Not so grim oop norf!

After a lovely break in Mexico at the start of this month, it was time to return to the Great White North (Canada) and start my new job. I'm back at the University of Toronto and have a new role as International Marketing Manager for the English Language Program at the School of Continuing Studies. It's great to be working at one of the world's top 20 universities alongside my former colleagues again and I'm really enjoying my new role as I have some interesting projects on the go. I also love the fact I can be home in under 30 minutes and can go out on week nights once more without being completely exhausted. Three hours a day spent on public transport in my previous job was not good for my social life! My only complaint is that, yet again, I have an office with no windows. What is it with these architects of education buildings who thought it was a good idea to build in concrete with no windows above ground level?

My former boss from the University of Leeds, Rosemary, was in town this month, along with her partner, David. They spend half the year in Canada and half the year in the UK so popped in while staying in Toronto for a few days. We had a lovely afternoon catching up and sharing our experiences on how to keep warm during a Canadian winter.

Another familiar face from Leeds visited me this month. My friend and former colleague, Judith, came to stay for the second time in the past year. It was nice to see her and she appeared to have a good time as she hit the ice rink and toured the city sights. One highlight was that we entered a lottery draw to get last minute tickets for the second night of Elton John's musical, Billy Elliot, and won. Although we missed seeing Elton in his tutu on the first night, we really enjoyed the second night. The show was superb and the child actors were really impressive. I particularly enjoyed the feel of northern England even if it sent me back to darker days in the North's history. The Canadian actors managed to give the Geordie accent a reasonable stab although, in my non-expert opinion, I did detect that there were a few slips. I actually had a twinge of homesickness...just a little one.

Later in the week, we headed north ourselves, although it was just three hours north of the city. Along with some of my other friends, we spent a wonderful weekend on the edge of Algonquin Provincial Park at the same log cabin I visited for Canadian Thanksgiving last October. We spent three days there this time and the place had a totally different feel given the change in seasons.

Heavy snow fell over the weekend and Surprise Lake was completely frozen. We took the opportunity to explore the lake and surrounding hills by snow shoes and cross-country skis. This was a whole new experience for me. Whilst I've done plenty of downhill skiing, I'd never tried either of these sports before. I enjoyed the snow-shoeing very much but think next time I'll stick to the flat and gentle slopes. Our guides took us up an almost vertical hill climb, which was no easy feat, particularly for one of our party, who had a wrist in plaster. I struggled with the deeper powder as a broken snow-shoe meant I was sinking in up to my thigh. I think I may have pulled out a few trees as I tried to extricate myself. Much laughter was also had as we all descended a rather steep slope. Put it this way, I certainly had snow and ice in places that there really shouldn't be snow and ice!



Unfortunately, I'd also developed a nasty chest infection and laryngitis so this limited me for the rest of the weekend. I did take part in a quick ski across the lake and a bit of inukshuk building at night, but enjoying the cozy warmth of the cabin and sauna was where I wanted to be most of the very relaxing weekend.

We had a bit of trouble leaving on the Sunday as we were snowed in and although we made an attempt to dig ourselves out, we were eventually forced to call in a private snow-plough to clear a path out to the main road. The drive out, however, was very picturesque (no need for speakers with this one - in fact, it's better without!):

Winter Wonderland from Becky Smith on Vimeo.

Canada at its best!