Well that was hard work, how full we're the flights when I tried to book them.  I have booked a flight for Sat 9th Feb, Manchester - Calgary, one way

Soooooooooo excited

WHAT A FEELING

Well notice in and I finish on Monday 28th Jan (like I'm really going to go to work on the monday), so unofficial leaving date is Friday 25th Jan.  I have been grinning like a Cheshire Cat since I did it, what can I say I have really not enjoyed this post, it just wasn't what was written on the packet.  After 2 years, 2 requests for transfer that were denied and 2 periods of work related stress.....................I'M OUTTA THERE.

Well I'm going for it, I'm taking the position and heading to Calgary in around 5 weeks!!!!  I'll head off first and then Al will follow me as planned in March. 

In some ways it will work out better as I can ease the way and sort things out in Canada whilst Al gets to finalise things here. God knows what he will be sneking in the shipping container when I've gone.  On the other hand it will be really tough leaving Al, Bully and Tiah behind when we have planned this move together.

Back onto exciting stuff, I GET TO HAND MY NOTICE IN ON MONDAY .  Woo Hoo BYE BYE NHS AND JOB I DON'T LIKE, HELLO NEW CAMHS JOB.

Oh My God, where to start????????  Well I received an e-mail on the 8th of Jan which said:

In the meantime I need to know how quickly you could actually start a position here.  When I spoke with ................. it sounded like you would be arriving within a month.  I won't be able to keep the ................... offer open until spring, patient care would be compromised.  The in-pt offer is not as time sensitive so it remains a secure fallback position for you.

So that put the cat amongst the pigeons and well and truly put me on the spot.  It was a fab offer and I really didn't want to work back on the wards, but the house isn't sold and were not ready, we'd only just decided that it would be nice to move on our wedding anniversary in March.

Decisions, Decisions!  Do I stay or do I go.........alone!!!

Bully has been getting a little large round the middle over the last few months and his arthritis has been playing him up.  In addition to seeing the vet he has been on a diet, his food being rationed to what a 30kg dog would have, but despite his valiant efforts dieting he continued to expand round the middle rather than shrink (mum knows how he feels, but she cheats and eats chocolate after her salad).

Well before Christmas Bully went to see a specialist, who took some blood, x-rays and told dad that Bully's arthritis hadn't got worse, there was evidence of damage to his cruciate ligament (dad thinks I'm to blame for this when I jump all over him on our walks).  Poor Bully just had to keep on popping his pills whilst he waited for his blood tests.

Bully came back from the vets today, it turns out he has an under active thyroid and this is the reason he has become a barrel despite his best dieting efforts (mum starving him).  He was weighed at the vets and was 38.6kg, but now he has these tablets he will loose this weight within a few weeks (I heard dad telling mum it wouldn't work the same if she took the tablets).

Guess I can carry on using Bully as a climbing frame after all.

Tiah xx

They've arrived!!!!!!!   We have our Work Permit authorisation letters!!!!!!  What a fantastic end/start to the year, stamped on Christmas Eve and delivered on New Years Eve.  I have to hold my hands up to shedding a tear when I opened the letter.

It's hard to describe the rush of emotions, joy, relief, excitement, apprehension,  the 'OH MY GOD' it's real, happiness..........everything.  Now we can set a date to move and drag ourselves out of limbo.  I can even hand in my notice at work................ there is a god!!!

It's 09.30 is it too early to crack open a bottle of bubbly?

HAPPY NEW YEAR

I received an e-mail today from the manager who interviewed me in September, offering me a job.  It was a fab e-mail to receive and really cheered me up after the anti climax of Christmas.

It's an excellent offer for an advanced nurse practitioner post in a day treatment programme, which will mean regular hours and no weekends.  This is just what I wanted and of course I have e-mailed him back accepting the offer & letting him know where we are up to in the process.

Need to sell the house!

