This Year has 400 Days

For those not in Cana­da, there is a pop­u­lar tele­vi­sion pro­gram on the CBC called ‘This Hour Has 22 Min­utes’, which is actu­al­ly a par­o­dy on anoth­er, ear­li­er TV Pro­gram called ‘This Hour has Sev­en Days’, a hard-hit­ting CBC news mag­a­zine from the mid-1960s (which some have said inspired the US pro­gram “60 Min­utes”). The “22 Min­utes” bit refers to the fact that a half-hour tele­vi­sion pro­gram is actu­al­ly 22 min­utes long to make room for com­mer­cials. Why am I refer­ring to a Cana­di­an ref­er­ence which is in turn, upon anoth­er Cana­di­an ref­er­ence? Because today, in Cal­en­dar or Clock-time, we’ve been here for exact­ly one year. It sure feels like longer, so I’m esti­mat­ing, for a nice, round num­ber, an extra 35 days.
In this year we:

• Sold our house and bought a condo
• Sold our car
• Packed up and moved all of our possessions
• Got to know a new city
• Set up a new home network
• Got new bank accounts, cred­it cards and ATM cards
• Got Work Per­mits, Med­ical Care Cards and Social Insur­ance Numbers
• Got New Dri­ver’s Licenses
• Got a new Job (David) and 3 Con­tract engage­ments (Pam)
• Met some new friends and acquaintances
• Applied for Land­ed Immi­grant Sta­tus (Per­ma­nent Residency)
• Host­ed friends and fam­i­ly who came to vis­it on sev­er­al occasions
• Had friends over for din­ner, and went to more than a few pic­nics and parties
• Joined a Game­lan (David) and ran a Doc­u­men­ta­tion Com­pe­ti­tion (Pam)

That’s only part of what we did in the past year. It does feel longer, but on the oth­er hand, I could have also said that this year con­tains 300 days, because it also feels like it has gone by very quick­ly. That’s what a major change to one’s life will do.

Today, maybe part­ly to cel­e­brate this anniver­sary, I took a ride around the city. Pam was feel­ing like she was com­ing down with a cold, so I went out by myself and rent­ed an elec­tric scoot­er. I drove all around, from due east of our place for some errands, then back across the Bur­rard Bridge, to Sun­set Beach, and then across town (north) on Chill­co Street, where I con­nect­ed up with the route around Stan­ley Park. I went all the way around the Park, and then returned across the bridge, meet­ing Pam at Granville Island. Now, there are prob­a­bly some who are won­der­ing “Are you allowed to take an elec­tric scoot­er all the way around Stan­ley Park?” To this I have to answer: Appar­ent­ly, No (Oops). I was mis­in­formed, but nobody told me to get off the path. The next time I do this, I won’t be able to feign igno­rance. Any­way, no one (includ­ing me) was harmed by my lit­tle jaunt around the sea­wall, and the trip, which took about an hour, was a blast. The weath­er was per­fect, and I must have seen a mil­lion peo­ple at every point, on the beach­es, the parks, the bridges and streets. I got sev­er­al great views of the city, as well as the moun­tains (wish my cam­era were work­ing, but that’s anoth­er sto­ry). This tru­ly is one of the most gor­geous spots on the plan­et, and year lat­er or not, I’m still in awe of just how beau­ti­ful it is.

So it’s been a year. Tonight, Pam and I will sit down to anoth­er meal of good, healthy food, near­ly all from the mar­ket at Granville Island. She is right now doing a lit­tle tidy­ing up on the ter­race. which con­tin­ues to bloom (ros­es and hostas at the moment). I read some of my old entries from a year ago, and although I do rec­og­nize the writ­ing and the per­son behind them, I’m not entire­ly sure whether they and I are the same. It will take a bit more time (but prob­a­bly less than anoth­er 400 days) to know for sure. What I do know, is that we’re now set­tled and con­tent, and that is a far nicer place to be than ‘about to move’ and anxious.