"Skilled Workers, Professionals & Other Workers
Employment Based Third Preference

The employment based third preference category is divided into:

Professionals: defined as a member of the professions who holds a baccalaureate degree. Members of the professions include, but are not limited to architects, engineers, lawyers, physicians, surgeons, and teachers in elementary or secondary schools, colleges, academies, or seminaries. It also includes any occupation for which a U.S. baccalaureate degree (or foreign equivalent) is the minimum requirement for entry into the occupation.

Skilled workers: defined as a person, who at the time of petitioning, is capable of performing skilled labor, requiring at least 2 years training or experience, not of a temporary or seasonal nature, and for which there are no qualified workers available in the United States. Relevant post-secondary education may be considered as training for the purposes of this provision.

Another busy week in Montreal working long hours, which I tend to do when working out of a hotel room. Nothing much to do on your own no matter how nice the city is.

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I have been watching the Olympics on Canadian Broadcast Company (CBC) channels (while working ) and I find it strange that the Canadians are worse than GB for olympic achievements. In the UK we tend to complain bitterly about our Olympic medal tally, moaning about our lack of sporting achievements. Well today (or perhaps yesterday) the Canadians won their first medal a silver in rowing followed swiftly by a Gold and Bronze in woman's wrestling  ... what happened to the feminine sports. (although I am sure women wrestlers are fine athletes).

Team GB  are doing a fantastic job!!!!  Two amazing swims from the Mansfield girl Rebecca Adlington..... knocking over 2 seconds off the longest standing swimming record for 800m freestyle! She now has two gold medals! Makes me proud to be a Brit . One benefit of living in another country is you get to cheer on two sets of Athletes and have extra chances of winning. (well sometimes)

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I have been working in Montreal for a few weeks now and once again missed a chunk of the summer. For those readers who remember last summer I was off work after a bout of Bells Palsy and the first summer I was working in Toronto. Well the Bell's Palsy is just about all gone. I still have a lop-sided smile and when I purse my lips my right eye closes (the nerves are trying to figure out what signals control which bit of my face).

Anyway it feels good to be home again, even though this weekend will be spent cutting down trees, mowing the grass and on Sunday sneaking in a BBQ with Ceri, Jason and the Davies brood(Owen, Ethan and Ellie).

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The weather is pretty good 25-26c sunny and forecasted to be just a bit lower all the coming week. However last night as we sat outside on the deck at 9pm I detected a chill in the air which we havent felt before...... Summer is ending OMG  - time to start thinking about snow shovels and winterising the lawn mower

I have bitten the bullet and booked my second flight to Calgary. I'll be landing in Calgary on 13th. september. This will be the real job hunting trip and I’m trying to line up interviews in advance. I have two ‘agents’ working on this, and I’m about to chase them as soon as it’s late enough in Calgary. Is 6:00am too early?

This will really be a make or break trip. If I get no positive feedback then I’ll have start looking at jobs in the UK. I won’t be available for work until late January so it’s too soon to start looking yet, but by late September it’s probably worth beginning to start to think about the possibility of looking.

I’ll be staying with my brother-in-law and his wife in their lovely new house. They are moving in at the end of this month, so I don’t even have to help with the move!

The family has returned from THEIR holiday in France, they had a great time especially the kids. They were back only a couple of days before my wife went into hospital for an operation. I’m spending far too much time hanging around hospitals lately. The op’ went well and she’s back home but already doing too much work. The kids are away at grandma’s for a couple of days so it’s just the two of us.

We are still working on tidying up the house to make it more saleable. Just had new stair and landing carpet laid and are fitting a new toilet and basin in the downstairs cloakroom (what’s wrong with avocado anyway?!). All this on top of a £10K reduction in price and still not a sniff of a buyer. The market here is as dead as a dodo. The government might give a stamp duty holiday according to the papers, “No we won’t” says the government. But with such a weak government the papers are making up the policy at the moment.

I visited my brother at The Royal Hospital in Liverpool. The ward and staff are fantastic and he’s making steady progress with the odd set back. I heard today he’s managed to get out of bed and sit in a chair for a while, a big milestone. He’s due to leave Intensive Care and be moved to High Dependency, another milestone.

Well I’m off to pester agents, that’s what they are there for!

SM

It has been sometime since I last made an entry on the blog (about 2 weeks). My excuse is I have been so busy flying backwards and forwards between Fredericton and Montreal, mowing the lawn in between wet weekends and generally trying to get out an enjoy the summer (what little we have had so far).

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Last night we went to the Speedway 660 short circuit race track to watch the Firecracker 150 (150 lap race). This was our second venture to the track and it was as much fun as the first time.  The photo below was downloaded from the 660 site. Check their gallery link below for more photo's

Photo Gallery Speedway 660

Mixture of Street and Pro Stock car racing, great to watch the cars racing around the short circuit track and the thrills and spills of racing over a short distance keeps your attention. There was some pretty impressive driving and crashing last night!.

I am now officially a pseudo Canadian!

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I am the proud owner of a chainsaw ("oh no" I can all you all groan) Yes I know I tend to injury myself with sharp knifes, or display a distinct lack of care when using power tools. I know I was the first person to cut 2 inch strip off a 6 foot fence post with my circular saw (while it was still vertical and set in the ground). It could almost have been an Olympic sport. I can hear it now

"and for the UK on the stool balanced precariously is David Whelbourn competing in the cutting a 2" strip off the 6 foot Fence Post while it is still in the ground event. David is reaching out for his maximum stretch to bring off this amazing display of vertical circular sawing! All this without the aid of safety glasses!!

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But my gravity defying, fence post cutting days are over, as I now become a model of Health & Safety while cutting down trees (not in high heels worth listening too) with my new Echo CS-346 16" Chain Saw.  See picture below for reference

OK now to the family bits.

On Friday 8th August Julie and I celebrated 28 years of being together! I took Jules out on our first date 8th August 1980 at 8pm. Based on Chinese good luck on the number 8 then 8/8/80 8pm could be the secret of our still being together?

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Both Gemma and Kathryn have decided to stay in Canada. I am really pleased they have settled in at last. Now they are talking about buying a Horse!

Well, it's been a while eh?

I am just glad July is over and done with - not that August has had a particularly auspicious start either.

The morning of Thursday the 10th, I got up feeling really unwell - so unwell indeed I swiftly bypassed the ensuite and headed straight to the main bathroom.  There was no way I was going in there to errupt with an audience straight through the rather flimsy wall....

I felt so dizzy that I nearly fainted - saved by the bathroom wall that I smacked my forehead off as I just about fell over.  The pain steadied me a bit at least.  I proceeded to spend most of the morning galloping in and out of the bog.  There is no polite way of putting this: I ended up pooing pure blood and the stomach cramps were indescribably painful.  I was crying with the pain and I think I have a pretty high pain threshold.  Phil had gone out early on his motorbike and hadn't realised just how bad I was and thankfully the girl was in Hamilton.  Eventually I phoned him up but it took him an hour to get back from Levin.  He took me straight down to the local A & E and that's when it got really bad.  They took one look at the enormous bruise on my forehead that had ripened since the morning and I had been completely oblivious to of due to feeling so unwell and you could tell straight away that they thought he had done it.  Bear in mind I am 5ft 3 and he is 6ft 1....He got some filthy looks and I got several indirect questions about how it had happened.  They seemed more intrerested in the bruise than in my pain.  They gave me IM (injection) pain relief and something to stop the stomach cramps and sent me to Wellington Hospital.  I went throught their A & E with the same suspicious looks and ended up on a drip and IV painkillers for 4 days.  I reckon the bastards had the drip set far too high because by the time I got home home I looked like the bloody Michelin Man and had put on a stone...pretty difficult when you are 'nil by mouth' for 4 days eh?  They finally gave me  a sigmoidoscopy - and I can tell you - that sodding hurt.  I swear I was trying to spew the camera out and it wasn't even down my throat.  They thought it might be either diverticulitis (which they reckon I would be a bit young for) or an ulcer.  But having had an ulcer many years ago, it doesn't feel like an ulcer to me.  Thet never did pin it down but I have to go for a colonoscopy next week - and I ain't looking forward to that I can tell you.  Not to worry, after a week or so, the pain stopped and my body feels like it belongs to me again.  Several of my friends and colleagues texted me to say they would come and visit but I just felt too poorly to be able to do that.  But their concern for my welfare touched me deeply so thank you all for that.

On a brighter note, here we are on the bike....

It's a Ducati multistrada 1100S...apparently!!  Youn know me, I'm so not technical....I neither know nor care about anything mechanical.....