Well my party went well, apart from mum showing me up.  She dragged me into a game of musical chairs and really started to get competitive as we kept getting a chair and others were knocked out.  I wouldn't have minded but I had to keep sitting before she did, you should have heard her shouting SIT, I'm sure they'd have heard her in Carnforth.  In the end it was a sit off between me & Rocky, what can I say, the adults reverted back to 2 year olds trying to cheat and cut corners, in the end I beat Rocky by putting my bum on the floor sooner than he did.

Just when I thought the silly games were over & mum would lead me to the buffet, she dressed me up in a stupid outfit (I mean really stupid!) and entered me into a fancy dress.  Well its all well and good dressing those little Boston’s up but I'm a Boxer, I'm meant to chase boar not dress up as a reindeer!!  She even had the audacity to take a picture.

The Boston's

My costume

As you can see I'm not happy

Tiah xxx

Well got the letter saying that all medical results are in and they have sent them off to Canada House, there was nothing in the letter about there being anything that I needed to follow up with my GP.

What a relief I'm HIV negative and syphilis free ,  went out last night and partied to celebrate, now I just have to worry about cirrhosis of the liver due to last nights vodka binge.  I can recall dancing around the pub singing (well that’s what I call it but I’m sure Simon Cowell would disagree) ‘I’ve not got sifffffff………philis or H IIIIIII Veeeeeeee,’  so maybe I also need to worry about what my colleagues will say on Monday morning

Strange how you have no concerns about having things until someone takes a test to find out, then you start to worry about the needles they used when you had your tattoo, or what if xyz patient had something and I had a cut when I stitched her up or......... !  Al, the cheeky git rubbed his hand across his forehead sighing phew when I showed him the letter; I hope he was joking.

Off to bed now to wait for the paracetamol to kick in and cure my hangover, I would say never again but I'd be lying, tonight is another night

I've got my 2nd Christmas party on Monday and am struggling with what to wear!  Whenever I ask Bully he just sighs and makes snide comments about my bum being big, I have a nice 'DONKEY' costume (you know from Shrek) or a lovely reindeer costume with antlers, hmmmmm decisions.

The only problem is that mum is a cheap skate and instead of buying doggy costumes (you can even get designer ones) she opted for a cheap 'baby' costume from Tesco muttering about adjusting it.  None of them come with pants so my bum is slightly exposed, never mind there are some rather tasty boy boxers going.

Off to try them out again, I can't quite get used to the donkey head or antlers, they are soooo annoying.

Tiah xxx

Well that's the medical over and done with, quite painless after all the worry apart from on the pocket.  I got Flu a couple of days before which caused me some concern, but the good news was that despite spending the previous 24hrs coughing my neck didn't pop out again and I was discharged from the physio.  According to her she has never seen anyone put so much effort into their neck exercises, could have been down to the Canada shaped carrot dangling in front of me.

After booking one medical and being told that I would have to have 'the pelvic exam' I booked with a Dr in Liverpool, more expensive but in this case more is less  and it was worth it.  I had my chest x-ray in Rodney St, which took about 10 mins and cost £70, then onto the GP practice for the medical.  First stop urine sample and they certainly don't spend the extra cash on maintenance, when I walked in the loo's one door was propped up against the cubical and the other had no seat.  It's hard enough getting a sample into an ultra small bottle, but add in hovering too and it all goes to pot (or not).  I then had to complete medical form and then in with the Doctor, she checked pulse, BP, eyes, ears, mouth, weight, height and history on questionnaire.  She then briefly listened to my chest and felt for hernias in my groins and checked my reflexes, then the blood tests.  I provided my last smear results and my Hep B immunisation record.   Have to wait until 17th now for the results, so fingers crossed.  She did say that as far as she was aware there was nothing to be worried about.

We've also had one person round looking at the house; no feedback so looks like they were carpet treaders.  Poor Al spent ages cleaning for them coming too.  Hopefully after Christmas people will come round, if not we'll have to look at other options.

Well we're looking forward to our Christmas schedule and the Dogs are looking forward to their Christmas party (http://www.westlancsboxers.co.uk).  Tiah and Bully have their fancy dress costumes all sorted, but Bully's might need some alterations, it's a little on the small size.  Pics to follow.

