Sunday 21 February 2010
Thursday 4 February 2010
the email
Yesterday an email popped into our inbox. It was from the Centralized Intake Office in Sydney, Canada.
It advised us that our application seems ok and we should post a copy of the application together with all the supporting documents to London for processing. When I saw this, I cried. Let me explain...
We have been trying to decide what to do come April when we have to leave Germany, and choosing between New Zealand and Canada as our future home proved impossible. We changed our minds every day! How on earth can one choose between stunning scenery, lack of crowds, and a gorgeous, laid back lifestyle versus stunning scenery, fantastic winter activities and a great outdoors lifestyle? Impossible, I say. Impossible! Both places have equal positives and negatives going for and against it.
There are of course also many, many other factors to take into consideration, but there are too many to mention here and I don't want to be responsible for you slitting your wrists from boredom. To cut a long story short, after much anxiety and changing of minds, we have decided to give Canada a go.
So what happens next?
We will be posting the application (copy) and the supporting docs to London. Processing time should take between 6 and 8 months, we think. Meanwhile, we will relocate back to London in March/April where we hope Mr Fluff will find a temporary contract, and we will stay there until the end of his contract. This could be anything from 6 - 12 months. Obviously the sooner we can get to Canada the better, but we will have to see what happens. And there you have it, at least now we have a plan, and now you know why I shed a few tears. It is just such a relief to finally have a plan and destination in mind. A huge load off the shoulders.
We will give Canada a go, and hopefully it will be the right place for us to grow roots, and we will give it our best shot. If not, we will have a few years to play with before our Australia/New Zealand residency expires, and then we can always move there or back to Europe. We do hope that plan A will work out, and I can't imagine that we won't be very happy there. Let's just hope we don't get eaten by a bear, cougar or pack of coyotes! *grin*
I will update this blog as and when things happen with regards to our relocation and anticipated emmigration.
Love to all of you and if you have any spare good luck, please send it our way. xxx
It advised us that our application seems ok and we should post a copy of the application together with all the supporting documents to London for processing. When I saw this, I cried. Let me explain...
We have been trying to decide what to do come April when we have to leave Germany, and choosing between New Zealand and Canada as our future home proved impossible. We changed our minds every day! How on earth can one choose between stunning scenery, lack of crowds, and a gorgeous, laid back lifestyle versus stunning scenery, fantastic winter activities and a great outdoors lifestyle? Impossible, I say. Impossible! Both places have equal positives and negatives going for and against it.
There are of course also many, many other factors to take into consideration, but there are too many to mention here and I don't want to be responsible for you slitting your wrists from boredom. To cut a long story short, after much anxiety and changing of minds, we have decided to give Canada a go.
So what happens next?
We will be posting the application (copy) and the supporting docs to London. Processing time should take between 6 and 8 months, we think. Meanwhile, we will relocate back to London in March/April where we hope Mr Fluff will find a temporary contract, and we will stay there until the end of his contract. This could be anything from 6 - 12 months. Obviously the sooner we can get to Canada the better, but we will have to see what happens. And there you have it, at least now we have a plan, and now you know why I shed a few tears. It is just such a relief to finally have a plan and destination in mind. A huge load off the shoulders.
We will give Canada a go, and hopefully it will be the right place for us to grow roots, and we will give it our best shot. If not, we will have a few years to play with before our Australia/New Zealand residency expires, and then we can always move there or back to Europe. We do hope that plan A will work out, and I can't imagine that we won't be very happy there. Let's just hope we don't get eaten by a bear, cougar or pack of coyotes! *grin*
I will update this blog as and when things happen with regards to our relocation and anticipated emmigration.
Love to all of you and if you have any spare good luck, please send it our way. xxx
the white stuff
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...
Bloody hell, that sure as hell happened in overdrive the last few weeks! Germany has not seen this much snow in something like a decade, and we have had snow on the ground since before xmas. In fact, some colleagues remarked to Mr Fluff that they have never seen this much snow in the Frankfurt area. Excellent!! We love it! And we got loads more snow where we live outside Frankfurt. Yay.
You must all be so bored by all our snow pics, thinking 'Whoopy yay, more bloody snow pics! ...Yawn...'
Too bad, too sad! We love it so much we have to share.
We have finally, for the first time in our three years in Germany experienced a proper winter, and hope there will be more to come.
Last weekend was our best weekend ever! (in terms of snow on the ground) and we made full use of it. We dressed the dogs and ourselves, got the snow racer and headed for the hills. Woo-Hoo!!
In most places the snow came up to our knees, which meant that the whippets had it all the way up to their armpits, and in other places we sunk into the snow all the way up to our thighs. We easily had about a metre in places, compacted and covered by more snow arriving every day.
So, to get back to our escapades, we got up early on Saturday and went playing in the snow while everyone else was still farting in bed or having breakfast. We waded through the snow up and down the hills, huffing and puffing our way up. It is damn hard work walking through or on deep snow, never mind up a hill! But it is so worth it when you get to the top, launch yourself onto the snow racer head first and bugger off down the hill. Fantastic. What is great about our board is that it is like a surf board/body board, so you can surf the powder, unlike other sleds that sink into deep snow, so guess who had the most fun on those hills? Correct.
The dogs loved it too. Sometimes they disappeared into the snow with only their heads visible, and had to jump about like bunnies or get stuck. HAHAHA. It is adorable to watch.
Kaya likes playing in the deep stuff, but tires of it quickly and heads for the paths, whereas Alula turns into a basket case in the snow. She quickly figured out that she could use the snow racer as a means of escaping the deep powder, and would jump onto it whenever she could. And she had a few rides down the hills standing between our legs too, while Kaya would chase us from behind.
