Well we went to a wedding for a couple that we know. I may have mentioned to a couple of
you that I went to a shower. Anyhow, when we got there we saw that there was only one person,
other than Dave, wearing a tie. Apparentlty the invitation said casual, I guess we missed
that part. A number of people were wearing shorts. The location was beautiful. There were
flower beds everywhere, an antique car, the house was gorgeous as was the gazebo and the
sun was shining down on the guest's Harley Davidsons and glinting off people's Budweiser
or Lucky beer cans...
I have begun to drive Dave's car, which is standard. He say's I'm doing extremely well
but I suppose it takes practice to feel comfortable doing it.
Not working has been great. We get up late everyday, maybe get some fresh raspberries,
strawberies or blackberries (which are huge by the way!) from the yard for our cereal and
enjoy the always nice weather. Maybe go for a walk down through the grapes or have a bike ride.
Can I just say that I have now gone actual mountain biking and now I realise how flat Ontario is!
We recently visted trails through the woods in Chemainus which are pretty astounding. A vagrant
had been living in the woods for a number of years and during this time constructed retaining
walls, foot paths, gardens and stairwells all with things found in the woods. Though he was
in danger of getting ousted by the logging company that owned the land eventually some people
got together and bought him an acre so he could continue to live there. If I can find a link to
refer people to I'll post it later.
Not much other than that. We may go to Catherdral grove tomorrow, home of the really really
really big trees and begin to pack *again* for our move to the Okangan Valley.
Talk to you later!
Beth

On Our way...

September 2 - 5
Picked up some airline tickets, the flight price was okay but the luggage allotment was
smaller so we had to ship some more items out via greyhound. Cats had to go underneath
as well at the cost off $100.00 per carrier. They are not allowed on board. For their safety?
I don't think so. (soft carriers not needed after all) A lot of small errands, laundry and
getting some sleep. Neil is going to take us to the airport for 6:00am Friday morning,
how awesome is that? So my Mum drops us off in Whitby, we sneak the cats on to the
GO Train and head for his place Thursday evening. Spend a few hours grabbing a bite
and hanging out then try ot get some sleep. We get to the airport in good time and check
in our stuff. Apparently carry on can only be 5kg (?!?) so we have to check another bag
but he doesn't charge us (Cool!) In the apparent rush to get the first flight of the morning
off he forgets to charge us for the cats. (Maybe we have to pay at the other end?) No too
shabby of a day so far and it's only 7:00am! Turned out to be too good to be true. 2 hour
delay. We had to de-plane but it gave us a chance to get a coffee. When we landed the
cats came out and no one asked for money so that was a bonus. I won't fly that way again,
with the extra costs I'd rather get my aeroplan points on Air Canada. Unfortunately when
we land we find out we would have had to wait an hour and a half for a bus to the ferry and
the cats would have had to go underneath the bus. I don't think so...but for $20.00 more
we could get a cab or a limo. What would you do? Ahhh, nice and comfy way to get to the
ferry that's for sure. We load on to the ferry and head unside for a bite to eat. Apparenty
cats aren't allowed on the passenger decks as we are quickly approached by an employee
asking "Are there live animals in there?" Did the stickers "Live animals" give it away?
The steward says we can keep them on the outside decks though. An hour and a half later
we get to Victoria and we get picked up for the last leg of the journey home. On the way
to the house we swing by Greyhound to see if our first shipment has
arrived and the last box had just come in.
A mere 15 hours after we began that morning we pull in the driveway.