Bummer news on Monday I was at work and my neck went into spasm again, no-where near as bad as August but bad enough.  Had to leave work (shame) and visit my GP who after asking lots of questions about my waterworks and other bodily functions sent me away with a short course of Diazepam ( ).  Checked out with the physio what effect it would have on my Canada medical and she said it could prevent me going , but she said I have enough movement in my neck not to arouse suspicion and that I will recover fully so to keep my gob shut. 

I thought that my neck would have plenty of time to recover before I had to worry about my medical..............but the next day...........we had a brown envelope drop through the letterbox (well not really drop, ha ha our postie has to really push cause the hole isn't big enough) from CIC with the medical request letter.  Off for medical next week but horror of horrors I have to have a pelvic exam as part of the process .  I have no idea why they want to subject anyone to such an invasive procedure when there is no medical indication that one is necessary.  If I hadn't spent so much cash on the process I'd tell em to stuff it, but it's a case of 'lie back and think of Canada' or I can always say I've got a headache.

Sacked the estate agents this week, they have been bloody useless only getting us one showing.  When I had the audacity to complain about their service all we got was the market has slowed down, then when I asked for a double lay out I was told they did have 305 houses on their books and they all wanted a double spread .  Well they only have 304 houses now cause after 1 snotty letter they have dropped the notice period and we are free to seek agents new.

Also joined the nurses bank today; hopefully I will get a temp contract and can quit the job I hate, that will reduce the stress a bit.

Oh My God what a month, it's been so up and down and non-stop work and stress.  After receiving the LMO we really had to get a move on with the house, but we landed back to a message from the decorator letting us down again .  Just what we wanted when the estate agents wanted to come out and take pics of the house additional work that we hadn't planned on doing.

Frank (Tiah's granddad) got dragged out of retirement to help us and got stuck with fitting all the doors in wonky frames .  Flooring was fitted, kitchen, outhouse and spare room stripped and painted and tons and tons of cleaning .  I'm sure I used to have a life before this immigration lark; god knows what I will do with my spare time when it's all over.

The house is now about 95% finished and has been on the market for 3 weeks, it's bloody typical that it all seems to be coming together when banks are going bust, interest rates are rising, no bugger wants to buy a house and to top it off Christmas is round the corner so even fewer people looking.  Oh and not forgetting the crappy exchange rate at the moment.

We had our first viewers on Wednesday, a couple who had come up from Kent.  The viewing was arranged for 6.30pm and I booked a holiday to tidy up (those just don't go together..... holiday........cleaning, should be a law against that), in fact we spent 7 hours cleaning junk away, cleaning windows and generally blitzing the house.  We must have just finished mopping the floor at 6.25.  Viewing started off a bit odd as it was Halloween, we'd just had some trick or treaters and we thought they were more.  Poor viewers had me opening the door and jumping out shouting TREAT , but they took it in good stead and came in.  They appeared to love the house, they thought the wet room was excellent, kitchen was fab, garden was great, they loved the Jacuzzi corner bath upstairs and thought all the rooms were a good size.  They sat down and chatted with us, their son lives down the road and they were going to put an offer in on the house for sale over the road until that seller wanted to charge them 65k for the garden .  When they left we thought great they are going to put in an offer, we called the agents the next day and no news.  Today we had a call from the agents, they had given really positive feedback about the house..........but............. had put an offer in on a bungalow .  Looks like I'm going to be on the Christmas rota at work (gutted).

