Well, where to start? I appear to have completely lost my mind. I am giving up a well-paid job to move to a country where there is 10 months of winter and 2 of summer, and very few job prospects for an archaeologist.
My other half has been given a two-year post at Memorial University in Newfoundland and, after nearly 3 years of frequent visits up to Aberdeen I've had enough of killing the environment with my frequent flying. Commuting to Canada for weekend visits is a step too far...
To cap it all I'm moving over in mid-January, which is possibly the stupidest time to go, given the pack ice, sleet, and general arctic nature of the place. I think this excerpt from the current Provincial anthem sums it up nicely:
- When spreads thy cloak of shimm'ring white,
- At winter's stern command,
- Thro' shortened day and starlit night,
- We love thee, frozen land,
- We love thee, we love thee,
- We love thee, frozen land.
- When blinding storm gusts fret thy shore,
- And wild waves lash thy strand,
- Thro' sprindrift swirl and tempest roar,
- We love thee, windswept land,
- We love thee, we love thee,
- We love thee, windswept land.
Of course there's every opportunity for things to go a bit wrong: I don't have a job lined up properly or a work permit, but these are mere trivialities and I won't let that get in the way of my excitement. Come February I may still be in the UK and regretting handing in my notice but fingers crossed this won't be a problem. I have more things to worry about once I get there:
1) permanent frizzy hair due to sleet and wind
2) premature skin aging from adverse weather conditions
3) contracting hypothermia on landing
4) being mauled by gigantic Newfoundland dogs
5) having to tie down my house with rope
6) developing rickets due to Vitamin D deficiency
7) being attacked by Skraelings*
* see Saga of Erik the Red
I'm sure that many of these fears are completely unfounded... except the dog one ... ;o)
7 comments:
No worries, Hen, you can read this blog while you're hunkered down over the icy winter months and get over your utterly irrational dogphobe :-)
brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!
Are you sure you want to do this? You may need to knit a few jumpers as extra layers may be required...we will miss you Hen.
Ahh, best of luck Helen! Maybe you can use some of your fantastic creative skills to earn you some cash and keep you busy, if you don't have a job straight away. Thanks to blogging we will be able to follow your adventure.
I thought should advise you that the photo of icicled cars was taken in Switzerland, not Newfoundland. I found the same photos on a web search for Newfoundland and thought "Oh, wow!" (a la Chris Rabbit) but then discovered it was a mix-up and they were actually pictures from a lake in central Europe.
You spoil all my fun! ;o)
Perhaps the whole project is a sham - I've just done some looking round, too, and find that the so called 'Newfoundland dog' is really this fellow.
What's going on? I think we should be told...
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