New challenge....

A couple of weeks of work, three separate "trips" in a span of two weeks, and a few more weeks of work later, and voila here we are.

Having this means of sharing information, opinions, and other ideas is wonderful when I have something that I want people to have access to, and where the 'who' doesn't really matter.

Both V and I have signed up to Instagram recently (after a long love-hate relationship with it), with some reluctance from my end. After a couple of days of fooling around with it, and exploring different editing options, it's actually pretty cool. I've given myself a goal of posting one picture everyday for an entire year. The topic is open ended, the only restriction I've attempted to impose on myself is to post an original photo as opposed to recycling shots. Where inspiration lacks I might through in an old shot that has not made it's way to the interwebs yet, but this will be a rarely used last resort.

My Instagram name is @tdamota (same as my twitter) in case one is wondering how to access said year long supply (to be) of pictures.
Enjoy.

T.

Bad Weather Magnets

We arrived just over a year ago to delightful 15 degree weather (Celsius) in late February, when snowstorms were still very well in the making back home in Canada. This "honeymoon" period lasted for roughly a month. Spring rolled around and with it came the showers. The problem? The showers never really seemed to want to leave, as the UK recorded it's wettest summer. Lucky us, we got to be a part of it. This weather (for us) lasted until we made our way to Portugal for some actual seasonal weather (aka summer).

Upon our return, the weather was once again uninspiring. Not necessarily bad, but again nothing to write home about either. We cruised through fall, with much less fanfare than the so called "wettest summer ever". Winter finally rolled around. It seemed that it was just like fall, but slightly colder. Being the bad weather magnets we are, the UK had a few tricks up it's sleeve. Thrown at us was a slew of days with freezing temperatures, little bits of snow, and strong winds, dubbed "the big freeze". Now being Canadian and having survived winters for a number of years now, we told London to bring it on. We were by no means unprepared, or bundled up to the same extent as our Aussie friends, but we did notice that the cold here is of a slightly different nature. The extreme dampness in the air (probably left-over from the summer) seems to creep into every nook and cranny, sending chills through one's body. Coldest winter in almost 20 years. Enough snow to shutdown major airports for a couple of days. School children being told they couldn't go play outside because it was too cold, too icy, too snowy.

With the start of spring here on March 1st, optimism was high regarding a turn around in the weather. But alas, the big freeze has returned, wreaking havoc on residents all over the UK.
Bad weather magnets.

Here's to summer.

T.

Comedic Relief

I've been meaning to post this for a while now (definition of procrastination), but after acquiring the last piece of the puzzle, or what I would call the piece d'oevre, posting was imminent.

Before further ado I present to you things that made me laugh in London, and deserved a photo.

T.

Ps. The last picture was the icing on the cake (maybe literally).

Really, my own 'on' camera?

High Streets all over London...

Tesco's latest offering. I'll pass, thanks.

Canada Day.....in London

Could there be any better way to celebrate Canada day than to do it in style in central London amongst other ex-pat Canucks sipping Molson Canadian in Trafalgar Square? Well, maybe in Canada itself. Regardless, we managed to find the biggest Canada day celebration outside of our country's fine looking borders.

We had heard about the Canada day celebration in Trafalgar prior to July 1st and therefore had planned to swing by at some point during the day to see what had been planned. The party started at 10am and was scheduled to last until 10pm. Our objective was to arrive at some point around 5pm and celebrate the rest of the evening in central London. Around 2pm, another Canadian ex-pat friend of ours, L, mentioned on facebook that she was super excited to see Our Lady Peace live that night as part of Canada day celebrations. Upon seeing that, V and I suddenly loaded the official Canada day in London page and were quite surprised by what we saw (or at least I was). We were met with the musical lineup featuring Kid Koala, Shad, Hedley, and Our Lady Peace. Upon seeing that, V got super excited as a rush of rekindled Our Lady Peace moments came flowing back, and I could not believe my eyes seeing that Shad (one of my favourite rappers) was to perform. We instantly begun getting ready to head out; made food, baked, got dressed, and ate. We arrived at Trafalgar just as Shad was getting up on stage. Perfect. He put on a great show, and it was awesome to be able to see him in a setting which was somewhat mind blowing. The crowd wasn't too into it, which was unfortunate, but Shad did not disappoint. We stuck around for Hedley, although not paying too much attention to their act, in anticipation for Our Lady Peace. L met up with us as Our Lady Peace was taking the stage. I was never the biggest fan of them, although I definitely recognized some of their songs. V on the other had seemed to joggle her memory and sing along to all the songs they sung. The night was capped with a wonderful rendition of O Canada, sung by all the participating artists, on stage simultaneously. 