In addition to DIY we have also had to apply for our WP, trust me to try and do this during the postal strikes.  Why is it when your feeling stressed everything is much harder than it should be?  First step was to get a Canadian bankers draft, easy you would think, 1 trip to the bank and Bobs your uncle.........NO.  Was told in bank they don't do them anymore, I told them I'd had one not long ago, they told me I hadn't (hmmmmm must add dementia to my difficulties now) but the post office would issue one.  Went to post office, no joy, they have never done them, go to your bank .  Had to leave and come home before I stressed out in Asda post office and got locked up, so I phoned bank from home and was put on hold whilst they checked with international banking.  They informed me that the bank does still do Canadian bankers drafts and I wasn't senile as I had previously bought one (hallelujah), so had another trip to the bank and was told........ They are wrong, we don't do them .  Had a paddy and made them check, they came back tat yes they do them but 'Not at this branch'. AAARRRGGGHHHHH my frustration must have been obvious and when I stropped about making a complaint they offered to order one as a one off (woohoo paddy worked), but they had no idea when I would get it due to postal strike.

The bankers draft took 4 days but I eventually picked it up and sealed application and bankers draft in borrowed A4 envelope from work , next step to post it (ha ha ha ha ha ha!).  Post office still on strike so I looked at courier services, picked DHL and went through online order form, easy, then came the question what is the cubic capacity in meter's!!!!!!!!!  It's a bloody envelope; it's flat, papers flat, how the hell do I know?  Does it have one it's flat for gods sake.  Never put 0 in as the site has a wetty, tells you 0 isn't a value and refuses to let you change it.   Can't phone as it is closed for the day, never mind cause I'd booked a holiday for the next day to buy blinds, I'd post it then as strike was over.

Next day everything was out to get me!  Post office would deliver next day, no one makes blinds to fit our windows, no one had bedspreads for anything other than a single bed and I had wasted a holiday on getting stressed.  Our last attempt was to try B&Q as they had previously cut blinds to size.........NOT ANY MORE, the woman’s suggestion, get some made.  At this point having achieved nothing that I'd set out to do and a list of jobs to finish getting longer my stress bucket burst it's banks and I flipped.  I don't think I'll be setting foot in B&Q for a while  (lol, shocked Al too).

So after my long rant WP was finally sent by courier the day after, the cubic capacity of an A4 envelope is about 0.0018M cubed (I didn't work that out) and my stress levels have reduced slightly.

Sharon

Apologies for the delay in posting but things have been a bit hectic since our return from Calgary.

Our first stop upon return to the UK was a mad dash up the M6 to Carnforth to rescue Tiah and her co-conspirer Bully.  I must admit though that when we phoned 'granddad' to say we were on our way to get the dogs earlier than planned there was a note of disappointment in his voice .

All seemed quiet on the approach to granddad’s house and there was no evidence of any of the afore mentioned battles, that was until we entered granddad’s previously immaculate back garden. 

But, despite Granddad’s best defensive efforts, they were not successful.  Tiah was still able to clear them in one small leap and escape through the vegetable patch and into the cow fields beyond.

I now think that we are looking for another dog sitter......................any offers?

Well the end of our recce found us sat in Calgary airport with a 2 hour delay waiting for the plane to arrive from Manchester, the reason why......technical difficulties which took longer than anticipated to fix!  Did we really need to know that?  Al a nervous flyer could have done without that information .

We was sat chatting to some of the people we met at the BBQ our first weekend, exchanging stories, embarrassing Al, wishing all the documentation would come through and we could finally move over for good, when out of the corner of my eye I spotted him!!!!  A poor bloke walking around looking like a corpse (well some corpses I have seen looked better than he did), the compassionate nurse in me pointed out this guy to the others and prayed aloud that he wasn't going to board her flight.  I have been successful in avoiding any flights that have made the 'do we have a Dr or Nurse on board the aircraft', and wish to continue this success for a long time yet.  Were my prayers answered, were they hell (well partly), we boarded the flight with our 'friends' shouting 'we know what you do' and me mumbling about being a mental health nurse not a general nurse and the 'man' boarding with us .

It was only after everyone was on the flight that a stewardess decided he 'didn't look well', slight understatement, and wondered if he was fit to fly.  To answer that question it needed the airports paramedics to come and complete a full medical assessment, chatting to a woman next to me, who when finding out I was emigrating as a nurse told me she was a retired nurse (ha ha bad mistake, in an emergency I'm not alone ) we was surprised to see this man get back on the plane.  My relief had been premature and we now had the whole flight back to the UK to worry about him getting worse, it wasn't just us, everyone was surprised and we almost set up a book on where the emergency landing would be.

