Big wildlife

After taking Richard's parents to Elk Island just after Christmas and seeing one black blob on the horizon which may have been a bison, I went back there on Saturday for a walk with my friend Jessica (one of the other UK engineers out here). We got to see a dozen or so bison munching away just next to the road. Amazing.

A well earned cup of coffee at the end of our walk.

I feel like I've made a step down the wrong road...

So the visits to the gymn are going well, went four or five times last week, Jacqui came along a couple of times when she was able, she was working or something the other times. So why have I picked the wrong road, well I have discovered how to make pastry, and what does pastry make? PIES !

So if you're in western Canada and wander near Edmonton fear the PieMan.

P.S. I also rediscovered lovely cheese scones.

Still looking for a job, they just can't meet my exacting standards

Just a quick update onthe job front. It's kind of died a bit in the area I'm looking but I'm still checking online most days and checking the local papers at the weekend. It's making me think of doing something myself, start doing some personal PC support that kind of thing.

And a quick update on our work permits. Jacqui's company have put us forward for the provincial nominee scheme, this is a kind of turbo-accelerated residency program. Hopefully this will give us joint residency in the next year or two. More pressing is getting our work permits extended, a local labour market opinion has been requested and we've got the forms we need so we'll be sending that off this week.

Last and definately least Jacqui's been working on our first Canadian tax return, it does not look too complex but some of the terminology is just plain North American. But we think we've got all the info now so we should get that done soon too.

It almost made me cry

Woke up yesterday things alright with the world and what did I see, snow that's what and loads of it. Last week it's all been melting, temperatures of 10 C all going well then a cold snap of -20 and about 4 inches of snow, the biggest snowfall all winter. After speaking to some neighbours they were kind of expecting it, but they were still not happy about it either.