HRH and Raccoons!

I know, I am a tad behind on posting. Well as some of you know HRH is here visiting us in Halifax. The poor woman arrived yesterday in torrential rain, I noted on the news she held her own brolly :o) Her visit caused traffic mayhem on both toll bridges yesterday. Today, not so bad. I think she was heading out down the harbour to view the fleet of Naval ships.

She must have been just around the corner from our house as the police had the road to the Bedford Institute of Oceanography blocked off. (That's about a five minute walk down the road from us).

Rob and I were out running errands earlier and as we crossed over the Mackay Bridge, the fleet were all dotted about all around the harbour, I have to say it was a very impressive display. Sadly I have no photo for you as you cannot stop on that bridge, so you will just have to take my word for it.

I had my first haircut on Saturday and what a shocker...I hated it!
I shall not be going back there again. Lovely girl though, but seriously I took a photo of my hair after it was cut the last time in the UK and what she did was nothing like it! The bit I have the most problem with is the way she has cut it around the back, it makes my head look an even odder shape than it did before!

Last weekend (Sunday) we headed off to a favourite haunt of mine, The Shubenacadie Wildlife Park as I was in the mood for photographing critters. You know you are not in England anymore when the animals you get to see are American Mink, Moose, Coyotes, Wolves and Raccoons! Rob and I have been there twice before on past trips to the Province.

Thursday this week is Canada day and a Bank Holiday here. There is a ton of stuff going on down at the harbour on both sides including the Military Tattoo parade plus live music and fireworks in the evening, so I expect we will pop on down and see what's going on.

I am awaiting Rob's return at the moment from the interview he went for, so no news yet on that. Things are slow at the car lot, I checked in today to give them an invoice for last week and I will have some more work there next week. In the meantime we are both continuing to look for job openings.

On the health front, I started putting the drops in my ear and since then have had nothing but shooting pain in it...I suppose that is a good thing?! What with my blood pressure tablets, the antibiotics, the anti-histamine's and the ear drops I am like the walking wounded right now!

Who couldn't love a face like this!

Sick Note and Birthday Wishes!

Just a quick update, as I don't have much to report. Rob and I spent most of yesterday and the day before looking for and researching jobs. I cold called a few design places and sent them over my details, although they may not come to much now, a couple got back to me and said they would keep me in mind which was encouraging.

Rob has an interview for a part time job at a printers on Tuesday, late shifts. Before he did plumbing and heating he used work on the printing machines at a local printer, so he is definitely what they are looking for, fingers crossed there.

I think the toll of moving finally poured out of my body this morning, sore throat, bad ear and other things that resulted in a trip to the doctor. I am back on antibiotics and the the doc said my ear is so packed full of hard wax I must get it syringed in about a weeks time. So that's to look forward to!

We went back down to the park tonight as it was such a nice evening and I now have another ton of Squirrel shots. I do love them!!

First haircut is looming in the morning, and if the weather stays nice, we might take a drive out to a few places over the weekend.

Big Birthday wishes to my friend Kim who will be turning the big 40 in a few days! Hope you and the girls have a great night. Thinking of you all.

Sneaky Snack Break!

Bears, Camels and Squirrels!

Can't honestly say we have been up to much in the last couple of days since my last post. Just mundane stuff like practicing my driving. I tried to follow a student out on their test from the place where I will be taking mine, but sadly and stupidly I followed the wrong car!

Went into work today on the lot, not much doing, Dan the boss has been off sick so no new cars from auction, just did a couple and came home.

Rob had a meeting with Metro Burners today and he is hopefully going to be going out to learn a few bits with some of the engineers in a couple of weeks. There is likely to be a job for him in August, in the meantime he will be hoping to pick up some part time work.

I am also on the look out for jobs and have applied for one, which is just for a couple of months full time, but should I get a sniff at it, then it could lead to something more perhaps. More on that if I hear back from them.

