Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Leaving the City 28th Feb 2012

Well last night in the city!  I thought Tasha and I would be quite morose but were not, the aparment has been amazing but we feel like battery hens now and are looking forward to getting to the house.

First new is that Mike made it back, Christ that was a really weird week. Mike got detained by immigration for 2 hours trying to get back in and ONLY at this point did it occur to him he might not make it!! The paperwork was not filled in correctly. Thank god this is Canada and not USA otherwise he would have just been shipped back on the next plane no questions asked!!! 
During the week he was away, Tasha and I didn't hang about. We went to the Avena Hair school and had a fab old time, with head massages and different oils with eventually a wash cut and blow dry. Then we went to see War Horse and took Nancy who is Mikes work colleague. She is really nice and we had such a lovely evening. Before I digress with the remaining part of the story, I need to precede it with Mike advising me Canadian drivers are really c-r-a-p. I think he clearly underestimated the entire situation!!  First of all the car could not be found, now this is not like my sister or myself loosing the car you understand, this is SERIOUS loosing of the car, Tasha and I blindly follow not saying anything, wondering if we will ever come out alive as did strangely enough another completely bewildered older Canadian couple. It would seem as though you can park a car, but the reality of retrieving it ever are slim to none!  Maybe this is why the restaurants encourage free parking its because they can sell off the cars at the end of the night :), anyhow I digress. Car is eventually found, if I'd known what was to come I would have happily looked for it all night long!  Anyhow, lovely Nancy insists of giving us a lift home,  so we're in the car when I see a car not slowing at all and headed directly towards my door! I try to alert Nancy by screaming at the top of my lungs NANCY>>>CAR!!!! at which point Nancy advies very calmly to Tasha and I that she has ran a red light an is always doing it! The stupefying look on the other drivers face means that he too is caught in a headlight moment and cant move/slow down either. My innards turn to liquid and I make a silent prayer to God for making wear black trousers!!! More is to come.... Nancy proceeds to  Larkeshore which Tasha and I feel is at least in the right direction and hey its away from the city so how bad can it be?? After much pleading from the once silent Tasha that we actually do live in an apartment right on the harbour, Nancy makes a right and drops us half way UP the slip road entrance to one of Canada's biggest motorways!!! I still wake now with thoughts of a huge truck turning right and crashing into two woman walking back down the slope..............

Back to walking because the next day is snow, not snow like England where the entire country comes to a halt, this is snow where you can mislay your hand! This sort of snow produces a lot of noise from Mike,Tasha and I, but is brushed off by the Canadians as a small flurry!!! Tasha and I go see a Basketball game, we figure we will be okay as we know Netball. I tell you people GO its only $12 and it the best entertainment ever. Its not like seeing the Yankees when they stop play for an advert its as boring as bum, here the Raptors do stop but there is shows, games, rah rah girls in between. Tasha won a TShirt courtesy of my face! They catapult them into the audience, I was watching the Mexican wave at the time and it hit me side on in my face and Tasha caught it...shimples :)

After the other nights previous encounter it would be hard to see how I could ever take to the wheel, but take to it I did. I figured 'How bad can I be??' so we went well after everyone went to work and I drove to a Mall people!!! Its not nearly as bad as being a passenger as you constantly feel the steering wheel is missing, you just have to drive like Mr.Magoo this means doing your own thing without a care in the world for any other driver!!

I'm hoping Oakville will be a bit more calmer on this front. No Internet until March 3rd so Tasha will have to talk to me now....every cloud and all that :)

Monday, February 20, 2012

Family Day 20Feb2012

Today is Family Day in Canada, this is a Bank Holiday. Its as big as Christmas everything is closed, even my beloved Longo's!!!  The only trouble is I wish I had known this as we don't really have any food in so Tasha and I are going to have to make a very eclectic meal!  Odd that this is Family Day as this is the day Mike flies BACK TO ENGLAND!! Can you believe it he seems to think he is coming back on Saturday but I'm not convinced.

