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It’s been a while since I updated. I’ve been incredibly busy, arranging the move. It looks likely that we are going to land on our feet in Calgary in a big way. Our twin concerns of work and accommodation have probably been solved simultaneously. I have a variety of oil-industry skills - both hands-on and in design, planning,production and analysis. The good news is that I’ve found an employer in Canada who seems to be crying out for someone with almost precisely my skills. I’ve had several telephone interviews this week - including a video one - and it looks like this company and myself were made for one another. The guys on the ground are so keen to grab me before anyone else does (are my skills so much in demand?) that they’re speaking to their HR people and are going to have a job-offer made to me before I get there. The pay is excellent, they’ve agreed that I can have 4 weeks annual leave - very unusual in Canada apparently - and, they have an apartment that they’re happy to let me have for 3 months while I get something sorted out for myself. It all seems too good to be true at the moment. I’m hoping I’m not going to wake up and find it was all a dream.

Reading an article in the Globe and Mail online today is a bit of a concern.

It looks like there are more jobs available than ever but that it might be hard to find somewhere to rent while we settle in.

“Calgary is desperate to find workers. Once lured here, however, people quickly learn there are few affordable places to live.”

According to the article, the Calgary Apartment Association, which represents the owners of most of the city’s residential rental units has seen the vacancy rate drop to 1.6 percent from 5.1 percent a year earlier. Put another way, there were 259 vacant apartments, compared with 1,050 a year ago.

259 vacant apartments sound as if it might be alright - but in a city of almost 1 million people, it’s hardly any. I imaging the ones in good condition are being snapped up instantly. So that’s a bit of a worry.

“Property managers now have waiting lists and are bombarded with prospective tenants when vacancies arise. One property manager reported 50 calls in one morning after posting an advertisement on a website. And the situation is only expected to get worse for would-be tenants. Net migration is expected to continue to climb. In 2004, 2,253 people moved to the city, according to the CMHC, which predicts 23,000 migrants this year.”

Our current intention is to stay in a motel or B&B for a week or two until we can find somewhere to rent. I hope that’s going to prove do-able.

I said a few days ago that I was glad we were emigrating soon as it would mean fewer opportunities for emotional blackmail from my wife’s parents.

They visited us this weekend and it was difficult. They were in a questioning mood…

* What if I can’t get a job in Canada? I’ll be throwing away a well paid one here and might not ever get another one…..
* What if there’s a serious illness in the family and we’re in Canada? Would we come back to lend support?……
* Will we come back often to visit? because they are getting a bit old for long-haul flights…..
* Although it’s a bit late in life, what if we have children…. would we come back so their grandparents could see them regularly?….

I must admit, I do now feel guilty about emigrating… and clearly this was the whole intent behind the questions they were asking.

… and then I feel angry that they’re trying to manipulate us.

… and then I think “but these are legitimate questions. If they make us feel so bad, maybe we shouldn’t be emigrating”.

… and then I think about how fed up I am with Scotland and the UK and how trapped I feel and the fact that I just want to get away and do something new.

I’m going to bed soon but I think it will be a troubled night and I hope I don’t lie awake too long worrying about it all.

Looking ahead 5 days, here are the BBC predictions for Edinburgh and Calgary.

Calgary is looking good, although I saw a report that they’ve had a lot more rain than usual in Southern Alberta and some farmers are having to hire pilots to spray their fields, because normal farm equipment is getting stuck in the mud.

I’m just dying to get out into the Rocky mountains on a blue-sky day.

Today is the longest day of the year.

In Edinburgh the sun rose at 4.27 am and will set at 10.03 pm. Usable daylight will stretch onwards to nearer 11pm.

We call today mid-summer’s day yet, I hate to say it, the weather feels nothing like what most people would think of as summer. That’s quite typical for Scotland. It’s raining and, a few moments ago, the external temperature readout on my car was 13 degrees C.

I’ve just taken a picture of our wind and rain-swept back garden to remind me of mid-summer’s day - you can see here:

I can think of few sillier activities than sunbathing.

The prospect of lying doing nothing during the hours of daylight while the sun burns and dries out my skin to leave me wrinkly and with the possibility of contracting skin cancer is awful.

I can’t help wishing for a sunnier warmer summer though, just so we can get out and about more - particularly in the wilder parts of the highlands - without the continual threats of wind and rain.

I’m looking forward to Alberta where it’s drier and there will be more dry, sunny days to get outside and hike and climb and ski amongst some fantastic scenery.

Now that we’re heading to Calgary, I’m taking more of an interest in Alberta’s current affairs. Reading today’s online edition of the Calgary Herald I find news that, on the face of it, seems good - but in the long term might be bad.The Conference Board of Canada is predicting labour shortages in Alberta will worsen over the next 20 years.

For someone looking for work - like me - and who may eventually have children looking for work, this seems like good news. On the other hand, if it hinders Alberta’s economy long-term, it’s bad news.

In more detail, The Conference Board estimates Alberta’s annual shortfall of workers will reach 332,000 by 2025 if current trends continue.

The Board suggests several solutions to Alberta’s labour shortage, including attracting more immigrants, wider recognition of foreign credentials, better training programs and more labour mobility agreements with other provinces.

