A year in the life...

2009 has been a pretty great year. It's hard to believe that I've been living in Canada for 12 months, yet I've packed more into those than the last few years combined.

This time last year I was celebrating Christmas and New Year with my family and friends back home, and preparing to go back to work at Birmingham University to finish off the last two weeks of my contract as a Distance Learning Manager. Come January 15th and my flat was empty, and I was packed ready to go.

When I arrived in Newfoundland it was late at night, and covered in snow. Arriving without a winter coat was soon to be regretted. Still, it's been lots of fun and here are a few features of my year.

Living in a province where the snow doesn't disappear until May takes a bit of getting used to. The discovery of the existence of snow pants and yaktrax made my life much more comfortable.

The view from our front door - this is the top of the steps

Cross country skiing is fun, if a little dangerous if you have no skills.


Back in April, when the UK was having a delightful Spring, the pack ice arrived. I have never seen anything like it, and I felt positively messianic walking on water.

I walk on water. Just wait till you see my other party tricks.

After the pack ice disappeared, the iceberg came. It was lodged in Quidi Vidi Harbour for a week or so, but this was as close as we got.


A trip to Bell Island saw some impressive icicles, and some nice cruziana fossils.

These are taller than me, but I have no scale.

In June we drove to Prince Edward Island to dig up worms for L's work. During the trip we witnessed such marvels as the World's Biggest Blueberry, the PEI Potato Museum, and a lot of Anne of Green Gables-related kitsch.

World's Biggest Blueberry, Nova Scotia

In July I returned home for the purposes of field work. I had the fun of driving a big white van from Birmingham to Croatia, where we experienced the worst weather in decades. Still, the archaeology was great!

Inside Diocletian's Mausoleum, Split

On my return to Newfoundland I had the opportunity to go excavating on Signal Hill. Being more of a non-invasive archaeologist, it was a treat to handle a trowel again.

In September an intrepid group went on a camping trip to the Baie Verte Peninsula. The main purpose of which was to see the amazing steatite quarry used by the palaeoekimos at Fleur-de-Lys a couple of thousand years ago.


This wasn't the only highlight, however, as we also discovered the bizarre abandoned town of Tilt Cove, which has a murky past...



In October I took a trip to Quebec City with some archaeological reprobates. Much fun was had and large quantities of hot chocolate and poutine were consumed, whilst trying to remember my schoolgirl French.

Chez AshTon, home of poutine

The Irish Loop was the next destination as L's parents came to visit. The highlight was Mistaken Point where we got to see incredible precambrian fossils, which are soon to become a World Heritage site.

Spindle fossil, Mistaken point

Winter returned with 39.6cm of snow falling in one day in early December. We warmed ourselves with a traditional feuerzangenbowle and gift swapping for St Nikolaus.


This was followed up by a Wassail party on the Solstice and then we took part in some Newfoundland Mummering, well, the parade at least, before spending our first Christmas abroad.

Any mummers 'loud in?

So, it's been an extremely memorable year, but now I find I have to return home earlier than expected. I'm going to find it hard to leave this place.

Lost voice

It's finally happened. My accent has changed. I was hoping to survive unscathed but alas it was not to be. I haven't gone Canadian - my sentences don't all end with 'eh', and I haven't picked up such mannerisms as 'where're you to' (though I quite like that one). Nope, I've gone posh.

When I first arrived I was in a lab with all Newfoundlanders (as opposed to my other half, who's shacked up with a huge European contingent). Most of the time we got on fine but one guy just didn't have a clue what I was saying. To be fair I couldn't really understand him either. We both used far too much slang and spoke too fast.

In shops I either had people look at me like I was crazy or gush at how exotic I was. This seems to be the main divide in my experience. It's really embarrassing to stand there while the secretary in your department tells you how wonderful your voice is and that she could listen to you all day. Believe me, she'd soon get bored. On the other hand it's infuriating to ask an unlabelled person in a shop whether they work there 6 times and just have them gape at you like you're some kind of freak then get annoyed with you.

