Bouncing Baby Bevan

My friend Ruth has given birth to a beautiful baby boy, Bevan. Many congratulations Ruth and Jon. Pre-Canada readers may remember I went to their wedding just before I came here. I think I joked about them having a kid when I got back but I guess the jokes on me, I have to buy the fella a present now!

Can't wait to visit and see the little tyke.

All the very best to all 3 of you. Life welcomes you Bevan. Its pretty cool, isn't it everyone?

Oooohs and Aaaaahs

Vancouver holds an annual Firework Display competition. Ok it may not be as excitingly dangerous as Bonfire Night in Blighty but hey, no kids loose an eye and the displays take place in the harbour over the water. Its a stunning arena for them, with the fireworks reflecting across the water. Not only that but around 300,000 crazy Vancouverites gather around the bay to watch. I love big communal events like this. You feel like you're sharing something with all these people.

We lucky Vancouverites though don't just get one night of fireworks, we get 4! Taking place over 2 weeks on a Wednesday and a Saturday. Four countries are taking part this year: Italy, China, Czech Republic and Mexico. These photos are from Wednesday night when Italy did their best to impress us, though I saw China last night as well. Looking forward to next week and the final on Saturday. The standard has been so high that the final is going to be something special.

Liz, Chris, Paul and Gav. They don't look like they're there really do they?

Ooooooh

Aaaaah

There is a dark side to the displays though. Apparently its one of the biggest nights for arrests in Vancouver. Maybe something about the bangs and flashes gets your normally sedate Vancouverite all excited. Then again out of 300,000 people I think there are only about 30 arrests and the atmosphere was very genial where we were. Bless the gentle Vancouverite.

Surprise Surprise

Last week I was under the impression that I would be seeing Jade on the Tuesday just gone. On her way back to Australia (she's going home for a couple of months to see friends and family) she was going to stop off in Vancouver for one night. I was a bit sad that it would be only for one night but hey, I thought, better than nothing. Imagine my surprise then when I got home from work Friday afternoon to find her relaxing in my garden!

Why I oughta...

Jade tricked me. Fooled me. Deceived me. Metaphorically said 'Look at that interesting thing up there!' Then did something while I was distracted. Yes, my girlfriend can be, I realise now, a devious thing. It was a fantastic surprise though so she had the very best intentions.

Though I better watch out. If she ever decides she doesn't like me I now know she has the cunning to organise a terrible revenge. I have been warned...

Look at her tricky face...

We spent a lovely 5 days together. It seemed like we had ages together simply because I was expecting only a day. She's a clever thing. We went for dinner every night, saw Pirates of the Caribbean 2, had a BBQ on Saturday with everyone and went for a walk around Stanley Park. The most important thing was it wasn't rushed. My last 'last' week with Jade was just sooo busy. Scott was here, my Aunt and Uncle visited and Jade was busily tying up loose ends of her time her. This time we just enjoyed each other's company and relaxed.

We even got to Whiterock, a seaside town just outside of Vancouver that we had always meant to go to. While there an old lady came up to us and said 'I hope you're both that happy when you're older' which made us smile, but she then turned to me and added, rather cryptically, 'Take it from me son, women are born actresses'. Another warning? Well Jade just laughed at this, maybe a little too knowingly. Maybe I should be worried...

Jade enjoying Greek food in Whiterock

A white rock in Whiterock. Do you see?

On Wednesday I went with her to the airport to see her off once more. Again I was sad but also still on a high from the previous 5 days. Think the best symbol of the long weekend was when a seagull did a big poo on us, but it did it on both of us, together. Ahhhhh.

What that actually symbolises I don't know.

Enjoy Oz Jade, miss you already! X

Arac ATTACK

I think I've established here before I don't like spiders (see this post). Though I try to fool myself to think otherwise I'm pretty certain that one of the reasons I choose Canada over, say, Australia for my year abroad is the distinct lack of giant evil spiders here. Well I'm correct that there are no giant spiders, but what about small venomous ones? That was the one flaw in my plan.

