Our First Care Package & The Oven

Received our first care package today! Thanks Nan! She sent us soda crackers, kraft dinner, macaroni, chez whiz, molasses, and onion soup mix. Yay! Normal food! Well, if you can call Chez Whiz and KD normal! But who cares, it takes like home and that's all that matters. I was so excited. I'm gonna bake me some ginger cookies with the molasses! Sweet!

Oh, the oven. Let me tell you about our wonderful LITTLE oven. Firstly, the oven/stove are called the cooker and/or hob here. You may be able to cook a small chicken leg in this thing. I believe our BBQ will actually hold more. Secondly, it's in Celsius. This is interesting. It's like driving a car in Canada in Miles without the KM gauge - how do you know how fast you're going? How do I know what heat to put this thing on if my recipe is in Fahrenheit? Thank God for Daws Hill! On our In Clearance they provided us with a handy dandy book of various things that are different from Canada and what the equivalent is here. Fabulous! In this book is a conversion between Celcius and Farenheit. I'm off to the races...

Now for some baking. Third observation, the cookie sheet will NOT fit in the oven. Not sideways, frontways (that a word?), upside down, I don't think it would even fit if it was folded. No problem. I'll use the pizza pans. Fourth observation which I had observed before but must put this into perspective for you...the oven does not have an element on the top and the bottom, no it's on the sides! Well! What a brilliant idea! I can bake and have the sides of everything black and the top and bottom doughy! This inventor was a genius. Sure enough, cookies begin to burn on the sides and are not cooking on the bottom. So I'll rotate the pan every few minutes as these cookies are suppose to bake for only 7. 10 minutes later and several rotations, it's time to take the cookies out as they are getting too dark. In this instance, black does not mean cooked. They are totally doughy on the bottom. So that's how we'll eat'em I guess. Yum! What a fantastic experience. I can't wait for the next adventure. The unfortunate thing is I love to bake and now that love may quickly fade.

After several doughy cookies and glasses of milk, it's time for bed.

Touring The Lizard & Porthleven

It took a long time to get in gear today. I am too old to be out until stupid o'clock in the morning and getting little sleep. Once on the go, we headed down to the Lizard and the Lizard Peninsula. It is the most southerly point of England and is about 20 minutes from here. Another beautiful place. It once again feels like the end of the world, overlooking the Atlantic ocean.

We took a short drive through Porthleven which is about 8 minutes from here and it is also on the coast. Very neat little town. We'll definitely be back to check it out and take pictures. Porthleven is very popular with surfers. Apparently, we will be doing a learn to surf day this summer. I'm scared already!

Just before Porthleven is a small area called The Loe which leads to Loe Pool which is Cornwall's largest fresh water lake. http://www.westcountrywalks.com/wcornwall/southcoast/loepool/loepool-01.php Keith and I walked some of the foot path until we reached a small beach (as seen in the pictures). We thought this was Loe Pool at the time. I am now learning, by reading the article in the above link, that it is further and much more impressive. This will be another returning point to discover.

There is no shortage of natural beauty here - between the richest green of trees, rolling hills and fields, the mass variety of colorful flowers I've never seen before, the rugged coast lines and of course the Atlantic Ocean. The pictures I take will never do the scenery justice. You have to visit and see for yourself just how amazingly beautiful it is here.

Our First Friends (aka Mates)

Keith and I ran to the B&Q (UK Home Depot) today and picked up a ton of extension cords (aka extension leads), plug adapters (all large 3 prong plugs - ours don't fit), and light bulbs. We brought all of our Canadian lamps (6) with us and in order to operate them here (different electricity) we had to get new bulbs and plug adapters. Not really having a clue about electricity (thank God Keith does or I'm sure I would have exploded all the lamps by now and burnt down the house) apparently our lamps are within the voltage limits here so we don't need a transformer to plug the lamps into. Good thing because they are expensive and weigh more than I do! The military provides us with 3 transformers so we use those to power our small appliances like our blender, mixer, bread machine, etc. One lamp Keith had to actually rewire, because of course the light bulbs here are different. Like everything else really. They have a narrow bottom, unlike our Canadian bulbs with a wide bottom (no technical terms here!). And they don't screw in, they somewhat snap into place. Anyway, it was a good learning experience and if you ever need a lamp rewired, I'm your lady! If you want your house burnt down that is. So that was my electricity tutorial for the day.

