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| The ups and downs of our planned new life to NZ, warts and all! |
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We have had snow, but then it was followed by a huge rain storm which flooded our basement (again ... I'm planning ceramic tiles for the basement floor, I am not pulling up anymore carpet Christmas day was a cold -10c brrrr (including wind chill), but who cares when you have had a good family morning, lots of presents and oohs, arrs and thank you's. Great christmas dinner and then a walk around the Beaver pond to help the digestion. . I was lucky enought to get some great pressies, a dressing gown (extra thick), a blindingly powerful 21 LED torch (flashlight for you people from North America), a knife sharpener, a battery charger, socks, diary, couple of card games (nice and compact) and a partridge in a pear tree(well a picture of a British Robin drawn and framed by Gemma). . Well our first snow storm is forecasted to hit tonight and all through tomorrow with the forecast ranging from 20-30-60cm (depending on who you listen too). I am expecting 30ish cm and I have already run up the snowblower to make sure everything is alright. Also in preparation I have brought in the final 1/2 cord of wood that was sitting next to the house under a tarpaulin. We have enough wood, enough food and drink to see us out to the New Year | ||
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). 
. Christmas with the just the four of us is very relaxing. No travelling and no guests who need to be looked after, get up when we want, eat when we want and snooze in the chair when we want (well I do 
).
. I had better test the generator, it has been a while since I ran it up, and big snowfall could bring down some lines
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Well it has happened again (second time this year)
. Lots of flooding everywhere and the rivers look as deep as they are in the spring melt! Roads washed out, basements flooded and power outages (not us though). . Oh well we are getting good at mopping out and using a dehumidifier to remove the damp out of the basement. . One good thing, if this had been snow we would have received over 6 feet, | ||
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. The basement flooded with puddles of water up to 1 inch deep. We have received over 4 inches of rain in two days and in St Stephen they received in excess of six inches (2 months rainfall in 24 hours). Where did the road go?
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It has been gently snowing in flurries the last few days, but there is no real accumulation, it just looks pretty. Christmas is fast approaching and the expense is piling up (bah humbug). . Jules asked me to chop down another tree from the garden for our indoor christmas tree. I jump up to do this because it means I can play with the chainsaw.... despite the trunk only being 3" wide.... . Julie's car (Ford Focus 2005) wouldn't start yesterday. The battery was completely flat. Typical.... just before christmas we have to go and buy a battery! So trip out today turned into a expensive one, $112 for the battery, $50 for alcohol (beer, sherry and wine), $64 to fill the petrol tank on my Ford Escape (55 litres ish), and a partridge in a pear tree! On the plus side Jules has whipped up a beautiful Sherry trifle and some sausage rolls. . Kathryn's Chrysler Neon (2001) has a flat tyre so I have attempted to change the for the temporary spare but someone has torqued the wheel nuts on with at 4000/lb per sq in (or I am just getting to old to undo the bloody thing). Anyway she has to take it to a service centre to get it changed ($75 .... but not mine Tonight we are going visiting and taking the sausage rolls . I wonder if I can get away with claiming the car battery for Jules is a christmas pressie? | ||
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as a 'potluck contribution'... oh well easy come, easy go. I will have to push her to produce a double batch next time.
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Well it is december and Christmas is fast approaching! OMG presents to buy, cards to write.... oh no I just remembered, I have the cards I wrote out last year and forgot to give out... . We live in a rather deceptively large 3 floor cape cod style house. Approximately 2,500 square feet. Our equalized electricity bill is $369 per month (that is all cooking, lighting, most of the heating etc...). Well last year when they announced it would be 369 per month I decided enough was enough and we would have to take measures to reduce our demand and bill. Electricity rates are only going one way UP. The result of turning off the TV at the socket (so it isnt on standby) and chasing around switching off lights in empty rooms, purchasing an 600w oil filled radiator and using that to heat the lounge rather than radiant heat in the ceiling (stupid idea) has left us $700 in credit . It is Eggnog Season again for those of you who have always wondered what the heck Eggnog is is a sweetened drink made with milk and/or cream, sugar and beaten eggs (which gives it a frothy texture), and flavoured with ground cinnamon and nutmeg. It is not Advocaat. Although you can add rum / brandy to it to spice it up a little. The French name for it is Poulet-Lait (Chicken Milk). The girls love it and drink lots when Jules buys it. I get the odd small glass but it isnt something I would drink everyday. . Winter is everywhere it seems, the UK is blanketed in snow and temperatures plummenting to -20c. Bringing the usual chaos in its wake. Here we also received snow pretty early and -11c temperatures. But today the temperate has soared to +7c accompanied with rain and it has washed all the snow away | ||
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Lets talk more about the whole assignment I got in trouble for because at the end of the day what else do I have to do with my life right now, I have a big pile of ironing and some dirty dishes! So I hopped onto an assignment it was a big assignment which needed 10 people for the day time and 10 people for the night time. Neil suggested that I use the bus rather than the car to get to and from work and that should be a blog entry in itself. I used to have to get up early, get myself to the bus stop that would just get me there in the nick of time, so I would have to run down the road. My first day on the job was laughable, what should I call the client.....................let me think. I'll call them Integrity. Why you ask, well this is one of Integrity's "core values" there big on that sort of stuff in Canada but to be honest I'm not sure if Integrity knew what it meant. So I press the buzzer to get in, the receptionist was sooooo slow at actually approaching the door. I think in her past life she was a sloth. She never smiled, I thought maybe I needed to see her a few times. So I walk up to the counter and she asked to see my ID. I looked at her and turned white, what the hell did she mean ID! "A temping company" told me to wear blue or beige pants and steal toed shoes but nothing was said about an ID. Was I going to be made to go home? I was made to sit in a corner while I saw other temps come in and show their driving licences, my blood was boiling. Before I got this assignment I had to have a security check where was that? are you telling me there are lots of young ladies called Cassie from "A temping Company" trying to get into the building? So I'm sat there while they are trying to get in touch with "A temping company" in order to get a copy of my passport. Jesus Christ I felt like I was in customs. After about 15 mins another temp from "A temping Company" came through the door she didn't have ID either because she had got there by bus. Sloth told her that she needed it if she wanted to work. I said "Come and join me, I wasn't told this either!" The woman was just as annoyed as me, probally either worse she was mouthing off louder than me. So this was the first impression of this assignment, totally disorganised and unprofessional, this was the tip of the iceberg. Now lets be honest here, of all the important things why didn't "A temping Company" tell me I needed ID!