Way back in 2020 I sponsored Pete for his Permanent Residency in Canada. We had been talking about a move for years and finally made the plunge. We got his final approval in the mail in June. So, after close to 20 years in the USA, we headed to the Great White North (well Vancouver, where it seldom snows, but there is snow nearby – just go up a mountain). We are living in my old apartment in Yaletown, which I still had from when I worked here in the early 2000s. Small apartment, cat, good restaurants just outside the door. With mountain and water views a short walk away. We are struggling to find something a little bigger that doesn’t cost too many millions, even if that’s Beaver Bucks not Yankee Dollars. But I reminded myself that we have lived in smaller places with less resources, so we’re doing just fine. We take turns using the one room with doors for phone calls etc.
We did manage to import our car successfully – we had to export it from the US, then subsequently import it to Canada. There were a lot of steps involved and some required using a PC and Internet Explorer (US Government systems really do need a serious upgrade). Cat also successfully imported (cat declared and rabies certificate proffered) – much simpler than the car.
We personally survived the gales of November (which came early and often) although we did have some boats and a large barge get tossed up on the beach downtown. Local wags are calling it Barge on the Beach (we have a summer Shakespeare Festival called Bard on the Beach) – apparently it has its own Twitter account now.
Happy Christmas to all and here’s to a better 2022!
Anne & Pete.
