The Snow...

The Snow is Falling

The Snow is falling.

Just like the stock markets.

The Baby is sleeping.

And I'm drinking rum.

Big Changes, Good News

Well! No posts since August, eh? Bad old me.

Lots has changed. My wife's gone back to work so I am much more the primary care giver to our daughter, which is exhausting. I mean, I knew I am an introvert, it just all makes life so different. It's great, don't get me wrong, but very different.

My house in the UK sold, all the house stuff here is done, just have a nasty tax bill to pay this year.

But best of all: I was looking for orange squash, couldn't find any... so I tried Ribena, and Walmart sell it online! And in a blinding flash of inspiration I thought I'd check for Twiglets, too.

And OH MY GOD they sell them. The thing I miss most from home!

So I ordered some. Omnomnom.

Now we're looking for replacement cars, possible investment properties, some winter getaway when the snow (literally) gets too much.

Further Frustrations

Things are... moving. Slowly. But, still, most stress I have is due to the high price of lawyers/solicitors and how banks 'get you'.


And wasps, a bit. But I keep hitting them with a stick, and that slowly seems to be working. The wasp nest is getting smaller.


So. Getting a co-signer on a house: BAD IDEA! Expensive to get them *off* the mortgage. Don't do it, kids!


Applying for a Barclaycard in the US without an SSN: poor idea. While they accepted an "ITIN" over the phone, they then said they needed more info.. namely, an SSN. If I had an SSN I would've used it in the first place!


Cashflow is king. Really. I've got money *in theory* all over the place, but until one house sells (as in, I get the money into my bank account), I'm strapped - and no more rent in the mean time.


Guess what - there's a referendum in Scotland next month. I have no idea what that'll do to the pound. I'm hoping a NO Alex Salmond (your politics smells) will make the pound significantly stronger vs the loonie (CAD). Of course, it has to BE a "no", first.


Oh, currency markets, so fickle. Painful to sit and watch it go up and (mostly) down while I wait for a house to sell...


Don't get me wrong. I'm really lucky to have a house to sell. Just the uncertainty is a bit... What's the word? Ulcer-inducing?


Better find something else to think about for a month (or two). How long does it take to sell a house, again?

Awesome article on jobs

... and how pointless most of them are. Love it.


http://www.salon.com/2014/06/01/help_us_thomas_piketty_the_1s_sick_and_twisted_new_scheme/

Frustration Rant - QROPS, Mortgages, Loans

Banks. And solicitors.


Can't live without them, right?


So I'm trying to do "some stuff" - shifting a pension from the UK to Canada via QROPS**, selling a house, refinancing a house, all the good stuff.


The QROPS department of the bank I'm trying to move my pension to (that's you, Scotia!) are insisting they need to fill out four responses on a form *I* have to send to HMRC.


Fine. Fill it out, and send it to me, so I can fill in the rest? No. They want me to fill in my bit, then I send it to them (this is a form they sent me in the first place) for them to complete the receiving institution info, then they send it back to me and then I send it on to my old pension co.


Why? Let me guess: Because they are nosy fuckers. They want to see what I fill in so they have it on file, even though it has nothing to do with them (my old address in the UK, date I left UK, what else? Anything? Probably nothing!). If *they* had a legitimate reason to ask for that info they'd have asked it already - so they are just getting it 'by the back door' because whatever I send them they get to keep.


I'm just... fed up with it. It's disingenuous. They won't *say* that of course. But really, what other reason could they have for not giving me the two really simple pieces of information?


Selling a house... Well, this isn't Scotia, nothing to do with them at all. Just takes time. Offer's in and accepted but the solicitor (mine) wants a complete list of fixtures and fittings (I don't know, it's rented! Everything that isn't the tenant's!), amongst other things. Fine. My letting agent isn't getting back to me about exactly when the tenant is moving out but oh well. The English system of selling is pretty awful in that, until contracts are exchanged, the buyer can back out with no penalty. And that doesn't happen until really late in the process.


Refinancing.. this *is* driving me crazy. We're taking a co-signer off the mortgage as well as getting a HELOC. Apparently this means we need to disclose how many times a day we go to the toilet, as well as (re) paying for 'title searches'. Bear in mind we bought the house 3 years ago and the same lawyer did title searches then. Why do we need to get them done again I have no idea, but they are being very firm on this. To protect the (Scotia) bank.


We agreed to do the HELOC and make all this happen *two months* ago.


As someone who usually gets things done very quickly, I'm finding all this very frustrating. Incomplete answers, foot-dragging, etc.


