the recorded voice insisted. We don't have one. That is what we are trying to obtain. And don't get me started on their voice recognition system that I guess can't cope with anything not in an American accent.
Then again, other things were remarkably painless. Like dealing with the lawyers to sign papers and arrange for payment. So much easier than Guernsey, especially with our realtor still steering us through the process.
Of course, we called our shipping agents in England ages ago to let them know when we wanted our container delivered. We contacted the Vancouver office this month to find out whether or not it had reached them yet. Apparently we were extremely lucky. It set off by road from Montreal the day before severe weather hit them. Most other containers from that shipment are still stuck there! Now all we need to do is receive the customs paperwork, sign and return it, and arrange a date when they have a driver available.
And to round things off, we've been busy buying things for the house. Yes, we'll have all our furniture and other things from Guernsey (so relieved it didn't end up floating around in the Atlantic!) but our old bed will go into the guest room so we need a new one big enough not to look silly in the huge master bedroom, and of course we couldn't bring over any appliances so we need things like washing machine, dryer, TV, and DVD.
And, very importantly, we did pack all our UK videos, so Ali had to find a video recorder with international settings so we can play them.
The last three months have gone in a complete whirl, but now we are so close, we are looking forward to finally having a house of our own over here.
Thursday, December 24, 2009
(2004) Ready for our first Canadian Christmas
December 2004
Dear Aunt Agatha,
Christmas Eve, and it is exactly two months since we landed. Seems like a lifetime now. Guernsey seems so far away and so long ago.
I am starting to get into the job search in a more systematic way, but I must admit I never thought it would be so difficult to break into a market where IT skills are supposed to be in demand. I've been setting up a few "informational interviews", which is a novelty to me and extremely nerve-wracking. It gives me the creeps to pick up the phone, call a complete stranger out of the blue and ask to meet with them, but it seems to be the expected thing to do here. Unfortunately, I am also getting the impression that much of the private sector is effectively a "closed shop", with most positions being handed to local people that the recruiters already know from university co-op placements or other networks. Well, it is early days yet.
In between times, we've continued to explore the region, both touristy and "local" sights. Royal BC Museum, the Wax Museum, the Maritime Museum, Witty's Lagoon, Willows Beach, and the fabulous truck parade. We also paid a visit to the famous Butchart Gardens to see the Christmas lights. As this will be right on our doorstep when we move into our house, we decided to take out a twelve month pass. I'm sure we will be visiting many times in the months to come.
On one of our trips I got talking to a chap who turned out to be an independent IT consultant. He confirmed what I'd already heard about the local job market, but was also confident that persistence would pay off. And he mailed me a list of contacts to follow up.
Well, we are all set now for our first Canadian Christmas. The tree looks fantastic in the apartment, with presents for the kids underneath it, and we've been invited for dinner tomorrow by friends we met camping eight years ago so we will see how real Canadians celebrate. There are snacks out for Santa and the reindeer, and it is time for bed. No knowing how early we'll be up tomorrow!
Dear Aunt Agatha,
Christmas Eve, and it is exactly two months since we landed. Seems like a lifetime now. Guernsey seems so far away and so long ago.
I am starting to get into the job search in a more systematic way, but I must admit I never thought it would be so difficult to break into a market where IT skills are supposed to be in demand. I've been setting up a few "informational interviews", which is a novelty to me and extremely nerve-wracking. It gives me the creeps to pick up the phone, call a complete stranger out of the blue and ask to meet with them, but it seems to be the expected thing to do here. Unfortunately, I am also getting the impression that much of the private sector is effectively a "closed shop", with most positions being handed to local people that the recruiters already know from university co-op placements or other networks. Well, it is early days yet.
In between times, we've continued to explore the region, both touristy and "local" sights. Royal BC Museum, the Wax Museum, the Maritime Museum, Witty's Lagoon, Willows Beach, and the fabulous truck parade. We also paid a visit to the famous Butchart Gardens to see the Christmas lights. As this will be right on our doorstep when we move into our house, we decided to take out a twelve month pass. I'm sure we will be visiting many times in the months to come.
On one of our trips I got talking to a chap who turned out to be an independent IT consultant. He confirmed what I'd already heard about the local job market, but was also confident that persistence would pay off. And he mailed me a list of contacts to follow up.
