Notes from BC - Filed under 'Downtown Vancouver'

November 3, 2009

Gadgetry & Downtown Shopping

Yesterday we finally got our hands on a HD PVR Box (Sky Plus) from our cable supplier Shaw so we now have a great high definition picture to go with our nice TV. We've been wanting one of these for a while but the prices have been putting us off. However I phoned Shaw and after mentioning their rivals had an enticing offer on at the moment they gave me a good deal. The thing with cable companies over here is that they don't usually make you sign in to long contracts which means as a consumer we've had a little bit more 'power' to get a decent offer. We haven't paid full price for cable or internet since we've been here! Shaw offered me the latest PVR box for free for 6 months and then if I like it at the end of the 6 months I can either buy it a discount rate ($200 cheaper than buying one retail) or simply give it them back (with no hidden agenda). It seemed good to us so we headed to their place on West Cordova in Vancouver and picked one up after about 10 minutes. This will be great for recording the football when I'm at work and no doubt for Lou's programs when she's working evening shifts, we'd really missed that ability since we've been here. I already watched the Real Madrid game on it this afternoon - it was great!

Today after watching the champions league on TV we headed into downtown Vancouver for a walk around and to take some autumn photos of the city. Lou bought some nice roast chestnuts from a street seller which kept us warm whilst we walked about the city and we had a walk down Robson St, one of her preferred areas (there's lots of shops!). Lou has been needing a new handbag for a while and she found one today which she quickly fell in love with along with many other things! In the end she walked out with the new handbag plus a roll neck jumper and a winter coat so it was smiles all the way home!

This weekend we put our clocks back an hour and the winter nights are starting to descend early on us. In the space of 2 hours from 3pm we went from bright daylight to nighttime as you can see in the photos below. I'm sure it won't be long before the Coca-Cola "holidays are coming" advert hits the screens!

We're off now to watch our first hockey game in high definition, Go Canucks Go!

Filed under // Downtown Vancouver

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October 17, 2009

Jay-Z Live At GM Place

Last night Lou and I went to watch Jay-Z in concert at the GM Place Stadium (the home of the Canucks). It was the 4th time I've seen him, the 3rd time of Lou, but we were both excited like it was the first time and we weren't disappointed. Pharrel Williams's band N.E.R.D opened the concert but I have to say they were a real letdown. We'd been hoping they would start the night off really well but they were crap, and half of the songs didn't sound quite right. Maybe it was because it was a live band I'm not sure the songs seemed to lack an edge.

The show started at 8pm and we left home just after 7 so we got there with plenty of time to spare. One thing that surprised me was the lack of a lineup to get in to the show, we practically walked straight through (after being searched) which was nice as it was raining quite heavily. Once we got in we decided to have a beer but the first person refused us we had no ID. We've found that at most venues here if you look under 30 you will get ID'd (it's not the same in pubs), it's just a standard procedure they do with everyone. We thought our luck was out but we tried someone else and after telling her we didn't have any ID on us, she paused took a look at us and poured our drinks anyway - bonus. It was so hot inside the stadium I said to Lou that I wished I'd have put on shorts and brought a towel, it really was hot and humid.

Once we made our way to the seats a host came and informed us that if we had any problem with the two guys next to us we could let her know and she'd have them kicked out. We'd chose to sit in non-alcohol seating because we've found that Canadians at events can get a bit wild after too much beer (eg BC Lions!) and these guys smelt like a brewery and the staff had already picked up on that. As we made our way to the seats the guys tried to become best buddy's with us and for a split second we thought "uh oh"! However 5 minutes later one of the guys sparked up a potent marijuana joint at exactly the wrong time - the lights came back on after N.E.R.D's set and he was spotted almost instantly by the staff and they were both chucked out.

Jay-Z came on to the stage about 9pm and performed for an hour and 45 minutes, the whole set was awesome. It was pretty similar to his other shows (each one flawless) except this one was cool because he included new songs off his latest album which came out last month. The guys who got chucked out should have waited until the show started before smoking because as soon as the show was in full swing there were marijuana clouds left, right and center. I'd guess that probably 30% of people in the place were sparking up! We didn't mind really (It's not as bad as cigarette smoke) but our clothes were a bit smokey by the end of it! I have to say though that his previous shows had a way better atmosphere, the crowd just seems to appreciate it a bit more in the UK than they did last night in Vancouver. I'm not sure wether that's because they get the chance to see big stars perform more often here or because most of the people here were too high to go crazy!