Early evening some of the crew Keith is on course with came over for a BBQ and drinks. These are all British Royal Navy guys who live at the base for the time being and are about our age. I met Mike, Simon (aka Blue), Kevin, and Matt (??) - can't remember the poor guys' first name. These guys are a riot. Their mission was to show us the Helston night life. We first went to the Blue Anchor which is a traditional old British pub - small, low ceilings, with lots of character. It is the popular pub for the older locals. This pub also brews its own beer and they are reknowned for their beer called Spingo. I had been warned by a few people in the past weeks to go to the Blue Anchor, but don't drink the Spingo. What does Mike order us all, but the Spingo! We figured we had to try it, even though I'm not a beer drinker! It wasn't as bad as I am been warned, it just tasted like strong beer to me and I made it through about 2 fingers (which apparently is the amount in your glass that is about 2 fingers wide - wrap two fingers around your glass and that's about it). Dad, Keith & I will be taking you for a Spingo when you visit! Next, we headed to the classiest bar (just across the street) in Helston; Big T's. For those of you who have been to the Palace in Halifax, well Big T's is its twin, just on a much smaller scale. Even better, they smoke on the dance floor here! I haven't seen this in years and was quite thrown back by it. It's strange enough to be in a restaurant and someone is smoking next to you (very normal here), but on a dance floor was a surprise. Despite the shadiness of the bar we hung around and danced the night away. These guys love to dance - Yay! And the music was just like at home. We cleared out of there at 2:30am - who'da thought you could dance in Helston until the wee hours of the morning! Kevin couldn't make it home so he crashed on the futon for the night. All in all, we had a great night! I have a feeling there will be more of those to come. Keith will have a great time on course with these guys - no shortage of fun and laughter.

Something else I learned today is that "Fancy Dress Parties" are very popular here, especially at the Ward Room. My first thought was get dressed up (like for a mess dinner), but no fancy dress means costume! Apparantly, they have quite a few costume parties throughout the year. Not sure why, but it could be interesting. I also learned that the Brits use many of our crude slang terms and was given the run down of some traditional drinking games. I am now much more educated than I started out to be today! Haha.

Kyle's Wings Parade

Today is Kyle's Wings Parade in Winnipeg! Congrats Kyle! Wish we could be there to celebrate with you. Chris will be presenting Kyle with his wings and then Kyle is finally off to home again where Paulette patiently awaits!

We were thinking of going to Chumleigh for the weekend to help Dale & Lauren get settled, but their shipment isn't arriving until Tuesday. We'll probably stick around here, finish up the reorganizing of the house, and do some touring in this neck of the woods as there's so much to see. Keith will be glad to finish up another long week and will be happy to do anything as long as he has a beer in his hand.

Keith finished work early around 1pm and we did some more reorganzing over the afternoon and evening. Pretty quiet night. However, I did spend almost an hour on the webcam with Dad and even had a drink with him! Matthew popped into his place near the end of the convo so I got to see him too.

On a side note, completely off topic - the Brits spell tires with a 'y' = tyres. Bizarre. They also seem to replace the 'z' in words that end with 'ize' with an 's' = 'ise' so organize to us is organise to them. Just another oddity I have discovered. I could have an entire blog just for their oddities! Haha.

Gabby Haze...

Talk, talk, talk....that's about sums up my day. Booked an interview/appointment for May 10th to get set up with a National Insurance Number (NIN) - it's like our SIN. Spoke to a few people at placement agencies about jobs and went to the Military Family Recource Center (MFRC) to meet the Administrator (she's a great resource for what Helston has to offer). Jumped in the car and went for a little cruise on my own to see what else is around. Pretty quiet evening otherwise.

Happy Birthday Chris!

Spent the day unpacking the last of the boxes. Still some rearranging to do, but we'll get there. Today is Chris Spearin's birthday so Keith & I went to dinner with him, his house mate and her boyfriend at The Warehouse in Falmouth. Ate so much we almost exploded. Good times as always! Chris is now on his way to Winnipeg for Kyle's Wings parade on Friday!

Sea Shipment Arrived!

At 8:30am this morning I saw the truck with our sea container pull up in front of our house. It's here! Woohoo! I was like a kid at Christmas. The movers arrived at 9:30am and started the unload. They finished at 12:30pm and I was left in disarray. Boxes everywhere. I started with the kitchen and proved to myself how much of a girl I am. It was the most exciting part of the unpack. I was elated to see measuring cups, mixing bowls, cooking utensils, you name it. I swear it was like opening gifts at Xmas because I was ripping the paper off and trying to guess what things were. You really have a new appreciation for your belongings (no matter what they are) when you haven't had the luxury of them for a month.

Enough proving to you all that I have lost my mind...we have the bulk of the unpacking complete. Still a bit disorganized but I think we'll finish tomorrow. And a key point...we didn't kill each other.