As a result I seem to have inadvertantly dropped the slang and poshed right up. So much so that I can't remember how to speak with my normal accent. I was already pretty well-spoken so it wasn't a giant leap, but now I can't go back without speaking to someone from home. Liam has started to mock me on how ridiculous I sound. As a result, it's also made me pretty angry everytime I meet a 'gusher'. On exiting the cinema last week after watching 'In The Loop' a woman walked past, grabbed my arm and said "ooh you could have been in the film"! I wanted to hit her. Possibly an overreaction but it was a bloody stupid thing to say. Do you find me exiting Hollywood blockbusters and, on hearing a North American accent, blather on about how they could have been the star? No, I do not. Because I am not a twat.

So, my mission now is to regain my accent at all costs, but without going too far in the opposite direction. No-one loves a cod-cockney.

Rant over.


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Shake it like a Poladroid picture

I have become obsessed. Yet again.

This time it is with my new camera. I recently bought a new digital camera after a whole lot of trauma due to credit cards and billing/shipping addresses not matching. One of the many hazards of being a Brit abroad. Anyway, I eventually bought it in an actual shop (*gasp*) this past weekend and have been snapping away left, right, and centre. This, however, is not the obsession.

I recently upgraded to being a Pro on Flickr (sadly this doesn't actually provide you with a great improvement on your photographic skills, just more storage space). On idly flicking around I found Poladroid. It's free software that you use to create Polaroid-like images. It's great, you drag your image onto the icon of the camera, it spits out a photo, then you can shake the picture using your mouse and it slowly develops. Whether or not shaking the image actually succeeds in speeding up development time is unknown, but 1) it's fun, 2) you can sing 'Hey-Ya' loudly whilst doing it and, more importantly, 3) it really annoys Liam!

"Shake it, shake it, shake it, shake it, shake it shake it..."

You can can take samples of the image at any point during the developing, and even add scratches/fingerprints to give aging effects. Anyway, here are my three favourites so far. I've cropped them but you get the idea...

Icy Window:


The rainy view out of our front window:


A random crow:

Cooking in Canada

I am not a bad cook. In fact I'd go so far as to say I'm a pretty good cook. However, for some reason, ever since I got to Canada it all seems to have gone a bit wrong. As I wanted to expand my repertoire I brought a cookery book with me, eager to try some new recipes, and to save money Liam and I have been planning our meals very carefully. What we forgot to take account of was that many of the ingredients just aren't available here, and this has led to some unsatisfying conclusions about both cooking and shopping:


1. You cannot buy Halloumi, but you can get about 25 different types of Feta.

2. Havarti is not an adequate substitute for Halloumi, and will melt and burn all over your pans.

3. Strong cheddar is basically tasteless plastic, unless you pay extortionate sums in a specialist 'shoppe'.

4. Guessing the Fahrenheit/Celsius conversion is not a sensible thing to do, and proper calculations should be done (see nos.4 and 5)

4. Macaroni cheese (or Marconi cheese as we now like to call it) does not like to be cooked for too long in a too cool oven, or it turns into an inedible solid

5. Spanish omelette shouldn't be cooked in a pan that's too hot or it burns very quickly indeed, setting off smoke alarms and annoying the neighbours

6. You can't really buy decent cordial/squash here. Our first buy was "tropical punch" that basically tasted overwhelmingly of almonds, making me constantly suspicious that Liam was attempting to poison me

7. Cider vinegar is not a good substitute for actual alcoholic cider in cooking, and will burn your eyes in the process

8. 'Broiling' is actually grilling, despite what it sounds like, but the 'Broil' setting on our cooker doesn't actually work, rendering this discovery rather pointless


I'm sure I've left some off, and will no doubt return to the theme in a later post. I rather suspect that this won't be the end of my culinary disasters...


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Ce n'est pas un Bonaventure

This cold weather lark takes a bit of getting used to. I knew it wasn't going to be nice temperate British weather but I had thought that the snowier-than-usual winter that we've just had in the UK would go some way towards preparing me for St John's. I was wrong.

As Liam has already pointed out, this city doesn't seem to be made for the pedestrian, with most pavements consisting of either huge hills of snow (redistributed from the roads), or treacherous ice-runs. The latter makes our regular milk run fairly 'interesting' as the person in the corner house never grits their section. How very un-neighbourly.

