An interesting prediction

I have got a pendulum (I was given it for my birthday) and you can ask it questions and it will spin in circles for yes and sway from side to side for no. It has been right about things in the past. Not totally accurate but it is still interesting and I like it (I have had better luck when asking questions connected to me rather than asking questions about others)

Last night I decided to ask my pendulum some questions about if we will move to Australia or Canada.

When I asked if My partner and I would move to Australia it said no, but it also said no when I asked if my partner and I would live in Canada. When I asked if we would stay in Scotland it again said no.

I thought I would try a different approach. I asked if my partner would move to Australia and it said yes. I then asked if I would move to Australia and it said no.

I then asked if my partner would move to Canada and it said no, so I next asked if I would move to Canada and it said yes.

I then finished off by asking separately if we will be happy where we move to and it said yes.

Whether it comes true or not only time will tell and as Yoda said 'the future is always in motion' but I thought it would be good to record it and look back on it when something has happened.

Canada or Australia

My partner has told me recently that once he has qualified to become a park ranger getting a job in Australia would be an easier way to get into Australia as they are crying out for them.

He mentioned about moving there. He did mention Canada but I think he would prefer Australia.

He asked me if I would mind moving to Australia and while I would not object to the idea of moving to Australia (apart from not knowing how I will manage with the heat), I would prefer to move to Canada.

It would be so much easier if we both wanted to move to the same country. I think I had better change the title to this blog as I am not sure if we will actually end up in Canada.

Update

Here is an update to how things are going.

My partner has started a college course for conservation. He will need to complete three year long courses before he is qualified enough to become a park ranger.

I have asked him that when he has completed those he could look for a job in another country and he has agreed to do that.

He is happy now about moving to Canada which is a good thing and he is still happy about that. the younglings also seem happy about that as well.

I start a photography course tonight. I will be taking three part time evening courses which will last about 1 year. Hopefully it will be enough for me to improve my skills sufficiently for when I become professional.

I have been looking at some areas on the Internet that will be good to move to. Sadly it will not be possible to visit them properly due to the cost. I will however hopefully be visiting one of my friends who lives in Montreal. she said that I can stay with her and Kevin said that he will look after the younglings while I go (he will then visit Australia when he gets the chance)

I am still feeling positive about this though (even after I spoke with an extremely pessimistic man this morning who had barely anything positive to say)

I need to keep thinking that we can and will make the move happen. We will find ways around any challenges that we face.

Public transport challenge

I have been looking at areas in Nova Scotia to move to. I thought I had found somewhere that would be good to move to.

Unfortunately while looking at it today I discovered that there is no public transport in Pictou. Unfortunately as neither myself or my partner drive having a good public transport system is one of the most important things that we need.

There is a site that is proposing that a bus service be made available. I am going to contact them to find out if this is going to happen.

If this is not going to happen then I am going to have to find somewhere else to move to. Either that or we will have to learn how to drive. But I would have preferred to be in a place where there is a public transport system.

At least I found out now before we had started doing anything else.

Some progress is being made with out other plans.

My partner is going to start a course in August. He is looking to working in conservation. We now need to do some research into conservation jobs not only in Nova Scotia but also in the rest of Canada.

I am also going to apply for a college course. It is a digital photography course. It is an evening course and it is in three parts that will make it one year long in total. I am also hoping to take a Photoshop course.

The only thing that that is really setting us back is the credit card bill. It is sadly going in the wrong way. Hopefully this will stop so we can start paying it off as I really do not like having such a big bill.

I have not made any progress in finding any relatives that I could have in Canada. I have looked on some sites but they have not really been helpful. I might think about saving up and paying someone to look who knows what they are doing.

My partner also is not sure about his relatives he has in Canada, but he has not asked much about it.

Relatives in Canada

When I was doing the housework today I started thinking about something that my mother told me a few years ago when I discovered some black and white photographs from Canada.