I love going out on the bike.  I've seen more of New Zealand from the back of that bike than I have in the whole time before I met Phil.  It's bloody marvellous!!  I guess it's one of the things I didn't realise was missing from my life until I got it back.  That's me, kitted out from head to foot and loving it.  Just waiting for summer so we can really get out and about.

And we move this Friday!!  We are only going to another house in Whitby but it will suit our needs better.  It has 4 bedrooms and two separate lounges and a double garage. This house simply isn't big enough for two adults, one teenager, one large dog and two cats.....

Unfortunately, Telecom tell me that we are with the Waitangarua exchange here and the new address is with the Whitby exchange so we can't take the phone number with us.  But for those of you who need to know, give me a phone or drop me an email and I will endeavour to give you the new address and land line number.

And best of all, the girl was awarded player of the day for the match last weekend!!  For a quine who never played until a month or so ago, she is doing so well!!  I picked her up from practice the other day and the coach told me she has really upped her game.  Well done that girl!!  And the trophy in glowing technicolour.........!!

And to my lovely, lovely Kat:  hope you are enjoying your holiday.  Kat gave me a huge amount of time and support in Hamilton when I really needed a friend.  Thank you so much for that Kat.  Just hope that I have been of some small help to you recently.

Well the Beasties (Lynne, John and their two sons Micheal and David) arrived in Canada and stayed with us for the weekend. Strange really we had never met and yet we all got along really well. Friday night we all went out toKingswood to participate in that age old sport of tin pin skittles. We had to put the kids on their own lane so they wouldnt be too embarrassed by our amazing scores  . A great night out for $30 for 8 people

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Saturday was our combined birthday party, Kathryn was 21 on Thursday, Gemma was 18 (March 1st) and I was 50 (March 16th). So this was the yearly celebration of us hitting special birthdays. Julie invited about 60 people and I think we had about 40 (not bad seeing as it is the height of holiday season).  Potluck contributions added to the Joints of Beef, Pork and a 15lb Turkey that Jules cooked (plus about 5lb of steamed baby potatoes). We finished about 2am Sunday morning  Good night had by all.

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Sunday was more subdued event all together, BBQ dinner of some stupendous ribs, amazing tasty chicken kebabs with Kathyrn's grillable cheese (some sort of mozzerella) and the ever popular hotdogs. Sunday evening we all trouped out to Under the Stars to watch Steve McQueen and Faye Dunway in the original Thomas Crowne Affair. I must admit I preferred the Pierce Brosnan version, but hey it was a free night out. On our return we spotted a Skunk next door, and while sitting out having a coffee our friendly neighbourhood Racoon(Bandit) decided to come onto the deck and check us all out

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I am in Montreal all week and looking forward to a rest this coming weekend!

First of all thanks for the kind replies and PMs regarding my brother's health. He's been transferred to the Royal in Liverpool and is getting world class treatment. He's making slow progress but is heading in the right direction. Once again thanks.

This has taken my mind off Canada and one more distraction has been a Calgary IT agency. They get a very good write up by Eamonn, who has used them and I tried to register with them. However they require you to be located in Canada and have a visa. Try and get a visa without a job (or job offer). Joseph Heller would be laughing in his grave. On top of this our house sale is moving at less than a snails pace. First week, two couples looking round, second, one and third none. Now the fourth weekend and not a sniff. It would be a good time to view as the family have set off for France today and the chances of keeping the place clean and tidy increase exponentially with fewer feet to dirty it. Lots of other unrelated irritating things have occurred. A routine service for the car ends up costing £600. I have bought cars for less than that! Our front door has decided to stop closing. The locksmith (a genuine guy) says he can't fix it as that lock is no longer made and we may need to get a new front door! I have just set up a wireless router which went OK until I tried to login to work using a VPN (don't ask!). No luck. I call work, they say call Virgin Media. I call them and they say call Netgear (the router manufacturer). I call them and they say call my work. Is that Joe H I hear sniggering? Being able to login from home means I can work from home. Not being able means travelling to Canary Wharf, no fun there.

All in all I was beginning to cool on the idea of a move when we got good news from Calgary. My wife's brother and his wife have have been renting for a couple of years and have just had an offer accepted of a lovely house in the South of the city. Photos look great and it would be in our price range as well. Reminds us of why we are looking to move. Just the lift I needed.