Fortunately he was ok on the flight and I last saw him having a coffee in Manchester, we also found out his story, which was very sad.  He was returning to the UK to visit with his diabetic dad and to die, I hope he managed to make it ok.  It was hard enough bringing my Nan on that 'last journey home' and she had someone with her, I have no idea how difficult it must have been for him.

The flight was then awful; we had upgraded and turned left when we entered the plane.  Although we had more room I think they forgot to put the padding into the seats when they fitted out the plane, my arse was numb before we took off & it didn't get any better throughout.  I took my sleeping tablet, but the seat was so uncomfortable that I couldn't sleep.  We ended up stood in the gallery talking to the air stewards about transporting pets in the hold among other things.  From my stroll into cattle class our seats were much better, but Canadian affair really need to invest in some comfy seats, my pressure sores are just starting to heal.  Apart from that the flight was ok and we even managed to make up most of the time we lost at Calgary (shame the baggage handlers took an age to unload the plane!)

Well next stop..........rescue the in-laws (or Tiah)

We have received further communication from the UK, it appears that the In-Laws have exaggerated Tiah's part in the Carnforth capers.  Here is her side of the story:

From the basket of Tiah M

Location….(Kept secret for security reasons)

Right. Listen up!

This short message is in response to an email about me which was sent to my Mum by that lousy, bald-headed, limp-wristed , lying scrote who has the cheek to call himself my Granddad.

My GRANDAD? He’s only got two legs ( oh boy, you just gotta see these) and I have four, so how can he be my granddad? Furthermore, he eats like a pig. He has to use little pieces of iron to cut his food and then transfer it to his gob. And what a gob he has.!!! Neither use nor ornament. I’d like to see him bite the postman’s leg. Not that I do things like that any more. Well, not since the slimy coward started delivering the mail while using stilts. Just wait until next week when my sets of stilts are delivered. He will wish he was wearing a cricketer’s box by the time I’ve finished with his privates.

Regarding the lies being told about me destroying two battle tanks and one armoured personnel carrier belonging to the Israeli army. Completely untrue! It was only one tank and a carrier. Oh, and one sewage truck. I wish I hadn’t bothered with that. You should smell kosher crap!

Oh yes, regarding ‘grandad’ not letting me snuggle in between him and Ethel while they sleep. This is another lie. I wouldn’t want to sleep next to him. He’s got fleas.

My mate Bully is going soft. I can’t get him to come with me when I go out on ‘search and destroy’ missions so I have to do battle with the Carnforth Faggots No-Knickers Defence Force on my own. Easy peasy. Meanwhile, Bully prefers to stand there slavering until somebody falls for it and gives him a biscuit or something. Then by way of thanks, he shows his gratitude by boffing just as they are settling down to listen to a conjuring competion on the radio. Boy, you should smell Bully’s boffs! The stink has melted all the lampshades and Bonehead and Ethel are not best pleased, I can tell you.

All I can say is, serves ‘em right. They should never have agreed to look after us. The decree nisi comes through next week. Just can’t hack it, some folk.

Whoooooooo I’m off. Just seen a cat crapping on boneheads lettuce patch. I think Ill go and do some as well so that the cat gets all the blame.

So, don’t believe all these lies about me. I will leave you with these words of wisdom.

‘People are the biggest liars in the world’.

Archangel Tiah.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Woo Hoooooooooo .  Met up with Helen from Calgary Health today and she told me she has the LMO through for my job, I can now apply for my Work Permit.

Went looking around Calgary Childrens Hospital today, what an amazing place that is.  It has been designed with children in mind & looks like blocks of lego.  http://www.calgaryhealthregion.ca/ACH/

Everyone appeared really friendy & I was introduced to several staff members, so this has helped settle my nerves a little about working in a strange country.  I am due to meet with another manager at the Foothills hospital on Wednesday.