News from the Metro today...Bear spotted running around people's back gardens in Bedford. (Not too far away from us). Experts think that the poor thing is lost and is tyring to find its way back to another area slightly further out called Hammonds Plains. Lets hope they catch and take it back!

In other news my friend Rosy told me of a story about a trucker who was transporting a tiger and 2 camels from Nova Scotia Zoo to another facility. The trucker took a break and while he was gone his truck was stolen. Imagine that, when the robbers opened the back! Anyway all's well that ends well, as on Breakfast TV this morning, they said the truck had been found and the animals were safe and well. The hunt continues for the culprits.

We had dinner early tonight and joined the joggers and the speed walkers in Point Pleasant Park...And NO, before anyone thinks it, I wasn't wearing a tracksuit and didn't contemplate anything more strenuous than a slow stroll!! That really would be a step too far!

Point Pleasant Park is lovely, a very nice place to spend some time along the waterfront, plenty of squirrels to keep me and my camera occupied!!

I like to think he understood the meaning of 'stay still cutie!'

But then again, maybe he just thought I was one of his kind as
my hair seems to match his fur!

Shipping Out, a US Liner leaving Halifax.

Beauty Spots and Bites!

The weather has been just glorious these past few days. The temperature topped off at around 29 degrees yesterday and today it's been around 25 with blue skies all day.

As we had the hire car yesterday we headed out along the Eastern Coast to Sherbrooke Village which is a living history museum, what a beautiful place it was too, we spent a lovely day there wandering round the different buildings.

Met a great lady in one of the stores called Suzette. She has been working there for 13 years as the Ambrotype Photographer, and we chatted about all sorts including photography. We also got on to the subject of driving and I am pleased to tell you that Suzette has been as bad as me in the past getting herself into a pickle when parking her car, so much so, that like me has had to ask a passing stranger to help her out and re-park it. Oh how it made me laugh, and here's me thinking I was the only one!

I have now officially found something I hate over here...Black flies.
Apparently June is the season for them, but nobody thought to tell me! I was accutely aware of them yesterday all around me and found them pretty annoying, but didn't think they were biting me, only to wake up this morning covered in bites, they seemd to have gone for all my boney parts, which in itself is funny as we all know I am well covered! I have two huge ones behind my right ear, one on the thin part of my upper left ear, one on the left side of my face, one on my knuckle, one on my ankle and one on the back of my neck. I think I also have one in the corner of my right eye as that is pretty sore too. So today I covered myself in Jungle Formula and stunk to high heaven before leaving the house.

On a lighter note I have been learning how to pronounce some of the more strangly named places around here, here's my quick guide so far.

Shubanacadie - Pronounced: Shu-ba-nacker-dy
Antigonish - Pronounced: Anti-gonish (emphasis on the first part)
Musquodoboit Harbour - Pronounced - Musca-dobit Harbour

We passed through possibly the best named place I have ever seen yesterday, this one isn't hard to pronounce, just made me smile
Ecum Secum...How good is that!

As we got back late yesterday we didn't do much today, just took a ride out to Prospect and Terence Bay (two of my favourite places). Took quite a few photos, just for a change!

Sherbrooke Village

Sandy Cove

Prospect

And it's a Pass!

Yes, Rob was victorious in his driving test today, which did nothing to put my mind at ease over my impending torturous trial ahead. I would love to be confident enough to say I think I will pass, but I think nerves may get the better of me. At this point I would say it's a definite 50/50!

A busy and hot day on the lot moving cars again for me, finished around 2.30 pm and worked a couple of hours at home. I will get my first pay check tomorrow.

It was the last meeting of the season for the Camera Club this evening so we went along and had an enjoyable evening, Nancy and Dave were there, and of course there was the Tim Horton's social afterwards. They have a whole host of workshops and field trips lined up for the summer, not to mention the annual BBQ and I really hope to get along to as many events as possible as well as get out with Nancy shooting.

The car goes in for repair tomorrow morning and we will have a hire car for the next couple of days, so we will be making the most of that and the weather hopefully.

