Beautiful Dawn...




And the countdown is on...

12 Days: Our Honeymoon in Greece
24 Days: Our Puppy Molly Comes Home
2 Months: Andy's brother's wedding in a Glorious Scottish Castle (where we are also sleeping for the night - keep your fingers crossed that Andy's mom will have Alex for the night!)
4 Months: Andy's and My 1st Wedding Anniversary
7 Months: I'm going home for Christmas (and although I'm not wishing for the winter, or even Christmas so much, I am longing for the day I step off the plane in my beloved Nova Scotia).

So... as much as I am not wishing time away, I am eagerly anticipating the good things to come this year, but let's get through these first two exciting occurrences first!

Is It Back To the Beginning?

When I first came over here all I had to do in regard to driving was master the art of driving on the other side of the road. Luckily for me, I had been driving a standard/manual transmission car for over 12 years so I didn't have that to face on top of everything else. I had been told by my husband who checked online, that I could drive for a year on my NS License and could then exchange it in for a UK Issue.

Of course nothing is ever as easy as it seems. I now have two weeks to get my license exchanged. That isn't the problem. The problem is this: To exchange my license I need to send my passport in to the DVLA. If I send my passport in I won't be able to go on holiday to Greece a week Sunday. If I don't send my passport in with attached paperwork, I exceed the 12 month grace period and will have to go through the process a brand new driver would have to undertake in order to get a British License... hmmm.. nice eh? (I'm looking at my 12 month period from the date I was granted Leave To Remain - if they don't take it from this date then I've completely gone and blown it.)

Nevermind the fact that if I do in fact come up with some sort of way to get around the passport issue (i.e. having our solicitor photocopy it and verify it) I will still only be granted a provisional license that says I can only drive an automatic car when driving on my own. If I drive our standard car I have to have a fully licensed person in with me. Right. I suppose I can understand this as you don't have to pass a manual test in Canada, however it is a bit annoying after I have been driving a manual car here for over a year already, not to mention the 12 years back home... This however could easily enough be corrected with a manual test once I've received the provisional license. I just hope that I can figure something out so that I don't have to go back to the beginning and have to take the theory test, etc. Gawd... Let this be a lesson to all of you great procrastinators out there - stop sticking your head in the sand, get off your asses and check things out for yourself, and especially, stop leaving things to the very last minute. You'd think I'd have learned my own lesson by now.