Day 5 is the day we became proper legal

Up early yesterday morning because Monday was the day we embarked on the arduous task of acquiring our social insurance numbers and bank accounts. When we stopped by the swap office on Friday the fella in there said that if we hussled up to city hall then there would be a queue and we might get in before the day was out, frankly we never had the time for it then so we set out on Monday quite apprehensive about waiting all day in a queue with asylum seekers or something like that. Nothing was further from the truth, it was all relatively simple, relatively. We got the street car (tram) into the city from the stop outside the condo were living in and rode it almost till the city centre, or the city centre as far as were concerned; Yonge Street (pronounced young incidentally) we got off at city hall, a lovely big building so it, and went through their airport security type thing only to be told we were in the old city hall and the new one is about 100 yards down the road.

The old City Hall

The new city hall is a modern horrible looking thing but we went in regardless and there was only a couple of people waiting which was good. This though this led us to think that we were in the wrong place, but we weren’t, it was just there was only one person working. When we were eventually taken, one at a time, it was all relatively painless and quick too. While we were there Natalie had to phone a guy Gord back about a job she was maybe going to get interview for that was sorted out at the alchol hazed lacrosse game Friday night soiree, he asked her to come in for an interview that afternoon and she agreed. Now this maybe wasn’t the greatest of ideas as we were about due to be taken in to get grilled on our intentions in the great province of Ontario and what if it took ages and we had to get back to the condo and get changed and then find a way to Missisagua which we didn’t know where that was and it was the back of ten and the interview was three and what if and what if. But as I said the whole social insurance number thing was a pure breeze so we moved onto the business getting bank accounts.

Frankly the subject of getting bank accounts was just as simple as getting the SIN’s (I have no idea if this is an actual acronym but I will use it anyway) so I wont bore you, the chap that dealt with me, a guy called Wei was a stand up fella and dealt with us quickly and informatively, explaining every step and left me in no way confused about what I was signing up for. Natalie says her woman was the same though she cant remember the girls name. let me say this about Canada, we struggled to get in and heard so much about how the didn’t accept people of different nationalites in, well in this particular branch of TD Canada Trust we were issued accounts by people of all different nationalites, I would maybe guess Wei was born over here but with asian parents but the guy who deposited natalies money was called Vitaly and he had a cool eastern bloc haircut and came from Russia! The girl who deposited my money was south american, i imagine anyway.

Further on that point there is a huge Polish influx over here, so much so a good few pubs have signs outside them with Zywiek and Tyskie on them, polish beers to the uninitiated, good polish beer to anyone seeking a recommendation.

And to go off on a even further tangent i have been enjoying the Canadian beer and so far I have tasted Labbatts blue, Molson candian, Coors light and something called Moosehead which is a local micro brewerys pilsner lager type stuff. I actually showed my ignorance by asking for a Canadian by saying can I have a Molson which got the guy behind the bar looking at me funny.

Right so, bank accounts and SIN’s dealt with we got the street car home and had a quick bite while Natalie got the power suit on for her interview, with half an hour before she was to be picked up, Drew called and said he would run her up which was great, we went over to the communal area of the condo complex to use their wifi so Natalie could do some research on the company. She needn’t have bothered, the interview went well but its kinda felt that natalies experience of being interviewed may be more indepth than the experience of the interviewers actually doing interviews might of meant she may have overpowered them with her hunger and prioffessional intensity. Or maybe that wasn’t actually how it happened, I am merely surmising, while all this was going on I was out in the car talking about sport and current affairs stuff with Drew.

Here is a rotten picture of the wee puppy that we went to see, for people who like thats sort of thing

We then went and picked up drews brorther John from his holiday abode in Mississagua and headed back to Mimico for tea. Carol made our tea and from there we went to their friends house out of town to see their new dog, a cracking wee thing half lab half collie I think which was pretty small and playful now but im sure if I see it again it will be the size of a horse and sharp as a tack. This whistle stop tour of different places and peoples houses came to an abrupt end around sevenish as game six of the Blackhawks series was due to start and the Bolland family wanted settled to watch it. Natalie and I watched it too, 7-5 they won eventually and now they are through and that means, I think, that we could be on our way to a wee road trip to the states to see game 1 of the next round! Which would be cool. I made it through the whole game, it was touch and go at bits though I had to walk about the condo a bit when adverts were on, Natalie? well did and she didn’t, she watched the first period with me then went through to the bedroom and answered every time I shouted something had happened, generally its just goals I shouted for, im not that clued up in the sport (though I am trying, its almost religion here) so that’s good enough for me. The horn blew and I text drew, just so he knew we watched it and then went straight to sleep.