I read in Metro this morning that the Queen and Phillip are visiting Halifax for 3 days in June...Very exciting...Well not for me, but for Halifax. I reckon it will be packed out when she does her walkabout.

I also read this morning that bears are becoming a bit of nuisance just outside of the city!!!! Errrr, I actually didn't think there were bears in Nova Scotia! How wrong was I? Plus apparently the coyote's are getting more vicious! A tourist in cape Breton was mauled and killed by one, which again I find very surprising as they are usually so scared of people. And that is the news today from this side of the pond :o)

Bits and Pieces

It's been a busy couple of days, but if you ask me what we've been doing I really don't know. Sunday we had a rest and did as little as possible. I was due to go to work on Monday but the forecast was rain, so I postponed until today. So instead, yesterday we did a few chores and checked out a pretty good thrift shop. That's the beauty of picking your own schedule!

Today was lovely and sunny, just a bit breezy on the car lot. Drove all kinds of vehicles today, and for a woman who cannot reverse park to save her life I must say I am am doing an okay job. They might not be straight but at least they are in the slots :o)

I am now doing half my job from home, which involves re-sizing the images naming them all and uploading them to the website. The nice thing is again, I can pick and choose when I do it, so I left the lot at around 2.30 pm today when I couldn't find anymore keys, then went shopping with Rob before heading home and doing a couple of hours work on the PC.

Rob was busy round the house today, more organizing down in the basement, sorted out all my dreadful cables under the office desk and went to check out where he will be taking his driving test on Wednesday. In order to get a quicker date he opted to take the test on the Halifax side of the Harbour, which I personally think is harder than the Dartmouth side (where I am taking mine).

I took the plunge and booked a haircut for a couple of weeks time. I do feel sorry for them! My hair has gone to pot since arriving here, it was bad enough before but with the soft water here it now has the texture of baby hair!

I taught Trina the words Numpty, Pleb and Pillock today at work, her slang is coming along nicely!

Yet another truck I had trouble getting my short legs up into :o)

Wrong Turns

Not much to report at the moment. The unpacking continues. Well actually we are more or less straight now, with everything we can unpack unpacked and the rest all piled in the basement and the crawl space.

Got so fed up yesterday and had to get out of the house, so went for a drive to practice my road skills. The driving was okay, but I got us completely lost. I thought we were miles away from home, but turned out we had driven in a circle and were just on the outskirts of Halifax!

Anyway to make up for my mystery tour we headed for Fisherman's Cove once again to have fish and chips for tea. It was very busy down on the wharf as the fine weather had brought everyone out. We queued to get seated in Wharf Wraps, but it was sooo worth it.

Today I have just been doing household chores mainly, cleaning up after the mess of the last couple of days. Spoke to my brother this morning on Skype and he helped us get some stuff sorted with the media center so I can start watching my UK programmes.

Rob has his driving test this Wednesday, and I have now booked mine up for the 15th July. Fingers crossed we both pass.

Lake Echo (on our Mystery Tour)

Fisherman's Cove

How Much Stuff???!!

Apologies for no blog update yesterday, simply no time and even if there was I couldn't have got to the laptop as the room was completely full of boxes.

As you may have guessed from my previous statement our container arrived yesterday, it arrived at about 9 am with 2 very polite chaps (Donnie and Jamie) unloading and dumping the boxes in relevant rooms. Rob and I started unpacking and literally haven't stopped since. The 'boxes in' process speeded up in the afternoon as 2 more men arrived and helped unload faster, which just made me depressed at the enormity of the the task ahead.

After the movers left, Rob and I kept going till late in the evening and only seemed to scratch the surface. Today seems a little better we have made headway and I am typing this entry from my own PC which is now up and running. I hope to get the bulk of it done by tomorrow as the weather is too nice to be stuck inside. All that space we had, now seems completely filled and finding places to put stuff has proved a nightmare so far.

Hamish was extremely happy to be reunited with his favourite chair. no sooner had it arrived than he was up on the back of it kipping! I wish I was him right now!

