Graham Freeman's chronicles of emigration

I am now a citizen of Canada!

I have the forms to apply for a passport, I can vote, I have a snazzy citizenship card, and on Sunday I will have a Canadian flag tattooed on my arm. (That last bit is not a requirement of citizenship).

Yay!

The judge who presided over the taking of the oath was Bob Morrow - his wiki entry is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Morrow

Last weekend I went to Guelph Airshow, and went flying twice. The second time up I was allowed to take control of the aircraft (a Cessna C152) and so flew over our house. Of course, I took a picture!

We went to the park yesterday and fed the birds. Here are some fluffy goslings expecting more food from their new mummy.

They really do go "peep". Almost enough to make the hardest heart melt!

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

I met Stuart last week. I had to go to Calgary for a few days on business. Very tiring (the trip, not Stuart).

He's doing good, looks well, and I arrived almost an hour late due to the business part being not so well organised before I got there. So I paid for the drinks and wings that we ate, and we had a good couple of hours catching up.

Apart from that, the only time I had to myself was a couple of hours before leaving for the airport to come home. I bought Deb a pink cowboy hat, which she loves, and a hockey jersey for the local "Guelph Storm" equivalent (the "Calgary Hitmen").

The flight out was typical, though the person beside me tossed their cookies while landing. Bleugh. The flight back was uneventful, and I grabbed my bags and got home by about 2am. Four nights in the Hyatt - very nice hotel, but nothing beats your own bed.

In other news, went to see the Leafs play their Blue V White game - lots of fun, though it started out slow. Hockey is back, folks, and so is the new season of shows on TV. This is, for the most part, a good thing. But Rogers (who can't give me good mobile service for love nor lots of money) digital TV is slipping somewhat. The PVR is screwing around and not doing what it's supposed to. Some programs are cut off, and some can't be recorded as the menu stops working sometimes. The list of stuff to record also breaks when trying to set up a recurring event for HD shows. It sucks, really.

Tomorrow is a proud day for Canadians, but I doubt that many will even realise. STS-115, the third shuttle launch since the Columbia disaster in February 2003, will be taking a Canadian into space. Steve MacLean has been there before, indeed on the ill-fated Columbia in 1992. This time, he'll be the first Candadian to operate the Canadarm2 in space, and I found that the Canadian Space Program has a list of the personal items he'll be taking into space. Cool.

Oof. Ouch. Oh.

You hear that? It's the sound of someone going back to work after a week's holiday.

Newfoundland was very nice. St. John's is a fair sized town/city of about 100,000 people - about the same size as Guelph. It's by far the largest urban area in the province. We stayed within a quaint little clump of houses about 30 minutes south of St. John's, collectively known as Bay Bulls. It has a pub, a convenience store, a petrol station and a couple of restaurants/eateries. Oh, and a road that runs out the other side, too. All very relaxing, and just what the doctor ordered.

Getting back home, after seeing no whales, no moose, and only the slightest hint of the arse of a beaver for a split second, our wildlife memories of Newfoundland are of 300,000 puffins. Small buggers, they're only about 8 inches tall and flap like a duck on acid whilst airborne.

The journey also made me miss British Airways, as Air Canada is not the "world's favourite airline", and I can see why. Some focus on the "customer" would be nice, even for domestic flights. Alas I have to make another trip next month, on my own, for a business thingie in Calgary.

So we got home with nothing broken, nothing lost, and the house in pretty much the same state as we left it. Great to sleep in your own bed again, and nice to slouch in front of the TV, for last night was the first in the latest BBC wildlife programs, "Planet Earth". Shot in HD, the footage was great - soul-stirring stuff and it helps fill the gap left by minimal wildlife sightings in Newfoundland.

Shout out to Pat & Betty, who embodied the traditional Newfoundland friendly reception. Thanks for a great meal out, and a greater drink in.

Today is our 6th wedding anniversary. Yay us!

