Down came the rain...

Hello everyone from the rain-soaked land of Vancouver!

Yes that’s right… the rumours are true… it rains here ALL THE TIME! I am a little concerned about this turn of events but fingers crossed for the arrival of spring any day now.

Last week was a busy one, with getting settled in at work and trying to squeeze the last bit of fun out of my visit with Zoe before she headed home. We took in some more ice-hockey on Wednesday night – Vancouver are in the play-offs currently so we thought we should do our bit to support them but must admit that at the start of the second 20 minute overtime period we gave up and went ‘home’ to bed. Lucky for us we did as the game ended up going to four overtimes and was about 1am before it finally wrapped up! Vancouver did have a win, but subsequently lost the return game on Friday so at this stage the series is still pretty evenly balanced.

Thursday night we met up with James at Hamburger Marys for some dinner. This place sounds like it might be a bit of a Vancouver institution – great menu and a real 50’s diner feel, which is fun. Zoe and I straggled back to the hostel after that for a final bout of talking rubbish before she headed home on Friday. It was really great having Z visit and I was very sad to say goodbye, but I guess its really not so long til I get to see all the New Zealand bods again so will try to focus on seeing as much of Canada as I can, rather than on how much I miss everyone! Plus all those pineapple lumps Z gave me will help me think of home…

I am getting pretty settled in my job at the hospital now – Dr Tex is happy enough for me to stay here as long as I want too really so that is cool, although I may need to buy a new sudoku book as I am sad to report that there is still a lot of down-time in this job. Still there are plenty of nice people and I have managed to spend a lot of time doing my budget for the remainder of my trip so its not all bad news. Plus there is the regular trash-talking between the good doctor and myself regarding the cricket… if New Zealand make it through to the final I think I may have to make him a bit of a Black Caps poster to display in his office since he seems to have decided to support everyone but New Zealand, just to spite me!

On Saturday I headed over the bridge from Vancouver to the beach-side suburb of Kitsilano. It is full of quirky shops, and fun cafes, as well as a very excellent Purdy’s Chocolate Shop. I have decided to move over to the summer hostel that is out that way, when it opens in a couple of weeks. Should summer ever arrive I will be in the ideal spot for some sun-baking (and eating of more of the excellent Purdy’s Chocolate)!

I also spent a lot of time at the weekend doing admin/organizing my life stuff so I now have a bit of a plan for the next 10 weeks. I am hoping to get over to Vancouver Island sometime in May, and am going on a tour inland to see more of the Rockies and such in the middle of June. I also think I am probably going to have one more ‘mega’ train trip from Vancouver to San Francisco before my flight home. The train is supposed to be a pretty scenic trip along the Pacific coast, and its certainly cheap so I figure it will be worth it – plus how bad can 21 hours on a train be for a 44 hour veteran like myself?! I might need to give myself a night in an actual bed between the train and the flight home though – otherwise those greeting me in Christchurch may perhaps not get the best of me!!!

Last night I went out for a walk in a break between rain showers and found myself at the ‘second-run’ movie theatre and decided to watch The Queen. I had wanted to go see this when it was out a few months ago, but in my normal fashion was too disorganised! I thought the movie was really interesting, and Helen Mirren really did a great job of playing our mate Liz (we are on a first name basis since Emily and I visited her house back in September). I think I may become a bit of a regular at this movie theatre as they seem to be playing all the movies that I meant to see and never got around too, at half the normal price so could be a pleasant way to pass a few evenings.

Well, there is not too much else to report this week – I have managed to convince James that he wants to visit the Science Centre with me at the weekend… Ok so what he doesn’t know is that I want to go cos there is an exhibition about chocolate, but I am sure there will also be things there that he will enjoy! I will write and tell you all about it next week, when it is alleged that I will be a little bit older, although I doubt much wiser.

Hope you are all well!
C