People & Places
Wallace's Canadian blog November 2007
After a holiday from blogging, Rachel Wallace returns to tell us about the latest goings on of the Nova Scotia-based family
The time is still whizzing by. We have now been here just over a year and I have thoroughly enjoyed it. Ian has had some reservations what with all the studying away he had to do then starting a new job. Having been in the same job for the last 28 years he found it a bit daunting to start with but seems to be settling in okay now.
Jack and Kerry have also had no regrets, I think. They are always busy doing something or going somewhere and have a good group of friends. Kerry is still enjoying her sewing and Hip Hop and Jack is getting a lot better at basketball. After speaking to one of the other mums, I took her advice and now bribe Jack by paying him for each attempt to scoare - and more bucks if it actually goes in! Before this it was like the ball was a hot potato, but he is trying a lot more now.
Ian is due back to work on Wednesday for another two weeks. He is based in Halifax but actually stays on the tug boat the whole time. Hopefully, when the other tug gets back into the port he may then be able to pop home for a few hours if it's quiet. I hope so as he is due to work from the 19th Dec to 2nd Jan so will miss Christmas and New Year. Hopefully, he will at least be able to share Christmas dinner with us. His parents may be coming over for a month over Christmas, which will be nice.
Halloween is certainly big over here. The kids came back with loads of candy, crisps, etcetera. I bought a load in but as our house is a bit further out I ended up with most of it left by the end of the night! They don't tend to stick to scary costumes either; it seems as if anything goes, which is a bit strange seeing fairies mixed in with the ghouls!
We got together with a few English families for Guy Fawkes, which was nice. The fireworks aren't so good here but we all enjoyed ourselves. We had actually had two inches of snow the previous day but luckily that's all gone now – till the next lot!
A word of warning to those that don't stick to the speed limit. We were on our way to the cinema and were late so Ian put his foot down and was caught doing 141 km in a 110 km zone. (About 85 in a 70-mile-and-hour zone.) He ended up with a CDN$394.00 speeding fine and was also suspended from driving for a week on the date of payment of the fine. This is certainly a good way to deter you from doing it again. Now we both put our cruise control on when on the highways. This is a novel thing to be able to use cruise control. In England, you would be stuck in traffic so would hardly ever be able to use it. Also, its nice to be able to go to Tim Horton's for a drive-thru coffee. As most of the cars are automatic you can actually enjoy a drink whilst driving!
I have joined a gym here called Curves. It's really good and is for women only. They have ten machines in a circle facing each other with recovery mats between them. You spend 30 seconds on the machine then go onto a mat doing stretches, marching, etcetera. The tape tells you to move on every 30 seconds and you do two-and-a-half circuits which takes you half an hour including the cool down stretches. I joined at the beginning of October, also starting a diet at the same time. At the beginning of November I was told I was the 'Biggest Loser'. I didn't mind this as it meant I had won a CDN$150 voucher for Annabel's, a boutique downtown. I had lost 6 lb in the month, which was great. I just need to stick to it - which is harder now it's getting colder!
Anyway, that's me done for another month.
Look forward to hearing from you.
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