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We might as well have been called the social misfits temping agency, the work ethic of these other temps I was working with was unbelieveable. Was I seriously being compared to these people. I found the majority of them to be quite odd, I tried to keep my mouth shut and just get used to them. The first day was training day, we were taken to an upstairs lunch room and introduced to our supervisor now what can I call him that rounds him up nicely.................... lets call him Mr Scattered. He didn't have a projector so he was off for ages to find that then came back then he didn't have this then went away and came back this went on for an hour. Can you believe this, I was being paid to just sit there and do nothing. Some people like that sort of thing but i'm a worker, I come to work and get paid to work, I hate the fact when I haven't got anything. Can companies afford to loose and waste money like that and there was seven of us $98 down the drain on nothing. If you knew you had a load of temps starting wouldn't you get your crap together and have everything you needed to conduct a meeting? Is that not just common sense.......................... I often wonder about people I really do. So when Mr Scatter got his act together there was a whole presentation on Integrity as a company and how to do the job. We went from one room to the other Mr Scatter kept forgetting to bring things to be honest I was having to control my giggles, I was kinding it embarressing and laughable. What a company Intgrity was turning out to be. During all these meeting I noticed one of the misfits seemed to be falling asleep, i'll call her McSleep. apparently she used to be a manager at a well known fast food company and she knew how to do tax, that's why she was working as a temp. Yes McSleep was going to sleep, I ignored it and tried to keep my focus on the training. The whole day was spent doing a computer test and reading paper, it was full on. The next day we were let loose on work. So the first stage of the job was Archive boxes of paper, it was full of paper. Within this box there were files and most files had there blue sheets, the blue sheets were the barcodes for the computer softwear. The softwear seperated each blue sheet to make a file for the PDF, the end purpose for the client was to give him his disk and 1200 boxes were now going to be on a few disks. It sounded fantastic, what a great idea. Big oil company didn't have to hold all that paper and Integrity got paid lots and lots of money. So our purpose was to sort through the boxes, take one piece of paper lift it up, check there are no staples, post-its blocking information, no dog ears which were turned over sides. It had to be a perfect sheet of paper that could go through the scanner as easy as possible. Small items had to be flagged with bright red cards, the job wasn't rocket sicence but it was repetitive. There were a lot of boxes to go through. The assignment started well, we got to know every aspect of McSleeps life, how she meet a guy over the internet from Africa and fell in love. She went over to see him and he stole money off her. It was quite the story, she had lots of them. She always knew someone that was dying, had hip replacements, or some other form of sickness that they had to spend so much time in hospital. We spent two weeks doing that untill one day Mr Scatter wanted two people for the scanning room two people said straight out they didn't want to do it . Now lets stop, as a temp are you not told what to do, can you really say no I don't want to do this that or the other? Miss Team Leader said she was not going to do it and firmly put her foot down. Miss Team Leader is one of the other temps but she later promoted herself and I'll get to that story. It put the fear into me about scanning, was it really that bad. Most of the temps refused to do it and got on the band wagon. Mr Scatter chose Doppledanger and McSleep. McSleep was over the moon she thought she had got this big promotion but the sound of the scanner may have been like a lullaby to her and yes you guessed it she kept falling asleep. She actually fell asleep on the job can you believe that? Now let me tell you "A temping company" only deals in Specialized Administraion Professional remember that one. Cough Cough. So McSleeps days were numbers, she had to go home and count sheep there and that's when I was asked to become a scanner, I thought whatever, may as well. Scanning wasn't that bad but everday I didn't seem to be getting the same numbers my doppledanger kept getting, I was getting about 5 a day but doppledanger got 10 maybe even 14 at times. What was she doing that I wasn't and it turned out she was picking her boxes alot more wisely than I was. I had this problem at the retail store, fudge the figures to make yourself look good! My problem with that was all the boxes need to be done wheather there were half full or full. As the weeks moved on I was still hitting low figures and needed to start "playing the game". My figures started to increase, I started to find out what box number I needed to be at before lunch and if I needed a light box or not to get me there. The tracking forms were based on box number not paper number so the whole tracking sheet information keeper system was floored. How does Integrity know if it was a hard box or not? So my integrity was being damaged, I was letting the system beat me! no I wasn't proud of myself I turned myself into a cheat because I didn't want to look bad. It was either jump on board with the tricks of the trade and look like an all star or quite possibly get fired because my numbers didn't look good "on paper" What I normally like to do is fight the system and tell them their figures/targets are BS, there was no way you could do eight jam packed boxes in a shift. You had to look in them in order to twick your figures. The weeks went past and over time Dopledanger and I started to notice the quality of work coming to us was getting worse. Staples were being missed, post it's were being missed our productivity was being slowed down so much. New people were coming in and not being showed how to do the job properly the whole training we went through the new people were not getting. The original misfits were leaving or being fired for crap work. Every mistake that was being noticed was being writtten down by either doppledanger or myself, the worse of the bunch were now getting told to shape up or walk out the door. It got so bad I had to e-mail "A temping company" I wanted them to deal with the bad workmanship. I didn't say anything bad just that some people seemed to be getting bored of the work and it was directly affecting both my work and doppledangers. In the end "A temping Company" had to come out Mr Scatter started to get annoyed about the "useless" temps. The day and the night team all got spoken to and told to shape up. The night sanners were bad, they only ever pushed out 7 boxes between all three even till the end of the contract. Both doppledanger and i tried leaving them the "easy" boxes but still the same totals were being done, there was no rush for them to finish. I remeber one of them says "the longer the contract the more money I get" Later I was to find out it's not just the temp saying this! To be continued .......................... | ||
