We made it! Despite the best efforts of customs agents, airline food and insanely cramped seating conditions (you try getting confortable in economy class when you're 6'6") we all (Myself, my wife and our two boys) made it to that amazing land where you can't move 5 metres without bumping into a maple tree and where agressive hockey players are harvested in their prime in the winter.

The flight was good but *long* and I'm really happy to say that we won't be getting on another one quite like it for a few more weeks yet. Both of the boys were really good on the flight and Jennie and I managed to survive the flight without too many hardships, but it seems that the Australian goverment really doesn't trust me to leave the country without giving me a thorough once over before I left. I was subjected to a "random" baggage search on the way out of Melbourne and a "random" Trace Explosive Residue search on my way out of Sydney. I can only assume that someone at the work dropped my name at that anti-terrorist hotline or something (or maybe the photo in my passport is coming back to haunt me, I dunno).

The overnight stop-over in Los Angeles was a real lifesaver. It gave Jennie and I a chance to catch our breath and it helped us all to get come to grips with jet-lag. Breakfast was everything that Graeme (my eldest son) imagined it to be and we left the hotel with a boy more laden down with bacon than any other in history. The flights from LA to Montreal and from Montreal to Hallifax were mericifully brief and Nathan (my youngest son) even managed to grab some shuteye on both flights. We also managed to catch up with some of Jennie's cousins in Montreal and I have to say that Jennie's cousin Sheldon is HUGE. I knew that they made Gridiron players big but seeing them in person is so much more impressive than looking at them on a TV screen. The really frightening part is that Sheldon is just in a college team and has to wait until he turns professional before he really bulks up. The mind boggles.

Since we were picked up at the airport by my father-in-law on Tuesday night, life in rural Nova Scoitia is nice, quiet and COLD. Today we are basking in a comparitive heatwave as the temperature has gone out of it's way to almost make it into positive double digits. Yesterday was below -4 for most of the day and only managed to climb towards zero once the sun had gone down. (Say what?). Yesterday was also the first day that the boys experienced snow, and Jennie and I were woken with Graeme's excited news, "Mum, Dad I have something realy exciting to tell you. It's snowing, snowing, snowing, snowing!". Nathan then ran to the window and exclaimed with equal excitement, "Look Mum, cows!". These were the same cows that he exclaimed over the day before - So maybe he just has a thing for cows.

Yesterday was also the first Christmas gathering that we've been to here in Canada, and much fun was had by all. I have to say in passing that Jennie's family can eat, it was all I could do to keep up with them. Graeme spent a lot of the day yesterday playing with a second (third?) cousin and by the time they were done they'd both managed to do their best at freezing themselves solid - Playing with an icicle that was almost as tall as either of them helped.

More news to follow once I have more news to report. Nothing much has been happening here, I've used this time to relax and be thoroughly disgusted with what clean, wholesome country air does to a person. I've woken up every morning since getting here (other than the first morning when we slept in until 10) before 7:30am, all without the aid of an alarm clock. I can't cope with this, I need smog and concrete and I need it now.



Doug

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logicalheart wrote:
You know that pretty sound you play when the computer starts?
You need another one to play when the computer is actually ready to use.
Maybe add more for malfunctions and then we'll have music all day.

@DJRJ

Merry christmas mate have a good one

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Aldur
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@DJRJ

Have a good holiday .. And get yourself to a pro hockey match, You wont believe the speed & excitement.

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I dont suffer from Insanity - I enjoy it

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@The_Editor

Quote:

The_Editor wrote: @DJRJ Have a good holiday .. And get yourself to a pro hockey match, You wont believe the speed & excitement.

Jo wants to take me to a game. She says compared to Ice Hockey, Rugby is a girls game.

@ DRJR

Hope you and your family have a fantastic Chirstmas and new years!

@Bobsonsirjonny

lol ... She's RIGHT !!

Have you ever seen a "Bench Clearance" first hand ?



hehe

[ Nottingham Panthers v Sheffield Steelers]

Check this link Bob .. Peterborough Pirates

A player recaps....

What?s the best game you have ever played in and why?
Playing against Peterborough with the U16?s when there was a bench clearance.


Note : Hockey players wear numbers because you can't always identify the bodies with dental records



Sadly gone

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I dont suffer from Insanity - I enjoy it

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@The_Editor

Quote:

The_Editor wrote: Note : Hockey players wear numbers because you can't always identify the bodies with dental records

Course not! Bodies are one err, I mean two of a kind.... yeah I know bad joke....

