We moved into our new house last Friday. It was an exciting day, for me it was exciting because I was going to sleep in my own bed and on my own sheets. I haven't seen my bed since August and boy have I missed it. Keith and I went over to the house at 7:45am and the truck was already there. The amazing thing about Canada (that is not like South Africa) is that people arrive when they say they will....well most of them do. Three hunky guys (I know what the South Africans are thinking) began offloading our stuff into the house. We had paid for a door-to-door service from South Africa that included packing on one side and unpacking on the other. I highly recommend it! The guys put all the furniture where it was meant to be and unpacked everything. Then they loaded all the boxes, paper and plastic into their truck. In Toronto it's a godsend when you don't have a car and don't know where the nearest dump is. Not one piece of furniture was damaged, nothing was missing and nothing was broken...except for the one glass that Keith smashed against the kitchen cupboard. I was a happy camper (house-owner with own bed and linen).
I then got into my ZipCar and drove back and forth fetching things from the apartment and bringing the dogs over. ZipCar is a fantastic system in Toronto. There are cars parked all over the city. When you want one you book it online, walk up to the car and swipe your electronic card, the doors open, you take the key that is hanging next to the ignition (yes seriously, it's hanging next to the ignition) and drive off. When you're done you park it where you found it! Driving on the "wrong" side of the road was a breeze.
We live in a cute neighbourhood called Old Cabbagetown. I think it's one of the first, if not THE first neighbourhood of Toronto. I may be mistaken but I read something like that somewhere. The area is not as trendy as Bloor West where we came from and not as crime-ridden as South Africa. It's up and coming, there are lots of professionals living here and some homeless people. It's a mix and it's fun. I feel totally safe. There is a great park nearby for dogs (more on that later) and a Starbucks is opening one street down (Grande, soy, wet, Splenda-in latte, and tall Americano with room please) to rival the local Jet Fuel that is apparently the best coffee shop in Toronto.
The house was unpacked and sorted in two days and we already feel like we live here, this is home and its familiar and fun. My office is downstairs in the basement and Keith has a study on the top floor. We certainly don't feel isolated because the house has this nifty little system of electronic intercoms and radio which means that you can hear music anywhere you go, and Keith can call me on the intercom when he wants me to do something :-)
The park nearby is especially for dogs. There are two of them, fenced in and they have dog statues indicating that one is for big dogs and the other for smaller ones. They all run around like mad having fun and sniffing each other's nether regions. Our dogs aren't used to this brazen socialising and despite Keiths's warnings I insisted that we take them there and let them loose. The boys were great, friendly, licky, happy. Jessie was, well Bitch is an appropriate term. There was a dog trainer and she insisted that we let Jessie go. And off she went and attacked the smallest dog immediately. I don't want to give up, but next time Jessie stays roped in on her lead!
Yesterday our neighbour and I were standing outside on the front porch being neighbourly, our front doors were open, the glass screen doors were closed and the dogs were snoring in the entrance hall. Dale decided to let his dog out to come over and meet my dogs. Not a good idea when you have two dogs and a bitch on the other side of a glass door. Dexter jumped up and his legs went straight through the glass. I saw it happening and could't stop it. Glass went flying everywhere (in hindleg it could have been worse, one of the dogs could have lost an eye or gotten seriously hurt) and initially I thought they were all ok until I saw blood on the floor. I examined my pooches only to find Dexters one front paw sliced open giving me an excellent view of the muscle and tendons. Consider what it's like to be in a new city, with no car, a bleeding dog and no idea where the closest vet is. I cleaned his leg and bandaged it up. Luckily there is a vet about two blocks down and Dexter didn't seem to notice that anything was wrong to we walked down to have him checked out. Four hours later, one anaesthetic, some sutures, anti-biotics and nearly $500 and my boy is home and snoring at my feet, still oblivious to what has happened. The boy feels no pain.
I'm getting into a routine in Toronto. I take the dogs for a walk in the mornings and then I head off to gym. Marc, if you read this, dammit I miss you (and the free three hours of weekly therapy). And you can't say that this was inevitable because you dumped me first! But I still do the Marc workout and pretend you are next to me (and that Glynnis is there, Ricki is talking absolute crap, Stan is complaining, Eric is training other Mark and Tim is feeling me up). It's a lot of pretending, one wonders that I get any workout done at all. I do, promise.
After gym I go back homo for breakfast, coffee and head downstairs to my office. Here's the hard part. I miss the office and the people. I went from a busy corporate world in 2003 to working from home and slowly building Criterium up to the office it is today so it's not like I haven't done it before, but it's a definite step back and being the type of person that I am, I crave people around me.
And that makes me miss my friends and the familiar things about South Africa. Don't get me wrong. I am happy here, I love this city and I don't regret doing this for one second especially when I am reminded of why I left. AND it's only been two months. But I'm just slightly down because nothing is where I'm used to it being. I have no doubt that this is normal and that in time I will look back at it as part of the journey.