I'll be booking my flight for the September job hunting trip next week. I hope to line up some proper job interviews and try to firm up the visa application side of things. So if you know of any firms looking for a Data Architect (don't ask), data modeller, business analyst, or even turner/miller/driller (no not that, I haven't done real work for about 20 years!) drop me line.

Nil desperandum.

SM

We were working on putting the finishing touches to the basement when the lights flickered on and off then ....pzzt darkness befell us.

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There was a power cut I called into to NB Power to report an outage. We sat on the deck enjoy our enforced break and I took advantage of the dire situation and used my Kelly Kettle to knock up a quick brew... Really impressed Julie with my emergency preparedness. The NB power truck turned up and and the girls went outside to the front to watch the fuss. SHOCK HORROR it was a squirrel who caused the power cut! The conversation went something like this.

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"What colour is the squirrel is it red or grey?" (daughter asks NB power man),

NB Power man answers ..."I dont know, but It is black now!" (he missed of the crispy bit of the description).

Sadness decends,  OMG it could be Rusty our relatively tame Red Squirrel who eats out of your hand We know the cable was one of Rusty's routes across all the drive ways.

 Rusty in winter (well April) ahhh isnt he cute?

(actually it is a she, I checked when it crawled up the screen in front of me )

Jokes about roasted nuts do not go down well. Or my remarks about terrorists training suicide squirrels to sabotage the decadent Western electrical supply.

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Anyway today I call home to let them know I am still alive in Montreal, and the first thing I hear is that Rusty is alive and well. It serves that other squirrel right for using Rusty's route   Women are soooooo weird. 

Home again after a week of travels. (I definitely see Fredericton as home now). I started the week in Newfoundland - prounounced similar to understand with an emphasis on NewfundLarnnd. I love the accent and the Newfies are really friendly and welcoming to all. (even the English ).

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I spent all monday teaching a group of 12 on the fundamentals of project management and felt exhausted at the end of the day. I enjoyed it the whole day I get such satisfaction out of seeing the lights going on when they understand the point I am making. Teaching is fun. PS I had a great opportunity to reverse the phrase I often hear, I told the class I love their accent

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While in Halifax I managed to find a Kelly Kettle  and I felt compelled to buy one as I have been admiring them for a couple of years. To those of you who have never seen or heard of a Kelly Kettle, you need to know it is one of the greatest inventions to come out of Ireland. It is a device for boiling water (damn obvious because it is called a Kettle) anyway here is a picture from their site showing how it works.

The fire is fuelled by pine cones, twigs, leaves, newspaper any old bits of fuel you can pick up while hiking. My version is the Pint version and it boils enough water for two mugs of coffee in about 3 - 5 minutes. The kettle will be for camping / day outs to whip up a quick cup of coffee, make some cuppa soups etc... I am thinking of getting the 2.5 pint version for our 72 hour emergency kit. 

Kathryn has already laid claim to it when I die. I guess that starts to happen more when you are 50 , "Dad, I love your .... can I have it when you die?" I don't consider it callous just practical plus it cuts down on death duties HAHAHAAHA (by the way they don't have death duties in Canada so your family keep the value of everything you have accumulated)

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Greasy Gary is my secret name for a new ground hog we have under the shed. It is a young pup and the girls all insist on giving our wildlife residents cute names.  Although the Racoon's name has changed from Petunia to Bandit while I have been away. I guess it is because Petunia was it's mother's name (dont try to rationalise it, just go with the flow).

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We had our annual Newcomers Club Potluck BBQ yesterday. Location Mactaquac's Centenial York Park. When we arrive it was drizzling and overcast, but like true Brits going to the beach on a summers day we persisted.

Then the sun came out and we had a great time. I think there was about 34 people including kids. Stuart and I were flipping the burgers, wieners, corn cobs and some sausages. This was accompanied with a whole pile of green salads, potato salad, bottles of coke, lemonade etc finished off with several cakes (Virginia made an excellent Banana Cake), water melon etc... I think we finished about 6pm so 4 hours of fun and it was great to see the tennis cricket game using the empty burger boxes as wickets. I didn't get any pictures sorry.

One thing that I was considering about a move to Canada was what to do when the inevitable happens and someone in the family gets ill or dies. I was of the opinion that I wouldn’t come back for funerals. I don’t know why I thought this, I don’t really mind funerals. Being from an Irish background funerals are generally celebrations of a life lived rather than morose affairs. Both my Mum and Dad have passed one now and my family all seem to be in good health.

