Prior preparation and planning prevents a (piss) poor
performance. That’s the 7 P’s and it’s something that myself and The Buff have
been preaching to ourselves over the last couple of weeks.
We aren’t leaving Canada until mid August, but since we
decided on the move to UK, we have been planning and preparing everything in
order for it to all go smoothly. Buffy, as you may have seen on Fudgebook, has
completed her visa application and been granted a 5 year working visa, due to
her grandfather coming from England. This didn’t just happen overnight as she
had to go through her families records and get copies of old marriage
certificates and birth certificates as well as travel to Toronto to apply in
person – which after two days on a train to get there, took a little over 5
minutes.
As for our apartment we have been searching for someone
to take over the lease when we leave and after a few letdowns, we were very
pleasantly surprised when a close family member decided she would take it
over!! I hope you two have as much fun as we did here! So after a bit more
paperwork and also being offered the chance to ‘housesit’ for some more friends
for a month before we depart, we are now in the process of throwing away lots
of clag, packing up the furniture that does not belong to us and cleaning the
apartment before we leave it two weeks today.It’s all very exciting.
Getting packed up
The cupboards are bare
Other preparations have also being going on for this
weekend.....
As you may know I
have been out running a whole lot this year and would class myself as fit as I
have ever been. This has been leading up to this weekend and Sunday in
particular, when go for my 100th run of the year and take part in my first half marathon (13 miles
is quite far enough thank you!) So I will be up just after 5am Sunday morning
and heading down to the University of Manitoba for the start which for me is
just after 7am. I’m quite looking forward to it now and hope to get a time
under two hours.
My race bib and number
I actually went to the start today, to collect my
electronic bib and number so that my time can be recorded with all the other
competitors. I also took the opportunity to have a look around the new
‘Football’ stadium (Not real football, but the American style). This is the one that replaces the old one being knocked down I posted about the other week...
It’s a nice
stadium, with a wave styled rood and lots of room inside. I was pleasantly
surprised to be able to walk inside and watch the Winnipeg Blue Bombers (The
local Canadian Football team, who aren’t really very good) taking part in a
training session. Believe it or not they have about 85-90 players on the roster
and they were all doing some form of training on the field, being watched by
myself and lots of other locals. There was even one bit of training where they
take a short run and leap onto a mat, landing on their stomachs. It didn’t look
too much like hard work to me!
Investors group field - New home of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers
Big men being very silly!
Running around in circles - Literally!!
6.0, 6,0, 5,9, 7.2, lovely dive!!
The Bombers new stadium isn’t the only recent change in
Winnipeg. The city has been transformed over the past few weeks, from a winter
wonderland of ice, snow and freezing weather, to a wonderful green jungle of
plants and flowers growing crazily fast everywhere they can get a hold. It
really is like a different place to how it looked just a few short weeks ago.
Where there was a huge dirty brown lump of Ice next to the road, there are now
colourful displays of flowers and the lovely spring like smell that goes along
with it all. It’s not a bad place after all. I must admit that you get used to
the snow in winter and especially when it is fresh, the city looks lovely
covered in white as it does now covered in lots of different colours. It’s only
for a few short weeks when the snow is melting and the brown lumps of ice taint
the landscape that the city looks dirty and horrible. For the most part, about
40 weeks of the year, it’s quite a cool place.
Flowers and green things
Jungle!
Gardens are overgrown now
Nice flowers everywhere
I even spent an afternoon wandering around down by the
river, by the old St Boniface cathedral and along the back streets enjoying the
lovely sunshine and the nice views that come along with it.
St Boniface Cathedral
Some characters re-enacting history for the kids
Bells
The best 'Jesus', I have ever seen.
Across the river from eth new museum, which supposedly is based on Mont St Michel in France
At the forks - these are used for stargazing!
We even had a bit of old English summertime weather the
other day when the blue sky was suddenly replaced with dark clouds and the
sound of thunder filled the air. Then, without much warning a cloudburst
started – first with rain and then with ever increasing sizes of hailstones. It
got really windy and very loud and drivers were stopping their cars under the
trees in the street to try and prevent damage from the marble sized ice that
was falling.
Hail!
Not bad size
It all stopped as suddenly as it had begun before the
blue skies returned a few minutes later. It kind of reminded me of being at
home in Manchester and I hope we get some of the same when we get there in a
few weeks time!
No comments:
Post a Comment