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| It seems that the Temping company may think that i'm a little too much to handle! I guess I am upset about it, I see myself as a bloody hard worker, my co worker phoned me last night to say that she was called in yesterday but there was no word for me. My meeting with said boss that time must had completly rubbed her up the wrong way, yes I demanded a pay rise other people doing less work than me for a different temping company on the same project were getting $2 more. Her excuse was at least I had a job! Come one be honest, you would be bloody annoyed if you were being paid $2 less thats $80 extra in your back pocket a week! Well I am still glad I stood my ground and had it out with her that day, I have no regrets at all. I took all that crap from the spa because I didn't open my mouth and this time I did but I may have got just a litte carried away, but bugger it. There is an e-mail asking me to call the temping company and this is the goodbye and good luck one I know and I think she is dreading having to speak with me. I'm sorry guys but I still have to go out with a bang, I'm going to still give her a talking to. I can't believe she is portrying me as an unemployable for just sticking up for myself. As an expat I have learn't that I have to stand on my own two feet and get a thicker skin I've said this over and over but it's bloody hard work living here. At the moment I'm thinking it may be the end of the road for this expat life, I feel that at each and every Canadian job no one stands up for what is right. What the hell is wrong with people nowadays! My list of things to tell this woman are: I was nothing but hardworking and you shouldn't have employed me if you wanted it any other way, I can't believe that you are portraying me as unmanageable. I never started the wage war ********** did and spread it around like wild fire, she was the instigator of most of the gossip and falling outs and spread endless amounts of information about people. Of course examples will be given to back up my claim. Maybe I should have got on with what I was surposed to do and ignore everything that was going on/wrong. The reason I complained was the fact that it was affecting my targets, is that fair? Someone else was stopping me from doing a god job at my own tasks! I'm not sure if this so called boss is going to listen to me, probably not lets be honest. I've applied for three other temp companies lets see what happens, i'm just not sure what lies ahead but i'm homesick and miss our British working culture of hard working people. I miss straight talking people, who don't arse about and tell you like it is. It's nothing but endless riddles here, no one wants to know the truth they are too busy with their heads in the clouds or stuck up their own fat arses to even care. I'm sick of the whole networking crap in order to get a job, here. It really is that bad, everywhere not just the office jobs but every single scummy job out here. There is no real interviewing process it's WHO YOU KNOW. There is something to be said about our beautiful country and culture, we should be proud of it and I now feel that I turned my back on it. Our families miss us dearly, and I feel I've been one big fat selfish bitch for coming here, at what cost emotionally not just myself but everyone. I feel the experience has given me strength to believe that we did do it, we should be proud at what we have achieved. I now beileve that you can do whatever you want in life, the world really is your oyster. Will I ever stop telling people who have bad principles in working life or personal what I think of them, hell no, no way ........ why? because that's Cassie. She will tell you how it is because that's who I am. If you don't want to know the truth then sorry it bloody sucks, but I strive to be honest to myself and others each and every day. I live my life trying not to have any regrets and this means general conversations where I think damn I wish I would have said that to major decisions in life. No COUNTRY or PERSON will ever change who I am and who I am meant to be. | ||
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| So I rolled onto a temping job and it just wrapped up. I was there from the back end of August till this last Friday. It was a job for a document company, it was a big scanning contract to transfer a load of paperwork to PDF. There were people that had to prep the boxes of paper so they were scan ready for the scanners. I started in prep as did my fellow scanner buddy then we got moved about three weeks later to start the scanning work. We were good at what we did so we got left there. I have never in all my working life been teamed up with someone who has such a very similar working style as me, we were both a pair of workaholics, we had no breaks and probally even only took a 20 min lunch because we wanted to get back into the scanning again. We had a great laugh and I made another gresat friend out of it. It was a very big contract and needed 10 people for days and another 10 for nights to get it done as soon as possible. The trouble so to speak started when my temping company couldn't find all the people needed so understandably the company approached another temping place and brought in more people. Can you see where this is going, yet? So people got talking and one person found out that the other temping company were paying $16 an hour and we were only getting paid $14 so yes the shit hit the fan big style. Everyone sent off e-mails saying how unhappy we were about finding this out. The response wasn't good either our boss had to come in and tell everyone tough crap we aren't giving you a pay rise but me and my work mate put our foots down as we did more work than any of them put together. Our targets were always over the amounts they wanted and the response was an extra ...............................twenty-five cents!!!!!!!!! Yes OMG! The temping company was also going to give us a pizza party for our last day, well that will pay the bills won't it? May I add that me nor my work buddy didn't have one bit out of principle, it was like a smack in the face. So this contract came to an end on Friday and a new big wig came. We were told that another project was going to be