April 26, 2006
Final Preparations
When we arrived in Toronto, we had been anticipating delays with our applications for visas in the US. The day after we arrived, the lawyers sent an email to say that a courier package was on its way. Book your flights.
We had several things to do before we left. Not the least of which were all the things we didn’t know we had to do.
Chis fetched the courier package at sister Kate’s house on Sunday morning. While he was there, he checked the contents of our safe (now Kate’s safe) that she was storing for us. Chis emptied the contents into a paper bag and rushed off to work on whatever was next on his list.
The paper bag sat in our room at David & Alex’s house for the next couple of days, and we began to realize that not everything was going to fit in our bags to be checked. Time to enlist Susan, Kate’s awesome assistant. Chis delivered the paper bag, along with framed prints we took off the boat, and asked Susan to courier it to his office in New York. No problem!
We had dinner tonight with the Lyons’ family. Kate told the story about the paper bag and its contents.
A lid for a Tupperware container
Nozzle for a garden hose
Plaster cast of Chis’ bottom teeth
Boston Marathon ring
Expired Brazilian visa
Original copies of our last will & testament
Collection of 25 cent coins commemorating the provinces
The list goes on.
Finally, she said, it looked like the contents of the paper bag of a homeless person. We all laughed hysterically (not at the expense of homeless persons).
She had no idea how accurate she was.
Posted by dave at 09:10 AM | Comments (0)
April 23, 2006
N43.4 W79.2 Cabbagetown, Toronto
It feels vaguely like home, but this brief four-day visit to Toronto means that we will barely recall the things we love about this city before we are back on a plane headed for New York.
We arrived last night around 7pm, and quickly made our way to our very dear friends, David Pickwoad & Alex Johnston. As soon as they heard we were coming to town, they left. For a holiday in England. Nevertheless, always welcoming of our long-winded stories of sailing, they left us a key and told us to make ourselves at home.
We made our way to a favourite restaurant in the Church-Wellesley Village and had barely sat down to look at our menus when we were approached by a long-time friend, Elaine McCrae. We haven't seen Elaine in 10 or 15 years, and it was a thrill to connect again.
In telling our story to her and her dinner guests, they were most curious of our plans now that we had moved off the boat. As the plans unfolded in words, it donned on us that we had not really thought it all the way through.
I mean, really, how much can one fit in a teensy weensy brain at one time?
The story unfolded something like this:
"Well, our immigration papers were couriered from the Arizona law firm on Friday, to our permanent address in Canada at Chis' sister's house. We need 4 hours to process the paperwork at the Toronto airport, and Chis' meeting schedule is already filling up for the week of May 1. So, we will probably leave Toronto on Thursday, giving us a few days for glitches. We haven't booked a flight yet, and we have no place to stay once we get to New York, but we think we will start in a hotel, then move to a furnished sublet apartment while we look for a permanent place to live. Once we have found a place, we will ship the things from the boat, now in storage in Pompano Beach, Florida. And then ship the things from storage in Toronto. Then return to Toronto to pillage the things on loan to various friends and family. All in all, we should be up and running by the end of May."
Four pale, dizzied faces looked back. They seemed stunned.
I repeated our plan to myself on our walk back to David & Alex's home. It suddenly seemed rather daunting.
Well, if we can sell most everything, quit our jobs, buy a boat in France, ship our selected worldly possessions, while keeping the secret, then sail 10,434 nautical miles, sell the boat privately, train the new owners, move off the boat in Florida, travel with our remaining worldly possessions through Mexico, I think we can handle this.
Posted by dave at 11:22 AM | Comments (0)