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My Furnace starting making
a racket again so bit the bullet and got in the Furnace folks. They
found that my fan unit had broken a bracket and thus the unit needed
replaced. As it was somewhat twisted the motor had to work extra
hard to turn it and that wasn't doing it any good either.
And so a few days later I
got my new fan unit which cost $340.00. I'm told it was rather
expensive mostly due to them not being made any more.
I also decided to take
the annual service option ($156) where in the May period they come and
check your cold air is working ok for the start of the warm season and
they come back around September to check the warm air for the start of
the cold season. They also replace your filter on each visit. So
all in all am now some $640.00 lighter but now have a nice quiet
furnace.
In actual fact I think
I've just about replaced every part of this furnace so hope it will now
last a few more years without any break downs.
I got in a "Notice to
Appear" to verify my identity for my Canadian Citizenship application so
the next step is now being taken.
I would make an observation of the process.
This invite asks you to bring "all your original documents that support
your citizenship application (e.g. birth certificate, etc.)".
Problem with that is that all those original documents were sent when
applying for Permanent Landed Status and so most of them were one off
documents and I don't have duplicates. You would have thought that they
could have used those that are already in their possession. Of course
you shouldn't complain about things like this as it's by no means a
right to obtain citizenship but I mention it for what it is worth.
The other problem is when trying to phone
them to seek clarification on those original documents you get in their
words... If you wish to use our automated service please choose from the
following four options. Like if you don't want to use their
automated options you don't get that as one of the options. But
when I phone I thought I'd just not select any of the options. I
then got the message repeated... you didn't select one of the options
and they then repeat them 2 more times and so after the third round they
say they are putting you through to an agent. When that goes
through you get a message saying all agents are busy and they can't take
a message and please phone back at which point they hang up.
Each time I phone I have
to go through those 3 repeats and to date still get all agents are busy.
I'm not sure this service is the best it could be. They do say
Thursday and Friday are the best days to try but having tried several
times on both days I still haven't managed to get through to an agent.
I have in fact ordered another birth
certificate so hopefully it will arrive in time. I'll likely give
you an update on what happened at the meeting later in this page.
I also got a Life
Membership of the Scottish Tartan Authority...
and along with the membership card came the
book "Tartans" by Brian Wilton which all Life Members get sent a copy...
The book is actually pretty awesome and for
anyone interested in Tartans it would be well worth getting a copy.
It is beautifully illustrated and many great pictures not only of
tartans but also scenes of Scotland.
Got a visit from my Insurance company about the porch
damage and was pleased with the outcome. As well as fixing everything
they have agreed to paint the entire porch and will also replace the
fencing with that plastic privacy fencing which means they won't need to
put up the wood and prime it and then paint it. So all in all a good
result and they hope to get started on the work at the end of this
month.
On July 15th I went to the Immigration folk in Windsor
which actually took about 3 minutes. All they actually looked at
was my IMM5292 immigration form as apparently if you are a British
citizen that's all they needed to look at. I was told that I might
make the September 2009 citizenship ceremony. So for all my comments
above about needing all those documents they weren't needed after all.
As at July 27th they started fixing my porch...
They are meant to be back at the end of this week to fix the lattice
work and some other wood work. The painting has to wait until there is a
dry period otherwise the paint will just come off in a year. This means
it may be well into August before they get that done.
The only other thing of
note this quarter work wise was the launch of our Aois Community. It's a
kind of social networking site where you can message with other members
of the community. Some of our old time members from other attempts
at message forums have joined us and are busy in the two regular forums
we had in other guises like the Thistle & Whistle which is a kind of pub
where they chat about anything they want. The other is Frying Pan
Hill where the friendly battle of the sexes plays out.
The Aois Community is designed as a long term service and we've
purchased new hardware to ensure it is well backed up. We'll also
be moving to a new server with 64bit operating system to help speed up
the service. We're still in the early days with it and there will be
changes and enhancements as we get familiar with it and also get user
feedback.
I'm going to try and get to the Fergus Highland Games in August... just
hope the weather will be somewhat better than last year when it got
rained off.
Other than that I've had my first meeting as President of the Scottish
Studies Society and I attended a Garden Party of the Knights Templar in
Toronto which was most enjoyable.
I've also been scanning in lots of books for the web site and the final
book this month is a book about the history of Scotland for boys and
girls. I figured it was time I did something for the young ones
:-)
Nola and Harold came down to Port Crewe for a wee break and spent a
couple of days with me which was a nice break for me as I really don't
take time off myself.
And... my local Dutch Food Market finally found me some Ox Tongue...
first time ever seen in Canada! Mind though... they're not sure if
they are going to get it in again :-( I'm trying to find their
source so I'll have a way of getting it if they don't.
I got lots of invites to visit Scotland this quarter to attend a variety
of events for Homecoming Scotland and all the invites were appreciated.
The only problem is that it's expensive to go to Scotland and having
attended a lot of meetings I really don't see the discussions going
anywhere or achieving anything. Of course that shouldn't stop us
all from trying but there is a limit on how much I can spend to attend
those.
And that's pretty much it for this quarter. |
