Franglo

It has been an interesting couple of weeks between work, school and life in general. When it rains, it pours…
The most challenging part of my new nomadic life has been the weather; we have had higher than average snowfall and freezing rain. I had a very interesting commute my second week in Ottawa with the drive in both directions involving freezing rain and snow-covered roads. I was not a happy camper that I had to cut my weekend short or that I had a horrible drive home.
I experienced my first sales rally with the new company. I was introduced to 1200 of my colleagues, they had us come in on Sunday and fly home on Tuesday. I was able to meet up with some of my girlfriends in Toronto during the day on Sunday and had dinner with the girls from work in the evening. These events are always crazy starting at 8 am and continuing until well into the night. I think I crawled into bed at midnight on Monday.
Tuesday, Toronto go hit with an epic storm, which closed the City Centre Airport. Flights were being cancelled, roads closed. I managed to get my flight changed and travel Toronto out of Pearson during a brief pause in the storm and just before the storm arrived in Montreal. Many of my colleagues were not as lucky, and some were stuck in Toronto for another day. On Wednesday, Montreal was hit with over 30 cms of snow. After prior weeks of driving, I had booked a train ticket to spend Wednesday-Thursday in Ottawa instead of attempting to drive knowing I would be tired from the sales rally. My 2-day trip became a day trip on Thursday, which made for a 530 start to the day and returning home after 9 pm.
Happy Valentines Day, I think this was the first year we were together on the actual day even if it was only for a few hours in the morning and evening. He was terrific, dropping me at the train station in the morning, and picking me up in the evening. It was nice to be able to spend a few hours together and exchange thoughtful small gifts.
I went into the Montreal office on Friday, and then it was into the craziness of a kids weekend where they hijack the TV, my partner becomes an Uber driver, and we share the “hotel” duties of meals, cleaning and catering to their needs. To add to the fun, I had a mid-term for my French class on Saturday as well. Our contractors have told us they could start in 2 weeks, so my other half spent Saturday morning emptying out the basement and putting our life in storage.
I was a little cranky this weekend, being exceptionally tired, having my other half telling me we need to get rid of stuff and while trying to keep the household functioning. For fun, we solicited the opinions from the kids on what they would like to see in the reno. Their ideas were crazy and expensive, and when you suggest something simple, you get the eye-roll in response. Perhaps I was not in the right frame of mind for this activity and was very annoyed at the end of it.
Monday was family day in Ontario, the kids had a PD day, and my other half took the day off. Since we live in Quebec, the rest of the province was working, so we took the kids skiing and had a great day. Fresh power, sunshine and no lift lineups made for a spectacular day. We came home to a bin in the driveway and an entirely gutted basement. The renovation has begun…

Another week in Ottawa, this time the commute was not crazy. Nice dry roads both ways. Some back and forth on the renovation on what we want and need as the workers continue to make progress. My spouse is, and he really is the one championing this project. One of the reasons, our contractors, only speak French, there has been some coordination necessary with the city to shut off the water. He has become the project prime entirely; I am not sure outside of colour consultation I could handle that as well right now. This weekend we landed on shower design, tile colours and flooring colours – success. I think both of us are tired and are ready for spring to arrive and the project to be done so our life can go somewhat back to normal.