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@The_Editor

Quote:

Have a good holiday .. And get yourself to a pro hockey match, You wont believe the speed & excitement.

That could be difficult. There is no pro hockey games played now as there is a conflict between the club owners and the players association in NHL, lock outs and stuff going on...

@Niolator

WOW. I hadn't heard that !!

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I dont suffer from Insanity - I enjoy it

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Quote:

Bodie_CI5 wrote: @The_Editor Quote: The_Editor wrote: Note : Hockey players wear numbers because you can't always identify the bodies with dental records Course not! Bodies are one err, I mean two of a kind.... yeah I know bad joke....

Ah, I think we all knew that was coming sooner or later!

_________________
SEX SUX

Sex doesn't prove to me that sex doesn't suck.

@The_Editor

Here in Sweden we don´t talk about anything else when it comes to sports (almost) as a lot of the pros play in the swedish leagues during the lock out to keep their skills in good shape.

The cause of theconfilct is that the owners of the clubs want to define a maximum pay for the players but the players refuse to accept that. There might be an end to the lock out soon though as the players association has come up with a new suggestion to a solution. They are meeting later this week.

Last edited by Niolator on 07-Dec-2004 at 10:50 PM.

@DJRJ

Wait! You mean you intentionally gave up summer in Melbourne to go to Canada in the winter?

to North America.

RE: Pro Hockey and the NHL lockout
Well, a few years back, I would've suggested an AHL (NHL affiliate, but no lockout) game*, but I checked their website, and I don't see where Nova Scotia has a team anymore. You could always take in the St Johns Maple Leafs up in Newfoundland. That's a bit of a haul, though.


* The action is fast, the checks are hard, but the players aren't yet ready for the NHL. Go Crunch.

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Tony T.

People who generalize are always wrong.


1989 - 500 / 1991 - 3000 / 1997 - Genesis Flyer 1200T / 2003 - A1XE

@DJRJ

If you are desperate to see some action, call one of the natives an "eskimo" to their face.

You might need to arm yourself with somthing first though...

@DruidPoet

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@Thread

The weather has warmed up some, at least I don't have to worry about ice that much at the moment. The holiday continues much as expected, although I have managed to lose about 1.5 to 2 kgs in weight during my time here. There's a diet plan that works, move to some place cold and freeze your ass off, the shivering provides you with a full body work-out! The last couple of days at my father-in-law's farm near Bridgetown gave me ample opportunities to try to adapt to the cold - In desperation I even tried farting to keep my testicles warm. It didn't work and my short and curlies very nearly became short and crunchies.

Halifax is a nice little place. At least I'm seeing more of it than I did last time (8 years ago when I got married). The most distubing thing that I have seen is a warning sign that said "Beware of Falling Snow". Huh? Shouldn't that apply to the whole country? Another disturbing element of life in Nova Scotia is the scant attention paid to the rampant drug problem here, the chief peddler of which is a syndicate that calls themselves Tim Hortons. They claim to sell coffee and doughnuts, but mere coffee and doughnuts does not explain the excessively long lines of cars at the drive-though window that I see every morning - And now if I don't get my daily extra large double double, I'm apt to get cranky...

The NHL strike/lock-out/whatever has been an interesting thing to see, and made me think that if a similar thing were to be tried back home than mobs of angry fans would unite to tear whatever players and/or officials were responsible apart until the situation ended. Even with the strike though I am seeing a game this Wednesday, my wife is arranging for tickets to the local Mooseheads game. Should be fun as to date my only exposure to the game has been "Slap Shot" with Paul Newman.

More observations and ramblings to follow later, must play with my kids...



Doug

_________________
logicalheart wrote:
You know that pretty sound you play when the computer starts?
You need another one to play when the computer is actually ready to use.
Maybe add more for malfunctions and then we'll have music all day.

@DJRJ

Ah yes .. But wasn't Slapshot a kewl movie.

You shoulda seen Youngblood as well with Cynthia Gibb in it ... Oooo Aaaar. ( Another ice Hockey film)

Last edited by The_Editor on 14-Dec-2004 at 08:18 PM.

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I dont suffer from Insanity - I enjoy it

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Quote:

DJRJ wrote: @Thread The weather has warmed up some, at least I don't have to worry about ice that much at the moment. The holiday continues much as expected, although I have managed to lose about 1.5 to 2 kgs in weight during my time here.