Well, we are all set now for our first Canadian Christmas. The tree looks fantastic in the apartment, with presents for the kids underneath it, and we've been invited for dinner tomorrow by friends we met camping eight years ago so we will see how real Canadians celebrate. There are snacks out for Santa and the reindeer, and it is time for bed. No knowing how early we'll be up tomorrow!
Saturday, December 12, 2009
(2004) Settling in
December 2004
Dear Aunt Agatha,
We both passed our BC driving tests you'll be happy to hear. Although not half as happy as us! When you go in to take your test, they take your UK licence off you, and you don't get it back if you fail! So, just to be safe, Ali didn't book her test until I'd passed mine.
We have also made our second major purchase - a new car. We went for a Ford Expedition. Huge great thing by our standards, although I suspect it wouldn't be too out of place in the country lanes of St. Saviours, where vehicle size seems to be inversely proportional to road width. One of the reasons for something this big is pulling power. We plan to go camping, and eventually we plan to buy a trailer (that's 'caravan' to you English) so we decided to start off with a suitable vehicle.
I did say 'eventually'. Right now, with the proceeds of our house sale sitting in the bank in Guernsey, twenty or thirty thousand on a trailer seems like nothing, even after accounting for the balance to pay on our new house. But we know we have a lot of more important things to buy, and I'm sure there will be significant expenses that we haven't yet taken into account, plus we don't know how long it will take me to get a job. The scary thing is that we can easily gain or lose that kind of money just on exchange rate variations from one week to the next. Let's hope for a strong British pound for the next month or so!
Now we know where we will be living next year, we've registered Matthew into a pre-school in Sidney, and Megan into kindergarten at McTavish school. Ali researched a number of pre-schools in the area, and Matthew was immediately at home in this one which was pretty much the deciding factor.
For Megan, we'd toyed with the idea of French Immersion, but everyone we'd spoken to here said that the system was highly over-rated. Also, the nearest school offering French Immersion was ten kilometres away and had no bus service from our area. In the end, we felt that it was more important for our kids to mix with children from the neighbourhood. One thing we are worried about is her getting bored at school. Before we left Guernsey, she was already in full time schooling and her reading and writing was highly advanced. We've found that the Canadian system starts off a lot slower, so while Megan is happily writing whole paragraphs of full sentences in a journal each day, some of her peers are only just learning to write their own names.
We are now all set for our first Canadian Christmas. We've been steadily stocking up on gifts for the kids, and our landlady kindly lent us a box of decorations. On our regular visits from downtown up to the Peninsula, we've driven past a Christmas tree farm, so we went and got ourselves a real tree. We drove very carefully back down the highway with it tied to the roof of the car. We still had the rental vehicle at that time - you didn't think we'd risk scratching the new one, did you?
Dear Aunt Agatha,
We both passed our BC driving tests you'll be happy to hear. Although not half as happy as us! When you go in to take your test, they take your UK licence off you, and you don't get it back if you fail! So, just to be safe, Ali didn't book her test until I'd passed mine.
We have also made our second major purchase - a new car. We went for a Ford Expedition. Huge great thing by our standards, although I suspect it wouldn't be too out of place in the country lanes of St. Saviours, where vehicle size seems to be inversely proportional to road width. One of the reasons for something this big is pulling power. We plan to go camping, and eventually we plan to buy a trailer (that's 'caravan' to you English) so we decided to start off with a suitable vehicle.
I did say 'eventually'. Right now, with the proceeds of our house sale sitting in the bank in Guernsey, twenty or thirty thousand on a trailer seems like nothing, even after accounting for the balance to pay on our new house. But we know we have a lot of more important things to buy, and I'm sure there will be significant expenses that we haven't yet taken into account, plus we don't know how long it will take me to get a job. The scary thing is that we can easily gain or lose that kind of money just on exchange rate variations from one week to the next. Let's hope for a strong British pound for the next month or so!
Now we know where we will be living next year, we've registered Matthew into a pre-school in Sidney, and Megan into kindergarten at McTavish school. Ali researched a number of pre-schools in the area, and Matthew was immediately at home in this one which was pretty much the deciding factor.
