Missing Friends And Family (not yet)

Well, its been a week or so since Mick received his ticket, when he first told me he got an email with the flight details I did not sleep properly for two nights. You realise its really happening, and not a dream any more. There are many different emotions, happiness, looking forward to your new life, apprehension, wondering if we will be able to hack it, sadness, leaving friends and family behind especially our son.

Today I wrote my notice out, and that was hard, because I really enjoy where I work, I have a brilliant boss and really great work colleagues, I will really miss them. I finish at the end of November.

I know Mick feels the same way, he has been with the same company for ten years , so he is also bound to miss his workmates and friends.

This week I have spent time loading pictures of family and friends onto my facebook page (if you know me, you will be able to find me).

With a bit of luck we will be getting some runs down to the southern states of the USA and if there is an upturn in the economy maybe to Florida. We should also be getting regular runs from our base in Alberta to the likes of San Francisco on the west side and New York and Chicago on the dirty side. We will also be running a lot in Canada where winter temperatures get down to minus 40C so it is going to be a bit of a shock for me.
I will be taking all our photographs to remind me of the sun. Here are some we took this year while visiting my cousin in Bradenton Florida.

Alberta Bound

Hubby has got his flights confirmed for our emigration to Canada, and I have also booked my own tickets, so, on December 3rd we will be on our way.


More to follow.

New House

I've just started using facebook so I can keep in touch with my old workmates, and they have another way of following me (if they want to lol), so if you have arrived here from there, welcome.
BTW: I haven't a clue what to do on facebook, so please bear with me.

When we eventually get to Alberta, and hubby passes his class 1 over there (yes, you have to take their test) we will possibly be getting one of the Freightliner Cascadias to live and work in which the company run, but we would also be happy with one of the older Columbias.

These are Columbias ...The pictures below are inside and out of the Cascadia (ours would be red) ...


A bit more room in these North American trucks than there is in the truck which hubby normally runs, (see picture below), and there's room for plenty of creature comforts, although I will expect to spend some time in hotels when he needs to reset his running hours.

Panicking

Well, not quite panicking, but although hubby was given a provisional date of December 5th for the brake qualifacation test in Alberta, we still need confirmation in writing so he can give his company notice.



He's back on nights for a week trunking up and down the M6 next week in the wagon and drag, so he may get chance to meet up with Tony T somewhere for a coffee.

Change of mind?

Post by Mick

Maybe we should leave the UK and return as penniless Asylum seekers, to be housed in a £1.2 million mansion.

Afghan mother-of-seven Toorpakai Saiedi already pulls in a staggering £13,901 of handouts every month in rent and living allowances, but complained: "I'd like to take the children on holiday to Disneyland Paris but I can't afford it."

Full story here.

She recieves £166,000 welfare benefits a year, but meanwhile ..."Back in Afghanistan, Saiedi's husband was in business supplying the government army. He fled the Taliban and won political asylum here in 2001, followed by his family."

The family's biggest handout coup is their massive £12,458 a month rent, paid direct by the council to landlord Ajit Panesar who bought the property in March for £1.2 million.

Son Jawad, wearing a Tommy Hilfiger designer shirt and acting as interpreter for his mother, moaned that the property was much smaller than the massive house they used to have in Afghanistan.

He said: "Our house there was huge compared to this one. We laugh at this house and would give this space to chickens to walk around in a cage."

Post by Mick

Trains, Boats and Planes.

Just returned from another journey back in time to the resort of Cabanas in the Algarve, where you can still see bikes left unchained and you can enjoy fresh local food at reasonable prices.

The hire car would have been great if hubby had not forgotten his driving license, but it meant that we did plenty of walking and also had a couple of nice train journeys.




We also met up with my friends Tony and Sue, who have worked hard enough to be able to retire to Cabanas a couple of years ago, where they are enjoying the fruits of their labours.


One of those fruits is a nice little boat with which they took us to a private little beach on the Ria Formosa to do a little fishing and sunbathing (on the only day the sun stayed in). Sue also made us a beautiful Sunday lunch.

On one of the days we followed a road sign which we never noticed last year, but instead of arriving early in Canada, we arrived in the Town of Tavira, and had a great time there before catching a train to Conceceau then walking the rest of the way home.



The last picture is hubby chilling out on what may be our last European holiday for a long while.
We are just waiting for a start date in Canada now as all the contracts and other documents have been completed.