Last Friday evening as I was leaving the Batcave I noticed that just underneath the step of the door there was a spider. Now normally I would get a glass and bit of paper and check the thing out. I was in a hurry though so decided I would leave it for now, it seemed in no hurry to go anywhere. Looking at it though there was something that unnerved me slightly. It wasn't until the next morning when I was leaving the flat again that I realised it looked awfully like a Black Widow Spider that I had seen in the RBC Museum in Victoria. 'They can kill, can't they?' I thought. I decided that until I knew what spider powers the Black Widow has I would leave it.

I told the others about my suspicions and they said that if it was a Black Widow is would have red or orange blotches on its back.

My spider had those blotches.

The Spider in its lair...

On Sunday it had disappeared. When checking my emails I thought I'd google the Black Widow as well. Judging by the pics it had definitely been a Black Widow. They are poisonous but only 1% of people die from their bites apparently. Still, I wasn't keen to try my luck and was pleased it had gone. Then on Monday morning as I was leaving for work I saw it was back. Sadly I was late so had to rush off. When I came home, prepared to kill it, it had gone.

It was now obviously playing with me. Running around the flat, watching me, laughing. Waiting for the moment when I would carelessly place my bare foot on the floor then striking! It freaked me out slightly I can tell you. On Tuesday night I watched Richard III (oh yes, I'm clever) and there's a scene where a spider runs across a dead woman's face. That didn't help. Then on Wednesday I told my Mum the story and she said 'Careful when you put your shoes on in case its hiding in there'. This thought had not crossed my mind and helped make me even more paranoid. Worst part was I kept forgetting to do this until a moment after I had put my shoes on.

Last night though it slipped up. Returning home slightly tipsy from beer, darts and open mic acts at the ANZA Bar it was there, under step acting like it owned the place. I picked up a magazine and slay the beast there and then, much like Sam slay the Shelob in Return of the King (it was Sam wasn't it? Or was it Frodo?).

My ordeal was over, unless it had already had babies. Apparently the Black Widow can lay 750 eggs... Am I facing an 'Aliens' style sequel to my 'Alien' like story? If so will I then have to battle a spider in a prison? Then a half human half spider creature somewhere else? (only nerds are going to get that joke).

Folk you!

On Saturday the sun was out, the birds were singing and I wasn't hungover at all. The whole day was mine to play with. How should I spend it? Yes, that's exactly what I thought. I should go to the Vancouver Folk Music Festival.

Liz, Paul and Chris in front of the Main Stage.

Strangely I had only been lamenting to myself the other day how I hadn't gone to any music festivals in ages. We did talk about going to one in Washington State back in May but our old nemesis Money had put a stop to that. So even though Folk Music is not exactly 'my thing' when Gav suggested I thought 'What the hell, it'll be an experience if nothing else'.

Music lovers and the mountains

It was actually far bigger than I thought it was going to be. There were 7 stages and some interesting stuff playing. The definition of 'Folk Music' was used very loosely, it was more of a world music festival, and we saw everything from a lady doing poetry about a Rastafarian being arrested for riding a bicycle to some guys scratching on some 'decks' (as I believe the kids say... the kids who go to the Folk Music Festival).

So we spent the day sitting in the sun, listening to music and wandering the hippy markets which are always at music festivals (made me smile that the rubbish they sell is exactly the same as the rubbish they sell back in Britain).

That festival staple, the Port-a-loo, with added Mountain back drop. Beats the view at Reading.

In the evening we grabbed a spot by the Main Stage and took swigs of the rum Gav sneaked in (it was dry festival, can you believe that?). Chris and me got carried away and danced with our shirts off until it got a bit too cool for that. The evening finished with some Aussie's playing a kind of trance/digerie-doo/funk thang. Again Chris and me danced.

Men with no shirts on, dancing.

Gav, Liz and the sun

The main stage... AT NIGHT

Near the end there was a procession of lanterns which was cool to watch, though confusingly someone had a Dalek lantern. That threw me slightly.

We walked home and stopped off at the Naam, the 24 hour Vegetarian and Organic cafe. Surprisingly it was packed at 1:00am. Well not that surprising, a Folk Music festival had just finished down the road. We ate and all realised just how drunk Gav was. And he was the only one of us going to the festival again the next day. Hard Core.

Oh, we also found this Mustard called 'Keen's' which made us laugh. 'Cos we know Andrew Keen. Do you see?

Did you get that thing I sent you?

