Days on Days

Well other than being sick for the last handfull of days and the weather turning quite Londony it's been good. Now tomorrow is supposed to be reasonable and Kate and I are finally getting an out day together. Jason and Tara are going to watch the kids while we go check out the Greenwich and Shoreditch markets and then I'm taking her to my most favorite pub in London - The White Hart Waterloo. I love that little pub.

Sunday may involve a trip to the Science Museum for 2 to 4 of us and that will be most excellent.

For those of you wondering how the settling in is going, I would say quite well in fact. The kids seem to be fairly oblivious to the change or are taking it all in quite nicely. Kate loves the area, loves the culture and moreover loves the limitless accents and languages around. I'm still enjoying feeling at home with my family around and also continuing to find some joy in all the little things around.

On another topic...

If you've never seen the work in the Idiotic Land by the ball point pen of SHOHEI... go check it out... just not at work or around your kids....

Firsts and Firsts

For some reason I am excited that my first payments to Council Tax and Utilities have gone through. It gives me a sense of happiness to know that we've set in by paying them.

Also. Happy Birthday Dear Blog

It's now been five years that I've had this blog going. Just realized that.


Happy Birthday dear Banablog.... happy birthday to you.

How do I put in one of those stupid smileys with the party hat and the paper noisemaker?

Immediate Invasion

Well since the last update the family VISAs were approved near instantly and they have been rambling around Vancouver, Vancouver Island and Nova Scotia seeing friends and family and otherwise suffering the dance of displacment. Now they are just about here in England and I will be picking them up at the airport on Wednesday morning (this being Sunday). I cannot wait to have them in country and around the house and city.

Kate has let me know she will basically be hitting the couch with a book and a pot of coffee while I am out with the kids for the first five days in country. Something which I am sure will be a blast for all of us.

Today is Rigby's birthday and in keeping with our technological gifting pattern she recieved a new iPod touch for her 3rd. She loves owning her own now and Sebastian is immensley jealous over this. He on the other hand will be getting a PsP for Xmas so it'll be short lived. While sad that I am missing her birthday I can handle with knowing that after 60days I will be seeing them again right away.

The house has come together nicely and feeling like a place that I live in, once Kate arrives with our boxes of goods and we unpack it should become our family home again. That'll be nice.

Life in the Barracks

Well it's been about 3 weeks now since I moved in solo to our new place in London. The Woolwich area is not without it's charms and scary dark corners but on the whole I am liking this area immensely. I've done a little exploring and noticed that there is enough stuff here to keep the kids on their toes for months on end, including the puppy stream that goes by our windows. It seems that the only dogs that live near here are puppies.

The Royal Arsenal area is setup to be both modern and historical, there is 'Firepower' the Royal Artillery Museum about a block from our flat and the Greenwich Historical Society is next door. All around the development there are cannons and big gun placements that are left overs from the time when this area was exlusively under the Royal Artillery.

There is a nice pub in the grounds call the Dial Arch (www.dialarch.co.uk) and a set of cafes spread about. Also the usual stuff like a gym but extended with a Spa and wellness centre where you can go from aromatherapy to hot rocks and massage. I like the area and I think once the family comes over (probably November) this will be a place we may not want to leave to quickly....

 

 There is also the flat which has made this place what it is, a nice quiet building with great charm. I've met our western neighbours and they have a 5 year old boy - to which I am sure Sebastian will become attached. The Thames Clipper river service to my work has it's dock on the river right outside our windows. It's about a 30 minute ride in by boat but it's unbelieveably relaxing comparing to the DLR and Tube combination. 

Today is IKEA trip #1 day for the house. Time to get some of the other things we're missing in the place that fell outside of 'full furnished'. Our friends Jason and Tara are also submitting their paperwork for their flat, which is about a block away. Nice.

