Public Holiday Number...

Oh, I've lost count.

Canada's great at giving public holidays - we had another one yesterday that I didn't even know about until Thursday!

It's great to be told.. 'oh btw, you're not in tomorrow - it's a holiday' :)

Among the many, yesterday was particularly special... special in that only WE, here in PEI, got the day off. It's our day off, our own.. our precious.

And the reason... well it's Gold Cup And Saucer Day of course!

I don't know what that means, but what I do know, is that PEI people make loads of floats and drive expensive cars with fit birds in them down a street. Followed by fat blokes in tight fitting costumes, marching bands, rock bands, football teams and giant balloons.

Some of them seem to be promoting local companies (plugging things by having phone numbers scrawled onto the vehicle somewhere), others just seem to be there...

Anyway it lasted 2 hours and was interesting to say the least - here's a shortened version.. the highlights if you will, for your delectation :)

A traditional, old skool, fire engine, like that seen in Gangs Of New York... or something...

It had old people on it.

Of course Canada wouldn't be Canada without people dressed in red with great big hats... playing bag pipes?!? - Mounties, or The Royal Canadian Mounted Police as they're more commonly known.

Most of these were old...

OMFG!! I could not believe it...

... it was only Emma Hill!!!

In a Corvette!!!
Driven by an old bloke.

Ahh... at last, one for the lads... Good times :)
Some old people looked on...

This Thomas The Tank was...

It scared me to death when the clown above turned around to reveal himself as none other than Pennywise himself.

His evilness clocked me. Bad times :(

No wonder there were a lot of floats about... they all... float!

He didn't stop there. After he'd no doubt already eaten ton's of kids, he tried luring more to follow him by introducing one of Pennywise' greatest temptations, a giant floating Shamu... Hayden was tempted, they all... float down here!

Super Grover nearly got caught up in the power lines!!!

Balls...

One of the final baloons was Spot the Dog.. I couldn't spot him anywhere though.. Bodum Chish :)

The Beach Pt 2

So we've had a very stressful angst filled week - I'll tell you about that another time.
In order to try to forget about things and chill out we decided to head to the beach yesterday. It made us realise why we're here and how easy it is to get to the beaches - we must do it more often.
For the time at the beach at least it was relaxing and fun and we forgot about our worries.

The two young guys pulled up in their speed boat, anchored got out and started playing ball. It wasn't for quite sometime that they realised there was no totty milling about - just kids and families :)

This was up near Brackley Beach on the North of the island, and a nice sand bar had appeared. In fact the whole area had many deep and shallow parts.

On this particular sand bar - which was pure sand - no stones - me and Hayden made a Bob Marley tribute....

Kath was quite impressed by Bob's massive heed!

It was lush - soooo hot out, and finally now the water is much warmer than last time we went - very warm in fact. I think we spent about 2 hours in the water and on the sand bar without ever feeling cold. Sometimes the water would wash through the channels with really warm water, and then you'd get cold spells washing through - quite bizarre.

This is the FIRST time Hayden has swam by himself (just arm bands) in the sea and we swan out very far and quite deep in parts - up to chest.

Having never been in the sea like this before, I think Hayden has a bit to learn still about waves... and the fact that you have to keep your head above them!!

We found another sand bar way out and rocked out on it. Hayden was actually standing on it, fighting against the current.

This is how far out we really were... and Kath took this from the first sand bar or Bob bar as it's now commonly known, which is even further from the shore.

All this at around 4-5pm - Lush!!

Dentist

I have been told all my life by Dentists that I have great teeth, and no problems. About three years ago I needed a small filling, and I had a wisdom tooth out.
Before I left for Canada in January I visited the Dentist and was told that I had good teeth.
I have had about three different Dentists in my lifetime.
In all my visits to the Dentist over the years they welcome me in, some fit 17 year old girl then wanders back and forth noting down number called out by the Dentist, and then holds a sucky thing in my mouth whilst the Dentist picks at me with that hook thing and then scrubs my teeth with some industrial powered tooth brush.. and it makes a high pitch whine. I have sensitive teeth, so it normally shoots through me.
Then I 'swish' with that pink stuff and leave trying to spot the fit 17 year old as I leave.
This has been the way of things for 33 years, and the whole affair takes about 10-15 minutes. I then hand over wads of cash for the privilege and repeat a year later.