And here they come!

Hamish finds peace on his favourite chair!

Big Trucks, Short Legs!

Another sunny day on the lot...I was sunburned yesterday and didn't even know it!

Today was a bit tougher as I had some really big trucks to move around. Luckily Glen was on hand to help me, although there was no helping with one that I couldn't even get up into...Now there was a sight to behold!

Dan the boss, likes my accent and also learned the word knackered today. He giggled when I said I would give him a ring tomorrow and said does that mean you are going to call me? He says he is definitely going to use that in his vocab from now on!

The day went swiftly and I ran out of cars at around 4 pm...Well actually I didn't run out, I just couldn't find the keys, so I will have another go next week.

After work Rob and I headed out to Peggy's Cove as the evening was beautiful. The coastal road is just so pretty with lovely views at every turn. The lupins are out in full force now and are scattered along the roadside, stunning pinks and purples.

I thought at that time of day Peggy's would be nice and quiet with not too many tourists, instead we found a whole film crew at work filming a new series called Haven. Will have to keep an eye out for that one.

Took quite a few photos tonight, it was nice not to to be shooting the inside of a car :o)

The container is definitely arriving here tomorrow with a crew of people to unload and unpack, I am dreading it! The loss adjuster for the car is also coming tomorrow. It's going to be a hot one and a busy one.

Film Crew at Peggy's Cove



Reflections Galore at Peggy's Cove



Who couldn't love this place?!



Roadside Lupins

First Day on the Lot

Big day for me today, my first at the Ford Dealership. Boy oh boy am I tired!
Quite the change from sitting behind a desk all day. The weather was beautiful and I have been out in the sunshine all day. I shot around 11 vehicles, doesn't sound like much but when you think that each one has to have around 35 images taken inside and out in a 360 walk-round that's a lot of maneuvering, walking, dropping seats down etc.

Met a few more folks today, Trina was the lady who showed me the ropes, she's lovely and a laugh, she loves my use of the words 'kanckered' and 'loo' Sherry is the used car sales manager who found my garden kneeling pad in the conference room and thought someone had come in to do some gardening, which in itself is confusing as they have no garden! (In case you are wondering I took the kneeling pad in just in case I had to get down and dirty whilst shooting the tires)...Luckily I don't.

I had lunch with Darcy and Will, 2 younger lads, who have a passion for KFC. Corey was of course there and a friendly face to chat with and help me out. There are over 100 people working there in Sales, Service and the Repair Shop, so it will be a miracle if I remember all the names.

So anyway, again for those of you who know me and my driving capabilities not to mention my lack of confidence behind the wheel you will be astonished to hear that I drove all 11 vehicles today ranging from a Kia to a huge Explorer, I hit nothing and even reverse parked the Explorer back into it's slot...Nothing short of miraculous! Especially as the gear thing was on the steering wheel! All good practice for my driving test!

Rob had a busy day too he signed up with a temporary work agency which entailed a lengthy a health and safety test (I think these are standard with the temping places), so hopefully he should get some odd jobs coming through. He did some weeding out back and met our neighbour, sorted out a ton of post that needing sending and remembered to take my washing out of the machine, booked his practical driving test for July 8, oh and he got in touch with the woman who hit our car yesterday and she said she is now going to claim our expenses on her insurance.

I shall be back on the lot tomorrow and then hopefully our stuff should be arriving which should sort out the rest of the weeks activities.

Fairley & Stevens Ford Dealership - Used Lot End (my cars!)

Banging!

Today was full of ups and downs. I was supposed to start my job at the dealership this morning but the weather was so bad I decided to wait until tomorrow. That said over the course of today the weather has brightened up and is now sunny outside. As they say here, if you don't like the weather wait five minutes! We saw our first deer in the back yard today...well the woods behind the back yard, I was so excited I couldn't get a decent picture, will try harder next time. Apparently they are not around much now, but are everywhere on our estate in October to April I have been told, so I am looking forward to that and feeding them of course.

