Canada 1-0 UK

This is what we are waking up to this morning.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4561728.stm

Canadians, as if you needed us to tell you, you do snow so much better than us... Here in the east we are apparently stranded in. Hopefully G and M have made their flight, and I am going to try and get to work... only 90 miles. How hard can it be, eh Scribbles? -5 indeed.

Wrap up warm. And dont forget your polos and fruit and nut bars. Could be delays out there..

How Canadian are you?

Here is a little test. See how much you know about Canada. The answers are probably not in this blog! Canadians, you will probably score ok. Brits, play it with the sound on to experience a near authentic ice hockey experience, including maimings by the end of the game. Enjoy.

http://www.cbc.ca/chillybeach/trivia/trivia26.swf

Something good from being lazy : CHUMcity

Well people. For anyone still looking here, I made it back to the UK on Monday morning, and am now in the process of re-establishing myself in my office. I have a laptop, and as soon as my gracious Canadian employers see fit to remove me from their records, I will be able to get outlook here. Hurry up Canadians.. you know you want rid of me.

I think i have mentioned several times how lazy I am capable of being. A mass of contradictions as my good friend Scribbles puts it.

Luckily, out of laziness can come some good. For (and this will not surprise Brian or Joe) having been too lazy to do anything with the coins that have been lying round my flat for the last 6 months, my urban angel Amy took responsibility for making sure that something good came of them.

So the $50 that had been built up was passed on to CHUM city, a Toronto childrens charity.

CHUMCity Christmas Wish, in conjunction with City of Toronto Community and Neighbourhood Social Services, helped almost 500 registered agencies, which represented an unprecedented 300,000 children and families in need of assistance. The CHUMCity Christmas Wish has become one of the largest distributors of toys to those in need in the GTA, as well as providing financial assistance to hundreds of agencies. With many funding cuts in recent years, the CHUMCity Christmas Wish has become the last hope for many to give a child a Christmas. With generous financial donations and new unwrapped toys, the CHUMCity Christmas Wish supplies registered charitable organizations, social service agencies, churches, and community centres. In turn, they distribute the donations to those families, of many faiths and cultures, who require support.

You can learn more at http://www.thewish.ca/wishCore.cfm

My last "Canadian" post

This one might just be the last one I post from Canada. Just because I am horrendously busy, and I have until 5pm to give this computer in.... at this point, and with one or two big events still to come, I am not sure I am in a position to try and summarise what I have made of my experience here.. Sunday promises to be a great climax, and I might just need a few days 'come down' to really reflect on what my first experience of this wonderful country has been like. I am encouraged that, with just over 48 hours until I fly, it still feels hugely positive. I dont, and wouldnt have expected anything else...

So i will refrain from the philosophical splurge for the time being. Instead I shall wish Rory a very happy 25th birthday, as well as congratulating him on getting a distinction in his masters in translation. Clever clogs, arent you? Well done buddy.

And having just got an invite from Ticketmaster to purchase Take That tickets this spring, i will reflect on the lyrics of one of their songs, as i prepare to log off and head back towards what Johnny calls the 'mother ship'.

So, trying to reflect on an experience like this...

"Never forget where you've come here from. Never pretend its all real. Someday soon, this will all be someone else's dream"..

When i wake up from my dreams (i've not slept in 36 hours..) I will have plenty more to say I am sure. For now Canada, thank you. The next time I write, it'll be from home.

Birthday Pictures

So here we are. Just a couple of pictures from my 30th birthday. On such a milestone, it was worth doing something special... i dont think i ever imagined it would involve a moose dressed as a mountie though... still 9 out of 10 from "them pair" made it a journey well spent..

Me and my 'A1". No laughing at my headgear. Nicole was responsible for it! The poor girl had to spend a month working with me on only her 2nd audit, she had to put up with me sleeping in her car, me speaking in riddles (well, English, but to her it felt like riddles - although she now knows that white coffee is coffee with milk, heaving is busy and peckish is hungry). She also had to pick lunch every day for a month. I am flattered that, by the end of it, she is still talking to me! Thanks Nicole! I'm going to miss you.

My other key partner in crime, TK. We spent more than 2 months working together. Personally, i dont know which of us will be more scarred from the experience, but psychologists both in Woodbridge and Peterborough will be making money as a result of our friendship I am sure..

Bit more self flattery. Me with as many women as I could find. All of them pretending to smile. See how polite they are in Canada? Thank you girls!

Katie painted me a picture.. you can see from the photo just how good it is.. for all the gifts guys, the Inukshuk (thanks Amy) and the ipod, thank you so much.

Me, and two of my best friends. Only these two know how much stress I have caused them over the past few months. Regardless of where my life takes me, i hope that Kim and Suzanne remain as important to me as they have been while I was here. Between you two, you have been the most generous people i met, and given me the life i have developed. And i know how much you two put into my birthday..

And a bit more ego massage. This was quite late in the day, but ended the day as i would have wished. Home, warm, smiling, with friends. It was a fantastic birthday, and thank you all for sharing it and making it so.