lined up and would we be interested in coming back. To that I'm not sure about yet. Lets just say some of the other temps were very lazy, they missed so much with their work that it made it hard for us to keep on top of our own targets. At times it was stressfull, they would miss taking off post its on paper and staples, we would complain but nothing would get done and if we missed it while we scanned we would be the ones accountable! Big wig said while he was in the room to our then boss of the project it was amazing how they got the job done with the idiot temps which was a little insulting. We even had to complain to our temping boss about the idiots they employed for this contract and how they should be embarrassed as a company to have employed them. Yes, that didn't go down very well, lol! but it was true and it had to be said. Me and my work mate overseed alot of crap that went on, when they got another scanner in that wasn't watching what he was doing and doing it all wrong we pointed it out, same with the Quality Control person and a few others, they all got fired as what we said was true. We appeared to be being the whistleblowers in a lot of areas in the end we thought forget it, if they can't be bothered to oversee their own contract and make sure people understood what they are doing then forget it! So now I don't have another contract lined up, not sure if the temping company is pissed with me or is waiting to see if this company wants me again. To be honest I'm just going to enjoy the week off for now, get the condo cleaned up again and relax. Is there ever going to be a time I just keep my head down and shut up....................... but my guess is no! | ||
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It is hard to believe that five years ago (yesterday) we landed at Fredericton airport with only our hand luggage (the rest of the luggage had gone somewhere else), and checked into a motel style cabin and thought "right, lets find work/car/house/set up the girls in school/college and build a new life". I guess the proof is in the pudding (as they say). . Work We had visited Fredericton in 2003 and I made several potential work contacts then. I had studied for certificate they valued managed to pass and then re-connect with potential employers once the visa arrived. I secured a couple of telephone interviews and they requested I contacted them on arrival. I had two face to face interviews 4 days after landing, received a job offer within 48 hours, and started a new job on the 21st November! . The job was well below my previous salary, and I demonstrated my worth within 3 months. I was promoted a couple of times and became the Practice Lead for the core competency of Project Management. A new opportunity was pointed out to me July 2009 and I applied for it (after being reminded). I wasn't really looking for a new job (probably why I was so relaxed and secured the offer). The project(s) was a real challenge but we were successful. I am now the Director of Project Management in a new shared services agency. This is probably the best job (most enjoyable) I have ever had.
In the UK Jules was Secretary / executive assistant (great organizer and completer finisher). Unfortunately in bi-lingual New Brunswick that level requires someone to be bi-lingual so she wasnt able to even apply for those jobs. She applied for Admin assistants but was turned down as over qualified. So she focused on several things. Looking after us, the house and garden. . She then she turned to her passion for sewing and started creating purses (handbags to the Brits), scarves and evening gown type wraps. She has some success selling them at the Fredericotn Christmas Craft Fair (infact she is there today). That has developed to her real passion of dress making (again evening gown / prom dress style) and she has been perfecting her skills (which are pretty impressive). This coming year I think she will establish herself as a bespoke dressmaker. . Car This was easy, first we exchanged our UK driving licences for New Brunswick licences, then we visited the local garage's and settled on Ford. I leased a 4WD V6 Ford Escape (3 years) and we purchased a snazzy fully loaded Ford Focus for Jules (put big deposit and a small residual loan to be paid over 12 months). This helped build our credit rating. Both Kathryn and Gemma passed their NB driving test and they now drive a Chrysler Neon (Kat) and a Hyundia Accent (Gemma). We are now a four car family. To be honest you need to drive here, nothing is really within walking distance. Unless you are downtown, stores that are next door to each other have huge open car parks between them. Canadians (which we are now . House Once I had a job it was easy to get a mortgage offer and find a house. The real estate agent in Canada is on your side. They discuss and identify what you are looking for within your price range and then pull together a range of properties for you to view. They provide you with information and guidance while viewing, with all sorts of useful tips. After I received the job offer, I secured a mortgage offer from the bank and then we found our house and made an offer by the 15th Nov! The house was on the market for $239,000 (which was about £116,456 then), it was priced to sell fast, so on the guidance of our real estate agent we offered $235,000 and eventually settled at $237,500 (with more assets included). Once the offer is accepted no one can back out without penaltys. Everything is completed quickly... we moved in on December 17th (less than one month from start to end . Schools & College It was relatively easy to get Gemma started at Fredericton High School, she was 15 when we landed. Kathryn was 18 and had left secondary school in the UK, sat and passed Double BTec Medical Technology course, plus a couple of AS level maths courses. She was set to go to university in the UK. I think she has had the hardest time of all to settle down. Long story but I think her recent statement is telling "I'm 23 pay a mortgage on my own mini home, own a car and half shares in a horse, where could I have done that in the UK?"... She has a point. Both daughters have said they are not going to return to the UK (never say never). They now have dual citizenship so they can work anywhere in Europe or Canada with easy access to USA... great opportunities await them. . So in summary it has been a tough first 5 years and we are settled. There have been challenges along the way, some big some small; some emotional, some plain old tough decisions. Many of them we would have faced regardless of where we lived. Those that came about because we emigrated have definitely added to our stress in the first 3-4 years, this year we seem more settled and the award of Citizenship seemed to close the opening chapter(s). The question is "was it worth it, and if you had the time again, would you do it again?". You would get varying levels of enthusiasm from different family members, but I think on the whole it would be "yes", and "yes" by all of us. . From a selfish perspective I know my life is less stressful, and far better than it was in the UK. I believe the opportunities the Girls have are also enhanced being in Canada than the UK. Especially looking at the economic state the UK is in at the moment. .
