Katy and I are back from Canada. The bags are mostly unpacked, the laundry mostly done, the cats are back home with us.
Trip was good. Lots of pictures.
News to come.
Tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiired.
Tag: I am Canadian
Canada Redux – part 1
Finally a bit of time to write about the whole Canada trip. The epic begins on the 13th, where it took me 4 hours to get to Gatwick. My flight was at 4:30 in the afternoon but Katy dropped me off at Great Chesterford at 8 in the morning on her way to work. I didn't mind – I actually prefer to take my time and get to the airport well in advance. I just plug into my ipod and reader and zone out until it's time to board the plane.
I had two trains pass right in front of me at the station without stopping. There was a signalling fault and there were delays (these were already late trains). My 8:30 train arrived closer to 9:30, but what can you do. That's when I learned that there were engineering works at Tottenham Hale and the train wouldn't be calling there, but at Seven Sisters instead. Normally, I get off at TH and get straight on the Victoria line to Victoria station and get on the Gatwick Express. This time though, I wasn't sure enough of the stations on the tube line and didn't want to spend an hour waiting at Seven Sisters in case my hunch that it actually was on the right tube line was proven incorrect so I elected to bite the bullet, avoid the shortcut that normally saves me about 45 minutes and go straight to Liverpool station and get to Victoria station using the tube.
This turned out to be a big mistake. It took about an hour longer to get to Liverpool, and then an extra half hour for a circle line tube to finally show up. I still wasn't really fussed, cause I had ample time to get to Gatwick, but I was getting fed up of waiting for trains. I finally arrived at Victoria and had 15 minutes to wait for a Gatwick Express (of course, I'd just missed one). I went to buy some food at the M&S express and a cup of tea from a stall – where the dude was so slow that I almost managed to miss my train (I caught it, but at the price of spilling a lot of my very hot tea on my hand – I should sue Nero).
At this point, I am starting to relax as I am now on the last leg of the journey to the airport, and I have (most of) a cup of tea. Something bad had to happen then. I mean, come on…. And it did, when the ticket lady told me that my travel card was not valid on the Gatwick Express. Now let me say that Katy and I have previously used the exact same travel card on the Express and had had it confirmed from the GE ticket counter that it was valid. But apparently it's not. I must have looked dejected enough that the nice lady only charged me for a ticket upgrade instead of a full ticket.
I finally arrive at Gatwick to learn that my flight has been delayed for 2 hours because of a mechanical failure on the original plane. They're having a replacement one flown down from Manchester.
Nothing else really important to note happened that day. I passed security, went window shopping, drank tea and waited for my flight. The flight itself was boring and uneventful. I watched Oceans 13 (and was glad that I didn't go see it in the cinemas – they managed to make Al Pacino sound lame!!!). Cleared customs without a problem and got my bags. The folksies were waiting to pick me up in Ottawa and we drove to their place, where I spent the first two days getting over my jet lag, which seemed nastier than usual.
On Saturday, I took the bus to Montreal to spend a few days with the boys and taking case of some business. I met up with Michel near the old Forum and we spent most of the afternoon shopping for stuff that I wanted to bring back with me (a new backpack cause my old one was dead, some DVDs that are not out yet in region 2 and flannel sheets that for some reason are impossible to find in the UK). The backpack was an adventure in itself, because Future Shop now sucks the big puss-filled ass.
The new layouts of the store is awful and it's impossible to find somebody willing to help. I wanted a Targus backpack because I know they're solid. My old one, though now literally falling apart at the seams, was bruised and battered through years of solid wear and tear. Future Shop apparently only carried a generic knock-off brand but then we found something really weird. Two identical bags – one branded Targus, one branded the no-name brand. Guess which one I wanted. Guess which one didn't have a price sticker. Guess which one I took anyway. Guess how many trips the sales clerk had to make through the busy store to get me the bag I wanted…
The day ended well though, cause we went for a pint at Hurleys and then really, really, REALLY excellent sushi at Bishoku. I have a really soft spot for the folks who run the restaurant. I haven't been a regular client there since I moved to the UK, more than 2 years ago but I try and go there every time I'm in Canada. Every time Michel goes there, they ask about me.
When I went there and they noticed that Katy wasn't with me, they were sad. I told them we'd be back at xmas and they said “when you come next time, we'll give her ice cream”‡. I finally asked them why they always ask for news about me and it seems that when they bought the restaurant a few years ago, Michel and I were some of their first regular customers. It seems we made a good impression :) Anyway, the sushi was excellent – it's still the best I've ever had and is the yardstick by which I measure every sushi restaurant – and the company was good. I took a cab to go to POs (he was nice enough to offer his guest bedroom for a few nights) and chatted over a few ciggies then went to bed.
