Friends and Friendship

Posted on October 16, 2010 by Mike

Today marks three months since we arrived in England; one quarter of our year gone already. It also seems to have marked a transition for all of us as we acclimatize to living somewhere new.

While things still feel fairly new here, I think we’ve all started to build some friendships that have made us feel more settled in now. Connie and Heidi are doing really well at school and have made friends quickly, as you are always likely to do when you’re with people 6 hours a day. It has already eased the feeling of missing home and created more difficulty in the question we ultimately have to answer – should we stay in England or return to Vancouver?

I think that the best we can hope for is that this decision is difficult, for all of us. It means that either option has its good points and its bad points. I also think it’s a good thing in your life to be challenged with things like this. It takes you out of your comfort zone; it makes you realize that you can be happy in different places. It also establishes the things that are really important in your life; there are things you realize you can go without. And I think it brings into focus how important people and relationships are to you.

I’ve made big moves before. What makes this situation more unique is that we’ve moved to a place where we don’t really know anyone, and there’s not an established community of individuals in the same situation (ie. university). It’s been great to have Rachel’s side of the family closer by, but we don’t see them on a day-to-day basis.

I’ve realized how one’s need for friendship is what needs to be replenished, but that doesn’t mean you are “replacing” your friends. But building depth and history takes time, and the people you are getting to know – well they already have their own lives and so initially you’re kind of squeezing in and wondering if they have room for you.

This can be good too though, because it challenges complacency. Also, it’s like having a whole new audience for your jokes – if you move every five years, you only need 5 years worth of material 🙂

And while you miss certain people really deeply; like a bit of you is missing, it does set the table for one of the best things in life: reunions

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Sports, Food, and the Apprentice

Posted on October 8, 2010 by Mike

More musings and general updates…

  • The Ryder Cup was on last weekend in Newport, Wales which is only about 20 minutes away. I wish I had checked about tickets earlier, because by the time I thought of it the even was sold out. I’m not normally into watching golf on TV, but the Ryder Cup is different – it’s a rare chance to see team golf, where the players win points for their nation (Europe vs USA). This team aspect makes it so much more engaging, with the crowds much more into it and the players (especially the partnerships) showing camaraderie and energy rarely seen in golf. Fantastic!
  • Baseball playoffs and hockey season starts this week, proving that October is the best month to be a sports fan. For me, this is aided by our subscription to “ESPN America”, the US Sports companion channel to ESPN UK. ESPN America shows lots of live baseball and hockey, and from what I can tell, they only have two advertisers (American Airlines and a poker site) – the rest of the ad breaks are promos for their other shows. If you watch a tape-delayed game, they condense the breaks so it’s almost like watching sports with no advertising. Woohoo!
  • Our whole family misses the King Mongolian Grill in Port Coquitlam, which is a little restaurant back home that essentially does make-your-own stir fry’s. From my extensive research, there is nothing around here that is similar, although apparently London has places of that ilk. Another rarity is cheap sushi. Sushi can be found quite readily, but it is generally quite a bit pricier than the plethora of offerings in Vancouver. On the plus side, you can find Indian restaurants at every turn here.
  • Once a week Rachel and I go out for a lunch date, which coincides on the day that the girls have school dinners (the school serves hot lunches every day, so we let Connie and Heidi have school dinners once a week). Given that we don’t have as many babysitting options here, we’re not able to go out in the evenings very often, so these lunch dates have been a nice way of making up for that. Most weeks feature a nice meal out and a walk through different parts of the city. We plan to visit as many of the varied dining establishments as possible.
  • Unlike the USA, The Apprentice TV show has really caught on here, and a new series started this week. Playing the role of Donald Trump is Alan Sugar, former chairman of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club and self-made megalomaniac. Everyone on the show refers to him as “Lord Sugar”, which I just can’t get over – it sounds too much like “Lord Vader” to me. Apparently Sugar really is an honest to goodness Lord, but I prefer to think that he isn’t and just makes everyone call him that, in true Trump fashion.
  • We’ve planned a short trip to Germany for later this month to visit my Gran. She’s 96 and still going strong! This will be my first opportunity to proudly present my newly-acquired German passport.
  • Happy Canadian Thanksgiving to everyone – we shall be celebrating with a proper turkey dinner tonight!
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New Owl in the House

Posted on October 3, 2010 by Connie

Hello again! I just got an owl ( another stuffy or teddy ) Her name is Lucy and she makes a noise ( hoots and more hoots ) Almost my double-digit birthday. 10! I can’t even wait. I’m even doing the countdown. On 27 days! Good bye! I hope to get comments!!!!!!!!!!