Whoa... that's impressive! Here in Britain, most of us are putting on weight at this time of year!
Quote:

The last couple of days at my father-in-law's farm near Bridgetown gave me ample opportunities to try to adapt to the cold - In desperation I even tried farting to keep my testicles warm. It didn't work and my short and curlies very nearly became short and crunchies.

Maybe you should try roasting your nuts on an open fire.
Quote:

The most distubing thing that I have seen is a warning sign that said "Beware of Falling Snow". Huh? Shouldn't that apply to the whole country?

Perhaps they mean avalanches.
Quote:

Another disturbing element of life in Nova Scotia is the scant attention paid to the rampant drug problem here, the chief peddler of which is a syndicate that calls themselves Tim Hortons. They claim to sell coffee and doughnuts, but mere coffee and doughnuts does not explain the excessively long lines of cars at the drive-though window that I see every morning - And now if I don't get my daily extra large double double, I'm apt to get cranky...

I guess it wouldn't be too hard to hide some white powder in a snow-ridden country!

Except they'd then probably forget where they put it!

_________________
SEX SUX

Sex doesn't prove to me that sex doesn't suck.

@Thread

OUCH!! (Holiday Update #3)

Those of you who know me best may have had some sort of sweep going as to how long it would take before I managed to do myself an injury while on holiday. The winner of the sweep is that person who nominated New Year's Eve as the date of my (literal) downfall.

We all (Jennie, the boys and Jennie's brother's family) went to West Edmonton Mall (the largest shopping mall in the world) to ring the new year in at the mall's water park. Yes, the mall really *is* that big, with a water park, an amusement park with roller coaster, a life-size replica of Christopher Columbus' ship the 'Santa Maria' and a dolphin show twice every day.

Jennie and I took both boys up to some of the taller waterslides and that is when things started to go wrong. Jennie, who was without her glasses and was therefore as blind as a bat, was (unreasonably) unwilling to send our overgown offspring down the first intermediate slide alone. I was talked into leading the way back down the (treacherously slippery) steps to ground level and then I would go back up to make a fool of myself. Graeme, who was holding my hand at the time, scooted a little bit ahead of me and I leant out to keep a grip on him while decending down a shortish flight of steps...

*ZIP!* My feet slipped out from under me and I landed on my arse and started bouncing down the remaining steps until my right foot was able to arrest my inelegant decent. My foot stopped achieved this by colliding with a post that held the (equally treacherously slippery) handrail up. The pain from this was enough to prompt all sorts of unseemly language that I won't repeat...

You can all stop laughing now.

I got to my feet (still swearing) and performed a quick damage check:
1. Moderately scraped left forearm.
2. Minor scraping on left side of lower back.
3. Amazingly painful collection of toes on right foot.

As I was able to bend all of the toes on the badly abused foot I figured that things were (while painful) mostly fine and the evening continued as normal - Which means that both Graeme and Nathan behaved in such an appalling manner as to bring to a premature end our evening's activities. A couple of painkillers back at the hotel and we spent the rest of the night in conversation. All was good as possible given the circumstances (Except for that incident where my brother-in-law slid a footstool in my direction, causing it to collide with my much abused foot).

The next day we all set off on our 5 hour drive from Edmonton to Fort McMurray where I experienced a windchill so amazingly cold that various delicate extremities retracted so far into my body that I had to swallow real hard in order to scratch them. It was here in what can best be described as the frigid hub of Hell that I first took my shoes off for the day (some 6 or 7 hours after putting them on) - I didn't realise that a single toe could have that many unpleasant looking colours on it. A couple of X-Rays at the local hospital revealed the truth, that my forth toe (the little piggy that got none) was, in fact, broken.

Oh bliss, oh joy! I see that another update is available and here I am 15,000km away from my A1. Life hates me... (Funny, I can hear my brother in law saying "Suck it up, buttercup!")



Doug

_________________
logicalheart wrote:
You know that pretty sound you play when the computer starts?
You need another one to play when the computer is actually ready to use.
Maybe add more for malfunctions and then we'll have music all day.

@DJRJ

Your having fun then ??

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I dont suffer from Insanity - I enjoy it

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@DJRJ

So, you're describing pain and misery caused by an accident, which came about because of something some children wanted to do?
All I can say as advice is... DON'T HAVE CHILDREN!!!!!

Last edited by RoqueFort on 04-Jan-2005 at 02:45 PM.

_________________
SEX SUX

Sex doesn't prove to me that sex doesn't suck.