3 Girls and 4 Suitcases.
Day 1.
The title of this daily blog was going to be '3 Girls and 3 Suitcases' but,
a last minute decision to bring an extra suitcase has prompted me to rename it.
In the early hours of this morning, when it was discovered that my suitcase was
well over it's weight limit, Bill suggested that we maybe ought to bring an
extra case and so at 4am, after a couple of hours kip, we filled a smaller case
with bits and bobs we thought we were having to leave behind. The bonus is that
we managed to fit the 4 of us and the 4 suitcases into our car. Now I have
never liked our car except on long drives (smooth and effortless) and when it
comes time to go on holiday because it has a huge trunk and lots of seating. I
feel like I should show some gratitude for the car today so Thank you Universe,
for giving us the perfect car to fit all our suitcases and us in which enabled
us to get this adventure off to a good start.
Have you ever tried to decide what you want to stuff into a suitcase, that
will suffice for the rest of your life?
Actually, that's a bit dramatic for what's actually happening for us. Bill
is coming to visit us in 3 weeks and
then again in Feb, so we will be able to get hime to bring more stuff across
with him. Plus we will be home next summer to pack up the house in some shape
or form. We are very lucky to be having all this freedom of time to move our
lives across thousands of miles. Others are not so lucky. We haven't had to
uproot from our homes and leave most of our lives behind, like the current
Syrian and Ukranian refugees. Those poor people have very literally had to put
their lives quickly into a suitcase and run for safety whereas my girls and I
have had months to plan our adventure and to think about what to put into our
suitcases.
The fact that we chose to pack those suitcases last night was not our
wisest decision for in so doing, we were forced to have to make decisions
quickly about what we were taking with
us. I am pretty sure that once we eventually unpack, we will be wondering why
on earth we have certain things, like 40 vest tops between us and why we didn't
bring a sweater. Now I don't know how many vest tops we actually have in those
4 cases but I do know that I didn't pack a single sweater. Here's hoping that
Toronto is warmer than this plane I am currently wrapped-up-in-a-fluffy-blanket
on.
Great decision of Jens, to bring the huge fluffy thing that's presently
covering the 3 of us. I didn't think so, when I was lugging it around the
airport and sweating like a non-lady though.
It's a funny old plane, this. It doesn't have any tv screens on the
seatbacks-in fact, it doesn't have a tv screen anywhere on it. What it does
have is access to much entertainment via your own 'device' or you can
rent an ipad from them to watch something on. We've decided not to buy into the
system which is $5 each and currently (after napping on and off for 4 hours) I
am typing this and the girls are watching Ella Enchanted on Jens laptop. I have
a rucksack full of 'stuff' to do because I can never decide what I'll want to
be doing on a plane so I don't anticipate being bored for the next couple of
hours. And the girls have a wee bundle of movies to watch on dvd, so we're all
happy in our camp.
Alison had a very decent nap of around 3 hours, pretty much as soon as we
took-off from Edinburgh. She didn't make it to bed till after midnight and was
up at 4am. Jen did a bit better, disappearing to bed around 11pm and she reminds
me of how I used to be, before I got 'old'. She doesn't really nap on
flights-even overnight ones......nurse material? Mmm?
I managed to get to bed for only a couple of hours so was glad to shut my
eyes and doze. Alison laid down with her head on my lap-much comfier than the
'bouncing-head' deal that I had.
So, the adventure has begun.
Andrew will be waiting for us at Toronto Pearson and we'll head to our
hotel, hoping that we'll manage an early check-in but if not, we can dump the
bags and head into Toronto for a while. One of the great things about Toronto
is their Transit system, the TTC. One little token takes you anywhere across
the city on buses, trams and the subway system. You get 1.5 hrs of travel for
your token which costs (from memory) $3.
We're thinking of getting transit passes which will alow us to freely
travel and explore the city. I think it'll be great to hop on the subway and
get off at a different stop each weekend, till we have seen all the areas.
We'll see how long it is before I'm doing it by myself because Jen and Ali will
be up to more 'exciting' things-lol.
It will be a very different living, here. No male energy in the house will
be interesting. I love to set up home
and I will be looking for our perfect home over the next 4 days. I have always
found wonderful apartments here and anticipate the same success this time. I
have always had a spare room so will perhaps look at 4 bed places and see what
appears. It would be great for Andrew to have some space, if he wants to stay over
and, of course, there may be visitors from home.........and away.
My friend Lorraine asked me whether I had written down the details of the
perfect home and I haven't.......so I am going to share them with you now and
count them as being 'ordered'.
4 bedrooms (or 3 large ones)
2 washrooms
Decent sized kitchen with lovely appliences including dishwasher, fridge,
stove and microwave.
Washer and dryer in house.
Balcony or some outdoor space so that I can have some plants and take my
first coffee outside.
A/C and C/H
Cable and Wifi included.......in case we get a tv.
Utilities included in rental.
Quiet, safe area.
Within a 30 min walk to Alisons school. 15 mins or less by bus.
Lovely landlords.
I think that about covers it although fully furnished with really nice
stuff would probably be perfect initially but I am willing to accept
unfurnished and go searching for 2nd hand furniture.......except the beds. They
have to be new.
So, this hasn't been a very profound blog-just information, really but who
knows what it will evolve into. I am tempted to go back to the topic of
refugees and write my views on that subject but, for now, I think I'll just
close and wish everyone who's taken the time to read this, a very happy rest of
your day. Thank you for joining me on Day 1 of this new adventure for the
Mountcastle Denham Girls.
Lxxx
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