And we wait...

I'm sure there will be more stressful times ahead, but this point in the process feels like it may be the worst. The house is up for sale, but no-one is coming to see it; the paperwork is with HRSDC, but we have no further news, and I can't tender my resignation in case it all falls through.

Also, I had to suffer a cortisone injection in my sore elbow this morning.

And then, even as I type this, some news arrives - Zoë's employer has enlisted the help of her local MP, and he has promised to 'light some fires'. A glimmer of hope...

Does this mean I'm going to have to vote Conservative when I get out there?

The Kindness of Strangers

So, we're starting to get nervous about not having done things. Like enquiring about schools, for example. Last night, we sat down and got our heads together about School District 57, and agonised over an email explaining our position; how to word it, who to send it to, how much help to ask for - that kind of thing. Eventually we settled on a wording which would pass muster in this country, and hopefully would ease us into the morass of bureaucracy which surely shrouds these matters. Then we scoured the website for the right contact. Eventually, I reckon that we should aim high - send it to the Superintendent of the School District, and hope that he will pass it on. So we cross our fingers, and send.

Five minutes later there is a reply. The first word? "Welcome!" Here is a man who, in this country, would employ someone to answer his emails, and set us off (if he was helpful at all) into a tangled web of People To Contact and Things To Do. Instead, we get a personal note, full of friendly advice, putting us at our ease about the process, and exhorting us to let him know how we get on.


It's going to take some getting used to, this Canada thing.

Fireworks

We spent the weekend with friends - it was Son no.1's birthday yesterday, and we went in search of spectacular fireworks (we found them, too). Later, over a bottle of wine, we fell to discussing our impending move. As we talked, I realised that I really am looking forward to this; each time I find myself explaining it to people, I sound more and more enthusiastic - there's no feeling of having said all these things before, and being bored of them - I'm eager to talk about it, and full of enthusiasm.

This has to be a good thing.