I thought that this was normal.

British people have a reputation for having he worse teeth in the world, and I have prided myself with the fact that I go every year, I brush everyday, sometimes twice, I use toothpicks and I have always had a glowing report from my Dentist on how great my teeth are.

...


It would appear that I have been duped all these years, and that in fact, British Dentists do not know much about their job - nor do they do their job properly.

I went along today thinking it'd be much the same. I was greeted by a nice lady - the tooth cleaner, but no fit 17 year old :(
1 hour later I left.
She said my teeth were 'alright', not great at all with lots of Tartar built up and was surprised that I didn't floss.
She was digging away with some ultrasonic thing and chipping at my gums for ages as if excavating a T-Rex skull. It was quite an effort.
She actually demonstrated how to floss. I thought I knew. I've tried it - you get a bit of string, and try to wedge it between your teeth. It then hurts and cuts your gum. I've done it for particularly stubborn bits of well done steak.

But I was doing it all wrong. You actually have to pull it right down under your gums and scrub.
She said that quite literally, no body has ever cleaned away below my gum line. And I know for sure that no Dentist has ever done that.
They wouldn't have the time to do it in 10 minutes.

It occurred to me how rubbish my UK Dentists have been, they've never cleaned that much, never advised upon it, never spotted the build up beneath because they don't look!!.
She half huffed a kind of 'yep, I hear that all the time from UK types' when I exclaimed this.

Despite an ache from the new battering they took today, my teeth are the best they've ever been. Normally I leave with a sharp feeling at the back of the teeth when I rub my tongue along them - you know what I'm on about. But not today - all smooth.
I felt rather pampered actually.
And then, I found out it was all free.... good times.

Shame the fit 17 year old was missing, but then she never did anything anyway, except look fit and tease me with that sucky thing!

I can live without her, I'd rather have good teeth!

Camping

I realised on Monday that I have not had a single day off of work since getting here on 30th January!

When I was teaching I used to long for the half term, 6 weeks of teaching and I really needed the week off, and that week went all to quick. I also used to get ill a lot, colds, flu - general crud. I'd have a sore throat and sneezing, hay fever type stuff throughout the year, lasting for weeks sometimes and often resulting in a couple of days off of work here and there.

I'm not sure weather it's the clean air in Canada and PEI Island freshness, the lack of stress or what? - but I've not even felt the need to take a day off, I've not been ill once, and this is the first holiday I've had in 6 months!

We can't afford a big trip around Canada this year, and to us PEI is a holiday destination still - not home. So it made perfect sense to camp on PEI, just up the road in fact about 30 miles away in North Rustico.

The campsite was great, the weather REALLY hot (I got sun burned!!! and I have genetic sun block!).

Camping always makes the days seem longer and I always feel fitter and more full of energy after a nice camping vacation.

The campsite grounds were awesome, each pitch separated by some trees and provided with a fire pit (don't know why most campsites in the UK don't allow fires?!), and a picnic table.

It also had a heated pool, which, strangely, was deserted most of the time, so we had it to ourselves. This was great to help Hayden swim as he gets distracted if the pool is busy and finds it difficult if the water is too bouncy.

It took us a little over an hour to set up camp in the blistering heat, which made it even tougher.

This year we decided to pay the extra $3 per night for a serviced pitch (water and electricity) Well worth it.

I will do this from now on when camping with family. Although we only used the electric for charging the iPod, boiling the kettle and toast, in future I'd bring along a small fridge/freezer and lights/fairy lights etc. It makes camp much easier, and saves on gas.

I'm not one for taking along electronic gadgets and stuff camping, I've always proffered it to be as 'rough' as possible... no frills. But when you're spending a week with family you need to be comfortable, and having your own water and electric is really worth while.

I will still stamp down on bringing TV's and DVDs though to camp - No Way! Not Allowed!

