Darn damp weather

The weather just cannot stay similar here. We had a lot of snow here yesterday and that was great. Less than twenty four hours later it has gone.

It has been really damp and raining all day.

I think when I look for an area in Canada I would like to find one as dry as possible. I know that there will be dampness wherever I choose to go but as long as there is less damp. The cold weather I can manage but the damp weather feels so much worse than the cold does. I think I will have to look at a place that is a bit more inland as I think that places by the sea suffer more with dampness. I do not want to go too far from the sea. I will have to see what I can find out first.

Todays weather really did contribute to me feeling really down. I do wish the snow would have stayed longer as well. It was lovely walking in the snow yesterday.

Wonderful beach

I have discovered a wonderful beach in the north of Scotland. I have known for a while that the beaches in the north are stunning but seeing the pictures confirmed it. I really have to visit theses before I move to Canada. Hopefully when I get the chance to move to the highlands I will live near one of the many stunning beaches that I have seen.

I have got some pictures from a beach near Durness. Here is a link to the Wikipedia article:

Durness

This is Durness beach (I think I have fallen for this beach from the pictures alone, I have to go to this beach):

 

  

  

  

  

 

This is a couple of pictures of Durness:

  

  

 

Before the move to Canada...

Will come a move to the Highlands. That I do feel certain about.

My partner and I were talking about the course that he has nearly finished and the course he is planning on taking next year. He told me that he would like to move to the highlands once he has finished his courses. It should not be too difficult for him to get a job up there hopefully. It would have to be a permanent job though. He mentioned about being able to get year long contracts but I do not want to keep moving the younglings that often though.

I think what I could do would be move with him the first time, but if he needs gets a job elsewhere I will just stay put in that area (if we are happy there of course) It will be very challenging but it will just be one of those things that we will have to do.

Hopefully he will be able to get a permanent job somewhere in the far north.

We both really, really do need to pass our driving tests. I am looking forward to moving though. I think I will have to get some pictures of the highlands to print out. 

Here is a map of the highlands and the lowlands. I did not realize ho far up the lowlands actually went.

The best thing about the move is that at least I know that my partner wants the move as much as I do.

Interesting articles

I saw these articles and I thought they would be interesting. they are not moving to Canada but dealing with things that are associated with any big move.

Family:

Helping aging parents
Parenting a parent from afar

Careers:

Teaching English as a foreign language
Volunteering

Finance:

Basic financial awareness
Making the most from the exchange rate
Exchange rates and transferring funds guide
UK debt and moving abroad

Moving:

Telling friends and family
Getting a work visa
Phases of emigrating


And just for fun, here is a recipe for mince pies:

Mince pie recipe

Bus and train services

After much looking around I have managed to find a site that will provide information about the bus services that are available in Antigonish. From Antigonish I will be able to get to New Glasgow and to Halifax. I will also be able to get to Truro from there as well. There looks like there are frequent services as well to these areas and it does not take too long to get there. I think this is good news.

Sadly though Pictou is not mentioned on the list, hopefully if I did chose to move there I would either be driving or there will be a bus route available. I am sure I saw something mentioned about betting a bus service up and running. I find it sad that a town is cut off from the bus services, but I suppose in a country that has come to depend on the car so much that this is one of those things that happen. I think things will start changing again once people are persuaded to leave the car at home.

This is the link for the bus company:

Acadian bus

There is a rail servive available, but the only place that I would be able to get it from would be Truro (At least it would not be a problem to get a bus to there from Antigonish) :

Via rail Canada

I know it is not going to happen but if I were to move out before I got a drivers license then the place that I would move to out of Antigonish and Pictou would be Antigonish just because of the public transport issues.

Vegetarian food

While looking on the forums about moving to Canada (I check there to see if there is anything helpful for me) when someone posted about getting vegetarian food.

I had not thought about it, so it was interesting to see the replies. There were some links to the types of vegetarian food available out there. At least there is something available. I think I need to work on some vegetarian recipes that do not reply on TVP.

Here are some links to vegetarian food that is available in Canada:

yves veggie
Gardein

A useful article

Something that I had not thought about was transporting electrical goods when moving to Canada.

Here is a useful article about moving electrical goods:

Compatability of Goods

I think for a lot of things it will just be worth not taking them across and getting replacement items there. I did know a Finnish guy a few years ago and he told me that he just sold everything that he had and just moved with the clothes that were on his back.

I very much doubt that I will do anything as drastic as that, but there is definitely an advantage to traveling as lightly as possible.

Real estate website

I have been looking on a forum a few times recently to check if there is anything that would be helpful for me.

I saw this website posted and I thought it was really useful. It will mean that if I want to look at a certain area I can check out the prices of houses to rent and buy. when I had a look at Port Cartier there seemed to be quite a fluctuation in prices but the good thing was that the lowest priced house would actually be possible for me to buy (it was 42,900 CAD)

It would be good to eventually own my own home. I was never bothered about owing my own home but now I think I am ready to do so now.

Realtor

Time for the pendulum...

To come out again.

I think it would be fun to ask question to my pendulum to see what the answers will be. Also to see if they change over time. It is hard to know at the moment if the answers that I am getting are accurate answers or just what I want it to say.

When I asked the pendulum if I will move to Canada it said yes. It said that I will move to Canada in 2015. It also said that I will live in Québec. 


I asked if I will live in the highlands before I move to Canada and it said yes.


Only time will tell whether I am being told what I want to hear or this will actually be what will happen. Though if I am going to move to Québec in 2015 at least I have got time to learn French to a good standard.

Reasons for moving

I have been thinking for the last few days.

I have been thinking about the reasons why I would like to move to Canada. It has also got me thinking about whether or not I can get this a lot closer to where I live at the moment.

I am not dismissing the idea of moving but I think I should have other options. Like would a move to Europe be better. What is northern Europe like. The enviroment looks very much like Canada. There is another option of Northern Scotland. This would be very much different to where we are living at the moment, but it would be a lot more atainable for us. We would be able to move a lot quicker.

I mentioned it to my partner today and he would be happy to move to the north of Scotland. There are also a lot of Islnads in the north that I know he would be interested in moving to. Though I have been told that it is hard to get settled into these communities. I have been thinking of keeping to the mainland instead.

One thing that I could do would be to relocate within Scotland before moving across to Canada. While it has been good living in this town, I am getting ready to move somewhere else.

Somewhere not too far away from Inverness would be good or there is a town in the very north which I think looks lovely. It is called Thurso and for a northern Scottish town it has a good population.

Thurso

Here are some pictures of Thurso: