Fingerprints, Quebec vs Canada, Canal Lock System and Natural Cosmetics

My finger prints are now out there for the world to see. I had to go down to the local police station and have my fingerprints taken - not because I am a bad citizen of Ottawa, but Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC) need them in order for me to recieve a security clearance to work in the public sector. It takes about 8 months to process, so I'll receive confirmation just before I finish P.G. in Public Policy - Sustainable Development (an area that I have always wanted to get into). So I have turned down work at the other place (what I was doing back home in Wellington) as promotional opportunities are non-existent - whereas I will benefit in public policy work, both here and when we get back home to NZ (thinking long term - much like the world needs to do - eg in terms of Sustainable Development;)

We have been having some stunning sunsets - from our apartment window:

It's hot - damn hot, 35c today (not including the humidex, so feels like over 40), 37c tomorrow! The locals say that this is the month of the hot weather, before a sharp change in the Fall (Autumn sounds better) to cooler temps and stunning scenery, as all the Maples trees etc turn all sorts of browns.

We are off on a roady next week, down to Toronto and further south to Niagara Falls - we have been told the the Falls are better on the Canadian side. So the car is in getting serviced today - I would have changed the oil and air filters myself - but then the warranty wouldn't be valid, as it wouldn't have been done by a certified professional - just another money making scheme I think.

Yeah, things have been busy. Miriam has had a few people visit from back home (work), and has been given an outstanding performance review from her bosses here & there - nice one. We have finished our outdoor adventure course and are now playing grass volleyball on Monday nights. Tuesday nights, we get 'oat & a boat' with some people we met on the Adventure course - usually do a hike or a bike in Gatineau Park. Wednesday we have Samba Ottawa practice - [we had a practice last week at Remic Rapids (an outdoor location beside the Ottawa river on the Ontario side) and half way through the practice the police showed up (from the Quebec (French) side of the river) saying that they had complaints about the noise from residents in Quebec! In the Samba group, there are some from Quebec & some from Ontario (Ottawa) - so there was a little debate going on about the situation - a small indication that things are still not right between Quebec & the rest of Canada]. Thursday tennis has finished but we play a couple we met on the course.

The Blues Fest was a blast - we were a bit 'blues Fested' out by the end of it though. The festival finished with the Village People. Highlights included Manu Chao, White Stripes, Kanye West, INXS (although the lead singer chosen from the TV series 'Rockstar INXS' loved himself a bit too much on stage - he started throwing paper cups into the crowd, thinking that people would fight over them because he had touched them - most of them blew back on stage - twat), Ukrainee - lowlights included Bob Dylan (sorry Bob - you would have been good back in the day) and Van Morrison - he didn't enjoy being there.

Canada Day was huge - heaps and heaps of people. We spent most of the day walking around watching the buskers, singers and just enjoying the atmosphere. They closed many streets and there were thousands of people around. We went to a friends place who was having a party & then wandered downtown to watch the fireworks over Parliament. Ended the night in a pub in the Byward Market area. Good night.

Miriam did a weekend course 2 weeks back on natural cosmetics. The first day was the theory part - talked about the toxins in your body from various unnatural cosmetics - quite scary. The second day was the practical part - where she made a few natural cosmetics, including lip balm, deodorant, moisturiser, and other stuff. If you cannot eat your cosmetics (ie it doesn't contain all natural resources) then you shouldn't be wearing it - because of the toxins;)

We went to Montreal for the weekend - weekend just been. On Saturday we wandered the inner city streets and had a look at shops around Dennis, st Catherine and Laurent streets - some wicked shops. We also went up to the top of Le Stade Olympique (The Olympic Stadium) which was built for the 1976 Olympic games. At the top you can see over all of Montreal - a cable car that holds 72 people takes you up. Amazing views. There are some pics on FlickR.

The next day (after a night out) we went to the world famous 'tam tam' on Mont Royal in central Montreal, where thousands of people sit in the park and play or listen to djembe drumming. I bought my drum a long and was getting into it - was a hot day. pics on FlickR.

Umm. Cannot think of what else that's been happening - worlds largest chamber music festival, North America's largest Volleyball tournament (10,000 people), North America's largest dragon boat festival.

There are some more silent crappy videos on YouTube including the canal lock system - exciting

That's all for now.