After we made camp it began to rain, we decided to go for a Lobster Supper at The Fisherman's Wharf in North Rustico. Giant 1.5 lb Lobster, Chowder, 1lb Mussels, Salad Bar, Rhubarb and Strawberry Pie and a cup of tea for just $36!!, I love it here :)

Tuesday was red hot and we spent the whole day lazing and camp and at the pool. Me and Hayden went hunting for marshmallow toasting sticks and spent a fair amount of time cleaning them up and making a shape point on them.

Then came the rum....

Sunset, Hayden is great at camp and helps out on water treks and tidying up.

It was really serene and peaceful. I started to take some dusk photos and found this spiders web that looked awesome in the light.

Campfire. Can't have a proper camp without a camp fire. If only to keep the Mozzie's away. You can buy wood all around North Rustico an Cavendish in bundles, ready to burn and these fire pits are great, dug into the ground, they don't get blown too much by the wind.

This is the first camp fire I've ever started without firelighters or oil and everything, including the wood was wet - so it took a while, but I was extremely chuffed to have got it going.
Note: Bring a hatchet to camp, to enable you to chop up the wood revealing the dry stuff under the surface... I must buy a hatchet. Luckily a veteran camper, Don, next door had one :)

Next day it rained again, but I was not going to sit in the tent miserable like we did last year in the UK when we went camping. The good thing here is that even though it's raining it's still really hot, so we went and played Frisbee and Football... or Frisball.. in the rain regardless.

We took a trip out to a theme park type place. It was called Shining Waters and was 'supposed' to be a water park. Sadly they're a bit too safe and reserved here in PEI so Hayden was not allowed on any of the decent water slides or even the roller coaster (which was pantz). Sad, considering that he's been on much faster and bigger roller coasters in Alton Towers and Drayton Manor, and bigger, faster water slides in the local Cari complex.

This was a disappointment to both him and us, and made us rethink our pans for Florida within the next few years - perhaps we'll wait until the kids are much older.

Still, Hayden had fun where he could, and loved this really weird house... it was WEIRD!

En route home we took in some of the coastline and national parks up by Cavendish.

The birds were loving something out in the water... either chum or a school of bluefish :)

Amazing views from the cliff top.

We stood right on the edge :)

On the way home we drove by a sign that said 'Waterfront Lots For Sale'. Intrigued we stopped and 'had a word' .

This amazing house was brand new and finished to perfection. The views from it's balcony were incredible overlooking the river.

It was for sale, built for that purpose, but amazingly we spoke to the developer and to buy a lot, and get a house similar (but not quite as grand as this) was all doable for just $200K CDN.

A house overlooking the river like this out in the country for less than we paid for our 2 bed end terrace in Harlow.

It's just out of our price range at the moment with just my one wage, but definitely got us thinking about what we might aim for in the future when Kath starts work again in a few years.
This is a new development with about 15 lots in total - 3 have been built on, about a further 5 already sold, but many still available.

This is one of the lots down by the water still for sale. The lot itself is more expensive than the hill top one of course, but you get the land all the way to the water and can put your own floating jetty out on it. The river is calm, clean and 8 feet deep - no need for a pool, and only a couple of miles to the sea!

An acre of land by the water for just $110K CDN (£61K), amazing. LOL, we're tempted to just buy the land now!

So, it was a great holiday.

Back to work on Monday, and the great thing is I'm really looking forward to it. When I was teaching, it'd be dread to have to go and face those kids again - I always felt I needed just a couple more days before I could be happy returning to work.

Not anymore, I'm quite happy to go back.

Skimping and scraping on one wage, not able to afford trips abroad, not knowing what to do with our house in the UK, still a few debts here and there, tons of money spent getting over here, no child benefits, no tax breaks, expensive beer... but man... we're so much happier in life generally. Less arguing, ZERO stress.

The only real things missing are our close friends. But hey you can always visit can't you?

Golf

Haven't player golf for years. Me and the lads used to play all the time in Gt Yarmouth... on the 'Pitch N' Putt'. I've only ever played once on a full size golf course in Scotland with Nogger.

