Last of the Year

Dear all,

Well here we are, heading into our first winter in Toronto. So far it's been unseasonably mild; I'm still in a tee shirt and the windows are open. But we've been warned that properly cold weather is around the corner, including snow showers in a couple of days.

It's been a sad time and difficult to be so far away from you all. We were very shocked to hear of the sudden death of a friend back home and now we have lost Eamonn's aunt in Ireland. She was a wonderful woman who always had hilarious stories of her time growing up surrounded by mischievous brothers in the wilds of Mayo. She also loved to talk of her days teaching in a boys' primary school in Manchester. She always said she loved teaching boys as they were such fun. She was the last of her generation in Eamonn's family having lived a long life and a good life. We'll be back for the funeral but Eamonn will have to come back on his own. At least I can make sure we're ready for Christmas by the time he arrives home again.

Since the last blog we've been enjoying the late autumn - I won't say 'fall'! We had a trip over to Oakville for lunch with another Carillion family. They have 2 young children; it's been a long time since I've been around children but it was fun. I can see that living over there would give me a lot more company but it would mean a lot more driving for Eamonn every day. It's very suburban, near the lakeshore and has plenty of space for walks etc, but we'd also be much further from town which would create some feelings of isolation. So overall, we enjoy the convenience of town living and being less dependent on the car. 

Oakville Ravine

I continued with choir until the end of October but decided to leave it until the New Year as I wouldn't be here for their concert. It also meant I didn't have to force myself to learn 'All through the Night' in Welsh! So November has been a quiet time as I didn't really feel motivated to do much knowing our return was nearing. I will try really hard to get some voluntary work when we return; I have my Police Check and the medical from the summer so there must be something I can do!!

Fill 'em up!

Newcomers activities continue and I really enjoyed a day trip to Niagara region for a trip to a winery and then lunch in Niagara-on-the-Lake. There were about 20 of us on a coach enjoying nibbles and then tasting 3 types of wine at 11.30 in the morning! We had a good lunch to soak up the wine and I enjoyed meeting some really nice women. The other trip I've been on was a guided walk around Queen's Park, the university district of town. The colleges are definitely inspired architecturally by the British originals. It's quite a small area but while you're there you feel that the sprawl of Toronto is a long way away. I even managed to take a few photos which weren't spoilt by the Toronto skyline! The walk started outside the Royal Ontario Museum, which has an extremely modern frontage that people either love or hate. It was designed by Daniel Libeskind. I think it loses some of its dramatic effect because it needs to be seen from a distance rather than being shoe-horned onto a shopping street. This new extension is attached to the original 1912 building. 

Hamlet window, Trinity College

We went to a pub quiz one Saturday, organised by a Brit Meetup group. Considering there were only 4 of us we did well, coming 9th. Being a quiz night it meant that we didn't get to meet the other Brits as we all stayed sitting all evening but it was good to be surrounded by familiar British tones. We won some Yorkshire tea bags and Digestives!

We didn't get involved in Hallowe'en but we did see people in fancy dress all over the weekend. It just seems to be an excuse to dress up, not necessarily in 'spooky' outfits. Those with families take their children around to their neighbours, many of whom are looking out for them on the doorstep, ready with sweets. The shops sell special mini packs of sweets designed for giving out. Even Eamonn's office took part.

Not many people cycle in Toronto, there really is no political drive for it, in fact the Mayor is totally pro-car and anti cycling so there are almost no cycle lanes. However, you do see cycling in the student districts particularly and I have noticed that very few of them think it's important to be seen. They often wear the Toronto Black on a dark coloured bike, wearing no reflective material at all and often no helmet. There doesn't seem to be any legal requirements on them. Crazy.

Many people were told before they came here that it was cheap to live here but those with children have found it much more difficult than they expected. It's made worse by the fact that some wives will have given up jobs at home to move here. There is pressure to join the many after-school activities which have to be paid for. I was surprised to realise that it's very common for primary schools to be as big as 4 or 5 entry which sounds overwhelming to me. Children are expected to be compliant and behave well so that children with difficulties can be left to struggle. There is much less use of classroom assistants here.

