No longer really posting here

Why hello, if you're still visiting here to see if I have updated, thank you and congratulations on your dedication to knowing what I'm up to... However as you have no doubt realised, I am not very good at blogging and keeping this updated at all...

As such, I have started a new site Zimbo in Canada which is really a feed of all of my other online presences, i.e. my twitter updates, my facebook updates, my friend's facebook updates, my flickr updates and finally my google reader shared items. I'd urge you to go check it out, as I'll not be posting here very often going forward, and wont be posting there often either, but the other elements are automatically updated, so you will be able to see the latest of anything I am actually doing online (apart from work).

Thanks again for visiting, and look forward to hearing from you!

News from the land up North

Hi all, well this is a long overdue update, and I really have no reasonable excuse!

I'm doing well and continue moving onward (and hopefully upward) with my Canadian experience!

Most of my travel has been to Calgary in the past few months, although I managed to travel to Dallas for work once. As for work, it's been busy, but that's good for keeping me out of nonesense...

I got my license a few weeks back, and am currently looking for a car, which is no easy feat, with a large portion of the cars being American - and I really don't know them at all! I'll probably end up getting a Honda or Toyota.

I'm slowly starting to make friends here, but it has not been easy going... Being mobile will make a big difference I suspect.

I'm hopefully coming home for Christmas and New Year, which will be awesome as I am really missing eveyone back home!
The pic is from a baseball game I was at this past weekend - the Winnipeg Goldeyes. I'd love to get my folks out here so they can experience these things... That's something I'm working on, but still have a few obstacles to overcome as yet.

This week I started the ball rolling for permanent residency here, as the goal is to be rid of the "curse of the green mamba" as soon as possible!

As always I love hearing from people, so give me a shout sometime!

Until next time, this is Geoff signing off.

March Update

Yep, its been a while since I updated, however not much has happened since.

I tried out skating, went up and down the frozen Assiniboine river, fell over many times, and still feel like a complete goof with skates on... Had to give it a go though, and I am sure the more times one gets practice on the ice the easier it becomes, and the less likely you will be to fall over and injure yourself.

I also went skiing in Manitoba (which is a little bit of a shock if you look out at Winnipeg when you land at the airport, its just flat, as far as the eye can see). I went out with Rick and his fam, and went down some of the runs, which was good fun!

Tonight I am heading up to Calgary for some work tomorrow afternoon then a relaxing weekend with Jen/Adam/Henry in Calgary. Should be a fun time - I'm looking forward to it.

Oh yeah, in my last update I said I might be going to Las Vegas, but unfortunately Alan and I couldnt find a suitable weekend for both of us to meet up there, so thats off the cards, but it certainly has got me thinking that I should do some travelling to places like that while I can!

Greetings from the Frigid North

Ok - it was darn cold on Sunday when I took this picture, and its still pretty cold outside... Welcome to Winterpeg!

I know I have not updated this in too long a time, and I do plan to do long posts on the happenings since I last posted - here's a tidbit of the story that is me:

I flew from the UK (albeit delayed) to Johanesburg, to be met by a whole bunch of friends, travelled down to a little town called Gingindlovu (near Durban) for Scott's wedding, which was incredible! Got to spend some quality time with friends, on the beach, relaxing.

Drove up with the mates to Zim (going through Beitbridge border post, which all Zimbo's/South Africans out there will know - is hell especially just before Christmas).

Spent Christmas with family, got to spend quality time with my folks, who I really miss a lot!!

Went up to Lake Kariba on a houseboat with 12 other friends for New Years. Caught some sun, had some fun, relaxed. Got back to Harare and jumped on a plane the next day to chilly Winterpeg.

Upon getting back to Winterpeg, I ascertained that it was a bit lonely after being with all the people I love back home, so organised a couple of weeks ago to fly across to Calgary for the weekend to spend time with Jen & Adam and Henry. Went skiing in Banff (getting better at that now) and just chillaxed with the Canadian crew!

That brings us to now, when it is darned cold outside (I may have mentioned), it was -40 this morning going to work, and that was just insane.

Alan (one of my best buds from school) is across in Dallas for a couple of months so we are trying to organise a suitable weekend for us to meet up in Vegas... (I know a couple of people out there will be jealous, and I apologise now) We will see which weekend it ends up being, but I am very keen, if only to get out of this frigid wasteland for a couple of days!

Write to me!

Geoff/mort out.

