My blog - November 2005
Chinook
November 23rd 2005, 2:55am
One of the nice advantages of Calgary over most of Canada is the Chinooks. Every so often a chinook wind comes in and heats the whole place up for a while. So although a week ago there was a day when the temperature didn't get above minus two, this week has been quite mild, and today it reached twenty-one degrees. That's Celsius, for any Americans reading this. The snow we had a few weeks ago has now completely melted - just in time for the next batch of snow we're expecting this weekend. Oh well, I won't have to put up with the snow for too long, as I go back to England in just over two weeks. But having said that, I notice they're expecting snow back home too. I can't win either way!
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I Am Engaged
November 18th 2005, 7:33pm
Hey everyone - I'm engaged! I have been for just over a week, but I've been waiting until I'd managed to phone a load of people before posting it on here. Sorry if I haven't phoned you, but it's a bit awkward with the time difference and all that.
Anyway, Naomi and I got engaged last Thursday evening on Prince's Island in Calgary. We went for a meal at the restaurant on the island, and afterwards Naomi wanted to go to the Devonian Gardens to check out whether they'd be any good for a reception (since we've been planning on getting married even though we weren't officially engaged yet). After than we had to walk back across the island to get to the car which was parked the other side of the river, so we went for a walk around it. At one point I stopped to take a photo of Calgary with my phone and Naomi noticed a bench by the river and suggested we go and sit on it, not knowing I'd been expecting her to do that. I'd walked round the island earlier and decided that was the bench to get engaged on. So I got down on one knee and proposed.
Now we're busy trying to find a church to get married in. We've found a reception venue, but finding a church is a little more difficult. We found a really nice one, but it was already booked on July 29th, and then we found another really nice one but we can't get married there unless we're Anglicans. We're just about to go and look at another three churches today.
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Comment posted by Jon Taylor at 7:33pm on November 18th 2005
Congratulations James and Naomi. This is great news. Sounds like a very romantic proposal. God bless you.
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My First NHL Game
November 8th 2005, 7:52am
This evening I went to my first NHL game. The Calgary Flames were playing the Vancouver Canucks - the bottom team against the top team. They played each other on Saturday and Flames won 1-0. I was hoping there would be a few more goals scored tonight.
There are a few things different at a Flames game from a Coventry Blaze game. First is there are seventeen thousand people there instead of two thousand. Second is there are big flames which shoot up from things hanging from the ceiling when the Flames score. Third is when there are breaks in play, they last much longer because they have to wait for the ad break to finish on TV. And they don't have any sponsors on their jerseys - Coventry have about twenty. Other than that though, it's pretty similar to a Coventry game. A bit more passing, a bit less fighting and a lot more cheering though.
I went with Naomi and Paul - both Canucks fans. Being new to Canada I'm not really a fan of any team, so I picked Calgary, since it's where I'm living. And it's more fun to cheer with thousands of other fans instead of on your own! Turns out it was a good choice - we won 4-3. I really enjoyed it - and I'd go and watch them more often if the tickets weren't so expensive. I'll probably have to stick to watching the Hitmen instead - their games are way cheaper, 'cos they're WHL, not NHL.
Naomi and I took a load of pictures with her camera. I might put some of them on here once she's downloaded them.
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Comment posted by knobby at 7:52am on November 8th 2005
ice hockey is all very well. but what about the important news?! no, nothing to do with winter tyres either...
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New Car
November 6th 2005, 8:42pm
Yesterday we bought our new Golf. It's not actually a GTI, it's a GL. But apart from having drum brakes at the rear instead of discs, it's probably better, because it has 17" wheels, lowered suspension, MOMO steering wheel and pedals and Recaro seats. And a pretty snazzy stereo which'll play MP3 CDs. It's also had the handles removed so you have to open it with a remote control.
There are a few things I'd like to change though - it'd be nice to have round headlights instead of the North American rectangular ones. And I want to put VW badges back on it. Maybe a big new beetle style one for the back, since we have so much space there!
I can't drive it yet though, because we haven't registered or insured it, or got winter tyres. Hopefully we can do all that soon, because I want to get out and explore.
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Comment posted by Nathan at 8:42pm on November 6th 2005
Sweet
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Another GTI
November 1st 2005, 12:00am
I may soon own two Golf GTIs. On Friday Naomi and I went to look at this one, and we like it. We need to check the VIN, but assuming it's all legit' we'll be buying it this weekend. I'm going to have to do a little work on it - like fitting an alarm and winter tyres, but it's way nicer than anything else we saw in Calgary. If we do get it, I'll post a better picture.
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