London ROTC (Part 2)

I have now a contract with my name on it that says "Hey You! Ya You! Come work here why don't cha?" and I say "Yes"

So with that we are now faced with the tasks of packing up the home in Canada (which Kate has been on like Donkey Kong) and me to find us a place with English Character but a new kitchen and bathroom here in London that is located near everything we need and friends.

Yeah. That should all be stupid easy.

Now I am about to go home to Vancouver for 4 days to help Kate pack up some leftovers and move a whole lot of stuff over to Vancouver Island to my parents house. Where it will stay for a few years while we are over in England and we try not to collect anything of Value that we want to move back with us.

I'm excited, are you excited? It feels a little itchy in here.

London and the revenge of the contract

Well here we are. Trip #3 to London and the final move is materializing this week. There should be concrete decisions with my name on them in days and the word is they will be the good kind.

I've only been here just under a week now and with 2 more to go there is a lot to be done to get ready. Finding a house, arranging storage at home getting a neighbourhood picked out here to live in and all that. Not to mention VISAS for the family and all the rest.

I did get out on Saturday a little bit, as I have been trying to limit some of my sightseeing so that we can do it as a family. I went to Westminster Abbey and have to say I was disappointed to have to pay £15 to get in but was completely fine with the result. The need for the price is apparent as the shear volume of people going through it causes need for continual upkeep and diligence. Photos we not allowed but being a tourist I did take some `covert`shots so I would have something to show for the trip.

Here they are.

Of course nothing compares to seeing the real thing; walking amongst the tombs of Kings, Queens, Hero's, and Poets and realizing the combined history in the Church is a little overwhelming. There is a real beauty to death and the workmanship and detail put in to the statues, monuments and tombs is astounding. Nothing I have ever seen is like these. The stone seems to have life, the robes almost look like they are flowing on the angels and one scene of death come from the tomb below to take the soul of man seemed like a frozen moment so real it could have continued right then and there.

Very much worth the trip and the admission paid.

Off again

Packed my bags last night pre-flight
Zero hour five p.m.

Were I to be high as a kite the flight may go a lot better, however I will not be and it'll just be another sleepless 9hours of zombie TV watching. All in all this isn't a complaint, it's three weeks away from home and another blast of work in the UK. There may be an offer of employment settled or there may not be by the time I am heading home at the end of August, it remains to be seen.

While either outcome is good, the thought of moving the whole family to London right now makes me wanna have a stroke. There is so much to do prior to the trip, so much to rid ourselves of, so much to put in storage and even more to do in the UK to arrive and settle. Money is getting low at home and my worry has been on the incline for sometime now.

Still I welcome a move and welcome the opportunity for my family to experience London living.

I took the train to the airport today and have to admit the journey was simple and really quick, I went from east Burnaby to YVR in about 1 hour. Now however I have time to kill.... which I am doing with one of the single worst beers I have ever had in my life. At Milestones, the Palamino Pale Ale. This truly is bad beer.

At least there's bowling on the TV.

Updates

We have now moved in to our basement; no longer do we dwell above with the day walkers. The change was swift and unexpected but when we found out the the tenants in the basement were leaving we snatched up the chance to save $500 on the same amount of space. There have been some challenges to deal with like the fact that there is only 1 bedroom. However I think we have made great use of the space in creating little areas that suit our needs.

With this space we have I think that our layout worked quite well. We made a few changes to our living conditions such as having a bookcase wall as a partition for our bedroom while the kids took the actual bedroom over. The addition of the closet under the stairs made a perfect toy room for the kids and they enjoy it a lot. Kate had to do some serious work to clean the sucker out though as it was not only a little moldy but had some serious funk.

On top of all of this the new neighbours moved in to our space upstairs. I say our only because as they were about to move in all the work that we wanted done ( baseboards, painting of the kitchen, repairing the wood around the rear door, light fixture changes, etc ) got done. SO it was a little heartbreaking to leave the space after that seeing it so perfect.

They have a daughter who is the same age and the same personality as Sebastian and a boy who is a little younger than Rigby. They have also just had a baby girl now 8 days old, so a full house but someone for Sebastian to play with daily (even if they do fight and occasionally hate each other).