Goodbye Scotland, Hello South Africa

Well I am sitting in the airport again (should really check, because a lot of my posts end up being done in the airport. Anyways, I am on my way to South Africa for Scott's wedding! Its been a long and twisty journey, but I will get there in the end.

I have really enjoyed my time in Scotland, met some great people, worked really hard, learned some lessons and generally just taken the entire experience in.

This past weekend I was down in London again. I got to stay with Kris and Ali on Friday night and just say cheers to them. Then I was able to have lunch with Casey and leave a bag with her (I'm only allowed one bag back to South), then I met up with Vera and got to catch up with her a bit, then went out to dinner, which was actually Nick's (my ex-boss) wedding dinner. From there I stayed the night with Maurice and his girlfriend Julia, before heading back to Aberdeen on Sunday night.

A quick couple of highly busy days at work and I am now done.

Its been crazy quick, but SO worth it. I shall always remember my time here, and I really want to visit again!

On that note, all people back home, I am heading there for Christmas, so I look forward to seeing you all!

Scotland explored

My sister came up this past weekend, and we rented a car. We decided to follow a similar route as I did with my cousin, as there is no way you could get tired of that scenery!

Its a lot warmer now than it was when my cousin was up, so all the snow that was there had melted and as a result there was some flooding. The scenery was just as breathtaking and it was awesome to spend some fun time like that with my sis... Think it has been many a year since we have been able to spend that long together!

The objective really wasn't to go and see something specifically, but more that we were exploring, and as such, if we saw something we wanted to stop for... we did... and how much fun was that!

The next morning we took a drive up the coast, and saw the angry face of the North Sea. We parked on a pier at one of the little towns, and it was actually scary coz the waves were crashing against the car and the wind was blowing it so much it felt like there were 5 big guys rocking it from side to side!

A good time was had indeed, and really the opportunity to spend time with my sister was just the best thing ever!

That afternoon I flew back with my sister to London, as I had to physically go into the Canadian embassy in London for visa purposes (I'm not going to get started on that story now). I stayed the night with Casey, and that was great coz we got to spend some time catching up. The next morning I jumped on a tube into London and found my way to the embassy and did my business. I then found my way to Buckingham palace and Trafalgar square for a quick "I was here" picture or two, and then i jumped on the tube out to Heathrow. N.B. I was able to find my way around London on the tube, I am quite proud of myself for that - coz I was a bit nervous to do that...

A lot done this past weekend, and another full one coming up (my last one in the UK).

Here Nessie, Nessie, Nessie...

Well I haven't updated for a couple of weeks, but that doesn't mean I haven't been doing things!! A couple of weeks back my cousin came up to visit me in Aberdeen. She's across here on a working holiday visa, and is staying in Cambridge. Like far too many of my loved ones I had not seen her for years, so it was just fantastic that we could take this opportunity to meet up and spend time together.

She flew up on the Saturday morning and we rented a car, ready for a long day's driving! We drove across from Aberdeen to a place called Ballater, which is a town that supplies a lot of services and goods to Balmoral Castle (the royal vacation spot in Scotland). From there we really went into the middle of nowhere as we headed north towards Inverness. This took us through the deserted, mountainous area of central Scotland.

As we were driving we noticed that the frost on the ground seemed to be thicker and thicker... until we realised that it was actually SNOW! This was the first time my cousin had seen snow, so we HAD to stop and play with the snow a bit! There was one stretch where we stopped, which was rather spooky as it was so deserted and still, it really felt like the beginning of one of those scary movies...

We kept on through the mountains towards Inverness and arrived there after lunch and then found our way down to Loch Ness (ya gotta do it - don't ya). Nessie, unfortunately, was on sabatical, so we left there and drove into Inverness and looked around there for a bit, before heading back to Aberdeen.

That may sound a little mundane, but let me tell you that the Scottish scenery is really something else. Its so changeable and perfect, every corner brought a new picture that could have been on the front of a postcard.

The next morning we drove up the coast a bit from Aberdeen and stopped and a couple of small towns, and saw some amazing dunes and beach areas, as well as a really craggy shoreline which was our last stop before heading back to the airport to drop her off for her flight.

What a fantastic weekend - 350 miles of driving - 2 days of fun!! Pictures to follow soon!

Multiple posts warning

I had queued a whole bunch of posts to the blog, as I have been writing things down that I want to blog in a little book, and I managed to get around to actually typing them in and posting them today. Enjoy!