At the end of his show Jay-Z performed "Encore" and the crowd finally displayed some real passion. Afterwards he spent about 10 minutes thanking everyone, picking out people in the crowd who were wearing distinguishing clothing and mentioning them specifically to show his appreciation. I thought that was a cool thing to do and it was a good move to connect with the fans. Last time in Manchester he did the same thing, it's nice to see he does it regularly and really cares for the people who come out to support him. Just as we thought the show was coming to an end he did one last song "Young Forever" (one of the tracks off the new album), it was a really good way to finish off a great show. As soon as he disappeared from the stage we practically ran out of the stadium and across the to the SkyTrain station, luckily managing to get there and onto the train before the platform became congested. We got home just after 11.

I didn't take my camera with me as I've done it at previous concerts before and the photos have always turned out badly and I've wasted my time messing with the camera rather than enjoying the moment. I did however find some online so I've included them here.

Photographs taken by Nick Procaylo, The Province. The original source for these can be found here

Filed under // Downtown Vancouver

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October 14, 2009

An Eye Opening Walk

This week Lou is on evening shifts starting from 3pm and finishing at 11pm. During the mornings we've been trying to make the most of her still having some time in the day. So yesterday (Tuesday) we went out for a drive so I could get some practice, it had been a couple of weeks since I'd been on the roads. At midday we walked to a nearby cantonese café which we'd been meaning to try for a while. My friend from soccer had suggested it to us which was good as there are so many to choose from we didn't know which one to try first. We had a great lunch and the whole thing only came to $16, bargain! The service is lacking any personality (it's dropped onto your table in silence and as quickly as possible!) but for cheap price and good food you can't really complain.

In the afternoon once Lou had gone work I continued for an hour on the job search but then needed to get out the apartment and clear my head. I had plenty of podcasts to catch up on so I synced my ipod, put on my coat and decided the best way to listen to them would be to do it whilst walking around downtown Vancouver. I should also mention at this point the other week I found a packet of cigarettes (almost a full pack) but as I don't smoke I thought it would be best to give them to someone who does but we'll get to this part later. I jumped on to the SkyTrain and headed into downtown, getting off at the last stop Waterfront. I didn't really have any plan on where to go and my idea was to just listen to my podcasts and take in some nice scenery, something which didn't quite turn out to be the case until the end of my walk!

[Note : My following paragraphs do go on a little bit, if you don't want to read them then I understand! For those of you that do then I hope it just gives you the real impression of Vancouver, it's a fantastic city but one that still has severe problems. I'm conscious that I need to mention the bad sides as well as the good because that's what this blog should be about. I don't want it to be some rose-tinted view of life here, I just want it to be real]

As I left the station I started my walk and decided to take a route through Gastown, the area has a unique blend of business's, boutiques, restaurants and pubs. It also gets some "undesirable" pedestrian traffic. I've mentioned Gastown before and like last time it wasn't long before a homeless person asked me for change. I have a rule of never giving any out no matter what the circumstances are because I've been told by many people that 99% of the time it's just spent on drugs. However I did have the cigarettes which I'd planned to get rid of so I gave her three and wished her a good day and she did likewise to me. I continued my walk eventually reaching the downtown eastside border, the part where me and Lou turn around and walk away as it starts to become dodgy. This time I didn't have the safety of Lou to worry about and I didn't have anything on me except my train pass, $5 and my ipod so I decided to carry on. I should also mention it was broad daylight and there were still mothers and kids walking around etc. I didn't head into the heart of it and I only approached people I judged to be reasonable. There were several shady looking people and people who were euphorically celebrating the high of the drug they'd recently taken, those I swiftly dodged away from. I didn't go to any places where there wasn't still a mixture of 'normal' people still around or put myself in any danger (ok, so now that's out of the way I'll continue haha).