I got a lot of work done today. I Skyped with Cherise while she ate Mi V'ami (throw in a King Steer Burger and a Maxi Chips please) and Robyn (Happy Birthday my lung) and Neil (Wreeeeeee) and Paul (BOY) and Tracey (uh uh, no words) and Louis (my beautifu) and Nats (anosmia - ask Neil, he'll explain it) and I felt so much better. I am so grateful for technology because it makes this all easier. Now I understand why Gerald gave me such a damn hard time about Skype.
It feels like Friday but it's not. I gotta feed the dogs. Tomorrow I'm writing my learners exam for my driving test (at almost fucking 35 I have to take my license again). Wish me luck.
I then got into my ZipCar and drove back and forth fetching things from the apartment and bringing the dogs over. ZipCar is a fantastic system in Toronto. There are cars parked all over the city. When you want one you book it online, walk up to the car and swipe your electronic card, the doors open, you take the key that is hanging next to the ignition (yes seriously, it's hanging next to the ignition) and drive off. When you're done you park it where you found it! Driving on the "wrong" side of the road was a breeze.
We live in a cute neighbourhood called Old Cabbagetown. I think it's one of the first, if not THE first neighbourhood of Toronto. I may be mistaken but I read something like that somewhere. The area is not as trendy as Bloor West where we came from and not as crime-ridden as South Africa. It's up and coming, there are lots of professionals living here and some homeless people. It's a mix and it's fun. I feel totally safe. There is a great park nearby for dogs (more on that later) and a Starbucks is opening one street down (Grande, soy, wet, Splenda-in latte, and tall Americano with room please) to rival the local Jet Fuel that is apparently the best coffee shop in Toronto.
The house was unpacked and sorted in two days and we already feel like we live here, this is home and its familiar and fun. My office is downstairs in the basement and Keith has a study on the top floor. We certainly don't feel isolated because the house has this nifty little system of electronic intercoms and radio which means that you can hear music anywhere you go, and Keith can call me on the intercom when he wants me to do something :-)
The park nearby is especially for dogs. There are two of them, fenced in and they have dog statues indicating that one is for big dogs and the other for smaller ones. They all run around like mad having fun and sniffing each other's nether regions. Our dogs aren't used to this brazen socialising and despite Keiths's warnings I insisted that we take them there and let them loose. The boys were great, friendly, licky, happy. Jessie was, well Bitch is an appropriate term. There was a dog trainer and she insisted that we let Jessie go. And off she went and attacked the smallest dog immediately. I don't want to give up, but next time Jessie stays roped in on her lead!
Yesterday our neighbour and I were standing outside on the front porch being neighbourly, our front doors were open, the glass screen doors were closed and the dogs were snoring in the entrance hall. Dale decided to let his dog out to come over and meet my dogs. Not a good idea when you have two dogs and a bitch on the other side of a glass door. Dexter jumped up and his legs went straight through the glass. I saw it happening and could't stop it. Glass went flying everywhere (in hindleg it could have been worse, one of the dogs could have lost an eye or gotten seriously hurt) and initially I thought they were all ok until I saw blood on the floor. I examined my pooches only to find Dexters one front paw sliced open giving me an excellent view of the muscle and tendons. Consider what it's like to be in a new city, with no car, a bleeding dog and no idea where the closest vet is. I cleaned his leg and bandaged it up. Luckily there is a vet about two blocks down and Dexter didn't seem to notice that anything was wrong to we walked down to have him checked out. Four hours later, one anaesthetic, some sutures, anti-biotics and nearly $500 and my boy is home and snoring at my feet, still oblivious to what has happened. The boy feels no pain.
I'm getting into a routine in Toronto. I take the dogs for a walk in the mornings and then I head off to gym. Marc, if you read this, dammit I miss you (and the free three hours of weekly therapy). And you can't say that this was inevitable because you dumped me first! But I still do the Marc workout and pretend you are next to me (and that Glynnis is there, Ricki is talking absolute crap, Stan is complaining, Eric is training other Mark and Tim is feeling me up). It's a lot of pretending, one wonders that I get any workout done at all. I do, promise.
After gym I go back homo for breakfast, coffee and head downstairs to my office. Here's the hard part. I miss the office and the people. I went from a busy corporate world in 2003 to working from home and slowly building Criterium up to the office it is today so it's not like I haven't done it before, but it's a definite step back and being the type of person that I am, I crave people around me.
And that makes me miss my friends and the familiar things about South Africa. Don't get me wrong. I am happy here, I love this city and I don't regret doing this for one second especially when I am reminded of why I left. AND it's only been two months. But I'm just slightly down because nothing is where I'm used to it being. I have no doubt that this is normal and that in time I will look back at it as part of the journey.
I got a lot of work done today. I Skyped with Cherise while she ate Mi V'ami (throw in a King Steer Burger and a Maxi Chips please) and Robyn (Happy Birthday my lung) and Neil (Wreeeeeee) and Paul (BOY) and Tracey (uh uh, no words) and Louis (my beautifu) and Nats (anosmia - ask Neil, he'll explain it) and I felt so much better. I am so grateful for technology because it makes this all easier. Now I understand why Gerald gave me such a damn hard time about Skype.
It feels like Friday but it's not. I gotta feed the dogs. Tomorrow I'm writing my learners exam for my driving test (at almost fucking 35 I have to take my license again). Wish me luck.
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