Down the Bog

I was giving our five month old daughter, Abby a bottle of milk this afternoon. It certainly led to a contented baby filling her tummy while I kept an eye on her and the television. The thing is I don’t know how long I looked away but when I glanced down Abby was sucking her fingers and the bottle teat was in her ear. Nicola tells me that babies can’t drink that way but I’m not so sure because how else would the bottle have ended up there?

Nicola tells me I should pay more attention.

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It’s been a busy few weeks for us. Actually it hasn’t. As I mentioned in an earlier post we had my daughter Sarah and her boyfriend, Bill stay with us. They travelled over from Edmonton, Alberta and were here over the easter period. No sooner had they gone back when we had Hannah, my eldest daughter, arrive from England and stay with us. She’s gone back now and the next people on the agenda is my Mum and my brother.

They are due to arrive in mid May and stay for eleven days. That visit will be more of a busier time for us as my Mum has never travelled overseas before so this is going to be quite an adventure for her. She’s waited to get into her seventies before doing this so I know that she’s going to arrive here completely shattered and will need some TLC. Fortunately, as I say, my brother is also travelling with her so I’m comforted by that.

With both of my daughters visits it wasn’t a lot different to them moving back home. It was great to have them here and I didn’t want them to leave. When they visit, you want them to treat the place like home and to be comfortable and relaxed. But it will feel different when my Mum gets here. Before moving to Canada I only lived three miles away from her so there was never a reason for her to stay with me for eleven days. In fact ever since I moved out to get married I don’t ever recall having her stay for a night. So this is going to be a big event for me. Although we have long conversations on the phone every week I haven’t seen her for nearly three years. I’m really looking forward to it but while I wouldn’t say I’m exactly nervous I certainly hope that we shape up.

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Okay, I’ll admit to complaining about the apparent reluctance of the winter to go away but things are improving and the weekend is looking beautifully warm. Aaaah! It gives me that “good to be alive” feeling inside.

To cheer me up some more we had a little chipmunk visit us on our back deck this morning. This little Chap (or Chapette) had jumped off the deck by the time I got the camera but was still close enough to strike a pose and for me to capture it forever. Seeing this cute visitor gave me a real thrill.

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That it’s snowing? Yep, that’s right. It’s the 15th of April and it’s snowing. Lots of white stuff on the ground. Not as bad as it would be mid winter but that’s the point. It’s not mid winter. It’s spring. Is anyone listening? Does anyone care?

I’m really angry about the snow and that’s the reason I’m writing short sentences. It has that effect on me. 

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We went to our local shopping mall this morning. It’s not especially big but it’s possible to spend an hour or so window shopping or more. It has two floors with access to the second floor via stairs, escalators and a lift. Having a toddler and baby we often use the lift to get to the second floor and it often surprises me how seemingly able bodied people join us rather than use the stairs. I say seemingly able because I assume there must be something stopping them from using their legs because surely no one would wait for a lift if they could use their legs properly for one flight of steps?

But today it became clear because as we walked away from the mall I overheard a conversation between what appeared to be a ten year old boy and his Mum. He said he wanted to use the stairs to go to the second floor. His Mum was very dismissive of him and insisted that they were not going to use the stairs. No indeed. They were going to use the escalator. And they blame obesity on fast food.

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One of my absolute favourite shows is The Office. Not the US version I hasten to add but the original UK version written by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant. In my opinion possibly the most perfect show ever written and acted in. There were two wonderful series complimented by a final Xmas special in two parts. It left fans wanting so much more and that’s always the way to finish a series. Something that the much weaker and just slightly amusing US version of The Office should have learnt. But it was never going to, was it? The good old US of A.

Still, I digress. I think the best of the best was series one, episode four and it’s impossible to ever imagine that being topped by anything. But admittedly I’m a big fan and for everyone that liked the show there’d be someone else who didn’t and I just think “sad fools”.

