Quaint English (blank)

My first week in England is coming to a close, and so far it’s been a busy one. I arrived on Saturday, and then on Sunday walked around Ipswich for a few hours. On Monday JP and I went into London and did a few touristy things, one of which was exploring the British Museum. I’d never been, and I’ll need to go back a few dozen times to see everything. By which time they’ll have changed all the exhibits, and I get to do the whole thing over again. That same day I opened up a bank account with the chattiest banker I’ve ever experienced. It took an hour all in, and probably should have been only half that. Later on we walked across the Jubilee Bridge into South Bank, and saw the Globe Theatre. It was very cool.

Tuesday a few of us went crabbing up in Walberswick. In a technological feat of amazingness, we used string to catch them and bacon as bait. Surprisingly, it worked well. We also had High Tea, and I have been assured that this is a traditional Tuesday pastime. I have unreliable sources though, so I am reluctant to trust this information. On Wednesday I indulged in yet another traditional English pastime and watched the football. We were playing Slovenia and I was showing my English colours in an attempt to not get lynched before my first week was through. Also because it gave me a good starting point when I proceeded to play silly games on a phone instead of watching the game. Luckily the people I was watching with didn’t take my desertion to heart.

Thursday JP and I went into London again, this time to meet up with a few dearly missed friends. Highlights of the trip included a street of books, the British Library (Beowulf! The Magna Carta! Illuminated Manuscripts!), Billy Elliot, and to finish we had dinner at the Texas Embassy. There was a meat scare, but four hours later we’re fine so it’s probably nothing. (Hopefully.)

Lowlights included the hotel, the hotel staff, the hotel fire alarm, and the hotel breakfast. To cap off that visit, as we left the hotel we saw a police car in the car park.

On the whole there were quite a few police around, more than I’d seen in Vancouver on a typical day. Then again, there were more people on any main street in London than you’d see in the busiest part of Vancouver on a Friday night. So that was exciting.

I’m enjoying the quiet of tonight and the promised quiet of tomorrow. It’s been a busy week, and I plan to enjoy the peace while it lasts. In the coming days we’ll be travelling to Cambridge to see if we want to live there, and after that who knows?

The end?

So here I am. Back where I started. The Vancouver SWAP Office. At least this time I'm not panicking about finding a job, well not in this country anyway.

It is amazing to think that I have about 24 hours left in Canada. I've really not had time to think about it; despite not being at work the past week has probably been one of the busiest since I arrived. Heading down to Seattle, racing karts in Richmond (eventually; the place was, shall we say, hard to find), packing my frankly ridiculous amounts of stuff away, the list goes on. I genuinely can't believe I've managed to fit all of my stuff into two bags. I knew buying those night vision goggles was a mistake.

It's been an incredible year. There really was nothing that could have gone better, and those tiny things that could were inconsequential. I'm not going to go through the highlights of the trip since that would be quite boring and also very lengthy. I thought I would go for a year and see somewhere different, experience new things and do something I'd never do again. And I did all that, but I also found somewhere I'd quite happily live for the rest of my life. Even if it does mean watching football at 9 o'clock in the bloody morning. Someone told me that I now call Canada 'home', which I disagreed with. It's not that it's my home, that will always be England, but it's that I connect more with the lifestyle here, I prefer the surroundings. And ultimately, I like it more. I'd love to come back and live one day, and with a bit of luck I will.

To everyone I've met in Vancouver; you're all awesome. I don't think I met anyone I didn't like and I will miss you all. Without all of you it would not have been the year it has and I hope I will see you all again very soon.

As for the future of the blog, I've sent Jen an invite to be an admin on the site. I may update it from time to time with travelling news so I doubt this will be my last entry. But Jen will be the first to admit that correspondence isn't her strong suit so if the frequency of her entries don't meet your expectations, you may want to lower your expectations.

Erm, yeah. That's it. Bye.

Decisions, decisions

This blog has been documenting my foreign affair for the last twelve months and it's been fun to write and on occasion, read back. I would say I've shared the good times and the bad times but there haven't really been any bad times. But as my last full week in Vancouver trundles into view it's soon going to be time where the adventure ends.

Or is it? I've not really considered what to do with the blog when I leave Canada so let's see what you think. So far the options I can see are:

- Keep writing it back in the UK. Not sure what it would be about though. Stuff that reminded me of Canada? "Hey I crossed the road in the right place today. Just like Vancouver".

- Stop writing. Interesting option, just keeping it as a record of my journey over the year. Kind of like a time capsule, only a really boring one.

- Use it as a holiday/travelling blog. Since I'm sure I'll do more of both it might be good to chronicle that stuff.

- Give it to Jen. Since she will be doing the same thing I did, except from Canada to the UK, it might be good to get a fresh perspective on British life.

So vote away my friends, vote away.

Another pointless day where I accomplish nothing

There's really nothing better than being in what is essentially a foreign city with time on your hands. I walked down a street downtown and I swear it was like I'd never been to Canada before today. The feeling of not having to be anywhere for a particular time is pretty good, I can tell you. Almost as good as going into work and smugging it up with your former co-workers about not having to be there any more.

I think I've found the quietest place in Vancouver. I wasn't sure of it before today but now I'm positive; it's Sears. I went to the one downtown yesterday and the North Vancouver location today and they are both mausoleums. The toy department looked like it hadn't seen a customer in months, even the Iron Man figures looked bored. The top floor is the discount department, otherwise known as Where Clothes Go To Die. Even the muzak couldn't make it up that far.

Contrary to the last paragraph I have done more exciting things than visit department stores. I've been finding out which hire car companies let you drive into the US (most of them), rediscovering the library, increasing my visits to Tim Horton's and unsuccessfully selling my stuff on Craigslist. Okay maybe not that much more exciting, but I refuse to mention going to see Prince of Persia because it was crap.

I promise it will get more interesting. Especially when I don't bother taking out the insurance on the hire car and drive into a fire hydrant in Burlington.