Week of April 15

Keith started his course on Monday. He's super busy already. This part of the course, he's learning the basics of the Merlin helicopter - turning it on, etc. This portion has been soley Computer Based Training which is very dry and quite boring. Hopefully next week will be more exciting.

Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday I spent on the couch with a wonderful sinus infection. Yesterday and today I feel much better but am still extremely dizzy. It's been very boring as I can't drive, I can't even go in the car because everythng is out of whack, and I can't walk far because of my balance being off. Yeehaw! Hopefully tomorrow I'll feel better and be more functional!

Our sea shipment arrives on Tuesday! It arrived in the UK on Tuesday, cleared Customs on Thursday, and they'll deliver it on Tuesday. Yay! I am so excited to get our belongings and get more settled. I'll post more pics of the house then.

I think I've finally got this up-to-date. One point I forgot to mention. We've had amazing weather since we arrived. The first week, we saw temps between 10-15 degrees, and since then in the high teens, low twenties. If you want to get away from the snow, this is the place to come visit!

Our New Car

Keith picked up our new car today! Well, new to us. It's a 2000 Peugeot 306, 4 door hatchback, diesel, standard, with sun roof. It's small, but perfect for these roads.

Dale, Lauren & Olivia Arrive!

Met Dale, Lauren & Olivia for brunch at a large service station outside Bristol. So great to see them! Followed them back to her parents place in Chumleigh and crashed there for the night. That evening we went to check out their new digs. Their's is as colorful as ours! It's a huge house with plenty of space for Olivia to run around.

Sunday, we toured around Chumleigh and surrounding areas checking out the local pubs and venues for their Wedding. They definitely have some cool places to choose from. Olivia was her usual superstar self and was singing to us and telling us all kinds of stories.

London!!

Completed our In Clearance which is endless paperwork! We did finish it off with a visit to the duty free shop! We are allowed 6 40 ouncers a month. Since we are 5 hours away, we were given 2 months worth. We left with 12 40s, 2 bottles of wine, and God knows what else! Please come visit as we have plenty of booze to consume.

After the clear in we hopped on the train and we're off to London (45 min ride)! We arrive in London and meet Chris. Chris tours us around the city center for hours on foot. Wow! It's so busy. So many people. Too many people. Crowded pubs, so crowded that the patrons are standing outside the pub on the side walk drinking their beer. And this is normal. So we had to try it out!

Swanky shops everywhere, Dolce & Gabanna, Versace, Armani...many with guards standing out front as the items are so expensive. I would have went shopping and bought you all something, but the boys weren't up for it. Haha. Grabbed supper at a fantastic Italian restaurant and hung out in Trafalgar Square in front of the Canadian Embassy. Then onto the subway and back on the train to High Wycombe.

Off to High Wycombe

Left for High Wycombe at lunch time. The Canadian Detachment is located at Daws Hill in High Wycombe. It is a 5 hour drive from here and we had to be there for Friday morning to complete our 'In Clearance'.

Saw even more sights on the journey. We arrived around 5pm. Headed out for supper to a pub called Wetherspoon's. Good cheap, pub food and of course plenty of beer! The interesting thing about pubs here is that you sit at your table, view the menu, then go to the bar to order, give them your table number and pay up front. When your food is ready, they bring it to your table. No waiting for the check - as we've noticed that seems to be a lengthy process in restaurants - as Chris & Judy will attest to.

Easter Sunday

Happy Easter! Drove to Lands End and spent the afternoon there. It is about 45 minutes form here and is the end of the world.

Feels like home in Ingonish as the land ends and the Atlantic Ocean stretches as far as the eye can see.
Happy Birthday Jeffrey! I didn't have a computer to send you a birthday greeting. Hope you had a good one! I see from the pics Glroie sent that Hayden helped you celebrate.

Errands, Errands, Errands...

Thursday - Went to Truro to switch out of our bus and into a smaller car. They put us in a Focus. I would never normally say that a Ford Focus is a nice car. In fact, I would say I don't like the model, but this one is great. It's a sporty, diesel version. Stylish! The appliances arrived. Boiler had to be fixed. Back to the Falmouth Hotel for the night.

Friday - More errands. Walked into town and checked things out. Pretty quiet as it's Good Friday. Got groceries today. That was an experience! I may as well have been in China! Everything looked bizarre and very little was familiar. It was quite a process trying to buy what you need when you don't know what brands are good and when you can't find the things you're looking for. No white wine, Kraft Dinner (everyone needs KD sometimes!), onion soup mix, Lipton Chicken Soup Mix, soda crackers, among other things. Somethings took us awhile to find as they're named differently, etc. However, the produce here is fantastic. So fresh and so much variety. Now I need a drink!