We're off to Newfoundland for a week first thing tomorrow. As the flight is very early, we're staying in an airport hotel tonight. Due to a recent terrorist alert, hand luggage is severely curtailed. No liquids, lotions or gels allowed in hand luggage - it must all be in the checked bags.

Newfoundland trivia - the island has its own flag, the "pink, white and green" tricolour. It's the oldest flag that contains pink. The pink denotes the English protestants (a mix of the red and white roses of the Tudors), the green denotes the Irish catholics, and the white is taken from the white saltire cross of St. Andrew, patron saint of Scotland and (handily) of fishermen.

We visited some friends of Deb's at the weekend, to drop off the chocolate I bought in the UK. One the way back, we stopped off at a butcher's and picked up some lamb sausages.

Most sausages I've had contain at least some filling that's not meat - cereal or some such - but these ones seem to be tubes of pure meat, and tasty with it. I barbied some up the other day and they were really nice. Tonight we're having some more, but this time they are the spicy kind. (Labelled "homicide". Apparently the "suicide" ones are hotter).

I've polished off one of the two bottles of Robinson's I brought back, and the other will not be too long before it's gone either. When it gets hot, the choice is water, beer or juice. Water is boring. Beer dehydrates you and makes you pissed, so juice is by far the better option.

The pile of books to read got smaller yesterday - I finally completed a paperback, something I've not done for the longest time. I started another one, and I hope to have half of it done by the end of the week. I miss reading, but slothing it out on the sofa is too inviting. The upside of starting work at 7.30am is that you can be home by 5pm if you are lucky. This means more "home time", more quality time, and sitting outside with a book, listening to the birdies, is very relaxing.

Back in the late 80's/early 90's, I saw some (then) groundbreaking videos by a Polish film maker. Until recently all I could remember was his first name - Zbigniew. It wasn't until a few days ago that I started to think of the videos again, and wondered if they were available commercially. So I googled, and hey presto I rediscovered Zbigniew Rybczyński. He's an Oscar winner, and has 3 DVDs for sale on his website.

I bought his "Media" collection, and it should be turning up shortly. I look forward to seeing some more of his work, and I hope the two pieces I remember are on there.

Also on the subject of DVDs, after watching the next episode of Green Wing (see blog entries passim), I watch a BBC drama called Life On Mars. A cop from 2006 gets hit by a car and wakes up in 1973. Culture shock ensues, and he/you're never sure whether he's still in a coma and dreaming it, whether he's really in 1973 but insane, or whether he's really time-travelled. It mixes the tried-and-tested cop drama with a dash of time-travel, and seems to work very well. Mainly, I think, because of the interaction between the cop and his boss.

Yesterday, a tornado touched down just south of Guelph. No damage, but lots of thunder and lightning. At least it broke the hot weather streak and we're not at mid-twenties rather than mid-thirties.

My mobile is giving me grief. It's been nothing short of a disaster since I got it. It was sold to me before the games in Turin as something that could play Olympic news videos. Pft. No such luck. That model was not supported for video downloads ... It keeps turning on in my pocket, despite having a keylock, so I carry it in a ridiculous $1 pouch from a dollar-store. It won't turn on now, and my warranty states that I can take it to any Source outlet and get a loaner. Except that the Source store in our mall will not loan me a phone. Rogers says to take it to their store and they will loan me one while they fix this pile of steaming dog-doo.

The damn thing broke as my flight to the UK was called, and so I had to spend about fifty dollars in calls from my various hotel rooms to speak to my wife. Now given a three week time-to-fix, I'll be without until after we get back from Newfoundland. I hate my phone as much as Deb loves hers.

As for the weekend - the dog cancelled. It's agent got a better offer I think. Damn prima donna.

I'm wearing my new "lounge around the house like an upmarket slobby fecker" kit that I bought from Marks & Spencers. I love that place. The only place I enjoy clothes shopping, but sadly there are no more in Canada.

Today I have to go video a dog (don't ask), and maybe buy a new DVD rack to house the movies. Our TV series collection has grown by about 300% after my jaunt to the UK last week, and the movies have taken a back seat.