Being of mature years, our doctor here suggested we have a colon check so we went to see a specialist to discuss it. As soon as I saw him all I could think about was how he reminded me of Woody Allen! Same specs and tiny frame and a dry sense of humour. He suggested we could prepare for it by watching Billy Connolly's sketch about having a colonoscopy on Youtube! We decided to book it in the New Year, something to look forward to.

As the days have been drawing in, I've noticed people living in the condo building opposite ours as their lights go on. When I stand in our kitchen looking out I can see the woman opposite in her kitchen doing the same kinds of things as me, and then I can see the woman who lives immediately above her also doing the same things. The more I think about this the more it starts to freak me out as it is all multiplied so many times over because there are so many apartments around here. So then it's time to close the blinds and the curtains. Phew!

One of our recent walks took us to Humber Bay Park where we saw some buffleheads, cute black and white water birds, on the lakes.

In the park was this memorial to those who died in the Air India Disaster of June 1985. We had little memory of this, I suppose because we were busy new parents then. Flight 182 blew up at 31,000 feet over the Atlantic in Irish air space. The memorial faces the direction of Ireland where 329 people died. Most were Canadians with 27 British and 22 Indians. The flight from Montreal to Delhi was planned to stopover at Heathrow. There was an earlier explosion at Nagita airport in India when a bag exploded, killing 6 ground staff. The bag was meant for a flight to Bangkok. Evidence from this explosion showed that Sikh militants, living in Canada, had attempted to blow up 2 flights simultaneously. The Commission of Enquiry finally released its report last year, concluding that a 'cascade of errors' by the Government of Canada, the RCMP and the Canadian Security Intelligence Services had allowed the attack to take place. Lockerbie happened 3 years later.

The humble female house sparrow

We had a lovely weekend away from town last weekend. Through a contact at home we were invited to stay at Tom's house, a 3 hour drive north of here. He has a lovely home surrounded by 10 acres containing a large pond and many trees. He showed us great hospitality and waited on us, hand and foot! He is a retired film editor so had many interesting things to tell us about his career, first with the BBC and then here in Canada. We are hoping to go back in the New Year to practice our snow shoeing!

Tom's back garden!

I have one more outing with the Newcomers club, a tour of the Ontario Legislature and afternoon tea, with entertainment (!). 

Meaford on Georgian Bay

For the last few days we have been making arrangements to come home. I had planned to come in early December anyway but now we're both coming back next week for Auntie Mary's funeral. Then Eamonn will have to come back for a month on his own. I don't think we've ever been apart more than a week! He's already arranging indoor golf sessions and Christmas parties so he'll be fine and I will miss the first snow I hope.

I am so looking forward to being home for a while and catching up with you all. 

 

 

 With love to you all,

from

Mary and Eamonn

Times are changing!

Hello all! Now it's midway through October and the summer + visitors + leaves have gone -  but I'll be home in 7 weeks!! So there's just the problem of how to pass the time until then. We know there'll be snow sometime and the temperature will drop rapidly soon so we need to make sure we're ready. Homeowners have to perform 'winterisation' (!) chores around the house but all we have to do is get winter tyres for the car. (I'm almost forgetting how to type tyre and not tire.) Eamonn's been checking out the best deals but overall it'll cost up to $1000 and he needs to find somewhere to store the summer tyres. Some garages will store them or we might pay a friend who has spare locker space (the condo people rent large lockers for storage but there wasn't one available when we moved here).

One Sunday in September there was a canoe and 

kayaking championship down by the lake. 

It was a very hot day and we walked back to 

the music garden and enjoyed a free concert in the shade.

Down the left side are some pictures of our trip with Emer and Kevin to Ganonoque and the 1000 Islands, at the start of the St. Lawrence Seaway (near Kingston) and Ottawa:

I've joined a choir so I go out every Monday evening, it's about half an hour's journey on the subway. They're rehearsing songs for their Christmas concert but I had to explain I won't be there, having already booked my flight home. It'll be lovely - the songs are performed around the narration of A Child's Christmas in Wales. Some of the music is tricky but there are plenty of other altos who aren't great sight readers either so I'm in good company and they are very nice people. 

