Happy Easter

Apologies I have been AWOL again. I seem to have been busy doing nothing apart from fretting.
I am finally getting over the never ending cold I had, it has taken forever to get rid of it.

Last weekend Rob and I went for eye tests (my first one since leaving the UK). I was absolutely convinced that I would need glasses after 4 years of no testing, but actually no I don't Apparently my eyesight is pretty damn good. My focusing is.....and I quote...Extremely sharp. She did say however, that my left eye is weaker than my right, and that I may need glasses in a couple of years. Rob on the other hand needs a new prescription for his glasses, and was dumb founded as to how my eyes are so good.

Sunday Rachael and I decided to finally get out and take some photos, well sort off. It was quite grey and colder than we thought it was going to be, so we only ventured as far as Halifax Waterfront. I don't know quite what happened to us, I think it was largely due to the fact we had been hibernating all Winter, but neither of us could muster any enthusiasm or creativity, we did however whinge quite a bit, so after a short 3 hours we went home again.

Although this week has only been a 4 day work week, it's been long and arduous in my book. There seem to be major changes going on at work, and these types of scenarios always play on my mind and drain me mentally. That coupled with the fact 5 days of work were crammed in 4, it was pretty hectic too.

The people doing our mortgage kept hassling our broker for more endless information from us.
It's not enough that you have the down payment, they want to see it on a statement and when it was deposited, and that you have had it 3 months...OMG...really...Then they wanted more pay slips, and they called my work place this week to check up on me. We have been assured it is all completed now and they are just following up with due diligence. Our sofa arrived at Leon's so Rob paid the tax on that this week and then will arrange for it to be delivered once we are in the house. We are off to the lawyers office on Monday 28th to sign a billion documents and sign over the money. We take possession on May 1st and I have that day and the 2nd of May off...Hooray! The movers are booked for May 17th and prior to that we will moving all smaller stuff across ourselves during weekends and evenings and if Rob is not working all the time, during the day as well.

On the up side of things we did our taxes and it looks like for the first time in 3 years we will actually be getting money back, this is due to the fact that we put some of our down payment money for the house in an RSP (retirement savings plan) which means we get the tax back on that as we are first time home buyers here.

Our house in the UK is causing us some grief right now just to pile on the pressure further. We have been waiting for months now to get the roof fixed. The scaffolding was put up ages ago, but no work has been done yet, so now we have both the tenant and the neighbours complaining. And if that's not enough we also have to have the the fireplace removed, a new one put in and the chimney lined, plus a new heating system of some sort...and this is all because people are apparently to stupid to use the existing wood/coal burning/back boiler heating without creating mess and damage.

Back to here...Yesterday the weather was pretty nice, I think we have finally turned a corner now and are feeling more Spring-like. Crocuses are out in force all over the place. Nancy and I took a drive out to Mahone Bay, Blue Rocks and Stonehurst yesterday. It's been a long time since she and I went out. It was a good day and I managed to get a few decent shots.

In other news this week, the re-branding of Halifax was unveiled. $300,000 of tax payers money was spent on this this venture and here's what they came up with:

There are all kinds of buzz words to accompany it, and a slogan 'Be Bold'...Which I personally find hilarious.
At least the old logo had some character, it might be more 1975 that 2014, but I think that in itself represents Halifax HRM more than this new faceless corporate look. Being bold and progressive is NOT what this place is all about. This town, not City, runs on an old boy network system, where it's not what you know it's who you know. They don't really want progress, as they won't even commit to building anything above a certain height, let's face it, it's a small town in a small Province who likes things just the way they are, without the fear of outside competition creeping in. Now I might sound cynical about all this, but I am simply stating facts and this Province is 20 years behind the times.This re-branding is nothing more than a sound bite. I like living here, I get what this place is all about and this branding misses the mark completely. It is generic and as such is reminiscent of this Generic branding video:


So on that gripe, I will leave you with a couple of shots taken at the weekend and wish you all a Happy Easter!!

Spring at Stonehurst

Blue Rocks - On the Rocks

Sick!

I have been a little under the weather for the past week, I thought I had got away without having a cold this Winter but apparently not. I started to go down with the most awful cold last weekend, and since then I have been struggling on with it. I worked Monday and Tuesday, well the morning anyway, I got sent home as I was a sniffing, coughing mess, I was back to work on Wednesday as I had to man the place as all the staff were out at our trade show. Feeling utterly awful, I did manage to attend a women in business do I had been invited to after work. I didn't stay long, but passed out a few of my cards for photography and design.
Friday was inventory day at work and for me a ton of data entry. That brings us to the weekend where I have largely been in bed the whole time.

I don't want to appear overly optimistic, but I think we might be turning a corner weather wise. The sun is shining outside and there is no sign of snow. I have stopped looking at the weather forecasts altogether now as last week they irritated me so badly. I actually thought that Weather Bomb was going to be the last term that annoyed the hell out of me but last week the word Sprinkles crept in, I believe the sprinkles they referred to actually meant flurries. God only knows what they will have to talk about when the weather is actually good.

Birthday wishes go out this week to my brother Clive! And I will leave you with another Rick Mercer video.