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Two Months In

Posted on September 30, 2010 by Mike

As we approach the end of September, we’re now two months into our little Bristol adventure. This seems a good time to pause and reflect on how things have gone so far…

  • Connie and Heidi have settled in well. They’re enjoying school and they’ve been able to make new friends quickly. They both have good teachers and we’ve been very pleased with the school overall – everyone here says that it’s an excellent school and we were lucky that they had places available.
  • We went to London earlier this month, and I’ve posted lots of pictures in our photo album, if you’re interested.
  • Making new friends is not too hard. Developing those relationships into something of substance and depth is harder and takes longer. Rachel and I have both found that out over the past two months – unlike the girls we don’t have somewhere that we go every day and interact with other people. We’ve also realized this is the first time since starting University in the early 90’s where we’ve moved somewhere that we haven’t known anyone. We miss our friends and we’re looking forward to the time where we can stop answering the same questions with the same answers.
  • Rachel’s brother Paul and his wife Jo gave birth to a baby boy on Tuesday – Charlie Eron William Friend. We’re really pleased for them and we’re hoping to see the little one on Saturday.
  • We really like the fact that we can walk everywhere. All of our regular day-to-day tasks are within walking distance of our house, which means that we only use the car on weekends if at all. We’ve gone on one tank of gas for a whole month! Shopping, doctor, school, dance – all close by. That’s a big plus for city life in the UK compared to Canadian suburbia.
  • English television is substantially better than Canadian/American TV. This has the unfortunate by-product of us watching more TV. I found it interesting that in a survey done here, people’s favourite genre of programming in the UK is the documentary. And it shows – there are excellent and interesting documentaries on TV all the time – it kind of makes you feel that you’re not wasting your time quite as badly when you watch something intelligent on TV.
  • It may cause me not to get out as much and interact with others, but I still do like working from home. There is something so nice about the silence and calm of working on your own. I suspect that eventually I will pine for something different, but for now it’s just right.
  • I’ve been pleased to see the UK has welcomed the pretzel in the intervening years since I was last living here. Back in the 90’s the best you could get was twiglets, which Mr Bean rightly compares to dipping the twig of a tree into marmite. Another happy find was clam chowder – not a common UK soup staple, but available if you look for it.
  • We’ve enjoyed attending Bristol Vineyard church. The trouble is, it takes you a while to get to know people, mainly because you only see folks once a week for two hours (and perhaps occasionally at other times during the week). It kind of makes you wish for church to meet every day… well ok maybe not. We are hoping to get involved in some of the music and sound/PA stuff soon, which I’m looking forward to. I’m also hoping to help out with some of the work they do in the city for the homeless.
  • I love following the football (soccer) on a Saturday afternoon. Since Saturday at 3pm is the traditional time when almost all of the games occur, it has been legislated that none of the games at that time be broadcast on TV (so that fans will actually go to matches instead of staying home and watching Man Utd). So during this time, one of the sports news channels has a program where you watch four guys in the TV studio who themselves are watching a game each, and describing major events that happen. Meanwhile there’s a stock ticker running at the bottom of the screen showing goals as they go in for all the matches in England and Scotland (say, around 50 games in total). At 4:50 it all culminates in the final few moments as all the games draw to a close, and then some very proper person reads out all of the results. I think the closest comparison to all this might be US college football, which for me is the first time I’ve realized the potential appeal of US college football.
  • I want to go play snooker but I have no one to play with yet.
  • Radiators are a much more pleasant way of heating a house than forced air.

Well I think that’s about it for now. I’d like to try and blog about once a week; last week was a write-off as I was quite sick with the flu for a few days. I’m all better now (thanks for asking).