Our parish church doesn't have a CWL group so in September I went to a morning CWL retreat  at another church with the aim of joining their group and the leader said she'd email me the date of the next meeting - but didn't. Meanwhile, I was checking their newsletter online, but as it doesn't get put on the web until the end of each week I saw that I'd missed the first meeting. They don't seem to be as proactive as our Cockfosters group. Still trying to volunteer too. I've been ringing a school since the end of August - lost count now how many times - and was constantly told the deputy wasn't available or they weren't yet ready so could I call back. I left my number but of course no-one's rung back. A British parent told me that the teachers here do NO preparation before the start of term so they know nothing about the children before they walk in the door so it kind of explains the school's response. I've lost impetus - for now anyway, as we had Emer and Kevin here and then Michael came so I was well occupied. But last week I applied for a full police check, which I would need anyway before I could start working with vulnerable groups. Once that's come I might try one of the local schools that I can walk to but I was trying to get into one by the subway to avoid walking in the worst weather! I also applied to volunteer with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, suggested by a fellow Brit, so I'm on the waiting list! If only I had a book in me, this would be a good time to get on with it.  

We went to Mel and Jack's housewarming in Oakville which was great fun and we met lots of lovely people so we've made a few connections through that but Oakville is the equivalent of Heathrow in driving distance from home so we won't be over there very often. It's so like home, it reminded me of Oakwood!

Living in a condo is nothing like 'Friends'. Our place is right at the end of the corridor and one evening Eamonn was walking behind our

neighbour who, even as she put her key in her door, right beside ours, didn't even acknowledge him! He has since met the husband who takes their dog out for walks. We didn't realise there was a dog there at all as he's so quiet but I've seen him now and he's an ugly bulldog that wheezes like an old man! It makes me smile to see how he drags them along the corridor in his desperation to get out!

So enough of the moaning, let me tell you what we've been up to since last we spoke:The Last Night of the Proms, live, in the local cinema was wonderful! I thought it'd be us and a couple of old dears but it was packed! Admittedly we were probably the youngest there but I almost felt as though I was on my sofa at home watching the tv. On the opening shot, showing a bird's-eye view inside the Royal Albert Hall, there was an admiring gasp from those around us at the splendour of it all. We came out at 6pm into the not-very-appealing area around the cinema and came down to earth with a bump! The reserved audience didn't clap Welsh singer Susan Bullock at all but went mad for Chinese Lang Lang which I thought was very unfair. We joined in the singalongs at the end and there were even a few flags waved - but I forgot to take our Union Jack tea towel that Gemma gave us! Everyone stood for the British National Anthem at the end which felt quite surreal.

A few days later we went back there to see a recording of James Corden in 'One Man, 2 Guvnors'. This was a brilliant broadcast from the South Bank which included funny interviews during the interval. The play contained a lot of slapstick humour so how no-one breaks anything we couldn't work out! It was hilarious but a lot of the humour must have been lost on this mixed audience. The East End jokes were delivered so fast it would have been meaningless to many. Anyway, we laughed our heads off, especially at one line - to take his mind off his constant craving for food, James Corden says: " ... I need to think of something boring .... I know, ...  Canada!" There was a huge laugh in the home theatre and a huge laugh from us but less so from those around us!!

We ( - me really) are being sustained by home tv. We download Spooks, Body Farm etc and I keep up to date with Strictly, Downton Abbey, Who Do You Think You Are? and Corrie. We also listen to our Radio 4 favourites and on Sunday we had a feast of Pointless - 5 programmes! We scored very well. There is a lot of sport on tv here but very little else worth watching and the adverts drive you crazy!! Michael was explaining to me how American football works (it just reminds me of Bulldog at school!) and Kevin enjoyed seeing the baseball and seems to see more strategy and intricacy in it than I ever could! Eamonn enjoyed going to see a match with Kevin but by the time Michael came it was all finished and the ice hockey hadn't started. It's wildly expensive to go to a top flight ice hockey game so we'll probably try one of the lower leagues first.