A creed to live by..

For anyone passing by the blog today in search of a little inspiration. Because we could all use some from time to time.

Dont undermine your worth
by comparing yourself with others
It is because we are different
that each of us is special.

Dont set your goals by what
other people deem important.
Only you know what is best for you.

Dont take for granted the things
closest to your heart.
Cling to them as you would your life
for without them life is meaningless.

Dont let your life slip through your fingers
by living in the past or for the future.
By living your life one day at a time
you live all the days of your life.

Dont give up when you still have something to give.
Nothing is really over....
until the moment you stop trying.

Dont be afraid to admit that you are less than perfect.
It is this fragile thread that binds us to each other.

Dont be afraid to encounter risks.
It is by taking chances that we learn how to be brave.

Dont shut love out of your life
by saying its impossible to find.
The quickest way to receive love is to give love
the fastest way to lose love is to hold it too tightly
and the best way to keep love is to give it wings

Dont dismiss your dreams.
To be without dreams is to be without hope;
to be without hope is to be without purpose.

Dont run through life so fast
that you forget not only where you've been
but also where you're going.
Life is not a race, but a journey to be savoured
each step of the way.

(Nancy Sims)

Couple of congratulations

Two small congratulations. Firstly to my baby sister (who is pregnant) and turns 27 today.

And secondly to Mark and Becky, who were here last month, who have got engaged. Some of the snippets of our MSN conversation at 430 this morning...

"its a cooked meal for the rest of my days and a clean shirt mate"

"she wanted me to ask so i did"

"will be good mate at least have a stag do to plan and a wedding drinking session"

"i asked mate thats the main thing"

"best bit mate getting presents"

Smooth, Mark. Very smooth. Just thought i'd add that. Who said there was no romance in Pboro? We're just not quite as good at it as some of these French types thats all!!!

Anyway guys. Congratulations. See you in a week for a celebratory drink.

Winter Wonderland? Or just autumn?

This was the view from my living room window when I got up on my birthday. Is this adequate excuse for being too lazy to drive to work?!

That said, all I've heard for the last few weeks is 'wait til winter really arrives'. Although on Friday, someone did concede on email that I was getting 'a bit more experience of a Canadian winter..'

So today, I did brave the roads. Its -13 outside, and with windchill this drops to -20. So, is it winter yet, I asked? "wait til January" was the response. Although Thomas did admit that its 'not this cold normally in December'. Interesting use of the word 'normally'. Its not this cold normally in my freezer, which is set to a positively balmy minus 18.

So anyway, tonight in Oshawa we are expecting it to drop down to around -23 apparently, windchill and all things considered... i dont quite have enough fingers to count that far, and if it gets that low, not sure i'll be able to use them either!

I may be in a better position to conclude on whether or not it is in fact winter by tomorrow. All I can say is.... it had better be! Brrrr.

Breaking news...

This one is mainly for the lovely Stamford All Saints. There is a rumour knocking around that one of the readers of this blog knows where Mountie Moose is located...

Ai a minha vida. How exciting is that?! I'll be so gutted now if it turns out to be a false alarm...

Yay - its my birthday.

Well, someone has to celebrate it! But actually, you people have been nice today. Its interesting to see the different ways people have had to communicate on this (fairly insignificant) day.

Conventional cards: Parents, Sara Lorraine & Mel, my fellow GDPers, Mark & Becky..

Emails: Steve & Mari, Rory, Brian, Parton, Elyse, Suzanne, Cath W, Catherine S, Dad.

Text message: Vicky

Blog post: Scribbles (thank you!!!!)

Ecards: Maria, Kim, Dad (clearly bored!), Ciara & Caitlyn (assisted I am sure!), Brassington, Amy, Ana. You're all show offs. I tried attaching a smily to an email the other week and it took 3 days to do it..

Anyway - to all of you. Thank you all so much. I know full well I am going to forget to thank someone personally over the next couple of days, but i appreciate all your thoughts of me..

So what have i learned about myself this birthday? Well, so far, I have learned that i am a big wuss. I went out in the car this morning (there is half a foot of snow outside) and the car was sliding all over the place, so I decided to drive back home, and work from home instead!

I then went to bed for an hour before starting work, which should have taught me how lazy I can be... but I knew that already!

I have learned that I am beyond opening birthday cards and hoping for a crisp note to drop out. These days, its the message in the card that counts!

And based on my Hungarian mate Lajos' message in my card, I am going to learn the Hungarian team which inflicted the first home defeat on England at Wembley back in 1953.

The message said simply this

"Grosics, Lantos, Lorant, Buzanczky, Zakarias, Bozsik, Puskas, Kocsis, Czibor, Hidegkuty, Buday. 6:3"

Happy birthday indeed! Which will no doubt improve tonight as I have a dinner date with Christine and Elyse. Mmmm.

There are significant celebrations also planned for tomorrow, but I'll wait and see how i survive today first!

Mountie Moose - Tacky enough for you?!

I'm setting myself up for a big fall here. Some preliminary research into Canadian tack has revealed that, a few years ago, Toronto had a charity event called 'Moose in the City'.

