Staying Put

What's the point of a blog with no posts?

Well... plenty is going on. I got my interim work permit, I got a folding bike, and all sorts of other things.

Folding bike: awesome. It's the same as one I had in the UK, a Dahon Speed D7. Nippy, compact, generally wonderful.

Work permit: also awesome except it does not allow me to leave and come back to Canada. Hmm. Well, whatever - hopefully I'll be a Permanent Resident before 2013!! And it stops me flying anywhere - I'm perfectly happy about that.

We've decided to stay put in our little flat for another year. It's small, but cheap, and "enough" - we can't reduce to anything smaller, but a bit more room would be nice. So I'm bumping along at minimum in terms of physical space - we have no garden, one bedroom, living room which is mostly office, and a kitchen. That's all!

I'm getting more used to Ottawa. Where we are - Hintonburg/Mechanicsville, a couple of km from Parliament, is actually pretty nice. I'm beginning to think I could be happy living in a house (with a garden!) here long term. We have everything we need close by.

Work is currently uninspiring, but I'm going freelance/contract in a week so that will hopefully give me more time to be outside, and so on. It's currently still *very* busy despite the fact it was supposed to ease off come the start.. middle.. end of October. But at least the time goes quickly!

I'm still fascinated by what's happening in the EU and Eurozone. And by what may or may not happen in Canada. But it seems quite far away now. I'm warm, cozy, and generally content - of drained by work and so not particularly sociable.

Come the 21st of December (shortest day), Ottawa will still get 8 hours and 43 minutes of daylight.

London (UK) will get 7 hours and 50 minutes.

Edinburgh (UK) will get 6 hours and 57 minutes.

And Reykjavik (Iceland) will get only 4 hours and 7 minutes!