Frank & Jean (Al's mum & dad) agreed to dog sit whilst we came on this reccee.  I received this SOS e-mail from Frank today entitled 'Go on, Gerrim Bully'!:

Woops, I don't think they will have them again, only kidding Frank.  We will be arriving to pick them up on Saturday as planned, thats if we can navigate the debris left over from the pre dawn attack .

Well what a night it was last night!  It started off so well, we had been in Lake Louise all day & got round to checking into the hotel about 4pm.  We was disappointed to find out that we had to drag our 2 suitcases up 2 flights of stairs to get to the room only to open the door and have the delightful smell of vomit waft out.  After a phone call to complain about the vomit smell, numerous apologies and a room upgrade we settled into our very nice room prior to going out.  Just as we we're about to leave Al got the s**ts and after 3 attempts we were able to go out and eat.

We found a really nice restaurant (the only restaurant I think) & had a really nice meal with a couple of drinks, and then we headed back to the hotel where we discovered the bar.  We met a bloke in the bar who joined us in a few games of darts and a few beers (in my case vodka), at 10pm they closed the dartboard for dancing & started playing music.  After another beer I left Al and headed for bed (on reflection this may have been a mistake).

About 11.30 Al bobbed back to the room & woke me up to tell me he was staying in the bar for another drink and telling me how he was chillin to Led Zep.  I was then woke up again at 12ish when he came to bed, after a few minutes Al groaned and did the mad dash to the toilet.  I was then subjected to the graceful sounds of Al spewing, after several minutes of this Al made a second attempt to get into bed.  No success the pitter-patter of Al legging it to the toilet could soon be heard again along with the tutting from yours truly (well I'd been asleep!).

After this spewing session I gave up on sleep & decided to get the coffee from the car & brew up for myself, I left King Chunder (Al) stark naked, spread eagled on the bed.  When I walked back in the room Al was lying on the floor, on his back at the end of the bed looking a little pale.  I went to put him on his side & he didn't seem like he was breathing properly, after getting no response from shouting at him I started to slap him around a bit (lol, pain stimuli......... love it) and with a BIG gasp he proceeded to throw up AGAIN.  The only thing within grabbing distance was the hotel towels, so they got utilised, the problem with this was I then noticed it looked like he was spewing blood (great!!!!!!!!) & every time I put him on his side his breathing went funny again.

In his rouseable moments he apologised profusely & requested a pair of boxers, but mostly it was 'I'm sooooo sorry Shaz, I think I'm gonna die' (cheers for reassuring me there Al).  The worrying thing was, I thought he was going to die; he was pale, clammy, not responsive & sweating loads, as well as being sick horrible brown stuff......lots.  After about 3 towels and 30 mins, I was able to leave him long enough to phone reception to see if there was access to medical facilities in Lake Louise, 'only 911' was the reply, I agreed that they should be called as it wasn't a case of Al having too much to drink & being sick.

Well now the saga really starts, next thing I know I'm sitting there mopping Al down with a cold cloth & someone is banging on the door.  When I open it security take one look at Al, tell me to hang on & run off, a minute later there is another bang & another security bloke comes in saying he is an off duty fireman, he takes one look at Al and shouts to the other bloke call 911.  Al then decides to projectile vomit brown crap in the general direction of this bloke & then passes out again.  We were both trying to cool Al off, keep him on his side & catch the puke whilst feeling like an exhibit in a zoo as all the hotels guests decide to traipse past and gawp.

After about 10 mins the night shift for Lake Louise fire department, all 5 of them turn up and cram into the doorway.  Much debate occurred over the vomit filled towels, as to whether it was blood or last night’s steak dinner that Al was bringing up, no one could be certain what it was so we had to wait for the paramedics to arrive.  In the meantime Al was put on oxygen because his saturation levels were low & everyone played dodge the vomit & guess the contents of the towel until the paramedics arrived.

To make room for them the lady with the oxygen bottle stood up to move into the corridor, unfortunately she forgot to take the mask of Al and after the elastic had stretched to the max around his head everyone then had to play dodge the mask as it flew off his head.

