Skiing and Stuff

Sunshine Village

Pretty much since I first set foot on snow with a pair of skis way back in 1994 I have wanted to ski / board in North America. Last weekend put a big tick firmly in the box. Click here for pictures.

As a bit of a warmup for our Christmas holiday we stayed at the Windtower Lodge in Canmore for the weekend with Damian and Pam (another couple from work without kids), Lorika the dentist and Jeffers who is a singly living in the mess (and a snowboarder).

Great place to stay and BATUS staff get a great rate so it worked out to about £90 for 2 nights for the two of us in a double room, while the others were sharing 2 bedroom apartment allowing us to eat round theirs.

It takes 3 and a half hours to get to Canmore from Ralston and the long straight roads, the cruise control and the iPod make this go by quite fast.

So, the skiing. I have never been so cold on a day's skiing! -15 with a bit of a breeze does not make long lift rides an enjoyable affair. Good job we had this weekend prior to heading up there for Christmas as we can now go to the Moutain Equipment Co-op in Calgary en route to but loads more warm gear.

The snow conditions are the best I have ever experienced. Pistes covered in powder and devoid of any patches of ice like you would find in Europe. Also pretty devoid of people as well which makes it even better.

On the way back we invested a considerable amount of time in Sport Check in Calgary setting Kirsty up with a set of skis and boots. £250 for an excellent set of women specifc skis and boots which is a bit of a bargain.

We head off to the mountains again on Saturday and will be back on 3rd Jan 2007.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to one and all.

Our First Winter

This is an amusing e-mail which has been doing the rounds out here. Very fitting.

"OUR FIRST WINTER "

DEC 20th It's starting to snow. The first of the season and the first we've seen for years the wife and I took out our hot toddies and sat on the porch watching the fluffy soft flakes drift gently down clinging to the trees and covering the ground. It's so beautiful and peaceful.

DEC 24th We awoke to a lovely blanket of crystal white glistening snow covering as far as the eye could see. What a fantastic sight, every tree and bush covered with a beautiful white mantle. I shovelled snow for the first time ever and loved it. I did both our driveway and the pavement. Later that day a snowplough came along and accidentally covered up our driveway with compacted snow from the street. The driver smiled and waved. I waved back and shovelled it away again. The children next door built a snowman with coal for eyes and a carrot for a nose, and had a snowball fight, a couple just missed me and hit the car soI threw a couple back and joined in their fun.

DEC 26th It snowed an additional 5" last night and the temperature dropped to around minus 8 degrees. Several branches on our trees and bushes snapped due to the weight of the snow. I shovelled our driveway again. Shortly afterwards the snowplough came by and did his trick again. Much of the snow is now a brownish/grey.

JAN 1st Warmed up enough during the day to create some slush which soon became ice when the temperature dropped again. Bought snow tyres for both our cars $1000. Fell on my arse in the driveway. $200 to a physio but nothing was broken.

JAN 5th Still cold. Sold the wife's car and bought her a4x4 to get her to work. She slid into a wall and did considerable damage to the right wing, $400. Had another 8" of white shite last night. Both vehicles are covered in salt and iced up slush - that b*****d snowplough came by twice today. Where's that bloody shovel.

JAN 9th More f*****g snow. Not a tree or bush on our property that hasn't been damaged. Power was off most of the night. Tried to keep from freezing to death with candles and a paraffin heater which tipped over and nearly torched the house. I managed to put the flames out but suffered 2nd Degree burns on my hands. Lost all my eye brows and eyelashes. Car hit a f*****g deer on the way to casualty and was written off.

JAN 13th F*****g b*****d white shite just keeps on coming down. Have to put on every article of clothing just to go to the post box. The little t**t next door ambushed me with snowballs on the way back -I'll shove that carrot so far up the little g*t's arse it'll take a good surgeon 6 hours to find it. If I ever catch the arsehole that drives the snowplough I'll chew open his chest and rip out his heart with my teeth. I think the b*****d hides around the corner and waits for me to finish shovelling and then he accelerates down the street like Michael f*****gSchumacher and buries the f*****g driveway again.

JAN 17th 16 more sodding inches of f*****g snow and f*****gice and f*****g sleet, and God knows what other white shite fell last night. I am in court in 3 months time for assaulting the snowplough driver with an ice-pick. Can' t move my f*****g toes. Haven't seen the sun for5 weeks. Minus 20 and more f*****g snow forecast

SCREW THIS, WE'RE MOVING BACK TO THE UK!!!

Been here for almost two weeks now

It turns out that we were quite fortunate to actually arrive in Calgary. Due to the unprecedented cold snap the airport was closed prio to and after the arrival of our plane.

This thermometer is on the tree outside our house and when I was up and about at 0500 (jet lag) the morning after we arrived it was registering -35!

Even the Canadians were saying it was cold.

The past week and a bit have gone past in a bit of a blur with both of us meeting so many people, on both a social and work (Mark) basis.

We have also been making daily trips into Medicine Hat to buy essential house stuff while we wait for all of our boxes to arrive from the UK. The one that we sent out in advance, about 6 weeks ago, is sat in Montreal.

Quite close then? Nope, its 4 hours by plane from London to Montreal, and 4 and a half hours from Montreal to Calgary and the box will be going by road / train. I'm told it will be here by Christmas, sure.

Not that it really matters as far as Christmas itself is concerend. It turns out that pretty much the entire Officer's Mess and families are heading up to Canmore for Christmas and New Year. we have extended our stay at the Falcon Crest so as not to miss out on the New Year Party. Sowe wont be sat at home on New Years eve looking at the blanks walls of our house yearning for our chattels.

