Notes from BC

On Friday night Lou and I began our weekend together by heading into the city for some drinks with a few of our friends. We headed to The Kingston which is located close to the Vancouver Public Library and not far away from Granville Station. We had a bite to eat and plenty of drinks and it was a really good night, however after being awake since 5:30am I was done by midnight and could last no longer than 1am. I had to put an end to the partying (at least for me and Lou) and make my way home whilst I could still keep my eyes open. As soon as we got home I was then feeling wide awake, I think the cold evening air that hit me after leaving the pub made me wake me up. For the novelty I thought it would be cool to ring my parents at that time (knowing that it would be late morning in the UK) so I did but then didn't end up going to sleep until 3am!

On Saturday we had intended to go out for the day but the weather put an end to our planned outdoor activity so we decided to relax and recuperate from a busy week (but mainly the night before!). In the evening we headed out to a local shop in Burnaby to buy a new camera case for the Nikon D5000 we got a Christmas. We then just stayed in and watched a film in the evening. On Sunday we headed into Downtown Vancouver to do a bit of shopping. The city is really starting to get ready for the Olympics now and the place seems much busier than usual already. There are many advertisements on some of the large buildings which were not there a week ago, many people on the streets pushing Olympic related things and many artwork installations have suddenly appeared around the city too. 

I think the homeless people have also ramped up there numbers because there seem to be even more around the city now (there's at least one or two on every street). I got approached by 5 beggars in the space of 10 minutes whilst on my lunch break last Thursday, needless to say I didn't give them a dime. So much for the governments plan on trying to sweep them up off the streets and out of the sight of the tourists! I'm pleased about this in a way though because people will see the true poverty that exists in the Downtown area. Hopefully the government will be shamed into addressing the issue properly if the eyes of the word also notice our huge problem here - because whatever they're currently doing it's blatantly not enough. We plan on heading in to the city again this week (after work) to take some photos, we need to do it now because (apart from when I head there for work) I'm planning on avoiding the area as it will be chaos when the games begin! 

My back has been really hurting me since late last week so I've not wanted to spend too long sitting down hence the short post today. I'm not sure what has caused it but I may have done whilst playing football during the week (If I did do it then I didn't actually notice at the time). I'm starting to think I should probably register with a doctor at some point!

On Saturday evening Lou and I went downtown together for the first time in a few weeks. I head down there everyday for work during the week but it's so much better when your heading across for fun! We decided to go for a nice meal and we opted for The Keg which is a nice steakhouse chain located a few minutes away from Burrard Station. There are actually four of their restaurants in the city, we previously went to a different one when it was Lou's birthday back in August. Our meal was great, we both went for the prime rib which came with garlic mashed potato and fried onions it was all very tasty but difficult to finish! We've actually had 4 meals at The Keg chain now (including when we went there on holiday in 2005) and each time it's always been good, I would definitely recommend it to anybody and everybody. After finishing our drinks we then headed back, joining the SkyTrain at the same time as all the Canucks fans who were leaving the stadium after seeing a great 5-1 win. We managed to get seats so it wasn't too bad and within 20 minutes we were home with our feet up watching a movie. 

               

For the past couple of weeks we've noticed the water hasn't been getting as hot as normal in our apartment in the early morning when we get up for work. However it's always been fine around 8am when we've tried it at weekends. Assuming it was probably just a case of the water heating in our building not coming on early enough Lou emailed our residential office to see what they could do. They acknowledged the email by saying "thank you for the maintenance request" and that (we thought) was it.

This morning after I left for work Lou returned home from her night shift and jumped into bed for some well deserved sleep. However she was woken at midday (after only 4 hours sleep) by a noise outside. After waking up she went to use the bathroom only to find a big bunch tools strewn all over the floor, the hallway light on and the sound of water rushing out of the bath tap. With no notice or permission at all a maintenance man had been given a key to our place, let himself into our apartment and had began work on the shower whilst Lou was asleep in the bedroom! We didn't even know they would need to come in to our home to fix the issue we complained about and we certainly were not given a 24 hour warning that they are required to do by law (which they are usually good at doing).

