Regina - Montreal - London - Cambridge and back again in the reverse order

So, have been a bit busy and not made a post for a couple of weeks. As the title susggest i've been doing a lot of travelling for work and to sort out the last of my stuff in the UK.

Where did I leave off last time ... The house

We've got the house and will be moving in during the beginning of October. I'm looking forwards to actually moving in and being able to unpack everything instead of living out of suitcases, before that happens though we've got some repainting to do. One of the bedrooms is a very bright garish pink and the other a purple ... you've got to admire some poeple decorative sense.

I stayed in Regina until the 3rd and then flew off to Montreal for a long weekend and to meet more of the team.


Montreal

I was quite looking forwards to visting Montreal, after arriving on Friday night I grabbed some dinner with Joe S and realised that I had no energy to do anything else ... so it was an early night for me. Not the start you were expecting eh?

Saturday I was introduced to Canadian malls ... Basically like the Trafford centre, Lakeside etc. I thought this would be the ideal time to get my self prepared for winter and go buy a good quality winter jacket. after much faffing about i finally found something i liked, the price tag made my eye water though. as I'm only used to a low of about -10 in winter. Good sense (or no sense of Money) won through and I ended up buying it for the grad sum of 400 pounds. Wonder if I can claim it as a relocation expense?

In the evening I met up with Joe S and friends for a few drinking and a bit of clubbing (still in Ramadan so I was on the juice all night), and we finished the night in traditional Montreal style and had some Poutine (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poutine) this is normally reserved for post drinking activities but as i was on a dry night i thought what the heck and completed the experience. I think I still prefer a kebab ... don't know but there's something about kebabs, maybe I'll get used to this after a while.

On Sunday i grew my tourist wings and went into Montreal. After deciphering the transport system and figuring out where I could get a bus onto town I set off on my adventure, in true tourist fashion I asked a guys on the bus where the metro stop was and he looked perplexed and said it's at the last stop i.e. the one we just got to ...

The first place to visit was Mont Royal, There was lots going on around the base, with some Samba bands playing and a Live Action Role Play Game  ... quite a nice way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

  

I was told there's some great views from the top observation  area and it's a easy walk up. So thought I'd take a look, it was a nice wander through a forested with lots of little trails wandering through so you could make your own path. It wasn't a short walk by any standards and to get to the top in reasonable time I had to take the Stairs ... all 20 flights of them. But the view at the Top was definitely worth it.

That's the view from halfway up, I had to take a breather ... it's hard going.







But when i finally made it up to the top the view was just amazing ...

The rest will be added to my Facebook ...

      

London

I arrived back in the UK at 9am after not really having slept much on the flight, wasn't really gonna get much sleep today as had too much to sort out. Eventually made it home at about midday, spent about 15 minutes saying hi to the parents before grabbing the tube and off to get a new passport. Did you know that you can get a brand new passport made in about 4 hours (if ure willing to pay for it). So after dropping off my application ... getting the tube back home ... grabbing a it of lunch ... back to the passport office to collect my new passport.

Mission accomplished i met up with a friend for some dinner, many thanks to Flic as i know she wasn't feeling too great, it was great catching up. I know it's only been a few weeks and we probably don't catch up that often anyways somehow meeting up with friends feels different now.

Friday was Eid and i spent the entire day with family ... just chilling out and relaxing and enjoying some home cooked food at my sisters. strange how I missed this. I guess knowing that I can't just go home when i feel like it make it that little bit different.

Cambridge

Not to stay in one place too long on Saturday I was off to Cambridge, tidied up the last of my boxes and packed it ready for moving back to my parents. But first things first, as it was Daniele's birthday and she had arranged a party it would be terrible of me not to attend so after a few too many jars and some bad dancing at the Kambar I finally made it back home at about 4 in the morning ...

London

The next day started as one expects after a night out, with the mother of all hangovers. this was probably not a good start as I had to drive down to London, drop some stuff off at my parents and then meet up with Waiman and co for Dim Sum ... oh how I've missed decent Chinese food. this was followed up by our traditional past time. MahJong ... and this time I walked away making some money.

 and back again.

House hunting. Moosejaw and another week gone

It's been a busy week, and this week isn't looking any thing like being quiet.

So spent some of last week going house hunting and saw some really nice houses. The boss put in an offer for one about 2KM from where i'm working and it got accepted in record quick time. All that's left is to do the usual survey and hopefully i'll be moving in by the end of September ... after a bit of repainting and some shopping for furniture.

After a busy week at work we (myself and Joe) somehow convinced Kelly to take us out to Moosejaw. we spent the afternoon going on a tour of the Moosejaw Tunnels where in the 1900's the chinese imigrants were coming over to canada and saw the conditions and persecution they had to face and the difficulties in living in Canada earning a tiny wage. and in the 1920's they were used to make alcohol for sale in the US during prohibition ... Kind made me glad we live in much more civilised times and how my experience has been so much different and better.

We also went out to see Mac the Moose.

That's Kelly and Joe in the pictures ... oh and Mac the Moose.

There're also some interesting road signs in Moosejaw ... i.e. becareful of man leading moose to cross the road??

Makes you wonder, doesn't it ?

And just to prove that all of saskatchwan isn't flat ... a picture of a hill in Moosejaw ...

Ok, it's not a big hill ... but it's still a hill.










and finally a picture of downtown Regina on the way back from Moosejaw ...

So I guess that's all from my update, I'm off to Montreal on Friday and then back in the UK for a few days from the 9th of Sept to the 13th of Sept ... hopefully catch up wiht some of you when I'm back home and details of my trip to Montreal to follow next week.

Adios

Naeem

Surprise on the weekend

As I said I'd put some photos up, went back to the lake to take some photoes and wandered into an open air concert by the Regina Symphony orchestra ... was quite a good way to spend a Sunday afternoon. Anyway photo's from the weekend attached.

My first week

Hello UK, I've been here a week and thought I'd put an update on what's been going on so far. I'm currently staying in the Hotel Saskatchwan in what is affectionately known as "downtown". It's not London but there are a lot of different restaraunts and bars here and it's quite busy during the weekdays when everyone is in their offices.

As most of you know I'll be back in the UK for a week and hopefully by the time I'll have sorted out a house or apartment, will be nice to properly unpack all of my stuff. I'll keep you updated on the house huting next week.

The client office is about 5 mins walk from the hotel and unfortunately my desk is on the 3rd floor so i get the fun of climbing up and down stairs all day (the main meeting room we've been using is in the basement).

I've met most of the guys from the project team and the client project team and they are a great bunch, I've already been invited to BBQ last wed and it's true what they say ... Candians are the nicest people. As it's Ramadan they actually made sure not to start the BBQ until about 20 mins from sunset so I could join in and eat at the same time and also bought Veggie burgers for me. Not bad considering they've only know me for all of 2-3 days.

I've got this weekend to myself as all of the project team have gone home for the weekend, some of them will be staying over next week, and we're planning to go visit Saskatoon ... but more on that next week.

Back to this week ... it seems quiet on the weekend around here so I've been doing a bit of wandering, about 20 mins walk from the hotel is Lake Wascana, looks really pretty and has some built in areas with benches and pre-built BBQ's ... will definately be spending a few evenings having a BBQ by the lake. I'll put some photos up later on during the weekend.

So I guess that's all for now, hope you're all well and hopefully see some of you soon.

Adios