One of my favourite exchanges in the show (and there were many) is the one between Gareth and Tim. Gareth believes he has authority over Tim because he is Team Leader and it goes like this:

Tim: “Team Leader don’t mean anything mate”
Gareth: “Excuse me, it means I’m leader of a team”
Tim: “No it doesn’t. It’s a title someone’s given you to get you to do something they don’t want to do for free - it’s like making the div kid at school milk monitor. No one respects it”
Gareth: “Er I think they do”
Tim: “No they don’t Gareth”
Gareth: “Er yes they do, cos if people were rude to me then I used to give them their milk last… so it was warm.”

Excellent stuff and such a great put down for all those people that we encounter who believe they hold a certain position in an organisation and we all know that they don’t, they really really don’t.

But do you know what else it reminds me of? I’m sorry but Internet forums and moderators. Some of them seem to do quite a good job but some of them are quite appalling and when I see the bad ones I think of Gareth. Substitute Team Leader with Moderator and read that line again

“It’s a title someone’s given you to get you to do something they don’t want to do for free - it’s like making the div kid at school milk monitor. No one respects it”

http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/theoffice/

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Here we are comfortably into April and we are still getting snow. I just don’t get it. Most days are in the plus temps and the snow doesn’t really hang around on the ground but it still falls and it’s getting me down. I’ve just gone through my third winter here and I guess we are suffering because it started late this year but the problem is it’s a tad reluctant now to leave us and it needs to be gone.

My daughter Sarah is visiting us this easter weekend along with her boyfriend Bill. They live in Edmonton, Alberta and flew over on Wednesday. They return on Monday and I’m not looking forward to it. I’ve found that by moving overseas it’s a good way of putting distance between family (sarcasm). Firstly, not too long after arriving in Canada my eldest daughter, Hannah decided her future wasn’t here and moved back to England to continue with her nursing diploma. Then after an abortive attempt by ourselves to move to Alberta we suceeded in leaving another daughter (Sarah) over there. She and Bill felt like Alberta had a lot to offer so they stayed. It was a good decision for them but we realised that due to our individual circumstances we’d be better off back in Eastern Ontario. It’s all a long complicated story. *sigh*

But anyway I often wonder how we’d all be if we’d stayed in England. I can’t help but feel we’d still all be living very close to each other but instead see what happens? Do something foolhardy like moving overseas with a grown up family and it just sows the seed of travel and distance and some of the most important people in my life live too far away. All my fault.

And Canada? Well the title of this blog does say that I’m living here a tad reluctantly and sometimes it feels more like a tad. I frequent fairly often this site. www.britishexpats.com and visit the Canada forum. There one can read all kinds of stuff about people planning to move to Canada (and other countries in associated forums) and what gets me is that some people already have it all where they are presently living. I want to slap my head when I read how they plan to give up a great house, great job, good circle of friends in order to move to a different country such as Canada because of it’s “great lifestyle”. I didn’t move here for the lifestyle (I don’t know what’s meant by that by the way) it was for other less dreamy reasons. However people really don’t understand just how big a can of worms is being opened by such a move. It’s fraught with unforseen circumstance.

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I’ve just finished playing the game Half-Life 2. Wow. An awesome experience really. The game is a couple of years old but I got it at the beginning of this year and it’s been the kind of game that drives one to finish it. When it came out it was cited by many as being the best game ever and although that is a relative comment (one man’s meat is another man’s poison) I think I’d have to agree with it being given that status.

Anyway I definitely enjoy playing a game or two on the old computer but rarely do I actually finish one by getting to the end. However today was different and I’m very, very proud of myself!     

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We’re into April now so the year is fairly rushing by…again. I haven’t got around to even half the things I would have like to with regard to decorating and it frustrates me. I guess the fact is I’m just not disciplined enough but with a new baby and a three year old to keep an eye on that’s a decent enough excuse in itself. Isn’t it?

It’s been a terrible weekend too because we’ve all been afflicted with heavy colds and it’s not been a nice experience. The men of the family (me and Jake) are definitely the biggest complainers when we aren’t well while Nicola and Abby have just quietly dealt with it. Ah well hopefully we’ll all improve during the week.

Talking about how quickly the time goes and because I currently feel like death warmed up this is a useful link.

http://www.deathclock.com/

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