I came across another pair of homeless people lying on the floor in the doorway of an abandoned shop. I'd previously seen someone smoking crack in the same spot at 1pm in the afternoon a few weeks back. I gave them another 6 cigarettes to share between them and again they were appreciative and shocked. They seemed amazed I would actually stop and talk to them and I was pleasantly surprised at how friendly they were too. Before I continue I also need to say that I know it's not good to be handing out something which damages peoples health but it's not like I brought them. I'd found them and needed to get rid of them without wasting them, I thought someone that would enjoy them might as well have them. To put it bluntly they're smokers who can't afford to smoke and a lot of them resort to gathering up dock ends off the floor to get their fix, I've seen it! This is a gesture they really appreciated and if that seems a little bit weird I guess you had to have seen the expressions on their face, true happiness. I felt like my little gesture made a positive difference on their attitude that day and it made me feel good too that I could provide some small relief from their day which must be nothing short of torturous. I got the feeling that me addressing them as a regular person made them equally as happy as the cigarette did. I repeated the process another 3 times having some short but interesting conversations on the way, again people kept surprising me with how nice they can be. It's easy to see the dirty clothes, skin, and unkempt hair and not recognize the individual as a normal human, I know because I do / have done it myself sometimes. I guess It's like any other sector of a society though there's good and bad people in it. In a weird way I've noticed that the majority of the nastier / impolite ones can be the ones who wonder into the nice parts of town to beg, I don't know if this is fact or just a coincidental observation.

The whole walk started to become a bit soul destroying though and for the first time in a while I started to feel really saddened. Some of the alleyways I passed looked bad, I don't really know how to describe them - just full of people rifling though the dumpsters. Let's just say you'd need to pay me a lot of money as a dare to walk down most of them. When I was a student in the UK I lived in a place in Coventry which was on the border of Hillfields, a known less desirable area where I'd see prostitutes and pimps every now and again getting in to fights. Well, Hillfields compared to this would look like an all inclusive stay in the Maldives! I'm just glad I was there during the daytime.

I was walking around streets where the smell of urine was pungent (and abundant!) and where public defecation (so I'm told) is rife, luckily I didn't see any! All of this is just inside the unofficial border of that area. I can't imagine what it must be like in the centre of 'skid row', I'm not brave enough or stupid enough to wonder down there. What I seen myself was dirty and shocking, I couldn't bring myself to go any further after 20 minutes of walking around so I decided to continue my walk (and resume my podcasts which I'd had on pause) in the nice parts of the city (which fortunately is the majority of it). As I was walking towards the Vancouver Public Library and the CBC Studios I noticed another homeless lady covered in dirty blankets fast asleep on a busy sidewalk. People didn't even bat an eyelid and everyone I noticed walked past in ignorance, including me - but it broke my heart as I did so. After the walk I felt powerless and conflicted, thinking on one hand "What can I as one sole person do to improve this?" and on the other "Why should I spend my time and effort on this when people who've been here for years don't even bother?". I know the latter doesn't put me in great light, but I'm honest and that's how I feel, undecided.

I feel bad that this situation exists in such a beautiful city, Vancouver is ranked number 1 for 2009 in The Economists "World's Most Livable Cities" and joint 4th in Mercer's 2009 "Quality Of Living Survey"! The majority of the general public seem to have a 'it's not my problem but someone needs to do something about it" attitude, including me sometimes, which doesn't help the situation. My problem is I can't decide which side of the fence to sit on. I can empathize with everyone, the tax payers who just want the government to fix it, the charities struggling to provide help and the government who try various things which repeatedly fail. I don't know what to say and I've not been here long enough to understand the full scope of the issue. All I know is that I made 6 people smile that day, wether it was via a method people agree with or not, and that's good enough for me.

Filed under // Downtown Vancouver

Posted from Vancouver, Canada

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October 10, 2009

Back On The Road

Yesterday Lou managed to take her BC driving licence test and I'm pleased to say she passed it without any problems! It's great news for us, she can now drive to and from work and it means she won't have to get up so early in the mornings now. Getting to work on the SkyTrain wasn't too bad but it was just so much more time consuming, now she only has to leave home half an hour before she's about to start as opposed to and hour and 15 minutes. Also she will be working the evening shift soon which finishes at 11pm so it's nice that she doesn't have to use public transport at that time.

We feel like we have more 'freedom' again now as we'd only briefly had a chance to sample it before our UK licences expired. I have only driven 4 or 5 times so far as Lou has the car with her at work most of the time during the day but now I can carry on getting some practice too because Lou can be classed as my 'supervisor'! Once I feel like I've got enough experience I'll then take the test myself but the good thing is I can still drive everywhere and we can share long distances trips (even on the highway) as long as we are both in the car.

