Autumn

This afternoon, I had my first day of training for my new job. All I did today was go through paperwork / policies etc. I will start on the computer system tomorrow, but from what I saw, it looks simple enough. Quite like the SDE system actually, with just a swipe in and no tickets to issue. I hope it is not as boring as SDE though!!!

I cycled there and back and it was REALLY warm today. It felt almost like summer but the ground was covered with autumn leaves and conkers! It was rather disconcerting. But in a nice way.

On the way home, I stopped off at the mall to get work clothes. I bought the things I needed - including trainers and bought myself another pair of shoes as well! Very impractical but I like them! What do you think Amy?!!!


Oh, one other thing, here is the first McDonald's ever in Canada. Apparently. A little bit of trivia for you!

I'm A Geek

And proud of it!

Last night I listened to the Chris Moyles show from Friday morning. It was done from the TARDIS which was very cool! I am such a big Doctor Who fan! :-)

Also, it was lovely to hear the dulcet tones of Chris Moyles again!

Speaking of radio stations, I have yet to discover one here that is not 80% adverts! Very frustrating. :-(

Job

I have just had a call back from a job offering me a position - so I'm a bit happy at the moment! It means I can now start spending money again! I've been quite restrained really. So far I have only made a few small, tiny and insignificant purchases including hair straighteners, a hair dryer and a mobile phone!

I am going in for some training next week and then I start the week after.

That's not bad is it? I've only been in the country two and a half weeks. :-)

Oh yes, one other thing. I heard someone announce the time earlier and they said 'It is twenty before nine' !!!!!

Such a strange country.

Drugs

Before I came to Canada, I read somewhere that Vancouver has a high and easy availability of drugs.
I now realise that this is an observation founded deeply in fact.

I just didn't know that the drug in question was coffee.

Hockey

The other night I watched an Ice Hockey game on TV. It was between Vancouver and Edmonton. I have to admit that I found myself getting drawn in, and I REALLY enjoyed it!
I couldn't follow it completely, but I think i got the general idea! The fights are still more than bizarre, but they certainly made me giggle!!! So uncivilised!

Who'd have ever thought I would become a sports fan?!

I found one of my favorite shops the other day. The Pier! Love it!
The girl who served me was from Manchester and she was talking about how much she noticed people in Vancouver being healthy and active, i.e jogging, rollerblading etc. She said back home the only time anyone runs anywhere is to get to the pub or the chippy! Ah! It was so nice to hear someone say 'chippy'!!!

I bought myself a mobile phone - finally! It took me ages to make any kind of decision, but once I made up my mind, I went to the shop and bought one that day.

It's pink.

I know, I know! I hate pink, but I thought that since I have always gone for dark phones before, maybe I should be daring! I actually love it! It has quite an OK camera on it too which has some rather cool settings! I have had fun experimenting with it. This is one that I took at Granville Island;Very cool! (I think so anyway!!!)

Better

Dinner was better tonight. :-)

Eating & Cleaning

My dinner tonight was a bit of a disapointment. It tasted like hotel food...........and NOT in a good way. It reminded me of the food I used to serve at Sandbanks. Urgh! I havn't qiute worked out yet what was wrong with it exactly, but it was really awful. It was basically just chicken and veggies, so I should have been OK. Right?

I guess this is just something that I am going to have to figure out through trial and error. I am begining to realise that even if something looks the same as I am used to, it dosn't nessisarily mean that it IS the same.

Mind you, the cheesecake was a bit YUM. :-)

The other thing that is messing with my head is doing the laundry. Last week the machine I used was new and modern and familiar, but now the one I am using is about a hundred years old! It is a top loading one that is so deep that I can hardly reach down to the bottom to get the clothes out! There is no tray to put the powder in, so I just dumped it on top of the clothes! I didn't feel to sure about that, so I e-mailed someone for advise first! Felt a bit silly mind, but hey-ho! Everything seems to have come out clean so I feel a little more confident about the situation now. Phew! Like I said it is a huge beast of a thing so even if I have a big armload of washing it barely fills it!

Next mission, the dishwasher! I have been washing the dishes by hand so far!

Hmmm

Well........ here I am!

Its been a week and I have have accomplished a grand total of nothing! Just the way I like it.

Amy went home today and I talked to the bank about getting a credit card and then came to the conclusion that I have no money to spend, so what would be the point just now! *Sighs*

I went for a bike ride along the dyke after lunch. George, you would be proud of me! It was very sunny and lovely and the little tiny birds on the paths kept leaving it until the VERY last second to hop out of my way!

I rode for about half an hour, then decided to brave these back-to-front streets to come back........and lasted 5 minutes before I had to flee back to the relative saftey of gravel paths. This is all doing to take some getting used to!

Coming back I was headed towards the airport. You would love it here Claire. You can plane-spot to your hearts content! It does all look rather spectacular with the blue and white mountains all along the skyline and every so often they seem to spit out an areoplane or a flock of birds.

I move next door tommorow and plan to be there almost two months. Maybe I will start to think about a job at some point during that time.

Leaving

It's odd.

I still feel neither excited nor scared about this adventure looming in my horizon, and I leave tomorrow!

It still doesn't seem quite real and I don't really feel anything yet.

Maybe it's like when I first bought and moved into my flat and I felt like I was in a hotel for at least the first couple of months. I felt like it didn't belong to me and any day someone might come knocking on my door and tell me that there had been some terrible mistake and could I please leave.

Silly, I know.

Packing

I HATE packing. It stresses me out like nothing else on earth.
I mean, honestly, what if I forget something? Something important, like ……. marmite?!

Seriously though, packing is the thing I hate most about going away. I don't know why really. Maybe it's just that nothing ever fits in my suitcase and I end up having to sit on the lid!

Ah well, I get to have lots of practice over the next few months!

Can't wait.