This has been a fairly positive move for us, getting us in to a new headspace about living and also giving us the benefit of a live in play partner for the kids. Now if only I could shake that basement feeling of bugs being around all the time I'd be golden.

Trip 2

Tomorrow I'm leaving for London on the second trip. I've been for three weeks and back for two....

The previous trip was great, there was lots to see having not been in London since 1990, and lots to learn as I was working on all sorts of new stuff. Here are some of the sights!

So after coming home from London we went off to Vancouver Island to visit with my parents and that was a blast. The kids and I spent a week there going to the beach, park, mini golf, the working farm (including cheeseworks and winery) and then back home.

Had a nice birthday party with friends when I came home and now (the day after my real birthday) I am feeling the sting of leaving again.

It's come

Since the last post there has been a lot more uncertainty. We have sat and waited, learned that we would not get the London contract as it was explained and promoted and furthermore would be granted (maybe) a smaller 3 month contract.

Now that I've also gone through a round of 4 interviews with another company we have recieved the word of the 3 month travelling contract and I will be leaving this Sunday to London. It will be a 2 weeks there 2 here sorta deal and will mean stress on all of us. The end hope here is that our worth will be proven as we evolve Acer in the next 3 months and they will extend our contracts until the end of the 2012 Games. Then we will move over and live in the UK under the terms of our original contract offers.

I'm excited and aprehensive. I hate flying with teeth grinding passion and am not looking at 6x 10 hour flights as a good thine per se. I'm looking forward to scoping out London and seeing if we could be comfortable there, meeting the folks I worked with on 2010 again in London and all the new people.

Kate and the kids will be looking at camps and daycare and lots of visits with friends over the summer while I am going to be looking at spreadsheets and training materials. Woo. Not all bad by any means for me as I will get time in the UK and also the omg fun of coming home to my family 3 times over.

Waiting

We're still waiting on London to come through as there have been some issues with the process. I have now gotten my UK Visa and it wasn't that painful. I have the Right of Abode through my Mother and am able to live and work there now. Overall once I got my supporting documents together the consulate approved my visa in 5 days. With Kate and the kids it's going to cost a lot more and may take even more time.

With no real date for the position start or our move I'm feeling a little surprised at how comfortable I am after selling a lot of our stuff at our garage sale. We've gotten rid of our computer and other electronics, kitchen stuff to a tiny minimum and are losing more everyday.

When the move happens (optimism here) we will have very little going with us and very little staying here. It will be jarring, and exciting to do this move and there is still a lot ahead of us to get there. There's also the alternative where we face limited money short term ability to afford our place and a tight job market. (Pessimist)


I hope it's the first one.

Since you've been gone...

Well the Olympics and Paralympics are all over and done with.

Time has been winding down for me on this project and now I am just working on document readiness for the transfer to London 2012 as well as for my own next step.

The transfer to London.

At this point I don't have a signed contract, just a verbal offer of my new job with the London 2012 Games. It will be with ACER again and by the looks of it I will be there with the family for almost 3 years. It should be an amazing experience! We are very excited to get ourselves over and just start living in the City, learning the lay of the land and then getting ready for some holidays to the continent.

Sebastian and Rigby should come back with oh so cute English accents and Kate and I with the feeling of having been somewhere together. Here's hoping that there is no car breakdown or anything keeping us in a little hotel for a week on this trip. (Right Kate?)

We are looking at houses all over London now and trying to focus on an area, but not knowing when we are going for certain is making it a little hard to grab a spot. If you have any suggestions of areas to or not to live in within the M25 let me knnow in the comments. I'm thinking Zones 2-5...

Torch Relay and other Awesomeness

Cypress Mountain - World Cup Halfpipe Jospy, Adrian, Me, Terry and Sean John Furlong carries the torch to Vanoc Olympic Flame relay in New Westminster Jospy, Adrian, Terry, Sean, Michael and Parimal