It was an early start to get to the test centre yesterday morning. We had looked at booking a normal test but the earliest appointment we could get was at the end of November so we decided to go on standby which meant sitting and waiting for a cancellation at the Burnaby ICBC office. We had planned to do this all week but we never mentioned it to anybody else as we wanted there to be as little pressure as possible. We were determined to get the first spot on the list so we got up at 4:45am (fortunately we'd been used to doing it all week) and we arrived down there at 5:50am with the doors opening at 7:30am. Luckily we got the first spot but it wasn't long before many others arrived so we timed it well. We could tell that the other people had anticipated to be the first themselves as it was still very early and they had a slight look of disappointment on their faces to see us two already there. We gave ourselves a pat on the back too for being the most organized out of everyone! We took our beach chairs, blankets, and coffee thermos's and set-up right outside the front door, we must have looked like right happy campers! It may have looked slightly over the top but we didn't mind as we had a seat, we were warm and we had drinks unlike anyone else, others even noted that we were well prepared!

As soon as the doors opened we got registered on the list and then we waited, waited and then waited some more. Finally at 11:45am Lou's name was shouted out and off she went to take the test. It was an awful wait for me back at the office, I couldn't stay still with nerves. I'd tried to reassure and calm Lou all morning to make it seem really easy going but once she was out there I could feel butterflies in my own stomach. Lou had left behind her leopard print handbag for me to look after whilst she was out but because I couldn't sit down I had to hold it in my hand. I must have looked so ridiculous, picture it : me pacing up and down the office back and forth, holding this bloody leopard print handbag, sweating away with a panicked look on my face!

After about 45 minutes I caught a glimpse of our car out of the window, they were back in the car park and the examiner was making Lou reverse into a parking stall. I knew from reading about other people's experiences that this was the final part of the test. It was looking good and to me this meant she must have done ok on the test overall otherwise they'd have just made her drive into the spot. I watched her from a distance (being sure not to catch her eye) perform the best reverse park I have ever seen her do in my life, it was practically perfect. I felt so relieved but then she turned off the engine and the doors opened but they continued to talk. They sat in the car talking for a few minutes and I did start to worry but I couldn't wait any longer (I've never felt to impatient) so I made my way outside, handbag and everything! As I got to the car she was just getting out, she turned to look at me with the most rosy red cheeks she's ever had and before she spoke I seen her relieved smile, I knew right then that she had passed! We were both ecstatic, to others we probably looked like we'd won the lotto! Lou said the test had been ok and that the examiner was really easy going, they were more thorough then what we'd been led to believe they were but everything had gone well.

We were so happy we decided to go out and celebrate! At 5pm (which felt really late to our bodies as it had been such a long day) we made our way into downtown Vancouver on the SkyTrain. We had a meal at Whitespot (which is a low price but decent chain restaurant) and Lou had a few glasses of wine and I had a few beers. It was a really nice end to the day but we started to feel really tired so we made our way home at 7:30pm and we were asleep before 10pm again!

Filed under // Burnaby Downtown Vancouver

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September 19, 2009

Work, Walks, And Another Interview

Another week has passed by in September and the last one has mimicked the previous two (at least during the day) hence the lack of daily blog posts. Lou has been on training for work all week whilst I've spent the most of it searching for jobs again. After a weekend of good weather we had rain again during the first part of the week and it's been coming and going ever since then. On Tuesday evening we went for a walk up to Burnaby Central Park to get some fresh air as we'd both been indoors all day. We decided to cash in some of our recycling on the way thinking that we'd probably have enough to maybe at least grab a coffee at Starbucks or something afterwards. Bottles and cans have been building up and progressively taking up more and more space under the sink so it was time to get rid of them all. As it turns out we only got $1.60 back, it was so not worth the effort of carrying them all up there so we'll probably just stick them in the apartment block recycling bins now! We are getting used to recycling a lot more now and in the short time since we've been here we've been converted to that way of thinking (my Mum will be proud!). I'd feel guilty about putting everything in one bin and forgetting about it now but there is the odd occasion when I do genuinely forget and then Lou usually picks up on it and reminds me.

