Vacuosity

First impressions

First off, to everyone I owe email to, I'm sorry. I have internet, but I can't send mail yet. There are currently four messages sitting in my Out Box waiting for a connection to the mail server.

Let's talk about Winnipeg.

Weather: it is cool, but it's not unpleasant. Also, it's only a few degrees cooler than T.O. Actually, the other morning it hit minus ten, but I couldn't believe it. I thought it was about zero. Maybe it's that "dry cold" that everyone talks about, but it really wasn't bad. The air was fresh, I mean actually crisp, clean and fresh. It smelled great, like leaves and autumn and smoke.

Each morning there's a light sprinkling of snow on the roofs and cars that melts away as soon as the sun hits it. We've been wearing coats, but for the most part haven't really needed them, just a good sweater. So far, I really like the weather.

People: they're nice. Everyone is incredibly nice. And slow. Don't expect to wait less than ten minutes in any Timmy's line up. Customer Service has a completely different meaning here. So far we've been invited to dinner twice already, once by the parents of a kid in Jordan's class, and tonight by a family in our local congregation of J.W.'s.

The Hood: Our neighborhood is not one of the best, by far, but it's not the worst either. We have a small pocket of decency in a neighborhood of poverty. Go a number of block in a couple directions and you're in pretty bummy, ultra-low income areas. But it's street by street here. We knew that coming in. Our immediate neighbors are nice, working, lower-middleclass. Not too much crime in the area, but no prestige either, which is fine by me.

As an aside, living on a picturesque, tree-lined avenue may seem romantic and very Norman Rockwell, but the reality is that in fall there are a hundred thousand leaves in our yard. If I rake those hundred thousand leaves today, there are another hundred thousand tomorrow.

Our situation is less than ideal right now. Julia is in full swing with preparations for the business, so there is a lot of baby time for me. On one hand it's great. Jaimeson and I are developing a close relationship, and I am really getting to see her incremental changes. She'll be walking soon, within a couple of weeks; she's so close. Her personality is emerging strongly and I feel good about being the major influence on her, right now.

The draw back is that the main reason I felt comfortable taking on this place was that I would have the time to devote to it: building, fixing, redecorating. But, since Julia ia already en route I can't do much of anything. It'll continue this way right up until the end of her course in mid-December, which, funnily enough, is when my parental benefits run out and I have to go get a job. That bites. I'm not okay with living in a relative stasis, house-wise, indefinitely. I'm not sure what's going to happen, but we'll have to devise a solution.

All in all, we're pretty happy so far with the decision to come here. Winter seems bearable, we're making lots of friends and the future looks promising.

posted by David @ 11:49 p.m.