I got to talk to my dad, Marjorie and Clive this morning on Skype which was fun. It was the first time I have spoken to dad since moving over. Hope you enjoyed the tour via web cam and my bad morning hair!

We got a call from the freight people telling us that our container is due in port tonight. So we headed on over to the office to do the paperwork to clear customs. This involved them giving us a form and then us trekking down town to Halifax and getting it stamped and then returning it to the freight office. All being well we should take delivery on Thursday...And I am sooo not looking forward to all that unpacking!

After completing that task I was hungry as it was lunchtime so we went for a Subway, no sooner had Rob pulled into the parking area than this woman backed out of a space at what seemed like warp speed into the front of our car. YES! I KNOW! This didn't make us happy at all, fortunately the damage in pretty minimal, she gave us her details and we went off to get a quote to get it fixed, the damage is around $700 including the price of a rental car for the time it will take to get patched up. I think she will most likely pay for the damage rather than claim on her insurance. FYI she didn't look behind her at all when she was reversing.

This brings me neatly on to what happened next, for days Rob and I have been studying our NS drivers handbook. We have to take a theory and and a practical to qualify for our NS license (after 90 days here you cannot drive on a UK license...In actual fact the insurance company want you to take the test within 1-2 months to keep our insurance). We decided to take our theory tests today! I was so nervous and felt completely unprepared. I think Rob was a little more confident than I was. Anyhow we paid the fee and took the test at the DMV and I passed (only 3 questions wrong) Rob finished after I did and to be fair I do think some of his questions were a little harder than mine, he squeaked in with 5 wrong answers (you are only allowed 4 wrong, but they could see that he had changed his mind on one and let him have it). We then paid more money for our exam fee (for the practical) and can now just ring up and book that when we are ready. I personally need a bit more practice yet, so maybe in a couple of weeks.

After the test we went food shopping again, since getting home I have made some butterscotch jello pudding with manderin pieces chucked in for good measure (hope it tastes okay!) I also made some strawberry jelly, with strawberries in it...If you know me at all this is quite some feat for me as I avoid the kitchen at all costs!

So all in all and interesting and stressful day!

Apologies for no blog entry yesterday. Rain stopped play and we literally did nothing all day. It was however a day for phone calls. Rob's mum phoned, my friend Sarah phoned and my flickr friend Rosy called from Montreal. It was great to finally speak to her in person having communicated via flickr for so long. I think we spent a total of 3 hours on the phone...I think it's a fact that we are both talkers :o)

A Slow News Day!

Had planned to go out with Nancy today and maybe take a few photos, but sadly the weather put an end to that. The day started off beautifully but by the early afternoon the rain set in.

Rob finished tweaking the desk this morning. As promised yesterday here are the before and after shots.

Rob hard at work!

...And didn't he do well!

We spent the rest of the day mooching around the shops in Bedford, bought a luandry bin and and indoor clothes dryer plus did a food shop. The trouble is with the supermarkets here, there are so many cool and interesting things to catch your eye, we find ourselves spending hours in them! My favourite food product purchased today was a Jello white chocolate pudding mix (not calorific either!)

I found this amusing little bench yesterday next to a gift shop at Fisherman's Cove...A bench that all men can appreciate I am sure!

Husband Parking Bench, Fisherman's Cove

DIY and Fish & Chips

Had a lazy start to the day. Staples called and said the desk I ordered yesterday wouldn't be with us until Monday which was a bit of a downer, then less than an hour later a delivery man turned up with it! Rob set about putting it together, 6 hours later he was still going...So many pieces and screws complete with crappy flat pack instructions that always make no sense. I have taken a 'before' image and planned to take an 'after' image, but it got so late they will have to wait until tomorrow.

As it was such a lovely evening we decided to go back to Eastern Passage and Fisherman's Cove. We had a great dinner at Wharf Wraps restaurant. tasty food!! Such a lovely little place.