As usual on Wednesday evening I played soccer at Collingwood neighbourhood house which was good but I am really missing playing "proper football" still. It's better than nothing at all but I'm hoping I might be able to find an outdoor 11-a-side team in the near future. Instead of playing twice a week I've knocked it down to once for the time being as I'm not seeing Lou too much if I play both nights. On Thursday evening we headed into downtown Vancouver and had a walk next to the sea alongside Canada Place and the Vancouver Convention Centre. It's a really nice area to walk around whilst having a chat, especially in the evenings when it is fairly quiet. There was an outdoor concert going on in Stanley Park across the water so we sat down and listened to it for a while on the other side, the sound bouncing of the water and the tall buildings made it very atmospheric and chilled out.

Just I was starting to get further disappointed by the lack of replies to my applications I got a call Thursday afternoon regarding one of the better jobs I'd applied for. An interview was set up for the following day and I was excited and relieved that at least one of my applications had been acknowledged. Friday came around and I went to the interview feeling confident, and when I got there (great location in the heart of the city) I noticed the place was really nice and all the staff were very friendly. The interview started off really well but then I was hit with a bunch of technical questions, some of which I didn't have the answers too which made me feel a bit stupid. Some questions were based on things I've never touched upon in my career so I was clueless to answer them and opted to honestly say I didn't know rather than randomly guess as I thought that would make me look worse. They are making a decision on Monday but I'm not feeling too positive about it now because of that, but at least it was another interview and some more experience even if nothing further comes of it. The company made a good impression one me and it seems like a really cool working environment, so if I'm not lucky this time I think I will keep my eye on them for future opportunities as it seems like a good place to work at.

Today we both had a lazy Saturday morning lye-in, it was well deserved after a week of early starts. We're going to take it easy during the day before meeting up with some people later and going to watch our first live Ice Hockey game in Canada, it should be fun.

Filed under // Burnaby Collingwood Downtown Vancouver

Posted from BC and Vancouver, Canada

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August 19, 2009

Trips To New Westminster & Chinatown

On Tuesday we decided to go and check out some cars, mainly to see if the prices we had seen on private sales matched the prices at the car dealerships. We decided to go and check some places in New Westminster (12 miles south-east of Downtown Vancouver) as we had noticed there was a lot of places there when we had previously passed through on the SkyTrain. New Westminster, which is a city itself, was one of the first major mainland colonies in BC and in 1859 it was classed as the first capital of the "Colony of British Columbia". It had originally been called "Queensborough" but apparently Queen Victoria didn't like the sound of that name so she ordered that it be named after Westminster instead.

It was our first trip over that way, it seems to have a bit of a bad reputation nowadays and several people have said it is quite run-down. We didn't see a large part of it but we have to say the areas we seen weren't too impressive either, they weren't terrible but we can see why some people talk about it like this. There are lots of tatty / abandoned buildings around the SkyTrain station, which seems quite common (in older metropolitan parts of Canada at least). It seems to me that the land doesn't seem so precious over here so when things 'go down the swanny' they often just get left in states of disrepair. The problem is that this obviously makes some places look quite crappy and certainly not good for an outsiders first impressions. I'm sure there are some good parts there too because otherwise so many people wouldn't live there, it's just that we didn't really see them places!

However, we were here for car viewings and when it came to that New Westminster certainly had options. We spent an hour or so looking around and found a couple of places that didn't seem like rip-off merchants. We'll probably take a look at a few more places but maybe we'll head back there when we decide to buy. I think I've mentioned the car prices over here before - second hand cars are really expensive here compared to the UK. An average car looks like it will cost about $5,000 and even then it won't be anything too special, it's a good job we were already aware of this before we moved here! I think we will end up buying from a car dealer, the prices didn't seem any different to ones advertised in private sales and in this case you usually get at least a 3 month warranty whereas privately of course you get none. On our way home we found a 'Cockney Fish & Chip Shop' so we had to try it! There was nothing really cockney about this place though and we didn't notice any English staff at all. It was very different compared to a Chippy in the UK but thankfully it was still tasty. We found the whole gimmick quite funny but the locals seem to love it as the place was packed out!