She told me that I had some relatives in Canada. She had lost touch with them. I did not bother doing anything about it then.

I phoned her up to ask for some details. Sadly she is not very well at the moment (both she and my father have been suffering for the last month with various bugs) What did did tell me was that My Great grand Aunt married an American soldier after the second world war and moved across to America.

She was a little vague after that. I think because she is not well coupled with not knowing a lot. But what I have to assume from that is that they had children and at least one of them or maybe even a grandchild moved to Canada. My grandmother and my great aunt went to visit relatives in Canada.

My mother was in touch with a cousin but she sadly lost touch with her.

If I manage to trace them I am not sure that they will be able to help us move across but it does not matter as I think it would be good to be in touch with relatives there. I also think it would be interesting to know more about my family's history. I know very little about it. My upbringing was isolated from most extended family network (apart form one set of grandparents who moved to be close to us)

My partner told me that he also has got relatives in Canada. I have told him that it would be good to get in touch with them as well.

I have asked some questions on a forum and I have got some helpful replies as well as some good links.

Now I just need to start working on tracing the lost relatives. I will have to wait until my mother is feeling better before I as her for some names. But I think this could really funky.

New Year

Well 2009 is here and I am getting ready to plan out what we need to be able to move.

I was ill during December and as I was lying there I suddenly thought that there was no point even trying moving to Canada as it was not going to happen. I took me a while to start getting my confidence back as every time I thought about5 moving the self doubt would start.

I was also really busy in December. Along with being ill I have go so much cleaning to do it is not funny. I have to completely declutter the whole flat. I have got too much junk.

I am feeling much better now and I am getting ready to look at what I will need to do so I can start to make plans.

May the force be with me.

Off to the land of Polar bears

Well it has been decided. We would like to move to Canada.

It was dilemma at one point though. My partner wanted to move to Australia while I wanted to move to Canada.

While I have also wished to move to the north of Scotland I have also wanted to move to Canada. The desire to move to Canada has increased as I have grown weary of the UK (for several reasons) There have been a few things for me that make it seem right to move there as well.

My partner mentioned moving to Australia after the second very wet summer in Scotland. He had also had an opportunity to move to Australia, but he backed out due to last minute nerves. I think he has regretted not moving them. He contacted his relatives in Australia and mentioned about moving out. One relative did not get back in touch and the other one replied but has not since. As he is easily put off by the first challenge I think this was the end of his desire to move.

He knew my desire to move to Canada, and he has said that he would like to go there. He said that while there is a lot of wildlife there that he will like, the only thing that puts him off is he does not like the idea of being in the same country as grizzly bears.

I know it is going to be difficult but I have to make sure that we do not get put off at the first challenge.

The main problem that we have is that we need to make sure that we have skills. I did not do that well at school and I have not done much since leaving school. I have recently taken an interest in photography and I have been developing those skills. I am hoping to take some college courses for photography and Photoshop.

My partner is the same and he has got the added challenge of being off work due to anxiety and depression. Thankfully he is much better and has being doing voluntary work for the RSPB. He hopes to get a full time job with them and we hope that through that he will get skills that will help our move.

We also both have to learn how to drive.

I have set the move to Canada as a five year plan. This will still mean that our Children will be young enough that the move will not be too much of a problem for them (Our eldest is 4 and close to being 5 and our twins are 2 and close to being 3)

I am very excited by moving. I know it is going to be a long and challenging thing to do as well as requiring a lot of planning. But I think that we will be able to make a nice life in Canada. There will be things that we will miss about Scotland, there is no denying that. Hopefully we will be able to get the chance to get some exploring done before we leave. I think that we will regret not making the move as especially for me there will be the 'what if' questions if we do not do something.

I think the most important thing that has happened is that now that at least we now know where we want to go, so we can start making the plans to move.

Now we just have to start the process of getting the skills so that Canada would like to have us in their country.

May the force be with me (I will definitely need it)