Raphael with MC, got this picture at the fifth attempt, MC couldn't keep her eyes open...

Hohoho...

So why am I being kept up late again? One day is about to end and another begin and a year too... Now what's a year again?

Olivier and Ellie's new fringe which I'm none too pleased about, still it will grow out eventually...

Dieting

I decreed yesterday evening that it was time to get back on my diet - too much good food for safety at the moment. The plan got off to a tremendous start with onion rings, chicken wings and a couple of pitchers of beer... closely followed today by donuts... I feel a new year resolution coming on and I`m not particularly devoted to them!
We took Ellie to Mount Tourbillon (spell?) on Wednesday, big snow slides which you navigate on inner tubes, 6 hours of up and down the hill! Ellie loved it, particularly the "Cascade" the fastest, steepest ride which had quite a big jump in the middle!

A day in Quebec City...

Ellie and MC from behind walking down the Grand Allee - plenty of snow here. To get it shifted from the sidewalk there is a great process... Two guys working in tandem drive mini diggers ploughs up the sidewalk pushing it into the street. They then move to the street and tidy up what they have done, the snow is then left for the bigger toys to come and deal with it - industrial size snow blowers arrive and project the snow over the sidewalk onto whichever bit of open land is available! Mundane stuff to read/write if you are Canadian and I guess it will be for me next year. At the moment tho' it's very exciting.

The icy Saint Lawrence river.

More white stuff...

So much snow here - I think I'm going to have snow-envy when we get home. They have to shovel it off the roofs onto the sidewalks and then shovel it into the street where some other contraption will come and deal with it...

The Ice Slide - Ellie and I took a ride on this, it all started off a bit paedestrian but suddenly speed got up and we went flying along the terrace! Most enjoyable.

More...

More...

Boxing Day...

Boxing day morning - wow - rather a lot of snow... My first truly white Christmas ever, it actually snowed from the minute I got out of bed until the minute I got back in again... that's service!

CHRISTMAS DAY!

How may presents? OK they were for 5 kids, but it's still rather a lot - oh, the green one in the middle was mine!

Most of the debris has gone now - just playing with the boxes now!

Ellie - very happy with her princess castle.

Nephew Alexis on Christmas Day.

Grey

Naturally Thomas had his "the family need a good night of sleep radar" on on Wednesday night and ensured poor sleep for MC and I. So we set off for Quebec 90 minutes late. The journey went well apart from an attempt to eat in Fredericton which saw us in Mike`s for over an hour without getting our food which is pretty shabby for a sandwich really! Still the kids ate for nothing as a result of us getting stroppy and we (MC and I) left without eating.I vowed next to enter that particular chain of restaurants ever again, a vow which lasted less than three and a half hours... as there happened to be one in exactly the right spot to serve our dinner! We ordered the same items from the menu and they duly arrived in less than ten minutes. Shame they were very average to say the least... We got here at about 8pm, Thomas was too tired to sleep, he kept Ellie up so we`re expecting a charming day...I bought some winter trousers this morning, very cosy, I expect to be nice and dry (not to mention warm) next time we go sledging! Finally, it`s very grey here and miserable here. My little bit of canada in Halifax is always blue and sunny, Quebec - grey, reminds me of England. Nevermind, snow is forecast for Christmas day!

Christmas in Quebec

This could be the last blog for a while, I'll try to update from Quebec over Christmas, but on a 56k modem it won't be pleasant!
I have rather cunningly burnt my hand and fingers rather badly today, after keeping a frying pan in the oven for nearly an hour - I picked it up... D'oh. Luckily I stuck it (my hand that is) in the snow for while and I think the damage might not be too bad.
Thomas is gearing up for the 1000km drive to Quebec in his usual manner - by becoming increasing ill in another (probably vain) attempt to get a few more teeth. He's spent most of today screaming, that will make for a particularly charming ride on Thursday for all of us!
Finally started sorting out my teaching qualifications today too, lots of emails in and out and some progress, I may even work before September!
If this the last entry before Christmas - I hope you all have a great one!

Fat chairs...