There are hidden dangers on the pavements. The worst being the compacted ice under the snow, which is often very lumpy, and can see your legs flying out in odd directions just when you think it's a nice crunchy safe bit. I have a fear, and that fear is that I will slide on the ice and my protruding leg be run over by a huge 4x4. This is, of course, fairly unlikely, particularly as Canadian drivers seem to be a lot more considerate, but it doesn't stop me worrying.

We have developed a few coping strategies, though, one of which is a sort of semi-skating manoeuvre that's particularly good for flat icy runs, but less good when any kind of slope is involved. Given that St John's is almost entirely made up of slope, this is therefore a problem!

We have been trying out various ways to get to campus in order to isolate the optimal route as regards distance and treacherosity. The most hated one of these so far is down Bonaventure Avenue. I can safely say that they (in the style of Greenland) have marketed it misleadingly. It is a fairly steep slope, a major road, and lacks any kind of supporting device (such as fence) to prevent you sliding uncontrollably downhill or into oncoming traffic. It is in no way fun or pleasant, though it is certainly an adventure, of sorts.

Worse than this, though, was my Downtown experience last weekend. We were out on an explore (I wanted to find my local yarn shop, which turned out to be an epic journey). On the way the heavens opened and we experienced our first proper NL rain. It was torrential. The fact that it was warm enough to rain, however, did not prevent all of this rain turning into ice. The pavements were bad enough, but stepping onto one road I discovered it was one giant ice sheet. Though I stood still on the edge of the road, I found myself sliding down the hill and had to do some ridiculous manoeuvres to propel myself across the road without falling on my arse. It was fun with a very small "f" (as my parents would say).

Today I am hoping to have experienced the last of the 'fear'. On our way to campus this morning we stopped at a drugstore and purchased 'clickers'. I don't know what the official name for them is (perhaps a 'traction device'?; there's a brand called YakTrax but I don't have those), but they are a marvel of modern science. As soon as I put them on over my boots I felt an overwhelming sense of wellbeing as my tension and panic subsided. It was kind of how I felt last Friday when I finally got myself a proper outdoor coat rather than relying on the trusty old Birmingham University hoodie I'd been wearing in -11 and wondering why I was a bit chilly.

I'm actually now looking forward to the walk home. Now all we need to deal with is the wind.


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There's no such thing as bad weather...

...just bad clothing.

I found this out to my cost yesterday. My first day in St John's we walked from Quidi Vidi Lake to Memorial Campus. In the snow it took about an hour, and during the course of the walk I realised that jeans are extremely inappropriate as a bottom half. As my thighs began to sting and I lost feeling in my bum I regretted being so unprepared.

Turns out that I arrived in NL just in time for one of the coldest winters in Atlantic Canada seen in a while. I can't even begin to think what it's like on the mainland in far lower temperatures. What did surprise me though is how the locals seem to deal with the cold. I expected them to be completely at home and skipping merrily across the ice in t-shirts. Instead people seem to drive everywhere and stay indoors. I've never seen a shopping centre so empty on a Saturday. I may have it wrong but it felt more like Sundays used to feel back in the 80s when nothing was open. Curious!

Anyway, I am now equipped with insulated troosers which should keep my nether regions suitably unbitten by frost. I shall report back on their efficacy ;o)



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Recently Discovered Earth*

* (c) Liam Herringshaw 2008


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)

Vancooooover!

I've just got back from a trip to Vancouver. It was my first visit to the North American continent and it was marvellous and I bizarrely didn't seem to suffer from jet lag at all on the way home. What I am most pleased about though, is that I managed to restrain myself and stick to my Wardrobe Refashion Challenge. I didn't buy any clothes at all, which I am amazed at.

Whilst I can't see myself living the high-rise urban chic lifestyle, I fell in love with the houses just outside the city, lining the sides of the nearby Grouse mountain. I could quite happily live in one of those wooden blue houses with verandahs. With the VC passion for arts and crafts I think I'd fit in perfectly. Now... to get a job and the vast amounts of cash to afford one...