Doctors vs. Homeopaths round 2

Years ago when I was contracting I got myself a dose of shingles, my doctor told me to take painkillers and lie on the sofa for 4-8 weeks and wait for things to get better. As a contractor, if I didn't work, I didn't get paid, so I took myself off to see a homeopath, £50, a few funny little pills and four days later I was back at work... It's a bit of a difference.
Now Ellie has a very (for her) painful complaint for which the conventional medical treatment is "to wait 18 months to 5 years" and it will "go away by itself". Frankly that's not good enough, every so often she gets an infection and some lovely pink anti-biotics. Well, no more, off to the homeopath we went again. It's too early to say whether it will be 2-0 or 1-1, but my money's on 2-0...

Rear Window...

We're in Beechville tonight; I was looking out of my "rear window". When we came to Canada I thought the view was pretty good, a bit of lake, lots of green stuff and trees. There are also a few houses in view, a school and some other buildings... Now, I need to get back "home" to Mineville where there is just trees, our pond and nothing else apart from the odd roaming neighbourhood dog - a golden retriever visits every day and is still welcome until it leaves a deposit! Our new house is truly why we came here, more land than the entire street we used to live in, woods, water and space.

Hobbit's Terrorist Unit...

There's a hobbit running CTU! Seconded from the FBI, Sam Gamgee has arrived and taken control, wow, I never saw that coming.

This was our garden this afternoon, the trees were full of snow. Alas we were forced to leave to go appliance shopping. We need a fridge, washer and dryer rather urgently!

After Tom made a dash for the upstairs, Lewis (our builder) decided the open hole needed to be filled in sooner rather than later! He did this on Sunday and started getting the new handrail in place. He's doing a brilliant job, the whole upstairs is going to look excellent in about 10 days. MC and I have decorated the family room and kitchen so far, it's going to be a long job!

Day 2

Tom's floor went down on day 2 - Saturday. We chose an oak floor with very tough varnish - it should last even in his room!

I'm all alone in our new house, MC has taken the children back to the rented place for the night while a stayed to clear up and get ready for the builder who start tomorrow. In the 10 hours we've been here we've removed nearly all of the carpet upstairs, the banisters, spindles and base board (skirting board). There is now 1000sqft of oak in the garage to replace it all. The pictures below show the changes... They were taken at hourly intervals, the first was taken 30 minutes after we walked in...
Since everyone but I left I've noticed two things - it's very dark here at night (there nothing but forest behind the house) and it's very, VERY, quiet!

30 minutes...

An hour and a half...

Two and a half hours...

Five hours...

Eight hours...

The outside - here's the front...

...and the back... 

The formal dining room and the entrance hall - we're not so formal so it will be the "den", anyone eating here will eat in the kitchen! 

Another one of the "music room" 

The "Music Room" used to house a baby grand - I think if we want music in there it will need to get a stereo until one the kids learns to play something! It will be our play room. 

Family room with open fire - a bonus feature for us, there is so much dead wood on the land we'll be well heated in the winter! 

The kitchen and "dining nook" viewed from the family room. we have the paint for these rooms and we'll be starting in here on Sunday.

Master bedroom...

Guest bedroom - lovely clouds on the walls, sadly they'll be going too... 

Tom's room, the grey will have to go, but he may keep the teddy bears for a while. Not really my cup of tea though, I can see Buzz Lightyear as a potential newcomer in the border stakes.... 

Ellie's new room, the green carpet is coming up tomorrow at my destructive hand, the walls will be pink and purple in the next week or two! The floor will be oak throughout the upstairs. We are also "filling in" the double height landing to make a big play area. 

Jack's Back...

Here we go again, another 24-hour commitment to a day in the life of Jack Bauer! Yes, 24 is back again for another ridiculous roller coaster with Kiefer and the gang (a gang whose number will dwindle in this series if the rumour mill is to be believed). President Palmer is "melancholy" by self admission and now dead (you'll need to highlight the text to see this SPOILER). My only question is in which episode will it be necessary for Jack's heart to stop beating in order that he be declared dead. Even though he is "dead" at the moment, I guess by the end of the !!FOUR HOUR!! season opening special Jack will be reinstated at CTU. The (current) president (oily worm that he is) will undoubtedly be in Los Angeles again for the day to coincide with the latest disaster and Chloe will again be wearing he frowning startled look face... So here we go...
Oh - the Moose won 4-3 after several scrapes and not enough fights - should have been easier as the fog devils are hardly world beaters!!

Diet Progress...

Having been horrified at weighing in at 188lb (13st 6lb) on my return from Quebec last week, I reintroduced my diet with immediate effect. So far I have managed to shed 9lb in 6 days. Another 20lb to go... Unfortunately it's going to slow down now...

Ice Skating...