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) park as close to the door of the store as they can. This is understandable in winter or blazing hot summer day.
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| I have been so really busy and have so much to update you guys on. This is just a quick entry to let you all know that I will be updating this blog and believe me I have sooooo much to update you all on! I have the whole sorry saga of the the spa to tell you all about, I have my new temping experience to inform you all on. My god there is just so much to tell and I may have to update myself on where I left you guys. I got some bit of juicy gossip when I bumped into my old work mate in Safeway. If you remember way back when one of my first employments where I was being bullied by an idiot supervisor. He said I had a figure like a boy and some other insulting crap that came out of his good for nothing mouth. Well he finally got fired!!! He He He. It was a long time coming but at least it happened. My new temping assignment has come to an end and i'll be updating everything on Monday so peeps, watch this space. I'm back!!!!! | ||
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The kids have been at their respective schools now about 41/2 months now and we are just not happy with the education they are getting. My 10 year old is the one who is suffeing the most as he is so bright and way ahead of everyone else in the class if not the school. He was placed in a 3/4/5 year group class, he is a year 5 and he is helping the other kids in the class with their work as otherwise he gets bored. He has started to switch off in class now because he is not being challanged, we have asked repeatedly for him to go in another year group or to be given harder work. Neither is happening. He is not wanting to go to school anymore and sees no point. The youngest also at the same school is also unhappy, even though he is now on medication for his ADHD and is showing he is capable of much harder work, they are still treating him like a younger child. He is coming home most days upset saying he hates it and he wishes he was back at his last school. The eldest is happier at his school but im not happy at how the kids and staff swear so much and how poor his timetable is. D hates changes and when suggest we might be sending him to a local private school which has a christian ethos and a much better education standard, he went off on one. When he calmed down he told me he hates having to make new freinds. Iv been in touch wih the school that i would like the boys to go to and they have spaces for all 3 and their fees which i was shocked at wernt as expensive as i thought. under 7K a year for all 3 which i think is affordable, especially if i get a job. Be a real struggle on one wage, but im personally prepared to go with out for my kids to recieve a more acceptable standard of education. I never thought i would ever put my kids in private school but the system up here in NT is apalling, very low standards which is worrying when you want a good education for your kids, especially when we could be moving around in a few years time with V's job. I had an interview for a job at a homeless center run by St vinnies, i got a good feeling about it and i will find out this Friday if i have got the job. I so hope i have as i loved the centre it had a real buzz about it and being the assistant supervisor will give me just enough responsibility to make the job a challenge. Apart from the schooling issues everything else seems to be going resonable well for us up here in Darwin | ||
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Well we attended the ceremony and became Canadian Citizens on Monday 18th October. Well we are actually dual citizens and intend to maintain our British nationality. The ceremony was interesting and took about 2 hours. First a Judge addressed us and talked about our responsibilities as citizens and the rights that we now enjoy as citizens. We all took the oath of allegiance to her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the second, queen of Canada and then various dignitaries stood up and congratulated and welcomed us to the Canadian family. There were 32 new Canadians from 16 countries! . We received a certificate and swopped our Permanent Resident card for a Citizen ID Card. A Canadian flag pin (mini brooch) and some leaflets about Canada and the rights and responsibilities of a citizen. We finished by singing the national anthem (loudly).
Short sharp and to the point. A nice anthem that is meaningful and easy to sing. Apparently written in 1880 and only designated as the Canadian National Anthem in 1980. Before that it was Great Britains National Anthem (God save our Gracious Queen) and O Canada was sung much like Land of Hope and Glory is the unofficial anthem for England. . Anyway enough history lessons. We received a personal letter from Brad Woodside (Major of Fredericton) with a book on Fredericton welcoming us as new Canadians. It was presented at work by my colleagues who also gave me a Canadian Flag and we all ate cake with a big red maple leaf on it. It reminded me of my leaving do from work in the UK were they presented me with an Axe, French phrase book and a flag. . We have been busy little bees preparing for winter, yesterday we loaded our wood (which has been drying outside for a couple of months) into the garage, for those of you who remember we had 1/2 cord left over from last year and we purchased 2 cord (our usual) so the wood pile is up to the rafters. Boy I'm stiff after we moved 2 cord of wood in an afternoon. . Also the tree's are looking beautiful with their leaves in all there new colours
This is the Maple tree as seen from our deck | ||
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We received our approval for Canadian Citizenship and we have been summoned to appear to take the oath of Allegiance on the 18th October 2010 at 9:30am .
. OK back to day to day life. This last week has been my R&R break from work and I have been 'resting' working on home projects We still managed to visit the Irving Nature Park (which we found after living here for nearly five years and never been able to find this park on the outskirts of Saint John). We discovered a beautiful nature park within 1.5 hour drive from home. Below are several photos of the park.
Julie handing feeding Chickadees (much like UK Blue Tits)
Julie photographed this fox just outside the Park
The fox is in excellent condition compared to the mangy things we used to see around towns and cities. OK have to sign off now and get ready to go to work tomorrow. | ||
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Carpet down in the basement office, mowing the lawns, clearing the dead wood from the boundaries and catching a cold. 
