To save typing I've used abbreviations for suppliers as follows

CT=Canadian Tire=Homebase and Halfords, and then some

BB=BestBuy=How PC World/Dixons/Comet should be

FS=FutureShop=How PC World/Dixons/Comet are

S=Safeway=How any English supermarket should be, but don't try to buy small quantities.

W=Walmart=Not the box-shifter I expected but better

Cathy soon discovered that you have to be up with the lark to find available apartments, but amazingly the first one we found was pronounced perfect, and the aforementioned bank arrangements meant we were set to move in. Rentals work very much on a monthly cycle, so the trick is to pounce on the 1st, just after someone has given notice, so you can move in a month later, they're also mainly for 12 months. A few days later a bed was ordered, with delivery for the move date, bedding was bought, (by the way we brought absolutely no furniture or white goods with us, and also dumped most crockery and suchlike, so there was no issue of waiting for shippers), and we waited for moving day.

Luck was with us, and we got the keys a day early, so I went down on the newly acquired bike, to give the apartment the once-over, and the next day Cathy went to wait for the bed, while I filled a Subaru Forester with our possessions (strange, we only came over with 2 suitcases) and followed. We moved everything in, and, almost on cue, the bed arrived. First hiccup, we,d been told it would need some assembly, but it made MFI's worst look like pre-assembled, even the screws had the US style square reccess heads, so the tool kit I'd brought over was useless. A quick trip to CT (did I mention we'd found a location with CT, BB and S within walking distance) and I owned a new battery drill/driver, with complete set of useful things that rotate and assembly was duly completed. By now we also had cutlery, crockery, coffee machine, towels and suchlike, so out to celebrate.

Day two in the apartment, and time to investigate. The bedroom light did not seem to work!, in fact although there was a switch, there was no light fitting. Investigation revealed that one half of a double mains socket was fed from the switch - we need to buy a standard lamp. An un-named Swedish furniture supplier then e-mailed to give a somewhat vague delivery time, completely unrelated to there web claims, so a trip to CT for patio furniture (ok, its a balcony, but who's counting), so we can sit, and put plates on something.

Day three, a constant stream of trips to CT as we discover what we're missing, and attempt to replace it. It turns out to be a bad day of the month, and a bad time of the year, as people tend to move at the beginning of a month, and school's back in 2 days, with UBC alone having something in excess of 16,000 students, none of whom seem to have prepared in any way, (this includes 2nd. and 3rd. year students), and are doing vulture impressions in all stores. Day four continues in a similar vein, with the drawback of a public holiday. A side note here, I decided to go for low energy light bulbs throughout, and at around $5, they're cheap. Imagine my surprise on checking the bathroom. One 240w downlight (admittedly its main function is infra-red heat, so it got a reprieve), and six 60w lamps round the sink! Two 11w have replaced them.

Day five, and time to sort neccesities. Contents insurance is first, turns out to be quite easy, but pricier than the UK at $536 pa for $80K of property' with a $1K excess, which means if anyone nicks my bike, I'm well out of pocket, and I didn't bother with the earthquake cover. Another sidenote, yes, earthquake, Vancouver is also in a Tsunami risk area, and we can see Mount Baker from certain places, and since the US let their forest fires cross the border, I can't see them bothering about their volcano. Next stop is tv etc. Ten out of ten to Shaw, who rather than queueing me have a call-back system. Twenty minutes later we have full cable and effectively unlimited broadband for $82 pcm, and digital phone for $55. The latter may seem expensive, but includes unlimited calls within Canada and the 49 states, and 1000 minutes pcm to the UK, excluding in this case mobiles and premium rate numbers. That's nearly 17 hours.

OK, I was bound to lose track of days, so we're now on as I think of it stuff. A perfectly good Japanese brand name 21" tele is $230. This may, on its own appear to be trivial information, but relates to an interesting fact. Many stores her have items on sale ( UK= at discounted price) for a very limited time, or baseed on getting rid of excess stock. If you see somethoing you want, don't think twice, because when you go back tomorrow, it will either not be there, or back to its usual price. As things come together I've also realised that in our current situation (1 working, one not), we're well off, because, as we arrived having abandonded all furniture etc. in the UK, we're at the mercy of delivery companies, and appointment times for cable tv, phone, and suchlike. Luckily most people seem to phone the day before to confirm.

A very useful discovery (at least for us with no car until we decide we need one), is that Ikea will deliver for $39, within three days. I don't know what distance this covers, but it certainly works from Coquitlam to False Creek. You're still at the mercy of the local store's stock, and as usual have to drag it out of the warehouse, but its a definite plus. A propos of this discovery, I should mention that many stores and malls are not designed for pedestrian access, and it can be quite amusing finding a way in from the nearest Skytrain/bus stop.

Stop press news, and it's good, we've just bought an apartment, and the time from viewing, to what in the UK would be exchange, was 12 hours, its now ours, with completion in 30 days. More info when I get chance, but I'll take this opportunity to thank Joan Montgomery, (no relation, look here up on the web until I get a link up) for her help. Of lesser import is the fact that most dvd players over here will only handle region 1 discs, but I found a place on Broadway that has multi-region players for the same price as the big stores don't, and will also transfer your old PAL VHS tapes to DVD! Again link to follow.

Today was possession day, and it turns out that owning property certainly helps with credit ratings. We intend to do a lot of work before moving in , and have just bought complete set of white goods, and a new floor. This has thrown up a couple of interesting points. We wouldn't mind giving the old stove, etc. to a suitable charity, but none of them will collect, (so its plan b, sell them to a used stove dealer, who will collect, and we get money.), and initial exploration of the new property, (removal of carpet, ceramic tiles, and lino) has disclosed what the cowboys do when its too cold on the ranch. I'll probably be deported for the next statement, but do not expect to find the quality of workmanship here that would be expected in the UK, I've opted for the DIY approach (luckily nothing structural is involved, as the building regs., electrical regs. and so on are to the same, or higher standards than the UK).