People & Places

Australia

Canada

Wallace's Canadian Blog March 07

In her third monthly blog, new Nova Scotia resident Rachel Wallace finds there's plenty to say about the weather - not to mention cars, courses, tests and shopping...

At last the snow has gone but I was told this morning it is quite possible to have another load yet. The lake is now starting to melt which means no more ice skating on there until next year, so will have to now start hunting around for a small boat ready for the summer – can't wait!

Talking of summer, we have decided to bring ours forward. Along with all the stresses of emigrating, our health ups and downs and Ian having to re-do all his qualifications, we decided to take some 'time-out' and have a holiday in Mexico this spring. We thought it would be a good time before we end up with a load of summer visitors, and it's a lot nearer from here, only a four-and-a-half-hour flight.

Ian is now in Prince Edward Island doing some more courses, which should last about another six weeks. He is really quite cheesed off having to do them especially being away from home Monday to Friday. It is really hard to get things sorted out with him being here only at weekends. We are in the process of trying to change our kitchen but getting to talk to a sales person at the weekend is not easy. I think everyone has the same idea. I have now been this morning to start the ball rolling, so hopefully things will start to move now.

The tests came back from my ECG and CAT scan and I was then sent for a Lung Test: will it never end! Apparently, everything looks normal - which is good to know. You only have to mention some slight ailment and you are sent off for tests straight away. A bit different to doctors in England who would wait to see if it would go away by itself or blame it on a viral infection.

We both bought our cars not long after landing. We went the normal route to begin with looking round the showrooms. As soon as you set foot in their car lot you are jumped on with offers of help, but we found this to be too pushy. One rep even took us to different showrooms which they owned further up the road and offered to get us insurance straight away. Their quote for insurance was $CDN2,700 for one of us. Luckily, we had been in touch with Mike Wilson from Move2NovaScotia who gave us the name of Johnsons Insurance. Both our insurances were about CDN$700 each which was a lot cheaper but you must have two separate letters from your old insurance company in England: one must be about your no claims bonus and the other is your insurance history. We were given the name of a car dealer who buys cars from auctions. You just tell him your budget and specifications and he gets what you want. We are both very happy with our vehicles. Mine is a Dodge Grand Caravan (never thought I would drive a big thing like that, but they all do over here) and Ian has a Nissan Altima. One thing to watch out for, when you ask the price in a showroom, is don't forget to add on the tax!

Shopping in the supermarkets is fine over here. There are really only Sobeys and Atlantic Superstore for your groceries, which doesn't give you tons of choice but they seem to have pretty much everything you need. You can even get frozen Yorkshire Puddings in Atlantic but if you ask in Sobeys they haven't got a clue what you are on about. They just need to ship in some Bisto Gravy granules now! If it is raining, snowing, etc or you are feeling lazy you can get parcel pickup where you pay for your shopping then you drive to a specific parking place and they load up your car for you. Also, in other stores like Canadian Tyre, Walmart, etcetera, if they have an item on special offer and they have run out, you can get a 'Rain Check' to buy it at the offer price when they get some more in.

Anyway that's me done for another month. By the way, the kids are still doing fine and enjoying life over here! Next month libraries and workshops.

Keep emailing!

Click here to email Rachel

Read other emigration blogs

20 March 2007

Back to results