On Sunday, I had brunch with Sara and Em and then went to see Nat's new house. I was pleasantly surprised by it – it's nice and bigger than it looks from the outside. I'd made plans the night before to go have dinner with Michel, Isabelle and Danielle (Michel's sister – which it turned out I hadn't seen in over 7 years). Dinner was fun and there was much laughing. Isabelle had bought mussels for dinner, but they seemed a bit dodgy so we ended up chucking them all in the bin and ordered in some St-Hubert :) It still tastes the same.
Monday was another busy day, because I wanted to go to the old port for some tea at Ming Tao Xuan and get a drop-chain necklace for Katy from the jewelers at Marche Bonsecours. Tea was good but I was a bit disappointed that it didn't taste as great as I remembered it :( I got a nice tea set though. The jewelers were also a let down because their stuff was all much of a muchness. I didn't see what I was looking for, and didn't see anything really leaping out at me saying “buy me, I'm original”. I went to see Bernard, my financial planner to go over some paperwork and then went back to the old port to try my luck at some jewelers at the Marche des Artisans. No joy. Got back to POs and went to buy some curry-making supplies as I'd offered to cook for the boys before the game night. I discovered that I missed Tesco…
Boy's night went ok, but I was disappointed that a lot of people just didn't show up. PO had sent an email weeks before, and a reminder days before, and yet another on the day. Seb, Vincent and Simon just didn't come, nor did they give any sign of life. That hurt a bit. Still, it was a fun night. I discovered a new card game called Bang! and we played a few games and chatted over beer and ciggies.
I took the bus Tuesday morning back to Ottawa and spent the rest of my time in Canada at the folks' place. We went shopping on Wednesday for some new suitcases, weird and wacky stuff from the dollar store for Katy and a broadband solution for my dad's computer. I got two really nice Samsonite individual-sized suitcases for about £65 – bargain.
Thursday was lets-get-Dad-connected-to-the-Internet day. We bought a new-fangled WiMax wireless broadband modem from Bell. It's the only way they can get broadband but the upside is that it works and is roughly 80 times faster than their previous connection speed :) The only room in the house that gets decent signal is their bedroom, so we had to go back into town to get a wifi router and card for the desktop computer. Got that hooked up and secured (a VERY big concern for my dear papa) and then spent roughly 6 hours trying to reach somebody at their 24/7 tech support helpline to activate the damn account. We did, it works, they are happy. Life is good. The service was stable for the whole time I was there, so touch wood it should be good. There was only one small speed bump that required another (useless, as it turned out) 2 hour phone call to tech support but I found the problem the next day and worked some tech magic for it to not happen again.
My sister and the sprog arrived the next day and there was drama over the weekend, which I will write about at a later time cause now I'm tired and lunch is over so I need to get some work done.
‡ Katy loves their deep-fried ice cream dessert :)
I'm HooOOoOOOOOOoOOOmmMMMmMmMEeeEEeeE!!!1!
I've made it back home in one piece, albeit a f'n tired one. Lots to write about, but not now. Now? Shower. Then bed. BED!
I've been on the go for the last 13 hours straight with only about an hour's sleep at the beginning, if that. Then there was Gatwick. I hate Gatwick. And Tottenham Hale. Which is not that much better. And then home!!!!!!!!!!
I've come to a profound realization. Canada is a nice place to visit, but it's no longer home. Home is where my bed is. Home is where my cat is. Home is, most of all, where my wife is.
On that note, duckie to you all!
A long and massive update
I've been a bad blogger recently. I've been keeping up to date on the reading part, but the writing part has suffered. I blame ![[info]](http://stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
sbourge's keyboard. I'm writing this entry on my laptop and it's sheer bliss to be able to blind-type again, instead of having to peck at keys on an AZERTY keyboard. Those things are just evil, but I digress. I've been keeping all my thoughts on paper so I wouldn't lose them, so now I just need to type everything up. I missed my keyboard. Good keyboard *pats the keyboard*
Our story starts on Saturday night, when Stephane convinced me to go out with him and some of his LJ friends to an 80s night at a club he knows on the Plateau. I quickly realized that I'm an old fart. Going out to clubs was never really my thing, but now, hella no. I fail to see the fun of getting shit faced for its own sake in a poorly ventilated bar where the music is so loud that you can't understand what the person that's screaming in your ear is saying. Most people in the club were not born when the music that was being played was made. I was more excited by his description of a cosy tea room that we were going to try out later in the week.
