Markus

Mods, feel free to move if you wish, I know this is an events section, but, seeing as most of my friends are southerners, thought it would be a good place to put this

Hello all, thought I would just drop a little update in here, I will eventually, because you know I'm really lazy, do this by email, so as not to clutter up the bbs, or incur the wrath of the mods

So, what's it been like? well, I did this little dairy thing, so I'll repost it:

Sat 5th April - 1:30pm EST / 7:30pm GMT
Land at Pearson International Airport, Go to Immigration Canada and aquire my work permit, no hassle at all.
Am met by the MD, Douglas
Am told that appartment is not ready until monday, so we are staying in Hotel until monday morning. This is cool.
Pop into office for a look around, am impressed.
Go to hotel. Drop off items in room 127, pop to bar. See that they have some good ol wife beater on tap, so order pint of wife beater, consume, order another, then another, then have some pasta, then another pint, then another pint. By this time it's 5pm. So I decide to have a little rest...

Sun 6th April - 9:30am EST / 2:30pm GMT (changed to BST on sat night @ 2am EST)
Woke up and went to obtain some food, mmm, bagles and coffee. Return to room and get ready to watch the GP, am annoyed that have to put up with Yank and old timer brit commentators on SPEED chanel, then find a godsend, chanel 30, which I hear the tones of Martin Brundle, yay! uk coverage, excellent! am happy. Watch GP.
Pop to bar for a swift pint. Then we pop off downtown, very nice, very quick only 15 mins from Office. Go up CN Tower, have dinner in revolving restaurant whilst watching toronto slide by.
Get back to hotel about 8pm ish, decide to go to bed...

Mon 7th April - 9am EST / 2pm GMT
Office, do some work, servers not turned up so twiddle thumbs....
7:30pm
Appartment ready, we proceede there. OMG! it's a very small house. not good. 'my' room has a single bed in it. place is not clean, natives are restless, landlady appears and Douglas rips into her. We make decision (tis 9pm by then) to stay the night then 'get the hell out of hicksville...

Tues 8th April - 9am EST / 2pm GMT
We're homeless, so proceede to office. server still not here, hmm, not good. hmmm.
New homes found at Skymark West condos... I pay them a visit.
OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Nice!
Tower block it might be, but it has a gym, bowling alley, library, pool, sauna (not mixed though ) jaccuzi, and possibly other things I've not found yet. Tis about 20 min drive from hotel.
We have 2 appartments there, one is mine, one is for Douglas, Carl (Douglas' son) and his fiancé Laura (who went out with David 'the chin' Coulthard).
Servers turn up, I play...
They pop to get keys to their appt. Oh dear! Chap has buggered off! not good. Looks like Chez Shark is having guests tonight!
Oh, yes, pictures of Chez Shark
So, I have guests. no problem...

Wed 9th April - 9am
Play with servers some more. Douglas picks up keys to their appartment. yay. Not much else occurs, oh, I do manage to fail G1 Driving Theory test.

Thurs 10th April
Work, and not a lot else - though I do explore and have some pizza, at this stage I have no car, and getting one is interesting. Insurance requires Ontario Drivers licence. The thing for us is to take G1 theory test, pass, then take full G licence road test, then get full licence. Hmm, if you fail the G test then you're back to complete learner status, which means. No driving between midnight and 5am, you MUST have a person with full G licence in car with you at all times, zero booze in blood system. not good at all.

Fri 11th April
Douglas takes and fails G test, uh oh! mushroom cloud appears on horizon! he's back to "I'm 16 and never ever driven a car or know what to do with it" status, not good, he's not happy. I think about retaking theroy test, and decide that I shall do that, then get insurance based on the G1 theory test, but drive on my Internation Drivers Permit, so that's 60 days 'free' driving. When does the 60 days start? well, officially when I arrive in Canada, unoffically, when I first get pulled over. Until then I'm going to take some driving lessons over here then take G test, get licence then laugh. Insurance is silly money too, nearly as bad as UK. Tis tempting still to get a scooby, and am still toying with the idea, would have to be WRX and not STi though but hey ho, tis a new scooby. Still don't have any form of wheels, so get a misti galant hire car for a few weeks.

So ends part one...

Markus

Part Two...

So, what's happened since? Well, I went appt hunting, here are pics of a few I looked at. We'll come back to this in a mo

I now have a Canadian bank account, which is always a bonus and a mastercard is on it's way (the fools! the fools! ) I've also snagged a new mobile, Sony Ericsson T68i, funky little fella, and goes well with my Apple Mac, as it's bluetooh compatible, which means I can control my mac with my phone! very pose worthy.

What else? well, I've been to the CN Tower again, and took some pictures

I have also been frequenting downtown Tornto, well it's only a 10 min drive from the current appt, so it'd be foolish not to, wouldn't it. I've also met up with the TSC (Toronto Subaru Club) and they are a nice bunch, and they are persuading me that a new 2004 STi is the only car I should get, hmmm, we'll see!

Back to appts, well, I have got one of my own now, and I'm rahter happy with it. Pictures here and here

I'm rather happy with it. it's right on the lakeshore, 7 min drive to downtown, 10 mins from work, amazing views, lovely building. Oh, and give me a month or two, and you're all welcome to come out and party!

So, there you have it! I'm rather happy out here. Am missing you lot though, but I'll be back in July, so no doubt we'll all catch up. But as said, if anyone is in the neighbourhood, let me know.

Dyney

Mate, don't temp me, you know I could just turn up!!!

Dyney

First pad was nice but the new place looks like it's in a better area

See you soon

Markus

The first place is in the middle of the town of Mississauga, and it is handy for work, however it's a company appt, and so it's not 'my' place, whereas the new one is mine, all mine. BBQ's down by the lake anyone?

Hmmmm, muppet camping does Canada? sounds interesting!

rhybeck

hi MARKUS form mark in essex U.K.
not shure u come under the southern topic but welcome can you make the bbq at maldon park.....LOL
HOPE THE POLICE LEAVE YOU ALONE TO ENJOY YOUR MOTOR OVER THERE..

Krud

Enjoy!

Keith & Julia

Markus

Thanks gang!

Just itching to get into new appt. It's going to be lots of fun, and hey, when I'm settled, party time!