And Would Fly 500 Miles and I Would Fly 2500 More...

Rejoice, for yay verily, further progressions have been made!

Visiting my parents in NB last week proved to be quite productive. Not only did I dump a bunch of my junk in their house (muchas gracias, mis padres) but I also took advantage of the opportunity to plan my pre-Scotland travel route. My sister is graduating from university in early May (yay Marg!) so as a celebration, we decided that before I settle in the UK, she and I should bump around Europe for a little bit. Also, in one of those weird coincidences that life tends to provide, the parents are, just by chance, going to be in Ireland at the exact same time as our trip. So, it just makes sense for the four of us to meet up at some point. This being the case, the route of the sister trip has shaped up to be a little strange (but a lot awesome!).

We shall proceed as follows: Barcelona-Madrid-Dublin-Paris-Lisbon-Madrid-Barcelona

The SECOND Barcelona stop is simply a point of transit - from there my sister will return to Canada and I'll be moving on to the UK!!!

So you know, no big deal or anything......
Just kidding, it's gonna be SA-WEET!!!

64 days!

Did you mean: "National Parks in Scotland?"

Walking to work yesterday morning, I thought, “Wow, it’s pretty nice out.” For a winter’s day in Ottawa, that’s a fairly radical statement. After consulting with my colleagues, I came to learn that it was only -15°C. Nice! After a couple of months’ worth of -25°C to -40°C, it looks like spring is finally coming!

That got me thinking about weather in Scotland. I’m aware that certain areas of the country are notorious for high rainfall levels and that, even on days that start off nice, the weather can change quickly and drastically. But I’d never really heard much about what winter is like in Scotland. That made me start to worry. What if Scottish winters are as frigid as they are here? Am I going to be giving up glorious Ottawa summers in favour of middling summer temps in Scotland, while keeping the four months of nostril-freezing that I have to put up with in winter here?

So I did what anyone of my generation does when we encounter the unknown: “I goog’d it.”

My query to Google: “Do I need a parka in Scotland?”

Google’s Reply: “Scottish National Parks”

I’m going to take that as a “No.”

In fact, I could not, no matter how I phrased the question, find any results that contained both the words “parka” and “Scotland.” That, my friends, is quite a relief. A goose-down, fur-collared weight off my shoulders. Any place that does not have “parka” as part of its everyday lexicon is a place that I could get used to.

Just out of curiosity though, I wanted to get a further sense of what winter temperatures are generally like in Scotland. Will I really be able to get by with just a pea coat? Impossible! That’s no winter I’ve ever heard of!

After a fair bit of digging, I finally found this:

“January and February are generally the coldest months in Scotland, with the daytime maximum temperatures with ranges of an average of around 5°C to 7°C.”

“the daytime maximum temperatures with ranges of an average of around 5°C to 7°C"

“average of around 5°C to 7°C"

“5°C to 7°C"

Are you kidding me?! Winter temperatures can be above 0°C?? Are you still legally allowed to call it winter at that point?

F*ck the parka! Pea coat be damned! With those kinds of temps, I’m going to the beach. 

Moo Moo Peekaboo

Hairy Coo, how do you do? I'm looking forward to seeing you! Your country's flag is white and blue. I hope you do not smell like poo.

Where are Zee Documentz?

Stage one of ye olde footworke is complete. Last week I got my visa photos done, made sure all of my support funds are where they're supposed to be and had my app checked over by my SWAP contact. Shocking levels of productivity detected!

My visa documents are now in Toronto being checked over by fresh eyes to make sure I didn't c*ck them up (a British expression - I'm practising!). From there they will be sent back to Ottawa so I can send them to NYC so they can be sent back to Ottawa so I can get a stamp. Bureaucracy!

My visa type is a working holiday, which falls under the category of "Youth Mobility Scheme." One thing I love about the UK is that there are no "plans" - only "schemes." I feel like this suits the underlying subtext of my personality... heh heh heh...

Tonight I'm headed back to Chez Maman et Papa in the Brunz. This is both for the purpose of visiting and to dump a bunch of stuff on them that I don't need to keep in my Ottawa apartment. It turns out that a two-stage international-via-interprovincial move isn't as simple as one might imagine. I really hope that Az gets into Teachers' College so that she can take over my apartment and I won't have to move my furniture. Oh, also it would be a good thing for her too, I suppose. Finding her life's calling and all that. But this is mostly about me.

The next stage of action will involve going into the British High Commission for BIOMETRIC SCANNING. I still don't know exactly what that will involve, but I'm kind of excited to find out...

73 days till I leave the country!