Luckily the maintenance man was on his lunch break when Lou woke, but it was still a big shock to her and needless to say she wasn't best pleased and it scared her a little bit because initially she thought we might have been burgled. Lou got on the phone straight away and complained to the office who immediately came over to see what was happening, and although they apologized for screwing up it still didn't really stop us from being annoyed about it. Apparently somebody new had started in their office and had not managed to handle our request and the subsequent maintenance action properly meaning that we never got notified with a slip under the door like usual. Apparently we're expected to accept this as a reasonable excuse, or so it seems! We were then doubly annoyed when we then realized it was not a one day job and we would be out of hot water and a shower until they have got this fixed!

For the rest of the afternoon work carried on in the bathroom, and they made plenty of noise whilst they smashed away tiles and fiddled with the piping (and yes of course, they didn't have the part they needed to fit). This stopped Lou from being able to use the bathroom or getting any further sleep - not the best thing when you're not expecting it and you have another night shift to do! Eventually by 3pm they left and they were going to leave us with no water at all until Lou complained and they agreed that leaving the cold water on would actually be ok. When Lou queried them about how we were supposed to wash ourselves their answer was to give us access to another apartment which was empty - except it was in the apartment building next door to the one we live in! They even left our bathroom in a mess and didn't tidy up, triple and quadruple annoyances!

By the time I got back from work Lou was pretty worked up and frustrated - understandably so after only having 4 hours sleep, not being able to have a wash or even use the bathroom at all. I convinced her to phone work and let them know she wouldn't be able to make it for the night shift tonight because she was in no state to go in. This also means we will now lose out on some money too (annoyance number 5 if you're still counting!).

With little choice but to accept their offer of the spare apartment Lou took the key to this other place and finally at 5pm we went to go for a shower in the apartment in the building next door. I went along with her so that I would know where to go tomorrow morning. We put the key in the door to this 'empty' apartment to only then open the door and be in the middle of somebody's home amongst all their personal belongings (kids toys were all over the floor etc). After mere seconds we dashed back out and didn't stay in their long enough to know if someone was in (but we think there was no one home at the time)! How bad is that? I would not be happy if some random neighbour was given the key to my place and decided to let themselves in, even if they were unaware of it's occupancy! It's just a good job for them I guess that we're trustworthy people! We ran over to the residential office to tell them what had happened and the lady there explained it was an apartment with the same number but in our own building that they should have given us the key to - what a joke (yep that's the 6th annoyance)!

I like the fact most people in BC are chilled out and laid back but when it comes to things like this it's not always a good thing. Disorganization is rife in so many ways out here and often I have to admit I find it amusing but not this time when it's directly affected us (karma?). Everyone wants their home to be secure, safe and access to it managed properly. Until now we haven't had a great deal of concerns or problems with the apartment management but this is all a little bit disturbing, let's hope they at least fix the bloody shower tomorrow! 

This week was rather uneventful here to be honest so I don't have a great deal of interesting stuff to write about. I took two days off at the start of the week as I wasn't feeling too good (no, it wasn't the sushi!) and then the remainder of the week has just consisted of going to work, getting home and then going to bed. We've been out to the shops recently and got lots of supplements and vitamins to try give our bodies a bit of a boost, we've just both been feeling worn out and tired recently so hopefully they'll help.

On Thursday evening a friend of mine came over to our place and we realized it was the first person we've had visit us at our apartment even though we've been there 6 months! On Friday I got sidetracked at work and ended up leaving an hour and half later than I was supposed to, I joined my workmates for a quick beer after that and then made my way home before 7pm. Lou is now working on nights for the next couple of weeks but as she starts at 11pm I still get to see her for a few hours before she goes and in that respect it works out better than when she's on evenings. The only problem is sleeping during the day can be a bit hard for her and she's already feeling a bit spaced out. Hopefully though after these couple of weeks she won't have to do nights for a while.

Weather wise it's been still quite mild here with temperatures around 8-11°c but we have had a substantial amount of rain and I still need to get a decent umbrella. The news outlets here are still going crazy on stories about the Olympics with the games set to start in less than a month. Many commuters are getting worried about some of the delay estimates being bandied about at the moment - some people are suggesting it may take up to two hours to get on a SkyTrain at peak hours! I will be aiming to avoid that somehow though I'm hoping it will turn out not to be as bad as they're predicting, only time will tell.