I then had to repeat the whole story of our night out to the paramedics and try and convince them that about 8-9 drinks over 7 hours wasn't really a lot of alcohol, especially as the pints are a lot smaller than UK pints.  I think I managed to convince them he wasn't just drunk when I announced I had drunk about 8 vodkas over a shorter time frame & was still managing to stand upright.  They decided that he might have food poisoning or concussion & that a trip to the hospital would be required.  I had to travel in the ambulance to provide them with details, but failed to realise until we were part way there that the hospital was in Banff (45 minute drive) & the hire car and luggage was in Lake Louise .  In the meantime Al was lying in the back muttering 'I'm so sorry, I want to go FLY FISHING,' the paramedics were laughing but I sure wasn't so I sat in the front muttering 'I'll bloody drown you first'.

Once at the hospital they drove straight into the ambulance bay which was attached to the hospital, Al was seen straight away by a nurse and within 10 minutes by a Dr. No bloody wonder she was quick, she charged $400 for 10 mins work, she decided that Al may have a slight concussion or food poisoning, but expresses her horror about the amount of alcohol he had consumed.  She then looked at me in horror when I told her it wasn't a lot for a night out.  She then proceeded to request Liver Function Tests, thinking Al might have pancreatitis, which is a symptom of drinking too much alcohol.  She wouldn't believe that we weren’t big drinkers and only drank every now and again.  The paramedic who was still hovering then told us that we were at altitude & alcohol would affect us more.  Meanwhile Al started to mumble he was cold & was promptly presented with warmed up blankets by the nurse.

I then started to panic about getting the car & luggage, when I asked about a taxi they phoned up to check the price and I was told $100 without driver tip , so a quick dash to the cash machine in the garage was required (praying that there wasn't a bear deciding to try and find some grub in the street).  The garage doors were open (so not like the UK) and I found the cash machine, inserted card, put in pin & card was refused (sh*t).  Tried again, card refused (sh*t sh*t), tried credit card, again refused (sh*t, sh*t, sh*t), so asked Ally (bloke in garage) where the nearest bank machine was.....his reply.....this is it (sh*t, sh*t, sh*t & sh*t).  Explained what had happened and that I needed $100 for cab and he offered to give me cash back if I bought something, fab, bought some coffee, handed over card, cash back not allowed.  Their system didn't recognise that my debit card was a debit card, it thought it was a credit card, well at this point I was nearly in tears, no cash-no taxi-no car or luggage, at this point Ally must have felt sorry for me as he offered to lend me cash from his own pocket.  I couldn't believe this, $100 is a lot of money and I could have just run off, I swapped him £60 for $100 just in case anything happened and I couldn't return the next day.

Next hurdle was to experience utter embarrassment at the hotel when checking out due to the fact we had been up-graded because our original room stunk of vomit & Al had just puked all over the new room (yet again I experienced an urge to kill him).  I decided to sneak in the back way, have a shower, load the luggage into the car and then check out and run.  Alas this plan was also doomed to failure, as I had put 1 case into the car & had gone back for another I heard a horn alarm honking like mad; yes it was our car alarm.  After frantically pushing every button on the fob, turning the engine on, swearing at Al, watching lights turning on in all the hotel rooms, I spotted a panic button on the key fob, pressed it and silence (totally didn't make sense).  So much for the quiet escape .  At reception the man asked nicely how Al was doing, I apologised for the bother, thanked the staff, paid the bar bill and got the hell out of there.

At this point it was 6am, I was shattered and had to drive back to Banff.  The only good thing was watching the light come up behind the mountains & then a fantastic sunrise.  It was worth swerving into a truck stop and freezing to get some pics of the sun rising up over the mountains.  When I got to the hospital Al was asleep, had been asleep since I left and hadn't thrown up once .  The tests showed a slight abnormality on the ECG, but also that he wasn't an alcoholic and his liver was fine, all that remained was to get & pay the bill. 

