Settling in Bermuda

It has now been a week since I moved into my new apartment, and while there have been a couple of small issues, it is leagues better than my last place. And, while furnished, it lacked some things that you might want to have in your apartment, so yesterday was a day spent shopping. I went to three stores yesterday that I had never been to before. All of them sized on a scale that I didn’t realize existed in Bermuda. I was a bit surreal to go into a store that was easily as big as a big box Canadian Tire at home, and just as well equipped. More expensive perhaps, on certain items, but a small comfort nonetheless. And now the kitchen, along with my bathroom and bedroom feel a bit more like home. In a way that my first apartment never could. :)

Where do I live?

I was answering some questions last night on Hunch, which is an interesting concept of a site, check it out and judge for yourself. One of the questions which it asked to get to know me better was whether I lived rural, suburban or in a major city. That really made me pause. I had no idea. I still don’t I guess. I would have been able to answer that question at any other point in my life.

Growing up in Durham–definitely rural. Not quite on a farm or anything, but not far.
University in Halifax–in a city. You can debate what makes a city “major”, but it is definitely a city.
University in Reading–suburban. Apparently Reading isn’t a city. But even still the university was certainly in more of a suburb of the town anyway.
University in Thessaloniki–city. A much older city, but I lived in the heart of it. Loved being able to get a souvlaki at 3am if desired.
University in Madrid/Leganés–suburban. The fact that I actually lived in a suburb of Madrid is as good an indication as any.
Working in Vancouver–major city, and I lived downtown (or close to it).

But Bermuda is a bit of a mystery of classification. I live just outside of the city of Hamilton, so you could say that is suburban, but Hamilton only has a resident population of around a thousand people. There is nothing urban or major about that. In fact the whole island has a population a fraction of those of the other places I’ve lived. Except Durham, Durham is tiny. But I can walk into a “city” from here, so I don’t know if that qualifies as rural either. Basically if you consider me suburban, then the whole island is suburban in my mind, likewise if you were to say it was rural. Put a gun to my head, and I choose suburban, but I’m not completely sold.

But whatever you call it, it is a good spot for Bermuda. Getting into work is smooth and the unit is new and comfortable. I will say that moving is a whole lot more difficult when you don’t have a car. Not that I have ever had my own car, but usually in the past, a car was available which I could make use of in some way. And if I asked around enough here, I’m sure I could have had access to one. But since I live light-ish with all the moving, there were only four things that needed car transport, three larger suitcases and my boxed up computer. So I packed it all up and took a bike load up to the new place. Then called a taxi to do the round trip. Most taxis here are vans since there are a lot of tourists moving luggage around. So once those items were safely over to the new place, it was a matter of making a number of bike trips to get the rest. Some food that I still had (that hadn’t gone bad), and odds and ends that didn’t really make it into the suitcases. I can get a fair bit on my bike as long as it isn’t too bulky. I managed to get a new toaster oven home just yesterday.

And on June 30, I locked my key in the old apartment and unceremoniously left. No love lost believe me.

And for anyone who actually read through this post, I will reward with a hint that future changes in this site are in the works. As was my original intention with this site, it should act more as a hub of my digital life. Fingers crossed that I can realize it into the thing that I have pictured in my head.