It actually got to the point where I nearly forgot the password to get in here.

So, here’s to a better attempt. Oh, and Javascript wizards, etc…. apply here.

Its just reward for a year of hard work and a great amount of blood, sweat and tears from the team - which has now grown from 102 when I started to 158 - yikes!

Now its a challenge of keeping that momentum in 2008.

At the risk of getting to the airport late, I waited - and lucky it was there. I had money

Jumped on the plane, read a magazine, watched Evan Almighty (surprisingly not too bad) and then Grease. Had some food and pretty much landed. Time flew (thank goodness)….. see what I did there?? flew?

I got lost in Toronto Airport. It’s not that big, I just wasn’t that smart after an early morning. Stepping outside, I felt for the first time what -11 felt like. -11 is not my friend. Shirt, Shirt, Jumper, Coat, Beanie, Gloves and Scarf later I caught a bus to the subway and connected to the hotel - I splurged on the Sheraton to make it feel like a holiday quicker. These shortish trips, I need to forget work early! The Sheraton Centre, Toronto is really nice - if you can get a decent price, I suggest you visit. My room overlooked the Town Hall with its temporary ice rink and a concert - they even put fireworks on for me.

After a walk around I retired back to my room for an earlyish night of warmth and TV. Interesting I woke at 2am - I don’t know why. I do know why a woke again at 5:30 though - FIRE ALERT! (Yes, alert - not alarm). The brigade was called and we were to standby. Just in case an investigation was needed, I ensured warm clothes, passport, ID and money were close. In the end, it was an extinguisher on the 17th floor that had been set off - not fire. Thanks for the wakeup call Sheraton. The only positive of waking up at 5:30 was that I woke up to a snow filled landscape - pretty cool, and I don’t get to see snow often. I’m sure I’ll have seen a lot by the end of the week.

This morning I went for a bit of a walk down the road, got some breakfast then walked around for as long as I could before I had to check out. Managed to get some distance shots of the CN tower (I’ll go up later) and then got down to the harbour. Its a pity I’m travelling alone though - I really wanted to throw a snowball or two, but didn’t know how the old lady in the walking frame or the scary looking guy in the hoodie would react.

So now, I sit here. 24 hours gone. Mental note - when snow gets slushy, it becomes water and goes through your shoes, wetting your socks. I’m on my second pair for the day - I didn’t stock up with too many….. this is going to be interesting!

We got to Fire&Stone pretty early. You kind of have to - the whole idea of these cheap deals is they manage to get a session in for dinner at 5:45 (definitely the earliest I’ve had dinner this year). Fire&Stone does fantastic wood fired pizzas and I’ll definately go back again. A cocktail, salad and pizza later, we headed to the pub for a quick pint.

Our seats at Lord of the Rings weren’t as bad as I had expected, we were in the third row but off to the side. The front rows actually aren’t the best in this as the stage raises quite high at times - £50 million production (it’d want to).

All in all, I guess it was ok. I went mainly to see the sets and how you can spend that much money on a production. Also, with that budget its unlikely to get to Australia. The songs seemed incidental to the story and in a three hour production for all 3 books, key characters and scenes were missing (no faramir storyline etc). But I guess they did the best with what they could.

Gollum was played really well, but for whatever reason I was irritated by most of the others. Maybe its the movie having an effect on me.

All in all, a fun night out for £20.

With no full plan yet in place, it might be a bit of an adventure but I’ll have a few days in Toronto, then head off to Montreal before returning and heading back to Toronto to fly out.

Anyone that’s been - feel free to throw some suggestions my way. A day trip out to Niagara Falls might be worthwhile, except I’m going to be freezing. Apparently it was 3 degrees today. Ouch! Time to go stand in the freezer section of Tesco.

Now that I’ve waded through most of that the tide will remain high at least for the rest of this week, so don’t look for too many updates too soon. Not only do I have that to manage, but I’ve gotta start looking for a new house (in case we don’t renew the lease), apply for my new visa, get through Grandma’s holiday video editing (slack slack slack), catch up with a few Contiki people while they’re still in London and even the simplest things - like a week’s worth of washing.

Maybe I should just banter my way through these posts and you guys can saperate the fantastic from the dribble, at least then there is always something to read.
Over and out.

Today at lunch, I walked into a local newsagency (cos I was bored). So I started flipping through a magazine to see what was in this month’s issue when I was tapped on the shoulder by a man who (saying nothing) pointed as a sign nearby that said “No Browsing Permitted”.

WHAT???

Not only was I confused by how this effects the purchase experience, I felt it was so petty that in spite, I went to another place nearby and bought the magazine there. How many people do these guys think are prepared to walk into a newsagency, pick up a magazine and decide to buy it without looking to see what’s in it? Surely many of these people would subscribe if they were prepared to do that on a regular basis - its cheaper.

What these guys have forgotten is ‘customer service’. Are they afraid that a ream of people will walk into their store, read the whole magazine and then not buy it? Even if someone did, getting someone into your store if half the battle - I’m now never going into this place again cos that one experience made me not feel ‘welcome’.

Even if I hadn’t bought the magazine, there was a good chance I’d buy next months after checking it out or even have bought a drink or chocolate or something whilst I was in there - until I decided that I will permanently take my business elsewhere.

So what I have to work out now is how to listen to the game whilst working? I think I might have to make up some fake meetings so that I am not disturbed and just hope for the best.

Queenslander!

Result: Nathan 1: Home Office 0

Confirmation came through yesterday that my application had been reviewed and, as a result of that review, approved.

Next step, taking my newly found Highly Skilled Migrant status and applying for the actual visa itself - not guaranteed, but considering that I am already in the country, it is hopefully unlikely that they would say “No”.

I’ll keep you posted.

Apparently a credit card error resulted in them sending an email saying that payment had not been accepted (despite the system giving her a confirmation number). The email also said that she could pay at the bus.

Well, um, no. They have resold our tickets and being Easter, everything else is booked. Problem is, we need to connect to our tour in the morning. I’ve been looking at trains and flight replacements…

What will happen? Will we get there? Who knows…stay tuned for the next episode of “What the $%$£” after Easter.