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Job search in Canada is very different to the UK.

I’ve previously been able to tap in to at least a dozen specialist agencies, not so here. My standard UK CV has become a ‘size 0” one page resume which has to be tweaked for every application, and the covering letter seems to be of supreme importance. So, having circulated the right CV/wrong resume the job search tactics have been reviewed, the suspects list trimmed down and I’m preparing for door stepping companies which also seems to be a valid way to get in front of someone.

After so many years of relative comfort, this whole experience is a great test of resolve and patience. There’s no doubt that there’s plenty of work out here, but in some ways, similar to the UK, most of the openings are in the lower levels of the service sector. This of course means low pay, and when you’re living in the city with the highest real estate prices in Canada, which of means means high rental prices as well, the thought of low pay hurts!

The search continues and will be successful. If anyone’s thinking of making the move to Canada, be prepared for a hard first year, or make sure you’ve got a job to walk in to. In fact, become a plumber or a builder – sounds familiar eh.

It was great weather over the weekend so we managed to fit in a couple of walks around Stanley Park. It’s a fabulous place to unwind with a sea wall footpath and a separate cycle/blade path as well. Some memorable views (excluding the sulphur heap).

Stanley Park’s history goes back to the early days of the city. In 1886, Vancouver’s first City Council made a momentous decision by dedicating the 400 hectare (1,000 acre) peninsula for park and recreation purposes.

Yearly visits to this, North America’s third largest urban core park, are estimated at eight million people. Originally home to Burrard, MusqueamSquamish First Nations people, Stanley Park as you see it today was not one designer’s grand scheme but more an evolution of a pioneer city’s hopes and dreams; a place for its citizens to recreate themselves through active sport or passive repose.

Vancouver Park Board website

You can find out more about the park’s history here.

There are a number of other images taken around Stanley Park on my Picasa page, click here to take a look. These images are from June 06 when the family came out to Vancouver on a fact finding trip before our final relocation.

The great thing about Stanley Park is that it’s not just a tourist attraction, local people are using the facilities, the park is achieving it’s purpose.

If you’re ever downtown at Nelson and Howe, drop in to Lilly’s for lunch. Lesley and I had a couple of delicious sandwiches there. The salmon burger and tuna melt are highly recommended.

Vancouver is a wonderful city, not just for the lifestyle but also the landscape. Okay, these images are not of the open spaces that Canada has plenty of, but I find the views impressive. Just click on the thumbnail to view a larger image.

These images were taken with the Nokia phone rather than a digital camera. I’ve started to get snap happy with the phone, but it’s no replacement for a high quality lens with decent zoom.

One of the must’s for our rental accommodation was to be close to a SkyTrain station. As we’re without a car at the moment, public transport (Transit) is our means of getting around the city. I’ve become a great fan of SkyTrain. It’s a fast and frequent light railway that also affords some pretty good views of Vancouver, Burnaby and New West. What else have the locals got right? Bus loops. I’ve found access to buses at every SkyTrain station I’ve stepped out of and that helps immensely. Having said that, not everything is perfect as there have been a couple of occasions where buses have not turned up and that’s a real inconvenience, particularly when needing to be somewhere on time.

All in all I’m pretty pleased with my life in transit experience. Fares are reasonable and the trains and buses remain clean compared to what I’ve suffered in the UK.

Until a car comes along, transit’s fine by me.

When I found out that Editors were playing Richards on Richards I decided that it had to be my first gig in Vancouver.

Through John Bollwitt’s PodCast, RadioZoom I felt I knew Richards before even setting foot in the place. What I wasn’t prepared for was the somewhat different experience. First shock was ‘no minors’, over 19′s only. This precluded Elliot who would have happily come along. Is this why Brit kids are so music savvy, they can get in to live music at a much younger age in the UK.

A great thing about living close to the downtown area is being able to be in the centre within 20 minutes. I arrived at 8pm to find a small line of people and after the doors opened I was met with someone with a cash box to take my $25. In I went, the place was pretty empty and remained that way for a good hour or so.

The culture shock continued. I grabbed a beer and it was in a glass – a glass, glass, and a pretty heavy one as well. The nights of wading through discarded plastic glasses, getting stuck to the floor at a UK venue suddenly seemed very far away. This new experience was far more refined.

First band on was Ra Ra Riot. Not a bad support act, I enjoyed them and would like to hear some recorded work of theirs.

Richard’s gradually filled up and the second support Biffy Clyro upped the noise. I’d not come across them before and my first impressions were lots of hair, power chords and levels set to 10+. Having said that there some unusual arrangements in the set to make me want to hear more.

The images were taken with a Nokia phone (2Megapix camera) so could be better. I’ll take a real camera next time.

Finally, Editors took the stage. Culture shock again, it was 11pm and I’m used to being on my home by 11, not just preparing for the main act. The floor was now full and Canadian’s can rock with the best. Editors were a hit. A great show, lots of energy, good rapport, the only downside was a dodgy mic for Tom Smith’s vocals.

So, my first live band experience in Vancouver ended around 12.30 and I was really grateful to have a 25 min journey home and not have to brave the last train from Victoria, London which was usually full of folks stinking of McBurgers, snoring loudly and occasionally throwing up out of the window. Tonight was a far more civilized affair.

I’ll certainly be returning to Richard’s and I’ll be back in Nov for Suzanne Vega and Maximo Park.

Living in the city has its upsides.

We hadn’t intended to test the healthcare service until we were covered by BC Medical Services Plan (MSP), which has a 3 month from month of landing qualification period. Maybe we should have know better when the lads bought rollerblades within the first week of arrival. The short version is this. I ended up at the Royal Columbian Hospital, New West with son in tow to have a wounded hand stitched. The wound was caused by protruding barbs on a chain link fence that had been grabbed when bailing out from a downhill run.

We were met on the door by a volunteer who placed us in the triage process. When I chatted to the volunteer he said that he gave up a night every couple of weeks as he was a ‘heavy user’ of the place when he was a kid. He was simply giving something back, a lesson for us all.

After triage came admin, and that of course meant breaking out the credit card. The MSP is a compulsory medical insurance that covers most healthcare needs. For a family of 4 it’s around $110 per month. But of course we didn’t have a Care Card so had to pay before seeing a doctor. The opening pitch by the hospital staff was $600. I guess they must have heard the loud gulping noise as the next question was about our visitor status. Fortunately I had our passports with us so could prove our permanent residents status and this entitled us a huge discount, the card was only weighed down by $170 rather than $600.

Anyway, a serious cleaning of the wound, 4 stitches and a tetanus jab later we were on our way home. Elliot’s hand has healed really well and fortunately our landlord is a nurse and she removed the stitches so we didn’t have to pay out for that.

Lessons learnt. When emigrating, standard travel insurance will only cover you if your trip starts AND terminates in the UK, therefore we were not covered. You can buy short term cover when in Canada and although expensive is probably worthwhile until MSP kicks in. When we realised that the lads would be on zip wires, canoes, rafts and ‘blobbing’  (check out the video below) on retreat, the cost seemed to be very reasonable.

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