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Having been here for 4 months now we feel setteled and the holiday mode if ever wehad one is well and truely gone. The things i enjoy are taking my kids to school, im usually on my bike and go slow so they can keep up with me, then i write like the wind on the way home, an exhilirating feeling. Something ive missed for the past 2 weeks. Afte my last entry i got rushed back in hospital as i collapsed at home and my freind was so concerned she drove me the hospital (very close to us) and i got addmitted had further blood tests and had a drip put up. I was kept in over night and disharged to complete bed rest at home. So the kids had to go to school on their own and i really missed not going with them, but i would never have managed as i barely had enough energy to go to the ensuite. Last week the kids were off school and we did absolutly nothing as V was working and had the car and the weather was so stormy and we had very meaty rain showers. Not that the kids minded the rain they went out on the trampoline to cool down in the rain. we have a few regualr animal guests now, a couple of tree frogs have entertained us in our patio area, so sweet little charactors the kids have named them Jack and Tom. The geeckos are still visiting us and we have a baby one too, who managed to get in the house last night. Quick little thing it was but we did manage to catch it eventually and release it back outside. This morning on the usual walking the dog session to the park, Benji jumped in the creek which has enough water in now to come up over his legs and enjoyed a paddle , he hadnt noticed a lizard was swimming near him it was watching from the bridge at the lizard swimming away as soon as the dog got near it. Very amusing to watch. Benji is now worn out after his walk out. I didnt get the job i was after meaning money is very tight at the moment, not good when we have christmas creeping up. WE can barely afford to put food on the table let alone afford presents at the moment, i just dont know where we can the extra money needed to get small gifts for the family in the UK. Might just have to use the UK bank account. Ive applied for loads of jobs now and not heard a thing bck from any of them, that is hard, in the UK i would at least get an acknowledgement of the application here ive not even had that. I am getting a little bored now, with no work and only house work to do, all of the women around here work so i dont have anyone to call in and have a coffee with. Only having the one car is causing a few problems now as well , i could be doing voluntary work but all of the centres are too far away to bike and as yet with being a new suburb we dont have any buses come near us. I certainly dont regret coming to Darwin and i knew we may have it tough. But i wasnt expecting us to have such a low income and for the cost of living to be so high just cos its Darwin. Its got to the stage where i dont have lunch any more so that the stuff for pack lunches for the boys and V lasts longer, im in desperate need of a haircut, but the kids and V need it more , V for work has to have short hair otherwise he gets extra duties for not looking the part. J is going to have to get his hair cut this week as its grown so thick and he is so sweaty. So once again i shall just have to wait. If i get an interview lined up i might see if i can get a quick trim to make look more presentable. The freinds the kids had made have all stopped coming as the boys wernt able to join the same clubs as their freinds as the fees were just so much. I feel bad but not having any spare cash means only the essentials are getting covered. J is still going to the cubs as at the moment he can go for a couple of months with no payment to see if he likes it enough to go through the ceremony and become a member. Im sure things will look up soon. The good thing about being in Darwin is V is entitled to have a paid holiday for us all which includes flights,and accomadation. So we have thought getting a holiday which covers christmas and new year paid for by his employers will give the kids a great time. The travel agent is trying to source something for us as most package holidays are for a family of 4 and not 5. S fingers crossed we will have that to look forward to. WEll i best get back to the housework.
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Only 82 days, 7 hours, 38 minutes to Christmas (well there was when I wrote this post). Where on earth did 2010 go? . Last Monday it was the Provincial elections and the Liberal Premier Shawn Graham was ousted by the Conservatives. He has managed to rack up some impressive debts, didnt consult the population before trying to sell NB Power (provincial power company) to Quebec The new guy (David Alward) has a huge majority (42- 13) and promised to listen to us, reduce the debt etc.... . I am taking this week off to get some well earned R&R (Rest and Recuperation). I am entitled to 20 days a year vacation and this year I have only taken 2 days . Today we have put away the pool (at last), I used my strimmer (locally known as a whipper snipper) to cut down the wild part of our garden. I let it grow wild to encourage wild flowers and insects to prosper .... honestly! Tomorrow it will be more winter preparation around the garden. The leaves are all turning those beautiful autumnal reds and oranges. I will have to get some photos for the next post. . This week I rediscovered the LP's (they are in plain view just not played) so it has been a week of nostalgia as I pick out such amazing hits as Motown Hits, Temptations, The Drifters, Wham, BachViolin Concerto in E minor, Jaws Soundtrack Well must dash the bleeper just gone off on the cooker and I'm ready to carve Sunday Dinner (the girls are over today so no meat for sandwiches tomorrow
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. I tuned into election night reporting at 10pm thinking I could check in and then watch some coverage.... wrong they were reporting the result (2 hours after closing the polls). That is when I realised there was only 55 seats and even if everyone in NB voted who was eligible then there would be 372,000 votes to count. As it was in our Riding (York County) saw a total of 6, 560 votes and Carl Urqhart (con) was returned for another term.