August 29 - September 1
Leaving and Moving
Thursday
Well my last day of work finally arrived. Fantastic feeling, for those of you who have never quit
a job for no reason other than your own amusement I highly recommend it. Headed home after work
to do a bit more packing. Things seemed well under control.
Friday
I headed out of London (8:00am) to Oshawa to pick up our moving van, while Dave finished the
last of the packing. I got back into town around 7:00pm. To find that Dave and his friend Jim had
taken all our shipping to Greyhound and got us a really good deal. So between Crystal, Dave, Jim and
I we began to pack the van to move Crystal. We finished moving her around 9:30pm and we hit the road
with our stuff around 12:30am. When we got to Oshawa at 3:00 am we realised that the bed (that was
going in my Mum's guest room) was at the bottom of the pile in the van so we hit the couch and floor
for a 3 hour nap.
Saturday
Up at 6:00am to unload the van and get it back to the rental place. We then had time for a shower
(no nap) before we headed to Cirque de Soliel and the Ex. Another day home close to midnight. But
the circus was extraordinary, as it always is and the Ex was fun. We did midway and let
me take this opportunity to steer you clear of going through the haunted house. They were working
on the carts as we were in line and when you got up close you could see that they were pretty banged
up with chunks missing and huge dents. On carny was head to toe in grease, both arms bandaged and
you could tell all the guys that worked that ride were taking turns to go inside to fire up blunts.
So the ride itself? 3 broken skeletons some large rats, flashing red lights and noise. Sigh. The
swings were fun as was the hurricane. We checked out the horse barn on the way out which was a
nice time before trying to compete with 300 other people who wanted to get on the eastbound GO
train. Home and straight to bed.
Sunday
Got up at 10:00am to run up to the cottage to get stuff from there that we needed. Actually got
going around 12:00pm Stopped by the dog breeders to borrow a couple soft carrriers for the cats to
fly with and got home at 3:00pm. Hmmmm... we were supposed to be in London by now. Ah well.
Dropped off some stuff and headed back to London for a BBQ and to get the rest of stuff out of the
house and grab the cats. Back in Oshawa around 3:30am.
Monday
Some confusion about what time people were coming for a bbq. No matter, everyone came out, even
if for a little bit and it was great to relax and see everyone and have a bit to eat.

23/08/2002

Really moving now...

Long time no writey, writey. Well only 4 more days of work to go and only a couple weeks left before we go. Dave's house has sold (enter woohoo sound here) and I've begun to get a handle on sorting stuff to store, ship and take. We move our stuff to storage next weekend.
We may be in the Toronto area before we fly out but with so many details to take care of in various cities it'll be hard to get it all in, not to say we're not going to try.
Heading to the cottage tonight for the last relaxing weekend there for a while. Sigh.
We plan to fly out on the 4th so I'll try to talk/see you before then.

15 in office days left...
Well some decisions have been made. We'll be flying out and not doing the cross Canada tour (this time) too many problems with that scenario. But we have a place to store our stuff so that's a relief. Dave comes in tonight (yeah!) so we can really begin to pack up and see people.
Still no news on where we'll be settling. We may try the Okanagan but we may stay on the island. We may be back in Ontario in 8 months who knows, but soon the adventure begins!
If any one has employment leads let me know.

The notice went out to the staff here that I'm leaving. My name was spelled "Hells" however my boss, who sent out the e-mail apologised and swears there's no animosity...Now people are asking me if I got a job out there or what I'm doing.. When I tell them I have no job nor any specific plans I get a response of "Oh!". I've begun to tell people that I'm retiring.
I have only 50 days left before my termination date 36 of which are actually in the office.
Now I only have to figure out how we're going to move our stuff if we are at all. No problem, right?

Handed in notice to terminate my lease to my landlord today.
Resignation information has not passed around the office as quickly as I thought. But then again, working nights means I don't actually see anyone for them to say anything. I've decided to not tell anyone else that I'm going (I've told 5 people here, but all in in confidentiality) and see how long it takes.
Gathered 3 boxes to start packing up.
Off to do some resume polishing!

I handed in my letter of resignation tonight. Office water cooler gossip rates indicate that everyone will know by around 12:00noon tomorrow.
Yeah me!!
Started sorting my stuff into yard sale/goodwill and "keep" piles. Anyone in the market for picture frames, a lamp or a kitchen table set?