I'm old; I'm pretty good at accepting it gracefully. I sometimes wonder how it happened and how I should feel about it, but most of the time I'm glad to be where I am and how I am (though more teenage sex would have been appreciated, but hey, what can you do…).
On Sunday, I got wet. As in, soaked-jeans-clinging-to-your-legs wet. Not once, but 3 times. I think I caught a cold cause I've had a crap throat all week. I met up with eniran and ashre79 for breakfast. I was waiting in line to get in to Eggspectation at the corner of Drummond/Maisonneuve when I called them to see if they wanted to join me for brunch. Sara said that it would be easier for her to park at the old Forum, so I told them I'd meet them there. Walking there was my first soaking.
I was shocked to discover that the Forum Eggspectation is no longer an Eggspectation, but something called Burgers and Benedicts. The food was tasty but horribly from a health perspective: eggs benedict with bacon on waffles. So good, but damn! It's a good thing that my diet has generally improved in the last little while, cause this week was sometimes painful for it :)
Sara and Em wanted to go to the old port to run an errand, so I tagged along and then we went book and DVD shopping. I'd forgotten how annoying it is to have to factor sales tax to every thing you buy. I went to all my old haunts: Indigo, Chapters, Metro Video. I didn't find any DVDs that were screaming at me to buy them. In fact, the only thing that really caught my eye was some over-expensive hentai porn (but that was mostly for the giggle factor of seeing Sara and Em give the evil eye to a creepy old man who was trying to browse the porn rack without actually seeming to do so).
I headed over to Indigo, where I ran into an old co-worker that I had a bit of a crush on when I was working at the hospital (no, not the crazy german girl!) before having a good perusal of the fantasy and fiction section and finding a few interesting titles to buy for the trip back.
I walked Sara and Em back to their car and got soaked. I was supposed to go have dinner with Michel at Bishoku, but it's closed on Sundays so we went to Weinstein & Gavinos instead. Got soaked walking there. After a really nice dinner, we played count the whores along our usual post-meal walk and I actually won a round!
Monday was an expensive day. I bought 3 pairs of jeans (which isn't too bad, considering that I paid the price in canadian dollars that I would normally pay in british pounds) and bought some shiny, pretty and expensive things for Katy at the old port and Marche Bonsecours. I got lost trying to get to the Studio Tranchefile (where I took my bookbinding course) but I finally made it and spent an hour or so putting in a custom order for a wedding photo album.
People are going to think I'm a bit nuts for the amount of money I'm going to spend on that album, but I think it's going to be worth it. It's going to be hand-bound in burgundy leather and will have red marbled paper inside covers, one cream paper folio (for signatures), 12 black paper folios for pictures and a cream paper envelope (to put scrapbook stuff). It's also going to be embossed with our names in silver on the cover. I've seen their work and it's amazing.
As I was making my way back downtown, I ran into Chu, the head lab tech while I was doing my master's. He's still as nuts as ever :) I had sushi for dinner with Stephane at Mikado and Michel joined us for a spot of tea at Camellia Sinensis, the tea room that Stephane had mentioned on Sunday. It's really nice and I can't wait to bring Katy there. We had a nice evening just chatting and laughing about this, that and a few raunchy other things.
On Tuesday, I went to work with Stephane and said hello to people at Ste-Justine then went downtown to meet Shibl and Ata for lunch (Bishoku!!!!!) and then I putzed around a bit downtown before going to Michel and Isabelle's condo. I told them that I'd cook them a proper curry dinner, which was quite well received. Spent a nice evening chatting on the terrace on their roof and then had a quiet walk with Michel while heading back to the metro.
Quote of the day for Tuesday: “I'm more annoyed that you went to sushi without me than I am that you want to go to the strippers”. I love my sweetie :)
I had a lazy day for most of Wednesday, because my week was starting to catch up with me. I had a pisser of a headache for part of the day, but that was taken care of with some advil and other herbal medicines. I cooked a thank-you curry for Stephane and headed to POs place for a night with the boys. Amusingly, when I got to his apartment block, I pushed the wrong apartment buzzer and the person who answered the door was an old friend who'd moved in next door to PO and didn't know I was in town. I got an O-face, which was unexpected and really funny.
The evening was a smashing success. We played a game of Risk 2210 and a game of Knights of the Round Table, which I'd never played before. I hadn't had a night like that since before I left for England. It had all the essential ingredients for a good boys' night, including St-Hubert take-out (club sandwich, white meat, hold the tomatoes, extra cheese, with the chip gravy in a separate bag). Went to bed at 2am and got up at 7:30 with PO and Sonia and headed to the bus station to come back to Ottawa.
All in all, a very satisfying trip to Montreal. I did most of what I'd set out to do and saw all the people I wanted to see.