On Wednesday we headed to Chinatown which is a 5-10 minute walk from the main downtown area of Vancouver but it's also on the border of 'skid-row'. Chinatown is actually alright (with some very friendly people there) but is still part of the whole Downtown Eastside neighborhood which is an area renowned for high poverty, drug use, prostitution and crime. I'd say on first hand impressions Chinatown's probably the safest part of that whole area though (maybe the Chinese population has earned / demanded respect which keeps most "undesireables" out of their area?). I wasn't too keen on going down there as we'd been there in 2005 and got put off by all the by the beggars, druggies and dodgey looking people hanging around on the adjacent streets. There are many tea places there though and we were on the hunt for 'blooming tea' so Lou eventually persuaded me to go. Not far from the entrance we noticed that the Dr Sun Yat Sen Chinese Garden was there so we checked it out and were slightly bemused at how we'd managed to miss the place completely when we visited here last. The classical chinese garden is quite small but it's very nice and apparently it was one of the first of it's kind outside of China. The garden surrounds a pond area which contains terrapins and very large koi carp and definitely would be a nice relaxing place if it wasn't for all the people attracted to it for photos - like us! After checking that place out we then found what Lou was looking for (a very good and friendly tea shop), we then spent a short while window shopping before heading home.

Filed under // Downtown Vancouver New Westminster

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August 15, 2009

Libraries, Interviews, And Bakeries

On Wednesday we headed down to the Vancouver Public Library to get membership cards and see what the facilities are like. We thought this would be a good idea as it could save us a lot of money especially as Lou can read a book faster than Johnny Five! The library was built in 1995 and apparently it is the third biggest library in Canada. The building architecture is quite different from your regular old library too, it looks almost like a semi-coliseum. The interior of the library has a nice open walk-way lined with shops and seats on the outside, it's actually a nice place to stop and have a drink whilst people watching (if you're into that kind of thing!). As we were on our way down there we couldn't help but notice crowds gathering, camera crews and actors dressed in old fashioned clothes. A program called 'Caprica' (apparently a prequel to Battlestar Galactica) was being filmed on the road opposite the library. Vancouver is a popular city for film production with it often being referred to as 'Hollywood Of The North" in the industry. This was the first time we'd seen public filming since we've been here and we were quite intrigued but many other people were kind of blasé about it as they'd probably seen it many times before. We stood and watched for a while, it's amazing how many takes they have to do to get it right and it's not helped by the fact that it's in the public so noisy buses, taxis and pedestrians can get in the way constantly.

On Thursday I had an interview in the afternoon with a interior design / architecture company based downtown. The interview was quite intense and lasted 1.5 hours. I was interviewed by three people but they didn't really ask me anything different from an interview in the UK (except for "Why did you move to Vancouver?" which was probably asked to see if my plans on staying here are long term or short term). The place was really nice and the staff very friendly too but the actual job itself didn't sound too fantastic, I left with a good impression of the company but mixed feelings about the job. The next day I got a call to say they were going to proceed with another candidate as they thought he/she was a better fit but that I was a extremely candidate and all that other crap they usually say etc. In a way I was quite glad (in a weird way because I want a job!) that it was not a decision I had to make as I'd already said to Lou I wasn't too sure about it. I think they needed a bit of a 'whipping boy' and they probably got the impression from me that my knowledge was a bit too advanced for the role and that I was not the type of person to be barked at and go and cower at my desk squealing "yes master". It was good experience though, I haven't had an interview for a few years so it was good to get used to it and all the techniques they use again, it's the best type of preparation you can do for another interview!

On Friday we didn't do a great deal during the day, I'm liking Canada but some aspects of Canada are not quite liking me at the moment. I thought my body had adapted already but it seems I may need a bit longer or at least look a bit closer at the ingredients of the food we're eating. The less said about this the better I think, it's not too hard to guess what I'm talking about! We briefly ventured out in the late afternoon and found a little Chilean bakery about 10 minutes from our home, we sampled some latin american desserts and took home some bonadas for our dinner (a Chilean type of pasty). Spicy food is probably not the best thing for me to be eating right now but so be it. In the evening we headed downtown and had a few drinks in a couple of bars on West Pender St. At one point we got caught up amongst the 'middle-aged-after-work-drinking-with-our-work-laptops-on-the-table-crew' so we decided to move on to another pub and go for something a bit more vibrant. However we didn't stay out too long and were home before 10pm, we wanted to get in a decent amount of sleep before getting up early to listen to the Leicester City match this morning.

Filed under // Collingwood Downtown Vancouver

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August 9, 2009

Irish Bars, Prophecies & 7am Kick-Offs!