The total $1200 for possible food poisoning/concussion & too many beers at altitude .

Although it wasn't a pleasant experience (although looking back it is funny & I have a lot of mileage in this.......... hmmmmmmm think I'll have a massage next week AL), it has made my mind up that moving to Canada will be ok.  Everyone was so helpful, especially Ally in the garage, that having a crisis in a strange country with no one you can contact for help, wasn't too bad.

Al slept for the day and is right as rain now, although for some strange reason he has declined a beer since then

A memento for Al, Banff Hospital

A memento for me, sunrise over the mountains

Well we've been here 5 days now and have been soooooo busy; we've not had time to update this.  Flight was long, all I can say is thank god we upgraded seats and had a couple of extra inches leg room (even Al agreed that in this case a couple of inches extra is good;-).  Food was ok for an airline & air steward gave us extra booze when we asked, which was good.  We also got our luggage pretty quick and was first through immigration, I was that surprised that I didn't have passports out and in my haste not to keep him waiting I ended up practically throwing my driving licence at him .  He took it in good humour, joking that it was ok as I hadn't tried to throw money at him (not that we had any money, didn't get chance to change any in the UK).

We we're met of the flight by Julie Parry, & she even waited around for us to get some cash & for Al to buy his first Timmy's at the airport.  So glad that we didn't hire a car at the airport as we we're pretty tired (well only finished packing 5 hrs before the flight) and wouldn't have had a clue how to get to the hotel.  Julie dropped us off with an invite to a BBQ the next day and the chance to meet other ex pats and soon to be's.  We went for a couple of hours lie down at 3.30pm (Calgary time 7 hrs behind UK) & woke up at 3.30am, only to have to sit around hotel room until breakfast at 6.30.

Went to the wrong car hire place to pick up car, it turned out to be in our favour as they offered a better deal.  I got the hot seat first and we set off to try and find a map for the Tom-tom, fortunately the mall was on the right hand side of the road and I was able to turn right without mishap (took a while to get confidence up enough to turn left), but, they do not sell Canada maps in Canada , so no Tom-tom.  Found Okotoks ok and enjoyed the BBQ and the chance to speak to people who had made the move, the weather was nice and hot & we both experienced sunburn (who said Canada was cold!).

Sunday saw us house hunting with Julie, went looking around Black Diamond (Al thought it had a cool name), Turner Valley & Longview.  What can we say...........? Hicksville springs to mind.  Longview was small but ok, was full of bikers & had a lot with an amazing view of the mountains; the houses we saw were not up to much though.  Then back to the hotel (not the nicest, wouldn't recommend Days Inn) & Al was asleep by 8pm.

On Monday we went exploring, drove up to Claresholm and did some kerb crawling up and down streets looking at houses for sale.  Seemed like an ok area, although at about 1hr away from Calgary a bit too far to travel if I can only get a position in Calgary.  Went for a drive round the cowboy route to Nanton, amazing views, but the acreages were in the middle of nowhere & would be so bleak in winter.  They were also too far out of towns, we wouldn't have stood much chance of meeting people socially.  Also checked out High River, Al liked the area and we were due to look at some properties with Julie on Tuesday.

Took a detour to some shops on the way back to Calgary and got lost.  Ended up on the north side of the city and unable to find our way back, Al kept getting into a strop because we were lost, but I didn't point out to him that if he'd have sorted Tom-tom map we wouldn't have got lost .  I waited until the next day to do that!!!!!!!

Went house hunting in High River on Tuesday, saw some great houses with lots of potential, but Julie then showed us a house in Okotoks that didn't need any work doing to it.  There was even a pond dug in the back garden & the views front & back are fantastic.  We have expressed our interest in the house, but until I get WP & we have an offer on the house we are stuck (unless anyone wants to lend us 200k).  We have decided that if it's meant to be then it will fall into place, if not then our new home is yet to be discovered.  Tuesday also saw our last day in the sh*t hole Days Inn, we're off to Lethbridge tomorrow.

More soon

Sharon