Anyhow on a lighter note, we done the Museums so Tasha is in a kind of Mexican ARIBAAAAAA!celebratory mood because it means this week is S-H-O-P-P-I-N-G!! I have a car so we can visit the malls. The Canadians driving is almost as fab as mine so its going to be interesting to put it mildly. Tasha is quite nervous about this but the urge to splurge is out weighing the nerves :)

We went to Toronto Zoo in a snow storm, we actually went with the intention of getting them to extend our Toronto Pass, however when we arrived there were about 300 other Canadians visiting the zoo so not chance, honestly they r nuts!! nothing stops them, they just dress up in ski wear - a tip we've yet to pick up on...brrrrrrr!  Anyway cant say much about zoo as I hate them with a passion, I just want to free all these poor animals they are kept in the name if conservation, I don't get it how can keeping them in the area equivalent to a small bathroom be good??  Anyway its horrible seeing Polar bears just walk up and down with patches of fur missing its very distressing. 
We went to the pictures in the afternoon, you just HAVE to to go pictures in either Canada or USA its the most amazing experience. In the UK they smell quite like a locker room until the the air con is turned onto freezing. Here there are movie props all over the ceiling, restaurants, coffee bars, popcorn bars its a really great experience. Afterwards we went to a bar which was like a nightclub they had a DJ playing music and nobody could even hear themselves scream!  In a way Tasha was a bit blue seeing all of the groups of friends together as she is stuck with 'rents' as she calls us. She misses all her great friends, she's not alone we all miss Friends and Family, its just that she is yet to meet young peeps here. Fingers crossed that when we are settled in the house she can get to grips with a small job and meet new peoples!!

Yesterday we started out a Caplinkseys which is theee most fantastic deli, got a Canadian mobile/cell phone and then went to meet the people who own the house we are renting, they are amazingly funny and lovely people. They took us all over the house showing us how everything worked. Most important for me is that they told us all about our neighbours who were party people and who were the quiet ones etc. Apparently on a Friday everyone meets on the green just outside all our houses..cool beans. The great news is that after meeting them the 3 of us felt so much better and happier. We are really looking forward to moving there, it will be great in the summer as its right on the lake and next to the marina.

Happy Days.... Everyone keep their fingers crossed Mike gets the Visa and comes back!!!

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Valentines Day 2012

Its been a week since the last update, sorry 'bout that. I have learnt that 'bout is a key Canadian word. It sounds like bowt. Anyway we have been really really busy getting a house!!! The process itself was quite alarming in that its not done in what has become our overly aggressive English way instead its dealt with in a more genteel way, now whether that is because we had a couple from the 1800's helping us I cant be sure, but in any event the end result was great!  The house is about 20 feet from the lakeshore - its an older house on the outside, but inside its been completely gutted and everything is brand new and we are the first people in there. We have to meet the lady that owns the property this weekend. But I understand why she wants to make sure we are not the sort of people nobody would want in there!

Also since I last wrote Tasha and I have brought a City Pass which lets us have access to the top 5 sites, we went  up the CN tower on Friday and ate at the restaurant which was brilliant. There is a glass floor that really messes with your head BIG TIME! its ridiculous really but you are convinced that you will be the first person to drop through it!  They now also have the ability to strap yourself to the narrowest bar outside and go and walk around the OUTSIDE of the building! I don't think so!!! Rather bizarrely they have the choice of a Thaihitan film or a jungle ride, seriously what on earth has that got to do with the CN tower. In any event the ride is only suitable if you are under 10 but the film is 3D which is about surfing! I cant help feeling the Canadians could have done with some help from the Brits on this front.

Saturday we went back to look around the area where we have brought the house its in an area called Bronte in Oakville and its lovely although it was minus 20 we walked around the lakeshore and discovered we were next to the marina, the community as its called here also looks very nice aswell.

Sunday we did Mike's long held dream of being able to leave the house and drive to skiing, he was tickled pink that we could do this. The resort was excellent and the most brilliant place for new/not confident skiers. There was no pushing/shoving like you get in queues in Europe everyone is very polite and takes turns and as a result the queues move much quicker than anywhere I've been before. The runs are also really wide. In the village there is a chocolate factory (a must) and all sorts of nice shops and places to eat etc. They have one hut where you buy what looks like a hot pancake covered in Nutella...Hello!!!!  Tasha was able to wear her new boots she brought in Dubai, yes I did say Dubai and Mike and her were off all over the place.