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Holy cow this year has flown past, I am already starting to think of winter preparations, rushing in some last minute summer repairs, made space for delivery of 2 cord of wood (delivered last weekend). We have emptied the pool and scrubbed it clean. Next week I'll pack it all away and move the snowblower to the front of the shed. I love the winter preparations . It has been a busy social life recently, our friends have returned from Alberta and we had a BBQ with Guy and Christine. We decided to visit the Fundy National Park for a day out. We had a great time, Wolfe Point was as peaceful as ever
We now follow a family tradition when visiting Fundy National Park. We drive down into the little fishing village of Alma and buy 4 lobsters and then have a lobster picnic in the national park somewhere. This year it was at Bennets Lake, which has great picnic tables overlooking the beautiful lake. . I volunteered as an MC at the Harvest Jazz and Blues festival (again). It was great fun and this year I was at an indoor stage (people were paying money to see me, well perhaps to see the artists, but me too . The job is going well, demanding but still fun and I am working with some great people. Jules and both girls make sure there is plenty of work for me at home too.
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Unfortunately the tradition calls for Dad to finance the Lobster Picnic and as the girls have grown up they insist on having a stonking great lobster like Dad has... oh well I will just have to switch to tiddy Lobsters and insist they all follow suit
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Fridayafternoon i started feeling unwell, started off with abdo pain, the soon i was gettin shooting pains up my spin and into my jaw,i could barely breathe, so i lay down in bed and a few hours later woke up with a pounding headache and pins and needles in my right arm. I thought i was having a stroke, i had to tolerate this for anotherfew hours as i had the kids in the house and v was at work till 3. Id phoned health direct and they advised me to keep calm, not have anything to eat or drink till i get seen by a dr ad to get to hospital as soon as i can. V took me to casualty and before i knew it i was whisked away to a cubicle, hooked up to various moniters and had bleeping going off all around me. one minute the drs were talkingto me the next i was asleep andthats how the day continued. My BP wa in my boots ive normlly got a low bp but even the recordigs was very low for me. i had a chest xray, a ct scan and an ECG all shortly after i arrived, then i had blood tests, then i had to touch my nose and reach out to the dr, i kept falling sleep while doing this(or so im told) i cant recall any of this so im going off what i was told happened from V I drifted in and out of sleep for hours while i waited for results to come back. V finally went home at midnight, he had been home earl to arrange the kids to be looked after and get my ontact lens case and glasses. After he left at midnight i was givensome medictio to help with my pounding head which had been constantly wih me. omewhere nthe middle of the night i got spasms again in my abdo with shootigpis up my spine and could not breathe again, my recollections is somewhat hazy but i rembember some one in the corrider askng if i wasok and me crying no. I was then surrounded by a group of people and the next was just peace and quiet. i think they must have given me somethig as a few hours later i was woken up and asked how i felt and apart from my head still hurting a bit i felt better. I was given a lumber puncture on Satrday morning, just as V had arrived with J, so they ad to go back home again. That is not a nice procedure, i know i felt dizzy and i woke up withoxygen so i must have passed out. i was finally allowed home at lunchtime all the tests had ruled out anything sinister like a bleed on the brain a stroke or a tumour. They seem to think i had a cluster tension headache or a possible virus. Last night i went to bed at 8pm and the next thingi knew it was nearly 9am and the youngest wanted breakfast . All my body wants to do is sleep, but since V is on duty and ive got the kids to look after, that is going to be a struggle for me to keep awake.
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I had a job interview last week, which i felt went well. But ive not heard anything about how it went or indeed if i was successful. I know ive been told it will be a while as oz is slow at informing people but im not used to waiting more than a week or two to find out if i have a job or not. Only having one car is now becoming a real pain, ive made appointments and arrangements and had to cancel on more than one occasion as V has priority over the car. Yesterday i managed to have the car but didnt find out till the morning, by which time a meeting i had arranged to see a recruiting firm had been cancelled by them. I rearranged for Monday as J has an appointment in the afternoon so i though i would have the car. V came in from work to say he is on duty Sunday so wont be home till Monday afternoon. Luckily J's appointment is ok but my morning appointment has been cancelled. The boys are doing my head in constantly fighting to the point the eldest has possibly broken the middle ones nose. The eldest has become even worse than he was in the UK, the foul language is getting worse , his challenging me and his dad has got a lot worse. He is doing lots of things which has erroded my trust in him completly. This could of happened where ever we lived so im not saying coming to oz has affected that but half of me had hoped a fresh start would mean a change in the way the kids behaved away from the bad influences there were in the UK. V is still struggling with the heat, causing him to be grumpy and short fused with his temper, this has not been helped by the behaviour of the boys. C is struggling at school with obeying the school rules and is in conflict with the assistant principle, educationally he is not being challenged and is becoming lazy, not doing homework as he finds it too easy and boring. We have spoken with his class teacher and she is aware of the situation and had promised to give C more challenging work . D is constantly looking for an argument with his siblings, parents and falling out with the freinds he has made. I cant get through to him, we have given him everything he wants, we have tried treating him more grown up but he throws that back in our faces with his attitude and behaviour. If i could i would send him to boarding school to see if being away from us would help him get back to the boy we used to have. I know that at 12 he is heading for the teenage years and all the hormones etc that kick in, still doesnt make it easier for us though. There are so many arguments that im sure the neighbours think we are the family from hell. J is slowly adjusting to life out here, he is now on ritalin and school have noticed some improvement so im pleased about that. WE still have days where he drives us up the wall with his behaviour but at least we are getting help and advice for him. He has a review on Monday to see if the medication is the right dose etc. He finally sees a paedatrician next month so we may get some answers over his lack of sleeping. Im off to have a lie down as i feel so tired today and my abdomen is swollen and painfull, not sure if it is to do with my band or if i just have wind lol.
