this is C A N A D A calling

Latest news over here is in two weeks in vancouver we’ve been hitting firstly the flat hunt, then decking the flat out as you get nothing when you rent and also the job hunt. We’ve found ourselves a real nice flat in a place called kitsilano – 6 blocks from the beach, beautiful avenues full of trees. A former hippy town…
 
Decking the place out has been funny. They have this website called craigslist which is a buy and sell board. Loads of shit on there but without a car can make it hard to get delviered and has ended up with Collette and myself carrying a mattress on our head for 10 blocks on our head, and a heavy shelving unit 12 blocks. Midnight has been loving it. Also means i get to spend sunday morning with a bit of a weirdo called jeff who is a ‘man with a van’. It’s nearly done now and there’s always space for cousin or two of course.
Onto the job hunt, that’s been a bit tougher than hoped as most agencies think you are after beer money work. We’re starting to make a bit of headway with ‘proper’ jobs but i’ve got a list of 10 people to call today. Thoughts of working for a nice little sports firm have fallen by the wayside because they aren’t interested in a one year visa guy… If it doesn’t look like we’ll get a job that will support our visa then we’ll take some beer money jobs and see what happens.

I’m currently temping in the most boring photocopying job you’ve ever seen… the money is pretty average, but having been off work for 8 wks I just need a bit of cash to pay the rent. This finishes on Friday and alledgedly manual labouring pays more, but trouble is the rules are to provide your own steel toe cap boots. Might have a go next week but i have visions of a line-up with the foreman picking the workers and who’s going to pick out the skinny guy?
 
Friend making… that’s going a touch slower but we’ve got 3 family friends out here who are very nice. last thursday I went to look at some tables and chairs and ended up getting us invited to this lads party the next night. We turned up and didn’t know anyone and it was pretty good, but i think people just want to speak to me either (1) i know more about football than them or (2) to tell me they are ‘real fans’ and have been to the so and so stadium ‘like 10 times’… very friendly but sometimes you feel like chatting to someone who actually knows the score! I’ve turned to the bbc radio five live website for some interesting comment on something…

Sun is starting to shine more and more and there was a tasty little breeze the other day but no kite surfers… maybe it is banned. Need to head further up the coast i think, plus the water is freezing, even in summer.

Keep well guys

Planes, Trains, Ferries and TRUCKS

Hope you had a good Easter weekend.

I thought I`d send you another update on how the trip is going. We started a couple of weeks ago in Newfoundland which is an island closer to England than it is Vancouver. A beautiful place with a cracking national park called Gros Morne (picture attached). The island has a strong link with the Irish and the newfies spoke in a pretty weird American Irish accent. Funny. Hunting forms a huge part of their lives and when we asked this lady what we should eat from the island she said “all the usual stuff you hunt – moose, caribou – I mean what do you guys hunt in London”. Good bars I thought.

We did about 1500kms driving in the truck (see pic) which led to a serious amount of time on Moose-watch. 3 spotted out of about an estimated 250,000 on the island. They say they keep off the main highway because they know when the locals see a moose they stop and shoot it.

After an overnight ferry crossing we hit Charlottetown which was a sleepy little place with the main headline on the local newspaper reading “the lobsters are coming”. We missed the season by a couple of days but hit it in Halifax before getting the train to Quebec. Dinner on the overnight train where Collette and I got placed next to this 13 year old lad and his next door neighbour. He was the son of a fisherman and he loved to hunt. Anything he could get his hands on by the sound of things – Moose, Pheasant, Wild Turkey. Sometimes his Dad catches so much lobster they don`t know what to do with it. I thought against spoiling his pretty little mind with the problems of over-fishing and the controversial EU cod quota system, deciding instead to let him finish his Chicken Kiev in peace dreaming of his next kill.

Moose-watch turned to Beret-watch in Quebec and now Montreal. So nice to be back amongst our garlic chomping, chain smoking chums. There is a difference though and they seem to have a bit of the north American opportunistic values rather than the Parisian rudeness. The franglais is going down a treat.

Off to see Toots and the Maytals for a bit of `pressure drop` tomorrow night and then onto Ottawa and finally Toronto. The journey continues and to be honest it really isn`t that stressful. I`ve got to the relaxed stage where cat napping becomes a seriously important part of my day and deciding on what time I might sneak a little cafe au lait into action is a key decision.

Quite looking forward to getting back to some normality in Vancouver though. The papers are reporting a job boom particularly in the Construction industry which bodes well for me. Thinking about getting these L`Oreal-soft hands dirty.

Good luck to all the marathoners next week. Will be thinking of you.

and then there were two

It’s nearly 3 weeks since Collette and I left and the numbers are really starting to stack up here. 24oz of Triple A Grade Prime Canadian beef consumed, 11 different beers tasted, 5 different wines, 2 waffles, 3 french toast, 4 pancakes, 20 (est.) bagels. Welcome to Canada.

Spent the first four days in a fairly rainy Vancouver which evidently is the go round here. No one seems to care as it means it’s snowing in Whistler which is where we went for 10 days. 7 of us stayed in this ridiculous place with about 5 stuffed animals on the wall, totem poles and other native bits of art. Cross between a museum and a really tacky themed restaurant… great business idea perhaps? Skiing was superb, 6 days of sun and 5 of powder (SICK MAN).

Since then we headed down to Vancouver Island with Dave which turned out to be a serious retirement place. One museum and a cup of afternoon tea later and we were ready for the ‘scenic drive’ which encompassed a load of old peoples houses. Went to a place called Sooke too which was good and then dropped the car off with Ryan at Budget Rent-a-car who moved toVictoria “coz I met a girl on the internet…. Didn’t work out though”. There must be a lesson in there somewhere.

Staying with some family friends in Vancouver. This guy Tim has taken up ice hockey at the age of 27 so some hope for me yet. He says most people struggle to stand up in the league he’s in (division 17). Been out in town to a very cool market and some good bars and shops and both can’t wait to get settled. We’re going to look for an apartment in this place called Kitsilano which is right on the beach. Plenty for people to do if you fancied visiting!!!! Summer or winter!!!

Davey has now gone, leaving just the two of us!!! We leave tonight to go to the Maritimes – the islands on the east side of Canada. They say the people in Newfoundland are like Irish pikeys, talk funny and enjoy the booze. Should be fun. We then hit Nova Scotia for some serious lobster eating, before the big cities – Quebec, Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto. Found some good places to stay… Backpacking??? Flashpacking more like. Then back on 25th April to Vancouver to get an apartment, a truck, some bikes and oh yer…. A job