The pension transfer thing will probably take another month or maybe longer, I have no idea (still waiting for a whole other set of documents from the UK side to arrive so I can fill them in).


I just want to scream. It's all such bullshit bureaucracy, red tape ("etc").


Such is life, I suppose.


** QROPS is a mechanism for getting a group pension plan out of the UK and into a foreign country. It's quite simple... Or rather, it should be.

Cold

Luckily, we're not one of the unfortunates in Toronto with no power. No. While we've had plenty of snow, we still have electricity and gas, so we're warm and snug inside.

Today is beautiful actually - the first bright, blue sky day we've had for (what feels like) ages. It's -22 degrees C outside, though.

Minus.

Twenty Two.

Compared to, say, Leighton Buzzard? Plus 7. Edinburgh? Plus 4. Well.

So in an attempt to be a little more weather proof should the gas *or* electric go out, I just bought a Mr Buddy Heater on sale. I've read good reviews about them in the past - should I manage to live in a van some day, or a cabin in the mountains, this will come in very handy then, too.

But for the time being, having a source of heat that is not dependent on electricity is a Good Thing (we have a couple of electric heaters - for if the gas is off, but mostly we use them as a boost for our bedroom which seems not to get much of the forced air forced into it!)

For the last couple of days, I've been fixated on videos of tiny cabin living - for example:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQyOcv9dJ2A

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKfioojESyM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9_oeUqa_jg

How much space do I need? Well.. it's not that simple - we have *loads* of space in our house but it is inefficient (our main room is maybe 18 ft square!). I have the strongest urge to just throw it all away (Playstation 2, Dreamcast, computer, desk, books - especially the IT ones, TV/monitor), buy an RV, rent the house and JUST GO!

South, ideally!

Sadly I send my passport in to the US government in order to get some paperwork done.. so I can't go anywhere even remotely warm at the moment, even if I (really) wanted to. I mean.. I do want to. It's just not practical.

Thankfully, it's warm in here. And I have some stuff growing - a pepper plant is starting to fruit (!), I have some salad mix on the go, and a saved avocado seed has split and the stem is showing. Pretty cool!

Happy solstice (bit late but never mind, eh?)

New Normal

So... now we have a baby. Life is different. The baby is very little trouble, and yet there is much more to do. Thankfully I don't have a 9-5 job to return to after two weeks of 'paternity leave', so I can.. cook, do laundry, shopping, read to my wife so she doesn't get bored while breastfeeding, and so on.

Not much has changed - apart from the crib in our room, the dirty nappies (we're using cloth diapers, which means not too much to throw away, but lots of pre-rinsing and a little scrubbing, plus an almost nightly laundry load to do - when previously we'd do maybe two loads a week!). Apart from the fact my wife is a voracious eater (and much slimmer than she was a few weeks ago!!). Apart from everything.

I still have plenty of me-time, but my wife is now at home, all day, every day - rather than out at work, at meetings, events until various times in the evening, many or most days of the week. I am beginning to understand why married men with children stay up so late... because after everyone else is in bed really is the only time to ponder personal stuff. I lived alone for many years, and my wife's usual working habits mean it's been a bit like living alone until now. Having her at home is great (except for the regular "feed me!" cries, ha), but still, change. Adjustment.

It's snowy out. I forget, every year, what it is like for me walking in snow - not out-in-the-forest snow, just to-the-supermarket, where the pavement is sort've cleared, but maybe a bit icy, maybe a bit slippery. We only have one car on the road (mine!), and it only goes out once or twice per week - so both car insurance and fuel bills have come down a lot. Of course, we're keeping the house much warmer, cooking and washing during the day, so our utility bills are going up... but it's ok.

And the baby. Ah, the baby. She eats, she sleeps, and she poohs. She looks around a bit but doesn't really react to what you say to her. If you poke her with a breast, she'll go for it, latch on and omnomnom; if she's wet, she'll cry. She's 'cute', so everyone says, but she doesn't really do much.

Still. She's, like, a tiny human being, y'know? Pretty amazing, but also amazing how utterly defenceless she is! The center of our lives. For the next.. 18 years?!

You can see it coming, but I certainly didn't know what it'd feel like. I doubt I can put it into words. It's incredible, scary, humbling, and delightful. Everything has changed; but I'm still the same.

Pretty cool. Would I recommend it? I don't know. It's so entirely personal... and of course I love her completely. She's part me!

She's got really big big toes, though. Yeah. pretty cool.