These photos show 

1. Ganonoque

2. Emer and Kevin

3. Smallest international bridge in the world!

4. Shipping on St. Lawrence Seaway

5. Boldt Castle - monstrosity built for Boldt's wife who died before it was finished. It's on US soil!

6.Statue of Henry Harper who died trying to save a woman from drowning in the Ottawa River. There are lots of beautiful statues in Ottawa. Will definitely go back for a longer trip.

7. Ottawa Parliament from the Ottawa River.

8. Autumn colour.

9. Locks on the Rideau Canal, Ottawa.

These strange seats are in the Distillery district in town.

Pictures of Michael's visit to us at Scarborough Bluffs and Kelso. 

Scarborough Bluffs is one of the first areas we visited in April so it was lovely to see it in glorious sun. The cliffs are very soft, layers of sand and clay containing fossils, which erode quickly.

We had a lovely walk and lunch. There were monarch butterflies feeding before they return south.

Michael was determined to finish his Sukudo before challenging his Dad to a stone skimming competition!

We had fantastic weather while our visitors were here but now it's getting more changeable and definitely greyer. We have a few nice outings lined up - I'm visiting Niagara-on -the-Lake with the Newcomers group on Friday - wine tasting!! 

Eamonn's hoping to fit in a few more golf games and we might go shopping in Buffalo - it's supposed to be cheaper there but some people have had delays and hassle crossing the border so we'll see.

We went to Kelso, which is a ski area in winter and took the cable car up to the top. This is part of the Niagara Escarpment, a limestone ridge which is a protected landform, stretching 725 km from Northern Ontario to the Niagara River. It forms stony outcrops in many places so creates more interesting landscape and of course is responsible for the Falls.

I've had a real fight with this blog so if you have trouble working your way through it I'm sorry!

We're thinking of you all and do let me know if you get to see the blog, it makes it all worthwhile!! And thank you again to our intrepid visitors - here's to the next ones!

Lots of love, Mary and Eamonn

Strange Happenings ...

Hello all! Thank goodness August is gone. It really was a bit of a low point for me, got quite fed up with my own company, but that's over now and there's plenty of activity to look forward to. But first, let me tell you about our Weird Week. First, on Sunday 21st August, a terrific storm blew over Ontario, blasting us with wind and very heavy rain. We were lucky because a tornado hit a town, 3 hours away, on the shores of Lake Huron and destroyed its centre. Then on the following Tuesday, I was relaxing on the sofa, feet up after my lunch, when I felt a really peculiar sensation under me. I immediately thought I was having some kind of 'episode' and was scared I'd pass out, so I jumped to my feet and took a good breath. Then I put on the tv for the news and they were reporting an earthquake down in Virginia! It was just the sofa vibrating! It seems that because of the geology here the vibrations travelled all the way to Quebec. Then on the next day a fantastic storm descended on Toronto. We get quite a lot of storms here because of the high humidity so we could feel it coming. There wasn't much rain or thunder but there was a fantastic lightning show which lasted 3 hours. We sat in the dark mesmerised by the forks of lightning going in all directions; we'd never seen cloud-to-cloud lightning before. These pictures give you some idea of what it was like:

To those of you now back at school - good luck and have a good term. Everyone's back here too so I'm hoping to get some voluntary work in a local elementary school. Because uniforms aren't so common here you get fashion items on tv for back to school outfits - how to make a good impression on your first day! - and there was an ad at a local health spa offering facials for teens returning to school!

One weekend we went to an area west of Toronto called St. Jacob's. It's an area farmed by many Mennonite families who originally came here from the Low Countries, Germany and Eastern Europe. There's a pretty village and a huge market. We were there on a Saturday and the place was heaving with families buying all their fresh goods. They are obviously a very hard working community. They seem to have achieved a good balance between maintaining their own way of life while not becoming a theme park for tourists. We had the most fantastic brunch there: a full Canadian breakfast which includes fruit and pancakes. We actually have to be careful what we eat as it's so easy to keep going for the carbs so a big meal like that has to balanced out with exercise and salad! I'm dreading everyone at home saying how much fatter/greyer/older we look when we come home! We're still trying out local eating places. One is a French restaurant which has an excellent reputation for its food and we had a lovely meal but it's in an old house which is really shabby - a bit off-putting. 