We started the painful process of buying a fridge, washer and dryer today... We went into Ashley Home furnishing and noticed some three piece suites... Three seater sofa, two seater (love seat or something like that) and a one and half seater "fat chair" as I have had to dub it. A little research on Ashley's web page reveals that it is actually known as "desert chair", how very apt, general about 4 feet wide - omigod! Now I'm not prejudiced, but come on, it's a bit much - I couldn't get both arms on the arm rests of this thing at the same time!

Fourteen year wait is over...

I have finally ended up supporting the winning side at a hockey game! The Mooseheads beat The Saint John Sea Dogs 2-0 this afternoon, it's been a long wait. We had a lovely roast lunch with friends, Ian and Kerri, Chelsea easing past Arsenal 2-0 in the background. Then it was off to the Metro Centre in a 13-strong English mob to watch the game. New arrival, Tony asked if he could take his beer into the stand, of course you can - none of that "not in sight of the pitch" nonsense over here.
Bonus discovery this evening, there are consecutive home matches on the two sundays after Xmas! With these games kicking off at 4pm, we can take Thomas and Ellie, they have great time, lots of pop corn, fizzy drinks and sugar rushes. Thomas is more interested for the most part in the mascots who charge about the auditorium throughout the game, but Ellie likes the games and the "naughty bin" (sin bin) in particular.
Thomas is now taking a shine to his babysitter in waiting, Sam, after yesterday's visit to her house she spent more time playing with him today, now he runs after her, does she know what she's let herself in for?!

Shopping...

Well, MC managed to shop for nearly five hours today with one of her friends, Sharon. I was left with Sharon's husband Brian and all of the kids, everything worked out rather nicely, Thomas played with his future babysitter Sam and is clearly becoming quite attached to her. Ellie played happily with Sam's sister, Holly. This left the way clear for Brian and I to watch football and comedy DVDs (particularly pleasurable as Birmingham City were comprehensively drubbed), play pool and fiddle about with computers.
The evening was a slightly poorer affair, I wanted to eat out... As all of the decent restaurants are in the middle of Bayer's Lake shopping centre, they were all packed. After a tour of a few places we ended up with a takeaway pizza...
We've been catching up with Spooks recently, I got to the end of series 4 tonight, shock horror. Can't believe we have to wait until September to find out what happens!

Busy

We have quite a busy weekend after our quiet week, MC's shopping with "girlfriends" tomorrow whilst I do more boyish stuff - probably sitting around mainly, possibly watch Villa v ManU.
Sunday lunch with friends followed by a hockey game, the Mooseheads puck-off at 4pm meaning Thomas can come along and not cause too much hassle!
Nasty freezing rain forecast.

Quiet

It's been a quiet week, a friend, Andy, has been staying here all week doing his realtor course. He came along to see the new house this week when I took a builder over to quote for a new oak floor for the bedrooms...
We took Ellie to see her new school on Tuesday - it was lovely, class sizes between 18 and 24, very friendly staff and students, it looks like she'll be very happy there!
We had to dig ourselves out again on Tuesday morning, this is becoming decidedly boring, especially when the sun hasn't got up yet. Suddenly my "No Fear" gloves and Doc Marten Boots were as useful as a chocolate teapot at keeping out the cold... Once the entrance was clear, it was straight into the car and down to Mark's Work Wear House to buy proper winter boots, gloves, socks etc. I was dangerously close to looking for the long john aisle when Tom and Ellie became so disruptive we had to pay up and leave. I plan a return vist soon to collect some fleece lined jeans that looked particularly appealing!
Apart from that - we met up with some more expats, more nice people joining the English invasion of NS, they asked customs how families are coming here at the moment, about ten families a week was the answer. Not a lot really, but that's about 40 people a week based on two kids, 2000 a year and that's just Nova Scotia, not that popular a destination really.

The Eye has it

Just a little black/yellow eye left now. Seems MC plastic surgey plans are unnecessary and my "the new Blofeld" plans are in tatters.

Tom's Eyes...

Slightly less swollen today, MC is advocating plastic surgery if he develops a "droopy eye-lid", I think he needs to start practicing his lines... "Goodbye, Mr Bond" is one that I had in mind, there's bound to be a remake one day and Donald Pleasance is dead...