Yesterday long suffering Tasha came with me to see Casa Loma which was a huge castle built by and industrialist, he looked like Father Christmas's younger brother and was always giving parties. It was quite a sad story of how the Canadian government of the day destroyed him, but basically this guy was responsible for bringing electricity to Canada and at one point owned 25% of Canada, can you imagine.

Today being Valentines day I thought I had better let Tasha have a museum reprieve for a day and we r going to see a romantic film this afternoon. Mike is taking me to a restaurant called Crush and Tasha is refusing to come along, saying she will look like a sad gooseberry :(  I think she's nuts imagine turning down a lovely meal??? Something I cant compute in my head!!!

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

6th/7th February 2012

Thought it would be better to put the last two days together. At the weekend Mike, Tasha and I did our first look for houses as all of us were getting quite worried. It should be said that Tasha came along in the hope that we didn't find anything and would have to stay in Toronto!! Anyway as said before we liked Oakville the best, we found an estate agent with clearly the early onset of Alzheimer's although she was a complete sweety she kept forgetting why we were there. Tasha eventually had that stupefied look (like the fish in Nemo or all of our family when Tasha is telling a story) so suffice to say I recognised the look! Our only ray of light is that we were advised that Bill would be our representative.... Hurrah! Mike and I met Bill who turns out to be our friends husband, he's approx. 120 years old and is also an extreme sweety. Mike and I were with him for an extremely painful 2 hours as all paperwork has to be signed before an offer can even be made. Mike and I come away rather unconfident to say the least, yesterday the offer starts and quite frankly its all completely over my head. I cannot tell you if we have the house or not as I genuainly dont know I think we may know at the end of the week! To say its nerve wracking is an understatement, the reason I say this is that this is the only furnished house we have found because although all the houses are photographed with furniture in the Canadians like houses to be completely empty! The realtor had a huge list of houses but when we said our criteria the list went down to 1.

Mine and (long suffering) Tasha's explorations have been as follows.....

Soup Nutsy is the most fabbest place on earth and has the most fantastic range of soups. I have the Lobster one which is enjoyed equally by me and my jumper! University of Ontario - we walk, I say WALK all the way to it, its got to be at least 12 miles, but Tasha informs me she's not altogether sure if its even 1 mile, clearly her perspective on distances is somewhat flawed. She is also not sure about the tour at all as she thinks it is like a tour if you were thinking of applying to the Uni. The tour is 2pm, We arrive early which is great as I need to lie down on the sofa to get any oxygen back into my body and wipe the sweat from my brow. We are joined by a nervous mother and daughter from Korea - can I just clarify that we have nothing to base Korea on, Tasha has come out with this random statement and I am still so oxygen deprived I cannot be bothered to argue the point. Anyhow, Laura is our very pretty guide who walks at at alarming pace and quickly reintroduces herself with a huge list of qualifications, Tasha gives me that warning knowing look that she's right! Laura then races us onto a tour of the classrooms (odd me thinks) and is advising that the next 1.5 hours will be visiting all the different houses! There is nothing else for it, I have to fess up to Laura that we are on the wrong tour! I thought it would be like a tour of Oxford or Trinity where its a quick 30 mins jobbi and you are shown the architecture. Laura looks as bemused as long suffering Tasha and informs me these tours are held in the summer. We leave with the Koreans just staring at us not understanding what is going on. We get a taxi back to the hallowed Longos to cheer me up! I also offer Tasha $1,000 not to tell Mike as anyone who know him, knows what he is like with this kind of information. :(

We frequent Bloor Street which is where all the beautiful shops are, Holts is the place to be and is owned by the same family that own Selfridges and Brown Thomas in Dublin - so you get the idea. We have lunch at La Societe its is gorgeous and is just like a Parisian Bistro. www.lasociete.ca we have a fab waiter called Daniel. The Hazelnut Log is THE best thing on earth and I don't care whether the chef if male or female I'm marrying them!! Tasha and I are on such a high but Tasha's high is about to go stratospheric! What shop should meet us next but Cartier where Tasha nearly passes out at The Ring this is about a 2 carat diamond flanked by two emerald diamonds, she just stares with her mouth hanging open, eventually after intense negotiations and the promise of chocolate we move on and go and see The Artist, this is a silent movie and is excellent. Tashs didn't realise it was a silent movie and is trying her very best in this cyber noise filled age to do her best, but there was a lot of thrashing about in the seat, but it was the look on her face that still makes me burst out laughing.

