Pretty much as the title says, we’re now going to Toronto for two years instead of one. Glen was offered a second fellowship (which was the one he went for originally) and, through a bit of negotiation on the Canadian side, he now gets to do a whole lot more fellowship-type goodness.

This of course means that there’s more time to explore the country and see as much as possible and, perhaps more importantly, family and friends have more time to come say hi. We expect visitors.

Apart from all the nice things people have said about Toronto, I’ve also been told that I’ll hate it there, purely because we’ll experience two winters. From what I hear, they are dreadful and I’m sure I’ve never suffered something so cold. One friend said to spend February in Florida. Regardless, we’ll just have to see for ourselves…and I’m all right with that.

Going for two years again raised the possibility of taking Smudge with us but a lot of the old arguments still apply so I think it’s best that we find her a temporary home in Perth.

And now with the year coming to a close, we’ve passed the six month mark. Friends recently packed up their lives in Perth for a move back to Melbourne. Seeing how much stuff they got rid of and shipped over makes me a bit anxious, especially as I look around our house and contemplate sorting through it all. I did a drawer the other day. It’s still half-full.

With that, I’ll sign off now and wish everyone a merry Christmas. This year it’s meant to be 40°C in Perth. In Toronto it’s going to be -1°C and snowing. That sounds so much nicer.