This week has been great for me at work, I was off on Monday and finished at 1:30pm yesterday, meaning that I only had two and half days at work this week which was cool. On Wednesday I wasn't in a rush to get home with Lou being at work so I decided to stay at the office afterwards and make use of the free beer keg! After leaving work we then went to a bar for a couple of hours too but as it was 'a school night' I was back home shortly after 9pm. After work the following day (NYE) we did more of the same but from midday onwards this time as work was so quiet. I was actually back home at around 5pm, slightly inebriated but my excuse was that it had already turned midnight in the UK! I then watched the Canucks game on TV, which they came back from 3-1 down to win 4-3. After that I watched the the Canadian Juniors who came back from 4-2 down against the USA to win 5-4 in a shootout.

Lou has been back on the evening shift this week which finishes at 11pm and hence it meant we didn't plan anything extravagant for new years eve. It wasn't a bad thing though, everything (no matter where you are) seems always way too busy and expensive to go out on new years eve and it's never really something we've been big on. Call us a pair of grumpy so and so's if you will but this is how we actually like it! Lou managed to get out of work a bit earlier and was home for 11:10pm which worked out well. We saw in the New Year on our balcony watching all the fireworks from the neighbourhood and being sang to "Edelweiss" via Skype from Lou's Mum which was too funny!

This morning I woke up at 9am but still felt slightly tired so I went to back to sleep - only to then wake at 1:30pm! The weather is really bad today so we're just going to stay in as most indoor places are also closed so that really limits what we can do! We wanted to both end todays post by wishing you all a Happy New Year, we hope that 2010 is a great year for all our family and friends.

After spending the majority of Christmas and Boxing Day indoors we decided to go out yesterday to get some fresh air and also experiment with our new camera. We prepared a picnic and took a drive north of where we live to Burnaby Mountain Park which is close to the Simon Fraser University campus. It only took us about 20 minutes to get there and it was relatively quiet on the roads too. We opted to eat our lunch in the car instead once we arrived though as it was a bit too cold to sit outside for Lou!

The mountain itself is lower than many of the surrounding ones but it still gave us a great view of the Burrard Inlet. Had it not been foggy over the city then we would have been able to see downtown Vancouver clearly too but on this occasion we could only just see certain buildings and structures. The place was really nice and definitely a place we'll be going back to as there are plenty of hikes to go on around the area. We just need to some proper walking shoes now.

                             

Today is exactly 6 months to the day since we packed our lives into two suitcases and left England for our new life in British Columbia. We have named it our "Canniversary" and we're still quite surprised at how quick everything has gone. When we look back at how we were when we first landed we feel a lot more aware of what is going on around us now and less like 'a couple of fish out of water'. As well as being very supportive of each other this has also been partly down to the great help of Vancouver based people and mostly our good friends in CJ, Sam and Julie (I wanted to mention you guys particularly as you've been awesome). Our families have also been great keeping us up to date with things back in England and providing encouragement and support.

Although 6 months is not a long time in the scheme of things we already look back and laugh at some of the silly things we thought or did in those first few weeks here - many of which seem so stupid now that we prefer keep quiet about them! There have also been a couple of moments where we've 'wobbled' a little bit too but not as many times as we predicted and this has definitely subsided a lot since I started work myself. I think more of the concerns have come from me as I can sometimes over-think situations in my head. Lou seems to have taken most of it in her stride which has really amazed me and that's one of the things that make me love her even more (sorry to get a bit soppy guys!). Lou just gets on with stuff and her independence, motivation and determination have really helped her (and us) settle in and become proper Vancouverites. I myself felt slightly out of place until I was bringing home money myself, I felt bad because I wanted to pull my own weight but couldn't get the opportunity to do so. Now I'm doing exactly that and I feel less like an observer and more a part of the whole puzzle. One thing that makes me laugh is that when I finally got a job some of my mates back in the UK said jokes like "It's about time you got off your arse" etc, but the funny thing is I do more sitting down now at work then I ever did before when practically each day was an opportunity to explore something.