For Megan, we'd toyed with the idea of French Immersion, but everyone we'd spoken to here said that the system was highly over-rated. Also, the nearest school offering French Immersion was ten kilometres away and had no bus service from our area. In the end, we felt that it was more important for our kids to mix with children from the neighbourhood. One thing we are worried about is her getting bored at school. Before we left Guernsey, she was already in full time schooling and her reading and writing was highly advanced. We've found that the Canadian system starts off a lot slower, so while Megan is happily writing whole paragraphs of full sentences in a journal each day, some of her peers are only just learning to write their own names.
We are now all set for our first Canadian Christmas. We've been steadily stocking up on gifts for the kids, and our landlady kindly lent us a box of decorations. On our regular visits from downtown up to the Peninsula, we've driven past a Christmas tree farm, so we went and got ourselves a real tree. We drove very carefully back down the highway with it tied to the roof of the car. We still had the rental vehicle at that time - you didn't think we'd risk scratching the new one, did you?
Thursday, November 26, 2009
(2004) Jumping through hoops
November 2004
Dear Aunt Agatha,
We've now been here a month, and life is starting to settle into more of a routine after the frenzy of the first couple of weeks.
After the euphoria of signing paperwork on a house, we had a night of heart-stopping panic while we tried to transfer funds over from Guernsey to cover our (legally binding) commitment. We had a transfer instruction all ready to fax to our bank back in Guernsey, but although the apartment had a fax machine we couldn't get the darned thing to go.
At first we assumed we were doing battle with the phone network again, maybe barring us from faxing to an international number, but obviously we were on panic stations right now. We tried calling the bank, but only ended up talking to some minion in a call centre somewhere on a premium rate and with our phone card rapidly expiring. Luckily I was able to call Dad, who managed to get a direct Guernsey number to use. Once we were through to a "real" person at the bank all became clear. The published fax number had been changed so the one we were trying was out of date.
Punched the correct number in, crossed fingers, toes, anything crossable, and it worked! Yay! Money on the way, and we can pay the deposit.
Of course, all this was taking place at 2am our time (in order to hit the business day in the UK) so we were not in the best frame of mind to deal with such shenanigans.
We were also most thankful that, way before we left Guernsey, we'd switched all our banking over to HSBC. Dealing with an international bank made things so much easier for us. We were able to open up Canadian accounts before we left, and had already been in to speak to our very nice account manager here in Victoria, so we had help both sides of the Atlantic to smooth things along.
Then we had the rest of the house-buying process to work through, checking out all the conditions, or "subjects", on the contract. Our friendly realtor was very understanding and steered us through the process quite painlessly.
Now we had another hoop to go through - getting a BC drivers licence! Our UK ones are useable, but only for 90 days, so we both had to book lessons and tests. This was another major source of anxiety. Ali was worried about the theory test, while I still recalled my Guernsey experience where examiners seem to be on a mission to generate revenue by failing almost all first-timers. We made full use of the ICBC website where you can learn the rules and practice the theory test. There were a lot of small and large differences in driving rules to get used to: four-way stops, shoulder-checks on right turns and lane changes, and being allowed to make a right turn against a red light!
One more hoop looming on the horizon: job hunting. I've started checking out the job market, and one of the themes I keep hearing again and again that this town is very hard to break into. Most jobs are never advertised and are filled on the basis of who you know. Despite the so-called shortage of skilled IT workers, this is starting to look a lot more difficult than it sounded from the other side of the pond.
Still, with all the things we've had to do this month I'm glad to have the time off for now.
And we've been finding time for some fun things too. Lots of picnics (in November! Who'd have thought?), a riotous African-theme dinner/dance at Megan's school, and the massive Victoria Santa parade.
Dear Aunt Agatha,
We've now been here a month, and life is starting to settle into more of a routine after the frenzy of the first couple of weeks.
After the euphoria of signing paperwork on a house, we had a night of heart-stopping panic while we tried to transfer funds over from Guernsey to cover our (legally binding) commitment. We had a transfer instruction all ready to fax to our bank back in Guernsey, but although the apartment had a fax machine we couldn't get the darned thing to go.