Snow, It's a right, not a luxury!

We headed of sledging again after a short break for hot chocolate and tea. There were eight boy there by now increasing compacting the run we'd started earlier, now it was getting faster... Up and down the hill again, faster each time, we finished with a big wipe out and rolled to the bottom of the hill, Ellie loved it, I loved it... But alas the rain is coming and it will be a tad unpleasant tomorrow...
The snowplough has just been for the third time today blocking our drive again so it was back into the jeans, sweaters, coats and everything to clear it all up again after our bath in case it freezes tonight.
The shovelling is obviously going to become a tawdry over the years, the sledging never will though (even if I have to go on my own...), overall though, after one and an very little to go I think everyone deserves snow!

A weekend of firsts... and they are all about...

...SNOW!

It finally arrived last night, I was following the weather on www.theweathernetwork.com earlier in the day having heard a forecast of 15-25cm of snow due yesterday afternoon on the radio. The website said 2-4cm so we shelved our plans to rush out and get some proper winter boots. As it turns out the weathernetwork site was about as accurate as Michael Fish and the radio had under-estimated the amount of snow that was on the way! So I dug out my Doctor Marten's boot and at 6pm off we went for a walk in the snow pulling Ellie and Thomas on a sledge (a first!). There was only about 4cm, but it was fun.
By the time we got home it was starting to chuck it down so we built a snow man (another first!). All the snow we used up to make him was easily replaced by the time we went to bed and still it came. This morning we awoke after our first proper snow storm to find 30-35cm of snow outside. I'd been shovelling nearly an hour when MC brought the kids out, Tom sat on the bottom step for about 30 seconds, stood up, fell over and acquired his first black-eye and it's a beauty, looks like he's been boxing. He may have done it on purpose of course (in collusion with Ellie), once he was settled an hour later, Ellie was put in charge and they settled in front of the television while MC and I went to complete the shovelling. Ellie, good as ever, came to ask if they could have a biscuit, then she came to ask if they could have a second biscuit... Then we went in the house to find Thomas covered in chocolate and half of the biscuits were gone. I paid for this when I changed his nappy this evening...
It took three and a half hours to clear the snow from the drive... I'd almost finished when the snow plough came by and dumped a new load in our entrance, LOL.
After a hearty lunch of whatever we could get our hands on the fridge, Thomas was bundled off to bed to rest his closed up eye and Ellie and I got wrapped up and set off with our two-man, sledge. We found plenty of virgin snow on the school's grounds behind our house including some excellent, steep slopes running down onto the football pitch. The first run was very successful, having struggled back up the hill, I had to return to the bottom to carry Ellie up... Upon arriving at the top I heard the gentle "SSSsssssshhhhhhhhhhwwwwoooooooosssssshhhhhh" of the sledge departing down the hill without either of us aboard. Fortunately thereafter, Ellie found her snow feet and we trudge up the hill many times to ride back down. Each time we became increasing wet and increasingly covered in snow... What a great time...
This is the view from our back window at the moment...
And this is our garden...

Nervous Wrecks...

The atmosphere is very dry at the moment here, great for my creaking ankle. Not so good for the static electricity... We all managed to electrocute ourselves countless times in Walmart this morning - poor Thomas really didn't understand why touching things hurt his little fingers. Maybe I should get some static built up in the remote controls! I took to earthing myself my touching the floor in the end...
Sprout watch #3: Ellie was upset in Superstore today when I said we would NOT be getting any sprouts. I now have to make her a side order to go with her pasta! MC is heading towards five, my job here is done :-)

Tim Horton's...

Tim's is the most popular coffee outlet in Canada, they are everywhere and I mean, EVERYWHERE! There are 80 within 10 miles of the centre of Halifax. I guess they are a sort of McDonalds for older people. The coffee is average at best, the donuts are fine, but in the Krispy Kreme. Anyway we have become wary of Tim's since arriving - everyone uses it as a place to meet and do business, I've signed paperwork on the new house there. It always appears in directions to find place... The big question, is always which one! When we signed the house papers we were told to go to the "Tim's next to the Sobey's Superstore on highway 7", matter of factly we said, "Ah yes, the one next to Forest Hills Drive". But it wasn't, it was a completely different Tim's next to Sobey's Superstore on highway 7... Funny.