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Top of London

Posted on September 3, 2010 by Mike

Here we are on the “London Eye” overlooking London (my first attempt at live blogging with my iPhone)

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What I did on my summer vacation

Posted on September 1, 2010 by Mike

Hi there and welcome back! It’s been an interesting summer for us, but I’m starting to get organized again so henceforth I will bring an update and a summer retrospective.

Since June 1st we’ve lived in four different houses and slept in (by my count) 12 different beds. It’s been a very interesting time and we’ve enjoyed the closeness of being together as a family, but it’s also felt quite disjointed, not to mention the adjustment to living in a new country. So we’re all looking forward to the start of the school year, when everything else also seems to start up again – it will be nice to have more of a routine and consistency again.

I have managed to download and organize our photos from the past three months, so we have pictures! You can find these and many more pictures at our Picasa photo album, which I’ve recently updated.

Tofino

The view from our cabin in Tofino

Tofino2

MacKenzie Beach at Tofino

Duffy Lake Road

The view on the Duffy Lake Road from Lillooet to Whistler

Safeco Field

After the game at Safeco Field

Arrived

Our house for the next year

Bristol Zoo

With the flamingos at Bristol Zoo Gardens

Zooropia

Connie & Heidi on the Zooropia elevated ropes course

Camping

Camping with friends at Thetford Forest

Legoland

Lots of Lego models featuring cities in Europe

Before we left for England, we did a few smaller trips. We went to Tofino on Vancouver Island for a few nights, which was really nice – great weather and possibly our favourite beach. Rachel and I stayed here on our honeymoon, so it was nice to come back this time with the girls.

Then the girls went camping at Whistler with my parents while Rachel and I did a little driving trip from Vancouver to Hope, up the Fraser canyon to Lillooet, back along the Duffy Lake road to Whistler, and then back home again. We highly recommend that drive – the stretch of road between Whistler and Lillooet is especially nice and quintessentially Canadian.

We also did a little trip to Seattle and went to a Mariners game. After the game the kids (and parents) got to run the bases and it was worth waiting the extra half hour to walk on the field.

And then, a few days later we bid goodbye to Canada and headed over to the UK to stay with Rachel’s family for a couple of weeks.

We moved into the house we’re renting on July 31st – below is a picture of us at the house before we went inside for the first time. The house is furnished so we have the basics, but it’s still taken a bit of time to stock the shelves again and pick up little things that we chose not to bring (or forgot to bring).

We visited the Bristol Zoo Gardens, which apparently is the 6th oldest zoo in the world. They have a very cool elevated ropes course that you can do (for an extra fee, of course), so Connie and Heidi gave it a go.

We’ve also been to the beach at Weston-super-Mare (sorry, no pics) – if the forested mountains of the Duffy Lake Road are quintessentially Canadian, then the seafront at Weston-super-Mare is quintessentially English. Fish and chips, donkey rides on the beach, a huge pier (closed for repairs), tacky gift shops – it’s got it all.

We also enjoyed a few days camping with our old friends from Norwich, the Snells and Pointers. We were at Thetford Forest and although our streak of camping without rain was broken (6 consecutive camping trips without rain, prior to that), we had a fantastic time.

The most difficult thing about moving somewhere new is that the very thing you most want is what you don’t have – close friends. It was great to spend time with friends who we’ve known for years, and even though they’re not living close to us in Bristol, it is nice to know that we have friends here that we can look forward to spending some time with again.

Last week we had a day out at Legoland, which was also good fun. A large number of theme park rides and a huge number of Lego models. By far the best part was the kids driving school where the 5-12 year-olds can drive electric cars on an open course (ie. no tracks). It features flagrant traffic violations of all sorts, driving on the wrong side, head-on collisions, rear-enders, and the occasional smart one who follows all the directions properly.

So there we are. Most kids are back in school today, but our girls don’t start until Monday. So they effectively begin the year with a 5-day weekend. Go figure.