At first we assumed we were doing battle with the phone network again, maybe barring us from faxing to an international number, but obviously we were on panic stations right now. We tried calling the bank, but only ended up talking to some minion in a call centre somewhere on a premium rate and with our phone card rapidly expiring. Luckily I was able to call Dad, who managed to get a direct Guernsey number to use. Once we were through to a "real" person at the bank all became clear. The published fax number had been changed so the one we were trying was out of date.
Punched the correct number in, crossed fingers, toes, anything crossable, and it worked! Yay! Money on the way, and we can pay the deposit.
Of course, all this was taking place at 2am our time (in order to hit the business day in the UK) so we were not in the best frame of mind to deal with such shenanigans.
We were also most thankful that, way before we left Guernsey, we'd switched all our banking over to HSBC. Dealing with an international bank made things so much easier for us. We were able to open up Canadian accounts before we left, and had already been in to speak to our very nice account manager here in Victoria, so we had help both sides of the Atlantic to smooth things along.
Then we had the rest of the house-buying process to work through, checking out all the conditions, or "subjects", on the contract. Our friendly realtor was very understanding and steered us through the process quite painlessly.
Now we had another hoop to go through - getting a BC drivers licence! Our UK ones are useable, but only for 90 days, so we both had to book lessons and tests. This was another major source of anxiety. Ali was worried about the theory test, while I still recalled my Guernsey experience where examiners seem to be on a mission to generate revenue by failing almost all first-timers. We made full use of the ICBC website where you can learn the rules and practice the theory test. There were a lot of small and large differences in driving rules to get used to: four-way stops, shoulder-checks on right turns and lane changes, and being allowed to make a right turn against a red light!
One more hoop looming on the horizon: job hunting. I've started checking out the job market, and one of the themes I keep hearing again and again that this town is very hard to break into. Most jobs are never advertised and are filled on the basis of who you know. Despite the so-called shortage of skilled IT workers, this is starting to look a lot more difficult than it sounded from the other side of the pond.
Still, with all the things we've had to do this month I'm glad to have the time off for now.
And we've been finding time for some fun things too. Lots of picnics (in November! Who'd have thought?), a riotous African-theme dinner/dance at Megan's school, and the massive Victoria Santa parade.
Friday, November 6, 2009
(2004) Stop press - we have a house!
November 2004
Dear Aunt Agatha,
Well, we are all still a bit shell-shocked. This has happened so much faster than we expected. After less that two weeks in Canada - we've bought a house!
When you put it like that, it sounds irresponsibly hasty, but believe me it didn't feel like it at the time. I guess because life is still such a whirl of novelty that time is still playing tricks on the mind.
We spent a few days driving through various districts around Victoria, checking out locales and driving past a few properties listed on MLS. I suppose, in our defence, that we'd really been on the property search for months rather than mere days. Ali is the family researcher, and she'd been on the Internet endlessly since we got our letter from the Canadian High Commission back in January. But for all that, there's no substitute for getting out there and looking for ourselves. For example, there were some beautiful areas that, when we actually got out there, we decided were just too remote for us.
It didn't take long for us to narrow our search to the Saanich Peninsula. Plenty of rural open spaces, but loads of amenities and handy for Victoria. So we got ourselves a realtor, talked over what we were looking for, and she started showing us around some properties.
Having a realtor acting for the buyer, as well as one for the seller, is a major difference over here. But it proved invaluable having someone to look after our interests and walk us through the process, especially as house-buying is so different from what we were used to.
One of the big things to beware of is that when you make an offer, you are already entering into a legally binding contract. You can choose to place certain conditions on the offer, such as finance and property inspection, but if those conditions are met then you are committed. It's no good unearthing something a few days later that you don't like the look of. So you need to pay attention to include anything you want to investigate that might become a deal-breaker. In our case we included conditions like checking for developments or restrictive covenants at the local municipal hall. We were surprised to find, for example, that if we'd bought a bit further up the road from where we now live, then we wouldn't have been allowed to fence our yard, put up a washing line, or park an RV in our driveway. Things like that are worth checking!
So we fell in love with house number six, which seemed to hit all the right notes with us after properties that would have involved some serious compromise. Our realtor played devil's advocate, pointing out all the things we might not have thought about, but in the end it came down to a matter of probabilities. We asked what was the chance of another property coming up in the next few months that came so close to meeting our needs?
