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Now Wednesday 18th May and making some
progress. Bathroom
floor has now been laid and sink and toilet have been replaced. Just the
cosmetics on the bath now and I've to decide whether to do anything about
the bathroom cupboards or just leave as is for the time being.
I have now got blinds up on
all the main windows so just a couple of small curtains to put up and to
decide what to do with the landing window as a curtain there would look
nice.
And as you might see above
I have got the spare bedroom ready for guests. Well one bed is made up
anyway... need to do the other which is hidden by the door :-)
The Kitchen has been
problematic in trying to get everything laid out so I can get to
everything and actually see what I have. I discovered I'd forgotten a lot
of food items on my first big shopping like spices, etc. so got most of
them on my next shopping expedition. That of course only meant I had to
re-arrange the kitchen cupboards yet again. In the end I decided I
needed to get some work space so went and purchased a free standing
cupboard which it now sits on with my deep fat fryer underneath and pots
and pans in the cupboard. This then freed up another cupboard which
I was able to use to store the cereal items.
And you can see some of my
spices laid out above the cooker. I now have room to put down the chopping
board and a drying rack for the crockery me not having a dish washer. And
talking about the cooker I did have some problems with it. I
couldn't get the oven to work so phoned Tom & Al's and they said they'd
get someone out to have a look at it. They then phoned back and
asked... have you not got a knob on the cooker which says "Broil and
Oven"? Err.. I'll check.. and there it was and magically the oven
worked :-)
While on the phone with
them they told me that my chair has arrived along with my hi-fi unit with
the record deck and they are going to deliver them on Friday afternoon.
This only leaves the portable hi-fi set with the cassette player to come
and that will be the lot.
I have my new cordless
telephone system working now with the base in my office and a satellite
phone both in my bedroom and living room. One thing about the phone
system is that Bell do a deal where you get up to 1200 minutes a month to
anywhere in the USA and Canada for $29.95 a month. As a result of this I
have joined a new plan for my Rogers cell phone cutting the price of that
service in half.
I also had to get a new
printer so ended up getting the Canon 4 in 1 printer which gives me a
colour printer, copier, fax and scanner. I also picked up a USB hub
to save me having to keep unplugging one connection to swap it with
another.
I have the wireless router
in place so if anyone visits me with a wireless notebook they will be able
to work from anywhere in the house.
With all the computer
equipment I have used every plug that they put into my office and my desk
can only just fit everything in. I treated myself to a new wireless
keyboard and mouse to remove some of the cables and they are working very
well. Mind you getting a new keyboard doesn't half slow you down as
they keys are just slightly differently placed but am getting back up to
speed.
Also received my new
drivers license with the new address and got confirmation from OHIP that
they have registered my new address and also the SIN card folk.
I did have some problems
paying my car insurance with North Kent Mutual as they couldn't take any
of my debit cards. So.. I managed to get $800 out of the ATM machine
to give them a down payment and have wire transferred some money to my
Scotiabank so I can pay the balance when I head up there tomorrow.
I have also now arranged to
get a standing monthly wire transfer each month from my US bank account to
my Canadian one so I'll have a regular sum of money coming in to pay all
the regular bills.
Am also trying to get my
garbage sorted out and so went to Canadian Tire to get a garbage bin and
while there saw some excellent wooden chairs and tables so bought four
chairs and two tables which I will use on the porch. Mind you if
folk call and I still don't have my stuff from Scotland I can also use
them as temporary chairs in the house. Once assembled they do fold up so
can store them in the basement when Winter sets in.
My stuff from Scotland has
been organised and have paid the balance to get them to ship to Canada so
it should be with me in around 8 weeks time.
Had a Saturday early
evening out at a local pub where they have pool and darts tables and met
some real nice folk. They tell me that during the week they serve lunches
and apparently their beef burger and fries is almost more than you can eat
so looking forward to trying it :-)
No curry shop but they have
a Cajun restaurant which is on the way to the pub so will try that at some
point.
I am getting to know my way
around a wee bit now. I can get to St. Clair Street which is where
some of the big stores are plus most of the decent fast food places. Found
the Canadian Tire, Office Depot and other large stores so think I've got
the main ones figured out now. Also know where the Post Office and
my Bank are and so far have tried two grocery stores one of which is just
a few blocks away. One of them does Scottish meat pies and pork pies and
even stocks Ginger Beer!
I am pleased to say I have
found OXO stock cubes and Bisto gravy thickening which I am used to using
back home and also Branston pickle.
So I think I'm about there
when it comes to the house and getting settled in. Need to check out the
other stores in the area and when I head to Dresden to pay the balance of
my car insurance I will take the opportunity to visit Uncle Tom's Cabin
which is in the town.
As always there are wee
things that need done like getting some cupboard door latches fitted as
the doors keep springing open. Getting a couple of mirrors up. Fixing the
doors so they shut properly. Still to get my book cases built but that's
ok as I don't really need them until my stuff arrives from Scotland.
The Garage has now been
cleared of rubbish and is being used to store the painters kit so he can
work on the outside of the house without having to get inside the house to
get his stuff. George is also putting together a wee domestic tool kit for
me for the wee jobs that I can do myself as they come up.
So.. it's now onto the
outside of the house which I'm told will start on Thursday. I do need to
visit my local bank as they told me they'd cancel the US Dollar account
but it looks like it's still live as I got a statement in from them today.
I also need to visit the local police station as they are meant to have a
security statement for me which hopefully says I haven't done any criminal
activity while I've been in Canada. I need this for my immigration
application.
And now that all that is
organised I need to settle down to pull all the papers together for the
immigration application as that needs to be in during this month. After
that it will be back to working full time on the web site.
So that's my story of this
week :-) |
