First impressions. The Weather.

5 months has passed since I first stepped of that KLM jumbo. In that time i've gone from being a single man to a married one, and J and I have settled into married life. And a good life it is. To say that I love being married is an understatement, and as soppy as it sounds, it gets better everyday.

I've definitely experienced more culture shock than i thought I would, which has led to bouts of homesickness over the stupidest of things (seriously, I never in a million years thought i'd get all excited by a Royal Mail postmark, but there you have it.). All in all though, everyday has been a learning experience.

Anyways. What could be more British than wanting to talk about the weather?

When I arrived it was slightly blustery November, all grey skies and wind. Since then I've experienced my first winter in Canada, complete with windchills of -30 and freezing nose-hairs. I've witnessed snow storms that are considered mild here, but would be considered freak conditions back home. Of course, Britian had some snow storms of its own over the winter, but this time I could only read about it from afar.

To see how we cope with snow in the UK (or at least a certain city in the south of England, that is also its Capital) compared to Ontario was amusing to say the least. Admittedly they don't get much snow south of the Watford gap, but you would think a major city like that wouldn't grind to a halt, but it did.

The best I can equate the experience of snow here is like how we cope with rain back home. Ontarians just get on with it, and it only becomes a problem if there's massive snow fall. Seriously. I had the pleasure of walking through snow up to my knees during one storm in December, and there were still cars and buses on the roads, and the trains were only running about 10 minutes late. They certainly weren't cancelled. That said, i was probably the only person stupid to walk to the train station that day, but I felt like Ray Mears doing it.

To be honest, winter wasn't as bad as I expected it to be. Cold, wind, and rain I can handle, which probably shows being forced to walk to school in all weather was a good thing. True, it's a novel experience to feel your face going numb, and I can safely say that after 30 years of not needing any, I now own a pair of long-johns.

The cold is cold, don't get me wrong, but it's a bearable cold in a funny sort of way. And it's good to wake up on Christmas morning to snow. After about 3 months it does become a bit tiresome trudging through black slush.

Weirdly, I started to miss rain of all things. It eventually chucked it down mid February, and when it did, I was out there like a lunatic soaking it up.

Still, that's winter for you. Thankfully the days of minus temperatures look to have passed, and we're back to a lovely average of 10 degrees per day. That said, it was 21 degrees last Saturday which is something i've never experienced in April. The suprises just keep coming.

Begin. Again.

So, i completely failed on the whole updating aspect of this blog. I'd hoped that I would be posting at least once a week about how things were going in the land of moose and Timmy's, but there you have it.

In my defence, a lot happened after I blogged the last post. I took a flight, was reunited with J, the parents came over a few days later, J and I were married, we went on honeymoon, and then Christmas rolled around before I knew it.

A lame defence, maybe, but a defence none the less.

After not blogging for so long, it kinda becomes hard to get back into it. The impetus is lost, and writers block sets in. I did miss writing though, and I thought i should at least make the effort when i've still got enough time in the day to do so. So here we are.

Boxes (t-minus 10 days)

The past couple of days have been pretty busy. Having gotten the stag-night out of the way and the hangover that came with it), the flat has been undergoing a serious clear out. As I eluded to in the second post, i had a lot of stuff to get into order before flying out on Friday, so i've been knee-deep in deciding what to keep and what to throw.

It's amazed me just how much i've gotten rid of though. After whittling stuff down before i moved in, i've probably gotten rid of about 2/3rds of it all. Which seems pretty staggering. What is even more staggering is how empty the place feels now. Not even a year has passed since the flat was set up, and i'm rewinding the whole process.

Anyways. The couple that came round to have a look are properly signed up for rental, so the clearing must continue apace...