Just one fly in the ointment. We can't move in for another three months. The current owners have their own affairs to sort out which will take time. All the same, we are getting a spooky feeling that this was "meant to be". Right now we have a short term rental on an apartment which we know we have to vacate in ... three months.
Coincidence?
Dear Aunt Agatha,
Well, we are all still a bit shell-shocked. This has happened so much faster than we expected. After less that two weeks in Canada - we've bought a house!
When you put it like that, it sounds irresponsibly hasty, but believe me it didn't feel like it at the time. I guess because life is still such a whirl of novelty that time is still playing tricks on the mind.
We spent a few days driving through various districts around Victoria, checking out locales and driving past a few properties listed on MLS. I suppose, in our defence, that we'd really been on the property search for months rather than mere days. Ali is the family researcher, and she'd been on the Internet endlessly since we got our letter from the Canadian High Commission back in January. But for all that, there's no substitute for getting out there and looking for ourselves. For example, there were some beautiful areas that, when we actually got out there, we decided were just too remote for us.
It didn't take long for us to narrow our search to the Saanich Peninsula. Plenty of rural open spaces, but loads of amenities and handy for Victoria. So we got ourselves a realtor, talked over what we were looking for, and she started showing us around some properties.
Having a realtor acting for the buyer, as well as one for the seller, is a major difference over here. But it proved invaluable having someone to look after our interests and walk us through the process, especially as house-buying is so different from what we were used to.
One of the big things to beware of is that when you make an offer, you are already entering into a legally binding contract. You can choose to place certain conditions on the offer, such as finance and property inspection, but if those conditions are met then you are committed. It's no good unearthing something a few days later that you don't like the look of. So you need to pay attention to include anything you want to investigate that might become a deal-breaker. In our case we included conditions like checking for developments or restrictive covenants at the local municipal hall. We were surprised to find, for example, that if we'd bought a bit further up the road from where we now live, then we wouldn't have been allowed to fence our yard, put up a washing line, or park an RV in our driveway. Things like that are worth checking!
So we fell in love with house number six, which seemed to hit all the right notes with us after properties that would have involved some serious compromise. Our realtor played devil's advocate, pointing out all the things we might not have thought about, but in the end it came down to a matter of probabilities. We asked what was the chance of another property coming up in the next few months that came so close to meeting our needs?
Just one fly in the ointment. We can't move in for another three months. The current owners have their own affairs to sort out which will take time. All the same, we are getting a spooky feeling that this was "meant to be". Right now we have a short term rental on an apartment which we know we have to vacate in ... three months.
Coincidence?
Friday, October 30, 2009
(2004) A whirlwind week
October 2004
Dear Aunt Agatha,
Have we really only been here in Canada less than a week? So much has happened, and time is playing tricks on the mind, not counting slowly adjusting to the eight hour difference from the UK.
Even with the luggage mountain we'd brought with us, we had lots of shopping to do. A computer, cell phones, toys for the kids, clothes, car seats, school supplies, all the things we'd need for the cats, oh ... and groceries.
There were other things to do too. After a first day of strenuous shopping, I had to head back over to Vancouver to collect our cats. It was good to see all five of them none the worse for their week of confinement and travel. Good job there's no quarantine requirement coming from the UK to Canada.
After all that - and less than four days in the country - we were ready for a break. We took in some of the touristy and child-friendly attractions of downtown Victoria - The Undersea Gardens, Miniature World, and the amazing Bug Zoo. And, as it was nearly Halloween, we took a night-time stroll around the spectacular carved pumpkin display at Government House.
Once the shock of travel and the immigration process wore off, we started hitting some of the cultural and technological differences in this new world we've become part of.
Having safely arrived we wanted to phone our families. Naturally. And our temporary apartment has a phone. Nil problemo amigo. Except that the phone is restricted to local calls only.
Hmm. We asked around and found out about phone cards, which give you a local number and a prepaid amount to spend on phone calls. Sounds simple, but even here there were unexplained pitfalls. The first card I picked up was one from Telus, which I tried but couldn't make any sense of the instructions. So I called their support line, and ended up going round in circles in their infuriating automated voice-recognition "help" system. I guess it couldn't cope with the English accent. It seemed to recognise my Angry accent though, and eventually condescended to hand me over to a human being. Turned out that this kind of card was intended to give Telus customers access to an account with them. No use to us. Luckily the friendly lady at the grocery store where I'd bought the card took pity and gave me a Nuvo card instead. $20, and a rate of about 2 cents a minute for an international call. Sorted.