Finally!

We got SNOW yesterday - it was clear in the street which family hadn't seen any for a very long time... Ellie played outside nearly all morning in about half an inch of snow which was too powdery to do anything interesting with. I immediately, scraped all the snow off our steps and put sand down... MC cleared the snow off the car... Thomas kept falling over as he tried to master his new (cumbersome) snow boots, he went face first and rolled around until he'd filled his shirt. He was the least impressed I think! Everyone else in the street just ignored it! It's coming down again now, but very slowly, some of it even seems to be going upwards which will never do!

See... CSI: Miami again...

Before the introduction of tonight’s episode had even finished, Horatio stood over a dying police officer, raised his glasses to with a inch of his face, stopped, said "Here we go" and completed his ocular apparatus placement manoeuvre... Anyway he continued throughout the episode to fiddle with his sunglasses, I find this very annoying. Obviously I haven't got enough to occupy myself...

House pictures

So here is our house (outside only - I thought it a bit off to take picture of the inside just yet...)
I tried to do one of those panorama pictures, but cound not stitch the bits together so here are the four consecutive pictures.
Number 1: Our land extends somewhere into that forest along the line of the road, I tried to find the marker, but trampled into a sort of swamp, got very wet feet and gave up. Looks like we own more swampy land than I bargained for...
Number 2: Panning around to the right a little brings us to the "sandpit", about 50 or 60 square feet of sand to be exact. Then onto the shed...Number 3: Shed to house, not much going on here... Number 4: The house itself.
Number 5: The view from the edge of the swamp...

...and the back...

Ellie's paradise, four and ultimately six swings, see-saws for four and a couple of slides. The house from the rear...
The whole of the garden...
And the pond, which will be ideal for ice skating in about 8 weeks apparently. This is really useful as I have just bought (should read "been bought") my first set of ice skates, a mere 30 years late IMO. With that and learning to ski, I envisage a winter with a cold, wet and probably bruised back side. The skate are probably the most uncomfortable footwear I have every experienced...

Our House... in the middle of...

nowhere...
I was hoping to put some pictures of the new house on today, unfortunately the people at MLS are so efficient that they have removed the advert already. We're going there for the surveys tomorrow, so I'll take some pictures...

Smug-munger

Just how smug is Horatio Caine? How often in every episode does he stick his sunglasses on midsentence?

A word for the godfather....

Ellie adore the The Killers and rightly so, they are a very fine band. Today she was singing "Andy you're a star" and then said, "That's my godfather...." Good girl, good judge.

So...

We finished on the beach and there was still no snow... So we went to the park...

Harsh winter, but where?

So December is amongst us... I gave the kids their advent calendars today, inaccurate alas, I showed then to Ellie and she selected which one she would have and what would be left for Thomas, or so she thought. What actually happened was that talked up the slightly less colourful, more grown up snow man one so that she chose it, leaving the father Xmas on for Thomas. Score one for daddy I think there...
Is December really among us tho'?
Depends where you live I guess, if you live in arctic England, I suppose it is around a little bit with a dribble or two of snow...
On the other hand, if you live in balmy, sunny old Nova Scotia, Canada... just a mo... Just went out onto the decking to check... it's a very clement 10 degrees C (not F) at 9:09pm, I was able to remove by dressing gown and enjoy the night air in just my boxers (thanks to the dry atmosphere), MC offered to take a picture or two, but I think no reader deserves that... So instead, here we are on the beach for the afternoon...

Haircuts...

For years I've had no hair, by choice I hasten to add... So when emigrating I decide to turn over a new leaf and grow some, I envisaged a huge mop of shaggy (unfortunately speckled grey) hair.
Who was I kidding, almost an inch long and I could bear it no more, straggly rather than shaggy, unkempt, horrid, so off it has come. Got the clippers out tonight and zzzzttt, all gone again... Not just me this time tho'. Thomas has joined me in a skinning this time! I think I was quite kind and let him off with a grade 4...