Imagine a country where everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, can skate... WELL. Far fetched? Unbelievable? That's Canada. As an immigrant, I started my initiation tonight but alas I forgot my camera... It was not something I was looking forward to particularly but I am absolutely determined that I will learn.
Anyway I arrived at Dartmouth Sportsplex early to get my new skates ($69.99 from Walmart) sharpened (to make them even more dangerous to myself and those around me I would have thought). With some trepidation I forced my poor feet into these most uncomfortable items and hobbled towards the ice. Children as young as four or five were whizzing around to help my feelings of self-consciousness as I slowly eeked my way towards the beginner's coned off area. Remarkly I did not fall over once and it really wasn't as bad I remember from my very brief and not particularly enthuisiastic or determined first (and last) attempt at skating in Quebec City in 1991. I even manage to go quite quickly (or so it felt) on two occasions! After about an hour I did feel rather blistered so I gave up and returned to my shoes - I discovered no blisters, but also no sensation in my feet whatsoever - roll on next week and the next practice session!
Thomas was not overly impressed with the hockey helmet we fitted him with until he got on the ice at which point he became very excited. We gave him a sort of skater's zimmer frame (none my size alas) to hang onto and put some double-bladed strap on skates and off he went, I can see him in the NHL in 20 years!
Ellie spent the hour with her friend Holly, also with a frame and also enjoying herself a lot - I saw her fall over once and edged my way towards her to help - by the time I got there she'd righted herself and shot off again.
All in all a successful evening, Ellie and Thomas are bound to be putting me to shame in a month or two...

Survived the War of the Worlds

It's over and we have now moved on to my choice, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, I'm big enough to admit, mine's no better than Marie-Claude's. Simon Jones is the only Arthur Dent and Mos Def is certainly not Ford Prefect. I presume I sound old now. Grump, grump. At least Stephen Fry is doing a decent job as the book.

Back to normal!

Back home in Halifax now... thankfully! As we spent the last two weeks in Quebec, Christmas lasted two weeks which really is too much. It's Canada Jim, but not as we know it! Now we're a bit bloated from all the food and goodies we were fed whilst there so it's a bit of a diet now to recover and hopefully we'll be looking all svelt by the summer!
We left Quebec at 1pm on Wednesday and arrived in Halifax at 1am on Thursday, taking into account the time difference an eleven hour schlep across three provinces. Even with a journey so long (1034km) I'd take over Brighton to Birmingham anyday. Drives like this mean we can play our cruise control game (!), how long can you maintain a single speed using cruise control without touching the pedals?
MC took the first stint, Quebec to Cabano - 275km, she posted two good efforts, 72km and then just over 100km before being cut up. From there I drove to Hartland (a mere 207km) without much ooportunity for cruising as it's the only bit which is not freeway. After a refreshing stop at Subway for a Chicken Parmesan, I carried on to Moncton another 310km or thereabouts. I managed an astonishing 200.1km at exactly 120km/h, that's further than Brighton to London and back again. I drove for more than an hour without seeing another car going in my direction - I decided I need a mobile phone before I do that drive again! My bid was endedd when I accidentally veered off the freeway and landed us in the centre of Moncton. MC tooks us the remainder of the way home, but there was scant opportunity for cruising from there on. I must say when I crossed the border back into Nova Scotia, I felt very relieved to be home. Next year Christmas will be in our house!
I'm going to backtrack now and fill in all the photos from Christmas.
Currently watching: War of the Worlds - and what a load of crap it is and a waste of 2 hours of my life. I wanted to rent a Serenity or a Steven Seagal double bill, but no...

Sliding

Ellie, Thomas and Kassandra sliding in MC's mom's garden. So much snow we could build a pretty decent 10 foot high slide...

Thomas has a go...

Ahh...

The girls again...

Ellie

More importantly...

I got The Princess Bride on DVD, one of the best films ever! Belated Xmas pressie or whatever, Pter Falk, Cary Elwes, Robin Wright, Billy Crystal, Mel Smith, Mandy Potinkin... et al - I can now watch it with Ellie and say "Well, she likes it." but I LOVED it!

The most pointless night...

...here we go again, waiting for the clock to get to midnight - wohoo - not.
I have never understood new year`s eve celebrations, there`s some minutes to go and I`ve drunk the requisite quantity of beer, the usual naff selection of music is being piped out by the radio and we sit, hanging on...
Don`t get me wrong, I`m doing it with the canadian members of my family and I do enjoy their company and it has been a good night, Ellie, Thomas and more little nephews than you can shake a stick at...
But it is just another day... and I am used to going to bed earlier than this... and if I was at home in NS, it would be all over now and I would be in bed!
I fear there will be some sort of toast and I`ll have to choke back one more beer...
The atomic clock tells me I have 11 more minutes so I`ll away.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

even though...!