Learning point: When starting out in a new country, be careful to explain what you are trying to achieve before buying something. And don't be afraid to plead ignorance - the locals are friendly and very understanding.
Note: The phone card idea is common in the UK now, but was new to us five years ago. And it is still something we use for anything but local calls. We have found the rate to be better than the plans offered by any of the major telecoms providers.
Dear Aunt Agatha,
Have we really only been here in Canada less than a week? So much has happened, and time is playing tricks on the mind, not counting slowly adjusting to the eight hour difference from the UK.
Even with the luggage mountain we'd brought with us, we had lots of shopping to do. A computer, cell phones, toys for the kids, clothes, car seats, school supplies, all the things we'd need for the cats, oh ... and groceries.
There were other things to do too. After a first day of strenuous shopping, I had to head back over to Vancouver to collect our cats. It was good to see all five of them none the worse for their week of confinement and travel. Good job there's no quarantine requirement coming from the UK to Canada.
After all that - and less than four days in the country - we were ready for a break. We took in some of the touristy and child-friendly attractions of downtown Victoria - The Undersea Gardens, Miniature World, and the amazing Bug Zoo. And, as it was nearly Halloween, we took a night-time stroll around the spectacular carved pumpkin display at Government House.
Once the shock of travel and the immigration process wore off, we started hitting some of the cultural and technological differences in this new world we've become part of.
Having safely arrived we wanted to phone our families. Naturally. And our temporary apartment has a phone. Nil problemo amigo. Except that the phone is restricted to local calls only.
Hmm. We asked around and found out about phone cards, which give you a local number and a prepaid amount to spend on phone calls. Sounds simple, but even here there were unexplained pitfalls. The first card I picked up was one from Telus, which I tried but couldn't make any sense of the instructions. So I called their support line, and ended up going round in circles in their infuriating automated voice-recognition "help" system. I guess it couldn't cope with the English accent. It seemed to recognise my Angry accent though, and eventually condescended to hand me over to a human being. Turned out that this kind of card was intended to give Telus customers access to an account with them. No use to us. Luckily the friendly lady at the grocery store where I'd bought the card took pity and gave me a Nuvo card instead. $20, and a rate of about 2 cents a minute for an international call. Sorted.
Learning point: When starting out in a new country, be careful to explain what you are trying to achieve before buying something. And don't be afraid to plead ignorance - the locals are friendly and very understanding.
Note: The phone card idea is common in the UK now, but was new to us five years ago. And it is still something we use for anything but local calls. We have found the rate to be better than the plans offered by any of the major telecoms providers.
Monday, October 26, 2009
(2004) The most frightening step of my life
October 2004
Dear Aunt Agatha,
Well, we're here! The start of a new life! It's still hard to believe that we finally did it. How many people talk about emigrating, but how many actually get around to doing it? I guess the adrenalin will kick in later but right now there's too much to do to be frightened.
We said goodbye to close friends and family at Guernsey airport on Saturday (that was my first sight of the new terminal building that everyone's been banging on about), stopped overnight at Gatwick, then on to Vancouver.
Zoom Airlines was great. The few hundred quid for premium upgrades paid for itself straight off when we skipped past the huge check in queue with our mountain of luggage. Once on board, we were well looked-after, I tanked up on Canadian beer, and the kids even got a few hours sleep.
We touched down in Edmonton and the kids got their first sight of snow on the ground. Then it was Vancouver, and the immigration process. A short wait at passport control, then a longer stop at the baggage reclaim. A very long stop in fact, while we counted the number of bags in the mountain and went in search of a missing buggy.
Then it was the turn of immigration. All the time we were waiting, I had recurring nightmares of being refused entry. What would happen? We'd sold up everything back home and had nothing left to go back to. Irrational, I know, but with so much at stake even the merest whisper of a possibility had me quivering. What if we'd overlooked some little technicality? It was simply too awful a prospect to think about.
