Almost exactly 3 months after our sea shipment left our home in Calgary it arrived in our home in Perth. It's journey took it by truck from Calgary to Vancouver, then by cargo ship until it arrived in Freemantle (a Perth suburb) on December 28, then to storage and inspection in a warehouse and finally by truck to us. Yesterday, our furniture, books, and sundry stuff arrived and all of our temporary rental furniture was removed. So, our weekend will consist of unpacking, assembling, redecorating, cursing Ikea, redecorating and redecorating. The patio furniture, despite not being quite 100% assembled, is already paying off as it makes our outdoor living space even more livable. And it was wonderful to sleep in our own beds last night.
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Happy Birthday to Marc English! Despite being in his mid-forties he doesn't look a day over 47.
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Keva, Cyrus & Zaren all passed their latest round of swim lessons and they all did quite well. Keva's lessons consisted of different strokes primarily while Zaren & Cyrus' lessons focussed on safety and life saving techniques. As a matter of fact, the boys received their "Bronze Star". The next level is "Bronze Medallion" which enables them to be Life Savers in Australia and also qualifies them to compete for Canada in the Olympics.
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This is the hottest time of year in Perth. Temperatures often will get into the low 40's here (celsius- which is really hot) but so far it hasn't gone past 38. The climate is really nice and even in the mid-high 30s it doesn't seem THAT hot, except when it gets a little humid and then it's unbearable. Fortunately, humidity here, despite being on the coast and having two rivers and an estuary, is fairly uncommon. We have to sleep with our fans running but we haven't had to use the air conditioning yet, although we've come close. When it does get that hot all you want to do is go swimming or lay around in the shade with a cold drink (or both).
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Tell me if this sounds familiar:
-Picture a city in the western part of a former British colony.
-The colony was originally settled on the Eastern side of the country and that continues to be the countrys population center and the main financial hub.
-The economy of the western city is resource-based and it tends to go through boom-bust cycles. Currently, the western citys economy is pacing the entire nations economy.
-Even so, the people that live in the Eastern cities tend to look upon the residents of the west as red-necks, hicks and generally unsophisticated. The people in the west have a sense of alienation from the rest of the country and have a strong conservative leaning. They consider the people of the east to be too liberal, ignorant of the west and arrogant.
-The temperatures in the west can get to extremes. Fortunately, there is a westerly wind that arrives regularly and makes life more tolerable.
-Immigration plays a large part in the city's growth and people come from all over the world to live and work there. Engineers are quite common.
-The country has struggled throughout it's short history in dealings with the native inhabitants of the land. Many of them were displaced from their aboriginal territories, removed from their native culture, indoctrinated into 'western' society against their will and struggle with drugs, alcohol, violence and broken families.
-The country itself is situation quite closely to an economic superpower and most of it's exports go to the superpower that has become it's closest trading ally. The economy of the nation depends largely on the economy of the neighbouring superpower.
-The people of the nation are generally open and friendly. They are known around the world for their easy going nature and peace-keeping and humanitarian missions.
-The country participated in WWI, WWII, Korean War and Desert Shield/Storm (Iraq circa 1990).
-The people in the western city live close to an abudance of natural areas where they like to go to relax and play on the weekends.
I'm sure by now you've figured out that this describes both Calgary, Canada and Perth, Australia. Honestly, sometimes the similarities are frightening which makes the differences seem even more different.
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As I write this, it is 8am, sunny, 28 degrees, I am on the laptop sitting in our backyard and there is a parrot sitting in one of our trees. Life could be worse.
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