Christmas house lights are a big thing here, both in Ralston and also in town. Our road is by far the most illuminated street in the village with our house currently lagging behind. Mark wants an inflatable snow storm and lights round the fence which should bring it up to a similar standard to our neigbours.

This last weekend has seen the Christmas festivities get in to full swing with the Officer's Mess Christmas Ball on Friday night followed by a Carol singing road trip taking in the houses of the senior officers at BATUS, both at Ralston and in Medicine Hat on Saturday night.

This time of year is always a great time to arrive at a new posting as the social calendar is crammed with events. Chatting to Patrick the BFBS DJ at the ball on Saturday he said that any posting is only as good as the people that are there. It is clear in the short time that we have been here that Ralston/ BATUS is a very friendly place to be.

These 2 years will go past in the blink of an eye!

The Trip to Canada

By the time we finally laid our heads to rest in the Delta Hotel at Calgary Airport the three of us had been on the go for 24hrs straight.


The day started at 0400 with the alarms waking everyone up. Once again Tiga sensed that something was afoot and managed to get himself as far away from his hiding place as possible. He had spent all weekend behind the laundry basket in the utility room. A quick search found him lounging on Marks old bed which he tried to dive behind when Kirsty approached with the Cat box.

He then spent the entire journey to Heathrow in the taxi meowing his furry little head off and trying to escape from the box. The Air Canada check in staff at the airport were most helpful though and by the time he was handed over to the baggage handlers he had burried himself under the fleece in his box.



This all took some time and due to our lack of mobile comms Ma and Pa Beaman were gripped with panic as they thought we had gone without saying goodbye. It was an emotional goodbye with all of the Beamans struggling to hold back the tears.





The tannoy message asking Mark to report to customer services to pick up his lost Dad provided much amusement during the flight.

And what a flight. Whilst Tiga was burried under a fleece in his cat box Kirsty and Mark's every need was being attended to upstairs in Business Class. Fully (all the way to horizontal) seats with so much leg room you couldn't reach the seat in front without getting up, champagne served before take off, really good food and wine served on proper plates and glasses, a personal tv screen in the armrest of the seat on which you could choose your own enterntainment.


The 9 hour flight passed in the blink of an eye with not enough time to enjoy the full experiences and certainly no time to sleep.



Arrival at Calgary was a chilly affair. Canada is being gripped by unseasonally cold weather and the road crossing from the main terminal building to the hotel was cold enough to freeze Mark's nose hair.


Another night in a hotel room, this time with the noise of aircraft outside instead of the hurricane in Lytham.

You would think that 12hrs sleep would be enough to get over the jet lag, oh no.

The Cleaning and Packing is Over

Well, its been quite an eventful time since our last post on here with the turmoil of the move now behind us. Read on for the highlights of the move. All of the photos are over there on the Move Photo Library link on the sidebar.

Packing

Due to complications with the Whites movers it took them 2 days to pack our stuff into the trucks. Fortunately they packed all of the upstairs stuff first so that we could get cracking on the cleaning whilst they were loading up our belongings.

Our 48hrs of house cleaning paid off with the house inspectors deciding within seconds of entering the house that it was as clean and shiny as a new pin. We both worked hard during the two days cleaning every inch of the house, with the oven cleaning products and bleach giving Kirsty a wheezy chest. Fortunately this has now resolved itself.

On one hand it was quite annoying to have worked so hard for 2 days and to not have the inspector crawl all over the house. On the other it was very satisfying not to have paid the money to a group of cleaners who would not have done anywhere near as good a job as we did. Almost a shame to leave the house with it being so clean.

During the course of all of this cleaning we were staying in Lytham at the Fernlea Hotel. This hotel is a shining example of all that is wrong with the UK seaside hotel industry. Expensive to stay, no attenion to detail, redecorated in the 70's it was not the nicest of places to stay. The only redeeming feature of the first room that we stayed in was the massive flat screen TV on the wall. This in no way made up for the gale blowing through the closed patio door which faced out to sea. Would have been nice in the summer but not in a windy November. Next room had no heating.

Tiga on the other hand had a couple of interesting days trying to evade capture. He had been booked into a local cattery for the days whilst we were in the hotel but chose to stay out and about instead of sticking to the plan. Fortunuately he came back in the afternoon of the day before we handed over the quarter. He spent his last night of freedom in the house before entering his box for the first part of his epic journey.

He was not happy at all with this arrangement.

So with the cat packed and the house inspected and the inspectors wishing that all their "tenants" handed their houses back in the same way we bid farewell to Weeton for the last time.

Travelling

First stop was Cheltenham for Kirsty to hand over important Flat related documents, for us to see Kirsty's Nan before we headed overseas and also to see Fran and Christina and Chris for a few drinks and dinner. Our overnight destination was the Georgian Guest house which is a shining example of all that is right in the UK Bed and Breakfast Industry. If you are staying in Cheltenham you should go and check it out.

Friday saw the Beaman VW convoy heading south to North Devon.

North Devon

This part of the world has played an important part in the the lives of both Kirsty and Mark. Mark grew up there and Kirsty's family lived there for a number of years whilst Pa Patrick was stationed at Chivenor. Fri - Sun at home was not long enough to say goodbye to the folks / family / friends / cars and to meet Nick (Emma's new chap) for the first time.

No visit to Braunton would be complete without a trip to the Ebrington Arms for dinner and a goodbye to the extended Jay Family.

Thats it for this post as it is far too long.

More info on the flight next time.