Sunday was much the same, but with a bit of sun peeking out from behind the clouds. This time we went in the afternoon. More snow had fallen overnight and many of our tracks from Saturday were almost completely covered by fresh snow. We also took some video of the fun we were having.
What a lifestyle, eh? Imagine doing that every weekend... playing in the snow whether it be with a snow racer, sled, snowboard, skis or snow shoes. Sounds like a dream come true.
However, for all that fun there is a price to pay. Shoveling, gritting and slippy roads. We must have shoveled our pavement and driveway on average three times a day. Then you have to put down gravel or sand mixed with salt to help melt the ice so that people won't slip and fall on your bit of the pavement and sue your pants off. Luckily we have insurance for that. You must have it in Germany, it is law. And luckily we have a very nice neighbour who will do ours for us if we are not around, and we of course return the favour.
Then you have to drive on the roads, which is not a problem most of the time because they clear and grit it often enough, but the other night I had to get to the shop 2kms away, at the top of our steep hill, and it had just been snowing and the roads had not been cleared. I started up the hill slowly in second gear; our Golf bravely armed with snow tires and balls of steel, but I didn't get very far before the wheels lots grip. So together the Golf and I crawled up the hill at a snail's pace, in first gear, with the pedal pushed all the way down, slipping and sliding our way up, waving bravely at a couple shovelling their car out of the snow where it was parked half way up the hill. You could have walked faster than I was skidding my way to the top. A few times I really thought I would have to dump the car in the middle of the road and go back for it the next day, but the gallant Golf and I were determined to make it all the way to the shop and back in one piece. And we did!
Many unfortunate people park their cars right next to the road, and they all had to shovel their way out on Monday. Poor bastards ;0)
Anyway, here are the pics to prove that I didn't just make this all up. (click on a pic to enlarge it)
Bloody hell, that sure as hell happened in overdrive the last few weeks! Germany has not seen this much snow in something like a decade, and we have had snow on the ground since before xmas. In fact, some colleagues remarked to Mr Fluff that they have never seen this much snow in the Frankfurt area. Excellent!! We love it! And we got loads more snow where we live outside Frankfurt. Yay.
You must all be so bored by all our snow pics, thinking 'Whoopy yay, more bloody snow pics! ...Yawn...'
Too bad, too sad! We love it so much we have to share.
We have finally, for the first time in our three years in Germany experienced a proper winter, and hope there will be more to come.
Last weekend was our best weekend ever! (in terms of snow on the ground) and we made full use of it. We dressed the dogs and ourselves, got the snow racer and headed for the hills. Woo-Hoo!!
In most places the snow came up to our knees, which meant that the whippets had it all the way up to their armpits, and in other places we sunk into the snow all the way up to our thighs. We easily had about a metre in places, compacted and covered by more snow arriving every day.
So, to get back to our escapades, we got up early on Saturday and went playing in the snow while everyone else was still farting in bed or having breakfast. We waded through the snow up and down the hills, huffing and puffing our way up. It is damn hard work walking through or on deep snow, never mind up a hill! But it is so worth it when you get to the top, launch yourself onto the snow racer head first and bugger off down the hill. Fantastic. What is great about our board is that it is like a surf board/body board, so you can surf the powder, unlike other sleds that sink into deep snow, so guess who had the most fun on those hills? Correct.
The dogs loved it too. Sometimes they disappeared into the snow with only their heads visible, and had to jump about like bunnies or get stuck. HAHAHA. It is adorable to watch.
Kaya likes playing in the deep stuff, but tires of it quickly and heads for the paths, whereas Alula turns into a basket case in the snow. She quickly figured out that she could use the snow racer as a means of escaping the deep powder, and would jump onto it whenever she could. And she had a few rides down the hills standing between our legs too, while Kaya would chase us from behind.
Sunday was much the same, but with a bit of sun peeking out from behind the clouds. This time we went in the afternoon. More snow had fallen overnight and many of our tracks from Saturday were almost completely covered by fresh snow. We also took some video of the fun we were having.
What a lifestyle, eh? Imagine doing that every weekend... playing in the snow whether it be with a snow racer, sled, snowboard, skis or snow shoes. Sounds like a dream come true.
However, for all that fun there is a price to pay. Shoveling, gritting and slippy roads. We must have shoveled our pavement and driveway on average three times a day. Then you have to put down gravel or sand mixed with salt to help melt the ice so that people won't slip and fall on your bit of the pavement and sue your pants off. Luckily we have insurance for that. You must have it in Germany, it is law. And luckily we have a very nice neighbour who will do ours for us if we are not around, and we of course return the favour.
Then you have to drive on the roads, which is not a problem most of the time because they clear and grit it often enough, but the other night I had to get to the shop 2kms away, at the top of our steep hill, and it had just been snowing and the roads had not been cleared. I started up the hill slowly in second gear; our Golf bravely armed with snow tires and balls of steel, but I didn't get very far before the wheels lots grip. So together the Golf and I crawled up the hill at a snail's pace, in first gear, with the pedal pushed all the way down, slipping and sliding our way up, waving bravely at a couple shovelling their car out of the snow where it was parked half way up the hill. You could have walked faster than I was skidding my way to the top. A few times I really thought I would have to dump the car in the middle of the road and go back for it the next day, but the gallant Golf and I were determined to make it all the way to the shop and back in one piece. And we did!
Many unfortunate people park their cars right next to the road, and they all had to shovel their way out on Monday. Poor bastards ;0)
Anyway, here are the pics to prove that I didn't just make this all up. (click on a pic to enlarge it)
throwing snow for Kaya to catch
and again, for Alula
here I am on the racer
this is the front of our house
Wow, wasn't that fun?!
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