But there I was making policy decisions when suddenly I get a call from my sister saying my brother had been taken into hospital. He has severe acute pancreatitis and was seriously ill. They gave him a 70% chance of living, but of course that means a 30% chance of dying. This was completely out of the blue, he’d been playing golf the day before. On Sunday I get on my scooter and in four hours I’m in Chester to see him. He’s in the High Dependency Unit but might get moved to an Intensive Care ward if he doesn’t improve. He would be moved to The Royal in Liverpool as they are the regional centre for Pancreas related illness, but they have no beds. I’m impressed by the care and treatment he’s getting in Chester but know he would be better off in Liverpool as that is the specialist unit for his condition. He looks as ill as he is, and has every kind of tube and monitor imaginable. Every time I go in he’s got more equipment around his bed. I’m really glad I can get to see him so quickly and know that if I was in Canada I would feel just the same and want to get there ASAP. So much for policy, emotion takes over when it happens for real and that’s when you know what you really want to do. The best laid plans of mice and men…

SM

Montreal all week again, I decided to let them suffer my version of French and ordered all my meals in French, even if the waiter was speaking in English.  

Of course the smiled graciously and replied in English (thank god). Montreal is a nice city. However I wake up to the morning news and hear about drive by shootings, drug arrests and general low level stuff. Whereas in New Brunswick is is more ..... hmmm mundane. Except for this week when the police had to shoot at someone and grazed him, he stole their police car and ended up rolling it. The said they needed to taser him when he got out because he was still threatening them! That was in Campbellton in Northern NB miles from quiet old Fredericton.

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The work there is going well and hopefully I will be completed by the 8th August. I am planning to be in Fredericton for the week of the 21st July as it is Kathryn's 21st Birthday. Hey a father has to be sensitive to some things. and I am renowned for my sensitivity or lack of it.

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The basement is finished (well my bit is ) I put up the ceiling this very day.  Now Julie will whip some paint on it and we will put in the single bed's, ready for visitors.  Hmmmm   perhaps we should open a B&B ..... on second thoughts perhaps not.

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Next week is another busy one, with me doing the rounds of 4 Provinces in 5 days. Newfoundland Sunday - Monday, Nova Scotia Tuesday Wednesday , Quebec Thursday, Friday morning and back to New Brunswick on Friday afternoon  it is good for the air miles collection.  Well thats all I have time for so I will sign off and go enjoy the lovely evening. The summer is progressing nicely with average temperatures around 26-27c sunny for the last two weeks and forecasted for all of next week too!

So why not go back to NZ?

That was the question I was asked recently. I have indefinite PR as does my wife. My son was born there so has two passports! My daughter (5) would need some sort of visa but that shouldn’t be a problem.

So what’s wrong with NZ? In short, nothing! We loved out time there (1995-1998). We only left when my well paid contract with NZ Telecom was terminated with a permanent job offer at 75% of my previous wage. Still a good living wage but we would need to make some sacrifices. Number one being fewer (if any) trips back to the UK. I could have lived with that, but my wife couldn’t. She had missed her Mum since coming over and with our son arriving while there it had gotten worse. So we packed up and headed back in April 1998, (smart enough to get two summers in a row). I got contract work in IT again, we managed to scrape together a deposit and got on the property ladder again.

Whenever times got hard or I just got bored I would look at the PR in my passport and think about going back. I even went as far as paying to get the PR certificate transferred from my old expired passport into my new one. But it is so very far away and the family ties are just as strong. Economically NZ does not seem to make as much sense as Canada, the difference between average wage and average house price is just too great in NZ. It’s tempting to go there, no immigration problems, I still have contacts as Telecom so a job may not be too difficult, but no. It’s Canada or stay at home (home being UK for the time being).

I was riding to work this morning on my scooter (a 400cc Piaggio X8, not a push along toy) through a lovely part of rural England. I ride about 50km (30miles) from Ware Herts. to Canary Wharf in East London. You might imagine this is a grim ride through industrial squalor and yes it can be. An alternative route takes in small villages with Norman churches and old pubs, ancient forest (beware of the deer) and finally into the modern splendour of Canary Wharf. That’s one thing I know I’ll miss if we do make the move. England is very pretty, green and full of historic places. I ones lived in Wanborough Manor near Guildford which dates back to 1080 (or the church does) and I can’t imagine getting that amount of history in Calgary. Still Alberta does have amazing archaeological stuff going back millions of years.