Monday, February 6, 2012

1st Weekend 5-6 February 2012 SUPERBOWL

This weekend was very busy indeed. Mike took us out and about to all the towns near his work. We liked Oakville the best and are trying to look for properties in this area. I will post a lot more about this but we are waiting to find a property if such a thing exists!! Saturday night we tried and I mean tried to watch a film, god almighty how can such a huge nation accept such rubbish TV? There are adverts every 1.5 mins its not like they're even good adverts its the same ones over and over again! Suffice to say wont be doing that again - miss the BBC :(

Sunday we went to Niagara falls there is something weird about this place in that you are drawn to jump in its the oddest feeling. It is truly jaw-dropping the Maid of the Mist boats do not run yet but we will be back loads to this site and will deffo be going on the boat.

Sunday evening SUPERBOWL, we have instructions from Mikes work that it has to be loads of beer and Chilli dogs so we get everything ready. Tash and I think that its going to be like a big rugby match, so OK here are my observations, I realise from a woman's point of view only and will have all the men up in arms  but here goes....

  1. Both teams were rather ugly! Seriously where do they find them?
  2. Where are the Pom Pom girls - all the American films we see they are all over the place
  3. We are luvvin the ref who explains everything he is doing, now isn't that a brilly idea
  4. Both teams seem to run for about 30 seconds get puffed out and go to commercial break for 3-7 mins depending on where you are within the game
  5. There are loads of chaps protecting 1 chap who's job I think is to put the ball down i.e. Touchdown! Crowd goes bonkers but I am not sure how they know because this 1 chap is under a heap of other people
  6. Adverts are all the same and go on forever. All that happens is A) One looses the will to live and B) The ads are all the same every 3 minutes or so
  7. One ray of flight was the David Beckham advert who left Tasha and I speechless!
  8. Half time show with Madge was good
  9. Extreme boredom descends on acts 3 and 4 because hardly anything happens and the adverts are r-e-a-l-l-y starting to grate, nothing for it but to drink more Pinot
  10. Drunk so much beer and Pinot to soften the boredom, that we all miss the 4th and all fall asleep on the sofa!!!!

Saturday, February 4, 2012

Day 5 First Saturday

Today my Mum is phoning my Canadian phone number. As she is a technophobe we all have strong doubts that this call will even make it through!! Anyway bank on 8am the call comes in! rather bizarrely I am already washed showered and done my hair before the call which is crazy as this is a phone call! But I also figure that by the time my Mum stops talking everyone else will be ready to go out so its a double wammey.

Mike takes us to Oakville which is a lovely town so that we can look for homes to rent. Trouble is we feel like leapers because there are no homes with our criteria!! He takes up to other towns, but once you've been shown the best its hard to get enthusiastic  :(  We go to a burger place called Chuck's. I have to say this was the best burger I have ever eaten its a tiny place with 5 tables and rammed with people trying to eat there. Luckily we got 3 seats :) what Mike didn't explain was that once you've eaten you have to carry your stomach around with you like a loaded trolley for the rest of the day.  We then did a huge Longos run and a huge run as LCBO which is a drinks supermarket this place makes you feel really naughty as you cannot buy drink anywhere else, so obviously only the really really cool people go there! We are all extremely friendly to each other, rather like it must be for people on a smoke break at work,

Get back to flat to find that joy of joys the TV package has finally been upgraded to sports and movies...HURRAH!!!

Tomorrow is Superbowl... will report more after that!

Day 4 First Friday

Today Tasha has tried to show me the expert ways of of the sloth, she has perfected this art and to explain this means taking it easy and taking an e-t-r-aordinary amount of time to do anything. Having shown me the basics she then left me to my own devices which was when the tricky part crept in. After 50 years of going at warp factor 10 I have no idea how to switch off and do nothing. I tried to protest after a while with keeping asking Tasha ridiculous questions, but all that happened was she closed the door on the study part, so that she cut herself off so to speak! In the end there was nothing else for it but to read which was actually quite good for the both of us.
Mike arrives home early which is great as we haven't seen him at all really, so we went off to ice-skating and a bar called Wallymagoo's on the marina because we can walk to it.........