The statistics for Moose in the City were extremely impressive… from April to October 2000, Toronto's streets were filled with 326 magnificent moose sculptures, created by 500 local artists and sponsored by more than 250 patrons. The exhibition resulted in a season of spectacular moose events and generated well over $5 million in world-wide media coverage for the City of Toronto! Moose in the City also influenced visitation by close to 2 million tourists, injected $400 million into Toronto's economy and raised $1.4 million for Canada's Olympic Athletes and local Toronto charities.

You can find pictures of all the mooses at http://www.toronto.ca/moose/home.htm

Now here is the interesting bit. Although the mooses were auctioned off early in 2001 for charity, they make festive reappearances in downtown Toronto during the Christmas season. This has got to be the ultimate challenge. To find one of these mooses, and get a photo with it. Sara. Lorraine. I hope I dont disappoint you!

A message for Sara and Lorraine (and Mel)

Firstly. Thank you for the birthday card. All references to 'old' have been ignored. And I would never dare be rude about either of you pair, you know that. After all, Lorraine has kicked the arses of enough Olympic standard fighters for me to know when not to mess! And even if I wasnt scared of her (I'd never admit to that, but she is only about 8 stone after all..) i know the 2 of you have something far more scary up your sleeves... How did Sara put it? "One word. Noddy." Oh Shit.

So ladies. This challenge. Canadian 'tack'. On the one hand I am tempted to defend my host nation and declare that there is no such thing as 'tack' over here. On the other hand, I go past the dollar store every day. And i have already armed myself with enough magnetic tack to decorate significant parts of your office on my return.

So - can we formalise this challenge? Lets put points to objects here. You want me to pose in a birthday photo with something 'Canadian and tacky'. Maple syrup doesnt score, and top marks for mounties? Did you not see the Halloween photos?! I am prepared to ridicule myself for most things sadly. So i will see your challenge. But we need formal rules. 2 poses = 2 points? Does typical Canadian dress score? (I already own a tacky ice hockey shirt, and i have my eyes on a tuque with the 'ear flaps' as Sturino calls them).

I may regret this... but not for too long. After all, if I REALLY embarrass myself, I can always delete the posting off my blog!

Talk to you soon.

Two more weeks for CBC in Canada...

Picture: Our fantastic Canadian family.

This week in Canada:

- 171 MPs voted against the government in a vote of no confidence
- Harry Potter topped at the box office with revenues of $20.5m (well done Doug!)
- The 649 lotto jackpot was $24m (and no, once again, I didnt win. booo)
- There were 506 sprout related salmonella cases in Ontario (remember, Sprouts are for life, not just for Christmas..)
- CBC skipped breakfast 6 times - naughty CBC (the only one I didnt skip was brunch at Mels, and that was possibly too late to qualify for 'breakfast'!)

But of course the main thing that happened this week was the send off of the first 2 Brits. And as you can see from the pictures above and below, we signed them off well. Drinks all Friday night, then up to Williams' flat, and then Saturdaybrunch followed by a mass convoy to the airport. Reminded me of a period some 9 years ago, where we seemed to be at Dusseldorf airport every week saying goodbye. Tears here too. (from far too many of us, and yes, my eyes were a little damp when Andy walked through that door!)

Nice all in photo at the top, and this was good too. Typically finding Suzanne at the centre of things (when isnt she?!), most of the major players are in here. We might have to do a little biography of each of them over the next week or so...

Meanwhile, as ever in search of ego massage, I managed to find a few girls willing to stand within a few feet of me... (if only more of them had noticed the camera!!!!)

But no doubting the highlight of the night. The guys spent many a secret hour at Pauls over brunch last weekend discussing the plans for this, and from what Will called 'brainstorming', what emerged was a personalised photo album for both of the Brits, with a range of photos, and a personal photo of each of us, so that we could leave a message for them. So what did I write? No idea (i was wasted!). But it probably wasnt as nice as what Andy wrote to me in his Christmas card ("I owe you for introducing me to this group"), and probably WAS nicer than what Doug wrote in his (Away in a manger, no crib for a bed, the little lord Jesus looked up and he said... "we hate boro, we hate boro, we hate boro"). Which of the 2 do you think is from Cambridge?! And just to close a similar topic. Suzanne. No. POSH does not stand for Peterborough are Shit. (Although i guess it could, and probably with some justification!)

So, having set the boys up with their gifts, the Canadians took them to the airport and many tears were shed. Doug said as heartfelt a thank you as he could muster in the circumstances, and Will applied a nice bit of perspective to the situation: "You should see what we do for people we like!"

Just being there was a moving experience. I know I speak for Doug and Andy when I say how good this group of people has been in taking us in and making us feel at home. I wont list any names for fear of forgetting one of you. But thank you all. For all the beauty, for all the spectacular places, sights, scenery, buildings, skylines, sunrises, sunsets and more, the most unforgettable aspect of this country will stay its people. Priceless and irreplaceable. I intend to make the most of the next fortnight...