I've made a new comedy gold discovery - Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law. Its a bizarre cartoon that uses characters from old Hanna-Barbera cartoons. Its really funny once you get on to its wave length. I often think that some comedy can be like one of those albums you buy which at first seems odd and not that great, but after a couple of listens you suddenly 'get it' and it turns into one of the best things ever. Well Harvey... is like that. Just instead of experimental music it has jokes about Fred Flinstone being a mafia boss ('The Dabba Don').


Check it out, its great. If you have my sense of humour. Which very few people do... Lewis will like it!

Open Mic and Darts

I've had a quiet week. I've been a bit ill and have been completing various chores which I had put off for some time. On Wednesday I popped out for a drink with some people but to be honest I was still feeling run down and was only out for an hour or so. Last night I planned to stay in and try and finish off the last of my jobs.

Then out of the blue I got a text from Simon saying that Chris going to do an open mic slot at some bar and he was probably going to go along for moral support and would I like to come? Initially I was going to say no being a school night and all but then I remembered that only a few hours ago I had been pondering at work (I have A LOT of time to ponder) about how I'd not gone to any new bars recently and that while I was still doing lots of new stuff over the weekends I had fallen into a bit of a rut in terms of going out in the evenings. 'Sod it' I thought, 'I'll go along'.

And I did.

It was a pretty strange place we went to. It was (apparently) the Australian and New Zealand Association bar, and it did have a slight community centre or working man's club feel to it. Still the beer was cheap and the acts quite fun and unusual. They also had free dart boards which impressed me, though I had one of the worst games of darts ever with Keenie (not so much how I played, just that it really wasn't fun. Got stuck on double 8 for something like half an hour, in the end we just went nearest bull to get the damn thing over, Keenie won but both of us felt empty).

Chris, though nervous, did his bit and he went down pretty well. Think the scariest part though was the ginger girl who started to talk to Chris. You could tell she was the kind of girl who wouldn't take no for an answer. He quickly hid from her. Actually Keenie was groped by a 40 year old woman. It was quite a night for slightly crazy women chasing nervous men. Needless to say no one talked to or groped me. Except Simon.

Just the one

I had one them Friday night's last week. You know, the ones which you think are going to be quiet? The ones which you think 'Oh good, I probably won't spend too much money tonight' and 'The early night will mean I'll be fully refreshed for the next day'. The ones which actually finish with you waking up the next day trying to come to terms at just how hungover you are while wondering what time you got in and plucking up the courage to look into your wallet to see how much money you actually spent.

It was supposed to be a quiet drink with Si and Paul. Both Si and myself were feeling under the weather and Paul, well Paul's Paul. Who know's what he was thinking... or planning. Our first mistake was probably when the waitress asked for our order and I said 'Shall we make it a pitcher?' After a pitcher each the night took another step away from a 'quiet night out' when Gav turned up straight from a long, long, long day at work. We ordered another pitcher, poured that out while the waitress was there and decided to save time we might as well order another. Then Liz turned up. Then Hannah and friend.

The result was I awoke the next day in no mood for the beer festival that I was planning on going to that day, or indeed breakfast. Silly man that I am.

As consolation Simon texted me to say he was in pretty much the same state. I'm sad to say I wasted most of Saturday recovering. Sure it never used to be this hard.

Anyway, saw Mr Bull and family in the afternoon. I managed to recover enough to be taken out for dinner again. Thanks Jean! The rest of the weekend I spent watching lots and lots of TV which wasn't King of the Hill, the Simpsons or Seinfeld for the first time in ages! I even watched a film yesterday. Two in fact, though the first really doesn't count, it was, ah, American Pie: Band Camp. I spent the whole film on the sofa saying 'This is terrible' but like rubber-necking an accident I couldn't take my eye's away. The second was Battle Royale though which was far, far, far better.

Bet that's the first time ever 'American Pie: Band Camp and 'Battle Royale' have been compared.

Sea legs

My farewell to Vancouver draws ever closer. Gulp. Have you looked at my 'Things To Do Before I Leave List' recently? I've got LOADS left. I've really got to get a move on, doing at least something every weekend. Well last weekend I achieved one thing, we hired a boat to zoom around the harbour on. Yes, a boat. Gav, Liz, Paul, Laura and myself braced the ocean wave and scurvy.