Day one in Canada
I made it in one piece, albeit a very tired one. My travel itinerary went something like this. I woke up at 6am to get ready to make an 8am train at Whittlesford to London, then hop in the tube to get to Heathrow. My flight was scheduled for 2:30pm, but with all the chaos I was expecting at the airport, I wanted to get there as soon as possible. My plan worked out a bit too well. I arrived at Heathrow at 10:30. Check-in took the whole of 10 minutes and I had loads of time go walk to the M&S at arrivals to get some sandwiches for lunch.
There was a queue from hell to get to security, where people every 10m or so reminded you that you couldn't take any sort of liquids, gels or cosmetics on board. They were hand-patting everybody that was going through security. Except me, for some reason. I think it's because I don't fit the “flying while asian” profile, and I think they didn't even see my epipen. If they did, they didn't bring it up (even tough it's sharp and liquid, but hey).
While I was waiting to pass through security, I had the (dis)pleasure of being regailed by what I would have thought to be the two dumbest american teenagers though, sadly, I think they're just average in their stupidity. One is from Texas, the other from Florida. That's not a good start. Some amusing tidbits overheard: “I've never seen as much multiculturalism in one place as here (meaning at Heathrow)” and “I don't believe how British Intelligence actually caught the terrorists. They were like from Al Quaeda, right? How come US Intelligence didn't catch them?” God bless America…
Anyway, the flight itself was uneventful. Since I'm not going to Dubyaland, I was allowed to bring liquids and all the schwag I bought at duty-free on board. One of the movies was MI:3, which is amusing because I was talking to Katy about it just the night before and saying that I really didn't want to see it. Watching it on the plane, I was proven correct that I was glad that I didn't pay to see such a steaming pile of shite.
I also discovered that earplugs will from now on be an integral part of my travels! They're wonderful at filtering out all the extreme noises (including the ever popular screaming toddler two seats behind you) while leaving you able to listen to the movie and talk to the stewardess.
Customs were a breeze, and I spent the next 40 minutes waiting for my suitcase to make it up the ramp. After that, it was smooth sailing to get home and get horribly jetlagged.
I woke up at 3am this morning but was able to get a few more hours of sleep until I had to get ready to leave for Montreal where I spent the day seeing Nat go nuts over baby clothing while I reinstalled her computer :)
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
We're baaaaaaaaaaaaaack
Ottawa customs were a bit of a pain, with me having to unpack my laptop from a massively overcrowded backpack. At least I don't make the metal detectors go poing anymore these days. Bobbles and Parsley were great hits with the customs people who made us open our bags for verification of odd shapes (I had a bottle of wine, Katy had hjars of pickled beets). The kiddies were the source of lots of ooohing and aaahing, which made us giggle. The flight was uneventful, save for the fact that there were 4 people sitting behind us instead of 3. One kept crying all throughout the flght, the other kept kicking the seats. I am now a firm proponent that small children should be sedated and fly with the pets in the cargo hold. Heathrow was a breeze and now we're in Leicester.
We're both completely zonked out. We had a bit of a nap in the afternoon… except that now the sun is down so we're getting up so we have a small chance of actually sleeping through the night.
Iron Chef is love!
I'm watching Iron Chef for the first time in 8 months. This makes me happy. I don't miss a lot from living in the UK, but Iron Chef is one of those things :)
What I got for xmas
I must've been really, really nice this year. It seems that I've been celebrating xmas for two weeks: in Leicester, in Montreal and at my parents'.
It's weird though. It's xmas day itself and I think I'm a bit xmas'ed out. I just want to spend the next few days doing SFA. I have some books to read and some music to listen to and I'm going to be a very happy camper.
If you're curious what I got, in no particular order:
– stainless steel electronic scales
– a digital camera
– a fedora
– a granit mortar & pestle
– a book by Bill Bryson
– a set of really nice headphones for my laptop
– a new webcam for my laptop
– two cotton trader rugby shirts
– really, really ugly fridge magnets (and some nice ones too!)
And because my memory is shit poor, I forgot the following:
– tickets to the Santana concert in London
– an “earth seen from above” desk calendar
– a rosetta stone ceramic tile
– M*A*S*H season 9 DVD box set
I also got a ton of waterstones vouchers and some money as well (my parents went overboard, really!). I'd mentioned that I would like a KitchenAid mixer, so my mom gave me the money for it (as if she bought it, it wouldn't work overseas).
I'd also asked as a joke for a foot of snow. My mom decided to improvise by dumping two bags of glitter confetti on my head (which required a shower to get rid of – that thing itches like mad!).