I work about half way up One Canada Square, that’s the pointy one in the middle. I get views of the Thames from Tower Bridge to QE2 Bridge (if you have binoculars). While I was in Calgary I went up the Calgary Tower. I got a spectacular view of the Rockies, well actually I bought a post card put it by the window and squinted. The Rockies were out there somewhere in the mist and rain and occasionally you would glimpse them like giant ghosts teasing you by playing hide and seek. I suspect even on a clear day they would be too far away to see them at their best. We did a trip to Banff the day before we left just to prove to ourselves these mountains really did exist, well worth the trip.

I'm just not able to be left in front of the log burner without attempting to immolate myself.  I don't know what it is:  one of my collegues has suggested I am a burn magnet and Phil says I am a self harmer; but apparently as soon as I so much as look at the log burner I seem to burn myself.  I know I'm careless but dear me, you have no idea how much damage I have done to my hands and foreams feeding the flames.   I have several burns, large and small strewn accross myself.  The worst one on when I was too lazy to move the drying washing and leant across to open the door.  Hell, Karen, didn't you recall you lit it 3 hours previously?  Didn't you think it might be hot..........errmmmmmm - NO, I didn't think and sutained a large burn to my left foream.....  I know, I know, no sense, no feeling - whatever.... 

But today at work, I think I may have christened the brand new all singing, all dancing stove they have just bought for the delectation of the patients and the dismay of myself.  I was making shepherd's pie for about 20+ people and managed to burn my pinkie putting one of the trays in the oven.  Damn me, it hurt like an absolute bastard but at least I didn't drop it.  It is so bad, it hasn't even blistered, just seared the skin to the degree I looked like a freeezer burnt piece of chicken.  Last time I cook at work...well at least until they get some decent oven gloves.

Still haven't found somewhere else to live but not for lack of trying.  Not to worry, something will turn up and that will be the next hurdle over with.

The girl has been playing netball for the school team and by all accounts seems to be doing really well.  The coach fronted up to me one day when I went to pick her up from practice and said she has really upped her game.  That's just so good to hear as Melissa seems to be taking it seriously and has put quite some time and effort into practicing.

We went to Phil's Mum's bach  at Waikawa Beach the other weekend.  For those who are not familiar with the term bach, it is a holiday home, generally by the beach but not necessarily so.  A very basic acomodation, usually quite small and spartan.  There are of course exceptions to this rule but that is usually the case.  Anyway, we took Beth as well and although the weather wasn't great, the girls spent most of their time out with the dog on the beach, playing in the dunes.  Come the evening, they were buggered.  So, when at about 6pm, Melissa asked me what the time was, I (as a completely throwaway remark), said it 10pm.  She asked Phil what the exact time was and without missing a beat, he said 9.45...........so the upshot of it all was the girls thought they stayed up until about 3am in the morning but in actual fact they went to bed about 11pm, thinking they had got one over on us.  They weren't best pleased the next day when we confessed.   But it was SO worth it!!

And talking of the girl: she has gone to Hamilton for part of the school holidays.  Scottie has been seen lurking in the vicinity and Poppy has taken up residence in my bedroom.  Which annoys me no end as I hate the drift of cat hair that then envelops my pillow and personal space.  But she is pretending to be be afraid of the dog which is complete bollocks as she strolled straight past him in the living room one night and he was so amazed by her audacity he forgot to try to chase her.  The dog seems to be missing the girl as she is his handmaiden and likes to walk, feed and generally attend to his every whim when she is here.

And it's fricking freezing here Mr Bigglesworth!!!  Damn me, I hate the way that houses here don't have central heating.  I hurt my shoulder about 6 weeks ago and finally had to go the the quack's yesterday.  Mostly because it was so sodding cold yesterday morning, it made my shoulder ache so badly I could barely get out of bed.  Now,  warm and blissfully out of it on various painkillers, it doesn't hurt that much at all - that coupled with the fact I have the next few days off.....and a couple of lagers inside me to boot....

Phil and I have finally told our colleagues we are seeing each other and as It is common practice here not to have couples working together, he starts work at a linked unit next week.  That will actually suit him far better as the lack of consistency on my unit really messes with his head.  So, onwards and upwards people - it's all good here!