Saturday - Checked out of hotel as we can't handle being in a hotel any longer. We were allowed to stay in a hotel until our priority shipment arrived which didn't actually arrive until April 16th! Bought a BBQ! Yay! It's been so long since we've been able to have a BBQ. Keith spent an hour assembling it while drinking his beer (so rough). Then we had a BBQ for supper. That night we went for a drive and I drove! How scary!! So different. Being on the opposite side of the road wasn't the hardest part, it was the shifting gears with my left hand. Very ackward.

Took Possession Of House

(Ours is the blue door)
Oh God, what is this place gonna look like! I'm scared! Arrived at 6B Hawke Road, Helston around 9:45am. Wow! Not as bad as expected. Yay! I mean, it has military written all over it, but it's a two-level, semi detached, with 3 bedrooms, diningroom, 2 bathrooms and a beautiful backyard. There are lots of large windows so plenty of light comes in and we have a view of fields and farms in the distance from the front on the house.

The kitchen feels small and is a bit odd, but it actually has a bit more cupboard space than our condo and definitely more counter space. Currently, only a small stove exists (or hob as it's called here). Our fridge/freezer and washer/dryer arrive tomorrow. Those appliances are rented - I have no idea why they don't come with the house. The diningroom is an extra we're not used to having. It looks out onto the backyard (or garden as it's called here).

The livingroom (or lounge as it's called here) is a good size with a working coal (yes, coal!) fireplace. It also looks out onto the backyard. It has some very bizarre furniture at the moment! Military issued 70s chair & couch covers all over the place. They have a lovely beige, green, and pink flowery design. And they match wonderfully with our blue carpet! The curtains aren't anything to talk about either. All in all, we could shoot That 70s Show here, no problem.


You can see the pictures of the rest of the house under "Photo Albums".

Completed bank set up in the afternoon as well as other errands. Met Chris, Judy, and his roommates for dinner at Tapas.Excellent food and company. God, it's expensive to go out for dinner here! The key is NOT to do the conversion as the prices seem good until you do the math in Canadian dollars! Ouch!

St. Michael's Mount & St. Ives

Didn't move until 10:30am when Chris called. We definitely needed that sleep! Spent the day touring with Chris & Judy. Visited a beautiful old castle called St. Michael's Mount. It's about a 30 minute drive from here. Then we went to St. Ives. Such an awesome little town with beautiful beaches.

Arrival in the UK

The red-eye...uncomfortable, little sleep. It's getting bright out...there's Ireland! We're flying over Ireland! And before long there was England. Wow. So green, so beautiful. Keith has seen this all before but I'm like a kid in a candy store. Heathrow was so busy with arrivals we had to circle for 20 minutes or so before landing.

Welcome to England! It's 9:30am and it's 18 degrees celsius! Woohoo! Heathrow Airport is old and dirty...not at all what I expected. An extremely long walk to get to customs. And an absolutely huge line with every nationality. Cleared customs within minutes, all the guy needed to see was Keith posted here and we were good to go. No cavity searches! Sweet. Another long walk to catch the train. Caught the train to Paddington Station in London. First thoughts of London....dirty and sketchy. Clearly, the airport is on the wrong side of town. Landed in Paddington Station. This building is huge....like an enormous outdoor tent, several football fields in length, covering the trains, and all kinds of vendors. Our train to Truro wasn't leaving until noon so we had time to eat and poke around. The train ride was LONG (construction on the tracks-added an hour to the trip) and we hadn't slept in what seemed to be forever. However, the countryside is amazingly beautiful. Spring had hit some time ago and everything was a rich green and the sun was shining. So far so good with this posting dear. Hehe.

Arrived in Truro around 6pm. Grabbed our rental car...or diesel minivan should I say. I minivan is like a bus in this neck of the woods...roads much too narrow. Landed at the Falmouth Hotel, quickly showered, and popped across the street to Chris' place, then went to dinner with he and his and Kyle's mom, Judy. Had Indian food and crashed back at the hotel. Sleep definitely required!

Departure Time

Wow, the day is here! Never really thought it would come. Spent the day with my brothers Matthew and Graham hanging out around the pubs and walking around the waterfront. Our last supper before we left Hali, of course, had to be at the Shoe Shop! Oh, how we will miss the Shoe Shop. Said my goodbyes to my bros (they were the hardest of all to leave), then off to the airport we went with Julia & George as our chaffeurs. They spent almost 2 hours entertaining us until it was time to clear security. Thanks for staying with us! Funny thing, I still didn't have butterflies, I think I was too excited for what adventures lay ahead.

Delayed leaving Halifax as they had to de-ice the plane. Take off at 11;15pm...bye bye to the night lights of Halifax...Gulp...