Money worries were probably the biggest concern during the initial few months. Whilst money isn't everything to us it's pretty hard to live without much of it. I was glad that we managed to save as much as we did before we moved otherwise we may have found things tougher. I think we have done well since we got here, we were sensible and got by just on essentials at first and we delayed some of the more luxurious purchases until later down the line. Only recently have we finally started to furnish our apartment with a good sofa and dining table etc. Things maybe weren't quite as cheap as what we anticipated but many things weren't too much of a shock because we'd done a lot of research. Overall things balance themselves out here now that we're earning and spending in the same economy and financially we are slightly better off. Weekly grocery shopping and clothes are about the same price if not slightly more expensive here but the overall service and experience is more pleasant when buying something. Eating out is cheaper and better too, in fact I can only think of one bad meal we've had in 6 months. Visiting indoor attractions tend to be about the same price but we have way more alternatives here to do outdoor stuff for free, for example some of the parks we've been to are awesome!

Strangely I do occasionally find myself thinking "woah that's expensive" and it's always for something really random which I've never even thought about before but then other times I see something and can't believe it's so cheap too, sometimes I'm like "well we might as well get two or three of these"! Fuel works out to be around 60p a litre as opposed to £1.05 and we have no MOT or road tax to pay. On the flip-side however second hand cars are also unbelievably more expensive here (and so is the insurance in comparison). In fact most secondhand things in Canada hold their value way more compared to the UK where we found that secondhand things are practically worthless most of the time.

People ask us if we miss the UK, and the answer is always the same. We do, but we mainly miss our family, friends and the football culture not too much about the actual country. Maybe we will start to miss it more the longer we've been here, we'll have to wait and see. Being able to chat to the family via Skype and seeing each other via the webcam has been a tremendous help too, it really does help us feel like we're maintaining that strong connection despite being over 4,000 miles away. I still find it weird at weekends watching football matches at 7am in the morning but it also means that after 9:30am the rest of the day is free and we don't have to rush back for anything. 

I think the phrase "life is what you make of it" really is apt. We were reasonably happy in the UK but we both feel more so here, it feels like this is just where we are supposed to be right now. The differences between the two countries have been interesting and occasionally unusual, bizarre and even frustrating but we've found them equally refreshing. England (for the majority of things) definitely seems more organized, structured and established but there also seems to be a lot of unnecessary pressure / stress that comes along with that too. We've both said to each other that we feel like we're really living now and no longer on pause, I guess that true feeling is hard to convey into words really but hopefully you'll understand what I mean. Often (not always) when we were in the UK things sometimes seemed really routined, rarely was there something new to do and many things were either just boring or over priced and I felt myself getting more and more pessimistic about things - a trait which I really don't like. Don't get me wrong though I don't exactly always walk around with a beaming smile on my face here (especially at rush hour on the SkyTrain) but I do feel more upbeat and positive about things in general. In some ways the Canadian mentality can seem a little bit old fashioned and behind the times but that also gives it it's own unique feel too. Technology wise Canada doesn't fall behind Europe and it's about the same, well at least that's what it seems like to me because I haven't been left wanting so far. 

I'm definitely starting to see a few things from a different perspective too but I don't think I'll ever totally lose my English-ness (nor would I want to). Sometimes at work I'll be busy talking away before suddenly seeing a slightly bemused expression on the face of the person I'm talking to - only then do I realize I've said something "really English" but we have a good laugh about it. In the same sort of manner occasionally they'll be the odd conversation which goes completely over my head because it's about something or people I don't know. I usually tend to keep quiet when that happens or simply tell them "I ain't got a clue what'cha chatting on about"!

There are still aspects of UK life which I preferred to honest (such as the average vacation allowance from employers), but it's just that the majority of things here are a bit more easy going (although it's not always a good thing especially if you want something sorted out quickly)! I'm not sure exactly how Lou feels about this herself but personally I still and always will love England, however it's easier to love and feel affection for the place from afar than when you're actually there! One of the reasons we didn't go back for Christmas was that we thought it would really disrupt us from settling in to Canadian life and it could potential undo some of our hard work. We're starting to feel more and more settled by the day and I think if we'd have gone back so early for a visit it would have through us off-track a little bit (especially with Christmas time being more joyous and relaxing than usual everyday life).