On Thursday the weather had really cooled down and was a nice 22c, we didn't do a great deal as I had hurt my ankle playing football the night before and I couldn't walk too far. We ended up just going to get a bucket and brush to help us clean our balcony floor and then for a quick coffee in Starbucks, nothing terribly exciting! On Friday I spent most of the day job searching and Lou went back to the beauty salon that she had been too a few weeks previous and she had her nails done again. In the late afternoon I watched Real Madrid Vs Toronto on the TV in a pre-season friendly, it was good to see Toronto get thrashed 5-1! Even though it was only a friendly you could see the gap in talent between the two teams. The Vancouver Whitecaps join the MLS in 2011 so I'm hoping that when they become higher profile then they might be able to attract big teams here for friendly games too, it would awesome to see Real Madrid in BC.

In the evening we had arranged to meet a couple for drinks in an Irish bar downtown. We made our way on the SkyTrain which was incredibly packed for the time of night then we realized that the BC Lions were playing again that evening, it got a bit sweaty on there! We made mental note not to go home on the SkyTrain around 10:30pm - 11pm as we remembered how busy it was a few weeks back when we went to a game ourselves. We met our new friends in an Irish bar named Doolins just off Granville St and Nelson and I decided to sample more of the local beer that I hadn't tried yet, this time going for "Keith's". We had a great time that night and really enjoyed the company, we haven't laughed that much since we got here and the time flew by. By the time we left I think it was getting on for 1am (though I have no idea to be honest) and we all rode the SkyTrain home together, Me and Lou leaving a few stops before our new buddies. We more or less went to sleep as soon as we got home!

At 6:50am I was woke up by my alarm clock and I was feeling rather worse for wear. However nothing was going to stop me from listening to Leicester City's first game of the season against Swansea! 3pm Kick-Offs in the UK start at 7am here because of the time difference, I hadn't anticipated it being much of a problem but then I also hadn't anticipated drinking beer the night before either. I dragged myself out of bed and into the study and plonked myself on the chair and booted up my Macbook. Looking at the screen was severely hurting my eyes, I then realized I probably drank more the night before than I originally thought. I logged into the official Leicester website, set up the radio stream and sat back cradling my glass of water and feeling slightly less excited then I thought I would have been. A combination of a hangover and tiredness meant the first 15 minutes flew by without me really paying attention, then in the 17th minute I was woken up out of my semi-daydream with news I didn't want to hear, Swansea had gone 1-0 up. I managed to last until half-time but the lack of excitement in the game really wasn't helping, I knew I had to do something. Off I went into the bathroom and splashed my face with cold water and then I made a really strong coffee, hoping this would help me get through the 2nd half! When the match restarted I was feeling slightly better, the team also started to improve and the commentary picked up in excitement which kept my absorbed in the match. In the 69th minute Leicester equalized and I was silently dancing around trying not to wake Lou and then 3 minutes later we scored again to put us into the lead, I couldn't help but shout "Yeeeeesssss", Lou was able to guess from the comfort of our bed that we were now winning. I then sweated out the last 18 minutes (literally, though mine were beer sweats!) and felt ecstatic when the referee blew the final whistle. It might sound strange to a non-football fan but listening to the Blue Army in the background singing and celebrating really made me feel emotional, I really missed being there in person. It was the first time I hadn't been to the opening game of the season in a long time and it felt very strange listening to it in the morning 4,400 miles away. I also really missed my Saturday routine of going to see Grandad before the match, catching the bus into town, walking to the Stadium, watching the game then going back to Grandad's for a nice chat, cup of tea and a couple of custard creams.

I was still feeling rather tired after the game so I jumped back in bed at 9am and went back to sleep until 1pm! When I finally woke up again we just had a lazy afternoon and chilled out and rehydrated ourselves. In the evening we headed to The Real Canadian Superstore for our groceries and like proper shoppers we now have our reusable cloth bags (are you proud Mum? ha ha). We still haven't decided which place we like best out of Superstore, Save-on-foods and Safeway so we keep trying them all out. Whilst we were packing our bags a rastafarian guy (who was super friendly) started randomly talking to us. He told us that he predicted when Lou gets pregnant (and no she isn't before you ask!) she will have a baby boy, we're not to rush things and that we will also find out that we are in Vancouver for reason and that it's a really good thing. We both found it a bit bizarre but he was smiling and really friendly so we didn't feel totally weirded out, it was just a bit strange. I guess if it all comes true one day then we will know he was right with his predictions anyway!