Captain Gav

Now bare in mind that only Laura has any real experience on the water. The rest of us had simply seen boats before and presumed it was something we could do. I remind you that I don't actually have a driving license. Still, can't be that difficult can it?

The Lighthouse, every seaman's friend.

And do you know what? It wasn't particularly hard. In fact the only slightly dodgy moment was when Paul was at the wheel. We had run out of 'gas', so I changed the tank. Paul restarted the engine where upon we were almost thrown over board as the boat did 360 degree turn. Not sure what Paul was doing, but hey, now of us drowned. Except Gav.

Not really. He's fine. As is his ipod which kept us entertained 'onboard'. Its a pretty cool thing to be driving a motor boat on the pacific ocean with the Rolling Stones playing. Life isn't too bad is it?

The crew (me not pictured).

When Saturday Comes

So we lost. Not going to talk anymore about it other than to say we watched the game in a cinema on Commercial Street which was great (except we lost) and we got there at 7:00am but it was worth it (except we lost).

Dressed in our England finery

Sigh. Afterwards we went for brunch and ate in sad, near silence. We decided it would be best to go home for a bit then go to the beach as the day was beautiful and it was Canada Day after all. I spent part of that time having a fruit juice with Aussie Hannah who had come to the game (bless her, she was even upset) which was good as it took my mind of the game. When we eventually met up again we were all far more cheery. Simon, who looked like he was on the brink of punching someone after the game was even smiling. We went and grabbed some beer, a little bit of food and headed down to Jericho beach where the Canadian arm of Liz's family were having a BBQ.

The sand was hot. Really hot. In fact it felt like the hottest day we had experienced since being here. I still did not tan on my shoulders and chest. I'm starting to suspect that part of my body is in fact made of asbestos.

The tide was really far out... Cue Baywatch style running to the sea

Si, Gav, Liz and me went for a swim which was lovely. All our cares were washed away as we larked around, chasing each other with sea weed and scooping up mud from bed and throwing it at each other. How can you not get cheered up doing that?

We spent the rest of the day and evening on the beach, drinking beer and mucking about. The sun began to set and we built a small fire to gather around.

A genuine Humbug. Kind of puts you off the sweet doesn't it?

Liz and Gav having fun, Keenie and Paul less so

We watched the sun go down and chatted. Some bizarre people came and went, including a guy so drunk he put his t-shirt on our fire saying 'You guys know stuff, you're cool'. Riiiiiiight. The evening came to an end when a very polite policeman pointed out that we really shouldn't be having fires on the beach. Oh well. Gav and Liz managed to loose most of their stuff on the beach. At one point we even thought Gav's ipod had been stolen (leading me to start heading over to the nearest group of people and start accusing them, probably not the most sensible thing to do) but luckily a drunk Liz had simply put it away then instantly forgot about doing it.

Gav 'relaxing' in the back of the taxi.

So yeah, a bad start but excellent end to Saturday. I feel we got the most out of Canada Day. I mean, we even talked to Canadians for crying out loud!

Spending it wisely

This post is for the BUNACers...

Our time in Vancouver is limited. It always has been but its becoming more apparent with every passing day. I know we talk about this perhaps a little too much and I certainly don't want to spend my remaining time here worrying about how little time here I have. That would be silly. So the following is not to scare or panic, its to make sure we do everything we want to do while in Vancouver.

So (deep breath) we have about 8 weekends left here before the Rail Trip. Below is a break down of each one. Below the break down is a small list of 'weekend things' that we may want to do. Some of the things, especially the trips, we'll need to plan quite far in advance.

Leave comments about weekends that maybe you know you're busy for or about stuff that you want to do.

* July 8th and 9th - Beer Festival on Saturday, World Cup Final on Sunday, Andy back for one night Saturday.

* July 15/16 - Andy away

* July 22/23

* July 29/30 - Fireworks night on Saturday

* August 5/6/7 - Long weekend. Fireworks final on 5th

* August 12/13

* August 19/20

* August 26/27


Stuff we want to do:
- Toffino
- Okanagan
- Whistler and zip line
- Trail in North Van near horseshoe bay
- Hire boat and camp on island
- Bowen Island
- Kyacking

There go. Have a think and we can start planning... And leave us a few weekends just to do spur of the moment stuff. Or nothing if the mood takes us.