In other news, I've decided to give Boris to my sister. I wouldn't be able to bring him over for at least another 10 months. We can't move until april (and it's still not guaranteed that we'll find a pet-friendly apartment) and then there'd be a 6 month delay for bloodwork to be processed. It would be unfair for both Boris and my sister, cause they're really bonding together and he's really, really settling into her apartment. He eats her plants, he showers with her, he sleeps in her bed. It just wouldn't be right. So… yeah. She'll take care of him and I'll still be able to visit once in a while.
Speaking of the pussycat, he's currently sleeping somewhere downstaits. He's getting a bit braver. Apparently, he was up nosing about upstairs during the night last night and even jumped in my parents' bed. That did not go well with the little doggy. That's her bed :) Still, there's been no real pet-induced chaos, so that's good.
And now for something completely different
Things I have learned today:
– Two people can fit in the tshirt I'm wearing today. My sister and I have demonstrated this fact.
– We drove down with more things than can be (or rather should have been) fitted in a small car.
– We're starting to feel a bit rundown. I've been having weird headaches and Katy's voice/throat is giving her a bit of grief. I think it's a good thing that she's going to be seeing her ENT when we get back, if only to swear at him.
Besides that, my parents are going warp-speed at the thought of all of us being here for the holidays. If my mom gets any more giddy, she'll run the risk of spontaneously combusting. She's been up since 4am.
There is a definite possibility that we will explode from the massive quantities of food that my mom is offering us. All the time. Constantly. I have secret fears that she's trying to fatten us up for nefarious purposes.
Boris is currently hiding somewhere in our basement. His first meeting with the little dog might be a bit traumatic. We'll see.
Bit of an update for the last few days or, plans? what are plans?
Lets see what I can write about the last few days.
When we got to my sister's place last wednesday night, there was a power failure and we were all wearing tuques and scarves inside the apartment. We went to bed (which was nice for snuggling) and zonked out. We were still on UK time apparently as we were up at 7am to have coffee with Nat.
Headed to Eggspectation for breakfast, where we didn't get to steal a nice full-colour menu but we did score some take-out ones so at least Katy has a souvenir for her scrapbpook. Did a bit of window shopping then headed to the Jardin Botanique and the Biodome before meeting up with people for sushi. The garden has to rank as one of our favouritest places in Montreal. In winter, it's beautiful. Had a bit of a panicky moment when I walked into the Biodome with my shiny new camera. Going from minus digit very dry weather to a tropical rainforest enclosure means that your lense fogs up to hell and gone in the blink of an eye. Go figure. That sorted itself out when we entered the boreal forest enclosure and saw two otters getting it on. So cute!
Sushi was, in a word, glrrmph!!! It sort of freaked me out a bit. Michel and I used to go there every two week or so, sometimes more. When I moved to the UK, Michel continued to go there because it's damn good fish. The management kept on asking about me, and expressed sadness when they were told that I moved overseas. When Michel made reservations last week and told them I was coming, they not only still remembered me (remember that I've been gone since April), they were looking forward to seeing me again and made a huge fuss when we got there. I mean, dayum. I know I was a regular but we never exchanged more than polite conversation. Gave me a nice feeling in my heart but made me blush as well. Sushi was reeeeeeeally good too! It's nice to see that all my friends from various backgrounds like each other.
Then there was Hurleys, which was a bit of a letdown :S It was full of people and we had trouble finding a table. A friend showed up and though I was happy to see him after a such a long time, he pissed me off to no extent by spending the entire evening speaking french to his girlfriend, even though I'd explicitely told him that Katy's french was poor. Hell, he didn't even say hello to her properly beyond introductions. What also pisses me off is that I didn't realize this sooner. Since my french and my english are just as good as each other, I honestly lose track of which language I'm speaking. It's really unfair for Katy when that happens. To be perfectly frank, I'm less than impressed at the boys for their attitute around Katy (this doesn't apply to the people around the sushi table – you all rock and we love you for it). The only person who's made any effort to speak in english to her is the one whose english is the poorest. I appreciate him all the more for that.
Todays plans were a bit hectic. We met Michel and Isablelle for a *very* early breakfast then pootled a bit downtown. Katy's legs were feeling the walk from yesterday (which was made all the worst for not being used to walking in ice and snow). We were supposed to meet the Sequence folk (my old employers and coworkers) for a sushi lunch but – in what seems to be a repeating picture – those plans fell through from lack of time and lack of energy. I went to have coffee with one of the guys (as he was the only one there, the others being called away to other commitments).
So tonight, we're going to take it easy. Katy is in her jammies, I will soon be in mine and I'm going to cook some curries to thank my sister for letting us crash at her place.