One thing that is strange is that we arguably had better jobs in the UK but didn't enjoy life as much, here our jobs are not as good but our life is a lot better, I think we both prefer to have it this way rather than the former. Often we get pushed for a definitive answer on wether we'll stay here forever both by Brits and even Canadians. Whilst it is our intention to I'm always hesitant to give out a an answer that locks us in to some kind of promise, especially this early. We don't see it from the point of view that this move has to be an outstanding success or otherwise we'll return to the UK in a spectacular cloud of failure. We're a bit more easy going than that! Our view is that if we ever get to the point where we are no longer enjoy living here then we'll simply just move, maybe to another city or maybe even to another province but we certainly won't force ourselves to be somewhere we no longer want to be.

However, at the moment we can't see ourselves leaving this beautiful country. We're still loving Vancouver and we have so much to see, do and experience here. It's not some glorious utopia devoid of problems but it's vibrant, interesting and certainly the best city I've ever lived in, I'm sure Lou would say the same. We don't know what is around the corner for us and I'm sure they'll be both good and bad things ahead but that's all part of the excitement of life isn't it?

Yesterday we enjoyed our first Christmas in Canada, it was not as emotional as we'd anticipated it could be and we had a really great and relaxing day. The night before, on Christmas Eve, Lou finished work at 11pm so when she got home she phoned her Mum and then I called my parents as we knew they'd have just woken up. It felt a little bit strange that they'd all been to sleep and were then waking up and opening presents whilst we were about to go to sleep but it was kind of cool too!

As soon as I woke up on Christmas morning I jumped in the shower, quickly got dressed and then went online to have a webcam chat with my parents, uncles, sister, brother-in-law and nephew. They'd all just finished their dinner so again the time difference made things feel a little bit surreal. We hadn't even opened a present ourselves by this point but we'd agreed on a time which I was trying to stick to. After saying our goodbyes we then (mainly Lou!) prepared all the food for our turkey dinner, opened our presents and then did another webcam chat with Lou's side of the family. They'd set the laptop up in the living room and we got to see everyone at the same time, it worked out really well. As it was the evening in the UK they were already drinking their tipples, not wanting to be the odd ones out we decided to join in too and I had a beer and Lou a glass of wine just after midday! It was awesome to see both sets of families and it prevented us from feeling like we were really missing them because we'd still actually seen them, albeit not in person. We had some fantastic gifts from our families which had been shipped all the way over here at great expense, thank you so much everyone we're really grateful for them all.

We had our Christmas dinner around 3pm, Lou did a fantastic job and everything turned out really well. Even the roast potatoes which I thought had been destroyed turned out to be good so everything was a success. Believe it or not, despite us being together since February 2003 it was the first time we'd actually cooked our own Christmas dinner! In previous years we'd either been to Lou's Mum's house or my Mum & Dad's so not only were we in a different country this year but we also had to do something ourselves on the big day which we'd usually (I guess) taken for granted a little bit. We had a huge turkey considering it was only the two of us but I did my best to ensure much wasn't wasted! Before the stomach pain of over-eating kicked in we decided to clear up the kitchen straight after finishing our meal. One good thing about it only being the 2 of us was that there was no mountain of pots and pans like usual and we managed to fit everything in the dishwasher and tidy up within 10 minutes! In the late afternoon we sat back played with our new toy (a fantastic camera we brought for each other as a joint present) and then we put our feet up and had a few more drinks. In the evening we watched a film and tried to fight off the "turkey coma" which had started to kick in.

Today we intended to spend our Boxing Day outside taking photos with our new camera but we had some really thick fog which stopped us from doing so (we could literally not see more than 30ft in front of us for the majority of the day). I spoke to my Grandad on the phone in the morning and then in the afternoon we watched Leicester vs Sheffield Utd on TV. Being able to see The Foxes play felt like an extra present and even more so when the final whistle sounded on a 2-1 win. Tonight we're going to nip out briefly to get something for dinner and then we're going to watch the Canucks Vs Edmonton. Boxing Day sport is the best after all and I'm hoping to see a second win of the day!

Below are a just few photos from the day, I'll be uploading more on facebook soon for our family and friends to see.

