Welcome to 2017!

Before I start this entry, I would like to wish everyone a happy New Year! Hopefully this year will see you all safe, happy and healthy, and bring whatever projects or dreams you are working on to fruition.

My dreams and projects include this blog, some short story writing on Wattpad, and outlining my first novel. I've been working on it on and off for three months or so, but being my first attempt, and with no formal training (not to mention my tendency to procrastinate), I am finding it something of an uphill battle. No worries, I will continue to plod on, if only for my own personal satisfaction.

Working on writing!
(Books: Outlining Your Novel by K.M. Weiland
and The First 50 Pages by Jeff Gorke.)

As promised, without further ado, here is my very first blog entry of 2017.

Four Days in North Wales

The last week of October was school half-term, so we took off for a week in Northern Wales. We travelled from the train station behind our house all the way to Colwyn Bay—almost a 7-hour train ride, with two changes.

Outside the Colwyn Bay train station.

If you're looking for a lovely Wales get-away, keep reading for our itinerary and reviews! :)

U.K. Time Zone GMT/BST

The last thing on our minds (understandably) when we moved from Montreal to the South Coast of England was time zones. I mean, naturally, we realized we were going five hours "ahead", that we'd be jet-lagged, and all of that. But we didn't think of how the difference in latitude and longitude would affect the length and rhythm of our days.

Internet Hookup

For anyone from Canada or the USA (excluding those who live in remote areas, maybe), getting an internet connection is a simple process that usually takes about two hours from start to finish. But when you move to the UK, trust me when I say it can get very frustrating, so be prepared.

Italian Itinerary (Part Two)

As mentioned in my last entry, in early August we spent some 15 days in north-east Italy, where my family originates from. If you're planning a trip in that area, or are hesitating about where to go in Italy, you might want to take a peek at our itinerary spread across the last post and this one. Due to the fact that we were there to see family, keep in mind the itinerary we spread across fifteen days can actually be done in a week or less, depending on where you're staying and how you're travelling.

So, where was I..?

What's On Telly

On January 1st, 2016—New Years Day—Ikea delivered our sofa, and the mattress for our double bed. The delivery boys had been out on the piss the previous night, but there they were, bright and early, with nary a wink, to carry in our heavy furniture cheerful as anything. Thank you boys, that meant a lot to us.

The arrival of a sofa in our mostly empty house seemed at the time like the most prodigious thing. No more need to lean one twin mattress against the wall whilst the other acted as a seat. No. Now we could sit on our new sofa like civilized people instead of a bunch of squatting hobos, and watch Netflix on the telly ZTE.

Back in Laval we used to have "movie nights" on weekends. We would get take-out or order a nice pizza and watch a movie as a family. The kids loved it, we loved it, and anyway, what other purpose is there to having an enormous flat-screen television in the basement? So, one of the first things we did once the sofa arrived, was have ourselves a traditional movie-night. We got pizza from Asda (because it's really cheap (seriously, three 12-inch pizzas for £7!) and because we were already there), heated it up in our tiny oven (oops, should have used the big oven for it, but I still wasn't used to the two-oven scenario), and watched... wait for it... drum roll...

Sherlock. Season 1, Episode 1.

We all loved it. My uncle laughed when I told him about it, and asked if we were trying to drown ourselves in English pop culture right off the bat. Anyhow, we went through that series like mice through a chunk of Emmental. The first season was amazing. The second season was good. The third was mostly meh, but I won't get into that since I wouldn't want to spoil it for anyone. Watch it anyway, even if I called it meh. BBC is finishing up the fourth season, fingers crossed.

My little Doctor Who tribute. lol

Right now we are positively devouring Doctor Who, at the speed of 1-3 episodes per weekend. Because, you know, you watch one episode, and it's so good you watch the next one, but the next one is to be continued—WOT? (à la David Tenant)—and you just have to see the follow-up, because, you know, the youngest kid needs closure to be able to sleep (mhm, sure, keep telling yourself that), and the next thing you know it, allons-y! It's entirely out of our hands.

The oldest is hooked on Merlin, and hubby and I have just discovered Outlander on Prime. I know these are all series available in Canada too, but it's fitting that we're watching them here. It's a wonder you'd think, with all this telly, that we manage to get out to explore our new world at all. However, never you fear... We get out and about plenty! But that's a story for another time.