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This last week has been a hot one here in New Brunswick, for most of the week the temperature has been above 30c and there has been no let up in the evenings with outdoor temperatures in the mid twenties and indoor temperatures hovering around the 30 mark. . We do not have air-conditioning, but we do have a basement which is about 8c cooler than upstairs . Anyway in true weather style that is ending this weekend because Hurricane Earl is heading our way. Below is a satellite photo showing Earl in all his cloudy, spinning glory. The red triangle points to Fredericton (inland). Earl has now been downgraded to a tropical storm (never mind Earl it happens to us all) and is expected to make landfall midday Saturday and we have a rainfall warning 2-3 inches (50-75mm) of rain within a 8 hour window (trust me that is a lot of blinking water!). . Preparations for Earl's arrival were completed yesterday:
We were ready for the worst. The rain has arrived and it is currently a gentle shower and cooling nicely. Oh yes this weekend is a long weekend here in Canada. It is Labour day and we all get to rest | ||
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J has coped really well with the move, but as always he struggles in school. He got assessed yesterday at mental health centre for children with ASD, ADHD and other conditions. WE have now got a family support worker who is a lovely chap and made me feel relaxed. J has the diagnosis of ADHD finally formalised, although he does have other issues which has to be checked out via a paedatrician. Im hoping to get that organised soon. Hopefully we will get to the bottom of his lack of sleeping. School are finding J hard to cope with, i delibaratly chose a small school which had a good ethos and a poilcy on bullying. Sometimes J loves school but most often comes home un happy, saying he has been blamed for this that and an other. I know he is difficult and often he is at fault but sometimes he is blamed un necessarily. Im going to organise a meeting with the school once they have finished the assessments that the centre want them to do. Hopefully by then i will have more of an idea about what the issues they have with J. J is enjoying living in oz , as are the other 2 boys, they are enjoying the freedom they have to play out and explore. there have been teething problems with making freinds, at the moment they are squabbling with other kids and falling out but then are freinds again. Im not getting involved too much, as the kids need to sort their own freinds out with out me breathing down their neck. V is slowly adjusting to the oz army, still not enjoying the work policy or ethics but the higher echelons have noticed he is worthy of more responsible work and promotion. Giving him meaningless tasks is a waste of his talents and last week when the unit was underprepared for an exercise that came in and a one ready to deploy, V organised the lot, sort job cards and bascially fell into a role he is comfortable with management. Everything got done on time and he felt he had been at work. Ive sent my info off to a resume builder and job profiler so hopefully i shall get a professional CV and input as to where they think my talents lay. I need to work now, more for financial reason than anything. Darwin is so expensive and the cost of having to pay for blood tests for J has been a shock. I knew a lot of things about oz but i underestimated how much you pay for when you are ill etc. I certainly miss the NHS. I dread to think how much it is going to cost when J has to see the paeds, but we need him to be sorted for the harmony of the family, as there are tensions in the family . At least here in oz, im taken seriously when i say something is wrong with my son. That was the one thing that impressed about the Tamarin center, they could see straight away there was a problem and that he wasnt just being naughty. In the UK it was always well his behaviour suggests a borderline ADHD but we cant give him a label. This is why we are having to start from scratch with assessments and support and it is possibibly going to cost us a small fortune. But when you have a son who needs help and whose behaviour affects the family to the point that his dad cant bear to be in the same room as him when he is playing up, or his brothers tell him they hate him for ruining their lives then it has to be done. I also found a support group for defence families locally and on sunday we are off to the local water park for a bbq to meet them. I sometimes feel like i am banging my head against a brick wall so its good ive found this support group so hopefully i can cht with other parents going through the same as us. Its over 10 weeks since we landed in Darwin, i feel happy living here however ive noticed the humidity is creeping up and to coin a phrase' ive been sweating like a pig' and feel uncomfortable feeling like that, especially if all im doing is typing on the pc or reading a paper. Imagine what i look like after walking the kids too and from school, taking the dog out. Put it this way ive always got deoderant to hand. Im gearing myself up to get the hoover out shortly as Benji is moulting on a hourly basis, so the white tiles look like a dog rug lol Ive no regrets about coming to oz or the fact we had to move to Darwin, we know its not forever and that eventually we will get to live where we want, till then it will be a case of plodding on. | ||
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Another weekend is here and again we have sunny days forecasted. The temperature has started to drop in the evenings, but we are still having great sunshine. . Today the forecast is Sunny and 24c . Another busy week at work, and everyone else in the family seems busy. Gemma and Kathryn are happily working with Lexie (the horse) who is mostly out in her field. She is happy and I am waiting for the moaning and groaning when winter comes in and they are working in the morning and at night in minus 20c Jules is keeping herself busy with the great task of looking after us, and in her spare time, gardening and making gowns. I really must get photo's of her collection of dresses. She is preparing for the November show where she will probably display some of her dresses along with the unique purses, scarves and wraps she has made. Let us hope this year is an improvement on last (she really noticed the recession here in Canada). OK must dash I have to mow the lawn, wash down the sidings and think about emptying the pool. Oh yes I must think about a solar heater for the pool to extend ..... PS we have ordered 2 cord of wood for the stove as part of our preparations for winter (it needs to season for a couple of months before you store it) | ||
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, and I am thinking of emptying the pool and packing it away for another winter season. Every year I say to myself "I must get a solar heater rigged up for the pool to extend our swimming season", but unfortunately it is still without any heater and now the nights are cooler the water temperature is only just creeping above 20c..... Heck I remember regularly swimming in the Lido's of the UK where the water temperature must have barely made it to the teens centigrade? I must be getting wimpy in my old age.| Page 2 of 42 |
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