Well, I'm back from my trip to Edmonton. Makes me kind of sad to be back so soon--going for the better part of two weeks always sounds like it's going to be so much time beforehand, but somehow it never works out that way. We didn't get as much wedding-related planning and running around done as we'd hoped, partly because we never made enough time to formulate specific goals and things to do before we left, and partly because it's still far enough away (and casual enough) that many things just can't be done at this stage. But, we met our officiant, talked a bit about what we want to do, and got lots of offers of help, and I think we both have the feeling that the kind of ceremony we want will be achievable. So things should work out fine.
The weather was chill, with highs of about -18 Cto -20 C being the norm most days. We also got a fair bit of fresh snow. Call me crazy but it felt great!
Seeing Anita, Rene, Randy, Heather and Mike again was great, as well as visiting all three families. Other than just being able to be at home with my parents again, highlights include finding a new gold-and-brown bellydance costume at Anita's dance studio, Isis Dance Productions, shovelling the snow on my parents' driveway, having coffee at The Second Cup, hanging out on 124th Street again, relaxing by the fire in John and Heather's basement, and sipping New Year's Champagne (oh, all right, sparkling wine) with Chris and Rick.
However, after two relaxing weeks of visiting friends and family, I got home to find my water heater had burst the night before and damaged not only my apartment, but others below and adjacent as well. My landlord did get notified by a neighbor who saw water pouring out from under my front door, and he did do a lot of work installing a new heater, cleaning the floor and hauling area rugs etc. out to dry, and I am grateful for that. However, considering that after that he essentially just left all my stuff in wet piles all over the apartment with the doors and windows shut tight, I am lucky that I got back when I did. Another day or so and I'm sure that mold would have been covering the whole place and it would have become toxic and unsafe to enter. As it is, I am attempting to dry out some books with significant water damage, and I've had to throw out others. My stereo (on the floor because I had no shelf or stand for it) will still play radio and cassettes, but not cds (the mechanism closest to the floor). And, a couple of our smaller Christmas gifts to each other got ruined. The one that hurts the most, though, is that my complete boxed set of BlackAdder videos was on the floor as well, and it's pretty much toast. The box and the video sleeves were melded together, and I tested one of the tapes and my VCR wouldn't play them. Ouch!
The good news is that I don't think that things are as bad as they first seemed. Besides the books, which are always painful to part with, much of the stuff I did have to get rid of was either unimportant (cardboard boxes and papersand the like), or things I was planning to get rid of myself anyway (like the old foamy "chairs" a friend gave me a couple years ago that I never really used because they were uncomfortable). So the overall cost to recover should be small. Also, since we're moving end of January, even if there are longer-term problems with the rupture--which wouldn't be surprising given my landlord's typically haphazard style of building maintenance--I likely won't be around to see them.
In the note that he left on my door, my landlord did say he would pay for my damages; however, when I called him and told him I was making lists of damaged items and so forth there was a lot of mumbling about "don't want to be that way, but not legally liable" and damage deposits. It was hard to have a clear coversation--I was tired from our full day of flying, and between his head cold, thick accent and cell phone transmission it was difficult for me to hear him clearly. I guess we'll find out exactly what he meant when I talk to him again.
And finally, the other good news is that, yes, our move for January has been finalized. Michael and I went to the leasing office at Atriums again this morning and signed the lease agreement for our new apartment, with a set move-in date of January 29. We agreed to pay a little bit more to get an apartment with a view of the water. I'm not sure how much light the balcony will get--it's pretty heavily shaded by trees--but I will finally actually have a balcony, and hopefully will be able to grow a few herbs and fresh lettuce. We're looking forward to it, anyway.
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