Certainly the first two of these proposed solutions sound good to me.

With my current interest in immigration matters, I noticed that the US Senate has passed a bill to ramp up annual employment-based immigration from 140,000 to 650,000. This category of immigration allows permanent residency in the United States.

Given that American wages tend to be higher than Canadian wages, I’m sure the Canadian government is not exactly pleased about this news.

Countries like the USA, Canada and Australia compete with one another for skilled migrants and I’m sure Canada and Australia will suffer if the United States adopts these new immigration targets.

The cynic in me also wonders whether there might be ulterior motives on the part of the USA for increasing their quota of skilled migrants so much. I believe the answer is yes.

I would imagine large numbers of skilled people will be sucked out of India and China into the USA.

Whose economy will benefit from a large increase in skilled workers? The USA’s.

Whose economies will suffer from the depletion of their most skilled and talented people? China’s and India’s.

I believe the USA may be out to sabotage the economic growth of its potential rivals India and, especially, China.

The United States can offer much higher wages than these upcoming economies - for the moment.

While this situation persists, the USA will use its attractiveness as a migrant-destination to hinder India and China’s economic development by poaching large numbers of their most economically productive and most innovative workers.

We invited my parents to a meal yesterday and my wife’s parents came this evening. My parents have accepted that we’re emigrating. I can’t say they’re dancing and singing in the streets with joy about it, but they have accepted it. There was no attempt to dissuade us.

My parents are very good that way. They’ve always (since I left school) had a philosophy of not trying to interfere in any decisions I’ve taken. They see it as my life and I’ve got to live it as I see fit.

We had a much harder time from my wife’s parents - particularly her mother. They are treating the issue as one of rejection - their daughter (thankfully they didn’t try to blame me - yet) is moving a long way away from them - obviously she can’t love them, etc, etc. It was a pretty harrowing evening.

All I can say is I’m glad we’re making the move sooner rather than later. It will mean fewer opportunities for the emotional blackmail that I’m sure her parents are plotting, even as I type. At least we’ve got it over with. Our employers and both of our parents both know what we are going to do. Now all we’ve got to do is sell our house, ship our furniture, move to Canada, try to get jobs and start a whole new life.

What an interesting day it’s been.

We both did the deeds we had said we would - we resigned. I hadn’t spoken to anyone at work before about the possibility of emigrating, so I knew it was going to be a surprise.

I made an appointment with my boss in his office and - like a naughty boy going to see the headmaster - turned up at the allotted time. I was surprisingly nervous - I’ve never resigned before - and it was an odd feeling. I’ve always done my best at work - never shirked - and it seemed a bit disloyal to be resigning. I knew it wasn’t really disloyal - employees come, employees go - but that’s still how it felt at the time. I told him my news - we had decided to emigrate and I’d like to give my notice. He nodded. It was all very calm and matter of fact.

Then – wonder of wonders - he said he doesn’t blame me for emigrating. Scotland / the UK - call it what you will - is “going down the pan at a rapid rate of knots” he said - and if it wasn’t for his family situation, he’d be doing the same thing himself!

So, in the end, it was a much easier experience than I thought it would be. He says he’ll be happy to give me a very good reference to any employer in Canada who asks, and he wished me the best of luck for the future.

I got the same reaction from most of the people I told - they thought we were doing exactly the right thing and they wished they were emigrating too. One or two people were a bit put out - they seemed to think we were committing some sort of act of treason against Scotland by leaving. I suppose it takes all sorts.

Tomorrow’s the next tough step, telling my parents that we’re moving several thousand miles away from them. The emigration business is certainly a tough experience emotionally, if nothing else!

We took the decision today. We are going to go to Canada. We already had been granted permanent residence in Canada, using the points system for skill workers. We just didn’t know whether to go or not.

We are going to resign from our jobs tomorrow!

In August, we’re heading to Calgary, Alberta. Are we mad? Perhaps we are, leaving secure jobs in Edinburgh for the promise of skies that aren’t cloudy all day - the big skies of the Canadian prairies. Maybe it’s a mid-life crisis issue - reaching the age of 40 last year made us consider our futures very seriously. It seems now a bit like Tom Good, on the Good Life, feeling that he’d reached the age of 40 without being satisfied with what he had done in life - wanting to experience a different kind of life.Well, a different type of life is what we’re committed to now - moving from Edinburgh, Scotland (daily max 6 degC, min 1 degC in January and daily max 18 degC, min 12 degC in July) to Calgary, Canada (daily max -3 degC, min -15 degC in January and daily max 23 degC, min 9 degC in July).

The winter temperatures look alarming at first sight - but it shouldn’t be too bad, if there isn’t a fierce wind blowing. The fact that we both enjoy downhill and cross country skiing helps - we won’t be stuck indoors all winter in Canada - we’ll be out enjoying all that snow and sunshine.

Yes, Calgary is sunny in winter, unlike Edinburgh where you can go long periods without seeing the sun. Calgary gets 2,400 hours of sunshine every year compared with the 1,400 we are used now. 1,000 extra hours of sunny weather a year for hiking, skiing and generally getting out an about - sounds fantastic.

It’s an exciting time and tomorrow comes the crunch - resignation day.