All in all, it ended up being a great Canada day. In fact, it was probably the most both of us have celebrated Canada day in a long time.

Ps. After the party had ended, we made our way to the stage exit, sipping on our Molsons, trying to catch a glimpse of some of the celebs present. I spotted Shad and called out his name, as if I was good friends with him, and he instantly turned towards me and started squinting trying to make out who I was. I begun waving my hand, beckoning him over, and to my surprise he started walking over. We had a short chat, a picture taken together (thanks V) and a couple of handshakes/chest bumps later, he was on his merry way. Such an awesome moment!

T.

Home sick....

Although this title can be interpreted in two very different ways, it perfectly sums up my current situation. Despite being here for almost 3 months now, there are daily reminders of things I desire from home, and most of all friends and family that I miss seeing and spending time with. Don't get me wrong, our time here so far has been phenomenal, and I am in no way intending to come off as complainy. There is so much that we have available at our fingertips left to explore and experience. The opportunity to hop on a plane for little cost, only to find ourselves in a completely different culture within an hour or two, is simply priceless. To be able to say that we live in London, we live in Europe, feels fantastic. Planning summer trips to France, Portugal, and anywhere else our budget can take us fills me with a giddy sense of euphoria (if that makes sense). Despite this I do miss my family, and the simple pleasures we take for granted sometimes, in terms of being able to spend time with those that mean so much to us. I am happy though that I am spending time with one individual that means so much to me and has made moving to a new country with one suitcase and two carry-ons so much easier and incredibly fulfilling. I am proud of the simple fact that we've been able to accomplish so many amazing goals in such a short amount of time. First off, I never really envisioned myself living in Europe essentially right out of the gate (with the metaphorical gate being university). I had a pipe dream of one day possibly moving to a sun soaked country to spend my days teaching English and my time off traveling and enjoying the "good life". I can say with confidence that I am living the good life, generally speaking, and that I am living in a sun soaked country (minus the sun part for the past month or so, but that's but a minor detail). Secondly, the idea of traveling was one that we both agreed had to be taken advantage of (in the best way one can take advantage of something). We have already visited Ukraine (read about my venture behind the iron curtain), and spent time exploring Britain as well (last minute planning isn't always as glamorous as it's made out to be). Finally, we are both working consistently in a line of work that we are both passionate about (and were trained to do).
When you think about it, there isn't much I should be complaining about. Except maybe the fact that I am currently at home sick (literally), but nobody likes a complainer.

Londinium

Wow.

That is the first thing I say when asked about London living so far. The sights, the crowds, the weather, the architecture, the art, the culture.....one word, Europe. In the week and a half that both V and I have been here, we've taken the opportunity (the non-working variety) to explore as much as we could, and to see as many things as possible before work kicks in to high gear this week. We have also gotten many things accomplished from the time we've arrived, highlighted in V's previous post regarding London. I will not re-hash what has already been made public in terms of what our first days were like, but will instead highlight some interesting observations I have made during our time here so far.

1. Bathroom is called the loo. Why...not sure, it just is.

2. London is not an expensive city....flats can be expensive, but everyday spending in some cases can be even cheaper than back home. (ie. cell phone plan, cheese, wine, etc)

3. Pubs close early...11 pm usually.

4. Sunday nights are dead after 8:30-9 pm, especially when looking for food.

5. Every part of the city is a "bad neighbourhood" (except for maybe central London), depending on who you ask. Exploring and living in areas, are the only ways to know for real.

6. Red tape and paperwork always cause delays....not matter how well you prepared.

7. Coffee is very different from back home...the notion of a filtered coffee (aka regular coffee found anywhere and everywhere) does not exist here. The closest equivalent would be an Americano, a fusion of drip coffee and an espresso.

8. The notion of public wi-fi at cafes and restaurants, is not a common one here.

9. The tube is incredibly efficient, especially when compared to the "rocket" in TO and the Metro in Mtl.

10. Passion for football and £3 pints makes for an interesting atmosphere come game day. 

That's it for now, many more observations will undoubtedly continue to be made throughout our time here. Enjoy!

T.