A delightfully weird and wonderful series called Green Wing was one of my star purchases. I am glad to see there's a second season which will soon make its way to DVD I hope.

Thanks to BillyD for the congrats on my anniversary. Just in case Deb reads this I won't say what her present is, but I will say that it was hand-crafted by Moxie the Georgian Peach :)

I've spent so much of my gaming time this year on Guild Wars, that I failed to spot a SimCity/Civ type game that's being released about now. Something to do with building Rome, so I will go seek it out and maybe add it to the list of installed entertainment on my creaking computer.

Off for another Robinsons. Mmmmmmm ...

It's been raining a bit here today. Made the journey in to work a bit longer, but I was still one of the first here.

Leaving at 4.30pm as usual, so I'll be home in time for a beer on the decking and watch the wildlife frolic in the garden. Then maybe some DVD watching, play a little Guild Wars, and then bedtime. No alarm tomorrow - sleep till I get up, and that'll be the end of the jet lag.

Currently imaging PCs at work, using Norton Ghost.

In two weeks, it'll be our 6th wedding anniversary! Time flies.

OK, so that works, and Bruce is gonna kick my ass if he sees my feed dry up for a few days/weeks. [Page count = 6143]

I just returned from a dash to the UK, cos Sarah & Jim got married. Had to be there, how could I not? It was nice to see Andy again, have a few beers and pat Jim on the back before he toddled off down the aisle. Sarah looked great (bride - duh!) and a selection of photos are available at http://www.flickr.com/photos/gfreeman/sets/72157594214282520/

Some shots of the family, of the cake, of the couple as they got to the hotel for the reception, and of Claire - with whom I had the honour of dancing. (Small secret - Jim & Sarah wanted as many people on the dance floor as possible to hide the fact that dancing was not a skill they wanted to show off). I was lucky, Claire was almost as up for it as I was. No worries.

Being back in the UK was less a problem than it could have been. After 2 seconds it was as though I'd never been away. The only drawback was the hot hot heat, records were broken apparently, and the fact that air-conditioning is still a luxury in the UK. Getting back home to Canada was a relief, as far as that was concerned.

I brought back a selection of British TV DVDs, and some general UK groceries that are hard to get in Ontario. Jet lag is still nagging, but after work tomorrow I'll have the weekend to sleep it off.

I'll finish my beer now, and turn in ...

This is a test to see if Bruce's RSS can see it. If so, I'll add more ASAP.

Yeah, now that's typical. Sign up to a site and the next day it breaks, and causes MY site to barf because I put an image there. Pfft.

The current page count is 6054.

Today's topic, is hockey. Leafs won't get to the playoffs, and you can blame who you like - there are plenty of culprits. Quinn for changing the lines too often, the players for sometimes turning up in body only ... take your pick. Injuries are always a bane, but look at other teams (Tampa springs to mind) and it's obvious that the Leafs are not alone with that issue. It's part of the game, but if a team is forever speaking of "the injuries wot dun us in" then either it's a whingeing team, or they really do have backroom problems with medical and physio staff. Either way, it's not going to get you a Stanley Cup - so change something, for Mackinaw's sake.

Eyes in Toronto now turn to the Jays for the chance of a winning team. At the risk or marginalising the Marlies, I suspect that nothing will be muttered about them until they're in the Calder Cup final. So let's just watch the ball game, shall we?

I was lucky enough to be at the season opener at Rogers Centre this week, and it was a great game. Superb atmosphere, and every had fun. I even walked past Lance Brown, but was moving too fast in the other direction to be able to take a photo. Shame, as my wife thinks he's great. Inside the stadium, you can tell they've applied a new lick of paint, and the new Jumbotron looks nice. One downer though, when the Jays scored home runs there were no fireworks. What's up with that?

So it's Friday, the Jays pulled off a 2-1 series win over the Twins, and the Leafs scrounged a point last night but again lost the shootout. If you ask me, the Leafs need to shoot the puck more.