It's normally way too expensive for green fees or you have to be a member.

Here in PEI there are a ton of golf courses, and there are a ton that are public. They're also dirt cheap!

I instigated a driving range trip with me, JR and Ryan early in the week to prepare for a game at the weekend. JR then set about getting loads more people - we ended up with 8 players.

I bought a 2nd hand set of clubs - full set - for just $50 off of some guy, they even came with a bag. Absolute bargain. For some stupid reason I left my old set in the UK and did not transport them over.

So on Saturday afternoon we went to the Vista Bay golf course down on the south of the island. It costs just a minimal $15 for 9 holes + you get a proper golf cart!

Me, Bob and Matt (the beginner types) were together in the 2nd group, and Bob liked to drive the cart as fast as he could :)

I think the last time I hit a golf ball was with Paul, in the Maldives, on our honeymoon 4 years ago. My first whack wasn't too bad, can you see the ball?

Matt on the other hand has never hit a ball in his life, not even on a driving range. This is a capture of his first ever contact with the ball. Notice the power behind the shot, the speed of interception. Notice how he keeps his head up... excellent technique for a first ever shot.

I did however tell him to keep his eye on the ball... I think he was looking out to the horizon waiting for a glimpse of white, resulting from his magnificent stroke...

Shame the ball was on the floor 1 metre in front of him ;)Bob, being the tech geek that he is, brought along his very own HUD!

Hole 4, and I was sure that Bob had lost his first ball as it bumped a metre high over some shrubs and into the rough. LOL...

But... he emerged seconds later victorious!

I really needed to go for a wee halfway through the game...

Shot of the game (for our pathetic team) was granted to me for an awesome 7 iron shot onto the green.. I'd say 100 metres or so out... there's my ball... see it ?

They call it Vista Bay for a reason! The final few holes are high up and behold some superb vistas over the bay... see what they did there?

Also, upon speaking to the owner, he said it was totally legal, and he did not mind at all for us to bring our own beer next time!

The cart has a big basket in the back that I fancy is just right to hold a bucket of ice and a case of Molson :)

Next time, next time we'll take beer... and I'll blog the results :)

So hurry up and get over here Nogger... I'll provide plenty of sauce... you provide the chips... LOL

Weird Creatures

Canada will have you believe that it's indigenous population of insects and other such stuff is all harmless and great, and that they kept the black rat out of the country during the great plague was a defining moment.

However... as for the ones that are here... they are over sized, as if from the Triassic age, and I'm not even sure some should exist on this planet!

I have been snapping them whenever possible, and here's my collection thus far... enjoy.

This is some weird Caterpillar type thing, but only has a few legs/spikes on either end, and moves really... weird...

We have Ants in England of course, this guy was moving too fast for me to get a decent 'lock on', and I had nothing in the foreground to give it any perspective... but rest assured it was bigger than my thumb!!

I've never seen a Jellyfish before, except the ones in Finding Nemo. This guy crept up on me from behind, I turned around to find him saying 'Hello' about 2 feet from my position - the round bit was about a foot in diameter and the tentacles stretched for about a metre!

Don't know what the hell this is!

Sports

So back in Blighty, I used to take Hayden to Little Gym every Saturday morning. It was gymnastics for lil 'uns.

We could not find such a thing here, but for just $10!!, the City Of Charlottetown (local council I guess) run Intro to Sports. Whilst not professionally run like Little Gym was, this is a fun morning 10am-11am every Saturday, started last week on Hayden's birthday party.

Sort of run by teenagers they get the kids doing warm up and playing about, whilst learning a little bit about different sports.

The warm up. It all takes place on a field overlooking the sea, very nice :)

Kath's working in the mornings so I take Hayden for some Hayden/Daddy time...

Last week was Baseball, and this is the kids checking out First Base :)

This week Hayden was kitted up and ready for action as we walked to Victoria Park.

Football this week. Despite my efforts, they kept calling it 'Soccer', but hey ho.. at least they knew the rules and learnt how to kick it :)

I hope the weather keeps up like today, it was a really nice morning.