Since returning home Rob has been hammering away again upstairs, I shall venture up there shortly and view the results :o)

A view of Halifax from Downtown Dartmouth


Wharf Wraps Restaurant, Fisherman's Cove


Looking back towards Halifax and Dartmouth from Fisherman's Cove

A Drive Out and some more Spending!

After a late night last night I was having a little snooze this morning, when our extremely loud phone rang. It was my friend Sylvie on the phone. Sylvie, it was great to hear from you and you'll be pleased to know I dropped off to sleep again after the call.

Rob and I headed out to post some letters...Took us ages to find a Post Office. We keep seeing signs for them but can never find them. After that we went for a drive along to a place called Eastern Passage. There is a great fishing village along there, It looks like a great place to live. I would have taken some photos for you, but it was so foggy today I didn't bother, will maybe try again on Saturday. We stumbled across a great furniture store where a purple sofa set and chair caught my eye, I am pretty sure when we make some money this will be the first thing I will buy.

We then headed out further along the marine drive, (Nova Scotia has all kinds of routes for people to follow i.e. the Lighthouse trail, the Evangeline trail etc) it looked lovely from what I could see, rugged coastline, beaches and lakes, but again so foggy the camera didn't even make it out of the bag so we returned home and went to the Dartmouth Crossing (where we have been doing pretty much all of our shopping) and I ordered a really nice office desk for when my PC and printers arrive. It's big and an L shaped in Maple, the range is called 'Somerset' so that must be a sign that I have bought the right thing right? I also bought a really fancy cat post/bed thing for Hamish, so far so good he seems to approve.

On my wish list!!

New Faces and Places

We headed for the DMV today to get our plate for the car. Only had to wait an hour :o) That's pretty good I think considering the amount of people waiting in there. At least you get comfy seats to sit in. The price for the plate and sticker (which is essentially, road tax and registration) is $159. The sticker has to be renewed every 2 years. So if you do the math, it's way cheaper than the UK to keep a car on the road.

We had a bit of a laid back afternoon, Rob called Metro Burners (one of the companies he touched base with last year, they are going to shedule a meeting with him in the next few days hopefully. I chatted with my brother Clive on Skype and showed him around the house via the web cam....I must have looked like a complete spanner carrying the laptop around the outside of the house! Just as well there is never anyone about!

This evening we met up with with one of my online Flickr friends Nancy, we met at her house and from there she kindly took Rob and I along to Sackville Photography Club. It was also great to meet another one of my Flickr friends Dave. I have known both Nancy and Dave for quite sometime via Flickr and our shared interest in photography and it was wonderful to meet them both in person. The club was lively, with a talk by a very talented guest speaker. Afterwards a bunch of us went to Tim Hortons for Tea and Coffee (a bit of a ritual as I understand....and a good one in my book!). There I met some of the other members, all of whom were lovely. Rob and I joined up tonight and hope to attend as and when we can.

Nancy and Dave in Tim Hortons

We have Wheels!

A very productive day today, went to the bank first thing to pick up a cheque for our car. Finally managed to find a doctor who was taking on new patients (they seem to be a bit thin on the ground). However unlike the UK there are masses of 'walk in' clinics all over the place, so if you need to see a doctor quickly rather waiting for an appointment at your family practice you can get seen by a duty doctor at a 'walk in' clinic.

We also got ourselves a dentist and then went to see the Blue Cross insurance people to apply for an additional plan which will cover prescription medications, vision, dental and travel. This is a supplementary plan to the health service which provides free medical treatment provided by the government. Once we get full time jobs, most work places provide these benefits on a group basis at which point we can suspend our private plan.

Next we took back our hire car and waited for Corey to pick us up and take us to the dealership where we paid for our new car. We have a temporary registration for now until we register it at the DMV and get our plates and sticker. It's definitely a step up from the old Astra :o)

In other breaking news, I think I figured out how to work the tumble dryer and I may have found a hairdresser to try out. I just hope they can do as good as Andrew (hope you are reading this!)

Our new motor