I have a couple of agents lined up for job hunting in Calgary. Well one is a real agent, i.e. does job finding for IT people. The other is the MD of a SW development company who does some head hunting on the side. That seems quite common in Calgary (Canada at large maybe?). Both do not seem too keen on contacting companies with my resume (see not CV, but the proper Canadian term!) until they are sure I'm really commited to moving. I get the impression that they don't want to get a reputation for putting forward time wasters. Reputation seems very important there. As the wiki says personal contact makes all the difference in job hunting.

Despite this I have been trawling the web pages and have found a few jobs I could apply for. So my resume (there did it again!) has winged it way to one airline (already knocked back), and two oil/gas companies. I'm not sure what the reaction is when HR get an application for someone 7000km away and with no visa (yet). Mild laughter or side splitting ridicule? I'm honing my cover letter to make it sound like December is but a few weeks away. Actually I have a spreadsheet which calculates my time remaining. 20.86 weeks! But only 104 working days, if you can call this working! I'll follow up the application with a phone call, probably after Stampede as I hear not much gets done for 10 days! Do business men really go to work dressed as cowboys?

My company has been taken over and my department has reduced from a high of about 15 to just three of us. Most of the others have left the building but a few have found other places in the new organisation. Still I'm not complaining as the package will pay for my move to Canada.

Ah well, 834 hours and counting. Let's see what tomorrow brings

SM

I was in bed with the flu when my brother in law and his wife were over from Calgary for their first visit since moving there a couple of years ago. The extended family went out for lunch while I lay in bed moaning to myself. When my wife got back she said her brother had suggested we move to Canada.

“I’m Sure you would be all in favour I that (not)!" To my complete amazement she said it might be a good idea! Was this flu more serious than I thought? Was I imagining things? "What about your Mum?" She had been at the lunch as was all in favour as she wanted to move there as well. That's it I was having hallucinations.

Well it did make some sense in some ways. I had been informed my company would no longer require my services come December, and were offering me a small pile of money to piss off. Our children are 11 and 5 so it's a good time to move them. While certainly not hating England, we both hoped for a better environment for our children while they grew up. We live in leafy Hertfordshire and certainly not in the teenage hunting zone of London, but we close enough to worry.

So pretty much over night we start to look at the possibility of moving to Calgary. It was just a few weeks after that we headed down to Gatwick for our flight to Calgary. A nine hour delay didn't help, but we landed on 1st June 2008 ready for anything, well ready for bed actually. Our Sister in Law took the day off and showed us around. we had lunch we another Brit' ex pat who loved Calgary. Over the course of  a week I met up with a couple of job agents who were hopeful my qualifications and experience would be in demand, but didn't know much about the immigration procedure. We also looked at a couple of schools and generally got a feel for the place. What really impressed us was the housing. Compared to our three bedroom semi detached these places were palaces.

My wife had concerns about living in what she considered a big city. We looked at Cochrane and Okotoks but found them a bit too small and distant. But after a week we thought Calgary city would suit us fine and certainly save on my commute. We had lived in Auckland NZ for three years in the mid nineties and expected Calgary to be similar. They are both cities of about 1M people, fairly new, rapid recent growth. But they feel very different. Calgary has a real city centre where as Auckland’s city has little to offer but has several mini centres (Newmarket, Ponsonby and Parnell for example).  

We came home with no show stoppers. We could see ourselves living in Calgary and our children growing there, now to make it happen! First get a job offer, get a visa, and get over there.  Easy really.

We even went to the Canada Expo’ and weren’t put off!  That would make a good T-shirt!

We had a family holiday planned for end of July/start of August. My Mother in Law has taken my place while I plan a job hunting trip to Calgary in September or thereabouts. I don't have enough holiday for both.

There’s a long way to go yet and we may never make it. But eleven weeks after the shock announcement we are still on course.

SM

Well it is the 5th of July and I am back at home!

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The last 2 weeks have been a whirl of work. Yes I know we emigrated so I would have more time with the family but occassionally I need to put in some extra time and I think until August I will be very busy flying, working and not sleeping very well.

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I am working in Montreal of the next 3-4 weeks helping to replan a very large project. There is alot of cultural sensitivity about being seen as a collaborative experience rather than a English led session. I was worried that my genetic inability to speak French would be a problem. But it was fine, I mutter my pathetic attempts to speak the language with Bon Jour and Jer Voudrais Cafe Noir but then go and ruin it be finishing with Por Favor or Gracias  Anyway it keeps the Montrealeans amused

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I love Montreal! It is a beautiful vibrant city, which mixes English and French without any effort. You will hear 'Bonjour, Hello' and however you respond they switch into the appropriate language. Without making you feel guilty . Very different to Quebec city.