Well ice skating needs a passport so they will have try later, looks pretty good though. The bar gave us beers in those lovely ices glasses that seem to induce you wanting to drink another 20! We eventually get round to eating which OK, just typical US food.

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Ground Hog Day

An unusual title for the first day of blogging, will explain in a bit. Just to start off, Mike has a project job here in Toronto and for the first time ever I am joining him. Also Tasha has joined us so its the 3 amigo's in a new country, which for a Mother and daughter who've never lived outside Reading is quite an achievement!  Mike has been here since October, but we all flew in Monday together.
DAY 1 -  I CANT GO! WHAT AM I DOING!!! deep deep panic has befallen me. I've been crying for 2 days and in the taxi a text comes in from Sam and starts me off again. I manage to get to the flight but despite all the warnings start drinking heavily more or less as soon as were airborne. My heart is breaking at leaving my Grandchildren Layla and Harvey, I know its only for 7 months but even so why am I even going for longer than 7 days. We land at Toronto where British Airways appears to be glad to see the back of me.   The first thing that happened is that we were stopped at immigration (bet the BA staff had a hand in that), I was imagining all sorts of horrors would befall Tash and I but they were very nice. Mike took us with great trepidation to the apartment, he was nervous as he picked this by himself always a risky business, but hey the apartment is fab! Looks onto Lake Ontario to the left and CN Tower on the right.  Its awesome just sitting up here watching the boats. Mike then takes us to his fav Sports Bar which is actually pretty good. Jet Lag descends and its game over
DAY 2 Tash unpacked a stupid amount of clothing, then Starbucks. Whilst there what should catch my eye but a winery shop! How cool is that! So we had to visit it brought 2 bottles of Canadian wine from a very very laid back jazz kind of chap. Not had them yet, largely due to Mike not being over the jet lag. We then found LONGOS - OMG!! Its like the Waitrose of Toronto Tash and I keep finding excuses to go visit it, yes that's how sad we are.....
DAY 3 Have discovered the Morning Show on Channel 211 they are brilliant its the best morning show I've ever seen, largely due to the white haired chap and blond lady. If it weren't for the adverts I'm sure I would know their names by now but sadly I don't. Anyhow,  Enuf of Jet-Lag....shopping beckons, in my world its taxi everything, but Tasha is on a mission to get me fitter so we have to walk. Its not hard, she's starting from zero!  I think we must have walked at least 45 miles because I was seeing double by the end of the day. Still found a great shopping mall Eaton Square and had a superb lunch in Trattoria which if you ever get the chance to go is a must. Tash had the best Pear, Gorgonzola and Walnut salad she's ever had. We then got our nails Shellaced, horrible salon do not recommend it, I was lucky I had the only lovely lady in there the rest were ghastly - do not go!
DAY 4 - GROUND HOG DAY! Well for a tourist this is possibly one of the most strangest things that could ever be shown on TV. Apparently the Groundhog looks like an Otter and is held by a man in a black suit with a top hat, the Groundhog at 8.05 comes out of some straw and predicts the years weather and the end of winter. Nobody seems to notice that the Groundhog cannot talk and this is witnessed by thousands of Canadians wearing fur noses!! I've never seen anything so funny in all my life!!! Its not just us the Morning show crew are just as bemused and the white haired guy is pretty sure the people on stage listening to the hog are drunken left overs from a 1970' wedding!! As you can imagine it takes Tash and I a while to recover to get ready to go out, but we do eventually manage it. Today is Toronto University - we find out that tours are 11 and 2pm daily but as we are 11.20 we missed it so are going back. We then walk to the Theatre district and purchase tickets for Sleeping Beauty Ballet and The Warhorse. We then walk down underground on the Toronto PATH, I wrongly assumed it would be a load of dreadful shops along the way but its not its brilliant and it also solves the mystery for Tash and just as to just where the hell all the Torontonians were!! Of course Shimples they would be underground as at -4 its pretty cold. A quick cheekey trip to Longos then were back at the apartment, where I had the idea of the blog so that I could record daily what I do so that I can bore my grandchildren to death with stories. If I didn't write it down sadly I would forget most of it, which it 51 is sad but true!!