One Saturday we went to some Gardens in town with glasshouses based on Kew but that was another disappointment; the park area was unkempt although the hothouses were quite well done. But on the following day we joined a nature walk in a large park which was very interesting and we learned a few things, including how to spot 'poison ivy', which many people are allergic to. I don't recall coming across it at home. There were Kentucky coffee trees and lots of different oaks. Between the bugs and the weeds this is quite a tricky place in the summer. 

Obedient birders, looking at wild turkeys!

Black swallowtail caterpillar

We've joined a couple of birding groups and got up really early one Sunday to join our first field trip. It was a full day going to 3 locations. There were about 40 people in 25 cars travelling in convoy. We'd stop, all get out and set off walking, following the leader. There were quite a few expats in the group and a retired doctor looked after us. He explained what to do if wood ticks burrowed into our flesh! So I'll be wearing long trousers tucked into my socks from here on. I was able to take some bug pictures for a chap who wanted to identify them which was fun. There was a nice elderly chap whom I quickly recognised as a Yorkshireman although he'd been here quite a long time, so I asked where he was from. He said: ' Northern Islamabad!', and he was pleased we knew what he meant. Anyway, our bird list is growing nicely but I couldn't help smiling at the 'geekiness' of some of the twitchers.

Martyrs' Shrine, Midland

St. Joseph Ptron Saint of Canada

Last weekend we went north to Georgian Bay which is part of Lake Huron for the Labour Day weekend. We stayed in a beautiful B&B 10 minutes from Midland. It had a wonderful garden and fields nearby. We spotted hummingbirds, woodpeckers, finches, cute chipmunks and lots of frogs. It was like  a real-life Disney park! We met some Brits there including a woman who is also on secondment from home. She lives Downtown so we will be seeing her again. She came a year ago on her own which must have been very hard.

There's interesting history in the area as a Jesuit mission was built in the 1600s but the priests all died as they got caught up in the fighting between the Huron and Iroquois peoples. There is now a shrine to them and a reconstruction of the mission site. As you can see from the photos the outside of the church looks fairly traditional in stone but the inside is lined with birch panels, reminiscent of long houses used by the First Nations people and the ceiling is shaped like an upturned canoe. The church is surrounded by gardens with quiet areas for prayer and there is a Way of the Cross to follow. We went back there on Sunday morning for mass on our 35th Wedding Anniversary. That's just a ridiculously big number!

We had some lovely meals, one on our anniversary, in a place called 'Mad Michael's' which we had to try of course. The owner makes all the furniture from found wood and bits and pieces so to say the place is eccentric is no understatement. We also had a couple of great fish meals at this marina:

We had a walk around Midland which is known for its murals. Many buildings are painted with scenes from local history and they have been lovingly restored. This statue, in Penetanguishene, is of a giant from First Nations myths called Kitchikewana. He was broken-hearted by a woman and, in his rage, gouged the earth with his hand, creating the Great Lakes and then he threw the earth far and wide, creating the 30,000 Islands in Georgian Bay.

Ste. Marie Among the Hurons, Jesuit Mission

Stainless steel sculpture of a goose in Midland

We took a boat cruise around the islands on a cold, grey afternoon for 3 and a half hours. We were the only people who stayed on top! The commentary was very entertaining; the captain seems to be related to everyone in the area. We saw a pair of trumpeter swans which were almost wiped out here by hunting so are still quite a rare sight. People are still building homes on these islands, a very expensive, time consuming task. The waters here are completely frozen in the winter. A group of Mennonite women were on the boat and weren't really dressed for the cold wind but they were impressed that we managed it! I hope they don't mind me taking this picture:

Eamonn's doing fine. Someone left Carillion so he's been asked to take on some extra roles and he's been volunteering at a local neighbourhood garden but he forgot to spray himself and is now covered in bites - ugh. I'm going to try out a choir this week and also join a CWL group nearby, so we'll see how that goes!

We're off to the Last Night of the Proms this afternoon at a local cinema so that's going to be a new experience!!

'It's so flat in Saskatchewan if you stand on a tall milkcan you can see the back of your head.'

Looking forward to hearing from you. 

Lots of love,

Mary and Eamonn xx