Filed under // Downtown Vancouver

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August 2, 2009

The Celebration Of Light

On Saturday evening we went down to English Bay to watch the fireworks at the HSBC sponsored Celebration Of Light. The event has been running in Vancouver since 1990 and is seen as one of the most prestigious competitions for firework designers worldwide.

We had arranged to meet up with friends there but we got lost on the way and ended up arriving there at 9:50pm, 10 minutes before it was all about to start! Once we got there we realized it was going to an impossible task to find anyone, it was dark and there were hundreds of thousands of people in attendance. The night was China themed and it was the event finale, the previous nights had been Canada, UK and South Africa themed. It was high tide so very few people were sitting on the beach but we found a good spot on the pathway along the edge of the bay which was not bad seemings though we got there very late.

We didn't really expect it to be as great as it was, we've seen plenty of fireworks but nothing like that before in our lives. It was visually and acoustically stunning and lasted for about 25 - 30 minutes. Team China really pulled out the stops to make it a fantastic show. Downtown was completely packed afterwards, I have never seen crowds so big. This is probably one reason a lot of locals who've seen it all before opt to stay away but for us it was a small price to pay for watching such a great display. We did give up trying to get the SkyTrain home though as the lineups were massive so in the end we just jumped in a taxi!

I took some video footage which you can watch below which may seem good but doesn't really do the fireworks justice, it was even better in person.

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August 1, 2009

A Slight Break In The Weather

As I sit here righting this post for your perusal I'm currently enjoying a nice cool breeze blowing through the apartment, it seems the heat-wave has finally been broken, well slightly! Funnily enough it has been still 28c for most of the day but that feels cool compared to the heat of the previous week. I didn't sleep until 4am this morning again, the whole week has been full of broken sleep for us both so I'm hoping tonight we might get back to some normality.

On Thursday the temperature record for Vancouver was broken again, only by 0.1 of a degree but it was still bloody hot. We went and ordered a new desk from Staples in the morning, I now have a proper desk and a chair - what a novelty! I no longer have to use the cardboard boxes which is great (even if it was very eco friendly!). We also went searching for an A/C unit but as I predicted everywhere had sold out. Even fans are in very low stock now, I'm sure the electrical stores have been loving it as they sell themselves in this weather. In the evening we went to Gastown to as bar called The Diamond. We met up with a group of expatriates there who were from all over the world, the places I remember people being from were France, Israel, Taiwan, Bangladesh and Germany. There was nobody else from England though, I'm sure they were all probably feeling sorry for themselves and melting at home (like I would've been if I hadn't already agreed to attend!). We had a nice night listening to people's different stories and talking to people we probably wouldn't have in any other situation, it was very interesting and nice to share experiences with people who had done a similar thing to us and moved here. Afterwards we headed to a bar on West Pender St and had a few more beers and shared a massive basket of nachos before heading home.

This morning I woke up sweaty again, this time on the sofa bed as sleeping in the same room to Lou has become impossible as we both make each other even hotter. I was pleasantly surprised though when I opened the windows and balcony door to find out it was much cooler outside than previous days. The apartment was still like a sauna so I set up the fan on the balcony and blew the outside air into our apartment! Mid morning our new desk arrived and Lou put it together in about 20 minutes. Lou enjoys putting up flat pack stuff and she knows from previous occasions I usually take 3 attempts before I put something up correctly (unless it's computer related!) so also it was probably a case of "if you want something doing properly...". In the afternoon we headed to some stores to get in some more groceries and we also got a vacuum cleaner at last, the apartment really needed it after 3 weeks. The vacuum is small and made by Hoover, it works really well and only cost $70. I cleaned the carpets in the whole apartment in 15 minutes and it works really well so we're happy, I think we finally have every essential appliance now.

I've just got back home from having a few beers with some new friends, it was a very funny night and I really enjoyed myself. The place I went to was only a 5 minute walk away from my home too and it's really convenient. Lou opted to stay in at home and catch up with her programs on TV as she was feeling tired out from the lack of sleep in previous days. Tonight I'm not setting my alarm and I'm going to wake up naturally for once, hopefully after catching up on lost sleep.

Good night.

Filed under // Downtown Vancouver

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