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Julie and Kathryn were very excited when I phoned home on Thursday. They saw a Skunk in the flowerbed (see Lupin photo previously) and it then walked around to the bird table. They were sat on the deck, no more than 8-10 feet away. I wonder what the average Skunk squirting range is? Mental note to buy some Skunk Stinking Shampoo just in case.

I flew into Fredericton Airport yesterday at around 11:30pm and drove home. I often use the cruise control to stop me speeding on the local highway. So as I came off the highway on to the local road I resumed the cruise control and carried on down the hill when ..... flashing Police lights oh bum speeding! I dutifully pulled over and waited. The young constable came over and told me I was doing 103kph in a 70 zone! In my head I calculated that to be about $250 -300 fine. Then he recognised me from the accident where I was rear-ended. It was the same constable who recorded the accident a couple of weeks ago. He commented on my hugging of the other driver, (well she hugged me but what the heck) and he then gave me a written notice of warning telling me it would be $250 fine next time  So next time you have an accident in Canada, hug the other driver and don't get angry it might save you from a speeding ticket

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Next two three weeks I am clocking up some serious air miles with flights to St John's Newfoundland, Halifax Nova Scotia and Montreal and finally back to Fredericton  Then perhaps a restful summer.

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The pool looks inviting it is 26c and sunny tomorrow is forecasted to be 29c so I am off to swim. Have a great weekend where ever you are!

So happy at the moment!!

Life continues to be blissful.....

Well, apart from finally having to present my teaching session tomorrow but I have put it together properly and barring major disaster, it ought to go OK.

I have rediscovered my passion for motorbikes.  Phil has a big f**k off Ducati and seeing as I have just spent shitloads on new bike gear, I intend to get full use out of them.  I had forgotten the sheer thrill of being on the back of a motorbike with a seriously competent rider.   I still reckon he was trying to scare me the other day as we went over a pretty windy, twisty road.  He reckons not but it didn't work anyway.  Finding enjoyment in things you had forgotten about is so good - brings back your passion for living - and I now realise I wasn't in a good space for quite some time.  I guess I now have some validation that I am not completely useless and worthless.  And that is just so fulfilling.

The girl is now playing for the school netball team!!  Well done that girl!!

We are taking Beth and Melissa up to the batch over the weekend  - and as we only get one full weekend off in 6, I'm really looking forward to it.

OK, short but so 'saweet'!!  {that, to my ears is how Kiwis pronounce sweet!}

Today has been a beautiful sunny day right from the start.

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I awoke early (6:30am) and eventually got out of bed at 7:00am made big cup of tea and sat out on the deck in the morning sun. I love the summer mornings here. No noise other than birds singing and I sat sipping my tea and thinking about nothing much in particular. Luxury!. Kathryn was up about 8am to go for breakfast with some of her friends before working today.

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Julie and Gemma got out of bed about 9am and we all sat our on the deck with a boiled egg breakfast. So civilised

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I have a couple of photos for you. one of the above ground pool now full and a nature shot taken by Gemma the ace photographer.

15 foot diameter and 4 foot deep.Visitors to be bring your cozies!

Gemma's bumblebee close up using my Fuji S7000 in Macro mode

In the afternoon we went off to Wilmot Park for the Newcomers club Potluck Picnic in the Park event. We had a good turn out of about 30+ and we played some boules, tennis, badmington and frizbee throwing. The beauty of the potluck concept is everyone contributes some food and collectively you have a great meal. We took a potato salad and a pile of chicken wings with an orange sauce. Everyone had a good time and it lasted from 3- to around 6pm.   Sorry no group photo this time (too busy having a good time ).

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We have just finished mowing the grass and are exhausted. Mowing our half acre of lawns is certainly a good way to get fit.  One thing I noticed surprisingly few mosquitos today (Megacatcher is doing its job!) . I would say this summer we have used about half the amount of repellent we would normally use. So now we are relaxing with a coffee, slice of toast and waiting for an episode of Lewis which is being broadcast on the New England PBS channel.

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This coming week I am in Halifax and next weekend is a long weekend after which I am off to Montreal. They want me to carry out some replanning on a very large project ($100 million) .  I guess they have more confidence in me than I thought, or it is in such a mess they think I cannot make it worse