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Moved in and life takes over

Posted on August 12, 2010 by Mike

So, my intention was to do up a fancy “we’re here” post, put on some pictures, and make it all cool and funny and stuff. Sadly this isn’t going to happen right away. So I thought it would be better to post something than nothing at all – so welcome the glory of plain black text.

Pictures will follow.

Right. So we moved in on July 31st. The house is great – the girls are sharing the biggest bedroom, large enough to fit all of their toys and stuffed animals. Rachel and I, conversely, have the smallest bedroom – large enough for a bed and a small bookcase. No closet or dressers – that would be too decadent.

I have an office, which also doubles as the guest room. I have to say that it’s made a huge difference to my psychologically to have an office with a desk and places for things to go. After living out of suitcases and boxes for two months, it’s great to unpack and put things away. I’m sure that as I get older I will become increasingly obsessive compulsive, especially in the department of putting things away.

Somewhat oddly, the house has as many bathrooms as bedrooms (three); that is, if you include the closet toilet downstairs and the laundry room/bathroom upstairs. Regardless, it’s an English luxury to have more than one bathroom in your house, so I feel blessed.

We soon settled in and started to unpack – it was always bound to be an exercise in wondering why we brought certain things and left other things behind. We’ve since supplemented most of what we need, so we’re pretty much good to go.

The other element of busyness is my business – work has ramped up at the moment so I’m pushing hard to get some stuff completed for the end of the month. The timing isn’t the best, with summer and all that, but weeks of uneven schedules have lead to this time where more knuckling down is required.

So we’re all doing pretty well; getting used to our surroundings and trying to make the most of the summer before school starts again in September. Next week we’re off camping for a few days, albeit with limited camping supplies. We also have Heidi’s birthday coming up on Saturday, with a planned trip to the Bristol Zoo (apparently the 6th oldest zoo in the world).

Well I’ll sign off for now. We miss everyone back in Canada and we appreciate the comments and communication that we get from all of you. We do have a phone now – you can call us at +44 117 330 1284. If you are planning to call, don’t forget that we’re 8 hours ahead of Vancouver time.

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The "English" life

Posted on July 30, 2010 by Connie

I know you heard some stuff about England from Mike so now it is time to hear some stuff from me, Connie Ruth Goetz. I am 9 years old and my birthday is on October 29th, 2000. I was just at my new school, Henleaze Junior School the other day visiting for the whole day and had a great time. Most of the school work (well actually all of it) was on LAPTOPS! Now I know that it feels pretty weird but it is true! Mukmuk (my stuffed Vancouver Island marmot)  just said to me that he is hungry which means that I am also hungry right now! Which also means that it is time to have a eating break. See you soon!

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Step One: Stuff Arrives

Posted on July 29, 2010 by Mike

Our stuff has arrived

Today I went to Bristol in the morning to oversee the arrival of our worldly goods. These boxes had quite the journey – by train from Port Coquitlam to Montreal, boat to Liverpool, and then truck to Bristol.

And now all 36 boxes are settled nicely in our new living room. Unfortunately, we won’t be able to join them until Saturday, since our landlords still need to do a bit of work on the hardwood floors.

I took the train from Devon up to Bristol, and on the way back my intended train was delayed by almost an hour. These days, the train stations have fancy computerized voices that announce the trains in the station; a kind of modernized version of your answering machine saying “the time is now ..seven… thirty…… three” in that awkward, stilted fashion. So here was the computer relaying the following message about my train: “I’m sorry to inform you that the 12:44 service to Plymouth is delayed by 55 (five-five) minutes. I am extremely sorry about the delay to this service”.

I can’t say I felt a great deal of remorsefulness from this computer-generated message – at least HAL on 2001 showed a bit of electronic emotion. Perhaps, if the computer had worked a little harder, or maybe shown some more initiative, my train wouldn’t have been quite so late. Alas, this was not the case – it turns out the train was delayed due to animals on the track near Sheffield.

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No Government

Posted on July 26, 2010 by Mike

This doesn’t have much to do with anything related to us; it’s just a clip I liked and emphasizes why the BBC is great. The link below is an excerpt from the BBC’s program “The Now Show”, about dreaming of life with no nasty government regulation to get in the way. It’s under two minutes long.

No Government

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