But in the end it was a huge anticlimax. A few questions, all smiles and welcoming friendliness, and then we were officially Permanent Residents! Then on to customs, where they were more interested in the contents of the container that was still sitting in England than with what we were actually carrying.
The first serious challenge came when we picked up our hire car. We'd gone for a Jeep Liberty, thinking it would have plenty of room for us and our baggage. Hah! It took half an hour of cunning packing using every last cubic inch of space before we managed to stow everything. I think the kids would have been OK in an accident. They couldn't move an inch! But we made it in the end.
I must say, the kids were very patient throughout. Three and five years old, after a long flight, all that waiting around at the airport (I think it was about three hours including the paperwork at the rental company) and we had nothing more than a little grumbling. I think the novelty and adventure was keeping them going. Fortunately we'd booked into a hotel in Vancouver rather than planning to cross over to Victoria straight away. The kids hit the sack at 5pm, and we weren't much later.
So, of course, everyone was awake at 3am! To be honest I'd expected it to be earlier, so can't complain, but it was soon clear that we weren't going to stay sane waiting for breakfast at the hotel. So we checked out and headed off for the ferry terminal.
The wait seemed endless. We'd been up for hours with nothing to eat or drink. It was dark, raining, and blowing a gale. But as soon as we were on board all the stress and discomfort seemed to melt away. We settled down to a magnificent and leisurely breakfast and watched the sunrise as we sailed out towards the islands.
Somehow, and this is going to sound strange given that we'd only been here twice before, it felt like we'd come home.
Dear Aunt Agatha,
Well, we're here! The start of a new life! It's still hard to believe that we finally did it. How many people talk about emigrating, but how many actually get around to doing it? I guess the adrenalin will kick in later but right now there's too much to do to be frightened.
We said goodbye to close friends and family at Guernsey airport on Saturday (that was my first sight of the new terminal building that everyone's been banging on about), stopped overnight at Gatwick, then on to Vancouver.
Zoom Airlines was great. The few hundred quid for premium upgrades paid for itself straight off when we skipped past the huge check in queue with our mountain of luggage. Once on board, we were well looked-after, I tanked up on Canadian beer, and the kids even got a few hours sleep.
We touched down in Edmonton and the kids got their first sight of snow on the ground. Then it was Vancouver, and the immigration process. A short wait at passport control, then a longer stop at the baggage reclaim. A very long stop in fact, while we counted the number of bags in the mountain and went in search of a missing buggy.
Then it was the turn of immigration. All the time we were waiting, I had recurring nightmares of being refused entry. What would happen? We'd sold up everything back home and had nothing left to go back to. Irrational, I know, but with so much at stake even the merest whisper of a possibility had me quivering. What if we'd overlooked some little technicality? It was simply too awful a prospect to think about.
But in the end it was a huge anticlimax. A few questions, all smiles and welcoming friendliness, and then we were officially Permanent Residents! Then on to customs, where they were more interested in the contents of the container that was still sitting in England than with what we were actually carrying.
The first serious challenge came when we picked up our hire car. We'd gone for a Jeep Liberty, thinking it would have plenty of room for us and our baggage. Hah! It took half an hour of cunning packing using every last cubic inch of space before we managed to stow everything. I think the kids would have been OK in an accident. They couldn't move an inch! But we made it in the end.
I must say, the kids were very patient throughout. Three and five years old, after a long flight, all that waiting around at the airport (I think it was about three hours including the paperwork at the rental company) and we had nothing more than a little grumbling. I think the novelty and adventure was keeping them going. Fortunately we'd booked into a hotel in Vancouver rather than planning to cross over to Victoria straight away. The kids hit the sack at 5pm, and we weren't much later.
So, of course, everyone was awake at 3am! To be honest I'd expected it to be earlier, so can't complain, but it was soon clear that we weren't going to stay sane waiting for breakfast at the hotel. So we checked out and headed off for the ferry terminal.
The wait seemed endless. We'd been up for hours with nothing to eat or drink. It was dark, raining, and blowing a gale. But as soon as we were on board all the stress and discomfort seemed to melt away. We settled down to a magnificent and leisurely breakfast and watched the sunrise as we sailed out towards the islands.
Somehow, and this is going to sound strange given that we'd only been here twice before, it felt like we'd come home.
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