     

I've just realized it's been 9 days since my last blog post, I just haven't been able to find the time / energy to sit down and write in the evenings. Also, I'm not sure if people are actually interested in reading about every day things or not and I'm paranoid sometimes it may be a little bit boring. Oh well, I'll let you decide and I guess if it's boring you then you can always stop reading...!

I've been 'running on empty' for the past 5 days so I think by the time it's Christmas day I'll be needing that break for sure. Last time I wrote we'd just started to get some snow here but the anticipated large snow fall never happened, it seems like the UK got it all instead! At the early part of the week it was actually up to 9 degrees here one day, however it's slowly started to get cooler recently.

The shops have all started to become busier (especially the malls) but I have to admit it doesn't seem to have got as bad as it always does in the UK. I've been expecting to see bare shelves and humongous lineups but it doesn't seem to have happened, at least not in the places I've been to anyway (maybe I've just been lucky!). The supermarkets seem to operate differently here too, I haven't seen the large quantities of festive related produce on the scale that you'd see in the UK. I've barely seen a mince pie for instance, though it could be a fact they just don't pile them up at the entrance like British stores do!

Last week we finally got our new leather sofa delivered and it's made a huge difference, it's really nice and comfortable. It's the first time we haven't had a hand-me-down couch too so (as good as some of the previous ones were) it's cool to have something we've picked ourselves! We'd been using a sofa bed since we moved in to the apartment but it was quite uncomfortable and just before we replaced it we'd actually resorted to sitting on the floor instead. It did the job for us initially though and its now in the spare room until we figure out what to do with it next. I love coming home, putting my feet up and watching the Canucks on TV (and that's about all I seem to have energy for too).

Work for both of us has been really busy, things have scaled back a little as is to be expected but because theres more staff absent with vacation there's still been a steady work flow at both of our jobs. I seem to find myself leaving later and later each day at the moment aswell. Hopefully it's not going to be a continuing habit, I just can't seem to finish things off recently. This week Lou has been on evening shifts, she's coming home after I'm asleep and I'm leaving for work before she's awake. This means we haven't seen each other since the weekend except for a few seconds when we've woke up briefly during the night which is quite strange. We're having to make do with talking on our mobiles when one of us gets a break at work.

Today I had an unusual start to my day. Usually I get up at 5:30am and jump on the SkyTrain for work at 6:30am, then I cruise along listening to podcasts on my iPhone whilst trying to wake up properly. This morning as I walked up the stairs to the platform I noticed the train was stationary for longer than usual. The trains normally stop at each station for 20 seconds before leaving so when I jumped on I was expecting the doors to practically close just behind me as I boarded. This time however I rushed to get on but then waited, waited, and waited some more. Eventually I heard a message on the intercom system - the trains weren't moving because of a switch error and no trains were running into Downtown Vancouver. I thought it would be best to phone my boss to let him know I was going to be late and co-incidently when I did I discovered that he happened to be on the same train! We decided to meet on the platform and then we jumped in a cab together to get to work (paid by the company of course). That was no simple feat though as quite a few people were trying to do the same thing, it was almost like a sadistic game show contest "He who risks getting run over the most, gets the taxi"! We ended up being almost an hour late but I actually enjoyed the unusual aspect to it all, It sure woke me up more than usual anyway.

This evening I've been searching for a Christmas present for us both and I'm now totally tired out! We decided to get something jointly (because what we want is quite expensive) but to be honest we had really left it too late. I spent two hours unsuccessfully searching around Downtown straight from work for it and then once I got home I spent a further hour phoning places to check their stock but it was all to no avail. Just as I was admitting defeat Lou phoned me to say she'd been searching on her break too and she'd found a place that had 1 left! Not only that but she'd also persuaded them to reserve it for her. Needless to say I wasn't exactly feeling up for heading back out into the shopping chaos but it had to be done. Thankfully I managed to get without too much trouble so we will have something from each other to open on the big day after all, yay! Lou is super excited now, I just hope I manage to get a look-in once it's opened haha!

I had to walk through metro-hell on the way home but somehow, despite it being busy, people seemed to be parting like the red sea to let me get through. I think it must have been my "don't mess with me because I ain't got time for this crap" expression that I was probably showing, maybe I should be like that more often!