Eep.

I signed up to a blog tracking site, I have no idea why, and I'm starting to get traffic here again. Which means I suppose I should update it more often than every year.

So as an aide memoir, some topics I will be touching on in the near future will include hockey, beer, Canadian national politics, wildlife, travel, baseball, weather, online gaming, books, movies and TV. Should keep some of you interested enough to check back I hope.

I wish I had more interesting things to say about what's been going on chez nous since my last update. Alas, I do not. It's been a slog, a grind, a general malaise and the rut has well and truly been furrowed. Still the same job, same car, same house, even the same pants. Excitement has to be ordered in and usually comes with extra cheese & pepperoni.

For those who have been taking the slightest bit of notice, Canada has a new government now run by the Rt Hon Stephen Harper. He'll be Rt Hon until he dies, which is the way we do things here, kind of like any US president gets to be called Mr President forever. So along with a new PM, a few other things have changed, though not so you'd notice. Today's minor rant is about the Canadian ambassador to the US. It used to be Frank McKenna, and I saw a Rick Mercer interview with him and he seemed a cool guy. Good sense of humour, he outlined his stance on putting Canadian policies to the US, and I felt warm and fuzzy about this guy. When Harper became PM, McKenna offered his resignation because that's the done thing when governments change. The resignation was accepted and a new guy appointed.

Before I move onto the new guy, I was saddened a little that McKenna refused to put his name forward for leader of the Liberal Party, and therefore have a great shot at being the next PM. I said he gave me the warm and fuzzies, so I wanted to see how he'd do in the limelight. Ah well.

Back to Canada's new ambassador to the US. Michael Wilson. Yesterday, in his first speech as ambassador, he voiced his concern that the US/Canada border could become an "invisible barrier". Well duh. It's an international border, and as a European I expect to be required to hold a passport when I cross an international border. Yes, there are some areas of tight integration where there is freedom of movement, but I can't see the US/Canada border being one of them any time soon. We are not converging like the 25 Euro states - Canada has absolutely reaffirmed its sovereignty and even piss-poor "free" trade agreements like the appropriately named NAFTA have only shown how incompatible our respective core national policies are.

Applause, please, for trying to work closely with our largest trading partner, but to those who say that Canada needs the US more than the US needs Canada, please remember that trade is a two-way process and the importance of the Albertan oil sands has doubled/tripled/quadrupled in the past few years. Canada is a net exporter of oil. US president Bush has admitted that the US has an oil addiction. Do the math. Stand up, Canada.

A reminder that our photos are at http://gfreeman.fotopic.net and that you can join in a friendly chat at http://forums.gfreeman.com.

Today is the 20th anniversary of the fire at Valley Parade, that killed 56 people. I remember it vividly, and as a Bradford City fan the memory touches me deeply.

On the way to work, we drive past a goose and his mate who live by the side of the road. They've lived there for 8 years, and they still hiss at cars that go by. It's kinda sweet, and those who know me will know that I have a soft spot for geese. Maybe it's because they mate for life, and usually go around in pairs, or maybe it's because when they flock they have a recognisable social structure. Or maybe it's the way they honk, I don't know. I just like them, much as I like most animals.

So anyway, this goose was hit by a car yesterday, and killed. Lucky for me I didn't see the body this morning, nor the remaining single goose. I tend to anthropomorphosise a little, but I'd probably have spent today sadly wondering how the widowed goose would feel, knowing that it's partner's life had been deemed by some dumb human as less important than getting somewhere a few seconds later.

It's not like the road is particularly narrow, blind, or dangerous. Anyone doing the speed limit would have easily avoided an animal in the road, yet on this same road last week, a dog was struck and killed too.

To generalise: people are morons. Specifically, some people are too stupid to be allowed out on their own. They're a danger not only to themselves, but also to the environment and everything they come in contact with.

Sorry the return of this blog had to be on a down-note, but to put this in selfish terms - the goose that made me smile some mornings is no longer there.

Honk.