Merry Christmas!

Happy Christmas

It's been six months now since we set sail for this new and bonny land and although we are missing you all terribly the locals have been very good to us and made sure we celebrated Christmas Canadian style...

....with four Christmas parties...


...three Christmas dinners...


...two displaced Britons...

....and a bush for a Christmas tree!

Ho, ho, ho! Merry Christmas!

Chil and Dylan

tanti auguri

La nuova macchina fotografica panoramica!

Grazie la mia Claudia!

Tanti auguri a tutti!

bb

Christmas

To everyone we care about all over the world: Africa, Canadia ;) Germany, Italy, USA and UK...

Wishing you all a very happy and peaceful Christmas from all of us in Newcastle-Under-Lyme.

Some photos...

...there was a veritable moutain of wrapped presents here last night.




















these rainy days start over and over again...




















some yuletide flowers




















post prandial pair















lobsters for lunch

a heavenly angel

more pictures to follow tomorrow... or not!

Nanna and Nandad at the "Ugly Duck"

Seasons greetings!

Seasons Greetings from Chil and Dylan!

Apparently we've been having the snowstorm of the decade here in Toronto... we Brits are coping just fine though, there are snowploughs on most of the roads and generally it's business as usual.

I've joined the True North Hockey Sunday beginners league and you'll be able to follow all my goals and assists (don't hold your breath, though) online by clicking the link. I play number 7 for the Toronto Grizzlies, although we're just in training now and don't start games for a month or two. Behind me in the picture is the CN tower. Really.


Chil says she doesn't like the snow but strangely she is smiling in all the pictures I've taken of her in it. She's graduated from her course at the National Institute of Broadcasting and is getting some experience with a cable TV channel called OMNI over the holidays. She'll be covering a multi-cultural hockey tournament and bringing a bit of her BBC English to the Canadian airwaves. Go Chil!

This is the little park just up the road from us. The only folk left out are these two in the corner. It's not actually super-cold yet, although I think we hit -16 centigrade one day. Toronto has an underground network of paths 27 km long that is very useful but requires a map and compass to actually get about as for some reason they didn't bother to put any useful signs up down there. We're still surviving with English winter clothes but apparently January really bites.

This is the University of Toronto. I just finished my first term and can relax for the break now and I think Chil's even happier than I am to have me away from the computer in the evenings. I got a great deal at work with the Christmas rota and only have to work the weekend between Christmas and New Year.


We're off to Vern's on Christmas eve to spend the day with his family and have a party to go to on Boxing Day. We'll be in on Christmas day and will hope to catch as many people as possible on the phone before we get too far through that bottle of port that helps the stilton go down. We've got coveted tickets to see the Maple Leafs play the Tampa Bay Lightning on New Years day: an action packed holiday season!

Anyway, I hope you all have a great Christmas and New Year.

Dylan

Dank, dismal November weather

Now that November is well under way, it is clear that our prolonged Indian summer is over. Only the dripping, leafless trees of winter to endure before we get to Christmas. We did get a piece of good news for our village recently, though: a couple of months ago we applied for £500 to create a small orchard behind our Village Hall and a few days ago we heard that we had been successful! So now it's all hands to the spades to prepare the site for the arrival of the trees next month. Here is a picture of our Village Hall and one of the field where the apple trees are going to be in a few weeks time.

Happy Halloween!

Ontario in the fall

So what's Ontario like in the fall?


You can check out the distillery district, just along the Esplanade from us at number 25.


...or go for a leisurely lunch on Toronto island where the beer tastes of green apples...

Downtown Toronto as seen from the second highest freestanding structure in Toronto, and they make a mean Martini!


Chris Bosh and the mighty Raptors beat the Washington Wizards 98-64. Let's go Raptors!


Peggy (Johanna's cousin) and Johanna Aspel in Buffalo, New York.

Or you could go visit the Royal Ontario Museum...


With totem poles...

...and mosaic ceilings.


The red arrow marks our condominium, the maple leafs on the flat roof on the right are the Air Canada Centre: Go Leafs Go!


Johanna, Dylan and Chilombo on our lovely new sofa. After the last one didn't fit into the flat we were very happy when this one did.

...or head off to wine growing country in Niagara-on-the-lake for 9850 litre barrels of (mediocre) wine...



Chil with huge butterflies

Johanna with maple leafs.


Niagara, a close second to the mighty Mosi...

I think you'll agree, it's a great season to visit your friendly neighbourhood Canadians.

Dylan's had an abstract accepted for presentation in San Diego in January woo hoo!

Happy Halloween!

Best wishes to all. Congratulations Mwamba on your new home. Happy Birthday Eva. I hope Bill rapidly finds another Dirty Hand.

Dylan, Chilombo and Johanna.

World Press Photo 2007

We've got a visitor!

Johanna's come to see us so expect lots of pictures from her and Chil's trip to Niagara and Buffalo.

We just saw the World Press Photo exhibition, if you didn't catch it as it travels round the globe (sorry it's already been to London and doesn't seem to get to Lusaka) you can see the amazing but disturbing pictures here.

Can't believe that the (Australian) TV umpire ruled out what was clearly the only try of the rugby World Cup Final, I'm sure it would have changed the game, even if South Africa were the better side.

Update

Hi everyone,

I've been a bit behind with emails, phone calls and updating this blog due to finding myself neck deep in educational theory but I hope you are all well.

Quick update: Chil is live on internet radio! I've started my Masters.


We've been watching all the World Cup Rugby, being far from home makes you peculiarly patriotic although it's always sad to see Frenchmen crying ;)

Rumour has it that Pete has survived Oktoberfest...

we wish we could be in Zambia later in the week for Chisha's wedding, have a great time those of you who will be there and put up some photos.

More to follow,

Dylan